#And maybe an hired fighter to the guy who's trying to kill your friends

[evilforgood999]

The response to the errorink request is ready. enjoy

[onecanonlife]

the wind that remakes

It's been ten years since the princes of the Antarctic Empire vanished. But the king's still offering a hefty reward for their return, and Tommy thinks it's about time he and Tubbo tried for it. No matter what they have to do.

It's time to pull off the con of the century.

(fic masterlist w/ ao3 links)

(next chapter)

(chapter word count: 5,474)

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Chapter One: let the valleys awake (let them rattle and shake)

It starts like this: Tommy and Tubbo are looking for someone they could feasibly pass off as one of the Lost Princes of the Antarctic Empire, because the reward is a shit load of money and Tommy wants a piece of it. But they’re not having any luck, right up until they pass by a busker on the street corner and something in Tommy’s head just clicks, just says, yes, that one, he’s the one.

And, well. Tommy is a Big Man whose instincts are never wrong, so he nudges Tubbo and points. Tubbo’s nose scrunches up, but Tommy doesn’t give him time to object before he’s marching over, already preparing his dialogue. And as he gets closer, he’s more and more certain that he’s right about this; the guy has the right hair color, the right face structure, and he’s a performer to boot, and taken all together, it smells like a successful scam just waiting to be implemented.

The guy doesn’t look up when he comes over, so instead of talking to him, Tommy pulls out the rumpled picture that they’ve been using all day, one of the photos of Prince Wilbur that’s been circulating around the Empire for years now, in hopes that someone will see him and bring him home. Fat chance of that ever happening, of course, and King Philza must be a sucker for thinking it, but it makes his and Tubbo’s jobs easier, so he’s hardly going to complain about it. He holds the picture up, comparing the face of the prince to that of the street performer, and actually, the resemblance is kind of uncanny.

“Tubbo, my friend,” he says, “I think we’ve got him.”

Tubbo makes a noncommittal noise, but that finally gets the performer to look up from his guitar.

“Can I help you with something?” he asks, and Tommy grins.

“Actually, we’re about to help you,” he says, and he sounds very grand and impressive, if he does say so himself. Which makes it all the more annoying when the guy looks him up and down like he’s worth the dirt on his shoes.

“Really,” he says, and his voice is dripping with so much sarcasm, Tommy’s surprised that it doesn’t manifest physically somehow.

“Yes, really,” he says. He refuses to be put off. This is the guy, he just knows it, the guy who’s going to make them so fucking rich that they’ll be able to swim in gold, or whatever it is rich people do with their money. “You’re one of the Lost Princes of the Antarctic Empire.”

The guy blinks. “Pretty sure I’m not,” he says.

“Pretty sure you are,” he returns. “See, look, we’ve got a photo of you and everything.” He shows the guy the photo, and the guy narrows his eyes. “Or at least, we’ve got a photo of Prince Wilbur, but it could be you, too. That’s a kid in this picture. No telling what he looks like now. Could look like you.”

“We’re inviting you in on our scam,” Tubbo puts in. “If you couldn’t tell. You interested?”

“Wait,” the guy says. “Wait. You’re telling me that you want to pretend that I’m a fucking prince so that you can get the reward money off the king? Something I’m sure no one has ever tried to do before. You don’t know me at all, and you don’t know if I can act worth a damn, you just think I look like the prince did when he was fourteen. But just to be clear, that’s what you’re proposing?”

He looks at Tubbo. Tubbo looks at him.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Tubbo says. “If it makes you feel better about it, we’re really, really good con artists.”

“You’re infants, is what you are,” the guy says. “How old are you, five?”

“We’re sixteen, fuck off,” Tommy snaps. “Look, do you want in or not? Pretty sure living in a cushy palace has got to be better than whatever you’ve got going on here.”

“Hm, let’s see, do I want to upend my entire life to try to trick a grieving father into thinking that I’m one of his long lost sons? Which, incidentally, is a plan that will probably not work and get us all thrown in prison for fraud,” the guy says.

“We’re going to try very hard not to get thrown into prison for fraud,” Tubbo is quick to say, but the guy doesn’t seem to be paying attention.

“Sure, let’s go,” the guy says. “Not like I’ve got much else to do. You two have names?”

“This is Tubbo,” Tommy says. “I’m Tommy.”

The guy raises an eyebrow.

“Yes, like Prince Tommy,” he says. “It’s a common name, so shut up about it.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” the guy says. “I mean, my name’s Will, so.”

He can’t stop himself from laughing, because that’s just too good. “Are you serious?” he demands, smiling widely. “You’re joking, your name is actually Will?”

Will shrugs. “It’s what I’ve always gone by, ever since I was a teenager. I can’t really remember any of my childhood, so who knows, maybe I actually am a prince.” He smiles in a way that makes it clear how much of a joke he thinks that is, and he stands and reaches for his guitar case. There’s not much money in it, despite the fact that from what Tommy heard of his playing, he’s pretty damn good.

Tubbo snorts.

And Tommy claps their newfound friend on the back.

“Will,” he says, “I think this is the beginning of an excellent partnership.” He grins broadly, the type of grin that always has Tubbo rolling his eyes and asking where the fire is, which is unfair, frankly. It’s not always a fire. Just sometimes, because arson can be fun, actually, and some people deserve to have their stuff burned down.

Will, to his delight and Tubbo’s obvious consternation, grins the same kind of grin right back at him.

-----

It starts like this: it is indeed the beginning of an excellent partnership.

Will fits in with them like he was born to the role, and Tommy will never admit how fast he’s gotten attached to the guy, but he is kind of very attached. Because Will is smart and funny, with a sense of wit that can have both him and Tubbo in stitches, and it’s also nice to have an adult around, a bit. Not that he and Tubbo need one; they’ve gotten along just fine without for years. But people don’t shoot them as many suspicious looks when they’re with Will, and it turns out that he’s a brilliant actor, too, charismatic and smooth and confident, and he has people eating right out of his hand while Tommy and Tubbo sneak around and pick their pockets. It’s a wonderful arrangement, and within a week or two, Tommy can barely remember what life was like without him there.

The main issue is travel.

It’s a long way from where they started to the Capitol, and they can’t always afford to travel in the protected caravans, the ones with hired guards against the mobs that swarm over the land at night. And they can’t always afford an inn to stay in, either, and that means spending several harrowing lengths of time cowering in a makeshift shelter, listening to zombies and skeletons and spiders just outside and praying that none of them find their hiding spot, because they’re all scrappy in a fight but they don’t have any real weapons on them. They hadn’t planned for this, really; he and Tubbo have never left the big cities before, and apparently, Will hasn’t either.

“We need a bodyguard,” he declares one day.

“Where are we supposed to get one of those?” Tubbo asks.

“I don’t know,” he says. “But we need one. I’m sick of mobs.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Will says. He’s setting up a busking spot, trying to get them a little more cash. Somehow, it never seems to be enough. “But I agree with Tubbo. Even if we can find someone to go with us, there’s payment to think about.”

“We don’t need payment,” he protests. “We’ve got a prince! A long lost prince! We’re about to be the richest men in the world! That’s payment, innit?”

Will rolls his eyes. Tubbo does too. They’ve been doing that lately, ganging up on him, which is terrible and unfair.

“Somehow, I don’t think that a good bodyguard will accept that kind of payment,” Tubbo says. “It’d basically be an IOU, right? That’s a terrible business practice.”

He scowls. Tubbo is right, of course, but he’s got his heart set on a bodyguard now. Someone who’s good at fighting—good at fighting mobs, specifically, because Tommy is a very good fighter, thank you very much, it’s just that the people he’s used to fighting are other street kids. For, like, food. Not monsters. Not things that can kill you in one blow, if you’re unlucky.

And then, like fate and providence are shining down on him, his eyes alight on a poster across the street. The poster advertises arena fighting. In this city. Fights daily.

He grabs Tubbo’s arm.

“That,” he says, pointing, “is where we find a bodyguard.”

Tubbo follows his gaze. “Maybe,” he says doubtfully, “but we’ll still need to pay them. How are we supposed to convince someone to come along? I bet they get paid more for fighting than we could ever offer them.”

“Tubbo,” he says, “we’re the greatest con artists in the world. We can think of something.”

Tubbo stares at him. And then grins.

Behind them, Will starts to play.

-----

It starts like this: Will manages to busk enough money to get them three tickets into the arena.

It hurts just a bit, spending their legitimately-earned cash on something like this. But five minutes after stepping through the gates, into the crush of people and the roar of the crowds, the scent of sweat and blood mingling with concessions and stale perfume, Tommy thinks that this might be one of the best things he’s ever gotten to do in his life.

Their seats aren’t great, but they can see alright. The day’s matches start with small fry, and those fights are so boring that he almost starts yawning, because these people are just bashing each other with swords. There’s no finesse to it, no real skill, and he really hopes that there are fighters here better than this, because if there aren’t, this has been a wasted trip. But slowly and surely, the fights get better, more engaging, more of a real show, and his interest returns.

And then, when they’ve been there for hours and the sun is starting to creep toward the horizon, they bring out the big guns.

The announcer calls out someone with the moniker of ‘The Blade,’ and the crowd goes wild. They, evidently, know who this is, and that fact alone is enough to put Tommy on the edge of his seat, because surely, this is who they want? The headliner, the number one, the main attraction? If the spectators like them this much, they must be good.

They step out into the arena, dust clouds puffing where their feet fall, and the crowd gets impossibly louder. It’s hard to make out details from this distance, but Tommy can see pink hair, tied back into a braid, and some kind of mask covering the upper part of their face. It looks a bit like a skull, like this person is actually wearing an actual skull on their face, and that is either extremely overkill or extremely badass, and Tommy can’t quite decide which.

And then, there’s the massive netherite sword they’re holding. Their namesake, Tommy assumes. It’s probably the biggest sword he’s ever seen, and this person is holding it like it weighs nothing at all.

Their opponent comes out, and even though they’re also armed to the teeth, they don’t look nearly as natural as the Blade does. They hold their axe out in front of them as if to ward off blows rather than make them, and they’ve got their shield lifted too high. The Blade, meanwhile, spins their sword—and how strong must they be, to wield such a huge weapon so naturally?—in casual circles, appearing for all the world like this is no more strenuous than a walk in the park.

The announcer shouts. The fight commences.

The Blade fights like it’s as natural as breathing, and Tommy can’t look away. Their style is a mixture of sheer brutality and uncanny grace, and it’s difficult to watch, sometimes, difficult to keep track of exactly what they’re doing; one moment, it will look as if their opponent is holding their own, and then the next, they will have that sword at that opponent’s throat. Or through it, sometimes. The Blade doesn’t seem to have any compunctions about killing.

Tommy loses track of how many matches they fight. Six, maybe, or seven. But they win all of them handily, and by the time the events are all over and people begin to file out of the arena, he’s practically shaking with excitement.

Tubbo beats him to the punch.

“So, it’s them, right?” he says. “We’re gonna try to get them?”

Tommy nods rapidly, unable to contain himself.

“We have to,” he says. “That was fucking—I don’t know what the hell that was, but it was fantastic!”

He glances over at Will, only to find that he’s still staring out into the arena, eyes slightly glazed. Tommy furrows his brow, waiting for him to say something, but when it becomes apparent that he’s not going to, he speaks up.

“Will? You agree?” he asks, and Will blinks, shudders a bit.

“Right,” he says, “yeah, no, sorry, I’m good. Yeah, if we’re actually going to do this, we should aim for the best.”

He still seems a bit out of it, a bit dazed, but he turns his head to meet Tommy’s eyes and smiles, and Tommy tucks his concerns away with the mental equivalent of a shrug. If Will says he’s good, that’s good enough for him.

“Alright,” he says, standing, cracking his knuckles dramatically. Tubbo rolls his eyes at the display, but he ignores him. “Let’s go get ourselves a Blade.”

-----

It starts like this: the key to sneaking in someplace is to look as though you belong there. That’s easier said than done, of course, especially for two ragged teens and a slightly less ragged young adult. But Tommy’s had a long time to figure things like this out, and so has Tubbo, and Will hasn’t done this very often but he always takes to acting out new roles as if he was born to them, so Tommy’s not particularly worried. They find a door marked for employees and slip in, and from there it’s just a matter of finding their way.

He’s got a story prepared in case they get stopped, something about being sent with a message, but no one gives them a second glance. He keeps his head held high, his stride purposeful but not too confident, and simple as that, he appears to be just like everyone else, age and clothing notwithstanding.

“Do they have rooms down here, do you think?” Tubbo mutters. “The fighters?”

“Maybe,” he replies. “Even if they don’t, I bet the Blade is still here. The fight didn’t end that long ago.”

There are a lot of rooms under the arena, a lot of hallways, a lot of space, and it’s a bit mazelike, really. Dark, too; they’ve got redstone-powered lighting, but it’s fritzy, the bulbs flickering and dim. The walls and floors are hard, dank stone, the kind that echoes loudly with every noise, and Tommy can’t help but wince when the sound of their passage bounces off of every surface.

“There’s lots of swords in there,” Tubbo says, peering into one of the rooms they pass. “Isn’t that the Blade’s?”

Tommy stops walking, stepping up next to Tubbo. The room is full of weapons and armor of all kinds, but sure enough, there’s a large sword sitting alone on a table, still flecked with dried blood. It’s even larger up close; Tommy’s not sure he could lift it without using two hands, much less fight with it, though it pains him to admit as much. The Blade is just that strong, apparently, though why he’d leave his prized weapon sitting here in a room of other weapons, out in the open where anyone could mess with it, Tommy has no idea. Unless the sword isn’t actually his, but that doesn’t make much sense, does it?

“Tommy, Tubbo,” Will hisses, the sound sharp in the otherwise empty corridor, and Tommy looks over. Will is standing in front of an iron door a little ways down, a door with a barred window in it. He’s got his eyes fixed on whatever’s on the other side, his expression somewhere between shock and anger, and Tommy exchanges glances with Tubbo.

“What?” he asks, coming over.

“Have a look,” Will whispers, moving aside so that he and Tubbo can see.

He immediately understands what has Will upset.

“Oh gods,” Tubbo says. “They’re prisoners.”

There are cages in this room. Dozens of them, built with black iron, though only a few are occupied. Tommy recognizes most of the people in them, all people who fought in the arena earlier, the best fighters, the ones that gave a good showing, that were actually interesting to watch. They’re all in cages, most of them sitting or lying down, none of them moving all that much. It’s a stark contrast to before, when they were all movement, all aggression. Now, they seem—listless is the best word to describe it. Purposeless. Like all the fight’s been sucked right out of them.

A few of them are in chains, even inside their cages. The Blade is one of those, manacles wrapped around their wrists and ankles, and a collar around their neck. It’s sick, is what it is, like they’re some sort of animal.

“Shit,” Tubbo says. “I thought the hardest part was gonna be trying to convince them to come. Now we’ve got to do a prison break?”

“This isn’t right,” Will mutters. “This isn’t—they’re being forced to fight?”

“Only one way to find out,” Tommy says, and reaches out to push the door open. For a second, it doesn’t budge, and he wonders if it’s locked, because wouldn’t that just be perfect? But then, there is give, and it swings inward with a squeal of rusted hinges. Beside him, Tubbo steps back to look up and down the hallway, but no one appears to shout at them or kill them for trespassing, so Tommy squares his shoulders and strides into the room, trying to keep looking like he belongs.

It doesn’t matter much. Just like the employees they passed, none of the fighters—the prisoners—seem interested at all. So Tommy walks through the room unimpeded until he’s right next to the Blade’s cage. The Blade is sitting on the ground, leaning against the bars, head bowed. They don’t look up.

So Tommy clears his throat.

“Hello,” he says, and congratulates himself on an excellent beginning.

Slowly, the Blade’s head rises, and Tommy can see two things: one, that what he thought might have been a skull mask back in the arena is definitely an entire real skull, holy shit, and two, that the Blade is a young man, far younger than he would have thought him to be. Maybe even younger than Will, who estimates his own age to be around the ballpark of twenty-four or twenty-five.

“Hallo,” the Blade says after a moment. Tommy almost laughs out loud, because the word is said so awkwardly, and more than a bit bewildered, as if the Blade can’t fathom why someone would be talking to him. Which is a bit sad, actually, so Tommy’s going to choose to believe that he’s confused by the presence of a teenager and not by the fact that anyone is there at all. Because the second would just be downright depressing.

“You’re the Blade, right?” Tommy checks.

“That’s what they call me,” the Blade agrees. “And you are?”

“We want to hire you,” Tubbo jumps in. “Or at least, we did. We weren’t really expecting you to be locked up or anything. We might need a new plan. But we wanted you to come with us and be our bodyguard.”

It’s difficult to tell exactly what the Blade’s expression is doing, considering that most of the top half of his face is hidden by the animal skull—is it a pig? Tommy’s pretty sure that it’s a pig, or a boar, or maybe even a hoglin, considering its size—but his eyes are visible, and he glances between both of them slowly, skeptically. Tommy bristles.

“And just what do a couple of ragamuffins need a bodyguard for?” the Blade drawls. “You skip school too many times?” He pauses. “Who do children fight these days? Other children? I can fight you some orphans if you want, I guess. I’m pretty good at that.”

Tommy blinks, his mouth working silently for a second. He wants to be indignant at being addressed like a kid, like he’s not even worthy of consideration, but that is superseded by his sheer bewilderment at the way the Blade talks, like he’d just casually enjoy the chance to rough up some orphans. He looks at Tubbo, and sees the exact same question reflected in his best friend’s face: Just what kind of guy have we started talking to?

This isn’t like Will, where he could tell immediately that he would be right for the job and for their team overall. The smart thing to do would probably be to give up and look elsewhere for someone to hire. And yet, Tommy finds himself intrigued. This is a very strange man, obviously, and he’s never been able to resist poking at strange things.

“No, no orphans,” he says, muttering a quick, “What the fuck?” under his breath for good measure. “We just need protection on the road. From mobs and such. We will literally break you out of here if you come with us.”

The Blade tilts his head.

“You could try,” he says. “I can’t say I’m enthusiastic about the idea.”

“You can’t possibly want to stay in here,” Tubbo says incredulously. The Blade shrugs.

“No,” he agrees, “but there’s not much of anythin’ for me out there, either. Everything about this place sucks, but at least I get to fight people. I like doin’ that. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I got out.”

And that—forget earlier, that is so, so incredibly sad. In both the pathetic way and in the actual terrible way.

“There’ll be plenty of mobs to fight on the road,” he says, grasping at straws now. He’s got a few ideas for how they could successfully orchestrate a prison break, but in order for that to happen, the Blade needs to be willing to go. “Loads of ‘em. And besides, we’re bringing Prince Wilbur back to the king, and there’ll be a great big reward for it. You’ll be rich enough to do whatever you want after that.”

“Like fight orphans,” Tubbo adds helpfully.

“Yeah, like fighting orphans. So c’mon, what do you say?”

The Blade has gone very, very still.

“You’re doing what?” he says, his tone completely flat. A shiver runs down Tommy’s spine, because that is not a good tone. That is a tone that promises violence, that promises bloodshed, that promises death, and he’s not sure how he knows that, but he’s sure of it, sure as he knows his own name, that he has somehow just said something to make this man very, very dangerous.

“Uh, we’ve found Prince Wilbur?” he says. “And we’re bringing him back to the Capitol so we can get the reward money? And that’s why we need—”

“Prince Wilbur is dead. All of the princes of the Antarctic Empire are dead.”

The way he says it shocks Tommy into silence, and he doesn’t know why. It’s hardly an outrageous thing to say; it’s the general consensus of the common folk, after all, that King Philza is clinging to false hope, that he is a decent man but also one to be pitied, for refusing to accept the loss of his sons. Hell, Tommy himself has never believed in the myths, in the stories that go something like, so-and-so saw one of the princes by the train tracks or so-and-so saw them on a cart crossing the border or shit like that. The princes were kids when the invasion happened and the Empire itself was almost lost; there’s probably no way that they survived being taken by the enemy, the invaders that crept out of the End.

But the way the Blade says it—

He’s so certain. Like there is absolutely no doubt in his mind. The princes are dead, and there’s not even room for argument, not room for so much as a rumor to the contrary. Tommy agrees with him, but even he can’t claim that level of surety.

“Uh,” Tubbo says. “I mean, obviously it’s a scam. We’re scamming the king. We don’t actually have the prince. But we’d still like a bodyguard.”

“No,” the Blade says, in that same voice, low and monotone and terrifying. “You should leave. I’ll have no part in this.”

“Oh come on,” Tommy says, regaining his voice. He doesn’t know what to do with the Blade’s convictions, but he knows how to talk his way out of a denial. “Look, why don’t you—where’s Will? Will?”

Will’s not standing at the cage with them. Somehow, he’s only just noticing this. He turns, and Will is lurking back by the door to the room, keeping to the shadows, shifting uneasily. Which, fine, he can do what he wants, except for right now, because the more adamantly the Blade turns them down, the more Tommy wants him to come along.

“Will,” he calls, and his voice reverberates through the room. A couple of the other prisoners lift their heads. “Come talk to this guy! Tell him he should come with us!”

Will approaches slowly, strangely hesitantly, stepping up on the other side of Tubbo.

“We are in the market for a bodyguard,” he says quietly. “We thought you fit the bill.” He pauses. “We can’t guarantee that any of this will work, of course, but I’m an excellent actor, and these two are literal children, but they’re not bad.”

“Aw, thanks,” Tubbo says.

“Watch who you’re calling a fucking child,” Tommy says.

“What?” the Blade says. “You’re—Wilbur?”

“Will,” Will corrects, “but yes, we’re passing me off as Prince Wilbur.”

“Passing you off,” the Blade repeats. Slowly, he rises to his feet for the first time, and wow, he’s tall.

“Kind of the definition of a scam,” Tommy says.

“A scam,” the Blade repeats again. “This is a scam.”

“We just told you this,” he says. “Are you a bit slow or what?”

“No, just tryin’ to understand,” the Blade says. “You’re tellin’ me right now that this is definitely a scam. And you are not actually Prince Wilbur of the Antarctic Empire.”

“That is what we’re telling you, yes,” Will says, and Tommy is glad that he does, because he’s pretty sure he’s lost the thread of the conversation. The Blade is a strange, strange man, and frankly, he’s not making any sense at all anymore.

“Okay,” the Blade says. “I’m in. Bust me out.”

Tommy blinks. And then blinks again.

“What, really?”

“Yeah, you’ve convinced me,” the Blade says.

“Literally how,” Tubbo states, but Tommy punches him on the arm to get him to shut up, because they don’t need him to think about it, don’t need him second-guessing his decision.

“Alright!” he whoops. “One jail break, coming right up!”

“Right,” the Blade says. “Who are you again?”

He’s already leaving the room. But he hears Tubbo say, “I’m Tubbo, and that’s Tommy,” and he hears the Blade’s strangled, “Heh?” in return, and that’s a bit weird, but he doesn’t pay it much mind. They’ve inducted a strange man into their little band, but that doesn’t matter much, as long as he’s as good with his sword against mobs as he is against people.

-----

It starts like this: a massive netherite sword, left unattended, works amazingly for cutting through iron.

A massive, enchanted netherite sword also works amazingly for setting things on fire.

It’s a mess after that, a blur and a rush of adrenaline, but they cut up all of the other cages and chains to give the other prisoners a chance to get out, and then they’re running, and the place is on fire behind them because for a labyrinth under an arena, there’s a surprising amount of wood around here. And there are people shouting at them, and a few people that try to attack, but the Blade mows them down and laughs, and there’s blood and lots of it, too, but in the moment it doesn’t seem to matter so much.

He’s got Tubbo by his side. Will at his back. The Blade close at hand. And in a way he can’t quite describe, it feels very right.

-----

It starts like this: Tommy doesn’t know where he comes from.

He sort of vaguely remembers things, sometimes. He thinks he had a family, once. If he strains himself, he can recall fuzzy impressions: someone holding him, safe and warm. Someone’s laugh. Someone singing. An overwhelming sense of being secure, of being protected, of being loved.

But if he strains himself, sometimes he remembers other things, too. Darkness, terror, screams. Fear and disorientation, and a voice, clear as day: “Take your brothers and go!”

He’s turned that piece of dialogue over and over in his mind so many times. It’s all he has, the only hint he has to go on. It’s a male voice, clearly an adult. He likes to think that it’s his father. Though maybe he shouldn’t hope for that; he doesn’t remember what happened, but he’s sure it was dangerous, and if that person was his father, he might be dead. Probably is, in fact. There’s a reason why he ended up in an orphanage, after all.

Those are his first clear memories, at that orphanage. They estimated him at about five or six, and he’s pretty sure they were right, so he really should have at least a few memories from before. But he doesn’t, and the woman who looked after him the most told him that he probably went through what she called a trau-ma-tic event. Because trau-ma-tic events, she said, sounding out the syllables just like that to make sure he understood, could sometimes make you forget things. And sometimes the memories come back, but sometimes they don’t.

She was always kind to him. They all were, at that orphanage. And then that orphanage got shut down and he got shipped off and never saw any of them again, because kindness is no way to run a business. Kindness doesn’t get you many places.

It was orphanage after orphanage after that. They always looked for excuses to get rid of him. He was a problem child, the particular kind that always gets pegged before their mouths even open. He’s never understood it. Something about the look in his eyes, maybe. Not that it matters; he got put in the same orphanage as Tubbo at twelve, and they ran away together and didn’t look back.

No point in crying over dropped diamonds. No point in longing for something he can’t have. Can’t remember.

But sometimes, he lets himself wonder what his life would be like, if he’d gotten to keep that first family he’s certain that he had. He wonders what they were like. His maybe-father. The brothers that he thinks might have been his. He wonders, and he wonders if it’s possible to miss people that he never really knew.

But none of that matters in the long run, not really. Because he’s got his Tubbo, who’s better than any brother he could possibly ask for. And now he’s got Will, who’s funny and charming and just as irritating as he always suspected an older brother would be, and he’s got the Blade, who’s strange and sarcastic and so skilled that it’s scary, honestly, and they’re on their way to scam a king, and there’s nowhere to go but up from here.

He looks around him, at his friends and he thinks, Yeah. Yeah, this is good.

[jq37]

The Case File – Mice and Murder Ep 1

The Case of the The Pernicious Party  

Hello, hello, hello! It’s been a hot second but your resident D20 recapper is back to tackle the newest season: Mice and Murder! Y’all had to know I wasn’t gonna sit out the murder mystery, are you kidding me???

I might be playing around with the format a bit in the coming weeks to make sure I have the best possible system for keeping track of possible clues, suspects, and theories as we untangle whatever web Brennan weaves for us this season so don’t be surprised if things change a little. 

Anyway, without further ado, onto our mystery!

Summary

In case you missed it, this season takes place in an alternate, Zootopia/Wind in the Willows-esque universe where all the characters are animals but history seems to have happened in more or less the same way--for example there was still a King Charles but he was a King Charles Spaniel (cute Brennan). Our story specifically takes place in the English village of Tufting Meadows.  

We start with Katie’s character--Gangie Green (Weasel/Thief Rogue) in the graveyard of the Anglican Chapel (Our Lady of Prayerful Paws). Gangie, we learn, is an orphan who was kicked out of the orphanage at some point for thievery. Obviously, he’s not reformed of the habit because he is here to do some graverobbing. On a nat 20 (that Katie hilariously doesn’t notice even though her total is like a 29) Gangie can see through the window of the rectory that there is a weeping window inside--Catherine McCabbage who is being (dubiously) tended to by Raph’s character, Vicar Ian Prescott (Owl/Bard, College of Eloquence). 

Ian comes from a line of men of the cloth but he’s not exactly the best speaker despite his subclass. He’s doing his best though! The widow’s husband (Conor McCabbage) died at the local mill in what has been declared an accident but she suspects foul play. She’s been hearing his voice on the wind and wants Ian’s professional opinion on whether this could be a sign from God or if her husband might be speaking to her from beyond the grave or something like that. Ian gives a very muddled and not very comforting answer but seems pretty sure that something sketchy did in fact happen. Then, he sees a crack of lightning outside which illuminates the graveyard where he gets a glimpse of Gangie. 

He goes to check it out (and Gangie fully has an elderly goat he’s dug up slung over his shoulder) but “gravedigger” is his legit job so Ian decides to assume whatever’s going on is legit and not ask too many questions. He goes back to the widow (who, before she leaves, says that maybe sometimes people need to work on God’s behalf) while Gangie takes the body Loam Hall (a massive manor, built into a hill).

We cut to the next day and our next two characters! 

At 22B Hamsted Street in a pretty well appointed home are Ally and Grant’s characters. First up, we have Lars Vandenchomp (Huge ass Doberman/Battlemaster Fighter) who is so tough looking but also so Swedish sounding--it’s A Lot (so, incredibly on brand for Ally). Lars is security for Grant’s character Sylvester Cross (Fox/Inquisitive Rogue) who is a kinda (to use Grant’s word) “foppish” Sherlock Holmes type. He was hired by Squire William Thornwall Brockhollow to figure out what happened with Conor McCabbage (and clear him of negligence in running the mill) but he couldn’t find any evidence of any funny business, making this the only case he’s never cracked. He’s not as young or popular as he once was so this is, understandably, bumming him out. He’s even more bummed out when he realizes that William has invited him to his 60th birthday party that’s happening that night (as kind of a prop to show that he did his part in trying to solve the mystery) and Lars has already RSVP’d yes. He grudgingly agrees to go as it’s one of those asks that’s really more of a veiled demand but decides to pull the money he was paid from the bank first so he can return it and really stick it to the guy.

Finally, we cut to our last set of PCs who are on their way to Tufting Meadows via a very luxurious train. Inside are Sam and Rekha’s characters! Sam is Buckster $ Boyd (Peccary which is like a small boar/Mastermind Rouge) a Texan Oil Tycoon who acts exactly how you’d expect a Texan Oil Pig to act. Yes, you pronounce the dollar sign as “dollar sign” (even though as we find out later his middle name is Cassius so it’s like Cash which I think is super cool). With him is Rekha’s character, Daisy D'umpstaire (Raccoon/Assassin (???) Rogue another American (from South Carolina) though it seems she’s My Fair Lady’d herself into an upper class socialite (her last name was previously Dumpster). They’re traveling with their accountant, an Armadillo named Armond who seems kinda skittish and concerned about their travel expenses but Buck tells him that to make money you gotta spend money and they’re gonna make a *ton* of money on this trip. They’re also so so mean to him for absolutely no reason. 

When the train stops, they’re greeted by Templeton Padhop (a frog, natch) who is the chauffeur of Loan Hall, sent to fetch them. A wheel on his car is broken so he joins in on the Armond abuse immediately and has Armond roll into an Armadillo ball and replace it. Poor guy. When they show up they're greeted by a footman--a pug in a bowler hat named Milo Snout.

Meanwhile, Lars and Sly (Oh, Sly fox, I see what you did there Grant) are similarly greeted by another footman--a lizard named Basil Baskins. On a 23 perception check, Lars sees that Jeremy “Jez” Brockhollow is inside (the son of William who is a badger btw) and also clocks Gangie (who they know as a career criminal who disappeared like a year ago). Gangie doesn’t notice Lars though. 

Ian, who is also invited, shows up at about the same time as Sly but very quickly, the conversation is taken over by Lucretia “Lucy” Brockhollow, William’s older, eccentric sister who immediately gets into it with Lars about astrology and the occult (she thinks bad stuff is happening because of a curse let loose when Sly’s old rival--a rabbit named Fletcher Cottonbottom who is the son of his former employer--opened an Egyptian tomb). They’re thick as thieves right away because Ally is a nonsense magnet. And not like a regular magnet, one of those big electromagnets. 

Daisy and Buck spot William’s kids--the aforementioned Jez and his older sister Constance--along with their husbands Dr. Corbin Magpie (Constance’s and obv a magpie and a doctor) and Osmond Sheffield (Jez’s who is a Ram and a lawyer). Daisy is too stuck in her conversation with a truly unhinged squirrel (Lady Eugenia Bristlebrush who clearly does not know she’s in a murder mystery because she just keeps talking about how much she hates and wants to kill everyone) to hear what’s going on but she indicates the conversation to Buck who is able to eavesdrop and hear that they’re lamenting that Catherine--the widow--RSVP’d no which is gonna look really bad, like they didn’t invite her (bad PR). 

Buck, introducing himself as a business partner of William, eases into a conversation with the husbands which their respective spouses also join into and we learn that Buck's dad was British and a friend of Willian’s. Buck bonds with Jez (who is a bit of a dilettante) really quickly since Buck is ready to go drinks-wise immediately (and there’s a stellar pun about the “American [Drinking] Constitution''). Through the window, Buck notices Gangie outside getting his attention. 

At the same time, Ian is going from party guest to party guest, giving out the penances he forgot to earlier at church (as one does). We see him talking to the Lord and Lady Bramble (a cow and hedgehog, respectively) and while she wants to pray her way out of situations without doing any legwork, he wants to buy his way out and gives Ian 250 pounds. A frustrating but financially lucrative conversation.  

Buck goes outside to talk to Gangie who has a list of names of the bodies he’s been collecting. We’re not told what Buck is doing but it seems that this list is extremely valuable to him in some way. Gangie (who Buck keeps calling Gangly, to his annoyance) pays him handsomely (like, with a 50% tip) for the list (and Gangie gives him the real list, despite Brennan saying he didn’t have to). We also learn that Gangie has allegedly been getting the orders from someone in Loa Hall and they flow from William himself.

Matilda Molesly (a mole and the head maid) invites Gangie to come in from the rain--she’s the only person who’s been consistently nice to him and he agrees to come in for tea and scones. 

Everyone is ushered together by the butler (because of course there’s a butler--he’s quite literally a fancy rat named Thomas Gilfoyle) and William gives a speech where he wishes Conor well and kinda highlights that he did hire Sly to solve the case in a “Hey, I did my bit don’t blame me” kind of way. He also makes a 150k pound donation to the church (and Ian thought 250 was good) and tells his daughter not to read the praise he got for it from the cardinal when she mentions it (I wonder if that was choreographed). Sly interrupts the speech to “magnanimously” give his money back, to William’s annoyance. Buck notices that Lawrence Longfoot (a nouveau rich, rabbit photographer) takes a pic of the scene but with Sly in the foreground and William in the background. 

Then, a few things happen at once (in a very cinematic way):

As the camera flashes, Mrs. Molesly drops her tray, eyes hurt by the light. Lady Calliope Fawnbrooke (Deer, Matron of the Arts) helps her up.

In the moment of dark, after the flash goes away, the butler disappears. 

Buck thinks he sees a shape through the window, out in the rain. 

A cheer goes up for Sly for returning the money but all Sly can focus on is one figure he recognizes in the back of the room. Daisy, who is downing her drink and not cheering for him. He downs his as well, and looks at her until she breaks the stare and leaves the room. 

And this episode doesn’t end with a dead body like I thought, but with a flashback to a younger Sylvester, 12 years ago when he first met Daisy.

PC INTERPERSONAL DRAMA Y’ALL!!! Get HYPED! 

Case Notes

Here is a compilation of all the characters (PCs and NPCs introduced in this episode). 

Sly mentions that Ignatius Cottonbottom faked his own death as a part of some scheme which seems like a backstory point that might come back later--we now know that there exists a way to convincingly fake your own death in this world. 

Sly walks with a walking stick because of some “mysterious accident” but we’re jumping into a flashback next week so it looks like we might find out about it pretty soon. 

Sly also mentions he used to be the personal physician to the elder Cottonbottom so those are skills he has. I wonder if that’ll be useful to this healer-less party. I wonder if cleric was even an option in this world which seems to be low to no magic. It would explain by Ian is a bad and not a cleric. 

Lars has a military background which I wanted to mention in case it becomes relevant later. 

And Dr. Magpie grew up poor and still acts it a bit even though he married a very rich woman. Brennan uses the very good line, “He forces his body into the shape of an apology”

This might be a really deep cut reference but did anyone else here was the old Britcom “Keeping Up Appearances”? Cause I was getting serious Bouquet/Bucket energy from Daisy. 

This is an all College Humor season and it shows. The energy of 6 (7 if you count Brennan) top notch comedians sparking off of each other, trying to one up each other is off the charts. Some of the best bits this episode:

“When God closes every door but one, you go through the door that is open.” followed by “I’m an owl by the way.”

“Time is money, here’s both” from Buck re his inscribed gold pocket watch--everyone at the table loved that so much and they’re right. 

Armond going from being a third to a fourth wheel. 

And the names--I already shouted out a ton on the main recap but also a rat butler (like Rhett Butler) and naming the mouse Cat(therine). Can’t forget Gangie Green/gangrene from Katie. Also points to Ally for the data stealing Eel Musk which broke Brennan a little. 

I know we just went through this with Crown of Candy but what are these animals eating? Like, in Zootopia there were only mammals so we can assume the carnivores are eating like birds and fish but there are sentient birds here. I know this isn’t important. I’m not trying to do a CinemaSins gotcha. I just wonder, you know?

Y’all were waiting for all the lights to go out during that speech and then come back on and there’d be a body too, right?

If Brennan makes the bad guy a chicken or a duck or something so he can make a “fowl play” joke, he is cordially invited to catch these hands. 

I have been waiting for Raph and Katie to do D20 forever. Their specific brand of nonsense on Rank Room was always amazing. 

I love love love that Grant and Rekha are the PCs that have ~a past~ because they are so funny together. If you haven’t seen their episode of Game Changers, you absolutely must (it’s also a murder mystery actually!). 

[queenofthefallenangels]

Think Twice part 14

 Rated: M

Warnings: Not really any 

“I am going to make sure you never even think of touching my girl ever again. I am going to make sure you wish you never even met her.”

Seth Rollins X OC X Jon Moxley/ Dean Ambrose 

A/N: This is back due to getting asks for it. Well, okay one ask, but that was enough. I had some chapters I never posted so heres some more. I have no idea who on the taglist still wants to be apart of it or what blogs have changed so yeah. I will make a masterlist of this some time either tonight or tomorrow. As always...Enjoy. 

@abadamn​ @hotyeehawman​

Fuck. Fucking fuck fuck fuck. That couldn’t have gone any fucking worse. I ran my fingers through my hair, pulling the ends of it. I was angry, but I wasn’t sure who it was. Myself? Aria for not listening? Or Alexa for having this idea in the first place? I was a fool to ever think that she would be okay with me just lying about who I was. I thought maybe just maybe that we would be able to move past this. Hell, last night was one of the most amazing nights of my life. Sex with her was something I couldn’t help, but crave more. No woman was ever going to compare to her. I knew it was going to be thankless to even try. 

I sighed deeply as I walked to my cabinet, pulling out a bottle of whiskey and pouring it into my morning cup of coffee. I had a good feeling about where Aria was going to end up after what she found out. There was one part of that note she never asked about. That was her father. I knew I had told the truth in the note about how Seth and his father had killed her father. I don’t think she wanted me to answer that part. She wanted to find out for herself which is what scared me. It meant that she was most likely heading to one person, Seth. 

The phone ringing pulled me from my thoughts. I went back to the bedroom to grab it. It was Alexa. “Hello?” I answered it. I took a big drink of my coffee as I waited for her response. 

“Is she with you?” Alexa asked me nervously. 

“She just left. She didn’t take the news that well. I don’t know if she is heading your way or not. She didn’t exactly hear the news from me.” 

“Who did she hear it from?” 

“She found a note I wrote for her before I left. I never gave it to her, because I didn’t have the balls to. I got it out and some old pictures of us, I guess I forgot that I left them on the coffee table and she found them.” 

“You dumb son of a bitch. What did that note say?” She shouted. 

“It was an accident. The note just said my feelings...Plus that Seth might have killed her father.” 

“WHAT?!” She yelled into the phone. “She can’t know that. If she knows that than she is going to confront. Shit.” She swore some more on the phone before speaking again. “I have to head to work and I am guessing you do too. We will deal with this at lunch. I hope Aria turns up at work.” 

“What if she goes to Seth?” I asked. There was no nervousness in my tone. I knew that was exactly where she was going to go.  

“We will worry about that later,” Alexa said. 

I sighed, hanging up the phone before taking a big swig of coffee. I got up from my bed and started to get dressed for work. I hated to admit that Alexa was right. There was nothing we could do at this point. If we did something it might do some more damage to Aria.   This was going to be a long day.

I was putting my lunch in the fridge when I heard my boss, Cody, behind me. I was glad that I didn’t drink too much of that coffee and placed a piece of gum in my mouth before coming to work. I would have been sent home in a second if he smelled it on my breath. I would have been written up so fast. Cody treats everyone like real employees and isn’t scared to fire anyone. He fired a guy named Ricky for missing too many days to go tanning for his modeling gig.  Ricky wasn’t much of a mechanic or a fighter. He was just a pretty boy chasing some ass. I don’t know what it was about blood and men raging with testosterone, but it makes a certain type of woman come from miles around. 

“Yeah, man?” I asked him. 

“I have someone begging to fight you.” He said in a stern voice. I tried to read his face to see if this was some kind of late April fools joke, but if it was a joke, he had a great poker face. No one wanted to fight me after I killed that guy. I was pretty much out without being out. I had to admit I was really enjoying no longer fighting for money. I liked just working on cars as a way to make cash. I was going to ask Cody if I could just work for the shop without fighting. He doesn’t normally hire people who don’t also fight for him. Even the girls, his wife included, fight from time to time. It’s not as common. 

I raised an eyebrow, “Who? No one has wanted to fight me after what happened.” 

“I think you know him quite well. He came here as an old friend the other day. Seth Rollins. His father, Hunter, said the bet isn’t money, but a girl. Aria Myers.” 

I dropped the bag I was holding my hands at his words. “Aria? He wants to bet me, Aria?” I began to pace. This had to be a nightmare. How did I wake up into this nightmare? I knew I could beat Seth. Hell, I could beat him with my eyes closed if I really wanted to. He knew I was a better fighter, so why would he do this? “This motherfucker is going to cheat. Cheat like he always does. That’s how he got her in the first place.” I groaned. “Honestly this man doesn’t have an honest bone in his body. Tell him no.” “I told him I would think about it. I think you should do the same.” Cody closed the break room door before coming in closer. “I really think you should, Dean Ambrose. You owe her that much. Isn’t that why you came back in the first place?” He asked. He was the only other person who knew who I really was besides Alexa and now Aria. I decided he was most likely the one to keep it a secret and to help me get by. He treated me the same regardless of if he knew who I was or not. 

“Look, she knows who I am now. There is no telling what she is going to do with that information. She also knows what happened to her dad.” 

“You told her all of that in one night,” Cody said, his eyes wide. “That’s a lot of information to drop on someone. Her concussion might have been a year ago, but if her memory still isn’t good that could throw her into a depression or something worse. 

I shook my head, “I didn’t mean to. She found a note I wrote after it happened. I spilled the beans about everything from my feelings to what I knew about her father. I wrote it when I thought I would never see her again. I wasn’t man enough to give it to her at the time. She was going through a lot and I just couldn’t make it worse. I also hated the thought that this might be goodbye.” 

“I better start looking at applications.” He said as he turned around. 

I looked at him confused, “For what?” 

“Your replacement.” He said firmly before leaving the breakroom. 

[hatterstan-shameblog]

Everybody Else Is Getting A SFW* Alphabet Except My Boy Hatter So I’m Rolling Up My Sleeves And Making One Myself

*SFW except I’m probably gonna be swearing a bit sooooo keep that in mind (and also there’s like one or two drug references but not in detail)

Btw this doesn’t follow the usual format of topics or whatever, I decided to just do some fun word association myself

A: ADHD. As hell.

B: Bisexual. Because it’s true.

C: Cards. BUT NOW HOW YOU’D THINK! Lost $700 (whatever that is in yen because I’m bad at math) playing one hand of blackjack and said ‘well I guess that’s not for me’ and never did it again. But he IS really good at making playing cars houses, so that’s nice.

D: Dentist. Terrified of the dentist. Brushes his teeth RELIGIOUSLY because he wants to avoid going to the dentist as much as possible.

E: Eyeliner. This is kinda confirmed in the show (I think) but you better believe the guy slaps on some eyeliner every once in a while

F: Fickle. When it comes to the big, core values, he’s solid and consistent. But little stuff, like his favorite color? Changes constantly.

G: Glasses. Those sunglasses are PRESCRIPTION because he usually wears contacts because the mans got some ASTIGMATISM but he wants everyone to just think he’s blocking out the haters or whatever

H: Hearts. I know the source material is all “he’s good at spades games” BUT COME TF ON everything about him SCREAMS “heart games master.” I mean, he seems like a great manipulator and I think he really loves having power over other people—not in a ‘I want to control them’ kinda way but a ‘I want them to love me so much they’ll do anything I say’ kinda way

I: Intelligent. Here’s the thing: under that aloof exterior is a guy who actually knows his stuff. Just because he needs the boss ring to help him remember the code for the safe doesn’t mean he isn’t a really good problem solver. I also think he’s a reader, probably has a library card, too.

J: Jokes. He laughs at his own jokes, but also, he’s kinda funny in a bizzare way.

K: Kids. He’s actually really good with kids? You know how babies just kinda stare at people sometimes? That happens to him a lot. But he’s also just kinda casual when there’s kids, like a 5-year-old walks into the hat shop and he’s all “hey man how’s it goin? How’s the job? How’s the wife?” and it’s very charming actually. But also he’s not allowed to babysit because. I mean. You know how he is.

L: Lover (not a fighter). Big into hugs and everybody getting along. But like. Also kinda “fuck around and find out” because yknow he killed all those people for hiding cards (not your best look sweetie)

M: Movies. Total movie buff. Digs the escapism they provide.

N: Nepotism. Literally just hires his friends so meetings or work or whatever sucks less because he’s surrounded by his buddies.

O: Odd One Out. Has a history of just not fitting in places (bullied in school, you know how it is), so that’s why he crafted a kinda cool-guy, devil-may-care personality

P: Perfume. I’ve outlined this before, but he cuts Chanel No.5 (stolen from Ann) with that Sauvage cologne Johnny Depp models for and puts a lil whiskey in there to give it a kick. That’s it, that’s his signature scent. And you know what? It works.

Q: Quixotic. This is pretty well-defined in the show, dude wanted to create a straight-up utopia out of the Beach, which was...........not gonna work obvi. And I think he knows it’s not possible to create a perfect place, but that’s not gonna stop him from trying.

R: Restless. Doesn’t sleep much, whether it’s a ‘took drugs’ reason or not. Has trouble sitting still. Needs to pace around the room when he’s thinking. He’s the guy who keeps clicking the pen.

S: Sensory. Take him shopping and he’s gonna touch everything. Why do you think he dressed the way he does? Soft fabrics at the hat shop (in the flashbacks) and the silky kimono thing? *pounds fist on the table* WE GOT HIM BOYS

T: Tidy (surprisingly). I think the guy actually cleans. Maybe not full-on scrub-down of the whole house every weekend, but I think stuff being gross would bother him. Clutter in moderation because if there’s too much he gets stressed out.

U: Unpredictable (but predictably so). There’s a pattern to his inconsisties, so much so that anyone who knows him knows when he’s going to change his mind and what he’s going to change it about.

V: Vinyl. As in the records. He’s a guy over 30 with long hair, it’s a requirement for him to be into collecting records.

W: Whiskey. He’s one of those whiskey guys who knows what terms like ‘single malt’ mean and he does the thing where you put in like a drop of water to ‘activate the flavor’ or whatever.

X: Xerox. That’s the funniest X word I can think of right now. Maybe he just really cares about scanning documents??? I don’t know, let’s move tf on

Y: Youngest (sibling). I was trying to think of “y” words but wasn’t coming up with much, until I thought “could.......could it be......that he is radiating SEVERE youngest child vibes???” And I realized, YES, it’s true! It all fits! Thanks, Letter Y, for being such an inspiration.

Z: Zzz (he sleepin). I know I said he doesn’t sleep much, but consider: when he does, he’s out COLD. Cannot be woken. Flops in the middle of the bed and BAM he’s out.

[lovleez]

oner 《恶浪》 mv/film theory

(this is less of a theory and more of a debunking of the mv though)

warnings: mentions of violence, murder (i wont include gifs of the bloody moments but it will be discussed!!!), animal abuse, and a bomb or two ? (someone gets blown up ;-;)

honestly the debunking might get a lil bit dark around the ling chao and ziyang individual parts, so be warned of that!

it would be helpful for you to watch/listen to these to process whats going on here:

oner 《恶浪》 mv (cw blood, murder, animal abuse, & heavy violence - please dont watch if these are triggers for you!!!) (there’s also eng subs in this link ^^)

oner - AGENT  (this is a song, but there’s quite a bit of dialogue near the end that ties into this plot!)  (cw gunshot, beeping noises that resemble a bomb ?? - all at the end of the song w/ the dialogue)

okay lets dive into it d(^-^)> !!!

to get the important info out of the way!

the start of the mv shows the three of them chilling on the couch, as friends do, watching,,well themselves on the screen (oner’s past performances as idols) (and i do believe that the idols part of this has some significance that i can figure out). the important takeaway from the beginning rlly is that they’re three good friends...who are completely unaware of each other’s secret occupations

their occupations being: ziyang, a murderer, yueyue, a spy, and ling chao, a hacker

now to jump into the main story! (starting around 1:35)

yueyue and ziyang both have the same target: the man in the restaurant. however yueyue gets there first and does his job well, as he gets away without being caught. ziyang is frustrated that his target is taken already.

*interesting detail here, but when trying to enter, ziyang shows them a ring with a purple jewel in the middle for entry,,,coincidentally, the man yueyue kills in the bar in his personal segment in the film later also has the same ring? obv the ring is for the restaurant entry so maybe ziyang wasn’t going to kill this “boss” but maybe negotiate/discuss something with him instead...but also thats disproven by the fact that ziyang pulled out a gun to presumably shoot him before realizing the dude was dead....

but also,,,suspicious how there was a zoom in to the purple ring when yueyue kills the man in the bar..maybe it means more than we think it does? altho im not too sure what  to think abt it for now

     for reference:

     ziyang’s ring                                    

     dead man in bar’s ring

.

moving on 

okay so since yueyue is a spy n all, he has to confirm his kill somewhere right? this somewhere is a phone booth,,,one that ling chao has rigged up with a bomb,,,,

speculation: someone hired ling chao to kill someone who will be approaching the phone booth; at this time, lc doesn’t know that this someone is yueyue (and is v shocked to see him there through his cameras as evident by his “what the hell! are you kidding me?”)

....and after this part the film dives into their personal stories to give more background on who  these three are (i’ll expand on those after i finish explaining the present timeline ^^) before coming back to the main story 

so!

ling chao “accidentally” blew up yueyue oh no (he’s still alive tho yey)

& then yueyue holds up a piece of candy,,,and immediately knows its ling chao (cuz its the piece of candy lc was eating earlier in the film) 

(and to take care of all loose ends that my brain is providing me with: in the beginning they didn’t know abt each other’s secret occupations...how does yueyue know that lc is capable of doing this? my answer: they used to be agent buddies!!! i’ll expand on this later hehe)

 .

and so

it was at this moment ling chao knew...he fucked up

he’s afraid yueyue might come after him.

which, is exactly what yueyue does

after going home or somewhere, yueyue receives a text telling him to get rid of “them” (ling chao) bc his “identity is exposed” 

....so now yueyue has to go and hunt down his buddy ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

and they fight! looks very painful for ling chao,,,poor dude,,,

since ziyang comes out from the back door to join the fight, theres two possibilities that come from this:

1) ling chao knew yueyue was coming and knew he couldnt take him down himself (lets be honest; he looks rlly scrawny) so he called ziyang to his location for backup (how could he know ziyang can fight? agent buddies 👐) 

2) ziyang and ling chao live together in the same house

anyways, both results making it obvious that ling chao and ziyang are on the same team while yueyue is on another (lets ignore the fact that ling chao was getting up to fight ziyang as well)

the fight scene is so dramatic oml T-T

ziyang could also be motivated to beat up yueyue in this fight cuz the dude did  take his target before he himself could (loophole: how did ziyang know it was yueyue who took his target? answer: maybe yueyue left like a signature or smthn at the crime scene, or ziyang saw him walk out  ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ )

and when they all beat the living heck out of each other and are dramatically lying down in different areas of the room 

the tv turns on to a council saying “still want to be idols?”

(and remember, the thing they were watching on tv earlier was themselves performing,,,as idols. i cant connect it further than that so lemme know if yall figure smthn out ^-^)

so mayhaps this council is yueyue’s agency and they wanted to turn the trio against each other...? they would have set this whole situation up: they knew ziyang wanted to kill the restaurant “boss”, so they assigned yueyue to take care of him first, which creates conflict between those two. then, they hired ling chao to rig up a phone booth with a bomb; basically setting him up against yueyue

whether this council succeeds with their plan or not is unrevealed bc the film has a “to be continued” at the end, so the storyline still will have more to it!!!

although i would say the council succeeded since they all did beat each other bruised and bloody

.

that leaves the question: why  is the council setting them up against each other?

what are there previous connections beyond them just being friends 👀 ?

and here i shall bring back the “agent buddies” bit i was talking abt earlier, as well as why i linked the agent song in the beginning

near the end of the mv, there’s quite a lot of dialogue between the three of them, and it goes like this:

[robotic voice: welcome agent oner

ling chao (?): check 

yueyue: yo what up guys!

ziyang: yo what up bro

ziyang (yueyue?): alright lets take them out

yueyue: okay gentlemen we got a lot to do

ziyang: ey we gotta finish this quick, i got a date tonight

yueyue: really?

ziyang: no hard feelings (couldnt catch the rest)

yueyue: okay shut up

ling chao: hey guys, i saw a hit

(?): copy that

yueyue (ziyang?): hold your breath....now

ling chao: guys watch out

yueyue: okay guys locked and loaded

*single shot can be heard, then the reloading of a gun*

yueyue (?): go go go!

yueyue: fire fire fire!

yueyue: ???? *indistinguishable orders*

ziyang?: i got trouble i got trouble

yueyue: ?? i got ?? lets go

ling chao: stay together

ziyang (yueyue??): okay set to kill

ling chao: damn the truck is (blown?)

yueyue: what the hell

ziyang: okay let me (???) it

*bomb beeping noises*

yueyue: ???? clean this blood on my shirt]

(not sure how accurate my hearing is but its enough to make some guesses 😅)

agent buddies! the three of them used to be agents, as the song is titled, at some agency...and they probably made a pretty strong team together

the agency story would explain why they all seem to be good fighters too!

thats why the council might have wanted to tear them apart. perhaps the council was doing something that they knew would displease the trio, so they needed them separated lest they team up and try to defeat them 

i also think this audio could have been describing a mission going wrong for them, possibly their last one as a team. someone was probably hurt (im betting on either ziyang or ling chao), and they quit the agency and aimed to live normal lives from then on

...but old habits are hard to forget, so ziyang starts to kill ppl in his free time, yueyue joined another agency as a spy, and ling chao uses his hacking skills for other purposes

however they all dont tell each other, which could add on to the tension of their fight at the end of the film

.

now to dive into their individual bits of the film. these all don’t connect much to the main lore, just expands onto their lives with their secret occupations btw!

.

YUEYUE

his segment details moments in his daily agent life; im guessing he’s not very happy with it judging by his nightmares? or the nightmares are bringing up his past at his old agency which he does not like

he’s also master of disguise woah

personally i think he’s losing “who he is”. he’s always playing the role of another person, always putting on another disguise...so he starts losing his sense of identity (if that makes sense ;-;) 

(and if you wanna stretch it and make things wholesome, maybe the only times he [feels like himself] is when he’s around his two friends)

so basically: he’s always filling out other personas to the point where he doesnt know who he is anymore

(this is also the segment where he kills a man in the bar with poison,,,and the man was wearing the same ring as ziyang,,,,which is like Hm. why’d the directors do that 🤔)

.

ZIYANG

aka the murderer :D

(and not just regular serial killer type, more like joker-esque type where they’re a bit insane,,,)

okay his segment starts of with him dragging a man through a white room, where the floors is covered with plastic, and on the walls are a bunch of clay molds of human body parts

:D

my brain has concluded that! ziyang takes clay and makes molds of his victim’s faces/body parts of who he kills! to make statues! 

(i dont even know how i got there aksjdhdh but thats just what i assumed the first time i watched this film thingy)

and to make it more messed up than it already sounds,,,im guessing he’s a famous statue maker too, and holds shows where he presents his works to the public and maybe even bids them off ?

     ,,,,little did the audience know,,,,

          (this kinda remind me of sally and gabe’s statue from the pjo too now aksjhdkdh)

(i got this assumption from 6:50 in the film where he walks out in front of an audience who start clapping,,,and let my brain run wild with the rest,,,)

of course, he probably kills off the people he was the molding the clay off of once he’s done with his works,,,or sometimes even in the middle of his works as shown in the mv (*-* )

but alas that is not all to his story,,,

judging by his flashbacks when he’s beating that one dude to death with a bat, he used to be bullied when he was in school, which seems to be the source of all his anger throughout the film..

    ( yeah he killed the bullies too (_ _ )> )

its part of his personality to be rough and short tempered - he doesn’t like people looking down on him (as the bullies did)

and,,,if you want to be wholesome again! perhaps he found some bits of happiness and peace when hanging out with the others :]

.

LING CHAO

cw: animals abuse!!! 

his is pretty simple and is already explained in the mv itself! i’ll walk ya’ll through it though in case you didn’t watch the film tho akdjdjkf

basically: he’s just a dude who loves dogs :]

a lot

in his segment, a girl (handong, looking absolutely stunning ToT) approaches him wanting to take home another stray, and when he asks her where how the previous dog she adopted was doing, she says that “my bestie loved him a lot, so i gave him to her” ( -_- )

so...he lets her keep the dog, but also decides to keep an eye on her...to the point where she becomes very paranoid that someone is stalking her (which..she isnt wrong in)(but she doesn’t believe it to be ling chao because they’re..dating? i think? and he lulls her into a false sense of security that he’ll protect her from harm)

and then bam! one day he breaks into her house, steals the dog away, and then,,,,blows her up,,,,,

(i must say as disturbing this scene is,,,,i absolutely adore ling chao’s look here askjdjfd)

(i mean?? look at him?? loving the black lipstick ugh)

(v pale tho ;-;)

okay anyways the next flashbacks reveal that handong was abusing her dogs & starving them, and him being the animal lover he is, decides to kill her for it ig

(also she,,,stabbed the other dog that she “gave to her bestie” so-)

yeahh thats the end of his story; nothing much to take from it except that his hacker skills are still intact past agent days 

.

.

.

annnd thats a wrap folks! nothing else to expand on; i’ll definitely make another part to expand on this if they decide to release another mini film in the future tho :]

[jeongyunhoed]

Past-Present-Future

What do you do

When everything you’ve done

Comes back to haunt you?

Group: ATEEZ

Superpowers AU!

Mutants, assassins, confronting the past! a little dive into the concept of  romantic soulmates! 

with OCs

Genres: Fantasy, Supernatural, Adventure, Angst, Implied smut, Fluff, Gen

Flashback-heavy

Featuring mentions of: Park Jihoon (solo), Chanyeol, Dean, Zelo

Warnings: Blood, gore, death, violence, character deaths

She has lived with guilt. Slowly remembering details of her checkered past when  interned at a sanitarium years ago. The sudden reemerging of a person she remembered dying and the resurgence of a powerful crime syndicate will have her trying to walk the line between the person she has become and the person she was once destined to be.

A/N: I wasn’t sure if I wanted to post this at all, but I guess it’s worth a try to increase my works on this platform again. The masterlist for this will be up shortly once I figure out/try and make a good graphic. Keyword: TRY (as I suck at photo editing)

Chapter 1. 

“As of today, the seven of you will become a unit, a covert unit. To put it simply, if I want someone killed, you will do it for me, if I want people killed, you will do it for me, if I want information, you will retrieve it for me, all in all, if I want something, you will get it for me, I am good they are bad,” A woman, whose face was obscured in the dark, told the seven people - six men and one woman, all of whom had vacant expressions and were staring into space. 

They were lined up in a padded room, a secret room in the sanitarium that doubled as a training room from the shelves upon shelves of sharp weapons on display at the very end of the room. She knew they could hear her, they just couldn’t speak. 

“Kim Hongjoong, Park Seonghwa, Jeong Yunho, Song Mingi, Jung Wooyoung, Choi Jongho, and,” A man said this time, his face also obscured in the dark, reciting each of their names before rounding on the sole woman in the lineup of people wearing sanitarium uniforms. “Lee Mirae,” the man was smirking in the dark. “The future of our program, you will lead this unit, your progress from all the training these past few years has been exceptional, near-perfect, I would like to think.” 

Mirae said nothing. “Quite an impressive one you are, Lee Mirae,” The woman spoke again. “It’s almost as if you were born for this kind of job. Changseok, what do you think? She is the most successful one we’ve trained under the program, right?” 

“Quite right, honey. Lee Mirae, you are the most successful experiment in this program of ours. It’s not hard to see why, you were born with the mutant gene,” The man seemed to stare at her. “Your own parents didn’t realize your true potential when they interned you in here, but consider this as a way to lead you to what you are destined to be. The most-feared mercenary the world has ever known. The mere sight of you will bring even the most powerful people to their knees, begging you to spare their lives.” 

Mirae still said nothing. Like the others, she could hear them, she just couldn’t speak. “You will be pulled out whenever we have a mission for you. This will entail traveling to faraway parts of the world. While you’re all built to be killing machines, I don’t think any of you are invulnerable to harm. But don’t worry, after every mission, upon returning, you will all be subject to electroshock therapy. Just enough to make you forget what you’ve done, where you went, and whom you might have killed,” The woman spoke again. 

They could hear her. They just couldn’t speak. “You are all ready for your first mission. It’s in Busan. You will be briefed on the way. It’s time to open Pandora’s Box.” 

The seven of them twitched in their places. As the man known as Changseok began to repeat the last two words, the seven of them continued twitching, tilting their heads as if hearing something that hurt their ears. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard, forks scratching ceramic plates. When Changseok stopped, all of them stood still, a blank look in their eyes as if in a trance. “Remember, regardless of the weapon you pick, you are the true weapon.”

~ 

Seoul. 9:00 p.m. Present day.

Five years have passed since the Seoul attack that changed everything. Almost everyone that was part of trying to stop it was gone, either dead or missing. Lee Mirae stared at the rain tapping on the windows of her apartment. It was now four years since the Utopian cult, the encounter that gave her a rude awakening, the encounter that made everything seem like a lie, the encounter where she lost her adoptive brother Jihoon. There was a memorial in place for the lives lost during those times, placed on the site where the Center for Paranormal Research once stood. 

This was no longer the place she once knew. Even the brightest colors from the lights by the river seemed to have a grey, almost black tinge to it all. For some reason, the place she called home was no longer as bright as she knew it to be. It was a lot darker, and it wasn’t only because of the constant dark clouds hanging over the city, but it was also because the crime rate was still at its highest. Gangs were rampant all over. Law enforcement couldn’t be trusted. It wasn’t hard for Mirae to realize how much things weren’t so bright and cheerful since the Seoul attack. It was never bright and cheerful. She just wasn’t paying much attention. 

Mirae was a mutant, and had the ability to manipulate energy. She turned the smallest things into extremely explosive projectiles, and she often did it with a deck of cards. Being an omega-level mutant, the fullest extent of her powers allowed her to turn into an energy being, aside from a healing factor that made her almost immortal, and it also slowed down her aging process. She was a fighter, gifted with many forms of combat, and she was often told by her adoptive brother that no one could beat her in any way, but she knew that wasn’t true nor was it going to be true. She often used a steel bo staff made for her by Junhong, one of the surviving tech guys from the attack, who also took it upon himself to make changes to some of her things, including her car and the windows of both her apartment and the record store she owned and operated. 

Her powers didn’t stop there. From the two big events that shook the city came her ability to trap souls into objects, usually her cards. This also resulted in a white streak in her hair that she never bothered covering up, not even when she tried to dye her hair. 

She heard the door open and turned around. It was her half-brother, Choi San, coming back from getting take-out at the nearest restaurant. San was a mutant like her, and was also gifted with the ability to manipulate energy, only he channeled it through his harpoon. His healing abilities were just as strong as hers, granting him near-immortality. San was also skilled in combat, and when they reunited, he was working as a mercenary for hire. He still was one. Like her, he also had a streak in his hair, a purple one that seemed to cover up the white that formed upon using his powers to their fullest extent. 

Mercenary. The mere word made her shake her head. That wasn’t her. If it was, then it was the old her. She was no longer under the control of her Utopian cult. The trigger was gone, taken out of her head. She knew this well. She was the one who drove the sword into the leaders of that cult, her own adoptive parents. 

“I’ve come back bearing meat, I figured we could grill some over the stove for dinner tonight” He said, holding up a black plastic bag. San tilted his head. “You had another dream, didn’t you?” He figured. 

“Yeah,” Mirae let out an exasperated sigh. She had trouble sleeping, knowing that her dreams would present her flashes of memories from her time at the sanitarium. Only this time, the memories she would have would lead her to wake up in tears as those memories were of Jihoon. Jihoon, whom she promised to protect with her whole life when he got out, whom she practically raised, and whom she ultimately failed to save. 

“What was it this time?” San asked, already bringing out a griddle pan to pan-fry the meat instead. 

“The first mission I had, or at least that’s what it sounded like, the usual stuff,” She replied, setting the table while he cooked the meat. 

San’s expression turned into that of concern as he glanced at her. It made him wonder how he could somehow help her get out of this, out of her inability to sleep. “I could get you sleeping pills if you need it,” He said carefully. 

“Thanks, but no thanks. Whether or not I take them, I still have those dreams,” Mirae shook her head, helping him out with cooking this time. 

“Hasn’t Junhong… tried to come up with something to help you? What about your friends? Chanyeol? Hyuk? Have they thought of helping you?” San’s tone was becoming increasingly concerned. 

“How can they? Hyuk’s not that powerful a telepath, what can Chanyeol do, burn my head? Ino… well, he’s too caught up in trying to manage his own powers to even try and help out other people,” Mirae answered. “Even if they tried, when the trigger was taken out of me, the psychic block in my head grew stronger, they can’t read my mind even if I wanted them to.” 

San frowned. He hated that he couldn’t do anything to help her either. “I hear you crying in the middle of the night sometimes,” he said, partly wondering if it was the right time to point it out. “At first I thought you were crying because you missed Jihoon, but over time I realized it was something else,” He quickly turned the meat over in time before one side burned. 

“I will always miss him. But every time I go to sleep I’m always haunted by what happened to me before,” Mirae muttered. “I’ll be fine, San. Really, I’ll be fine, I can cope with it,” She assured him. “Maybe some sparring will help clear my head. Want to spar with me later?” 

“Will you let me win this time?” San teased, in an effort to lighten the mood. 

“I can’t promise you that,” Mirae teased back. 

~ 

“I thought you said you were training yourself?” Mirae asked later on in the training room down the hall from their apartment later that night. She managed to put San down on the mat in less than a minute during their first try. 

“I was!” San argued, sounding frustrated as he got back up on his feet. “You’re just that good!” He pointed out, charging towards his sister, who easily blocked every strike he made while he did the same yet with a few maneuvers later, he was back down on the mat. 

“That’s not true, you’re probably just not training enough,” Mirae pointed out, helping him back up. 

“Hey! I really was!” San got back up. “Maybe we should just go through the obstacle course kind of training instead,” He said. Although he was frustrated at how he never seemed to be able to one-up Mirae, he couldn’t stay frustrated for long. He wanted to help her clear her head and he was determined to make it happen, even if it was at his own expense.  

“Deal. I would never fight you anyway, unless you need to because I might be hypnotized or something,” She assured him, flipping one of the switches to start the courses in front of them. Several dummies were already positioned at the end along with spiked gauntlets that were rotating. 

When Mirae flung a few cards towards the dummies in front of her, it signaled San to attack as well, his harpoon gun piercing through the dummy head and as the arrow pulled back, the head was nearly ripped off. The two of them rolled over to either side of the room, picking up the nearest weapon they could get their hands on: Mirae, her staff and San with a pair of nunchaku. 

They attacked the spiked gauntlets at the same time with their weapons, kicks, and punches. Their attacks seemed incredibly effortless and precise. San smiled to himself at how they attacked at the same time, and he could tell Mirae was smiling as well, some blood staining the backs of their shoes from kicking a little too hard and breaking the spikes off. When they reached the end of the course, they looked at the nearly broken down obstacles, satisfied with what they did. Mirae handed him a pair of shurikens and the two of them kicked each one towards the dummies that fell out from the ceiling. While San’s hit the dummies on the legs, Mirae’s hit them squarely on the chest and on the head. 

They hit high fives. “Close enough, but we did great!” San enveloped her in a hug with one arm. “One day, I’ll hit those dummies just as good as you did” He said, eyeing the shurikens on the legs of the dummies hanging from the ceiling. “I’ve always wondered why you don’t have guns in here.” 

“These weapons existed long before there were guns,” Mirae pointed out, retracting her staff. “And they’re a lot cooler to use,” She winked, making San chuckle. 

“Okay then, let’s call it a night, I’ve got a game to play and we’ll clean all of this up tomorrow, don’t clean it up, let’s do it tomorrow” San pushed her towards the doors before she could object. 

Mirae allowed herself to be led, still feeling the rush from their training session. As she set foot outside the room and into the hallway, she froze as she saw a tall man dressed in black from head to toe, wearing a mask and a fedora. She could tell he was looking right at her before he fled. The way he was dressed seemed familiar to her yet she didn’t know how, it felt a little too familiar as if she wore something like that before. He himself also gave off that familiar feeling. 

The man fled before she tried to follow, but as Mirae ran and tried to catch up by the elevator, he was already gone. San caught up to her. “What is it?” He asked. 

She shook her head. “Nothing, a stray cat got up here” She muttered. “Let’s go back inside.” 

San frowned. “We could’ve taken that cat inside, gave it food, it was probably hungry” He said as they turned back to their apartment. “We could’ve even taken it in for good, like a pet” He eyed her. 

Mirae shook her head again as they entered their home, taking their stained shoes off, revealing the bloodied socks they were both now sporting. She was still thinking about the man in black. Why was he so familiar to her? “You can shower first, I’ll go in after you” She said, heading to her bedroom. 

“Really? Okay then, I’ll let you know when I’m done” San raised a brow, sensing that something was on her mind. Not wanting to ask further, he went straight to the bathroom. 

~ 

“Remember our promise, okay?” Yunho choked, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth as Mirae tried to hold him. They were in the middle of a desert-like place, somewhere far away. “Remember it-I’ll look for you-I’ll find my way to you when either of us get out, okay?” He sputtered, looking up at her, eyes becoming glazed over. 

The strong wind hit their faces but Mirae didn’t care. Hot tears were streaming down her eyes as she held him, trying her hardest to stop the bleeding coming from his side but failing. “Mirae! Get back here! Leave him!” Hongjoong was yelling as they were on their way back into the military plane, trying to get away from the larger group of what looked like soldiers that worked for their target. 

“He’s a lost cause, you can’t save him, Mirae,” Seonghwa tried to pull her up but Mirae refused to budge. “You’re our leader, we’re not leaving without you” He added. 

“Go with them-go with them” Yunho sputtered. “I love you, Lee Mirae. I love you. Remember that” and his eyes closed, his form collapsing under her. 

More tears fell down the sides of her face as she held his lifeless body close. The pain she felt was slowly being replaced with rage, and as she saw the oncoming soldiers running towards them, about to fire their weapons, her eyes glowed red making all of them combust, exploding in front of her including the weapons they were carrying. 

Seonghwa and the others stared at the scene in shock. Tears were still flowing down the sides of her face as the glow in her eyes faded. He was gone. Yunho was gone.

~ 

Mirae’s eyes shot open in the middle of the night and she sat up. An overwhelming sadness came over her and before she realized it, tears were already flowing down her face. Her hands were shaking as she sobbed into them, She had forgotten his name, but he must have been someone important to her. Whoever he was, his death felt like a heavy blow, like her heart was being broken over and over. 

She had been dreaming about him a lot more lately. Mirae got out of bed and stepped out of her room, sneaking past the sofa bed that San was sleeping on and going to the kitchen. She still felt that overwhelming sadness as she took a drink of water, trying to wipe her eyes from the tears that managed to escape even as she felt like she had already cried her eyes out for the past few minutes. 

The more she thought about it, the more she realized how her time at the sanitarium was more than just a blur, more than Jihoon, more than the electroshock therapy sessions she often had to go under. Mirae figured she fell in love while interned, with the guy she was dreaming about, the guy whose face she was being made to remember. 

“Mirae,” San was already sitting up, looking at her with one eye open. “Are you okay?” He asked. 

“Go back to sleep, I’m fine,” Mirae assured him quietly. 

“It’s getting harder for me to see you like this, I can’t just go back to sleep,” San got up and made his way towards his sister. “What was it this time?” 

Mirae didn’t know how she could tell him. “Someone who isn’t Jihoon, dying in front of me, I killed a lot of people in return. I can’t remember his name, but I’m remembering his face more and more.” 

“Must be important to you, whoever they are” San said. 

“He must be. Otherwise I wouldn’t have killed all of those people in front of us.” 

San rubbed her back and wrapped an arm around her. “Like what you told me, sis. You’ll be okay. This is what’s helping you heal.” 

“I hope so, San,” She looked up at him, feeling the overwhelming sadness and heartbreak again. “I hope so.” 

San stayed up with her to keep her company for a little while more until she urged him to go back to sleep. Neither of them were aware that the man, dressed in black from head to toe with a mask and a fedora hat, was looking up at them from outside the building. 

[knittingdreams]

Fireheart - Chapter 24

Sorry for the wait, I’m drowning in real life over here xD

Enjoy this new chapter! :D Huge plot twist in this one! Waaahhh, I loved writing this chapter so much and I hope you love it too! *-*

Masterlist // Ao3 // @tillyrubes10

CHAPTER 24

Surprises

By the time Rowan got to the Fossa, that night’s tournament was mostly over. He could have gone home, could have been lying on his couch drinking a cold beer and watching a game of whatever sport might have been on TV. But instead, Rowan decided to head to the fights. To see it with his own eyes, to make sure he didn’t make a mistake… Not like he could have mistaken her.

“Didn’t think you were rostered tonight,” Lorcan said as Rowan stepped through the main door, not wanting to use the back alley.

“I’m not,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Then why are you here?” 

“That is none of your concern, kid,” he almost spat the words, looking down at Lorcan and then walking away without a second look. 

He didn’t want to be rude, but he had an appearance to keep, and the kid had a lot of lessons to learn if he wanted to survive the Fossa. Lorcan was pushing his luck and stepping out of line, which was dangerous in their line of work. The place had no space for weakness, no room for doubt, and certainly no patience for curious people that got their noses where they shouldn’t. That’s how you could get yourself killed, or worse.

The gymnasium was loud, and it smelled of stale beer and sweat. The dampness of the room clung to his skin, and Rowan folded the cuffs of his black shirt up, his jacket already away in his motorbike’s storage compartment. Reaching the edge of the room, he found a spot where he could watch the whole comings and goings of the place. It was not one of the spots where security was normally posted, but one he had found after endless nights working there. 

Connal was stationed to one side of the made-up stage, minding the crowd, and Rowan could see Fenrys by the side, watching the fight closely. He didn’t recognize either of the fighters, but that was no surprise, he never paid much attention to them unless they were regulars. The fight finished up a few minutes later, and Fenrys escorted the winner to the backroom. The whole place roared with claps and cheers, and he saw a few bills slipping from hand to hand. 

Betting at the fights was allowed in any kind or form. Bigger bets were made with Maeve herself, as she was the one that organized the events, but she always said a little under-the-table betting helped to spice things up. Whoever had been working long enough for her knew the truth behind that statement. All of the bets were run by her. All of them. Nothing in the pits went unnoticed by Maeve, which was half the reason Rowan had gone to the Fossa that night.

There was no way Maeve didn’t know.

But even if she knew, what did it all mean?

As Fenrys walked the next fighter over to the stage, Rowan walked by his side, mostly unnoticed between the crowd, and gave him one quick nod. Immediately after, he darted to the back, but instead of heading into the fighter’s backroom, he went into the office next to it and waited.

“What are you doing here, mate?” Fenrys greeted him as he walked into the office and closed the door.

“Did you get someone to take your place?” 

“Yeah, I got Con, I have five minutes or so, what’s up?”

“Maybe nothing, maybe a lot,” Rowan replied thoughtfully.

“Cut it to the point mate,” Fenrys said, his expression going a little serious despite the grin.

“Is… Fireheart here tonight?” Rowan dropped his voice to a whisper, even if he knew no one could hear them there.

“Yeah, why?” Fenrys smirked.

“I was at the gala with Maeve tonight, as his escort,” Rowan started. “And I saw her there,” Rowan dropped his voice even more, just to be cautious. “I mean, it had to be her, she was even wearing the same mask.”

“Oh, wow, okay,” Fenrys scratched the back of his neck, and then his smile widened as he looked at Rowan again. “Did she look gorgeous in a ball gown?” He said in a dreamy and mocking tone.

“Fenrys! That’s not the fucking point!”

“Weird, she didn’t tell me she saw you there, I thought we were friends now… Thought she’d share something like that with me…” He put a hand over his heart in mock offense, his expression turning into one of fake utter-disbelief. 

“For fucks sake Fenrys, can you be serious for a second? She didn’t even see me.”

“Did you hide?” Fenrys’ eyebrow lifted playfully, and he punched Rowan on the shoulder.

“Fenrys, please. This is serious. She was there as Dorian Havilliard Jr.’s date. So, yeah, I might have made an effort to stay out of her sight.”

At the news, Fenry’s smile dropped and he looked down, scratching the back of his neck again. 

“And here I thought the kid she was with today was her boyfriend. I should have known better, he seems gay,” he said, speaking mostly to himself.

“What are you talking about?”

“She brought a companion today, a cute kid with gentle eyes hiding behind a black lace mask. I think he’s the one that was here with her the first night.”

“Can we go back to the point? Who cares if she’s here with someone?” But as he said the words, Rowan realized he was already planning on popping his head on the back to look at this kid. “So, I’m thinking, she either goes to school with Havilliard, or she’s from one of the wealthy families in town. Either way, she’s wealthy. She needs to be if she goes to school with him, so my question is… What is she doing here? She can’t be here for the prize. What if she’s one of Maeve’s spies? She was in our home, what if she was looking for something?”

“Maybe she enjoys the fighting too much, maybe she’s rebelling against her parents and just thinks having a double life is fun.”

“Do you even listen to yourself?”

“What?!” Fenrys lifts his arms in surrender, his confused expression getting on Rowan’s nerves. “She didn’t go to our home, I took her there because she was dying, do I need to remind you that?”

“I told you she was trouble, and this proves it,” Rowan replied, not even listening to Fenrys anymore. Maybe it had all been staged, all to set them up, to test their loyalties.

“This proves, what? That she goes to school? We already knew that! A lot of people around here do.”

A lot of people… like the Salvaterre kid. Could any of it be related? All of it?

“Doesn’t Lorcan go to school with Dorian?” Rowan asked, and Fenrys looked taken aback by the change of subject.

“Why would I know which school he goes to?”

“Because you hired him.”

“True that, let me think… I think it was something with… Adarlan…”

“Half the schools here are called something ‘Adarlan’, Fenrys!”

“You have no fucking patience, mate! I think it was something fancy… like…”

“Like Adarlan Elite High?” Rowan asked, squaring his shoulders while trying to find the connection.

“Yes! That one! How did you know?”

“Because that’s the school Havilliard goes to.”

“And you know that because…” 

“Because unlike you, I take this job seriously, and…” Rowan dropped his voice again, “and I keep a close eye on Maeve, and the Havilliards are important to her business.”

Fenrys looked at his watch, and then back up at Rowan, a worried expression on his face.

“I need to go back,” he said as the crowd’s cheers grew louder outside. “Please, don’t do anything stupid, this probably means nothing. I mean, she’s that rich kid’s girlfriend, so what? It doesn’t change a thing. Now, that girl we’re talking about is about to jump on stage, so I better go... Oh, by the way, do you need a lift home?”

“Nah, I’ve got my bike.”

With a simple nod, Fenrys walked out of the office and Rowan moved to stand by the door, watching him walk into the back room and come back out followed by the blond fighter. He told himself he should go, but he was rooted to the spot, watching Fireheart walk towards the stage, her chin held high as the crowd around her went wild. 

Everybody was on their feet, clapping, yelling, chanting.

“Fireheart, Fireheart, Fireheart.”

Rowan couldn’t say he was surprised, it was not common to see a girl on the Fossa, and Celaena was certainly putting up a show. She had been reckless the first night, ending her fights too fast, but since having an audience, her style had changed. At that moment, the way she walked, seeming so sure of herself, he could picture every man on her wake dropping to their feet, serving themselves up on silver platters. She had them all eating from her palm.

He turned to the side, and there he was. Tall, lean, and with a black lace mask over his face. The guy was smiling up at Celaena, his eyes following her every move with something that looked almost like devotion. He couldn’t say he remembered him from the first round of fights, even if he barely recalled Fireheart being there with someone, but he surely hadn’t had a mask on. 

Rowan turned back to the stage in time to see Celaena jumping up, her rival being one of the few regulars he recognized. His name was Zhek, and he had been one of the finalists the previous year. The girl moved along the stage with grace, her every movement feeling like a piece of a well-practiced dance. She ducked, twirled, rolled on the floor, and jumped to her feet with the grace of a ballerina. But she also punched, kicked, and struck Zhek over and over again, her every attack hitting its target with a precision that had Rowan mesmerized. 

She was no ballerina, she was a ruthless fighter. 

He had seen many fights in his life, but he had never seen anything like her. As Celaena ducked again, then threw a high kick and knocked her opponent, he understood the meaning of her fighting name.

Fireheart.

The girl’s heart burned bright with flames. She was not only fire, but ash, and smoke, and blazing light. He had never seen anybody fight with so much passion and determination.

Fireheart, who are you? And what do you want?

***

“Can I borrow your car for a little while?” Rowan asked on Monday morning.

“What’s wrong with your motorbike?” 

“Nothing, it’s just that… I’d rather use the car.”

Fenrys dropped his spoon on his cereal bowl loudly and looked up at Rowan, a cress between his brows.

“Mate, what are you up to? Don’t tell me you’re about to do something stupid?”

“I’m not telling you then,” he said nonchalantly. “Do you need the car or not?”

“No… I don’t.”

“Sweet,” Rowan grabbed the keys from the kitchen counter and strolled purposely towards the door.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Fenrys yelled after him.

Rowan drove slowly, trying not to draw attention. He had the tinted windows up, and he rolled into the parking lot casually, following the line of cars as if he was there every morning. He was early, so there weren’t a whole lot of people around. He parked around the back, as far away from the main doors as possible, and he waited while he sipped on a cup of coffee.

About five minutes later, the car he was waiting for drove in, and he leaned forward, his coffee forgotten for a moment. The car parked right in front of the main door, and the driver’s door opened up. A tall kid with dark raven hair that he recognized as Havillard Jr. stepped out, and then he circled the car, opening up the passenger door. He reached a hand down, and Rowan watched flabbergasted as a delicate hand clasped it and a long pale leg stretched out, heels too high to be school-appropriate hitting the floor. 

Celaena got out of the car like a celebrity, her long legs being followed by a pleated grey skirt that revealed a whole lot of skin, and then a white snug shirt and a curtain of perfect golden curls. She shook her head once, fanning her hair, and then the rich kid closed the door, leaning unnecessarily close, and laced an arm around Celaena’s waist as they walked together towards the school.

Rowan took the last sip of his coffee, scrunched the paper cup in his fist, and threw it over to the passenger seat. His eyes were still on the retreating couple, which is why he jumped up as a loud knock sounded on his window.

The girl standing by the car with her arms crossed over her chest had to be an illusion. 

Rowan cleared his throat and rubbed his eyes, looking over at the girl again, who, annoyed at the waiting, knocked on the window again and motioned for him to roll it down. He lowered it slowly as the darkest set of eyes he had ever seen stared back at him, making his heart race at the thousand suppressed memories.

“What are you doing here?” the girl asked, sounding more surprised than angry. 

Her hair had grown so long since the last time he had seen her, and instead of being a puffy mane, it was now tamed into long but uneven dreads, some of them with golden rings around them. But the rest of her... It was the same face he had seen so many times, even if mostly in pictures.

“Nehemia,” he let her name out in a single breath, almost like a curse, or like a plea. Like a forgotten and buried memory he never thought he’d had to deal with again.

“I knew it was you the second I saw you… It’s been a long time, Rowan.” There was sadness in her tone, her voice almost breaking as she said his name.

“Do you go to school here?” Rowan found himself asking, the thousand coincidences starting to prickle his skin and make his gut churn. Or maybe those were the memories, relighting the fire in his soul. 

“I do… And you don’t. As far as I remember, you finished school four years ago. What are you doing here? I thought you might have been looking for me, but you seem utterly surprised to find me here.”

“I was… No… I didn’t know you came here… I was… It’s work-related,” he managed to let out.

“Still in the same line of work?” Nehemia asked, her lips turning into an upside smile.

“I think you know the answer to that,” he replied, shrugging with one shoulder.

“I thought so…” Nehemia looked to both sides, and then rushed around the car.

She jumped into the passenger seat, knocking the discarded cup onto the floor of the car, and shut the door with a loud bang behind her.

“We need to talk, and it’s probably best if we don’t do it here,” she said, her words rushed in through harsh whispers.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

“Rowan,” Nehemia’s eyes were pleading, unshed tears lining up on her eyes. “Please, I need your help.”

Rowan swallowed hard, and before he could regret his decision, he stepped onto the gas and drove out of Adarlan Elite High’s parking lot.

[9r7g5h]

Teach to Learn, Learn to Teach

Fandom: Fantasy High

Rating: T

Genre: General/Friendship

Summary: Ragh and Tracker both have a lot to learn from each other. 

Words: 3269

AN: So, the topic of Ragh taking a level in cleric and Tracker taking a level in barbarian came up on tumblr, and I was so intrigued I had to write something for these gaybies. It will probably be three parts, one focusing on Ragh, one on Tracker, and one about them going home, or something like that. Just enjoy chapter one. 

Disclaimer: I do not own Fantasy High.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

They had both known, when Tracker first brought up her goal to Ragh, that it would be rough going. Fallinel wasn't the most welcoming of outsiders as it was, though at least High Elf decorum granted adventurers safe passage, so long as they weren't causing issues. But causing issues was the entire reason they were there, and Ragh's official adventurer certification he had received at graduation only did so much when he was helping Tracker constantly shoulder her way into temples of Galilea, trying to turn back the carefully placed lies the high priests had said to turn their goddess away from her wilder ways. 

The fact that she was actually making headway with the younger elves, the ones who saw how prim and proper their elders were and balked against that fate, only made things even worse for them. Add in the newly formed 'Pack of Galilea,' younger elves who not only wanted to worship the wild of the night but become wolves themselves, their leader constantly trying to convince Tracker to bite her so she could turn the rest of her pack and give more strength to the wild form of the goddess they loved, and, well. 

Honestly, they really should have expected something like this. Should have expected that the high priest would deem her a problem. Should have expected him to decide to end it. Should have expected him to know that only silver could hurt a werewolf, and armed the elf he had hired to do his will properly. 

Had they expected it, maybe she wouldn't be gasping in the back of their van, the silver poisoning from the arrow still stuck deep in her side seeping into her veins while Ragh tried to avoid the trees, putting distance between them and where they had been attacked. Had they expected it, maybe she would have cast Moon Haven earlier, ensuring their safety. Had they expected it, maybe they wouldn't have been goofing off, listening to music and chatting while their dinner cooked. 

Maybe, maybe, maybe she wouldn't be dying before she got to see Kristen again. 

"Ok, I think I lost them." 

She wasn't sure when Ragh finally pulled the van over, or how long it had been or how far they had gone, just that now he was besides her, talking. A knife in his hand, cutting through her second favorite shirt (damn them for that), pulling the cloth away from the wound. 

"Sorry sis, this is gonna hurt."

She barely felt him cut into her skin - the head hadn't gone all the way through, couldn't be broken off and the shaft pulled out, it had to be cut out and stitched up - but she did feel as he began to pull it out, the silver arrowhead brushing against the dying skin, making her howl in pain as everything within her wanted to flee. Flee the pain, the sheer burning agony of every single one of her cells dying, flee into the night and the moonlight until she could curl up somewhere that felt and smelt like home. 

But then it was gone. The silver was gone, she could think again, and though everything hurt, she could focus on Ragh's words. 

"Shit shit shit sorry sis, I had to get it out, shit. Fuck, god damn it, what was next? Think, Ragh, you know this." His voice fell to muttering for a bit as he pressed a cloth to the wound, looking through the medical kit. She wanted to say something, give him a hint or encouragement, but she was so tired. "Sterilize it, fuck, that's right! Where are you, you tiny little shit, you're hiding better then Riz to get out of PE... there you are!" He held up a small bottle triumphantly, used his teeth to undo the top, and splashed a generous portion directly into the wound. 

Tracker thankfully passed out immediately, her thoughts a dozen swirls of pain and Galilea thanking her for her efforts and wanting nothing more then to just sleep. 

It was morning when she next woke up. Her tank top had been replaced with a sports jersey, her side covered with enough bandages that she was almost sure she now classified as a large creature instead of medium, and the smell of burning fish covered everything else. Her stomach growled, despite the acrid smoke, and that was enough to get her moving, sluggishly kicking open the door to see what kind of trouble Ragh was in now. 

He was, surprisingly, doing well for himself. He had built a decent fire pit, had managed to grab a dozen fish or so from a nearby river, and only two of them seemed to have caught fire. The others actually looked amazing, and before she could even think the actual thought, she had grabbed one, sinking her teeth into the flesh, ravenous. 

Ragh just chuckled. "Good morning to you too, sis. I'm so glad you're ok. I was worried I was going to have to call Kristen and give her bad news, and honestly, your girlfriend scares me."

She couldn't help but laugh through her mouthful of fish, forcing it down so she could respond in a timely manner. 

"Full honestly, and I'll kill you if you ever tell her? She scares me a little bit too. Love her, but she has some weird shit going on with the gods that's just on a whole nother level."

She had been sleeping for two days. Ragh had done the best he could, keeping her comfortable and hydrated, just glad he had remembered enough from his mandatory healing class to stabilize her. He didn't know enough to actually heal, he had spent too much of the class mooning over a cute cleric guy in the front row, but cutting out arrows used knives, so he remembered that at least. 

"I just always relied on having a cleric," he admitted with a shrug. "Never thought much more about it."

"You thought enough to save me," Tracker pointed out, resting her non-cash covered hand on his shoulder. "Thank you." 

It took another day for her spells to come back, her energy finally high enough after gorging on fish and the few rabbits Ragh caught to finally cast a healing hand on herself. Ragh watched with a new found fascination as she unwrapped the wound, showing his shoddy stitches to keep her held together, only for the silvery light to flow from her hand, popping out the stitches and leaving her with healed, slightly pink skin. 

"Sis, you gotta teach me how to do that."

A raised eyebrow, a glance over at him as he half reached out, as if he wanted to touch her newly healed wound to make sure it was truly one, a tilt of her head as she waited for him to continue. He didn't, instead his skin flushing a deeper green as he shuffled his feet. 

"You want to become a healer?"

Ragh just shrugged, rubbing at the back of his head. They both needed to get haircuts soon, Tracker noticed and mentally filed away, watching as he felt the longer hair tickling the back of his neck and tried to move it away. Her own shaved side was growing out as well, much to her annoyance, though she quickly shook her head, forcing away the random thoughts as she looked back at her friend. 

"I know I'm not that smart," Ragh muttered, giving a shrug as if his lower intelligence score wasn't that big of a deal to him, "but even doing my best, there wasn't much I could do to help after, you know." He waved towards her and the pile of bloody gauze next to her. "I've never had to take care of someone before, someone else always did that, but now it's just the two of us, sis. What if it's worse next time? I don't know about all this religion stuff, but I've thought about it a lot over the last few days, and while I'm still gonna be the tank, it might help if I can also help take care of us." 

She wasn't sure what he was expecting, but Tracker could tell he wasn't expecting her to lean over and pull him into a giant bear hug, only to pull back a few moments later and punch him in the arm. 

"Don't sell yourself so short, big guy," Tracker said sternly, waggling a finger at him. "You kept me alive, which is the best thing you could have done. As for the healing, well, do you have a god in mind?"

Ragh immediately perked up, a half grin as he began to think. It would be a process, they would both soon find out - when he had come up blank, she had immediately begun with the most obvious of the gods: Cassandra and Galilea. Going over the pros, the cons, how both goddesses would easily accept him, though Cassandra might be a bit happier about it then Galilea was. But, eventually, neither of them just felt right to him, which was the most important thing. 

And so began their side quest - finding Ragh a god. 

"What about Tempus, god of war," Tracker asked one evening, gutting fish by the fireside as Ragh attempted to mend a hole in his shirt. "A neutral god, popular with a lot of fighters." 

It took him a long moment to answer, the tip of his tongue poking out from between his lips as he tried to keep his stitches straight. Tying off the line, he gave a small shrug. 

"Nah. I'm not much of a war guy. I like bashing heads, not overthrowing other governments for whatever reason I come up with, yah know?" 

“What about Gruumsh,” Ayda asked a few days later, pulling out the many goods she had brought from Riz’s borrowed suitcase of holding. She didn’t come often - Tracker had made it clear that this was her mission, and while all of their friends were ready to come the moment she said she needed help, she wanted to do this on her own first, or at least try. But every few months Ayda would show up in their camp with care packages and letters (Gorgug had made them satellite phones, but not all of them had planatar fueled vans to keep them charged with, so those were for emergencies only) and a few creature comforts they missed from home, stay for a meal, and then take back whatever they wanted to send with her, letters and keepsakes of their own to their own loved ones. 

It was always wonderful, getting the stack of letters from Kristen and Jawbone and the others, and this time she brought advice as well. 

“He is already the god of the orcs, which you are at least half of. I would need some of your blood to analyze the exact genetic makeup, and while that is a topic of conversation we will have to revisit in the future, for now I do believe Gruumsh would welcome you into his army.” 

Ragh was already shaking his head before she even finished, his nose wrinkled in distaste. “Nah sis, Gruumsh isn’t my kind of guy.” 

For a moment Ayda just stood there, watching him, her head tilted to the side. But then her eyes glowed just a bit brighter, and a look of understanding appeared. “Of course. You are neutral good. He is chaotic evil. Your alignments wouldn’t be compatible. I apologize for not thinking of this beforehand.” 

Ragh waved her off, giving her a fanged smile. “No harm, no foul, sis. I just get tired of people always thinkin orcs are evil, you know? I’m not, my mom’s not, Gorgug’s for sure not. So I really don’t want to get mixed up with an evil god if I can avoid it.” 

Ayda gave a deep nod of understanding. “On my honor as a wizard, and as both the mother and the daughter of the same quite wonderful half-orc, I swear to you, Ragh Barkrock, I shall not make that mistake again. Would you like an orange?” 

Ragh happily took the fruit from her outstretched hand, and Ayda gave a small, happy trill before returning to her unpacking, crying a few tears when he handed her a slice. 

“What about Talos, our lord of the storms and tempest that ravage our forests almost as well as you ravaged me last night?” 

Tracker could barely hide her eye roll and fake gag as she paid for their rooms at the inn, Ragh’s lately hook up hanging off his arm and batting his big elf eyes at him. She had known this was going to happen, again, and had warned him, again, that he needed better tastes in hook ups, but Ragh seemed to had a soft spot for elven twinks, and always ended up bringing one back to the inn whenever they were lucky enough to stay in one. She was just glad that they had separate rooms this time, and hadn’t had to sleep as a wolf in the nearest bush. 

“I’m not really a ravishing kind of guy,” Ragh said, trying to free his arm from the elfs’ grasp. “Sure, it’s fun to do every once in a while, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to commit to a ravishing lifestyle yet. What’s that, Tracker? We need to go?” Ragh looked at her with such desperation that she couldn’t turn her back on him like she had last time. 

“Come on Ragh, I have important things to do for Galilea.” 

“You hear the boss, important god cleric wolf stuff to do. I’ll call you, bye!” Ragh almost ran out the door past her, leaving the poor elf boy pouting at the table, wondering what Ragh meant when he said ‘call.’ 

“You need to work on your taste in guys, my dude,” Tracker said with a shake of her head as she slid into the driver’s side, glancing over her shoulder at the half-orc hiding in the back seat. “At least stop choosing the clingy ones?”

“Please, just drive.” 

In the end, it was Ragh himself who found his god, as was strangely right. 

The small town they had stopped in was, by far, their favorite stop so far. Mostly high elves, sure, but high elves strangely welcoming, much more like Adaine then the others they had met so far. A few other species were there too, half elves, a few fairies, and even a couple of gnomes that had taken residence in a nearby cave, turning it into a mix of apartment complexes and work stations. It was the most welcoming town they had been in; it almost felt like home. 

And, centered in the middle of town, were their shrines. 

It was common for towns this small, Tracker had learned, to not have a temple dedicated to every single god worshiped in the area. While for some towns that meant only one temple, maybe two if there were multiple families with influence, other towns had too many to count, each family or inhabitant following their own deity. So, instead, they had a shrine building instead, each deity with their own table and candles and cushions in front of them so those who worshiped them could pray. 

It was there, after he had gone missing for hours on end, that Tracker finally found him. He was just sitting there on one of the cushions, staring at the flickering candle, eyes both vacant and seemingly touched with a new found peace. He didn’t even notice when she sat down next to him, only starting out of whatever trance he seemed to be in when Tracker put her hand on his shoulder, gently shaking him. 

“This is him,” Ragh immediately said, his face lit up with almost the same happy glow as whenever he reminded people he was gay and was met with acceptance instead of the hatred he thought he would find. “I was curious what was in here, so I walked in and thought it was some kind of weird like, massage parlor, but I found my guy, and this dude totally rocks, Tracker!  Hoot growl, up high!” 

Tracker immediately gave him his high five, giddy with excitement for her friend. And taking a look at the shrine they sat before, she couldn’t help but agree that it fit. Torm, god of courage and self-sacrifice, a provider of protection. Symbolized by a white gauntlet raised against a coming sword. For her bodyguard and best friend, yeah, it felt right. 

Of course, finding the god was only the first step in becoming a cleric. Then there was the training. 

Not all clerics were as blessed as she and Kristen were (though, of course, no one was as blessed as Saint Kristen Applebees, chosen and denier of Helios, creator of the planatar YES!/?, healer of the Goddex Cassandra). Some clerics had to work to gain their deity’s blessing, to prove that they were good enough vessels of the gods’ holy power. Some were just pains in the asses to get a hold of. 

Luckily, Torm seemed to approve of Ragh. 

It took a while, a few days after they left the town, Ragh standing between her and a weird lizard creature neither of them could remember the name of, for Torm to finally respond to the prayers Tracker had been teaching him. An almost imperceptible white light seemed to surround Ragh's hand as it came down against the lizards' jaw, just bright enough that Tracker's wolf enhanced eyes caught it as she bit deep into the creatures' tail. And each time he fulfilled his role of protector, showed courage as he walked by her side into the temples of Galilea, took up his weapon to protect her against whatever else Fallinel had to throw at them, it grew a little bit brighter. 

Until one day, without even thinking about it, he cast a Sacred Flame at an enemy on the other side of their camp site, the burning bright light zapping into the creatures' side, sending it scampering back into the wilds of the untamed woods in the far reaches of the country. Together they quickly finished off their enemies, Rahg wielding his weapon and a new found spells with an enjoyable ease, taking joy in the blessing of his god. 

She remembered that feeling, the power and joy from being blessed by one of the gods, the sudden innate knowledge of exactly what to do to make everything perfect and wonderful and right. 

The fight eventually ended, Ragh having taken the brunt of the damage, though one of them did get a slice at her flank. Before she could shift back and heal it herself, Ragh had reached out and touched her shoulder. Another burst of brilliant white light, something she would have to teach him to control later, raced through her veins and across her skin, invigorating her and closing most of the wound, leaving a scratch where before there had been a gash. All while Ragh stared in awe, eyes and smile wide, though clearly he was exhausted from the small use of magic. 

Another moment and she was back in her human form, healing him herself as he sat back, staring at his hands as his wounds closed around him. 

"Tracker..."

She raised her head from examining her work, making sure there wasn't something she had missed. 

"This fucking rules." 

An easy smile shared between them, Tracker knowing exactly what he meant. 

"Yeah it does."

[my-miraculous-headcanons]

Kim Possible AU

In which Marinette is in gymnastics, is childhood friends with Adrien, and somehow became an agent-for-hire when someone accidentally dialed her number to call for help instead of actual, professionally trained agents. That’s right, they called a preteen for help, didn’t have the time to call anyone else, and rolled with it.

Also Adrien is a total goofball with a hairless cat. He still has both his parents, who start out overprotective but gradually loosen the reigns when it becomes clear that his friend will keep him safe.

(The reason I put gymnastics and not cheerleading is because I’m pretty sure that’s an exclusively American thing? Besides, gymnastics kind of makes more sense, skillset-wise.)

Origins

     • Marinette took gymnastics since she was seven, mainly because her clumsiness had been turning into a bit of a problem. (Parents start to get worried when their child’s having genuine physical difficulty in not hurting themselves. They thought gymnastics would help her learn balance, and also allow her to burn off some of her natural childlike energy.) By the age of eleven, Marinette is the best in her class, and is thinking about entering competitions.

     • Adrien is Marinette’s childhood best friend. Along with gymnastics, Marinette also started taking ballet, which is where the two met. Adrien was taking ballet because both his parents had taken it, and also because he thought it would be fun. Since he’d been taking it longer than Marinette, he helped her out in class, and the two have been inseparable ever since.

     • Adrien helped Marinette build a website to help get her name out there when they were eleven. They took videos of her doing a couple moves, and added a contact number. Unfortunately, (or, rather fortunately, actually,) Marinette’s number is very similar to a number for a group of agents who do pretty dangerous, life-saving jobs. 

     • Marinette’s first call is from a man requesting for help at a rather big bank in Paris, not far from her house. Being eleven, she doesn’t really understand that this is probably something she should inform the police, rather than handle herself. So, she and Adrien (who she sneaks out of his house) rush over, and save the day themselves.

     • Adrien had videotaped the impressive gymnastics Marinette had pulled off in order to safely get through the security lasers and shut them off. After that video was posted, she started getting calls on a much more regular basis, all from people in need of help. It wasn’t the sort of attention she was looking for when making the website, but she can’t deny she doesn’t love her new job.

The Present

     • By the ages of 16, Marinette and Adrien have travelled all over the world, gaining favors from a bunch of grateful individuals, and are pretty dang famous. They aren’t necessarily given special privileges at school, but if things are urgent, then they’re allowed to leave and makeup missing work online. 

     • Adrien is still a model, still plays piano, still takes Chinese, and still does a lot of different sports. On his own, he’s actually pretty famous. However, in this world, it’s pretty much impossible for him to display the ‘perfect, gentlemanly son’ persona when most of the world has seen videos of him screaming at the top of his lungs, running around in his underwear because somehow his pants got pulled off again. Yeah, he’s a straight A student with the classic, rich people training, but he’s still an utter dork and everyone knows it.

     • Marinette, while still taking gymnastics, has lost interest in making it a life career when she already sort of does it already. She’s picked up other interests, one of them being fashion design when Adrien had introduced her to what goes on behind the scenes in his workplace. She’s good at designing stylish, yet very practical outfits, and made uniforms for herself and Adrien for their ‘side jobs’ as agents-for-hire. 

     • While Adrien isn’t necessarily incompetent, he’s more of the ‘do first, think later’ type of guy when it comes to their dynamic, which often leaves Marinette to do the planning and problem-solving. At this point, it’s kind of abundantly obvious that, while Adrien is academically more profound, Marinette is vastly more analytical, and probably has a ridiculously high IQ if they ever bothered to check. 

     • There isn’t a main villain. Papillion doesn’t exist because Gabriel is completely aware of what his son is doing, still has his darling wife, and has literally no reason to waste his money on illegal activities. He’s a big name in the fashion world, it’s not like he’s looking for world domination or something stupid like that.

     • (I’m sure you’re wondering why the fuck Gabriel Agreste would let his only son go off on dangerous adventures like that on a daily. Well, he didn’t at first, but over time Marinette proved to be a more effective bodyguard than Adrien’s actual bodyguard, so he became more chill. Also, Adrien’s the face of his company, and with all the brave and daring things he’s done alongside Marinette, his popularity ratings are through the roof. Son has fun, is well-taken care of, still performs exceptionally in all his extracurriculars, and does well by the family business? It’s a win-win on all sides.)

     • I would make Lila Shego, except Shego is an actually likeable villain who’s genuinely smart, badass, and fun to watch. So, idk who Shego is, definitely not any of the catty girl rivals Marinette has to put up with, but you can’t have a Kim Possible AU without Shego, so she’s definitely in there. 

     • Max is probably Wade. Honestly makes the most sense, but here’s a suggestion: Max and Kim are the ones who contact Marinette when she has a mission. Max is great with numbers, technology, etc, but Kim’s expertise in completely random shit like sports, terrain, and necessary gear needed for specific situations makes him a valuable asset to the team.

     • We all know who Chloé is going to be, I don’t even need to say it but I will anyways. Say hello to our Bonnie, everyone. She was probably in that ballet class with Marinette and Adrien too, years ago. 

     • While Tom Dupain is still a baker, in this AU Sabine Cheng went on to pursue her dream as a literal rocket scientist, and succeeded. So, Sabine is basically Dr. James Timothy Possible. 

     • Adrien has a hairless cat named Plagg. His father is allergic to fur, and Adrien’s allergic to feathers, so he was sort of limited to pets like fish or lizards, neither of which he really wanted. He found Plagg outside gorging himself on camembert by a dumpster. Having been previously a street cat, Plagg’s growth was stunted, so he stayed pretty small.

     • Luka is obviously Josh Mankey. Marinette and Luka date for a while, but eventually break up on mutual terms due to him not being able to handle some of the dangerous things that pop up in her life often. While he doesn’t panic when things go south, he’s not really physically equipped to protect himself... He’s a musician, not a fighter.

     • Listen, y’all can fight me, Marinette’s longest relationship before finally getting together with Adrien is going to be with Kagami. Kagami handles the dangerous things that go on in Marinette’s life perfectly well, and they date for several months. Eventually, they do break up, but still remain good friends. (This is the period in which Adrien realises he’s jealous of Kagami, and has feelings for Marinette.)

Get Together

     • For those of you who haven’t watched Kim Possible, (and honestly what the hell are you even doing with your life if you haven’t,) Kim and Ron get together at a school dance (prom, but I don’t think prom exists in France,) and share a slow dance with each other. Uhhh so basically think Despair Bear, except Adrien and Marinette are wearing fancy clothes, just got together, and share a kiss in the end.

     • Marinette had recently broken up with Kagami before the dance, and is a little upset over not having a date when she already made herself a dress. Adrien is dealing with his realisation that he likes Marinette romantically, but keeps quiet about it and gives her a shoulder to cry on because she’s hurt, and he’s not going to take advantage of that. He suggests they go to the dance together as friends.

     • Kagami is there, and Adrien confronts her as to why she had broken up with the most amazing girl in Paris. She tells him that she came to the conclusion that, though she loved Marinette with all her heart, Marinette clearly had someone else as her #1. Kagami was sick of having to compete for that position when the other person didn’t even need to try. Adrien is left baffled by this.

     • Marinette overhears this as she’s walking over to ask Adrien for a dance. Kagami looked past Adrien’s shoulder, directly into Marinette’s eyes, and smiled knowingly. Then she walked away, sipping at her drink. 

     • Adrien turns around, pretty green eyes latching onto hers, and Marinette immediately understands what Kagami had meant. A slow song comes on, and she asks him to dance. Things fall in place from there.

     • (Of course, after they’ve kissed and become a couple, some dumb villain is going to inevitably crash the party and try to kill Marinette, as usual, but they deal with it like they always do.)

Alright that’s the end! This was an almost completed draft of mine I had, and since I’ve been lacking on content recently, I thought I’d quickly polish this up a bit and post it. I also have some other completed things I could polish up on, but eh, don’t feel like it right now. Enjoy!

(And maybe tell me how you’d imagine your favourite KP episode would go with Marinette and Adrien as the protagonists instead!)

[batgirl-87]

i'll start in good faith: explain some situations that your MC will deal once graduated(like maybe the summer before joining for her dream job, or a specific situation you imagined to happen related to her job)

You know I believe I mentioned before on here that I had this idea for a Curse Breaker movie about Bill and his Curse Breaker partner (Keira =p) that was like The Mummy/The Mummy Returns with some Indiana Jones... Guess I could describe that idea in some more detail...

It would be set in Egypt before the Weasley family goes to visit Bill there - basically the reason they go to visit him because after all this he receives some medal to reward him at the end of all these events. Originally I had imagined Cate Blanchett as Rakepick being Bill and Keira’s boss, but despite not playing the game lately I do know about some things that occur still in the game so... Doubt she’d be their boss but we all would love to see Cate Blanchett as Rakepick right?!

Anyway, I digress... This is clearly a fantasy movie that unfortunately will never be made. So sad... Also I have clearly never written a screenplay. Imagine as best as you can...

It would start out with whoever their boss is - could still be Cate Blanchett =p Maybe Rakepick has a good twin or sister or something? - talking with a couple... let’s call them diplomats? From another Curse-Breaking organization because with the whole world filled with artefacts and susceptible to curses Gringotts can’t be the only organization, right? I like to think there are a few scattered around the world and take on different regions but sometimes need to work together although there’s some animosity or competition... sort of like frienemies? Like how different nations interact - it’s some Curse-Breaker UN.

So Head Curse-Breaker of Gringotts discussing a work collaboration with a couple diplomats from another organization and I’m feeling...Russians... And is telling them about their Curse-Breaker agents, assuring them to put the best on the case, pulling out Bill and Keira’s files. As they tell these diplomats all of Bill and Keira’s accolades, how much they’ve accomplished since starting as Curse-Breakers, even before joining Gringotts! The camera can pan down to their files and fade to Bill and Keira in an ancient Egyptian tomb completing a mission. With the voiceover of their boss claiming them to be excellent and professional Curse-Breakers, best of the best!

However, the end of this mission doesn’t go so smoothly as they race down the corridors trying to escape the tidal wave of water that is flooding the tomb, running with the artefact they risked their lives for (I also like to think they’re taking back artefacts from wealthier individuals who stole them from less privileged people and cultures - probably why they’re cursed to begin with). They eventually find an exit from this tomb via some secret doorway that leads to a slide that shoots them out of the tomb and into some nearby body of water. After being submerged for a bit they pop back up, Keira holding up the artefact triumphantly and Bill commenting that he wished for once they could finish a mission without nearly dying or ending up soaking wet (probably because he’s concerned about his hair).

They return to their tent where they receive word that they’ll have an important meeting with their boss tomorrow when they return with the artefact. And she hopes they don’t show up soaking wet this time or with their clothes tattered and burnt =p They’re playing a radio that was a gift for them probably from Penny and Toto’s Africa begins to play with is totally their song and Keira ‘forces’ Bill to sing and dance around with her to it. This is clearly a common occurrence.

Oh and there’s definitely some mercenary ‘curse-breaker/artefact finder for hire’ they have to deal with – one in particular who they have a sort of weird relationship with because they always seem to run into him and have to deal with him so it’s always like a ‘oh you again. Well how are you? How are things?’ He’s also someone who I feel like tries really hard but is clumsy and constantly messes up but tries so hard to be a cool, tough badass but it really cowardly – like Benny from The Mummy =P

Anyway, so they go to meet with their boss, get told they’re doing a mission jointly with these Russians & will be working with his big Russian Curse-Breaker – makes Bill look tiny and like a twig =p – to find some ancient artefact. Ooo maybe from the Romanov Dynasty?! It’s very important to the Russians but the location is suspected after years and years of research to be in Gringott’s territory – hence having to work together. It’s a little awkward and tense at first – can they trust each other? Obviously there’s some distrust because what if Bill and Keira try to take it themselves instead of giving it to the Russians and can you even trust these Russians? And this guy is big and strong and a man of little words so hard to get to know him. But the three set out on this journey which is surely filed with action and adventure and they work well together when dealing with these mercenaries who get in their way and complicate things.

So they find this artefact and as soon as they accomplish their task they get taken by some other large Russians – turns out the leader of this gang is the older brother of their new Russian partner! Was he just using them all along to find this artefact – which is actually a key to a much larger fortune – and luring them to this trap and possibly their doom?! They were bonding! Thought they were friends! Come on man… But his older brother is an arsehole and keeps belittling his younger brother because he was adopted and therefore, worthless because his family didn’t want him so no one would and the only reason he was adopted was because his family just took pity on him, and he wanted a ‘little brother/servant’ so really he saved him so therefore he had to be appreciative and do everything he said/wanted him to do.

Anyway, so Bill and Keira are tied up by these big Russian guys, trying to figure out what to do and coping with the betrayal from their new Russian friend/partner, while the Russian guys discuss what to do with them in their native language. Fortunately Keira knows a little bit of Russian and can pick up a few words about essentially killing them, starting with Bill. So as one approaches them, or Bill specifically, Keira suddenly speaks up in Russian and Bill is like “wtf you speak Russian!?” She does her best to distract them or humanize herself and Bill but really the words she has learned are mainly related to Quidditch… But they got to like Quidditch right? Bill is just freaking flabbergasted because he’s known Keira for like over ten years and had no idea she freaking spoke Russian – what was happening?! Was everyone some secret Russian KGB agent in his life?! Were Fred and George going to start speaking to each other in Russian next?! (Keira now totally has to teach them some to mess with Bill).

Keira manages to at least distract them enough they drop their guards a bit as she rambles nonsensically about Quidditch =p so she can figure out an escape. Maybe something like kicking a knife or wand out of the one Russian’s hand who was approaching them and that kick also sends her back/down to break the wooden chair she’s tied to so she can get free. And if there wasn’t a knife previously from the guy there’s one on some nearby table because I just need Keira to throw a knife at Bill and tell him to cut himself free and get their wands – because they were clearly taken away from them and stored in this gang leader’s ‘office’ – while she runs off and leads this big Russian brute after her and Bill to be like “wtf?! Freaking almost killed me with this knife and how am I supposed to cut myself free with my hands tied?!” and then him awkwardly trying to figure it out. Cue some fight scene between Keira and a giant Russian which probably has a lot of her trying to bash him over the head with any heavy object she finds and this guy just shaking it off and not going down! She tries punching and kicking him – dude is like a brick freaking wall but she’s a fighter and I feel like this guy at least respects her fighting spirit and finds this pretty fun.

I haven’t exactly figured out a location where all this is taking place and how this is exactly to go down but Keira and giant Russian – evil Colossus – fight leaves a lot of property damage and as they stand facing each other for sort of a final showdown they notice…maybe a small fire they accidentally started closing in on a large propane tank or something… a gas leak… basically an explosion is going to happen so they have to get the hell out of there! They’re staring each other down, they look at the impending explosion, they look back at each other and then they both make a run for it. Maybe some slow motion is called for here?

Meanwhile, Bill manages to cut himself free but then Russian gang leader comes out from his office, with his adopted little brother/former Curse-Breaking partner of Bill and Keira – dude needs a name… Viktor? Ivan? I can’t handle anymore Alexanders or Nikitas… There’s some Ivan’s in the Romanov family so Ivan it is. Ivan follows his big arsehole of a brother out of his office who is clearly pissed to find both of his captures had escaped their ropes and one along with his henchmen were missing. Poor Bill is unarmed though and when big arsehole brother (I should give him a name but it is fun to call him this) takes out his wand to do away with Bill Ivan stops him and knocks him out – Ivan can be trusted! He feels awful for betraying Keira and Bill when honestly they’re good people and he liked them, they treated him well unlike his brother here, and they did bond and forge a friendship. He’s sorry he got them into this mess. And he helps Bill retrieve his and Keira’s wands as well as the artefact.

As they prepare to leave – either via apparition, portkey, or floo network which I have some interesting thoughts on but honestly all could work and Bill and Keira would definitely have a portkey to set destination – they realize, oh yeah, where’s Keira? Who of course during this perfect timing flies in with evil Colossus (omg I’m so happy I thought of this nickname for this guy) from the explosion propelling them through a large dividing window – I really feel like glass is the best option here. Evil Colossus is knocked out – the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Keira needs a moment, her ears are ringing, she’s blinking to try and get her blurry vision to focus and finally notices Bill and Ivan shouting to her and waving at her to come to them so they can get the hell out of there.

The explosion, while it knocked out evil Colossus, stirs Ivan’s arsehole brother who notices this new destruction before him and his henchmen taken out by some little witch? Wtf!? He reaches for his dropped wand to shoot at Keira who does her best to quickly get up and race to Bill while somehow avoiding Ivan’s arsehole brother’s attacks – probably because he’s still pretty groggy and not coordinated and focused after being knocked out so his shots are off. Plus in another world he’d be a Stormtrooper =p More slow motion of Keira running and avoiding attacks flying past her? Maybe… So she runs right into Bill’s outstretched arm, Ivan wraps his large arms around both of them, and they disappear – again, either via portkey, apparition, or floo powder/network.

Cut to a quaint little village surrounded by trees/forests and a calming river running through it. Some figures of people walking through the village and one leaving what appears to be a pub, swinging his bag over his shoulder and waving goodbye to his friends as they shout their goodbyes to him. He walks through the village, saying hi to a couple others he passes by, and crosses a bridge over the river to continue down a path towards his cottage-like home. As he opens the door to his quaint dwellings a trio of visitors surprise him by suddenly appearing and collapsing on his living room floor with some painful grunts and groans.

“Bill? Keira?”

If anyone is interested in the rest of my idea for this let me know. This was actually really fun to remember and re-live. I hope you enjoyed it and I would love it if it could be made into a movie one day.

“Hey, Charlie…”

Thank you for asking!

(This also helped me find a lot of good Keira x Charlie gifs from Outlander so thanks for that 😜)

[taekookficrecs]

Do you have any taekook average/long fics related to mafia/gang stuffs with a hint of angst and smut? (Top tae if possible) Thank you ! ❤

helloooo !! gang aus coming up :) these might not have all the elements each of you are looking for (especially the angst since these aus tend to be pretty heavy) but i hope you can enjoy them nonetheless.

Kiss With a Fist - byeolguk (( 30/? | M | 187,718 ))

“Need a little help, love?” Jungkook asks, teasing him.

“Nah I had it all under control, sweetheart,” Taehyung answers with a smile, blood oozing from his split lip. Goddamn even smiling hurt now. Fuckity fuck fuck. Jungkook only rolls his eyes, his cocky smirk never slipping and Taehyung almost forgets how much pain he’s in.

Taekook Prison Au

The Viper and His Bunny - buttercupguk (sselizabeth) (( 29/? | M | 241,895 ))

Taehyung had the entirety of Seoul in the palm of his hand, known venomously as the Viper for his reckless trigger finger. He never thought he'd be good for anything but killing—until he fell upon the bunny hybrid who'd been to hell and back twice, with eyes as starry as the solar system and a heart just as big.

Featuring right-hand man and assassin Jimin, intelligence ace Namjoon, designated doctor Hoseok, and war criminal Yoongi.

“There are people out there who would destroy this city to take me down. You know they'll try to get to you, right, bunny?"

One ear lopped over, Jungkook said petulantly, "Let them try. They won't get far."

Baby doll, you’re perfect - BTSLarryAf (( 34/34 | E | 117,194 ))

Yoongi got involved in a gang activity to take care of himself and especially his baby brother because they had horrible childhood. He’s been trying to keep Taehyung away from that world to keep him safe. The younger lived with their grandparents but after both of them die, Yoongi has no choice but to bring Taehyung to live with him and the gang to keep him safe.

His boss Jeongguk isn’t fond of the idea of an annoying kid living with them but somehow Taehyung gets under his skin. He gets a perfect idea – he might have some fun with corrupting the innocent guy and get some occasional good fuck from it. Little does he know that Taehyung has darkness inside him, darkness that slowly starts coming up on surface and infatuates the gangster. And over time, Taehyung makes a way into the boss’ cold heart.

down to the needle - aeterisks (( 1/1 | E | 50,445 ))

Where Taehyung focused on bold, strong edges, Jeongguk was all about delicacy and attention to detail. Two sides of the same coin that perhaps shouldn't have ever met in the first place. However, once Jeongguk starts to get to know him, he just can't pull away.

But I Still Want You - shargukkie (( 14/14 | E | 33,044 ))

After breaking into a building own by the feared tech gang, the Kim Group, Jungkook found himself on a run to escape from being caught that brought him to walking all alone in a deserted highway. That was when he received a free lift from a passing driver named Taehyung without knowing the real danger that awaited him.

It’s Getting Ugly! - meganni (( 1/1 | E | 39,123 ))

Basically, Jeongguk and Taehyung are in a gang that is full of individuals with mental health problems, most of which they refuse to face. So what the two of them do is basically go with it.

And oh, they have loads of filthy sex on the side.

refrigerator humming, chewing gum and instant karma - locks (( 8/8 | E | 61,449 ))

Taehyung sets the flowers down on the dining table, plucking the card off the little holder. "Dearest Taehyung, just wanted you to know that I'm thinking about you. I hope you're thinking about me too. Love--" he pauses and squints before cocking an eyebrow and pursing his lips. "Hyung, why is the boss of your little boy band gang professing his love for me?"

Yoongi drops the noodles on the floor with a loud curse as he burns his hand.

Or, Taehyung's been trying his hardest to avoid Yoongi's criminal life for a long ass time, but a cute kid and his infuriating father keep pulling him deeper into the mix.

House of Cards - sugamins (( 25/25 | E | 394,890 ))

Jungkook is the heir to a mob empire, the most notorious in the whole of Seoul. Taehyung is a rookie sent in to infiltrate by his select team and bring the empire crumbling down.

"You knew the game and played it, it kills to know that you have been defeated."

lover not a fighter, but i’ll fight for what i love - suninhersmile (( 51/51 | E | 195,669 ))

Jungkook leaned into his hand, nuzzling his palm. Warmth shot down Taehyung’s arm.

“I want you to take care of me, TaeTae hyungie,” he mumbled. He kissed the palm of his hand, his lips soft and plump against the rough skin. “I like you a lot.”

Warmth bloomed in Taehyung’s chest. He felt his eyes soften as he looked at Jungkook, and he smiled slightly.

“I like you a lot, too,” he whispered.

~

Kim Taehyung didn't know what to expect when he was hired to protect the son of South Korea's most notorious gang leader, but he certainly never expected to fall in love with him.

[read the tags!!]

Taste of Ink - sugamins (( 12/12 | M | 128,177 ))

Jungkook is a drug runner for the largest gang in the whole of Busan: the Sam Yong Pa.

One day he bumps into a runner for a rival gang in the next district that has trespassed into their territory: a Geum Sung Pa boy called Jimin. Jimin has a friend, a goon for the rival gang.

Taehyung beats people up for a living, and boy, does he look good when he’s doing it.

But their blossoming friendships reignite old gang flames and causes the most brutal gang war the country has ever seen.

Dragons destroy and stars explode.

Only Breathing - Aquiver - Sharleena (( 1/1 | E | 24,388 ))

Like all things about Taehyung, being loved by him is loud, messy and familiar. Under lilac neon lights his hair is a shade lighter and his skin is gold, Jungkook's hands tremble when he touches it and Taehyung keeps mixing weird sauces in his ramen.

“Do you still quiver when I touch you?”

“Always.”

of smokey bars and burning hearts - madeliefie (( 11/11 | N/R | 47,106 ))

The boy -man- is beautiful. The way the light shines on his face tugs at Jeongguk's heartstrings and for the first time in his life, he's caught off guard. Jeongguk knows he isn't going to heaven and he figures that this boy is the closest thing to an angel he'll get.

Taehyung wants the world to know who he is and Jeongguk is dangerous enough to make that happen.

Red Dragon on a back - narcisara (( 8/8 | E | 33,361 ))

“I hope you understand. Please, don't expect that if you ask me to drop everything, I'll actually do it, because I can't and won't,” Jeongguk adds, turning around, his face is serious, his lips forming a straight line.

Taehyung doesn't know what being yourself around someone else means, Jeongguk is there to show him.

abyssal - smoltae (( 37/37 | G | 70,426 ))

Jeon Jeongguk has always appreciated rare, beautiful things. And Kim Taehyung? He is as rare and beautiful as they come.

or, Jeongguk is a mobster with a weakness for rare art, and Taehyung is the only captive mermaid in Seoul. And maybe, they are meant to save each other.

You’re my snow - froot_loops, regina_phalagne (( 18/18 | N/R | 52,422 ))

Taehyung expected his life to be endangered, given that his brother is working for Seoul's biggest underground organization (which really is just a fancy word for Mafia if you asked Tae), yet he didn’t expect a dark haired stranger bursting in while he was taking a bath.

Bang Bang, You Shot Me Down - orphan_account (( 9/9 | E | 82,760 ))

“Revenge, Jeongguk, is a dish best served cold. Fuck that.” Taehyung grinned, both hands on Jeongguk's hips. “It’s hot outside and my blood is boiling. Together, baby, we’ll serve it ablaze.”

admin nj - pls enjoy :)

[bgn846]

Worthy Chapter 7: Hired Guns FFXV A/B/O Promnis

<Previous Chapter 6 

“Can’t it wait until tomorrow morning?” Prompto questioned desperately.      

 “Dearest, I know you have been acting strange ever since the engagement announcement, but you will have to accept it at some point.   Hiding in your room won’t solve anything.”

 “I know, but I really don’t want to go outside right now.  Tomorrow morning when it’s light out would be so much better.”

 “Prompto Argentum, don’t make me ask you a second time.  Please take out the trash,” Soliamare requested in a somber tone.

 Wincing, Prompto sighed and furrowed his brow. He couldn’t fight with his mother right now.  It was the last thing he needed to deal with. “Okay, okay. Can you watch me through the window?” he tried.

 “Prompto! I’m not kidding. Get your butt moving this instant,” she huffed, walking away.

 For a moment, he considered telling her what Lady Saeva had done to him so she’d understand why he didn’t want to go outside.  However, he was still worried she wouldn’t believe him. Instead, taking his fate in his own hands, he quietly grabbed the trash bag and opened the back door.

 He could do this.

 All he had to do was run to the bin, chuck the bag in, and run back.  Shouldn’t they have people to do this for them? His mom was a queen, for crying out loud!  

 If only life had worked out that way.  No sooner had he begun the run to the bin when movement in the bushes caught his attention.   The one rational thought that crossed his mind indicated that it probably wasn’t Lady Saeva hiding in the dirt.  However, something was there, and that something was now running at him.

 His throat only allowed a small strangled noise to escape as he dropped the trash bag and stumbled backwards.  It was a person coming at him - no, it was a woman. Astrals, maybe it really was Saeva!

 Then a second figure appeared and tackled the mystery woman to the ground.  They didn’t stay down; the newcomer was gracelessly tossed aside, and the lady continued on toward him.   Prompto had never seen anyone throw a body so easily. His own limbs weren’t cooperating as he tried to get away.   The fear was overwhelming.

 Unable to catch himself, Prompto tripped and tumbled down onto the ground.  He had to try and fight back, but his mind was too muddled to function. Managing to scramble backwards, Prompto looked for anything he could use for defense.  Bloody groundskeepers hadn’t even left him an errant twig lying around.

 A hand grasped his ankle a second later, and his brain went back into full panic mode.  The scary woman had caught up and was dragging Prompto’s body across the dirt. This time a flash of blue light accompanied the second attack.  The figure who’d been trying to stop the fight had used magic! Did that mean they were from Lucis?

 The woman grunted when she was tackled a second time.  “Get off me!” she hissed as they both fell over.

 “Run Prompto!” the man exclaimed from where he’d landed, and he was trying not to get a fist to the face.

 Wait, this guy knew his name, but who would know him?  It had to be the soldier that was stationed nearby, Nyx.   Prompto didn’t say a word but somehow was able to stand again and run for the back door.     Focusing on running up the few steps to the door, he missed a small but important detail. His mother was watching through the door and had decided to come outside.  Gods, no, this was so bad.

 Soliamare shoved the door open wide and was running to him, Prompto wasn’t sure what she was hoping to accomplish.  Bad things were clearly happening outside of their house.

 “Mum, no!  Go back inside!” he tried.  Of course, like any parent, she ignored him and pulled Prompto close into a hug.

 “What on Eos is going on out here?” She asked nervously.

 The attacker was still struggling with Nyx, and when Soliamare made an appearance, it proved enough of a distraction for the woman to shove Nyx away.  Prompto watched in horror as she rushed them again, this time with a dagger drawn. This wasn’t happening; he wasn’t going to let this happen.

 Without thinking, Prompto twisted his mum out of the way and took her place in front of the incoming blade.  Then there was nothing but silence. Things weren’t in slow motion like in the movies. They had ceased to exist.  He’d apparently closed his eyes during what he thought was his last moment alive. However, he was still breathing and uninjured.  

 Nyx’s voice cut through the haze a moment later. “Why?  He’s a harmless omega,” he asked with a strained voice.

 The blond willed his eyes to open, and he was greeted with quite a sight.  This woman who was trying to kill him had her dagger inches from his throat.  Nyx also had his weapon out and had it under the woman’s chin. They were at a stalemate.

 “If he’s so harmless, then why the hit?” the woman pondered coolly.

 “You seriously trust the crazy bitch that gave you that order?” Nyx sputtered.

 “Of course not!” she spat.  “She’s a troublemaker, clear as day.”

 “Then why are you doing what she wants?”

 The attacker paused and looked directly at Prompto.  He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck raising. His mum was shaking behind him. She had clutched his arm like a vice, and he suspected if she let go, she might fall over.

 “I suppose if someone is willing to take a hit for their mother, they can’t be that bad,” she mused a moment later, slowly lowering the blade.  “So keep talking, glaive.”

 Nyx went to respond, but a noise from nearby caught his attention.  “Inside now!” he huffed. With his knife still at the attackers throat, they all managed to stumble inside.

 Soliamare was the first to crack. She started crying rather loudly and drug Prompto into the corner of the kitchen.  “Leave us alone. We didn’t do anything wrong,” she wailed desperately.      

 “I’m afraid I can’t do that, majesty,” Nyx replied.  “We need to get answers from our mystery woman first.”

 “You can lower your weapon, glaive; I’m not in the mood to play with you anymore,” she replied dryly. “Besides, blue eyes over there is seriously stressed out right now,” she added, sniffing the air lightly. “Can’t you tell?”

 Nyx furrowed his brow and kept staring at her.  “Obviously, he’s stressed; you just tried to kill him.”

 “I wasn’t going to kill him,” she defended.  “I was trying to see what he’d do.”

 “By holding a knife to my throat?!” Prompto exclaimed.  “How does that help you make a decision about someone?”

 “You’re an omega, and even given that fact, you still went to save your mother.   It’s a sign of good character. Besides, if you have a glaive looking after you, then I suspect the report I was given is incorrect.”

 “What report?” Nyx pressured.

 The woman rolled her eyes ,and then in a flash, she ducked down and away from Nyx’s weapon.  With one swift kick she sent Nyx toppling backwards and across the kitchen floor. “I’m tired of talking with that thing at my neck.  Shall we be civilized and sit at the damn table?” she queried.

 “Hey!” Prompto cut in.  “My mum is having a mental breakdown over here, and I’m barely keeping it together.  Are you gonna try and kill me again?”

 “Huh?”  The woman seemed a little stunned by his outburst.   “Kid, I’m not going to try and kill you. Like I said, I hadn’t made up my mind about that, anyway.”

 “Then can you leave us alone?” he asked, hopeful.

 “Sorry, cupcake. If our lady friend finds out I bailed, she’ll just hire someone else.”

 Nyx had picked himself up off the floor and was stomping back over to where the stranger had taken a seat at the table. “Name?” he growled.

 “Oh – that’s why you can’t smell him as well as me. You’re a beta,” she mused with wide eyes.  “You’re not bad of a fighter, considering.”

 Nyx frowned but opted to stand between the stranger and Prompto.

 A shaky voice spoke up next.  “What lady friend are you talking about?” Soliamare asked with teary eyes.

 “Lady Saeva,” the stranger announced.

 “Wha—no, you must be mistaken!” she lamented.  “She’s to marry Prompto’s eldest brother!”

 “Step-brother!” Prompto and Nyx interjected at the same time.

 Soliamare seemed stunned and started to waver where she stood.   Nyx noticed right away and rushed over to help her sit down. “Majesty, you need to take it easy.” He turned his attention back to the stranger.  “Now, will you please tell us your name?” He asked

 “You could pass for an alpha with some more training.  You’re so good at it,” she enthused with a small smile, completely ignoring his question.  

 “I’m gonna start calling you nasty names if you don’t provide one!”

 The mystery woman laughed and leaned back in the kitchen chair.  “You can call me Aranea. So what’s your name      beta    ?” she asked, using her full alpha influence.

 Prompto could tell Nyx was struggling with this encounter.  The scent this woman, Aranea, had started to produce was intoxicating.  It wasn’t calming, but it wasn’t threatening either.

 “Ulric,” he finally managed through gritted teeth.

 “The famous glaive, Nyx Ulric. This is exciting.”

 “What are we going to do?” Prompto asked weakly as he slowly sank to the floor.

 “Hey now, kid, don’t sit on the floor,” Aranea cooed as she stood up.

 “Don’t hurt me!” the blond whimpered as he backed away further into the corner.

 Nyx was about to abandon his post next to Soliamare when Aranea stopped and held up a placating hand.  “I’m not going to harm anyone. Promise.”

 “How can we trust you?” Nyx asked seriously.

 “You’ll just have to use your gut instinct,      beta    .”

 “You – you have to do better with your scent,” Prompto offered.  “I’m not feeling so great right now.”

 Aranea looked a little dumbstruck by the statement.  “My scent? Oh! You mean you want me to change it?”

 Prompto nodded his head furiously.  “Ignis can do one that’s really calming; I thought all alpha’s could.”

 “Ignis, as in the prince of Lucis’ advisor, Ignis Scientia?”

 “Uh-huh.”

 “How do you know Scientia?” Nyx asked worriedly.

 “I know of him. I don’t know him personally.  Besides, if Scientia likes you, I’m not touching you with a ten-foot pole, kid.  You should warn a lady first.” Aranea huffed. “Playing with fire has its dangers.  His mom must have known what he’d grow up to be to give him a name like Ignis.”

 “What are you thinking he’s responsible for ,anyway?” Nyx asked perplexed.

 “He’s a mastermind.  He plans and calculates and does things that no one else thinks of.  You’re probably here because he sent you.”

 Nyx pursed his lips but stayed silent.  

 “Well that answers that. So this scent thing. . . you say you want calming, huh?”  Aranea wrinkled her nose as she worked to adjust her pheromones.

 Prompto could tell instantly that she’d changed something.   Instead of the previously charged atmosphere, his heart rate was finally able to slow down.  He didn’t even notice she’d approached until he felt his foot move. She’d nudged his shoe with her boot.

 “Better?”

 He nodded and closed his eyes.

 “Hey kid!  Sit at the table with us!” she tried.

 Popping his eyes open once more. He accepted Aranea’s hand, and she tugged him upright.  Once he’d sat down, his mum forcefully drug his chair closer to hers. “Is that why you were so upset at the party the other night?  Did she do something to you?” Soliamare asked with a pained expression.

 “She threatened him with a knife and was trying to bite him I think,” Nyx cut in.

 “You were there!” Prompto shouted.  “Titan’s ass, it was you that slammed the door!”

 “Language, Prompto!” Soliamare reprimanded.

 “Sorry, mum. I didn’t know it was Nyx who saved me.  She was going to stab me or claim me, I couldn’t tell.”

 “Why didn’t you tell me?!”

 “You wouldn’t have believed me,” the blond lamented.

 Soliamare went to answer but closed her mouth a moment later.   “I’m so sorry, dear heart. I didn’t realize what her true character was.  Do you forgive me?”

 “Mum!” he cried. “Of course. Will you please let us leave now, though?  I don’t want to live here anymore. I want to go to Lucis. Noct wants to have us, and Ignis is helping him figure out how.”

 “You can add me to the list, too,” Aranea added with a grin.

 “What makes you think I trust you?!” exclaimed Nyx.

 “You will,      beta    . Don’t you want to keep an eye on me?” she asked innocently.

 Nyx shuddered and shook his head.  “Will you stop using alpha-influenced speech. it’s really hard to have a conversation with you.”

 “I know,” she offered, still smiling.  “      Beta    .”

 Nyx made a high pitched noise and clenched his fists on the table.  “Why me?” he huffed under his breath.

 “Why not you?” she asked.

 “Astrals save me.  Prompto, do you trust her?”

 “Can we ask Ignis?” he ventured.

 “Yeessss, let’s ask Scientia. I want to hear his voice.”

 “We can’t exactly call him; I can send a text, though.”

 Aranea frowned but still seemed excited by this development. “How exciting, coded messages.”

 Nyx sighed as he dug out his phone.  He typed for a few minutes and then put the phone down.

 “What did you say?” Soliamare asked.

 “If I told you, it wouldn’t make any sense.” Nyx lamented.

 Prompto assumed, since Nyx was calming down, that Aranea would probably stay with them unless Ignis texted him back something to the contrary.  Now they had to figure out how to get out of Niflheim and back to Lucis where it was safe. If Lady Saeva had hired someone to try and kill him, then she was serious about getting rid of him.  That thought was a little disheartening, but he was glad he had help to fight back. He wasn’t going to let Lady Saeva ruin his life.

       Ignis stared at his phone.  Oh dear, this was a very disturbing development.

 Nyx Ulric 10:48pm      :          New co-worker started today from rival company.  Not sure if they are on the up and up. Showing them the ropes now but things may change. The new girl’s a sharp cookie.  

 He had to act fast. Things were spiraling out of control, and he was getting very worried for Prompto’s safety.   The advisor grabbed his coat and ran out of his apartment. It didn’t take long before Ignis tracked down Ardyn. He was lounging in the gardens in the dark.  The man saw him coming and gave Ignis a puzzled look as he briskly strode over.

 “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?” asked Ardyn from the shadows.

 “That vile woman has hired an assassin to go after Prompto,” Ignis hissed quietly.

 “Oh, that does move your timetable forward slightly.  I take it we are to be leaving within the hour?”

 “Yes. I must tell Noct and Gladio, and then we can go.”

 “Oh! I want to watch. I love it when our young prince gets riled up,” Ardyn exclaimed as he stood up and smoothed out his coat.

 “You enjoy it because he accidentally sets things on fire.” Ignis sighed.

 “It’s a Lucis Caelum thing, Ignis. You wouldn’t understand.”

 Rolling his eyes, they both started walking towards Noct’s suite.  Ignis had already texted Gladio with instructions to meet them there.  He could only hope that the prince would follow his directions.

 Noct, to his credit, didn’t set anything on fire.  Ignis could tell that Ardyn was terribly disappointed, but they didn’t have time to waste with such matters.   The dark-haired youth did try to weasel his way into coming, but his shield put a stop to that plan.

 Gladio was not going to let Noct leave Lucis - not with assassins running around.   Noct finally backed off and made them both promise to send him constant updates.  

 “Do you think he was able to convince his mom to leave?” Noct asked worriedly.  “He said he wasn’t going without her.”

 “I am not leaving Prompto in that situation.  I will strive to educate his mother on the reasons for leaving, but if she won’t come, then I can’t force her.”

 Noct looked confused for a moment.  “Um --.”

 “Save it princess, he basically just said he’s coming back with Prompto whether his mom likes it or not.” Gladio huffed.  “You both better get going. I don’t think snaky would cheap out on hired help for a job like that. You don’t have much time.”

 “Snaky is far too kind of a name for that harlot,” Ignis growled.  “We must go.” On that final note, he turned and left the suite. He hoped he wasn’t too late.  Nyx appeared to be handling what he could, but if Saeva got King Alban on her side, things would definitely take a turn for the worse.

 “My dear boy, I’ve not seen you so animated in quite some time,” Ardyn proffered as they walked towards the car waiting to take them to the airfield. “I do believe Sana’s assessment of imprinting is correct.”

 Ignis stalled briefly in the corridor.  “You talked to Sana?” he ventured.

 “When she visits I do, of course, but I’ve gathered this information from Gladio.”

 Picking up his pace again, Ignis wondered when that talk had occurred. “Do you and Gladio discuss things frequently?”

 “We had our reasons; we were concerned about you.”

 Ignis stopped for a second time. “Concerned? What on Eos would you both be worried about?”

 “Ignis, I know you can walk and talk. Shall we?” Ardyn gestured with his hand.

 “Did you consider it might be you who can’t walk and talk?” Ignis grumbled as he continued on.

 Arydn’s laugher broke the tension.  “I can do a great many things at the same time.”

 “Hmmm.  So why were you discussing me?” the advisor tried again.

 “Gladio correctly guessed that I’d met other imprinted mates, so he wanted my insight.  We have both noticed your change in behavior around Prompto.”

 “Though I desire to know more, I must be blunt due to our current situation.  Should I be worried about anything?” Ignis asked with furrowed brow.

 Ardyn smiled.  “No.”

 “That’s it? You have some possible life-altering talk about me, and I’ve nothing to worry about?” Ignis asked in disbelief.

 “You decided to rescue the lad, so you did the right thing.  No intervention needed.”

 Ignis opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t find the words.

 “Imprinted mates don’t fare well if they don’t get together, Ignis.  Gladio simply wants you to be happy, which is why he sought my advice.”

 Taking a deep breath, Ignis hurried his pace as they raced to get to Niflheim.  It was astonishing that someone could hold such power over him after they’d only been in each other’s company for a day at most. Prompto might not even feel the same way.  He could travel there and be rebuffed. That would be a rather disappointing let down.

 It was pushing midnight when they finally boarded the dropship. Ardyn plunked down in a seat and promptly fell asleep. Ignis envied his ability to tune out the world when need be.  His mind was far too consumed with possible issues and problems that would await them when they landed.

 Suddenly overcome with an odd feeling of guilt, he pulled out his phone to text Gladio.

Ignis Scientia 12:05am: I’m doing the right thing, aren’t I?

 Breathing deeply, he waited to see if the shield would respond.  Thankfully, the man answered him within minutes.

Gladio Amicitia 12:08am: Of course you are the kid needs help.

Ignis Scientia 12:10am: You don’t think Noct is cross with me for ignoring him, do you?  I’ve been so focused on Prompto. I fear I’ve not been doing enough for his highness.

 His phone pinged nearly immediately after that.

Gladio Amicitia 12:11am: NO! and NO!

 Ignis looked down at his phone with wide eyes.  He assumed Gladio was typing more and waited for a follow up message.

Gladio Amicitia 12:14am: Noct would be sneaking out right now if I wasn’t here to prevent it.  He’s ecstatic that you’re taking action. Plus you do too much for princess as it is, he’ll survive.   Go get your omega!

 The last message helped dispel Ignis’ worried thoughts.  Even if Prompto turned him down, he would still help him escape Niflheim and start a new life elsewhere. Opening a text to Nyx, he alerted the glaive to their arrival.

Ignis Scientia 12:20am: I wish to interview your new coworker before the shift starts.  Will your office work?  

 They’d already arranged code words for meeting places in case this very scenario happened.  He could only hope Nyx would get his message in time.

 The glaive texted him back within minutes.

Nyx Ulric 12:25am: Please tell me the head of HR is coming too?

 Oh dear. This was very bad indeed.  If Nyx was already requesting backup, things were getting dangerous.

Ignis Scientia 12:27am: Even better, the VP.

Nyx Ulric 12:29am: Thank the six.

 The messages stopped after that, and Ignis could only prepare for the unknown.  His first order of business once they landed was to locate Prompto and Nyx and get the hell out.

>Next Chapter 8

[galaxyofstories]

Just ‘cause we can, does that mean we should? - An Altered Carbon (S1&S2) Review

Stories of immortality, the fountain of youth, and shapeshifting are throughout our stories. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde explores the idea of staying young and the corruption of the soul. From Bram Stoker's Dracula to every other vampire story told we see those ideas played out repeatedly. These ideas even come up in folklore from around the world. So needless to say, humanity has always wondered about immortality, youth, and shapeshifting.

Before we start, I have some questions for you. You don't need to answer them, instead, think about them. I mean really consider what it would mean.

What if we could live forever? If death is a part of life, and death is removed, is that really life? But what if there was still a possibility of death, but could technically (under the right circumstances) live forever, would birth and eventual death even matter? What if we could change our faces? Our bodies? If we can change our bodies, should we still worry about illness and disease? If we can change what we look like and we can live forever, does money and power still dictate us? What would humanity be like? How would we change with time as a species? As individuals? Would it be worth it? Does anything matter if our physical does not matter? Just because we can, does that mean we should?

This is Altered Carbon's universe. Humanity has moved beyond Earth (in fact, I think Earth is mentioned only once... and it's pretty far into the series) and we have found a way to become basically immortal. Cool, right?

There are spoilers approaching. Get Ready.

You're immortal, as long as you don't get your stack busted. The stack holds everything that makes up a person (experiences, memories, feelings, thoughts... everything). Stacks can be moved from sleeve (body) to sleeve with very little consequence. Well... That is if you're a Met, a rich person. And the poor... Well... If your stack is intact, you're still a live, but not physically there. Sometimes the poor can afford to rent a sleeve, but the series hints that even renting is a luxury. So what now? We don't die unless our stacks are destroyed, and we can look like anybody we want to look like. What do we do as a species?

Do we socially evolve? Yes and no. Yes: No longer is skin color a factor in a person's worth. Which, honestly, is really fucking awesome. You can go from being born Japanese/Russian to being a Caucasian guy to being a black guy. Since anybody can look like anybody, racism isn't a problem. Yay! Since racism isn't a problem, we see diverse families and relationships. So, point for AC! However, I did wonder what that means in reality. I'm sure there were people complaining about changing the main character's race from Asian descent to Caucasian. I understand why it is a problem when this does occur in other stories, but the changing of race is part of the series. It again, shows that in AC's universe you can look like anybody! I wouldn't have been upset if they stayed with an Asian actor for the whole series, but the dramatic change just drives home that race isn't important in AC.

No: Humans have not socially evolved as far as the economic classes are concerned. There is still a "1%" which holds all power and all the money and they still only care about themselves. The poor are nothing to them. There is no problem, unless it threatens them or their way of life. I'm glad this was in the series because it makes AC's idea of a future more realistic as a possibility for us. Granted, it's more than likely not going to happen, especially with the fact that we haven’t even been to Mars... Mars is 106 million miles away, but C'MON! In the 60s they thought we would have colonies all across the galaxy! Or at least on the Moon. In all honesty, I'm disappointed that we aren't even living on the moon in this day 'n' age. That's beside the point. The point is, the idea some people have that they are better than other people persist even in a universe where none of that should matter. Maybe the creator was hinting at the idea that greed and lust of/for power is a part of the human condition.

Has the human condition changed? No, besides the fact that in the previous paragraph I basically said it does not, there's another example. In AC, as humanity spread out in the galaxy seeking new home planets, we did what humanity historically does... We assumed we were more important beings. Killed indigenous life. And stole their secrets and their lands. Humanity might not be a lot of things, but we are damn predictable. Woo!

Oh. And by the way, just in case you were wondering, sex still sells. In fact, I'm pretty sure it’s one of the main industries on many planets in AC. And it's actually a large part of the first season's story line. Without it, there would have been no motivations for certain characters to do the things they did and the whole season would be like three episodes. With that being said, in season 2 there is less sex. So, at multiple times while watching season 2 I had to wonder, just for a hot minute, if the show's writers and creator added all the sex and nudity just to get their show sold on Netflix. Upon reflection, I decided that yes, some of the sex and nudity (seriously halfway through the first season you see multiple breasts, butts, vaginas, and 1 penis) but I also really think it was an important aspect to the story.

Are you guys ready for my opinion about the show?

If you haven't guessed it, I really enjoyed it!

I didn't think I would like it at first. Sex and nude bodies within minutes of the first episode of shows usually don't grab my attention. Like, I came here for a story! Not soft porn! (Which is why I never got into True Blood despite the fact I love vampiric stories!) However, I love stories that are intricate webs. Almost like spiderwebs. If you touch one thread, the whole web vibrates. And that is what Altered Carbon is. It is a complicated web of mystery, interesting characters, and emotions.

For some, it could be hard to get into because it is so complicated and honestly a bit weird, but if something isn't complicated and weird is it really worth the time?

I also really liked this show because the cast is very diverse!

So all those hypothetical questions I asked at the beginning are questions that I feel like Altered Carbon is trying to answer through the story of Takeshi Kovacs. He's been away from the world for more than two centuries. Hired by a Met to solve the Met's death, which is the main mystery and even though it seems like an obvious whodunit, it is more complicated than it seems. And so is Takeshi.

He's not just a fantastic martial artist and weapon's expert. He is a brother, a friend, and a lover. (And let’s be honest, crazy attractive no matter the sleeve!)

Thinking back, none of the characters are one dimensional. Each one has their own motivations, past, and does the one thing that is important in storytelling, each one grows (whether good or bad). I’ll do a bit about some of the characters, but not all.

Takeshi Kovacs When we first meet him, he’s a dick that hallucinates. I mean, he’s always a dick, but we don’t know why he’s such a dick or why he hallucinates (my money had been on the drugs…). He just wants to find a place to lay his head, maybe get his rocks off, and drink. That’s all he is in most of the first episode. By the end of the first episode you’re left wondering who the hell this guy is! And why the hell is he such a good fighter even though he hadn’t been in the physical plain for more than two centuries! As the series progresses you learn bits and pieces here and there. By the end of season 1, you know who he is. He is Takeshi Kovacs, The Last Envoy.

Kristin Ortega My first thought was either she needed to hop on that dick or go fly a kite. Honestly, I don’t like that that was my first impression of her. She grew on me a lot. In fact, her storyline brought the religious aspect into the story. If we can live forever, would God be okay with that? It was really interesting to me to think about that. Anywho, back to Kristin… There are times that I think her character gets away with more than she should, but again, it fits in well with the whole plotline of the show.

Quellcrist Falconer THIS BITCH RIGHT HERE. HBIC! UGH!!!! She is so cool!!!! I love this character so much! A little less in season 2 because she doesn’t come off as strong as she does in season 1, but it is explained why she’s not as boss bitch. Aaaannd, it’s understandable. But seriously! She is really really awesome! Leader of a rebel cause, extraordinary fighter, master of her world… SO GREAT. And honestly she has some of the best philosophical one liners.

Poe Probably the most human out of all of them. I really enjoy the character. He’s sweet, kind, and smart.

Reileen Kawahara I’m going to let you decide. I haven’t decided for myself yet. Jaeger A fucking asshat. I’m just going to leave it at that. So, this is where I will stop (partially because I've been working on this for days and I just want it posted!) The main takeaway is that IF YOU LIKE STORIES THAT ARE DEEP, COMPLICATED, AND WEIRD WATCH THIS SHOW!! YOU WILL BE SO GLAD YOU DID! And please let me know what you thought of it! I would really love to talk about this show more! If I think of anything else to add I shall post again! Thank you!

[randomwordsandstormydays]

A Long Road (WIP)

I’m not sure I’ll ever actually get around to finishing this fic, but I’d love some feedback. It’s going to be a full-length game playthrough of Fallout: New Vegas under my OC Riley Smith.

This is the first “section”, can’t really call it a chapter, but here it is.

///

Her hands are bound.

The ground is hard and cold.

Someone is digging near her feet.

These realizations trickle in slowly, like a sink with a leak that never stops dripping. Each new observation is a piece of a puzzle she’s desperately trying to assemble before the end. But the end of what?

She doesn’t fully remember how she got into this situation. One minute she was on the road, bright lights of the New Vegas Strip filling her vision, only a few steps away from completing her delivery. The next moment she’s being dragged on the ground by her ankles, head thumping against the Mojave dirt with every step the man tugging her along takes. There’s at least three other people leading the way, and a man behind her. A particularly rough bump and she groans at the pain and the whole party stops.

From somewhere up ahead a voice calls “knock her out again, ‘fore she can call for help,” and then a fist comes down to meet her face and everything goes black.

When they knocked her out the first time the sun had been setting, tinting the sky with purples and reds. On the road she could just make out the faintest sliver of light on the horizon. Now, the moon is high in the sky, bright and full. The sight of it makes her head hurt and she knows she’s got a concussion.

The brim of her hat hides her eyes from view and she takes in what she can. The sound of someone digging, the smell of cigarettes, and three pairs of shoes - two dirty and dusty from the road and wear, and one pair that looks nice, almost new by post-war standards. Then, people start talking.

“You got what you were after, so pay up.” The voice is rough, angry sounding.

The response is casual, like whoever says it isn’t afraid of the people around him, even though he’s clearly not one of them. “You’re cryin’ in the rain, pally.”

So this was a job, taking her out, not just a couple guys looking for an easy score. But what did the person who hired them want?

Her? She’s a nobody, just a courier who’s good at her job.

Her delivery? It’s possible, but if that was the case why not just leave her in the dirt outside the Strip, why drag her to wherever they are now?

A realization strikes her: they mean to kill her, bury her out here so no one knows where she is. So that her body can’t be stumbled upon. Something about this whole thing is off, what’s so important about her that her body can’t even be found?

Her mind flashes to Andrew. They’ve been together nearly a year. When she doesn’t come home he might come looking for her, and if he does, he’ll never find her.

Or will he think she left him and not even bother to try and track her down? It wouldn’t surprise her. She’s always been a little flighty, hard to nail to one spot. The only reason she didn’t bounce out of her relationship is that Andy never tried to keep her tied down. Never complained that her job kept her on the road five days a week, only held her a little tighter every time she stumbled through the door, road worn and dusty. He probably won’t even look for her, they love each other, sure- but he’s not a traveler, not a fighter, not an adventurer. She’s positive he’ll miss her, he loves her after all, but she also wonders how long it’ll take him to move on once he realizes she’s never coming back.

Her heart hurts when she thinks of his face. Will he cry? Or has he been waiting this whole time for her to finally leave?

Will he find her mother and brother? Track them down to tell her that she’s missing, that she’s probably dead? Or will the two of them go on forever, watching the door and waiting for her to stop by? And what of her friends? Gunny and Jack, Missy and Elliot, they’ll miss her for sure. Will Andrew find them and tell them that she’ll never show for a monthly poker game again? Will they cry, will she be mourned, or will she fade from their lives as easily as she stepped into them?

Maybe she can make it so no one has to miss her. She still doesn’t know why they dragged out putting her in the ground, but she’s certainly not going to just roll over and let them get away with it. And if she can get free, then no one has to worry for her. Quickly she sits up, grinding her wrists together to try and get the rope around them to loosen up.

“Heh, guess who’s waking up over here?”

It doesn’t work, the knots are good, tight and rough, so she goes to run. Just as she’s rising up a hand clamps down on her shoulder and keeps her kneeling. When she looks up there’s three men right in front of her. Two great Khans and a man in a checkered suit. It’s clear by his relaxed position that he’s in charge and she watches, annoyed, as he puffs on a cigarette. She’s about to die, and he’s getting a nicotine fix?

Then he flicks it aside, crushing it under one nearly pristine shoe. “Time to cash out.” Oh, god, casino talk.

“Will you get it over with?” The Khan on the left looks annoyed, but checkered suit holds up a finger to silence him.

“Maybe Khans kill people without lookin’ ‘em in the face, but I ain’t a Fink. You dig?” Well, shit, that confirms what she already knew: they mean to kill her. It also tells her that this man isn’t a Khan, not that that wasn’t blindingly obvious by the everything about him, but still- it means whoever she pissed off probably isn’t with them either.

He pulls out a poker chip, it’s shiny, definitely different than any one she’s ever seen before. It has to be the platinum chip that was in her package, the one she was supposed to deliver. At least now she knows it was about her job, nothing personal.

“You’ve made your last delivery, kid. Sorry you got twisted up in this scene.” What scene? There was nothing to get twisted up in. She’s just a courier, doesn’t owe anyone money, never ran with a group that made enemies, has never even been on the Strip before. It’s all about who hired her, they’re the ones that should be tied up, kneeling in the dirt. She’s a good person, has friends and family that care about her, there’s no reason for her to be here, on her knees, not even given the chance to say goodbye.

He pulls out a pistol. She knows she should be scared, but the emotion seems far away. All she can get her hands around is annoyance and confusion. 

“From where you’re kneeling must seem like an 18 karat run of bad luck.” God who is this guy? All the poker puns and shit? They live in New Vegas, but doesn’t he have any sort of original thought- or has he really bought into all the hype? He aims the gun at her face, and when she looks up at him, she sees it in his eyes that he’s serious, there’s something there she reads that tells her nothing she can say or do will change her fate.

She’s going to die.

“Truth is, the game was rigged from the start.”

Her last thought is: what an asshole.

[dramaclover]

Ending & Thoughts: Death by Zero

Oh wooow. This was a wild ride and I’m so glad I watched this. First, it was a fresh concept as it surrounds assassins. And no, it’s not like “The Man Who Kills Trouble” where it’s just one person and they try to convince us how Carson wasn’t a cold blooded killer and that he just helps people “solve” their problems. This really takes place in a world with assassins where they have an agent to accept killing jobs and a clean up crew that cleans the area and body of evidence. Like how fun is that? It’s such a fresh and hilarious concept.

I really like how both leads in Yim Mou & Kiu Sing lead different stories. They weren’t best friends and only got involved with each other when needed. Also like how Nana and Kiu Sing never got together and were just basically friends. He even helped her to overcome her dislike for guys and persuaded her to move on from her past lover. Not all relationships end up together and he was a better fit with Suk Haan. Also glad Charlie did not die. Probably the first character to break out of the “best friends must die” for revenge trope. Despite Yim Mou & Kiu Sing both were former assassins they lead vastly different lives. From beginning to end. Yim Mou had a more tragic story while Kiu Sing was more lighthearted in a sense.

Yim Mou was a cocky jerk that was a top killer. Unfortunately, his wife and daughter suffered from his actions. He was an extreme playboy and had no care for them. Of course later on after his wife died in the fire and his daughter turns blind, he tries to turn his life around. His ending made the most sense. At first I was sad that he died and I really thought he didn’t. But it made sense. He has a heart problem and his daughter was dying. This was his way of paying back to her daughter. So he sacrificed himself to give his eyes and organ to his daughter. Yim Mou had done so much wrong things in the past, his death was fitting. I only wish he got a chance to say his last words to Suk Haan and Megan. Even his last words in the form of a letter would be a nice farewell.

Kiu Sing also known as Zero, was a Casanova who flirted around but never had a real relationship until he meets Cash. Yes, he’s an assassin but what makes him different from Yim Mou is that he’s isolated. And minds his own business. His only friend is his agent that accepts him jobs. Compared to Yim Mou who gambled, drank and neglected so many people. Kiu Sing doesn’t cause trouble but if trouble finds him, he won’t back down. Kiu Sing had a much happier ending in faking his death while living happily together with Cash & effectively retiring from the assassin life.

Now the biggest plot twist was Parker ending up becoming the ultimate “baddie”. He went from a scared coward to someone so dark and evil. He murdered innocent people for his own pleasure. At first it was just to get someone off his back but then he just started murdering or attempted to murder random people. His ending was not fulfilling at all. I don’t get why he kidnapped Cash. At first you’d think “oh it’s to blackmail Kiu Sing” well he didn’t. He kidnapped her roughed her up a bit and then tried to drown her. Like what was the point? You just made him even more mad that you kidnapped his girlfriend. Also he felt that they were suspecting him. That’s why he organized to have Megan stay somewhere else. Why didn’t he just take the first flight out with Megan in the first place? Parker was not a fighter. He relies on strategic plans like “sneak attacks” via attacking from behind and knocking them out. Which he then proceeds to kidnapping, tying them up and then murdering. One thing I didn’t get was how he managed to kill Maan Maan. He has no training in fighting. I get how he strangled Maan Maan to death but what about the guard that was watching her? The guard was strong! How could Parker take him down alone? I thought maybe he was secretly trained and was faking it the whole time but that wasn’t the case. He didn’t hire someone to help him with the murder either. So you want me to believe Parker singlehandedly took down that guard alone? Also this was the first of his serial killing spree so it wasn’t like he had experience. His death would’ve been better if he saw the aftermath of Megan getting shot and almost dying. The only thing he loves is Megan. So it would’ve been nice to see the fear in his eyes for him to realize he caused all of this. It’s nice to know that Parker does love Megan and wasn’t just playing around.

Also WTF MEGAN. Why are you so annoyingly written? Like you hate your Father for killing (and other valid reasons), you hate him for trying to get revenge. Yet when your boy toy is killing people left and right & hurting people. You’re just like “okay I’ll escape” with you. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU. I guess love is blind. When you were held against your will with Cash and she saves you & then tries to escape with you. Why couldn’t you keep your mouth shut? Your serial killer husband is out for blood and here you are telling him where you’re hiding & effectively setting up Cash for her potential death due to your idiocy. Like dude. If you were gonna be like that & choose him, you could’ve gone for 2 different options. 1, you don’t escape with Cash & just chill with your murderous husband. Or 2, wait for Cash to hide somewhere else being announcing “hey husband I’m hiding over here”. Seriously if Cash has died it would solely be on you. ATLEAST Parker is a deranged killer but you? You know better. And then they go through this whole push and pull game of staying together or not. Anyways in the end both Megan & Parker gets shot by Zero. Parker dies, and Megan lives. Megan also forgets her memory. Which is a good thing I suppose. She had a sad childhood and the love of her life became someone she hated. He also died in front of her eyes. This was the best ending for her.

Another part that annoyed me was Maan Maan. Now for her story she basically had a Father that killed his best friends for money and tried to pin it on Zero. He killed them and then left, got plastic surgery and took over another mans identity for fame and fortune. Because of this he also left behind his wife and daughter. Maan Maan is ecstatic once she finds out her Father is alive. And when she meets him she’s excited to bond with him. Ummmm what? Did she forget the part where HE LEFT YOU AND YOUR MOTHER BEHIND? He left you behind all these years and you’re not mad? He ditched you for money. Anyways her Father dies as Zero kills him as an act of revenge. Maan Maan hates Zero for this. And blames him for the misery in her life. Despite the fact her Father caused a lot of unnecessary deaths and pains to people. Maan Maan knows that too but for some reason decides to turn to drugs to cope with pain. Cause why not? I get that her Father was her only family left but he committed so many crimes, killed so many innocents and planned on killing you. This is what pushed herself to change herself in such a way? She was so innocent & kind it was a 180 degree spin from what she was before. I hate how she didn’t get last words when she died. And I hate how she died never understanding that Zero truly was sorry & wanted to make it up to you in some way. Also why was Kaman casted in such a small role? A random background person could’ve played this. Her character had like a maximum of 2 hour screentime out of the 30 episode drama.

Sam Sam disappointed me a bit. I don’t know why but I had high expectations for this character. This character was just very “cool” and mysterious that I thought there would be more to it. But there wasn’t. She’s just part of the clean up crew. I had thought maybe she’s a hidden assassin or turns evil in the end due to jealousy or something. She and Cash has both fallen for Zero. But she liked Zero first and Cash was aware of it. Cash also dates Zero behind her back secretly. It would’ve been interesting to see maybe her turn dark from this? Cause in the end Cash did betray her. But nope she was just the best friend from beginning to end. I guess all wasn’t generic. It was a nice womanly friendship that stayed strong.

Overall it was a great drama. The different storylines were interesting and engaging. I was very happily surprised. Moses Chan was so suave. Wayne Lai was hilarious. Katy Kung was eyecatching but honestly her character was more filler than anything. Brian Tse was so chilling. And Elena Kong was so sweet. The characters were fun to watch and very memorable. I wouldn’t want a sequel. It’s just the ending was perfect to me and resolved very well. It was really intriguing to watch. The fighting was amazingly choreographed and the actors & actresses were picked perfectly! It’s not a drama where you have feel the need to binge watch but I definitely recommend this. One of the better tvb dramas in recent years!

Brutally Young and Death By Zero are my top dramas this year so far.