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finniestoncrane · 2 years ago

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May you pretty please write something with Arkham Riddler with a reader who has a degradation kink?

Trying to do the Riddler challenges in the Arkham games is so bad for me (especially with the Arkham Knight races) because I absolutely suck at them (I can’t drive for shit in video games). And so of course because I’m failing Eddie just starts dealing out insults and makes everything worse. Cause like then I don’t want to succeed right away you know?

I just need a reader that just adores Eddie degrading them please.

Totally don’t have to do this btw, sorry it was a long ask.

Pathetic. Worthless.

Arkham!Riddler x GN!Reader, word count: 1.7k don't ever apologise to me for long asks i swear or i'll smack you on the head with a broom i love the detail you've done all the hard work for me lmao but anywayyyy... you are speaking my fuckin language baby this is a tight as shit concept and i am ALL OVER IT because guess who likes to be called a silly little slut (it's me, i'm the silly little slut teehee) and i also spent a majority of what i've played so far fanning myself when he tells me i'm stupid 💚 request info • prompt list • send me a request • kofi minors DNI!! 🔞 cw for nsfw stuff: language, degradation, humiliation, forced oral just a smidge of aftercare cos he's a soft boy really

You placed the wrench on workbench where Edward was busy with another of his projects.

“Having fun tinkering?”

“It’s not tinkering! It’s…just, pass the screwdriver.”

Handing the wrench to him, you tried to hold your smile back.

“Are you stupid?”

“I don’t know, Eddie, why?”

He placed his fingers at his temples, obviously trying to hold back his irritation, or simmering rage. But it was the effect you had hoped to garner from him. All day you’d been purposefully obtuse, getting his riddles wrong, so wrong and so consistently wrong that he had stopped telling you them, which was a first. And this was now the third time you had brought him the wrong tool. Smacking his hands down on the desk he turned to face you, no doubt straining to keep his words curbed, trying to remember how fond of you he actually was, even if he struggled to show it sometimes. And when his eyes met your coy smile, noticed you batting your eyelashes and shuffling your feet, he understood immediately.

“Ah, I see.” There was a glint in his eyes as he narrowed his eyebrows, lips curling at the edges into a wicked sneer. “You are stupid.”

It took all of you not to jump up and down on the spot, but you couldn’t contain the little giggle that erupted.

“Enough of that! If this is going to be pleasurable for you, you can forget it.” With a wink, he stood up from his seat, inching closer to you until your noses were pressed together. “I’m not in the mood to be nice to you right now, nor to placate your insecurities and tell you that you are smart after all, that you’ve been very good today, when the exact opposite would be correct. Get on your knees.”

You fell to the ground instantly, knees making contact with the oil-stained floor, shards of metal and glass and whatever else luckily not pressing too hard against you where you knelt. Looking up at him, you tried to hide the excitement in your eyes, but it was a futile attempt. Eddie knew you. Very well.

“Now, I’m going to be very rough, but that’s only because you’ve been entirely insufferable today. And if I’m being too mean, you’ll just have to take it. I want to see just…how…much…you…can take.” As he spoke, he let his fingers trace your lips, pushing two inside and pressing down on the teeth, opening your mouth and lowering your jaw, his thumb resting on your chin. “To see how much of me you can take.”

Towering above you now, he began unbuckling his belts, tossing one to the floor, the other, clattering to the sides of his pants. Unzipping slowly, he slid the fabric down, unsheathing his cock, holding it in his palm, hardening from soft at the touch, growing ever more impressive as he became stiffer at the sensation, at the prospect of what he had in store for you. He palmed it, hissing through clenched teeth as he let his thumb stroke the head softly, tentatively.

“Ok, remember what I’ve told you.” He lifted your head up by the chin, smiling as he realised you were staring intently at his cock, mouth subtly open in preparation. “If a job is worth doing, do it well. We don’t half-ass things around here.”

He slapped softly at your cheek twice, letting his trousers fall further down to his knees, his legs exposed, deliciously thick, dark hair covering his thighs which you reached up to touch, letting your palm glide over them, fingers pressed in slightly.

“Put the whole thing in, don’t make me struggle to make it fit. This is the best way to shut you up, you insolent little pain. Take my whole cock in your mouth.”

Grasping himself at the base of his length, he dragged the tip along your lower lip, pausing before he inserted himself.

“I would say I’m going to fuck you stupid, but that would be a pointless task. You’re already completely stupid.”

There was no more waiting around, as you were taken back by his swift entry, the taste of sweat and salt hitting your tongue, saliva pooling instantly as you let your tongue swirl around his head, trying to savour as much of him as you could. Pressing the very tip against the slit of his head, you looked up in response to his light whimper, which he quickly shifted into a deeper groan when he spotted you looking at him.

“You’re a thirsty…shameless slut. Prove you’re good…for something. If you can’t please me…with your mouth…then you can leave.”

He wrapped his hand around the back of your head, no pressure on the touch, just letting his fingers brush through your hair. In response, you hollowed your cheeks and slid your mouth further up his length, taking more of him in, moaning around his cock as he grunted in pleasure.

“That’s more like it…mmmm…yes, that’s good…this is your only task right now…focus on me…I could replace you with a robot…in an instant…so you better do a good job…”

Edward’s breath hitched as you bobbed your head at a more rapid pace, slowing down as you got close to the base, drawing your tongue languidly back up the shaft before pursing your lips around the head.

“Keep your eyes on me, idiot.”

Staring up at him, trying to hold his gaze despite the fact you were consumed with pleasure, arousal building in your stomach, skin clammy and prickled with excitement.

“You stupid, pathetic, worthless little creature.”

He growled as his hand pushed on your head onto him, fingers gripping your hair at the root and directing you onto him, only letting go when you gagged loudly, choking on him.

“Oh, come on now! Put some effort into this, use your tongue, hollow your…ok no, I’m not going to tell you how to do this.”

With his hand softly on your cheek, he let his thumb gently pass over the skin, back and forth, soothing you.

“Dear, dear. Your mouth was big enough earlier, this shouldn’t be a problem for you. It doesn’t take brains to know what to do if you’re choking, no?”

Pulling himself out from your lips, groaning at the sound of you gasping for breath, he watched you quietly as he panted. Your moment of reprieve was done though, as he guided his tip, slick with your drool, back into your mouth, spit falling from your chin to the floor.

“You’re making such a mess, my dear. Is this really so hard for you? I’ll just take a hold of your hair then, to help you. Good thing you wore those silly little pigtails. Who do you think you are? Do you think you’re going to be my pathetic little sidekick like that idiot clown and his little jester?”

Your hair, tangled in his fingers as he gripped both of your pigtails, he forced your head down onto his dick, more of it hitting the back of your throat than before. Gagging against it, you focused on breathing through your nose, trying to do your best for him, despite the fact that you were desperate for him to degrade you further.

“This kind of humiliation and punishment really suits the intellectually challenged such as yourself. Is this an achievement for you? It should be, you should be grateful that I would pay this kind of attention to a little slut.”

You nodded, mouth still full, lips pouted around him, tasting his precum, your own saliva.

“Shall we try a little task, a challenge?”

Again, you bobbed your head, muffled moans of agreement emanating from your otherwise occupied lips.

“Ok, you tell me you’re stupid when I’m out. Time it right, take a deep breath in, say your piece, and then get ready to take me again. Got it?”

He gripped his cock at the base once again, bring it out for you to struggle a ‘yes’, waiting until you caught on and offered your statement.

“I’m stupid.”

With no time to process, he was pushing himself back in, sliding himself in and out of your mouth, giving you the bare minimum time to tell him how stupid you were, following his demands to say you were a whore, to tell him you were worthless, to beg him to choke you. He settled inside of you permanently again, allowing you to get back to a pace where you could properly satisfy him, the tip of your tongue pressed hard to his shaft, flicking over his head, stretching your mouth open wide enough that he wasn’t touching the edges before enveloping him in your wet, pouting lips.

“Using you…hmmm…like this, I’m disappointed it’s taken this long, but I am…phew…I am going to cum. And you’re going to take it…all down your…worthless…pathetic…mmm…throat.”

He growled every word, pausing only when his breath hitched and his whines managed to escape.

“And you…my silly little…idiot…you’re going to take all of it down your stupid throat…do not open your mouth…until I’m finished…this should be…a gift to you…hmph…a treat…mmm…as if someone…god…of my…urgh…calibre…would ever…hng…stoop so low…ah…ever…again…ah!”

Edward’s hands held firm to the back of your head as he came down your throat, leaving trails of his seed along your tongue and on your lips as he pulled out, holding your chin up and your head back until you swallowed it all, hands slipping to your throat as you opened your mouth wide to show him that you had done as he wanted.

“Good girl.”

He fell to his knees in front of you, shocking you by kissing you, lips against yours, tongue flicking out and then pulling back, his eyes screwing up as he tasted himself. He smiled though, as he stroked your cheek.

“I hate to ruin the illusion, my dear, but you are above and beyond. You are perfection. As if I would sully myself with anyone not intellectually worthy, hm?”

Ed pressed a gentle kiss to the top of your head as he stood up, offering you a hand to help you onto your feet.

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swinging-stars-from-satellites · 3 years ago

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idk how many people would even want to see this BUT i wanna yell about Leela and Brax so here's a list of all their scenes togethr/scenes pertainng to them that i can recall (pLEASE add on if i missed anything/ you have any additional thoughts!! i could talk about these two all day!)

right off the bat in Weapon of Choice when Leela is on the outskirts of the Citadel and Brax goes to bring her back (which is interesting in and of itself, bc usually i would imagine a chancellery guard would go do that so what made Brax decide to instead??), Leela kinda goes off at him bc she's hurting and instead of trying to actually explain what's going on Brax doesn't even try to argue he just says "we need you" which is great bc Leela has that instinctive desire to be needed and to help people and he's speaking right to that -- also as far as we know, this is Leela and Brax's first actual meeting in canon? it's implied that they know of each other, which makes sense, but it doesn't seem like they've ever directly interacted before: Brax seems almost slightly uncertain, and Leela is combative, but when he's gentle with her she's actually quite receptive

the literal next scene after that, where the OT4 is all in one room for the first time (they still kinda hate each other at this point but still !!!). Narvin explaining Gryben and being a real jerk about it and Leela (understandibly!) questions if Gryben is a prison world, and Brax (who to this point has been mostly quiet as Narvin and Romana brief Leela) jumps in to both clarify Narvin's previous xenophobic statements while also maintaining the inherent questionable/negative connotations

(btw it's actually pretty important to note that Romana self-edits herself a lot when talking to Leela, especially in the earlier seasons; you can actually hear her revising the things she says to put it in terms that she thinks Leela will better understand. and i mean she does it out of genuine consideration for her friend associate but it often comes across as varying levels of patronizing. Narvin also obviously "dumbs things down" when dealing with Leela early on, but like... Brax never does that on any level. the only difference i can tell in how he addresses Leela vs how he talks to anybody else is that he seems much more kind with her than almost anyone else???)

their conversation about the Matrix in The Inquiry: this is REALLY important (and if you've ever talked to me on ao3 i've probably gone off to you about it lol) because it's layered. they're talking about the Matrix but they're also not because in answering Leela's question Brax is making a very thinly veiled allegory (which he outright states a minute later) to Time Lord society/politicians/most importantly HIMSELF -- he's actually strangely open about his morals/beliefs in this scene and i'm living for it tbh -- and i find it very interesting that even though he does directly explain what he means ("how do you know all this?" / "because i am a politician.") he also leaves it for Leela to work out the implications. like it's a very nuanced conversation bc there's double meaning in it and most people on Gallifrey seem to think that Leela is tone-deaf and can't pick up on that stuff (even Romana sometimes oversimplifies things to her) but Brax totally just lets her take from it what she will bc he believes her intelligent enough to understand. he doesn't think her any lesser because she's human.

ALSO on a secondary note to the above: the fact that Leela has a question/needed clarification (sorry, haven't listened to this in a while i forget how it actually happened) and actively sought out Brax to talk to about it?? like she knows Romana better she could have gone to her but i feel like Leela kinda imprinted on Brax and someone she can go to for help if she needs it; maybe it's partly bc she knows he's under marginally less pressure than Romana is but also the truth of the matter is that Brax was the most genuinely helpful person to her in the previous stories and that probably means a lot to her (esp. bc he acts like the essence of everything she hates about Gallifrey but he doesn't treat her the way she would expect from that). btw this topic is gonna come up again in a hot minute

that part where Brax gives her that information that might help her re: the Andred thing, even though he really probably shouldn't have done that -- it kinda makes me think about what he must have been like with Theta tbh???

actually this is mostly my own conjecture but there's some neat stuff in Spirit bc during the *waves hand vaguely* bodyswap dream sequence thing, Romana is very "!!!! Brax can help us !!!" which is tecnically Leela brain talking, so like there's the implications of the stuff i've said above about Leela having this idea of Brax where she knows he's someone she can go to for help

can u tell i'm soft for them

Leela sounding really sad/distracted when she talks about how Brax isn't there YES i'm grasping at straws but a lot of this relationship really is conveyed through the voice acting bc of how little direct focus there is on the characters. there's actually several scenes in Mindbomb where she mentions him and she outright says that she misses him during her discussion with Matthias

that implied scene with them in Mindbomb!! i have a Lot of thoughts about that!!! it's all conjecture and fanfic fodder!!! but the reason i mention this is because it seems pretty meta that out of the whole Gally Gang, it's Leela who first sees Brax when he comes back to Gallifrey and in turn she's the first person (besides Matthias, i guess) that he sees upon his return?? idk i just feel like that's somehow a meaningful detail??? also her reaction of utter shock after spending the entire episode missing him and how worked up she is when she tries to tell Romana, like I desperately need to know what happened in this missing scene MR RICHARDS PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED

Leela insisting on going with Brax when Pandora starts hurting him and their whole conversation there is just. so good. like they're both just so soft and then when Darkel comes in Leela instantly goes into protective mode. like they just have such an open relationship bc Brax doesn't even try to be all pretentious with her, like he doesn't even try to keep up any facades when he's with her he's just very genuine and it really says a lot about both of them -- Leela is so good at seeing people, like getting down to the core of who people are and what makes them them (which is why she's good for Romana, btw, bc Romana has a lot of identity issues) and Brax is so tangled up in who he presents himself as that he barely knows who he actually is anymore but Leela can see that and she makes it so he can truly be himself and he doesn't have to hide. also she's so gentle with him when they talk about Pandora, she's very caring and empathetic and wants to make sure he's okay and i am WEAK

it's been a hot while since i listened to Panacea but I think i remember Brax being really soft with Leela when he first brings the gang to the Axis, like just sounding really glad to see her

ok other than the fact that Brax is lowkey relatable in Reborn (daydreaming fanfic about yourself/people you know? simping for Mary Tamm Romana? yeah mood, my man) there's that scene where they're first appraoching the Citadel on the alt!Gallifrey and it seems like none of them, and Brax specifically, have seen it from the outside in a good long while bc he's very in awe and he tells Leela that he wishes she could see it and he sounds sO hEcKiNg sOFT oh my word-

and once again with Leela thinking of Brax as someone she trusts for help: in Dissassembled when everything is going to crap she straight-up says that she wants to go find Brax bc he'll know what to do/be able to help

at the beginning of Annihilation when Romana is depressed and questioning if Brax truly was her friend and Leela INSTANTLY, NO HESITATION assures her that he was; i lost where i had her exact lines written down but she actually kinda goes off to make sure Romana gets the point

literally forcing myself to talk about this bc it makes my brain stall out but like,,, the Brax Hound in Annihilation,,, Leela being like "goodbye, Braxiatel... again" she sounds so sad and like UGH i always kinda forget how sad it actually is for them to lose Brax in Dissassembled bc like, it was so sudden and they didn't get to say goodbye and Leela is always losing people and i have many many feels about this scene and how all that emotion is made very clear in how they each respond to the Hound (might make a separate post abt this later if anyone is interested ::eyes::)

Enemy Lines is utter bullcrap about these two and I will never stop being salty about how they not only sidelined the very good, very subtle friendship they had in s1-4, but they??? made Leela acutally not trust Brax??? when literally this entire time she's been the one person who probably genuinely trusts him the most?? what the heck, David

I haven't heard TW3 or 4 yet but i'm assuming there's nothing worthwhile in those with regards to this duo (correct me if i'm wrong tho lol, i would love to be mistaken in this assumption)

TL;DR Leela and Brax mututally imprinted on each other and have probably the most open and healthy relationship within the OT4 and it is an absolute CRIME that nobody besides Gary Russell and Justin Richards cared enough to actually build on it in canon

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trinisgayforkimberly · 3 years ago

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Wildmoore prompt 🤗:

Ryan and Sophie are arguing and Sophie accidentally says something alluding to her hooking up with Renee.

-OR -

Ryan, Sophie, & Renee are all in her office talking about bat trophies or whatever and Renee says something that makes Ryan realize she and Sophie hooked up. - Take it wherever you would like from there.

Your writing is great btw !!

first of all, thanks for the prompt. second, thank you, that means a lot. and, um, third, i wanted to post this before the episode tonight cause i've already seen the sneak peek and i am not okay. so with that being said, i hope y'all enjoy. Open to prompts.

So Sophie and Renee slept together. No big deal, Sophie thinks as she picks up all her articles of clothing thrown around on the floor. She’s 65 percent sure that one of her socks is tangled in Renee’s sheets, but she’s willing to sacrifice the sock over having Renee wake up and start questioning her on what this all means. Sophie has the furthest clue, to be honest, her sleeping with Montoya was merely a distraction to a long day. Without her resources from the Crows or her own personal database of all cameras here in the city, searching for a secret assassin was not easy. Her relationship - if she could even call it that - with Ryan was once again up in the air, and to make matters even worse Sophie’s ego was tending a pretty big bruise. All in a day's work, she thinks.

She had been so sure in her connection with Ryan, had felt so intune with the other woman that when it really came down to it, she was left feeling like some idiot for even thinking Ryan would care about her - or her sister - enough to actually help her. Instead the other woman had chosen someone she barely knew over her.

Everything felt like it was slipping from Sophie’s control. Hell, she thinks even her sanity is next on the list to go. And then in came Montoya, with her sexy swagger and an invitation to a good time. She wants to blame the few shots of tequila she had taken before she had slammed Renee against the wall, but if she were being honest, she knew Renee was an easy option.

Not to say Renee was easy, cause who was she to know, but nothing was complicated with Renee. There weren’t any unsaid feelings or longing stares across a room. Renee didn’t make Sophie question everything she knows. It was all clear and precise, and part of her can’t really blame herself for wanting to sleep with Renee anyways. She wasn’t anything with Ryan. She was a free, single woman with a lot of time on her hands, and if she just so happened to sleep with someone, then good for her; and If sleeping with said someone in order to release some of her stress makes her feel like she’s in control again, then terrific. Mission complete.

She’s out of Montoya’s place in seconds, closing the door behind her as quietly as she can before she finishes putting on her jacket. She looks at her phone and realizes how late it’s gotten. The trek to her apartment is not far, but the cold air outside bites against her skin, making her wrap her jacket tighter against herself as she begins her journey. She’s just about to insert her key into the lock when she hears something on the other side of the door. She takes her gun out before she turns the key once it's in the lock, her senses on high alert as she tries to assess the situation. For all she knew it could be Alice messing around again.

When she opens the door and sees the dark figure pacing in her living room, she huffs before she drops her gun to her side and sighs with relief. What was Ryan even doing here?

“Who said you could come in?” Sophie says with a gruff as she goes back to close her front door, taking off her jacket and hanging it in the coat closet.

“Your door was unlocked?”

“So the lies continue,” Sophie replies with little amusement, stopping behind her couch as she looks at Ryan with impatient eyes.

“Come on, Soph.” Ryan pleads, “I told you everything I can.”

“‘Can’, Ryan, meaning you know more and aren’t telling me!” Sophie counters, crossing her arms over her chest. She watches Ryan frown at her, brown eyes looking panicked, almost as if she were being caged in.

“Because it’s not safe!”

“We’ve had this conversation before Ryan,” Sophie says with another tired, frustrated huff, shaking her head as she looks down at the material of her couch. She ran her finger over the back of the couch, collecting the small amount of dust there. She should really clean. “And if you don’t mind I’ve had a long night, and could really use some sleep.” Sophie continues, turning around to face her bed. Sophie thinks it can’t be that hard to tell what she means. She’s wearing the same clothes she had on all day; she’s sure her hair is all types of messed up no matter how many times she tried to run her fingers through her hair on the walk home. Sophie’s pretty sure her makeup isn’t in the best shape, and her shirt’s been half tucked - something she had noticed on her way home, but was too lazy to fix.

Sophie doesn’t know what changes, just that she can feel it in the air, the way the tension seems to sizzle and crack despite their distance. She turns to see hurt and anger in brown eyes before they go emotionless, Ryan’s lips stretching into a thin line as she straightens her back slightly. Sophie’s not sure what to do or what to say. How do they move forward without admitting everything between? Why does she even feel inclined to tell Ryan the truth? This is what she meant when she said Renee was easy. There was none of this.

“Marquis,” Ryan says, her tone even as Sophie watches her figure. “He’s dangerous and he needs to be stopped. The more you know, the more at risk you are.”

“Why couldn't you tell me that before?” Sophie asks, unsure of how to feel herself. Ryan had been so adamant about not telling her, about keeping her safe, but for what? They both knew what Sophie was like when on a mission. With or without her she will find her sister’s attempted murderer.

“Jada warned me to keep this from the people I care about,” Ryan responds with a shake of her head, “and she’s right - I shouldn't be telling you this. Believe it or not, I care about you, Soph.”

Sophie steps closer towards Ryan, the couch still between them. “We both know I can protect myself, Ryan.”

“Sue me for wanting to keep you safe.” Ryan retorts, raising her hands before she lets them fall at her side.

“Will you stop that?” Sophie exclaims suddenly, groaning as she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She feels like they’re about to start arguing again, Ryan taking small steps towards the couch. Why do they keep dancing over it like this?

“Stop what?” Ryan asks incredulously, her arms out in front of her as her shoulders roll back slightly.

“This!” Sophie says as she points between them. “The arguing and the misunderstandings! I'm right here, Ryan, I've always been right here, but you keep pushing me away.”

“Sophie,” Ryan says into the space between them, their eyes locked in a heated stare.

“You know, Renee was right about one-”

“Renee?”

Sophie’s eyes widen slightly, the words caught on the tip of her tongue as she realizes her mistake. Ryan was never meant to find out; not because she wanted to keep it from her, but because she was already aware of the small grudge the smaller woman held against Montoya. Sophie admits making Ryan work with her mother’s killer is definitely a way to get on her bad side.

Sophie’s eyes snap to Ryan’s lips when she hears the humorless laugh escape from between them. Sophie watches as Ryan shakes her head with an incredulous look, turning around so that her back was now facing her. Something churns uncomfortably in the pit of her stomach, a small ounce of regret of having given in to her impulses the minute she had shared a look with Montoya. Sophie tries to remind herself that she’s single - no strings attached - she had no reason to feel guilty about sleeping with Renee, and yet, here she was. Now knowing about Marquis and only half understanding why Ryan wouldn't just let her help, Sophie gets why Ryan kept this from her. If the situation were reversed, she knows she would have done the same.

But see, Sophie thinks, they’re always lacking some level of communication, everything getting lost in the slight touches and the long looks. They would have avoided this whole mess had they just been honest and talked to each other.

“Ryan,” Sophie rasps, her voice barely a whisper as she gets the other woman’s attention, watching as she turns with dark brown eyes staring back at her intensely. As much as Sophie wants to use her words, Ryan seems to read her from across the room because one second she’s standing near the glass door of her balcony, and the next she’s swept Sophie in her arms, their bodies flush against the other. It’s the closest they've been since they were almost killed by Professor Pyg, and Sophie can’t help but whimper softly as their faces seem to lean forward simultaneously.

“I’m sorry for pushing you away.” Ryan whispers into the space between them, warm breath tickling against waiting lips. Ryan has the worst timing for wanting to talk.

“I’m sorry, too.” Sophie says with a labored breath, her eyes focusing on the plump lips in front of her. “I should have given you more time to explain.”

They hover against each other, almost as if the other were afraid to make the first move. Not one for patience, Sophie surges forward enough to inch them closer before she whispers, “I really like you Ryan Wilder,”

Ryan smiles that blinding smile Sophie likes so much before she can’t help herself and closes the distance between them, their lips brushing slowly against the other. Ryan leans back slightly, enough to look at Sophie, who still has her eyes closed, before she says, “I really like you, too, Sophie Moore.”

#wildmoore #batwoman #ryan x sophie #ryan wilder #sophie moore #text #my fic stuff #y'all dafuq what even is batwoman and how are they this excellent im love the #anyways im not ready for toights episode #sorry for any mistakes #and like always its trash talking my fics hour and i just gotta say i don't feel all that bad about this one so lets see #also for anyone who actually reads these #please dont be afraid to submit anything #imma have a lot of free time in the next couple days so hopefully i keep writing #i do have a tendency to just drop off the face of the earth for a while #pero like q vas hacer

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tigerkirby215 · 3 years ago

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5e Hank J. Wimbleton, the Protagonist build (Madness Combat)

(Artwork by AndrewKO on Newgrounds.)

Friday Night Funkin’ Tricky Mod reminded me of the Madness Combat series... man it’s a trip in the best possible way. I honestly miss the old days on Newgrounds where stuff like Madness Combat could get extremely popular just off fan reception alone.

Anyways I think the fantasy of playing a bloodthirsty expert killer is something that most people can identify with in D&D, and Hank is certainly a badass in his own right. So while this was mostly a spur-of-the-moment sort of build here’s Hank J. Wimbleton with as many of his abilities I could reasonably put into a build at once, from Madness Combat 1 all the way to Madness Combat 11: Expurgation.

Also I finally get to use artwork from a website other than DeviantArt which is pretty awesome.

GOALS

Avenger - Hank shoots guns good and Madness is a series of guns first and foremost.

Aggregation - Hank is also more than capable in melee combat, being able to use all sorts of weapons including his fists!

Redeemer - Spoilers for Madness Combat 9 I guess.

RACE

The characters in Madness don’t really look like anything in reality, but it’s fairly safe to say that they are meant to be some sort of human. So we’re going to be going for Variant Human: yup not even an Eberron race since we do need everything that Variant Human provides. Increase your Constitution and Dexterity both by 1 and grab Acrobatics proficiency to dodge incoming knife swings and gunfire. And as per standard take whatever language suits your campaign.

Now you’re probably expecting Crossbow Expert as our level 1 feat, right? Or perhaps even Gunner? That’s where you’re wrong! Hank throws punches far earlier than he starts using guns, and he also uses a lot or improvised weapons throughout the mainline Madness Combat series. So grab Tavern Brawler for a +1 to Strength, a d4 unarmed strike (it’s not earth-shattering but it gets the job done), and proficiency with improvised weapons. And the grappling part which honestly doesn’t impact us much, but it’s nice to grab a human shield.

ON THE GUNNER FEAT: Going to make a quick mention now that this build is made under the assumption that your DM will not allow firearms in their campaign, and as a result we will be reflavoring crossbows as firearms. In short we’re not taking the Gunner feat, but if your DM allows it go ahead and take it.

Honestly if your DM allows firearms it would probably be a good idea to play whatever firearm-based class they added to play as Hank, instead of the build I made here. This build however is meant for the average D&D campaign.

ABILITY SCORES

Hank is MAD, rather fittingly. So MAD in fact that I can’t contain the madness within Standard Array. So rejoice we’re actually going to be using Point Buy!

STRENGTH; 9 - The vast majority of Hank’s weapons are either firearms or weapons that I would constitute as finesse based. With the +1 from Tavern Brawler this is still enough for your punches and improvised Strength weapons to pack a punch at least.

DEXTERITY; 15 - As mentioned above we will primarily be using firearms (crossbows) and finesse weapons.

CONSTITUTION; 11 - Mostly to round out the build, which along with the +1 from our race gives us a bit of bulk which will help with all the killing.

INTELLIGENCE; 14 - There’s many ways I can justify this but the easiest way is to say “it’s a multiclassing requirement.”

WISDOM; 14 - Wisdom is tied to perception as well as survival instinct, and is a multiclassing requirement.

CHARISMA; 8 - Hank is of the quiet sort and doesn’t talk much between all the killing. Yes he can intimidate info out of people but you try keeping your cool with a gun pointed to your head.

BACKGROUND

There was a man who sought the sheriff, and to slay the sheriff you’re automatically made a Criminal. I am however going to suggest swapping your skills out for Intimidation and Slight of Hand (IE Gun Tricks.) Feel free to take whatever Gaming Set you want, but thankfully as a Criminal you can choose Land Vehicles as your tool proficiency, because Hank does run over some guys in part 4!

Criminal Contact will let you get in contact with Sanford and Deimos in case you... you know, die? You can always get your message across when needed: D&D doesn’t have computers but you can still find some shady merchants or corrupt guards to get into contact with your crew.

(Artwork by redemer19 on Newgrounds.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ARTIFICER 1

Starting off as an Artificer because CON saving throw proficiency is nice. So is proficiency in Investigation, Perception, and a tool of your choice.

Tinkerer’s Tools technically counts as gunsmith tools if we go with Matt Mercer’s homebrew, but you already get those for free (along with Thieves’ Tools) as an Artificer. I personally opted for Smith’s Tools as the next best option which will also double for taking care of swords and knives.

You can also get a Boombox to dance to thanks to Magical Tinkering. You can infuse magic into a Tiny object to give it a variety of effects: make it glow, have it display a message, or most importantly have it play the Chicken Dance song. You can have a number of these equal to your Intelligence modifier, which is to say not many.

You do also get Spellcasting: You get two cantrips from the Artificer list: Mage Hand will let you grab a weapon for yourself that’s out of reach, and Acid Splash will serve as a starter shotgun for some buckshot against multiple enemies. As for your leveled spells you can prepare a number of spells equal to your Intelligence modifier plus half your Artificer level, which is to say... not many. Feather Fall can be useful when up in high places, and Detect Magic is universally useful for finding any anomalies created by the Improbability Drive.

LEVEL 2 - ARTIFICER 2

The main reason we went for Artificer first is Infusions, gear you can bring at the start of the fight for an upper hand. Of course the main weapon we’ll be grabbing is the Repeating Shot Weapon which will be how you make basically all your guns. Not having to reload is nice and not having to worry about ammo is better!

ON YOUR WEAPONS: For now the only weapon you can reasonably use is a Light Crossbow, however soon you’ll be able to put Repeating Shot on either a Heavy Crossbow (rifle) or Hand Crossbow (pistol) depending on your preference.

Other than that you can borrow from Sanford’s book and make a Returning Weapon to throw a hook and pull it back, create Sending Stones to keep in touch with your crew, and have a Rope of Climbing to sneak into the sheriff’s office. Or you can choose your own tools for the job as I am merely suggesting what makes the most sense for Hank, but the Repeating Shot Weapon is the only one you truly need.

You can also prepare another spell like Identify, to know what weapon you’re picking up.

LEVEL 3 - RANGER 1

This is a bit out of left field isn’t it? Well Ranger gives a number of things, the first of which being Stealth proficiency for your initial entrance. You also get Deft Explorer (instead of Natural Explorer) for Canny, giving you two languages (pick your poison) and Expertise in one skill of your choice (go for Acrobatics to evade attacks and stay alive.)

You also get Favored Foe (instead of Favored Enemy), letting you concentrate on an enemy’s weak points to kill them quickly. When you hit an enemy you can choose to mark them so they take an extra d4 of damage once per turn from your attacks. You do have to concentrate on this effect (like a spell) but aiming for the head is a good way to end someone quickly.

LEVEL 4 - RANGER 2

Second level Rangers get to choose their Fighting Style and you’re probably expecting me to tell you to take Archery, right? Well even if you’re mostly going to be using guns you do have proficiency with melee weapons too, and since our Strength is kinda bad I’d suggest taking Druidic Warrior for some simple boosts to your combat proficiency.

Shillelagh will be a good place to start by letting you swing a blunt object with your Wisdom instead of your Strength. The main weapons Hank uses in the Madness series other than shortswords is clubs, bats, and pipes which I’d all consider as viable targets for Shillelagh if your DM’s cool.

Mending will be useful to keep your outfit in check after taking a bad hit.

Feel free to take Archery if you want as it’s likely more useful for this build. Again I am opting for what’s the most accurate for Hank, not for what’s the most optimal to build.

But if you want to keep yourself in check after taking a bad hit you can grab some Ranger Spellcasting. Cure Wounds will let you bandage yourself (or an ally) up in the thick of a fight, and Zephyr Strike will let you rush in while avoiding danger to deliver a deadly strike on a key foe.

LEVEL 5 - RANGER 3

There’s quite a few reasons we didn’t go for Rogue levels in this build (spoilers btw): Hank does most of his fighting solo, doesn’t really opt for stealth except for at the start of missions, and because the Gloom Stalker is far better for how Hank operates. For a start you get Umbral Sight for 60 feet of Darkvision with your dumb human eyes, but you can also hide in the dark so well that even creatures with darkvision can’t see you! Which is good because Dread Ambusher gives you a bonus to initiative rolls equal to your Wisdom modifier along, but more importantly lets you move 10 feet faster on the first round of combat. And you can also attack one extra time on the first round of combat, and if you hit with that extra attack you’ll deal an extra d8 damage to down a foe quick and give yourself more options.

You can learn a new spell at this level like Hail of Thorns for some buckshot, and you also get Gloom Stalker Magic, adding Disguise Self to your spell list so you can look like a regular dude who isn’t covered with bandages. You also get Primal Awareness, because even if Speak With Animals makes no sense for Hank it’s still better than Primeval Awareness.

(Artwork by LegendaryPanettone on Newgrounds.)

LEVEL 6 - RANGER 4

4th level Rangers get an Ability Score Improvement: Dexterity controls everything we do currently so increase that by 2 for better AC, shooting, sword-swinging, and DEX saves.

LEVEL 7 - RANGER 5

5th level Rangers get an Extra Attack, allowing them to shoot twice and even allowing you specifically to shoot 3 times on your first turn!

You can also learn second level Ranger spells now: Primal Awareness gives you Beast Sense and Gloom Stalker Magic gives you Rope Trick for a place to hide and ambush from. And Enhance Ability (ty Tasha’s) will let you push yourself when violence is needed.

LEVEL 8 - RANGER 6

6th level Rangers see Favored Foe turn into a d6 to be somewhat on-par with Hunter’s Mark. You also get Roving from Deft Explorer for 5 extra feet of movement, as well as a swimming and climbing speed.

But now that you’ve gotten all your killing done it’s time to die. Because you do not kill clown; clown kills you!

(Artwork by Jinxsaw on Newgrounds.)

LEVEL 9 - ARTIFICER 3

You can’t kill the protagonist! We’re at 9th level which translates perfectly to Madness Combat 9, which means you can be revived as an Armorer Artificer! Your consciousness will be placed inside of a suit of Arcane Armor, replacing any missing limbs you may have and genuinely account for all your injuries. The armor also doesn’t have a Strength requirement and can be used as a focus for your Artificer spells.

There’s two different Armor Models to choose from but for now I’d suggest keeping to guns and going for the Infiltrator model (mostly because your Intelligence is bad so it would be better to opt for Dexterity to fire your guns.) The Lightning Launcher is like a handgun except it has very good range (90/300) and does Lightning Damage, and even lets you do an extra d6 damage once per turn! You also get Powered Steps for an extra 5 feet of movement speed (adding up to 40 total thanks to Ranger!) and a Dampening Field will give you Advantage on Stealth due to your black outfit.

You also get some Armorer Spells: Magic Missile for some unavoidable gunfire and Thunderwave to give yourself some space. You can also choose a different set of Artisan’s Tools from Tools of the Trade since you likely already have Smith’s Tools proficiency. You can pick whatever you think will be useful, but it’s worth mentioning that you can make a tool with 1 hour of work thanks to The Right Tool for the Job. And no Hank; weapons are not tools. At least not by this definition.

LEVEL 10 - ARTIFICER 4

4th level Artificers get an Ability Score Improvement. Wouldn’t it make sense to increase your Intelligence as an Artificer now that you can use your Armorer weapons with INT? Yes. Anyways increase your Dexterity by 2.

WOULD IT HAVE MADE MORE SENSE TO MAX OUT INTELLIGENCE FOR THIS BUILD? Yes. Now that you have Armorer levels you’re basically never going to be using crossbows again realistically. Oops. Having good INT instead of good DEX would mean that you could start using the Guardian armor to punch some stuff, and 14 in DEX would still allow you to wear Medium armor. You could’ve easily taken 3 (or more realistically 5) levels in Artificer at the start of this build and then gone for Ranger to not have to deal with bad ranged weapons while having good stats for an Artificer.

There’s still strengths to having high DEX obviously (good initiative, good Stealth and Acrobatics checks, good DEX saves, and you get Mirror Image as an Armorer Artificer) but it’s really not that important for this build. But I’m still maxing it out first as it’s accurate to Hank. In the average D&D campaign you’re not going to be picking up weapons from enemies you kill to use them when you run out of ammo. There’s many things I took in this build that are impractical for anything other than a combat heavily inspired by Madness Combat.

Basically feel free to min-max this build if you so desire; it’s quite viable in its own right when you do so. Again I’m trying for accuracy over viability. Also P.S. After this build comes out I’m going to release a “pre-MC9″ Hank build if you want more of the traditional Hank who isn’t in power armor.

You can also prepare another spell at this level but we’re going to wait for...

LEVEL 11 - ARTIFICER 5

5th level Artificers get an Extra Attack... which you already have. Oops.

Well at least you get access to second level spells! As an Armorer you get Mirror Image to dodge gunfire, and Shatter! For a grenade! But to continue dodging attacks Blur works well as long as the enemy doesn’t have Truesight, which the AAHW may have by total level 11.

LEVEL 12 - ARTIFICER 6

6th level Artificers can prepare more Infusions! A Spell-Refueling Ring will let you restock on spell slot bullets mid-fight, and Boots of the Winding Path will let you jump back after getting into melee combat.

You also get Tool Expertise which is exactly what it says on the tin. You double your proficiency bonus when making checks with tools.

To top it off you can prepare another spell like Catapult. Why are we preparing a first level spell? Because Hank throws big rocks at Tricky in Madness 11. Told you I did research.

(Artwork by ramblinshroom on Newgrounds.)

LEVEL 13 - ARTIFICER 7

7th level Artificers get to feel the pain of my choice to max out Dexterity instead of Intelligence as Flash of Genius scales heavily off Intelligence. When you or an ally within 30 feet makes an ability check or a saving throw you can use your reaction to add your Intelligence modifier to the roll. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

LEVEL 14 - ARTIFICER 8

8th level Artificers get another Ability Score Improvement and now that your Dexterity is maxed out... more Wisdom lol? Look we’ll deal with your Intelligence in a bit but Wisdom gives you better initiative among other things.

You can also prepare another spell but next level will get us third level spells, so...

LEVEL 15 - ARTIFICER 9

9th level Artificers can get used to their new revived bodies thanks to Armor Modifications. The chest, boots, helmet, and weapons of your armor all count as individual items for the sake of infusions, and you can have two more infusions active! (As long as they’re on your armor anyways.)

You also get Hypnotic Pattern and Lightning Bolt as an Armorer, for a flashbang and some purgatory powers. And you can prepare a spell like Haste, to move so fast it’s like the world is in slow motion.

LEVEL 16 - ARTIFICER 10

So you know how we just got two more infusions for your armor? Well 10th level Artificers can make Gauntlets of Ogre Power and a Headband of Intellect to finally get your Strength and Intelligence to a reasonable level. Again probably a bit late to do so but it does mean that you can finally use melee weapons well, or your Guardian Armor to do some punching! (I’m not going to cover the Guardian Armor now but know that you can punch people and give them disadvantage to hit your allies, and also give yourself Temporary hitpoints.)

And the best part is that you can still keep attuned to other useful items as Magic Item Adept gives you one more attunement slot, meaning that you can be attuned to 4 items total!

And to top it off more Intelligence means more spells and holy shit another cantrip! For your cantrip you can finally take Message to keep in contact with your party, and for your leveled spells...

People die a lot in Nevada: Revivify can help if one of those people are a friend.

See Invisibility will help you avoid ambushes.

Lesser Restoration can help you in a pinch if you’re pinned down.

But again I seriously can not stress enough that you are more than welcome to pick spells that you feel are stronger, as I am merely picking spells for a simple guy who really likes killing.

(Artwork by marcipancakes on Newgrounds.)

LEVEL 17 - RANGER 7

Very quickly going back to Ranger to grab the last few abilities we missed: 7th level Gloom Stalkers have an Iron Mind for proficiency with Wisdom saves. Yup that’s it. Well at least you can add () to your Ranger spell list.

LEVEL 18 - RANGER 8

8th level Rangers get Land Stride to not be slowed down by the difficult terrain during Expurgation, and even giving yourself advantage against magical terrain made to harm you in purgatory.

But more importantly you get an Ability Score Improvement to pump your Wisdom up a little more. But really I only waited this long to get Ranger 8 to talk about Martial Versatility from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything: talk to your DM about it but I’d actually suggest grabbing Archery proper now instead of Druidic Warrior because you’ve got the Strength to use weapons.

Oh yeah you could also totally like... use the Guardian armor and carry a repeating crossbow for ranged combat.

LEVEL 19 - ARTIFICER 11

11th level Artificers can bring out the heavy artillery with a Spell-Storing Item. You can store a first or second level spell from the Artificer spell list in one simple or martial weapon (or a spellcasting focus) that requires 1 action to cast.

While holding the object, a creature can take an action to produce the spell’s effect from it, using your spellcasting ability modifier. If the spell requires concentration, the creature must concentrate. The spell stays in the object until it’s been used a number of times equal to twice your Intelligence modifier (minimum of twice) or until you use this feature again to store a spell in an object.

There are plenty of good spells you can choose from but I’m going to just say this: put Shatter in the item. There are perhaps more useful choices, but isn’t a grenade belt the embodiment of Madness?

LEVEL 20 - ARTIFICER 12

12th level Artificers get our last Ability Score Improvement which means hey: maxed out Wisdom! Yes there are perhaps feats you could get (some ideas I’d suggest would be either the Dual Wielder feat [carry a Repeating Hand Crossbow in one hand and your magical fist in the other] or the Sharpshooter feat) but I simply opted for maxing out stats.

And you can prepare one more spell like... I don’t know? Blink for more dodging?

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Abrogation - I came into this build with the intent of making you capable with all weapons regardless of type and well... I certainly accomplished that. You have good Dexterity for any finesse and ranged weapons and your Strength is strong enough to swing a bat around.

Antipathy - You are also damn capable in combat with an insane opening turn and very good DPS regardless of if you choose to fight with fists or guns, not to mention a good supply of spells and class abilities to truly slaughter your foes.

Apotheosis - It wasn’t my intent but... 20 in two stats and 19 in two others? Excluding your Charisma and Constitution you’re a superhuman of a man.

CONS

Depredation - You have to be level 16 to finally get a decent Strength and Intelligence score, and while low STR doesn’t matter much low INT really hurts as an Artificer.

Consternation - “High stats except Constitution” is a problem. Honestly going 15 in Artificer and 5 in Ranger would’ve gotten you level 15 infusions for a Hill Giant’s Belt for 21 STR and an Amulet of Health for 19 CON.

Inundation - There’s a lot of little tweaks worth changing in this build, notably the focus on Dexterity versus Intelligence. Realistically having 20 INT and 14 DEX is more useful for you as an Artificer than having 19 INT and 20 DEX.

But who cares if it’s messy; as long as it’s effective. Killing everyone somewhere in Nevada will give you plenty of experience to reach your maximum Madness level. You are the Protagonist and they are the Victims... but don’t go into any D&D campaigns with that mentality, or else you may be the Clown.

(Artwork by Teknodice on Newgrounds.)

#dnd #dnd 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #Newgrounds #Madness Combat #madness hank #Hank J. Wimbleton #dnd ranger #dnd artificer

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lunarthedragon · 5 years ago

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Blind!Jaskier Idea

I don’t think I’m going to write a proper fic about this but the idea just had to come out. If anyone feels inspired and wants to write it? Please be my guest!!! Otherwise, hope you enjoy my excited rambling.

So, Jaskier is born blind. His eyes are still blue, but they’re clouded and blank. His parents, being wealthy nobles, want to fix this and go in search of a mage, paying anything they can to find a fix for this.

Unfortunately, this is destiny’s will and no magic can fix the baby’s eyes.

Though, one mage, a bit eccentric, and very creative, offers a spell that will permanently enhance little Jaskier’s other senses. His parents accept, because it might be the best they can do, and the spell is cast.

And it works far better than anyone could ever imagine.

Jaskier’s hearing rivals that of a bat, his scent like a hounds, taste like a snake’s, and, if he focuses really hard, he can FEEL changes in the air.

At first he screams as a baby, the new senses like torture, but he is young and adaptable and soon he becomes used to it and grows up extra sensitive to the world around him.

He learns how to ignore stimuli that hurt and how to focus until he can taste a fresh-baked pie in the air one town over. He wears silks and soft clothing, anything scratchy too painful on his skin, and wears perfumes that gently ease his scent.

And he falls in love with the sweet, sweet sound of music and cannot get enough of it! Learns how to play many, many instruments through touch and sound alone because a lute isn’t enough to sate how the music makes his sensitive ears feel. Give him a drum. Give him a piano. Give him a harp. Give him a flute. The list goes on and on, but lute is definitely a favorite.

His journey takes him on a very similar one as canon (I’m basing it off Netflix btw) and he meets Geralt, can tell he is different by his scent, and that he doesn’t comment on his singing in Posada.

He follows Geralt like usual and it takes the Witcher a far longer time than he’d like to admit to realize the bard is blind.

(”There’s no such thing as devils.”

“Right, well, whatever it is I can hear it’s heartbeat just around that rock, behind the two rows of bushes, and 40 degrees up.”

“...How...?”

Jaskier proceeds to push his low-hanging bangs out of the way and wave his hand in front of his sightless eyes.)

Jaskier spots things before even Geralt does. Things that can be helpful. Things that aren’t at all. He knows when an attack is coming... but that doesn’t mean he knows how to dodge or fight back. He’s still pretty useless in that regard. And just because he can smell a kikimora from a mile away doesn’t mean he knows how to track it across the land in between.

Still, he turns out to be far more helpful in everyday endeavors than Geralt expected.

And Jaskier has the easiest time reading Geralt’s emotions.

Witchers have feelings, everything does, it is a reaction of the brain when presented with particular stimuli that will hopefully lead to a longer, happier life. It is survival. Witchers, however, learn how not to EXPRESS their feelings. Namely through facial features.

But Jaskier can’t see facial features. He listens to people’s hearts. Their breathing. The shift of their muscles. Readjusting feet on the ground. Smell of particularly powerful emotions on the air.

Geralt can’t hide those. He’s an open book to Jaskier. Even his fainter scents are loud and clear to Jaskier.

(Jaskier is also incredibly talented at telling when people are lying, thanks to these things.)

Geralt and Jaskier also, as they become closer through the years, use Jaskier’s blindness to their advantage in other ways.

Jaskier is 100% down with making people feel bad for him so he can get things. He’ll milk the fact he can’t see, pretend he’s constantly struggling, hold Geralt so he can “lead” him where he needs to go, and even when the Witcher is around people are still more willing to lessen the price of rooms or food or get Geralt paid more for his contracts.

Geralt, at first, hadn’t been sure about it, but then Jaskier began claiming Roach was emotional support for him to the stablehands, which ended up getting the horse even more spoiled than before.

Geralt changed his tune after that.

And Jaskier will joke about being blind. He’s comfortable with it. Think this kind of attitude.

(Geralt, without Cat, dead of night: Careful. It’s gotten dark out. Can’t see a thing.

Jaskier: Oh no. What a nightmare.

Geralt: ...Sorry...)

Jaskier is GREAT with memorization, too! He’s educated and a singer, but he can’t write or read and braille hasn’t been invented, so he has to memorize EVERYTHING. It’s great for studies, for working on songs, and for winning arguments!

He’ll memorize the shapes of things, too, for later. Memorize the layout of a room for if he feels like not paying too close attention. Memorize the shapes of people’s faces when they allow him to touch and feel and understand.

It takes a while for him to convince Geralt to let him feel his face, but eventually the Witcher relents. Jaskier is soft and gentle and reverent when he feels out Geralt’s features, marveling at his beauty, coming through his hair that he knows is “white” only because people have told him so.

(Edit: I did not realize this was not, actually, a thing, but instead imagine Jaskier pretending it is, because he totally would. “Oh, you sound so beautiful, may I map out your face? It is a common thing for those like myself to request.” “Sounds legit.”)

And that’s the only thing... He doesn’t know what colors are. And the only time he cares to look good is when he’s performing since it’s a pain to correct his hair when he can’t actually see it, or feel through his clothes for the doublet and trousers that have a veeeeeery particular threading on the sleeves and pant legs that tell him they are the same color because the person that sold them told him so.

So, usually, he still looks great because he’s Jaskier, but when he’s relaxing or in the wild his clothes don’t match and his hair is tussled and messy. (until Geralt begins fixing it, since Jaskier WILL take the time to comb out his white, long hair, make it perfect, and feel out how it should look while not doing it for himself.

“You deserve nice things, Geralt! I can’t even see my hair and nobody’s around, so who cares?”

“Hmm...” and he continues to fix the bard’s hair until he’s nearly purring.)

He still wants to know about colors, though, but no one can define them to him the way he needs.

Until Geralt, who realizes if a color is to be described to the bard, it has to be done using the other senses.

At first, all he can manage is “Red feels... hot. Yellow is... happy.” but Jaskier is still pleased by it and keeps asking, sightless eyes sparkling with excitement And Geralt vows to try a bit harder.

It’s the most he ever talks, explaining the part of the world that his bard can never experience, loving the way Jaskier leans towards him, even more than when he’s talking about a hunt, and memorizes every word.

It’s the most Geralt ever smiles, too, but Jaskier can’t see that.

#jaskier #geralt #geraskier #the witcher #the witcher netflix #geralt of rivia #blind!jaskier #blind jaskier #au #idea #free for anyone if they want #if you DO write something tag me? I'd super appreciate it #Or if there's already a fic let a girl know!#enjoy!

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hatterstan-shameblog · 4 years ago

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The Best Quiche in Tokyo

Rating: ‼️18+ Minors Do Not Interact ‼️

Warnings: explicit sexuality (it literally takes place at an orgy so like.......Y’know)

Characters: Hatter (Takeru), Aguni, and Female Reader (You)

Summary: When one of your customers invites you to a potluck-slash-orgy, you assume the “orgy” part is a joke—because nobody really hosts a potluck and an orgy at the same time, right?

Notes: One time, @nessinborderland (happy belated birthday btw) gave me the brilliant idea of Hatter hosting an orgy and serving really good food and I just......ran with it. This ended up being part comedy, part character study—and mostly features Aguni, if you can believe it! I don’t know, I just let the story take me where it wanted to go! (Also, this is definitely the longest thing I’ve written on here, so get ready to dig in!)

It’s a beautiful Sunday afternoon in March, and you’re standing in front of a hat shop. Well, technically, you’re slightly to the left of a hat shop, peering down a skinny alleyway in search of a door or a set of stairs—something to indicate that there is, in fact, an apartment up there and this is not just an elaborate prank.

There is a very good chance this is a prank—after all, the eccentric man who walked into your stationary store two weeks ago seemed...off. Not in a bad way, just. One-of-a-kind. Unique. Entirely himself, in a way that people usually aren’t.

Was he flirting or was he just overly friendly when he leaned in just a bit too close to see the various fonts available for his choosing? It’s difficult to say. He did seem genuinely interested to know the difference between serif and sans serif, which doesn’t much thrill your customers on the regular. Does asking for an extra business card ‘for his personal records’ count as a pick-up line? It’s hard to say. Not that it matters much, of course—you are a professional, he is a customer, and there’s nothing more to it.

And you really are a professional, because when he told you that he wanted—in metallic gold, 30-point, center aligned—to say, quote, “The Third Annual Springtime Potluck and Orgy: Presented by Danma Takeru,” you didn’t so much as bat an eye. Partially because he was very insistent that you spell his name correctly, and partially because. Well. How does a person respond to that?

In truth, he ended up being one of your better customers—he showed a genuine interest in the process while still deferring to your expertise—and when one of the printed invitations arrived in your mailbox, you figured you might as well go see what the fuss is about. It could be an opportunity to meet some new friends, maybe drum up a little business if you’re lucky.

And besides—a potluck-slash-orgy? Who would even do that?

The merry little jingle of bell catches your attention, and you turn your head to see a solemn-looking man peeking his head around the hat shop’s glass door. He looks at you. He looks at the plastic-wrapped pie in your hands. He looks back at you.

He frowns.

“Hi,” you say, putting on your most charming smile in the hopes that he’ll stop looking at you like you just slapped him across the face, “I’m, uh, I’m here for the party!”

You shuffle over to him, careful not to scuff the white of your sensible-yet-pretty patent leather heels on the sidewalk. Maybe you’re dressed too formally—he’s wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of jeans while you’re sporting a calf-length chiffon dress dyed in a lovely array of watercolor blues and violets.

Oh dear, what a faux-pas! There was no dress code listed on the invite, but maybe you should’ve dressed in a more casual fashion. You don’t live far, you could probably run home quickly and change...

“Do you...have an invitation,” the man asks, crossing his arms across his chest and furrowing his brow. Is he annoyed? No, no. He seems. Confused? Wary? How very strange.

“Oh, of course,” you answer, reaching a fumbling hand into your purse to search for the little pink envelope, “I almost forgot it walking out the door, but I remembered at the last second! I can be a bit scatterbrained sometimes!”

The man doesn’t say anything, but leans forward to inspect the invitation once you manage to produce it from the cluttered mess that is your handbag.

“I know the time said it started at three, but the pie took a little longer than expected. It takes time for the chocolate to set, and—“ you gasp, covering your mouth with your invite-laden hand, “I haven’t kept you waiting, have I? I’m so sorry, Mister...?”

“Call me Aguni,” he says, and his eyes narrow slightly when you give him your most chipper ‘thank you’ and apologize for not being able to shake his hand at the moment. What a strange man.

“You,” he asks slowly, “you read the invitation, right?”

“Of course I did! I’m the one who made them,” you explain, puffing your chest up with pride, “and our host was kind enough to send one to me! He must have really liked my work!”

“...Yeah,” the man called Aguni says, “I’m sure that’s it.”

But, to your pleasure, he steps aside and holds the door open for you to enter. Such a strange man, but at least he’s gentlemanly enough to hold the door for you as you step inside.

“Oh, wow,” you say, “this place is amazing!”

And maybe it sounds silly, but you’re being entirely honest. There are hats in shelves, hats hanging on the wall, hats on faceless plastic heads on the counter and placed atop a long wooden table to the left—all of them in different shapes and colors, embellished and feathered and ribboned to the nines. There’s a certain magic to a little place like this, a kind of whimsical charm you want to bottle and keep on the kitchen windowsill.

“Walls could use some paint. Floor needs polished, too,” Aguni says, “but...yeah, I guess it’s nice enough.”

You follow him as he leads you towards the back, your eyes drinking in all the details of this fascinating little shop.

“No, no, the walls and the floor are perfect,” you assert with a wide-mouthed smile, “it gives it character. Makes it feel...like home, I think.”

“Takeru says the same thing,” Aguni answers with a chuckle, “although I also think he just doesn’t want to put in the work. He’s...not very handy.”

There is a second door at the very back of the shop, and once again, Aguni holds it open for you. Perhaps his original air of discontent was a simple case of shyness—maybe he just takes a bit to warm up to people. Well, just wait until he tries your homemade triple-chocolate silk pie; you’ll be best friends in no time!

He leads you into a tiny courtyard, which is just barely big enough to hold a steep set of metal stairs and a handful of plant pots, which remain empty due to the early spring cold. But, oh, it must be so lovely back here when the plants are in full bloom! You say as much to your companion, who actually manages to smile a bit in your direction as he leads you up the stairs.

“Those are mine, actually,” he tells you, his boot-covered feet thunking up the stairs at a leisurely pace, “He lets me garden back here.”

You picture it—this tall, stoic man, kneeling on the ground, his gloved hands tending little green sprouts as the morning sun shines gold and warm on the cold stone ground. The thought of it warms you. Does he know anything about succulents? You’ve always thought they would look so cute in the shop...

“Look,” Aguni says when the two of you reach a very drab-looking door, “I’m not trying to be a jerk, but...you sure you’re ready for this?”

What an odd thing to say! Maybe you’re acting more nervous than you originally thought? It is rather daunting, walking into a party of strangers; but, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

“You’re sweet for worrying about me,” you respond, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, “but if everyone is half as lovely as you, I’m sure I’ll do just fine. I will probably stick with you for a while—if that’s okay, of course!”

“Alright, then.” Aguni says—and is that a hint of a blush you see creeping up his neck? All this time, you thought he was just being strange, but he’s just a little shy! You give his arm a knowing pat before withdrawing your touch, and he quickly turns around to unlock the door.

Are all of Takeru’s friends this adorable? You hope so. You follow your bashful escort inside—the genkan is already full of shoes, but you manage to squeeze yours in between a pair of snakeskin wedge heels and the wall. Aguni also removes his boots, and you’re happy he isn’t going to stay down in the hat shop the whole time. He can introduce you to everyone, and maybe—

You hear something. Was that...? No, no, you must be imagining things. You definitely did not just hear a woman moan on the other side of the wall. You stop and angle your head towards the door slightly to get a better listen. It’s all rather muffled (it must be well-insulated!) but there’s definitely some kind of music playing. Maybe it’s part of a song?

It happens again. This time, it’s deeper, and more of a prolonged “ah” sound. And then laughter. Aguni is looking at you in that concerned way of his again.

Instead of waiting for him to open the door for you a third time, you decide to take initiative and open it yourself—a show of confidence, to put his mind at ease. For a moment, it looks like he’s going to try and stop you, but he instead just crosses his arms and watches as you open the door to the rest of the house.

The first thing you see is candles. Little flickering spots of yellow-orange flame, winking inside clear glass votives. A trio of them on the kitchen table to the left, surrounded by a mismatched variety of trays and plates and bowls, each holding a different delicacy.

There’s a candle on the kitchen counter, next to the refrigerator. One on a bookshelf, which is filled to bowing with vinyl LP’s. Two on either side of the television, and a cluster of them on a coffee table next to a fishbowl of shiny gold squares and—

Oh.

Oh, dear.

There are limbs. Moving, writing, reaching. Hands grabbing. Mouths kissing. Mouths...doing things other than kissing. Oh, God, there’s boobs. And somebody’s butt. Aw, geez, there goes another one. How many naked people are there in here, anyways?

“Oh, hey!”

A familiar voice calls out from the fleshy throng, and your stomach drops. Like Venus emerging from the surf, you see Danma Takeru rise up from the crowd, hair mussed and smiling mouth smudged with at least two different colors of lipstick. While he does appear to be wearing some kind of brightly-patterned robe, the more he stands, the less confident you are that it’s actually covering anything.

You spin on your heel, unwilling as of the moment to become visually acquainted with your host’s penis, and you’re met once more with Aguni’s concerned stare. This time, though, you understand why he’s looking at you like that, and it makes the burn of embarrassment creeping up your neck that much hotter.

“Do you want to leave?”

This is. Oh, boy. This is a lot. Aguni must be able to sense your discomfort, although you imagine it’s rather palpable at the moment.

“I,” you say, “I don’t...know.”

And you say you don’t know because you truly don’t know what to do. Was it really so naïve of you to think that the ‘orgy’ part of the invitation was some kind of weird inside joke? Is there some kind of social protocol for these things?

You feel two hands descend upon each of your shoulders, and you try to convince yourself that they are slightly damp with sweat as opposed to any other kind of aqueous material.

“You made it,” Takeru exclaims with genuine excitement as he gives your person a gentle shake, “I’m so glad you decided to come!”

“He’s covered, don’t worry,” Aguni says to you before directing his attention over your shoulder, “I take it you didn’t tell her.”

“Tell her what?”

The hand on your right shoulder stays while the left slips away, leaving room for Takeru to stand at your side and squeeze you against him in a weird little half-hug. In another situation, you might enjoy the way the silk of his robe whispers against the skin of your arms, perhaps smile at the warm comfort of a lazy arm thrown about your shoulders like a heavy scarf, but. Well. Right now, it’s just a little...awkward.

Aguni rolls his eyes.

“About that,” he says, gesturing impatiently at the debauchery behind your back, “I mean, just look at her face.”

“Mori-chan, how could you be so rude to our lovely guest? Darling,” Takeru says, turning your face towards him with two fingers under your chin, “don’t listen to him, you’re...ah, I see what you mean.”

Is your expression really that bad? It must be, because Takeru very slowly and very carefully withdrawing his arm from around your shoulder and taking a generous step to the side. His mouth is twisted into a rather comical gaping frown, his eyes nervously darting side-to-side.

“In my defense,” he says, putting his hands up like some kind of fucked-out traffic cop at a four-way intersection, “the, uh, the orgy part was very prominent. Big letters, right at the top.”

“I,” you reply, “I thought it was...a joke?”

“This is why we don’t just hand out invitations,” Aguni grits through his teeth, “for fuck’s sake, Takeru, we’ve talked about this!”

“I know, I know. I am humble enough to admit when I’ve fucked up, and this time, I have fucked up in a truly spectacular fashion,” Takeru’s gaze shifts from horrified to quizzical as he scrutinized you for a moment, “Unless...you’d like to stay?”

You look at the pie. The slowly-warming chocolate is beginning to sweat beneath the thin film of plastic wrap you so lovingly secured with lilac ribbon.

“Or you could slap him on the way out,” Aguni offers, “he’s very slap-able.”

“It’s true! And when you slap me,” he whips his head to the side suddenly, “my hair does that and it looks really cool!”

Yeah, okay—it did look pretty cool. But, does he deserve to be slapped? Probably for something else, but not for this. It’s a simple misunderstanding, and honest mistake on both your parts.

“I want...” you start, and the way they’re looking at you, wide-eyed and breath-bated, reminds you of the final rose ceremony on The Bachelorette.

It’s kind of hilarious, actually.

“I, uh,” you continue, “I want to...to put this in the refrigerator, if that’s okay? It’s, uh, starting to melt...”

To say that Takeru’s face lights up is an understatement. With a mega-watt smile and a sparkle in his eye, he swoops his arm back around your shoulder and begins leading you towards the kitchen.

Although you have (almost) gotten used to the sea of strangers fucking and moaning in the background, you still choose to politely avert your gaze as you pass them by. You instead focus on Takeru, who has taken this opportunity to explain the inner-workings of...whatever this is.

“...And I personally see to it that these events remain exclusive,” he says, “Although I do occasionally invite outsiders, such as yourself. You were just so sweet and helpful, I couldn’t resist trying my luck and sending you an invite.”

“Thank you,” you say, “although, I, uh...”

He opens the refrigerator door and motions for you to place the pie inside. Luckily, it’s mostly empty, save for a collection of bottled water and a tin of what looks to be cat food. You’re grateful to not have to carry it around anymore, and thank him for his assistance.

It’s finally time for you to acknowledge the proverbial ‘elephant in the room’—except, you’re not exactly sure how to begin.

“I,” you start, stopping to bite your lip, “I, uh. Is it okay if I...don’t, y’know, do the whole...uh...sex thing?”

“Oh, do you prefer to watch?”

“No! I mean, no, uh,” you laugh nervously, “I’m just...”

Takeru chuckles.

“I’m only teasing. You’re more than welcome to skip the sex and go straight to the food. As long as you’re on the kitchen side, nobody will touch you. It’s one of our rules.”

He motions for Aguni to come over with a wave of his arm, smiling when the tall man comes to lean against the kitchen counter.

“Mori-chan also prefers to abstain from the more salacious aspects of our little gathering, so the two of you can keep each other company.”

“I’m usually in charge of the food,” Aguni adds, “and I try to make sure the candles stay lit.”

“I, uh, I noticed those on the way in. They’re nice.”

Takeru leans towards you as if he’s about to share a secret.

“I don’t mean to be indelicate,” he says in a low tone, “but there is a certain stench that comes with these events. Sweat, musk, various secretions...it all really adds up in the end.”

“It’s awful,” Aguni concludes, “but candles help dissipate the worst of it.”

“Oh, and the ambiance,” Takeru exclaims, “there’s just nothing like candlelight to really get people in the mood for—“

A sharp ding! makes you jump. From what you can gather, it came from the small oven to Aguni’s left.

“Hold it right there,” Takeru growls towards Aguni, who had been in the middle of donning a pair of floral-printed oven mitts, “she needs thirty more seconds.”

Aguni looks at you and rolls his eyes. You stifle a giggle behind your hand, hoping your host doesn’t notice.

“I saw that,” Takeru snips towards Aguni, “honestly, Mori-chan, you get one new friend...”

And even though he’s mid-scold, there remains a joviality to Takeru’s tone—a testament, you believe, to what can only be a long-standing friendship between him and Aguni. It’s hard not to feel jealous of their easy back-and-forth, their banter like a well-matched game of tennis.

“Now you can take her out,” Takeru says, “but, so help me God, if you don’t let her rest for seven minutes–“

“–They’ll never find my body, I know, I know,” Aguni finishes, gingerly placing a metal pan on the stove, “Look, we’ve got it handled. You can go back to your side of the party and I’ll call you when it’s plated.”

“Fine,” Takeru answers with a false pout, “but only because I know she’ll keep you honest.”

And just like that, it’s just you and Aguni once more—but, this time, he seems much more at ease to have you around. Happy, almost. It must be kind of boring, sitting alone in a kitchen while everyone else is...well, busy.

“So,” you say, moving to Aguni’s side to peer into the baking pan, “looks kind of like...a quiche?”

“Not just any quiche,” Aguni answers, opening the drawer to his right and digging a hand inside, “the best quiche in Tokyo.”

He pulls out a shiny silver chef’s knife and places it on the counter. Next comes a pair of dainty forks, delicate little things one might use for tea cakes at a French-inspired bistro. Knowing what you know about Takeru—which, granted, isn’t very much at all—it doesn’t surprise you in the least.

“You’re in front of the plates,” he says, tapping the cabinet directly in front of your face, “grab us some?”

“But we’re supposed to wait seven minutes,” you protest, all while following his instructions, “it’s only been...like, three.”

Aguni’s eyes take on a glint of mischief.

“Only a problem if we get caught.”

Honestly, it looks divine. Pillowy-soft and the perfect pale-yellow hue, delicate tendrils of steam billowing out as he drags the knife through. You hadn’t ever seen a non-rectangular quiche before, but you suppose it makes sense; there are a fair few people in attendance, and the standard circular composition wouldn’t quite feed everyone.

He serves you first. A corner piece (which he insists are the best), speckled with herbs and studded with little pieces of what you assume to be some kind of ham. Little strings of cheese stick to the blade of the knife, and Aguni scrapes them off with the side of a fork, which he then hands to you.

“Takeru doesn’t cook much,” Aguni explains, playing his own small square, “but when he does...”

The sound that comes from your mouth as you take your first bite of quiche could rival any of those happening in the orgy across the room. Oh, that is so good! Buttery crust, the salt of cheese and ham, the subtle bite of onion—and there’s something else there, something you can’t quite place, but you know it tastes absolutely heavenly. Immediately, you take another bite.

“Grew the herbs de Provence myself,” Aguni mentions, “He refuses to use store-bought.”

“Makes all the difference,” you respond, “I could eat the whole pan by myself.”

“I did that for my last birthday, actually,” Aguni chuckles around a forkful of quiche, “Takeru insisted on putting all thirty-eight candles in before carrying it to the table—you know, like a dumbass. Part of his hair caught fire, and I had to give him a haircut at two in the morning because he was so distraught.”

The two of you laugh—Aguni at the memory, and you at the idea of a tearful Takeru sulking as Aguni snipping the fried locks with a pair of kitchen shears.

“He forgave me, even though I took a whole two inches off,” Aguni sets his empty plate in the sink and looks out of the small window above it, “He’s not a bad guy, you know. Doesn’t always make the best choices, sure, but he’s got a good heart in him.”

There is a sadness here, something in Aguni that speaks to a troubled past you haven’t quite unearthed yet—and you know better than to press him, especially here, especially now.

“Well, I can’t say I’m an expert,” you say, handing him your plate, “but you two seem like decent people. Orgies aside, of course.”

“Of course,” Aguni nods, “though I don’t suppose you’ll come to the next one, will you?”

For the first time since your arrival, you allow yourself to watch the festivities happening across the room. It isn’t that bad, you suppose—it’s just a group of people having a fun time together, laughing and gasping and enjoying each others’ bodies in a safe and comfortable place. It’s not something you necessarily want to do yourself, but...well, the ‘weird’ factor of the whole thing has gone down exponentially over the past hour or so.

“And miss out on the best quiche in Tokyo,” you say, nudging against Aguni’s arm with your shoulder, “not a chance!”

#alice in borderland #hatter #danma takeru #alice in borderland netflix #spicy boy #morizono aguni #writings and such #THIS TOOK ME OVER A MONTH TO WRITE OH MY GOD #alice in borderland fanfic #obvi this takes place before borderland #so I guess this is an au?#also I hinted at Ziggy the cat because I am self-indulgent and evil #can’t believe I actually wrote it lads

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vios-rockland-corner · 4 years ago

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Nightmare Realized

“Nightmare Realized” is a short visual novel/game that acts as a teaser for the first upcoming Misfits horror game, “The Misfits: First Blood.”

It’s a haunting precursor for the events that will come, and a good look at one of the characters.

I highly recommend playing it through first (it only takes less than 5 minutes). Otherwise, I’ll be placing my random thoughts below for fun.

[Spoilers below for Nightmare Realized, Rumors of Rockland Article 1, and The Misfits: First Blood demo]

I absolutely loved this teaser. Especially the way it was presented. It’s pretty short, so I’ve decided what I’ll do here is make a bullet list of any little thing that caught my eye. Once that’s done, I’ll decide what I want to talk about more (I may not address every single bullet point).

1. Rory Stryker is a kind person at least to Syndey and Tyler.

2. Tyler might possibly get his drugs from his mother (not clear if she got him into drugs or if she just provides- the phrase “drug abuse” is stated though).

3. It sounds like…Sydney has trouble being nice with his blood family usually (like his mother and Tyler)

4. Something is VERY wrong with Sydney.

5. Sydney may have an obsession with either blades or using them (or both…possibly blood too).

6. Getting to hear the knives’ “songs often now” implies that he is becoming more active (possibly to hurt or kill people).

7. Quill, similarly to how he was portrayed in the demo, has a huge ego. And yes, even his friends think he’s a d*ck.

8. Sydney considers Quill, Chase and Kinley as family. Possible even more so than his blood family from what I can tell.

9. There are romantic relationships among the four. It’s implied they all may love each other. Outlaw has a lot of polyamorous and pansexual characters, so this isn’t unusual. That’s why Sydney’s description for each of the three feels like a genuine love confession. I might say from these depictions they do share, but there are favored partners for each person (Chase-Quill and Syndey-Kinley)? But I need to be careful about what I say since I’m not familiar with this dynamic. (Btw creators, if this is rude for me to comment on, I’ll try to avoid the topic in the future and edit this part out).

10. Chase is nonbinary and used to be mute. They were also abandoned when they were younger. [Note: I actually knew this already from some Patreon notes, but I thought it’d be good to make that clear here]

11. All four characters, happily engage in “hunting.” Obviously, they’re not talking about game hunting here. If you’ve played the Misfits: First Blood demo, it was mentioned that these guys DO go after people as a pack sometimes.

One of the biggest things about this game is it’s the first time I believe we’ve gotten to see a glimpse into Sydney’s personality. Even better, we get a direct look into his psyche since this is POV. Syndey’s character has been around, but before this game we’ve only had artwork and Quill mentioning his name briefly in the demo. There weren’t any clues for what this guy was like.

Right off the bat we can see Sydney is very off. It sounds like he usually puts in the bare minimum when it comes to functioning and interacting with others. He sounds very out of it. He only gets more lively and emotions once Quill and the rest of his friends come into the picture. Let’s not forget either the sinister urges we see invading his mind at an alarming rate. This is apparently a dangerous trait he’s had for a long time. It’s almost like he can’t help himself.

What was really interesting to me was the very beginning actually. I’m really curious what kind of relationship Sydney has with his family. Compared to his friends, his blood family is either a lot lower on his priority list or he just has a lot of issues connecting with any of them. We still don’t know what the Stryker family does yet, but that could play a part in this. I wonder, since he seems slightly disconnected from his immediate family, if any of them are aware of Sydney’s “hunting hobby.” His parents are part of “The Professionals” group, so they’re not innocent themselves. But I don’t know how much each party influences or is involved with the other here. Unlike with Quill and his father Alchemy (another “Professional”) where we do know from the demo that Quill learned from Alchemy.

I’m also more curious now about Tyler. We got a good introduction to Tyler in the Rumors of Rockland Article 1 that was released. He seemed pretty chipper and easy going there. But I don’t know if he has his own problems. He’s a drug dealer and…yeah it’s very possible that he’s also addicted to drugs as well. Sydney specifically uses the phrase “drug abuse,” but I can’t quite figure out if he means Tyler is abusing drugs, or it’s some kind of influence by his mother. Like I said, she could be a dealer herself. There’s something twisted there.

Whatever the case, Tyler and his mother seem to be much closer to each other than Sydney is to either of them. It doesn’t FEEL like Sydney has any malice towards either of the two, but I’d need more information to be sure. Sydney’s apparently not always nice to Tyler, but Sydney doesn’t seem to pay attention to this fact in his daily life.

One thing I loved about this game is how it progresses. We start off with Sydney clearly not having a wonderful morning (he’s very distracted). Then we slowly meet up with Quill, Chase and Kinley. The minute Quill comes into the picture, Sydney becomes more emotional and thoughtful. We get to meet Chase and we’re distracted by the depiction of this small character with a sad past. Then we’re suddenly reminded something. These people are monsters. Despite the casual setting at the arcade, once Quill brings up “hunting,” we the audience see the wolves hiding beneath these playful characters through wonderfully dark visuals. Even cute little Chase has a wicked grin on their face.

There’s even a brief moment where Kinley is introduced and Sydney is able to return to a calm, loving state for a moment (after getting excited over the thought of blood). Kinley’s a psychologist who took care of his unwell mother at a young age. He seemed to be picking up on Sydney’s excitement here. So for a brief moment…you think MAYBE Kinley has come over to calm Sydney down and drive away his more murderous thoughts? NOPE. We’re quickly shown that this man is no different from the other three. They ALL crave a hunt. No matter how beautiful you paint a picture of each on the outside, they all have thorns underneath like a rose.

And in a twisted way, Sydney feels more connected with these three because he DOESN’T feel like a monster here. They are all the same. Which of course, is horrifying as a viewer. They’re probably far less likely to feel remorse for their actions if they know there are other people like themselves around to share their sick hobbies with.

It’s a chilling and perfect teaser for the inevitable Misfits game. The message is clear: Don’t trust any of them.

Side note: I personally look forward to seeing more egotistical Quill. I love it even though I want to punch him in the face sometimes.

#Nightmare Realized #rockland #the misfits #runawayoutlaw #rottenbonethief #Sydney Dixie #Quinton Willow #Chase Knox #Ashley Kinley #Rockland Games #horror game #teaser

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benbantz · 4 years ago

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Week 17 with long term Covid

Hello to anyone reading this, those I know and those I don’t.

Had Covid 19 now for 17 weeks (or suffering after effects of covid, how ever you want to word it.) Point is had/have Corona and it’s still kicking my arse.

So since my recent facebook update (after being pretty quiet on social media for a while) a couple of peeps have messaged me asking about my symptoms and stuff as (apart from the first 2-3 weeks) I haven't really gone into any detail I just sort of say 'having rough week' or 'things flared up again' etc etc. Without going into too much detail about anything specific. So for anyone interested, and because people have been curious and asking - and as you’ll see is far to detailed to explain person to person (and want to spread the word about long haulers as a lot of people struggling) So it’s just easier for me to have it in one place. For myself more then anything. And if you get anything out of it then that’s great.

Things are just starting to come out about long haulers in the media and on the news and I know people are interested to learn a bit more about it all. So while I’m having a not too bad a time last couple of days I’d thought it’s a good a time as any to go thru all my symptoms. Get them typed out for first time.

And maybe it will be helpful to someone who randomly comes across this post - (thou please don’t use as a guide), every case is different, a lot of similarities and cross overs , but ultimately different Just because someone you know might be having a rough couple of days or experiencing a couple of these symptoms it could be something completely unrelated to covid. (Make sure you check with your GP or call 111 if you think you have covid symptoms long term or otherwise.) I am not a Dr.

Here's a list of everything been going on with me over last 17 weeks. Some experiences have been completely new to me so very hard to explain , some descriptions may sound a little odd , but hopefully you get idea of what I mean! (Also sorry for any grammar mistakes....I dropped out of English A level)

Those who come across this and don’t know me personally know that while this is a (mostly) serious (but hopefully uplifting) post I’m very sarcastic and use dumb humour to deflect from how shit life is at the moment! :-)

So first thing of the bat I'll explain is I've realised in recent weeks it's been easier to think of it as good and bad days/weeks rather then getting better/worse (as in first 10 or so weeks when I thought of it as 'it's getting better' and got in that positive mindset, the kickbacks have obviously beaten the piss out of me mentally as well as physically, as I've had about four big relapses now where I thought I'm on the right track, having a good couple of weeks then bam, I seem to go back to square one for no real apparent reason. So when I say bad day I'm describing when everything amps/flares up again, A few more symptoms go up and the volumes up on high,and likewise a good day is when things seem to be moving in right direction again and I get a bit of a break.(So now I just appreciate them when they come and try make most out of them.) A good day isn’t a symptom free day by any means, it’s just better then the bad ones.

OK so on to my symptoms.

Specific Areas

Chest - Since the first evening it kicked of early March my chest has felt like a giant has had his hand around it - that’s non stop, constant (told you my explanations were weird.)

On the better days it's a very light grip I can get on and do things to a point, but I am always aware it's there. On a bad day it's grip tightens and he squeezes (or his fingers press into a couple of key areas - been pressing on my back a lot last few weeks.) - That’s been non stop and has not gone away since beginning. Thou I do believe its starting to ease a little.

- Chest pain - A shooting pain in my chest (slightly different from description above, feels more like its needles on inside of body. Thankfully these are uncommon, they pop up if I push myself a bit too far one day or if I’m having rougher week.(And it’s not heart related)

Lungs/Breathing - Haven't felt like I've taken in a full lungful of air since beginning, I take a deep breath but only feels like I'm taking in 80- 85% ish (on a good day) 65- 75% ish (on a bad day) - This is week 17 numbers btw, take maybe 10-15% off when it was at worst. I think the best way I can describe it is it feels like there’s a filter or a sieve/strainer at top of lungs, on a good day there’s more spaces available to breathe thru (but still there’s a filter) and on a bad day more spaces close and I'm breathing thru less.

*Thankfully bar the first week where I had to get paramedic out, I haven't been gasping for air, I've certainly had to just lay and just concentrate on only breathing a few times because the filters have closed up a lot more (in the night mostly) especially where my bodies relaxed and I've woken and panicked short of air. Yes that’s as terrifying as it sounds.

- The air I do take in doesn't feel clean or fresh (best way I can describe it is when you go to a zoo and they have a indoor Rain Forrest/safari area .... very that lol) That was constant the first 12 or so weeks (even when getting fresh air outside) thankfully that’s eased a little and not so prominent, still doesn't feel like I’m breathing in fresh air but its not so hot and stuffy and noticing the difference when I go outside now.

Throat/Mouth - Burning/inflamed mouth - This is by far been the most uncomfortable/hardest for me to ignore and just get on with day to day stuff, from maybe week 6 to week 14 it was pretty much non stop burning mouth and throat (Call my mum Khaleesi because I was spitting fire.)

Whole inside of my mouth and down my throat was just inflamed/swollen (felt like I had a golf ball stuck down there) and burning hot. The last couple of weeks its eased I don’t wake up with it (unless i’m having a flare up/bad day) It's still very on/ off but thankfully not constant like it was. And have since learned that high histamine foods make it worse - same with my chest and few other things, (so choc, dairy, alcohol, fizzy drinks ...my diet essentially ) So have cut most of them down/out. Ice lollies have been my savior on hot throat days. - Marble in throat - Another hard one to explain, it feels like there’s a marble sort of sized ball of phlegm that I constantly need to clear. (OK maybe not that hard to explain - also sorry for the gross imagery.) But not enough mucus coming up to warrant the feeling, it’s irritating more then anything - but a few weeks ago was probs golf ball sized, so again improvement! - This sort of ties in with with the inflamed mouth, but the first thing to flare up on bad day is my tongue, feels tingly most of the time anyway but more so on a flare up/bad day. - Same with my teeth / gums and the tingly sensation, (my teeth constantly feel like that sensation when you have some orange juice after brushing your teeth.) Sensitive/fuzzy I guess. Not particularly bothersome or concerning...just weird.

Nose

- This is probably one of newest ones, nose has felt hot(on and off)/bunged up for last few weeks. (But I know its not if that makes sense) I guess you could say same as lungs - not breathing in a full nose-full of air either. - sorry again for gross TMI but any mucus or boogers are clear (like almost see thru clear/never been cleaner clear) - Phantom smells - A really odd one, I smell smoke and gas a lot, not just smell it, it feels like its in my nose and my mouth - especially smoke, almost like I’ve eaten it sometimes (non smoker in smoke free flat btw). Was a lot more prominent in first few weeks ,so much so that before I realised it was a symptom I had my carbon monoxide alarms checked because it was making me paranoid I could smell smoke/gas. A bizarre one for sure. Pops up randomly now and again.

Eyes - Last couple of weeks have been getting bit of blurry vision and sore or dry eye , I'm already blind as shit so hard to tell in terms of blurriness how bad this one is, but def finding it harder to concentrate on one thing for too long (but that sort of ties in with brain fog - which i'll get to) but pretty sure once this is done with and I go to opticians will likely need a stronger prescription (some other long haulers who never had eye problems before are now having to wear glasses) No idea if that’s a permanent one but hopefully i’m at peak of it.

Ears - My left ear has felt blocked pretty much since start (or like it needs to pop some days) Most the time I can ignore it but can be quite distracting if it kicks up a couple of dials.Which is likely why I get ear ache in same ear often as well.

*Also for most the things listed above it has always been worse on my left side of body, lung, eyes, ear, headaches.

- Tinnitus (correct word for ringing in ears right?) Usually kicks in early afternoon or on bad day. Varies on strength depending on the day I’m having.

Head/Brain - Brain Fog - So the sort of very basic science behind this is because my lungs aren't producing enough oxygen my brain knows this, so is lending them some to help out...but because of this it means I’m experiencing what is known as brain fog (I don’t know what its actually called, likely has a better more official sounding name) - my concentration is very low, i’m finding it hard to retain things and concentrate more then usual. (not been up to reading or watching something new for month or so as I just cant focus on it) Also been getting odd words muddled or confused (but the bar wasn't the highest with me on that front ha ha)

Been dropping things when I think I have them in my hand. I do however think this is improving (The fact that I have typed this out with just a couple short breaks so far is much better then two weeks ago when I couldn't even focus on a computer game for more then half a hour) so as my lungs improve so does this or vice versa on flare up. *Edit - This whole post has taken a couple of days to draft and type up, so not too bad in terms of needing breaks etc.

-I'm also constantly aware of my brain... like I can feel it all the time (I literally cant explain that any other way lol, I guess its just heavier at moment so I can feel it against my skull) best explanation I think you'll get from that one. - Have a headache most the time (so much so that I sort of forget it’s there.) Thankfully most the time there mild/low and I can forget or distract myself but like everything else if I'm having a bad few days it goes up a notch. Likely connected to the brain fog.

Stomach and Lower abdomen - Period pains - only way I can explain it, generally thought after nearly 10 years without them it was messing my body about so much I was getting phantom periods. (I’m a transgender man, 4+ years on testosterone, for anyone I don’t know who comes across this) been there done that, brought the t-shirt.. then sent it back because it wasn’t for me! Very strong and painful on and off for first eight weeks, get the odd twinge now and again but think that ones done with, thank the gods. - Stomach Pains - Few aches and pains on /off, and recently experienced what felt like needle/stabbing pain for short while in short bursts - and I only really mention stomach because I haven't had the widely publicised 'covid shits' (yet, touch wood... or cloth) So yay!

Heart - Palpitations - First 8 weeks was on and off most days to the point if I was sat still my heart would be palpitating. (I couldn't even sit and listen to music I enjoyed as it would make my heart go mad.) - When I do get the palpitations it sets most things off, so if palpitations do start I generally know I'm about to have rough couple of hours or days and can’t do much, for obvious safety reasons. Thankfully these have subsided a lot last 6 or so weeks. Still get them every few days but generally know whats setting me off and how to lower them down and they don’t last as long.

Hands and Feet - Skin been very dry last couple of months, cracking and peeling on hands and feet (ew) - Pins and needles/ numb fingers and toes - Get this a lot, obviously very normal stuff but just find them coming on a lot more (especially if i’m holding something like my ipad, phone or xbox controller for a while) Fingers feel numb/puffy a lot too. (Likely also why I keep dropping things) - Also to tie in with skin, have had a on /off spots on chest, face and shoulders for few weeks, they all came up at same time, not irritant or itchy or anything, just there.

General/Other weird things - Voice - So this is one that frustrates me the most, I have had next to no voice for last maybe 10 weeks. I just cant chat to people at moment. For first 4 weeks wasn't to bad (I even started a youtube channel to keep me occupied and distracted) but slowly week by week it went a little bit more each time. I can talk for short periods of time if I have to/choose to ,like its not gone completely, but it kicks up all the things I mentioned in my throat and mouth directly after. If the phone rings I have to decide if it’s worth answering, in doing so knowing i’m going to have a rough day or so after. Someday’s I feel it's better then others like couple of weeks ago, chatted to my brothers online on xbox for half an hour or so for the first time in weeks, and caught up with a friend on phone for 10 minutes...but a couple of days later everything flared up again. So it's still trial and error and just being patient with my voice. (I'm quite confident no long term damage is being done now as few people in group i’m in reported there voice just eventually got better over time.) Definitely the symptom I’m having to be most patient with. - Fatigue and tiredness - My days now are normally diddily done by 4-5, (except if its a bad day then most of the day is a write off) No matter how little or much I've done, by 5-6 my body and mind are exhausted. As someone who has insomnia, pre covid I would maybe have 1-2 all nighters every ten or so days sprinkled in with 5-6 days of at most 3-4 hours sleep. In the last 17 weeks I have had just 3 all nighters, and maybe just under ten 3-4 hour sleeps. Otherwise i’m getting at least 5+ hours a night. This is the one covid thing I'd like to keep please lol. I think it's easing a little (most the bad night sleeps have been in last month) and on good days tiredness is kicking in a little later, or it's taking me a little longer to drift off. But generally am cream crackerd a lot of time, especially if I push myself too far on a bad day. - Loss/Increased appetite - This sort of ties in with what I mentioned earlier about different foods causing set backs, the first 6 weeks I had no appetite and lost a bit of weight (I do put a lot of this down to extreme worry and stress thou) Then I went thru a phase of being very hungry for a few weeks and put most of the weight I had lost back on. I'm somewhere in the middle now, probably because I know most of anything I eat will set me back a little (because as mentioned fussy git = high histamine diet) so i’m cutting portions (otherwise known as the amount of cheese I add to everything!) and cutting out all most junk food (you’ll never part me from my crisps!) and non healthy drinks.

- Bloated and dehydration - This one I sort of put in pencil because it could be covid related but I also think it could be side effects from the brown asthma inhaler I was prescribed to help with breathing. I’m still undecided as it pops up especially when I was using inhaler more but it does happen days after I’ve last used it. At it’s worse I was getting up to pee a lot! because I was thirsty all the time. So of course was just very bloated around the belly.

*Also talking of peeing, (Great segway Ben) number 1′s and 2′s have been very different then normal, urine thicker and bubbly,and smells/is coloured different, (same with 2′s) Also have a completely different body odour at the moment,(pungent) having to use deodorant twice as much as normal. - Admit it your life’s a little bit better now you know that information.

- THE HEAT! - I touched on this with my mouth and nose being on fire, but for the first 10-12 weeks I did not go a day where at least a couple of things were not burning hot ,like hot to the touch as well, not just inside...(very different experience then having a temperature). Extreme heat in one very specific part of body. Ears, forehead, cheeks, chest, back, nose, mouth,throat to name a few of prominent ones. Over time they have faded (if something does feel hot now its generally not hot to the touch anymore.) Maybe on a bad day a couple of things will burn up. (But in saying that, been calling today a good day but nose is quite hot) but point is its better. - Mood swings/Anxiety - While i’m fairly confident anything emotional has stemmed from experiencing...well everything you've just read. Rather then it being its own symptom (thou I have had days of uncontrollable crying, days of anger..that perhaps outside of covid I would still of had one of those days but just not to such a extreme, I think with everything going on its just amped that emotion and anxiety up.) it's obviously been very stressful and anxiety inducing. That’s only calmed down in last week since finding the facebook group of other people going thru the same thing. I'm now seeing that people are slowly improving, i'm seeing I've not been going mad and it's all very real and not just happening to me. So the bad days are easier to deal with now and not hitting me emotionally like a ton of bricks anymore. I honestly couldn't see the end of the tunnel two weeks ago but can see it now (even if I take a step forward one day but then 2-3 back another...I see it still.)

*Mushy moment Alert - A good a place as any to include while I'm talking about emotion - Even thou she probs wont see this,but want to mention my mum. She’s been my rock thru all this, she messages me at least twice everyday without fail, since day 1. Even thou I know she's been worried sick about me herself, she's reassured and calmed me down on the harder more stressful days. I dread the mornings when things have gone downhill a bit and having to tell her ,because I know she'll worry, but after a few texts we both end up sort of reassuring and calming the other down. (especially in the earlier days when it was really bad, scary, new and unknown.) When it was really getting me down for a while and I wanted nothing to do with anything covid related and just stay in bed and pretend this wasn't happening to me, she dug out the articles and tips and things to help or give me a boost. (Not to mention all the coming and going she and my step dad have done for me last 4 months and taking care of my shopping for first 9 or so weeks...because I was a useless mess of a human) I know it’s basic mum stuff but this would be 10x harder and lonelier without her. Random detour I know but can’t talk about my covid experience and recovery without mentioning her.

Almost looking forward to sending her the first 'Everything normal today' text as much as I look forward to experiencing it....almost. ;-)

Amount of Symptoms On A Typical Day

On a good day - (when I think virus was at it's worse in the first 10-14 weeks) - 4-6 symptoms ( 2 or 3 cranked up to a medium or high otherwise on mild)

On a bad day - At peak/worse - 6-10 symptoms (throat, chest and no voice on high volume, maybe a couple of things like palpitations and brain fog, heat on medium/high, other weird stuff on mild/low)

Good day - Now 17 weeks in (excluding my voice which is still a medium to high issue most days) - 3-4 Symptoms on low to mild - usually there’s something still simmering on a medium always ready to turn up to a high if I push it too much in terms of walking or talking. (often my chest) Bad Day (Now) - 4-7 Symptoms - 1 to 3 on medium (maybe a couple will kick up to high on first day of a flare up, but generally now for shorter periods of time.)Everything else on mild or low.

So there has def been improvement in last 6 weeks, i’m sure it wont all be plain sailing and I know/prepare to expect another 'flare up' and then a bad few days. But recently instead of the bad days being 2-3 weeks of it constantly, the duration is getting shorter each time (last bad few days was just under a week) So things are slowly improving, and i’m sure in time so will the amount of symptoms and the strength of each symptom.

I've probably missed a couple of silly/odd little things that have gone on (likely because they were so early on or very brief (or I’ve forgotten) - fever and nausea to name a couple. When I got my notes together these were the main ones that came to mind. Quite a lot actually sitting back reading them, and I think the scary (but good) thing is, x-ray came back fine, bloods came back fine. People have had MRI's, camera’s down there throat, most coming back fine. Covid just not showing up on any tests(unless someones suffered further complications with something) - hence why a lot of people struggling to be taken seriously by there GP's or even loved ones who think there just 'exaggerating’ or its just ‘anxiety and stress'...no living with all what you just read causes anxiety and stress Mary!

But yeah could waffle on, once its definitely gone and I breathe and look back I can perhaps get a better overview of everything and give you better analysis of all that’s gone on. I get asked 'so when do you think it will be gone?' almost as much as 'are you better now?' To the first question, meh I don't know, I'm now into month 4/week 17 (well month 5 if I include last couple of days of Feb when I believe I caught it and had the very mild cold early March) still a lot of things going on with my body, some new things could still pop up, so instead of saying 'I think it will be gone by..' ,like I did in the first weeks. I'm just taking it week by week (or day by day if it kicks up a notch) not making any big demands of myself or my body, doing what I can each day....but not pushing it. Instead of the sad, anxiety inducing thought 'when will it go' or the one all us long haulers worry about a lot ‘Will it ever go?’ I now try to think instead 'it will go!.'

To any fellow long haulers I say hang in there, keep fighting, trust your body and that it will get better. Take it day by day. Stay as positive as you can when everything 'flares up again' after a couple of weeks of good progress (easier said then done I know) but know it wont be forever as much as it feels like it is. Don’t be afraid to ask for help (I hate going to Drs would much rather just 'get on with it' , but from pestering a little I got a blue inhaler which has helped me a lot day to day,and had x-ray and blood tests which also put my mind at ease when they came back clear. So don’t be afraid to ask to get these things checked if you’re worried. I've been lucky with my GP's thou who I think have generally believed me and taken me seriously and I know not everyone is getting that help or respect. I think it’s really not helped us that in the early days people were stubbing their toes and thinking they had caught covid and calling their Dr’s (I’m exaggerating but hopefully you get my point lol), so if you do get a not so helpful interaction, be patient,explain yourself or try again with another Dr, remember a GP will only advise you symptom by symptom and not as a whole. Anyway I’m repeating stuff you already know by now lol.

Stay positive. Stay hopeful and stay safe.

To anyone else, believe us, know this is very real, and that it absolutely sucks. Its not just anxiety or in our head. We're not exaggerating - in fact most of us are probably playing it down or just not elaborating on things for an easy life and because when someone asks 'are you better now?' it's easier to just smile and nod and answer 'getting there slowly' because the truth is...well what you just read lol. (And I'm a particularly mild case...next to no coughing, no spells in A and E, a breeze for a lot of other people with long term) Keep yourselves safe (most long haulers have no previous medical /problems/conditions. Some ,myself included, have weakened immune systems due to a long term health condition. A unlucky few are fighting another long term medical illness as well as covid. I'm lucky in that I have no dependants (except 4 easy to please gecko's) and was not working prior to catching it - some are having to deal with all this and be full time parents, or have been to and fro with their jobs (thinking there better then relapsing after going back). There’s mums messaging on behalf of there young kids who have it, lots of young people (one of the lads that co runs the group is 22 I believe), there's athletes/health fanatics used to running miles every day been completely knocked of there game unable to even walk to end of road some days. People of all age ranges. Point is anyone can catch it, it might not just be 'a couple of rough weeks' It might take over half a year for you to recover from. This myth that it's short and sweet, or a walk in the park if your young and healthy needs to be squashed because its just not accurate.

If not for my mum and our family and the facebook group I found, (Positive path of wellness - Covid UK Long Haulers) I'd be struggling, really struggling. It's scary, brutal and lonely. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. The virus is still out there it has not gone. Keep sanitising hands and wear a mask in busy places!. - Tell the guy who's life this has been for 17 weeks, why wearing a mask in public places, to keep yourself and others safe from catching this nightmare, is a inconvenience for you Karen...go on, I'll wait...

Maybe you can help prevent yours or someone else's next few months from being even worse. x

Was going to just make this a one time post on tumblr account but if it’s a help to anyone (especially fellow long haulers) I’ll post some other bits and bobs when i’m up to it. (thinking of doing a post about things/products etc that I think have been helping me. If that’s useful to anyone) Or just some positive/ funny things to keep spirits up. Keeping it all positive and upbeat as possible.

So I’ll see if anyone reads this first and go from there

So I guess in conclusion ...lol I’m just joking, this post is really done now, go back to your lives, this garbled mess of self woe (worlds smallest violin is back in its case now), sarcasm and naff humour has taken up far too much of all of our days already. Go peacefully amongst the things. :-)

Stay safe everyone x

#covid-19 #covid19longhaul #longtermcovid #coronavirus #coronalonghaul #covid 19 symptoms #corona symptoms #long haul covid #covid long haulers #covid recovery #covid uk #corona uk #corona long haulers uk

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inactivebsdblog · 5 years ago

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Hi! I’m a new follower! Can I have a hc of dazai,ranpo,and chuuya with a s/o whose having a hard time deciding weather to take a abroad college trip to either India,Spain, or novia scotia? What place would they choose? (What would YOU choose?) (this is honestly a real problem for me T-T)

Dazai, Ranpo, Chuuya + S/O that has to decide where to travel to

A/N: So, India, Spain or Nova Scotia, huh... Right off the bat, I'd probably die taking an abroad trip. My brain's kinda slow with transporting impulses and I'd get really bad headaches no matter where I'd go to because my brain would just mix everything up if it's a new place... but if I'd have to decide, I'd say Nova Scotia. It may be furthest from home, but also the one with the most similar climate to here... also, I've always wanted to see Canada and I had bad experience with Spain (thank you 8th grade Spanish class, I wouldn't choose you again), so yeah. In the end, however, it's your decision.

Dazai

He'd probably tell you he'd commit suicide if you'd go

One tip, try puppy eyes, they work wonders on him.

The next day, he'd walk into the ADA, sit down with you and tell you to pick the place furthest from Yokohama with a straight face.

You are of course irritated, but you understand as soon as he explains his reasons.

He can't protect you from the Port Mafia in another country

So he wants you to be as far away from them and their influence as possible.

In that case, it'd be Spain (I think, I'm not really the best in geography)

You'd take that into consideration when making a decision, even though you think it's difficult to have a relationship when you're so far away from each other.

Dazai will support you in your decision and take precautions regardless of where you go because he's overprotective of you and would hate to drag you into his personal conflicts with the Mafia.

If you're really gonna pick Spain, then welcome to Europe if you weren't already here, where it's supposed to be cooler but the summers are currently hot af

Ranpo

Whining, whining, more whining. Ranpo is lazy as heck so he'd probably die after a week without you of starvation or thirst.

So before you do anything, you have to figure out where to take Ranpo to in that time.

You decide pretty quickly that he's gonna stay in the ADA where he can be constantly supervised by his colleagues and where he had lived anyway before he moved in with you.

As thanks (actually just because he was too lazy to tell you that he'd do that anyway), he gives you a tip on how to decide: draw lots and if you're disappointed with the result, draw again, until you find the one that makes you the happiest.

(Btw you're probably going to come back home to everyone screaming and Ranpo calmly eating a cookie)

Chuuya

Chuuya isn't exactly eager to let you go because obviously he'd miss you, but he tries to shove that aside

He reads up the pros and cons about every single place in his free time and acts as if he doesn't care

But every day you come back home to find a list of attractions you could visit in either country and a list of the pros and cons he has written down himself

He points out things you've forgotten in your rants when you're talking about the topic

He's the most supportive out of the three, just like a mum

He really tries to force you to go to India because it's the closest to Japan and he wants to have long calls with you without one of you having to stay up all night

He would go with you if he wouldn't be an executive (he has a suitcase packed under his bed in case you need him while you're gone)

To sum it up, none of them are really eager to let you go, but they all have to let you. They all have their preferred places (except for Ranpo who'll miss you but is happy as long as you're satisfied with the place), but they'd try to support you no matter what you choose.

Thanks for requesting, I hope this was helpful in any way!

#bsd headcanons #bsd #bsd chuuya #bsd dazai #bsd ranpo #edogawa ranpo #nakahara chuuya #dazai osamu #bungou stray dogs #dazai #chuuya #ranpo

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ninjadurtles · 6 years ago

Text

“It’s Not What It Looks Like” Grayson Dolan Imagine

Requested?- “30? With Grayson plllsssssss, I love how you write btw that’s why I’m asking twince lol” - @dolanfivsosxox So this is Number 30 from the prompt list. Thank you so much for the sweet request! I hope you enjoy it and I’m so sorry it’s this late!

Word Count- 7.4k.

Warnings- Language.

Author’s Note- Holy shit, it’s been a while! Sorry, I’ve been super super busy and this surprisingly enough took a long while to write. This is the longest thing I’ve written and it was a test of my patience. Hats off to every writer who’s ever written more than 1000 words coz damn, it’s hard! Anyway, I will be replying to all my lovely asks soon- thank you to everyone who’s sent an ask in, I really really appreciate it! Lots and lots of love to you all xx

Masterlist

"It's not what it looks like!"

Your best friend raised her eyebrow at you as she waved your phone at you. You knew there was a good reason you'd given her full access to your phone but you couldn't remember what it was for the life of you as she grinned like a cheshire cat, your phone held tightly in your hand.

"Really? Coz it looks like you're getting it on with the guy you've had a crush on since forever."

You huffed as you stalked towards where she was perched on the sofa, ready to snatch your phone from her but she was ready, leaning out of your reach and holding you back with a sock clad foot.

"No one's getting anything on," you protested as you tried to bat away her legs, doing your best to reach- unsuccessfully- for your phone.

"Not what it looks like," Maya singsonged gleefully as she read the messages on the screen. She let out a squeal, twisting away as you lunged for her, ending up half on top off her. "Stop! Stop! Stop!"

"Give it- ooft!" You groaned as you landed on your back on the floor, the breath well and truly knocked out of you. Taking in a deep breath, you pushed yourself up so you were sitting on your carpet and glared at your so called best friend. "I really hate you."

She waved a hand at you dismissively. "Yeah, I love you too. But seriously, when did you start flirting with Grayson Dolan?"

You shrugged with faux nonchalance, your fingers twisting together.

Dating apps weren't really your thing so when Maya had all but forced you to download Bumble, the last thing you'd expected was to come across Grayson's profile as you'd halfheartedly swiped through an endless myriad of photos. You'd remembered stopping in surprise, your finger ready to continue its spree of rejecting every option, when you'd recognised the chiselled face in the photos as your good friend who you may or may not have had a thing for for the last few years.

Then, before you could second guess yourself, you'd swiped right because what was the harm, right? If he came across your profile and didn't swipe back, he'd be none the wiser. He could go on with his life, blissfully ignorant about the way he made your heart skip a beat every time his eyes crinkled when he smiled and Maya could stop harassing you about never trying. Win-win situation.

You just hadn't been expecting to be told it was a match. And you knew he'd probably matched back because he'd thought it'd be a funny joke between friends. 'Remember that time we both matched on Bumble?' 'Yeah, hilarious.' By then you'd obviously had to message him because not messaging him would have definitely made things awkward. So you'd sent a casual message to him, laughing about the situation and the joint embarrassment of discovering each other's dating profiles and somehow, you'd both kept chatting.

"A few days ago, I guess," you finally conceded when the weight of her expectant gaze proved too much.

"And you didn't tell me? I'm hurt." She pouted at you in mock offence before patting the sofa cushion next to her. "Come on, get up here so I can psychoanalyse these messages properly."

Sighing in resignation, you pushed yourself off of the floor and flopped down onto the sofa, crossing your arms as you watched her scroll through the conversation.

"Holy shit, you guys are hardcore flirting!"

You felt your cheeks warm at her exclamation even as you tried to keep your face neutral. "It's not like that."

"Are you kidding me? 'Can't believe we matched haha.' 'How could I turn down the chance to talk to a pretty girl?' 'You're not so bad yourself.' Are you seriously trying to tell me you're not flirting?" She cast you an exasperated glance before gluing her eyes back to the screen. You pulled your bottom lip between your teeth, gnawing anxiously as you let her finish her investigating in silence. The minutes dragged on but you let out a sigh of relief when she tossed your phone back to you, fumbling to catch it and pull it close to your chest.

You looked back to Maya who was staring at you with a finely arched eyebrow and far too much amusement.

"What?""You're genuinely going to tell me you're not flirting? To my face?"

"We're just messing around. We found each other on a dating app and we're just playing along. It's ironic flirting," you explained with as much casualness you could summon.

"Uh huh," she drawled out, unconvinced. "No, what's ironic is that I signed you up to this dating app for the express purpose of helping you move on from Grayson and you've somehow managed to completely negate that."

You pouted at her. "I thought you signed me up because you thought it was time I met a 'nice boy' so I could stop third wheeling you and Josh."

A roll of her eyes. "Yeah, a nice boy who wasn't Grayson. Gotta give you props for that. When you want something, you don't quit."

She yelled out when the cushion you'd been leaning on made contact with her smug face.

"Shut up. I didn't exactly plan for this. Plus, like I've told you a hundred times now, it's not like that." You sighed when she fixed you with a sceptical look, dropping your head back onto the couch cushion. "I'm not just saying that to be cute or coy or whatever. I genuinely do think he's just trying to be funny. Plus, he kind of has that casual thing going with Emily so I doubt he's looking for anything serious."

"Er, yeah, no, he doesn't." You lifted your head, confused as you took in the sight of your best friend who at least had the decency to look a little apologetic. "Liam told me their thing ended a good while ago."

"What? Why didn't you tell me?"

"'Cause you would've gone straight back to pining for him from a distance, never having the guts to do anything because you didn't think there was a chance. And, I love you, babe, but to be completely honest, I didn't think there was much of a chance either. Except now, you're both flirting with each other so I'm telling you to go for it!"

"There's nothing to go for!" you exclaimed, trying to burrow yourself further into the sofa.

"So what's your 'plan'? Just continue to flirt with him 'ironically' forever?" You narrowed your eyes at her hands making air quotes.

"No," you said pointedly, rolling your eyes. "I'm just going to wait until I see him at Liam's this weekend and then we can laugh over it in person and move on."

The sound of a notification cut off whatever she was about to say next and you grinned in victory at the sight of her mouth snapping shut. Your relief was short lived as you read the words on your phone screen, your stomach twisting into nervous knots.

"Change of plans," you managed to get out, scanning over the words again just to make sure you'd read them right the first time. "He, erm, wants to meet for dinner tomorrow."

…..

"Oh my god," you hissed into your phone, ducking your head low as you stepped past a middle aged couple dressed to the nines. "This place is ridiculous. I can't do this."

"What? Ridiculous how?" Maya asked. You mumbled an apology as you narrowly avoided ploughing into a pretty girl in a dress that definitely cost more than your salary this month.

"You know I'm a feminist and a strong supporter of splitting the bill but, holy shit, Grayson better offer to pay or at least have an amazing discount code because I'm pretty sure I cannot afford a starter from this place, let alone a whole meal."

"Oh. That kind of ridiculous."

"Yeah. I'm not built for places like this. I completely panicked like an idiot when the valet guy offered to park my shitty little car and said no so I had to park like 10 minutes away. And now my feet are swollen from these stupid heels." You huffed, digging a finger into the neckline of your dress and tugging at it to try and alleviate the tightness in your chest. "And this stupid dress is way too tight."

"Shut up!" You froze, taken aback by your best friend yelling down the phone at you. "Stop with the rambling and the overanalysing and the panicking. Actually, just stop with the thinking. Turn your dense brain off for two minutes and listen to me. I know you think you look overdressed and like you're trying too hard for a fake date but you look stunning. If it is a fake date, he's going to wish it was real. And I know you're nervous and you feel awkward but I also know it's going to go great. Worst case scenario, you spend some time with your friend who you really get along with and eat some good food. So stop stressing. It is going to be fine. Okay?"

You took in a deep breath, letting her reassurances slowly but surely calm you down.

"Okay?" she repeated.

"Okay."

She hummed in satisfaction. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah," you admitted with a small smile.

"Good. Now go and enjoy your ironic date," she teased and, just like that, she'd hung up on you. You rolled your eyes and stuffed your phone into the astonishingly small handbag she'd insisted you wear.

In the time you'd been talking to Maya, you'd crossed the car park, managing to avoid an embarrassing encounter with the valet guy who you'd turned down and you were now stood a few steps from the large glass doors that marked the entrance. You ran your hands over your hair, your stomach rolling with nerves as you tucked away any stray strands.

"All you have to do is be chill and enjoy. Enjoy your ironic date," you muttered to yourself, echoing Maya's words. Straightening your back, you walked through the doors.

"Good evening, madame." You'd barely stepped inside before a server was at your side, smiling politely at you. "Do you have a reservation?"

You offered a nervous smile, resisting the urge to fix your hair. "I think so. Grayson Dolan?"

"Ah, yes, Mr Dolan is waiting for you. If you'd like to follow me, madame."

"Madame," you found yourself mouthing as soon as the she had turned her back, testing out the foreign word before you could stop yourself as you trailed after her.

Your breath hitched as you turned the corner, your eyes landing on Grayson sitting at the table, his fingers playing with the napkin. His button up was snug, showing off his broad shoulders and well-built arms in a way that had your mouth go a little dry. He'd changed up his usual floppy hair, gelling it back and it bought even more attention to his chiselled face.

He looked like a model, you realised. It wasn’t a startling revelation. Grayson always looked beautiful, the perfect mix of sharp and soft, but in that moment, he looked like he would’ve belonged better on the cover of a magazine.

He glanced up towards the entrance and his eyes landed on you and, God, if there was anything you loved more than Grayson unintentionally smouldering, it was Grayson smiling. You felt your heart skip a beat as he pushed himself to his feet, napkin forgotten, his full attention on you as his eyes raked down your form. He was a breathing work of art. Michaelangelo would’ve never glanced twice at David if he’d laid eyes on Grayson.

It all just cemented the fact that this was definitely not a real date because how could Maya ever think that someone like him would go for someone like you?

You took a deep breath, trying to compose yourself as you came to a stop in front of him, the waiter offering you a final polite smile before she walked away.

“Hi," you managed to get out before he was taking your hand and bringing it up to his lips, keeping his eyes locked with yours. You felt heat dance across your cheeks, unable to look away.

"Hi," he echoed, his warm touch lingering for a few beats before he let go of your hand. "You look stunning."

"Thank you," you said softly. God, you'd have to resign to dealing with the discomfort of a burning face for the entirety of this evening if he kept this up. "You look pretty good."

"Pretty good, huh? I'll take it," he teased, eyes sparkling with his usual humour before he nodded towards the table. "Shall we?"

You nodded, stepping towards your chair before he abruptly moved towards you, pulling it out for you. You offered him a shy smile in thanks as you let him push your chair in. He'd clearly decided to fully commit to this thing, ticking off every date cliché you could think of.

"Sorry, I didn't come to pick you up," he said once he was seated. "Ethan and I had a thing across the city and I totally forgot until this morning."

You waved him off, trying to settle in your chair which was definitely more pretty than it was practical. "Don't worry about it. We could've rescheduled if you had a long day today."

He shook his head fondly. "Best way to end a long day is with a beautiful girl."

You ducked your head, the contents of your empty plate suddenly demanding your attention.

"Shall we order?" you prompted, reaching for a menu desperately. "I'm starving."

"When are you not?" he chuckled as he pulled his own menu towards him. He stopped abruptly, looking up at you. "You really do look beautiful."

The more he flashed that crooked smile at you, the more you realised that Maya was wrong. The worst case scenario wasn't an enjoyable evening with your friend. It was said friend realising that you liked him a lot more than you should. It was easy to flirt over text. He couldn't see the way his words affected you over text. He couldn't hear that your compliments were more genuine than a light joke. Sitting in front of him as he smiled at you and pinned you down with dark eyes, it was impossible to play this game with him without him realising exactly how you felt and it was so unfair that he seemed to be so at ease with this all, the perfect epitome of cool confidence- a stark contrast to the puddle of nerves you felt like.

"Thanks, Gray," you managed to get out, your eyes glued to the menu. It took a few seconds for your brain to clear enough for you to realise that the menu you were reading was essentially gibberish. You frowned, scanning the list for a single item you could recognise.

Starters, you could deal with, you decided as you identified garlic bread before miserably remembering that you definitely couldn't afford both a main and a starter from a place like this. The mains, however, were a different story.

You glanced up at Grayson, who was poring over his own menu.

"What are you getting?" you asked him, hoping he'd be able to offer some insight.

"Still looking. You?"

"Same here," you said dejectedly, sinking a little further into your seat. You eyed your tiny bag resting on the table before making your decision and trying to extract your phone from it as discretely as possible. Placing it in your lap, obscured from Grayson's view, you began the tedious task of searching your options.

"Are you ready to order?" Your head jerked up at the sudden appearance of the waiter at your table. You looked up at Grayson who raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I think so. I'll have, uh, that." You pointed to the potato based dish you'd decided seemed like a safe option before Grayson was telling the waiter his choice.

"Any starters?"

"I'm good." You smiled politely.

"We'll have some garlic bread," Grayson said, sending you a knowing smile.

You both handed over your menus to the waiter, thanking her.

"How was your day?" Grayson asked after he'd filled both of your glasses with water.

"Huh?" you managed in response, your brain operating at suboptimal speed thanks to your nerves.

"How was your day?"

You groaned, forcing yourself to sound normal when you answered. "Long. Boring."

"Wanna talk about it?" he offered sympathetically but you shook him off.

"Not really much to talk about. I just need to find a job that's not so dull it makes me wanna peel my eyelids off," you said casually. Grayson let out a surprised laugh at your declaration. "Sorry, I'm being whiny. It's not a bad job. Just dull. Really, really dull."

"No, it's fine. Complain away. It just surprises me sometimes." You looked at him curiously and he shrugged. "E and I obviously complain sometimes about what we do too. But the one thing I can never complain about is it being dull."

"Lucky you guys," you said with a joking pout and he chuckled. "Speaking of, what did you guys get up to today?"

You reclined into your seat as he launched into an account of his and Ethan's day, his eyes bright and hands moving animatedly. To your pleasant surprise, you felt yourself start to relax as his deep, steady voice worked wonders on your nerves. You could feel your pounding heart start to slow, the tight band around your chest loosening, as you listened to him.

"That sounds amazing," you admitted, going to take a sip from your glass and frowning when you realised it was empty.

"Yeah, I'm so pumped. We're going to wait until we've almost finished though before announcing it," he said as you reached for the jug of water. You weren't sure exactly how you did it but the next thing you knew, the jug was tipping over.

"Shit!" you exclaimed as Grayson jumped in his seat, taken aback by the sudden onslaught of cold water. "Sorry! I'm so sorry!"

You pulled your napkin from your plate, paying no attention to one of your many forks clattering to the ground as you leant across the table and tried to dab at every wet spot you could see.

"It's fine," he said once the shock had worn off.

"I'm so sorry," you apologised again, wiping uselessly as a result of the table being a major barrier to your ability to reach him.

"Y/N."

"Fuck, I'm sorry."

"Y/N." You stilled when his hand wrapped around yours. "It's okay. Accidents happen. Plus, it was water. No harm, no foul. Okay?"

You offered him a small smile as he gently pried the napkin from your hands.

That was it. Any tiny semblance of composure that you'd had up until then disappeared. Grayson continued to be an absolute gentleman about it like always but you cringed internally every time you caught him squirming and subtly adjusting his clothes. He tried to engage you in conversation but it was like your brain had decided this was more than it could deal with and simply shortcircuited.

The upside to being in an expensive restaurant was that your food arrived fairly quickly and you welcomed it as an excuse to not talk as you busied yourself with chewing. The downside was the judgey side eye the woman sitting on the table next to you sent as you picked up one of the three knives in front of you. Hastily, you'd swapped it for another one, slumping in relief when she'd sniffed, seemingly appeased, and turned back to her own meal.

"We could get a dessert to split if you want?" he offered once the table was cleared of your plates, already scanning the dessert menu.

"No!" you blurted, dismissing his suggestion immediately. He looked up at you in confusion at your outburst, dark eyebrows furrowed. "I'm really full."

"You're never full," he pointed out. He turned the menu half towards you, trying to change your mind by appealing to your sweet tooth. "They have a brownie with caramel ice cream."

You shook your head and his face fell.

"Sorry, Grayson," you apologised sincerely, shifting in your seat. "I'm just stuffed."

"It's no biggie," he dismissed with a smile. You felt horrible as he tried to hide his disappointment, feeling sorry for him for having to put up with your bizarre behaviour tonight without even dessert as consolation, but you were itching to get away from him so you could finally breathe properly again. Sharing dessert like a couple from a romcom was more than you were equipped to handle.

The minutes seemed to drag on as you both waited for the bill to arrive. Grayson, being Grayson, tried his best to engage you in conversation just like he had been doing the whole night, realised you were struggling, and resigned to telling you a ridiculous story about him and Ethan, allowing you to just nod and hum at the right moments.

Finally, the silver tray was placed on the middle of your table

"Don't be ridiculous," he said, pulling the bill towards him. You opened your mouth to protest but he'd cut you off, anticipating your argument. "You can just pay for my next McDonald's."

"Thanks, Grayson."

You had never appreciated the cold before but you were grateful for the sudden change in temperature as you stepped out of the restaurant, the cool air clearing your mind.

"I had a really nice time," you began your usual post-date spiel as he surveyed the car park, itching to say bye to him.

"Me too," he said, flashing you a smile before going back to scanning the car park.

"Gray-"

"I don't see your car?"

You cringed, reminded of your encounter with the valet person. "Yeah, I parked outside."

"Oh, okay. Come on, let's go," he declared and you frowned in confusion.

"Do you need a ride?"

He laughed, shaking his head. "No, I'm just walking you to your car."

"You don't have to. It's really far," you tried to wave him off but he'd already fallen into step beside you, waiting patiently for you to lead the way.

You never thought that there'd be a day when you could not wait to get rid of Grayson but here you were, moving as fast as you could without it being defined as jogging so that you could shorten the journey as much as possible.

"Ta da!" You gestured towards your car after ten minutes, keys already in your hand. "Here we are."

"Here we are," he echoed with a small smile.

"So, yeah... I had a really good time," you said.

"Me too."

"I'm really sorry about your shirt," you added, glancing at the now-dry button down.

"It was just water," he brushed off your apology.

"Well, I still felt bad. Like I said, I had a good time so thank you." You gestured towards your car. "And thanks for walking with me. I will see you around."

He stared at you for a few beats and his heavy gaze made your stomach twist.

"See you around," he said finally and then he was stepping towards you.

Before you could think about it, you'd stuck your hand out rigidly, stopping him in his tracks when your fingers overshot and poked his chest. He glanced down in confusion at where your hand jutted out clumsily between you.

Oh my God, what is wrong with you? You hug Grayson all of the time.

And because the universe hated you, instead of opening up a hole beneath your feet like you desperately wanted, you had to endure the awkward moments that stretched between you too before he finally wrapped his hand around yours, with a chuckle.

"Yeah, goodnight, then, I guess," he repeated, a bemused half smile dancing across his lips.

You opened your mouth to say something to alleviate the tension, decided the situation was unsalvageable and snapped it shut again. Giving him a final jerky wave, you flung yourself into your car and pulled off into the road. You watched as his figure grew smaller in your rear view mirror before disappearing from sight. You sagged with relief, thankful to have back the ability to breathe.

You glanced up at your drained reflection in the mirror, shaking your head despondently. "I am a fucking idiot."

…..

"ARGHHH!" you screamed into the cushion in frustration. You felt Maya's hand on your lower back, a comforting weight as she rubbed slow circles. "I suck."

She chuckled, the sound barely audible over your groaning.

"It was awful," you whined, finally pulling your face away and sitting up. You kept your eyes on your lap, trying to discretely wipe away the little puddle of drool that must have escaped your mouth from the cushion before she noticed.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

You glared at her futile attempt to make you feel better. "You weren't there. It really was. He looked insanely beautiful and my brain shortcircuited and I panicked because I was convinced I'd make it really obvious that I thought he was insanely beautiful. So I shut down. I literally shut down, Maya. I couldn't hold a single decent conversation. I spilled water on him! I was just a major fucking idiot. It sucked, sucked, sucked!"

She sighed, offering you a corner of the blanket she had over herself. "Breathe and then, tell me all about it."

Groaning, you buried yourself into the soft material and began to narrate your disaster of an evening.

"And then he went in to hug me and I stuck out my hand and then I jumped into my car and sped away," you finished with a wince, burying your face into your hands.

Maya's silence was all the confirmation you needed that you hadn't been exaggerating.

"I told you it was bad."

"It doesn't sound great," she admitted eventually, each word carefully spoken as she tried not to freak you out further. "But it's not the end of the world."

"No, just the end of my ability to ever look Grayson in the eyes again,"

"He thinks I'm a fucking weirdo."

She rolled her eyes. "Everyone you've ever interacted with for more than 30 minutes knows you're a fucking weirdo."

You let out a very questionable sound of frustration. "You don't get it. It's not that. Now, he thinks I'm some weirdo who's so in love with him that I can't function like a normal human being."

"That's all true though," she pointed out.

"You don't- He- It's embarrassing," you settled on finally. "He's probably gone home to laugh with Ethan about the fact that someone like me could ever think they had a chance with someone like him. I just- I feel so stupid and embarrassed."

"Hey, hey, come here," Maya cooed softly, surprised by the sudden sight of your glossy eyes. She pulled you in against her shoulder as you blinked rapidly, trying to banish your tears. "It's okay."

You took in a deep breath, trying to compose yourself before you sat up. "Sorry."

"You don't need to say sorry, you silly billy. But you do need to listen to me. It's not a big deal." You opened your mouth to contest that but she shut you up with a glare. "Listen, okay? It's not a big deal. So what if Grayson thinks you like him? He'll be flattered that someone as lovely and kind and intelligent as you thinks that someone like him is attractive. I'd be over the moon if I thought someone half as amazing as you felt like that about me. Plus, Grayson is a good guy. He's going to be nice about it. So, I know it seems like a big deal right now but I promise you it isn't and you should trust me because I'm one of the wisest people I know."

"Shut up," you mumbled but even now, you could feel the knot in your stomach start to subside. Maya always knew how to make you feel better. "But, also, thank you."

"Anytime." She grinned at you before slumping into you, remote in hand as she loaded up netflix on the television. "So does this mean you'll come to Liam's?"

Absolutely no way.

"We'll see, " you said to tide her over for now.

"Hmm. What do you wanna watch?"

…..

"I'm gonna go home," you announced for the tenth time, pulling your arm free from Maya's as she stepped out of the elevator, unable to force yourself to follow her.

She sighed, turning around to face you, head cocked in her best impression of a mother who was . "No, you're not."

"I can't do it. It's way too soon and too awkward," you protested, arms crossed over your chest.

"No, what's awkward is you not turning up to Liam's after your and Grayson's dinner. It'll just make him think that you think it was a bigger deal than it was and it'll be even worse when you have to see him next time," she parroted the very reasonable explanation she'd been saying to you for the last few days.

"What if I just never see him again?"

"Sure." She shrugged. "If you want to find a whole new group of friends just coz you're a little bitch."

She remained nonplussed as you glared at her.

"Come on now. Yank on those big girl panties I know you have somewhere and let's go." With that, she spun around and headed to Liam's apartment door. Sending her a final glare, you followed, knowing that she was speaking sense, as always.

You felt a soft hand wrap around yours, giving it a light squeeze.

"You've got this," she whispered and you were filled with love for your best friend who managed to always be there for you with the perfect balance of tough love and soft encouragement. You just about had time to squeeze her hand back before the door swung open.

"Hey!" You were enveloped in a hug from Liam before he was ushering you inside. "Come in!"

"Hey, Liam! We bought drinks." Maya held up the bag in her hand. "Where do you want them?"

"That's great. Kitchen would probably be good?"

"Sounds good. I'll be back."

You didn’t even have time to think to protest before she was disappearing in the direction of the kitchen. Sighing, you took the opportunity to survey the room. You weren't sure if you had some internal Grayson radar but your eyes immediately landed on him as he talked to two people you didn't really know that well. He looked beautiful as always, eyes crinkling as he laughed at something.

Before you could decide whether you wanted to go talk to him now or give yourself some time to build up some courage, his eyes landed on you and he beamed, jumping off his place on the sofa.

"There you are!"

As big of a treat it had been seeing Grayson dressed up, you felt your heart fill with affection at the sight of him in a normal t-shirt, silky hair bouncing as he took two long strides towards you, pulling you into his warm side. You relaxed against him, wrapping an arm around his back to return the gesture, his shirt soft against your cheek. He squeezed your shoulder gently and you felt the knot in your stomach dissolve as he grinned down at you.

Of course, Grayson wasn't going to be a dick about your situation.

"Hi," you said shyly, the corners of your own mouth tugging up before you could help it, any attempt to play it cool forgotten.

"Hi," he echoed, giving you a final, gentle squeeze before releasing you and you immediately missed his warmth. "Late as usual, I see."

"I'm guessing you were one of the first to arrive? Up and dressed at 7am," you teased and he snorted.

"I wish. Ethan was being annoying as usual with his clothes. He likes to spend an hour looking through his wardrobe like he's actually going to wear something different for once."

You shook your head fondly. "Typical, Ethan."

"You had a chance to grab some snacks yet?" You shook your head and Grayson nodded towards the kitchen. "Let's go, then.”

Before you could move off, there was a yell from behind you.

"Hey, Y/N!" You turned at the sight of your name, barely having time to recognise the tall brunette before Ethan was crashing into you.

"Hi, E," you laughed, your words muffled by his shoulder in your mouth.

"Brave of you to show up after breaking poor Grayson's heart."

You squirmed uncomfortably at Ethan's words, glancing sideways at Grayson to try and gauge just how much he'd told his brother about your disastrous night but he was avoiding your eyes. Enough apparently for Ethan to make fun of you. You couldn't quite decide if you were mortified or grateful that it apparently was a casual enough deal for Ethan to feel comfortable poking fun at you.

"He's been a mess, Y/N," Ethan continued, glancing at his brother with mock sympathy. "Really let himself go. I mean, look at this scruff."

Grayson jerked back, batting away Ethan's hand as he tried to stroke Grayson's stubbled cheeks.

"Cut it out! Ignore my idiot brother," he addressed you now with an apologetic smile. "I'll get over it. Don't let him bully you into feeling bad."

You blinked in confusion, feeling as though you were missing some pivotal part of the conversation. "Feel bad about what?"

Ethan choked on a laugh, looking between the two of you with wide eyes. "Savage, dude. So unremarkable- she doesn't even remember rejecting you."

"Seriously, fuck off." Grayson shoved his brother's shoulder now but you didn't miss the red that had started to bloom across his cheeks.

"Grayson, you sure you went on a date with Y/N? Sure you weren't just dreaming again?"

"We did go on a date," you jumped in to Grayson's defence. "Well, kind of."Ethan raised his eyebrows, a silent invitation for you to continue.

"It wasn't a real date," you explained, shifting your weight between your feet.

"Grayson probably told you how we matched on Bumble and we just played along a little."

"Oh wow." Grayson's eyes were wide in disbelief as stared at you. "Are you serious?"

Your fingers pulled on the tab of the can, twisting it uneasily as you nodded hesitantly, feeling sure Grayson was going to call you out on your pathetic attempts to hide your feelings that evening, pointing out that you had definitely treated it like a real date with your constant heart eyes at him. You wished for a second time that the universe would open up a you-sized hole, or at least provide a good distraction if the whole hole appearing in the middle of Liam's apartment was scientifically implausible.

"You have Bumble?" That was apparently the part that Ethan chose to focus on as he smirked at his brother. "Knew you couldn't find girls without any help."

"Ethan! Shut! Up! Y/N, did you-"

Maybe the universe didn't hate you. Maybe it just had a bit of a delayed response, you thought, as Liam chose that moment to run up and sling his arms around the boys' necks, demanding that they 'bring some of that twin power over to the beer pong table.'

Grayson opened his mouth, looking like he might say something but then Liam was calling his name again and he let himself be dragged away with a final apologetic glance over his shoulder.

You exhaled slowly, taking a large gulp of your coke.

That was fun.

…..

You laughed, throwing your head back as Maya's boyfriend Josh told you about another one of Maya's failed attempt to cook dinner for the both of them as Maya hit him playfully.

"It wasn't that bad!"

"You can't replace the sugar with salt and then say it wasn't that bad," he pointed out, pulling her in to settle under his arm.

"In my defence, I'd had a really long day. I was half delirious when I made those pancakes."

"Sure." She swatted at him half-heartedly."It's your fault," she grumbled. "I could cook just fine at uni and now, you've spoiled me with all your cooking and I'm out of practice."

Josh turned to you for validation of Maya's claim and you shrugged. "If you consider instant noodles a meal, then, yeah, sure."

Maya's shriek of indignation had you laughing as you ducked to dodge the popcorn kernel she'd thrown at you. "It wasn't just instant noodles! I made pasta sometimes!"

"Like five times in three years," you pointed out, jerking back as she tried to push you off of where you were perched on the armchair of the sofa. "You know I'm not exaggerating."

"Yeah, yeah. I just love it when my boyfriend and best friend gang up on me. It's so fun..." she trailed off, her eyes fixed over your shoulder. You turned around on instinct to see Grayson approaching you, shirt speckled with what you assumed were droplet stains from the beer.

"Hey, can we talk?"

He motioned his head towards the little terrace and you nodded, shrugging on your hoodie before following him, heart thudding in your chest. It was surprisingly empty as you stepped out, devoid of the constant line of smokers you'd seen out here the whole night and you wondered for a moment if he'd asked them to vacate the area so he could talk to you alone.

"How'd beer pong go?" you asked as you settled with your back against the balcony railing.

"Liam and I crushed Ethan and Jake," he said proudly, coming to a stop in front of you.

"Always knew you were the better twin," you joked and he chuckled.

"Good."

The two of you fell quiet, the only sound being the buzz of chatter and music coming from the apartment.

"You wanted to talk?" you prompted.

"Yeah, I just wanted to clear the air I guess," he said hesitantly.

"I didn't think that there was any air to clear."

"Yeah, I didn't either. I just thought you didn't feel the same, which was fair enough, and I thought we could just keep being friends. But then Ethan started being a dick and you said some kinda strange things so I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page," he trailed off before tipping his head back and groaning. "God, I sound so lame."

You'd spent the last few days anxiously going over how tonight was going to go and you thought you'd imagined almost every scenario, most of them including Grayson and his friends laughing at you from a corner as he told them what a lovesick idiot you'd been your whole date. You hadn't once imagined your evening going like this. "What do you mean you thought I didn't feel the same?"

"I've been rejected before," he said matter of factly but even in the dim light you could see the blush on his cheeks. "It's no big deal. It's not your fault if you don't feel it."

"You thought I was rejecting you?" you asked, completely taken aback by Grayson's interpretation of the evening.

He shrugged helplessly. "Well, yeah. You shut down any of my attempts to talk and you looked like you couldn't wait to get away."

"I thought I'd weird you out if I flirted with you or anything like that," you admitted.

"Why would I be weirded out by you flirting with me on a date I asked you to go on?"

"I thought it was an ironic date," you muttered by way of explanation.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion and you cleared your throat, feeling more stupid by the second. "Huh?"

"I thought you matched with me to be funny. And then I thought you were flirting as a little joke. No big deal, right? We matched, might as well . And then you suggested dinner and I just thought you didn't mean anything by it. Like an 'I'm your friend and I found you on a dating website so it'd be funny if we played along to be ironic' thing."

"Played along by asking you on a date?" he clarified, dark eyebrows arched.

"An ironic date," you repeated lamely.

"You have a weird sense of humour," he said finally. "Or you seem to think I have a weird sense of humour."

You let out a short laugh, tugging on your hoodie string as you twirled it around the tip of your finger. "Mix of both probably."

"Did you want it to be an ironic date?"

Your head jerked up, your hoodie strings no longer capturing your attention. "Huh?"

"Did you want it to be an ironic date?" he repeated, his voice strangely even, each word spoken with care.

"I wouldn't have been able to handle the pressure of being dressed up and eating at a place like that if I'd thought it was a real date."

He chuckled softly, pushing the hair flopping over his brow back.

"Yeah, it wasn't really my scene either. I had no idea what I ordered for my main until it came," he admitted.

"I googled the options under the table," you reassured and it was enough to coax a genuine laugh from him, the sound loud and wonderful in the quiet night.

"Of course, you did." He shook his head fondly. "I just didn't want you to think I was half-assing it."

"I definitely did not think that. It just wasn't very… us." He hummed in agreement, accepting your assessment with a nod.

It was silent for a few beats.

"I say we just get pizza and watch one of those crime documentaries you're always going on about on our next date," he suggested finally as a solution.

"Next date?" you asked levelly, the corners of your lips twitching upwards despite your attempt to keep your face neutral.

"Yeah. If you want." He shrugged, dragging a hand across his stubble, and there was something so endearing about him trying to act nonchalant about the fact he wanted another date and that he knew what you liked to watch that all the willpower in the world wasn't enough to hold back your smile.

"Can't wait," you told him sweetly and his shoulders sagged in relief- almost imperceptible, and you may not have even noticed if he hadn't been the guy you'd been a little bit in love with for years.

"Cool."

"Pizza's on me," you reminded him and he chuckled, conceding.

"This is a real date, by the way," he chimed, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he grinned down easily at you. "In case it wasn't clear enough this time around either."

"I know!"

"Ironic date, my ass," he huffed good-naturedly as he rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry!" you exclaimed, giggling as you pulled lightly on the strings of your hoodie, feeling at home in his familiar presence.

The sound of laughter died away and you felt giddy as you stared at each other with matching grins.

"Now that that's sorted, if I try to kiss you again, are you going to jab me in the ribs again?" he asked teasingly, cocking his head.

You felt your cheeks burn as you tried to defend yourself. "I didn't jab, I elegantly offered-."

You cut yourself off as Grayson leaned in abruptly, blinking in surprise as your vision was flooded with his handsome face. You froze when his hand wrapped around yours, letting him gently tug it to rest on the side of his torso, in the same spot that it'd been that evening.

"Last chance to poke," he warned, warm brown eyes watching you intently.

"I'm good," you said with a breathy laugh, your fingers curling into his shirt.

"Good."

The tip of his nose bumped yours gently before his lips were pressing against yours, warmth spreading all the way down to your toes.

Okay, so maybe Maya was right, and it had been exactly what it had looked like. But- you thought, giggling as Grayson playfully pulled you closer by your hoodie strings- you didn't mind being wrong this time.

Thanks a bunch for reading!

Click here to see the prompt list and here if you’d like to check out my masterlist for some reason!

#my writing #grayson dolan imagine #dolan twins imagine #grayson dolan #dolan twins #ethan dolan #grayson dolan one shot #dolan twins one shot

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grizzbe · 7 years ago

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Let the past die. Kill it if you have to.

After my third viewing of The Last Jedi, I think I’m ready to write down my thoughts on the movie. Follow below the cut for my spoilerific musings!

First off, I’ll put down a quick and easy guide as to whether you should bother to continue with reading my review or not: In your rankings of the Star Wars movies, does any prequel movie rank above TLJ? If so, you might as well move on. If not, keep on reading!

Alright! I’m just going to say right off that bat that I loved it. I loved it the first time I saw it and I only love it more with each subsequent viewing.

The reason that it’s taken me so long to get around to this, though, is because I want to try my hardest to avoid some pitfalls that I feel are a bit easy for myself to fall into, namely to make this review simply a point-by-point list as to why your reasons for disliking this movie are wrong or simply word-vomit gushing over the movie.

So, I’ll start by saying that the movie is not without its faults. Some of its jokes are ham-fisted or fall flat, some of the visual effects (you know what I’m talking about) look wonky, some of its subplots could use a little tuning, and the whole thing probably could’ve been helped by increasing the timeline even just a few days.

That being said, the jokes aren’t bad and there are far more “Star Wars” jokes than those dastardly “off-brand” jokes that seem to be sticking in a lot of people’s craws.

I’ve heard a lot of people complain about Leia’s force moment and while I’ll agree that it doesn’t work great visually, I am more than willing to accept it in its principle, especially considering that people can survive in the vacuum of space in real life (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/survival-in-space-unprotected-possible/). Once you throw onto it Star Wars’ wacky take on physics and space in general, Leia surviving this moment is more than reasonable.

When it comes to subplots, the main thing that they’re about is quite simply character development.

Poe learns that there’s more to being an effective leader than being an excellent flier. After putting the fleet and the whole of the Resistance in danger more than once over the course of a few days, Poe finally sees what it takes to be a leader through his mentor, Leia, and his foil throughout most of the film, Holdo. I’ve seen a lot of people upset at the “character assassination” that Poe goes through in TLJ, but I’ll argue that we finally got to see Poe be more than just a cardboard cutout in this film and he really shined because of it. I might have been more willing to accept this version of Poe since I’m an avid reader of his comic book, where him being an immature leader has been a plot point for at least the past year.

While some might just flat out hate the Canto Bight subplot, I appreciated it for what it was doing. Finn starts the movie as a man only concerned about himself and a couple of his closest friends (fully in line with where the character was at the end of TFA). It’s only through his time with Rose and his interactions with DJ that he comes to realize that he can’t just hide and that he needs to drive himself forwards. DJ even offers him a false, easy escape, “Live free, don’t join” and Finn sees it for what it is: a man unwilling to stand up for what is right. Finn ends his journey a true hero of the Resistance.

And while other might be upset with how the film portrayed Luke, I loved it. The man screwed up. He retreated, exiled himself and resigned the end of his story to that of a hermit whose only option is to die alone. Rey appears, and while she has her own journey (she goes from putting all of her faith in Luke, to putting it in Ben, to finally putting it in herself), she riles in Luke a desire to once again be the man that he knows he can be.

Which brings me to my final point: the movie subverts expectations at almost every turn and does so beautifully. People expect Luke to face down the First Order and single-handedly save the Republic with his lightsaber. Luke does this, but he does it his way, through an amazing show of Force Power (In which the man creates a corporeal force projection of himself and other objects across the universe).

People expect Kylo Ren to listen to his master and fight Rey, but he tricks Snoke (side note: I could write a whole other post on how amazing Serkis was in this role) and proves that the Supreme Leader, in his hubris, had hugely underestimated his apprentice.

People expect Poe, Rose, and Finn’s plan to work flawlessly and save the Rebellion. It doesn’t and they all have to learn and grow and pay for that mistake.

And on top of all that, we get one of the best laser sword fights in the whole of the canon, an excellent performance from Adam Driver as Kylo Ren (holy shit, is he built like a brick shithouse. In case you were unaware, Driver is a former marine), and, in my opinion, EXCELLENT answers to the “Who is Snoke?” and “Who are Rey’s parents?” questions (hint, it doesn’t fucking matter. The past is the past, look to the future. This is a call out to my post’s title, btw).

So, this is already too long and I want to discuss some things I’m looking forward to in the next film. Suffice it to say, the movie is excellent and I’m super excited to see Rian Johnson’s take in his trilogy.

Okay! Next movie, I’ll just jot down a few things:

I fully expect Rey to consult a Force Ghost Jedi Council comprised of Luke, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Anakin, and Qui Gon at least twice. I’m going to feel real cheated if we don’t get this.

The next movie is going to involve a pretty significant time jump. I’d say at least five years.

As a Damerey shipper, I’m actually concerned that we’ll miss the opening salvos of the relationship in the time jump and the movie will just start with them together in a committed relationship. Don’t rob us of this JJ.

For those that are going nuts right now wondering how I can be a Damerey shipper after they’ve only spoken to each other once, did you even see the scene?!? And you can’t just throw the two most loaded words in the whole of the Star Wars canon on us and not expect us to want some payout.

I don’t think Kylo will die, he is the last of the Skywalkers, after all, but he’ll be in exile, probably self-imposed, where he’ll try to learn from Anakin and Luke.

With Leia unfortunately out of the picture, I really want Lando and Wedge to come in as Leaders of the Resistance. While the new group will undoubtedly rise to prominence in the ranks (much like the OT trio), the leaders of the whole movement can’t be flying into battles or leading from the ground.

So that’s about it. I, of course, have way more but this thing is already an insane amount of word vomit. If you have any other thoughts that you’d like to kick around with me, please feel free to message me!

#Star Wars #Episode 8 #Episode VIII #The Last Jedi #Poe Dameron #Rey #Finn #Rose Tico #Damerey #Leia #Luke #Kylo Ren #Snoke #Rian Johnson #A Rian Johnson appreciation post #Good Star Wars gives me LIFE

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the-suriel-deserved-better · 8 years ago

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Thoughts while reading Acowar.

Mind the swearing and spoilers kids. -2 years before the wall? Wait is this like a baby bat Rhys POV? -oh God this field isn't a nice place. Kinda like it tho. - omfg 6 High Fae... 6, to defeat one Illyrian... damn. - Rhys is so protective if his brothers it's killing me. -AGH PART ONE HERE I FUCKING COME. -Yes Feyre, burn this shit. -Already thinking about that wingspan Feyre? Can't blame ya. - Ugh Tamlin no can you not enter this moment just yet. Ugh Lucian I'm fucking watching you. -Oh for Fuck sake I gotta read about Ianthe soon to? -ugh I just want some smut and it's only page nine. -Feyre you can roll your eyes. God knows I am. - Oh hey Ianthe, go Fuck yourself Ianthe. -You definitely revived something from Rhys hands Feyre, but it was far more pleasurable than torture. -Lucian I won't ship you and Elaine. But please, for the love of God, kill Ianthe. -Oh hell fucking ni, Jurian, go fucking Fuck yourself and stay the Fuck away. -Oh snap, Nesta and Elaine already so powerful they can drain the cauldron. -Oh snap, Feyre laying down these facts. Also that's how I spell Miryaim's name. -Feyre you savage. -Jurian, talk about Elaine like that again and I will kill you. -Oh Fuck off Ianthe, I've read enough of you. -Okay Lucian, my heart is softening towards you. -God I missed you Alis. -Damn summer solstice is giving me goosebumps. -Rhys you are giving me life. -Uh Oh, Tamlin's getting jealous of friendship. -YOU FUCKING BURNED THEIR WINGS. -Ahhh Feyre you also cringing about Elaine being fucked by a fire blooded male?? Let me introduce to Azriel. He's far better in my opinion. -All these painting titles... we're they like, working title for Acowar. -Rhysand you get that tongue to work. -Also Tam you prick. -TAMLIN YOU MOTHERFUCKING PRICK HOW WOULD YOU LIKE A WHIPPING. -God Alis, my bae. -Feyre slit her throat. -Yes Feyre Fuck this bitch up. -Oh these twins. Can you fucking not. - Go Lucian Go. -Bring on Part Two. -"He can get in line," Feyre getting a list of people who wanna kill her to rivals Aelins. -Oh for Fuck sake, everything was going so well, until Lucian's brothers showed up. -OMG CASSIAN YOU'RE BACK. -AZRIEL MY CUPCAKE. -"There's no such thing as a High Lady," bitch excuse me. -Cassian you melt my stone cold heart. -Mor my darling. -OMG IT'S HAPPENING, RHYS IS COMING. -Amren, boo. Hru? -Lucian being called a girl, I'm dying -AGH RHYS. -"Go find somewhere else to be," I know what that means. -The smut was worth it. -Oh I missed the banter of my baby bats. -And Rhys' swearing begins. -Cassian sunning his wings. I wonder if a certain Nesta sees. -Cassian trying to be chill around Nesta is my new aesthetic. -Nesta reads romance. Hell Yes. -"You come between a male and his mate, Nesta Archeron, and you're going to learn about the consequences the hard way." Trying to foreshadow something there Cassian? I Ship. -No is mentioning the sorrow and longing in Cassian eyes, Feyre, for the same reason no one mentioned it when Rhys looked at you all those months ago. -Reading about Elaine is painful. -I'm relating to Elaine and all those open curtains too much... shit. -Cassian you're to precious. -I missed the Amren/Cassian banter so much. -Shit Mor is getting pissed. -Feyre keeps calling Rhys mate and I'm feeling bad for the Australian readers. -"Because I can't stay away" well Fuck me if they ain't mates. -Nesta looking as Cassian like he's the only one in the room. -Damn right there was a reason Lucian wore a fox mask. -Idk what to write but the nessian at pg.203. gahhhhhhh. -"Surely Nesta wasn't anything he couldn't handle," omfg Feyre, it's hilarious of you to think that. -Feyre were you not there for Acomaf. He was very clearly, cocky then. -Library sex? I'm in. -oh, so no library sex. -To the Bone Carver we go. RIP. -Oh so, the Carver, and the Wearer are- I'd be shocked only I read that spoiler. -Oh so the Carver is a mirror type of perosn? What even is a mirror person? Is it his kink? -Oh Nesta having death powers. -Feyre constantly calling Rhys mate tho. -Tbh all I wanna know is who or what the carver appeared to Cassian. -Everyone in this book be complementing Rhys good taste. -Ah Az and Elaine be starting. Az be carrying his ship. -Poor Cassian. Nesta will come around, I promise, I read the spoiler. -YES AZRIEL SHOW HER THE GARDEN. I'VE READ THIS SPOILER PAGE SO MUCH AND NOW IT'S MINE. -You know, I wrote a fanfiction about Az and Elaine in a garden and her calling his scars pretty. They kissed in it. -"Azriel isn't the ravishing type," Rhys you should read the fanfic I wrote about him. He loves to ravish. -omg Cassian calming Nesta- ugh how many more pages until this kiss? -Az, sunning your wings for Elaine? How scandalous. -"Why not make them mates?" Feyre babe I'm asking the same question. -FEYRE YOU SHIP ELRIEL TOO? Oh sweetie I love you more than Cassian rn. -Rhysand, let Feyre play matchmaker. -I was about to bash Kier for insulting Az, but Az got this shit. -Oh not this fucking Eris bitch again. -Rhys the Fuck you playing at? -Okay, ngl I know Mor is gay but those Eris know? Ffs. -Okay everyone is fighting and I'm more intrigued than I should be. -D'as Nessian. -Double d'aw Elriel. -Pg.303 and back to sassy Az. -Sassy Az KS giving me life. -It was at page 306 that I realised I was in love with Az. -Nephelle's be giving me goosebumps. -Yes bathtub scent with Rhys. -Oh it's actually a massage scene? I'm in. -Feyre are you trying to start a war? Cassian flying with Nesta. Dammit who am I kidding I wanna see that. -Yes Az, help Elaine in the garden. I am sailing this ship. -Nesta watching Cassian lick his fingers and I'm like, now imagine that kissing elsewhere. -Nes? I ship. -Some shit happening in the library. -ohhhh so we finally reached the part where people wonder if Elaine is a seer. -Yes Feyre, put Elaine's riddles together. -Okay that scene was intense but Nessian at the end was calming. -"Amren on the hunt," a novel by sjm. -Damn Az, took you awhile but bravo, she's a seer. God it couldn't be any easier to love you. -Lucian I swear to God if you die, looking for this sixth queen, I will kill you. -Also where is my Suriel. -Shit Alis don't die. -oh FFS, look, "king" of Hybren, old buddy. If you'd kindly fuck off. Only it's late, I don't need these plot twists. -Look, "King," I'd pay good money to see you try and take Feyre. -Rhys if you could destroy my upcoming exams the way you did those ships, I'd be grateful. -pg.379, more smut, hell yes. -pg.381, Nesta all concerned. -The amount of sex feysand are having. That wingspan must be truly impress you Feyre darling. -So Cassian is terrible at complements. -Ah yes boys, bringing up that wingspan again. -This Nessian tho. -"she threatened to freeze my balls off," Kallias, Viviane, welcome to my heart. -I'm in love with Viviane. -God sake, Tamlin Fuck off. -Tamlin, let me tell you, Rhys and Feyre have fucked so much I'm sure he could recount every noise she is capable of making. -Fucking shut up Tamlin. -Eris if you'd kindly shut the Fuck up too, it'd be a pleasure. -Pg.438, Nesta, damn, *blows kisses.* -nvm of 439, Go Feyre. Slay. -Helion.... wait... look I can't go around loving all these people. It makes me look like I have a heart. -You know I'd be surprised at Lucian being a whole, some air of dawn court, but I already read that spoiler. -Okay mor is gay why is- you know what, never mind, I give up. -Oh. Oh Fuck. -lol, I'm so tired, whenever I hear the wall mentioned all I can think of is humpty dumpty. -"Don't even start," Nesta, sweetie, we've been shipping this since the last book. -Part three here I come. -btw this is still the same day for me. I've read up to part three in a few hours. It's two in the morning. Never underestimate a fangirl deprived of her smut. -Jurian just has to show up, doesn't he. -idk who I am to believe anymore. -I wanna say Fuck this shit I'm out. But I am so in. -So am I meant to trust Jurian or not. -Damn Tarquin. -Nessian will kill me quicker than these plot twists. -Ayyy more shut, god I love you Sarah. -Yes, the Suriel is coming into play bitches. I'd been surprised by what happens only I've seen this spoiler too. -Okay first thing first, Ianthe please Fuck off Secondly rip Suriel 2K17. -Cassian what happened. Nesta please. I know the ending and shit but tf happened. -Feyre be joining up these dots about which way Mor floats. -This, Varian, Amren thing, yeah I'd like another five books of it. -Awww, Az, you're to sweet and selfless. -I'm so tired IDK how to feel anymore. -Oh greatttt, Feyre got hit with an arrow. Any more plot twists. -Wait Tamlin? Fuck, ugh. -d'aw, Elaine kissed his cheek. -it's four in the morning. I have less than one hundred pages left. -Shit. -Fucking hell Elaine stab them bastard. -Also Nessian hell yes. -Also...wait what's happening. -Rhysand you fucking bastard it's five in the morning don't do this to me. I know you live god dammit don't fucking do this. -oh thank fuck that's all settled. -This book. These plot twists. These ships. It's all so heart wrenching and shit. -Wait is she flying over Velaris in her lingerie. -Fuck it's half five in the morning. I read this book in under 24 hours. I need to sleep. *hours later* -omfg I need to read this shit again. It was so good. The High Lords, the banter, the near death experiences. The romance. The sass. Sarah you queen. -if the at least the novellas don't have nessian or Elriel tho I may be tempted to cry. And that, my friends, is a snippet of the roller coaster if thoughts and emotions I went through. I was too tired to cry during it but my heart was successfully ripped out a few times.

#acotar #acomaf #acowar #acowar spoilers #nessian #elriel #feysand #mor #amren #court of dreams

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twdmusicboxmystery · 7 years ago

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2017 Re-Watch: 6x15 - East

So of course we start with Carol in this episode, who has just left Alexandria. I'll talk about Beth parallels here in a minute, but it's important to know that the end of S6 was very Carol-heavy.

Most of what I'll go over here is to show how they foreshadowed coming arcs. You can see it clearly in hindsight, even if we couldn't while watching the first time. There isn't tons of Beth stuff in these final episodes. A few things, which I'll point out, but not tons. These were really about finishing up this arc and moving into the Negan arc.

First, we have Carol getting ready to leave. I noted the matches she took with her.

Then Tobin comes in and starts talking about Denise. This is yet another part where Carol is obviously relating what he's saying about Denise to herself. Everything he says could be applied to Carol. He says that when Pete (the abuser, btw) was alive, Denise was really quiet and stayed fairly hidden. But after Pete died, she stepped up and began a brave, contributing member of the group. Sounds like Carol to me.

We can also clearly see the turning over of the arcs here. As I said HERE about the theme music, we usually have sunsets at the end arcs and of course the theme music doesn't play. So in this episode, they make it really obvious. We see several sunsets while they play Johnny Cash's "It's all Over."

The arc doesn't completely end until Negan shows up in 6x16, but we're seeing that this arc is coming to a close through the song and the sunsets it keeps showing.

Not to mention, the characters they focus on during this part is very foreshadowing. We do see Carol, who's leaving, and Daryl, who's pissed about Denise and thinking of going after Dwight. Plus we see Carl, looking at one of the Savior's guns that has the bat carved into the handle. But by far the heaviest focus during the part where they play the "It's All Over" song is on Glaggie (shower scene)

and Sashraham.

See how this is a foreshadow? These are the characters that will have the biggest changes going forward. Carol is leaving Alexandria and TF and will eventually end up at the kingdom. Daryl leaving leads not only to Glenn's death but also to his imprisonment at the Sanctuary. And of course Sasha and Abraham die soon after. It's really quite haunting to listen to the Johnny Cash song while it shows Glaggie and Sashraham, knowing one half of both these couples are about to die.

Notice how we don’t see Rick and Michonne while the song plays, or Aaron, Eugene, Father Gabriel. What they show here is a major foreshadow.

Another thing I thought of while re-watching this episode: they like to make it look like one person will die, but it tends to be that person's partner instead. Not always romantic partner, but just the "other one." Let me explain.

When Glenn, Rosita and Michonne go after Daryl, we see Maggie growing smaller in the side mirror of the Phoenix van as they leave her behind in Alexandria.

That SEEMS like a death omen for her. Yet it's Glenn that dies. And we can see how this is relevant. It's the last time she'll see Glenn before his death scene.

Similarly, when Abraham and Eugene hug, it really seems like Eugene might die. Not just because of Abraham, but because he gave Rick the recipe for bullets and pretty much says goodbye to everyone. Now, I never really thought it was Eugene. I felt like they were trying too hard to make us think it was him. But between the two, it was Abe, not him, that died. The other person. The "other character" in the Abe/Eugene hug. See what I mean?

You could even argue that they kind of did this with Bethyl. LOTS of people thought Daryl laying in the coffin in Alone was a foreshadow of his impending death. I do think it foreshadowed his emotional death when he lost Beth, but between the two of them, it was here that "died," not him.

We'll have to remember that for the future.

Abraham says the line about how Glenn, Michonne, and Rosita went to "shut that shit down." He means they're gonna bring Daryl back. But obviously this foreshadowed this even ending in Negan's appearance, as well as the fact that Abraham himself was the first victim.

Okay, so the Carol sequence, where she kills the Saviors in the truck. First, we have the blue eyes shot. We've seen it a lot, and I've tried a lot to figure out what it means. First and foremost, it happens when we're being or about to be introduced to a new community. Here, we're about to be introduced to the kingdom in the next 3 episodes. Carol is headed there.

The other thing it might mean is that the character's arc is about to include romance. Like, they're headed to a community where they'll find romance. We saw Rick's blue eyes before entering Alexandria, where he eventually hooked up with Michonne. We saw Abraham's eyes at Hilltop, which is where he decided to leave Rosita and pursue Sasha. And now Carol's before the Kingdom. Carzekiel anyone?

The one person this ISN'T true of, actually, is Beth. She didn't find romance at Grady. However, I think you could argue that her Grady arc will lead to her romance with Daryl. It's kind of a whole different discussion, but Norman and tptb like to say that Beth and Daryl's connection was deeper than romance, and if Daryl felt romantic feelings for Beth, he didn't understand them. So both characters were a little too immature to sustain a romance at that point. But Beth's Grady arc will strengthen and mature her for a more mature relationship. Anyway, you could say my theory on the blue eyes is still evolving. ;D

So we see the sequence where Carol kills the sequence before the opening credits. They do kind of an Ice Monster Prologue with it. By that, I mean they show us a tense part of the show to make us take notice and ask what's going on. Then, when the episode starts, we're at a part previous to what they showed us and we work toward that point.

So the fact that they emphasized this part with Carol by showing it twice, once before the opening credits and then again in the course of the episode, is already important. Here's a list of things we see in this sequence: blue cars with doors open, blood dripping onto the ground,

broken glass (X) a windshield with a bullet hole in it (much like the one in 5x09),

a flat tire,

and a dead dude on the hood of a car.

It took me a little longer to figure out why he's important. I think it's because he's been shot in the forehead. It happens so fast that it's hard to see, but if you take a screenshot, you can see the bullet hole on the opposite side that Beth was shot on.

My point: they emphasized things here that I think are important in Beth's arc. If you watch the part that's actually in the episode (not before the opening credits) they show all of these things two or three times in fast succession.

And while we're on the subject, after Carol is injured and staggers away, this Savior suddenly wakes up. Obviously Carol thought he was dead or she probably would have taken care of him.

So I know this savior guy is evil and has very few parallels to Beth, but the point is that this sequence results in someone who was BELIEVED TO BE DEAD and LEFT BEHIND suddenly waking up and walking away from the CAR with the OPEN DOOR he was left in.

Can I take it a step farther? First of all, this guy who was left behind and assumed dead picks up Carol's cross. Totally side-eyeing that. But I also noticed that they don't have him follow Carol. Rather, he hides and when Morgan and Rick follow Carol, he follows them. Now, it makes sense in the plot because he's obviously not a great tracker like Daryl and when he woke up, he didn't know where Carol had gone. So when Rick and Morgan say this is Carol's trail, of course he follows at that point.

But was that detail really necessarily in the plot? Even though he follows Rick and Morgan (which means they're between him and Carol) he still gets to Carol before Morgan does, and we're not shown his exact path.

I think it's all symbolic. (I'll wait while you recover from your shock. ;D) While Carol IS a member of TF by herself, but I think they specifically wanted this dude to follow Rick and Morgan for symbolic reasons. I'm sure it will make more specific sense when Beth shows up.

So let's talk a little more about Rick and Morgan. We have a visual parallel here to Eighteen Miles Out. In that episode, Rick and Shane are driving together. Rick drives and Shane is in the passenger seat. Here, Morgan drives and Rick is in the driver's seat, but the shot is similar and you even see the reflections of trees and leaves running over the windshield. Just kind of interesting.

There's a lot of East/West talk between them but I'm gonna save that for a different theory. Just wanted to mention it here.

Morgan has an interesting line about Carol: "She could still be alive, but she's not here." Hmm.

Rick and Morgan come upon a Carol walker. By that, I mean a walker that looks a lot like her (they were worried) but obviously it wasn't her. We've seen this definitively at least three times. In 4b, there was a Michonne walker, which she saw herself. In this episode, there's the Carol walker. Both times, the character turned out to be alive. In my book, that proves that Heath is still alive (we saw a Heath walker in 7x06 with Tara) and that Beth is still alive, given all the blond Beth-ish walkers we've seen.

I wondered about the farm parallels here. Morgan and Rick find the Kingdom dude looking for his horse on a farm. Now, the parallels are nearly as visually similar as the ones in 6x10 when Rick and Daryl meet Jesus. But again, the writers didn't absolute HAVE to set this on a farm. They could have put it elsewhere.

There do seem to be a lot of correlations between the Kingdom and Beth symbolism. Maybe this sequence with the Savior who was left behind on Carol's journey to the Kingdom and then the farm both point to Beth showing up first at the Kingdom? Just a thought.

I also noticed that Rick tries to shoot the Kingdom dude. Morgan stops him. It's EXACTLY what happens with Daryl, Carol and Noah in Consumed. Carol tries to shoot him and Daryl smacks her gun and stops her. So it's kind of a retelling of Consumed (S5) and of course in that episode they were searching for Beth. Just saying.

We also have Rick telling Morgan that Michonne at the protein bar. I honestly think this is just so the end of the season mirrors the beginning. The whole protein bar thing in 6x01 is important because Morgan calls it a peanut butter protein bar, and remember that peanut butter is a Beth symbol. Not to mention, if you go back and watch Clear, it really doesn't look like Michonne is eating a protein bar. She's crunching something that looks an awful lot like potato chips. So we have the peanut butter being put in as a symbol in S6.

Here, they don't say peanut butter. So I think this is just to mirror the beginning and ending of S6.

Some other details:

Maggie gives Enid pickles. (Pickle Theory). Glenn says they've been lucky. (Luck Theory). And of course Daryl is shot by Dwight at the end, which is another example of symbolism being fulfilled.

So I guess my major point here is that we see a lot of symbolism set up and then fulfilled. As much symbolism that was set up around Beth…I just don't believe it won't be fulfilled eventually.

That's all.

Relevant Posts:

It's All Over Song Analysis

Carol/Rosary Theory 01/25/2016

Whistling Theory

6x15: Symbolism and Analysis 03/28/2016

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance

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