#Because she is so cool and wonderful and amazing and it sucks that her self esteem has been affected by other people's bullshit!

[aw-bean-s]

My friend came back from uni for a bit so we had lunch and she's been struggling a bit w body image and I was trying to be a supportive friend without telling her how many crisis I've had over her being hot

[iconsumedmygoldfish]

I. AM. WRECKED.

DRDT CCHAPTER 2 EXECUTION SPOILERS AND MORE

just watched drdt chapter 2 episode 16. you know what that means!! time for a rant!!

LEVI TAKING BULLETS FOR TERUKO??? I WAS SO SURE IT WAS GONNA BE ACE THAT DID IT AND HE CAME OUT OF NOWHERE

HE'S MY FAVOURITE I AM ACTUALLY SO WRECKED

also may make a seperate post about this but whit is WAY too chill. this is the first time we've seen him lose his cool briefly, and it's when they're locked in. i think he could have some form of claustrophobia.

ace's execution was so fucking cruel. in the end, he got himself killed because he was so scared. it was anticlimactic, it was immediately overshadowed by someone else, nobody really mourned him at ALL. ace didn't get a buildup, and he died knowing that the one person he considered a friend could die the longer he lived on. that is FOULLLLL.

also. ace said that he'd have a third murder on his hands. arei, levi and.... who?

veronika was so annoying this chapter. im sorry but she actually got on my nerves so much. girl. shut up im trying to watch my doomed yaoi

i still don't trust eden

hu jing kinda average, j kinda average, nico kinda average

david not much screentime, but he seemed shocked when monotv was actually unconscious at first. maybe he genuinely believed that couldn't happen? does he have a reason to think so?

im not sure whats up with arturo, smth to do with his sister, not being able to save someone? i actually missed most of the arturo lore and i dont care enough about him to look back

sucks to be charles right now, but i was more confused as to how whit was more concerned about CHARLES than the classmate(s) in front of them literally about to DIE. i know the fandom loves whit but he is giving me so many red flags i have to say it. ill make a post on him soon. i DO NOT TRUST WHIT YOUNG.

eden kinda mid rn but i just don't like her so im biased..

it was very interesting to see teruko's self-blame this chapter and her beliefs coming out more to the viewer. her talk with monotv was so interesting. so monotv really is just a robot - but why was it so sinister in that one scene very early on in drdt? yk red face smile face. we haven't seen that come up again, and monotv hasn't shown many more examples of sinister behaviour. i wonder if that was an example of monotv being controlled maybe??

im wondering if ace helped to kill mai? she could be the third death? i saw someone say that the game could be punishment for them all for what they did to/their connection to mai, and i think that's an amazing idea

also another part on levi. he's trying his best to understand ace, so much, and yet he just can't. i was very intrigued to see how frustrated he was (ha. divorce arc.) but also the fact that he put teruko's life before his own despite having more difficulty than the others is just. wow. like, anyone else in that room had the opportunity to save her, in the same way, but it was LEVI that stepped forward. and for teruko of all people.

i may have to make seperate posts i just wanted to get this out quickly while the episode is still fresh!!! ^^ sorry if missed anything!!!

[buffyandwillow]

i was thinking earlier about… how willow is (amazing, wonderful, an amazon) an incredibly tragic character, because essentially all of her self-worth comes from external sources, and once she no longer has that, she crashes and burns to such an epic extent.

this is a girl who was bullied and rejected by her peers since childhood, and whose parents never gave her the time of day. in episode 1, she is no longer willing or able to take up space. and then she meets buffy.

buffy chooses to spend time with her, and wants to talk to her, and doesn’t want her to go away! this gives willow enough of a boost to stand up against cordelia in episode 2. (“she’s not a pyscho loony. you don’t even know her.”) i think this a testament to how strong willow is - or rather, it suggests that she had strength and fight inside her all along, she just needed someone else to believe she could/should be heard. willow’s self-confidence seems to grow as she spends more time with buffy, with her strength beginning to mirror buffy’s own. at the end of season 2, buffy and willow are put through parallel tests of strength as buffy physically fights angelus, and willow works the spell to restore angel’s soul.

in season 3, as she learns more spells, she begins to feel more useful to the gang (and to buffy, specifically). the arrival of faith threatens her new confidence. when she perceives that buffy is repeatedly choosing to spend time with faith over her, and when buffy tells her that she can’t understand it (“it’s kind of a slayer thing”), willow feels understandably hurt - but it’s deeper than that. she questions her usefulness. she questions if buffy really needs her - and if buffy doesn’t need her, why would she stick around? (she's already left willow once.) after all, buffy had sought her out originally to help her with her studies. and then! willow had found she could apply her computer skills to help out with buffy’s slaying duties. up until this point in their relationship… they’re best friends, they talk about life stuff, they look out for one another - and willow helps buffy in every way she can. she needs to be needed, and when that’s taken away from her, she hurts, and she falters.

all in all, willow comes out of this season pretty strong. she has a cool boyfriend (in a band!), they lose faith to the dark side (no more competition for buffy's or xander's affection!), and willow chooses to stay in sunnydale to fight the good fight - and she explains, fairly convincingly, that it’s not for buffy, but for herself.

and then in season 4, willow meets tara. in this moment, willow becomes buffy: she becomes the one to share her strength and confidence with another person. throughout their relationship, we watch as willow - now brimming with power - helps to bring out the strength and fight in tara, too. what’s fascinating to me is that there are two opposite ways to look at their relationship. one is the way that tara sees it: that the light in her is all because of willow. the other is the way that willow sees it: that the light in her is all because of tara.

willow’s insecurities go deep. it’s suggested that willow hates herself, and/or feels like some sort of fraud. in 4x22 restless, buffy peels away willow’s “costume” to reveal her season 1 self. willow herself makes disparaging remarks about the nerd she used to be.

losing tara hurts because she loves tara immensely, but there's an undercurrent of something else here: willow loves tara so much more than she loves herself that tara's existence becomes her only reason to live. when willow loses tara to glory’s mind-suck, she goes on a suicide mission to fight the goddess. when she loses tara to her own magic addiction, she falls deeper and deeper in the hole, essentially erasing herself as she lets her own mind be consumed. and when she loses tara for good in seeing red, she loses everything. the will to live. the will for the world to exist. in a moment of lucidity, she says to buffy: “the only thing i had going for me… were the moments - just moments - when tara would look at me, and i was wonderful. and that will never happen again.”

it is tragic to me that willow feels this way, after all she’s been through. that after all the progress she made, she never learned to love herself - only the part of herself that was reflected in tara, and now that’s gone forever, along with the one she loved most in the world.

[wingsdippedingold]

I can understand why Morrigan didn't like Nesta.

To her, Nesta had what Morrigan never did, and she just threw it away.

Morrigan's family was cruel, whereas Nesta's was kind (Feyre), but Nesta chose to be cruel in return.

Nesta was ungrateful of the caring family she had, that Morrigan never did. Morrigan has the ic, but they were never that purely immediate familial bond of unconditional love. I can understand why she hated Nesta because Nesta threw away that bond that Morrigan wished for.

What I can't understand is how she was on board with making Nesta seduce Eris, the man Morrigan herself fought so hard to escape marriage from.

Morrigan was forced into a relationship with Eris on the basis of sex, using her appeal of virginity, and yet she is complicit in doing the exact same thing to someone else, making Nesta appeal to Eris with her own sexuality.

Now Morrigan may not have known that just like her, Nesta's parent, the person who should love her unconditionally, exploited her and her body as nothing more than a pawn in their plans. But that shouldn't matter.

Morrigan is such a cool character, who has a wonderful concept, and yet, it's once again thrown away for SJM's shitty writing. Nesta and Morrigan have been through similar situations and people pitting them against each other sucks, because they both have the capacity to be amazing people, SJM just stunts them severely.

I don't think Morrigan's some self-serving pick-me, but I do think she shows just how disjointed SJM's sense of feminism is. SJM cannot uphold one women without simultaneously pushing another woman down, and that is NOT feminism.

Both Morrigan and Nesta's characters deserve better than some backwash sense of feminism.

[ventingfanfics]

Part 2 to Anon-request.

NSFW.

“You are outrageous,” the princess-turned-queen hissed in your ear. She’d just strong-armed you against the nearest available wall in the room. There was a lot going on with Shuri right now. 

She was still miffed about your exchange with Harry and your wish to apologize to his disrespectful self. To top it off, you now had the audacity to make these obscene remarks to her. You weren’t just asking for it. You were taunting her. 

The coolness of the wall was felt against the side of your face and neck, your erect nipples pressed to it also. 

“What did you say you wanted? Dirty girl.” 

You felt a little crazy when a grin etched its way onto your features. It was obvious, though, that she liked your racy confession. 

“I said—“ 

Death to the rest of your sentence because her hand rushed to your neck again. She squeezed it. 

“Who are you getting sassy with? Do not backtalk me!” 

Before you could apologize, she was gone. 

“No, no!” You protested and hit the wall. “Shit!” 

Just then your phone started ringing. According to the caller ID, it was Harry. Did he want to fire you? Or did he simply want to accept your apology? You felt torn because he was the reason Shuri was livid with you. You could only imagine how angry she’d be if you took his call. But where did she even go?

“Shuri,” you called, looking around, your ringing cell phone still tempting you. You ventured to the other rooms and there was still no sight of her. “Bring your ass, woman!” That was how frustrated you felt. 

And then you were summoned. 

“What’s the matter princess?” She asked smoothly when you joined her in the living room. Her energy was warm now. 

You just glared at her. Chuckling, she approached you and held your chin, staring deeply into your eyes. If you weren’t so annoyed with her, you would’ve been breathless.

“Where did you even go?” You asked. 

Her lips pulled inward as if she was rubbing them together, though a smile peeked through. “I had to handle something. I think you will thank me.” She eyed you smugly and before you spoke, she brought your hand to the center of her legs. Your eyes widened at what you felt. Shuri took in your reaction. You didn’t disappoint. “Yeah,” she said, her tone matching her cocky visage.

She laughed when you smiled. “My baby is so bad, mnf. What did you say you wanted from me again?” Her look of confusion was convincing, but of course you knew better. 

“Now you know damn well you remember.” 

Shuri jokingly recoiled, your laughter mixing together. 

“Do I have to beg for the strap?” 

“No,” she evenly replied, pulling her sweatpants down. Looking at you seriously, she motioned for you to get on your knees. You didn’t have to be told twice. Her programmed strap awaited you in all its thick, long glory. Of course you loved her vagina, but tonight she was granting one of your wishes. 

You were amazed by her moaning as you sucked on the toy. She increasingly brought your face forward before allowing herself to thrust in your mouth. Through your misty vision, you felt yourself becoming primal at the sight of her using you to get off. The pleasure was vivid in her face and voice as her hips and your mouth went harder and harder. 

You held her ass in place as you collected her juices. 

“Fuck, Y/N,” she groaned and tapped the head of the shaft onto your bottom lip. She gathered herself and smirked. “Did I satisfy your little fantasy?”

You began to stand and she helped you up, beating you to it. “Meh, yes, and no. I don’t just want it in my belly.” You tilted your head to the side and slanted your lips. 

Seeing the toy flinch, you cracked a beautiful smile and bounced your eyebrows at Shuri, who visibly wanted to devour you.

She kicked off the sweats that had pooled around her feet and turned her back (giving you a wonderful view of her ass) to sit on the couch. Her beckoning to you was sinister. You scaled back on your giddiness and excitement as you followed your girlfriend’s command, switching your hips in the process. 

“Mmf!” Was your strangled sound when she tugged you to her, sliding her tongue into your mouth. She swallowed the slightest moans from you, practically dizzying you. Clearly, you were not alone in your primal urges.

Your eyes damn near rolled in the back of your head when she ordered you to sit on this dick. Your skimpy panties came off and then bra when she promptly said “take it all off.” There wasn’t only hunger in Shuri’s eyes as she watched you strip. She loved you, every bit of you. No one was more beautiful and deserving of her. 

Unable to control herself, she found herself licking your belly button. 

And then she helped you sit on it. 

Upon feeling your walls stretch, you stuttered out a soft groan. The toy was soaked just from the eye contact you and Shuri shared, raising your intimacy up several more levels. A string of cuss words escaped you as she rewarded random parts of your lush skin with kisses all while you bounced up and down. You slowly ascended and descended, leaving a trail of stickiness galore.

Shuri had the nerve to stroke your clit in the process, just about overstimulating you. “Noooo.”

“Yesssss.” A playful glint and internal chuckle came from Wakanda’s leader. She slurped your top lip and pinched one of your nipples. 

Your head reclined and your toes curled when her pretty mouth then took possession of your nipples. 

“Chase that cum,” she pep-talked you, smacking and clenching your bottom as she worked your hole stronger and hastier. “You want it inside you, right? In here.” The two last words were punctuated with a grind that made you whimper.

“Fuck, princess,” she struggled to keep her eyes opened as your pussy squeezed her with the tightest grip before making her convulse. “There it is.” She euphorically smiled, gazing as your releases combined. Your mouth was wide open leading her to seize the moment and make her tongue home in it again. 

You bounced and grinded for all you were worth as the amazing gadget blasted in you several times. Completely spent, you surged forward, leaning into Shuri like she was your bed. She chuckled and kissed your fingertips. 

“That was fun, but now I want to give it to you the natural way,” she spoke like she was sharing a secret with you. She smoothly maneuvered you, not disturbing your position as she unstrapped. 

“Think you can handle it, baby?” You heard her ask as she stroked the small of your back, almost lulling you into sleep. 

You hummed, nodding enthusiastically, suddenly removing her shirt. You left kisses all over her collar bone and cleavage. “Tell me…*kiss**…why did *kiss* you *kiss* stop *kiss* being *kiss* mad *kiss* *kiss* at me?”

“You redeemed yourself when you chose not to answer him,” she admitted, hooded eyes watching you. “Now, never bring him up again, got it?”

“Got it.”

[greenerteacups]

Today I learned there are other people who also low-key shipped Elizabeth and Norrington. Like... he ended up being so attractive as a character... and they had that thwarted arranged marriage but then he ends up being a pretty good guy thing going on. I think I ate that up as a kid / teen because I also used to create my own mental fanfics where Cal from Titanic is actually a really sweet and kind rich guy and Rose just falls in love with him and the events of Titanic never happen...

One of the best parts of being an Adult On The Internet is realizing there were a bunch of ten-year-olds out there with you having an identical Taste-Defining Experience with a piece of media, only you didn't know it, because you (appropriately) didn't have Internet access and so couldn't (thank God) explore the fandom communities where people were saying so. Before I get to the point of your ask I want to say that your self-consciously revisionist Cal apologism is the funniest thing I've heard today and I love it. I think that's incredibly valid. Like. Fuck it. Why shouldn't you get to daydream about Edwardian Kate Winslet having a hot rich husband who's nice to her? What's so wrong about that?

Anyway, I'm first and last a sucker for a redemption arc, and I think Norrington gets a pretty good one, complete with Period-Appropriate Makeover To Show That I Have Changed. The funny twist is that his makeover makes him look like shit, but tbh, I was into it. They did this fallen-officer/rogue thing with him that was extremely cool, and they upped his badass level by about 60%, which worked wonders for him not being annoying as hell. And like, none of it felt out of character? Because even in the first movie, when Elizabeth decided she wanted to run off and marry a pirate(!), he was kind of like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ oh well that sucks I guess but enjoy. And when he DID run into her next, after he's become disillusioned and at his lowest point, he's still so enamored with her that he's willing to sacrifice himself for her to atone for doing colonialism and also being kind of an asshole earlier. Amazing. B+ for effort, C- for execution, but forever an A-tier failhusband.

[lilamala]

festival write-up! Notable artists I saw: Cobrah, Slayyyter, Domiziana, Eartheater, Isabella Lovestoryyyyyyy (and don't u ever forget it!)

Cobrah was insaneee I was in the front row and she is SUCH a performer. we showed up like 15 minutes before her set started and the stage hands were still setting up this ominous prop

before the concert i thought she might be the type not to talk at all between songs because she seems so otherwordly and alien to me but she did talk and was super cute actually haha tho during her songs she has that dominatrix-esque charisma. mesmerising. (also it was so funny how the photographers absolutely dashed towards her everytime she was popping her pussy lol) the crowd was screaming like crazyyyyy after suck. everyone give it up for cunnilingusssss also she was going crazy on the cross during that one, it didnt even cross my mind to film it because i was sooo sucked in (lol) her performance. amazing, 10/10 (the face the waist the nails the shape etc)

For Domiziana I just knew Ohne Benzin before and sort of listened to her music a bit before we went to her show and I really liked it! she only had a 45 minute set and I did think it was a bit of a shame that she shortened her already short songs in favour of playing a few covers, id rather she play her full songs and not the covers. anyway greatttt energy i liked the songs that i hadnt heard before, ive had malena and auf die party on repeat ever since. she was also super cute when she talked between songs lol before she played amore she talked to a fan who was apparently going offfff in the front row and asked her if she was single and then went "Oh mein Gott Lea ist singleeeeeeee 🤖" and her DJ turned the autotune on halfway thru that was so funny. im afraid im writing this in a boring way haha u had to be there 😌 she was actually walking around the festival the next day i saw her around! (and I also Nura formerly from SXTN once? that was kinda wild. she's way shorter than i thought)

Slayyyter was wall to wall gay men as expected lol. she absolutely has a set of pipes on her, those grand 80s type pop songs off of starfucker suit her sooo well. she was really giving diva, u know when drag queens strike a pose and do that intense stare at the crowd, thats what she was doing. she played remixes of venom and self destruct, they were def more techno than the originals, i wonder if that is fixed in her setlist or she did it bc its technically a techno festival. it was fun to see the contrast between her more melodic poppy stuff and then the super noisy songs like james dean and the aforementioned remixes. the crowd were loving it all. i loved it, shes a great perfomer and a lot of her songs really go offfff live, theres nothing like a crowd yelling "K! COKE! MONEY!" in the call response that is Purrr (one of my fav songs off starfucker!) and she introduced that song by going: "Who here has done any substances toniiiiiiiiiight!!!" to a grand cheer of the audience. amazing truly.

Eartheater was. um. well i think she had the most thankless venue/time slot combination, she was the very first act on the last day on the big stage and there weren't that many people in the beginning, though it filled up as her set went on. i don't really listen to her music, i've just heard a few songs before and someone whose musical taste i trust recommend that i see her show and it was cool musically! her fit was sick as well. she just seemed to be in a bad mood throughout? she told off some guy in the front row who was on his phone (?) during a song and showed him the middlefinger instead of singing, made some annoyed comments that you could hear the bass from another stage a bit, and then for her last song she played like 20 seconds on the guitar (which she had played during the concert before) and then she stopped and complained that it was out of tune blabla we dont have time to tune it and then sang accapella. idk ive never experienced something like that, i thought it was a bit uncomfortable to witness as an audience member tbh

Isabella Lovestory baby! my love my angel my mother. its my second time seeing her, last time was in a tiny club were i bullied myself to first row and didnt really have space to stand and had to lean on the speakers the entire show, good times. this time also front row because i am bordering on being a groupie for her. the guy next to me was filming her on his flip phone i hope u enjoy ur 144p footage of her king <3 anyway she was soooooooo good as expected! she opened with botoxx which was so great to see live, vip was fucking sick as well. and she played an unreleased song called telenovela which sounded great!! im really looking forward to her new album <3 and she possibly played another unreleased one but im not entirely sure? i didnt recognise it but she didnt announce it so idk it might just have been something off her first ep. i think kamixlo was djing? and he opened with love4eva by loona yyxy lol my weeb queen. oh actually for that stage there were like screens in the back (u can see it on the cobrah pic further up) where they projected some like mood images and isabella had some of perfume (the jpop group), tommy february6, and possibly newjeans? at some point. but anywayyyyy i love her so much it was so great to see her live again. oh and i did get a little chin caress at the end when she went down to the audience lol successful groupie moment

actually Cobrah Domiziana Slayyyter and Isabella Lovestory were all on the same smaller stage and i thought it was a bit of an issue that the lights coming from the back were way brighter than the ones from the front so they were all backlit as hell and u couldnt really see their faces a lot of the time :( but still great performances from all of them

other than that there were quite a few dj sets, i liked schwefelgelb and we checked out horsegiirl who was also cool though a bit too high energy for me at that moment. i liked her original songs that she played! my little white pony and obsessed were both good. and the horse mask really is something else lol. and i wanted to see sega bodega as well but he cancelled short notice bc of an ear infection :( get well soon king 💪

[wonderbatbvs]

The only way I'll accept this whole soft reboot of the DC Universe by James Gunn is if it's handled with absolute care. The biggest advantage James Gunn had with The GOTG is that they're very self-contained & don't need to deal with anything Earth related until Infinity War (which was amazing & hilarious. We needed more of Iron Man & Star Lord together)

My biggest worry for this new DCU is that it dies without getting a real chance to shine, just like The DCEU (2013 - 2023)

A universe-displaced Wonder Woman that wants to return to her man Bruce from The Snyderverse & longs to see her home again, NOT the Themyscira of the DCU would be very interesting.

It's a shame we'll never get Zack Snyder's take on The Batfamily. Given what we saw of Bruce & Alfred's relationship throughout The Snyderverse. I could definitely see Batgirl in this universe. What if she never got shot by The Joker in this universe or what if she did & stayed Oracle passing the mantle to Cassandra Cain & Stephanie Brown?

There's still so much potential in The Snyderverse, which really really really sucks to see wasted.

James Gunn's universe hasn't even started yet & people are rightfully skeptical & maybe at best hopefully optimistic.

The most interesting thing I can think of doing with Diana is that she realizes she's not in her universe when she meets The DCU's Superman & Batman. Mainly because it would be very cool to see Diana eventually going back to The Snyderverse after passing the mantle of Wonder Woman to Donna Troy or Cassie Sandsmark.

You could make Gal's Wonder Woman pass the mantle on multiple times spanning TWO different universes.

In The DCU, she passes it on to Donna Troy.

In The Snyderverse, she passes it on to Artemis of Bana-Mighdall (who's part of The Dark Trinity in this universe & dating a recently resurrected Jason Todd)

WonderBat is canon in The Snyderverse & Jaytemis would definitely be canon in The Snyderverse. Could you imagine the stories we'd get?

I'd love to see a Trinity & Dark Trinity movie to give a finale to the universe. You'd have The Batfamily with Wonder Woman's family growing to with Artemis, Donna & Cassie.

And while I'm rambling on about all this stuff, GIVE ME A TEEN TITANS & TITANS MOVIE!

[anachronistic-falsehood]

SENDING THIS TO U BEFORE I FORGET FEEL FREE TO ANSWER WHENEVER U FEEL LIKE IT <3 talk 2 me about dstuck sam thief of heart and ponk sylph of mind the floor is yours king

OUGHGUGHH. OK. ALRIGHT. OK. UYEAH

okkk alright. csam. VERY heart player negative class vibes for me. like he’s more dirk strider than cwilbur is to me tbh he’s SOOOOO self obsessed but also hates himself. he’s surrounded by himself and reminders of himself constantly and it’s all self inflicted. he has all these different identities so he doesn’t have to face himself. the hotel and sam nook. the prison and the warden. the egg and sam bucket. he hates himself but he just doesn’t want to show it.

thieves wear figurative masks. meenah is a BADASS COOL GIRL!! and vriska?? i mean *gestures vaguely* LOOK at her. feelings?? what are those!!! thieves also have a self imposed lack of their own aspect, or at least feel like they do when they actually could have an abundance of it if they tried: meenah killed herself and the other dancestors, ridding themselves of their lives, and vriska insists that she’s the most unlucky person ever when actually!! most of her “8ad luck” is a result of her own actions!!! IT’S ALWAYS SELF IMPOSED!!! Sam brought ALL OF THIS on HIMSELF! he invested himself in the role of Warden and as a result did horrible things that he normally wouldn’t have done if he just remained as AweSamDude, your friendly neighborhood redstone guy!! (putting the rest under a cut bc SURPRISE!! this is getting long)

ok. Heart players. now the heart aspect has been very dirk-ified in canon so it’s easy to ignore the opposite end of the spectrum, which is represented by the Leijons. they’re very positive!! while they both have negative classes, Meulin with one that leads to a lack of the aspect in the player themself, and Nepeta with a reallocating class (takes and gives, so rogue or thief) but the way they handle these classes is so different. mages and rogues kind of provide others with their aspect in many ways. thieves…. don’t. thieves are black holes. they suck up their aspect and leave nothing behind in return. which can be good if you’re a thief of doom of something!! but a thief of heart??? girl you’re hurting everyone around you and it’s so so tragic.

and yet sam (and dirk!! and cwilbur!!!) still reflects some qualities of the leijons. he cares. he cares so so so much. the difference is that nep and meulin don’t let their hearts consume them. they work in tandem with their aspect. thieves and princes and bards don’t. they CAN’T. and that’s what differentiates a thief from a rogue. rogues give their aspects to other people and use their aspect for the benefit of others. thieves see their own detriment of their aspect and hoard it, never using it, never giving it away, until they’re buckling under the weight. for a thief of heart, they bear the weight of every single action they’ve done and take it to heart, convince themself that they’ve either a) done something so amazing and they’re the MOST WONDERFUL THING ON THE PLANET and become so self centred they end up tearing apart their session, or b) done something so terrible, so unforgiving, that they can’t possibly be anything but an irredeemable monster. that’s Sam. he can never redeem himself, so he might as well lean into the awful things he’s done, right? might as well play the villain. because if he can’t be good, what else is he supposed to be???

ALRIGHT. CPonk my cponk <3 sylph of mind. yeah i picked sylph because of the fact that they’re canonically a doctor and that is SUCH A SYLPH THING TO DO!!! going out of their way to become the only person on the server who can help heal people should the need arise!!! sylphs fix things, that’s their whole schtick. they help, they heal, they fix. Ponk was one of the last people on Schlatt’s side in Manberg. they were so determined to help fix it and take care of Schlatt’s deteriorating health. sylphs are LITERALLY the definition of “i can fix him” IT’S INSANE. babygirl you’re trying your best but it’s at the determinant of yourself TAKE A BREAK!!!

“but WHISKEY wasn’t cpuffy a therapist?? why isn’t she a sylph???” I HEAR YOU!! but guess what?? Puffy knew when to quit. she shut down the therapuffy office because no one was using it anymore. she never saw much success from it from the get go. She focused her efforts on protection and defence instead of healing and help. Ponk stuck with it. And Ponk stuck with Sam, after everything. They confronted him multiple times about what happened between them but they still hung out with him. They still talked to him. They still cared, despite everything. They never stopped trying to make Sam see the error of his ways. They never stop trying to fix him, even when Sam insisted that the only way for him to atone for his actions would be for him to die. (Idk how much of Ponk’s lore you’ve seen, but there’s a scene after the prison breakout when Ponk confronts Sam again and Sam puts a sword in Ponk’s hands and tells them to kill him and Ponk refuses IT DRIVES ME INSANE. HI. THE TRAGEDY OF AWESAMPONK. AUGHHHH). Sylphs help others to their own detriment, Kanaya trying to auspisticize between anyone and everyone even though it hurt her, and Aranea trying to fix the timeline and accidentally sending it all up in flames.

MIND PLAYER. MIND PLAYER PONK. Ponk’s aspect ties in soooo well with their class. Mind players revolve around the consequences of the choices of people around them. Basically KARMA IS A BITCH AND HER NAME IS CPONK BABEYYY!!! Remember the fuckign banquet. That was cponk’s justice in a lot of ways. In a server that beat them down and hurt them when they tried to help, this was them trying to stand up and take something back, even if it was motivated by the egg. But still, they didn’t kill anyone. That’s the difference between a sylph and a seer, i think. Terezi killed Vriska because she Vriska hurt people, and she foresaw that Vriska would continue to hurt people. Sam’s actions hurt so many people, including himself, but Ponk tried to help him, and even their revenge ended up being nothing more than a scare that lead to the death of a person who hadn’t even wronged them, and they weren’t the one who brought down the blade anyway. Yes, Kanaya killed, but it was in defence. Sylphs rarely seem to kill for revenge purposes

Ponk is more often than not an observer. They stand by and watch people’s actions play out and. witness the consequences, and then step in when things get dicey. Ponk got their arm cut off trying to find out more about the prison, the corruption behind it and the way it functioned. They could tell Sam was getting consumed by the prison and his role as the Warden. it cost them a life but they were trying to dig into a suspicious corrupt system to help someone they cared about. A Sylph of Mind tracks the results of other people’s actions and tries to fix them. They try to build up the damage from its broken pieces, even if the shards cut their own hands.

[dearmahiru-archive]

for ask game: 1, 2, 4, 11 for Mahiru and 3, 5, 6, 11 for Kotoko 💕

oh my hello hello!! for mahiru, i've answered 1 + 2 + 11 here and 4 here

3. favorite non-mv official illustration?

i know i call kotoko handsome and cool and my husband every sentence but also. she's handsome and cool and my husband. gorgeous gorgeous woman!!

5. favorite voice drama line/moment?

OH I WISH WE HAD YONAH because i know there's going to be some amazing relevations there but if i must be constrained to task....

Kotoko: "Yes. I hate evil. Hurting innocent people with violence, taking away from others, killing people… I hate all this evil behaviour! The law being unable to judge some sins, there's too many of these cases in this world. Having clearly bullied and torturing the weak, but exploiting loopholes in laws, there's so many sinners who still live in such a carefree manner! Even though I want to change this world, I alone only have this much power."

i'm a huge massive sucker for characters who embody justice (hence why i immediately latched onto fuuta) so this little monologue always has me kicking my feet. she's our guard dog, she's our fangs, she'll protect those she deem weak whether they like it or not. i can see the red flags but it's so easy to get swept up in her line of thinking, and i think all of her flaws are just so beautiful.

6. favorite relationships with another character in the prison?

this is a hilarious question for kotoko because all of her relationships suck. she beat up half of the prisoners, will absolutely throw down with shidou and kazui (pun intended), and is disconnected from mu and haruka.

but to answer your question, i am forever a huge fan of the kotokoto combo 💥💥💥

they're so insanely funny to me. you'd think the social, pretty-boy with an easy going personality and the handsome goth ice queen would naturally clash but not genuinely vying for eachother's deaths.

kotoko's like "hm, sure i'll wish you happy birthday" and then a month later is perfectly happy to execute an elbow drop on him. i mourn the a universe where they actually developed a friendship but for now i'm just delighted by them. the sillies (gone wrong) (gone violent) (the police were called)

11. what are your favorite points about their story and the narrative surrounding them?

ohhh there's so much stuff but kotoko's the most elusive character right now without her second mv. but if i had to praise her storytelling then the reach kotoko's influence has never failed to astound me.

the reason fuuta claims we're the same is because, through a group effort, people were seriously and almost died. if kotoko never attacked anyone, would he say this or would he have an easier time accepting his verdict?

a huge factor for shidou's innocence was so he could save the guilty prisoners. i wonder how seriously warped his music video would've been without this purpose spurring him on. like yuno and kotoko, i don't think he would've accepted his verdict and his self-loathing would only grow.

and a big factor contributing to the friendly atmosphere of the prisoner was the social prisoners chipping in their effort. it's already confirmed that mahiru would have made friends with amane if either weren't unwell, and she would probably have tried to keep things cheerful once more.

even if we do place a metaphorically place a muzzle on kotoko in trial three, i can't help but wonder what kind of domino effect it'll have!

[diagonal-queen]

dia entirely forgot it was thungo thursday until mayoi reminded her and she dropped everything to watch the ep. here are all her thoughts, live-documented, in chronological order (apologies for this):

NOT RANPO CHILLING LIKE SHIT'S SWEET WHEN THE CAR HE WAS IN JUST FUCKING CRASHED LMAOOOOO

ranpo is so small next to minoura. he's so tiny and cute i just wanna cuddle him sm (and yes i am a little taller than him- height means nothing to me. we all know where the rest of his inches went YKNOW WHAT IM SAYIN YA FEEL ME)

'the police of this nation are idiots' yes minoura you're absolutely correct but consider this: the police of every nation on god's green earth are idiots

isn't it amazing how it was written in this magical reality-bending book that nobody would believe in the agency's innocence and in a couple minutes worth of running his mouth, ranpo just...undid it?? for like hundreds of police officers??? the sheer power of this man

god i forgot just how fucking fantastic this intro is. tbh this is probably my favourite intro of all of them. the colours and imagery and the chaos of it all MWAH (also kishow voice mm)

bones. was this panel too hard to animate properly?? did you read the fucking manga bones?? do you HATE US BONES??????

i could listen to ranpo talk for HOURS. literally hours, in a language i don't even speak, about anything he wanted, for hours, and i wouldn't get bored. his voice just...*kicks feet and giggles*

i missed you tecchou <3 please keep cooking for fukuchi. you're doing great sweaty xx

some loser: 'when do you suppose a life ends?' even bigger loser: 'when it becomes unable to adapt to change' fukuchi on his celestia ludenberg arc ok

IT'S BEEN LIKE ONE FUCKING WEEK AND THE UN IS ALREADY MAKING AN ANTI-TERRORIST GROUP??? THEY'RE FULLY READY TO FIND AND EXECUTE THE AGENCY MEMBERS IN UNDER A WEEK?? THE ICC LEGALLY CAN'T EVEN DETAIN CRIMINALS ON THEIR OWN IRL

i wish people reacted to seeing my posts on their dash the same way that the united nations reacted when fukuchi appeared onstage

congressmen will excuse mass shootings of gay ppl and then have shirtless fukuchi posters hanging above their beds where they half-heartedly fuck their wives and go to sleep before the thought of helping her also cum even crosses their mind

wait. *pauses and zooms in*. WAIT. YOU'RE TEL

YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT

TH

THAT ABRAHAM STOKER WAS THICC?????? THAT HE HAD A DUMPY???? THAT HE HAD SOME JUNK IN THAT TRUNK???? ALL THAT ASS INSIDE THOSE JEANS???? CURSE YOU FUKUCHI OUCHI FOR RIDDING THE WORLD OF BRAM'S CAKES

thinking about it, doesn't the decay of angels sound like a really cool name for an operatic metal band??

fukuchi: *enters room* ranpo: YOOOOOO STEPDAD GUESS WHO'S AN ENEMY OF STATE :DDDDDDD

fukuchi really is like 'you havent changed at all, boy' ranpo is literally eight years older than me. if he's a boy i'm primordial soup

fukuchi also said that ranpo's title of 'excellent detective' is self claimed. the thousands of people whose lives ranpo's probably saved must all be like 'say sike rn'

ranpo trusting fukuchi solely because the president said he trusts him. crying screaming throwing up ranpo GIVE ME ONE CHANCE (that's right guys we're back to this again)

fukuchi thinks he's hot shit cus he can jump high?? well my ocs can also do that fukuchi. sucks to be basic huh

IT'S NOT RANPO'S FAULT HE WAS BORN LATER AND THUS MET FUKUZAWA LATER??????? FUCK OFF FUKUCHI (also i love the way they're sitting they're all so silly mwehehehe)

omg ranpo also commented on the 'boy' thing lmaooo he and i are so good for each other <3 if only he'd give me a chance... </3

i wonder what portion of atsushi's budget goes towards emergency ramune. also imagine someone caring enough about you that they always keep one of your favourite snacks on you in case you get hungry or something. that's so cute i can't <3333

imagine coming up with a complex plan, twelve or so years in the making, to end the world, all because u asked ur friend out like thirty years ago and he said no T-T

fukuchi: *tilts neck* *minecraft skelly noise*

oh atsushi. i know other people won't like me saying this but you're so hot and i want to do the sex with you <3333333

wow bones. you've outdone yourself. this has to be the best fisheye yet- maybe even beating lucy's fisheye for how terrifying it is. i'm genuinely speechless

AKUTAGAWA

omg atsushi's speech on how loneliness is his biggest fear and how much he cares about his loved ones (kinnie moment), and the one thing he needs, truly needs right now is someone to fight alongside him to save all that he has to lose and the world as he knows it, and then akutagawa appears? soulmates. i mean it's not even like this is a surprise to me as someone who read the manga but, like, it's different when i'm watching it. soulmates. soulmates soulmates soulmates

and that's a wrap for tonight's edition of dia's thungo thursdays!! be sure to tune in for next week and see them cry tears of hopelessness and despair!!

[hyunrun]

mommy issues below 🐱

me when I'm third wheeling my mum and sister 😔 like ok I alr knew she was the favourite child you didn't also need to make me walk behind you on the very wide sidewalk 😂😂

my mum also got mad at me for being a considerate person 😶 apparently I'm acting too 'righteous' and asking her to not be in the way of old people is annoying her BC 'they can walk around us'

If I tried to explain to her that my social awareness is so high strung because I feel constantly anxious I know she'll shoot me down because she has diagnosed anxiety and she doesn't feel like that (let's forget that these things are not the same for everyone 😋)

and then once we pick up my little sister I have to watch her hug her and kiss her and whatever when a few hours earlier she shook off my hand for trying to hold her hand while we were walking 🐱

i know she loves me but sometimes she makes it really hard to believe that the love she holds for me measures up to the love she holds for my sister. i feel a little more like a failed experiment.

I don't want to feel bad because her period is starting soon so maybe she's just snappy because of that. I'm not even angry at her I'm just sad and mad at myself for being stupid and always getting on her nerves (I am a little mad at her but I don't want to be because we'd only get in a fight if I am and then I'd just feel worse when I lose it because I'd never try to win a fight w her because she'd probably kick me out on the streets for a night 😼😎).

sitting across her on the verge of tears at a restaurant and she hasn't noticed yet because she's too busy doing something (literally idk what they're on her phone) w my sister but to give her credit I'm good at looking like I'm not crying when I'm crying

sometimes I feel like it's just a bit of retribution for me causing her hell before and after I was born but sometimes I want to disappear from this earth just so my family has an easier time I'm really tired of feeling like a constant burden and annoyance.

i always want to be like my sister too and it sucks but she's so cool for being 11. she's so self assured and strong and literally everything I'm not which is so embarrassing. whenever we meet Anyone all my mum cares to say about her is positive in comparison to my negative and I hate it so much because I just have to smile through my teeth. but I also love my sister too much to condemn her for it BC she's so talented and pretty and amazing and deserves everything she has but I just wished I had it too. even socially she's so graceful. i love people so much and I care too much and I run after them and stick to them and act like a leech just because I love them but I feel like everyone slips between my fingers but on the other hand my sister is so chill and doesn't need people around her but somehow is so magnetic and wonderful that people flock around her anyway.

my mum always jokes about the fact that she had to put so much effort into knowing kids' parents when I was younger BC she had to arrange playdates n stuff for me and I feel so bad and disgusting but I know it was just the reality but idk.

i feel like I'm about to hyperventilate and cry but my mum wants me to give her a leg massage and my dad wants me to video call him so I'll be back later ig 😋 (future me - my mum yelled a time for taking too long to give her the leg massage (I wasnt going to her because I was about to cry) and my dad was too sleepy to see I was upset (not his fault) so that was fun) anyway I'm tired of writing this post because I seem so annoying so if anyone reads this far then 🙏⁉️ this is embarrassing but ty for sticking around haha

[malkon-dova]

Okay since it's no longer 5am and I'm somewhat rested, I thought maybe I should talk a bit more about how I feel about the game? [Spoilers under the cut]

Overall, I fucking loved it. I loved it I loved it I loved it,, it was so good----and in the past few days where I've been playing it have been so fun all while the urge to play GRIPPED me anytime I wasn't progressing

Favorite character wise, it's a bit hard for me to have a favorite, but I know I was going feral over loop and Isabeau fhjxxj,, like I remember immediately getting attached to them both considering- 1. For loop specifically, I love their design and the mystery and how cool they are and their entire story!! And 2. For Isa. I'm a softy for softies, and romance. (I just didn't expect to be tortured with a consistently cut off confession, owie). But gosh, I dig Isa a lot and his story and him constantly improving himself and changing. He's so sweet and smart and I lowkey didn't read most of the dialogue Siff had with him in ACT 5 because I hated hurting him (honestly, that applies to everyone, but it sucked to get to him last and know what was coming)

Oh, and I really liked the King, like a lot, before ACT 4. Hah,,

:|

But gosh, Mira and Bonnie and Odile also own a part of my heart- they're so charming and like, Bonnie especially grew on me after I did their story quest in dormont. Honestly. With everyone wanting and willing to sacrifice themselves to protect their kid was genuinely so sweet and like- it felt. True? For a lack of better words. Gotta protect the literal baby of the group yknow.

Oh and with Mira, I fw her heavy because the pressure she's under and the self doubt she has is relatable- I also really dug her story, it was really cute.

Oh and Odile..

Bark.

BUT NO in seriousness, Odile is so cool she's wonderful and so so interesting I love her lots and how perceptive she is. She was the first dormont story I did and I lovedddd it!!

But yeah! Overall, loved the story, lots of emotions were felt and uhm! 10/10 amazing story

i finished In Stars And Time!

ow, but. aw

[tenta-cute]

Headcanon/To-Do Fic Idea: King Steve in Exile California.

After the exhaustingly long and nasty divorce is finally concluded (Local Business Mogul Leaves Wife Of Twenty Years For A New Squeeze, screams the headline of Hawkins' resident rag), Mr. Harrington uproots his teenage son and moves to the sunny shores of California.

Just like that, Steve finds himself brutally ripped away from his hometown where he has all his friends and his position and his wonderful girlfriend, and plunged into a massive city.

It's like, the worst thing EVER.

He always wanted to go to California, but once he's finally there he hates everything.

He hates that San Diego is so unreasonably huge and all the streets look the same and he keeps getting lost and calling a cab to deliver him back home because he has no idea where the fuck he is.

He hates that instead of a house, he now lives in an apartment; sure, it's big and spacious and luxurious, but that means he has to share space with his dad and, worst of all, listen to him fuck his girlfriend in the middle of the night, which is just uuuuugh.

He hates that his aspiring step-mother is only like six years older than him and clearly a gold-digger. He hates the way she looks at him sometimes.

He hates that his relationship with Nancy Wheeler, now turned long-distance out of necessity, seems to be deteriorating at a truly harrowing rate. He hates that he doesn't know how to fix it; all he can do is call her every single day without fail, but recently he's been talking to Nancy's dad more than Nancy herself. Sorry, Nancy is out with friends, she will call you back later.

On top of all that, school sucks.

Turns out that Steve is a fraud. A big fish from a small pond suddenly thrown into a shark enclosure. Nobody in San Diego cares about his amazing hair, the famous parties he used to host, or his old keg stand record. Nobody cares about his rich dad. Steve used to fancy himself a cool guy, but the California kids are just so much cooler that they sorta make him uncool by comparison. His country hick self doesn't impress anyone. All he is now is the new kid with glaring gaps in his education, because it turns out that teaching standards in Cali are way higher than in Hawkins, Indiana.

And if that wasn't bad enough, there's a certain blonde metalhead who always sits at the head of the outcasts table and keeps staring at Steve with those unnervingly blue eyes...

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #15: the LADY... or the TIGRA

December, 1986

Hawkeye: “The cat people are tearing Master Pandemonium limb from limb!”

Wonder Man: “Demon from demon!”

Hey. Hey, Wonder Man.

Did you feel good being pedantic like that?

Make you feel like an important part of the conversation?

Anyway.

Last times in West Coast Avengers: Tigra’s cat soul is out of control and she’s just been acting way too horny. Yes, out of all the behavior peculiarities of cats, this book just leans way into ‘cats be horny.’

Imagine if instead of wanting to hump every man, Tigra had an irresistible urge to leave hair all over everyone else’s clothes.

Tigra and the West Coast Avengers go visit the cat people responsible for Tigra becoming Tigra and the cat people cat king secretly promises her to remove one of her souls if she kills Master Pandemonium for him.

She promises but she’s been a lackadaisical cat about it. Plus, Master P is a slippery eel who keeps hidden.

While researching demon stuff, Hank Pym accidentally aggros Alletou, a powerful demoness who thinks Hank is working for Master Pandemonium. So she kidnaps him and Tigra.

The West Coast Avengers come to rescue them and Master Pandemonium tags along to get a chance at Alletou but she dumps all of them on a boat in a river and they’re stuck on the boat because its a hell boat.

Stuck until the hell boat makes hell port somewhere.

Which brings us to now.

Since they have nothing better to do while trapped on a hell boat, the heroes talk.

Iron Man mentions how his digital watch says they’ve been on the boat for three days but he doesn’t feel hungry or sleepy at all.

Hellstorm (actually Diamon Hellstrom in a shitty disguise) tells Iron Man that time is weird in hell and to “forget all your technology!”

Which is a rude thing to ask of Tony Stark.

Technology is all he’s got.

Hellstorm isn’t interested in all that though. He’s interested in Tigra because his Hellcat wife’s cool cat suit was originally made for Tigra.

Greer Nelson recaps that she tried to turn into Tigra last issue but couldn’t probably because hell rules. Like the hell rule that hell keeps you from your most fervent wish so it didn’t let Tigra become Tigra, proving that she really wants to be Tigra. Or something.

Hellcat tries to tell Greer that being just a human person isn’t so bad but this causes Greer to explode at her.

Greer Nelson: “What do know about it, Hellcat? That suit you’re wearing was designed for me -- I understand the difference between real powers and artificially-induced ones!”

Hellcat: “What? You were this suit maybe half a dozen times, then turned into a Cheshire Cat as Tigra -- mostly going -- while I put in solid years with the Avengers and the Defenders!”

Oh great, a cat fight.

Granted, Patsy has a point. She’s made the suit her own.

Also granted, Greer is under a lot of stress.

But less granted, her idea of a solid dunk on Patsy is to say that she sucked too much to get on the West Coast Avengers.

Ah, Greer. You know the West Coast Avengers is shit at recruiting. Patsy not being on the team doesn’t mean anything.

Hellstorm gets bored of two women talking and decides now he’s interested in Master Pandemonium.

What’s the idea sitting quietly and behaving??

Master Pandemonium mentions that even being watched by Iron Man and Wonder Man, he could destroy the West Coast Avengers and guests if he but wished it.

Which is something a lot of villains claim, for reasons of protecting their self-esteem.

But Master Pandemonium bickering with Hellstorm does remind Mockingbird to ask about “the Five”

The term has been sprinkled about during Master P’s time in the plot. Its that thing he’s looking for without explaining anything about what it means.

So time to explain. Can’t keep spinning your plot wheels. Progress, damn you!

Master Pandemonium does decide to spill the beans but only because it doesn’t really matter and won’t help the heroes so why not.

If you remember Master Pandemonium’s amazing backstory of drunk driving off a cliff and getting his arm ripped off, the occult dabbling actor promised his soul if his arm could be restored.

Mephisto showed up, I guess not having anything better to do despite ruling a hell, and took the case. By replacing the guy’s missing arm with a demon. And since he was on a roll, he also ripped off the guy’s perfectly healthy limbs and also replaced them with demons.

Actor guy passed out from the pain and wakes up the next morning thinking the whole thing was a weird nightmare until his arms rip open his pajamas on their own volition to reveal a star shaped hole in his tum tum.

Mephisto walks out of the mirror to explain the other half of Master Pandemonium’s backstory.

Despite disdaining the idea of taking actor guy’s soul, since he had so many souls, Mephisto found a different, more trolly use for it.

He’s split it into five pieces, gave the pieces to some demons, and had them hide them in ALL OF REALITY.

Its a fun scavenger hunt!

Just find and reassemble your soul! The soul you bargained away with very little hesitation but are now desperate to get back for some reason!

Maybe because you don’t want the food to fall out when you eat. Hey, that’s a good legit reason to want a soul.

My favorite part is when this idiot (apparently named Martin) asks this Totally Satan guy why he’s playing games with his soul.

Martin. Guy. You dabbled the occult. Did you not run into the universal truth that Mephisto is an asshole at any point?

Anyway, the real answer Martin Pandemonium gets for his dumb question is:

“Because you said you’d do anything to be saved -- and believe me, to get your soul back from the horrors I gave it to, you won’t be able to stop at anything! You’ll become the grandest villain the world has ever known -- as you strive for your redemption -- and that’s the kind of bargain Mephisto loves!”

The idea is sound but like. Master Pandemonium. Is a good effort. But far far far from the grandest villain.

Then again, maybe that’s what Mephisto is pulling on Doom. A big part of VICTOR VON DOOM’s motivation is that Mephisto has his mom’s soul and it has driven Doom to become a villain keeps eating cosmic powers.

Master Pandemonium even lampshades that after all the off-panel robbery and murder in his villain career, he’s completely failed to even get a lead on any of the Five Demons That Mephisto Gave a Soul Chunk To.

Actually, that’s related to my other favorite thing, although its to come at the cost of a really dumb plot. Mephisto, of course, completely lies when he’s setting the ground rules.

Anyway.

Master Pandemonium tells the heroes to not get in the way of his soul quest but Hellstorm doesn’t really care about his threats because at last an interesting topic of conversation. He starts telling Master P about how his tragic origin reminds him of an investigation he made in Austria.

Hmm. So. Like. Master Pandemonium is a huge dick.

But maybe the best solution to the problem of him being a dick is to help him find his soul chunks so he’ll stop causing trouble.

I can’t believe I’m saying this but potentially good job Hellstorm.

Anyway, then the hell boat crashes into a wall blocking the hell river.

Except its a magical wall and the hell boat goes right through and into the land of the cat people.

Apparently the cat people’s Land Within is part of hell.

Greer freaks out because the cat people aren’t supposed to be demons! So why is their land connected to the hell river?

But Master Pandemonium senses one of his soul chunks and gets all excited.

The cat people row out into the river to tow the hell boat to shore (this part of the hell river doesn’t cause you to combust if you touch it, conveniently).

The West Coast Avengers and guest stars and temporary teamed up enemy are soon surrounded by cat people warriors. Who are very irate.

The spokescat yells at them for coming back when the Avengers should know they don’t like outsiders, for bringing Master Pandemonium who the cat people all agree is a massive dick, and knowing that the river of oblivion led to the cat world like seriously Avengers what’s with that? But most insultingly, look at the Tigra not being the Tigra! This is somehow the Avengers’ fault!

Greer tries to explain that she’s not Tigra because she couldn’t transform in hell but then realizes that maybe that was only Allatou’s realm and manages to transform into Tigra.

Tigra: “See, boys -- everything’s okay! Your legendary were-woman’s back!”

Although, she really only transformed so the cat people would settle down a little.

Patsy starts worrying that if the cat people are demons then the Hellcat suit is maybe super cursed or something since they made it.

Hellstorm goes no, its not evil or possessed or anything. Because he’s been sharing closet space with it and probably would have noticed.

But anyway, its time for him to flex his demonology muscle.

Hellstorm: “These outworlders are under my protection, demon!”

A cat person: “We respect your reputation, Hellstorm -- but anything you need protect them from has yet to be decreed by our king!”

You respect his reputation?

He’s been using this identity for, what, a month??

Anyway, again, point being that nothing can be done until they all go to see how angry the king is going to be with the happenings.

Tigra decides that means they have nothing to worry about. The king is her friend! They came to an understanding!

A cat person asks what kind of understanding and Tigra suddenly remembers that the West Coast Avengers are in earshot and vaguely mumbles something about quid pro quo.

Which just makes Hawkeye suspicious. Although he was suspicious the first time they left the cat world and he didn’t do anything about it then.

Hawkeye: “Honey, did you ever have one of those days when everything seems to go wrong?”

Mockingbird: “You mean like the day we got married -- ?”

Oof.

Unless she means more generally the events of the Hawkeye limited series before their marriage. Didn’t happen on the same day as the marriage but she and Hawkeye did beat the shit out of each other during that series.

Wonder Man points out that he wasn’t present during the first trip to cat world but he can probably get them out of whatever trouble since he’s so super strong. Patsy just tells him to wait and see how things play out first.

So despite the king being Tigra’s supposed “friend,” he is sure pissed off about seeing the Avengers and Tigra and especially Master Pandemonium.

Cat king: “So -- the facts in this case are clear! I break our cardinal rule to allow you Avengers to leave the land within alive -- and you repay me by recruiting three new members, two of whom we know to be opposed to our kind -- ! -- And you attempt to attack destroy us!”

Hawkeye: “Have you been smokin’ the kitty litter again?”

Cat king: “You deny it? Then why pray tell have you brought our most hated enemy here? Master Pandemonium should have been dead by now, if the Tigra had done as she promised!”

Wuh oh.

Cat spilled the beans like it was a glass of water on a counter.

Reaction from the Avengers is.... I’d say overall negative.

Despite Tigra saying that it’s okay to murder bad people for personal gain, the West Coast Avengers don’t really go for that line of thought.

In fact, they seem to think that Tigra has betrayed not only the ideals of the Avengers but also some of them, personally.

Hellstorm is the only one that comes to Tigra’s defense. Although its less her defense and more telling the Avengers that they’re right but to ease off.

He actually sympathizes with Tigra. Her situation of having a cat soul trying to convince her to murder and be horny is similar to his situation where he had a darksoul and it made him super dramatic and kinda dickish.

Master Pandemonium feels uncomfortable when we are not about him and tells the cat king that he doesn’t give a shit about Tigra. He knows a chunk of his own soul is here and he wants it.

The cat king acknowledges that he does have a chunk of Master P’s soul and that he keeps it in a nice, decorative jar.

Since Master Pandemonium’s story had Mephisto say that he gave the soul chunks to demons and since the cat people have one, Tigra finally believes that the cat people are demons.

Which... yes and no. But mostly yes.

The story the Balkatar told her was mostly true and the cat people weren’t demons... at first. But being exiled to one of the pockets of hell turned them into demons.

ANYWAY, that’s not really important. Its more like furiously stitching plot threads together. The important thing is that the cat king still has the power to remove one of Tigra’s extraneous souls and that she still needs to kill Master Pandemonium to get that prize.

Since the secret is out and the damage is done, Tigra decides she has nothing left to lose by doing a murder and agrees to go to the arena to do a murder at Master Pandemonium.

Who is pretty confident in his chances, actually. Overconfident, I’d say.

Master Pandemonium: “I warn you, majesty -- I’ve beaten Tigra and all the Avengers three times already! Whatever you may be planning, I plan on winning again -- because its worth my soul!”

So... Two things Master Pandemonium.

One: you “beat” the Avengers in the sense that they weren’t able to beat your ass before you ran away. Yes, you weren’t a pushover in those fights but those fights ended with you running away. That’s not going to serve you here.

Two: the cats don’t play fair.

Cat king: “Go on, Tigra! We’ve made it as easy as possible for you!”

The cats pull out the demons that make Master Pandemonium’s limbs and hold them at bay so he’s just a defenseless no-limbs guy.

The Avengers react in disgust that the cats want to kill a defenseless man, even if he is Master Pandemonium and Wonder Man wants to interrupt this execution but Patsy Hellcat tells him now still isn’t the right moment.

The king apparently overheard that because he tells them that there isn’t a right moment for them and urges Tigra to just do Master Pandemonium a murder like she promised.

Master Pandemonium: “Do your worst, were-woman! He who must be Master Pandemonium will face his end like a man, whatever his state!”

Tigra: “I -- I told you before -- I have to do this -- !”

But she can’t.

She refuses to compromise her Avengers values actually!

So the cat king revokes her cat privileges.

He uses the soul jar to yoink the Tigra soul from Greer.

Then the cat king tells his cat people to throw soft, squishy human Greer and throw her and her friends in the cat brig.

And the cat people do.

Where the Avengers are all very proud of Greer for not doing a murder.

Hank Pym: “Each time I think I can’t get prouder of you, you get even better, honey!”

Well, Hank Pym is, anyway. The Avengers are more preoccupied with the situation. I’m sure they’re proud though.

Mockingbird does ask why Greer looks so bummed if she’s freed of the Tigra soul like she wanted.

Greer Nelson: “We’re all on a menu, and you’re short an Avenger --”

Hellcat: “Maybe not, cat-lady!”

And Patsy starts taking her clothes off.

As far as she’s concerned, this plot is Greer’s to resolve. And she’s more familiar with the cat people and this city (like by an hour) so maybe its time for Greer to once again become...

THE CAT!

... I don’t remember if you, the audience, have the context for that.

So before she was Tigra, Greer was the Cat and wore the Hellcat suit before Patsy slapped the Hell onto the name.

And that clears up that.

Anyway, the Balkatar returns to the cat people cat palace from some task in the human world and the king gleefully informs him that the Tigra he likes so much refused to do a murder.

The Balkatar does feel thats a shame, he quite liked Tigra but not much he can do if she was disobedient to the king.

But the king also mentioned some new Avengers (but not New Avengers. But hey, I’d rather have had Tigra than Wolverine) and the Balkatar is curious about that. The kind mentions one of them was a woman in a yellow suit with blue claws.

The Balkatar: “WHA-AT?!! Just because I’m the only one who ever gets to the outworld, am I the only one who knows who that is?”

Apparently!

Greer shows up, in her original the Cat outfit again, beating up a couple guards so she can make her entrance.

ALSO, she busted out the West Coast Avengers and guests too!

... I guess Patsy is just going to be spending the conclusion to this story in her underwear. Couldn't even lend your wife your cape, huh, Hellstorm?

I wonder if this is going to be a one-off Greer the Cat thing or whether that’s going to be how she continues as a hero with her cat soul gone.

If that does come true, sucks for Patsy, I guess.

Anyway, since there aren’t a lot of named cats for this catfrontation, the Avengers West and guests mostly fight nameless cats while The Greer Cat faces her boy toy the Balkatar.

He doesn’t want to fight. He doesn’t want to be her enemy. He wants to remind her of the good times they shared when they lay upon the rocks. It was the “most golden afternoon” of his life. And he hoped that it was the start of something that would grow into something great for both of them.

So, yeah, he’s trying to seduce her a little.

But while the Balkatar would rather make love than war with the former-Tigra, Greer has lost her horniness and would rather kick his ass.

So the Balkatar turns off the charm and turns on the shit talk.

He asks if she thinks a silly suit will make her as strong as she would have been as the Tigra?

Maybe he’s negging?

Greer Cat exposits that the suit amplifies a woman’s strength but that it’s especially designed for her.

So despite the Balkatar shredding the suit somewhat, Greer Cat ties him to a pillar with the suit’s cable claws.

I’ve got to wonder how the suit works. Is it technological or magical? Are the buffs it provides diminished by the suit being damaged?

Ah well.

The cat king is surprised, maybe impressed even, that Greer could beat the cat champion since never in his lifetime has he ever seen the Balkatar defeated.

But on the other hand, the cats still outnumber the Avengers ten-to-one so, uh, just keep going guys.

One of the cats suggests giving Greer back the Tigra-soul so that the two souls thing will confuse her. I mean, sure, she’s stronger as Tigra than she is with the suit but uh.... it’d confuse her!

I think this random cat might be an idiot.

Either way, Greer decides to react before the king can take the suggestion or not.

She shoots her cable claw at the jar... and pulls it off the throne, breaking it. But the Tigra soul beelines right for Greer.

The cat king claims that the Tigra soul has gotten even stronger while its been in the jar. Sure. But Greer was wearing the Cat suit, which made her human half stronger.

And... uh... I guess her human soul and Tigra soul fused together.

(I wonder if that was the intention of the Cat suit...)

So she gets a power boost from even her previous Tigra form (and a tail!) but she’s fully in control of herself.

This is mostly making me realize that Tigra didn’t have a tail before. Which feels weird.

Well, I’m glad everything is working out perfectly for Greer and will work out perfectly forever and she won’t lose control of her catness again and have to be put into a cat carrier. Everything is going to be great.

Sucks to be Patsy though. Greer shredded her outfit.

I know she has that same outfit in current times so I wonder when she gets it back.

Apparently, she gets a magic version of the outfit that she can manifest at will after she dies, goes to hell, and then gets rescued from hell.

Anyway.

The cats decide they couldn’t possibly fight the Tigra so she tells them that they’d best let her and her friends go home then.

Like a sneaky guy, Master Pandemonium took advantage of all this distraction to get his demon limbs back, sneak up behind the cat king, grab the other soul jar, and smash it to get his soul chunk.

Which he then shoves into the star shaped soul hole on his tum tum.

Which just. Like. The soul chunk is a triangle so it fills in a triangle but it looks bad. C’mon. Balance the star. Make it a four point star. It doesn’t have to make geometric sense, its magic.

I wonder what having one-fifth of a soul feels like.

Anyway, Master Pandemonium being Master Pandemonium, he delivers a big speech about how this doesn’t change anything. He and the Avengers will still be enemies when they meet again. But he’s vaguely grateful to them.

Hawkeye asks him why he thinks he can just walk out of here so Master Pandemonium jumps over the balcony into the river of oblivion and swims away.

He’s not swimming away all that fast.

The Avengers could totally just go and grab him.

But Hawkeye decides nah.

They’ll probably get another chance as he continues causing trouble on Earth but heck the guy solved one part of Mephisto’s scavenger hunt. Let him have that victory.

Hawkeye: “Anyway, our very own Tigra is probably five times that happy, since she got an entire soul outta the deal, an’ right where she wants it! Uh -- it is Tigra now? Not Greer?”

Tigra/Greer: “Both! Either! There’s no difference any more!”

As for being trapped in hell, well the West Coast Avengers know the spell to get home from specifically the cat world within so... let’s call it a day and have a barbecue?

That’s the West Coast Avengers’ thing. They barbecue. Thanks for inviting us to barbecue at your house, Hellstorm.

Hellstorm: “What?”

Hawkeye: “Hey, we got an Avenger back today, and that means we’re celebratin’, and when you’re with the Whackos, that means Hawkeye the archer’s world-famous barbecue!”

Tigra: “I’m ready, boss-man -- if I can have a hot dog!”

I can’t believe we got an everyone laughs ending! My god!

Soooooo.

Tigra’s arc.

If it ends here, please god let it end here, it was rough. I didn’t like it. Kind of like the resolution though. Lost the Tigra soul, shoved it back in, fits better now, also level up a few times. Got a tail. Stronger Tigra.

An ideal outcome, don’t you think?

Follow @essential-avengers​ because we’re going to be getting through the Siege of Avengers Mansion for a while. Like and reblog out of relief that the horny Tigra arc is over.

[ladydorian05]

A Christmas with you~

Oh god...where do I begin, okay as of today Dec/24/2020, the movie We can be heroes isn’t out yet, so everything is just from my imagination, interactions, personalities and everything else that may sound slightly canon, it’s most certainly NOT canon. I hate using ‘Y/n’ on reader inserts but this time I had to. Thank you @din-damn-djarin​ for being my beta for this fic, I really, really appreciate it. Go check out her fics, I adore her Neigbor Marcus Pike series, it’s SO good. 

This is a monster of a fic, where did so many words come from?

Hope you guys like it.

Thoughts are in italics 

A Christmas with you~

Pairing: Marcus Moreno x f!reader

Summary: You’ve been in love with your best friend for years, what you don’t know is that he’s also in love with you. Could a little push from one cunning young girl help you both get together during the most wonderful time of the year? (sorry, still suck at summaries)

Warnings: Reader’s superhero name is “Striker”, why? Because my brain thought it sounded cool, I jump from POV to POV, one plotting child, best friends to lovers, a pair of pinning idiots and implicit spiciness.

Words: 7K something

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was no secret to any of the members of the Heroics that you had no family to spend the holidays with.

In a way they were all your family, you were all a close-knitted team, but sometimes, it just wasn’t the same.

Then, there was Marcus and his daughter. He had been there from the moment you joined the team he became a very close friend, your best friend. Most of the time you got partnered with him, especially when it came to reconnaissance missions, you worked well together, you trusted each other and always had each other’s back.

Eventually, you began to feel differently towards him. You were no fool, you knew what you felt for him was definitely more than simple fondness, attachment or admiration. Your heart rate increased when he was close, his smile makes you smile, you would do anything for him, anything to keep him and his loved ones from harm’s way.

He’s always been so charming and handsome and a total gentleman. There had been times where you had wanted to take the first step, confess your feelings to him and see where that would take you, but you couldn’t; at first because he had been a married man about to become a father when you met him and then when his wife stopped being a part of the picture, well you just wanted to be there for him as a friend, he had enough on his plate raising Missy on his own, he didn’t need you to dump all of your feelings on him.

He was doing amazing on his own, but you wanted him. No, you wanted both of them, Marcus and Missy, to know that you would be there for them whenever they needed you. Besides, you were just friends, he’ll never see you as anything more.

“That will be all for today, everyone’s dismissed. I wish you all a happy Christmas eve and remember to keep your locators close, we all know how crime rates increase during this season. I'll see you again here until the 26th” Ms. Granada said, taking you out of your thoughts and officially ending the debrief meeting.

Every year, during the holidays, most of the team got a leave from duty, beginning early on Christmas eve, until the 26th; that was if no major crisis happened that required the whole team, otherwise only a handful of volunteers were left on patrol duty during those days.

Seeing as you’ve never celebrated the festivity, you always volunteered to be a part of the patrolling team. Not that your teammates had never invited you to spend Christmas with them and their families, they had done it on multiple occasions, not wanting you to be alone, time and time again you had reassured them that it was alright you didn't mind spending the night patrolling.

In truth, you always declined because you didn’t want to intrude, the celebration was all about family and spending time with loved ones, you knew your friends had good intentions but you just didn’t want to feel like you didn’t belong there, like you were invited to tag along out of pity.

Eventually, the invitations stopped coming your way, and while it hurt a bit that they gave up on you, you were also relieved for not being put on the spot again and again having to decline their generous offers.

But this year, unbeknownst to you, a scheme was beginning to brew inside the head of one young girl, to make you change your plans for the night.

~~~~~~~~~~

Missy wasn’t blind, she knew there was something between her father and Striker, even before she learned that her father was a superhero.

When she was younger, she had shipped his dad’s alter ego and Striker. They always looked so in-sync on the tv, like the perfect duo, but now that she gets to watch them both in real life? She had no doubts, they liked each other.

And it wasn’t just when they were in costume, Striker had always been around ever since she could remember, all of her birthday parties, her school festivals, even helping her dad every time some mom came up with the idea to have bake sales at school over and over again; what’s wrong with that woman?

She had noticed all the constant glances, the here and there ‘accidental’ brush of hands, even the full-on staring; just like right now, during the debrief, her father’s eyes kept straying from Ms. Granada to Striker and every single time he turned his attention back to the meeting before he could notice how Striker had been doing the same thing. Oh yeah, they were both pining for each other.

The problem was that they were SO stubborn, she’s been trying to bring it up to her dad, but he would immediately change the topic of the conversation with some question about school or any upcoming mission, it was frustrating!

She wanted him to be happy, she wanted both of them to be happy, and being superheroes was dangerous business, she wasn’t about to wait until something happened to either of them, as dramatic as that would be, for things to move forward. Like always, it was up to her to give them a push.

“You know, if you keep staring at her like that she’ll burst into flames.” One good thing that came with the pair of pinning adults was that the whole thing made them so easy to tease, and she loved to tease her father.

“I think you're mistaken, that would be something Lavagirl could probably do, not me sweetheart.” With a chuckle, Marcus puts a hand on her head to ruffle her hair. “Ready to go?” Changing the topic, again. This time she wasn’t about to let it go.

“Not yet. Actually, there’s something you haven’t done.” Missy crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Oh, really?” Marcus smiled as he mimicked his daughter’s stance. “And what is that thing I haven’t done?” he said with amusement.

Missy smirked. “You haven’t asked Y/n if she wants to come home and celebrate with us. “The smile on Marcus' face disappeared, a stunned expression replacing it.

“What!?”

“Yeah, you should invite her, we can all have dinner together and maybe she can stay and open presents with us.”

“Uh…Missy, sweetheart I don’t think that’s a good-“

“Oh, come on, dad! It’ll be great! It’s not as if we’re doing something REALLY special tonight. Please?”

“Sweetheart, she’ll probably say no, you know she never comes to Christmas parties.” His hands moved from his chest to rest on his waist as he spoke.

“Which is why you should invite her over. We’re not throwing a party; it’ll be just the three of us. And even if she says no, you won't lose anything just by asking.”

He wouldn’t know what to do if she rejected him. How cliché of him to fall in love with his best friend.

He had slowly fallen for you, so much so that by the time he realized what was going on, he was already a goner.

He had always known how beautiful you were, your smile, the way it illuminated your whole face; your eyes, your nose, your lips. He noticed how you were always helping people, inside and outside your Heroic persona, he also noticed how you tried to dismiss your own worries, not wanting to ‘burden’ others with them.

If only you would let him do for you the same things you do for him. He would love nothing more than to share whatever problems weighted down on you. He also knew you never accepted invitations to any Christmas celebration, at first, he had thought maybe you were being shy, being the new member of the team and all that, but year after year you always declined every single invitation from your teammates, he had always hated the thought of you spending the holidays on your own, patrolling the city.

He had never tried to invite you himself, back when his wife was around, they had always traveled to her parent’s house so it was useless to ask you to tag along, and then, after she left, it had been difficult to even try to celebrate.

If he asked you to come to Christmas and you said no, if you rejected him…well what hope could he have that maybe, just maybe he could find the courage to confess his feelings. But the probability of them being unrequired scared him so much. Should he risk it all?

Missy didn’t need to be a telepath to know what her dad was thinking, he was thinking too much and that normally resulted in him chickening out, well this time she wouldn’t let him.

“Or do you actually like the idea of her spending Christmas patrolling the city in a cold night most likely on her own?” This time she copied her father’s stance, silently challenging him to a staring contest, she had this in the bag, her dad had never won a staring contest in his life.

“You can be so stubborn when you want to, little lady.” Marcus said after a few seconds, breaking eye contact.

“Who do you think I got it from?” She said with a self-satisfied smile on her face.

“Come here.” Marcus pulled her in a hug. “I love you; you know that?” he said, leaving a kiss on top of her hair.

“I know, I love you too. Now stop stalling and go ask her.”

“Okay, okay. Sheesh, you’re also bossy.” He squeezed her a little before letting go and walking towards y/n.

“It’s called leadership!” He shook his head laughing, well, at least he was doing something right, god knows raising Missy almost on his own hadn’t been easy.

~~~~~~~~~~

You had been waiting to see which teammates would be staying with you this year to agree upon a schedule, when you noticed Marcus approaching you, he stood in front of you with a wide smile making his adorable dimple appear.

“Hi there.” He greeted while rubbing his hands together, one of his nervous ticks.

“Hi there yourself, everything okay?” It was weird, you could see how tense he was and he kept shifting from foot to foot.

His eyes widened and his head kept moving as he nodded. “Yeah, yes, everything’s alright.”

“Okay.” Now this was a Marcus you didn’t get to see often. Normally he was so self-assured, he always carried himself with confidence, even in the face of danger. “Are you excited to go home and spend a whole day with Missy?”

“Of course, it’s been some time since we’ve had the chance to spend a whole day together.”

“I’m glad you got the chance, she’s been working so hard, you both have, you deserve some time off.”

And so do you. He thought.

“You know, you’re right, you should also take a break.” He frowned. Marcus could see the bags under your eyes. You had also been working harder, pulling more time than the others. You did this every year during this season and it always pained him, while everyone else went home to their families you didn’t even hang your suit and equipment for a night and a day off, no, you made sure to keep everyone safe.

“I don’t know, not many of us volunteer for patrol as it is, and I don’t have any plans for the night or tomorrow so, why not?” You looked down at your feet. It was the truth, why bother taking a break, only to go to a cold empty apartment? You could find a better use of your time like this.

Marcus, swallowed, steeling what little resolve he had, it was now or never.

“You know, we- Missy and I that is. We were wondering if…maybe, if you don’t have any other plans; and of course you can say no, but it’ll be great if you said yes, and it’s nothing formal-” You watched him with amusement as he kept rambling, “It would be just the three of us and well, pizza and movies and junk food, staying up until midnight and opening some presents. Don’t worry, you don’t have to actually bring anything, it’ll be fine with jus-“

Shit, why was he talking so much, and why wouldn’t his hands stop moving!? Something like this hadn’t happened to him in a freaking long while, since he first invited a girl he liked on a date, like twenty or so years ago!

Leave it to you to have this kind of effect on him, only you could reduce him to a babbling idiot, if this kept going on, he wouldn’t be able to actually ask you the question.

~~~~ 

Oh my god! What is he doing!? Missy stared at her dad as he kept talking and moving his hands around while you just looked at him with mirth and confusion.

She had to do everything in this family, didn’t she?

“Would you like to join us tonight and maybe even tomorrow?” Missy interrupted her dad before he could keep on talking.

 Marcus hadn't been so grateful to his little girl than in that moment. “Umm, yeah, would you like to join us?” Marcus looked at you with a smile and hopeful eyes.

“Oh…OH!” You were speechless, you weren’t expecting an invitation this year, least of all an invitation from him. While it wasn’t weird for him to invite you to special occasions, he’s never once tried to invite you to spend Christmas with him. You always thought this time of year was special for him and that he preferred to spend it alone with Missy. “I-I…”

“Please say yes! It’d be fun, we just sit in front of the tv and watch movies while eating junk food!” Missy jumped in hugging you. She wasn’t scared to use her resources, every single one of them, if that meant that y/n agreed to the invite; she’d even use the puppy eyes if she had to, she had to exploit that one before it stopped working.

“I don’t know, we can’t leave the city defenseless…” Puppy eyes it was.

“Pretty please! I’m sure it’ll be fine, you always stay on duty, they can manage one year without you!”

Oh no, not the puppy eyes! You stared at Missy’s brown eyes, they looked so much like her father’s. You shifted your gaze from Missy to look at Marcus only to find him doing almost the same expression. God damn it! Not him too, he’s too old for that face to work, why is it working!?

What the hell, it’s not like you didn’t want to.

“Okay, I’ll join you guys”

“Yes! You’re the best, see ya later!!!” Missy gave your middle a squeeze before running out of the room, leaving you and Marcus staring after her.

“You mister are way too old to be pulling the puppy-eyed look, you should be ashamed.” You turned to see his smug face.

“I’ll keep using it for as long as it keeps working.”

“What a disgrace.”

“So umm, does six work for you?”

“Yeah, I’m just going to let the others know I won’t be a volunteer this year. See you then.” With a smile you gave Marcus a quick hug before approaching one of the members of the Heroics that, much like you, always volunteered and was the one in charge of making the schedule for patrol rounds.

“Yeah, see you.” Marcus said shaking his head, long after you had left his side. He needed to get a grip of himself, if not, he would have a long night waiting for him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Even if Marcus said not to bring anything, you hated arriving at a friend’s house empty handed, even if it was Marcus, especially if it was Marcus; so you made sure to grab a couple of things on the way to your apartment. Some bags of everyone’s favorite chip flavor and enough ingredients to make some cinnamon rolls.

You took a quick shower once the glaze was done and the cinnamon rolls were in the oven. With one towel around your body and another one around your hair; you stood in front of your dresser debating on what to wear.

It’s not like this was a date; as if. So why worry so much?  Still, you kept on throwing clothes on your bed, you told yourself enough by the time you were seriously contemplating putting on a dress.

You put away the mess you made, leaving out a nice button up shirt and a pair of comfortable dress pants, the ones that had actual pockets, you finished your look with some comfortable boots, you were probably going to end up taking them off at some point so you also put on some cute Christmas themed fuzzy socks.

Satisfied with your choice, you decided to put on a baggy T-shirt to take the cinnamon rolls out of the oven and to prevent the glaze from dirtying your clothes when you poured it on the buns once they were cool enough.

You were fifteen minutes late by the time you got dressed, packed everything up, and grabbed the presents for Marcus and Missy that you had wrapped up a week ago. You send Marcus a message saying that you were on your way.

~~~~~~~~~~

Marcus went into full panic mode when they got home an hour and a half away from the time he told you to arrive, they lost too much time lining up to pay at the supermarket, he insisted on going once he remembered he was out of your favorite candy, he also got a bag of chocolates and some sodas.

For a moment he contemplated getting some beers, but soon dismissed the idea, he wasn’t that much of a drinker and he didn’t like to drink in front of his daughter. Besides this wasn’t a date, of any kind, just his daughter and best friend; who he had been in love with for a long time now, spending some quality time together.

Shit, he forgot about the pizza!

“Missy, go take a shower and change into something more comfortable but nice and then come give me a hand, we need to set everything up in the living room” He said as he dialed the number from the pizza place the three of you loved.

Missy took the grocery bags to the kitchen before doing what her father asked her to do, but in reverse, that way there was a chance that you would arrive while she was still getting ready leaving the two of you alone for a few minutes.

She opened the chocolate and candy bags dumping the contents into two different small bowls, she listened as her father finished ordering the pizza on her way to the living room where they had a slightly bigger tv than the one in front of the breakfast table, she left the bowls on the coffee table in the middle.

“Missy, I thought I asked you to do something else before setting everything up.”

“I know, but we’ll finish faster this way, you need to take a shower too. Can you get the glasses from the cupboard?”

He sighed but went to the kitchen to get the aforementioned glasses.

“Hey, did you order the potato wedges?” Missy asked, taking one of the soda bottles and putting it inside the fridge.

“Yup.” Marcus answered, passing her the second bottle. “Give me a hand with the plates please.” He bumped her with his hip as he passed her.

They inspected their work for a moment before going to their respective rooms to get ready, Missy decided to take her time choosing her clothes, she even contemplated whether it’d be too much to take a bath instead of a shower.

 ~~~~~~~~~~

Never before, in his whole life, had he gotten ready for ANYTHING as fast as today. He almost pulled out a suit from his closet before doing a double-take and grabbing a nice shirt, some black denim pants, and his favorite sneakers.

He decided to forgo any kind of hair product and only dabbled a little bit of cologne on his wrist and neck. On his way to the living room, he stopped by Missy’s room to knock on her door.

“Are you ready darling?”

“Not yet!” Was her muffled response.

“Okay, I’ll be in the living room, take your time but remember we’ll have a special guest over.” A special guest? Come on Marcus, she’s been here multiple times before, she’s like part of the family, maybe not in the way he wished her to be but still.

~

“Okay, dad!” A special guest!? Really!? He was hopeless, did he even notice how obvious he was? Why hadn’t he done something about it yet? Y/n could easily slip through his fingers by the time he decided to actually make a move. She needed to up her game.

 Marcus kept staring at the clock as it read five minutes past six, leg bouncing. Maybe his clock was wrong, maybe he didn’t put the right hour, maybe it was forward by a few minutes.

God, he was a mess, he needed to calm down, it was just Y/n, his best friend; she’s hung out with them before, on multiple occasions, except…well she wasn’t JUST Y/n, she never was and never would be.

She was everything, she became everything to him in such a short time that sometimes it scared him. If he had to be truly honest with himself, he needed to admit that he began to fall for her the moment they met, he fought against it for years, he was married with a baby on the way for god’s sake.

He had loved his wife and he would’ve never cheated on her, but he also couldn’t deny the connection he felt with you from day one, he had never felt something even remotely close to it with anyone else.

If things had been different, he would have told you about his feeling’s way sooner, he had been selfish, he knew he couldn’t afford to lose you, he lost his wife, Missy lost her mother, he couldn’t lose you too if you didn’t feel the same, that would’ve destroyed him when Missy needed him more than ever.

So, instead he kept it silent, holding on to the hope that maybe, someday, he’d be able to act upon his feelings for you.

He was startled by his phone chiming in his pocket, the first thing he noticed was the hour, quarter past six; and the second, your message. ‘I’m on my way.’

He sighed, you would be there soon, could he maybe try to hint at something tonight? Well, if he didn’t, maybe he could bring ‘that’ out.

~~~~~

Fifteen more minutes later you were finally ringing Marcus’ house doorbell, not for the first time, you were happy with the proximity of your apartment complex to his house.

“Hey! Why didn’t you use your key?” Marcus' smiling face greeted you. “Oh, I see why.” You were holding a container in one hand, balancing two gift boxes on top and the cloth bag with the chips in the other.

“I kind of couldn’t even if I wanted to.” You laughed.

“I told you, you didn’t have to bring anything but yourself; here, let me help you.” He took the container with the cinnamon rolls from your hands. “Come on in.”

“As if you didn’t know me Marcus, I never come here with empty hands.” You followed Marcus to the kitchen after closing the door behind you.

“This thing is warm, what’s inside?” he had left the bag and the container on the counter, he also put the boxes aside.

“Well, you have two options, you can try to guess or you can open it.” You said with a smile, taking the bags of chips out to fold the bag they were in.

“I know it’s warm, is it something sweet?” so guessing it was, you loved to play this kind of game with him every time you brought baked goods.

“Yes.”

“Can I smell it? Am I allowed to do that?” he asked, eyebrows raised and a big smile on his face.

You faked a thoughtful look before nodding. Marcus lifted the container close to his face and took a deep breath.

“Cinnamon?” His eyes opened wide in delight. “No way, don’t tell me! Are these, you brought cinnamon rolls!? Holy sheesh!”

You laughed at him, you knew he loved cinnamon rolls so you made them as often as you could, you even gave him the recipe but he claimed that they just didn’t taste the same when he made them himself. You thought he was just too impatient to make them and preferred to just eat them.

He opened the container to keep the bread from getting soggy because of the condensation inside it.

“My god! They look delicious, I swear could kiss you right now!” What!?

 FUUUUCK!!! YOU IDIOT! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!!!! he froze up, there was a moment of silence between the two of you before it was thankfully interrupted by the doorbell.

“The pizza is here! Just in time.” He said with maybe too much enthusiasm. The delivery guy deserved a big tip, he just unknowingly saved his ass.

 Did you hear correctly? Did he say kiss? That’s what he said, right?

No, well yes, he did say it, but he probably didn’t mean it like, well...THAT. It was just an expression, he was overjoyed you brought him food and you were just thinking too much into things. Yeah, that was it, you were thinking too much.

“I heard the pizza arrived! Don’t start without me!” You shook your head, clearing your thoughts as Missy appeared around the corner. “Hi y/n!”

“Hi Missy.” You opened your arms towards her for a hug that she walked right into.

“You got chips, nice. Wait do I smell cinnamon rolls!?” Like father, like daughter.

“Ah-ah-ah! Don’t touch those, little lady. Those are for later.” Marcus said stepping into the kitchen. “Now, come on, I left the pizza on the coffee table.”

“But dad, they’re WARM.” Missy argued, stressing out the last word.

“Don’t you think it also hurts me to leave them there? We can reheat them later in the oven.” Marcus said with his hands on his hips. Missy looked like she wanted to say something more, so you decided to cut in.

“Mis, why don’t you take the gifts I brought and put them under the tree? We’ll be there in a minute.” You said handing her the boxes.

“Okay, but I get to pick the first movie!” Both of you watched as she walked out.

“I swear this girl.” Marcus huffed running a hand through his hair.

“Don’t you dare finish that thought Moreno, you’re just as bad as her when it comes to your precious buns.” You said shaking your head.

You hear him gasp as you walk to the fridge, knowing he probably stashed the drinks there. “You wound me!”

“Uh huh, let’s go before she decides to start eating without us.” You grabbed one of the cold bottles of soda inside the fridge and made your way towards the living room. “Don’t forget to bring the chips.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Together you made your way to the living room.

~~~~~~~~~~

Missy decided to sit on the carpeted floor right in front of the coffee table, that way her dear pining love birds would be forced to share the loveseat.

“What took you so long? I hope the big box is for me, also I already picked a movie.”

“Don’t be impatient, you’ll find out soon.” You said as you ruffled her hair a little, leaving the bottle of soda on the table close to the glasses.

“Oh no. Sweetheart, we forgot to move the couch.”

“It’s okay dad, you two can have the loveseat, besides this way I’ll be closer to the snacks.” Don’t be suspicious Missy, you don’t want to ruin this perfect chance. Phase one, getting them to sit together: complete, phase two is on hold.

“You sure you don’t mind darling?”

“Nope, can I start the movie?”

~~

Oh god, they were going to be really close to one another.

Calm down, Moreno. You’re fine, this is fine. It’s your best friend. He reminded himself for the millionth time that day.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him, maybe it was because this was your first Christmas with them and all the domestic stuff was getting to him.

He turned to look at you “After you.” He said gesturing towards the loveseat with his hands.

“Thank you. What are we watching Missy?”

“First Home alone, The Santa Clause, Arthur Christmas; you know, the classics with a touch of new stuff.”

“Let’s begin then.” Everyone sat in their respective places with a plate and a slice of pizza.

As the evening progressed, he found himself using the ‘stretching move’ to put his arm around you, when he noticed you weren’t bothered by it, he willed his body to relax and enjoy the company of his favorite people in the world.

 As the movies kept playing on the screen and the snacks disappeared little by little. You felt yourself get more comfortable.

For a moment you let your imagination run wild; for a moment you let yourself believe this was a normal occurrence, family movie nights, cuddling with Marcus on the loveseat, going to sleep beside him afterward, waking up beside him, help him raise Missy…

You needed to stop this, as wonderful as everything sounded inside your head you knew none of that would become a reality.

“Okay, it’s getting late,” You got startled by Marcus nudging you softly with his shoulder before pausing the movie, you hadn’t even realized you leaned into him “don’t think that I’ll forget about your bedtime just because Y/n is here.”

“But dad!”

“No, come on, let’s open some presents and then I want you to go get ready for bed. I can see your head nodding from here, you’re tired, go on choose one.”

Phase two: Leave the love birds alone, has officially begun. Missy thought, wishing for her dad to finally take the opportunity to climb that last step. Phase three of her plan, officially having you as a mom, depended on it.

“Okay,” Missy said pretending to be disappointed “Y/n, which one is mine? The big one?”

“Sorry Mis, It’s actually the small one.”

“Oh.”

“’Oh’? What’s that supposed to mean? Don’t you have faith in me?”

“I do, but what cool stuff could possibly be wrapped in such a small box?”

“You’ll see once you open it, sweetheart.” Marcus left the remote control on the table and returned to his previous position on the loveseat, arm around you and all.

Both of you watched as Missy broke the wrapping paper and opened the wooden box taking out what looked like a smart watch from inside it.

“Oh! It’s one of those cool watches!” Missy exclaimed with surprise.

“Yes and no.” you said, leaning in towards her.

“what do you mean?”

“This one’s special, see I got Tech-no to make it especially for you. It does work like any other smart watch, but you’ll be able to use this one even if you don’t have a Wifi connection or aren’t close to any phone tower.”

“What!? How!?”

“It’s linked into one of the Heroics main recon satellites, it has a GPS function that’ll show you the map and your location no matter where you are, it also has the emergency button. It’ll alert your dad, me, or the Heroics mission control station. It has many more functions, I think, but that’s all I remember. Tech-no included a manual, you’ll get it once you turn it on. Oh yeah! Almost forgot, aside from being able to use conventional charging cables, I don’t know how but he also included solar panels.”

“OMG! I can’t believe it!! It’s the best gift ever!! Thank you!!!” Missy jumped from her place on the floor to tackle you in a hug.

“You’re welcome, I thought it could come in handy now that you’re in the saving the world business with us.” You said with a laugh.

“Hey, Missy, you still want the big box? We can exchange.” Marcus said with raised eyebrows.

“No way! This is mine, I’m gonna go charge it. Thankyousomuch, goodnight, bye.” With that Missy took off running towards her room.

“Hey, don’t forget to brush your teeth!” He reminded her.

“I won’t!”

You both heard the door to her room slam close.

“Wow Y/n, you didn’t have to.”

“It’s no big deal Marcus, you know how much I love her, and I worry. She’s too much like you.” You said staring at him.

“Wha-what’s that supposed to mean?” He said feigning offense.

“I mean it in a good way! She’s kind and selfless, headstrong, brave, and so intelligent. What we do is dangerous, and now that she's exposed to it, well, knowing her she won’t stay behind anymore. All we can do is give her the tools to keep herself and her team as safe as possible.”

Could you be any more perfect? He knew you loved his daughter, it’s always been clear to him, but could she love him just as much?

“You know now I have to try and top that gift next year, right? There’s no way anything I got her this one is going to top yours.” He said with the most serious face he could muster.

“That was the point.” You answered with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

“Mala.” he said, squinting his eyes at you.

“You think I’m bad!?” you gasped, “I’ll show you bad mister.” You stand up from your seat, you walk in your Christmas themed socks; boots long forgotten in favor of comfort; towards the tree to take the gift you brought for him. “No present for you, I’m going to keep it.” You said smugly .

“Now that’s not fair.”

“Oh, I think it is.”

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry.” He apologized.

“What? What did you say? I couldn’t hear you.”

“I said I’m sorry, oh benevolent woman! Goddess of the amazing Christmas presents! I kneel before you.”

“You’re ridiculous.” You laughed at him.

“The things I have to do for a present.”

“You didn’t really kneel.”

“You serious?” he asked flabbergasted.

“No. Now open your gift before I change my mind.”

Marcus eagerly tore the paper apart, revealing a thinner wooden box than the one Missy received. Inside, Marcus found an old throwing knife.

You stared at him, holding your breath as he opened the gift, it wasn’t some cutting edge piece of tech, but you knew how much that knife meant to him.

He was speechless, he instantly recognized it the moment his eyes laid on the engravings of the blade, this had been one of his father’s throwing knives. While not exactly a superhero, his father had served in the army as part of a special secret division. He had preferred knives instead of guns. And he taught Marcus everything he knew about them, that was the reason he had chosen to fight with swords, in memory of his father.

But how, how could you have gotten hold of one of his knives, they had been lost during his last mission.

“I-I, how-” He swallowed hard “How did you find it?”

“Well, I remembered what you told me, about your dad, what he did and a-about your dad’s last mission and well, remember last time I took some days off a few months ago? I did some research and found the town he had gone to. I asked around and I found this old lady, she treated your father’s wounds at some point during his mission and he tried to pay her by giving her one of his knives, she never sold it. I told her about you and well, she insisted on returning the blade to you.” You finished your tale a little bit breathless, he became really quiet when he opened the box.

He couldn’t believe you remembered that, it’s been so long since he told you about his father.

Had it been a mistake to search for the blade? Did you overstep? Maybe you should have told him before going on that trip.

“Marcus, I’m sorr-” One moment you were trying to apologize to him and the next you were being enveloped in a pair of strong arms.

“Thank you.” He said breathless, leaving a kiss on top of your head. “This means so much to me.” You just smiled and hugged him back.

You stayed like that, relishing in the feeling of his arms around you, holding you tight to his chest.

This woman, this wonderful, amazing, beautiful woman… fuck it, he knew what he had to do.

You felt a pang of sadness and longing as Marcus’ arms began to retreat from around you.

“Wait here. I-I need to go get something.” You watched as he left the box with his gift on the table, stood from his seat and disappeared around a corner.

 Calm down, calm down, it was just a hug. You told yourself.

Marcus came back to sit beside you a minute or so later holding a small baby blue box with a white ribbon on top in his hands.

“I-I’ve been waiting for the right moment to give you this. It’s nothing like what you gave us but…I hope you like it.” He reached for your hands and left the box in your palms.

Upon a closer look, you noticed the box came from a jewelry store, an expensive one at that. You opened it carefully, not wanting to damage the little box. Inside the box, lying on a silky looking piece of fabric, you saw a beautiful heart shaped golden locket, there was a flowery design with some vines on the surface giving it some texture.

“Marcus!” You gasped. “You didn’t have to; this must’ve been really expensive.”

“Go ahead, open it.” You did as he said not lifting the heart from its silky bed. Inside, you found a small picture of Marcus, Missy and you.

You remembered that one was taken during Missy’s birthday last year, in the picture the three of you were laughing, your faces dirty with cake frosting from the small war that took place moments before his mother had taken the picture without them noticing.

“Marcus! This is beautiful, thank you so much!” You were about to hug him when he raised a hand to stop you.

“There’s more.” You were confused, he was acting a bit strange, you noticed he was tense as you looked from him and back to the necklace. “Turn it around.”

Once more you did what he said, closing the locket you took it in your palm noticing something engraved into it. On the back you found that it was indeed engraved. It read:

‘For the holder of my heart~’

It’s now or never. He held his breath as he watched you read the words. He began to worry when you didn’t show any kind of reaction.

“What?” you whispered, it can’t be, could this mean, did he, what?

“I-I was going to wait to give it to you, I had this elaborate plan, I wanted to ask you out, take you to a nice restaurant, then maybe we’d go to a park or something. I also thought of giving it to you on your birthday, but then we got kidnapped by aliens and I lost the courage, because what if I ruined everything? What if I ruined our friendship just because I fell in love and you didn’t feel the same? Then things would’ve become awkward and we’d stop hanging out and eventually we would’ve become strangers and I never want that to happen, I want you, I want you in my life, in our lives and I can’t imagi-”

“Marcus.” You interrupted him. “You love me?”

“More than anything.”

“How long?”

“Long time now.” You nodded slowly. Your brain still trying to process everything he just said, but mainly repeating ‘he loves me!’ over and over again.

“Can you... help me put it on?” you gesture to the necklace still in your hands.

He nodded, taking it in his hands as you turned around for him. He didn’t understand what was happening, you were still here, you asked him for his help to put his gift on, so that was something good, right?

“Done.” He said stunned as you turned around to face him with the biggest most beautiful smile he’s ever seen.

“You love me?” You asked again. Your voice, now full of emotion, a stark contrast from the flat one you used a moment ago.

“Yes.”

“You really, really love me?” now he was getting confused.

“Yes Y/n, I love you, you and only you.”

“Good. Because I love you too.” He barely had time to react before your lips were on his and just like that, time stopped, right there, in that moment, there was only you, the feeling of your lips on his, the pounding of his heart, the feeling of your hands, your fingers as they carded through his hair.  

He couldn’t get enough of you. He pulled you closer to him until you ended up straddling his lap, his hands on your hips, your lips moving in perfect sync with his as if it wasn’t the first time you kissed. His senses overwhelmed by you and how you made him feel.

Suddenly, you leaned back, ending the kiss with a smack; much too soon for his liking; leaving you both a panting mess.

“You have no idea how many times I’ve dreamt of you saying that, of you feeling the same way.” You said breathless, giving him a small peck when you finished talking. 

“Oh, honey-is, is it okay if I call you that?”

“It’s more than ‘okay’ Marcus.” You said laughing.

“I’m glad, because I’ve been dying to call you all kinds of beautiful names. And me too, honey; I’ve imagined countless times telling you how I feel about you. I’m so sorry it took me this long to tell you.” He pulled you in, claiming your mouth again, in a kiss more intense than the first one making you moan. You felt his tongue lick your lips, silently asking for entrance, letting go of your inhibitions you let him explore the insides of your mouth, your own tongue tangling with his.

This time he ended the kiss, making you whine from the loss of contact.

“I want you, but tell me to stop, and I will.” He whispered in your ear, “Tell me if it’s too soon and I’ll stop.” he sucked on your earlobe before leaving a trail of kisses down your neck, alternating between kissing and sucking on the sensitive skin there.

“Don’t you dare stop Marcus.” you gasped, “Don’t you think we’ve waited long enough?” you asked as you ground your hips against his earning a groan in response.

He returned to your lips for one more hungry kiss before outright growling “Hold on tight, honey. Let’s take this somewhere more comfortable.” His hands slid from your hips to your ass, supporting you as he stood from the cushions making you squeal in surprise. Your arms went around his neck as you tried not to fall backward.

“Marcus! Warn me next time.” You admonished him “What about Missy? What if she hears us?” You ask as he begins to walk towards the part of the house you knew led to the bedrooms.

“That’s why we’re going to my room, so we don’t have to worry, it’s soundproofed. Now like you said, we’ve waited long enough.” He squeezed your ass before latching his lips on your neck again.

~~~~~~~~~~~

He stirred awake, with the feeling of your hand drawing mindless patterns on his naked chest. With a smile, he remembered what happened last night when he finally confessed to you, and what happened after as well.

He let his eyes open, slowly, letting them adjust to the little morning light that managed to seep through the curtains. He turned his head to look at you, your head resting on the hand that wasn’t drawing shapes on his chest.

He smiled at you, lifting one of his hands to hold yours, lifting it from his chest to place a kiss on your knuckles.

“Hey. Merry Christmas.” You greeted him with a smile.

“Merry Christmas indeed. Did you sleep well, honey?” he asked, lowering your hand in his and resting it on his chest right over his heart.

“Better than ever.” You gazed into each other’s eyes for a moment before leaning in at the same time to share a sweet, slow kiss.

“I wish we could stay like this forever.” He mumbled against your lips.

“Who would save the world if we did?” You managed to ask between little pecks to his lips.

“I bet the others can do it just fine.”

“Okay, well, who would keep Missy out of trouble?”

“Yeah, I don’t think either of us can keep her from that.” he stared at you, before saying your name. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Marcus.”

You stayed in bed, in each other’s arms, until one of you remembered that neither of you turned off the tv last night, and he remembered the cinnamon rolls had been left on the counter in the kitchen.

Once dressed, Marcus in his pajamas and you in one of his shirts (that almost made the both of you stay in bed longer) and a pair of pants that he let you borrow to keep you comfortable, you set out to clean the living room.

When that was done, you set to work together inside the kitchen preparing breakfast for everyone, reheating the cinnamon rolls and making fresh coffee.

The two of you were soon joined by Missy, whose only reaction to the two of you being now together-together was a very happy, very exasperated ‘Finally!’.

He looked at his little family with a smile on his face as he sat down on the table. He could finally say that this Christmas he finally received what he’s always wished for, what he’s been yearning to have for years.

Your heart.

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