#COMING FROM CHIP AND HE HAS WRITTEN FEMALE CHARACTERS WELL IN THE PAST!

[drbatsponge]

So far Gotham War has done at least 4 things for the Bat-Family women outside of Selina and only one of them is good, that being Stephanie getting a new costume.

The rest is just awful.

Cass getting absolutely jobbed.

Stephanie getting called Spoiler again when she's Batgirl.

Barbara apparently ACTIVELY helping Bruce imprison Jason from what I know, though I could be wrong on that.

It's just not a good event for them, they deserve a whole ass event after this.

EDIT: Apparently I mistook Barbara for another character, but tbh she still has had jackshit to do in this event so idc, event still did absolutely nothing of value for her.

[borisbubbles]

Character analysis: Vivienne de Fer (Dragon Age Inquisition)

So, if you’ve wondered where I popped off to the past two months or so, I’m going to give you an answer - I finally bought Dragon Age Inquisition (legit on my gaming wishlist since its 2014 release) and I’ve been obsessed with it ever since. 

The main draw to this game however, isn’t so much the gameplay (if you want a game that feels similar but has better gameplay - Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is what you’d want instead), but the storytelling and particularly the character development are top notch. All nine companions are fascinating and fleshed out in such a realistic manner I’m still gasping in awe on my fifth playthrough.  Thus, a post on it is in order. It’s a bit different from my usual content, but don’t let that discourage you - clearing my head from Dragon Age will allow me to let Eurovision back in and continue my unfinished 2020 ranking.  In this post, I will be analyzing one of DAI’s most interesting characters - none other than Madame de Fer herself, Vivienne.  Now, I’m under the impression that this is a rather unpopular opinion but I absolutely love Vivienne. And no, I won’t apologize for it. As a Templar-thumping elitist with a icy, sardonic demeanor the sheer ‘Idea Of A Vivienne’ is meant to make your head spin. Dragon Age has always been a franchise in which mages are a socially surpressed group and to be confronted with a socially confident enchantress who likes Templars and seemingly supports the social shunning out of her own ambition is the walking embodiment of flippancy. 

and yet, I feel a lot of sympathy for Vivienne. 

Yes, she’s a bitch. She knows she’s one and she’s a-ok with it. I won’t argue with that. Sadly, the “Vivienne is a bitch” rhetoric also drastically sells her short. Vivienne is highly complex and her real personality is as tragic as it is twisted. 

Madame de Fer

So let’s start with what we are shown on the surface. Vivienne is a high-ranking courtier from an empire notable for its deadly, acid-laced political game. She seemingly joins the Inquisition for personal gain, to acrue reputation and power, and eventually be elected Divine (= female pope) at the end of the game. She presents herself as a despicable blend of Real Housewife, Disney Villain, and Tory Politician, all rolled into one ball of sickening, unctuous smarm. Worse, the Inquisitor has no way to rebuke Vivienne’s absurd policies and ideas. You can’t argue with her, convince her to listen to your differing viewpoints or even kick her out the Inquisition. She has a way with words where she can twist arguments around in such a fashion that she lands on top and makes the other person look like the irrational party.

“Thus speaks the Inquisitor who has made so many mature and level-headed choices so far. Such as releasion malcontents upon the population without safeguards to protect them should they turn into abominations. Very wise. I rearranged some furniture. Lives aren’t thrown into jeopardy by my actions. Perhaps a little perspective is needed.”

She’s Cersei Lannister on creatine, Dolores Umbridge on motherfucking roids. If you look at merely the surface, then yes, Vivienne looks like the worst person ever created. I love a good anti-villainess however, and she’s definitely one. 

Yet, she never actually does anything ‘evil’? Yes, she is ‘a tyrant’ as a Divine, but 1) the person saying this is Cassandra, whose dislike for mage freedom is only matched by her dislike of being sidelined 2) Divine Vivienne isn’t bad to mages either? (hold that thought, I’ll get to it). She never actually sabotages the Inquisition, no matter how low her approval with the Inquisitor gets. She never attempts to stop them, no matter how annoyed she is. She’s one of the most brutally honest companions in the cast, in fact. (It always surprises me people call her a ‘hypocrite’ - you keep using that word and it doesn’t mean what you think it means.) The ‘worst’ display of character is when she attempts to break up Sera and the Inquisitor and even then - are we going to pretend Sera isn’t a toxic, controlling girlfriend with a huge chip on her shoulder? I love Sera, but come on.  

Vivienne is a character where the storytelling rule of Show, Don’t Tell is of vital importance. The Orlesian empire is an empire built around posturing and reputation. Nobody really shows their true motivations or character, and instead builds a public façade. It’s like how the Hanar (the Jellyfish people) in Mass Effect have a Public name they use in day-to-day life, and a Personal Name for their loved-ones and inner circle. Vivienne’s ‘Public Visage’ is that of Madame de Fer - this is the Vivienne who openly relishes in power, publicly humiliates grasping anklebiters with passive-aggressive retorts, the woman who is feared and loathed by all of Orlais, and this is the Face you see for most of the game.

The real beauty of Vivienne’s character and the reason why I love her as much as I do (which is to say - a LOT) are the few moments when - what’s the phrase DigitalSpy love so much - Her Mask Slips, and you get a glimpse of the real woman underneath the hennin.

This is the Vivienne who stands by you during the Siege of Haven and approves of you when you save the villagers from Corypheus’s horde.

This is the Vivienne who comforts you when you lament the losses you suffered.

This is the Vivienne who admires you for setting an example as a mage for the rest of Thedas.

This is the Vivienne who worries about Cole’s well-being during his personal quest, momentarily forgetting who or what he is. 

This is the Vivienne who, when her approval for the Inquisitor reaches rock bottom, desperately reminds him of the suffering mages go through on a day-to-day basis because of the fear and hatred non-mages are bred to feel towards them and how this can spiral into more bloodshed without safeguards. 

This is the Vivienne who shows how deep her affection for Bastien de Ghislain truly is, by bringing you along during his dying moments. I love this scene btw. This is the only moment in the entire game where Vivienne is actually herself in the presence of the Inquisitor - needless to say, I consider anyone who deliberately spikes her potion a motherfucking psychopath ^_^)

“There is nothing here now” fuck I *almost* cried at Vivienne, get out of my head BioWare, this is WRONG -- people who delude themselves this is an irredeemable character. 

So, who is Vivienne really?

Understanding Vivienne requires recognizing that the mask and the real woman aren’t the same person. I think her relationship with Dorian is the prime example of this. I love the Vivienne/Dorian banter train, obviously - an unstoppable force of sass colliding with an unmovable wall of smarm is nothing short of a spectacle. However, there’s more to it than their highly entertaining snipes. As the incredibly gifted son of a magister, Dorian represents everything Vivienne should despise, and should be a natural enemy to her. And yet, she doesn’t and he isn’t.. Their gilded japes at each other are nothing more than verbal sparring, not dissimilar to how Krem and Iron Bull call each other names when they beat each other with sticks. In what I think is one of the most brilliantly written interactions between characters in DAI, I present Vivienne’s reaction when the Inquisitor enters a romance with Dorian:

Vivienne: I received a letter the other day, Dorian. Dorian: Truly? It's nice to know you have friends. 🙄 Vivienne: It was from an acquaintance in Tevinter expressing his shock at the disturbing rumors about your... relationship with the Inquisitor. Dorian: Rumors you were only too happy to verify, I assume. 🙃 Vivienne: I informed him the only disturbing thing in evidence was his penmanship. 🙂 Dorian: ...Oh. Thank you. 😳 Vivienne: I am not so quick to judge, darling. See that you give me no reason to feel otherwise.

Madame de Fer can never be seen directly expressing approval to a relationship between the Herald of Andraste and an ‘Evil’ Tevinter ’Magister’. By this subtle, subtle conversation, Vivienne indirectly tells Dorian that she considers him a good match for the Inquisitor and approves of the romance. It’s one of those reasons why I could never truly dislike Vivienne - between the layers of elegant poison lies a somewhat decent woman who never loses sight of the bigger picture. Not a good person maybe, but not one without some redeeming qualities.

The crux of Vivienne’s personality is that she, like all DAI companions, is a social outcast. She’s a mage in a fantasy setting where mages are psionically linked to demons, and grew up in a country where the majority religion has openly advocated the shunning and leashing of mages (’Magic exists to serve man’ - the Chantry is so, so vile in this game.). Vivienne’s “gift” was discovered so early in her life that she can barely remember her parents. Vivienne grew up in a squalid boarding school, learning from a young age that she’s dangerous and her talents need to be tamed and curbed. She is also terrified of demons, as her banters with Cole point out:

Cole: You're afraid. You don't have to be. Vivienne: My dear Inquisitor, please restrain your pet demon. I do not want it addressing me. Inquisitor: He's not doing any harm, Vivienne. Vivienne: It's a demon, darling. All it can do is harm. Cole: Everything bright, roar of anger as the demon rears. No, I will not fall. No one will control me ever again. Cole: Flash of white as the world comes back. Shaking, hollow, Harrowed, but smiling at templars to show them I'm me. Cole: I am not like that. I can protect you. If Templars come for you, I will kill them. Vivienne: Delightful. 😑

Vivienne’s Harrowing is implied to have been such a traumatizing event to her that she’s developed a pavlovian fear of demons ever since. (Hence her hostility towards Cole.). Vivienne is fully aware of the inherent dangers of magic, and projects this onto all other mages. 

Besides, given how Dragon Age has a history with mages doing all sorts of fucked up shit, ranging from blood magic, murder, demonic possession and actual terrorism (yes, *ElthinaBITCH* had it coming, but let’s not pretend like Anders/Justice was anything other than a terrorist), Vivienne’s policies of controlled monitoring and vigilance are actually significantly more sensible than the options of ‘unconditionally freeing every mage all over Thedas’ and ‘reverting back to the status quo before the rebellion’. They’re flawed policies, obviously. When Vivienne says “mages” she pictures faceless silhouettes foremost and not herself. Regardless, unlike Cassandra and Leliana, Vivienne is aware of the fear others harbour for her kind, and how hard it is to overcome such perceptions.  

Additionally, Vivienne’s a foreigner. She is an ethnic Rivaini, a culture associated with smugglers and pirates (Isabela from DAO and DA2 is half-Rivaini). This adds an additional social stigma, again pointed out by Cole:

Cole: Stepping into the parlor, hem of my gown snagged, no, adjust before I go in, must look perfect. Vivienne: My dear, your pet is speaking again. Do silence it. Cole: Voices inside. Marquis Alphonse. Cole: "I do hope Duke Bastien puts out the lights before he touches her. But then, she must disappear in the dark." Cole: Gown tight between my fingers, cold all over. Unacceptable. Wheels turn, strings pull. Cole: He hurt you. You left a letter, let out a lie so he would do something foolish against the Inquisition. A trap. Vivienne: Inquisitor, as your demon lacks manners, perhaps you could get Solas to train it.

This is the only palpable example of the casual racism Vivienne has to endure on a daily basis - Marquis Alphonse is a stupid, bigoted pillowhead who sucks at The Game, but remember - Vivienne only kills him if the Inquisitor decides to be a butthurt thug. She is aware that for every Alphonse, there are dozens of greasy sycophants who think exactly like he does, and will keep it under wraps just to remain in her good graces. 

Finally, there’s the social position Vivienne manufactured for herself, which is the weak point towards her character imo. Remember, this woman is a commoner by birth. She doesn’t even have a surname. Through apparently sheer dumb luck (or satanic intervention) she basically fell into the position of Personal Mage to the Duke of Ghislain. Regardless, ‘Personal mages’ were the rage in Orlesian nobility, and the prestigious families owned by them like one may own a pet or personal property. By somehow becoming Bastien de Ghislain’s mistress and using his influence, "Madame de Fer” liberated herself from all the social stigmata which should have pinned her down into a lowly courtier rank and turned the largely ceremonial office of “Court Enchanter” into a position of respect and power. This is huge move towards mage emancipation by the way, in a society where, again, Mages are feared and shunned and are constantly bullied, emasculated and taught to hate their talents. Vivienne is a shining example of what mages can become at the height of their power. Power she has, mind you, never actually abused before her Divine election. Vivienne’s actions will forever be under scrutiny not because of who she is, but because of what she is. The Grand Game can spit her out at any moment, which will likely result in her death. 

Inquisitor: “You seem to be enjoying yourself, Vivienne?” Vivienne: “It’s The Game, darling. If I didn’t enjoy it, I’d be dead by now.”

Whether Vivienne was using Bastien for her own gain or whether she truly loved him isn’t a case of or/or. It’s a case of and/and. The perception that she was using Bastien makes Vivienne more fearsome and improves her position in the Grand Game, but deep down, I have no doubts truly loved him. Remember, Vivienne’s position at the Orlesian court was secure. She had nothing to gain by saving Bastien’s life, but she attempted to anyway. That Bastien’s sister is a High Cleric doesn’t matter - Vivienne can be elected Divine regardless of her personal quest’s resolution. She loved him, period. 

No, I don’t think Vivienne is a good person. She treats those she deems beneath her poorly, like Sera, Solas, Cole and Blackwall (characters I like less than Vivienne), which I think is the #1 indicator for a Bad Personality. But I don’t think she qualifies as ‘Evil’ either and I refuse to dismiss the beautiful layering of her character. I genuinely believe Vivienne joined the Inquisition not just for her personal gain, but also out of idealism, similar to Dorian (again, Cole is 100% correct in pointing out the similarities between Dorian’s and Vivienne’s motivations for joining, as discomforting it is to her). 

In her mind, Vivienne sees herself as the only person who can emancipate the mages without bloodshed - her personal accomplishments at the Orlesian court speak for themselves. Vivienne isn’t opposed to mage freedom - she worries for the consequences of radical change, as she believes Orlesian society unprepared for the consequences. Hence why she’s perfectly fine with a Divine Cassandra. Hence why her fellow mages immediately elect her Grand Enchanter of the new Circle. 

Hence why Vivienne is so terrified by the Inquisitor’s actions if her disapproval gets too low. The Inquisitor has the power to completely destroy everything she has built and fought for during her lifetime. Remember: Vivienne’s biggest fear is irrelevance - there’s no greater irrelevance than having your life achievements reverse-engineered by the accidental stumbling of some upstart nobody. This is the real reason why she joins, risks her life and gets her hands dirty - the only person whose competence Vivienne trusts, is Vivienne’s own. 

Even as Divine Victoria, I’d say she’s not bad, at all actually. Vivienne has the trappings of an an Enlightened Despot, maintaining full control, while simultaneously granting mages more responsibility and freedom, slowly laying the foundations to make mages more accepted and less persecuted in southern Thedas. Given that Ferelden is a feudal fiefdom and Orlais is an absolute monarchy, this is a fucking improvement are you kidding me. (Wait did he just imply Vivienne is secretly the best Divine - hmm, probably not because Cass/Leliana have better epilogues - but realistically speaking, yes, Viv should be the best Divine and it’s bullshit that the story disagrees.) 

Underneath the countless layers of smarm, frost and seeming callousness, lies a fiercely intelligent and brave woman, whose ideals have been twisted into perversion by the cruel, ungrateful world around her. Envy her for her ability to control her destiny, but know that envy is what it is.  

The flaw in Vivienne’s character isn’t so much the ‘tyranny’ or the ‘bitchiness’ or the 'smarm’. Her flaw is her false belief that she is what the mages need the most. Her belief that her competence gives her the prerogative to serve the unwashed mage masses... by ruling over them. For all intents and purposes, Vivienne is an Orlesian Magister and this will forever be the brilliant tragedy of her character. She was created by a corrupt institution that should, by all accounts fear and loathe her but instead embraced her. It’s that delirious irony that makes Vivienne de Fer one of the best fictional characters in RPG history.  the next post will be Eurovision-related. :-) 

[halcyonstorm]

The Girl at the Library Chapter 2

Pairing: Levi Ackerman/Hange Zoe

Themes: College AU, Library, Fluff, Slow Burn, Falling in Love, Female Hange Zoe, Student!Levi

Word Count: 5870

Summary: Levi visits Hange in her dorm. He misses his family but is too busy to drive. Hange has a car.

Chapter: 2/3

Warning: Mild Language

Read on AO3 here

Levi went back to his dorm room after the encounter with Hange. He seemed to be walking a bit faster.

The skip in his step, unfortunately, quickly dissipated once he walked in his room. His roommate was hanging out with a few friends, two he recognized were the guys who fucked up his laptop. As soon as they saw Levi, their conversation came to a halt. The two brats nervously gathered their things and rushed out of the room. Levi shook his head in annoyance, shutting the door behind them. He placed his wet bag on the floor. Right. He was soaked from the rain. 

“Levi, good to see you,” Erwin --his roommate-- said, slightly annoyed. There was a card game set up on the small table in their dorm. Levi didn’t respond and walked past them. He always had friends over. Levi was always pissed about it. The least he could’ve done was ask. The room was small enough as it is. Also, Erwin and his friends always left a mess.  

Levi’s and Erwin’s dorm room was small. Would Hange’s room be this small? he asked himself. He felt himself get hot. He grabbed a fresh change of clothes, went to their bathroom and changed. He wore a pair of grey sweats and a white t-shirt. He hung up all his wet clothes in their shower. Levi took a deep breath, leaving the bathroom. He spent the rest of the night thinking of his new friend, and his mood was restored.

The next day couldn’t come fast enough. He woke up at 8am that morning to go on a run and to get some of his physical homework done. He also showered, spending an extra minute than usual. He wondered if he should bring something for Hange. 

“Erwin, what snacks do you have?” He asked, starting to dress in the bathroom. He put on a pair of black jeans and an olive green t-shirt.

“Uh,” he shuffled through his ‘secret’ stash. Levi knew where it was. “I’ve got chips, granola bars, ramen, peanut butter…”

What the fuck am I gonna do with peanut butter? He asked himself. 

Levi shook his head and rolled his eyes. He finished getting dressed and grabbed a few bags of chips and stuffed them in his bag. He made sure to pack his notes too.

It was finally 10:45 and he decided to leave to go to her dorm. He brought his phone, keys, wallet, and backpack with him.

“Be back later,” Levi called out before closing the door behind him. Levi began walking to her room. He had to take the elevator up four floors, making stops along the way, but he made it. 506… On his left side, there it was. On the door were two drawn cut-outs of the two residents. He recognized Hange’s drawing right away. It was colored in with colored pencils. The character had her same brown hairstyle; closed, happy eyes; oval glasses; and a big toothy smile. She wore a green long sleeve and brown pants. Her character was waving. Under her character, it has the name “Hange” in big green block letters. The other character was of a girl with short blonde hairstyle and blue eyes. Her character was smiling but had her eyes open. That must be her roommate. The name written underneath the drawing was “Nanaba” in blue bubble letters. Levi hesitantly knocked at the door after admiring the drawings.

Hange opened the door. “Hey!” “Hi.”

She invited him in. One half of the dorm room was messy and the other was averagely neat, at least in Levi’s eyes. She shut the door behind him. 

“Ehh, I’m sorry my side of the room is kinda messy,” She confessed. She had the messy side of the room. Her bed was made, but her desk was a mess. Papers, books, and food wrappers were spread out on the desk and migrated to her bed. There were at least four empty ramen containers on her desk, which she clumsily grabbed and tossed away. Hange grabbed the papers off her desk and moved them to the side, clearing the spot for him. She lazily crumpled some food wrappers and threw them in the trash, one wrapper missing and falling on the floor. Levi shuddered. How did she live like this? The foot of her bed met the left edge of the desk. Her desk was big; It had many drawers and an overhang where she had small knick knacks including small comic book figurines, plants, and books. She had a figurine of a character with a green hooded cape on who looked like a soldier. He really liked that one.

“Let me just log you on.” She bent over the chair to use the computer. Levi put his bag down next to the desk. “Thank you.” Levi said. 

“Oh, It’s nothing,” she said. After a few moments, she stood upright, backing away from the computer. “Alright! You’re good to go. If you need my help, I’m here. I have some work to do too.” He nodded, sitting down in the very comfortable desk chair. He let out a relieved sigh. Hange chuckled.

“Comfortable, right?” She asked, jumping on her bed and crossing her legs. Levi agreed. It was comfortable. It was one of those gaming-like chairs with cushions and lower back support. He noticed she had a bunch of bookmarks tabbed which were disorganized. He began to type in “Addison’s Disease” and as he did, he noticed it was recently searched. Before he could ask about it, Hange began to speak.

“I found some articles for your paper,” she explained, not looking away from her books. “I printed them out for you.” 

Levi was pleasantly surprised. He hid a smile. “You didn’t have to do that.” 

She shrugged. “Pfft. Shush. I wanted to.” There was a pause. “Oh! I made sandwiches for us. I know it’s kinda early for lunch, but I’ve been up since 6 this morning so I’m starving. I hope you like PB&J.”

Fuck! Levi thought. Erwin’s peanut butter. I could’ve made sandwiches. He mentally smacked his forehead.

“I brought some chips,” Levi added. “Take whatever you want.” He grabbed some bags from his backpack and placed them on her bed. He grabbed a blue bag of Doritos, she grabbed a bag of Fritos.

“Thanks,” she said, popping the bag open by squeezing it. Some chips flew out of the bag, falling on the bed. 

“What?” Levi asked, bewildered. Why did she open it like that?

“I’m not good with pulling the seal open…” she admitted, chuckling. Levi found it weird. Levi locked eyes with her and opened the bag by pulling the seal open with ease. Hange pouted.

“No fair.” She laughed. He was never going to get any work done if she kept distracting him. He grabbed a sandwich and ate it. He really enjoyed it, especially since she made it. 

“Thanks for lunch,” he said. He was kind of hungry anyways. 

“No problem!”

The two began to work.

-

About three hours passed before Levi finished his paper. He ended his final sentence with a loud tap of the period on the keyboard. He took a deep breath and looked Hange's way. She was prone, resting her chin in her left palm. Her feet were in the air, crossed at the ankles. She was reading a textbook and had a pen and paper on her right side, probably answering homework. She looked very studious and attractive. 

“I’m finished with my paper…” Levi said aloud. “Can I read it to you?” 

Hange quickly wrote something down on her paper, dropped the pen, and pushed herself up to sit criss-crossed.

“Yep! I’m all ears.”

He began to read through his paper. He realized during his speech that this was probably the most he’s said to Hange. He felt guilty in a way. He was bad with words, so he felt it was better if he kept his mouth shut. Hange didn’t mind, though. She enjoyed hearing him talk, as she found it very soothing. As he read, he felt her eyes on him. He finally finished reading his paper.

“I have a few suggestions on some wording, but besides that, I think it’s great,” Hange said, getting out of bed. She walked to Levi’s right, then squatted. Levi felt himself get nervous. She was really close. He thought she smelled good. 

“Scroll up a little…” she said, gesturing to him to scroll up. He did as she asked. “There. That sentence: ‘Medications used to treat Addison’s Disease include mineralocorticoids and glucocorticoids, such as fludrocortisone and hydrocortisone.’ It is kinda wordy. They’re both corticosteroids, so I think you should shorten it. You can mention the classes of the drugs in the next sentence, if you wanted to. Also, ‘A big teaching point includes following the steroid regimen exactly as prescribed. Abruptly discontinuing this medication will result in adrenal suppression.’ I think there is a better word to use than ‘big’. What about ‘important’, or ‘essential’ or ‘paramount’...”

He turned his head to look at her. Hange’s sentence had trailed off the moment he looked at her. She was stunned by his eyes. She hadn’t been this close to him, so that moment was the first time she could admire his eyes up close. They were a beautiful, piercing steel blue. When she realized he was staring back at her, she stood up, shaking out her legs nervously. 

“‘Paramount’ will do,” Levi said after a moment passed. He typed it in.

“Good job, Levi. You’ll score well with your paper,” Hange said, trying not to stutter. She meant it. She was proud of what he wrote.

“Thanks. I couldn’t have done it without your help, though, four-eyes.” Hange liked the nickname. She smiled and patted his shoulder before going back to sit on her bed. She grabbed her phone and realized she didn’t have his phone number. Did he have a phone? He must have. She thinks she saw him use it once. 

“If you need my computer again, or just wanna text, I can give you my number,” Hange blurted out. When Levi looked at her, he realized she wasn’t looking at him when she asked. He agreed, handing his phone to her. 

“Go for it,” he said. He was attempting to sound ‘cool’ (and it worked). Hange reached to grab his unlocked phone. She found his contacts and put her name and number in. She sent herself a text message from his phone. She was hoping he would text her more. When she closed out to the home screen, she noticed his background was a photo of him and a small, dark haired lady.

“Is this your mother?” Hange asked, handing his phone back to him.

He looked down at his phone and nodded. “Yeah. This photo is from my first day at the university.” He had swiveled the chair to face the bed and her. “I remember she was sad to see me go, but happy too. She was proud of me.” Hange’s heart swelled. Levi seemed to remember her with a bittersweet smile. Hange frowned a bit.

“Is something wrong?” Hange asked.

“I just… haven’t seen her in a while. I’ve been so busy with assignments and exams that I haven’t had time to go visit her. Every time I have free time, I’m studying or catching up on sleep...”

“I can take you,” Hange offered instantaneously. She didn’t even have to think about it. She wanted to help her friend.

Levi’s eyes widened. “What?”

“You have to get stuff done and I have a car on campus and a license Let me take you.” She explained. Before he could bud in, she continued. “What day would you like to go? This weekend? I’m free this weekend.”

“I’d never get any studying done if we did that,” Levi said. We. 

“You didn’t say no,” Hange retorted with a smirk. “I’ll be good. I won’t distract you. Promise.”

Levi took a deep sigh. He really wanted to, more than he let on. “Saturday morning works for me.”

-

A few days passed by and now Friday came along. Levi’s paper was due in three days, so he wanted to go to the library to revise it before printing and submitting it. He knew Hange worked on Friday’s too, so he had another motive. 

His class had ended, then he was on his way to the library. When he entered, he heard laughter. Don’t people know they’re supposed to be quiet in the library? He wondered, but he didn’t pay much mind to it. There was a blonde woman standing at the front of the counter, leaning over it. He heard Hange’s voice and laugh and felt his heart skip a beat.

“I gotta see if the patron needs help,” Hange said to the girl without noticing who walked in.

“Zoe, since when do you actually care about your job?” The blonde said playfully. Hange smiled and rolled her eyes. Zoe? Hange made her way around the desk and saw Levi standing, looking at some books in the entryway.

“Levi! Good to see you,” Hange said, pleasantly surprised. She held her hands behind her back. “Computer?”

“Yeah.”

“Very good, come here.” Hange walked towards the desk, then around it. Levi stayed on the opposing side. “Levi, this is Nanaba. Nanaba, this is Levi. Nanaba is my roommate.”

“Nice to meet you, Levi,” Nanaba said, smiling at him. He nodded, exchanging pleasantries. Hange wrote his name down on the paper. “Okay, Levi. You’re all set.” He muttered a “thanks'' and then set his stuff down by the computer. He heard Nanaba whispering something to Hange. She shook her head, waving at her to follow her towards the back. Hange didn’t want to disturb Levi, and she also didn’t want Levi to hear what they were talking about.

Hange and Nanaba sat down at the table in the break room. Hange sipped on a can of soda.

“That’s Levi?” Nanaba asked, punching Hange’s shoulder playfully.

“Yeah. He’s just my friend. I don’t know why you care so much.”

“You two were in our dorm… alone?! Do I need to clean the room again?”

“No! He just had to work on his project. My side of the room is messy, though.”

“Uh huh… I can tell by the way he looks at you that you two aren’t ‘just friends’ like you claim,” Nanaba concluded, leaning back and crossing her legs.

“I told you it’s nothing,” Hange reinforced, getting flustered and annoyed. “Besides, he wouldn’t even be attracted to someone like me anyways. I am extremely messy and clumsy. His shirts are never wrinkled, and he is always extremely clean and neat.”

Nanaba rolled her eyes. “Haven’t you heard of ‘opposites attract’?” Hange made a “pfft” sound.

“That’s such bullshit.” Hange felt like Nanaba was giving her false hope.

“Well you wouldn’t be asking me for advice on your crush then if you thought the whole ‘opposites attract’ thing was bullshit, would you? No.” 

The small bell above the entrance dinged, so Hange stood up. “Nanaba, I’ve got work to do, you know. That’s what you do at a job. Also, he is not my crush. ” Nanaba sighed and stood too. “I’ll see you at home.” She waved before walking ahead. “Bye, Levi. Nice to meet you.” She said in passing. Levi said “see you” to her. The patron who walked in was the same blonde guy with a big nose from last week. Levi recognized him.

“Mike!” Nanaba exclaimed, kissing his cheek. “Good to see you. Ready to go?” Mike nodded, taking her hand. “See you later, Zoe!” She called out before the couple left together. Hange and Levi were alone again. Hange came to the front of the library where Levi was. She sat down in the chair next to him. He turned to face her. Her cheeks were red.

“What time do you want to leave tomorrow?” Hange asked, crossing her legs. 

“Is 9 good? I wanna make sure I spend enough time with her.” Levi suggested. Hange smiled. 

“That’s fine. Just let me know when you want me to pick you up then. I can stay in the area, just send me the address.”

“You can stay, you know,” Levi offered. “You… don’t have to leave.” Hange looked shocked. She was very grateful for his offer.

“Are you sure? I mean, that’s very generous-”

“Don’t question me,” Levi said, looking back at the computer. That means ‘yes, I’m sure’.

“Thanks, Levi,” Hange said, standing up. “I’ll meet you at your dorm at 9 then we can get on the road.”

“Sounds good, Zoe.”

Hange woke up early the next day. She wanted to make sure everything went perfectly. She even got up early to clean out her car, which was a mess. It was full of junk. She had a pre-owned black four-seater that was well loved. She made it as clean as possible, making sure to wipe off the seats of any crumbs. It looked acceptable, and Hange went back inside. She realized at this point how long of a walk it was from her dorm to the parking lot. Nonetheless, she took the extra trip. She wanted to make a good impression. When she got back to her dorm, she packed a small backpack. Levi had texted her the address, and it was about an hour away. It was in the city, however, so it would probably take more time. She kept reminding herself to keep her mouth shut during the car ride to help him study.

She arrived at his dorm room a bit late, around 9:10. She felt really bad about this, but Levi didn’t seem to mind. Levi wore a grey university hoodie with black jeans. It was supposed to be cold today. Hange wore a black zip-up jacket with a pair of blue jeans and white sneakers. Her hair was half-up and half-down. Levi liked those colors on her. They headed for the elevator and walked to the parking lot. Hange omitted the part of her morning where she cleaned out her car as they talked about their mornings. They reached her car. She opened the trunk. He put his bag in the trunk and shut it.

“Don’t forget to keep your books in the front so you can study. I packed snacks. If you want any just let me know,” Hange said, unlocking the front door and getting in the car. 

“Thanks,” Levi said, getting in the car. He closed the door. Hange locked the car and opened her phone. She began searching his mom’s address on the GPS. It ‘dinged’ when it found her house, and she propped her phone up in the holder.

As Hange began to drive, she noticed how Levi murmurs to himself when he studies. She can hear him repeating medications to himself and reciting the cards. Hange smiled. She found it endearing. The roads were pretty busy. They had left by 9:30am. Hange enjoyed driving, however, she wasn’t the most safe driver. She would make sudden stops, jerking Levi and Hange forward in their seats. Levi was grateful his seatbelt worked. She would make sharp turns and didn’t allow the wheel to return when the turn was finished. With one of the stops, it threw the cards that were in his lap on the floor. Levi took a deep sigh, packing up his cards.

“Sorry, Levi.”

“I’m taking a break,” Levi said, closing his eyes. “I have this exam coming up and it’s all about antihypertensive medications. There are too many, I think I’m going to develop hypertension.”

Hange laughed out loud. “They aren’t that bad. You’ve gotta come up with songs and mnemonics to remember them, then it's easy!” Levi scoffed.

“Do I look like someone who comes up with songs to remember things?” Levi asked, crossing his arms.

“No,” Hange quickly replied. “But you happen to be sitting next to someone who does. Read some of the meds to me.”

“Oh, god. No,” Levi moaned, opening the window. The breeze made his hair blow in the wind. Hange was lucky enough to catch a glance. She caught a whiff of his shampoo.

“I will stop this car right now,” Hange threatened playfully, raising her voice. She made a jolting stop at a light. Levi jerked forward again and groaned.

“Fine.”

He pulled his cards out of his backpack again, finding the medication cards. “First are the ACE inhibitors. These medications include the -prils… Lisinopril, enalapril. These help lower the blood pressure by inhibiting the action of angiotension converting enzyme, which causes vasoconstriction. Adverse effects include high potassium, orthostatic hypotension, angioedema, persistent coughing…”

“Hmmm… ACE,” Hange said proudly. Levi shook his head in confusion. “What?”

“ACE: Angioedema, Cough, hypErkalemia.” Levi was shocked. “Thanks…” He murmured.

“Give me another one,” Hange challenged. Levi shuffled through his stack. “What about Beta blockers?”

“Ah…” Hange sighed. “Tell me about them. I only know so much, you know.” You can’t say you know then say I know that you only know so much. You are confusing, Levi thought.

“Beta blockers act on beta1 and beta2-adrenergic receptors, which can affect the heart, lungs, and bladder. These will lower blood pressure, as well as cause bradycardia, hypoglycemia, fatigue, and bronchospasms in patients with respiratory issues such as asthma and COPD,” Levi explained. Hange was so happy. She was helping him, and got to hear him talk. She decided at that moment that she loved his voice.

“Beta blockers seem to slow everything down,” Hange began. “Beta blockers make everything low and slow, right? They lower heart rate and blood pressure, they lower blood sugar, quote en quote ‘lower energy’ by causing fatigue… That’s what I would try to remember.”

Levi was impressed, and he isn’t impressed easily. She was extremely clever with her mnemonics, and she wasn’t even a pharmacology major.

“You are…” Levi began. Hange looked at him for a moment while they stopped at another light. He felt woozy, but in a good way. She looked nice. “Such a nerd.” Hange beamed.

“I’ll help you more later but I gotta focus on the road now. Levi smiled, putting his cards away. Hange noticed this, and turned the radio on. She got distracted trying to pick a channel, which made Levi frantic.

“I will pick a channel. Focus on the road, four-eyes,” He decided, shaking his head. His heart almost fell out of his chest. He made a mental note to never let her drive him anywhere again. Hange sighed, submissively agreeing, putting both hands on the wheel. They got into the city. Hange hadn’t been to the city often, even though it was not too far away. Levi disliked the city. It was too loud for him. Being out at the Uni didn’t make it as easy for him to sleep as he had originally thought. He was used to hearing the hustle and bustle of the city, that his ears buzzed with silence at night time on campus. Levi attempted to give Hange directions as they weaved their way through the busy roads. She almost got into two car accidents. She just laughed it off, but Levi was frazzled.

Finally, Levi thought. Out of the main city. Levi took a deep, deep breath. His mom lived on the outskirts of the city, which was very convenient. They were almost there. Hange finally found the house and pulled into the driveway. The house was small and a dark navy blue. Hange parked the car, and opened the trunk. She handed Levi his bag and they headed to the door. Hange was standing awfully close behind him which made him nervous. He knocked on the door.

A few moments later, the door opened. A beautiful lady opened the door. She had raven hair, steel blue eyes, and a beautiful smile.

“Levi!” She exclaimed, smiling wide. She hugged him. Levi patted her back, and Hange saw a smile creep on his face. “What a pleasant surprise!”

“Good to see you, mom. I wanted to visit.” They broke away and his mom peered over his shoulder. 

“Who’s this?”

“This is my friend, Hange,” Levi said, introducing Hange. She smiled and put out her hand. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Ackerman.” His mom shook her hand.

“Call me Kuchel,” She insisted. She invited them in. 

“Hange actually drove me today,” Levi began, setting his bags down on the side. “I needed to study so she offered to drive…” He wasn’t sure why he told his mom this information. Maybe he felt he needed an excuse as to why he came with a girl.

“That’s so lovely! Well I’m glad the two of you decided to come down. Uncle Kenny will be stopping by later. I’m sure he’d be happy to see you. Miss Hange, are you staying for dinner?”

Hange blushed, scratching her head. “I’d love to, if that’s okay.”

“Great! Make yourself at home.”

Hange admired his house. It was very cozy and extremely neat. There was a big open living room area when they first walked in, a kitchen and dining room to their left, and other rooms to the right. It smelt of clean laundry. She liked it a lot. There were assorted pictures hung on the wall. She shoved her hands in her pockets as she admired the photos. Kuchel had a photo of Levi hanging, which Hange stared at for the longest. It was a photo of Levi with his mom at an event, most likely high school graduation. The photo was taken outside on a sunny day. He wore a blue cap and gown. Kuchel’s arm was around his shoulder, smiling wide. Levi wore a small smile. She saw another picture, which was of Kuchel and an older man with long hair. Hange suddenly felt a tug at her sleeve. Levi.

“Take your shoes off,” he said. Hange slipped her shoes off and put them on the rack. 

“Levi! Hange!” Kuchel called. “Would you like some tea?” They both agreed. They wandered into the small dining room and sat across from each other. Hange liked how Levi looked that day. He looked comfortable. His grey sweater made his eyes stand out. He almost caught her standing. Kuchel carefully brought over the steeped pot of tea and sat down at the head of the table.

“I boiled some earl grey tea, I hope that’s okay. That’s Levi’s favorite,” Kuchel said, cupping both her hands around the teacup. Levi picked his tea cup up by placing his fingers around the rim, taking a slow sip.

“Hange,” Kuchel said, smiling at the girl. “How do you guys meet?”

Oh great. Here she goes.

“Well, Levi happened to come to the library I work at to work on his project. I was able to help him out… Although I study botanicals, I read a lot so I know a lot about different topics. One of them happens to be drugs. Medications, I mean. So, anyways, he and I started talking and hanging out and whatnot. And here we are,” Hange explained. When she finished, she looked at Levi. He was staring at her. Her eyes lit up again, and Levi couldn’t look away. Doesn’t everyone know they shouldn’t stare into the sun?

“That’s lovely!” Kuchel exclaims. She sips her tea. “Levi usually doesn’t ask for help. But I’m glad you were able to help him. I remember back in elementary school, he would always insist on doing the projects himself. My stubborn boy. He gets that from me, you know. I can be so stubborn sometimes.” She took a pause, and Levi jumped in.

“Mom,” Levi intervened. Kuchel looked at her son. Kuchel could tell she may have been embarrassing him. “I’m gonna go study.” Come with me, Hange, he wanted to add. Hange finished her tea, and stood up. “Thank you for the tea, Kuchel. I’d love to hear more of your stories, but I offered to help Levi study.” Kuchel smiled, squeezing Hange’s shoulder.

“It’s okay, go on ahead.” The two nodded. Levi led her down the hall, and opened a door. It looked like Levi’s bedroom. It was extremely tidy. He also had a desk. It wasn’t too big, but did the job. He had some drawers with some photos on top. He kept the door open.

“You can take the desk chair. I’ll sit on the bed,” Levi concluded. He sat on the bed, pulling his knees up. He took out his drug flash cards.

“Levi, do you have a white board? Or poster board?” Hange asked. 

“Why?”

“You’ll see.” Levi remembered he had an easel in the back of his closet. He stood up to retrieve it. He finally set it up. It was wide, which was perfect. It’s spotless, Hange thought. It’s like he never used it.

“My mom got this for me but I have yet to use it,” Levi said. Did he hear me?

“Okay,” Hange began. “So, we talked about ACE inhibitors and Beta Blockers, right? So, let’s go through the rest and compare them all.” She took out a purple marker, beginning to write on the board. In the center, she wrote “Anti-HTN Meds”. She drew an arrow to the left corner, writing “ACE Inhibitors” and writing all its information. She did the same with Beta Blockers.

“What’s next?” Hange asked, looking at Levi.

“Thiazide diuretics,” Levi sighed. “This is HCTZ. It helps lower blood pressure by removing fluids from the body, resulting in diuresis. Side effects include hypokalemia and hyponatremia, orthostatic hypotension.” Hange wrote as he spoke. He was surprised she can write so fast. 

“Okay! So, it seems that a common theme is orthostatic hypotension, no?” She questioned, not facing him. She grabbed a red marker to write “orthostatic hypotension” and replaced the other one written. As Levi read off multiple classifications of medications, Hange created the web. She made a map that connected the similarities of the medications, while making it organized enough to understand the differences. Levi was impressed for the second time that day. Hange was sincerely helping him conceptualize and comprehend the information. Then, he realized Hange hadn’t sat down since they began studying. 

“Oi, don’t break your back,” Levi said. 

“Haha! I’m fine! I’ve only been standing since around 11 am...” She took her phone out of her pocket and turned it on for the time. “...it’s almost 3 now! Wow! We really pushed through for hours! That’s fantastic!” She smiled wide at him, but Levi could tell she was exhausted from standing.

Levi hopped off his bed. “Lay down,” He ordered. Hange furrowed her brows, but didn’t protest. She sprawled supine on his bed, sighing. “Thanks, Levi,” She exhaled, closing her eyes. His bed was still a bit warm from when he was occupying it. It was lower than her bed at her dorm, but she liked it. 

“Let’s take a break,” Levi decided. He had a small flatscreen TV mounted on the wall in his room. He walked to the TV to grab the remote, and turned it on. He admired Hange for a brief moment as he passed her to sit in the desk chair. She looked tired. He put on a crime documentary. Hange perked up automatically. Her eyes widened with interest.

“Honestly, I’m not surprised you like these,” Levi assumed. She chuckled and replied: “I guess we’re both freaks after all.” It made Hange’s heart happy that they had something in common. She was worried Levi wouldn’t like her since she was so different from him, but maybe she had a chance now. She was so absorbed in the show that she didn’t realize Levi left the room to grab something to eat. Levi greeted his mom.

“Hi, honey,” Kuchel responded. “How’s Hange?”

“She’s fine. I wanted to get us something to eat.”

“Oh! You’re in luck,” Kuchel cheered, opening a cabinet to grab two bowls. “I just heated up some soup for myself. Would you like some? It’s wild rice.”

“Sounds good,” Levi replied. Kuchel filled two bowls. 

“She’s pretty, your friend Hange,” Kuchel said. She wasn’t facing Levi when she spoke. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you two ended up dating. You seem to like her a lot.” Levi felt his face flush bright red.

“Thanks for the food,” He ignored her comment, taking the bowls to his room. He made sure to keep his face out of his mother’s sight. Kuchel giggled softly to herself. She knew he wouldn’t dare to reply to a comment that he knew was true.

He came back to the room with the two bowls. “Here’s lunch,” He said, handing her the bowl. Hange was sitting with her knees to her chest, intently staring at the screen. She looked toward him when he spoke, accepting the bowl in two cupped hands. “Thank you!” She smiled wide. He smiled too. He loved her smile. “When did you get this, anyways?”

“I left the room to get it. I said, ‘Hange, I’m getting us lunch.’ You didn’t hear me?”

Hange chuckled in embarrassment. “I guess I was too absorbed in the show. Sorry.” Levi shook his head lightly and sat down. He attempted to move the chair closer to the bed without her noticing. He was successful. Hange was sitting up on the bed with her legs criss-crossed, bowl in her lap. Levi was cross-legged in the desk chair, which was right next to the bed. Hange didn’t seem to mind or even notice until she had turned to look to her right, and she realized Levi was so close to her. His face was really close. He felt her staring, but couldn’t dare to look back. His heart would’ve exploded. 

“You’re staring is creeping me out, four-eyes,” Levi said, startling Hange.

“Oh, yeah?” Hange chuckled. She suddenly grabbed his chin and turned his head towards hers. His wide eyes were staring into hers now. He felt like his heart was about to explode. “What about now?”

“...Creep,” He murmured. The tone of his voice changed entirely compared to his previous statement. Hange noticed this. His voice was soft and nervous. Levi felt his whole body start to heat up. He felt his heart throbbing in his head. He felt his breath hitch in his throat. He gently placed his hand on her cheek. She accepted his touch. He leaned in hesitantly, closing his eyes. Hange did the same, and finally there was no space between them anymore. Their lips collided.  She kissed his lips softly, as if she was nervous to kiss too hard. Levi had kissed girls before, but it was never like this. Never so emotional. Never so breathtaking. Never so soft or warm or gentle. He never wanted it to end. He was smitten by her. Their lips parted. She wasn’t extremely close after they parted, but she kept her eyes focused on his. Hange felt her heart pulsating in her chest. He looked into her rich hazel eyes again. He swore he fell in love with her in that instant.

[somedrunkpirate]

AO3 Writing Tag

Name(s): Somedrunkpirate  Fandom(s): The man from uncle, The Witcher, Good Omens, Inception,  Where you post: Ao3  Tagged by @iamanonniemouse Tagging: @theheirofashandfire (good luck lmao) 

Most Popular One Shot (by kudos):

This year: You’re a dream, darling, Good Omens, Aziraphale/Crowley, T, 11k

There are two very important facts: 1) Aziraphale is dead. 2) None of this is real.

-----

Crowley’s throat tightens. “My angel,” he says. “My best friend. He’s dead, you know.”

Aziraphale blinks and then blood drains from his face. “No, no. Crowley. No. I’m here. I’m right in front of you.”

“I know,” Crowley says. “Isn’t it amazing, what a dream can do?”

Of all time:  On The Matter Of Touch, Good omens, Aziraphale/Crowley, T, 9k

“On the matter of touch,” Crowley begins, waving his teaspoon in what he hopes passes for idle curiosity. “Thoughts?”

---

For two ineffable husbands, they don't really touch each other much. Here is a story on why that might be.

Most Popular Multi-Chapter (by kudos):

This year: A Lover’s Lament, The Witcher, Geralt/Jaskier, M, 25k

So,” Jaskier begins, as casually as he can, “you are telling me, that in theory, if I were to be in love with someone — anyone — that person could well be in terrible danger?”

Of all terrible and ridiculous things that have threatened Geralt’s safety, Jaskier had never thought that loving him might be what will get him killed.

Of all time: Drowning Deep, TMFU (pacific rim au), Illya/Napoleon, M, 101k,

Don’t follow the rabbit. He knows this. Don’t fall into the rabbit hole of memories. You’ll drown.

But Illya lives there, deep in the past, it’s the only way he gets through the day.

Favorite story you’ve written so far:

This year: The Golden Ocean, TMFU, Napoleon/Illya, 85k This story taught me to write for myself in the best and worst way. It is so hard to keep writing a prequel if it doesn’t receive a similar amount of feedback as the initial story. But I worked through it and got it done, for myself and my beta who supported me all throughout. And in the end, it’s probably my most original story I’ve written. 

Of all time:  A Lover’s Lament, The Witcher, Geralt/Jaskier, M, 25k I think this story really shows how I’ve learned to become a better writer over the last couple of years. It’s densely packed with original lore, worldbuilding, fun character interactions and has a plot that reveals more about the characters on a second read. It also has an original female character that I feel is my first 100% successful 3d side-character who has a whole story of her own outside of the main ship plot.  Honorable mention: Cold Frost and Sunshine, TMFU, Napoleon/Illya, 50k What initially started as purposefully the most trophy thing I’ve ever written (it’s a Hockey AU, for crying out loud), turned into an actual honest exploration of therapy and recovering from mental illness. I still get the occasional comment on it from people who said that the mental health parts really spoke to them, or that they even showed passages to Real Actual Therapists because it verbalized what they were feeling. This is the fic I always return to when I feel like my writing is worthless. Even the fic that I intended to have no deep value from the start, ended up being meaningful to people. It helps to remember that. 

Fic you were nervous to post:

You’re a dream, darling, is a story where the main character experiences intense dissociation and believes his reality is a dream. I am very aware that this is an actual thing that people experience, and I wanted to make sure I was careful and respectful when handling the topic. I based the story on what I had researched and what I experienced once myself while having a bad reaction to medication + being high (really be careful with weed and adhd meds folks). I was so nervous to post it, and worried that I hadn’t trigger warned it clearly enough or something. But in the end I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from people who experience dissociation, and that meant the world to me! 

How do you choose your titles?

Nine times out of ten the title is just kind of There, sometimes before I write it even. If not, I usually take inspiration from a line somewhere in the fic. Only once I needed to consult the poetry gods. 

Do you outline?

Does daydreaming the story a bunch count as outlining? I usually have some vague ideas about upcoming scenes and possible endings, but for my larger fics those ideas get thrown out and I flail around for something else. I think Lover’s is so succinct because I had most of it already in my head when starting, whereas with Drowning Deep I had no clue what had actually happened to break the characters apart until like chapter three. So I guess it depends on the fic and whether I have to due to a big bang sign up or something. 

Complete

51 fics (556k). This year: 9 (180k) 

In-Progress: 

The Angel of Greenwich: A good omens detective story set in the 1920′s, 22k. In The Dark We Travel: Geraskier (the witcher) sci fi au, 28k.  They’re both on a hiatus because pandemic times are fucking with me, but I’m chipping away at them and could use the encouragement.  Coming Soon/Not Yet Started:

Tragic Superbat alternate universe shenanigans: Clark gets switched with Alternate Universe Clark, who has been in a relationship with Bruce for years. Bruce falls in love with AU-Clark while also trying to get his Clark back (who he is convinced still hates him). 

Amnesia Jaskier with magical powers: Jaskier gets kidnapped and made into a powerful sorcerer, but the process removes all his memories. Geralt finds him completely dependent on the same mage that kidnapped him, and has to convince him that 1) Geralt is his friend and 2) Jaskier is not a dangerous monster, as the mage has convinced him. Very tragic all around. 

Original femslash idea, Stern Orc Woman with golden heart and ADHD Monk. Can only end in chaos. 

The Bullington Club: an original idea of a group of idiot lords looking for treasure and taking their longsuffering servants/guards with them on the ride. Aka that thing that completely got out of hand brainstorming with @theheirofashandfire

[purplesurveys]

1031

Do you usually take blame or blame others? Depends on the context, I guess? When things go wrong on a very deep and personal level between me and people I deeply care for, I usually try to find reasons to blame myself. But if it’s something superficial, like if someone messes up at work through no fault of my own, then I’m able to point my finger to whoever fucked up.

Have you ever been to a McDonald’s in another state? I’ve been to McDonald’s in different provinces and also  in different countries. The McDonald’s we went to in Baguio was so surreal because we discovered that they were still using styrofoam containers that they had already phased out years ago everywhere else, and they also never changed the original spaghetti and chicken recipes I grew up with. It was such a blast from the past. As for other countries, I’ve tried out the McDonald’s in Malaysia, Indonesia, and China and made sure to order items that we didn’t have back home.

Have you ever seen 50 First Dates? Yeah, it’s one of my semi-guilty pleasures. It’s such a cheesy movie, but idk the concept is unique and the supporting characters made the whole movie enjoyable for me.

Do you like or hate the smell of fish? The fishy smell at the market can be pretty strong and bleck, but generally I don’t mind the smell of fish. I live in an archipelago, man. We live and breathe seafood. Idk anyone in real life who doesn’t like fish.

Have you ever been to Sea World? No.

Do you know someone who suffers from short term memory loss? I don’t think so, no.

Have you ever read any of John Green’s books? Yeah, but the only one I’ve gotten to read in full was The Fault In Our Stars. I also got to start on The Abundance of Katherines and Paper Towns, but because I only borrowed those copies from friends I never got to read either until the end. All were okay, but I don’t find John Green’s writing to be as great as it was once hyped up to be.

If so, which one is your favorite? I guess TFIOS, since that’s the only one I got to read through to the end.

Are you a protective person? With my loved ones and pets, yes.

Have you ever experienced an earthquake? Yeah I’ve felt a lot but fortunately it’s never been a severe one. Just super brief earthquakes where the most that happened to me was a little swaying.

Would you rather go to a beach or city for a vacation? I love beaches, but a change in scenery would also be nice because I already go to beaches for vacations fairly often. City.

Does your license plate number contain the number 8? I never actually memorized my plate number LOOOOOOL I think so? It’s either a 6 or 8.

Were you ever a ghost on Halloween? Nope.

Has someone ever held the door open for you? Yeah, security guards tend to do that for customers/guests. Sometimes, nice strangers that I enter a place with will do it for me too.

Are you a fan of penguins? I think fan is pushing it far lol. I like penguins, but I’m not obsessed.

Have you ever stayed up all night on a school night? Just a handful of times, and it was always as part of a groupwork. I’d never willingly go through an all-nighter for myself.

What’s your favorite brand of chips? Doritos or Pringles. We also have a local brand that makes these deeeeeelicious salted egg chips, but I’ve never actually taken note of what the brand is.

Has anyone ever sang to you? Not to me. But a lot of people have sung around me.

Are you a good painter? No. That’s why I opt for paint-by-number kits, because those come with a guide haha. I can’t actually craft images by myself – that skill belongs to my sister who has an insane talent for painting.

Before buying a car, do you usually test drive it? I’ve never bought a car by myself; my dad takes care of the car purchases. I know he test-drove the Vitara, but idk about the other cars we have.

Have you ever written a poem and then read it aloud? Hmm, I don’t write poems. I don’t find the vast majority of them appealing, and only once in a while will there be a poem that is able to speak to me.

Do you like pineapple? Nope.

Have you ever met your favorite author? I don’t have a favorite.

Do you look more like your mom or dad? Most comments point to my mom, but I’ll get the occasional remark that half of my face is my dad’s as well. I’m a good mix of both.

Have you and your best friend ever liked the same person? This hasn’t happened before.

When was the last time someone called you babe or baby? Maybe August? I’m not too sure. It’s been a few months.

Do you have an older brother? No. But I’m super close with my eldest cousin on my mom’s side and we grew up together and all that, and I pretty much consider him my older brother. He’s definitely more a brother than a cousin to me, and it has always felt and been that way.

Are you a fan of art? Yes, especially paintings and dioramas.

Did you get your mom or dad’s eyes? My mom’s, I think? I really don’t know, I’m bad at recognizing this kind of stuff. You’d have to ask people who actually see me on a daily basis.

Have you ever seen the movie My Girl? Is this the one with the really sad scene of a boy’s funeral and the girl’s like, “He can’t see without his glasses”? I haven’t seen the movie, but I’ve heard about that scene a million times.

Do you watch Teen Wolf on MTV? Ugh, MTV’s teen shows are such a cringefest to me. I never followed it, but I’ve had to watch a few eps back in high school when my friends would watch it while we were at someone’s place. Not my cup of tea.

When it was on, did you watch Cory In The House on Disney? I watched a few episodes, especially when it was still new. But we were also in the process of moving then and we didn’t have cable for a few years in our new house, so I had to miss out most of it.

Do you have any blackheads? I don’t.

Do you have any freckles? Nope.

Do you have a movie that you have to watch during the summer every year? No, but I have something similar. I like watching Love Actually at least once every year, during the Christmas season. I like watching Two for The Road once a year as well, regardless of the time of year.

Do you think that life isn’t fair sometimes? I mean yeah. It doesn’t revolve around me, so I know it won’t always be fair.

When was the last time someone bought you flowers? Valentine’s Day last year.

What was the last book you read? Midnight Sun. Haven’t touched it since September, though.

How many books do you plan to read this summer? It’s past summer, and I haven’t been doing a lot of reading in general.

Does your house have a dishwasher? No, not a common appliance here.

Do you know anyone who has a flower tattoo? I probably do. But I haven’t seen people outside of family for so long that I can barely remember who has which tattoos. I’m pretty sure I know someone who has flowers.

Do you like the name Carter? It just reminds me of the underwear brand honestly, so not a fan.

Have you ever had a secret admirer? No. Should there be one, they shouldn’t be having high hopes; I wouldn’t be interested in the least.

How many different languages can you say goodbye in? There’s English, Filipino, Korean, Spanish, German, French, Japanese – 7.

Agree or disagree: You like Adam Sandler movies. Disagree for the most part, but 50 First Dates is cute.

--

Did the last type of shoes you wore have laces? Yups. I wore sneakers when I went out to get Starbucks last Friday evening.

How much money did you spend yesterday? The charging cable that I ordered arrived yesterday, so I had to shell out ₱140 for that.

What genre is your favorite movie? It’s a romcom/drama. My other favorite is a drama.

Are you texting anybody right now? Nope. I’m all alone today, which is the way I want to be for this weekend.

Who was the last person you were in a car with? My parents.

Do you like the picture on your license/I.D. card? I really do, hahaha. I don’t know why the people at the LTO gave me a pass, but I had been allowed to smile with my teeth. That helped make my license photo turn out super well and I no longer feel embarrassed whenever I have to take it out and present it somewhere.

What’s your favorite thing to snack on while watching a movie? Potato Corner fries. Can’t be any other type of fries.

When was the last time somebody hit on you? July or August when this random guy slid into my PMs. I had never had so much fun blocking somebody so fast.

Was the last person you met a male or female? The last new person I met was male.

Which one of your friends do you feel most comfortable around? Angela or Andi.

Do you own a map of the world? I mean, I guess. I have a collection of the World Almanac for Kids books, and it had always included a world map in its Countries chapter every year.

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food? We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.

Is the light on in the room you’re in? No, doesn’t have to be as it’s bright out and I can see the sun from my window.

Who did you last spoon with? Gabie.

Are you currently watching TV? No.

Have you ever had surgery or stitches? Never. Hope I’ll never be needing one.

Do you own any clothing that has animal print? I have a tank top with cheetah print that I sometimes wear at home.

Does your family eat dinner together? Yes, every evening. We don’t eat together when my dad is working abroad, but since he has stayed home for all of 2020 because of Covid, we’ve gotten to eat together as a family all year.

Where do you work? Somewhere in Metro Manila; I’m not giving the city away.

Are you in high school? I got out of there nearly five years ago.

Do you have a TV in your room? I used to, but not anymore.

Are any of your electronics charging right now? My phone and laptop both are.

What was the last video game you played? Mario Kart 8.

--

Are you hungry?: I can def go for a snack, or maybe even a full meal. It’s taking everything in me not to order Popeye’s or Army Navy from Grab rn.

What color is the chair you’re sitting on?: I’m sitting up in bed; my sheets are blue with gold/yellow prints.

What did you buy last time you went to the store?: I got bottled coffee when I went to 7-Eleven a week ago.

Do you like salsa that has fruit in it?: ...Don’t all types of salsa have fruit in them though? It would be brand-new knowledge to me if I was told not all salsas have fruit.

Have you ever opened up your computer to clean the fan on the inside?: No. I’d rather have professionals do that.

Can you count in binary?: No, and I never even understood how it works.

Do you think stained glass windows are pretty?: No. Mostly because it reminds me of cathedrals.

Are you a chocoholic?: Nah. I like chocolate, but I can live without it.

Are you scared of snakes?: I mean if they were venomous or obviously wanted to eat me whole, of course. But I’ve also already held a couple of snakes before.

Have you had your wisdom teeth removed?: No.

Do you like hard or soft pretzels better?: Soft all the way. I find the hard ones too salty.

What was the last magazine or catalog you looked through?: I don’t even remember. Maybe Tatler? My grandma has loads of those at her house.

When was the last time you wore a raincoat?: I don’t think I have ever worn a raincoat.

Have you ever been carded when buying something?: Idk what that is but nothing out of the ordinary has ever happened to me whenever I’ve made a purchase, so I’m gonna go ahead and say no.

Do you eat meat?: Yep.

Corn and mashed potatoes, or beans and rice?: Both pairings aren’t really a part of our cuisine, so neither sound appealing to be honest. As someone who thrives on rice, I hate the idea of eating beans with it; so I would go with corn and mashed potatoes even though I’m having a hard time imagining how it would work.

Can you sleep with the light on?: I probably can, but it would take me a lot longer to fall asleep.

What’s your operating system of choice?: Mac/iOS.

Have you ever broken a bone?: Never.

Do you have a favorite highlighter color?: I don’t have a favorite color to use, but I prefer pastel shades in general over neon.

Do you have a flashlight?: My phone has a built-in flashlight, but we also keep a couple of emergency flashlights at home in case of blackouts.

Do you like watermelon?: I like some watermelon-flavored stuff like candies, but I’m not fond of the fruit.

…Honeydew?: Hahahahahaha. BoJack Horseman, anyone? Anyway, I’ve never had honeydew and probably wouldn’t like it considering my established opinion on fruits.

Can you shoot a gun?: I’ve never tried, so I’ll say no. I’ve always been meaning to go to a shooting range though; I feel like it’ll be such a cool experience.

Do you like salad?: Not for the most part. The only kind I enjoy is spicy tuna salad, which only has lettuce in it alongside tuna sashimi and spicy mayonnaise.

When was the last time you smashed your finger?: I don’t know if I ever have? This doesn’t ring a bell to me.

What color is your computer?: Silver/gray.

Have you ever made ice cream in chemistry class?: No, my chemistry classes in high school and college were never that fun.

Has anyone ever walked in on you while you were on the toilet?: Sure.

What color hair do you have?: Black.

Do you use the microwave often?: I wouldn’t say so; just a couple of times a month.

Are you good at spelling?: Sure, I’d claim that. Thank the movie Akeelah and the Bee; that movie made me super passionate about spelling and dictionaries for a time. I can still feel its effects today because I’m still very much particular about spelling more so than any other kind of writing/language mechanic.

Have you ever petted a donkey?: I’ve never even seen one before :o but I’d love to have the chance to pet one, heh. It would make me so happy.

When was the last time you went to the doctor’s for a physical?: 2016.

Do you like a lot of ice in your drinks?: Sure.

Have you ever painted a room? Never have, but would like to give it a try.

[adrenaline-roulette]

He’ll save every one of us Chapter 4

Brian May x Reader with side notes of Roger Taylor x Original female character 

Preview: “As much as I love you, I am rather hungry.” “Oh that’s right, I’m expected to feed you aren’t I?” “Is there anything else you practically feel like?”

 Chapter four: How much vinegar is too much vinegar?

Your eyes roll for what felt like the hundredth time that day, Brian was swinging your interlocked hands gently between the two of you, as walked through the streets of London. The sun was beginning to set behind the tall townhouses, that were becoming few and far between the longer you walked. “But are you sure it was good Y/N? Good enough to perform at our next gig?”

You want to laugh but know that in doing so you would likely hurt Brian’s feelings. “Yes, I promise you it was incredible! I don’t know how many more times I can possibly say it? “

You feel your arm being tugged from behind as you continue to walk, looking back over your shoulder, only to find Brian now standing still in the middle of the foot path, his fingers still interlocked with yours tightly, preventing you from going any further. “It’s just…. It’s the first song I’ve written for the band. And the fact that the rest of the guys like it enough to include it in our next set list, I just can’t quite fathom it.”

You don’t think you have ever seen Brian look so shy, his head was dipped low, with his hair, now in its natural curly state, curtaining his face from you and the world. “Hey, Bri. Hey..” You Whisper, the few people walking by you on the streets giving you curious looks, though none say anything. You reach your hand up to rest against his cheek, your fingertips brushing against the ends of his curls, carefully you guide his head up so he was looking at you, his dark eyes boring deep into yours.

“Hi.” He breaths out, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he looks down at you. There is a tension resting over his brow as you gaze at one another, his eyebrows creased together tightly.

“Brian, you listen to me. I promise you, anyone who hears your new song will absolutely fall in love with your music, and with Queen. Dare I say, they may even fall in love with you, the genius who created this masterpiece of a song!”

A small chuckle slips from Brian’s parted lips, and you can see the frown in his brow soften. “Well it won’t do them much good to fall in love with me. You’re the only one for me.” He steps closer to you, both of his hands moving down to your hips, pulling you flush against him. You can’t help the blush which floods your cheeks, as you stand in the protective, comforting embrace of his arms. Brian brushes his nose against yours, slowly nudging your head to tilt upwards, so his lips could press against yours softly.

Slowly, you pull away from the tender embrace, blinking your eyes open so to look up at Brian. “As much as I love you, I am rather hungry, that rehearsal really took it out of me!” You grin, nudging your shoulder against his playfully.

“Oh that’s right, I’m expected to feed you aren’t I?” Brian laughs, resting his palms over your shoulders, and twirling you in a circle so you were facing away from him. He lowers his hands down, so they once again lay against your hips, leaning down and placing his chin over your now vacant shoulder.

Brian steps carefully, making sure not to step on your heels as he ushers you forwards, you grin and shake your head at his antics. “This is the most awkward yet comforting way I have ever walked. I just need you to know that… Also why the hell am I leading? I have no idea where we’re even going!”

Brian falls silent as he mulls over your words, he hadn’t thought about that fact.  He was used to going to the fish and chip shop with Freddie and Roger, who both knew the way blindfolded! “You’re right, maybe I should lead? Let’s swap!”

“You’re an idiot!” You giggle, though the grin remains plastered to your lips, as you continue your slow, lumbering walk down the street. A little girl sitting on her father’s shoulders waves at the two of you, and you give her a cheery wave back,  while Brian grins at her. The little girl kicks her Mary jane clad feet against her fathers chest, and you watch him cringe at the feeling. You can only hope she wouldn’t do that too many more times, otherwise he may force her to walk!

A small shop made of white bricks comes into view a short while later, the whole front wall was made of floor to ceiling windows, with a balcony at the front supported by bright blue pillars.  There were posters plasters on the inside of the windows, while one’s likely not supported by the family owned business, had been pinned to the pillars, stacked at least five high. “Welcome to Roma’s chip shop!” Brian grins, bowing low while gesturing to the front door, “Here you will find not only the most amazing chips this side of London, but also the freshest fish you could possibly find, without having to catch it yourself!”

You curtsey in response to his bow, before walking past him towards the front door, where a bright red sing indicated they were open. “I’m sure they do battered sausages too right? You wouldn’t dream of taking me somewhere that doesn’t serve battered sausages, right?”

You can almost see the life leave Brian’s eyes as he glares at you, he throws his arms by his sides in defeat, before sulking over to you by the door. “I take you to my secret, special place. And all you can do is ask if they do battered sausages?” You shrug, sending a wink his way, then push on the door, struggling for a few seconds when it doesn’t budge. “It says pull…”

“I will kill you!” You switch opening tactics, only to find that when you pull on the handle, the door glides open, a small bell jingling from above, signalling your arrival. The small shop was rather quiet, considering it was getting close to what most would call dinner time, though if the food was half as good as Brian had been making it out to be, you could only assume it would get busier as the evening went on.

Brian leads you over to a small table with various condiments spread out on top, a pile of menus balanced precariously on the corner too. “Aside from a battered sausage, is there anything else you practically feel like?”

“Chips that are absolutely drowning in vinegar and salt!  I want to be dehydrated after one bite!” You laugh, as you look at the menu over Brian’s arm, surprised to see just how many options they had available.

“I’ll see what I can do for you. Did you want to wait for me outside, then we can find somewhere to sit?” Brian grins, as he folds the menu closed, placing it back on the wobbly pile. You smile up at him, nodding your head twice in agreement.

“See you soon.” You wave, as Brian heads to the counter, and you make your way back outside, into the fading afternoon light.

Settling down on an old, wooden picnic bench, you smile to yourself as you pick at the splinters forming on the tabletop. Your theory being, if you got rid of them now, you wouldn’t accidentally drag your arms across them later, and spend the remainder of the evening prying them out of your skin. Your feet swing idly as you gaze around, watching the people in the park ahead of you. Families setting up picnic dinners, couples holding hands, and a few people reading on the scattered park benches, all enjoying the pleasant weather.

“I present to you, grease, grease, vinegar, and more grease!” Brian laughs from behind you, as he makes his way over to your chosen picnic bench, you had been so caught up in your people watching, that you hadn’t heard him approach. He places three newspaper wrapped packages in the centre of the table, grease seeping through the black and white paper. With careful fingers, Brian peels the wrapping away, presenting your battered sausage, his own order of battered cod, and from the smell of it, a heaping pile of vinegar doused chips.

“I love you…” You smile, reaching out and taking a piping hot chip, popping it in your mouth, and immediately regretting it. You pull a face of disgust, as you bring your hand up and fan your open mouth.

“Too hot? I could’ve told you that!” Brian laughs, as he takes a chip for himself, blowing on it for a few seconds, before biting into the hot potato.

You glare at him once you’ve sufficiently scolded your tongue. “You could’ve been a gentleman and warned me!” The glare doesn’t last long, they never do when directed at Brian, he always has a way of making you smile. “On the bright side, the vinegar to salt ratio is perfection!”

“I think I used half of the bottle…”

“That’s the only way to prepare hot chips! In fact, if you use any less than half a bottle, you’re doing something very, very wrong!”

Opening up the paper around your order, you are almost drooling as you breathe in, it smells incredible! Of course, a battered sausage is one of the most unpleasant looking items you could possibly order, but the taste is everything you could ever ask for. “That really is disgusting…” Brian smirks, as he squeezes a lemon wedged on his battered cod, gesturing with a chip in is other hand, towards your food.

“It doesn’t matter how it looks on the outside, it’s all about what’s inside that matters. And what’s inside, is pure heaven!”

Brian looks unconvinced, but decides against saying anything more on the subject, fearing it may end with his demise if he continued to speak badly of the fired food. “I mentioned to my parents the other day about Queen.” Brian shrugs, as he picks at the fish, flaking off bite sized pieces.

“Oh? Was that when they called earlier this week?”

“Mhm.” Brian sighs, as he chews the fish, in what was either a thoughtful, or angry manner.

“I’m guessing that explains why you were in a bit of a bad mood following that conversation… You even allowed Roger to play ‘Pramy’ in scrabble that night, I figured something had happened.”

 “I told them I was thinking of not returning to college after break is over, you know, seeing how far we can go as a band.” You lean forwards on the table, propping your chin up on your hands, looking at Brian intently. “Mum thinks I should give it a go. Dad on the other and, well, he thinks it’s the stupidest idea he’s ever heard.”

“But why? Is he worried about your education? If that’s the case, does he know you can always pick up your studies later on? There’s still time to become Doctor Brian May!”

“That’s exactly what I said! But he doesn’t understand that! He thinks I’ll need a degree to go anywhere in life, ad as he said on the phone. ‘You and that guitar won’t get anywhere.’”

You frown, reaching out across the table, and wrapping your fingers around Brian’s, squeezing gently to reassure him you were there. “What the fuck? If that’s how he feels, then why the fuck did he help you build Red?”

“That’s a good fucking question! One that’s I didn’t think to ask at the time, instead I just hung up the phone.” You watch as he takes a fistful of chips, not bringing them to his mouth, but instead squeezing them tightly into his fist, a waste of perfectly good chips, not that you would say that.

“Is that why you were asking for reassurance over Keep yourself alive? You wanted to know that someone else other than you and the band, thought that your music was going to take you places?” Brian doesn’t respond, but his silence is enough to confirm your suspicions, and that only causes you to tighten your hold on his hand. “You’re going to prove him wrong one day. I can guarantee, someday Queen will be everywhere, you’ll be on the radio, on the television, you’ll even be on stage! Everyone will know that name Queen!”

“You’re too good to me.”

“Trust me, I know. But it helps boost my public image by being with someone as sad as you.” You wink, causing Brian to laugh, a deep hearty chuckle that came from deep within.

 The sun sets completely, the only light coming from the streetlamps scattered around the park, and courtyard out the front of the Roma’s where you had been sat for hours now. You look sadly down at the chips in the centre of the table, the smell of vinegar wafting off them. Perhaps Brian had gone somewhat overboard with the vinegar, both of you having given up on the chips, halfway through the pile. “You look tired, do you want me to take you home?” Brian smiles, his dark eyes shinning in the dim lighting.

The last thing you wanted was to go home, but Brian was right, you were growing tired, and a chill had set in in the air, which was beginning to seep into your bones. “Let’s go, I might even have some ice-cream left over that I could entice you inside with.” You grin, as you both stand from the table, Brian darting around to your side and wrapping his arm around your waist, as you make the slow journey back to your home.

  Once you arrive home, the first think you notice is that none of the lights have been turned on, maybe Bree had gone out for the night and forgot to turn them on? You try to remember if she had mentioned anything about not being home tonight, but nothing springs to mind. Though you had been spending a fair bit of time with Brian lately, and hadn’t been home all that much, so perhaps she just hadn’t thought to mention it to you? Your hand fumbles with the key a few times due to the dark, before you manage to secure it in the door lock, twisting until the lock clicks open. “Bree? Are you home?” You call out into the dark apartment, Brian walking in behind you, shrugging his jacket off and hooking it up by the front door. There’s no answer to your call, confirming your initial thought, Bree wasn’t here.

“Did she say anything about going out tonight?” Brian asks, as he flips on a few light switches, illuminating the hall so you could both see where you were walking.

“No, she didn’t. I’m sure she’s left a note though, that’s what we always do, when either of us go out and aren’t able to tell the other.” You smile, as you make your way into the small kitchen, flicking the light on for the small room, and look around for a note. Brian follows  you in, and looks around himself, neither of you finding anything relating to Bree’s whereabouts. “That’s really odd, we always leave a note in the kitchen…”

“Maybe she left it somewhere else? Do you want me to check in the sitting area? You could check the bedrooms?”

You nod, a frown creasing your brows as you move out of the kitchen and into your bedroom, searching for anything that could give away Bree’s location. You find nothing in your room, and turn to search in her’s instead. “Maybe she wrote it while getting ready, and forgot to bring it out to the kitchen?” You call out, in a meagre attempt to reassure yourself more than Brian.

“Of course that’s what has happened, it’s probably in the bathroom, I’ll go look!” He calls back, and you can hear his clogs thumping up the hall.

The search in Bree’s room turns nothing up, only a pile of dirty clothes, and a messy dressing table that had more makeup than you had ever seen. The bed however, was perfectly made, each corner tucked in neatly, with the duvet ironed to perfection. You could feel your heart hammering in your chest, and your vision was growing blurry. “Bri… Did you find anything?”

“No, there’s nothing in here.”

You leave Bree’s room, keeping the door slightly ajar as you meet Brian in the hall. “Maybe Roger knows where she is? Or maybe they’re together?”

“They have been spending a fair bit of time together lately, that seems likely!” He leads the way into the sitting area, dialling his phone number, and passing the receiver over to you. After three rings, Freddie’s voice comes through.

“Hello?”

“Freddie? Hey it’s Y/N, is Roger there?”

“Oh, hello dear, of course he is, just a moment!” Freddie sings back, before turning away from the receiver. “Rog! It’s for you!”

There’s the sound of shuffling feet, before the noises of the phone trading hands. “Y/N? Hey, what’s up?”

“Do you know where Bree is, is she with you? Or has she been with you?”

There’s a pause, which seems to last for hours, the silence hanging in the air like a thick fog. “I was going to ask you the same thing. She was supposed to come over a couple of hours ago. I assumed maybe she had fallen asleep, is she not at home?”

You gulp, your hand shaking and very nearly dropping the phone. Brian steps up behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist snuggly, resting his chin over your shoulder, in both an attempt to comfort you, and to also hear what was being said on the other end of the line. “N-No, she isn’t home. I don’t think she’s been home for a few hours now…. She didn’t leave me a note either.”

There’s that silence again, it’s intoxication, neither you nor Roger seem to know what to say. “I’ll keep looking in case Brian and I missed her note somewhere, can you let me know if she turns up at your place?”

“Of course I will, and vice versa.” You hang up the phone, squeezing your eyes shut tightly as a million and one thoughts swirl around your mind, and none of them good.

“What can I do?” Brian asks quietly, pressing a soft kiss to your cheek. You know he’s trying to comfort you, but it only makes you feel worse right now, you’re too distracted to pay him much attention.

“I don’t know. Just…. Just help me look around again, there has to be something the we missed!”

You spend the next twenty minutes tearing the apartment apart, searching everywhere for a damned scrap of paper letting you know where Bree had gone. You find nothing, and that’s only causing your panic and concern to grow. Suddenly, the shrill ring of your phone echoes through the quiet home, neither you nor Brian had spoken as you searched, the phone now breaking the eerie silence. You can’t remember the last time you had run so quickly but you had made it to the phone hallway through it’s second ring. “Bree? Roger?” You’re met with silence.

Read Chapter five

Or reread Chapters: One Two Three

My Masterlist

[migleefulmoments]

"Hahaha. A friend pointed this out. W online shops too!" What does this even mean?! I don't know anyone in 2020 who doesn't online shop besides my 80 year old grandparents because they refuse to learn how to use a computer 😂 I don't get how Will, a 30 something year old man, online shopping is worthy enough for Abby to comment on it. I'm sure Chris does it too. And Darren.

On Nov 5, Darren wrote this post and the cc fandom lost their shit.    

They decided that organizing 10 costumes for multiple events in two different states for two different people was not worthy of acknowledgment- especially since they wore several purchased costumes. They spent the next 30-ish days mocking her “online shopping skills” like the petty idiots they are and now they bring it up two months later. 

Anonymous asked: this is funny, C posted a photo of beard, D posted photos with the beard. Almost like they were sitting next to each other and saying “ok ok I will say this”

ajw720 answered: The only difference, C controls his SM and the bearding, D does not, but they knew the Halloween post was coming when C posted his belated b-day wishes (not that he acknowledged they were late).  

It really is, if you can remove the very human, tragic element, like a script for a really bad D Movie.  C posts “Happy Birthday, Babe!” a day after the man’s actual b-day and “D” praises his fake bride for MAKING TEN costumes.  Sure praise her if she actually designed them and sat with her sewing machine.  No, she went online and ordered things (I doubt she even went to a store).   And 3 couple costumes were cheap frankly.  The only thought was how narcissistic she could be in their execution (as @flowersintheattic254pointed out even the Mario costume had  a reason, it was a reminder of Japan and the fake encagement by referring to the ad that paid for their trip there).

And seriously how are people not questioning that she spent the entirety of her month picking TEN costumes?  Who has time for this?  I know, i know, a person whose only role in life is to play fake plus one.

I am just so tired by D in particular being utterly dragged down by the useless dead weight by his side and his team’s sole ambition to promote her and make her sound like a decent person.  

If they wanted to praise her, maybe they should have forced her to participate in the zero waste initiative instead of sitting drinking by the pool or have her volunteer to help young girls who have been kicked out of their homes, or have been raped.  Or pick any cause and truly volunteer her time to promote it.  If she is not going to actually get a job and pursue a career, please force her to do something that is actually of value and contribute something good to the world. But to praise her for picking TEN costumes?  

Praise that comes from a man who this year alone won three awards, is starring in a show he created and wrote the music for, has his first big movie premiere this week, is exec producer and star of a huge show on N/etflix, just announced his starring role with 2 A++ lists actors next spring on Broadway, celebrated the 5th anniversary of the festival he created, volunteered his time for the zero waste initiative, performed at several charity events, and was just yesterday name limited series actor of the decade.  Where is the praise for him from his “bride”?  He at least deserves it.

How do they not see how ridiculous it is for someone with D’s accomplishments in 2019 alone praise a person for purchasing TEN costumes for Halloween?  And stans, how do you accept that this is right or normal.  You really know nothing about him and have such little respect for him as a person if you continue to accept the character his idiotic team has created on his behalf.  It is so far from the person he is and that he generally holds himself out to be when given the opportunity.  

This isn’t about being a “gay fetishist” or “hating woman” this is about wanting for D to be fairly and accurately represented and no longer forced to participate in this stupid, life sucking game to promote a person that contributes absolutely nothing to the world.  If you want to have a strong female role model, there are so many, i’ve talked about a few in the past few days (thus far Nancy, Lea, and Phoebe) and will continue to do so, but please stop worshiping a person whose sole reason you are speaking about her is her connection to D, even if you refuse to accept it is fake.  

klainecentric Finished reading the funniest ig story of the day, the qween being praised for sitting in front of either a sewing machine or computer...bravo your majesty qween....your my hero well done.👏👏. And all I can think of is how irrelevant the statement D made about being an emotional horder, being a very private person and finally D saying he's lazy when it comes to social media, I'm internally screaming in frustration because yeah we know D wouldn't have written a post praising that lazy good for nothing waste of space but he's coming across as a lier and it's extremely damaging to his character as a person. I absolutely hate lying and every time another "private" moment is posted to the world is another small piece that's chipped away from what D has originally stated about privacy. PBB, nobody cares about your cheap arse highly flammable costumes you buy online, did you forget about your piano baby adult strip club. I'm sure there are still plenty of people out there you can hire to rub and flaunt their flanges all over the beer taps, why don't you keep busy on that instead. If you want to make costumes, I'm sure you can sew some mighty fine titty tassels together. It'll be cheap nasty, sound familiar.

souly So, let me get this straight. We should all praise a person for going online, looking up different costumes in online stores, putting those in their shopping basket and hitting “buy”? Because I do that at least once a week with other stuff. Do I get praised for that now? Pretty please? I’m doing good work there and buy a lot of stuff, therefore I must be the best person ever!

notes-from-nowhere You’re my Queen. Please, love me.

souly

(I think I got it right. I’m getting the hang of what said person is doing. Wheee! ;))

notes-from-nowhere You nailed it 🤣

ajw720 Yesterday I got a delivery of car food. And instead of his usual seafood mix up greats, I got him shrimp flavor. I’m awesome!!!!!

souly Oh, hey! I think we should all take pictures of whatever we bought online during the week or month and make individual posts on all of our social media accounts about it. Because, you know…

cassie1022 I picked up stuff I ordered online at Target and PetSmart. Does that count? Should I receive accolades because my cat will have fresh litter to do her business on?

souly Only if you post the pictures to prove it! ;)

ajw720 As soon as I get home. Pictures forthcoming. Shrimp cat treats and I also got a burgundy blanket for my new comforter!!! Life goals!!!!!!!!!!!

souly Okay, so, let’s see… What did I buy online during the past month that can be shared as pictures? Some things are gifts, so I obviously can’t post anything about those yet. But I think these here are safe.

Let’s start with one of my fav new shirts. (Excuse the grainy quality. I had to quickly edit it for privacy reasons. :p And yes, that’s a butterfly mirror.)

The rest are behind the cut to save your dash from drowning in too many pictures. ;)

cheekyface72 You’re my queen from now on…

ajw720 I think emmy/sag/gg/CC winner DC should write a post @soulypraising your awesome, amazing, unparalleled online shopping skills!  You earned that praise.  That cat toy is particularly spectacular.

*********************

Just A Taste of M’s Amazing Online Shopping Skills that are worthy of such Praise

ajw720

Super Mario with inflatable Dragon $54.66 (x)

Princess Peach $78.99 (x)

chrisdarebashfulsmiles. i can’t

flowersintheattic254. When you add the fact that the wedding was sponsored so heavily, and her history of outfits I think it shows Mi@rren is something that’s always been done very much ‘on the cheap’.

From work vacays (honeymoon included), RC ‘glue gun’ looks, thrift shoes and subsidized weddings.

It’s BUDGET BEARDING!!!

leka-1998. It’s not worth more than this, that’s for sure.

notes-from-nowhere  We are so ungrateful. She worked hard to find the gloves.

I bet she had to click on another link to find them. She deserves another accolade.

ajw720 @flowersintheattic254 Budget Bearding!  I LOVE It! (and something tells me D’s SW costume in particular was far cheaper than either of these).

souly That Snow White dress can be found for about $25 in a ton of online shops. I stumbled upon it even before Halloween way too many times. 😂

@notes-from-nowhere The plush question mark block can be found in a couple online stores like this one. She simply glued it onto some gloves - or asked L to do it with that glue gun of hers.

flowersintheattic254 Well funnily enough I think we may have confirmation that 🚽🚽 glued on the puppies so I guess YES to the question mark block too!!!

cassie1022 They can’t even glue things properly. Why am I not surprised?

leka-1998

SW

So, so amazing. Bow to the kween and her not so helpful helper.

************************************

There are lots more...I figured enough of your brain cells died reading the ones I posted.  On Nov 30 she is STiLL bringing it up”

Anonymous asked:

Whenever I see miarren gifset they always use the same quote underneath (the rolling the windows down quote) and at first I rolled my eyes and thought uh not that quote again, and I can't believe it took me this long to realise it's because there is literally no other quote that can be construed as loving. You can hardly put down "she's a big girl" whenever you make a set of gifs with M beaming and D looking like someone murdered the dog he's allergic to.

ajw720: And I love the Emmy quote as it was an absolute reference to his character who was a psychopath. Pretty telling if you ask me. But that reference is over their heads.

And pretty much the only one. Guess saying he’s a ball and chain kind of guy isn’t romantic. They can’t even take pooping exes as he clearly steered the conversation away from her. Lovely lady of many moons? Nah she sounds like a stranger. Saying nothing changes after marriage? Sounds boring. It’s a struggle. But hey she’s an excellent online shopper that he done got hitched to!!!

[queenofallthewrongchoices]

And He Lets the Chips Fall Where They May

Series: The Freshman  

Synopsis: This fic takes place in The Freshman book 1 in between chapters 15 and 16. I’ve been replaying The Freshman over for the hundredth time and always wanted a better glimpse at what the conversation between Chris and Becca was like when he suddenly realized that he wanted to go to the winter formal with the MC instead of her, so this is my take on that conversation. 

Pairing: Chris x MC (Nadia)

Characters: Chris and Becca with mentions of the MC

No real age restrictions but there is some very mild suggestive language

Author’s Note: While writing has been a long-time hobby of mine, this is the first fanfic I’ve ever written and the first time I’ve written a piece work featuring characters that aren’t mine. I know it’s both lengthy and wordy but I tend to write how I talk so forgive me. 

Chris walks up the steps of the large sorority house he’d been residing in for the past couple of months, he can’t help but notice an uneasiness weighing down on him. While his heart was never truly in any of his dealings with Becca, he had convinced himself it was inconsequential because it was all in the name of having a good time. It was his first semester of freshman year, after all, and he was only interested in cutting loose, unwinding, and forgetting she who shall not be named. Trying his best to avoid anything serious at all costs. Admittedly so Becca, in a lot of ways, provided that for him. She was a little older and more experienced, so she often took the reins in their “relationship” in all aspects, which was new yet exciting. Or at least it had been.

Any other guy would’ve been overjoyed at the prospect of shacking up in a sorority house with a bunch of beautiful carefree college girls, and at first, he himself was quite delighted by the notion. But for some reason Chris couldn’t shake the thought of one specific girl who had charmed him from the very first moment he had laid eyes on her. He kept telling himself that it was for the best that he kept his distance. He wasn’t ready for a relationship and he didn’t want to hurt her any more than he already had. That was all true, and yet his mind continued to wander to what seemed to be a far-off reality of them being happy together.

He decided to put those thoughts to rest for the time being as he knocked on the large oak doors of the Kappa house. Becca had texted him excited about the dresses she had purchased for the big winter formal scheduled for that weekend and wanted his opinion since he was her date. “It’s important that we make a statement together as a couple.” She said. A concept that he thought he left behind in high school but he didn’t question it. He didn’t question much, as of late. He was just going with the flow. No expectations. Just fun. But his lackadaisical attitude seemed to be leading him towards real relationship territory with Becca and that was something he didn’t like. Although he had made it quite clear to Becca that he wasn’t interested in defining their relationship now or any moment in the future, she still felt an ownership over him. And could he really blame her? He had been sleeping in her bed on and off for the past several weeks, he had drunkenly admitted to her some heavy things concerning his dad he hadn’t told anyone, and they’d been engaging in all manners of hooking up over that time frame. So yes, she wasn’t wrong to have expectations of what they were becoming. But still the whole thing was uncomfortable for him. Here he was, Mr. Hypocrite, doing all the things he said he didn’t want with a girl he knew he didn’t want them with.

Suddenly the door swung open, pulling him from his thoughts as he was greeted by a familiar redhead who he saw regularly during his visits to the Kappa house. She was a sophomore who was dating one of the upperclassmen football players named Reggie. Her name was either Amber or Cassidy. He could never seem to remember despite her constantly reminding him. He was ashamed to admit it but all the Kappa girls sort of meshed together these days, none of them having any real distinguishable personalities, at least not to him.

“Oh, hey Chris. I should’ve known it was you. Becca’s upstairs in her room.” She said in a loud sing-songy voice. She seemed tipsy undoubtedly pregaming for some party, kickback, or another.  “Hey, thanks.” He said as he walked in. She answered with a smile and nod then returned to her awaiting pre-party cocktails and friends, more members of the sorority he recognized, all huddled around the island in the kitchen.

Her familiar greeting was another thing that didn’t sit right with him. He had become too much of a staple in the house. Football players frequenting the Kappa house wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Oddly enough it was sort of tradition at Hartfeld. The politics surrounding the dating scene amongst the Kappas and the football team reminded him of that of the Pink Ladies and the T-Birds from Grease. The Kappas were the football players’ girls and vice versa. They had first dibs on one another and everyone else, meaning the rest of the Hartfeld population, had to get in line. Even with that knowledge he still felt conflicted. Was Becca at her core truly a cool girl to be around and very different from the off-putting stuck up persona she portrayed to the general public? Yes, unbelievably so. But his heart just wasn’t in it. A fact that was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Regardless there was no point in dwelling on it. He turned and closed the door before heading up the winding stairs leading to Becca’s room.  

And before he knew it there he was. Standing outside Becca’s bedroom door glancing at the jewel encrusted “B” that adorned it. It was so regal and so Becca. Hanging from the doorknob was a yellow sign fashioned after a yellow light indicating to anyone seeking entry into her room that they should “Slow down and knock first”. She also had a green one that read “Go ahead and come in” and a red one that read “Stop. Don’t even think about it.” The red one was only used if she wasn’t in the mood to deal with whatever petty squabble her sorors had found themselves in or when she was trying to set the mood with someone in particular, that someone being him as of late.  

One knock was all it took before he was greeted by the stunning leggy blond. He couldn’t help but admit that Becca was indeed gorgeous. She was attractive in an obvious and conventional way. When he first met Becca, he couldn’t help but think that she looked like your typical mean girl that served as a foil to the female lead in a classic young adult comedy film. She immediately pulled him into a hug and gave him a quick peck on the lips before she ushered him into her room. “There you are. Finally. I’ve been dying to show you the dresses I picked out.”

The room that was normally so neatly put together looked like a department store after a huge weekend sale. Scattered around the room were a different assortment of dresses of varying lengths and colors.

“I admit that I may have went a little overboard at the mall but they all looked so cute on me. Luckily you get to watch me model them and help me decide which one best compliments my amazing body.”

“Can’t wait.” He chuckled to himself. Becca was definitely the most high maintenance girl he’d ever met. He didn’t mind though. It was something he found charming about her believe it or not.

“Good. I’ll try this red number on first. Red always looks good on me. Something I’m sure you can agree with.” She says flirtatiously. She gives him a devilish wink and scurried to her closet to change.

While he waited, Chris pulled up his Pictogram account mindlessly scrolling to pass the time. His fingers landed on one post from Nadia that cost his attention. The caption read, “Throwback to last summer visiting family in Miami. The sun was good to me that day.” And there she was, sporting the most brilliant smile he’d ever seen on her. Her eyes were closed, face tilted up toward the setting sun as it cast an angelic glow across her features. Her brown skin was a couple shades darker than usual undoubtedly tanned from being out in the sun. Her wavy hair was longer here. It cascaded in waves over her shoulders and down her back with a complimentary red flower tucked neatly above her right ear. She looked breathtaking. That was the only way to describe it. He stared at the picture for what seemed to be an eternity memorizing every little detail. Completely and utterly captivated.

“Ahem. Chris I said what do you think?” Becca said in a familiar annoyed tone. He was so distracted that he hadn’t realized that she had returned to the main room let alone that she was talking to him.

“Oh, my bad Becca. You look great.” He said slightly embarrassed sitting up a little straighter in his seat. And she did honestly. The dress was an off the shoulder long flowing gown that hugged her figure in all the right places. Although Chris’ compliment was mostly genuine he still couldn’t help but notice how flat it sounded to his own ears. He only hoped that Becca didn’t notice.

“Boys.” She said in a dismissive yet playful manner. “I know you’re only interested in what’s underneath it.” She said. “Oh well I still have an assortment of gowns to try on so you’re just going to have to fake interest Mr. Powell. I promise I’ll make it worth your while later.” She gave him a smirk that otherwise would’ve been sexy if his mind wasn’t elsewhere and grabbed a strapless black dress to try on next.

While she changed, his thoughts began to wander once more. This time he thought about the formal and wondered if Nadia was going and if so with who. James no doubt. They had been spending a lot of time together lately and they were obviously attracted to each other. James was indeed an attractive guy. He was secure enough to admit it. Honestly James was an ideal match for just about any girl especially Nadia. He was good-looking, studious, a real gentleman, slightly older so more mature, and rich. What’s not to like? They seemed to have a lot in common. Way more than he had with her anyways.

This whole line of thinking made him feel guilty and a little hypocritical because here he was making plans to go to the formal with Becca and he was worried about who Nadia, a girl he rejected, was spending her free time with. But he couldn’t help it because deep down he knew that she was the one he wanted to be with. The chemistry they had was undeniable. Anyone who had ever been around them long enough commented on it. But he was afraid. Of what at this point? He was no longer sure. All his past reasons now seemed like mere excuses.

Becca modeled gown after gown each one more gorgeous than the last but her indecision began to set in as she started to retry on certain dresses that exuded the right amount of elegance and sex appeal. Or so she phrased it.

“There all cute I suppose but it has to be perfect.” She says in a huff becoming annoyed with her own indecision. “Have you already rented your tux? You don’t seem to be concerned with what you’re wearing.”

“Yeah. I still have the one from the sorority ball.”

She scoffs and shakes her head. “Boys. I swear you guys have it so easy. Here I am indecisively picking through a dozen dresses to wear and you’re simply settling on a tux that you’ve already worn. Luckily it looks so good on you.” She says flirtatiously once more.

At this point, Chris had grown tired in both a literal and mental sense of this entire conversation. It had been two hours of watching Becca model dresses for him and the more he thought about it the less the whole idea of going to formal with her interested him.

Nadia had been consuming his thoughts all night long. Her smile, her laugh, the way she cocked her head to the side when she talked to him. He could no longer ignore what he was feeling. It was quite simple. He wanted to go to the formal with her.

He wanted to see her in a beautiful gown with an expertly made up face just for him. He wanted to hold her on the dance floor, swaying to some romantic R&B hit while the world faded around them, and he wanted to close the night out with her peacefully laying her gorgeous head on his chest as the collective sounds of their heartbeats lulled each other to sleep. And it pained him to think that James or anyone else could possibly experience those things in his place.

Becca continued to make mindless conversation regarding the formal in the background as he finally came to the realization that he had known all along.

“Becca, I can’t do this.” He said.

“Oh fine. I’ll just ask Madison to help me. I should’ve known that as a guy you wouldn’t be all that interested. It’s fine. Just help me out of this dress and maybe we can go grab a bite eat.”

“No. I mean…” He hesitated. “I mean I can’t go to formal with you.”

His words seemed to echo shortly followed by an immediate uncomfortable silence as they stared at one another. Becca’s expression was completely unreadable. No trace of sadness or anger. Just completely blank. Maybe there was a taste of confusion mixed in but he wasn’t completely sure. He began to avoid her gaze.

She eventually broke the silence with a long and exasperated sigh saying, “Well are you going to at least give me an explanation or continue sitting there with that dumb look on your face? And please don’t tell me this has anything to do with that skinny, fashion-challenged freshman.” And there it was anger and annoyance perfectly mingling together across her features.

He hated having to admit that her assertion was correct but lying would be an insult to them both at this point.

He nodded with an apologetic look and began to say, “Sorry. I don’t mean to hurt you or anything. I just…”

“Oh please.” She cuts him off. “Just go. Whatever pointless thing you’re about to say next you can keep. Your energy is better spent on whatever crackpot apology you’re going to run by Nadia.” She gives him an unfazed look undoubtedly to mask the hurt and embarrassment she feels and walks back towards her closet to change out of her gown.

Chris stands there a little while longer debating on whether he should go try to apologize once more or leave. He settles on the latter. Becca’s anger was justified and he felt like crap doing this to her, but more than anything he felt a greater sense of urgency to get to Nadia and try to salvage what was left of their relationship. If he could even call it that.

He hurriedly dashed down the steps and out the door towards his car. He drove as fast as the speed limit would allow towards the parking lot of the freshman dorms. All he could do at this point was hope and pray that he wasn’t too late.

[keeloves]

Flash Season Five is Wasted Potential

Season five of the Flash could have easily been one of the best seasons ever, because we got to see what WestAllen are going to be like as parents, Barry’s disappearance was mentioned and I was curious to see how everyone would deal with that and Iris started Central City Citizen her reporting business and even hired photographer. This could have been a really great opportunity to step away from STAR Labs. Another thing that could have season great is Nora’s back story being told sooner and how she decided to got Eobarde Thawne of all people for help. All of these things were such wasted potential for season five. Now on to why season five is a hot mess. For starters, the villain is absolutely dreadfully boring, yes I get his niece is sick and he blames meta humans but why is he going around killing every meta on sight what is that going to help? Cicada is by far the most boring villain ever and he has absolutely no motivation to hurt Barry or let alone does he have a connection to Barry it just feels like he is just trying to kill for fun. It also doesn’t help that the actor playing the first Cicada gives a wooden performance and he is not menacing at all he is just so blah. Grace Cicada is also blah and how does future Grace not affect any changes in the time line when her childhood self is in a coma? Cicada can easily be defeated and got knocked out and everyone watched Grace Cicada be knocked out and no one did anything. All in Cicada is painfully boring. My next complaint is Nora West Allen holy shit have you ever seen a more disrespectful spoiled little brat? What are reasons for being so awful to Iris? Yes I know Iris put a dampening chip in her to keep her safe but she constantly makes Iris out to be this god awful mother and treats Iris more like Daddy’s new girlfriend or an evil step mother instead of the woman who raised since birth and gave her financial, emotional, and stable support. Even before the chip was put in the strain the on the relationship was there and that is piss poorly explained. I mean from the get go we see Nora act like Iris is something to be allergic to. She vilifies present day/past Iris for something future Iris did to her. She blocks Iris’s number in her phone and answers when Caitlin calls her! This show has biracial girl treating a white woman who is a human trafficker better than her own black mother! I could get into all the ways Nora West Allen is a disrespectful little bitch but these gifs of Nora XS are perfect. This post sums why I can’t stand Nora XS any longer https://ohmygettingcrazy.tumblr.com/post/184807431963/apparently-westallen-fans-not-liking-nora-makes-us

Cisco’s arc was horribly done I mean did he even have an arc? The only time he seems to have a story arc is when he is catering to a white character like the Wells characters or Caitlin Snow. Cisco is by far has the most interesting and unique powers, has the most potential and even said he loved having only for him to take the meta cure and be with a girl that has been given all of five minutes of screen time. I mean Kamilla is cute and had great potential to be a female companion for Iris and she got paid dust. 

Wells ugh get rid of this character! Harrison Wells is dead weight at this point like Caitlin Snow. It is bad enough that I have to see a new Wells every season but now there had to be two versions EoWells again, and Sherloque Wells who is by far the worst and Tom’s bad accent was like nails on a chalk board. It was awful. Sherloque’s love story was an unfunny filler and it take away from what could be really compelling things, like Nora XS back story, Barry’s disappearance and Iris running her Newspaper. Do the writers give us a full course meal on those things no they give us scraps and instead we have dead weights like Caitlin and Wells over running the show. 

Now on to my biggest gripe of the show aside from Wells that is Miss Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost. As I have stated several times before I think she is the absolute worst written character on a show. The writers said she was the key to defeating Cicada because she is apparently not a dark matter meta even though dark matter cuffs seem to dampen her powers despite the fact they shouldn’t. They constantly retcon her. They say Grace Cicada is afraid of her but how? Caitlin is constantly knocked out. I am not even kidding she got knocked out by a cold gun and her powers are THE COLD! She is a bitch and not in the “Oh she is a bad bitch she is a bad ass bitch” I mean she is a selfish bitch. She destroys the cure without considering what other people want. Yet she is supposed to be redeemed, she has never faced repercussions for all of her heinous acts in season 3 and 4 and all of her episodes did absolutely horrible and they were not compelling at all and the scene where Caitlin cried over her father’s death was probably the worst and shittiest acting I have ever seen come from Danielle Panabaker. I have no idea why they choose to keep Caitlin around, when her character is selfish, doctors incorrectly and gets knocked out. She is a danger to the team and yet she get treated like a child who was told not draw on the walls again. I mean Iris does so much as chip her daughter for her own safety or when she chooses to express her emotions Iris called “annoying” she is called “whiny and a whole bunch of nasty names. I have been avoiding saying this for a long time because I don’t like to jump to this conclusion but if you can defend Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost for committing the most atrocious/heinous crimes and even justify why she did it but can’t defend Iris for making mistakes or have to find fault in her then you people are down right racist. Yeah that’s right I said it oh boy are people going to come at me but I am done. I am done with everyone excusing white women who commit heinous crimes, and people shitting on black women for feeling their emotions and for being a love interest! I mean I can’t believe how many times I have seen people excuse Caitlin and treat Iris like she is the bad one. UGH! Caitlin getting knocked out vs Iris when she gets knocked out.

Iris when she gets knocked out

Another thing they say the trick to defeating Cicada was Killer Frost and yet this Iris handling Uncle Cicada

How come every Meta human on team Flash seem incompentent and yet the only one anything done is Iris? Yeah now to those call Iris useless STFU! 

[crqstalite]

pt. 15, into the lion’s den, pt. 5 (una’vi && sho’jka)

another chapter for una’vi as she and sho’jka get to know each other while she’s a bit incapacitated. i think i’ll write another installment for hakio & aric in a bit.

written: 9.8.19. words: 4,168.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════ character song: hush, aviva

character file: una'vi kimble, grey jedi & sho'jka tabari, apprentice to darth amarillis-quinn.

-

una'vi comes to, eventually, the blinding light of a medbay. she's not sure which medbay, or why, but takes a deep breath to remind herself she's alive.

which she would've done if a stabbing pain didn't erupt right underneath her right lung, as she gasps out for air, coughing as the pain spreads.

the same flowing feeling that makes her rather sleepy invades her body again, but numbs the pain away. she's still a little concerned she may have shattered a rib or two, and reminds herself to take shallow breaths for now.

her glassy eyes roll over to someone who's sitting next to her. the room is tiny, and the one light is dim, as if it's on it's last powercell. however, from what she can make out, it's the same twi'lek from the day (days?) before. he looks just as intimidating as from before, but he's removed his headgear that had covered his scarred jaw and is skimming a datapad she believes. he has one hand out, purple light emnating from it in her general direction.

"you've awoken i see." he says, bored as he puts the datapad down on a side table just out of view.

"that would be right." she struggles to say. this sith healing is making her feel loopy as hell, like that one time doc had to put her under because she'd managed to get shrapnel stuck in her side trying to save a little girl on corellia. not a particular memory she enjoyed, spending two days confined to the medbay because she kept pulling stitches every time she moved, but it gave her an excuse not to jedi things with kira and kiveqil for a while. and spend some time (when she wasn't in pain) with doc. "where am i?"

"sobrik." he answer with cold definition. "i couldn't heal you properly in the plains, after the bomb struck i figured i could not release you back into the wild without healing you first."

into the wild? "thanks i guess?" she pauses at that thought, before nearly bolting up and remembering her injuries. "the hospital! survivors-"

"i'm sure there were a few. an air strike like that couldn't have tactically eliminated everyone within the building." he says, moving his fingers this way and that as the light glows green before shutting off completely from his finger tips. he stands from his chair as she tries to prop herself up. dull pain is beginning to spread across her body as she tries to do a quick stock check. it feels like she has all 10 toes and fingers (if she doesn't she'll find out later) and nothing important feels like it's been tampered with. she's still in her undersuit, though without her boots, belt, bracers or gloves (a thick black thermal turtleneck and leggings). it's sticky with what she assumes is her own blood just under her knee as she cringes in pain. "i suggest you don't move too much. you're a rather active sleeper, hence why i had to stay in here last night and keep repairing your stitches with dark healing." he turns, cocking an eyebrow in curiousity, "that doesn't bother you, does it?"

"no?" she can figure many jedi would have issues being healed by a sith. una'vi, doesn't. she's alive and that's all that matters at the moment. besides, a sith healing her wounds isn't the oddest thing that's occurred in the last couple of hours. "should it?"

he seems surprised, his golden eyes flickering with amusement as his lips curve upwards. "i believed all jedi despised the sith. you are an exception to the norm,..." he pauses where someone else would've said her name. "jedi."

"you can call me una." she nods, as she examines her hands. all of her fingers, two of her nails have chipped and her left pinky is wrapped in a bandage, but it should still be functional. it's not, she finds as she bends it experimentally and has to use the will of the galaxy not to cry out in pain like a child as she raises her head from the offending limb. "and you are?"

he seems surprised, being asked his own name. his face returns to it's neutral tone as he continues scrolling through his datapad. "dusk, apprentice to the emperor's wrath."

she's about to ask where the wrath would be (what even does an apprentice do? is it the same as a padawan? and isn't the wrath scourge? or has the emperor found another one in the red sith's absence? does scourge have an apprentice that he never told her about?) when the door slides open, a panicked looking woman on the other side of it. her dusky red curls are arranged to frame her face as she calms herself, brushing invisible dirt off her skirt.

"kavelle, i told you not to disturb me while i'm here." he says darkly, his back ridging immediatly once he gets a sight of her. she's rather tall and lanky, nearly the same height as the sith and just about skinny enough to be gaunt. her skin is an olive brown, as her eyes glow with the same radiance as any sith's. black and purple surround her eyes like a bad makeup job, but una'vi's bright enough to know that she's been corrupted.

"i also do not care." she retorts, her imperial accent strong as she strides into the room, locking the door behind her. "you're not even supposed to still be here."

"nor are you." he says, crossing his arms. "you were to attend the court."

"i didn't wish to. nox understood this and then assigned me to balmorra, why are you here now? i was told you were to be at court." she says, blowing a strand of hair out of her face as she frowns in annoyance.

"my ring!" una'vi realizes sometime in between kavelle's arrival and her heated exchange with dusk that her wedding ring, a diamond encrusted band is not where it should be on her left hand. in fact, it's nowhere on her body and she's having a not-so small freakout over it. "where is it?"

"what?" kavelle asks, as if finally realizing una'vi exists on the medbay bed. "by the stars what is she screeching about?"

"my wedding ring." she tries to cross her arms and seem intimidating, but her shoulders are not having it as they howl to be contorted into such a shape. "where is it?"

"don't growl at us for your problems." the woman answers, narrowing her matching amber eyes. "it's not as if we stole it."

una'vi really doesn't want to put it past this woman that she didn't, but can't sense she's lying. that, or she's hiding it well beneath her aura.

"kavelle, hold your tongue." dusk says, before turning his attention back to the grey jedi. "i'm not sure where it could've gone. possibly it is buried in the wreckage of the hospital. i didn't bring you in with it on."

"if the man loves you so much he'll find you another." kavelle says, tone still icy cold. "and do not tell me what to do, dusk."

"i'll do what i like while you're in my station, valhall." dusk retorts. "what do you even need from me?"

"you hadn't been present for debriefing from the general for the last two days. i was curious about the peculiar way you'd been acting lately, so i tracked you down here." she says, pacing closer to una'vi's bed. "what even is this? i sense both the light and darkness from her. how old even is she?"

"i'm not an it." the sleepiness is beginning to fade from her mind as she addresses her, shifting to try and get out of the cot. "i'm a grey jedi of the jedi order, and i'm most likely older than you." una'vi isn't actually sure about that last one, she's only twenty-six. sith always tend to be older than they look. in most cases, at least.

"you've brought a jedi here?" kavelle whips her head around towards the apprentice. "are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"no, kavelle. now quit getting involved in things that don't include you." he says, cutting her off as he walks closer to her, trying to force her out the medbay doors. "doesn't nox need you for something?"

"she's away at court. of course she doesn't." kavelle visibly steels herself against the twi'lek's efforts. "how do you intend to get her out of sobrik, with so many sith meandering around?" nox must be female then. una'vi had never had the pleasure of meeting the woman (and hoped she never would) but filed that fact away for later use.

"you radiate enough sin to keep them from noticing the likes of her." dusk deadpans. kavelle doesn't look shocked, or even offended. the rib that's trying to penetrate her lung thankfully keeps una'vi from laughing at the underhanded jab. "now leave me be, would you?"

"how rude. do tell how you're going to keep her out of sight of the overseers." her laugh is like the tinkling laugh of some mystical creature, mixed with the laughing of someone who's smoked for millenia on end. it's unsettling as she leaves, and una'vi tries not to think too hard about it.

"ah, so you've now met the insultingly ignorant and brainless apprentice to darth nox." dusk says, pressing on the bridge of his nose in irritation. "and would you sit back down before you pull your stitches again?"

"you're rather infuriating yourself." una'vi says, frowning as she sits on the edge of the bed. in all seriousness, she's still upset about the hospital, her sister, her family. everyone. no one had expected an air strike, no one had been evacuated.

stars, doc didn't know where she was either. she'd been heading back to her own room to speak on her holoterminal when the strike hit. oh no, and that mission she was supposed to be on...

"how long has it been?"

"since?" dusk asks, adjusting something on the bedside table and clipping a lightsaber to his belt. his eyes flicker back to her as her heart races. was ky'li okay? had she also perished when it had hit? her parents?

she'd only just met her too.

"since the strike." una'vi asks, panicked.

"well, it was three hours since the strike that i'd found you. someone had convinced a commander to search for survivors, the majors and whatnot always need more alien slaves." he says bitterly, and una'vi almost asks why before realizing what he means. "i went down because i was curious whether anyone had survived. you did, somehow. you were trapped under at least half a foot of rubble. under closer examination, one of your ribs had been snapped out of place, and you'd sustained a concussion and a displaced knee. i had originally assumed you would die within the day, but i brought you back to sobrik because i was genuinely curious about you. like kavelle said, you radiate both dark and light energy. it's truly intoxicating."

"you make it sound like i'm some sort of speciman." una'vi responds as dusk rolls his eyes.

"i can assure you, i see you as more than some pesky animal." he clears his throat, "it's been four days approximately since then. you've made a full recovery, thanks to me of course."

"i'm sure master iresso could do it in three." she says teasingly as dusk furrows his brow in thought. she's not sure whether that's true or not, but she's been healed by the fair jedi a few times, and it always feels like a calm river running over her injuries. given, it also makes her feel loopy, as dusk's did. "what about the survivors? do you know where they are?"

"i'm not sure. i don't follow such things, i don't approve of it either." he responds. "possibly the more lax military men have taken some as their personal slaves, regardless of their species. others may have been killed if they were too injured. others, shipped off world."

"a human girl. she looks just like me. did you see her in those who survived?"

"i didn't see a list of those who survived, i apologize." he coldly answers, not a speck of emotion in his voice anymore as her mood drops. in all fairness, it had already dropped passed just being sad anyways.

"fine then, my holo. was that with me when you found me?" given, it hadn't been charged in some hours when the strike hit, but she prayed that it had still been clipped onto her belt, where she usually kept the small communication device.

"oh, that dastardly thing? it rang for the first two days and promptly shut off before i charged it myself. it's been off since then." dusk responds. "whoever was calling was adamant you answer."

"that was probably my husband." she says sheepishly. that sounds like her doc. "where is it?"

"i had to put it back together, it was nearly in pieces when i first found it on your belt." he picks it up off the side table as she tries to stand, before vertigo hits her like a wave. he gently pushes her back with two fingers before handing her the communication device. "i suggest you stay sitting. i healed what i could, but i don't have the power required to heal you fully."

"just hand it over." she says a little more forcefully than intended. he does, and pressing the buttons required, her usual mainframe comes up without an issue.

"where is your partner at the moment?" he questions. "i have programmed a firewall, sobrik tracks all communications, and if they're currently in republic space you won't be able to contact them."

she gives him a sour look that she hopes communications that she's about to salt all of his fields and stab him through with his own lightsaber. of course doc is in republic space, he's with the others. where else would he be? "then deactivate it."

"unless you intend to leave in your current state, i don't believe i will. it's simply too risky, and i would also be held responsible if kavelle caught wind of it and reported me to the overseers." he seems almost a touch nervous when he answers, "and if the wrath learned of that, she'd have my head."

"then get me out of sobrik." she says, yanking on the front of his robes as she pulls herself up. her knee still feels as if it is out of place and she has to throw her shoulder back to release the tightness that's built up in it. "get me out so i can call for an evac."

"that's also rather difficult, una." he says, not even flinching. he's getting more infuriating by the moment, his features not even matching that of what he's saying. completely poker faced, and she's about to poke out all of his most important organs. "the sith will sense you, and then they'll begin asking questions that neither of us want to answer."

"if you can install a firewall, you can get me in contact with my husband without alerting your damned overseers."

he considers her request for a moment, before picking up the communicator from where she'd dropped it on the cot. untangling her fingers from his robe, he walks away from her to a corner of the room, where the other holoterminal resides. bending down, he fiddles with the wires within the skeleton for a moment. una'vi falls backwards onto the cot, trying to hold back the tears of her emotions from the days past. doc might've thought she was dead, her new family either thought or were dead.

being dizzy and rather warm isn't making the situation any better. the people she'd been helping were most likely dead, the chiss twins may have been taken away somewhere. into slavery, or worse.

she stops thinking when he returns to her bedside, tears welling up in her eyes as she brushes her hair back. without a hair tie or any pins, it's messier than she'd wished. he has her holocom in hand, but wires are coming out of any avaliable socket and the holoterminal it's connected to is playing some commercial over and over again. "you have fifteen minutes before the connection is tracked. get in what you need to, and i will wait for you to finish outside. do not push this limit, or i will not hesitate to portray it as if you are a prisoner of the sith."

he's gone before she can say anything else. no thanks or even a witty quip come to mind before she looks down at the pitiful combination of metal and wires.

una'vi doesn't hesitate before punching in doc's holocom code. her fingers are shaking as her vision goes blurry a few times before it's accepted and the line begins ringing.

one ring.

two rings.

three rings.

it can't be that late i.s.t, can it? if it's still daytime, it might be the middle of the night for them. why else wouldn't he pick up? has her code changed because it's hooked up to a different terminal?

she's biting her lip to the point it bleeds when it rings for the sixth time in the empty room. she shivers, it's chilly even through her undersuit.

"una?" her heart races when she hears her name and sees his face come up on the blue projection. "una...where are you?" he says, his words rushing out before she can even formulate a sentence.

"i'm on balmorra, archie. i'm on balmorra and i'm safe for the time being." her voice is beginning to crack as she tries to explain her situation. he just seems more and more concerned as she continues along with the last four days. "a sith took me to sobrik after the air strike. i don't know when i'll be able to make it back to bugtown..."

"that doesn't matter right now." he cuts in, "you're alive and that's all that matters."

"i know, i know. but i was supposed to be back three days ago to go with kiv and kira...and my sister, and my parents-" she has to pause for a moment there, tears threatening to spill over. "archie, i'm scared." she whispers, just loud enough for the speaker to catch it. "i'm afraid i won't make it back."

"hey, don't cry beautiful. master iresso already sent someone out for you. you'll be back on the defender before you know it. he says, trying to comfort her.

"i lost my ring." she says, completely out of things to say.

"it doesn't matter. i'll get you a million when you get back." he says, running a hand through his hair. "can you stay on the line?"

"for a bit, they'll track my communications if i stay on too long." she says, trying to keep one eye on the chrono and another on the projection. "what is it?"

"zenith, master iresso's contact, mentioned that he can probably get to you if you can make it out to gorinth canyon, or somewhere near there. after that, he says you'll be in the clear. i'd let him explain it, but he's kinda grumpy and it's an ungodly hour of night." he says, trying to lift her spirits with a joke. "you said a sith brought you in?" she nods in response, wondering if dusk can hear her. "you think you can get back out on your own?"

"i highly doubt it." she responds, twiddling her fingers back and forth. "i'd need help."

he mulls that over for a moment, before she speaks up again. "the one who brought me in is, less grumpy than the ones we've encountered before. he says he can get me back out, but it'll be difficult."

doc sighs. "alright, let me talk to him."

she doesn't argue with him, stumbling to get up as doc chastises her for being so reckless again. managing to get the door open, she hands the combination of wires to the sith. dusk steps back inside before doc begins explaining who he is in quick basic as dusk attempts to follow. they talk back and forth for a bit (she's beginning to realize dusk has different answers for different people, rather angry with kavelle, informative with herself and it seems as if it's like speaking to a brick wall for doc), before it seems they come to an agreement about something as dusk reminds him they have a limited amount of time before sobrik's communications catch them. dusk hands the holocom back to her, muttering something about saying goodbyes as he steps outside of the room again.

"well, that was only mildly infuriating. don't trust him too quick, yeah beautiful?" he asks.

"sure." una'vi responds, rolling her eyes before squeezing them closed in mild pain. her eyes refocus on her husband as the world stops spinning. "i miss you, archie."

"i know, and i'll get you back no matter what. i'd run in there myself if i could, but kiv assigned me and scourge to holding down the fort." she hears a sarcastic tinge of humor behind his voice (holding down the fort in kiv's words always meant 'don't leave the defender unless you wish to perish when i get back), before he smiles. "i love you, una."

"i love you too, archie." she responds, before the connection cuts out. looking away from where doc's projection had just been, dusk stands with the wires cut between the connection. she's curious how they were cut without his saber ever being ignited, but she wouldn't put it past him that he just snapped them with brute force.

"so someone's coming for you?" he asks, letting the wires fall from in between his fingers.

"from what i understand, he'll only be able to get to me after i get out of sobrik." she responds, bringing her knees up to her chest and propping her head up on her forearms in between them. "i still need a way out and a functioning holocom anyways."

"so you still need me, then?" he asks, voice cold as ever.

"yes." she answers, wincing as she nips her lip again with her front teeth. "you can still get me out, right?"

"i can try, if kavelle gets off my back about it and the wrath doesn't request my presence." he says flatly. even she can see why dealing with the wine colored sith is a horrid idea, even more for her, where she'll be killed (or worse), if she's found. "now sit back, i believe i have enough in me to heal some of your other more pesky wounds."

-

as he expected, she's out like a light when he's healed some of her concussion symptoms and her knee (which she's tried shuffling on, and it seemed like it was annoying her the most). he nearly is ready to crawl into the cot with her, as exhaustion takes over his immediate thoughts. healing is much harder than it looks, and captain quinn's explanation of doing so doesn't apply to sith.

at least the woman is alive. as conscienceless as kavelle is, he'd feel a little upset if he let her die on the remains of the hospital the empire had struck. his master was quick to teach him to never kick someone when they're already down, or land the killing blow quickly. torture wasn't her way, it was either redemption or death. sho'jka has chosen redemption for her. he'd feel bad if this 'doc' never saw his wife again. as eccentric as he seems.

the red twi'lek makes his way down the halls of the hospital. it's rather desolate here in sobrik, as there haven't been too many skirmishes as of late with the resistance. given, he's hidden her away in one of the least used wings of the hospital and locked the door with a passcode, but it doesn't hurt to be careful.

he does consider for just a moment, if he'll be able to get her out as he strides into the warm, humid air of balmorra. he wrinkles his nose, the air full of gases from pollution. sobrik is over defended, even with the majority of sith that were brought to alderaan for the court. he'd never heard of a zenith terrorizing the general population, but balmorra typically wasn't his station either. usually he was stationed on korriban or on the fury assisting where he can. but, since his master had given him a choice to attend court or not, he was doing his trials by fighting the resistance.

he'll try, at least. while he was at it, he'd at least look at the survivor reports that his soldiers had compiled.

[dangermousie]

Happy 2019, which I rang in with some fantasy and scifi

Gods So, anyway, here is what I have been reading lately

OLD SCHOOL FANTASY

You either love the 80s/90s stuff or find it old-fashioned enough to set your teeth on edge. Luckily, I am in the former camp.

Melanie Rawn, the Dragon Prince - first in her trilogy, this is part fantasy novel (dragons! politics! magic!) and part a delicious bodice ripper romance (true love! mind wipes! ripping of clothes!) You either love that stuff or you don’t. Like a lot of old-school fantasy, it tends not to have too many shades of grey characters, but sometimes you just want the hunky prince Rohan and beautiful magician Sioned to be gorgeous and noble and heroic and sexy and ripping each other’s clothes off. 

PS. I got it for the cover. Do me, Rohan!

I am certainly getting the second book in the series.

PPS. Trigger warning for sexual assault of both hero and the chief female villain. It’s a VERY 80s book. 

Jennifer Roberson, Tiger and Del series - I love this!!! I tried and failed to get into her Chronicles of the Cheysuli, but Tiger and Del is great great stuff. (Also, if you are looking for POC protagonists, look no further than Tiger.) Tiger is a great sword dancer from the south, Del is a sword master from the North. Together they overcome traumas, defeat enemies and their pasts, and save the world occasionally. Oh, and fall in love. This is a wonderful, wonderful series from beginning to end, with two such complex and complicated protagonists (and how awesome that Del is often emotionally unavailable, vengeance driven, scarred and yet viewed as loved and loving. And Tiger is just amazing.)

Judith Tarr, Spear of Heaven (Avaryan Respendent) - This is the second book in the second trilogy in Tarr’s interconnected six book series (first trilogy is Avaryan Rising and takes place long before the second.) First off - Rising made me insane. I loved the first book, but the last book made me rage because Tarr wanted me to root for characters I wanted to murder and view as bad or misguided the characters I came to love. It was a bold gamble, but it failed. Still, I love Tarr’s prose (it often reads like poetry), I often love the characters she creates, and while the plot is hard to explain (it deals with the royal family and its use of magic, and worldgates that allow interplace travel failing, is the closest I can come to it), it’s so well-written, I don’t even care. Also, POC protagonists galore. And romance.

Kate Elliott, King’s Dragon (Crown of Stars) - The first book in the seven book series. I’ve posted about it recently, so I won’t do too much, but it’s gorgeously written and well thought out and I am in love with slowly discovering her sorcery power and recovering from trauma Liath and illegitimate son of King and commander of his troops, intense as hell Sanglant. HOWEVER OMG I MUST PROTEST because at the end of book 1, Sanglant is captured by that world’s version of Vikings and is now a slave of their chief magician who has put an iron collar and chains on him and made him one of his killer dog pack and by that i mean LITERALLY THREW HIM AMONG HIS DOGS TO SEE HOW LONG HE CAN FIGHT THEM OFF AND KEEP THEM IN CHECK AND BE TREATED AS SUBHUMAN AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY FAVORITE CHARACTER OMG AND SANGLANT IS ALL YOU CAN’T BREAK ME BECAUSE MY HEART IS WITH ANOTHER AND NOT WITH ME MEANING LIATH AND I NEED TO STOP. 

YA FANTASY

I am a sucker for YA fantasy even if I am much too old to be the intended audience. 

Mindee Arnett, Onyx and Ivory - our heroine used to be a noblewoman, but when her father tried to attack the King, she left and is now running messages in the desert. However, scary dragons are now appearing in the day, her first true love Prince Corwin has reappeared, and she may or may not be in danger due to her hidden magic. This is lovely and smart and well-written and it’s such a rarity to have two good, highly competent protagonists who act even while they angst. 

ROMANTIC SCIFI

This section should just be entitled “where were Rachel Bach and Sara Creasy my whole life”

Rachel Bach, Paradox Series - this trilogy is everything you ever wanted and never were gonna get - tough as hell heroine, a deliciously intense and angsty romance, Universe saving, conspiracies, mystic stuff, alien beings. Basically go read it and then wave your Devi x Rupert flag with me. Short summary is mercenary Devi really wants to become one of King’s elite guards, and to do so signs up with a trader named Caldwell, whose ship mysteriously gets attacked super often and short stint with whom often leads to guard positions due to extra combat experience. She quickly begins to discover everything is not what it seems. Oh, and the ship’s cook Rupert is surprisingly hot and surprisingly good with a gun. 

Sara Creasy, Song of Scarabaeus/Children of Scarabaeus duology - OK, this is mega smart (don’t read when tired) and twisty twisty twisty, but I confess that I was mainly in it because of Edie, a genius bio tech, coerced into helping with something Universe-changing, and Finn, a slave with a muting collar (for being on the wrong side of a rebellion), who is made her bodyguard because a chip will kill him if he is far away from her. This set up has my name on it OH YES. I loved Edie’s emotional integrity as much as I loved Finn’s endurance and the whole duology is AWESOME and EMOTIONAL and BRAINY at once. 

BRING OUT YOUR GUNS

I happen to like military fantasy some time, and both Wexler and McClellan are long-time favorites. 

Django Wexler, The Price of Valour - this is book 3 in The Shadow Campaigns five book series, which combines magic and 18th century France in a way. If you are looking for lesbian protagonists, this is a book for you, since one of our three narrators is Winter - Colonel in the army of that Universe’s version of Napoleon (only better as a person). The other two are another colonel - Marcus d’Ivoire and the ruling queen - Raesinia. The equivalent of French revolution is eating everyone alive in this installment, Winter is fighting in the war and trying to keep her relationship with first love Jane going, Marcus gets drawn in to help Raesinia save the city, Raesinia copes with not being able to ever die and being hunted by Priests of the Black (and I ship Marcus x Raes btw), and the whole thing is, as usual, awesome.  

Brian McClellan, Wrath of Empire - second in his Gods of Blood and Power series. I don’t love it as much as I do his Power Mage trilogy (I miss Tamas, who held that series together, and don’t feel as invested in the characters from the previous trilogy who appear here as much as I did there - Taniel is a good example) but it’s still solid and fun and Bill Sykes is a force of nature and Bo and Nila are back and Ka Poel is a lost Dynize Princess and I still ship her and Taniel in a terrified “don’t kill me” way so all is good. 

NEWBIE BUT GOODIE

S.G. Prince, Elvish - this is the author’s first book and the first in a series and I want more yesterday! Elves and magic and war and love and loss and gorgeous prose and OMG I SHIP THE MAIN COUPLE TO DISTRACTION.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 4 February 2019

Quick Bits:

Archie #702 sees Sandy Jarrell and Matt Herms pitch in for much of this issue as Betty and Veronica try to figure out who Archie’s seeing now. It goes about as well as you’d expect. Nick Spencer is still delivering some humorous dialogue and the opening sequence from Marguerite Sauvage is as beautiful as ever.

| Published by Archie Comics

Archie 1941 #5 is pretty heavy, dealing with the the grief, remorse, and emotional devastation of loss experienced during the war. Peter Krause and Kelly Fitzpatrick’s artwork has been wonderful throughout this entire series and they nail the conclusion.

| Published by Archie Comics

Avengers #14 sparks the fuse of the vampire civil war from Jason Aaron, David Marquez, Justin Ponsor, Erick Arciniega, and Cory Petit. There’s some really nice world-building going on here with the Legion of the Unliving and a rather interesting development with Ghost Rider.

| Published by Marvel

Batman #64 begins “The Price” crossover with The Flash from Joshua Williamson, Guillem March, Tomeu Morey, and Steve Wands. Outside of the tie-ins throughout the DC titles, I haven’t been reading Heroes in Crisis, but this ties in as well, spotlighting some of the strain that Batman and the Flash have been under. Something definitely feels off about the situation.

| Published by DC Comics

BPRD: The Devil You Know #13 feels like shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic at this point, with all of the pieces moving into place, and we’re just awaiting the inevitable end of everything. Stunning artwork from Laurence Campbell and Dave Stewart.

| Published by Dark Horse

Champions #2 fills in the hole of what happened during the battle with Zzzax last issue and, boy, is it a doozy. Jim Zub, Steven Cummings, Marcio Menyz, and Clayton Cowles set up something interesting, and possibly horrifying, to come down the line.

| Published by Marvel

Conan the Barbarian #3 maintains its high bar of excellence as the one-off stories building up Conan’s past continue from Jason Aaron, Mahmud Asrar, Matthew Wilson, and Travis Lanham. The art from Asrar and Wilson is just perfect.

| Published by Marvel

The Curse of Brimstone #11 is the beginning of the end in the first of this two-part finale for the series from Justin Jordan, Denys Cowan, John Stanisci, Rain Beredo, and Wes Abbott. It’s great to see Cowan’s art here as he, Stanisci, and Beredo make the beginning of this final fight look absolutely gorgeous.

| Published by DC Comics

Daredevil #1 is a very impressive debut from Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Sunny Gho, and Clayton Cowles. It picks up from Matt’s recovery in Man Without Fear and, well, things are messy, unfocused, and he’s having a hell of a time getting his feet under him again. But, beyond that, there’s a real depth to the story here. Though there’s a ton of action, it also goes deep into character building and flashbacks of Matt’s time as a kid getting morality lessons from his priest. This is damn good, taking cues from Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s “Born Again”, but it also feels influenced by Mike Grell’s “The Longbow Hunters”. There’s also a back-up written and illustrated by Zdarsky himself with an interpretation of how Daredevil “sees” and the digital edition gives a smattering of back-up material including covers, art comparisons, and sketches. I highly recommend this.

| Published by Marvel

Deathstroke #40 concludes the “Arkham” arc with Slade killing Hugo Strange and then slaughtering a bunch of homeless men. Maybe. Depends on which truth you believe. In doing so, Priest sets up the seeds for the upcoming crossover with Teen Titans.

| Published by DC Comics

Die #3 peels back another layer of the onion of this world as Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowles give us a story of how the various regions work. All through an allegory of war between Eternal Prussia and Little England, Tolkien re-adapted to a kind of explanation on his own allegory. It’s interesting, especially when coupled with the essay Gillen pens in the back that explains the whole construct. That said, it also works great as just an extremely pretty adventure where a party of adventurers fights a dragon. I’m loving what this series is doing.

| Published by Image

Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #4 concludes the opening arc with the Hoarder from Jody Houser, Rachael Stott, Erica Eren Angiolini, Viviana Spinelli, Richard Starkings, Sarah Jacobs, and John Roshell. I still love the inventiveness and ornate quality to the Hoarder’s design.

| Published by Titan

The Empty Man #4 gives a bit more insight into the disease ravaging the planet, as more of the strange skittering monsters appear and the kids from the original mini-series return. Cullen Bunn, Jesús Hervás, Niko Guardia, and Ed Dukeshire are crafting something very dark and weird with this series, but also very, very good.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Female Furies #1 isn’t a bad start from Cecil Castellucci, Adrian Melo, Hi-Fi, and Carlos M. Mangual. I quite like Melo’s art here, as she’s adapted it somewhat to highlight influences from some Fourth World luminaries like Jack Kirby, Keith Giffen, and Walt Simonson.

| Published by DC Comics

The Freeze #3 delves deeper into the early days after the Freeze as the awakened look into the serial killings, and we get more mysteries in missing people (who may or may not be the same as those murdered) and the revelation that Ray is being manipulated. Really great work here from Dan Wickline, Phillip Sevy, and Troy Peteri. 

| Published by Image / Top Cow

GI Joe: Sierra Muerte #1 sees Michael Fiffe bring his kind of retro charm to the Joes in the beginning of this series. It’s actually played pretty straight and reminds me of the loving care that Tom Scioli also takes to these properties. Great art and a story that reminds me of the original GI Joe cartoon.

| Published by IDW

Giant Days #47 intertwines Daisy learning to drive, McGraw’s brother dropping in on him and Susan, and Esther taking care of an illicit adorable puppy. All the usual humour and character building you’d expect from John Allison, Max Sarin, Whitney Cogar, and Jim Campbell. 

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

The Girl in the Bay #1 is an intriguing debut from JM DeMatteis, Corin Howell, James Devlin, and Clem Robins. It jumps headlong in to some of DeMatteis’ favourite themes and topics as spiritualism, reincarnation, and coming of age (particularly in Brooklyn) and presents a compelling world and mystery for the seemingly dead, then strangely awakened fifty years later Karen Sartori. Very nice artwork from Howell and Devlin.

| Published by DC Comics / Berger Books

The Green Lantern #4 may yet be the most beautiful issue to date, with Liam Sharp and Steve Oliff elevating the impossibly high bar of their artwork to an even greater level. The character designs, page layouts, panel transitions, and sheer storytelling in the artwork is incredible.

| Published by DC Comics

Gunhawks #1 is another of the revived title one-shots in celebration of Marvel’s 80th anniversary, this one a western from David & Maria Lapham, Luca Pizarri, Neeraj Menon, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Travis Lanham. It’s gritty, bloody, and the art from Pizarri, Menon, and Rosenberg is very impressive.

| Published by Marvel

Immortal Hulk #13 concludes the descent into Hell in an issue that is probably as epic as the Avengers beatdown from #7. Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Belardino Brabo, Rafael Fonteriz, Paul Mounts, and Cory Petit continue to deliver one of the best series on the stands today.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League #17 follows on from the annual and the revelations in the “Escape from Hawkworld” arc in this single issue story of Martian Manhunter’s past from Scott Snyder, Jim Cheung, Mark Morales, Walden Wong, Tomeu Morey, and Tom Napolitano. Some fascinating developments in J’onn’s history here, with gorgeous artwork, and the funny truth that Batman’s really a concerned bat-dad.

| Published by DC Comics

Killmonger #4 wages a pitched battle with Die #3 and The Green Lantern #4 for most beautiful art in a comic this week. Juan Ferreyra’s work is stunning, giving the book depth, character, and an immense re-readability just to stare at the imagery again. There is a wonderful sequence of blood pooling up the page as the violence and body count increases and the design for the cat goddess is gorgeous. As to that latter, Egypt isn’t for want of multiple cat deities and, though Sekhmet is probably the easy answer, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the older and somewhat lesser known Mafdet. Bryan Hill, Ferreyra, and Joe Sabino continue to deliver one hell of a solid story with this series.

| Published by Marvel

Oberon #1 is off to a fantastic start with this tale from Ryan Parrott, Miloš Slavković, and Charles Pritchett. It strikes a nice balance between fantasy and the mundane as Bonnie finds out she, and the world, aren’t exactly what she thought. Gorgeous artwork from Slavković.

| Published by AfterShock

Old Man Quill #1 kicks off a Guardians tale set in the “Old Man” universe from Ethan Sacks, Robert Gill, Andres Mossa, and Joe Caramagna. I liked the recently concluded Sacks-penned Old Man Hawkeye series as well and Star-Lord appears to be taking on that same kind of beaten-down sardonicism of Clint.

| Published by Marvel

Prodigy #3 sees Crane and Agent Straks racing across the globe to find out information on the cult aiding the alternate dimension insurgents. The artwork from Rafael Albuquerque and Marcelo Maiolo continues to be the main attraction, delivering some amazing action sequences.

| Published by Image

Self/Made #3 gives us another twist as Rebecca and Amala attempt to take down Bryce for control of Amala’s code. This story continues to evolve in some very interesting ways, while including some of the toxicity inherent in some game development studios, with some beautiful artwork from Eduardo Ferigato and Marcelo Costa.

| Published by Image

Shadow Roads #6 returns with Brian Hurtt stepping in for the line art and it’s great to see him back illustrating within the Sixth Gun world. Really nice, weird designs for the Bone Plains and interesting hints as to what’s next for the new/old threats seeping back into the world.

| Published by Oni Press

Star Wars: Age of Republic - Anakin Skywalker #1 spotlights a moral quandary for Anakin from Jody Houser, Cory Smith, Wilton Santos, Walden Wong, Java Tartaglia, and Travis Lanham. It’s still interesting to see Anakin as “General Skywalker” during the Clone Wars and how different he was from what he’d become.

| Published by Marvel

These Savage Shores #3 is almost a perfect comic, actually it may well be a perfect comic. The craft and care that goes into creating this work is astounding. Ram V, Sumit Kumar, Vittorio Astone, and Aditya Bidikar are elevating the art form each issue. With the compelling intertwining of history and horror. With the epistolary narrative approach perfectly befitting the vampire sub-genre. With the attention to detail in how dialogue and narration are presented visually. With the variations on the 9-panel grid to guide pacing and keep the reader visually interested. With the consideration of the colour washes and tones to amplify the mood and atmosphere of the tale. This series is incredible.

| Published by Vault

United States vs. Murder Inc. #6 is kind of a weird conclusion to this series as the larger plot of the predicament the families currently find themselves in is left to the next series and, like last issue, we instead get more of Valentine’s family history. Great art, though, from Michael Avon Oeming and Taki Soma. The art really reminds me of some of Darwyn Cooke’s in his Parker adaptations.

| Published by DC Comics / Jinxworld

Vindication #1 is an interesting crime drama from MD Marie, Carlos Miko, Dema Jr., Thiago Goncalves, and Troy Peteri. I love the shades of grey and uncertainty in motivation and truth in this story.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Wasted Space #6 returns with all the humour, violence, and madness that Michael Moreci, Hayden Sherman, Jason Wordie, and Jim Campbell brought to the first arc. I love Sherman’s designs for the gods, they remind me a lot of Ted McKeever’s work.

| Published by Vault

The Wrong Earth #6 ends season one of the series with Dragonfly and Dragonflyman adapting somewhat each to their new Earths, showing a bit of equivocation of the characters as the environment changes them. This has been an interesting story from Tom Peyer, Jamal Igle, Juan Castro, Andy Troy, and Rob Steen and there’s ample threads to bring me back when the series resumes. 

| Published by Ahoy

Young Justice #2 continues the adventure in Gemworld in the present, while we get a focus on Wonder Girl in the past. There’s something weird going on here with time and continuity that still feels like a story beat more than Brian Michael Bendis just playing fast and loose with what he wants. Great art from Patrick Gleason, Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy, and Alejandro Sanchez.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Other Highlights: Asgardians of the Galaxy #6, Atomic Robo & The Dawn of a New Era #2, Battlestar Galactica: Twilight Command #1, Black AF: Devil’s Dye #2, Cemetery Beach #6, Curse Words #20, The Dreaming #6, Feathers, Gasolina #15, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #259, LaGuardia #3, Marvel Action: Avengers #2, Noble #15, Project Superpowers #6, Red Sonja #1, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5, Star Wars #61, Tony Stark: Iron Man #8, The Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion #5, Unnatural #7, Vampirella/Reanimator #2

Recommended Collections: Betrothed - Volume 1: Love or Die, Big Trouble in Little China: Old Man Jack - Volume 3, BPRD: The Devil You Know - Volume 2: Pandemonium, Ether - Volume 2: Copper Golems, Lowlifes, Noble - Volume 3: No One Man, Optimus Prime - Volume 5, TMNT: Bebop & Rocksteady Hit the Road

d. emerson eddy sometimes feels like his old bones should light out for the wastelands.

[pixelgrotto]

A heritage of horror Sweet Home is a lot of things - the only “survival horror” game on the Famicom, an amazing little 1989 title that never left Japan, the grandfather of Resident Evil, and one of the earliest movie-based games to actually be good. Most of all, it’s impressively ahead of its time. 

I spent a few days over the past week tackling this underrated gem, mostly because I plan to undertake a project to play through all the Resident Evils over the course of this year, and Resident Evil 1 was originally planned as a remake of Sweet Home. Capcom director Tokuro Fujiwara worked on both games, and he specifically said that when designing Resident Evil, he was darn happy to utilize the technical capabilities of the Playstation, which were so far beyond the Famicom. Finally, he could create a game with graphics, sound and design that was truly scary. 

However, let’s not discount everything that Sweet Home offers just because its spiritual successor obviously surpassed it. This game, while held back by the limits of an 8-bit console, still provides an eerie atmosphere and even gave me a genuine jumpscare (a mild one, but still a jumpscare) in its first hour when I looked at a corpse only to be greeted by a sudden screech of the Famicom’s sound chip and a full-on image of the corpse rising up to speak to me. Not bad for a game that’s nearly thirty years old, and Sweet Home only continued to pleasantly surprise the longer I played it.  First off, this game is a horror-themed RPG, which already puts it in a very rare category with perhaps only the Parasite Eve games as company. Unlike Parasite Eve, however, you don’t play as a gun-toting cop with mitochondria powers. Instead you control a Japanese film crew who’ve entered a haunted mansion, pissed off an angry female ghost and are just trying to do their best to get out alive. 

Secondly, in order to create tension, Sweet Home chooses to forsake a lot of convenient RPG conventions like magic, unlimited equipment space and a way to resurrect party members. Instead of MP and spells, there’s only a “Pray” mechanic where characters can choose to use Pray Points to do extra damage in battle. Every item and weapon you run into has to be picked up and placed in a character’s very limited inventory, and trying to juggle the right gear you need to navigate the mansion’s hazards and maintain a supply of Tonics - the only healing item in Sweet Home - creates true nervousness. Finally, when one of your characters die, they’re dead for good, and there are even multiple endings (a rarity in a Famicom game) depending on how many members of the film crew survive.  Lastly, you’ve got five playable characters, but they cannot all group up together. This might be due to the Famicom’s technical limitations, but the fact that you need to split up, Scooby Doo-style, only adds to Sweet Home’s seemingly antiquated but undeniably effective atmosphere of dread. You’ll end up with a party of three and a party of two, and when one of your parties runs into an enemy, they have the option to “Call” for the others to come assist them. When that happens, you have temporary control of the second party, and you’ve got to rush over to your friends as fast as you can or risk them taking extra damage. It’s a great way to encourage careful, strategic play - I never dared take one of my parties very far from the other - and since each character has a unique, unswappable tool at their disposal (a lighter, medical kit, vacuum, camera and key) that they can use to navigate the mansion, you’ll often have to mix and match party members depending on the obstacles in front of you.  All of this stuff - the limited equipment space, the inability to resurrect characters, the strategic movement around a giant mansion - eventually showed up in Resident Evil, and it’s fascinating to see in Sweet Home the DNA that would go on to spawn one of gaming’s most well-known franchises. All that the game’s really missing are the walking dead, since the only “zombie" enemy’s more of a dismembered torso. There are lots of other well-drawn monsters, though, and some of them are genuinely creepy, like a screaming head stuck in a wall (seen above) and a guy simply known as the “Man” who’s usually turned away from you, but reveals that half of his face is melted away like the Terminator when he attacks.  The release of Sweet Home on the Famicom actually coincided with the release of a Sweet Home movie that has since fallen into obscurity, and nobody’s quite sure whether the game or the film began development first. Some kind souls have actually uploaded the whole thing onto YouTube for your viewing pleasure, since the movie never got a DVD release, and I watched it last night. It’s some truly excellent Japanese horror schlock, with wonderful effects by Dick Smith, the same guy who worked on The Exorcist. It also differs from the game in several key areas - for one, while you can ensure that all members of the film crew survive in the game, only three of them make it out alive in the movie, and the film’s finale is not exactly a big boss battle, but rather an interesting exhibit of the power of motherhood, with all the focus on the story’s female characters.  If Sweet Home had been released internationally, it would surely be hailed as one of the best titles on the NES, but I imagine Nintendo wanted to stay away from horrific imagery on what was seen in America and Europe as a family friendly console. (The spooky point ‘n click game Uninvited did come out on the NES in 1991, however, so maybe it was just a case of Nintendo assuming that a title based on a horror movie only released in Japan wouldn’t sell.) Thankfully, these days you can play Sweet Home easily enough via emulation and two excellent fan translations by Gaijin Productions and TheSiege, and I highly recommend experiencing the game and watching the movie in whichever order you prefer. Despite its age, Sweet Home is still a masterpiece that deserves to be in the beginning chapters of any book written about the survival horror genre - and it’s certainly worth checking out to get a glimpse at Resident Evil’s humble yet horrific heritage.  All screenshots taken by me.

[yeonchi]

Kisekae Insights #25: The last of Hiroki’s prototypes

Originally, I wasn’t planning on making an instalment of Kisekae Insights this month because I was planning on building a new PC, but then I suddenly got depressed because of stuff and that had to be put on hold, so I decided to write a couple more instalments. At the same time, I’m planning on ending the second run of Kisekae Insights after the next instalment to make way for the Doctor Who Series 13 reviews and also to focus on the last leg of my personal project. 9 instalments in 6 months isn’t bad compared to 16 in the first run, but that’s probably because a few instalments were filler and I have a job now so I don’t have as much time to work on new content. It will take me some time to prepare content for the third run (when I eventually get around to it), but I promise that we’ll go straight into the big stuff, namely My Little Pony, Gokaiger, Decade and Soulbound. I said back in #17 that I would hopefully cover it this year, but obviously things have changed.

Most of Hiroki’s prototypes that I’ve covered up to this point are OCs of animes that have had a significant influence on my personal project; this is not necessarily the case for the remaining ones, particularly because a couple of them are totally original characters. Let’s dive right in and cover the last of Hiroki’s prototypes.

Please note that there is a content warning for family/domestic violence and suicide.

Richard Yang: The First Prototype

Remember back in #6 when I said that Kyōko Izumi is the “Genesis Prototype”? Richard is the “first prototype” because chronologically, he is the first of Hiroki’s prototypes.

Bodyguards and Assassins (十月圍城), not to be mistaken for the namesake movie, is a series I created (or rather, conceptualised because I never really wrote out the series fully) in 2010 as a late-night drama on my totally real TV network after all the simulcasts of TVB dramas were done for the evening (we’ve really come far over the years). Richard Yang wasn’t written as Hiroki’s prototype until 2013 because I didn’t have that plot point back then.

In the drama, Richard is basically an explorer who has adventures. His style name is Samlin because at one point, he became sworn siblings with several other people who either resembled or were characters from Fifi and the Flowertots or Angelina Ballerina, one of them being Ms Mimi, who is like the elder sister or something. His timeline probably got cancelled out by the time he came onto Doctor Who.

Four series of Bodyguards and Assassins were made between 2010 and 2013. The second series involved Richard meeting his old primary school friends or something, the third series involved characters from K-On and the fourth series involved Richard meeting (a reincarnated version) of Yuri Nakamura from Angel Beats, who would go on to become his girlfriend. Richard began being featured on Doctor Who in 2012 with the Kikuchi Arc in Series 4 (he doesn’t do much in it though), but his origin wouldn’t be covered until the year after for the 50th Anniversary.

Speaking of Angel Beats, the series’ main characters, Kanade Tachibana and Yuzuru Otonashi, were also the Doctor’s companions for a few episodes at the end of Series 1 and 2 and the entirety of Series 3 and 4, making numerous reappearances over the years. Aside from Yuri, other characters from Angel Beats were also featured, but not given much focus.

In 2001, Hiroki was with his parents at Madame Tussaud’s in Hong Kong (the actual one, not the other one that we usually use to refer to Melbourne). While his father was trying to take a photo of his wife and son with the wax figures of The Beatles, Hiroki was too busy playing with George Harrison’s hair (I don’t exactly know which one is which so I might be wrong, like that matters anyway), causing him to be distracted. His mother slapped him, causing him to cry and regenerate into Richard. While Hiroki’s real body materialised later, he managed to swap places with Richard so that no one would get suspicious.

Following his birth, the 4-year-old Richard ended up living at an orphanage before he fell back in time to 1998 and ended up in Nagoya with no memories of his past. He was discovered by a local orphanage, but after no one adopted him for a period of three years, he was adopted by one of the female workers.

An unexpected invasion from the Oda Army in 2004 caused Richard to be separated from his adoptive mother. He was found by the Tongmenghui, who decided to take him in, considering his situation. Taking on the name Richard Yang, he became the leader of the Tongmenghui and led children in a rebellion against their parents. This would be known as the Dinghai-Wuzi Revolution of 2007.

Following the end of the Revolution, Richard started studying Geography and Teaching at Tokyo University, eventually becoming a professor there by 2012. He also began working as a casual relief teacher at Camembert Academy and as a tutor in the Chipping Cheddar area, where he eventually decided to settle down with Yuri.

When the Superhero Project was being developed in 2017, Richard moved to Auckland and became the commander of the Superhero Project for UNIT NZ, tasked with looking after the Shinkengers and Go-Busters. After the Superhero Project was decommissioned in 2019 (Soulbound Series 3), Richard was recalled from UNIT NZ and sent to Minato-Sugaru Island to help investigate a minus energy phenomenon, going undercover as a teacher at Canterlot High School. He returned to his normal UNIT duties the year after, during which the Superhero Project was recommissioned.

Zhuge Qiao: Successor of the Guardians’ legacy

(Morina created on Chibi Maker by gen8)

Like with Richard, Zhuge Qiao is another character who was just introduced out of the blue and given an origin story later, the main difference being that Zhuge Qiao’s introduction and origin story was entirely contained within the main Doctor Who series instead of being introduced in a totally unrelated series. She did get a spinoff series though.

Shugo Chara, the series which Zhuge Qiao was created for, was featured in the project in 2012 and 2013. Aside from Zhuge Qiao, the Doctor, Parker, Hiroki and Akari received (multiple) Guardian Characters, but they were relegated to the dollhouse (or Hakushi’s mini-TARDIS) soon after their debut and written out some time after (with the exception of four who were travelling in Hakushi’s mini-TARDIS). The reason why Heart’s Eggs exist is because of a morphic field in the city that caused people to develop them in their hearts. The morphic field would later evolve to the point where visitors to the city could develop Heart’s Eggs and hatch Guardian Characters reflecting their personalities if their emotions were strong enough. However, Heart’s Eggs developed in this manner would disappear from the visitors’ hearts within days of leaving the city and even if a Guardian Character were to hatch from it, they wouldn’t last very long without the companionship of other Guardian Characters.

In 2005, Hiroki went to Honnōji in Kyoto to evade his former lovers, Kimia and Tiffany, who had joined forces and formed the Kurayami Alliance in an effort to assassinate him. He was then forced to commit suicide, resulting in him regenerating into a female prototype, who would come to be known as Zhuge Qiao. Before you ask, yes, she is named after the Three Kingdoms figure of the same name, just as Parker was named after Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Qiao was brought back to UNIT HQ, where she said a brief farewell to Hiroki before heading off to travel the world on her own, eventually going on to fight in the Parallax War as well. In the final days of the Parallax War, she was attacked by a group of X-Egg influenced humans in Handan on Popei Island and was saved by Amu Hinamori, who she became good friends with. After the Parallax War ended, she would go on to gain a Guardian Character named Morina and establish Torchwood North, an organisation for Guardians to continue their duties even after graduating from Seiyo Academy. Although her Character Change has not been shown in the stories I’ve written, Zhuge Qiao can Character Transform into Beautiful Dream, wielding the Marigold Saber Sword.

During her time in Torchwood North, Zhuge Qiao assisted the Guardians in protecting humanity, though she did slip away from Popei Island to help wherever she was needed. She also planned on making a system that would allow the Guardians to transform at will, but it was unfinished when the Daleks invaded Handan (during the events surrounding the Battle of Koshi Castle as covered in #15) and Amu and the Guardians sacrificed themselves to repel the fleet, resulting in them and their Guardian Characters being transported to the Road of Stars. Taking the remaining four Guardian Characters into consideration (because they had been travelling with Hakushi in his mini-TARDIS), Zhuge Qiao perfected her system into a belt named the Shugo Belt (similar to the Den-O Belt) and became Kamen Rider Shugo, an original Rider replacing Kamen Riders Den-O (because who needs the Den-Liner when we have the TARDIS) and Kiva (because I didn’t want to find a way around the Fangire requirement).

Sword Form – Morina (Zhuge Qiao’s Guardian Character) Analogous to Den-O Sword Form and Kiva Kiva Form, Shugo Sword Form utilises the Marigold Saber Sword (similar to the Momotarosword) as a carryover from Beautiful Dream. This form’s finisher is the Extreme Slash.

Brush Form – Miki (Amu Hinamori’s Guardian Character) Analogous to Den-O Rod Form and Kiva Garulu Form, Shugo Brush Form utilises the Canvas Brush Revolver as a giant brush to attack with brush strokes or blobs of ink (similar to Amu as Amulet Spade or Ma Dai’s moveset in Dynasty Warriors 7 and 8). This form’s finisher is the Solid Attack followed by the Open Heart Kick.

Sonic Form – Hakushi (The Doctor’s Guardian Character) Analogous to Den-O Ax Form and Kiva Dogga Form, Shugo Sonic Form utilises the Sonic Hammer (similar to the Dogga Hammer) for powerful short-range attacks. The Sonic Hammer also incorporates technology used in sonic screwdrivers to disrupt enemies at a medium range. This form’s finisher is the Dynamic Smash.

Gun Form – Mubo (Parker’s Guardian Character) Analogous to Den-O Gun Form and Kiva Basshaa Form, Shugo Gun Form utilises the Magnum Revolver (similar to the Ryuvolver) for powerful attacks at any range, however this form’s marksmanship may not be the best at times as Mubo represents Parker’s recklessness.

Climax Form Analogous to Den-O Climax Form and Kiva DoGaBaKi Form, Shugo Climax Form is activated with the K-Chara phone attached on the Shugo Belt. This final form combines the powers of all four Guardian Characters and though it is technically able to use all four aforementioned weapons, Shugo mainly uses the Marigold Saber Sword out of preference. This form’s finishers are the same as that of Den-O Climax Form, namely the Boisterous Kick/Punch/Shout/Slash.

Decade’s Final Form Ride card for Shugo summons the Guardian Sword (similar to the Evil-Crushing Hundred-Beast Sword from Gaoranger), allowing him to perform the Decade Guardian Slash together with Shugo. I had thought about using or modifying it and giving Shugo an “actual” final form stronger than Climax Form, but I decided not to.

Hayato Kisaichi: The Forgotten Prototype

There have been two special cases where one of Hiroki’s incarnations have gone on to become their own prototypes. One of them was Momoka Mizutani, Hiroki’s only female incarnation influenced by Walpurgisnacht, and the other is Hayato Kisaichi, aka the Ice King, an initially forgotten incarnation similar to the War Doctor. I should point out that due to the nature of his regeneration, this incarnation did not use up a pocket of regeneration energy; you’ll find out why soon.

Hayato’s design is modelled off a genderbent version of Elsa from Frozen. He was introduced in the opening two-parter of Series 9, which was released in August 2014, the same time as the BBC Series 8. After that, he was shelved until the 5115 Specials in November of that year.

(Genderbent Elsa art, the basis for Hayato Kisaichi/the Ice King. Art by juhaihai and Awen Ng)

After Zhuge Qiao was found and taken back to UNIT HQ, Hiroki’s next incarnation manifested naked where he fell before he stood up and metamorphosed his residual regeneration energy into ice, allowing him to become the Ice King and build Nijō Castle out of ice. He then built a machine and sent a signal for assistance, which was answered by the Nestene Consciousness, the Ice Warriors and the Weeping Angels.

Though they were not summoned by the signal, the Doctor, Hiroki and his companions from 2014 also came to 2005 in an effort to secure the foundations of Nijō Castle before it falls apart in fifteen years due to it being made out of regeneration energy. During their adventure, they joined forces with the Ice King and helped him and his army fight off the Kurayami Alliance at nearby Yamazaki, but Tiffany and Kimia manage to slip past them and head for Nijō Castle, leading to them having to head back.

Back at Nijō Castle, the Ice King ambushes the Kurayami Alliance with the Weeping Angels, who can move outside of their quantum lock due to them being under the Ice King’s control. Despite this, however, the Kurayami Alliance manage to set Nijō Castle on fire and the Ice King is killed by Kimia after a battle with Tiffany. The Ice King’s ice powers change back into regeneration energy, allowing the past Hiroki to regenerate into his next incarnation without using another regeneration in the process.

The Ice King remanifested himself as a prototype under Nijō Castle, where he laid in hibernation for the next nine years along with his army. Hiroki would begin reawakening the Ice King later during “the Day of Retribution”, but he never got to unleash him or his army. However, Hiroki did summon the Ice King and his army in Heaven when he and the Doctor confront God for rapturing millions of people. They later joined the big battle in Yokohama alongside the angels.

After the battle ended and Girl Power was defeated thanks to the intervention of Jesus Christ, the Ice King was left in the care of UNIT. He was given the name Hayato Kisaichi and offered a job in the canteen at UNIT HQ, allowing him to find a new purpose in life. Later in 2018, Hayato joined UNIT NZ and became Blue Buster. Despite no longer being the Ice King, I like to think that Hayato maintained some level of it (even if only a little). I didn’t put the Go-Busters’ weaknesses into consideration when writing Gokaiger, but I suppose that Hayato could have a tendency to overheat and go out of control, like in the Sentai.

In 2019, Hayato joined the Arima Group on invitation from its CEO, Teppei Arima, and became the development director of its subsidiary, Arima Property Development, helping develop regional towns and bringing more people to them (oh my god, he’s a developer, he works in real estate now lol). For a time, he also became the temporary host of Ultraman Dyna. The year after, he was called back to rejoin the Go-Busters.

I also like to think that Hayato befriended his teammate, Yui Ichii of the Data Processing Club, but I never showed any relationship between them because given his origin, I wanted him to stand out and be more independent instead of being reliant on intimate relationships.

(more genderbent Elsa art from an unknown artist – if anyone knows the source please feel free to contact me)

Terry Mizukoshi: The Parallel Prototype

Unlike every other prototype introduced in my personal project, Terry is unique in that he was spawned from a parallel universe counterpart of Hiroki, which was shown during his debut in 2012’s Series 4. When circumstances led him to the Doctor’s universe, he became a part of the Zhuge family like everyone else.

In a parallel universe named Destination One, Hiroki was being forcefully wed to Hideko Kimihara (a girl with Asperger syndrome that he didn’t love) thanks to the machinations of his high school friends and the Kikuchi Clan from the Doctor’s universe (Girl Power from the Doctor’s universe were pulling some strings behind the scenes as well). When the Fifth Doctor, the Eleventh Doctor (from another universe), Doctor Whooves, the Pony Doctor and their companions intervene, a battle ensues and the Kikuchi Clan lead the Doctor and his allies into Popei Castle, which is a trap that scatters everyone to different places where they confront different enemies.

While the Hiroki from Destination One doesn’t confront an enemy per se, he does see two of his crushes (one of them being Akari) with their boyfriends, causing him to regenerate as his heart breaks. Terry was the resulting prototype while the Destination One Hiroki just manifested somewhere else (namely in front of the Fifth Doctor when he came back with Hiroki and the others from 2014). After the battle ended, Terry was taken to Destination Two, where he took the place of a Hiroki who was being forcefully wed to another girl (not Hideko). The Hiroki of Destination Two would take the place of Destination One Hiroki before presumably making his way back to his own universe. As for Destination Three Hiroki, he got married to the Akari of his universe with no dramas. Gee, it’s almost as if I put in characters that ended up doing nothing at all in the story.

After a while, Terry left his wife to find his own happiness. Upon seeing the stars in his universe going out, he stole a dimension cannon (presumably from the Torchwood there) and transported to the Doctor’s universe to warn him of what was going on, but he forgot about it. Instead, he joined the Doctor in preventing the Daleks from invading Equestria, which resulted in even more chaos as the Cybermen and Sontarans were also involved. During this adventure, he met Saki Mizukoshi and her friends, who had ended up in Equestria through the use of an enchanted rock in Shimoda, Shizuoka. Following the adventure, Terry decided to stay with Saki, having found his one true love. He also decided to change his last name to Mizukoshi for “naturalisation purposes” (as if that isn’t creepy at all).

When Saki and her family moved to Hachijō-jima, Terry stayed in Tokyo to complete his schooling while occasionally visiting his girlfriend on the island. He also began working at a ramen restaurant in an effort to support both Saki and himself in the years to come. By 2019, Terry and Saki got married while the latter was studying for her doctor’s degree. In fact, at the time of writing this instalment, Saki would still be studying right now. I can’t imagine it would be easy given the coronavirus pandemic (not that medical school would be easy for anyone in the first place).

Marco Wong: The Dual-Wielding Prince

When I was writing Block 6 of the 50th Anniversary Series in 2013, I had to find a way to use up all of Hiroki’s regenerations so that I could get that out of the way (in preparation for the Next Gen Series). Marco is one of the prototypes that was created as a result. I’ll explain the circumstances behind his regeneration later.

The Doctor had visited the Magical Kingdom of Parris Island (named after the military base of the same name in South Carolina) and somehow ended up in an arranged marriage to the queen’s daughter, Pixel Maritan. After discovering the existence of Marco’s prototype, he was whisked off to Parris Island in order to take the Doctor’s place, leading him to become the prince of Parris Island. Soon after, Marco and Maritan joined the Doctor as they took part in the Battle of Koshi Castle and teamed up with the Fourth Doctor to investigate Momoka Mizutani and find Hiroki.

In the four years after that, Marco trained himself to be an elite swordsman, specialising in a dual-wielding technique that could equal the likes of the legendary Musashi Miyamoto. At the same time, he also became the commander of Parris Island’s military before stepping down and joining the Gokaigers when he was selected to become GokaiBlue. Although he spends a lot of time with the Gokaigers, I like to think he maintains contact with Maritan now and again even though I haven’t emphasised their relationship.

Yamato/Daichi/Nagi Kurosawa: The Spun-off Prototypes

I was going to put images of them in but I won’t bother because they’re so insignificant. In Block 6, I introduced Yamato, Daichi and Nagi Kurosawa with the intent of spinning them off into the anime Say I Love You, but like I said, I forgot about them because they were insignificant. I kind of regret this decision now, but that was because at the time, I had intended on ending my personal project after the 50th Anniversary Series. Some time after, I decided to commission the Next Gen Series and it all just went from there.

In Block 6 of the 50th Anniversary Series, all the Doctors, their companions and some others (including Hiroki and Parker) were gathered at Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff to help UNIT and Torchwood investigate numerous anomalies, but they were suddenly scattered to different places. Hiroki and Akari confronted the ghosts of Hiroki’s past, future and present (in that order) before suddenly ending up at the former’s house, where his parents forcibly separate the couple, throwing Akari out the back door and locking Hiroki in a secret room that they found in his bedroom.

Hiroki regenerates into Yamato Kurosawa before he blows up the kitchen and takes his archetype self outside to be reunited with Akari. Yamato heads to Yokohama and manages to teleport himself away somewhere (probably interfering in other peoples’ stories) before ending up in Cardiff again.

Parker decides to head to the Voidstation, a building that links every universe in the Void to each other. Hiroki and Akari decide to head there as well and with the power of their Guardian Characters, they rescue Parker and bring him back to Earth. Because of the power overdrive, Hiroki regenerated three times and spawned three prototypes, namely Daichi, Nagi and Marco Wong (see above). After returning to Earth, Yamato was sent away to live with Daichi and Nagi and they were never seen again.

Well, not quite. Yamato did return in Soulbound Series 3 for a tribute to Say I Love You. Becoming the temporary host of Astra, Yamato helped Hikaru Tomokaze fight Doragory, one of Yapool’s Terrible-Monsters, while also training him on Ultraman Leo’s Space Martial Arts in an effort to help Hikaru rely less on his weapons and beams (because Ultramen didn’t have flashy, collectible-centric items and weapons back in the day). At the end of the episode, Yamato gives Astra’s Spark Doll to Hikaru before leaving (for his own universe) with his wife, Mei and son, Ken.

With this, all of Hiroki’s prototypes have been covered. While Hiroki’s prototypes act as the representatives of the different series incorporated in my personal project (before being homogenised as Power Rangers or Kamen Riders), they also have distinct characteristics of their own even though they’re essentially self-inserts and extensions to other self-inserts.

[adrenaline-roulette]

He’ll save every one of us Chapter 3

Brian May x Reader with side notes of Roger Taylor x Original female character 

Preview: “There was a contract type thing. Is it binding if it was written on greasy, fish and chip paper?”  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s still binding.” “You’re killing me Brian! Aren’t boyfriends supposed to be supportive?”

Chapter three: Kick him out!

“I just don’t understand how he can miss so many practises, and yet Bree won’t agree with me, and kick him out of the band?” You mutter, sitting behind Roger’s vacant drum set. Brian had invited you to Queen’s band rehearsal, with the promise of dinner afterwards. He had been raving about a small fish and chip shop, which he had been going to since he was a child. Once you had mentioned you had never been there, he had done everything in his power to ensure you would go, this had meant cancelling Friday night scrabble with the band, much to Freddie’s anger. Freddie was convinced the only reason why Brian had, conveniently, double booked his Friday night was because Brian knew he would never be able to beat his tripple word score for ‘Innuendo’ which had won him the game only last week. You kick the bass drum pedal twice, in an attempt to release your frustrations, though it does little to help. “I hate to be the barer of bad news Y/N, but didn’t Jake create the Midnight Librarians? Maybe Bree is worried about trying to kick him out of his own band?” Brian suggests, strumming a few chords on his guitar, making sure she was perfectly tuned, as always.

“Well, I mean yeah, he did, but, but… Why should that matter?”

“Because technically, if you were to kick him out of the band that he created, any money you get from the gigs you guys do, would go straight to him. If you signed any sort of contract or anything, saying you agree to be in the band with him.”

“Fuck, there was a contract type thing. Is it binding if it was written on greasy, fish and chip paper?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s still binding.”

“You’re killing me Brian! Aren’t boyfriends supposed to be supportive? Not to find flaws in my wonderfully thought out plans!”

Brian rolls his eyes, resting the Red Special down on his guitar stand. “Your wonderful plan was to stop playing in the middle of your next gig, walk up to him with a beer in hand, shout into the microphone, ‘Get the fuck off stage Jake, you’re fired.’, then pour the beer on his head.”

“And I would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn’t been for you meddling kids!” You smirk, as you swivel around in circles on the drum stool. Brian was right, you ran the risk of losing all the extra cash you were making with your gigs this summer. Granted it wasn’t your only income, but the café you worked at had been giving you less and less shifts this past month, and with college about to go back, you had to save as much as you could!

“Plus, if he came up with the name, then he could make it so you were no longer able to use it…”

“Aha! Saved! I came up with the Midnight Librarians!”

Brian makes his way over to you,  his tall frame looming over you as you grin up at him, head tilted all the way back just to see him, bloody hell Roger had this stool set low! “Has he really missed that many rehearsals?

   You frown, trying to figure out when the last time Jake had shown up for practise had actually been. Granted, he had shown up for the all your other gigs so far, ever since that first night where you had met Brian. So that was better than nothing… “I don’t think we’ve rehearsed with him in close to two months. I mean, he came to rehearsal once, drunk as a skunk. Spent half an hour wondering around my apartment, searching for paracetamol, threw my pack of smokes out of the window, then collapsed in the bath and slept. That was a, productive, afternoon.”

Brian chuckles, resting a hand on your shoulder gently, rubbing soothing circles over your shirt. “Well, it sounds to me like you don’t really have grounds to kick him out, especially not without Bree’s agreement. He’s been coming to the gigs at least, I won’t comment on how well he sounds, but at least he’s been there. That makes it a little bit tricky to kick him out on the grounds of him not showing up…”

The door to the practise room swings open, just as you pout up at Brian, a warm breeze filling the small space. “Afternoon...” Roger smirks, strutting in, glancing over at Brian and your close proximity.  “I see you’ve been warming the seat for me, why thank you Y/N.” Brian rolls his eyes at the leering tone in the drummers voice, and you simply shake your head, pressing your lips against Brian’s when he leans down to meet yours.

Freddie bursts through the door next, the door nearly hitting poor Deaky in the face, as he lets it swing shut behind him. “Shit! Deaky I’m sorry, I thought you were further behind me than that!” Freddie yelps, as Deaky opens the door slowly, a dazed look across his face

“My life just flashed before my eyes…” He mumbles, blinking slowly. Roger howls in laughter at Deaky’s melodramatic response, Brian and you grinning from ear to ear.

Once Frddie has checked over John, making sure he hadn’t actually hurt his favourite bassist, you leap up from the stool, gently pushing Brian away from you in your haste. “Thank god, she moved!” Roger smirks, skipping over to the vacated seat, twirling his drumstick in his right hand once seated.

“Deaky help me! Brian is trying to use logic on me again!” You giggle, racing up to the young man, wrapping your arms around him in a tight hug. Over the past month and a bit, not only had you grown exceptionally close with Brian, you had come to know the other band members quite well also, with Deaky well on his way to being one of your closest friends.

“Better be careful there Bri, looks like Deaky is about to run off with your woman.” Freddie grins, brushing his long, dark hair back behind his shoulder, and gliding past the two of you, as you hug.

Deaky chuckles, as you releases his arms from around you, while you do the same, still standing close to each other. “You’re right Fred, Deaky and I are going to run off and elope. Sorry Brian, Deaky has won my heart!”

“Typically people don’t warn others about when they are going to run off and elope, they just sort of, do it…” Brian shrugs, a smile paying across his lips, as he fishes his sixpence coin from his back pocket, holding it carefully between his ling fingers.

“See what I mean! He keeps using logic! I can’t take it any longer!” You cry dramatically, fanning your hand in front of your eyes as if pretending to fight off tears.

“You know, he is right…” Deaky half smirks, and your eyes grow wide in their sockets.

“Are you on his side now? I can’t have both of you using logic against me, that’s just not fair!” You cry, stepping away from Deaky, pressing your back up against the door, in an excellent imitation of a frightened cat.

“If you want someone illogical, Roger may be your best bet.” Brian grins, ducking out of the way of Roger’s expertly aimed drumstick. The wooden stick barely missing Brian’s wild mane of curls as it flies through the air, before landing neatly by your feet.

“I am not illogical! And I don’t want to date Y/N!” Roger grumbles, scowling at the tall guitarist to his left, bitter at his missed shot at his head.

You glare at Roger, before crouching down and picking up the lonely drumstick. “This is mine now.” You declare triumphantly, as you slip it into your front pocket. If Roger didn’t want to date you, then there was no chance in hell he would grab for the drumstick with where it was now. “What do you mean you won’t date me Rog? I’m a catch!” You laugh, sticking your tongue out at the grumbling blonde.

“Wouldn’t Bree complain if you and I started dating? Wouldn’t Brian?” He countered, looking down sadly at his lonely drumstick.

“I doubt Bree would care, and Brian is the one who suggested it!”

“Alright fine, how about I date you, and Brian can date Bree?”

“But that leaves Freddie and Deaky left out! Let’s just swap entirely! Roger, you and I are together. Brian you get Bree, Deaky you and Mary are a couple now, and Freddie you get Veronica!” You can’t help but laugh at the shocked expression on everyone bar Roger’s face. None of the men seem to know how to respond to what you had just decided upon. “Come on lads, it won’t be that bad! Think of all the cute quadruple dates we could go on!”

“I’m suddenly really regretting starting this who conversation.” Brian shudders, lifting an eyebrow at where you had stored Roger’s drumstick.

“Besides, Mary has already told me that if she and I weren’t dating, then she would be all over Brian again. She once said something about missing his freakish tallishness. Though at the time she was attempting to reach something in the top shelf of the pantry.” Freddie chimes in.

“To be fair, I too miss Brian’s freakish tallishness when he isn’t around, and I don’t feel like climbing on a stool to reach what I want.” Deaky smirks, as he makes his way over to where he had left his bass, clicking open the latches on the case.

“Hey, Brian..” Roger half whispers, half shouts, causing the taller man to turn on his heel, heading towards his friend. Roger beckons him closer with a few frantic hand gestures, and Brian leans down, so Roger can whisper in his ear. You watch the two exchange their whispered conversation, eye narrowing into slits as the two occasionally peer over their shoulders to look at you. You’re not sure whether to be nervous or annoyed at the secrecy.

“Thanks Rog, I’ll keep that in mind.” Brian smiles, as he steps away from him, before heading over to you, both hands nestled in front pockets, causing his shoulders to hunch as he walks.

 Roger busies himself with ensuring his drum kit is still perfectly set up, while Freddie and Deaky discuss what their new set list should be for their first gig as a new band. “May I help you, May?” You smirk, looking up at Brian as he leans his shoulder against the wall beside you, entwining his fingers between yours.

“Just wanted to finish what we started, before we were so rudely interrupted.” He breaths out, before leaning down and capturing your lips with his. You smile against the kiss, pressing your body closer to his, as he wraps his arms around you waist, yours falling over his shoulders. You allow your eyes to flutter shut, the warm, safe feeling that came from being in Brian’s embrace, wrapping around you like a woollen blanket. That feeling however, came crashing down around you, when you felt Brian’s hand move from where it had been resting on your left hip. Before you have time to process what he’s doing, his fingers have slipped into your left pocket, wrapped around the stolen drumstick, and pulled it free.

You pull away from his lips, playfully glaring up at him, Brian had just accomplished the ultimate betrayal. “Sorry luv, we can’t have a drummer with only one drumstick.” He teases, brushing his lips across yours one last time.

“How about we get him a set of bongos’ instead? That way he won’t need drumsticks at all!” You suggest, grinning wickedly at the idea. You wonder what would happen if Roger were to walk into the rehearsal room one day, and find his drums gone, and bongos’ in their place. You would have to talk to Freddie about orchestrating that little idea.

Brian throws the drumstick towards Roger, the wooden piece being aimed with far less precision than Roger had initially thrown it with/ “Thanks mate, you’re the best!” Brian waves him off, before giving your hand one final squeeze, as Freddie clears his throat.

“Deaky and I have come up with a basic outline for our new set list, let’s see how far we can get through it this afternoon…” Freddie begins, before Brian raises his hand, something all the band had begun doing when they wanted to speak. It caused less arguments, and made it so everyone could actually hear what was going on. Freddie doesn’t allow for Brian to speak this time however. “Yes, Brian dear, I know that you and Y/N will be leaving at five o’clock. Don’t worry, we haven’t created a four hour set list.” Brian lowers his hand, a sheepish grin on his face.

You laugh softly, before heading towards the old sofa pushed against the far wall, there was a knitted blanket draped over the back, which you had discovered was mostly there to conceal the rather large tear that had formed in the fabric. Beside the sofa was a bar fridge, which played host to what beer had been on sale recently, and a couple of bottles of water. From what Brian had told you, he couldn’t quite recall how long the water had been I there. Knowing you would be here for a while, you make yourself comfortable on the sofa, laying on your side with your head propped up on your hand, watching the four men take their positions. “We’re starting with Keep yourself alive. Y/N, tell us what you think won’t you dear?” Freddie grins, as Roger counts the band in, music filling the small practise room in a crescendo.

The music seeps into your very being, and you can’t keep the smile off your face, this must have been the song Brian had been raving about these last few weeks. He refused to give you any details, other than it was a brand-new song, and he thought it sounded incredible! He was right! “Keep you satisfied…” Freddie sings quietly, as Brian and Deaky play the last few chords to the song, Roger twirling his drumstick once, just for show.

“Holy shit…” You whisper, staring wide eyed at the band before you. Four sets of eyes stare back at you, all unblinking, as if daring you to speak first. “You guys, that was incredible! Do you have any idea how far you guys are going to go? You will make it big with this type of music, everyone will know the name Queen!”

Freddie laughs gleefully giving Deaky a sturdy hi-five, as Roger throws one stick in the air, his bright blue eyes sparkling a the knowledge of people loving their song. Brian steps over to you, reaching his hand out to you, your own hand moving to clasp his, allowing him to help you to stand. “You really liked the song?”

“Of course I did, it was amazing. I never knew you could compose like that, you’ve been keeping secrets from me.” You tease, swinging your hands gently back and forth, between the two of you, your fingers locked tightly together. “Queen will be big, no, bigger than big! You guys are going to be stars! And you, Brian May, will shine the brightest.”

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