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echodrops · 5 years ago

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Why You Should Be Shipping Shigaraki/Ochako

No, no, hang on a second--I see that side-eye you are throwing hard enough to ruin your peripheral vision. I feel the shade you’re casting like a thundercloud rolling in. But you didn’t read wrong. I meant what I said.

I’ve never made a secret of my love for rare pairs, but for once in my damn lonely shipper’s hellscape of a life I would love it if my favorite crack ship in a fandom had more than two fics (I’m NOT JOKING) to its name.

What can I do to correct this egregious oversight before the entire summer passes with nary a whisper of the most romantic ship since Juliet wherefore art thou’d Romeo?

Well, what else? I was forged in the fires of early 2000s’ fandom, and I know that desperate times call for desperate measures meticulously researched and extremely rose-tinted

Shipping Manifestos.

Fam, I am about to blow your minds, align your chakras, open your third eyes--because Shigaraki and Ochako is the most slept on ship in the entire BNHA fandom, and if you give me ten minutes like an hour (holy shit, this is long), I can prove it.

Disclaimer: @mistystarshine is the enabler who convinced me to write this but we were both enabled by @ohmytheon’s Reconfigure (on AO3) so you know who’s really responsible.

Spoilers to Chapter 231, watch out.

First off, I know what you’re thinking. Maybe you’re still reading from pure shock. Maybe you’re doubt-reading to get your daily fix of internet skepticism. Maybe you’re waiting for me to say these two characters are meant to be because she wears pink and his hair is blue. Maybe you’re already freaking out about age gaps but like that is what future fics and AUs are actually for!!!

I’m not telling you to give up your IzuOcha or Kacchako. I’m not gonna pry ShigaDabi out of your eager little villain stan hands. But if you’ve never considered multi-shipping, now is the time my friends, because I’m totally serious heartfelt here! I’ve got VALID reasons for shipping Shigako--ten of them, in fact:

1) Midoriya is taken for granted as Uraraka’s love interest--but Shigaraki is incredibly similar to him.

There are reams of meta on the parallels between Midoriya and Shigaraki, with plenty people noting how Horikoshi specifically set the two up as foils to examine similar character development despite their drastically different circumstances. Yet for all the meta pointing out that Shigaraki and Midoriya are basically the same character through a mirror darkly, I’ve never seen anyone bear that thought out to its logical conclusion: there are traits Uraraka admires in Midoriya that are extremely apparent in Shigaraki too.

Multiple times in the manga, Uraraka expresses admiration for Deku’s resolve and refusal to give up. His determination in the face of impossible odds and his sense of dedication to his cause are powerful motivating factors in Ochako’s storyline, and Deku’s behavior--his willingness to charge straight into danger and his unflinching pursuit of his goal to be #1--have basically become the standard to which Uraraka holds herself.

Her crush is literally founded on an appreciation for Midoriya’s drive, earnestness, and constant growth as a person.

But these are all traits that Shigaraki also explicitly possesses. Shigaraki’s unwavering resolve is so strong that even though everyone around him says dream is unattainable... they follow him anyway.

Ujiko flat out tells Shigaraki he’s chasing a pipe dream, but he’s willing to come along for the ride strictly because of how committed Shigaraki is to making that dream a reality. The strength of Tomura’s conviction alone persuaded a collection of the most volatile and difficult personalities in the manga to band together and become found family the most well-known anti-establishment organization in all of Japan.

Shigaraki never, even in the face of overwhelming threat, backs down from a challenge, and he approaches each impossible task with absolutely as much effort, ferocity, and refusal to quit as Deku. He is just as dedicated, just as much of a shounen protagonist main character, and just as willing to push himself above and beyond as Deku.

The traits that motivated Uraraka to become the character she is today, many of the exact same traits that formed her crush on Midoriya, are all there in Shigaraki. In another world, the person who inspired Uraraka to go “Plus Ultra” could be Tomura himself, and if 1) no sense of self-preservation, 2) ZERO CHILL, and 3) dogged obsession are what Uraraka finds attractive, Shigaraki clearly has 'em covered. Oh no, he’s meeting all my standards.

2) Being serious though, Ochako’s role in the plot would be vastly improved by more meaningful interactions with the antagonists, even if just in battle.

I’ve written before about how badly the writing of BNHA treats Ochako, and why her constantly being out-of-focus is a hallmark of the genre’s crippling inability to handle dynamic female characters, but it bears repeating: in her current position in the story, Uraraka’s character has minimal agency. She exists to fill the role of Deku’s love interest (at worst) and an emotional crutch (at best). Again, absolutely no hate on the IzuOcha ship--it’s clearly canon endgame and “wholesome” I guess is what they’re calling it nowadays. But the way IzuOcha’s being written in canon is actually the worst possible thing that could happen to Uraraka’s individual character, because Ochako’s crush on Deku has been given virtually no bearing on the story’s main plot and allows Horikoshi to consistently reduce Uraraka’s personal accomplishments to “inspirations from Deku” (in order to, likely, fulfill young male readers’ fantasy of having a girl fixated on them).

Is Uraraka about to do something cool in the manga? Wait for her comment about being motivated by Deku.

Does Uraraka actually get to see some action and get involved in a fight? Wait for someone to bring up her feelings for Deku.

Is Deku about to have a dramatic clash with the story’s villains to advance the main plotline? Wait for Ochako to entirely vanish (at worst) or get sidelined into a three panel clip where she’ll use the same martial art move she’s been using since like chapter 10 (at best).

If I have to read “Gunhead Martial Arts” one more fucking time... Give Ochako her OWN supermoves goddammit!!

The story of the comic itself continually pushes Ochako out of any position of relevance. She’s not one of UA’s strongest fighters (despite having a quirk that, if applied like ANY of the male characters, has incredible potential), she’s not given half the emotional depth or attention even side characters like Kirishima get, and her backstory lacks the development many of the male characters’ get (I’m looking at you, Todoroki).

As a “good girl,” she isn’t allowed to get her hands dirty like Toga, she isn’t allowed to get as bloodied or ugly as any of the boys, and she can never be allowed to surpass the main male characters in coolness or plot relevance because girls can be “heroes” but they can’t be The Hero™. (I’m literally gagging, guys.)

Which is EXACTLY why a plot involving Shigaraki and Ochako--in ANY capacity, even just a flat out fight against each other!--would actually be a fan-fucking-tastic addition to BNHA.

Skip the token Toga vs. Ochako chick fight where they squabble over who loves Izuku more. Let Toga talk to Izuku as herself for once. Let Uraraka throw down with the League’s leader. At least once, Horikoshi? Just once?

Literally any form of plot that puts Shigaraki and Ochako into contact would mean moving Uraraka into a more central position within the manga’s plot, would boost her screen-time, increase the likelihood of her contributing to the story’s primary conflict, and would give her more to do and emotionally engage with than just repeating the same lines about Deku being amazing on an endless loop. There is untapped character development potential in spades here if Uraraka was given chance to genuinely interact with the other half of the story’s cast!

Give👏 Uraraka👏 something👏 meaningful👏 to do!👏

Putting the story’s foremost female character on out there on the frontlines with the manga’s actual main character antagonist would finally break her out of the mold she’s been forced into by genre stereotypes and set her on an even playing field with the male heroes at last.

A meaningful encounter with Shigaraki could be Ochako’s ticket to being treated respectfully by the story itself (and hell if giving underappreciated characters a real place in the world isn’t Tomura’s freakin’ calling card already).

3) Okay, I know the words “subverting expectations” leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth nowadays, but there is a huge difference between “throwing inexplicable plot twists at the audience just for shock factor” and “averting stale cliches in an emotionally rewarding manner.” Sure, cliches do exist for a reason, but there are still many instances where actively avoiding a cliche plotline is a great choice. A shounen manga’s token love interest ending up with someone other than the hero--namely with a (reformed) villain--would be an interesting flip on the trite “hero gets the girl” script.

Look, we all know how it goes: Hero clashes with Bad Guy. They duke it out all over Kingdom Come. RIP like fifty square city blocks. The Hero wins, heads home triumphant, sweeps his Princess off her feet, and sails off into the hero rankings sunset. End of the same story we’ve seen a million times. Sometimes it’s done well and the audience is left satisfied. Other times, the heroine involved is reduced to the hero’s reward, less person than wish fulfillment. In either case, tying up a romantic subplot with a hero is the go-to way of resolving female characters’ storylines and, at this point, pretty much a given in manga, even when the romantic subplot is never given the development it deserves, leaving audiences bewildered at how and why the hook-up actually happened.

I’m not saying every comic should “subvert expectations” and cancel its romantic subplot between the hero and heroine, of course not. But I am saying that it would be pretty refreshing to see something else for once.

By virtue of their role, villains don’t usually “get the girl.” Even redeemed villains rarely end up in happy, healthy, well-written relationships. It’s not impossible but it is unlikely that a series’ designated female lead ever wavers in her attentions from the main hero to a new romantic target.

So it would be pretty cool if one did, if the moral of the story’s romantic subplot wasn’t just "token love interest completes painfully shoehorned romantic gestures.” A good romance with a redeemed ex-villain instead of a hero would take a lot more explanation. It would demand, by its very nature, more work on the author’s part to suspend disbelief. The characters would have to develop an entirely different rapport from the normal interactions between designated love interests, and, to a certain extent, strong character growth would be required in order for such a romance to even get started. There’s more moral complexity and conflict to a subplot like this, and a greater sensation of choice--if the heroine doesn’t have to end with the hero by the end of the story, well hey... That means she could end up with just about anyone. Whoa.

Even more so, in the specific case of Shigaraki, who has lived a life of misery and manipulation, the idea that he could come out on the other side, grow as a person, redeem himself, and eventually enter a healthy relationship with someone who isn’t going to hurt him is an idea I find deeply appealing. I think there are a lot of villain stans, myself included, who see parts of themselves in Shigaraki. If a character who has been so severely impacted by abuse can still heal and ultimately end up happy, to me, that’s a far more hopeful and heart-warming conclusion than the alternatives. I did warn you this manifesto would be rose-tinted, didn’t I?

I want storylines that prove that none of us are beyond saving. That people who make bad choices can still change. That romance isn’t a reward for playing the “right” role. That heroines have options. That there are still pleasant surprises to be found in romance plots.

4) But why Shigaraki and Ochako, in particular? It’s not like they have any remotely shared life experiences--

Oops. Friendly reminder: Ochako is the only major character in the manga besides the villains who is overtly described as, I quote, “poorer than poor.” Todoroki, Yaomomo, and Iida can all make it rain; Kaminari, Mina, and Jirou can afford stylish clothes; Kirishima can drop a stupid amount on night vision googles... Even Midoriya, whose father “works overseas,“ can afford plenty of All Might merchandise. One of the popular fandom theories for a while was that Ochako could be U.A.’s traitor specifically because of her desire to help her parents financially, and I think that most readers at this point can discern a clear divide in BNHA’s society: heroes are the “haves” and villains are the “have nots.” To be a hero in this story is to attend a prestigious school, have access to expensive support items, gear, insurance, fame and glory, etc.

Meanwhile, with the exception of All For One, to be a villain in BNHA’s story is to be marginalized, live in unfit conditions, lack access to basic safety and nutritional resources, and struggle to make ends meet. When ability to thrive in a hero-centric society is synonymous with being a good and worthwhile person, anyone who doesn’t just naturally excel in the hero-driven economy is treated as flawed at best and suspect at worst. Poor characters in the story are ignored, and, as demonstrated with people like Twice, left essentially to fend for themselves.

Uraraka’s status as lower income is mostly played for laughs. She’s still a privileged character in that she can attend U.A., receive hero items for free, has a safe place to live, etc. But it is important that the story acknowledges her family’s situation, because her financial status does set her apart from her classmates.

She is less privileged than the others. Being “the poor character” situates Uraraka in the interesting divide between those who couldn’t cope and chose to rebel against hero society instead, versus those who conformed to the hero system in an attempt to improve their situations. In different circumstances, if Uraraka’s family was just even the tiniest bit worse off, we might be seeing a very different character here, one who had to make some much harder choices to keep her family afloat.

Having been in the position of "going without,” Uraraka also has a unique understanding of the “real world” that many of her heroics classmates might lack. She understands what it is like to go hungry, to not be able to afford to keep up with the newest trends, to be constantly anxious about the future--to feel unsuccessful, overlooked, and under constant pressure to perform. As someone who wasn’t raised in the lap of luxury or even really a middle-class home, Uraraka has more insight into--and would likely have more empathy for--the plight of the downtrodden daily criminals of the BNHA world. Just based on her own life experiences, Ochako is more likely than her classmates to recognize how harsh reality can be, and understand the temptations that lead people to make terrible decisions.

This makes Ochako an especially interesting character in terms of her pro hero future. Would she be able to sympathize and reach out to struggling "villains” more effectively than others from her class, who lack her humble background? Would she be able to better see the big picture of BNHA’s society, and the way it actively creates villains from its marginalized populations? Would she be able to look at the League not just as criminals, but also as people who never stood a chance within the confines of a rigged social structure?

Uraraka’s background shifts her closer to the story’s villains than many of the other hero characters, and puts her in a unique place to both empathize and become motivated to change the flawed system that produced people like Shigaraki and the League in the first place.

5) Likewise, Uraraka’s background actually makes her more palatable to Shigaraki than other heroes. At least at the beginning of the comic, Uraraka isn’t shy about admitting that one of her reasons for becoming a hero is to help her parents financially. Ochako’s original motivation for heroism isn’t portrayed as nobly as others’ like Deku--Deku has no ulterior motives for being a hero; he just wants to save people and wouldn’t care about personally benefiting.

Instead, Ochako is presented as someone who (initially) sees heroism as a means to an end. It’s not that she doesn’t want to save people, but that she’s not doing so only for the intrinsic worth... the hefty paycheck that comes from heroism is a big draw.

Over time the manga has shown her shifting away from this (which actually makes her character less unique, unfortunately), but I’m sure it’s still a thought for her, and she’s definitely going to send paychecks to her parents in the future. At the end of the day, heroism is still going to be Uraraka’s ticket to a better lifestyle, even if she’s committed herself to it honestly by the time she leaves U.A.

But it’s this exact form of personal motivation that Shigaraki is much more likely to understand than the “goody-two-shoes” motivations of people like Deku. Multiple times in the comic Shigaraki has expressed confusion with society’s habit of clinging mindlessly to symbols, of their blind faith in the virtues of heroism, and their ability to simply overlook suffering because “surely a hero will do something about it.” Stain’s ideals about “true heroes” go straight past Shigaraki, who seems to hate heroes who are earnest (All Might, I’m talking about All Might) far more than those who are simply faking their way through for fame.

Shigaraki understands humans who are driven by personal gain. He respects the individual desires of people he cares about. Someone in the hero industry explicitly seeking tangible benefits would likely, to Shigaraki at least, come across as more genuine than someone who claims they have no ulterior motives, and a person who is blunt about their needs and grounded in the reality of BNHA’s world would likely be much more acceptable to Tomura than someone who spews trite lines about peace and justice.

Shigaraki’s feelings for heroes have been irreparably damaged by his conditioning from All For One, but there are certainly some heroes that he would find less loathsome than others. He will probably never understand Deku’s selflessness. All Might’s saccharine symbolism actively infuriates him. But a person who became a hero to put food on the table? To provide for her parents (maybe especially because it is her parents she’s trying to provide for)? That’s at least understandable. If the manga’s future does see Shigaraki redeemed, my thought is that the only type of heroes we’ll ever see him willingly interact with would still be heroes just like Ochako, with more “down to earth” personal motivations. Uraraka, your codename is “If I had to date a hero”...

6) While we’re talking about shared life experiences, there’s another very obvious similarity between Shigaraki and Ochako: neither one of them can touch things with all five fingers.

Cute/fridge horror observation: Shigaraki is even daintier about touching things than Uraraka is; Uraraka usually lifts just her pinkies, but Shigaraki frequently uses as few fingers as possible.

Yeah, yeah, they both have to be dainty and careful with everything they hold. It’d be cute to watch them eat together. They could mutually gripe about the annoyance of video game consoles not designed for four-finger use. More than that though, neither one of them can touch other human beings without the risk of causing death.

Uraraka, as a hero, has the more privileged quirk design (she can turn her quirk off, while Shigaraki can’t) and until recently, the comic was always very careful to portray Uraraka’s quirk in a way that no one was endangered by it. But dropping Zero Gravity into the hands of a villain for a single chapter reveals the truth: Uraraka’s quirk has just as much lethal potential as Shigaraki’s.

Like Shigaraki, Uraraka has to face the reality that her touch alone could jeopardize the safety of anyone she comes into contact with, in her daily life and in her hero work. Drop some debris without looking twice? Just crushed a civilian. Release your quirk without thinking? Now the villain you floated is paste on the sidewalk. Thought that it was safe to float away the building? Oops, you crushed someone still trapped inside. Yikes. In a one-on-one battle, Uraraka is actually at a disadvantage not because her quirk is weak, but the dead opposite--in an outdoor fight, she would have to actively work not to accidentally send people off into outer space.

Having an auto-activate touch quirk means that both Shigaraki and Ochako have to be conscious of every single thing they touch all the time. Both of their quirks require constant bodily awareness, and both come with the lurking knowledge that “My touch causes problems.” Even for Ochako, who would merely be a nuisance if she accidentally floated objects indoors, it’s easy to internalize frustration and negative associations with one’s own body. Every day, Ochako has to be careful with herself in a way that few of her peers do, another factor that sets her apart.

One of the story’s overarching themes is the idea of “self-acceptance” and what it even means to “accept yourself” in a world where (almost) every human being possesses a distinguishing feature, often built into their bodies at the expense of standard human functioning. For people with limited control over their quirks, who can’t choose when the effect activates, a quirk is a constant burden and facet of their identity that entirely re-shapes how they interact with the world. Both Shigaraki and Uraraka face the practicality of having burdensome, even lethal, auto-activate quirks that require constant self-awareness. This is a similarity that, of the major characters, only Shigaraki and Ochako possess so far. (Even other major characters with touch-based quirks like Overhaul appear to be able to choose when to activate their quirks).

The “funny” way Shigaraki and Ochako hold things seems like just a small similarity until you remember the amount of practice and frustration it must have taken to internalize a four-fingered touch. Until you remember that this similarity marks them both as very careful and self-conscious characters. Until you remember that Shigaraki’s got a one-touch instakill... but so does Uraraka Ochako.

7) Okay, similarities are cool and all, but you know what they say: opposites attract. And if we’re talking character motivation, there are no cleaner opposites in the entire series. Shigaraki and Ochako are actually even better emotional foils than Shigaraki and Deku, because Ochako’s central motivation is “Make as many people smile as possible” and Shigaraki’s is, literally, “Make it so no one can ever smile again.”

I know I ragged on it earlier, but now I’m going to use it to my full advantage: as the story evolved and characters grew, Ochako’s “true” motivation to become a hero revealed itself: she feels a deep, intrinsic happiness when witnessing the happiness of others. Her desire as a hero is to spread relief, the sense of security that allows people to go about their days smiling. She literally feels happiest when everyone around her is happy.

Even more so than Deku, this casts Uraraka as Shigaraki’s diametric opposite in the story, because Shigaraki’s entire pipe dream goal also hinges on the smiles of others--and how absolutely much he hates them. Shigaraki’s goal is total world destruction because he just resents the happiness of others that fucking much.

On the surface alone it’s more fascinating than the story will probably ever live up to: Ochako, the heroine who wants to spread smiles; Shigaraki, the villain who wants to destroy them. Even if we’re just talking canon, zero romance involved, that would still be an interesting conflict to explore. The story could cover a lot of deeper ground by drawing the comparison between these two characters more directly. It would definitely validate Uraraka being involved in more major plot events, at the very least.

BUT this was supposed to be about shipping, so of course I can’t leave it there, and leaving it there would only be half the story anyway, because nobody is born hating smiles. Everything we’ve seen of Shigaraki’s past so far indicates that he was a kid with a cute dog, a warm relationship with his sister, and an interest in heroes--i.e., a decent life that probably included his own fair share of smiles. Shigaraki’s hatred and resentment are direct products of the traumatic manipulation he suffered at AFO’s hands. He despises the idea that people around him can smile and act upbeat, even when they objectively know villains are lurking all around them. He is actually sick to his stomach at the idea of people blindly putting their faith in heroes, knowing what he does: that heroes often fail, that there are many people who desperately need to be rescued and are instead overlooked. The world failed Shimura Tenko and then had the nerve to keep on smiling without him.

Other people’s smiles represent nothing but the joy, security, love, and peace that Shigaraki Tomura hasn’t experienced since the day his quirk manifested. The sight of any living thing fills Shigaraki with rage because everything bright and beautiful, everything good and calm and kind and soft and warm, is everything that Shigaraki has lost and believes he will never, ever get to experience again.

Shigaraki doesn’t really hate the pure happy smiles of others; he hates the fact that the world has taken away every single thing he ever had to smile about.

It is my belief that Horikoshi is hinting at a redemption arc for Shigaraki, especially as we see the League become closer allies. But Shigaraki can’t be completely redeemed, can’t be persuaded to give up his world-destruction plan, until he can look at the smiles of others without scorn. Until the bright, upbeat attitudes of heroes other people no longer feel like a personal attack. Until he’s happy enough that the happiness of others no longer hurts. Until the weight is lifted.

And I can’t think of any character more obviously suited to helping lift an immense weight than Uraraka, the zero gravity hero who wants nothing more than to spread smiles.

8) Speaking of lifting weights... Kacchako is a popular ship stemming in large part from Bakugou’s refusal to treat Uraraka with kid gloves. He faces her head-on as a real opponent and views her like any other hero hopeful.

As I’ve said before, this is pretty much the most respectfully the series itself has ever treated Uraraka Ochako, and it caught a lot of attention because it was one of the rare occasions that a female pro hero-in-training was really treated as an equal to the male characters. Kacchako shippers had something awesome to work with.

But... You know who else treats women as equals? (Hell, you know who treats literally everyone as equals, from those with mutant quirks to trans people to those with severe mental health issues?) You can say what you want about Shigaraki’s habit of, you know, mass murder, but in terms of viewing others equally and respecting (okay, let’s be real, it’s probably closer to just ignoring) differences, Tomura is about as open-minded as BNHA characters come. The League is an equal opportunity employer.

Unlike actual hero characters, Shigaraki has never once suggested that Toga is incapable of keeping up with any of the male members of the League, and in fact has entrusted her with many of the League’s most dangerous and crucial missions. He explicitly has faith in her ability and skill.

Toga’s right there in the fight against Gigantomachia and the QLA, as much an equal member of the League as anyone else. In terms of gender equality, the villains seem to be light-years ahead of their hero counterparts, and Shigaraki in particular doesn’t discriminate, among his allies or his opponents either. He’s not a “spare the women and children” kind of guy; every hero and villain challenger is treated with equal violence (and equal snark), whether they’re male, female, a long-time pro or a student in training.

In whatever context--canon opponent, AU ally, or a future romantic interest--Shigaraki would take Ochako just as seriously as Bakugou did. If you like Kacchako because Bakugou doesn’t dismiss Uraraka, that same dynamic would be present in Shigako too.

9) And on the topic of Shigaraki and women... It doesn’t feel accidental that every single female character who ever had love for Shigaraki has been taken away from him. A distinct part of Shigaraki’s storyline is that all positive female role models have been systematically removed from his life. He lost his grandmother, a hero he could have looked up to; he lost his mother, who he now has no memory of; he lost the older sister he clearly held dear... All For One’s control over Tomura has always been total, but this particular detail feels especially insidious: was All For One’s spite for Nana so strong that he delighted in deliberately destroying every single relationship Tenko had with women connected to Nana’s legacy? (Or is AFO perhaps just a raging misogynist? Every single one of his known associates is male and he seemed to despise and mock Nana particularly hard...)

In any case, the point I’m trying to make here is that, even ruling love interests out, Shigaraki’s storyline would be enriched by forging a meaningful connection with a female character like Ochako. Acceptance--maybe even some grudging admiration--for a female hero? A fantastic opportunity to show just how different the “villains” are from the discriminatory society that produced them. Supporting friendship while he’s on the road to recovery? A+ way to diversify interactions between the male and female cast. Send a tough girl to Tartarus to question his motives? Nice chance for tense dialogue and some good old noire-esque foe yay. Hostage situation that takes a turn for the surprisingly cordial? Fun way to explore different dynamics and humanize the villains because hey, they treated the “damsel” to dinner shortbread cookies. My god, Shigaraki could even develop some positive sense of rivalry with a woman, for example! The possibilities are endless if you’re actually willing to give female characters a shot!

Being more serious, Tomura’s life has been dramatically marked by the loss of his female family members, and--at least from what we know so far--his entire youth was spent without the presence of reliable friendships, let alone any form of “love” that wasn’t disturbingly fake. Beyond his fragmented memories, he has no models for healthy relationships, romantic or otherwise.

Letting Shigaraki develop to the point that he could form a mutually positive relationship with a female hero character would be extremely cathartic for me as a reader. I don’t mean “rewarding redemption with a last-minute happy ending romance”--I mean actually getting the opportunity to watch Tomura rediscover what it means to be genuinely loved and realize he has the capacity to give love and be happy in return...

Reaching that level of mutual support and closeness--especially with a female pro hero--would be the biggest “FUCK YOU” that Shigaraki could give to All For One, short of, you know, actually killing him.

Shigaraki Tomura has a critical (and deliberate) lack of healthy connections to women. BNHA, coincidentally, has a criminally under-utilized female lead just twiddling her thumbs over here, waiting for a meaningful plotline to be thrown her way.

Sure, putting AFO in prison is cool and all, but have you considered... crushing his pride and legacy of evil by helping the boy he tortured for years learn to love again? I’m just sayin’!

Uraraka Ochako, snatching Shigaraki right the fuck out of AFO’s hands:

10) Basically what the whole thing boils down to is this: Shigaraki Tomura needs a hero.

Don’t mistake my meaning. A lot of “girl meets bad boy” plots end up amounting to “girl becomes emotionally responsible for fixing bad boy’s issues,” and that’s not what I’m gunning for--Shigaraki has to redeem himself because redemption is only meaningful when it stems from the character’s own inner desire to change; I’m not quite rose-tinted enough to buy into the Love Redeems trope myself. I’m definitely not advocating anyone dump Shigaraki Tomura as he is now into Uraraka Ochako’s lap and expect her to turn him from a beast to a beauty. It’s not an unrelated woman’s responsibility to fix a broken man.

But! From a reader’s perspective, I think we can agree: Shigaraki’s redemption cannot be complete until he learns to believe in real heroes. He doesn’t have to like them. He doesn’t have to support hero society. But he has to be able to look at real heroes like Izuku and Ochako and admit that they are doing what’s right--that society is a better place because they are here. Shigaraki’s path to recovery can’t even begin until he’s capable of at least acknowledging that the world has things worth saving in it.

If Horikoshi moves forward with a redemption arc for Shigaraki, it will probably be Deku who Detroit Smashes the message of truly noble heroes into Shigaraki’s head. That’s his job as the resident Warrior Therapist, I suppose. But you know... to me, it might be even more meaningful if Shigaraki’s hero--if the hand that reaches out to rescue him--isn’t The Hero’s™ but just a hero’s. We all know Deku is selfless and good to the core. As All Might’s perfect successor, he really has nothing to prove. It’s everyone else who is in question. It’s the whole rest of hero society that owes Shigaraki Tomura an explanation for the suffering of people like the League’s members. It’s everyone else who needs to prove they can do better--that in the future, there will be no bloody children left abandoned in back alleyways.

Uraraka Ochako’s conviction is to save people. As a female hero who hasn’t lived a privileged life, she’s uniquely situated to think about those who are most often overlooked. In a world where violence begets violence, where only those with strength and flash excel, what a powerful message it would send for the terrifying antagonist to effectively be rescued by someone the story itself has called “a frail girl.” At the end of the day, heroics isn’t supposed to be about mountain-destroying explosions and mach punches--heroics is supposed to be about heart, about reaching out a gentle helping hand, about spreading smiles to those who need them most.

Tomura’s faith in heroes has been brutally stripped from him, and every part of his conflict is tied up intimately with his misdirected hatred: it wasn’t actually heroes who isolated and hurt him--it was villains. In order to move forward, he will have to come to that horrible realization, deal with that means for himself and his place in the world, and recognize the truth: there are goodness and good people in the world. Selfless heroes, those who wouldn’t turn their backs on a crying child, do exist. There are people, even now, who would extend a kind hand to Shigaraki Tomura and do their best to bring a real smile to his face. Because that’s what’s really going on, after all.

Shimura Tenko is still waiting to be saved.

And I know just the person to do it.

437 notes · View notes

makeste · 5 years ago

Text

BnHA Chapter 243: Happy New Year

Previously on BnHA: The government was all “shit what are we going to do about Shigaraki Tomura and his Actual Fucking Army of villains, oh I know, why don’t we draft some child soldiers” and so they brought back internships and made them mandatory. Class 1-A had the Christmas party to end all Christmas parties, featuring 20 unique custom-tailored Santa costumes, enough chicken to feed Tomura’s entire Actual Fucking Army, and one (1) giant sword that somehow made its way into the hands of Eri, First of Her Name. Tidings of comfort and joy were had by all, and to cap things off, Shouto invited Bakugou (who by the way was having a lot of thoughts about how Best Jeanist asked him to reveal his new hero name the next time they met, because Horikoshi knows what kind of angst I like) and Deku to come intern with him at the motherfucking Endeavor Hero Agency and make everyone’s OT3 dreams come true.

Today on BnHA: Deku visits his mom on New Year’s Eve and the two of them ball out at the Make Me Cry Olympics. There is a whole plotline all about Hawks getting coffee, and I’m trying to figure out if it’s really just coffee or if THE ENTIRE SERIES SECRETLY HINGES ON THIS ONE SCENE omg. The next day at the Endeavor Hero Agency, Endeavor is all, “welcome! fuck you,” which may or may not be setting the tone for this whole arc. There’s a brief flashback to All Might congratulating his sons on their internship and saying foreshadowing things like “your new quirks probably won’t go fucking apeshit again” and “you’re a lot like Endeavor, this internship will be good for you!” Back in the present, Endeavor dramatically leaps over a railing and blasts off to go fight Monk Gyatso with the disaster trio hot on his heels. Hawks then shows up out of nowhere and the text is literally all, “WHAT’S HAWKS DOING HERE?” and seriously though. What are any of us even doing here. This arc has only just started and I already have no idea what’s going on and I fucking love it.

(All comments are my unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity immediately afterward, and added a few ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.)

loooool

is she going to be all right

-- also! WE’RE GOING TO SEE THE PARENTS AGAIN HOMG YES. HORIKOSHI YOU’RE ON FIRE WEEK AFTER WEEK YOU MAD DOG

(ETA: literally the only way he could end his streak was by going on fucking hiatus. son of a.)

oh shit I forgot that they had the cover and a color page this week! this is great

by the light (ba da dum ba da dum) of the silvery moon (ba da dum ba da dum) I want to spoon -- holy shit, what. do you ever look up the lyrics to a song you vaguely remember from your childhood twenty-five years later in order to make a bizarre joke in a manga recap and you’re like “!!?!?” lol what the fuck. this shit is from 1909. old timey pervs

anyways this may be my favorite Jump cover ever. colors are amazing, art is super cute, it’s the whole package. Aoyama and Iida are killing me. I need that Iida ball in real life, I would seriously pay real money

and now the color spread!

where can I buy that U.A. hoodie. I’m not kidding, I need it in my life. the U.A. logo is great because it doesn’t scream “LOOK AT ME I’M AN ANIME FAN” unless the other person also watches said anime, in which case that’s awesome because the two of you can become best friends and bond over how you’re both nerds with impeccable taste

Kacchan out here holding a fucking root beer like we don’t all know the truth. yeah tough guy you go to bed at eight-thirty and you’re third in your class at the top high school in Japan. but you keep on trying to preserve that image. also this kid is singlehandedly making wifebeaters high fashion I swear to god. it’s a talent

Kirishima looks so good in v-neck shirts yes you go Kiri!

Mina is here!! Mina is part of the main character squad now, everyone! that’s right!! Iida Tenya was booted out after he refused to partake in this photo shoot due to moral outrage over the fact that they’re shooting this at what appears to be a crime scene. a vacuum cleaner was murdered in cold blood omg

Ochako not smiling is such an unusual look for her (and Mina and Kirishima too for that matter) but holy shit. I like it

TODOROKI I’M TRYING TO REACH THROUGH THE COMPUTER SCREEN AND UNBUTTON YOUR TOP BUTTON. HOLY SHIT HOW CAN YOU EVEN BREATHE. RELAX

so the new character book is out October 4, eh? I think we knew this already, but maybe this time the date will actually stick in my mind. anyways, so doing the math, that leaves Kacchan three more chapters (including this one) to reveal his hero name. boy you have a deadline get to work!

YESSSSSSSSSSS

MY NEW YEAR’S ARC MAY NOT BE HAPPENING, BUT AT LEAST WE STILL GET TO SEE THEM RING IN 2217 HOORAY

damn that’s a lot of narration in the first panel

“while accompanied by guards” oh shit. and yet, I get it. I like how they refer to it as “the chain of events that led us to move into the dorms” rather than “that time Bakugou got fucking kidnapped.” they are not letting that happen again. good

IZUMAMA YESSSS

at least he’s being open with her about it! come on Inko, push through this. he’s already got 240 other things he’s still not telling you, don’t give him any more reason to keep being secretive

oh my god now Deku is like “anyways do you remember Eri?” and he’s reaching into his pocket now, holy shit?? WHATEVER HE’S PULLING OUT IS GOING TO BE SO FUCKING CUTE, ISN’T IT

oH MY GOD!!!!!

THIS SON OF A BITCH IS JUST GONNA KEEP ON AMASSING A COLLECTION OF ADORABLE AND HILARIOUS LITTLE KID LETTERS, ISN’T HE. LISTEN HERE DEKU YOU MOTHERFUCKER!! THAT PIC OF “MISTER DEKU” IS -- I’M -- !!!!

“I was hardly able to do anything for her” ?? you SAVED HER LIFE?? you BODYSLAMMED OVERHAUL INTO THE GROUND?? YOU GOT US ALL OUT OF THAT ACCURSED BASEMENT? listen here you modest little shit you need to stop doing this. you even taught her the true meaning of quirks for crying out loud. you are the actual best

god the way he is staring at this letter is giving me too many feels for a Thursday afternoon. these are like Saturday night feels. this manga never goes easy on me

same Inko same

oh my god now Inko is launching into a speech about Deku’s sad childhood I can’t with this, MA’AM PLEASE

“covered in bruises” oh my problematic ship. oh this nuanced manga with its intricate layers of feels. this is the lasagna of mangas

hello page 3 is just one big assault on all my emotions and I would like to report this to someone help I am being besieged

oh my fucking god Midoriya family. I’m trying to process all of this and just!!

like. she’s known all this time how big his heart is and that he doesn’t care about himself and just wants to protect others. but for the longest time he was powerless to do it. but still he kept dreaming and she kept looking on waiting for that day he’d finally give up, ready for his heart to break, bracing herself. and then this miracle happened and he got a quirk and all his hopes came true and he got to go to his dream school, and now he’s training to become a hero just like he always wanted

and everything special she always saw about her boy is shining so brightly now, and everyone can see it, and he’s become so strong. but also he’s growing up so fast. he’s gone from being someone she had to protect to someone who’s strong enough to protect not only her, but everyone. strong enough to carry the world on his shoulders

just. can you even imagine. how much pride she must feel, in addition to the relief she’s expressing now. but also the loneliness of knowing she can’t hold on to her baby boy forever and he’s on the verge of going out into the world and leaving her. in fact he basically already has. anyways I came here today for some Three Musketeers antics and now I’m sitting her with Izumama empty nest feels, what is this

-- yo, what?? he’s starting the internship on New Year’s Fucking Day? U.A. doesn’t fuck around, goddamn

(ETA: seriously, no rest for the weary here. both Endeavor and Hawks are as busy as ever too. poor Hawks, who never wanted to be a hero to begin with, spent New Year’s Eve undercover trying to drown his sorrows in sugary coffee. of course, Jeanist is spending his New Year’s either in hiding or dead, so.)

anyways so he’s bidding his mom goodbye and getting onto a bus, and he’s all bundled up in a scarf but can’t be assed to wear a jacket, apparently. whatever Deku

AHHHH WHAT IS THIS NOW

AND OH MY GOD LOOK WHERE HE IS

THE LEAGUE OF PLIFF’S HEADQUARTERS AT THE OL’ OVERLOOK HOTEL. watch out for the elevators. Toga probably really likes them though

“where did you run off to number 2” um, he’s still a top ranked pro hero? what, do they just expect him to never do his job ever again? even if they think he’s on their side, they must realize that he needs to maintain his so-called cover

anyways, fucking Slidin’ Go is back, guys. when is someone going to punch this slippery bitch in the face

wow he’s seriously chewing Hawks out for flying off without permission. can someone please just deck this mouthbreather already

oh my god

this motherfucker really truly believes he is Hawks’s senpai. imagine having the same power as a fucking banana peel, and being so deluded you actually think you outrank a double agent of indispensable value, who also just so happens to be Dabi’s best friend, and oh yes, THE NUMBER TWO FUCKING HERO. I don’t even know where to begin with you, Slidin’ Go

oh snap but he’s immediately being called out on his BS lol this is great

twenty microdevices?? holy shit. that’s gonna make it really difficult for him to actually report back to the heroes

maybe if the PSC gives him twenty of their own little spy cams. then the only challenge is for him to try and remember which are which

lmao look at this little metaphorical drawing

isn’t this the Hyrule Castle level from Breath of the Wild

anyways don’t mind me, I’m just sitting here trying to figure out if there’s a double meaning to these two panels

is Skeptic just really bad at making small talk, or is there something here that I’m totally missing?? did he witness something during Hawks’s coffee run?

(ETA: this seriously reads to me as some kind of coded threat, but it makes no sense given the rest of the conversation. he goes on and on about how useful Hawks will be in helping them spy on the heroes, but then calls attention to him sneaking out to buy a single can of coffee. in conclusion I am probably overthinking this way too much, but it’s odd. maybe he really is just trying to be nice and coming off as weird and creepy.)

now we’re flashing back to Hawks’s last report to the PSC

if this is after he met up with Dabi then why does he still have the bag? WHEN WILL THIS STOP HAUNTING ME. I’M SO TIRED OF WAKING UP AT NIGHT IN A COLD SWEAT ONLY TO SEE HAWK’S BACKPACK STANDING THERE RIGHT NEXT TO MY BED, WATCHING

-- SDLKGHSLDKHFL

lmao this scared the shit out of me. Enji what the fuck

yesssss it’s mah boisssss

wow, he’s pretty weirdly enthused about the whole thing, huh? I expected him to bitch about it more. since Shouto basically offered his friends the gig all on his own without any consultation whatsoever. that’s called nepotism Shouto but it’s okay I forgive you

anyways. so are the Endeavor offices located in THE FUTURE. or what. is this Epcot

DKFJWELKFJL

LOL THAT’S MORE LIKE IT. FOR A MOMENT I THOUGHT WE HAD SLIPPED INTO SOME WEIRD ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

hahaha exactly

well I’m glad I’m not going crazy, at any rate. anyways though, Endeavor trying his best to be a good dad and caving in to his son’s ridiculous demands because he’s trying to make up for TWO DECADES OF BEING COMPLETE GARBAGE is pleasing to me as always. deal with it Endeav

HE SAID DEAL WITH IT!!

oh my god Katsuki is saying something holy shit, the next few panels will set the stage for what could be the sleeper hit character dynamic of the year. ghghkghhhhhh

( ⁰ o ⁰ )

oh my god

(ETA: Katsuki I have written whole essays about how perceptive you are and then you just. sob. now that he’s finally starting to ease up on the whole Angry Asshole thing, his inner dumbass is really shining through.)

YES HE IS AND THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO, YOUR BOURGEOIS SON HAS FALLEN IN WITH THIS CHURLISH ROUGHNECK FROM THE HOOD, DIE MAD ABOUT IT!!

lmaooo

that mental image omfg. HE WILL PUT UP WITH THIS SUFFERING IN ORDER TO GET CLOSER TO HIS GOAL. what a sacrifice. the pros outweighed the cons. it’s logic. I can’t, I

and Endeavor being so fucking mad that Shouto picked this asshole to be his new best friend sob. YOU CAN’T STOP THEIR BROMANCE IT IS UNFOLDING BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES

anyways I love everything and I’m all set for the mentoring to begin. bring it onnnn

so now Deku is being surprisingly earnest and thanking Endeavor for accepting them into his agency

and we’re getting our first glimpse of Deku’s Upgraded Feelings About Endeavor oooooh juicy

Deku is so good at seeing into people’s hearts. and so forgiving. we already knew he was -- the inciting event that led to the whole fucking series wouldn’t have even happened if he wasn’t -- but I’m honestly still so impressed every time I see it

(ETA: and also, this means that he still went and told him off during the sports festival even though he was scared of him. kid is the fucking role model to end all role models.)

also I’m already sensing that this chapter (and indeed, this entire arc) is going to prompt more Discourse up in the ol’ fandom. that’s going to be fun. anyways, I’ve already essayed more than once regarding Endeavor’s redemption arc, so I’m not going to spend too much time hashing out the same old points. but basically my stance is I’m fine with it. I think it’s good to show that people can change no matter how far they’ve gone down the wrong path. it may not be easy, but if they’re genuinely remorseful, and if the desire is there, then why not? I’m not gonna get up in arms because someone is trying to become a better person. the alternative is that they stay terrible, and that doesn’t help anyone

anyway, so now we’re flashing back to what appears to be a conversation with All Might, and oh my god

but you guys. listen. Katsuki is there, again. they’re not even discussing OFA this time and he’s still there! elbowed his way into this mentorship like the determined little shit he is, and now he’s not leaving and you all just have to deal with it. oh my god it’s everything I ever wanted, someone please pinch me is this real??

lol and now they are discussing OFA, but that’s okay. it’s only natural that would also be on the agenda

really, All Might?

you consider that “just fine”? that bloop? just as planned?? I know you love your son, but maybe consider raising the bar for him just a little bit. he is capable of so much more, and now of all times is not the time to go easy on him

and he’s still talking about the SIXQUIRKS as though unlocking more of them right now would be a bad thing. I really think this is the wrong approach. maybe I just want to see Deku go buck wild and fucking lose it though, idk

Katsuki has no patience for this either

“I don’t doubt it.” please Deku we’re not worthy of you and your wholesomeness. and he’s so sincere, too?? how does Kacchan continuously absorb all of this shameless admiration and affection day after day, week after week. how is he not humbled by it

anyways time to shut up about that though because All Might is now mentoring Bakugou directly and this requires my full fucking attention

yessss let the character development commence! I’m so excited ddhkshl

and now we’re back in the present and the conversation is taking a very interesting turn!

YES! HE DID! DO YOU REMEMBER? YOU WEREN’T REALLY PAYING ATTENTION BEFORE BECAUSE YOU WERE STILL IN ASSHOLE MODE. what do you have to say about it now?

...

mysterious

what

(ETA: “is he always like this?”)

lol what

hahaha. this arc is off to a fucking hysterical start

oh snap y’all look at this

100% chance Deku is right fucking behind him lol. probably they all are

YEP

BITCH, WHO THE FUCK DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DEALING WITH. YOU THOUGHT THESE WERE JUST ANY OLD INTERNS?? FUCK YOU, THESE ARE PREMIUM, CLUB-LEVEL, OCEAN VIEW INTERNS, YOU UNAPPRECIATIVE LOUT. YOU INGRATE

lol but he’s not missing a beat though, and he’s ordering them to stay behind and watch him oh shit. what is even going on

now we’re cutting to some fucking yogi bobbing around town in a lotus position screaming about a divine revelation he received from fucking space. okay

AHHH WHAT

HAWKS IS ALREADY GETTING IN ON THE ACTION, JESUS CHRIST. DOES THIS FUCKER EVER PUT ON THE BRAKES?? THIS ARC IS LIKE TWELVE DIFFERENT PLOTLINES INTERSECTING ALL AT ONCE AND I CAN BARELY KEEP UP. THIS SHIT IS A TRAINWRECK WAITING TO HAPPEN AND I’M STANDING HERE MESMERIZED

BUT!!!

cue Celine Dion’s “All by Myself” while I fall down dramatically nooooo. the lord giveth and he taketh away. YOU OPENED A DOOR AND CLOSED THE WINDOW YOU BASTARD sob why

well shit. and that means that Katsuki has only one chapter left to reveal his hero name, too. (ETA: keeping track of the important things here lol.) and somehow I don’t see that happening unless the focus of the next chapter takes a very dramatic shift, since we seem to be launching into full plot mode before any of us even have our seatbelts on. not that I’m complaining about that because sdkljk

anyways. see y’all in two weeks I guess. the My Plots Academia arc sure is off to a crazy fucking start

107 notes · View notes

omgjasminesimone · 5 years ago

Text

How to Make a Family

Bryce x Casey

Author’s Note: Warning: Mentions of miscarriage

Summary: Casey and Bryce decide to start a family, but the road to parenthood isn’t as smooth as expected.

Rating: PG-13

Word Count: 3000

“Mmm….this is the best way to wake up.” Bryce mumbles, returning Casey’s lazy kisses with impassioned ones as he wakes.

Casey smiles against his lips and lets her tongue slip into his mouth. “I missed you.” She reveals when she pulls away a few moments later.

Bryce smiles sleepily, rubbing her back gently through her clothes. She’s still in her business casual from attending the morning session of the medical conference. “Not as much as I missed you. How was the conference? I thought you weren’t coming back until Tuesday. You didn’t leave early because it was boring, did you Dr. Valentine?”

“They moved Dr. Ramsey’s panel to this morning, so I came home early. I learned a lot, but I won’t bore you with the details. Not when we have catching up to do.” Casey slowly kisses down his bare chest. She gets to his lower abs and is about to pull down his pajama pants when he pulls her back up. She’s draped over him, staring into his brown eyes which shine with desire.

“Casey, as much as I hate to stop you, and believe me, I really hate to stop you, we can’t. I’m not supposed to ejaculate for 48 hours before my appointment. I can take care of you though.” He flips them so he’s on top, pushing her pencil skirt up over her hips.

“Wait, stop.” Casey interrupts, sitting up and pushing her skirt back down. “What appointment?”

“A good friend from high school, Wendy, she and her wife are having a baby. She asked for my sperm.” Bryce responds casually.

“What the hell Bryce?”

“What?” The fact that he honestly seems confused at her irritation makes her even more irritated.

“Don’t you think that’s something you should have talked with me about?” Casey asks, standing from the bed to put some space between them.

Bryce still looks flabbergasted, sitting up and running a hand through his hair. “Is it?”

Casey whirls around. “Yes, Bryce! It is!”

“Why are you mad? Do you not want me to do it? I already told her I would, everything is set up.”

“It’s not that I don’t want you to do it necessarily, but if I didn’t want you to do it, I feel like you should have at least considered my feelings before agreeing.”

“How does it even affect you beyond this 48 hour no sex thing? I didn’t even think you were going to be here.” Bryce reasons.

“How does it affect me?! Are you serious Bryce?”

Bryce gets up from the bed, pulling her into his strong arms. Annoyingly, being in his arms always makes her anger fade. It’s really an unfair move that he always pulls when they’re fighting. After a few moments of silence, he pulls his other move, tracing circles in her back to further soothe her. “Hey…just tell me what’s wrong so I can understand why you’re upset. I love you, and I never want to hurt you Casey.”

She hugs him back which lets him now he’s somewhat forgiven, so he loosens his hold so she can pull back far enough to look up at him. “It’s just, I’m your girlfriend. We live together. We’re….we’re moving in the direction of marriage. And …babies.” Casey fights down her blush at being so vulnerable with Bryce. They’ve never talked about marriage, probably because they’re both a little emotionally stunted. After all, it took them a full year of hooking up before they even mustered the courage to officially date. But she wants him to understand why she’s upset, so she’s going to talk about her feelings, despite how uncomfortable it makes her.

“This baby you’re having, they would be half siblings with my kids….if we ever get there. I think we will. I guess….I just would have liked to have some input in you becoming a dad.” She looks down, it’s less embarrassing to look at her feet than his expressive brown eyes.

Bryce buries his hands into her hair, tilting her head and forcing her to make eye contact. “Hey, I’m not becoming a dad. I’ll be his or her biological father, and if they ever want to know me, of course I would write, call, have lunch, whatever, but this is Wendy’s and Jaclyn’s kid. Not mine. And they live in Hawaii, so it’s not like they’re going to be around a lot. I’m just doing a favor for a good friend Casey, that’s it.”

“Have you donated sperm before?” Casey asks. He sounds so comfortable with it that she’s starting to think he might have several sperm donor babies running around.

“Nah, they pay very little at the sperm banks. And look at me, hot, smart, tall. Wendy clearly knows what’s up. I’ve got prime stuff, so I’m not selling it cheap.” Bryce responds.

Casey snorts, hitting his chest lightly. “Moron.”

Bryce smiles fondly at her despite the insult, kissing her softly. “Don’t worry babe, when you’re ready to have my babies there will be plenty of sperm left for you.”

…

“Mhmmm….my favorite wake up call.” Bryce murmurs as Casey pulls away from his lips, kissing down his neck. He opens his eyes and checks the clock, 5:12 am. “Isn’t it our day off? What has you so frisky so early in the morning?”

Casey stops the kissing, opting to sit on him instead, her fingers delicately drifting over his abs. “I had a dream.” She replies.

“Ooh…a naughty one?” Bryce asks, hands wandering up her bare legs.

“No perv.” She teases, draping herself on top of him, fingers tangling into his messy morning hair. “I dreamt that we had a baby.”

Bryce has not so subtly hinted about how much he wants to start a family ever since they returned to Boston from their honeymoon in Fiji, and Bryce and Casey have been married for a little over a year now.

Wendy and Jaclyn send him pictures and videos of their daughter occasionally, and she’s beautiful. She’s 3 now, and it’s such a fun age. She calls him Uncle Bryce, and she seems to almost comprehend that he’s her biological father. She talks so well, (not that he’s surprised she’s smart, he and Wendy both have great genes) and his heart melts every time he speaks with her.

It makes him long for a child with his wife. But until now, Casey has been resistant. Her objections lie in her worries about her career. They’re attendings now, which allows for a better schedule but more responsibility at Edenbrook. And although it’s not fair, a baby would likely impact her career trajectory more than his. The most successful female physicians at Edenbrook like Dr. Harper Emery, have no children. (But then again, the most successful men, like Naveen or Ethan, also have no children, no spouses, they’re married to the job.) She’s worried she’ll end up like Dr. Delarosa. When Ines and Zaid had a baby last year, her hours were reduced dramatically while Zaid returned after paternity leave full time.

“Really? It was a good dream, right? It wasn’t some horror ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ situation? Are you ready to start trying?” Bryce shoots the questions off in rapid succession in his excitement.

Casey laughs, kissing her husband softly. “I’m ready to start trying.”

…

Bryce holds Casey on their bathroom floor as she cries, stroking her hair. He wants to cry too, but he won’t because she needs him to be strong right now. They’ve been trying to have a baby for a year, and they’ve just suffered their third miscarriage.

They’ve seen countless specialists over the year, and no one can tell them what’s wrong. Why she can’t carry the baby to term. She’s started to obsessively research possible causes, hoping to diagnose herself so they can fix this. It’s starting to take a toll on their marriage, he’s starting to wonder if it’s worth it.

“Casey, maybe we should consider surrogacy.” Bryce says. The specialists they’ve seen have all brought it up, but they, mostly she, wanted to keep trying. But now, maybe they’ve tried enough.

“But Bryce, I want all those little moments. The food cravings, feeling our baby kick, having control over what they’re exposed to in utero.” She pulls her face away from his now tear stained shirt. “I wanted you to massage my swollen feet, and to kiss my belly…..I don’t understand why I can’t do this. Why my body can’t do this…I feel broken.” She whispers that last part.

Bryce cups her cheeks, she had been looking down at the tile floor with tear filled eyes, so he makes her look at him. “You’re not broken Casey. This doesn’t mean you’re flawed in anyway. You’re perfect, and I love you.”

“I love you too Bryce. You’ve been so patient through all this, I want you to know how much I appreciate that.”

Bryce places a kiss to the top of her head. “There’s not one way to start a family Casey. We tried this way, maybe it’s time to try another.”

“But surrogacy is so expensive.” Casey complains.

“Good thing we’re both attendings with well-paying jobs and amazing insurance then.” Bryce counters.

Casey sighs, running out of excuses. “Okay, let’s look into it at least.”

…

When Bryce operates, it’s almost like he’s asleep, in a different, separate consciousness. He’s very focused on his task. It’s not until it’s over, the organ successfully repaired, that he feels like he’s back in the real world again, awake.

“Dr. Lahela, Dr. Valentine is here and would like to talk to you.” Dr. Delarosa announces over the intercom into the operating room.

“Dr. McGuire, would you like to close?” Bryce asks, stepping away from the table and giving the intern a chance to learn something. Francine McGuire nods enthusiastically, taking his place at the table. Bryce leaves his senior resident to supervise, throwing off his mask and gloves as he heads out.

Casey is waiting just outside the door, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Kate called.” Their surrogate, a single mother who lives in New York. She sends them updates on her belly bump, videos of their son kicking in her stomach. Casey always cries when they get them, but nowadays she reassures him they’re mostly happy tears. “She’s in labor!”

“Holy shit. She’s early! Is it too early? We were supposed to have another 3 weeks!” Bryce exclaims.

“Hey.” Casey wraps her arms around his waist, pulling him into a hug. He calms almost immediately. “We’re ready.” She promises, straining to press a firm kiss to his lips. “And I got us plane tickets, so let’s go before we miss our son’s birth.”

It’s a little strange to watch a woman you don’t know very well give birth to your child. Bryce isn’t sure if he’s supposed to hold Kate’s hand, or if he should be holding Casey’s. Eventually, Casey takes Kate’s hand, serving as an anchor when the contractions get bad. “Breathe Kate. You’re doing so great. Thank you so much. We love you.” She repeats these four phrases like a mantra, or a prayer.

Kate’s labor is long. Much longer than when she had her own daughter, she’ll tell them later.

(“It’s because he has such a big head. He’s smart, he needed the extra space for his brain.” Bryce tells Casey later, his arms wrapped around her as they watch their newborn sleep in his crib.)

After 8 hours, Eric Lahela (Legally, Casey took Bryce’s last name, although she still practices under Casey Valentine, so no need to hyphenate Valentine-Lahela) makes his grand entrance to the world. Bryce and Casey get to cut the umbilical cord together, and then after cleaning him off, the staff hand the baby to his mother.

Casey’s eyes well with tears as she takes in their baby. He mostly looks like Bryce, but Eric has her eyes.

…

“Bryce, wake up.” Casey whispers impatiently, but her voice is excited.

“What?” Bryce whispers back, not wanting to wake up their 18-month-old who’s sleeping between them. They really need to be stricter about getting him to sleep in his own bed.

“We did it. Today marks fourteen weeks. We’ve never made it to 14 weeks….” Her voice trails off, full of emotion.

He kisses her passionately, Eric stirring slightly as he accidentally jostles their son in the process.

They’ve suffered two more miscarriages since Eric was born. They weren’t actively trying to get pregnant, but they also weren’t actively doing anything to prevent getting pregnant either. But the miscarriages were always early. 6 to 8 weeks along. Bryce honestly thought they were in the clear this time when 10 weeks rolled around, but Casey was less convinced. She didn’t want to get her hopes up, she didn’t want to tell anyone unless she made it through the first trimester.

“So I get to do this now.” He mumbles against her lips, pulling her shirt up to expose her belly and placing adoring kisses over her skin. That’s something else she wouldn’t allow, worried they were going to jinx themselves and lose the baby if they were too happy, too excited about it. “I love you.” He whispers against her slightly rounded stomach.

“Me, or the baby?” Casey asks, running her hands through his hair.

“Both.” Bryce responds.

Casey smiles. “I’m going to make a 16-week ultrasound appointment. I want pictures, and to find out the gender.”

“I hope it’s a little girl. I hope she looks like you.” Bryce reveals, kissing her belly again to seal the wish.

“I bet Eric wants a brother.” Casey replies, eyes shining with merriment. “Should we tell him he’s going to be a big brother?”

Bryce grins, shaking the toddler awake. “We have amazing news buddy.”

…

“That is really cold.” Casey complains as the technician puts the gel on her belly.

“But worth it to see your baby.” The cheery tech insists, turning on the machine and working on getting a clear picture.

Bryce squeezes Casey’s hand in excitement as the blob on the screen starts to take form. The tech moves the transducer around, stopping when she spots something. “Well, that’s definitely a penis. It’s a boy!” She reports.

“Another boy.” Casey says softly, but with no disappointment. She’s still in disbelief that she’s carrying this child, getting to experience every moment of pregnancy.

“And I think there’s another one.” The tech reports, moving the transducer.

“Another one?!” Bryce exclaims, Casey squeezing his hand this time in her surprise.

“Yep, there’s another one. Baby B is a girl!” The tech reveals, grinning at the stunned couple.

“Twins?” Casey says in disbelief.

The tech nods, wiping the gel off and printing their ultrasound photos for them. “I’ll give you guys some privacy.”

“Twins.” Bryce parrots.

“And a girl too.” Casey adds, hands resting over her belly protectively. “Wow, twins. You think I get double maternity leave for two babies?” Casey jokes.

Bryce laughs, pressing a quick kiss to her lips. “I know we get a discount at the Edenbrook Daycare Center. With two kids enrolled, the third is half price.”

…

“AAAAHHH!” Casey yells, sweat slicking her forehead as she pushes.

Bryce is posted at her shoulder, wiping her forehead with a cloth every few minutes. “You’re doing amazing baby. Keep breathing.”

“This hurts so fucking bad! I can’t believe you did this to me!”

“Casey, it was definitely a team effort.” Her answering glare is murderous, but then her eyes squeeze shut as she’s hit with another contraction.

“Give me your hand.” She demands through clenched teeth.

Bryce hesitates. “Are you going to break my hand?”

“I don’t fucking know Bryce, just give me your fucking hand, coward!” Casey never curses like this, especially not at him, it’s off putting.

“I’m a surgeon baby, I kind of need my hands.”

“Aaahhhh!” She screams again, doubling over in pain. He finally gives in, gripping her sweaty fingers. She squeezes really hard, and he’s worried she is actually going to break his fingers. He manages to pry her off his hand, giving her his strong bicep to squeeze instead. Let’s see her break that.

“You’re almost there.” Their OBGYN encourages, positioned between Casey’s legs. “Just a couple more pushes mama.”

“We’re never doing this again Bryce! If you want another baby, we’re adopting.” Casey insists, squeezing his bicep and pushing again.

“Three is plenty babe. Although I’ve always wanted to adopt.” Bryce replies, pressing a kiss to her sweaty forehead.

“I see the first baby! Keep pushing!” The doctor orders.

Casey pushes, letting out another loud scream. Their baby’s cry fills the room soon after. “It’s the girl!” The doctor announces, handing her off to be cleaned up after cutting the umbilical cord. “Just one more mama. You’ve got this.”

Casey pushes again, (Bryce’s bicep is definitely going to bruise) and their youngest son is born, crying just as loudly as his twin sister.

“Would you like to do the honors?” Their doctor asks, handing Bryce the scissors to cut his son’s umbilical cord.

Bryce cuts, and their son is whisked off to be cleaned up.

“Sorry for cursing at you.” Casey apologizes, turning to look at him.

Bryce smiles, kissing his wife softly. “Sorry for getting you pregnant.” He apologizes with a wink as he pulls away.

“Haha.” Casey says sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Her momentary irritation with him is immediately forgotten when her babies are placed in her arms. “Oh my god, they’re so beautiful. Where’s Eric?”

Bryce gently runs a finger over his daughter’s soft cheek, and then rustles the few strands of brown hair on his son’s head. “With Sienna in the waiting room. I’ll get him.”

Eric meeting the new babies isn’t as cute as his parents envisioned. The toddler is rather standoffish. Casey still gets pictures though.

Eric is very skeptical of these new babies. Being an only child was pretty great. And these things don’t seem to do anything, besides cry and poop. He’s not really sure why his parents are so enamored.

(They do grow on him eventually.)

...

Taglist:

@octobereighth @sibella-plays-choices @hazah @akrenich @lovehugsandcandy @professorortegasstudent @regina-and-happiness @brightpinkpeppercorn @choicesarehard @lizeboredom @desiree-0816 @hellooliviaolivia @dreaming-of-movies @friedherringclodthing @weaving-in-words @fairydustandsarcasm @goldenjellyfish12 @pessimystic-fangirl @mimikoasahina @srta-give-me-my-jax-rl @god-save-the-keen @caroldxnvxrs @cora-nova @emceesynonymroll @lady-dianelewis

#open heart #bryce lahela x mc #bryce x mc #choices fanfiction #playchoices #pregnancy

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mastcrplanncr-a · 5 years ago

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issue #23 made me really heccin’ emo over eggman and sonic. i was prepared for it, but also ?? not prepared??? holy frick im just gonna ramble under the cut.

first of all, i’m just gonna’ idly ramble about some things i noticed.

Eggman, literally 11 issues ago:

he makes these off remarks and then changes his mind whenever it’s convenient for him smh. that or hes a freaking liar and. WELL THAT’S PRETTY TRUE HONESTLY.

i’ma be honest fam starline is a freaking mood rn. it’s ?? so dumb?? LIKE EGGMAN WHERE IS YOUR FUCKING FAILSAFE UR SOLUTION WAS “not touching the robots hurr durr” PL EASE.

In retrospect, though, this is an interesting parallel to Forces because he’d apparently learned from his mistakes. TBF, and it has been brought up elsewhere on tumblr, this is a man recovering from amnesia. He must’ve just not gotten to that part. OR HE’S JUST. DUMB AND ARROGANT. Like, yeah, sure, there’s no vaccine - lol the heroes can’t fix anything & it also means you’re valuable because you’re the one person who can. BUT COME ON EGGMAN.

my friend actually predicted this holy shit. i was rambling abt a discussion we had in the egg cult, where we were talking about the possibility of sonic infecting eggman to blackmail him into getting the cure because he’s reached the point?? hes so done with eggman’s shit??? all his friends are in danger and hes backed into a wall what else is he to do than do the one thing he doesn’t want to: use eggman’s tactics against him?

and my friend was like:

LIKE. IT IS A HUGE RISK, and Sonic went FOR IT. I’M SCREAMING TBH.

THIS CONFRONTATION WAS SO FUCKING RAW YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND. I thought I was ready for it but I really, REALLY wasn’t. I love the little details of Starline bein’ like: “oh fuck” - usually he’s pretty cocky around Sonic but uh. HE’S INFECTED NOW. And the zero remark - idk if that’s intentional on the writer’s part but ZERO TO HERO anyone?

anyway toxi broke down crying at this point. you have no idea how much i was sobbing over my blue son just. pouring out his heart to his nemesis. that’s top tier tearjerking material. also starline passive aggressively readjusting his outfit lmfao. BITCH IM FABULOUS. but man the usage of ‘ BE’ and ‘LIKE’ - Sonic knows who Eggman is; he’d never ask him to be something he’s not. but it’s also a reiteration of sonic’s want to see good in him; being LIKE tinker is a statement in that he wanted eggman to be who he was, but NOT to go back. to do good for the world. have it be his own decision, because deep deep down:

isn’t that what he really wants?

Also, although there are those sickly sweet descriptions, the usage of ellipses in this narrative really fucks me up because you can practially hear the gradual realization in eggman’s voice. his mockery starts out so !!! but it just eventually gets straight to the point, as a list. as a routine. because he was used to it. and because, some part of him misses it. notice the usage of ‘need’ and ‘use’. they needed him, and yet he used the people that appreciated him sm like puppets.

some nice guilt there, huh, doc?

ALSO I SPENT LIKE, HOURS TRYING TO FIND THIS EXACT DIALOGUE, but Eggman has a conversation in Dark Brotherhood with Sonic and makes this remark:

LIKE??? this isn’t new to his character, actually? Ignoring the ken penders thing bc smh. Going by this game he’s actually kind of okay with that set up. And he just works so well with the others too??? this isn’t even taking into account the other games he’s teamed up with them. I’m sorry but my head just goes back to this line so many times; it’s one of the ones that stick with me, along with ‘complicated guy’ from lost world. HE COULD!! legitimately do good. and he actually doesn’t find it too bad??? IM EMO MAN...

and IMAGINE making super cool things that people genuinely like... eggman has a HUGE ego, that much is very apparent; he’s super big on appreciation as comes with. and with tinker? he had that - he felt appreciated and loved. people LIKED what he made, and he didn’t have to bend over backwards to have that. his work felt included and he didn’t have to take that appreciation by force like he did with his lackeys (which half the time was fake anyway) .

first and foremost - WE SEE THAT OPEN YOUR HEART REFERENCE, IDW. also sonic’s frustration here, in comparison to the lil smile the panel before - he’s just!! “WHY CANT YOU WAKE THE FRICK UP OLD MAN”. the justification here seems a tad bit like DENIAL to me. and the justification seems... kind of odd from him? since when does EGGMAN justify anything he does? He does what he wants and when he wants, because he’s the E.G.G.M.A.N. he doesn’t care what anyone thinks... right?

it’s because - especially with the usage of better - he didn’t like where that train of thought was going. for once, he’s justifying himself - because the alternative is admitting sonic is right. that he did like that life. that he’d want to go back. throw it in a hierachy and it’s all so simple, right?

also the inclusion of open your heart lyrics here. the incident with chaos was just as catastrophic. and these lyrics in context of the previous panel, highlights how sonic and eggman both seek unity and peace but in their own ways; eggman’s is just evil. it seems a little bit of a diversion to me - to antagonise sonic and make him forget about it. what better way to do that than to relate to him? ‘own styles that we won’t change’ highlights a stubbornness in ways, too, especially with the current context of eggman denying his old life. ALSO IT IS LITERALLY TELLING EGGMAN TO OPEN HIS HEART.

and ngl this seems like idle banter to hide the fact he genuinely felt remorse for his actions for a second. because lbr he has a habit of being all talk when a plan goes wrong or suffering inside,

which starline does quite pointedly explain.

As I was saying above, Sonic has no choice in what to do now - he’s reaching his limit. OR ELSE. hes pondering doing the thing he doesnt want to do. and honestly, ‘you can’t stop me. no one can,’ is so hardhitting not just because of its looming threat, but because of how much it solidifies for sonic that he can’t take the chance anymore. if anyone is going to change eggman, it has to be himself.

also can i just cry over how much sonic trusts tails. im getting sa2 flashbacks.

also man i’d like to point out the specific use of ‘lock you away forever’. it coooould be a reference to sonic’s time imprisoned during the events of sonic forces. bitterness?

NOT SAYING I CALLED IT, BUT I CALLED IT. it still hurts though. and wow, it really is horrifying when eggman fears his own heccin’ creation, huh?

i live for sonic being passive aggressive with eggman. give me more please.

im immensely concerned the direction starline is going, honestly. but it does say a lot about eggman; how he’ll keep trying the same things expecting different results, but failing and never seeing that. because he’s EGGMAN; every plan is brilliant by default!

i love how sonic just !!! SHOT... THE MOMENT HE WAS REMINDED WHAT WAS AT STAKE. son i love you so much you’re doing great sweetie

also, man, can we talk about eggman avoiding his blatant faults, and shoving his failures onto someone else? because this little scene here - eggman ur literally the one who crashed the thing. it had absolutely nothing to do with sonic. i feel as though this is symbolism of his self-destructive nature, honestly. hes always gotta make things harder for himself. (also starline’s face is killing me)

Eggman does what he has to, but technology won’t work every time you kick it. he thinks he can get everything through force but we have several instances in idw where force did NOT work out; you’re not gonna get far, egghead.

MHM, and just who does that sound like, Eggman? honestly the mirrors between these two are seriously destroying me. although sonic is in a horrible position, so is eggman; he likes to think he’s won the war, but hes surpassed his own expectations, and that’s going to backfire on him eventually. hes stubborn to admit he has NO REIGN over this and they’re all doomed, so he’s pinning his failures / loss on Sonic.

is that the amnesia kicking ya in the shin, eggman? or sonic’s reality check? either way, the doc hates emotions. dammit man why you gotta make him emo

future eggman is going to kick past eggman in the kneecaps. it’s times like this ur reminded how much of a kid he is. eugh but that’s work i want my victory and senseless destruction now. honestly if the doc is after success, he is certainly not getting it this way and I AM FEARING FOR EVERYONE’S LIVES. he’ll probably have to work with what’s left of the resistance like the back end of most games at some point.

I’m getting a little burnt out but i can’t forget my son and how much he hurts me.

first of all that third panel terrifies me. the fact it GOT that far does me great concern. the RED EYES? that’s pushing it fam i dont like that. the expressions are also just freaking destroying me; they’ve been PERFECT this issue. and the fact sonic is at his weakest when he feels like he’s failed everyone hurts me deeply. he has SO much on his shoulders and its getting too overwhelming for him.

also man... the whole thing with eggman... just stuff me man. but it hurts all the more because it’s so glaringly clear that there is?? some good in eggman??? he just. doesn’t want to admit it. and unfortunately these aren’t good circumstances to debate on that.

ANYWAY, THAT ISSUE WAS AGONY AND IM STILL REELING AND HAVENT EVEN. TALKED ALL THAT MUCH ABOUT SONIC HERE (on account of this being eggman’s blog) but idk if i’ll write anything on that.

gonna go cry about an egg now brb

#▷ 𝙊𝙃 ; 𝙎𝙃𝙐𝙏 𝙐𝙋! ( .ooc )#sonic idw spoilers #idw spoilers #long post #tw: swearing

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amazildoessomethingstupid · 5 years ago

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Chapter 95: Love Again Part 2

Well boys we back on it again! I hope you’re ready cause I’ve been spending most of this week after the response pumping out response images for this next part! So let’s waste no more time and jump right into it!

…

Oh shut up, you know you laughed at it.

So we start off with one of mah boi Bee’s favorite pages! Just look at this great update of a page! Just jam packed with so much stuff to sink your teeth into, and digest. It’s a magnificent piece that is not only worth waiting 2 full days to see, but waiting 2 to 3 more days to see what’s next! And while I was not a dedicated reader, waiting hours on end for when this page update I can only imagine how elated those readers who did wait, must’ve been to see this page!

No wonder this chapter’s 50 pages long… AND IT CONTINUES!

Okay, okay, no I’m not really going to bitch about these splash pages and how fucking tedious and restless it would’ve made me as a serial reader to go into this. Partly, because the way I’m reading these now and with the rant series of going chapter by chapter was all inspired by the great advice by Bear Kidney that he gave me years ago on the forum. That the “proper” way to read BCB is as full chapters, and to just wait for them to be finished…

Which meant in order for an average person to read this “properly” they’d have to wait…

Five full months…

Sure! But since we are reading this “properly” I will say that these splash pages do help to set the pace. It sets the tone for this scene pretty well and makes us slow down and appreciate what’s happening, and immerse ourselves into the past.

But enough praise! You know what’s coming, I know what’s coming! Let’s get to it! I’m ready! I’m hungry for some strawberry pancakes! Let’s tear int-

Wait what?

Right when I have to transfer? Wait, this is a flashback right? Is she talking about the private school? I thought we only learned about this private school thing this chapter. What is she-

THEM? Do what? Uhhhhh What?! A-am I missing something here? This is a flashback to when Lucy attempts suicide, right? This is after December, I thought that’s why she did that. Is that not it? Am I missing something?! I THOUGHT I WAS ALL PREPARED WHAT THE HELL?

Okay so this IS about the new school? Okay. Why? I thought what happened in December was enough! Was it not enough? Did that just push her further into this point? Wait, no. This had to be after December. So the move was done because of December? So the first course of action upon realizing Lucy had been acting depressed was to immediately move her to a new place? No like therapy or anything? No counseling? What the…

Okay, hold that thought one second here, I need to resort to a third-party source on this shit.

Hello? Yes, I’m doing the rant and I am now not only angry but very confused! You’ve read further into the comic than me, what the fuck is Lucy talking about here?!

….

WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WAS A SCENE WHERE THEY MENTIONED LUCY MOVING AWAY?! I DON’T REMEMBER ANY SCENE LIKE…wait a second…

ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TALKING ABOUT THIS SCENE?! HOLY CRAP, EVEN I FORGOT ABOUT THIS SCENE! What the fuck?! You mean this one little scene. This little one-page moment shuffled in early, in a chapter that had its own memorable bits of drama and character moments that easily overshadow it; was not only meant to be a very important scene that hints at one of the main reasons Lucy is trying to kill herself…BUT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO- NO WE WERE *EXPECTED* TO HOLD ONTO THIS ONE LITTLE BIT OF DIALOGUE FOR ALMOST FIVE FUCKING YEARS IF WE WANTED TO FULLY UNDERSTAND WHY LUCY’S ATTEMPTING TO KILL HERSELF?!

Yeah, thinking about it I’m not that surprised, honestly. And people think I’m crazy for looking this deeply into the comic and characters and motivations. Apparently, I wasn’t looking hard enough! Jesus, good thing I missed that. If I knew that Sam was so on board with not letting Lucy have say on her treatment, or what happens to her, January would’ve crumbled apart! Not to mention, according to this False Idol shouldn’t have happened since Lucy would’ve been moved away before the summer…

Hey by the way, do we get any follow up on what exactly Lucy did while she was in that private school? Like how was her treatment, care, and stuff? How she was doing?

Why are you laughing?

Alright, I’m not gonna lie. I felt something there. You got me, Taeshi. This bit of paneling. The build up, the expressions, it works here. But sadly I’d be remised if I didn’t make this joke.

You know I had to do it to em’.

But instead she goes for the cannonball! Bold move there, Cotton! Let’s see if it pays off!

Oof! She’s gonna lose a lot of points for not sticking the landing. But I still give it a 5/10 for style points. Okay, okay, I joke but I gotta give props to this scene for well execution (…no pun intended)

The structure of this page is very well done, and reminds me of Korean style of web paneling which uses a lot of negative space and vertical structure to build tension, and slow down the reader’s pace by forcing them to scroll down in order to read forward. If you’ve seen any of those Korean horror webcomics you’ll know what I mean. It’s very effective, and it works to build this tension and intrigue into what happened. It’s a very good trick, and Taeshi’s use of it here is very nice. It’s just…

What….

What the fuck?

WHAT THE FUCK?! YOU BUILT THIS SCENE UP FOR YEARS AND THIS IS WHAT WE GET?! YOU FUCKING HACK! YOU WERE DOING SO WELL! IF YOU JUST TOOK IT SLOW FOR ONE SECOND, AND NOT FUCKING GO OVER THE TOP WITH YOUR EXECUTION OF SCENES! THE ONE TIME! THE ONE SCENE THAT DESERVED TO STAND ON ITS OWN AND HAVE A FUCKING OUNCE OF SUBTLETY AND REALISM, AND YOU COULDN’T FUCKEJWOIGHSLKDA;J

HGNGKJFJLGKFHBN LFKGJHLLJDFGKLJ;LHKGFLKJIUCUCBITCHLKJBVKJLHKJXHCVH

*WHUMP*

Uhhh…

WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED RANT TO BRING YOU BIOLOGY CLASS WITH DR. CAS MARIE!

Hello, kids! Did you know, that hidden inside every animal including you, me, and sharks. Is this thing we call a skeleman! And he brings with him these things called “bones” which are integral for not only fast movement, and articulation in our moving parts, but also they help keep our vital organs safe by surrounding our heart, lungs, and livers. We’ll get more into him in a second, but just know he lives inside almost every living creature!

Well except for invertebrates….

Fuck invertebrates! Think you’re so bad, just cause you ain’t got no bones!

But anyway, beyond that skeleman has with him his best friend. MUSCLE MAN! Who is sort of like a squishy version of the skeleman. He is the one who keeps the skeleman safe. For you see kids, the skeleman’s bones are very hard, pretty dense too if you drink your bone juice! But that hardness makes him very brittle. That’s why muscle man is here to add a tough layer on top of the skeleman. But that’s not all he does! He sort of acts like a bunch of rubber bands that tighten up in order to perform actions and move those lazy bones! Cause bones can’t move themselves. Now these muscles are controlled subconsciously through the central nervous system. That might sound like some big words, but the central nervous system when talking about the skeleman refers to the skull as well as the central part of the skeleman. And what’s in the center of the skeleman?

WHY IT’S THE SPINE OF COURSE! And directly attached to that, is the brain! The spine serves as the main messenger for the body to tell everything else what to do! Limbs, organs, and all that good stuff. It’s why the spine is the most important bone of them all! Without a spine, you would literally not function, and die. Now I know you’re all very intrigued, but before we go any further there’s a little experiment I’d like you folks at home to try real quick!

Take your hand, and place it on top of your belly. Now give it a nice squish, just a little jiggle. Now lift up your arm, and squish your hey babies with the other arm. You feel that? Feel that squish? Feel that jiggle?

That’s what’s known as “fat” like when I say “You fat fucking slob.” It makes our bodies more buoyant, as well as protect our nice tight muscle man, with a pliable squishy layer right under the skin! Now of course, some parts of the body have more fat than others, as the fat is meant to protect vital parts of the body and its functions such as the breasts, the thighs, and of course the abdomen! While we’re talking about skin, there’s an interesting fact about skin. You see, skin is meant to withstand blunt force very well. Often times, you’ll notice that skin will scrape, bruise, bend, and squish, but hardly break except for certain circumstances like if you used a sharp object on it. This is because the skin is meant to absorb and be pliable enough that it’s a bit hard to tear with blunt force. Usually whenever it does, it’s due to the skeleman’s bones breaking and causing a tear from under the skin for the blood to come out or when it is pinched between the hard bone and a hard surface such as asphalt. This is why you’ll often hear the term “internal bleeding” thrown around during certain traumatic injuries. Because while the skin layer hasn’t broken, there is still something inside the body that is bleeding, but it’s not coming out of the body because of the skin layer! Not to say of course, that you can’t of course break skin through sheer blunt force trauma. But it would take a lot of force that would most definitely cause you more problems than just breaking the skin. Now I hope you were taking lessons back there, because POP QUIZ HOTSHOT! I got a surprise question for you~ With everything I’ve said about the human body and how it is able to take blunt force trauma, please tell me.

HOW THE FUCK DOES THIS HAPPEN? HOW THE FUCK DO YOU SURVIVE THAT?! AND HOW DO YOU SURVIVE THAT WITHOUT ANY LOSS OF LIMB, SCARRING, OR LASTING EFFECT?!

I’m sorry, but you can not achieve that sort of blood splatter by sheer force of gravity alone. Or if you did, then this scene should’ve been more like this!

youtube

The only explanation I’ve heard that makes any sense is that there was just some random ass rock that was there that Lucy landed on that. Which. Okay, then. Okay, sure. Yeah, okay. Then how the fuck do you survive that? That is no small wound based on the amount of blood that was expelled on impact. And if this rock is big and sharp enough to cause that amount of blood loss on impact, it would be big and sharp enough to do immense damage to the abdomen. But oh that’s alright! It’s just the abdomen, there’s nothing going on in there! It’s just your stomach, your liver, your kidneys, your colon, your womb (if you have one) your pancreas, your bladder, y’know stuff you don’t really need. But of course if that gets compromised, and based on the force and damage you could easily break a rib, puncture a lung, and really fuck up your life. That’s not even counting what sort of damage the fall did on her arm! That shoulder must be fucked! Look at how its bent even! You’re not moving that thing any time soon! Your pelvic bone must be shattered if this is the kind of force you took. You are now a vegetable. But that’s not even the biggest point! That’s not the worst part, those things? I know some of you are gonna say, “Oh Amazil, you’re not a doctor! She could survive that! People survive insane things like that all the time!”

Well okay, but riddle me this. Let’s say the rock doesn’t kill her, and by some miracle none of her internals are FUBAR right now. She didn’t cause a bone break, and destroy her limbs. Remember what we said about the central nervous system. The most important bone of the body is the spine and skull. And one of the most vulnerable parts for the spine is the neck. If you fall to the ground with enough velocity, the whiplash you should have from your body going from 60 to 0 in an instant should cause your neck to snap or leave you paralyzed for a good second if not immediately kill you because the force of momentum would carry all that velocity to make your head connect with the ground at its resting speed. And while I know I said that skin is very hard to tear, y’know what makes it tear or break? When the hard contact with the ground, meets hard contact with your hard skull! If she landed so hard on a rock that blood spew out a good foot or two in front of her, how the hell does she not crack her head on the pavement?! And don’t you give me no bullshit about the snow either! I’m sorry Lucy, but by all accounts.

If this scene wasn’t a flashback and we knew Lucy wasn’t dead, there would be no doubt that she was fucking dead if we saw this.

But it seems we aren’t alone in judging this scene. Augustus is here too! (which we kinda already know because of how this scene was set up but nonetheless). And he’s here to say

Wait, let me take a selfie an-

No…

Oh my fucking god…

OH MY GOD! NO!

DO I EVEN NEED TO SAY WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS RIGHT HERE?!

NO LUCY THAT’S NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD BE SAYING! WHAT YOU SHOULD BE SAYING IS

Sgdslkhg;sldlkdshgknxcv;jhdf;kldgsasdn

Translation: OH GOD, PLEASE HELP THERE IS BLOOD CLEARLY POOLING IN MY MOUTH! MY MOUTH IS FILLING WITH BLOOD! THERE IS BLOOD IN MY LUNGS AND I CAN’T BREATHE!

Your body should be in shock right now! You just suffered traumatic physical injury! Your brain and body is still trying to comprehend what the fuck just happened. You shouldn’t be this lucid, let alone this active and coordinated! Not to mention, the first rule of dealing with someone who has suffered traumatic injury and is on the ground, is NEVER. EVER. MOVE THE PERSON UNLESS YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO, AND IF YOU DO, YOU DO IT VERY SLOWLY AND AS CAREFULLY AS POSSIBLE. This is because like I mentioned, Lucy’s body has suffered a lot of damage. Her spine could and should be fucked up after that fall. And the reason every EMT or anyone who has the basic knowledge of first aid will tell you not to fucking move if you’ve suffered a traumatic fall, is because if you move and your spine WASN’T fucked up by that fall, it very easily WILL get fucked up if you try to move the body while it’s still injured! They are very careful about that shit, because if you slip up you turn a situation from salvageable, to fucking vegetable in one solid motion! All it takes is just curving your spine a bit immediately after it’s suffered from the shock an-

Oh yeah kinda like that. That might do it or-

Oof, yeah arching your back like that and trying to crawl after a fall. Yeah that ought to do it. Add on top of this, the aforementioned likelihood she broke a rib, and is probably suffering from a pierced lung and oh yeah

And if you’re not double-dead, you are at the very least fucking paralyzed, or require some serious physical therapy. You are not walking away from this.

What was that?

“UP here”?

I-is this not the ground floor? Is there a lower part to this? DID LUCY FALL ONTO ANOTHER LEDGE? QUICK LUCY! YOU CAN JUST ROLL OVER; YOU DIDN’T HIT THE ACTUAL GROUND APPARENTLY! THERE’S MORE FALLING YOU CAN DO TO FINISH THE JOB!

Wh-what? I-it’s a cut? It’s just a cut? What the…How…What is this scene?! You mean to tell me the only injury she got was some abdominal cut?! From falling off a building? What? Did she just see the first 2-story building she came across and say “oh that looks good enough, yeah that should do it!” I swear to god. It’s almost like…

It’s almost like…

She didn’t want to die. Maybe she was just doing it for att-

NO! NO! DON’T YOU DARE! THAT’S NOT TRUE! YOU TAKE THAT SHIT BACK! THAT’S NOT A POSSIBILITY! LUCY DID NOT DO THAT! SHE IS BETTER THAN THAT! SHE DOES NOT DESERVE THAT! AND I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT’S THE CASE!

So a girl jumps off a building to try and kill herself. But the height she falls from is so low that the only damage she got was from some random ass cut that she no doubt wasn’t expecting. Despite the assumed physical trauma that would’ve come if she jumped from a height any person would assume to be lethal enough; she doesn’t have any physical impairments, no lasting damage that we can see 9 months after the fact, no scar, no limp, she doesn’t even seem to be taking it very seriously in the current time. How else would you explain that, except that she didn’t put much thought into it. The kind of thought people who attempt suicide would, in planning out their attempt, climbing those stairs, knowing the area, and finally committing to it. Despite all that contemplating, she didn’t go high enough to do anything more than get a freak accidental injury. How is that not a sign that maybe she wasn’t really trying to die.

But hey, I don’t read this junk. I’m just going off what I see here. I don’t know this character. Do you think that would be out of character for her at this point? What other reason would you have for someone surviving this, but not dying?

….

Maybe they have a lower force of gravity in this world?

Hmm…

Or maybe Taeshi’s just a fucking hack who decided to go over the top and add a stupid gore effect that was far too much; instead of keeping the scene simple, subtle, and letting the action speak for itself, with a realistic tone and visual to keep things grounded (no pun intended).

Atta’ girl! I knew you had it in you!

But it’s such a shame. Looking at this script, I’m already close to eclipsing the rant I made for the first part of this chapter and it was all for this one fucking moment. And you can call me harsh all you want, but this seriously pissed me off. I remember when this page came out, I was fuming. I broke my vow of illiteracy to check the previous pages just because I had to know what the fuck lead to this, and what the fuck was happening. This one panel haunts me and is one of the few moments in BCB that legitimately triggers me, because of how poorly handled it was.

This should’ve been a fucking bombshell moment. This should’ve been the moment that shut my cynical, hardass mouth up or glue my jaw straight to the floor. It should’ve been an awe inspiring moment where Taeshi really showed us and reminded us just how fucking great she can be. This was a moment that everyone was waiting for with bated breath. I remember, I created January years ago specifically because we didn’t get this sort of scene. We didn’t get to see Lucy’s last struggle, or giving in. We were just told that she was gone and faded away, leaving us hollow and wanting for more. Yearning for years and years for resolution to come.

And this is what we got.

FUCKING YAMCHA’D!

But y’know what’s the best part? And if you know me, and are familiar with my stuff you know damn well what I’m talking about. The absolute best part about this whole fucking thing?

I beat Taeshi to the punch by miles. And not only that, but (and this is what really pisses me off) reading this page showed me that I gave more fucking respect and thought into this character and this moment than Taeshi did. Because, y’know why? Because of this.

That’s right. Lucy was supposed to cry out and deny and fight Sue in January to let her die. Kind of like…

HRMMMMMMMMMM Now don’t get it twisted. I’m not trying to make a comparison in saying that my idea of having Lucy fight with Susan to let her die is the same thing happening here. What I’m talking about here, is this wonderful thing in storytelling called TONE. And this scene, starting with that panel and Lucy’s reaction to Augustus kills what should’ve been a serious, and somber tone by adding in this layer of mystery, and doubt, and mistrust, and fear. Which COULD’VE been interesting and done well to make us invested.

Like oh no, what’s he doing? Who is he calling?

Oh my god, is he calling Alejandro? Is this how Lucy dies? (although, I doubt there would be much he could do since she’s already dying. Putting Alejandro in that mix would’ve just been weird, what’s he gonna do? Beat up her corpse or something?)

Oh what a relief! He’s calling an ambulance how nice, this is so relieving except wait-

WE ALREADY KNOW THAT AUGUSTUS IS GOING TO SAVE HER! SO ALL THAT BULLSHIT TENSION IS POINTLESS! So what did we learn or get from this scene?

We see how Lucy tried to kill herself. Which was poorly done.

We see how she was conflicted after Curtain Call with Mike talking to her about stuff.

We see that her moving to some other place and getting transferred to a new school wasn’t just something that happened in response to her suicide attempt but was pre-planned.

Okay.

Let me go make a call and see if any of this gets brought up or used later on.

Dude I’m being serious here. Why do you keep laughing? I just want to know if anything comes from the information from this scene. Otherwise, what’s the fucking point of dropping this bomb here other than because Lucy’s here now so we must have this scene now.

STOP LAUGHING!

But what am I saying? We haven’t even talked about January yet! So let’s do that shall we? Cause I know you think I’m just tooting my own horn by saying I put more thought into January’s suicide attempt scene but allow me to indulge myself. As I dive into one of the best scenes I’ve ever written. A scene that I put all my heart and mind into, to make it the best it could be. Because this character deserves it.

Right off the bat it is meant to make the reader perk up and raise a red flag to note that something is going on and you need to take notice. If you’ve read January, you’ll know that it is a very wordy comic. It’s jampacked with panels, words, jokes, dramatic moments, and it is meant to be a very fast paced comic that rarely slows down or shuts up. So when greeted by six panel pages that are wordless, and seemingly benign it is meant to illicit intrigue into the reader, to make them wonder why has the train slowed down.

It doesn’t waste your time either, as only two pages later do we get words again but it only adds more mystery into what’s going on. The paneling is still broken up, and scarce. And as the reader follows along, the tension and mystery builds. The lack of panels, the more prevalent backgrounds, it is visually demanding the reader slow down and immerse themselves into this scene and what is going on. Sue acting as the surrogate for the reader, as she gains the information and is left questioning in tandem with the reader.

And just as it dawns on the reader what’s going on, it dawns on Susan. The tension builds, and the question shifts. No longer asking what’s going on with this scene, but rather: How can Sue stop this? Or Can she stop this?

And at the same time, we are being drip fed Lucy’s words and perspective. We know what’s about to happen, it’s no longer a mystery. And the tension mounts until the final moment…

This is why I give props to the canon for its portrayal of Lucy’s jump. It was well done, well paced. It had this nice tension, and for that I appreciate it. But where it differs is what happens after Lucy commits to killing herself.

You see, there was a lot of thought I had put into how exactly Lucy was going to kill herself. If you’ll allow me to be cold and dark for a moment; I went over a few different modes of suicide for Lucy. And really thinking about which one would be the best one, not just for dramatic effect, not just for realism, but also which would be the best one for this scene. It came down to what would be a method that Lucy could survive from if she attempted it (so no toaster bath); what would be a method that Susan could dramatically save Lucy from, while still being able to talk to Lucy and understand her (so no over the counter cocktail); and how can I make it absolutely 100% sure to the audience that both of these characters are committed to what they’re doing? And to me…

Nothing shows that more, than Lucy fully committed to kicking the chair out from under her; and Sue clinging to Lucy for dear life, physically and emotionally trying to prop her up even as Lucy has fully committed to giving up. (if you’ve ever wondered how this overthinking, overanalyzing, cynical mind of mine works towards building my own stories. This should give you a good idea of what I go over with these scenes when I take them seriously)

If you remember the comment I mentioned earlier about changing Lucy’s reaction to Sue’s rescue, this is what I changed, and how it elevates this scene. Narratively, this should’ve been the moment where the reader catches a breath and relaxes knowing that Lucy’s safe now. But instead the reader remains in Sue’s shoes, clinging to Lucy and wanting to tell her everything’s okay, but Lucy explains that it’s not. We see into Lucy’s mentality. And it heartbreaking, because it’s not yelled at, it’s not cried out, it’s spoken somberly, with expressions and responses that fully capture how hopeless Lucy feels, and how true she feels it is.

And when Lucy finally does yell, and shows emotion it isn’t done to add some extra tension or drama in actuality, this is a moment where Sue breaks through Lucy’s armor and she shows her vulnerability. And even still the tone does not change. The tension is still tight, and it refuses to let up. But not only that.

This scene comes with a flashback, but instead of leaving us with more questions, or scratching our heads as to what it had to do with anything or what it means. It adds context to the situation, and its message is meant to be absolutely clear to you why it’s happening and what it means for the story and for these characters. This is Lucy’s moment. This is where we see her at her lowest point. Broken. Defeated. Unable to cope or push on.

But we’re reminded that there are two characters in this scene. We see both sides of the coin fully understand what Sue is feeling right now. Guilty. Ashamed. Stupid. Naïve. This scene builds, exposes, and fleshes out its two main characters. Showing each of their struggles.

It’s this scene that sets the stage for these characters, and it’s a jumping off point (again, no pun intended) for them to grow from. This entire scene sets its serious tone from the start, and holds the reader hostage, keeping the tension up and forcing them to take this seriously because it has something to say.

(god damn it, I really should’ve rephrased that to “cause I am not letting you go” that would’ve been so much better) But that’s its final message, and final note. A promise that carries on, that is reflected in the characters every action from this point on. Lucy’s suicide attempt is what kicks off(…no pun intended?) the rest of the story. It lingers over everything and is a main point that is brought back constantly, time and time again. It is an integral part of not only Lucy’s character development, but Sue’s character development.

And even when she does come down, and the reader is given a moment to take a breath and crack a joke. It’s clear that this is just the beginning, and there is a lot of work left to be done. And things for the reader to look forward to. Lucy’s suicide attempt was something that I knew I had to treat with the utmost respect, and love. In the end, we don’t know what’s going to happen now, but we do know Lucy’s problem. We completely understand and can empathize with her character, for what she’s feeling, what she’s going through right now.

Nothing is left unclear.

You’re never asking what’s going on.

You’re not meant to search and assume the answers on your own.

It’s clear cut.

It’s gutwrenching.

It’s brutal.

But most importantly.

It’s fucking real.

You don’t doubt that Susan, with adrenaline pumping through her veins could force herself to hold Lucy up. You don’t wonder how Lucy could survive her attempt. You don’t wonder what is going through her mind. Or why she’s being saved. The scene is meant to be impactful (Jesus I just keep walking right into it. God damn! I’m sorry, no pun intended) It deserves so much better than what it got. After everything that this comic did…This.

This just kills it for me. You had the opportunity to make this amazing, something more than just its premise. But instead it just falls flat on its fa-OH GOD DAMN IT WHY CAN’T I STOP DOING THAT?! I JUST CAN’T AVOID ACCIDENTALLY MAKING THESE DAMN PUNS!

A friend of mine made a good point on how this chapter could’ve been salvaged. First off fuck that blood splatter it’s gratuitous, it’s excessive, and it’s distracting. Just imagine for a second that it wasn’t there.

(look I tried to clean it up, it’s getting really late and this is getting absurdly long) But imagine instead Lucy fell and we just see her lying on the ground. Her mind is in shock. She is struggling to move. Her body feels almost numb. She doesn’t know what’s going on, her mind hasn’t fully comprehended what has just happened. We start to see blood slowly pool beneath her and blend into the snow. Growing as she starts to feel the pain set in. The chilly breeze cooling her wound and making her feel unbearably cold. Her vision fades, the scene zooms out as she starts to accept her fate, maybe thinking of final apologies, lamenting on the things she’s done, the words she’s never said, the life she never lead. And just as she’s about to pass out.

She sees a silhouette of Augustus. It’s unclear what he does, why he’s there, or what happens to Lucy as she passes out unsure if it was even real, what will happen to her.

And THEN the chapter starts! And we see her, and the suicide attempt can stand on its own! (maybe you can insert Augustus’ point of view of the scene in the place of this scene when Lucy says “this is the boy who saved my life” and we can maybe see Augustus care a bit about Lucy, or how he really feels. It also would’ve been better if this scene came out earlier in the comic when this was more fresh in our minds. But let’s wrap it up shall we?

We get a nice few bits of Augustus interacting with Lucy’s family and it’s really heartwarming. It’s so cute, and it is a wonderful reminder of how Lucy’s actions impact not only our main characters but their families. Not to mention Augustus is just adorable, and seeing him interact in this new environment, with people who legitimately care for him is very refreshing. I like it a lot.

And come on, just look at how cute and amazing Lucy’s mom is. She’s the best thing about this chapter. It’s really nice to see Lucy’s family and how they act.

and the chapter ends with cute Augustus finally finding a place to call home~

Overall, this comic is just a bunch of disappointments with one nice little light at the end. There were many chapters I’d point to as infuriating but this one…

For what it set out to do, and what it tried to do, and what it should’ve done. In a word it is utterly disappointing. And leaves me so hollow.

I give it a 2/10. I hope to god that Taeshi does better. I’d say it can’t get worse than this, but I keep hearing about this carnival chapter, and man…

I’ll see you guys when i miss the next update. Till then, this is Lt_Amazil signing off.

#Bittersweet Candy Bowl #rant

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pluckyredhead · 6 years ago

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Daredevil 101: The King of Hell’s Kitchen

And we’re back! Last time, Matt beat the crap out of Fisk, unmasked in Josie’s, and declared himself the new Kingpin. We pick up a year later, with Ben explaining to an unseen companion at a diner just what’s been going on for the past twelve months. This is gonna be a long one, guys, sorry. (Bendis/Maleev, DD v2 #56-60.)

[Content Warning: There is a passing reference to Squirrel Hill, as in the Pittsburgh neighborhood - no connection to the recent tragedy there, as this comic is about 15 years old. I just didn’t want anyone blindsided.]

Basically, despite Matt unmasking in front of a room full of criminals, everyone is too terrified of him to actually admit that they saw his face, which means that he’s been able to keep up the double life game, even though fewer people than ever believe he’s not Daredevil anymore. This is all stuff Ben has gathered through hearsay, since Matt told him to stay away for his own protection and they haven’t spoken directly since before Josie’s.

Matt even had time to grow a horrible goatee!

It’s SO BAD, MATTHEW, WHY.

He also won his lawsuit against that one tabloid, meaning that currently, in the eyes of the court, Matt Murdock is not Daredevil. He donated the enormous amount of money he won to neighborhood charities. Please note this line: “See, Matt’s new girlfriend, Milla Donovan, actually works at the Hell’s Kitchen housing commission.” Just hold onto that for a minute.

Matt’s so popular, in fact, he’s approached to run for mayor!

“I am dizzy from you.” Wow, Franklin. WOW.

Not everyone is happy with Matt’s recent choices, though, as evidenced by an intervention from some of the local superheroes:

Do you think Luke got all the way to that fourth panel before realizing he was the only one here without an alliterative name and felt suddenly self-conscious? Do you think he had a split second of “Should I try to go by Carl Cage just for right now? Could I pull it off?”

Anyway one of the things I really love about Maleev’s art is the specificity of his...well, either photo referencing or just drawing from life. I could take you to the exact spot they’re standing in Bryant Park. (It’s a logical meeting place for this group, too, since it’s centrally located and walking distance from - but not inside - Hell’s Kitchen.)

Anyway, the others are pissed because Matt saying “Get out of Hell’s Kitchen!” to criminals just...made them do crime above 59th Street and below 34th, which was a pretty foregone conclusion. Matt’s unsympathetic:

Who wants to tell Matt that Hell’s Kitchen, Harlem, and the Village are all in Manhattan and his little plan here doesn’t make sense? Like, Matt and Luke covering neighborhoods while the other three, who can travel further and faster, cover the city as a whole, does make sense, but also “go do crime over there” doesn’t stop crime. As Peter points out, while wearing a very strange facial expression.

But Matt ignores the warnings, and ignores the growing tension in Hell’s Kitchen, and then, just a few days before Ben’s telling this story, he and Milla are attacked by like a hundred Yakuza assassins. He sends Milla running for safety...and hasn’t been seen since. And that’s all Ben knows.

And that’s when we see who he’s been talking to:

I want to clarify that Ben’s explanation of the past year of events has taken two full issues. That’s like five bucks worth of comics that is Ben mansplaining Milla’s own recent history to her, including explaining to her what her job is. They should have killed 616 Ben instead, Jesus.

Also, Milla and Matt are married! Hey, how about that?! She goes on to explain to a stunned Ben (who, I guess, didn’t ask her any questions before he started talking for two entire months holy shit Ben what is wrong with you) that they got married about four months ago, and we later learn that Milla’s the one who proposed. So she proposed to a man she’d known for eight months, who is...sort of a crime boss? An anti-crime boss? Anyway, keep that in your pocket for a bit.

(I’m sorry, I’m still so angry about these two issues. Anyone who wants to hear me rant about decompression, the ask box is open.)

Uh, Milla, that’s not a compliment. You want Matt to be in love with you as a human being, not the abstract concept of you as a conglomeration of eight million people and island real estate.

Anyway, Matt told Milla that if anything went wrong, she should contact Ben. She and Ben are both baffled by this, so Ben goes to see the actual person most likely to know where Matt is:

Take the money and just make shit up, Fogy! Anyway my poor beautiful tired boy has no idea where Matt is, and is also rather wounded that Matt had a contingency plan in place for Milla but a) not for Foggy and b) didn’t tell Foggy about it. Especially since the Yakuza are out in full force and Foggy has been sleeping in his office because he can’t safely leave it.

My heart. Foggy has never really gotten to grieve on page for Karen, given that he was in jail for her funeral, but he knew her as long as Matt did (technically slightly longer) and he loved her too.

Ben tracks Matt to the Night Nurse (who, remember, is not Claire Temple in the comics) and floats a new theory by him:

I’m very sorry Matt but i can’t take you seriously with that facial hair.

Matt stops crying long enough to deny it, but by now Ben knows he’s right:

I’m...pretty sure this is the first time someone has seriously said: “Matt, your behaviors are unhealthy and I’m concerned about your mental health.” And, like, itemized them (including explicitly saying that flaking on Foggy and leaving him in these crisis situations is cruel!). People have said “you’re crazy” or “you’re being a jerk” but it’s always been said in anger. This is uncompromising but compassionate. This is “a terrible thing happened to you and I know that you’re still in pain.” No wonder Matt cries.

And Matt’s not the only one who’s listening:

Wow, Foggy has a good memory. And the face of a man who is contextualizing the past few years of his life and doesn’t like what he sees.

(A+ for the frazzle of of hat hair, Maleev.)

Matt goes to a safehouse. Foggy goes...somewhere undetermined. A spa? Everyone gets naked:

No, seriously, I have no idea why everyone needed to be SO NAKED in this scene (although I’m not complaining). Anyway please enjoy FOGGY’S TATTOO (WHAT???) and also Matt calling him both “Franklin” and “good boy” in a single page.

If you want to, like, read the actual words and pay attention to plot, I GUESS, Matt promises to deal with the Yakuza situation. Foggy’s still not happy:

YES I HAD TO INCLUDE THIS DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD, IT’S IMPORTANT. Text if you can’t embiggen:

Matt: Are you breaking up with me?

Foggy: I don’t think you’ll let me.

Matt: I need you, Foggy. I’ll fix this. I’ll make it right.

Foggy: Yeah, okay. So just do what you have to do.

Matt: I need you to bring me something to wear.

Foggy: Something red?

Matt: It’s red?

Foggy: What?

Matt: I thought it was yellow.

Foggy: ...Are you serious?

Matt: No.

Foggy: That was pretty funny.

IT IS A VERY GOOD AND IMPORTANT EXCHANGE and it is only slightly marred by Milla draped in silent nakedness over Matt the whole time because...of reasons? Ugh.

Matt goes to get backup and finds himself being dragged for like the third time in 24 hours:

Haha! Pregnant women! So hysterical about being lied to by their friends and employers who they are risking their lives for! Hormones, fellas, amirite???! LOL.

(Seriously, fuck this shit.)

Anyway. Main Yakuza Dude Whose Name I Forget is still pretty confident about moving on Hell’s Kitchen now that Matt’s out of the picture:

Oh man, sorry about your life, Main Yakuza Dude!

“Are you guys sure you want me to do this pose? It feels more ‘boy band’ than ‘badass.’“

“Yeah, Luke, definitely!"

“Yeah? I don’t know, I kind of feel like...”

“No, dude, it works, it looks totally cool, I promise!”

They beat up the Yakuza. Meanwhile, Foggy joins Milla at the safehouse:

Why is Milla still in her underwear???????????????? #cancelmen

When Matt returns to the safehouse after defeating the Yakuza, Foggy is gone, and Milla is finally dressed...and very unhappy. She tells him what Foggy told her:

Here are the things that jump out at me about this page:

1. Milla says “this Karen Page person,” which implies that she has rarely or never heard Karen mentioned before. Considering that Matt (and Foggy!) knew Karen for, as Ben pointed out, almost all of his adult life, and that she was intrinsically tied not just to Matt (and Foggy!) but Daredevil and Nelson and Murdock, this is stunning. How do you spend a year with your wife and almost never mention someone you were intimately close to for at least a decade? I know Matt is secretive by nature, but this makes me think that Matt and Milla essentially never had any real or deep communication. Which, honestly, checks out.

2. We don’t see the conversation between Milla and Foggy. Theoretically, he could have said “LOLOLOL MATT NEVER LOVED YOU HE STILL LOVES MY DEAD FRIEND SUCK IT” but that seems...out of character, to say the least. I suspect, given how confused and distressed Milla is, that he said something more like “I think the reason Matt is acting like this is because he is still processing his trauma over the death of someone he loved very much.” Which shouldn’t be a surprise to Milla, considering that one of the very first things Matt told her was “Two women I loved have been murdered.” But apparently this is a great betrayal somehow??? Because:

And this is why I just can’t with Milla. So much of what doesn’t work with her character, like the thin personality and the helplessness and the fact that she’s IN HER UNDERWEAR ALL THE TIME FOR NO REASON, is because of sexist writing and drawing, and I’m not laying that at her feet. And I’ll be the first person to declare that Matt Murdock is a shitty boyfriend/partner and has been to literally every single woman he’s dated.

But the compassionate response to “the person I love is having a nervous breakdown because he lost someone he cared about” is not to scream “SHUT UP!!!” and accuse him of lying. I’m not married but I’m preeeeeetty sure the vows don’t include “I swear that I definitely never loved anyone else and if I did, I don’t love them anymore.” Matt broke no promises here (for once!) and, as I’ve said before, Milla went on two highly dangerous dates with Matt Murdock and then he declared himself Kingpin and then she proposed. She had all the evidence she needed that life with Matt is dangerous, bizarre, and full of ethical pitfalls and the ghosts of murdered girlfriends, and as an educated, intelligent adult woman in charge of her own business, she decided to sign up. This one is absolutely not on Matt and it pisses me off that it’s treated like it is.

Anyway. *breathes*

Next up: Black Widow returns!

#daredevil #daredevil 101

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snkpolls · 7 years ago

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SnK Chapter 99 Poll Results

The chapter 98 poll closed with 1,751 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated.

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,722 Responses

On the “awful” to “awesome” scale of 1-5, nearly 70% of respondents rated “Guilty Shadow” with a “5″, making it the highest rated chapter since we started polling. Well done, Isayama!

On that day, Marley received a grim reminder... this chapter woke up the obsessed snk fan in me, finally JESUS CHRIST

SNK has always been a wild ride, but I don't believe I've ever been this excited and frustrated that I don't have the next chapter in my hands RIGHT NOW- if only to satisfy the itch of knowing which half-hidden face is who from Paradis. And also to figure out what they've done to Porco, Pieck and Zeke to neutralize them while Eren gives Reiner the most uncomfortable tableside chat.

My heart was pounding throughout the entire chapter. The last time that happened was chapter 84 and I gotta say, I finally feel like this whole Marley arc has been worth it. What an adrenaline rush it's become! Now that's now Attack On Titan is supposed to be. I can't wait to see everybody else again and proceed to reach the climax of the story.

The hype for SNK 100 is too real. Everything will explode

I need Ch100 right now immediately. Waiting another month is going to be torture. In the meantime I hope Porco and Pieck enjoy their time in the pit. If it turns out that Helos is Levi I will eat my own platform boots

It was amazing. Really great story.

I'm so glad this chapter is fake and SnK ended last month with everyone having a huge pizza party!

....is it December yet?

DID THIS CHAPTER SHOOK YOU? 1,711 Responses

To not be excited by this chapter was simply not an option, but I’ll assume that those who voted “Yes” are slightly more subdued than the majority of us who shouted “AW YISS”.

omfg hype for next chapter!!! How does Eren not have a leg, it really should've grown back, this doesn't make sense. Why is he even there, I feel like I missed something but it's probably just this manga's bizarre structuring. I've been selling my soul the past few months. There is nothing more to sell.

Kill me now The hype is REAL. I had a feeling issue #100 would be THE BANGER. This issue (#99) however set the stage for the next one. We have potentially Connie and Jean going undercover, we have Willy's solution that is just about to be revealed, the Asian woman's sudden leave, etc. I am really excited to see what will happen next month. Just need to add: seeing Eren's hand cut to threaten Reiner and Falco was such a power move, I had chills all over.

Boy howdy this was crazy I'll tell you what

Holy crap I love isayama. What a genius!

God help me I cannot wait another month

Endgame right here, brothers.

#shooketh

WHAT SIDE CHARACTER MOMENT DID YOU MOST APPRECIATE? 1,720 Responses

The giant red chunk that wins this question is the “All of the Above” option with 26.4% of the vote. “Every character with a partially hidden face” was second with 23.8%. There was plenty of excitement around Trapdoor-kun. He came in third with close to 20% of the vote.

I hope the SnK world has a heaven or some shit, because then Bertolt can maybe be finally happy together with his dad at least ;-;

ANNIE IS ALIVE AND FREE CHAPTER 100 HYYYYYYPE

I love moment with Trapdoor-kun/Connie (I hope it's him). He promised Reiner in Utgard Castle that he'll return the favor and I want to see their reunited. Maybe Connie will save Gabi and the other kids in this shitstorm. Please Isayama! Connie needs his personal moment!

ON THE SCALE FROM “FLUFFY KITTEN” TO “ACTUAL PENNYWISE”, HOW CREEPY WAS EREN IN THIS CHAPTER? 1,727 Responses

Eren’s creep factor was strong! More than 70% of us picked a 4 or 5 on the “Actual Pennywise” scale.

Eren is 100% savage. Damn I'd be lying to myself if I said I didn't like him. His meddling works so well with his bitter ass and his sense of entitlement over making all these fuckers taking his freedom away disappear and get their comeuppance (read: the whole world). Fucking human worms.

Eren using Falco as a hostage makes me cry

Eren gave me fucking chills of fear

I'm loving this Eren alignment shift. Lawful Good boy is changing and I am HERE for this.

Eren's "Same reason as you" and "I don't have a choice" are the single most savage moment in the series.

I don't like Eren at all... Poor Reiner

Eren is frickin INSANE

ON THE SCALE FROM 1 - 420/69, HOW MUCH DID EREN ACTIVATE YOUR HARDENING ABILITIES IN THIS CHAPTER? 1,713 Responses

The creep factor and hobo hair didn’t hurt Eren’s attractiveness for the majority of the fandom since 36.1% would love to be locked in the basement with him right now. The second most popular choice was the extreme opposite. 22.2% selected “ewww no” on the question about Eren’s attractiveness.

why did y'all have to write "Lock me in your basement, Hobo Daddy!"

Protect Reiner Braun You've made me have sexual thoughts about long haired Eren, damn you pollster!!!!

Eren made both my jaw and panties fall straight to the floor. It's finally getting somewhere.

my mom called eren hobo daddy o__O"

Eren being so chilled out and yet so chilling at the same time...how does one being so cold make the room seem a lot hotter than it actually is?!

I want to officially shame Eren for telling Mikasa to cut her hair during training and now he could model for L'Oréal (I love his hair but he is a hypocrite)

EREN FUCKING JAEGER. I want to say he's cool... but I feel so strangely conflicted. I'm turned on by his loony face but at the same time fucking terrified that it's all going to crumble. He'd grown so much. I can't believe the kid that we used to adore has turned into such a beast.

eren would be a 4/5 if he shaved his facial hair imo

WHAT WAS EREN’S MOST CHILLING MOMENT? 1,717 Responses

Again with the “All of the above” as top pick. The most popular write in was “Reiner. Sit”. We clearly made a mistake when we forgot to include that.

Reiner. Sit.

His eyes all the time, they're like windows to hell

Everything! Eren was so chilling and bad this chapter, I love love loved it!

The fact that he's still missing a leg, it should've grown back, does he just keep cutting it off?

Messing with the head of an already mentally unstable Reiner

Eren did not come to play. Cutting his hand was a power move and then when he said "same as you." I can't wait to see him transform into a Titan. Reiner wasn't ready for this. He looks like he's gonna pass out.

I never thought i needed psycho!eren and badass!eren in my life. But then i read this chapter and HOOOOOOLY SHIT!

WHICH OF REINER’S TORTURED FACES WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 1,707 Responses

I’m borrowing a quote from a friend who said, “Reiner had enough panels of his sanity crumbling like pie crust to fill a photo album”. We thought so too and had a hard time limiting ourselves to just these six. The look of horror on page 20 was Reiner’s expression as Eren told him, “I’m the same as you. I didn’t have any other choice.” It was the winner with 44.5% of the voice.

Note to Isayama: If you want to torture a character, hands on the face is the way to go (even when those hands are strangely tiny.)

Don't freak out, Reiner, your buddy Eren has come to save the world just like you've always wanted.

I wonder how bad will Reiner's strabismus be when Eren ultimately touchs the Bertolt and Annie subject.

Someone please protect Reiner D: (and maybe give him a hug)

ISAYAMA STAHP TORTURING REIGNER!

#stopreinerabuse2017 >:)

Reiner is the true victim here man

If Reiner didn't have a drinking problem before he sure has one now

I really don't like seeing Reiner looking so scared... It makes me feel so bad and helpless because I can't do anything. ;-;

I’m expecting Reiner to go full insane next chapter. Seriously, he can only be pushed so far!

I absolutely love Reiner's suffering faces :D I also loved how shocked Falco was. I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen, that why Eren told him to stay. He wants to save his life. I only wonder what will happen with the other kids.

reiner has baby hands

CAN YOU PINPOINT THE EXACT MOMENT FALCO’S HEART SHATTERED? 1,700 Responses

This was not a fun chapter for our poor little bean. There was no shortage of moments with him looking on with wide-eyed horror as the situation was unfolding. His expression on page 35 was the landslide winner. It’s the moment Falco realized Eren must’ve met Reiner during his time on Paradis.

My boy Falco doesn't deserve this.

DONT HURT BABBY FALCO

Calm the f down Eren! You’re scaring Falco!

Falco is too precious for this messed up world

WHAT IS RANDO MCSOLDIER WHISPERING TO MADS? 1,709 Responses

We have a poll meme now and don’t think I wont use it! Thank you to the 29.1% of you for playing along. We were a close second. Thank you also to everyone who took the question seriously. One respondent suggested they might be whispering about the fact that all the warriors were missing. I love that thought.

Yes. There's sour cream in Marley.

For the question of what Rambo McSoldier whispered, I'm actually kinda wondering if he's whispering about someone being missing from the crowd. (I.e, Reiner.)

how much farther is my sour cream joke going to go

I do NOT trust Eren one bit and we still do NOT know if there's sour cream. Crazy stuff man.

This wasn't an option for the question about what the soldier was whispering to Mads, but I thought it had to do with that panel where the guy on the rooftop said to "report it" no matter how small it is. The Marley soldier was relaying that report, whatever it is.

The lack of concern over the disappearance of all the Warriors from the audience is alarming...unless it's part of their plan, which removing the fighters from the crowd sounds like something inline with what Paradis would be attempting if they're about to hijack the play.

CHARACTER ALLEGIANCES! WHICH SIDE DO YOU THINK EACH PERSON IS ULTIMATELY SUPPORTING?

So much uncertainty here! We are truly divided over Willy, Zeke and Kiyomi’s loyalties.

I do not think that Zeke would be on Paradis side, he had that chance and discarded it as an idiot.

The Warhammer Titan seems to know so very much about Paradis and the truth (and Eren's name) that I think it's no coincidence he looks like an adult long hair Armin.

Willy was such a sweet pie in this chapter. I wish he joined the Team Paradise.

Why did the Asian lady wish Willy good luck and then immediatly got away from the play as fast as she could? The plot thickens...

Everyone need to calm tf down and stop being huge mega douchebags on the whole warriors vs paradis sides of the fandom Ima lose my goddamn mind let yams tell the fucking story. This fandom is killing me far more effectively than yams ever could, crying Reiner or no!

The Asian lady and the rest of the Azumabito definitely know something, as they didn’t stay for Willy’s play, and she said that “she hoped he’d play his role ‘safely’”

What is Willy's game? With so many important people there, it is setup for a massacre. But, why tell the truth beforehand? There is a part of me thinking that it is all a setup to Willy simply saying we're all going back to Paradis.

WHAT ALLIANCE DO YOU THINK IS MOST LIKELY? 1,697 Responses

EZ and REZ feelz so strong! A sizable percentage think Kiyomi is also a part of the alliance.

I love/hate how much Isayama plays with us (?).. this is the worst who is with who and why and when and how is it its 99 chapters and i am stiff as confused as when i watched the first anime chapter in 2013...

Yeah, I still believe in Reiner + Zeke + Eren alliance. Grim Reminder won't happen and I will be a happy, happy fan." İt's amazing!

I think Willy is working with Armin, whereas, Eren is working with Zeke. Isayama did say they were going to split.

I think Zeke is helping Eren for the time being but I also think it is only a temporary alliance. He will double-cross Paradis like he did the Restorationists and Marley before the end, and he will be a sizable end-game threat to both Paradis and Marley.

"Lady" Kiyomi of the Azmabito family seemed like she was teasing Willy before his performance, since he was so nervous. But then, she said "you're very brave. And you know our family very well", she seemed like she was threatening Willy

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE CRAZY EREN. I think he's gonna offer an alliance with Reiner so they can both save the Eldians. I hope the SC will appear next chapter!

I'm willing to bet 'The Owl' Eren knew Willy and the Asian chick when he was still living.

WHY WERE PORCO AND PEICK SEPARATED? 1,715 Responses

62% believe Porco and Pieck were captured to keep them from meddling. An even larger majority believe Zeke was in on it. Hmmmm....

about porco and pieck. I think they will be locked somewhere. But not to take their titan. Well, it's good opportunity to take their titan but... who wants do that anyway? Jean, connie? I think not.

PLEASE SAVE PIECK

"We done fucked up" -peick and porco

My favourite panel is Pieck looking at 'springer, not a shower' whilst falling into the sin bin. Wow, she's perfect.

Porko remains oblivious

WAS ZEKE PART OF THE PLOT TO SEPARATE PORCO AND PEICK? 1,701 Responses

That would be a solid “yes”.

Zeke does seem to comply with too much questionable activity to not be working secretly with someone. He doesn't question being separated from Pieck and Porco, he's the only one not facing the guard that summons them, he let - encouraged- Reiner to go with Falco right as the ceremony started, and the baseball mitt Eren had likely had something to do with him. The Zekeret is still a wild card though so it makes all this hard to pinpoint.

WHO IS THE SOLDIER THAT TOSSED PORCO AND PIECK INTO THE BALL PIT? 1,691 Responses

Nearly 80% of the fandom thinks Connie is parading around Marley as a very tall Marleyan soldier. The write in responses on this were insane!

A pikupork shipper

Hajime Isayama

The Plothelping Titan

If Pieck knows him, the most probable option is Connie, buuuut... Is he even taller than Porco? He used to be really short, has he grown up?

When I first read the chapter and found similiarities between Connie and the trap-kun soldier I was like "what the fuck?!" And than I thought Connie being that soldier would be absolutely LIT.

I don't think any of the background characters are people we know. We saw how Isayama does that with Amputee-Kun, he appeared several chapters before the official reveal and there was no doubt once it was done. Trapdoor-kun, Helos Cosplayer, anyone else? Nope. as expected of pieck, she figured out the soldier was an impostor

Personally I really hate how people are making these predictions and analyzing details like chin shape in attempt to recognize him. We simply do not see enough of his face to tell who it is so it's pointless that people are arguing about it so vehemently. It could be Connie. I could be Levi. It most definitely isn't Armin. It could be a whole lot of people but right now at least half of the people will be wrong about it so arguing is going to get us nowhere. End of rant.

Zofia from the future, who traveled through paths

DID PIECK PASS A MESSAGE TO THE SOLDIER SHE HUGGED? 1,717 Responses

Yes. As expected. WHO IS THE HELOS COSPLAYER? 1,703 Responses

Jean trounced this poll question with 64.4% of the vote. “No one important” was second with 18.4%. 8% are hopeful it’s Levi.

A Majestic Stallion

A member of Paradis Team, but it is too early to say who

Jean dressed up as Levi aka the REAL Helos (Deja Vu).

Kenny "The Ripper" Ackerman rides again!

I want the Helos cosplayer to be Hange, but if it's not, Armin would be interesting.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPEFUL FOR IN CHAPTER 100? GO NUTS AND CHOOSE AS MANY AS YOU WANT. 1,718 Responses

1,161 (67.6%) Seeing the rest of the SC

1,134 (66%) Annie. Please. It’s been 84 years,

1,027 (59.8%) Information about character loyalties

1,013 (59%) Learning Willy’s “one solution”

875 (50.9%) The Warhammer Titan

788 (45.9%) Eren wreaking havoc

781 (45.5%) More Reiner suffering

747 (43.5%) RIP everyone sitting in the audience at the play

652 (38%) Grim Reminder

565 (32.9%) Action with the Asian Clan

534 (31.1%) Overwhelmed Falco turning into a falcon and flying away

Seeing the rest of the Survey Corps is our dearest wish, followed by a sighting of Annie. The most common write-in was simply “Levi”.

RIP Gabi and everyone else in the audience. But mostly Gabi.

I'm saying it now - there won't be another Grim Reminder. It would be the worst possible move to make. However, I can see some sort of staged assault happening.

What if chapter 100 is just an elaborate reenactment of the finale of shrek two where shrek and the gang ambush the castle with a collosal gingerbread man whilst fairy godmother sings. Honestly I would pay good money to see willy start singing 'i need a hero' with a choir behind him make it happen isayama I believe in you.

I am going to sell my soul for chapter 100

All the pieces are being set in place. It is about to begin. We don't know for sure what will happen but things are about to get wild. Prepare the feelingstrain cause we're all hopping aboard

HOW BADLY DO YOU WANT TO RETURN TO THE ORIGINAL CAST ON PARADIS? 1,712 Responses

No matter how great a chapter is, we remain desperate for the original cast. Last month 34.5% select “5” on the poll. This month that number was up to 38.1%.

And gimme some of that paradis crew daddy yamyams ✊️💦✊️💦😩

I'm severely lacking in Ackervitaminz

I'm tired of Marley to be honest. I hope next chapter shakes me, because this chapter didn't at all.

i still wanna know what the little miserable gremlin man is doing and my badass child Hanji

I loved the Marley chapters, but GOD I NEED MY PARADIS CREW THE SNEAK PEAKS ARE KILLING ME

while I haven't really been in any rush to return to the main cast, I'll be really excited to learn that they've all infiltrated Marley in this way, and for some final smack down to begin soon.

It's just a setup chapter I just want my Mikasa fix.

GIVE ME MIKASA AND ARMIN BACK. I MISSED MY BABIES. I WOULD SELL BOTH OF MY KIDNEYS TO SEE THEM WELL AND HAPPY AGAIN. JUST GIVE ME THAT WISH ON CHAPTER 100 ISAYAMA. AM I ASKING TOO MUCH?

WHICH CHARACTERS DO YOU GENERALLY ENJOY THE MOST 1,717 Responses

Cries forever for my vets.

Nearly 100 chapters in and I feel like I'm losing my damn mind. Oof. Isayama...amazing. PS: I will continue to select 'The Vets' even long after The Vets are gone!!!

(fist bumps you, my friend!)

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES 1,695 Responses

Last month this question was 40% Tumblr and 48% Reddit. This month Reddit was most active on the poll with 56.8% of the responses. The other platforms remained consistent.

"Where do you primarily discuss the series" giving 4chan the silent treatment? Although I guess what they do doesn't really count as discussing.

ANY OTHER CHAPTER THOUGHTS YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE? We had 360 write-in responses and some were essay sized in length! Thank you all for your enthusiasm! Here’s a portion of the comments.

EXTRA DANCC

It's about to be lit fam

NERD-SQUAD TO THE RESCUE! Nothing but goosebumps for that entire chapter thankyou.

If Helos is actually a lie created by Marley and Tybur, then was the devil of all the earth a lie too? Or did it exist in reality? Will it return? And how the hell could Tybur know of Kenny and Uri sitting in front of that lake? Does he have some spies on Paradis? All this stuff is just becoming more and more fishy...

I want everyone to die.

Is it just me or did Reiner lose weight? Not aroused. Isayama sensei please try harder.

Pieck grabbing Zophia's shoulders. 100%. A+. As expected.

Okay, so, we've been speculating like mad on how Eren arrived in Marley. Reiner asked the same thing. And Isayama, through Eren's words, answered us: "is that really what you want to ask first?" LIKE DAMN, at this point I'm sure Isayama reads our blogs. At least he answered the "Why", kinda...

for god sake. reiner's suffering have to stop TTTTT-TTTTT

Bertl deserve this world.

Isayama has officially changed his icon to Reiner. Protagonist confirmed. It was Reiner's story all along. We were just along for the ride. The very traumatic ride.

I love the parallel between Reiner and that old man that hanged himself back in Paradis. I'm quite sure that Reiner, like the hanged-man, is looking for judgement. Cool to see how Bert nightmares played a big role in the end.

sc stans are insane I wonder how bad will Reiner's strabismus be when Eren ultimately touchs the Bertolt and Annie subject.

needs more porco

Is Eren gonna sacrifice himself for the sake of saving the world as a scapegoat? Will his death be the only meaningful one in the whole series??

I hope to God Armin has a different haircut.

Learning that we're getting ova of Lost Girls and reading this chapter was the best way to start my week. I love you I wish Isayama hadn't made Reiner so hot. Too hard to focus on everything else going on =\

if reiner wants to get judged maybe he should look to judge judy for judgement, that'd be lit

I love my shifter kids, but they're fucked.

I don’t personally think there will be a Grim reminder 2.0, Paradis people, ie Armin, Hanji and all, usually don’t fight fire with more fire, they plan better shenanigans. Also, how they would be considered better than marleyans if they did the same stuff? They won’t play this low, they also know that Grim reminder™️ Is everything but effective.

Isayama why it's great that we have all those informative, descriptive chapters but something need to happen. I hope that next chapter will be full of action.

SHOW ME MIKASA AND LET HER AND EREN BE MARRIED. And let annie be alive and well and dont make reiner any sadder. #chap100 No

Soldier, who are you? Willy, what are you really trying say? Eren, will you start causing some trouble? Levi, come out!" AAAAAAAAAAAaa!!!!

Pieck was actually exactly right! I always loved her design and oppressed but trying her best herb merchant aesthetic. So cool that she saved the lives of Reiner and Zeke, her influence on character relationships and the plot.

In RtS I wanted Reiner dead. Half to end his suffering, half to be vindicated for the things he'd done, but I guess it was Berty Beetle's turn.

I miss Levi so much, it's been such a long time since we've seen him and all I want is for him to keep his promise to Erwin and obliterate Zeke. I can see him now, sitting with his arms crossed as Zeke enters the room. "Been a while, you piece of shit. Not so tough now when you're not ripping a bunch of people in half with rocks, eh?" He cracks his knuckles. "I will destroy you. I will make it hurt. Because you killed Erwin Smith and I promised him, I *promised him* that I would end this fight for him." Ahhhh please Isayama. <3

CHAOS FOR THE CHAOS GOD The slow build has been so worth it, we're all going to hell and I can't wait

Annie is alive. That shouldn't be a point of discussion anymore,

Please make my children happy, they suffered enough

I really think Jean is the Helos cosplayer because of face/mouth shape. That might be wishful thinking though :') Also DAMN EREN REALLY IS HOBO DADDY

ISAYAMA CAN YOU PLEASE DRAW BERTL FAMILY OR PHOTO OF HOOVER HOUSE OR WHAT SO I CAN REST IN PEACE I WANNA BERTL AGAIN I DONT CARE WITH OTHERS

I just want to say that the chapter 99 pre release megathread on /r/ShingekiNoKyojin was one of the best things to ever happen, and i'm proud to be a part of it.

Now i just want to see jean What if we're all just too hopeful and in reality the helos cosplayer and trapdoor-kun are just normal people. If Annie isn’t coming back I’m rioting honestly. Also where TF is mikasa?!

I LOVE PIECK SO MUCH she is becoming one of my fave characters. Also hopefully nothing happens to cause Reiner’s mental state to become worse than it is right now. CAN’T WAIT FOR NEXT CHAPTER I think the Asian woman is Mikasa. My evidence to support this claim is that after she talked to Willy, she said ‘let’s go’ to her body guards. As if she knows what’s going on.

Seeing Pieck being smart and quick-witted made me like her even more. I'd be very sad if she ends up being killed or if Porco and her never truly meet the original main cast. Give us those warriors/soldiers interactions Isayama.

Annie...please...it has been too long now...

Regarding Eren he ackwonledged that Reiner and co. were just clueless kids trying to save the world when they destroyed the Wall. And he is stating that he as well has been forced in this role. I think he is trying to bring Reiner to his side as well as to remove a Warrior (and Falco) from the stage where things will soon go wild.

This shit was lit lit lit!!! I need war!

If the marley arc was a dubstep song, this chapter was the part where the song builds up in speed and frequency and ends right before it levels off and the beat subsequently drops. Ya feel? Warriors, come out to plaaaaay.

IMO PIECK IS ON EREN'S SIDE AND SHE ACTED IN FRONT OF PORCO

I want to know who works with who (especially ZEKE), how they arrived in Marley, I want the SC but also I really love the Warriors, asdfghjkl I really don't know what to expect but I love the way Isayama keeps us on this subtle line between ""OMG"" and ""WTF MAN"". I want some answers! AND I DEFINITELY WANT ANNIE BACK

I hope Sasha is in Marley too. She needs pizza.

Too few panels of Marco's death. 😠

i miss zeke memes

PATHS

I love the art in the recent chapters. I will forgive slow pacing for good art.

Karina is a bitch

Isayama give Reiner a break or kill him already, end the suffering pls

And lastly, the Rick and Morty copypasta meme made it's way into our poll. I laughed!

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Attack on Titan. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Eren's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realize that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Attack on Titan truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Zeke's existential catchphrase "As expected of Pieck 👉😶👉," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Hajime Isayama's genius unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools... how I pity them. 😂 And yes by the way, I DO have a Reiner and Historia tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.

Thank you also to those left nice comments about the poll. We appreciate it!

#snk polls #snk poll #snk chapter 99 #snk poll results

214 notes · View notes

ghostmaggie · 7 years ago

Photo

you can take my best (it’s yours, it was never for me)

for the @tgpsecretsanta holiday gift exchange! written for @cheesecake-heartache, based on the prompts “stuck in an elevator” and “the first sentence your soulmate says is tattooed on your arm.” I hope you enjoy it, and happy holidays!!!

Ships: Eleanor/Chidi

Rated: Teen and Up Audiences

Words: 2k

Summary: Eleanor Shellstrop almost died. Now she feels guilty for being a dick all the time.

read on AO3

---

Eleanor Shellstrop almost died.

There had been a dropped bottle of Lonely Gal Margarita Mix For One; a row of runaway shopping carts; a billboard truck hurtling towards her, changing lanes at the last possible second.

And she’s still alive.

She figures it’s impossible to walk away from a near-death experience without being changed at all , but damn it, can’t she trade this stupid dumb guiltiness for two broken legs or a bigass scar on her face?

Because, yeah, she didn’t have a flash of, like, judgment day when those carts hit her, but she did walk away thinking, Wow, what a shitty way to die. And I probably deserve it. I’m kind of a shitty person.

Sitting alone in her apartment after she’s released from the hospital, no friends who care enough to see her--even after she almost died , thanks dickheads--she traces her hand over the words printed on her wrist in stark black.

You are my soulmate .

It would suck if she never got to meet them. It would suck if she wasn’t good enough for them.

Immediately she shoves the thought away. “They’re my fucking soulmate,” she says aloud. “Of course I’m good enough for them.”

But she can’t quite escape that guilty itch at the back of her mind.

---

There’s no overnight change. That’s not how this shit works, apparently. Eleanor was kind of hoping enough lonely three a.m. Googling about how to be a better person would unearth some magic pill she could buy to make her act better--and more importantly, feel better.

No dice, apparently.

But, like, she’s trying . Mostly. Sometimes. When she thinks about it.

Seriously, she is!

Some dude cut her off on the freeway the other day, and she just honked and yelled at him--she didn’t even give him the finger! And she told a girl that her skirt was tucked into her underwear and only laughed about it a little! Plus she didn’t take any pictures of it. That was big for her. Oh, and she saw a guy drop his wallet and totally gave it back without even thinking about it.

So really, she’s doing great.

This thought is circling in her head as she waits for an elevator up to the third floor of some fancyass office building. She’d--well, she’d quit her job at the sketchy pill company after her accident, around the same time she’d cut her hair short, just above her shoulders, blessedly lighter, not weighing her down so much. So anyway, now she was working at some lameass temp agency. She’s not always as good at the boring lame shit her assignments want her to do as she was at manipulating sick old people, but it makes her feel less itchy.

Ugh. Being good is so boring.

The elevator arrives, finally , and Eleanor saunters inside, immediately checking out her own boobs in the mirrored wall.

She’s startled by a blur of motion as some nerdy looking dude wih bigass glasses and a fuckin’ man purse hurries toward the elevator.

They make eye contact, and the dude looks relieved, sticking out a hand in a hold the elevator, i’m super late and in a huge hurry kind of motion.

But Eleanor hates sharing elevators. And she’s still not a saint. And she’s still pretty much an asshole. So she pushes the door close button.

The door starts to slide shut. Eleanor sends the dude a sorry, bro look, and thinks that’ll be the end of it.

Except before it closes all the way, the dude’s arm is stuck in the way and he’s in the elevator with her.

Oops.

He doesn’t yell at her, or even shoot her a dirty look. He just makes a tight, uncomfortable face, his lips pressed together as he avoids eye contact.

Eleanor feels that stupid twinge of guilt.

But--whatever! He made it in anyway. Boo-freakin’-hoo. He’d’ve done the same thing to me.

The silence stretches.

Awwwkward.

Eleanor decides she’s definitely not going to say anything. This guy clearly lacks the balls to call her out on her dick move, so no harm, no foul, right?

Just as she thinks this, of course, the elevator makes a terrifying screeching noise and lurches to a decisive stop. The big nerd actually stumbles and falls to the floor. Then the lights go out.

“Holy motherfucking shitballs, what do we do?” Eleanor asks.

The dim backup lights flicker to life, illuminating the stricken look on the nerd’s face as he gathers himself to his feet.

Eleanor shifts under the force of his incredulous, unflinching stare.

“ You are my soulmate?” he demands, sounding none too thrilled with the idea.

It takes Eleanor a second to process the question. “ What? ” she demands, half a squawk. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Hands shaking and fumbling, the nerd shoves up the sleeve of his sweater and rolls up the button down underneath. There, across his forearm, are the words Holy motherfucking shitballs what do we do .

Eleanor’s jaw drops. “I...I…”

“Let me see your soulmark,” the guy says, sharp, panicked.

Dumbly, Eleanor holds out her arm. The guy takes it in both his hands, gently, looking closely at the words.

You are my soulmate.

“Oh,” he says.

“Yeah,” Eleanor forces out a laugh. “Not exactly the way I expected you to say that.”

The dude smiles a soft, sad, self-deprecating smile. “I’ll be honest,” he says, dropping her arm and taking a small step back. “I never quite came up with a plausible context for--well--this.” He gestures to his arm before rolling his sleeve back down.

Eleanor tries not to think about the sharp pang that goes through her heart once the soulmark is back out of her sight.

“So,” the guy says. “It seems like we might be stuck. Do you have any signal on your phone?” As he asks, he checks his own. “Looks like a no for me.”

Shaking off her weird reaction to the disappointment she’s sure she saw on his face when he realized she was his soulmate, she gives a cursory glance at her phone. “Nope,” she says, feeling the wall around her bruised heart building itself higher.

If he doesn’t want her as a soulmate, she definitely doesn’t care. She doesn’t need him. She doesn’t need anybody.

The guy is messing with the elevator’s control panel. “Seems like the emergency phone is out, too. Great.” He seems a little panicked again.

Eleanor rolls her eyes, crossing her arms and leaning back against the wall.

“The only elevator in a seven-story building is stuck, genius,” she says, biting. “We don’t need to tell anybody. They already know. We just have to wait.”

For a second, the guy seems hurt, but he recovers quickly. “Right,” he says. “Of course.” There’s a beat. “Well,” he pushes on, “If we’re stuck here--not to mention soulmates --we might as well start getting to know each other. I’m Chidi Anagonye.”

She raises both eyebrows. “Eleanor,” she says. “Eleanor Shellstrop.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he says. “So, tell me about yourself.”

“Excuse me?”

He smiles. “You know, like--I’m a professor of moral philosophy. I like museums and French poetry. I was born in Nigeria, raised in Senegal. I’m here in Phoenix teaching Ethics at Arizona State University for the semester.”

Wow. he’s a major nerd. So why does Eleanor find him so oddly cute? Stupid soulmate hormones. She pulls her face into a dismissive almost-scowl.

“I sell fake medicine to sick old people,” she says. “I like binge watching bad reality TV, binge drinking, and not caring about the environment. I’ve never left Arizona, and I never finished college.” She finishes with a sharp, predatory, winning smile.

The guy--Chidi--blinks at her. He looks distinctly uncomfortable.

“It’s--uh--nice to meet you,” he says again.

Eleanor rolls her eyes. “You too, Cheeto.”

---

They have been. In this elevator. For three. Fucking. Hours. Eleanor thinks they might really die here. Honestly, that might be a relief if it’ll get her away from Chidi’s incessant attempts at polite conversation. She blows him off with increasingly nasty replies every time he tries a new topic, but it doesn’t seem to be working.

Right up until he explodes.

“Why are you so mean , Eleanor?” he demands. “Can’t you even pretend to be decent? I’m trying to be nice, i’m trying to be your soulmate , so why--”

All of her frustrations bubble up from the bottom of her chest, where she’s been tucking them for hours. Days. Months. Years. “Because I’m not a good person, man!” she snaps, leaping to her feet. “I fucking suck, and I always have, and I always will, so what’s the point of all this trying to be good I’m doing when I’ll never gain approval from my stupid morality professor soulmate anyway?”

There’s another long silence in which Eleanor feels her face burn and Chidi watches her with an inscrutable expression.

Finally, he asks, tone void of judgment, “So, you’ve been trying to be better?”

She blinks, surprised to find tears rising to her eyes.

And somehow it all comes pouring out. Her near-death experience. Her first exposure to real, actual, aching guilt for her effect on other people. How she quit her job. How little she feels like her efforts have any impact. How much she hates thinking about what she owes others and what others owe her, when her own parents and her supposed friends have never been there for her, not really. How she’s never really been there for them, either.

Chidi is a phenomenal listener, keeping his eyes on her, making her feel heard, nodding to acknowledge her but never interrupting. She can’t stop the word vomit, but he doesn’t make her feel foolish or shitty or awful because of it. He just listens.

When she’s finished, they’re sitting across from each other, cross-legged, maybe a little too close together.

After one more silence, Chidi says, “I don’t think you’re a bad person, Eleanor.” His voice is sure.

“You don’t?” she asks, feeling small.

“I think you’re a person who has been in bad situations and who has done bad things.” He pauses. “A lot of bad things. Some alarming, weird, improbable bad things--sorry.” He cuts off at her look. “But you’re trying , Eleanor! You’re trying to do better, because you want to, and that’s incredible! I mean, as a professor of moral ethics--”

“You can help me!�� Eleanor says, jumping to her feet again.

“What?” Chidi yelps, taken aback.

“As a professor of moral philosophy, you can teach me how to be good! I mean, isn’t that your job?” Her voice rises a few octaves in her excitement.

“Well--yes--” he says. “But--”

Eleanor groans. “Oh, c’mon, man,” she says. “What are soulmates for besides helping? You can teach me how to be good, and I can teach you--how--how to swear, or, I don’t know, how to do two shots at once, or--” She racks her brain for more options. She’s gotta be good at something besides lying.

“Eleanor,” he says, and she stutters to a stop.

“Yeah?”

“I’ll help you. But--” he adds, as her face lights up and she starts to respond. “It’s not going to be easy. It’ll be rewarding and sometimes fun, but these are difficult concepts that are even more difficult to put into practice.” He gazes seriously at her, like this is something important. Like she’s something important.

Eleanor nods eagerly. “I’m in,” she says. “I want to do it.”

Chidi smiles. “Okay,” he says. “Then...great.”

With a bright grin, Eleanor leans down and kisses him on the cheek, rewarded by his instant blush. “Thanks, Chidi,” she says, and his smile softens.

---

By the time the elevator starts moving again, they’ve gotten into three more shouting matches, called off their deal twice, almost kissed at least once, and laughed so hard Eleanor nearly wet herself.

But hey, that’s soulmates for you.

They leave the elevator holding hands.

#tgp #tgpsecretsanta #the good place #tgpfic #tgp fic #cheleanor #chidi x eleanor #the good place fanfic #tgp fanfic #cheesecake-heartache #myfic #my writing #post

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the-acid-pear · 3 years ago

Text

All a character in this series has to do to win my heart is look like :]

Chapter 35

Okay yeah he must look like such a demented freak shsjsjdt 😭

"a key point" well i guess that's not a lie! SYFAJQIDTY

He could do that to me and i wouldn't complain 🥴😳 (/J /J /J)

Haha he cut em!!!

Boyboss

NAH BRO HE LITERALLY JUST CHILLIN

Heyyy what a pretty eyepatch!!

THREE. FUCKING. NEEDLES.

Also the scar is fading a little, that's cool

The real thing kfjsjshs

I'M SORRY, AND HOW DID YOU FIND OUT GRANDPA? THERE'S NO TV OR RADIO AROUND.

Finally,,, Motobe 🥺

He doesn't look as hot as he used to i must say. I'm actually going back to the first book (since google won't show me) to see how much he has changed

Okay yeah the only thing different is his eyebrows, and eyes which were way rounder, he has a way sharper expression now, no longer as submissive and breedable as i liked 😔 (sorry for typing that)

Chapter 36

°v°

King

I love this old man sm

Oh hey Doppo sjsjsjsjshdjg

Look at that stupid smile, he can't even deny it

Doppo once again proving he is very smart, also quite impressive for a one eyed man who refuses to use his glasses to see that on a shitty low quality security camera

Of course he wants, of course

JQGSKSGAKGWKWV 🥺🥺🥺💞

I'm gonna flip my table he's so cute. Every time i get to see two men i love in a same space i go so apeshit.

DOPPO'S FACE AJSHSKGSJS 😭

Oh my god, I'm obsessed, "I swear he is charming in a very odd way. Am i gay?" WE GOT ANOTHER ONE BOYSSS 😍

And shout-out to the person calling Doppo a snack hell we I'm between people that understand me! KAGSKSGSJSGSK

Chapter 37

Kings i have no idea what either of you is saying but i don't even mind

OYDIRSURSUSRYRZXUFURZ 👁️👁️

King forgot about such dumb things like "eating"

More fast AND more effective

Girl the brain chemicals in my brain are going insane hooooly fuck

"i love you DoppoOrochi ❤️" SAME <3

Chapter 38

Shit i google what the honorific dono was and now i learnt more than i wanted to, is don (Spanish) a fucking title of nobility?!

Also i love how Musashi keeps accidentally offending all these modern men JAGSJSGSJW

S-soc-social dist-tancing pwease? 😳😖🥴

My legs are shutting down again ffs

GIRL IM ACTUALLY LOSING MY MIND GODBSJSGSBSVSH 👁️👁️

OWHSKWGKAGSKAGSKSGS 😭😭😭 I'M ACTUALLY CHOKING

FR I THINK THIS IS THE ONLY TIME SOMEONE TOUCHED HIS HEAD LIKE THAT

I'm biting and chewing and licking the air girl I'm so excited I'm not even horny I'm just feeling deranged

*cuts you in half* xd

THANKS Musashi idc what Doppo thinks, THANKS, i didn't need to see him die for a third time,,,,

Y'ALL @COMMENTS I LOVE THESE MEN TOO BELIEVE ME I DO BUT Y'ALL NEED TO COMPREHEND THESE ARE FAIR AND REASONABLE FIGHTS! Also, let's be totally real, how long since Doppo won a match first try? :/ Like i love him but he really isn't the fighter he used to be, Motobe said it in the first book!

Chapter 39

Mmm patas

I love how long it takes for Doppo to get serious like he never learns jwksjdhdjdt

Musashi sounds so genuine with his questions

ACK i love him sm he's so fucking strong 😖👏😍

I love how Musashi always takes a panel before saying anything, those pauses are neat

So they are gonna fight to the death now ooookay :'/

Lmao yeah i wouldn't question it much either fjfjshssfsss

God I'm getting so fucking energized from reading this it's stupid I'm vibrating

HHHHH KFJVNGB 👁️👁️

Musashi bardero, ubícate rey

Musashi se fue a la mierda

Doppo's dead :'/

Chapter 40

Hehehe doing his classical pose,,,

WHAT NO NO NO

NOOOO HOLY FUCK THIS IS BAD THIS IS BAD

La puta que te parió Musashi tenía los huevos en la garganta FUCK i'm breathing again 😭

Now that i don't have to worry so much, may i point out how fucking BIG his tits are from that angle? Like damn sir okay! 😳

Musashi still a great guy <:3c

Chapter 41

I don't think it is that convincing Tokugawa

Well at least he bought it

He's taking it oddly well, but it's not like he had any chances

For once i can not only agree but imagine

Literate king 😍

WOW ODDLY SMART

RETSUUU YOU ARE BACKKK 🥺

HE BECAME THE FUCKING WORLD CHAMPION MAN LMAO

I'm so obsessed with this guy

Oh so he knows 👁️👁️

Chapter 42

Why is Katsumi surprised too?

Yeah you can't really look for revenge on this one

Look how much he has grown bro 🥺😭

I don't know why but YouTube existing made me fucking laugh

He has a point honestly, fighting a fucking swordman barehanded is like. A bit schewpid don't cha agree

Musashi commits arson

HHHHH i... Worry, because i have knowledge

"they can bring a man to live again, but can't give a new arm to that guy" 😭💀

Chapter 43

What the fuck are you trying to say, Retsu?

👁️👁️

Did Musashi not realize that was a peg leg?

Great kick btw 😍

I love how Tokugawa got mad at Retsu HFAJSUKSJ

"and really charming" i mean i don't think anybody disagrees with that but love wins? 😳

Thick eyebrow Motobe my loathed

Lmao

Chapter 44

It's kinda funny to see Motobe back after so many books acting like he has some kind of power here

Motobe is right but so is Tokugawa

Retsu never fucking learns either man, first Pickle now Musashi...

Yes which means it's his choice now get off his dick

GKDJSHDHS SAME TOKUGAWA

No, i definitely don't understand him.

Kaku how the fuck do you keep showing up ADHAKDTVH

"Retsu will die" "Nah, Musashi will like cut his head off, but leave the spine and arteries intact so Retsu can sleep it off"

Chapter 45

Is this Suedo?

Oh he was practicing Shaori, fair

I miss the Shinogi brothers, will they show up again? :<

HOHOOO 👁️👁️

Chapter 46

I like how everyone left

Chapter 47

The artstyle went back to it's rough and detailed style, i don't mind it

TO ASSESS? 😳

GOD I WISH THAT WERE ME

Motobe you are so annoying

AGHK

Chapter 48

MOTOBE IT'S HIS DECISION HE'S A GROWN ASS MAN HE KNOWS WHAT HE'S GETTING HIMSELF INTO

I like that at least Doppo managed to leave a little scar in his cheek

Shit will get so nasty

Chapter 49

AURSISRIGSURSYRFIT

Fun fact i tried to recreate that finger thing irl and it HURT

KAKU COMMITS MURDER

He's fucking dead

I love that move, never seen it b4

Chapter 50

Ahjnfjfdhjhhh,,,

They are going to destroy the best waifu

Old man you have no idea...

Ooohhh???

God panels are a mess, but also, i love how Jack is the example for biting jdAGDAJDJ

Hhhh yeah that's the problem it really isn't a fight anymore :/

Sjdjsgd Jack with glasses looks cool 😎

Retsu, my beloved, you were very xenophobic and prideful and i used to hate you... But you changed, and you had one of the fattest asses in this entire manga. I will miss you a lot.

Chapter 51

That said Musashi be looking bad hot I'm drooling 😳

AUGH 😭

I know Retsu won't make it but I'm not ready to accept it anyway

IT DOES LOOK GOOD ON HIM

Chapter 52

CKH CKH

That's one round ASS Mr Musashi

BRO.

UTSHEAYEADRJURD

Tetas 🥺👉👈

Chapter 53

GOD BOTH THEIR ASSES ARE SO FAT IN THE COVER

I hope Doppo comes watch this manslaughter too

That's what I said when i saw him nake-

Truly awesome

Ha <3

HE DON'T CARE

Chapter 54

Look at that eye 😖

Ha nice!

I hate the pages

Chapter 55

He don't look to happy

I love Musashi

AMAIZING

Chapter 56

I think I'm gonna start saying ohou! too

OH NO I WORRY 👁️👁️

"made in china" stoppp 😭

Chapter 57

I feel so sad for Kaku

I'm OUFITDIDOTDIDR 👁️👁️

On fucking god <:/

That scream reminded me of Gaia, same expression

OH HEY KOJIRO SASAKI, YEAH, I KNOW THAT GUY, didn't know he was Musashi's rival! Fun to know

I'm sad I'm not catching the joke

Glad people are talking about how cute Musashi is again 😌🥴

Chapter 58

I like how a rock didn't affect him but hair did

His flexibility gets me so 😳

OYFURSYAEYRYRS AHHH 👁️👁️

Y'all think he could do Hana's technique?

😰

HEHE YESSS GO BOYBOSS

Oh.

I thought he was gonna use Shaori

Chapter 59

Oh he's back lmao

MUSASHI STOP BREAKING STUFF GODDAMN IT KFJSJSJD

Retsu stole Baki's pose, sweet revenge lmao

Chapter 60

I was gonna joke like "Musashi feet sure are big, you know what that means? 😏" But we saw his dick already and it is quite the cock so there's no fun to that anymore :/

EJEOKRYDJSG 👁️👁️

Modo diablo 🤘

MMNNGJNHJFHHHH 🥺😭

Chapter 61

HOOO NICE

ACK IT WAS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

Wouldn't mind doing that too-

Someone in the comments called it kinky i agree. Mr Musashi into some good shit 🥴 (SORRY BEING HORNY IS PART OF MY PERSONALITY)

Chapter 62

"HE'S TOO DAMN AWESOME" on god.

Jack had to take off his glasses 😰

Kaku you are right but don't say it <:/

He's so chill i adore him

God i thought that was going to be Retsu's body for a sec I'm so scared

I'm the girl in the crowd begging Musashi to stop DAJSYDJFSHS

Yeah i was expecting that

HIS BRAID TOO

Anmdjfjgdg <:,//

Chapter 63

YOGIYFUTDDUDUTD AGH BLESS

NEITHER IF EM CAN BELIEVE IT

OH THANK GOD

STOP SAYING RETSU DOESN'T KNOW WHEN TO STOP WE ALL KNOW THAT, LOOK AT HIS LEG!

Chapter 64

Thanks for showing some ass again before dying king

GIRL?!

NOOOOOO

He was so fucking close 😞😢

Also worth mentioning there was a Retsu enjoyer in the comments and since Retsu came back everyone kept asking where the guy was, now we all pity him 😔

Chapter 65

Retsu bro no offense regarding your current state but hell you were kinda dumb

SUCH A DEEP CUT TOO

I'm holding back tears right now fuck man fuck, i will miss you so much Retsu, you were so good.

Angkdhch,,, 😞

Chapter 66

Cagaron matando a Retsu boludo todavía no caigo, lo mataron a Retsu, a NUESTRO Retsu, al señor 4000 años de historia china, Kaioh Retsu está muerto. Makes my chest hurt a little

TOKUGAWA PLEASE

Kaku taking the fault broke me I'm crying girl

HELL THAT BROKE TOKUGAWA TOO

According to a comment that's very high so i respect that

Chapter 67

UWA young Miyamoto 😳

Ouch

That made me emotional, you did so good, Retsu

HO OKAY 😳 I see Retsu wasn't the only one, love lost too 😢💔/j

This shit still poking my flesh wound i keep going like 😐😢😐😢

King went 🤔

everyone teasing the retsu fan, his man just died give him a rest!

Also shout-out to the guy saying "i ship them"(prob talking bout Retsu and Musashi)

Chapter 68

OHFITDURYRD HE'S SO QUIET I LOVE MUSASHI

HE'S THINKING SO MUCH

Low-key bae

URSYRAYEQYEAYRSD OBSESSED

Scarface was too fucking boring, didn't make it past chapter 3, but that's good, because that means Baki-Dou time 😍

Time to read the fourth book in this series! Excited to see Musashi <3

Chapter 1

COLORS

Baki please stop flexing

A FELLA SAYING THE SAME I SAID WHEN YUJIRO PULLED HIS SOB STORY, FR GO TRY SOMETHING ELSE! What happened with that whole "i don't care about fighting" eh Baki?!

Chapter 2

HOHO ALI JR???

ah no :/

HOLY FUCK is this quality bad!

He wants to taste defeat i see

TOKUGAWA PLEASE STOP SMOKING

Oh they removed the... Egg in the back of the neck, nice

God this guy's tits so fat 🥵

FINALLYYY HOW LONG SINCE WE SAW A FIGHT IN THE ARENA? A PROPER FIGHT I MEAN

Chapter 3

He doesn't even know 🐍

DON'T BRING THAT FELLA HERE RETSU KICKED HIS ASS IN TIME. RECORD

Oh i saw fanart of this scene

Baki, it's your fault that you are bored, you fucking teen

This shit boring ME

Chapter 4

Oh, goroukou is a title

I like how the prime minister is becoming a recurrent character

I thought he said babe for a sec-

That little "oh~" is a bit sus, are the old men... No, it can't be 😳😳😳

I'm fucking choking fuck

GOD ALMOST READ THAT AS JOHN CENA 😭

"yes <3"

These ppl never learn

Chapter 5

What a way to go, a la gamzee /j

This dude so weird lmao

FAHDGAHDH king

Dude he has huge round eyes tf you talking bout?

IGDUFSUEASEUURSS he's such a freakkk 😭😭😭

This is the most wtf thing Baki has pulled, remember when this was about fighters fighting? I don't know enough about science for this shit either man

Okay so their hug wasn't Tokugawa being touchy like he is, this guy is even worse, se juntaron el hambre y las ganas de comer HSHAFSFG

Chapter 6

Baki's dead

Katsumi about to kill get killed by my grandpa i see

ALSO KATSUMI OG HAIR WOOO

Katsumi bro don't be so happy over nearly killing him-

I love seeing him get better tho

Uwaadgsgsjdga 😍😳🤤 twisting my hair irl,,, 🥴

Finally Motobe remembered he was a character here 😐

FSGSHDAHDA KOSHO PLS

I LOVE that they got dark lips again

IM SORRY GOUKI HOW DO YOU KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT EVERYONE?! LTDKFsjyrd 😭

Jack's scar looks cool ngl

Retsu living the good life lmao

AND HOW DO YOU KNOW, GRANDPA?

Hana just doesn't care, smartest Baki character lmao

Idk what they talking bout but good for em <3

Cum basement

Chapter 7

SHOW US MUSASHI'S COCK

Obsessed he thought his heart was failing 😭

Dude you can just hear the heart beat of your friends/opponents just like that? 🤨

Notice Gaia in the top left 🥴

WHY CAN HE RECOGNIZE EACH OF THEIR HEARTBEATS AAHSGA

Thick 🥵

Unironically built different

Chronic back pain if you ask me, that's how I stand to relieve my agony

Did. Did you just call him a femb-

STOP SHOWING ME PANELS FROM VAGAMOND

I love John sm lmao

Mr Musashi has 2 (3?) dads

Chapter 8

HAIRY LEGS 🥴

Those things look like boobs

Bet you would know eh SHAFADB

They jerked off the mummy?

Reminds me of eye surgery

AFjshAFDGAJAHAF

Mf came out the tube ripped af 😭

Chapter 9

Everyone is so feminine lately good ol Kureha fell behind 😭

I like his bandana tho it's cute

OH HE TOO? AND HE'S NOT EVEN THAT STRONG

Fat tits 🥴

Eheojeudkshs 😖😳👉👈

JACK STOP YOU ARE BIG ENOUGH ALREADY

HOLY FUCK

You know like i understand Baki, he is at the highest he can be rn, NO ONE can defeat him, but the rest? Like c'mon y'all just beat each other up or something

Ah, the miracle of birth 😍

Chapter 10

I love how all these two do is hang out together in bars, boybosses

TF IS UP WITH THAT ICE? AHDHS

I love what they have

Hana thinking of getting his 4 limbs broken again i see

WOOO!! Nice cock Mr Musashi 😳

HANAYAMA PLEASE 😐

Chapter 11

I love those freaks

I just now I'm seeing the little scars on his cheeks from the fight with Spec ☺️

I love the fact that Musashi has hair in his legs BUT not his arms like ??? Okay king

Heated scientist moment

HOHO POGGERS 👀

Chapter 12

UTSURAARSDFAFA sibling goals

GIRLBOSS 😍

URAURUSYRSAESGA IN LOVE???

Holy shit she's amazing

Chapter 13

And his ass is very thick too 😳

Those fucking sunglasses, obsessed

Debatable, he got struck by lightning :/

HE WAXES HIS HAIR? OMFG OBSESSED

WHY IS HE WEARING THAT LMAO 😭

Nooo they censored the cock again 😔😔😔

DO IT QWEEN 💅

STOP SAYING SHE'S GONNA FUCK THE CLONE

"I'm exciteddddd" "ok."

Chapter 14

You just hate seeing a girlboss win

She truly is amaizing

Also i just realized spirits have been showing up since the first book so this isn't so crazy lol

MF HOW IS THAT GONNA HELP 😭😭😭

THE LITTLE BUBBLES AND SPARKLES... I BET HE DID 🥺

Chapter 15

WHY ARE HIS TITS SO ROUND AND FAT GODDAMN IT,,, 😳😖

Glad seeing some things never change

He looks so much like Jun

IGSITSURAURZES EPICCC

Someone question if Yujiro knew how too write obsessed,,,

Chapter 16

Goddamn it you got even older in the past 3 or so chapters bro

Mouth to mouth soul transference

OHHH

HIS EYEBROWS FELL HOW IGDUTSITDIYDIGD

Some mf got turned on by this HELP 😭

Chapter 17

I love how Yujiro and Hana are still getting ready to throw hands while this happens lol

Okay yeah that was super disrespectful honestly, guy is having a chat :/

HAHAGSJAHA obsessed

God i thought it was Hana the one grabbing some random lady for a second AFDJSJSSJS

He cute af ngl

POOR GUY MUST BE SO CONFUSED OMFG,,,

Fsr I'm surprised he can talk, like it should be obvious but in all the fanart i saw he never said a word, also, he's so damn respectful 😍

Chapter 18

Idk he was never that clever /hj

Hehehe blood

I love how John can only sit that way

The size of his balls lmao

Coward won't even fight with his dick out smh :/

God he mad cute-

Chapter 19

I MISS THE DEATH ROW FELLAS FUCKKK

Hm i think this random tiny bald man is not Tokugawa but someone that looks awfully similar to him

YEAH NO SHIT I FEEL SO BAD FOR HIM, HE MUST BE SO DAMN OVERWHELMED

Apparently there was a cameo, i don't know enough about anime to know or care

Chapter 20

He's tripping balls

Tokugawa should have gone a bit slower with this poor guy, this is like a lot to process at once <:/

Nvm he's doing better than me

Oydirsusefs look at himmm

WAIT A FUCKING SECOND OMFG DIDN'T DOPPO FIGHT THIS GUY?!

SOMEONE ELSE RECOGNIZED HIM HE ISSS

Chapter 21

OHDIRAYEASURRSUURS HE DOESN'T KNOWWW FFS

Musashi be like °_°

LOOK AT THAT SMILE LMAO

He's just chilling, mentally killing this dude

Murder baby

Chapter 21

The way his eyes are drawn is so cool

YRAURSUFSIDTGA

And he jokes too! Wow I'm in love 😍

(nsfw) CAN YOU HANDLE DICK LIKE THAT TOO? 😍

WOW

I TAKE BACK THAT QUESTION

I remember a show where you would bring your own knives and swords and go thru a bunch of test, Musashi should have been one of them

Mf truly is like :]

I love how he didn't buy it

I can't wait for him to fight Yujiro 😍

Chapter 23

He truly is 😌

ATFJAIDQYSF OBSESSED

He was happy this time at least, 5 times he lost already btw

Tokugawa truly in unhateable lmao

Chapter 24

IM SORRY, HIS LEG???

Oh I forgot Musashi does that

JAGSKSGSKSGS HIS FUCKING FACE I CAN'T 😭

I miss when translators would add notes i don't want to google shit myself :/

"I'm hard as rock" /j

Chapter 25

Look how happy he issss

MUSASHI POG MUSASHI POG-

I love how Tokugawa can't believe he got it first try and it's trying to lie now sjdakdyv

This mf is actually making me insane what the actual fuck i don't know what he has but he's gonna make me act up 😳

Mf be shadow boxing too dammit /j

Baki please

Chapter 26

OLD MAN JUST WANTS A PUBLIC TO SEE THIS LMAO

Look at the size of Baki's eyes holy fuck lmao

He's gonna yeet him!

OH NOOOO

FIRST HIS DAD NOW MUSASHI, THIS GUY CANT CATCH A BREAK LMAO

Chapter 27

How little time passed? They have barely moved

Yeah you did it last book too Baki

King shit

Chapter 28

AKSGSKGSJSGS KING

I love how he only now realized

Okay no he has a point

I love how he just calls him boy

Look at that smug face

I trust Musashi but at the same time he, really should be walking around this new world alone. Now, if i were to accompany him... 🥴/j

Baki please

Chapter 29

I love how soft the artstyle suddenly got, like if done big a big brush

Yujiro you just insulted every single anime character in history

Baby Baki's just like "Ok."

I like how Yujiro looks here

AUGHHJF HE'S SO BABY 🥺

HOHO badass

Chapter 30

He died 😔

Idiot hasn't even beat he 0.5 reaction seconds lmao 🤣

HOHOOOOO?!? 👁️👁️

"my curiosity exceed my fear!!" I RESPECT THIS MAN SO MUCH??

Chapter 31

AMAIZING HONESTLY

Fighter to fighter communication

SHIT LOOK AT THE STATE OF THAT HAND

He's just gone now LMAO

I honestly don't mind Baki being weak against this, he never fought against a two handed swordman, this is new territory

Chapter 32

Oh his really tripping balls now this is why he shouldn't be alone

NVM HE'S STILL DOING BETTER THAN ME ON A DAILY BASIS, I HAVE A LOT TO LEARN FROM THIS MAN

I just now realized he's barefoot

Nice ass king

The policemen are quite nice

He's very cooperative but i can't blame the cops either

Chapter 33

Yeah no shit that must be so insane

IF YOU HADN'T DROPPED OFF SCHOOL THEN...

That's kinda funny but idk man he's right i think

He's just like :3

I love how he isn't picking up a fight out of malice but rather just instinct like, he can't understand shit that is going on

YOU ARE SO RIGHT BAKI IT ISN'T BORING FOR ME EITHER

Chapter 34

Don't you fucking dare shave him Itagaki

It's funny how it took 2 books and a half for Baki to start being a protagonist

Holy fuck did Baki add height or is Miyamoto that big?

Wow how perfect i ran out of space just now!! Having fun with this book ngl :]

#luly talks #baki liveblog #i still love Musashi 😔#and i ran out of space too lol

9 notes · View notes

aeviathan-literature · 8 years ago

Text

00X

A/N

1/2 OR 3 Parts

AU: Shownu is a spy and on his way to a party. At this party are a few things: an old he doesn't want to see, a bunch of important faces, and information he's been hired to find. Can he find it or will he be fucked over?

® R (cursing, mentions of sexual activity, slight smut, some gore)

Pairing(s): slight ShowSon (Jackson [GOT7] x Shownu [MONSTA X]), slight KiNu (Kihyun x Shownu, MONSTA X), some JooKyun (Jooheon x I.M, MONSTA X), implied/referenced KyungHo (D.O [EXO] x Wonho [MONSTA X]), assumed/implied T-Dragon (T.O.P. x G-Dragon, BIGBANG), possible RaJoon (Rap Monster [BTS] x Ravi [VIXX])

Inspiration: Shownu's X-Ray teasers, the Lunar Chronicles (Marissa Meyer), Uglies (Scott Westerfeld)

Word Count: 12,205

Dedicated: @monsta-smut, because you pushed me to make it and I did

×007×

He knew it was silly, really he did, but every time he suited up he had spy music playing in his head. It spiced up the dullness that went on while he dressed.

I mean, if it gets the job done, who am I to complain? The voice in his head said.

Pinkie, I love you, but you can't be in my head 25/8.

Shownu, I swear to god, you call me Pinkie one more time and I WILL end you.

I can't have people finding out you exist Kihyun.

If I have any code name, it'll be 'Little Savage,' Kihyun said defiantly.

Now, is that a comment on your height or your dick size? Shownu teased.

I'm several shades tempted to pull your plug.

You know I have a great doctor, right?

Not if I I get him first~ Kihyun threatened like a songbird.

Admit it Kihyun, you'd be bored without me, Shownu said as he stared at his reflection in the shiny mirror, fixing his velvety red tie.

And I'd be out of a job.

See? Now you're thinking.

Shownu tightened the tie around his neck, making sure it was snug against his Adam's apple. He experimentally swallowed, testing the tightness. It was just as he liked it. He quite liked the red tie, glad the party he was going to was a literally red tie event; all men had to wear a red tie. He fixated his attention then on his gold cuff links, shiny like the mirror in front of him. He jiggled them around, noting they were also to his liking. He adjusted his white undershirt, pulling down his black overcoat to get rid of any crinkles. His pants were snug, not exactly tight but not overly loose, either. As he looked at himself in the scratch less mirror in front of him, he mentally thanked his amazing tailor Jackson. The man did such a fine job of custom-fitting all his clothes, no matter the requirements. He deserved a raise for all the shit he had to go through.

WHAT? You'll give him a raise but not ME?! Why does he get a raise?! Kihyun complained loudly.

He's been caught in many crossfires, Kihyun. You stay behind the scenes were it's safe.

I've been caught in crossfires, too!

Two.

Oh, shut up.

The mention of both men being caught in crossfires made Shownu stop fixing his attire. His facial expression changed from that of indifference to deep contemplation. Two of the closest individuals he had to him, Kihyun and Jackson, had both been hurt before because of him. They had to change their faces because of the damage they had received. All because Shownu was a spy. He had put their lives on the line, just because he couldn't keep his previous life together.

I love you, Shownu. Don't think like that, Kihyun said quietly.

I love you too, Kihyun, Shownu returned, just as quietly.

Are you done dressing, Shownu? Kihyun's words were quiet still, careful even, as if he was handling a butterfly with only one wing.

Y...Yeah, Kihyun. Shownu took a deep breath then exhaled. Let's party.

Alright 7, time to get your ass to work! Kihyun said enthusiastically, an audible clap sound on his end of the internal connection. 7, your mission is simple: collect data. His voice was back to its original business state.

Alright Mr. Informant, Shownu teased, but took his informant's words seriously.

Shownu touched the top left corner of the mirror with the pad of his index finger, letting the reflective surface become gridded and fold in on itself. Once it has become a cube once more, small in size compared to the largeness of the mirror, he put the cube into his left pocket. He looked on the off-white wall, no lacerations on the paint to signify his hand mirror was ever attached to the surface.

Okay 7, it's time to head out. But I'd move your ass a bit faster. I silenced the hotel to your presence but the maiddroids are getting antsy about this room being "occupied," Kihyun stated.

Alright, Shownu responded. His head swiveled around the room, nothing out of place and nothing of his ownership remained. He smiles to himself, oddly satisfied at the thought.

Shit 7, you need to play teenager; the maiddroids have contacted the manager of the hotel and she's on her way.

I have to climb out the window?

Yep. The door is a no-no because there's a maiddroid there; your spy equipment won't work because of the glass of the windows.

Shownu walked toward the window, a peaceful blue the shade. They looked nice, and made the night outside look that much darker. But he knew the reasoning for the color: it WOULD tamper with spy equipment, causing it to malfunction and all sorts of other shit. But how the fuck was supposed to get out of the damn window when the window didn't open?

I've got you covered babe; these windows are the newest model by the manufacturer Blafé™. Since they've been getting complaints about their models not being openable, they have inputted a code that allows them to unlock remotely from the outside. There is a section on your side that allows you to slide it open. It's the panel in front of you.

'Babe'? Was Shownu's response. He walked up to the large window panel, at least four feet taller than he.

Kihyun laughed on his end. Just don't touch the panel with your fingers. Only the sliding section. It's on the right side, above you.

Shownu went quiet, looking above him for a section of window that wasn't actually window. There, at about his wrist height, was a rectangular section of metal that looked like it would slide the window open. It was about three fingers wide, and just as tall. The spy carefully inserted two fingers, mindful not to touch the glass. With all his might he pushed the large pane to the left, it giving relatively easy. But it only opened about two thirds of his body, him not being able to jump out this way. He'd have to do so sideways. But how would he jump out without dying?

Do you have no faith in me big boy? Kihyun asked.

I have to have faith in you. How and where do I jump? Shownu responded with faith.

Just jump out. I've got the rest.

Shownu nodded, confident that his informant knew what he was doing. But, even though he shouldn't do it, he looked down at the world below him.

It was one hella long fall. If he were to jump and plummet all the way to the bottom, his body would be shattered inside and out. If he landed on his face, holy fuck no one would recognize him. The hovercrafts that hovered all the way down there looked like ants, ready to be squashed when in reality they would squash him. Why had it been a good idea to have a room all the way up here?

As if on que a thudding banging sound came from the door. He didn't have much time left, the manager was here and she more than likely didn't play around. And then he realized that THAT was why they chose a room so high up: it gave them time to escape.

He huffed out a breath. Then he turned sideways and jumped out the open window.

Shownu had jumped out of windows beforehand, but that feeling of weightlessness never got old. The butterflies in his stomach jumped around like they were monkeys, his intestines the trees. Gravity pulled him faster and faster to the cement, and without really thinking about it he closed his eyes.

Suddenly that weightlessness feeling stopped, and he was sitting down now, slowing down the speed at which he fell. Then he stopped completely. He open his eyes, and found himself looking at a familiar set-up.

You can always trust me babe, Kihyun said smugly.

How long has Lucii been here? Shownu asked fondly, punching the force field button. He felt himself ripple, until he was invisible to the world. His hovercraft was off the grid, so no one would know about the car having this function.

A little bit. I made sure to call it earlier. And the manager is heading back, she didn't notice you there.

How? What about the window? Shownu asked.

You can't open it from the outside, only unlock it. But you can close it from the outside with the code. Kihyun sounded so smug.

Nice. As Kihyun explained the whole window thing, he looked up to find not a single window open. He hazarded a guess that he was only about three panels below where he started. That was a convenient way to escape.

Nice work with the force field, by the way, Kihyun complimented.

When in doubt, go invisible.

You should hurry though, Kihyun said after he laughed. My radar indicates that policehovers are nearing the scene of our latest crime. They have Sniffers, they'll sniff out your adrenaline.

Shownu nodded and brought a finger to his mouth. He bit it hard, wincing in pain. He pulled it away, satisfied when he saw a bead of blood. Before it dripped on his nice clothes he brought it over the steering wheel, placing it on a raised small metallic circle. The hatch opened, and the blood finally dropped in. The hatch closed as Shownu stuck his finger in his mouth, sucking on it to rid himself of the new bead of blood welling up.

The hover came to life. The screen lit up, a small beep coming from the steering wheel. Lucii was ready to drive from the inside.

You gave me the directions right? Shownu asked Kihyun as he revved Lucii's engine, her hc(eNg)-chip.

Donwloaded into Lucii's hc(dRtn)-chip, Kihyun responded dutifully.

Shownu inputted his special code into the keypad, left of Lucii's screen. The screen went black for a split second, then it lit up with a map of Neo-Seoul, Korea in the New Asian Continent. A bright line showed itself, directing him somewhere else, a ways away from where he was sitting. He pushed the go pedal down, and Lucii surged forward. He was running a bit late, at around twenty-seven minutes. He was going to be an hour and twenty-seven minutes late to this party. But that was okay; one must never show up to early to any event, lest all the attention be on them and those who would arrive late.

Twenty-six minutes, Kihyun corrected.

Savage, I do not need your political correctness right now. Did you put the invitation inside Lucii? Shownu asked, though he was smiling at Kihyun.

Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? His informant asked in return.

Lucii? That's why I picked the name.

No, fucker, Savage.

Sure, Shownu responded. He carefully stayed out if the now-heavy traffic, taking off the invisibility field. He gently smoothed his way into the parade of people more than likely heading home. He drove at the appropriate speed, not drawing any attention to himself.

I'm just glad you got away from those policehovers, Kihyun said, obviously ignoring Shownu's tone and response all together.

Why? Shownu asked, following Kihyun's example of ignoring his nickname.

Ha! I don't need to tell you all the contraband we have stored in Lucii.

... Condoms?

No, fucker.

Porn magazines?

NO. Guns, a few blades, one or two top secret files, an illegal tytrious tank.

So all the fun stuff, eh? Shownu followed the directions being fed to him, turning right for about two miles.

I need to get paid more for dealing with you.

Shownu was about to comment, but Kihyun stopped him.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, why does that Jackson fucker get a raise but I don't

He gives better head and has a tighter anus.

BULLSHIT. I've been with you for ten years and you've been dry this whole time. Did you two fuck before we met? Before I had to suffer because of you

But at this question, Shownu was silent.

Had it really been ten years since he and Kihyun had been put together? Had it really been that long? Shownu drove in silence. He had ruined Jackson's and Kihyun's lives, hadn't he? He had known Jackson since he was young, growing up together after Jackson came from Hong Kong. People treated him differently because he came from Neo-Hong Kong in what was left of China. But the two had clicked off the bat, having each other's backs through all the tough times. Jackson had a passion for fashion, so when he became a tailor he wasn't able to get in touch with Shownu to often. Shownu, on the other hand, became more of a nomad. While he like swimming, there wasn't really a job for it. While yes, of course he tried out for life guarding, and even got the job, it wasn't fulfilling. But his strong shoulders attracted the attention of Canopy Coverage™, a firm of lawyers that weren't lawyers at all. It was a company that made money of its employees being killers, assassins, and spies like himself. He was the seventh spy to undergo training, hence his codename 007. But he was stupid and made the mistake of telling Jackson that. While his friend could keep a secret, it was a secret he wasn't allowed to have. He was kidnapped a month after Shownu told him the news, and Shownu's first mission was to rescue him. He succeeded... But Jackson's face was gone. It was Shownu's fault. If he had just stayed away, his friend would be an Original.

With the rescue a success, though a failure in Shownu's eyes, he was announced a spy. All spies need an informant, a person in charge of all the information that gets to them. When he was told a wicked smart man was being held hostage for his mind to be stolen, Shownu didn't stop until he had saved him, getting blood on his hands for the first time. Shownu had saved the then brunette Kihyun from... Fuck knows what. But Kihyun wasn't really happy. He was forced from one bad situation to another, from having his brain removed nearly to having the information he could obtain used to kill other individuals. He went from a man with a good life ahead of him to a man forced to use his skills to do unto others what nearly happened to him.

In short, Shownu had forced his only "friends," which was putting it in a good light, into dangerous situations because he was a stupid sixty-something with literally nothing to lose but his shitty apartment and shitty life guarding job. And his own life, but he definitely valued that less.

S...Shownu... I, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked such a personal question. It's even in my contract not to ask, I'm sorry, Kihyun said, the sorrow in his voice thick. Pity, as well.

No, no, Kihyun. I trust you completely. I have for the past five years. You need to know everything about me, it's time. Screw the contract. I wrote it, so if I change my mind I can. I'm giving you permission to open my file. You can know everything. I'm positive.

But all Shownu got was silence. He turned left as the directions told him too as he finished his speech. He came upon the longest stretch of road in Neo-Seoul known as the Droid Strip. As the name implies, the Droid Strip has venders of literally every type selling the parts needed to create, fix, and destroy droids.

Shownu didn't think about them, so far below him (literally) as he flew through the slow-moving traffic. The silence on Kihyun's end was killing him. Had he said too much? Too little? Had he overstepped some boundary? How could he mend what he thought he broke?

He was silent for a while, listening for any sign that the pink-haired Kihyun was still there. He didn't hear a single peep, and for once, he was sad and confused without Kihyun's voice. He thought the day would never come where Kihyun wasn't in his head talking to him, and that bugged him. But now that it may have come, he felt so alone. Then he heard a clicking sound. And sniffling.

Fuck you for making me cry, Kihyun laughed as he said.

I thought you left me, Shownu said, sadness wearing down his voice. He could picture Kihyun wiping away some tears with the heels of his hands.

No. I just got really emotional when you said that. I've waited so long, Shownu.

I should have given you permission sooner, Kihyun. I trust you completely.

Kihyun didn't say anything, but Shownu could hear the sniffling and the clunking of a headset as he wiped more tears away. It was quiet enough for Shownu to hear a soft whuming, definitely that of a holoboard.

I'm so excited. But I need a name. I'm in the w(PRO)-chip now. Fairly easy to hack into, Kihyun beamed at himself.

Son Hyunwoo, Shownu said. It was the first time in a long time that he had said his name aloud to anyone other than Jackson.

It's a beautiful name, Kihyun said. It got so quiet again that he could hear the whuming of the holoboard.

Instead of responding, Shownu stayed silent as he let someone into himself. He, in all honesty, had never looked into his profile. While the New Asian Continental Force had a database like everywhere else, but unlike everywhere else it had two versions. One was public, which ANYONE could gain access to and look at. But it held simple information, such a name, one picture, and a birth date. It was constantly updated, and wasn't guarded at all. The second one, which upon Kihyun had just hacked into, had everything about you: every picture of you that had ever existed, all your known aliases, birth date and predicted death date, heritage that traces back to as far as possible, and all your iDNA transfers. Shownu knew there was only two iDNA transfers in his file, though he had done the procedure more times than he'd like to admit, but that was the sad truth in being a spy; you forget what you look like.

Wow... Kihyun said, mesmerized. You were really handsome before your first transfer.

No, not really.

Yes, really! You were a such catch.

Shownu blushed.

HOLY FUCK.

What?! Shownu shouted internally.

That–shit! This must be fate... Kihyun said trailed off.

What?! Shownu repeated.

You share a name with one of your ancestors, both by birth and stage! Isn't that amazing? And even crazier? He was in a group called MONSTA X, a Korean pop group, and one of the other members looks exactly like me and we share a name!

Wow, was Shownu's response. He couldn't really fathom the way fate worked out.

Fuck this is crazy... The other five members of this group all share names and looks with people we know!

No? Shownu questioned. The probably was slim to none, surely? Maybe fate did exist. Shownu wasn't a big believer in fate, but this may have just changed his mind. He needed to look into his file more often.

Kihyun was mostly silent after that, save for a few wows and sighs. At this point Shownu was comfortable with this; just knowing he was there was a major calmer. He was at the halfway mark on the Droid Strip, marked by the Signal Pillar. It still towered over him, even at the height hovercrafts were allowed to be. Traffic, moving slow this late at night (Lucii provided a clock under her screen which read 12:09 PM), allowed him to stare at it for an extended moment.

Shownu stared at the Pillar with the curiosity of a black cat. He thought about they were made (not that he'd know, he wasn't there) and who was the absolute genius who came up with them. There were a total of fifty Pillars around the world, this one being the only one in Korea. The next closest one was somewhere in southern China. Shownu wondered, how was this one pillar strong enough to hold up the entirety of Korea? All the hovercrafts, the droids, the internal connections, the internal codes? While yes, since the decimation of the outer edges of Korea shrink it down to be quite tiny, it still was home to about two point eight million people. All those people, all the connections, the droids, all held by this one pillar.

Shownu wondered, if the Signal Pillar stopped pushing out its signal, what would between his and Kihyun's connection? They had a secure connection that wasn't able to be monitored by the Continental Force, made by the genius Kihyun himself, but was it held up by the waves constantly pushed out by the only Pillar in their homeland? Shownu wasn't sure. Could he handle the silence if that were to happen, if that were the case? Would he be able to survive purely on his own? Somewhere in his mind he knew the answer was no.

He remembers when the chip had been implanted into his skull, giving him permanent access to Kihyun's voice, as long as Kihyun was on the other end. There was a scar, long gone due to the iDNA transfers, but he still felt that it was there. At the nape of his neck, left side. A chip, just a bit bigger than his thumb yet undetectable when put through a metal detector, was the cause of their connection. It was that small chip, still no bigger than his thumb, that kept them connected. It was hard to wrap one's head around, both literally and figuratively. He had no doubt someone could remove it... Would he be able to have another one implanted? In a sudden moment, he wondered if Kihyun would even want to be connected to him anymore. But Shownu knew he would risk his life repeatedly for Kihyun. Even if Kihyun didn't want him.

Nah babycakes, I'll always want to be with you, Kihyun said suddenly.

Thanks, Kihyun, Shownu said earnestly.

While Kihyun surfed through the monumental amount of data in Shownu's profile, Shownu turned back to the Signal Pillar.

Shownu had always thought about what would happen if another attack had landed on one of the Signal Pillars. The last attack happened about a hundred and thirty years ago, unsuccessful in its attempt to bring the massive structure down. Shownu's parents were alive at the time, though attack had happened somewhere south in New Africa, so they themselves weren't too worried. Everyone's fears had been lifted after they saw the Pillar literally only had a small dent in it.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, an attack happened on three separate Pillars, all in New Americana. The Americans were scared shitless, an obvious terrorist attack that doubled as a way to demolish their communications and make the nation divided on its opinion on what to do. Hide themselves or fight back? But against who?

But not long after that, the Pillars started to be rebuilt. They had a new design, every single one of them, even a few new ones. Layers of steel brick, separated by this weird glowing amethyst-like material no one knew the name of. Once that purple material had the proper light, things started to change. Droids were beginning to make an appearance, remote controlled by these newly made Pillars. These were a bit different than what we had now, our robots who looked and functioned like humans. These were just hunks of metal with a pre-programmed set of actions they could preform. The difference between then and now was that droids were getting better representation within their communities, even if they didn't (or possibly couldn't) make their own decisions. Once given the ability to make choices on their own, they propelled the humans forward. They created things tele-chips, the chip that was implanted in Shownu's head. But with this new found advancement in the way the world functioned, new types of enemies were popping up, the kind that couldn't be fought with even with all the technology the human and droid races had now.

Why the fuck are you giving yourself a fucking history lesson? Kihyun asked, incredulous.

Bored.

You get bored so easily.

You won't talk to me, Shownu pouted.

Well, we're almost at our prescribed location. Then you can be full of a bunch of shit then.

Why would I be full of shit? Shownu asked as he turned right. The path he was own caused him to drive lower, a path that was lonely. Though the location was big and obvious even from this distance.

There's going be a lot of women at this party. Horny, drunk woman.

UGH, just what I need. Drunk women trying to suck my dick.

Why are you upset about this?

They ruin missions. Make it a million times harder. Remember Neo-Paris?

Oh, yeah. I remember. She seemed nice.

She tried to suck my dick, took me halfway and bit me on the vein to give me a shot of venom. Nearly killed my ass.

She seemed nice, Kihyun repeated.

I'm deducting your pay for every stupid thing you say.

Shit, I'd be broke.

Exactly.

We're here 7, Kihyun said. Silence, with a quiet whuming in the background.

After driving on that small stretch of tree-lined path, Shownu slowed Lucii to a crawl, seeing the intricate building bloom in front of him.

A stereotypical white marble mansion was sprawled out, six pillars in front supporting a large balcony on the second floor. All across the building was gold, laced like vines and flowers at every opportunity possible. The mansion was four stories tall, six stories wide, and fucking intimidating as shit. A fountain greeted those who walked, the liquid flowing actually fucking gold. The main staircase was curved, people flooding the entrance. Even though Shownu was an hour and twenty-eight minutes late, it seems he arrived right on time.

But god fucking damnit, if there was one thing he hated it was finding a fucking parking space.

I know right, Kihyun commented.

Shownu, this time however, was lucky: he found a parking spot on top rack by the side of the building, large panel windows like that of the hotel he had occupied earlier. He stabilized Lucii, her hovercraft body stopping completely.

Invitation? He asked Kihyun.

Glove compartment.

Shownu reached over and smacked open the compartment, the hovercraft giving a bit of a whine in response.

Sorry baby, Shownu said with a pat to the dashboard. He saw the invitation (unsurprisingly white with gold lettering) and nabbed it, closing the compartment gently.

This invitation is for Wonho's honoured special guest, Do Kyungsoo.

Seeing his ex-friend's name made Shownu's skin crawl.

Traitor, he whispered with hatred.

Don't hurt the invite, we need it to get in.

If I get Wonho alone, I'm killing him.

Save some for me.

I don't think I'd be able to hold myself back, Kihyun. He betrayed us.

I know the sting of betrayal is strong, but this is where the information is. If he has something to do with it, we'll fuck his ass up.

Shownu had to keep his composure. He would not kill Wonho, not right now. Not yet. But the time will come.

All right, I'm going in.

Shownu opened the driver side door, butterfly style, and hopped out. He closed the door gently, knowing Lucii would not be happy about being mistreated.

He walked toward the front entrance, finally realizing how short he was with Kyungsoo's DNA. But he walked across the property like he fucking owned it, knowing that would be how Do Kyungsoo would go about it.

His feet led him to the curved front staircase, grand in every sense of the word. People made way for him, recognizing the short male was someone important. He walked to the heavy set bouncer, who could literally throw Shownu around like a rag doll. He made sure to make a note to not fuck with him.

"Kyungsoo-gun! I am very surprised to see you here!" The bouncer said excitedly.

"I am glad to be here," Shownu responded politely, not really sure if Kyungsoo knew this man personally.

The man held out his hand. "Wonho will be glad to see you here," he said off-handedly.

Shownu handed him his invitation, wondering why Wonho had gone with paper invites rather than electronic invites.

They're easy to intercept either way. I had Jackson tailor make something for Kyungsoo to schmooze the invite off him.

"Please enjoy yourself Kyungsoo-gun," he said with a deep bow and Shownu returned it. He walked past him into the front entrance, large double doors looming over the short man. He walked into the spacious front foyer, curtains draped over the left and right sides to prevent guests from wondering. They, like the red tie rule, were red, or more accurately a deep mauve. They were HUGE, at least ten feet larger than Shownu's actual form. Two staircases curved inward, towards each other, made of wood though Shownu couldn't be sure what kind. They led up to the second floor, the sides of the upper hallways lined with a few doors. Some were open, others were closed. What caught Shownu's attention the most were the guards, armed with painful-looking shotguns, on the top landing. They seemed like the type to be ready to shoot first and asked questions later.

Ignore them 7. Move forward, Kihyun commanded.

Shownu did as told, walking confidently toward where he could see a sea of people behind deep mauve curtains, only big enough to cover the space of double doors. He moved with the grace he normally wouldn't have, if it weren't for Kyungsoo's body. He pushed through the curtain, stepping into the real party.

×Savage× "Damn there's so many important people here..." Kihyun said as he saw through Shownu's Camtacts™.

I know. I recognize a few people already.

"Head for the buffet table, look out of place," Kihyun suggested, fingers moving at light speed against his holoboard. As Shownu's eyes moved though crowd (with girls who were definitely drunk and Kihyun would bet his house they were all horny... if he had a house) he mapped out the important faces. So far he counted thirteen, steadily rising. Add one if you count Kyungsoo, even though he had said during so many interviews he wasn't coming to Wonho's party.

Kihyun spotted something that Shownu didn't catch. "Face left! Brohug!" He yelled.

Shownu's body obeyed, his eyes moving up to see the face of what looked like one of Kyungsoo's friends.

"Kyungsoo!" A man said as he went in for the brohug, which Shownu successfully completed.

"Yixing! Zhang Yixing! Kyungsoo and Wonho's mutual friend!" Kihyun yelled, trying hard to help his partner out.

"Yixing hyung," Shownu, the Kyungsoo stand in, said fondly.

"I'm so glad you made it! I know this must be so awkward for you to be here," Yixing said, waving his pitch black hair away from his face. If Shownu wasn't trying to be someone else, he would compliment Yixing on his looks.

"Compliment later!" Kihyun started. "Right now you need to know a few important things! Tell him yes!"

"Yeah... It is awkward being here," Shownu said, Kyungsoo's voice fully coming though.

"Wonho and Kyungsoo used to be a popular power couple, but broke up due to unknown reasons. Kyungsoo has said repeatedly that he wouldn't be coming to this party."

Why did you steal his invite then?! Shownu screamed internally.

"I'm sorry, you probably don't want to talk about this..." Yixing said apologetically. His face turned toward his left, toward the makeshift dance floor. In reality people were milling about, talking, drinking, some were dancing. But Shownu followed Yixing's stare, to see he was glaring at Wonho himself. Surrounded by females, no less. Not really that surprising, Shownu thought.

"I don't, but it'll make things worse if I keep my feelings inside," he said honestly.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you break up?" Yixing asked as he turned back to 'Kyungsoo'.

"I'm not sure, Shownu," Kihyun said in Shownu's mind. "It was never stated why they broke up and they've kept tight lips on social media."

Shownu looked at Yixing, Kyungsoo's friend, and came up with a response. "We didn't see evenly on some things." He turned back to Wonho, the man stroking a woman's cheek with his thumb. "Looking at him now, I can see where his loyalties lie." Was he talking as Kyungsoo, or as himself? Kihyun was sure his words came from a place of genuine hurt.

Yixing looked between the two. He sighed. "I can see that," the man said with a bit of contempt. "But at least you two can be happy now. With other people. I only came here to see you, but I was worried you weren't going to come. I was two seconds away from leaving, but I see you and... I'm just glad you came." The taller male had a bright smile on his face, complimenting his facial structure.

"I'm glad to see you here as well, Yixing hyung," Shownu replied.

"Unfortunately, I shouldn't be around you too much. Wonho has caught me multiple times. He'll be looking for me. I assume you two don't want to see each other?"

"I'd rather keep me being as low profile as possible. It'll be difficult," Shownu said, looking around for any photobombers. Granted they hid in the crowd, so well to the point it was like they were never there.

"If he talks to me I'll tell him I haven't seen you," he said with a wink. Then he turned, and was weaving away from Shownu, drawing closer to Wonho yet farther away at the same time.

Why do I feel like I have seen him before? Heard his name? Shownu asked Kihyun internally.

"Zhang Yixing is a member of the New Asian Continental Force, education division. Kyungsoo has done a few commercials, in both Korean and Chinese, geared towards young people about the positives of learning and going to school. Yixing was there for the Chinese one."

So they became good friends? "Yep," Kihyun responded. "Some people speculate that he is even the reason Kyungsoo and Wonho broke it off."

It wouldn't surprise me. Did you see the way he looked at me?

"He wanted that ass all right," Kihyun responded with a laugh. After he completed his thought process of how exactly that moment would go (he imagined quite a lot of kissing) he began typing on his holoboard. The pink-haired man searched his quadruple-protected files, eyes grazing through millions of images and maps, faces and numbers. The lot they were standing on, actually so on the outskirts of Neo-Seoul that it boardered on dangerous, had some interesting additions.

"Here's some interesting info, Shownu: this mansion has had some renovations done, but a blueprint isn't anywhere to be found, even in the company's records that were hired to do the additions."

That is VERY interesting. And fucking annoying. You know how long it's going to take to find some file or chip with the information we need?

"Fucking forever, that's how long," Kihyun replied. The new additions seemed to be on the top and bottom, adding what could only be assumed as an attic and basement. But why? The lot was spacious enough before; why add it if it wasn't going to be used at some point? "And the strangest part is that these additions have been here for around a year. You'd think someone would have tried to map out the place. Or that they'd throw a party to celebrate. But it was done quietly."

"That is interesting..." Shownu said aloud. Kihyun saw the spy's eyes shift around, seeing if anyone heard him. Kihyun searched deeper.

"Hmm... The best part is that it isn't even Wonho's place. It's T.O.P.-sunbae's mansion. You know, Wonho's new rich, artsy employer?" Kihyun stared at the picture of the said rich man, actually two of them, and seeing an obvious difference. He wasn't an Original, but most of his voice was as it was when he came of age.

Honestly I'm not surprised. If Wonho is so rich now he would have bought a gym and named it after himself.

Kihyun laughed a short burst. "So would you, muscle pig!"

Yet another thousand won I'm deducting from your pay.

"Do it and I'll leak your dick size to the whole world," Kihyun threatened with a smile.

You wouldn't fucking dare. Kihyun was seriously debating doing it when an Original face caught his eye through Shownu's Camtacts™. "Shownu... Twenty-one degrees to your left, couch on the other end of the room..." He directed. Shownu's head followed instructions, looking nonchalantly attached he large black L-shaped couch. Kihyun did a facial recognition scanner on everyone on that couch.

What do you see? Shownu asked, voice loud in the quietness that was Kihyun's end.

"I see Kim Namjoon, the Original-faced leader of the Bangtan Mafia chatting with Ravi of the VIXXen mob. Why are both of the biggest crime bosses here at Wonho's bash?" He didn't mention that he was jealous of Namjoon's confidence at using his original face.

Most definitely sucking dick for money.

Kihyun nearly choked on his own spit. "What the fuck?"

It wouldn't surprise me if they sucked each other's dicks, too.

"That, good sir, is none of our business. But I KNOW the Bangtan Mafia doesn't need the money. Hell they buy out some of Canopy's spies. Remember Minhyuk?" Kihyun could feel Shownu's body physically tighten at the name, squeezing the glass in his hand.

Another traitor, the spy responded. Kihyun's mood sensing system detected an rising level of adrenaline due to anger.

"Calm down. I'm just implying that the BTM doesn't need the money. VIXXen certainly has their close connections with BTM, and their money. Why be here, ESPECIALLY if T.O.P.-sunbae and G-Dragon-sunbae aren't currently present?"

And why the leaders? It makes me think whatever we're searching for may be bigger than we originally thought. And shit, I see Seungri-sunbae, too. He's at the end of the couch talking with Rosé-ya and Lisa-ya.

Kihyun didn't need a facial recognition scanner to see Seungri's face; it someone had ever used a sex toy EVER they knew that man's face and name. "But why is he talking with Rosé-ya and Jennie-ya? Those are the ttal of T.O.P.-sunbae and G-Dragon-sunbae. He may be a part of the BIGBANG but he has been yelled at for talking to their ttal," Kihyun said. He looked at the profiles of all five members, seeing the inter-relations of them all.

And why is he even here at all? Wasn't he just blasted for having sex with an underage girl?

"He was, but his sentence was short lived. Keep looking around the room, if so many important faces are here we need to find them all. Think Where's Waldo but it means life or death if you fail."

Gee, that's comforting, Shownu complained. But he did so anyway, now glad he was so short. His eyes passed by Wonho, but their eyes never met. The tally of important faces was staggering, at least twenty CEO-like individuals and nine major faces within companies. Why were so many people here for this one party? Wonho wasn't that famous. His employers may have been, but... There had to be some reason for all of them to be here, tonight, in one location.

"Excuse me sir," a feminine voice said to Shownu's left. Kihyun quickly analyzed the voice, but the audio receptors couldn't identify it. Shownu turned towards it, coming face to face with a rather short girl with raven black hair but shocking blue eyes. Most definitely contacts.

"Yes?" The Kyungsoo stand-in Shownu said politely.

But Kihyun couldn't hear the girl's response. Shownu's Camtacts™ were malfunctioning, and the mood sensor system he had in place was jumping from aroused to angry and back, with the occasional hop to a mood only described as a pregnant lady's hangry experience. Then it hit Kihyun.

“SHOWNU! DON'T GRAB HER FUCKING HAND!" Kihyun shouted as the rather cute girl extended it. The spy reached out, as if he wanted to spite the younger's command. "SHOWNU! FUCKING SHIT SHOWNU! SHOW-FUCKING-NUUUUUUUU!" Kihyun literally screamed his lungs out, losing all connection to his partner the moment he touched the girl's skin. He slammed his hands on the desk harshly, immediately hacking into the surveillance system the mansion had to have.

The only camera that gave Kihyun a good shot as to where the fuck the girl was leading Shownu was one on the opposite side of the room. She was coming closer to it, and he tried to analyze her face again; once more he came up empty. He hopped from camera to camera, losing them after they passed by a set of opened double doors. There didn't seem to be any cameras in that hallway, and Kihyun screeched at the top of his lungs. Who the fuck was this girl and who did she work for? The pink-haired male only had a single fucking option.

He left the surveillance cameras of the mansion and traded his vision and audio recorders to his only other link. "Voice recognition Kihyun," he began as he tap in the droid code and held his mic close to his mouth. "Voice recognition Yoo Kihyun, here by sending out an awakening signal to meddroid-I, official system activation in three... Two... One–" ×I.M× His metallic body hummed for three seconds at the sound of a voice.

At the four second mark his eyes shot open, plastic orbs colored to look human. Lights like those at a theater shine outwards, lighting the small shed he called home. He blinked three times, clearing his optical sensors of any foreign substances. He looked up at his environment, m-chip placing all the information in the right place for him to function. His stomach rumbled with the force of his motors, but they quieted down after one second. He twitched his fingers, toes, lifting the four appendages to note they were a bit stiff but were in proper functioning order. The skin he wore, stolen from a dead human, flexed around his metal bone structure, light like aluminum but tough as if it were titanium. His disheveled hair, cut from the finest horse, fell into his vision, and he moves the silky strands away from his visual viewers.

Yoo Kihyun, noting meddroid-I's thirty-ninth activation is successful, a voice in his head called out.

"Eomma?" The droid called. It sounded robotic, his vocal chords not yet tuned. For the last time, I am NOT your eomma, the voice said, annoyance obvious in his tone.

"But you and oppai made me." We did, but we aren't your parents. "Then what are you?" The droid queried. He heard a sigh inside his mind, his mother seemingly tired of him already.

I told him making a droid was a bad idea, but did he listen? Nope. It almost seemed like his eomma was trying to be quiet as he said this, but it didn't seem to work well since the droid could hear every word clear as night with night vision.

"Do you not love me anymore?" The droid asked; tears would threaten to fall but he didn't have tears ducts or even liquid to cry.

Of course I love you. But I am not your eomma, and Shownu is not your oppai. And stop talking out loud. I gave you a tele-chip to communicate with me privately.

Yes eomma, the droid said out of habit.

I'm... Kihyun trailed off with a sigh. You are fully charged for now; get dressed in formal garb, with a red tie. Shownu is in trouble and I'm activating you for help.

Oppai is in trouble?! The droid yelled internally.

A Temptress has him. I don't know who she is or who she works for, but I know she is a Temptress.

The meddroid, dubbed I.M by Kihyun and Shownu, finally shook off the activation stasis and slowly stood up. His metallic bones felt a bit stiff, and as he was upright with a bit of resistance. His charge cord came out of his plug, sending a jolt of electricity through his somewhat small body. He shook it off, forcing his non-human body to breath to settle his loudly humming motor. He noticed his spotlight-like eyes had gone off, leaving him in complete darkness. He held his eyes closed as he switched filters upon which he saw. He opened his plastic orbs and the room was bathed in a haunting green light. But he could see, the night vision making everything in the room visible, though with a green tint. Over to the right was a rack full of clothes, from ragged and destroyed fabric to the finest silk purchasable in the district of Korea. He picked out simple black pants, crisp white shirt, nice black jacket and shiny black shoes to tie it all together. Jackson really knew him well, the outfit fit perfectly, as promised.

Why does everyone give a shit about Jackson? Kihyun whispered.

I think he was meant to be a tailor, I.M commented off-handedly.

Yeah, yeah, just put on your clothes and don't forget a red tie.

I.M put on his clothes, triple checking to make sure the tie was red.

Going commando? Kihyun asked.

"WHERE?!" I.M screamed as he sharply turned around.

I.M, I.M, calm down; there are no Commanders around, you're okay, you're safe.

Then why say that?! You know what a Commander would do to me if they got their hands on me, I.M reasoned, fear (even though he was a robot and could easily beat the shit out of any human he came across) evident in his voice.

You have nothing to fear, they can't do anything to you because they don't know you're a droid, Kihyun reasoned back.

I.M breathed deep, settling his motors with the chill air. A Commander would be the absolute end of him. But wasn't a Temptress the same thing?

No, Commanders and Temptresses are different. They do the same thing but to different groups of individuals. Commanders can only control droids, but Temptresses can only control humans.

Okay, I.M said as he tightened his tie. He was slightly calmed; he hated Commanders. He only faced one in his life, and that was an experience he hopes to never have to suffer through again.

Step onto the telepad. I need to send you to the party so you can save Shownu, Kihyun said, getting his authoritative voice back.

I.M nodded, and headed into the raised circle, about as wide as a hovercraft. He stepped on it, centering himself on the shiny metal. It was quiet enough to hear clicks on Kihyun's end. I.M assumed he was putting in the coordinates and setting up the teleport process.

Lights that ringed around the pad began popping up, beams of strong light that lit up the small shed. I.M had to turn down his optical brightness after switching filters back to normal sight. Even then it was too bright, so he just closed his eyes.

Yoo Kihyun, activating telepads I.M and Lucii; starting teleportation process.

Eomma and oppai had always told I.M that they didn't give a few human processes to make his life that much easier. They didn't give him hormones so he couldn't fall in love; they didn't give him genitals so he wouldn't be tempted to use them; they didn't give him a stomach nor an anus, so he didn't need to eat or expel fecal matter; but most importantly, they didn't give him pain receptors.

The teleport process started at his feet, then made its way upward. His body was being taken apart and being put back together in a different location. It was up to his waist now. He resisted the urge to look down. He didn't think about what would happen if something screwed up. It was just his head left.

... uo okay?

I.M opened his eyes, and just like every time before this one, he was fine. His motors and sensors felt a little weird, but he was fine.

Yeah, just a bit weird in my sensors, the droid responded.

Good, another successful teleport... A whuming could be heard on the other end of his connection. Probably noting his words.

I.M looked forward at his surroundings, but all he saw were giant window sectionalized into fours, with some kind of curtain blocking his view from the inside. He could see the gold wrappings that would more than likely hold the curtains back, the color combo being really pretty. It pleased his visual sensors. He could see some of the white marble with gold accents of the outer walls. He figured whoever lived here were rich beyond his need.

Very true, Kihyun chimed in. T.O.P.-sunbae and his partner G-Dragon-sunbae own the property.

A search through my files indicate I should know those names, I.M said as he opened Lucii's passenger door. It was butterfly style, and he jumped onto the grid platform, closing the door gently behind him.

You should. Wonho and Jooheon left us to work for them.

I.M bristled at those names. They were traitors to Canopy, to his eomma and oppai. They were the enemy.

Easy tiger, Kihyun said with a small laugh.

I should hate them, shouldn't I?

You should. But we must rescue Shownu before we do anything. And if you see them, ignore them. If they catch you off guard, act natural.

I.M nodded, looking both ways to check for any hovers or people, seeing none. It seemed everyone who was going to this party had already arrived.

Be extra careful I.M, Kihyun said to him. Both sunbaes are here, as well as their other partners Taeyang-sunbae and Daesung-sunbae. They arrived shortly after Shownu was taken. Be on guard.

How do I get in without being noticed? I.M asked as he jumped off the third layer of the hoverparker, landing smoothly with a thump sound.

I've blocked the security cameras and hacked into the overall security system; you're going through the window in front of you.

I.M nodded and rushed up to the window, seeing a small sliver of a sill to jump on. He was successful, though he nearly tripped and fell through the glass because there was nothing in the sill but air. His automation system caught him and he balanced out, standing straight.

He looked into the window, themselves tinted slightly. He could see clearly that two bodies were layed out to the left, moving in a strange rhythm. But he wasn't here for them.

The sectioned panel in front of him had a small hatch to open it. He calculated a few things in his head (noise times space divided by curtain separation), coming up with a few Hertz above what the sound level humans could naturally hear. The two over to the left would be to into whatever they were doing to notice.

I.M lifted his skin-covered metal finger and found the small hatch. But the lifting piece was in the other side. The droid removed his hand from the window, snapping his wrist with his pinkie out. A thin needle came out, thin enough to slip in between the panels but thick enough to not break. He stuck it in, maneuvering the needle so he could push the latch inward. A small click sound was his reward, the window popping open inward toward the curtain. He optical orbs flickered over the two forms, they still wrapped up in their movements.

He slowly climbed into the nice mansion, keeping his audio interface high so he could hear every movement he made. His feet touched down softly, barely any sound reverberating in the space behind the curtain. Without stopping his momentum he shut the window, trying his best to not only leave no marks behind but to be quiet as possible.

He shut the window, successful in his attempt to keep it quiet. But the hatch would cause at least forty to fifty Hertz above what a human could hear, and that level would cause the two to look over. I.M reached for it, hoping his calculations were wrong (they weren't).

But as he touched the latch, not yet locking it in place, he heard the male grunting to his right. They kept getting louder, and at the sound of the man grunting at his vocal peak I.M snapped the window closed. Then ducked, hiding in the shadows as best he could. But it seemed he didn't need to; the man's voice climaxed, him being to busy at whatever he was doing to notice a latch being shut. He fell down, landing on the other person. I.M backed away as slowly and as quietly as possible, on his hands and knees, making sure he didn't disturb the two.

The man stood up, his pants nearly falling down. As he fastened them back up, I.M tried piecing this puzzle together. As the man moved through the curtain, now dressed like nothing happened (though his hair was a bit disheveled), I.M looked back at person number two in this equation, noting it was a girl. Her red dress was hiked up to reveal her whole body, in the nude for anyone to see. Suddenly I.M's optical orbs went black.

Hey! He internally yelled at Kihyun.

I'm not letting you see a sexdroid do her job, he responded, motherly in every way.

Just then another figure waved itself through the curtains. I.M could hear the sounds of pants being undone. Kihyun let his eyes see who it was; thankfully I.M was hidden in the darkness from both the moon and the lights on the other side of curtains.

It doesn't surprise me that it's Seungri, Kihyun said as he saw the face of the man who was now lifting the woman's legs up. But he didn't allow I.M to see the deed being done as the droid's eyesight went back to black.

But I want to watch! I.M complained.

No, Kihyun said sternly. And turn down your audio interface from that direction, adeul. I don't need you exposed to this kind of behavior.

I.M wasn't allowed to disobey when he was called adeul (son). He stayed their, blind and deaf in one direction, waiting until the deed was done. He could hear some sounds, but his body didn't react. It didn't have the ability to.

I.M continued to back up, even slower than before, to try to get away from the act of sex being performed. The space that was hidden by the curtain was rather large, and a few doors were even here. I.M could sense the stairs were right next to him, and two guards with guns were there. Kihyun sent his m-chip a few images and a map, seeing those big burly men in the photos. He could take them out, but with those two having sex offing two guards quietly was going to be a problem.

I.M wasted probably a good thirteen minutes waiting for the two to get done; he was very glad he didn't have similar urges. He wondered how humanity continued on with such disgusting behavior.

Seungri tidied himself up and left through the curtains. The woman was cleaning herself up as well, and soon she left the premises of the hidden area, as well. I.M sighed, and finally raised himself up onto his feet. His eyesight was finally back to normal, and he could get this shit over with.

I'm not seeing anybody else coming through either if the double doors. The girl left out the entrance and the BIGBANG member is back in the party. The entrance doors are closed. It's up to you to take out those damn armed guards.

I.M already had a plan, but he would need to get undressed. So he did so, his humanoid body almost like that if any man, except for a few exclusions of a few parts. He stood there, letting his body ripple into a new form. His skin was still there, but a sticky, clear liquid seeped into the fake pores. Soon it coated his whole body, turning it invisible when it was touched by light.

There was a thin opening by the corner of the wall and stairs where the curtain didn't touch it. The guard was just a bit forward, close to the first step of the stairs; if I.M weaseled his way in the gap it was safe enough to not be noticed. He tested the liquid, and stuck his hand through the gap. It turned invisible, as it should.

He quickly went through the gap, his whole body turning clear. But he had to be careful; he may be mostly hidden but his body still had weight to it.

He may have been a bit short, but he jumped and grabbed onto the second story ledge. He grabbed the bars, pulling himself up and over the banister. He looked at the two guards and their distance between each other. He could work with this, but he had to work fast.

The cameras have been snowed; once you're in the party I'll turn them back on.

I.M had multiple options. He could kill them both, but it'd be too messy. He had liquid nitrogen handy, he could freeze them both. But how to do it without getting caught? He could distract one, kill the other. He'd have to do that; it was his only option without getting caught.

Distraction in, three, two, one... he heard Kihyun say.

"I DON'T NEED A DAMN INVITATION! I DESIGNED NINETY-NINE PERCENT OF EVERYONE'S DAMN OUTFITS! I AM A DAMN CELEBRITY!" I.M heard someone shout outside the entrance doors. He walked backwards, giving both guards space to investigate. The guards in question look at one another, then the one closest to I.M left his perch and tromped down the steps. He cocked his weapon, an old fashioned shotgun, and burst through the door. A sort of yelling match ensued.

I.M ignored the fight going on and quietly walked up behind the remaining guard. He whipped his hand, index finger out; a small needle came ejected itself. I.M had an orange triangle appear at the bottom left of his vision, informing him that his body had transferred back into visible mode. He quickly blinked it away, and stood straight behind the guard.

I.M was a bit on the short side, but he could reach his target from here. His eyes transferred filters, allowing him to view a person's veins more clearly. There was a thick prominent one right under this guards collar. He did a short calculation, then jabbed his finger needle into that spot.

Another triangle popped up in the same spot as the last one, this time an ice blue one with a needle in it, surrounded by fog. He blinked it away, already knowing one of his two small tanks if liquid nitrogen was being depleted. Liquid nitrogen was I.M's best friend, being able to take out a target with little to no mess. And since this guard's body was frozen like this, the other one wouldn't suspect a thing. Which meant no cleanup on his part.

He prickled, his body transferring back into an invisible state. The other guard was back from dealing with that distraction, and tromped back up the steps. I.M noticed how there was no blood on him, meaning he didn't kill the person who tried to enter the party. He took up his spot, not even noticing how his partner's skin was starting to turn blue. Granted I.M doubted he could, it was so subtle but I.M's plastic orbs registered it early on.

He waited until his target was comfortable, balanced in his position before whipping his other hand. A needle came out, same as the other one but this was still deadly. He didn't need his vein-searching filter to see a thick prominent vein close to this guard's spine. He did another short calculation, and jabbed his needle right in the vein.

And like the other guard, he was now frozen from the inside out. He would be doing any moving ever again. Which I.M was glad for; though he felt sorry for whoever had to clean that up once they both fell like uneven statues and shattered on the floor.

Instead of going back to invisible I.M launched himself off the side of the banister, back behind the curtain where he started. Since his droid body sucked the invisible liquid out of his pores, no one would notice or even suspect that he had just gone invisible. And it wouldn't appear on his clothes; though both of these situations were easily explainable.

You owe Jackson big time, Kihyun reprimanded.

I'll buy him some liquid nitrogen.

Kihyun just laughed at this. I.M didn't think it was funny; liquid nitrogen was quite handy and useful in a variety of situations.

His outfit now in proper order, he exited the curtains with a dismissive wave. As he made his way to the double doors, he looked at the definitely dead guards. I.M hoped he wouldn't have to use liquid nitrogen again; he only had two canisters, both now keeping those guards frozen.

I'll buy you some more, Kihyun said.

Thank you eomma, I.M responded as he pushed the doors open. Kihyun sighed but didn't say anything.

I.M wasn't sure what he was supposed to expect, but it sure as hell wasn't this.

The lights were dim, with colorful strobe lights bouncing around the large room. Music was blaring and even vibrating the floor; I.M wasn't too sure how he missed that when he was out there in the foyer.

The two rooms are made of different materials, keeping sound and light as well as vibrations in one secluded space, Kihyun informed.

I.M turned his audio interface down, noting how loud it was and how it was screwing with his other systems. People were largely congregated on the makeshift dancefloor, doing more than just dancing. Some were kissing, some were talking (how did they hear each other with their human ears?), others were having sex. I.M caught a few glimpses of certain body parts he shouldn't have, glad he wasn't human so he didn't blush. Or get excited when a woman's breasts became largely visible for the world to see he. He quickly turned away, knowing that one emotion was awkwardness and how it let him know he shouldn't be staring or even be in the same room as this mess.

There are double doors to the right of the room; that's where the Temptress took Shownu, Kihyun informed.

I.M nodded imperceptibly and headed that way. He wasn't interested in the fuckery that was this party, so headed toward the double doors without taking a long look around the room. The doors were open, and he could see a few bodies near the entrance. They were laying down, no doubt doing what I.M had seen earlier.

Suddenly hands were on his hips, stilling his mission. A chin was on his shoulder, resting itself there. "God I missed you baby."

I.M raked through his vocal database, trying to find who that voice belonged to. It didn't surprise him that he had forgotten who it belonged to. His name was synonymous with the word traitor.

Lee Jooheon.

"You know," Jooheon started, rubbing circles with his thumbs into I.M's sides. "I need to call Wonho and tell him Shownu is here. Because the only reason you'd be here is for him. But..." He paused his thought process, giving I.M a kiss on his neck, just below his ear. "I want to enjoy you first."

What do I do, eomma? I.M asked Kihyun in a tone that conflicted with his inner turmoil.

Ah, fuck, I don't know! Kihyun yelled, panic obvious. He whumed on his holoboard, trying to think of something but coming up relatively empty.

"I missed you so much Em," Jooheon continued. He sucked on the available skin below I.M's ear, licking it then suckled on his ear lobe. "Why do you choose to stay with Shownu and Canopy™?" He asked as he let go of the younger's ear.

"You're a traitor," I.M clapped back.

All of Jooheon's motions ceased. "I know you must be angry at me... I left you and the others, didn't I?" He said with a disappointed huff of laughter. It wasn't cheery, more depressing than anything. "You must hate Wonho and Minhyuk, too. You know we did what we had to, right?" He asked.

"Why did you leave me?" I.M asked, finding a new emotion he didn't know he had.

"I couldn't stay with Canopy™. I needed to leave. I had a family to think about, Em. It may not be an honest job but it's better than letting them starve. Canopy™ is a bad company, surely you knew that?" Jooheon asked, hinting that he hoped the younger did know.

"No, I don't know that."

Is he right eomma? I.M asked, another new emotion being found.

He's not wrong, Kihyun agreed. Canopy™ doesn't have the best reputation. It's an unorthodox company.

I.M wasn't sure what to think anymore. As all this new information was being filed in his m-chip, he tried to think of something to say to his once good friend.

Jooheon's hands started moving again, this time unbuttoning I.M's white dress shirt. It revealed his chest, hairless and with a quiet skin tone. "Let me make it up to you."

I.M knew he should have been aroused, but his body wasn't equipped with the proper hormones to make those reactions happen. He felt the fabric of his silk tie against his chest cavity. Then he felt Jooheon's hands slide down over his crotch.

He gripped the wrist of the older, stopping him from discovering he wasn't a male, or even a human for that matter.

Jooheon just chuckled. "Is someone shy? I can take you to a private room," he said as he came around the front of I.M's vision.

Jooheon had only gotten more handsome since the last time I.M saw him three years ago. His hair was black now instead of red, eyes bright like stars, his face was as smooth as the marble floor they were standing on, and he had an dangling earring hanging from his left ear. It annoyed I.M a bit, the way it caught both the light and his attention.

The older took the younger's hand, and led him through the double doors. Where were they going? This was where I.M was supposed to go in the first place, but now that he was tagging along with someone else, how was he supposed to find and rescue Shownu?

Turn on your scent indicator; since he came through this way Shownu's scent should still be visible, Kihyun suggested.

I.M closed his eyes, switching filters from normal sight to his sight of smell. The hallway was full of different scents, the colors all blending together once he opened his eyes again. He searched through his scent files, looking for Shownu's royal purple color. After shifting through at least thirty other scents, his mind filtered them all out for his oppai's purple one.

I.M noted how Jooheon was leading him on the direct path Shownu had taken, almost as if he was taking him TO Shownu. The darker-haired one found a staircase, going up it for about two floors. The hall they landed at (Jooheon was breathing a bit heavy but I.M was ready to climb at least a hundred more staircases before he needed to recharge) was one of red walls and silver floors; I.M was impressed by the color combination, feeling both at ease and yet on his toes at the same time.

Shownu's scent trail was even up here, and I.M continued to look for any signs of the taller human male. His scent was strong here, so either he was JUST here or he WAS here. But which room? They lined this hall they were walking, as if—

I.M's audio interface caught the sound of someone grunting behind one of the doors, as if it was blocked by something. The door they were passing was the culprit if the sound. Was someone getting hurt? I.M looked at the bottom of the door to see if he could somehow peak into the room, and saw Shownu's royal purple scent literally pouring out like a waterfall. Shownu was in there! I.M looked down the rest of the hall, seeing that there was nothing left but a deadend and two doors. He had to save Shownu!

He let Jooheon lead him into the room on the left, with the older locking the door behind him. I.M stood there, not really sure what to do at this point. He was conflicted; save Shownu, his oppai, or see what Jooheon, an old friend, had in store for him?

Jooheon didn't waste time as he closed the gap between the two. He worked on unbuttoning I.M's dress jacket, and threw it to the floor. He, with his skilled fingers, undid the trappings of his white dress shirt, and threw it in the same direction as his jacket. I.M wasn't breathing heavy, but his mind was warring with itself, trying to decipher where the fuck this was going.

A quick search led I.M's hands to start undressing Jooheon's upper half, seeing his chest. It was more defined than last time, as well as his stomach; I.M's stomach wasn't this toned. Jooheon also had darker skin, as if he had been in the sun for a bit.

I don't mean to interrupt this little pow-wow of yours, but if he strips you completely he'll know you're not human.

Kihyun was right. As I.M stood there, Jooheon unbuckled his pants, unzipped them, exposing a little skin because he wasn't wearing any underwear.

"I can't wait to see you naked," Jooheon said with a smile. He tugged down the edges of the fabric, and I.M saw the older's pants tent.

You might want to stop him now, Kihyun said warningly.

I.M knew there was only one way to get him to stop completely without causing any real problem.

He threw his right fist out and punched the shit out of Jooheon's face.

Jooheon's head snapped back, face going slack as he fell backward. He thumbed against the floor, the sound bugging anyone who was below them, if anyone was awake. His body was sprawled out, like that of a starfish.

I.M would have asked if he punched him a little too hard (was that the anger?), but he saw blood trickling out of his nose. However his chest still rising, albeit not as much as it should have been, but it was still rising. So he settled for 'that's-going-to-be-one-hella-bad-headache-in-the-morning', and left out the door, closing it softly. He decided he was going to be quiet, even though he technically didn't need to be. As of right now, he only had one thing on his m-chip, and that was to save oppai.

Shownu's royal purple color was still blasting through underneath the door, as if his scent was an actual waterfall. I.M heard grunting, squelching, a slapping sound, and a few curses come from behind the door. What was he supposed to do? Fucking bust down the door and yell surprise bitch?

It's not even locked, just walk on in and knock a few bitches out, Kihyun said calmly.

That's a dollar for the swear jar, I.M reprimanded.

Just go in.

I.M grabbed the door knob and slowly turned it, the door swinging open without even as much as a peep. As he looked in the room he saw Wonho-gun completely naked, just as he was when he was born. His lower half was pistoning back and forth, a horrid squelch sound the result.

I.M walked up to him and punched him in the back of the head, then again for good measure. Wonho's body fell forward, sprawled on top of the person under him. I.M noted this man was, as well, a traitor, just like Jooheon. But what with happened with Jooheon...

He gripped the older's shoulders, and hauled him off of the other body. His white-and-blue hair flipped with the force of being thrown to the floor. This awkward scheulp sounds came from his lower body, and even though I.M was made without human curiosity, he looked downward. Wonho's extremity was covered in a fine liquid, clear and slathered from tip to base. I.M took note of his size, because for some reason he deemed that important. Once that information was cataloged, he looked down at the body, surprise more obvious in Kihyun's tone but sadness more evident in I.M's words.

SHOWNU?!

"Oppai is cheating on eomma?"

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