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thatgayb1tchwhosimps4her · 1 month ago

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The Coven + Thalia's Relationship w/ Them

Not really sure how I was supposed to set this out either, but I like it.

Also, Rio's low-key made me cry, so I might not touch on this AU for a little while (I definitely will, but in case I don't, you have been warned).

~~~

Agatha Harkness:

When they were younger, Thalia drifted more toward Rio, and Nicholas to Agatha, but once he died, and Rio had to take him to the afterlife, they immediately kind of latched onto the other, to like keep each other afloat/keep both Rio's and Nicky's memory alive (no matter how much it hurts), and grieve together.

In a way, once Agatha and Thalia like 'lost their person', they became a lot more understanding of each other, in a way (I can't really think of a way to explain this properly).

Thalia definitely had nightmares about that day, for a long time, and after a good couple weeks of Agatha going back and forth between both their rooms, she let Thalia sleep in her bed (which was also probably a comfort for her, too).

---

Pretty typical mother-daughter relationship, honestly, up until Agatha finds out about the Darkhold, and essentially becomes a loyal sidekick, on her quest to power/a way to get their old life back, instead of the little girl, whoever secretly looked up to Agatha, her entire life.

Which brings us to the WandaVision and Agatha All Along chapter(s), which will be linked on the navigation page (and here) when they're done, sooo :)

~~~

Rio Vidal/Death:

Thalia is 100% a mamí's girl, and I will die on this hill.

Literally, Thalia's been waving the "Team Rio" flag, since the day she was born; sporting the same doe-eyes her mother fell in love with, back in Salem.

When she was younger, 9 times out of 10, she would only ever settle for Rio, which confused both mother's for a long time; because how could anyone, especially somebody as innocent as a baby, find comfort in Death?

---

This pretty much carried on through the first like half of her childhood.

i.e. Thalia's first word being 'mamí', instead of 'mama' like most other babies (including Nicholas).

Thalia giggling at the voices Rio does, while reading bedtime stories to her and Nicky (and low-key Agatha, as well).

Rio teaching/coaching Thalia (and Nicky) on how to use her/their powers (since Agatha would end up accidently absorbing them, and cause Rio physically cannot be that badly injured) etc.

---

Then Nicky dies, and it's very much an incredibly emotional and traumatic (??) time for all of them.

Thalia instinctually goes to Rio, and because she's still young, doesn't understand why "He won't wake up", which completely tore her heart in two (no matter how black it is).

Rio then takes Thalia up to her room, to try and calm her down, while Agatha has time with Nicky, before they have to go.

She reads Thalia her favourite story 3 times over, because Thalia's cannot get enough (and also cause she has a sinking feeling she should make the most of it/I'm just making shit up about clairvoyance at this point).

---

In the end, they settle on snuggling in Thalia's kid-bed, while Rio sings the lullaby version of "The Ballad of the Witches' Road" (which is a memory they both deeply treasure), over and over, until Thalia falls asleep, and Rio very hesitantly has to pull herself away from the girl, with one final kiss to Thalia's temple (just to the left of the scar over the crook of her eyebrow, from one of their many training sessions, when Thalia wacked herself with a tree-branch).

Which again, brings up to the Agatha All Along chapters, that are linked above :)

~~~

Lilia Calderu:

Lilia's relationship with Thalia would very much be like "the grandmother she (Thalia) never had" (we hate Evanora Harkness, with burning passion, in this house).

When they first meet (in episode 2), Lilia can instantly sense the doubt (of if walking the Witches' Road will actually work), and guilt (that she's been carrying all these years, about not being able to bring back Nicky), radiating off the girl's body.

Very soon after she clocks it, is like- "Alright, that lonely little queer girl is mine; yes, she has a mother already, but I'm willing to back her up if she needs it" (she doesn't, but it's very much appreciated), you know what I mean?

But yeah, that very much radiates throughout the entire show (maybe aside from episode 5, cause there were definitely sides picked during that episode), until episode 7; RIP Queen.

~~~

Jennifer Kale:

Thalia's relationship with Jen is very much the same as Jen's and Agatha's, like they're not really sure if they can trust each other, but it's like an amicable, back-and-forth teasing, type of relationship.

Up until episode 6 (the version of it I'm writing/Thalia's trial), where the remaining members if the cover (lowkey including Agatha + Rio), see a more vulnerable, and kind of broken, side to Thalia (more on that to come).

Then after that, it's very much like "We both lowkey hate each other, but she (works both ways) is actually pretty cool, so we're gonna keep it mellow."

~~~

Alice Wu Gulliver (my girl <3):

Love of my life, Alice Wu Gulliver, was honestly such a breath of fresh-air for Thalia; like the older sister she never had.

'Protection witch' is the name, and protecting Thalia (and lowkey Agatha as well/RIP angel girl) is the game.

Thalia helped her (and Teen, but mostly Alice) pull Mrs Hart out of the mud at the beginning of episode 3, and basically from that point onwards, became best friends.

And then from that point on, Thalia's basically just jumping to Alice's defence a lot, after every little comment.

Especially the "Everything I touch turns to shit" (that part of the episode definitely didn't make me cry), and Thalia goes over to hug her, cause she knows what it's like to feel that way.

Almost always near each other, while walking the road + during trials, as like a "If anything happens to her (works both ways), I'll be the first one there, cause even though we've only known each other for a couple hours/days, she's still my bestie".

Bonus; Kojo is definitely Alice's best bud (it's literally fact that he's prone to face licking, when he can sense that people are upset or anxious), and was sat between her, and Thalia, during the last 10/15 minutes of episode 4, as well.

~~~

Teen/Billy Maximoff:

Eps 1-5 their relationship is very much a brother/sisterly bond.

Like yeah, they'll take the piss out of each other a little bit, but will still kill for each other, if someone even looks at the other (Billy or Thalia) the wrong way.

Then his true identity gets revealed (at the end of Agatha's trial/just before Thalia's trial), and gets a little rocky, but ultimately they still look out for each other (I'm just guessing, as the show's not 100% out yet, iykwim).

Like it's still very much a "I knew you/a version of you, a few years ago, and you reminded me of my brother, so we're chill, just as long as you don't try to (kind of) kill my mom again, otherwise I'll slit your throat, and you best believe I'm telling the truth, cause you know/will find out who my other mom is."

~~~

Mrs Hart/Sharon Davis:

~~~

Last, but not least; this legend.

Near enough the same thing as Thalia and Lilia's relationship, but more like soft; like instead of witchy banter (calling Lilia kooky, and shit), it's very much like typical grandmother/granddaughter bonding.

i.e. Thalia helping Alice and Teen pull her out of the mud at the beginning of episode 3.

Explaining what being a witch is (along with the rest of the group) in episode 3, and shit like that.

She didn't really have much screen-time for me to come up with much else, so RIP Mrs Hart :(

~~~

I'm actually obsessed right now. I haven't slept in the last 24(+1) hours, so if I'm still up, I might start planning out Thalia's trial + Backstory, since I've got some idea as to what it'll be, but it needs some tweaking.

-Harlow

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silversoulstardust · 2 years ago

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Tag Game To Better Know You! Send this to people you'd like to know better!

tagged by @abitofboth (thank you for the tag mills🥺)

what book are you currently reading?

under the whispering door by by TJ Klune. the book is fine, I like reading TJ Klune’s work but it’s taking me forever to finish because of its heavy subjects. (death and afterlife, and it’s hard for me because of recent losses)

what do you usually wear?

depends on what I’m doing, I guess. currently staying up in bed past midnight so i’m in my comfy jammy and a yellow sweater <3

how tall are you?

5 ft 2. AND OLY @olyollyoxenfree BEFORE YOU COME FOR ME I AM TALL FOR AN ASIAN LMAO

what’s your star sign? do you share a birthday with a celebrity or historical event?

sagittarius. I share birthday with Scarlet Johanson, Mark Ruffalo and Jamie-Lee Curtis!

do you go by your name or a nickname?

I go by Chromie online. it’s a nickname given by someone I talked to on tumblr in the past, and I like it so much it stuck with me even though we part ways not on so good terms. wherever she is I hope she’s doing fine <3

did you grow up to become what you wanted to be as a child?

yeah but I kinda wish I didn’t, honestly. working in healthcare is taxing both mentally and physically, and I have assholes for colleagues. (tho I think that’s applicable everywhere.)

what’s something you’re good at vs something you’re bad at?

good at: showing up and being there for people I care about

bad at: asking for help

if you draw/write, or create in any way, what's your favorite picture/favorite line/favorite etc. from something you created this year?

This is from my Steddie time travel fix it AU, and I don’t know why but I really loved it.

Steve never really had anyone to split chores with before. His parents are almost never home. Robin does stay over from time to time, but she prefers ordering pizza, it’s her comfort food that’s almost always denied when she’s home, so she takes the chance to order it whenever she’s sleeping over at Steve’s place. Steve never thought having someone do the dishes for him as romantic, but here he is, staring at this metalhead in his kitchen, with glorious long hair and tattoos all over his skin wearing all black ensemble, wiping a spatula using dry cloth over the sink, occasionally smiling at Steve, a domestic bliss in the unlikeliest of time. Eddie caught him staring and when he asks why, there’s just a jumbled up emotions inside Steve that he can’t possibly put into words. So instead he turns the stove off and makes out with Eddie against the counter, thinking that this, this is what he’s been missing his entire life.

dogs or cats?

a cat person through and through. cant live with them, cant live without them, y’know?

what's something you would like to create content for?

thinking of writing some ronance fics in the future! maybe loid/yor tooth rotting fluff and some nanami kento/haibara yu content because those two deserve better than their fate in the manga

what’s something you’re currently obsessed with?

if you’ve been on my tumblr for the last six months, you’d notice I have been entirely consumed by steddie brainrot and stranger things lol

what's something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year?

Dr Strange: multiverse of madness. wandavision series was so spectacular and I was giddy for it until months later they revealed that the writer was mike waldron. the bar of my expectation was so low it was basically on the floor and yet I was still disappointed

what’s a hidden talent of yours?

I can write with both hands. does that count??

what's something you wish to have at this moment?

a long hug and a shoulder to cry on would be nice. cant exactly cry on cue but I think if someone hold me long enough I might start crying lol

tagging @mygeekcorner @olyollyoxenfree @harrringtons @steviesmunson @froof-of-the-loof @princessstevemunson @cursedfoxteeth @iprefertheterminsane @gundamthey17 <3

#ask game #chrmz.txt #get to know chromie

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livinginncity · 4 years ago

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if we were human

♚: lee rang x reader

❡: fluff??(angst, pure angst)

ⱳƈ: 2.5k

⚠︎: besides it being really bad? none really. like, literally a couple swears. it was fluff, and then it became angst, so...sorry, but not really because if i’m crying, so are you.

children could be heard all around the park. some screaming and laughing as they run behind, others crying after they tripped, only to soon be comforted by the gentle holds and hushed assurances of their mothers and fathers. a bit further away was a small dog park, from which came all kinds of barks and growl, as well as cooing of the passerby. and there at a bench, located slightly closer to the swings and slides attracting the younger humans, sat a man that looked less than pleased to be where he was.

“Guess who.” a female’s voice rang out as a soft hand covered his eyes. he merely rolled his eyes beneath their new coverings and proceeded to drag the small wrist away from his face. “y/n.”

the young woman sneered and scoffed before yanking her hand out of his grasp to walk around and join him on the bench. “I don’t like you.”

“I don’t like you either.” a smack to the back of the man’s head could be felt soon after the words left his mouth. “Yah!”

“What are you doing here anyway? I never took you for the people watching type.”

“That's because I'm not. As if they deserve that much attention.” a hand lazily lifted in the direction of a familiar little boy, the action bringing a smile to the woman’s face.

“Ahhhh. But that one’s the exception? I thought you didn’t like little kids with runny noses, something I heard you have in common with your brother actually. Is that a gumiho thing or a family thing?” the man she addressed turned his head to look at her with an unimpressed look.

“Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much? Or that you ask too many questions?”

“Well considering that was one of the first things you said to me when we met, I’ll just assume you know the answer to that already.”

she turned to look where the man’s gaze had previously been fixed and he followed suit. their eyes moved as they followed the movements of the young boy whose energy seemed to rival that of a puppy’s. ‘how fitting’ was the thought that came to the pair. minutes passed before they changed positions—the girl moving to settle her head on her company’s shoulder. said company shook her off before she repeated the action, leaving her be the second time. and he stayed in place even after she dragged his head to rest upon her own.

“Rang-ah.” the man simply grunted in response, urging her to continue. “I hate this.”

his eyebrows furrowed slightly at the sudden proclamation. “The kids? The families? Parks? I don’t really like them either. The first are messy and demanding, the second is an extremely unrealistic dynamic, and the last are way too loud and crowded.”

“No.” she took in her surroundings before speaking again. “This. I love all of this. I want it all. The kids are adorable and it feels so rewarding to be someone they rely on and look up to. I’ve had my fair share of family drama, but I’ve always wanted my own that I could cherish—pointless fights and all. And parks are probably one of my favorite places because it gives me everything I need to imagine what it’d be like if I had the first two.”

“What?” at her words he lifted his head to look down at her.

“I hate all of this shit that’s going on right now. It was one thing when you were just this occasional menace to your brother, but now the Imugi is involved and Lee Yeon refuses to let Ji Ah go again. It’s caused so many problems and with them, questions to be asked. Things could be so much simpler. Don’t you ever think about what life would be like if we were all human? This would all just be some petty high school drama. Like, Lee Yeon got class president in school and now, years later, both he and Imugi are CEOs competing in the nightclub industry or something like that.”

“You’re starting to sound like Lee Yeon. I guess you’re just as lame as him. Or maybe even lamer because really? That’s the best you can do with this fake drama?”

“Did I ever tell you that I ran into Soo Ho before you got the Tiger’s Brow back from him?” she ignored the questions, but her own annoyed him slightly. before he could respond. “I asked him if I could try them on and walked to the nearest window I could see myself in.”

“So, what’d you see? What were you? A Snake? A rat? Pufferfish?” her only response to his teasing was a pinch to the side. she shook her head before continuing.

“I saw a child.” her face changed to a solemn one. “All I saw was a snot-nosed little kid that the world seemed to have it out for. I didn’t even live long enough to have many firsts. And no one was ever there for the few I did. Well, there was one. Towards the end, I think my final year, I met an old lady. She lived alone, but she took me in the moment we crossed paths. She gave me my own room, let me help her cook, as much as a child could help, and she would always tell me these stories of her husband who had passed about a decade before. In just a few months, that woman gave me what felt like a lifetime of love. All while I was slowly dying, she made me forget the hardships, the neglect, the hatred, and by some cruel fate, she died first. But before she went, she said to me “treat my death as not another result of this terrible world, but take it as a sign that even when we know that our end is inescapable, we are able to cherish the temporary moments in which we are truly happy should we allow ourselves that much.” And so,”

the woman finally lifted her head from the gumiho’s shoulder to look into his eyes. “I think, if I could be reincarnated as a human again, I would. But since it’s probably never gonna happen I want to live like one. Get married, have a family, get mad when someone doesn’t show up for the holidays. I don’t know if I’d make it as a human with everything I know now, and I honestly don’t want to be human right-right now because I probably wouldn’t get to be around you. And I also just can’t imagine how you’d get by without seeing me every day.”

“Don’t act like you’re anything special.” he scoffed and looked back at the playground.

“You don’t have to admit it.” she stood up from the bench, looked over to the young boy he had taken in, and turned back. the woman grabbed his face and, after looking at the man for a few seconds, leaned in. “I know you love me.” and then she ran. “Soo Ho-ah! Let me play with you, that old fox is being mean again!”

“Yah!” he didn’t get up to chase her. she was right no matter how much he thought about it. somehow that weird girl wormed her way into the list of people he more than tolerated. and as he sat alone with his thoughts, he watched her play with the reincarnated boy, the latter seemingly winning their current sword fight.

does he ever wanna be human? no, it seems way too boring. does he like kids? he likes one, so that’s good enough. will he get married at some point? well, it’s just some rings and paper. and it’s not like he isn’t in love with that girl in the park.

bonus;

“Hey, y/n. If you’re watching this then...you know. I figured a couple good deeds might do me well in the afterlife, so what better way than finally letting my brother be with the girl he’s waited hundreds of years for.”

“You crazy bastard.” those were the only words that she could force her mouth to speak as she looked down at the small screen.

“I know you’re probably cursing me right now, thinking ‘this crazy bastard.’” somehow they both managed to let out a chuckle. “You know I don’t like vulgar words, but I’m not there, so i told Soo-Ho to pinch you for me every time one leaves your mouth.”

“Of course you did. It’s already a habit of his now.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye. Especially to you, Yu Ri, and Soo-Ho. I didn’t get to say thank you, either. You’ve all helped me more than I’d ever care to admit, but I really am grateful to have shared part of my life with you. I got to help Yu Ri like Lee Yeon helped me, got to meet Blacky again, and I got to experience so many things with you.”

the tears in her eyes were already brimming and it was clear they wouldn’t stay there long. “y/n.” she looked back to the screen as he called her name.

“go to the nightstand on the right of my bed and open the drawer.” the girl got up from her place at the edge of the bed and walked over to the wooden table. with her phone in her left, she used her right to open the drawer, and she could feel her heartbeat stutter as she laid her sights on the black velvet box that sat in it. she reached a shaky hand to pick it up, and when she flipped it open she couldn’t help dropping the phone as she brought the other to her mouth with a choked sob. all she could do was shake her head and let the tears subject themselves to gravity.

“Do you remember that day in the park?” despite not being able to actually see through the endlessly flowing tears, she managed to scramble around and find the device that had slipped from her grasp. “You were talking about all this stuff like marriage, family, kids—what it’d be like to be human because things would be so much simpler. And while I don’t think anyone could ever convince me that being human would be fun, I figured we could at least do some of those human things. We were kind of halfway there, you know? You practically live in my apartment, and Soo-Ho took over the living room with his toys, so it was only a matter of time for him to get his own room so I could stop stepping on legos—maybe get a door with a lock from the outside so I don’t have to worry about waking up covered in stickers.”

she laughed as she recalled the memory, his interactions with the little boy, and their goofy smiles when things were calm for once. “You dorks were made to follow each other into every life.”

“I was gonna propose to you after this whole thing was over. Once I knew Lee Yeon was safe and not being targeted by a wannabe dragon. I’m sorry I couldn’t give that to you or...our own kid, though I think the one we have now is pretty great. And I’m also really sorry that I’m finally telling you this once it’s too late, but you were right. About what you said that day.” her breath hitched as she saw the tears glisten while they slid down his face. “I love you.

as if it were clockwork, a sob made its way from her throat and the tears began again.

“Yah, stop crying already. Please. I’d be upset if I was the cause of it.” and she tried, she really did, but it wasn’t as easy as he made it sound. “And, I know this is probably asking a lot for all that I’ve put you through, but can you wear it? At least for a little bit. Just think of it as a way of honoring my memory—the better parts obviously. You can keep my apartment if you want, too. Soo-Ho might be a job better-fit for Sin-Ju and Yu Ri, but if he says he wants to stay with you, you better let him.”

another laugh emitted from between the sobs as she listened to his final message.

“I really do love you, y/n. And if there is ever a chance of us finding each other again, I’ll tell you every chance I get. Anyway, I think it’s time for me to go now. I only have a couple more minutes and I don’t think the others are gonna make it in time. I’m scared if I’m being honest, y/n. I’m afraid of being alone, but you helped me not feel like that all the way up to the end—I finally had a family. So thank you. Love you.” and he smiled his big, child-like smile before adding on, “And don’t tell Lee Yeon I said sorry, or thank you, or I love you that much in under ten minutes.”

and just like that, it was over. no more, dumb family feuds, no more naengmyeon with no eggs because someone would always steal it, no more Lee Rang. she stared at the paused screen for what felt like hours before setting it to the side on the bed, to do as he had asked. carefully, she took the ring out from the safety of its cushions and slid it onto her left hand. she let out a shaky breath as she stared at her ring finger and she said it back, hoping that somehow, someway, he would hear it. “I love you too, Lee Rang-ah.”

it was a while before she moved from that spot—getting on her feet only to answer the door that had just rung. opening it, she could have seen the man who had taken the place of Lee Rang’s in the living world, but all she saw at that moment was an older brother who had also lost someone he loved.

“Lee Yeon-ah.” it was then that the male finally took in her appearance. she wore jeans, one of his brother’s sweaters, and her hair was in a bun that had clearly seen better days. but what really caught his attention as his eyes traveled, was the black box in her right hand, and shining silver band on her left. then he lifted his eyes back to hers to see just how tired she was. “Lee Yeon-ah. I miss him.”

the man simply brought her into his chest as she sobbed. and she cried, and she cried, and all the while he stood there with her in his embrace. it was all he could do, he couldn’t offer her words of comfort just yet because, even now she may be much stronger than he is. because she’s strong enough to live without the promise of his reincarnation. she knows she may never see him again, but won’t risk exchanging her life just so he won’t go through the same thing.

“I miss him so much.” her voice cracked as the words came out, and he ran his hand over her hair.

“I know, I know. I miss him, too.”

#tale of the nine tailed #tale of gumiho #lee rang #lee rang x reader #lee rang imagine #kim bum #kdrama #kdramanetwork #lee yeon #lee dong wook #i wrote the first part two episodes before the final one #so after acting it out in the shower i wrote the bonus part

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chaosmax · 3 years ago

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On the whole “does Kaiba die / stay or get stuck in the afterlife?” thing

I never thought Kaiba doesn't get back from the ending of DSoD. Yeah, I know there was the ~untested~ tech that was mentioned but honestly it seemed more like a line thrown in for possible sequel bait or just for the sake of open-endedness/vauge storytelling style a la many Japanese story telling (re: my essay on that).

And from a character point, no, I don't think there's any way in hell that Seto would gamble the chances of permanently orphaning Mokuba again. No matter how much tunnel vision he got for his goal (and no matter how grieved he was. And I hate it that people spin it to pit the headcanoned romantic love between him and Atem against his canonical love of Mokuba and it's the possible and unconfirmed romo love that “wins”.

[I am NOT trying to bash on pride here, I actually quite enjoy that ship when work is put into it and all the nuance and complexity isn't sucked out of it for quick hurt/comfort or just turned into a glorified/romanticized toxic love horny fest]. But even if it was confirmed canon, stop pitting romo love against platonic love and have one come out as the "winner" mmkay? There's already enough damaging amatonormativity ingrained in society ok thanks.

Grief makes you do wild things, sure and everyone reacts to grief differently. But Seto has never been a gambler and I don't think after all the character development he's been though he would risk his relationship with Mokuba like that (this is taking consideration of how technically this is the manga continuity Kaiba who has done Death T and all that and messed up pretty bad with Mokuba before). I just don't think he'd run off to see/challenge/get closure from Atem and ditch his precious little brother behind with great odds that he would never see him again. Not after all the times he’s put his life on the line to protect Mokuba.

I've always thought he comes back. It just may have a cost and may not be a straight shot there and back. I think the ~untested~ tech means he doesn't know how long it will take or how much stress it puts on the user, a la the purple particles eating away at Kaiba in the post credit scene that seem to be threatening to send him back to his own dimension (again DIMENSION it's not a time machine). No, I don't think it's anything crazy like YEARS pass before he gets back. I think a couple of weeks at most. And no, I don't think Mokuba was crying and begging Seto to not have this goal in the first place. Mokuba is quite gung-ho the entire movie about getting and defending the puzzle. Hell, he headbutts Diva off the puzzle container when Mokuba had no way to know if he'd land safely or just die. He interrogates Diva to try and get the puzzle piece. He closes up the shop for Yugi and says a happy hi before the tournament. That seems far from someone who wants Seto to just let it go.

This is a bit more on the speculation side for canon hates digging into Mokuba’s feelings much sadly, but I think Mokuba has his own sense of unfinished business with Atem as well which plays a part in his motivation to help this goal. Atem is also someone he had bonded with on some level. He and Yugi were one of the first people to help him, ever, that wasn't Seto. They aided him in Duelist Kingdom. Then again in the Legendary Heroes arc when he had no one else to turn too. He seemed so...surprised in both cases. Clearly someone who's not used to being able to ask for help, much like Seto.

But now this person is gone. One of the few people Mokuba felt he could go to if he had a problem or needed to ask for help. I can easily see Mokuba thinking, “how come he cared enough to help me all those times but not say goodbye?” (though again, we don’t know exactly what happened there, if the Kaiba brothers were unable to contact or of the main crew literally just didn’t call them up, so I’m in no way trying to assign blame here, but I could see how this is how Mokuba would see it and feel about it).

I think Mokuba misses him too, or at the very least misses him as someone he can depend on and place his trust in. The following may be a bit of a stretch on evidence for I don't know who writes the lines for Duel Links, but if you challenge Yami Yugi as DSOD Mokuba and win, his expression is sad, saying, “You thought you could run from Seto without one last Duel?" I think Mokuba certainly sees the departure hurt Seto, but I also think it hurt him. I think he’s also trying to say, ‘You thought you could run from us without saying bye?’

So no, I don't think Kaiba runs off to Atem's afterlife forever for whatever reason ship or no ship and ditches everyone and everything (don’t forget KC and Kaibaland, his life’s dream pride and joy) behind in the living dimension. I don't think he fails to get back. While the prospect of something going wrong or the tech failing is an immensely interesting fic/AU/etc idea to play around with or such because of the added mysteriousness (or because it's edgy and dark or whatnot I feel like that’s how the theory Kaiba dies really gained it’s first traction lol) I don't think that's what happened. I think it may take some more time than expected, perhaps have some magical cost that the soft magic system didn't really specify (such as having a set number of uses or something until whatever remnant power in the cube runs out, be physically straining, etc.)

But I will never believe Seto gambled the chance of possibly orphaning Mokuba. That's my interpretation.

____

[Note: I’m not here to argue, of course you can have a different headcanon or reading of the events to DSoD, these are just my thoughts, with the textual evidence to back up my thought process.]

#yugioh #seto kaiba #mokuba kaiba #yugioh dsod #this was gonna be a QUICK post that i mostly did on mobile until i had to go pull links and now this happened #why do i do this. anyway i hope this doesn't flop. i'm not here to argue of course you can have a different headcanon or reading #but this is how i read it so #and i come from an environment where every point you make needs to be backed up with evidence from somewhere lmao #ah academia i wont miss having to MLA cite everything lmao #my posts #my meta

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chaoticallysapphic · 4 years ago

Text

i and love and you

summary: Sometimes Lin needs to be taken care of, thankfully your there to wash away the dirt and grime of a hard days work.

a/n: this is based off of this reddit post, i saw it and immediately thought of Lin.

word count: 1K

When Lin returns home, the moon is high in the sky and the lights are off in your apartment. She quietly bends off her armor and stumbles into the bathroom where she flicks the light on before closing the door.

The chief presses her hands against either side of the sink and looks up at her reflection, staring back at her is a disheveled middle-aged woman with dirt smeared across her cheek and dried blood under her nose, her hair is a matted mess and honestly, she feels so exhausted from fighting the triple threat triads all day that she debates just sleeping like this.

She brings a hand up to her cheek to try and wipe away some of the dirt smeared across her face, unfortunately with her line of work this happened more often than not especially since Korra took a break from her responsibilities to recuperate. The idea of the avatar no longer in sight has caused many people to bring up mischief and crime across the city, she’s had to double her police force in the last year alone.

You open the bathroom door, causing her to rip her gaze from the mirror, and rub at your eyes. “I didn’t mean to wake you, you should go back to sleep,” she says softly, her shoulders sag as she takes in your sleepy form but you simply walk over to her and gently take her face into your hands. “I’m not hurt, just a bit dirty.”

“Sit” you murmur, pointing at the closed toilet seat, Lin obeys because she knows you’ll fight her on it if she doesn’t. You leave the room for only a minute and return with a washcloth that you wet under the sink. Kneeling between her legs, you cup her right cheek with your left hand and use the other to gently wipe away the dirt and blood.

The cloth is warm and soothing and soon Lin finds herself closing her eyes as you treat her like a porcelain doll. A few minutes is spent in blissful silence as you take your time, even going to wipe her neck and shoulders clean. “Up,” You stand up and place the cloth on the edge of the sink, Lin follows your orders and you go to pull her shirt over her head.

“Y/N I think I’m a bit too tired too-”

“I just wanna wash you, my love” you interrupt her, Lin flushes a bit but you don’t tease her like normal. This moment is intimate and the silence that follows as you continue to undress her soothingly wraps around her. Soon you're directing her to sit in the bathtub and scoot her closer to the drain so you can undress and sit behind her in the tub.

You grab the showerhead, along with all the necessary toiletries, and kneel behind her. You flick the shower head-on, before using it on her you stick your hand underneath to make sure it's the right temperature before beginning to wet her hair. With your free hand, you run your fingers through her hair to make sure it’s thoroughly wet before you turn the showerhead off to begin shampooing.

You squirt a generous amount of the shampoo onto the palm of your hand and smear it on your other palm before beginning to lather her hair, you massage her scalp and move slowly. Lin feels the tension from the day slowly leave her body as your fingers work her scalp, she lets out a contented sigh and leans into you.

You smile at this and plant an innocent kiss on her shoulder, the shampoo is properly worked into her hair but you keep going for a minute to help soothe your stressed lover, “ ‘m gonna rinse it now, keep your head back for me.” Lin eagerly obliges and you gently peck her forehead before grabbing the showerhead once more and turning it on.

As you rinse her hair, Lin remembers the days before you stumbled into her life. These types of nights were unbearable and she usually fell asleep on the couch, too exhausted to even bother taking her shoes off.

She’d done that once with you and she’d woken up to you scowling above her, “You’ll get a crick in your neck, why didn’t you wake me? I would have helped” you said and Lin had laid there in confusion as you fretted over her. You had just moved in a few days beforehand so this was new to you, she remembers how you took her boots off and drew a bath for her before making her favorite breakfast and brewing her favorite tea. She remembers thinking about how much you meant to her in that moment.

You began to apply the conditioner and hum a familiar tune, it was her favorite song that sometimes played on the radio. Lin felt her heart warm at the small action and she suddenly felt like she might cry. No one had ever been so gentle with her before, she isn’t sure what she did to deserve you. Once done with the conditioner you let it sit in her hair for a few minutes and begin to gently clean her body by applying the body wash into your hands and you soothingly run them across her body.

Lin leans her body against your bare chest and sighs, she hopes whatever the afterlife is like, it feels similar to this moment. You pepper kisses on both her shoulders and cheeks as you finish up sudsing her body, as you reach for the showerhead once more, Lin grabs your hand and wraps it around her waist. You seem to understand because you wrap your other arm around her waist too and sit there in comfortable silence.

Lin closes her eyes to fight the tears, this must be what it feels like to love someone with your whole being, and be loved back too. She knows she’ll still get a bit insecure in the future but all she’ll have to do is think back on this moment and all her worries will wash away. Goosebumps rise across her body due to slowly becoming cold, but she doesn’t want to break this moment by speaking up.

You must understand because you finally turn the showerhead back on and begin the slow process of rinsing her body off, you run your free hand up and down her arm in soothing motions and Lin feels herself begin to drift.

She drifts in and out of sleep as you begin to rinse her hair, you're even slower then before and massage her scalp again with your free hand. “Almost done” you whisper as you press a kiss to her back. You push any stray hairs sticking to her face away and run your fingers through her hair to check for any spots that need extra rinsing.

When the showerhead switches off, Lin wakes up, not entirely but enough to keep her eyes open for a bit. You press a gentle kiss to her neck before climbing out of the tub, you grab a clean towel to wrap around yourself before grabbing another one for her, she stands up and you immediately wrap it for her. She grabs onto your hands as she climbs out to keep from slipping, you firmly grip her hands, and once she’s out you grab a second towel.

“Can you sit for me?” you say and she sleepily sits back on the closed toilet seat. You stand between her legs and begin to dry her hair. She wraps her arms around your waist and lays her head against your belly as you try to be as gentle as you can. Thankfully her hair is relatively short so it doesn’t take long to at least get it to stop dripping. You stop your ministrations once you deem it dry enough and place a kiss atop her head. “Let’s go to sleep.”

She groans in reply, already half asleep. You gently grasp her arms and help her stand up, she leans against you as you both walk into your room, neither of you seems to have the energy to change into pajamas so you drape the towels over a desk chair before climbing into bed.

She tugs you close so she can spoon you, burrowing her head into your neck. “I love you,” she says, it's muffled but you understand. You grab her arm slung over your waist and run your hand down to her own where you thread your fingers together. “I love you too.”

#lin beifong #lin beifong x reader #lin beifong/reader #fluff #tooth rotting fluff #this'll call you lonely in five different ways #fanfiction #fanfic #lok fanfic #legend of korra #beifong #lin beifong fanfic

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shoechoe · 3 years ago

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Do you have any JJBA ships? And if so, what are they?

yeah, I do actually. I think I listed a couple of them on my "about me" thing but I haven't really talked about them yet, so I will. (I will start with the more popular ones and work my way down.) This turned out to be kind of long so I’ll put it under a cut as well.

probably the most relevant/popular one that I ship is Bruno with Abbacchio. I don't really have any complex takes on it, but it just makes sense to me. abbacchio is a character that generally has really low self-esteem and doesn't really feel any inherent worth about himself due to trauma-related guilt, and the only way he feels like he has a purpose is when he's following bruno. he was also the very first person that bruno invited to his group, which means they've been together the longest out of anyone else. when I got to the boat scene and abbacchio told bruno "the only time I feel inner calm is when I'm with you," I was like "woah, okay. that's kinda gay."

when abbacchio is found dead and bruno has to pretend to be calm and collected, but you can clearly see he's holding back a breakdown, it was depressing, man. it's honestly tragic what happened to the two of them in the end (but there does seem to be an implied afterlife in Jojo, so... maybe they're ghost married right now. Who knows?)

I guess it just seems like a nice ship to me based on how much they rely on and care about each other canonically. I will say that some of the fanon content kind of annoys me (specifically the “Bruno is the mom and Abbacchio is the dad” thing... I don’t understand why people have to project a straight relationship onto a gay one, you know? it reminds me of when people go up to a gay couple and ask “oh, who’s the masculine one and who’s the feminine one?” That’s not how it works, lol.) despite that, though, I still like the ship a whole lot.

the next one is Josuke and Okuyasu. I think they’re cute together. what kind of platonic teenage friendship involves taking each other out to a fancy italian restaurant? trick question. the answer is none. i didn’t really initially ship this after watching part four (i’m not really a person who’s super geared towards shipping most of the time considering canonical romance plots tend to bore me more than anything) but i warmed up to it after seeing some of the fanon josuyasu stuff and also thinking in retrospect about their scenes together. i think the pairing works really well.

i also just really like their dynamic. due to the fact that okuyasu isn’t very smart, he’s not really capable of or confident in knowing what to do on his own, so he often relies on other people to follow and basically help guide him through life. the initial person he did this with was his brother- when he dies, you can tell just how scared and confused he felt. i think that’s the main reason why he befriended and started following josuke so quickly afterwards. i think josuke became that new person for him, if that makes sense? (I should really get around to rewatching part four lol just writing this is making me remember just how good it was.)

i also really like jolyne x hermes. this just seemed like an obvious one from the start when i read part six. i talked a bit about why i like their relationship so much in that one jolyne post already, but that was a while ago. just watch the way they interact with each other- they start off hostile due to their environment, but eventually grow to respect and admire each other and start having fun. it’s really nice. (i also have a lot of problems with how jolyne and anasui’s relationship developed in canon, but that’s not really what matters considering i started thinking they’d make a cute couple since before anasui was introduced.)

i also like this scene especially. you can just tell how much they care about each other- the fact that hermes (who’s been hardened from her time in prison) is comfortable enough around jolyne that she’s willing to cry at her side is just sorta heartbreaking, you know? i guess their relationship just works for me.

the last main one here is avdol and polnareff. i think i’ve expressed my opinion on how Stardust Crusaders is my personal least favorite part, but i did always like avdol and polnareff’s relationship. I have mixed feelings on Avdol because i feel like his character was easily the most underutilized and least developed out of everyone (which was a shame, because in my opinion, there was actually some potential with him based on what we do get to see of him and what we saw with his relationships with some of the other characters like Joseph) but i always thought he was at his best when he relaxed his stoic and reserved attitude and started fucking around with the other characters- which pairs really well with polnareff, who’s a total goof and tends to easily befriend and bring out more personality from the others.

I especially like their scenes together. That one moment where they decided to mess with their enemy by literally pissing down his breathing hole was such a shitpost-tier scene that I can’t help but like how absurd it was. They have a really nice mix of serious moments showing how they like each other and funny/relaxed moments that makes their relationship feel super nice to watch.

The only thing that I really dislike is how Avdol’s false death and revival was handled (especially in regards to how everyone just let Polnareff stew in his own guilt and lied to him for weeks until Avdol recovered, and literally no one gave a shit when he clearly felt hurt and betrayed by this to the point where he broke down crying), but... I feel like if I let myself rant about that and Avdol’s “death” here I would be going off-topic lmfao. Even then, it goes to show just how much Polnareff cared about him, to the point where he was willing to do pretty much anything to bring Avdol back.

another one I think about sometimes is Kars x Esidisi. I don’t ship this one too seriously, but it’s funny to me. i mean, they did run away to raise a child together, so... (also the pillar men are pretty much the saving grace of part two to me so i easily think about them the most lol)

as for canon ships, i always liked Jonathan x Erina and Tiziano x Squalo. I don’t have real thoughts except that I think they’re cute. I actually think that Jonathan and Erina’s relationship should’ve been shown a lot more than it was, which is a rare sentiment for me because i usually find main character love interest plots to be boring. It’s also always nice to see an actual gay couple in media in regards to Tiziano and Squalo (even if the canon LGBT+ rep in Jojo admittedly tends to be iffy.)

don’t judge me for this last one but I also kind of have this crackship with Pucci and Diavolo (I call it pucciboss). it was basically the result of me bashing my two favorite villains together like a godless heathen. i think i’ve mentioned this a couple times before, but not in depth because i was pretty sure no one wanted to hear about it. it started off as just a joke like “ha ha, what if they were in love?” but then i started making headcanons about it and thinking “hmmm... you know this actually sort of makes sense” and it pretty much became a thing in my brain.

the thing with pucci and diavolo is that like... a christian priest and a dude named “Devil” is kind of inherently an interesting setup for a ship in my opinion tbh. (Especially considering the fact that diavolo had a christian upbringing just like pucci.) not to mention since Made in Heaven has the ability to alter fate and reset the universe to shape it to the user’s liking, would pucci theoretically then be able to stop the death loop?? (I actually have one joke concept where resetting the universe caused some unintended consequences to the world and freeing Diavolo happened to be one of them, meaning pucci and diavolo met that way.) i also feel like considering just how much jojo villain content there is, there is extremely little content of pucci and diavolo interacting which was always sort of disappointing to me.

i would continue to ramble about this but i feel too embarrassed at this point, soo.... become a pucciboss stan now everyone (/j)

#asks #hell yes... asks...#ships #jolymes #josuyasu #avpol #bruabba #shipping is fun #sorry most of my thoughts on these kinda just boil down to 'i think theyre cute and i like them together' lol #shoe talks a lot

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hanjo-love · 4 years ago

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Now I became selfish and I hope the shard is showing Hanji being saved by Kiyomi or something. She go the worst treatment and if Isayama was afraid of the backslash like you said why make it even worse with those parallels with eremika? Is he preparing the Fandom for another levihan moment? I'm tired of EVERYONE surviving but her, Kiyomi's kindness really??? And Onyankopon, while I don't hate him, he survived a plane crash and he doesn't add much yet he is there for being the editor's favorite, Yelena is there after all she did and she adds even less, and the people titanized will revert to human (or at the very least Isayama's favorites will).

Oh anonie, you and me both my friend, you and me both 😔 Beware, a long rant-ish meta is ahead of you lol

I have absolutely no fucking idea why Yams decided to treat Hanjo like shit. You know, after a long time of denying her death, I was starting to accept it, because she was finally free, free of the burden and pain and finally reunited with the people she missed and longed for the most. But then Yams decided to slap us all in the faces saying there's no happy & peaceful afterlife in snk and Hanjo was probs only hallucinating because of her 4 years long depression? Well then, fuck you Yams! What was that even for? Isayama never backed off of showing us the horrors of death in snk, no matter how important the characters and how brutal their deaths really were. Still, he never showed us Hanji's actual death or dead body. He kept it misterious and his vague answers only made it worse. So it's only natural for us to expect a plot twist, right? That's the reason all of us gathered various hints in the manga, anime and his interviews. And lemme tell you, these theories are far more logical, better explained and have less plot holes than the entire final arc smh (yes I'm salty, fight me lol)

I hate to admit it, my inner self is still in denial and fighting, but Hanjo ain't coming back folks. We won't get any background story and the misterious shard will never be explained to us either. Yams had more than enough time to bring Hanjo back, if he truly wanted to. But he didn't. And now with only one chapter and so many unanswered questions left, there's no time for Hange's return. Why would he even do that anyways? Hanjo isn't important to him or to the story anymore. To us she is, always was and always will be ❤️ You know, I'm so fucking desperate to see her again, I'll even take one last panel of Levi remembering her, just like in ch136. Yams just let us see Hanjo one more fucking time 🙏🏻 I need to say my proper goodbyes to my one&only comfort character, who's influenced my life like no one else ever did ❤️

Back to Levihan (I don't think I can answer an ask without my biased and trashy shipper ass butting in lmfao): the question why Yams confirmed Levihan as canon if he didn't intend to bring Hange back and reunite her with Levi to make us him happy again? Well, isn't it obvious? This man is the devil incarnate. THIS MAN HAS NO FUCKING CHILLS lmfao JK y'all before someone declares war on me and my blog haha Well anonie, I feel like Yams really wanted to confirm his initially planned ships as canon, before the manga ends. And he chose the safest way possible. Easy as that. Also he said he is going for a bittersweet ending and what's more tragic (in this literal hell) than separating lovers, ergo Eremika and Levihan.

Now to something else, that's been bothering me for a while now and I'll use your ask anonie to share my thoughts with the world even though nobody asked lmao tbh I'm a bit disappointed with Armin. I love him, I really do. He's my precious cinnamon roll and my fave 104th kiddo. But honestly, I was expecting a bit more of the alleged "hero who will safe humanity". In fact, I'm sure Hanjo only died for Armin to become the new commander. That's it. That was the reason she had to die. Yams glossed over her to make Armin shine. But in fact, Levi's the one who's giving orders ever since Hange has left them. I might me salty, but I really hope the talk with Zeke (and probs Ymir as well, we still might have a chance to see the dialog that made Ymir change her mind) and his titan nuke weren't the only things he did as "humanity's hero" in this final arc. For some people this might me enough, for me it isn't. It wasn't worth Hange's sacrifice. Also what made me really sad was Armin himself glossing over Hanjo when he remembered Erwin Danchou, but not her. Like she didn't just pass away an hour ago to save their pathetic asses. Ugh this is making me hella mad, ngl. Hanjo didn't deserve this treatment! She gave her all for this! To save the alliance, to "pay the price" for her "sins" as the SC commander and to save humanity. I can't deal with how all of them and the fandom apparently forgot about that.

Now on to "Kiyomi's kindness" lol I wasn't really mad at Gabi for saying this as most of the fandom was. I won't go into detail why she isn't really a rationally thinking character (yo guys, you do remember she's a 12 year old kid, right?), but it's a fact that she didn't care for Hange enough to mention her. I mean, why would she? She barely even knew her. Also we don't really know what's gonna happen with Yelena, Kiyomi and her delegation. I don't know if I'm reading too much into it, but I feel like Kiyomi accepted her death with saying "that's not enough atonement for what I did anyway". I mean they don't know if the alliance will win (they probably think they won't) and they're in the middle of literally nowhere. So I feel like Gabi said that because Kiyomi sacrificed herself (and the others on that ship) willingly, for Gabi, Falco and Annie getting a little chance of surviving and helping the alliance. But I get the rage of the fandom. Especially because no one, except for Levi, remembered Hange after her noble sacrifice.

As for Yelena and Onyankopon, there obviously has to be someone from outside of Paradis to survive the rumbling, otherwise it wouldn't make a lot of sense, I guess. I like Onyankopon a hecking lot ❤️ precious boi was literally crying for Hanjo 😭 Yelena on the other hand deserves what she got. Death would be too easy and kind for her tbh. She has to live with the consequences, just like Kiyomi, so I'm actually glad they survived. So my guess is, it's not really about who's Yams' favorite and what these people are contributing to the story, but it's rather about a logical ending and a good conclusion of the story.

I agree with you about the ones who have been titanized. They'll for sure revert back to humans. It's not really Yams' style to kill of an important character like Gabi, whose character development he's been forcing on us for quite a while now lol. I'm pretty positive about an ending with the titan curse being broken and bringing the titanized people back to human beings (probs also the millions of colossal titans?). It's only natural for Yams to end the story with the titan curse being lifted. Otherwise it wouldn't make sense to end his story at this point. But let's not forget what a big ass troll Yams is lmao you never really know what he's up to, so let's prepare for the unimaginable lmfao

I'll probably never forgive Isayama for what he did to Hange, his best written character, how he completely ruined her and threw her away as disposable, just to make other characters "shine". HER DEATH WAS POINTLESS AND IT DID NOT FUCKING CHANGE ANYTHING! That's the harsh truth y'all. Yams betrayed Hanjo and us AND FOR WHAT?

Thanks for the ask anonie and sorry I turned this into my personal rant lmao hope you still enjoy reading my thoughts on this ❤️

#anonymous #asks #Hange #Hanji #Hange Zoe #Hanji Zoe #Hans Zoe #Hansi Zoe #Levihan #OTP #Ship #snk #shingeki no kyojin #Hajime Isayama #Holy moly that was a long one haha sorry about that folks 😂#Meta #Snk meta

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screechthemighty · 3 years ago

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So @clownbasedintrigue cast the only vote and it was also the first one I finished, so here’s a little fic thing of me combining the fic canon (Tyr missing an arm and Mimir having been through Some Shit in the wake of his “death” (see: it must be so lonely knowing what you know)) with the game canon (Team Needs A Nap seeking him out to try and help with the Ragnarok situation)! This one won’t be going on AO3 due to me not being able to think of a title, so no link in a reblog this time!

Father was really good at saying I told you so without actually saying it. He probably had the expression right now, which was why Atreus wasn’t looking right at him. He didn’t want to see it, and he definitely didn’t want to hear it.

Fine. We wasted our time. Tyr’s not going to help us and we came all the way out here for nothing. I’m a foolish boy and I shouldn’t rely on the gods...

“Lad,” said Mimir suddenly, “pick me up.”

Honestly? Atreus had kind of forgotten Mimir was there. He’d been intent on talking to Tyr, trying to convince him to come back to Midgard with them, and Mimir had been so quiet the whole time. Though...it was weird that Mimir hadn’t said anything. He knew Tyr better than anyone else there. He probably could've convinced him. But after Tyr had said It’s good to see you again, Mimir, he'd been quiet.

Until now. And he sounded...kinda mad, actually. “Uhh...okay?” Atreus carefully picked up Mimir. “What are we doing?”

“Get after him.”

Father raised an eyebrow. “You think you can change his mind?”

“This isn’t about changing his mind. If I don’t...just after him, please.”

Atreus glanced at Father, shrugged, and started after Tyr. He wasn’t sure what Mimir was going to do, but whatever it was, Mimir probably had a plan. He always did.

Despite Tyr’s long strides, Atreus was able to catch up. “Hey, uhm...excuse me?”

“Tyr Odison Borrsonar.”

Oh, fuck. Mimir was definitely mad. It looked like it caught Tyr off-guard, too, enough that he stopped and turned around. Atreus swallowed nervously and held Mimir’s head up so they could make eye contact better. “You’re not even going to ask?” Mimir said. “I’m a bloody head hanging off the hip of some bastard from Greece and you’re not even going to ask?!”

Tyr, at least, did look guilty about it. Before he could ask, Mimir kept talking: “Odin happened. He trapped me in an indestructible tree and tortured me every day for one hundred and nine winters. Every single day. And do you know what he asked me, every single day?” Mimir’s voice was dripping with venom, the tone Atreus had only heard him use when he was talking about Odin. “He wanted to know how I helped you. How much of your treachery I enabled. When they took your hand, I was the one who hung it from the Jotunheim travel gate, because they wanted me to know I’d be next if Odin willed it. He knew we were friends. Everyone knew. And he held that against me until the day these two had to cut off my fucking head to free me. No, don't you dare say a word, I'm not done."

Tyr shut his mouth. It was hard to read his expression, but he kept clutching at his stump like it was hurting him. Father did the same thing with his chain scars when he was nervous. Mimir kept going: "It wasn't just me. He suspected Freya, too, I know he did. You know how she's doing? Living a hermit in the woods because that bastard cut her off from everything that could help her. Turned Baldur against her while he was at it, and now he's dead." That made Tyr flinch. "Odin only gotten worse and worse. I’m not...” Mimir’s voice cracked, his enraged tone suddenly turning to desperation. “I understand. You’re afraid. But you’re not the only one who is. We’re all scared, and we’re all affected by this, and I can’t lose anyone else. If anything happens to these two when you could’ve done something to stop it, I’ll never forgive you. Do you hear me?”

That really caught Atreus off-guard. He knew Mimir considered them both friends—Atreus considered him one of his best friends, honestly—but he sounded really scared for them. More scared than you’d sound for a friend. Tyr seemed to catch onto that, too. He gave Atreus a long, slow look, then did the same thing to Father. He looked back at Atreus again, this time meeting his eyes.

Everyone who knew his mother said Atreus had her eyes. Tyr had known her back when she was Laufey the Just, fighting Aesir and protecting the giants. Did he see her now, staring at him from the afterlife, begging him to help?

Or maybe daring him to do the right thing?

“...it’s not that simple, Mimir,” Tyr said finally.

Mimir scoffed loudly. It almost sounded like he was going to cry. “Right. Of course not.” The disappointment in his voice made Atreus feel guilty. “C’mon, lad. Let’s go.”

Atreus started walking away as quickly as possible. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be in this situation anymore. Even Father looked a little uncomfortable. “Are you okay?” Atreus whispered once they were out of earshot.

Mimir didn’t say anything.

He wouldn’t say anything for a long time. Not until they were back at their camp, watching a rabbit cook over the fire. “...sorry you had to see that,” Mimir said finally.

Atreus shrugged. He felt a little less weird about it now that some time had passed. “I get it. I’d be mad, too.”

Mimir laughed bitterly. “I don’t know if mad is the right word for it. Don’t really know what I’m feeling right now, actually.”

Atreus grimaced. “Yeah. I get that, too.”

He was kind of used to Mimir being just a head. It was normal for them. This was the first time Atreus really wished that Mimir had a body. It felt wrong to not be able to comfort him. If it had been Father, he couldn’t leaned against him a bit, to let him know he was there. But with Mimir...

The best Atreus could do was lean over so his cheek was resting against the top of Mimir’s head, using his arm to carefully keep Mimir in place. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

After a pause, Mimir sighed. “Thanks, lad,” he said quietly. “Thank you.”

As he sat there, Atreus happened to glance Father’s way. He half-expected to see lingering bits of that I told you so look; he was probably still thinking it, at least. But Father just looked sad.

He didn’t want it to go this way, either.

None of them did.

But it was the situation they were stuck with. They’d just have to find a way to make the most of it. Maybe what Mimir had said to Tyr would get through to him, maybe it wouldn’t. They wouldn’t really know until tomorrow. For now, they sat in silence, each holding their own sense of disappointment.

Atreus wished he could take away Mimir’s. It seemed like it was the heaviest one.

#god of war #my writing #my fanfic #this is niche as hell probably but I hope at least some of y'all enjoy it!

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spookyboywhump · 3 years ago

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Death

Oh boy here we are. Here’s what I have to present for the @summer-of-whump day 12 prompt Death, aka, the prompt that made me want to take on this challenge. I feared I wouldn’t be done with it today but he we are, with that sweet sweet emotional whump

CW: Parental death, sibling death, child abuse, verbal abuse, suicidal ideation, brief mention of deadnaming, all of it is under a cut because Eli’s mom starts off mean right away

***

“You know, for a long time, we thought you were going to be stupid.”

Eli looked up from the paper he was working on, taking a moment to process what his mother had just said. She usually didn’t talk to him much when he came to visit, ever since Everett had stopped coming she’d gotten even colder towards him. He spent most of his time working on homework in between getting her anything he could and doing favors for her, especially with finals coming up fast. He put down his pencil, sitting up straighter in the chair he sat in beside her bed.

“Why… why do you say that…?”

“You didn’t talk when you were little. I don’t think you did until you were three or four, no matter what we tried. We started to think you would never learn.”

“I talked to Everett…” He didn’t have a lot of memories that far back, but he remembered babbling away to Everett, and going silent when his parents were around. According to his brother, his first word had been an attempt at saying his name, but it came out as “Ev’ett”. He shorted it to Ev to make it easier on Eli.

“That’s what he said too, but we never heard it. You didn’t start talking to us until just before your father left.” He resisted the urge to make a sad joke about driving him away.

“Oh… I don’t see how that could’ve meant I was stupid…” He muttered, looking down at his paper again.

“Clearly it didn’t. I was so relieved that you turned out smart. Your brother tried his best but he was never really good at school, not the way you are.”

“I… thanks…?” He wasn’t sure if it was exactly a compliment or not, it was always hard to tell with her.

“Speaking of your brother,” She said, and he tried to hide the pain on his face when she turned to look at him, “Have you heard from him…?” She asked, sounding hopeful, and it broke his heart.

“No, I’m sorry…” He said softly. She looked even more upset, and he felt sick with guilt. He knew what happened to Everett, of course he knew, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since he’d heard the news, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell his mom the truth. He didn’t know what it would do to her, to hear that her favorite son was dead.

“I wish he were here…”

“I do too.” He wished that more than anybody else, he would’ve given anything to have Everett there. He felt like he needed him more than ever now that he was gone. He felt worse and worse when he looked at her, she looked sick and upset all the time, she was sick, and he couldn’t imagine what she must’ve been feeling, not knowing where Everett was. Eli had been wrestling with it ever since he found out, he didn’t know if it was better or worse to keep the truth to himself.

“He was always easier to talk to than you.” She said, a bitter edge to her voice that made his heart sink. He opened his mouth but didn’t have anything to say, his hand clenching into a fist. “I wish he were here. Whatever happened to him, it should’ve been you.” She said, giving him a look of pure disdain. “I’d trade you for him in a heartbeat.”

He didn’t say anything at first, stunned into silence, frozen in place as her words sunk in.

It should’ve been you.

You should be dead, not him.

She’s right.

He stood up abruptly, grabbing his things and furiously shoving them into his backpack. He was shaking, a wave of anger washing over him.

“Fine.” He said, hardly even in control of what he said. “I don’t need to be here then.” He slung his backpack over his shoulder, not even looking at her as he left. She was calling his name- not his name, it had been changed for two years now and she still didn’t bother, which only made him angrier. She didn’t sound apologetic, just irritated, which drove him away quicker, storming out of the room and leaving the hospital.

He was shaking with anger as he waited at the bus stop, he couldn’t remember the last time she’d pissed him off this much. It likely wasn’t even that long ago, but this seemed to have finally crossed a line, being the worst thing she’d said to him thus far. He couldn’t brush it off, the words felt like a weight on his shoulders, It should’ve been you.

The bus ride home was a blur, lost in his own miserable thoughts. He was getting more and more upset the longer he dwelled on it, and by the time he got home he was slamming the front door behind him, doing the same when he walked into his bedroom, throwing his backpack on his bed so hard it smacked against the wall. At least he didn’t have anything valuable in there.

He dropped onto his desk chair, taking his phone from his pocket. A part of him still desperately hoped he’d check it and see Everett’s name pop up, but of course there wasn’t anything. He dropped his phone onto the desk and tested his elbows on it, burying his face in his hands. For once he was so mad he couldn’t even cry, which was extremely rare for him. He just sat there, trembling, trying and failing to calm down.

She’s right. She’s right. It’s should’ve been me, I shouldn’t be here, I don’t fucking deserve to be here.

After some time he grabbed his backpack, pulling out half finished papers and a textbook, trying to distract himself. It wasn’t helping as much as he wanted, but it was still better than nothing. He just needed time to calm down, he knew that. He got mad at his mom all the time, but after a day or two he’d be over it, or at least, too tired to care anymore, and then he’d be able to go back, and the cycle would repeat.

He knew it wasn’t his best work as he did it, but at least it was mind numbing enough he finally stopped shaking. He took a quick break from it after a few hours, wandering around the small apartment, searching through the kitchen for something to eat. He didn’t find anything, and he tried to tell himself he wasn’t hungry anyway, eventually returning to his room.

The words didn’t leave the back of his mind but as the hours passed he grew more and more numb to them, filing them away with the rest of the hurtful things she’d said to him. Disappointment, unwanted, annoying, needy, “Should’ve been you”. He could imagine how angry Everett would’ve been to hear that, he would’ve comforted him, he would’ve spoken to their mother about it. It wouldn’t have fixed anything, but at least he cared.

Eli considered himself an atheist, but he found himself wondering if there was some sort of afterlife the way some people talked about it, about loved ones watching over you. He wondered if such a thing existed, and if it did, if Everett had heard that. He almost hoped not, he didn’t need to be worrying over Eli anymore. There wasn’t anything he could do now anyway.

It was late that night, he was only still awake because he knew trying to go to bed would make everything come back, make him feel even worse. At some point his phone rang, causing him to jump, startled by the sound. Nobody ever called him but Everett and their mom, he didn’t recognize the number immediately but he answered anyway with a hesitant, “H-hello…?”

Whatever he was expecting to hear, it wasn’t what the person told him. In fact he seemed to only pick up on the important parts, everything else drowned out by the pounding of his own heart.

”She’s not doing well”... “Should come say goodbye”... “best to do so as soon as possible…”

He wanted to say that was impossible. She was fine when he left that afternoon, there was no way her condition could’ve gotten that bad that quickly. No, it wasn’t impossible, there had been a scare before, but that’s all it was, just a scare, something she recovered from. Surely she’d recover from this too, right? She’d recover and they would go back to having a tense relationship. A part of him felt tempted to go though, just in case.

“Whatever happened to him, it should’ve been you.”

“I can’t.” He blurted out. He didn’t have a reason for it, while he was typically good at lying he was at a complete loss here. “I can’t.” He repeated, and without waiting for them to respond, he hung up, sitting there as silence settled over him. He was shaking again, he realized, and he set his phone down on the desk, taking a slow, shuddering breath.

He couldn’t do it right now. He knew he couldn’t see her without breaking down completely, without snapping and starting a fight. Quite honestly though, he didn’t want to see her anyway. He usually minimized the things she said to him, brushed them off and told himself they weren’t that bad but this was bad. She didn’t know what happened to Everett, she couldn’t have known what she was saying, but still, when she said the words “it should’ve been you” all he heard was “you should be dead.”

He knew that she was right. He agreed completely. But that didn’t make it easier on him, and that didn’t make him anymore inclined to see her in what may be her final moments.

He stayed right there all night, sitting cross legged in his desk chair, tense and angry and upset. The sun was rising and he was still sitting there, knowing he should be at the hospital, knowing he should be more worried than he actually was.

It was exactly 7:32 a.m. when his phone rang again. He was numb when he answered it, and deep down he already knew what he was going to hear.

”I’m so sorry”... “We did everything we could”... “She’s passed away.”

***

It seemed as if he had shut down, because the reality of her death didn’t hit him until months later. By that point he’d started working, moved into a new, nicer apartment, he didn’t have to rely on his father anymore which meant they never spoke.

I’m completely alone.

He was laying in bed, staring up blankly at his ceiling. He still hasn’t unpacked most of his things, the room was filled with boxes. He really only had his bed and his desk, his clothes, and his important stuffed animals. His apartment was silent, the walls were thicker in this building so he couldn’t hear every little thing going on around him.

I don’t have any family. Any friends. Just myself.

He clutched his shark close in one arm, and the other hand tightly gripped his blanket. Tears welled up in his eyes, all the pain and grief he’d bottled up since Everett’s death finally overflowing.

I’m all alone.

My family is dead.

It should’ve been me.

#whump #my writing #summerofwhump12 #my oc’s #Wren #parental death tw #sibling death tw #child abuse tw #verbal abuse tw #suicidal ideation

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itsclydebitches · 3 years ago

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YYH Recaps: Episode 4 “Requirements for Lovers”

Hello, everyone! It's been quite a while, huh? Ah, the endless cycle of wanting to write and yet, astoundingly, not writing. I know it well.

Good ol' writer's block has skedaddled for a time though, so let's make good use of that and dive into Episode Four: "Requirements for Lovers."

Ohhh, YYH getting spicy with its titles 😏

Actually wait, I shouldn't be making dumb jokes just yet. First I want to acknowledge a slight change to future recaps: YYH, RWBY, and anything else I might try my hand at. Namely, a lack of pictures moving forward. A few weeks ago — months? I honestly can't keep track — tumblr implemented a new limitation where no post can have more than ten images in it. It's a move that, while I'm sure has its justifications, makes sharing analyses of visually-based media all the more difficult. I'll be doing my best moving forward to describe scenes as needed, as well as combining connected images together to stretch out my limit, but I'm not going to pretend that it'll be the same as getting the visual play-by-play we’re used to.

Tumblr certainly is a website, huh?

Anyway, we open on Yusuke once again lamenting the difficulty of hatching a spirit beast that doesn't immediately devour him from the head down. On the one hand this is an admittedly easy way to reset the story over the course of this arc — the storytelling equivalent of waking your character up each morning — yet I cannot deny that if I were undergoing a resurrection test, it would consume my every thought too. Can't really blame Yusuke for endlessly bringing the conflict up when the conflict is this deadly.

Well, deadly for a ghost, anyway.

Specifically, he's worried about how embarrassing it would be to get eaten by something that came out of an egg this tiny. I'm torn between reminding a fictional character that things grow — a pissed off chicken could kick my ass and it started out in an egg too — and just shaking my head over the absurdity of worrying about embarrassment when, you know, you would cease to exist. It's not even a matter of, "What if I die and then I'm embarrassed about it in the afterlife :( " Yusuke is already IN the afterlife. He's got nowhere to go but oblivion!

Luckily, Botan takes a more practical approach to these worries, pointing out that he'll be just fine provided he does some good deeds. Yusuke starts a rant about how do-gooders are only ever out for themselves.

Yusuke, you dumb-dumb, you're a do-gooder now. What was all that help for Kuwabara, hmm? As said, these early episodes exist in a semi-reset loop, where Yusuke needs to stew in his main character flaws for a while before any real growth starts to stick. Those flaws being, primarily, "I'm a pessimist" and "also I hate myself."

Case in point, Botan accuses him of always seeing the glass as half empty. Which, while true enough (outside of his confidence in fighting, anyway), by now we've got a pretty good sense of where Yusuke developed this attitude. He affirms this by talking about how Koenma's got him by the balls, "just another idiot abusing his power!" With an alcoholic mother and those teachers from last episode, it's no wonder Yusuke thinks this way. Mr. Takenaka's interest and Keiko's care aren't enough to combat the rest of Yusuke's experience, not when Takenaka is an outlier and Keiko is Yusuke's peer. Her desire to keep him on the right track reads only as an inevitability at best (the downside of having a perfect childhood friend), or a legitimate annoyance at worst. Or, as we'll continue to see in this episode, a way for them to flirt.

Is it any wonder Yusuke would sneer at Koenma's offer then, expecting the worst? The fact that Yusuke is still undergoing the challenge at all, no matter what he says, speaks volumes to me.

However, Botan is less than comfortable with his criticisms. She panics a bit at Yusuke insulting the (junior) ruler of the underworld so blithely. That, and the fact that he's carelessly tossing his egg around.

(Yes we’re using precious picture space for memes are you SURPRISED?)

Anyway, Botan isn't just concerned for the sake of concern. She cautions Yusuke against speaking too freely because there may be investigators checking in on his progress. No sooner does he ask what those investigators look like than one appears.

Thunder! Lighting! An energy so intense that Yusuke is briefly blinded! It is, as he says, quite the entrance. What kind of being could possibly be at the heart of such an astounding show?

Why, this teeny-tiny cutie, of course.

Remember, few appearances in YYH coincide with the character's true self. Would you ever assume this is the all-powerful investigator who holds Yusuke's future in her hands? Of course not. That's the point.

The investigator introduces herself as Sayaka and immediately demonstrates that she has no more patience for Yusuke's attitude than Botan does. "These damn kids," he mutters and my brain briefly blue screens because Yusuke. You're fourteen.

Plus, Sayaka and Botan clearly have some sort of eternal youth situation going on, so there's that too.

Sayaka is, in a word, fantastic. She pulls no punches with Yusuke, teleporting away from him with what can only be described as a shit-eating smile, all while refusing to tell him what exactly she's investigating. “I’m sorry, but that’s a secret!” However, Keiko is clearly at the forefront of her interest. She refers to her as Yusuke's "girlfriend."

Botan is more than happy to point Keiko out — because of course they're still following her around! — and pulls a Et tu, Brute? on Yususke, leading Sayaka right to her. Like most of the Underworld, Sayaka is rather shocked that the pretty, popular, scholarly girl is supposedly into the delinquent. It's the power of childhood friendship, you fools! Specifically, Sayaka references the "positive markings" that Keiko has accumulated, but the audience already knows by now that such markings are suspect at best. Yusuke himself is proof of that. So if his terrible marks don't preclude him from being a young kid's savior, should we really view Keiko's as proof of superiority?

I mean, Keiko is fantastic, but that's not really the point here.

Starting her own investigation into Yusuke's life, Sayaka begins with one hell of a bombshell: "There's no point in doing [the resurrection] if the people closest to you don't care." WOW. Not only is that a harsh assessment, it's one I don't think I can personally get behind. The offer to restore Yusuke to life is built on the acknowledgment that their system is flawed (even if there's no work to change or dismantle that system): they thought he was worthless, his sacrificial death seems to have proven them wrong, and now they want further evidence, in the form of this trial, that Yusuke is a good person at heart. The whole point of this challenge is to give him a second chance, with testimonies like Mr. Takenaka's emphasizing that Yusuke has always been capable of more, so long as he applies himself. This, as we'll see throughout the series, applies to relationships too. The Yusuke with one friend he play-fights with, a distant mother, and a school worth of kids who are terrified of his very name is not the future Yusuke they expect him to become, so... why base his resurrection on what he's already (not) accomplished? Granted, the show is very unclear about what, if anything, Sayaka will do if she decides that Yusuke doesn't have a life worth going back to (even if I have my own theory discussed at the end), but the fact that this is suddenly a factor at all seems grossly unfair, not entirely unlike Kuwabara's rigged promise. We as the audience know that people love Yusuke. Yusuke himself is beginning to acknowledge that. But if this fourteen year old delinquent truly had no one that wanted him back from the dead... isn't that all the more reason to allow a resurrection and give him the chance to build a life where he would be missed?

This stupid shonen got me thinking too much istg.

Yusuke, ever the self-deprecating pessimist, bypasses all of the above thoughts and jumps straight to, "It's clear if [Keiko] had any sense she'd want me gone." I'd find that attitude incredibly sad if I wasn't distracted by how cute Botan and Sayaka are, sitting on the oar together. The spirit girls who fly together, thrive together!

Botan starts teasing Yusuke about having a crush, which just feeds his temper and Sayaka's confusion. Deciding that she needs to gather more info, they follow along for an average day of school because these earlier episodes are, apparently, ghost-stalk Keiko hours.

We see her reading aloud in class from Heart of Darkness (not the easiest book for some middle schoolers), scoring a point during volleyball practice, refusing to let one girl cheat off her homework, but happily helping another who runs up with a question. So she's pretty, athletic, and academically successful, the trifecta for any good love interest. Sayaka is impressed not just with her "nearly perfect" scores, but also the maturity that Keiko demonstrates, such as maintaining her morals about cheating while remaining compassionate.

Actually, I really love the contrast this provides for us, the viewer. Meaning, Keiko is shown to be at her least mature when in Yusuke's presence. Not that her responses aren't justified, but watching her dramatically snatch gum from his mouth, slap him across the face, or pull crazed expressions as she yells at him is a far cry from this calm, poised, soft-spoken Keiko. It's a way to visually show us that she's comfortable in his presence, despite the suspect humor attached. Not that the Keiko we see at school is faking or anything — she is legitimately that kind and articulate — but we see that being with Yusuke allows her to relax in a way she doesn't with others. School!Keiko is, as Sayaka says, pretty much perfect, 24/7. Yusuke's Keiko is a little rougher around the edges, in a way that implies a multifaceted personality shining through.

However, the only conclusion our trio draws is that, given Keiko's accomplishments, any attraction must be one-sided.

Poor Yusuke lol.

In a plot move that is so ridiculously contrived, just as Yusuke is grappling with the accusation that Keiko couldn't possibly like him back, a "handsome boy" arrives to ask Keiko out. He says that he couldn't bear it when she stopped reading Heart of Darkness because he's fallen in love with her voice. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

Please excuse me while I lose my shit over how ridiculous this is. I legitimately straight up cackled when I watched this scene.

Luckily for Mr. Absurd, Keiko takes him seriously — and lets him down easy. She says she can't be his girlfriend and when he presses the "Why?", asking if she already likes someone else, Keiko confirms that she does. This is done through a shot of her feet. Not a POV shot given the angle, but close enough that it feels like we're stepping into Keiko's shoes (haha), shyly staring down at the floor in embarrassment and regret.

Rejection complete? The guy screams.

I mean he screams.

I mean this nobody we're never gonna see again unhinges his jaw and lets out an unholy shriek the likes of which makes me shriek in utter GLEE.

It's insane. It's wonderful. I'm going to use one of my coveted image spots to show you his face:

Look at that and tell me this show isn't amazing.

Okay, I'm focusing again. As Keiko runs off Botan and Sayaka start dragging Yusuke, teasing him about how Keiko chose him over that "charming handsome boy."

...Please scroll up and look at that image again. I find YYH's definition of "charming" and "handsome" to be hilariously wrong.

Yusuke, as per usual, throws himself into damage control, claiming that Keiko didn't say who she liked, so really it could be anyone. They're not buying it. “'I like Keiko' is written all over your face!” Botan crows. Meanwhile, Sayaka is scribbling in her little investigator's journal that feelings on both side are severely misunderstood. "Suggest serious counseling."

Fantastic idea, Sayaka. I'd personally suggest counseling for the whole dying/best friend getting resurrected thing... but relationship woes work too!

We cut to later when school is out and Keiko has gone over to Yusuke's. To say that Atsuko has done a poor job of keeping the house clean lately would be a serious understatement.

Keiko points out the old food and broken glass specifically, cluing us in that this isn't just a messy environment, but a dangerous one as well. This is proven when she accidentally knocks a stack of books over and a used bowl falls onto Yusuke's face. What's interesting is that Keiko says that things are "back to normal" now, though I'm not sure if that's in reference to the state of the house, or just the note Atsuko left behind, asking Keiko to take care of Yusuke while she's out. I'm inclined towards thinking it's just the note, partly because of Keiko's shock when she first arrives, because the house wasn't shown to be in this state prior to Yusuke's death (first image above), and because the note is accompanied by a great voiceover that makes Atsuko sound quite sloshed when she left. That's what's normal, the drinking and carefree attitude, not the state of her home. If we buy that reading, it allows for another fantastic look into Atsuko's mental state. If she's already an alcoholic, the trauma of her son's death and the following revelation that he's coming back might make her struggle in other ways. Like finding cleaning to be an impossible task.

She's depressed. It doesn't excuse the state she's left Yusuke in and, as previously acknowledged, YYH is definitely not a show interested in this nuance, but I still find it fun to take what little we've gotten and run with it.

However, Keiko is firmly on team "WTF Atsuko." She hurries to make sure Yusuke wasn't hurt by the falling bowl, bemoans him being "covered in garbage," and says that leaving him in this state should be considered a felony. Knowing it's far beyond her power to fix Atsuko's failings, Keiko swears to come here after school every day until Yusuke regains his body. It's as she's cleaning him of the dust that's gathered that Keiko becomes entranced with Yusuke’s features. Particularly his lips. The soft lighting returns, their theme song swells, and Keiko gets thiiiis close to kissing Yusuke for the first time.

Which is a little weird, right? I mean, we know why Yusuke is freaking out. Beyond the embarrassment of a middle schooler receiving his first kiss while two ghost girls eagerly watch on, he's made a hobby of denouncing his interest in Keiko to anyone who will listen. But for the average viewer — for Keiko herself — don't we care the he's, you know, dead? Or if not technically dead, very unconscious? Don't get me wrong, I fully understand the appeal of this situation in a generalized, cultural sense (with the side disclaimer that I'm reading a Japanese product through an American lens). Sleeping Beauty exists for a reason and there's definitely an element of that here: a gender-reversed setup where Keiko’s kills may break the "curse" of Yusuke's untimely death. Even his in-between state of being mirrors the "death like sleep" of the fairy tale. But when you strip away those Disney-esque thoughts, we're left with a girl about to kiss an unresponsive body, not as a common gesture of care (the parent who kisses their child while they sleep), but as a first time, romantic milestone.

It's a little weird lol.

But embrace the romance! As well as its inevitable interruption. Just as Keiko is about to land a peck, the neighborhood watch committee announces a heat and fire warning, startling Keiko out of her thoughts about Yusuke's "beautiful face." (There's another gender reversal for ya.) She gasps at her almost-action, conveniently remembers that her mom wanted her to do some shopping, and hightails it out of there before embarrassment can really kill them both.

So she runs off for food... in a sweater? The outfit is cute and all, but I wonder what the animators were thinking, putting Keiko in a puffy pullover during an episode all about a heat wave.

It's about at this point that the plot goes from cute romance to absolutely buck wild. The fires the neighborhood watch committee mentioned are not, in fact, due to the overwhelming heat, but an arsonist that's going around tossing molotov cocktails through open windows. Why is he doing such a thing? I don't know. Arsonists be doing arson, I guess. The important bit is that Yusuke's place is his next target, considering that Atsuko forgot to lock the windows when she went out. Within seconds all that garbage is set ablaze, quite obviously putting Yusuke's resurrection chances at an all time low.

"Wake up, stupid!" he shouts at his unconscious body. Mood, Yusuke. That's me every morning.

So this is a full scale emergency now and everyone is scrambling trying to think of something to do. Yusuke comes up with the idea to possess himself like he did Kuwabara — nice attempt at a loophole there — but since it would technically count as his resurrection, no dice. Botan decides to go get Kuwabara himself, even though he's too far away to do anything. It's still worth a shot. Sayaka, meanwhile, watches all this unfold with a somewhat clinical detachment. She's not quite indifferent and she's definitely not cruel... she’s just not as emotionally invested in this as the other two. Which not only re-emphasizes her purpose here, as an observer judging Yusuke, but also highlights the bond Botan is forming with him. As mentioned before in regards to her hanging out with Yusuke rather than ferrying souls, Botan is well past someone assisting Yusuke simply because it's a part of her job. He's her friend.

We get some shots of the growing fire which includes a hazy texture to the animation I quite like and then we cut to Keiko several blocks away, shopping bag in hand. Word of the new fire spreads, with one bystander mentioning that it's the twelfth today.

"This is eerie.”

“Yeah, I can’t help feeling we’re under attack.”

That's because you are! Someone stop that man!

Sadly, I don't think the arsonist is mentioned again, let alone captured. We'll just have to relegate that to my incredibly niche fic wishlist.

Keiko also overhears that the latest fire is on fourth avenue, which of course is where Yusuke lives. Recognizing that he might be in trouble, she takes off at a run.

Meanwhile, Botan finds Kuwabara practicing his kicks against a Yusuke dummy. Amazing resemblance, right?

Watching for the purpose of recapping, I'm picking up on a lot of details in the animation I quite enjoy. I don't think anyone would claim that YYH, at this point in time, has the most impressive or flashy animation (the fight scenes later are another matter entirely), but there's a clear love for the product that shines through. The scared expression on Kuwabara's dummy. His unexpectedly dainty kick, complete with pointed toes. Botan's more translucent coloring to emphasize her supernatural status compared to Kuwabara. There are a lot of nice touches despite the overall simplicity.

Plus, you can't forget the lovely irony of Kuwabara fighting a defenseless "Yusuke" while the real guy actually lies defenseless amidst a fire. We already know that despite his tough talk, Kuwabara would be horrified to learn that his friend rival had died (again) in such a manner.

Capitalizing on that transparency, Botan runs a hand through Kuwabara's back to catch his attention. He gets his "tickle feeling" and instinctively looks around towards Yusuke's house, seeing the smoke. "Something tells me I should go that way." Gotta love a guy who drops everything to chase a vague, supernaturally induced hunch.

As Kuwabara leaves we cut back to Keiko arriving at the house, staring in horror at the blaze. We get an audio flashback to her talk with Yusuke where she promised to take care of his body until he got back. So she tries to run in, only for a couple of the onlookers to snag her, quite correctly keeping her from undergoing a suicide mission. We learn later that Keiko absolutely would have died without Yusuke's sacrifice, so her "You cowards!" is born more of emotion than justified accusations. It's not cowardly to look at the raging inferno in a small apartment and realize that recklessly running in will only result in two dead teens, not one.

I mean, the flames are already right there, licking the door. Even if Keiko somehow managed to avoid burns, the smoke alone would do her in. Still, Keiko tries to mitigate the damage by dumping a bucket of water over her head. As a kid I remember thinking this was the smartest thing ever. Utterly inspired. Keep that in the back of your mind, kid Clyde, for future reference. As an adult... I have no idea whether this would actually help or not lol. Any firefighters doubling as YYH fans?

Recklessness and iffy precautions aside, I can't express how much I appreciate the story giving Keiko things to do. Yusuke recognizes that she's the only one with the maturity and open-mindedness to believe in his resurrection. She's the one picking up Atsuko's slack regarding his day-to-day needs. She never hesitates for a moment, heroically throwing herself into this blaze for Yusuke's benefit. Yeah, a lot of that still falls into the emotional/domestic sphere — what we expect of the love interest in a 90s anime — but too often action stories don't have a clue what to do with their non-action characters, not even when it comes to just supporting the fighters. They're simply... there. Keiko, however, isn't window dressing. Whether it's helping Botan survive an upcoming, supernatural plague, or cheering the team on at the Dark Tournament, Keiko is an important part of the story, despite lacking the fighting prowess of the rest of the cast.

Just as important, this episode establishes a core equality between her and Yusuke. We just watched Keiko reject a (presumably) accomplished guy for him, telling the audience that these surface differences — academics, power levels, popularity, looks — don't matter to them. Yusuke is not Keiko's lesser just because he doesn't have the same scores in Sayaka's book and Keiko won't become Yusuke's lesser just because she doesn't have spiritual power like he does. The only important thing here is that they love each other and they're both willing to sacrifice everything for the other. In the span of about ten minutes, Keiko nearly gives up her life for Yusuke and, in turn, Yusuke gives up his resurrection for her. The level of care they show towards one another is balanced, despite those differences.

They’re a good ship, y'all. Even if this recapping's got me noticing Yusuke/Kuwabara potential lol.

To get back to the plot, a drenched Keiko charges into the fire, yelling Yusuke's name for the drama of it because we all know he can't respond. Despite the audience (hopefully) recognizing Keiko and Yusuke's equality, that memo hasn't reached Yusuke yet. "You're a lot more important to this world than I am!" he yells, hammering home that despite everything — knowing he instinctively saved a child, watching his loved ones grieve for him, helping Kuwabara just because he can — Yusuke still, deep down, believes that he doesn't deserve to come back; that he doesn't measure up to those around him. The self-sacrificial nature this insecurity produces shocks Sayaka. She points out that if Keiko doesn't save his body, he's not coming back. "What's the point of being alive if Keiko has to get killed for it?"

Keiko means more to Yusuke than the rest of his living existence. Jot that down in your notebook, Sayaka!

Kuwabara arrives and runs into one of his friends who informs him that Keiko just went inside. “Yusuke’s girl? The one we saved from those thugs?”

BOY does that tell us a lot about their rivalry! I mean yeah, we've already established several times over that Kuwabara — just like Yusuke himself — is not the cruel street thug he'd like to present himself as. If these characters actually wanted to hurt each other outside of a martial arts challenge, don't you think Kuwabara would capitalize on the "Yusuke's girl" bit? Everyone seems to know that they have feelings for each other, but Kuwabara never once wields that as ammunition against Yusuke. There are no taunts about him not being good enough. Or rather, I should clarify there are no serious taunts — Kuwabara is well known for his teasing. There's also no attempt to steal Keiko out from under him, the common treatment of the love interest as a "prize" that many stories fall into. Indeed, later this episode YYH will deconstruct this a bit. Yusuke sees Kuwabara grab Keiko's hand and yells that he better not be getting "fresh" with her. But it's purely Yusuke's worries shining through. The audience gets a crystal clear picture of the situation and knows, categorically, that Kuwabara has only the most innocent of intentions in holding Keiko's hand.

(Well, running from the police isn't innocent, but...)

I keep getting sidetracked. Plot! Keiko makes it to Yusuke's room and finds that he is already on fire. She then proceeds to try and put it out by patting it with her hands. I take back what I said about Keiko's smarts in this scene. Now we know where that supposed recklessness comes from though. Apparently they're both immune to fire! Nothing to worry about here, folks.

JK she's actually in danger, despite the animation choices. By this point everyone, including Keiko, realizes that there's no way out: the fire has blocked the door. Sayaka then reveals that there is one way to save her. If Yusuke throws his egg into the fire, the energy of the spirit beast will release and guide her to safety. The catch? Hatch the egg early and it won't complete its intended function of guiding him back to his body. This beast is gonna guide one person and that is it.

Cue Yusuke's near immediate decision to sacrifice his life for Keiko's. Granted, it's not precisely one life for another. Yusuke's resurrection was always contingent upon the beast not devouring him whole — something Koenma claims would have happened at the end of the episode — meaning that it's not technically a fair trade. Yusuke might have sacrificed Keiko's life for his own... only to fail to get that life back anyway. (There's a tragedy for ya.) To say nothing of how Yusuke is currently dead and has been for at least a couple of days, whereas Keiko very much is not. There's some sort of philosophical discussion there about potential being pit against current reality.

BUT that's not the point! The emotional point is that he sacrificed his life for hers — the potential of his resurrection, the potential of that life he might have led — all technicalities aside. And I, for one, think that's very neat of him.

A blue light shines as the egg's energy is released, providing a lovely contrast to the fire surrounding them. A path forms to the door and Keiko, recognizing Yusuke's presence, follows it. "We'll make it, Yusuke," Keiko says, which is one hell of a sucker-punch now that we know she's just carrying a corpse. Unbeknownst to Keiko, Yusuke is very much not making it. That's the only reason why she is.

Kuwabara appears to help them the rest of the way which is also a pretty awesome thing considering that, from everyone else's perspective, the fire is still raging and blocking the door. Despite his spiritual awareness, Kuwabara gives no indication that he noticed this strange light, or Yusuke's hand in the rescue. Which basically means he lunged into a bunch of deadly fire for Keiko and doesn't question how in the world he isn't burned.

Keiko's hands are fine, Kuwabara's whole body is fine... fire immunity must run in the friend group!

Yusuke has another rare moment of vulnerability — "They're both okay" — and I cackle happily at the "both" because see. You love Kuwabara too, Yusuke! All this bluster about hating him and finding him annoying. The second he rushed into that fire you were crawling up the walls.

Except then that happiness gives way to something that sounds a little more shocked. Devastated. "Well, I sure am... relieved..." Kudos to Cook's voice acting. You can hear the exact moment Yusuke realizes what he's done. Not that he regrets it, but the consequences are finally sinking in. He's relieved that they're safe, yes, but now he's never going to be able to rejoin them.

As Yusuke has an(other) existential crisis, Kuwabara peels back the blanket Keiko had wrapped Yusuke in, revealing his face. “What are you doing with Yusuke’s body?! Are you some type of sick grave robber?” he shouts. God I love when a story actually keeps track of who knows what. Kuwabara, for all his recent involvement in the plot, doesn't actually know what's going on. From his perspective Yusuke died, he made a scene at the wake, he saved "his girl" from a bunch of thugs, lost a huge chunk of time only to wake up with her randomly hugging him (then slapping him), participated in a bet with his awful teacher and had a couple weird, Yusuke related dreams while studying, and has felt the presence of ghosts perhaps a little more frequently than usual. Now he's trying to help save Keiko from a fire only for her to reveal she risked her own life for Yusuke's body. Of course he's freaking out! What's she doing with that?

What's utterly fantastic though is that Kuwabara takes all of five seconds to process this and then enters immediate Ride or Die mode for Keiko. She's been hoarding Yusuke's body for undetermined reasons? Well, who is he to judge? The important thing here is that people are arrested for keeping bodies, so they've gotta skedaddle before the firefighters show up.

Hence, hand-holding and avoiding arrest.

As Yusuke starts threatening Kuwabara not to get "fresh" with her, Botan sadly reminds him that he no longer has a say in who Keiko does or does not fall in love with. The switch in tone is jarring. Whereas before Botan would have teased him mercilessly for the crush, now she knows that nothing can come of that — and it would be cruel not to remind Yusuke of that too.

"Oh no. I didn't think..." Yusuke whispers, further establishing that he knew the risks of using his egg, but hadn't allowed them to sink in yet. Now they have.

He gives a fake little laugh with, "Just when it was getting good" and I cry at the development in the span of just four episodes. Despite what I said at the beginning about the show resetting each week, there has been a lot of change thus far. Yusuke wants to live now! He wants to be there for Keiko! He looks down on his tiny family and screams at the unfairness of it all! They're talking about how they can't wait for him to come back and now that's never gonna happen!!

It hurts, friends. It hurts a whole lot.

During this conversation between Keiko, Atsuko, and Kuwabara, we see that a couple of hours have passed (it's nighttime now, the fire is out) and Atsuko is apologizing for putting them all in danger like that. And by that I mean yes, she does technically apologize with an "I'm sorry" and everything, but it's also a one sentence apology pit against... well, near death for the three people standing (and sitting) before her. Atsuko seems just as concerned by Keiko losing her hair as she does Keiko nearly burning to death and she kneels by Yusuke's wheelchair, baby-talking to him about how he forgives her, right? I love Atsuko, she's great, but objectively speaking she is not a good mother. Not right now, anyway.

Oh yeah, and just to reiterate that: Keiko's hands are fine after patting down Yusuke's on-fire body, but her hair, which I'm pretty sure never catches, has to be cut short. Ah, anime logic. Funny thing is, YYH isn't the only story to take the love interest and give her a cool, short cut thanks to a traumatic event. Anyone read Ranma 1/2?

During this conversation we also learn that, sometime between the fire and now, Keiko filled Kuwabara in on everything that's happening with Yusuke. Makes sense. He kneels beside the wheelchair, joining the others in telling Yusuke that they'll wait patiently for his return. Yusuke, above them, continues yelling about how they're waiting on a dead man.

“It can’t be helped. He made this decision on his own."

Except it can, in fact, be helped!

Just as all hope is truly lost, Koenma appears and announces that Yusuke will be returned to life. Why? Because sacrificing his egg for Keiko is a better indicator of his worth than the egg itself could have been. Despite feeding on his negative outlook and heading towards biting Yusuke's head off — something the animation backs up by showing us teeth during the fire

— Yusuke's act demonstrates a tendency towards being a "decent human being" that is "so rare." Wow. That's depressing. Still, yay that Yusuke has those qualities! And this, to my mind, helps explain Sayaka's presence. Koenma recognized that judging Yusuke couldn't be left to the egg alone and indeed, Sayaka took note of his worth before he ever threw the egg into the fire. First it was questioning why someone as amazing as Keiko would go for him, then it was solidified through the shock of Yusuke announcing that coming back to life was meaningless if she wasn't in it. Even if Keiko had somehow, miraculously escaped the fire before Yusuke's sacrifice, I bet Sayaka's report would have tipped him in resurrection's favor anyway.

Everyone is, of course, overjoyed and my heart swells at the intense gratitude Yusuke displays. My favorite part though is when Koenma cryptically says that “Your added experience with death could make you very useful" (a nod towards future events that goes right over Yusuke's head) and his response to this is a yelled, "YOU THINK I'M USEFUL?" This poor kid. The God of everything ever is chucking out revelations left and right, about resurrections and spirit beasts, but the only thing that really penetrates is the realization that someone thinks he's useful. Talk about relatable.

You know, I've been thinking about why this moment works so well. I mean, there are a lot of other stories where undermining the consequences our hero faces — either with humor, or by erasing them completely — can feel like the audience was cheated. I think YYH dodged that with a couple of crucial factors. First, Yusuke's consequence isn't something new that he's now avoided, it's just a permanent extension of something he was already dealing with. We did get to watch him inhabit the space between life and death, grappling with whether he'd ever be able to return. The story didn't deny us that growth, it just confirmed something we all instinctively knew: this tale won't end here with Yusuke permanently going to some afterlife. Second, the Deus ex Machina fix doesn't happen too soon. Yeah, it's only a couple of minutes in a single episode, but we (and Yusuke) still get to sit with that outcome for a while, soaking it in before its removal. Finally, there's no doubt that Yusuke earned this reprieve. Koenma's timing might be sudden and (if you're not genre savvy) unexpected, but looking back at the series as a whole thus far, we're able to agree absolutely that Yusuke deserves this. Far from feeling like we were cheated, this solution invites just as much celebration as we're seeing on screen, for the simple reason that we can buy into Koenma's reasoning. We know now that Yusuke is a good person. We saw him selflessly sacrifice his future for Keiko. We agree that he deserves a second chance.

Thus, the episode ends with Yusuke flying up to fill the screen in his joy, a far better, final shot than Harry Potter and The Prison of Azkaban managed 😰

And that's it for Episode 4, folks! See you later for Episode 5 💕

#YYH #Yu Yu Hakusho #YYH Recaps #mymetas

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hchollym · 3 years ago

Text

Aerion x Viserys - We Finally Got Our Dragons

I couldn’t help myself. I will go down with this crack ship 🤣

Warnings: Afterlife, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Sexual Content, Explicit Language, Age Difference

Read it on AO3.

____________

Most people think that a person finds peace after they die. Aerion would tell you differently.

The Targaryens have their own “exclusive” afterlife, stuck for eternity with only one another for company. While he's glad that they all appear as they were right before they died and not as they died (for then he would have a hole in his throat and be unable to talk), it still does not change the fact that he’s stuck with these shits forever. Most of his relatives find enjoyment (or at least contentment) here (seeing as half of them are married to each other), but for others – like Aerion – this place is a special kind of hell.

He died drinking wildfire. It certainly wasn’t his finest moment, nor was it something that he wants to remember, given the resulting pain. And yet, his family will never let him forget it. They torment him about it daily, as if he hadn’t already suffered enough.

“Oh look, it’s the Prince Who Thought He Was A Dragon,” they sneer at him whenever he walks by. It’s not as if he’s the first Targaryen to think of himself as a dragon and die because of it. What about all the other fools who got themselves killed trying to hatch a dragon egg? Why aren’t they mocked as he is?

Even his own father sighs disapprovingly when he sees him, as if Aerion brought him embarrassment. It makes Aerion scoff. His older brother was literally known as “Daeron the Drunken” and yet Aerion is somehow the stain on their family name? It’s absolutely ridiculous. His brothers ignore him (he hears their comments about Aerion the Monstrous, and really, when are they going to get over it?).

His own son, Maegor – who joined them when he got into a fight with the wrong person at a tavern – won’t talk to Aerion, because he blames Aerion’s “madness” as the reason he never got the throne. How ungrateful can you be? Maegor wouldn’t even be alive without Aerion.

His bitch of a wife isn’t much better. She refuses to allow him into her bed, and her brother and father are more than happy to guard her chamber door. To be honest, it’s not a huge loss though; she was annoying anyway, always crying and whimpering and screaming while he was trying to enjoy himself. Still, it’s the audacity that angers him.

You would think that the ancestors would grow tired of insulting him after so many years, but it appears that there is not nearly enough exciting news to go around here, so the taunts and insults go on year after year. Even the “Mad King” doesn’t get scorned as much, because people seem to either fear him or feel pity for his insanity.

Aerion tries to ignore most of the ridicule by keeping to himself, which is thankfully easy to do in this endless hallway with infinite corridors and chambers, but that doesn’t completely stop the talk from reaching his ears. He’d been humiliated, angry, and defensive for the first decade or so of these disrespectful comments, but after more than 60 years, he’s just sick and tired of it.

So when the others stop talking about him and begin insulting another, one they mockingly call "the last dragon" and "the beggar king,” Aerion is initially relieved, and then intrigued. He questions his father, who will at least answer him (albeit grudgingly). When he hears the tale of this Viserys, he feels an instant kinship that takes him by surprise.

He’s never felt like he could relate to someone else before, but the fact is, Viserys thought himself a dragon and he too died for it in an excruciating way. The other man was treated like shit in life and now again in death by his own family (Aerion knows the feeling), and his own sister had him killed in a cruel twist of irony.

Aerion’s glad that the attention on him has finally stopped, but he finds himself unexpectedly feeling sympathy for Viserys – an emotion so foreign to him that it took him a while to identify what it was. Perhaps it's because they share similar deaths (though by vastly different means), or that Aerion knows what it's like to be humiliated by the hypocritical ancestors, or because he knows what it’s like for your own family to turn on you.

He hears that Viserys' mother won't even give him sympathy because of how he treated his sister, but so what? The bitch killed him. Why are mothers always so quick to defend the weak? Aerion’s own mother is still angry at him for his treatment of Aegon, but he doesn’t think he has anything to apologize for. Why should he be “nice” to pathetic people? Daenerys should have been grateful that Viserys raised her after they fled King's Landing. Aerion would have sold her immediately to the highest buyer and bought himself a nice house until he raised his army to take back the throne.

He hears through the gossip that Viserys locks himself inside his chambers to avoid the others, which Aerion also understands. He's not entirely sure why he decides to go see him, but perhaps it's because he’s sick of being judged and looked down on, and Viserys seems like the one person who won’t do that.

He makes his way to Viserys’ chambers, holding his head high and ignoring the looks he gets along the way, only to find that the others have painted slurs on the door, and Aerion feels disgust at their tackiness. How old are they? Five? He opens the doors without knocking and sees a man sitting on the bed, his elbows rested on his knees and his head in his hands. When the figure looks up, his expression one of annoyance, anger, and pure exhaustion (a combination which Aerion knows well), and Aerion is struck by just how young he is.

For some reason, he pictured Viserys as close to his age, but he couldn't have been more than 25, though Aerion guesses it’s actually closer to 20. He's practically still a boy, and Aerion feels a hot wave of rage rush through him. This is who they are tormenting for making mistakes when he was exiled in Essos (by no fault of his own), trying to care for an ungrateful sister who eventually murdered him? Honestly, and they thought he was monstrous!

"I'm Aerion Brightflame," he starts before Viserys can get upset at his intrusion. He refuses to give up using that name; the ancestors can go fuck themselves. Viserys' expression clears, and he blinks in confusion before frowning warily.

"What do you want?" He asks suspiciously, and Aerion shrugs nonchalantly.

"I know how these shits can be when they decide to harass someone. Fuck them. You don’t need any of these bumbling fools. You and I, we're still dragons," he assures Viserys, not entirely understanding why he feels compelled to do so, but Aerion knows that he still is a dragon, regardless of how everything ended, and he’s willing to say that Viserys is as well out of solidarity for the mutual enemies/family. Viserys looks shocked before scowling.

"Clearly not, seeing as melted gold killed me, and fire cannot kill a dragon," he points out bitterly, not even mentioning Aerion's own failures, for which Aerion feels unexpectedly grateful for. He sits down next to Viserys, and he finds it hilarious how the other man looks alarmed and ready to flee.

"And how many others have been killed by fire when trying and failing to hatch dragon eggs? We're still Targaryens. We’re still dragons, no matter what those stupid sea cows have to say.” Viserys' expression changes from one of shock to hesitant gratitude. It's a look that Aerion is not used to having directed at him; fear, anger, and even lust are common emotions he’s used to seeing when people look at him, but never gratitude. It makes his stomach churn oddly.

After that, they form a strange bond of companionship. They spend most of their time in one of their chambers (it’s easier to avoid the others that way), but occasionally they venture out to the other rooms with alcohol or food. They don't need either, but it provides them with a distraction to the never-ending boredom. They even throw knives sometimes, though Aerion had to teach Viserys because he never learned.

Their conversations start by talking about all the people they hate and are angry at (of which there are many). Then it changes to their time in Essos (the good, the bad, and the ugly). And finally, they talk of their own failures; the feel of the gold burning through Viserys' skin and hair; the way the wildfire scorched Aerion’s throat and blinded him in pain. They talk of how humiliating it was (and still is), and of their disappointment in the way their lives turned out.

It's odd, because Aerion has never felt the urge to share his thoughts with anyone - no one was ever good enough or would truly understand (until now) - but he finds that it's actually rather nice. He quickly decides that he hates Viserys’ brother Rhaegar – he started this whole mess and yet he still looks at Viserys with disappointment, and it makes Aerion want to burn him. And Viserys quickly decides that Maegor is being selfish by hating his own father. Aerion’s found an unexpected ally in Viserys, and it’s the first time he’s felt anything other than miserable since his death.

...

Maybe it happens because of their surprisingly easy companionship, or maybe it’s because they are so isolated from everyone else (no one else seems capable of getting along with them), or maybe it's even simply because it's been years since Aerion slept with someone. Regardless of the reasons, they somehow end up in bed together. Aerion doesn’t know exactly how it happened, but he’s not complaining.

Viserys accepted being the bottom quickly enough, and Aerion found out later that it's because it wasn’t his first time; he’d been forced to sell his body in order to survive at his lowest points in exile, and Aerion’s never felt protective of anyone before, but he feels it now for Viserys. He also feels irrationally jealous that someone else dared to touch what is his, and yes, he has come to think of Viserys as his.

Viserys is wonderfully responsive, biting his shoulder, scratching his back until he bleeds, moaning and cursing loudly, urging him to go faster and harder. It makes Aerion’s blood sing, his thoughts fuzzy, and the heat envelop him all over until he’s nearly drowning in it.

But it's Viserys’ eyes that really send Aerion over the edge. The pale, lilac orbs dilate in lust, but there's also anger, determination, and hurt in them. Viserys has a vulnerability in his eyes that Aerion would have thought had been destroyed years ago, but somehow it remains, and it's both intoxicating and addicting to see.

When Aerion finally decides to try bottoming (because why the hell not? they're dead, and he’s bored and ready to do something new), he finishes embarrassingly quick. It's better than he ever imagined; fire seems to completely consume him, so hot and bright that Aerion feels like he might pass out. Viserys' cock rubs against a place inside of him that causes sparks to shoot throughout his entire body, and all he can do is pant and gasp as he clings to Viserys for dear life, thinking that if he weren't already dead, then this would definitely kill him because it's too much, but he wants it more than anything.

Viserys never mentions his premature response, and they don’t talk about the fact that Aerion starts to roll them over more and more so he can wrap his legs around Viserys' waist, urging the other man to fuck him. He's relieved by Viserys' lack of acknowledgement, because even in death, he still has his pride, and it's embarrassing how much he loves to fall apart underneath the younger man.

And when Viserys guides Aerion to ride him like a stallion for the first time, Aerion screams himself hoarse, and it suddenly reminds him too much of the wildfire burning his throat, and he starts to panic, so Viserys holds him until he calms, but they don't talk about that either.

...

When Daenerys does finally show up, Aerion becomes insanely angry. She's cold and distant, though she does try to talk to Viserys, and Aerion wants to kill her. How dare she?! He refuses to let her see Viserys until the younger man finally tells him to leave them so they can speak.

Aerion feels something hot and ugly churn in his stomach at that, and he waits by the door until Daenerys leaves, looking only barely fazed. He instantly goes inside to see Viserys' eyes shining with angry tears. He still hasn't gotten good at hiding his emotions yet, and truthfully, Aerion kind of hopes that he never does.

"She hatched the dragons. The fire didn't kill her," Viserys says angrily, but there's also jealously and pure despair there, and Aerion doesn't like it. He pulls Viserys into his arms and kisses him soundly until Viserys pulls back and leans his head on Aerion's chest, sighing heavily.

"Why her?" He asks, though the unspoken why not me? is obvious.

"Because the gods are cruel," he answers honestly, because she didn’t deserve it more than either of them.

"But it doesn't change things. She's here now, just like us, with no dragons. Fuck her, and fuck all of them. We are still dragons," Aerion continues vehemently. He feels Viserys swallow and nod, as if trying to convince himself.

"We are dragons," Viserys says shakily before gaining confidence.

"We are dragons. And while she's here alone, I have you now; my own dragon," he finishes stubbornly, and Aerion feels a rush of something that he chooses not to examine further at those words. He tightens his grip on Viserys and kisses the top of his head.

"And I have you. Looks like we both finally got our dragons."

#aerion x viserys #aerion targaryen x viserys targaryen #aerion targaryen #aerion brightflame #viserys targaryen #crack ship #my writing #ASoIaF #a song of ice and fire #moodboard #i regret nothing #devin oliver as aerion #because yes

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ladylouoflothlorien · 4 years ago

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Hello! May I please request a Spirit! Thorin x Female! Human! Reader where Erebor is in the process of being rebuilt after the events of BOTFA. R, who is helping overlook the construction, often goes to Thorin's tomb at the end of the day and often just talks and falls asleep there. Thorin has always been present, and R discovers this when Thorin figures out a way to speak to R. Maybe a bit of fluff/comedy to help the bittersweet angst, if you can. Thank you so much! Sry if it is too specific!

I’m so sorry this took so long to get up!! But here it is!! It’s probably a little angstier than you were hoping for as I couldn’t really find a way to insert any comedy in it, but still I hope you like it anon :)

Lay Your Ghosts to Rest

word count: 2684

“Honestly I thought they wouldn’t actually let me come down here.”

It was the first thing Thoin heard when he woke up. A woman’s voice, too high to belong to any of his kin, but not irritating enough to belong to an elf. A human woman, then. Thorin sat up. When he saw his hands and - horrified - looked through them, everything came flooding back. Ravenhill, his nephews, Azog, himself…

“I thought dwarves were supposed to be secretive. Then again, I suppose you were a public figure. Still, the grave of a King…”

Thorin looked at the woman finally as her voice trailed off and saw she was kneeling beside a solid stone coffin that, after a moment, he realised was his own. The sick feeling in his gut was not at all alleviated by the two similar coffins on either side of him. As exalted as he knew the company would now be, the only two members who would ever be buried beside him would be his sister-sons.

“You’re probably wondering why I’m here.”

The woman laughed quietly, presumably at herself, and then slouched. Her whole body seemed to deflate. When she spoke again her voice was much quieter, and Thorin had to strain his ears to make out the words.

“This is stupid, I’m talking to a corpse.”

Well, it was the truth, but that didn’t make it any less difficult to hear. The woman pulled herself up off the floor and seemed to collect herself.

“Well, I hope you’re resting in peace.”

He wasn’t.

With that, the woman appeared to be done. She turned and left the room without a second thought, completely oblivious to the ghost of the King she left behind.

Thorin could not leave the burial chamber. He could walk right through the stone of his own coffin, but he could not walk through the carved stone archway despite the fact that the only thing in his way was air. So far his afterlife had been long periods of boredom interspersed with brief periods of intense guilt and self-loathing.

A week had passed since the woman had first appeared, and he had not seen her since, but he’d had other visitors. Balin and Dwalin had visited together, and whilst the older of the two brothers had barely stepped foot into the room, Dwalin had made it a little further before all but falling to his knees as his strength left him and his whole body was wracked with sobs. Thorin had done his best to comfort his bâheluh, but just as the woman before them neither Dwalin or his older brother had even known he was there.

Bilbo had come too, a visit that was particularly difficult for Thorin, as he knew that where the others might visit him from time to time he would likely never see his little friend again. Mahal knew he had a lot to make up for where the Hobbit was concerned, and now he’d never get the chance. The burglar had tearfully promised - though no doubt didn’t truly believe Thorin could hear - to plant the acorn in his garden, that it would have pride of place, and when it grew into a tree he would name it Oakenshield after him. Apparently Hobbits were in the habit of giving names to the more established and important plants in their gardens.

Perhaps the strangest visit of all was the elf who came and cried over Kili’s coffin for the better part of an hour, closely watched by none other than Thranduil himself who hovered at the entrance of the room. Thorin had been able to make out bits and pieces of their conversation, though it had been in Sindarin - he’d been forced to take lessons before the fall of Erebor - and it had been something of a surprise to him to learn that Elves, though immortal, could die of heartbreak. It seemed that this elf would soon be leaving the shores of Middle Earth to escape that same fate.

The woman came to see him again, eventually. He watched her enter. She seemed unsure of herself, as someone who had been given access to an area normally off limits and still felt like they shouldn’t be there. Thorin was left to wonder how many people had free access to his grave, and how many had to ask permission every time they wished to enter.

She came and settled beside his coffin in the same position she’d been in when Thorin had first awoken.

“I... uh... I’m back.”

Well that was one way of starting what would be a very one-sided conversation, though clearly she was more trying to psych herself up to actually talk out loud rather than keeping her thoughts hidden inside her head.

“You know, it seems unfair. You risked everything to get Erebor back for your people, and now you don’t even get to see it being restored.”

The pause that followed stretched out far longer than was comfortable, but she seemed lost in her thoughts all of a sudden. Thorin found himself genuinely curious as to what she had to say, and he wished he had some way of prompting her back to reality. As it was, he simply had to wait. Patience was never a trait he’d been known for.

“I don’t really know why I feel the need to do this but… I want to come and tell you about how the reconstruction is going.”

She paused and rested a delicate hand on the edge of Thorin’s coffin, seemingly drawing strength from the cold stone. Still, Thorin’s attention was caught. He couldn’t think of a reason why a human woman would be so involved in Erebor’s reconstruction that she would feel the need to seek out the kingdom’s dead monarch and tell his corpse how it was going. Then again, he wouldn’t have turned his nose up at information, even if he could communicate with her in some way.

“I’m helping to organise it, the reconstruction I mean… It’s a big job, and there aren’t enough dwarv- dwarrow here to do both the building and the organisational work. There are some humans who are helping with the menial labour, but for the most part, anyone actually doing the task of building is a ‘child of mahal’, as you say…”

That was highly unexpected. Thorin hadn’t thought his cousin Dain capable of letting anyone but a dwarf within a mile of the lonely mountain, and here he was allowing humans to aid in its reconstruction? He strongly suspected that Balin had been an influence on that decision, pragmatic as he was.

She came back often, multiple times a week after her tasks for the day were done, and there were some days where she would fall asleep beside his coffin in what looked to be the most uncomfortable of positions. It made Thorin wish - as had almost become a habit - that he could have some kind of physical impact on the world around him, if only to spare her neck. He supposed that, as a ghost, incorporealism came with the territory.

Less and less people visited him. He didn’t blame them, not really. He could see the pain and guilt in his friends eyes every time they came to look upon the stone coffin. Visiting his last place of ‘rest’ naturally opened up wounds his friends were trying to heal from. Besides, it wasn’t as if they expected him to actually know they were visiting. What it did mean was that he clung to the woman’s visits more than ever, and rather surprisingly she had actually kept up visiting rather regularly even when all his other visitors slowly slipped away from him.

Again she was at his side, and he had settled on top of his coffin - how exactly he could sit on top of the blasted thing and yet also pass through it when he chose to completely eluded him, but he chose not to think on it too hard. The dead King had grown very fond of her. She was his only link to the world outside the stone walls of his burial chamber, and hearing about how Erebor was progressing towards its former glory filled him with a sense of satisfaction that he’d rarely felt when he was alive and an exile from his own kingdom. Normally the woman came and left alone, but this time was different.

After she’d been down with him for a few hours, Balin suddenly appeared at the entrance to the chamber. Thorin was surprised; the advisor hadn’t been down more than a handful of times. Balin had known and been close to Thorin and Thorin’s family for practically his entire life, Thorin understood that he would take his death especially hard, though perhaps not as hard as Dwalin, who had only been to him once since the funeral.

“Lass…” Balin began, and Thorin felt like crying when he heard that voice again. He hadn’t realised how much he’d missed his company.

The woman sleepily turned and smiled at him.

“Hello Balin.”

Balin took a hesitant step into the chamber, and then paused to surreptitiously dab at his eyes.

“You should not speak to the dead, lass… they cannot hear you, and they cannot reply…”

It was clear that the words pained him to say, but that he believed them. The woman smiled sadly.

“Oh, I know that, dear advisor… but… I don’t know why, I just feel like this is something I need to do.”

Balin moved to where she was sitting on the floor and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder now that he had regained control of his own emotions once again.

“I was there, you know? I heard his speech to the people and the old master… he had so much passion. It doesn’t seem fair…”

The woman cut herself off and bit her lip, glancing furtively towards the snow-haired dwarf when she suddenly realised that her words could upset him, but he merely squeezed her shoulder and hung his head. It wasn’t as if he could disagree with her sentiment, after all.

“It’s not fair, lass, but Thorin… he knew the dangers this journey would bring. He was the best of us, and he died to give us back our home. Aye, I don’t think any dwarf could ask for a more honorable death.”

Thorin felt like crying to hear Balin say those words, to know that despite his spell of madness his friends still looked upon him with kindness and love, but though he truly wished to cry, the tears just would not come. Perhaps that was just another thing ghosts could not do.

“Perhaps you’re right Balin. Maybe this isn’t healthy… feeling like I have a friendship with a dead dwarf I never properly met…”

She did not visit him for two weeks.

The dead King thought she wasn’t going back, and he cursed his never-ending loneliness. Thorin raged in his burial chamber, trying beyond hope to have any impact on the physical world around him and failing. His muscles felt tense and ready to break anything he could get his hands on, but when he tried to ram himself against his coffin he merely stumbled right through it. Eventually, Thorin collapsed to the floor of the room and screamed till his lungs and throat hurt. When he finally stopped, panting, he noticed something wonderful.

With all the construction work happening around Erebor, the mountain had become rather dusty, and with no one other than the human woman coming to visit him, a layer of dust had slowly been settling on the floor without him noticing. As he sat crumpled on the floor, his eyes picked up on particles of dust dancing around him in the air before settling. Tentatively, Thorin reached out his finger and dragged it across the floor. The finger left a clean line behind it.

You knew you shouldn’t go back to Thorin’s chamber, but there was something inside you pulling you down towards the cold stone room. When you entered, you exhaled shakily and felt almost as if you were betraying Balin’s trust - he had spoken to you since finding you down there to kindly and sincerely ask that you not continue to visit Thorin’s chamber, not because he didn’t want you down there per se, but he was worried about your mental health. Despite your conversation with Balin, and a two week detox period, you hadn’t been able to get rid of your strange need to ‘talk’ to Thorin Oakenshield.

You settled beside the coffin once again, and for a moment you weren’t entirely sure what to say. It had been so long since you were down there… you almost felt like an apology was the first thing that needed to be said, even though that was ridiculous.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been visiting you lately…”

It really was such an odd compulsion to speak.

“Apparently people were getting worried about me…”

Having not done this for a while, the more you spoke, the more self conscious you began to feel. You felt stupid, like a child believing there was a monster under their bed or a fairy at the end of their garden. There was no need to speak; Balin was right, it wasn’t as if anyone was listening. You suddenly felt like crying. You had wasted so many evenings coming down to speak to a chunk of stone when you could have been spending time among your newly found dwarven friends. A tear rolled down your cheek and fell to the floor, but when you hung your head in shame at yourself, you froze. There on the floor you could see words drawn in the dust.

I am here, and I am listening.

The reconstruction of Erebor took many years, and with your strong work ethic combined with the obvious emotional attachment you had to seeing the mountain restored, you had been promoted several times and eventually reached a level of recognition in the mountain equal to that of the surviving members of the company. The dwarves of the Lonely Mountain had wholeheartedly embraced the human woman who seemed to care just as much about their home as they did, and your organisational expertise meant that the mountain’s restoration had proceeded at a pace even some of the more optimistic dwarves could not have anticipated.

However, whilst work proceeded quickly in comparison to the lifespan of a dwarf, it was not so fast from a human perspective. Your joints ached as you climbed down to the burial chamber that you had come to know as well as your own home, for today was a very special journey. By rights you should have retired years ago, but you couldn’t. Not until today.

No longer did you kneel by the side of the coffin - Balin had seen to that once he’d discovered you’d started going there again - and there was a chair in the room permanently for your use. In recent years, it had become especially useful. You weren’t sure you could actually get up off the cold stone floor by yourself anymore.

Despite how your bones protested, there was a smile on your face when you finally reached the room and sat down, for today was a day to deliver a very special message to the ghost king. Erebor’s reconstruction was finally completed. The dragon’s wholesale destruction of his ancestral home had been completely erased. You closed your eyes as you delivered your message, and you as you did you could have sworn that, for the first time since you’d heard his speech in laketown, you heard the voice of Thorin Oakenshield himself saying thank you.

A chill settled on the room for a moment, and when it was gone, you no longer felt the pull to the room nor the compulsion to talk. Thorin Oakenshield would finally be allowed to rest in peace and go to the halls of mahal, and you knew you would not be coming back to his burial chamber again.

The end.

bâheluh – my friend of all friends

Forever Tags: @sweeticedtea @cd1242 @strongandfreedc @pixierox101 @jotink78 @luna-xial @underthemoon-n

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ziracona · 4 years ago

Text

-----The Kid (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, ?)

I don’t remember much. There are jumbled sounds and fragmented images, but I’m not sure if they’re my memories from tonight, or before.

Where am I?

Where am I…

I…

Somewhere…different. Not the workshop I’ve been in. The room is a different color. I’m seeing hazy ceiling through the darkness and a fan up above when I open my eyes. I don’t remember where I’d be, or why it’s different. My head hurts, my arms hurt, my chest is on fire. I’m still dying. Shit. Why did they move me?

There’s someone there, above me—a fuzzy outline. A girl, I think. It’s dark. She sees me looking up at her and pauses. Shit—there’s something in her hand. I remember now; I remember contracting with her. I remember her promising to help me. So why is she bent over my chest with what looks like a long, thin knife? Why is the pain I’m in worse than it’s ever been?

I’m looking at her in search of answers, adrenaline not quite kicked in yet, but about to, when she looks down at me and says, “Don’t move.”

I feel it almost before I hear it. There’s a flash of energy by her hand and the command seal slams into me and I can’t move. I choke on a pained cry as the curse travels through me and freezes me in place. I can feel the mana locked onto my core, like I’ve been frozen solid, turned to stone. It’s agonizing. I can’t even move my head; I can’t shut my eyes; I can’t look away. I can barely breathe.

She’s gonna kill me. I thought this would happen. I thought there must be somethin’ even worse than what they’d already done. Why else send her? Why else get me to agree to anything at all? I had to be betrayed. They’ve been recreating how I died for months now, and that was the only element they couldn’t get. How could I have been this stupid again. I knew the risk. I still don’t know what they’re going to do to me, but I knew the conditions they might be looking for, and still; still. I just looked at a face I couldn’t see, and thought ‘I am who I am,’ and I didn’t shoot. Again.

Again…

I’m scared. I’m terrified. I haven’t been terrified in a long time. I don’t know what’s happening to me. I see Pat, stooping to say, “You did this to yourself,” to me, to make those the last words I hear before I die. I feel it. I feel my heart stopping. I see faint New Mexico moonlight. I smell so much blood. I don’t see my mother waiting for me. I never got to see any of them again. I never got to see anyone again. He was right; I did it to myself, and the Throne took me. I didn’t get an afterlife.

I’m so afraid whatever is happening to me is going to somehow be worse. I don’t know why, but it’s like I’m there again. They say you see your life flash before your eyes. I didn’t. I saw things I never got to make it to crumble away, and there was just…nothing waiting. Nothing at all. It was like watching your soul disintegrate to nothing. Ending. Thread cut. I’d always been promised there was something; I thought there would be. I know now there is for almost everyone. Just not for me.

I don’t want to know what could be worse than that.

I can feel my heart pumping once every six seconds, my core fading, the pathetic trickle of mana I’m getting from the girl that’s keeping me alive. I can feel the blood pumping up from my heart and over my chest with every feeble beat. I can’t look. I can’t move. I can’t speak. All I can do is stare at the girl and wait.

She stares back, and I see horror and shock flood her features in the dim light.

Why?

“No! No—I-I’m sorry,” she stammers, starting to cry, “I’m so sorry—I didn’t mean to—I-I don’t know how to use the spells—I didn’t think they’d just happen. I didn’t mean to do that!”

I can’t process that.

She stops whatever she was doing to my chest, and reaches out her left hand shakily and cups my face. I can’t move.

“I-I’m sorry,” she pleads. Her hand is shaking. She’s still crying. She’s scared too, I realize, watching her, confused. My hair’s matted to my head with sweat, and she tries to brush some of it back. It takes me a second to realize that she’s trying to comfort me. I don’t know how to feel, genuinely. I don’t at all. This is…foreign.

But. There’s a faint memory there. Bein seventeen, starved and dehydrated. Dropping near dead on a doorway of a friend’s mom. I hoped she’d help me. I didn’t know. She did. First time since I was fourteen I’d felt like that at all. I don’t think it’s ever happened to me as a spirit.

This girl is young. Maybe about that old herself—can’t possibly be older than eighteen. She’s a kid.

I must have been crying too. Not sure which emotion was strong enough for that—I don’t think it was fear. I think it was shame, having made the same mistake. I think it was feeling betrayed by myself even. I don’t know. But I must’ve, because the girl wipes tears off me with a trembling thumb.

“I-I’m sorry,” she chokes out. She’s struggling to stop crying too, but not quite made it. I’m realizing slowly she was crying because she felt bad. It’s such an oddly endearing thing to picture a mage of any kind crying over. I wish being in agonizing pain didn’t make that so hard to think about. “I really didn’t. I promise. I’m not trying to hurt you—I—I’m not a very good mage,” she explains, tripping over herself with a voice still strained and breaking every few words, “I haven’t had much training—I can’t heal you, l-like I should. I don’t know how.” She starts to cry again in earnest. Starts sobbing on my chest. I want to smile now, I’m so overcome with relief and somethin else, but I still can’t move at all. “I tried! I tried to look it up—I tried to heal you! I can’t! So I—h-have to get the bullet out.” She has to take a second to keep talking at all. I’m getting soaked with tears now. This poor kid is going to dehydrate herself if she goes on like this. “Or you’ll die. But I can’t use magic, so I have to dig it out,” she sobs, face a ridiculous, miserable mess of snot and tears and nothing but earnest agony of her own, “I’m sorry—I know it hurts. I only wanted you to hold still so I wouldn’t mess up and hurt you with the pliers—I didn’t mean to use a seal on you.”

I wish I could nod, or something, but I can’t. The command seal is still digging into every cell in my vessel, and I might as well be a block of wood. I’m not afraid anymore. I’m…relieved. Shit. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m relieved enough to cry, and my body would like to, but I know she’s going to take that the wrong way if I do, so I fight it back.

Command seals are the worst. I’ve always hated the things. Usually people use ‘em on me because we’re not getting’ along too well, and they either want me to kill someone I don’t want to shoot, or they want me to put my gun to my chest and kill myself. You can resist them a little—I know, because I’ve tried. A lot of times. Depends on the power of the spell, and the spirit, and it depends on your motivation too. Some are easier than others. No one can resist one for long, though. Learned that the hard way too. Got too many memories of someone else making my body move and do something that haunts me.

I try to resist a spell again, now, but not for myself. I think this might be the first time it hasn’t been because I wanted to resist the spell. I can tell now I don’t really need to, probably. But I feel bad for this gal. Digging in with every bit of magic resistance I ever had, I meet her eyes and manage the faintest hint of a smile for just a second, before letting the paralysis take me again.

She stares at me, shocked, then relieved, and starts to cry again, and it’s funny to me. Guess we both want to cry over relief. That’s a couple things in common now.

“Thanks,” she manages, trying to smile back. She strokes back sweat-logged hair from my forehead again in one last little gesture of goodwill, then picks up her pliers, and returns to her task.

Honestly, it’s hard not to let some of the fear back. Dying how I did leaves a guy with a little bit of paranoia in his head. It could be an act. But I know there’d be no point in that, and I don’t honestly believe it was. I just hate being paralyzed. Even stuck with someone I could almost begin to feel something a little like trust towards. God, I never learn. I know nothin about this girl at all. Trust is a lot to put in a mage. I guess I do never learn, but it makes me happy, like that’s a victory. I guess in a way it is. I s’pose it’s okay to be proud of that. Don’t have a lot to my name; might as well keep my disposition.

Got no idea how long being stuck like this’ll last, but it has to wear off in a little while. I believe her about what she’s doing, but that doesn’t make it hurt less to have a piece of metal digging around in my chest. I should try and sleep. It’ll conserve what energy I got left, and I won’t have to be awake for this.

I go with that, once the command spell wears off enough to let me shut my eyes. It’s not until I’m about out that I remember I’ve seen her before. Remember one day a while back, when a kid saw me for a second through an open door, and looked horrified, and I thought it was novel to be looked at with pity again after so long.

Guess it was something a little more than novel.

I think I smile. Can’t believe something good came my way. Usually all I’m a magnet for is misfortune and trouble, and I gotta make whatever luck I want to get.

But I’m passin out from the pain in my chest again, and I’m not sure she’s gonna get that bullet out in time for my core to keep from disolvin, but there’s not nothin looking back at me this time.

It feels good. Like I thought it would. I’m not scared. I think it would be okay if I die like this.

There’s not nothin.

#fate grand order #fate go #fate go AU #fate #fate series #fate AU #writing #fanfic #fan fiction #billy the kid #fate go billy #fate billy #fate billy the kid #ritsuka fujimaru #gudako

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staggeringsmite · 4 years ago

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ooh, top 5 moments you've had/witnessed as a DM? (please use this an excuse to hype yourself up if you want!!)

my players make dm’ing beyond worth it, so i really have to give credit to them for the joy of what they bring to a lot of these scenes <3 (also this is all wandering isles bc it’s been my most narratively satisfying and invested dm experience) Buckle Up it’s a long one!!!

bonus: i’m very proud of my individual character moments! throughout the campaign we’ve had about four of these (the intro session scenes, two dream sequences for every pc, and a set of individual trial scenes). we’re a pretty big party so it’s hard to narrow it down, but i just love writing and running those longer narrative moments bc i think it’s a v interesting insight into each character and gives them each a separate moment to shine <3

5. “promise you’ll come back to her” / burning of contingency letters

i put these moments together perhaps to cheat a little bit, but also because they deserve it. xarus, the party’s barbarian whose family was abandoned by his mother at a young age pulls theresa, a forge knitting cleric about to board the airship he is a quartermaster of in order to find a cure for her sick wife. he asks theresa to promise him one thing, that no matter what she will come back to her wife. along the way they write contingency letters to their loved ones in and outside of the party as their adventures grow more and more dangerous, and eventually, exhausted and worn, theresa and xarus find each other in the den of a safehouse to talk. recognizing each other’s willingness to self-sacrifice, their conversation ends with them burning the contingency letters they’ve written, committing to life. these scenes come together because it shows how far they have come together, and the theresa and xarus relationship will always be a highlight of the wandering isles to witness. sometimes the players do all the best work for you, and it’s so wonderful to sit back and watch <3

4. miles is missing

damien returns to the university he works at after an unprecedented amount time away to check on his office before he heads back out on another adventure with the party. while there he moves to put a sticky note (canonically a magical item in the wandering isles universe) on his rival colleague’s (and gay lover/roommate of 20 years) door only to find it entirely emptied without a trace. despite their bickering, miles and damien are very close, and miles would never pack up his things and go without telling damien.

this was a more subtle cliff-hanger for the session, but it was made so much fun as a dm because the players were excited and joking the whole session about miles’ second appearance (and only since the very first session) so his sudden disappearance was made much more severe based on everyone’s anticipation of meeting and having a light-hearted interaction with him.

3. the infamous sex rave

sometimes things go very right as a dm and sometimes things spiral out of control when a pc mislabels a situation which becomes a running joke of the campaign. either way i love being stubborn in my defense of “it isn’t a sex rave!!” whenever they bring it up (and immediately playing an npc who also calls it a sex rave). basically the players had a heist encounter in which they were hired to break a group of pirate prisoner’s out of a secret underground information center (where magical artifacts were also being held and studied, and there was pertinent information stored for the party to take a swipe at). the group split and one subset of party members were forced to hide from guards on the outskirts of a large, gladiatorial style ring within the compound, in which prisoners were competitively battling in order to test the abilities of certain unknown artifacts for the entertainment of anonymous nobles in masquerade getup. based on the magical lighting effects, the strangely dressed noble onlookers, and the,,,, Fighting Noises being some of the only things the pc’s perceived from the level of the auditorium they hid at, it was unfortunately misnomer’ed the “weird sex rave” and has only been referred to it as that ever since.

2. mother abel’s goodbye

hmmm am i making players cry again? yeah maybe. mother abel was an elder cleric of nosa crossing, the starting city of the campaign. she’d lived through its settlement, destruction, rebuilding, and given her all not only to the city but also to the jilted creed (a secret society dedicated to disrupting geline, a large and dangerously powerful island-state which is one of the campaign’s greatest evils). in the last use of her strength she took on a role as a conduit for a powerful plane shift ritual to transport the residents of the city to safety in the feywild as nosa crossing began to be overrun by potent wild magics in the prime material plane. as a low-level cleric, the spell took its toll on her, and as the party arrived in the feywild via a similar ritual to find the inhabitants, they were led to her side. theresa, a native of nosa crossing now reunited with her wife yodean, went to abel’s side with yodean. as yodean sat on the foot of the bed, theresa kneeled as though praying to hold abel’s hand cleric to cleric, confessing her gratitude but admitting that she cannot give as freely as mother abel did, that she and yodean deserve to live for themselves as much as they choose everyday to live for other people. with her final words in a soft, weak message, mother abel comforted theresa in her decision. the scene as a whole was so wonderfully sad, and the best dm moment of something so raw as telling aj, theresa’s player, that while there was no way to confirm it in any real capacity, something in theresa felt that perhaps mother abel held out a little while longer to make sure she was safe one last time and make sure she’d truly gotten everyone home.

1. rosa’s betrayal / lian’s resurrection

enough of that sad shit let’s get mean babey!! aslkjglfk i will be riding the high of this session for an eternity, but it’s quite a lot to break down. rosa rucksaw is the captain of the crew the party rescues in the heist sequence, who eventually reveals herself to in fact be xarus’ mom who fully left to assume a new identity and is Pretty Horrible as a person. at the safehouse, the party is asked by the people they were hired if they would be willing to take the crew to a longer term safehouse island, and the decision is left to xarus. not wanting to be like his mom, xarus agrees to endure a little more time with them in order to them this service out of convenience and kindness. a few hours from their destination, rosa finds xarus on the deck and honestly? kinda begins to admit some amount of guilt for all the shit she did,,,, literally seconds before she reveals that when her and her crew were caught by geline, she struck a deal in order to keep them alive, saying to her biological son “out on the cloudsea your crew is your family, and son, believe me, i’d do anything for my family” before her crew on the deck anchored the ship to an invisible gelinish war vessel and we snapped to roll20 for combat. the look of horror and betrayal on everyone’s face as her monologue hit those final lines, ugh and the fact that no one was super suspicious made it even better!! sometimes it Really Works, and this was one of those times!

flash forward in the battle, and an npc (it’s miles, the gay lover from a few numbers ago) being held hostage by the gelinish vessel is killed, as he is resurrected by two party members (damien and theresa) damien reaches for his soul, as theresa, who multi-classed into divination wizard after a pc named lian died (with failed attempts from theresa and xarus to hold her back) feels another presence in the grey, misty beyond. lian died in session four, and when i said her name to reference jack’s character everyone lost it mostly out of confusion before i began to narrate lian feeling restless in the afterlife, eventually reaching out and forming a celestial warlock pact with miles through his connection to damien and being called upon by her goddess sune as theresa reached out, offering lian the chance to go back. theresa returning to that moment with both her clerical and divinatory abilities, with the blessing of sune, lian emerging on the battlefield, now a vengeance paladin instead of life cleric, with a flaming sword and celestial wings at her back was such an incredible highlight to set up and run,, i just, <333 very proud of myself (and very thankful jack was on board for her coming back) for this moment

thank you so so much!! this was a long ramble, but i hope it was somewhat interesting to people not in the wandering isles <33

send a top 5 or 10?

#ask #thats-the-moon-grey #thank you!!!#dm'ing is so...good

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