#I can only imagine that she never thought she'd have to resist killing not one but -two- mindflayers for the sake of love....Love you babe~

[jeeaark]

final showdown pt2.

This was one of those battles where I survived it without a single reload. So. This entire scene? Accurate. Embarrassingly Accurate. (except the healy dealy. that's Greygold flair)

Wanted to get to the crown as fast as possible, but had to fly by Emps. Literally stopped next to bud to personally yell/reassure the fool I was gonna save their ass and then risked the opportunity attack.

(which. I forgot to bring my dex 18 gloves and discovered illithidism had shit dex, so....IS FINE. GG IS ALL FOR STARTING A NEW COLLECTION OF FRIENDSHIP SCARS)

BUT SQUID BUDDY MISSED. so. I like to think Enthralled Emps had put some effort into jumping through some rather large logic hoops to miss. Unlike Greygold who put JACK effort into dodging.

I originally intended to leave Emps completely alone, risk the attacks. But. Brain tentacle surprise happened. Right next to the squid. Emps rolled high in initiative.... But not as high as Lae'zel. Game-wise, ✨I panicked✨. Story-wise? I don't think this could have been any more in-character. Albeit, I found myself quadruple checking to make sure knockout mode was ABSOLUTELY on

[allwormdiet]

Extermination 8.8

Oh thank god this absolutely ass day can reach a conclusion

This is one of the more grimly realistic parts of the worldbuilding in this story tbh. People gonna people, every disaster that comes along someone sees the whole things the chance to springboard into something bigger

Five bucks says these memorials are mass produced or something, they have a guy who cranks out however many of them are projected to be needed a year in advance and they put the names in once the tally's made

Even with Leviathan driven off, it still left the city utterly fucked. Whole place is cooked, status quo obliterated.

I don't know if we caught the notification that Gallant bit it in the story, might have been in the same crush that took out Tattletale or might have been after Skitter's armband got fried

Shame, though. Seemed nice, for a rich boy training to be a supercop.

Taylor, honey, that guy took massive damage to a limb that probably included fucking up a major artery or vein, never mind shock or infection. Not everybody is as ludicrously resistant to damage as you are

Yeah, that's eight dogs dead. Two of Rachel's best, too. Almost half of her family slaughtered to bring down Leviathan even temporarily. Also, seeing that Rachel knows her letters but not spelling is. Sad.

Feel like that comes up a lot when talking to Taylor. "Hey are you cool?" "I'm meeting the absolute basics of survival" "That's not what I asked"

And here we are: Lisa's reveal

Brief pause to be thankful that the damage to the loft didn't kill anyone, and that the Hebert house is still intact. I hope Taylor at least left a note telling Danny she's alive though, like fuck

I like how Coil explained his power as the manipulation of destinies when it's literally just getting a one-time reset when choosing between A or B. Dramatic ass.

Is this a nod to the retconned Empire fight? I'd heard about that somewhere, that the first version of the chapter or chapters got scrubbed in favor of revisions.

So Taylor straight up got them all taken down in the B version of the Lung fight. Goddamn.

...Also, this means that Tattletale straight up saved Skitter from the ABB. "Bug girl" would've been found out as the one who took down Lung no matter what, but if she hadn't joined the Undersiders then Bakuda would've had people hunting for a solo target, and she'd be fucking dead. They barely survived Bakuda's attack with their total strength, God only knows how bad it'd be otherwise.

It's interesting that Lisa considers all the struggle her own fault, and that Taylor is immediately like "nah I'd do it again, mostly"

Oh I hadn't even thought about that part, the Undersiders know where she lives and they could've been fully willing to jump her for the offense. Fucking thanks, Colin

And we're back again

I wonder if Lisa thinks she can actually get Taylor to budge on the Dinah issue. I wonder if she even wants Taylor to budge on the Dinah issue. Knowing her circumstances I can only imagine that her loyalty to Coil will only last for as long as he's got a hand around her throat, the second she's clear there's no way she doesn't burn him.

And it'd probably be a lot easier to burn him if he's deprived of his pet precog.

I think circumstances aligned to make Taylor a lot more down on heroes in general and the Protectorate/Wards in particular than is necessarily accurate. We know that Shadow Stalker is considered a problem child internally, she's hardly a ringing endorsement of how they run things but she's not supposed to be.

Armsmaster... I think the thing with Armsmaster is that the system straight up facilitated his worst impulses. He's ambitious, he's hungry, he's focused, and those aren't negative qualities to have, but they're not qualities you want for the leader of a team. He clearly struggles with big-picture thinking and gets wrapped up in his own head and his own projects; that's not someone you can just give a leadership position to. The fact that being the Big Hero of a city means you're also in charge of the Hero Team in that city is a massive oversight, it means he's put in a position where nobody can check him on his bullshit and force him to come up for air. Nobody could tell Armsmaster "no" when he came up with a plan to secure his legacy, at the small small price of threatening the entire goddamn Endbringer truce in the event his plan ever sees the light of day, and that's a failure of the system as well.

But these are the examples that Taylor has been forced to work with, and it's not like her other encounters have made her feel any better. Looking at you, Panacea. The culture of heroes seems to be borderline radioactive with everything that Taylor hates and fears and suffers under; cruelty, petty politics, arrogance, self-righteousness, jockeying for attention.

Is it any wonder she's drawn towards the opposition of that culture? Aligning herself with the opposing force and against everything that makes her suffer, still fighting the bad guys but not taking shit from the good guys? How is the conclusion anything other than foregone?

Cliffhanger, though an obvious one imo, considering the fact we've got 20+ arcs left

Current Thoughts

Honestly this chapter was so welcome just for giving a reprieve from all the tension during and after the Leviathan battle. What a fucking ride. Kudos to Lisa for being the only person who has managed to even kind of figure out how to talk to Taylor, even if it involves manipulating her I maintain that this has been way way healthier than if she was allowed to rock on as an independent hero. Because she'd be fucking dead.

But of course even this reprieve has to be interrupted by fucking Coil. I hope they kick his teeth in.

[houseofbreadpakoda]

Why PS II killed me

I had never expected Aditha to turn so vulnerable infront of the very woman he had preached to be a snake. Never expected him to beg Nandhini to forget the past and run away with him. When Nandhini tells Aditha, that she truly cannot bring herself to kill him, it's so heavily evident that she's lying through every syllable, yet Aditha, fallen deep in love, doesn't even catch a wiff off it.

I was convinced that Nandhini would manipulate Aditha into believing that she truly loved him, gain his trust and kill him in cold blood afterwards. Kill him as he looked at her in betrayal. I was convinced that she truly felt nothing for him, and this was all a play. After all, the woman who had dedicated the sole purpose of her life to taking revenge, couldn't possibly let her emotions take control.

But when Aditha asks her to leave pazhavettaraayar, says that he will cut ties with his family, and that they can run away and live happily forever, together......you can see it in her eyes. You can see it in her eyes, that it is exactly what she pines for. You can see the life she has already imagined, with their home and little children. And somewhere for a second her heart has convinced her to fall into his arms and tell him that, it is all she has ever yearned for.

But she doesn't.

She lies to him, that she wants the crown, the throne, the royalty, to be the queen. And that is why she married Pazhavettaraayar. And even before you see the words pierce through Aditha's heart, you can see them pierce through hers. You can see her eyes twitching with every lie she utters, as her heart breaks into smaller and smaller pieces, at the betrayal of her tongue to her heart.

Just like that, Aditha knows. Knows that there is no truth to what she spoke. There cannot be. But yet, even the thought that she uttered those words infuriates him. Because somewhere he knows that no matter how hard he tries, she'll never let go of her thirst for revenge. He knows that they can never be. He knows that he'd rather die than live without her, thus making death, his only escape.

So he asks her to kill him. To rid him of the hell he's lived in for years. To end his suffering. He draws out his dagger, hands it to her and says it again. And Nandhini stands there frozen. Suddenly the task which was planned to be executed from months, sounds rather impossible. The cracks in her heart have caused her emotions to leak. Her tears glaze her eyes.

After frantically wiping out every lamp in the room, he reaches back to her with hazy footsteps. She feels the cold hilt of the dagger against her palms. It is the pournami night, his face lit by the moonlight, Not even the lord's ready to ease up the situation. He'd uttered something, which she'd barely registered by the time he'd slowly drawn her hands towards himself. The resistance of his hard muscle against the blade brings her back to reality. She can feel the dagger puncturing into his stomach. And she realises, that she doesn't want this anymore.

It is no longer about the revenge, ego or vanity. It is no longer about who wins. It is all about Nandhini losing one of the very few people who lived their life in her name. The haze in her head has cleared. She Screams. Shouts. Yells. Cries. Weeps. Does everything to get him back. Everything. But it's too late.

The fact that Nandhini seemed so confident about killing Karikalan and even lied so heartlessly, convinced me that all she wanted was for him to die that night. But seeing her question her decisions every passing moment, only heightened my emotions. The last thing I'd expected from Nandhini was for her to weep for Aditha. But, you know what killed me more?

Karikalan taking a look at Nandhini, smirking at her and pulling her into his arms as his breath begins to run shallow. Karikalan seeing Nandini and realising that she did love him all along, although it was all over now. You can see the peacefulness on his face, as he let's go of every bad decision, washing away his sins, dying in his beloved's arms, fortunate only enough to die knowing that the one they owed their life to, had long ago given up their lives to them too.

And Aditha who was deprived of such validation throughout his entire life, was experiencing it all just moments before he died.

And at that moment, I think we all died a little, the strings of her hearts snapping a little, breaths hitching a little, tears flowing a little.

[bookwyrm35]

June 21:Character Arcs

At first I wanted this day to be about Quill because honestly he has one of the best character arcs in the story and I could talk about my son for hours- but I've changed my mind. Today I would like to confront Holly's character and how I my perseption of her changed as she did.

Holly started out as one of my least favorite characters. She came out of no where, swept both Lockwood and George off thier feet instantly, and in so many ways invaded the safe space that Portland Row was for Lucy. She felt strict and demanding and stuck out like a needling throne in the midst of the homely chaos of Lockwood and Co.

Another part of the reason I disliked Holly so much at this stage was that...she reminded me a lot of the parts I don't like about myself. She over-organized, picked other people apart, showed them their worst parts in contrast to her best, and had an overall aura of "I'm better than you".

My whole life I have wished to be a Lucy. To be brave and talented and confident but never vain or haughty. I've always wanted to build a place where I am the master of my fate, a place where I am surrounded by friends, a place that is entirely our own.

I've always feared that I'm more like Holly. Perceived as "perfect" and flattered to my face, but hated behind closed doors. My mind plays tricks on me and constantly tells me that I'm invading, I'm putting too much of myself into a place even if I just tidied up. Seeing a character like that so blatantly disliked in these books brought those ugly thoughts to the surface and, I'm ashamed to say it, but instead of taking comfort or solidarity in Holly I turned my hatred of myself to hatred of her.

And then... the Poltergeist of Aickmere's happened. I had to take a moment in the middle of thier argument because Lucy didn't. I know she couldn't, not really, but I had to take a step back in that moment and realize a few things. This is when I realized how enormously brave Holly Munro is. This is when I realized she and Lucy are two sides to the same coin. Holly had every reason under the stars to leave the ghost hunting industry after what happened to her and her team. But she didn't, not fully at least. She stayed at Rotwells and took a desk job even when she hated who she worked under. She suffered for who knows how long because even if she couldn't bring herself to serve in the field, she believed she was still doing the world some good. Still protecting people anyway she could.

Unlike Lucy, she did have the luxury of possessing other skills that would have gotten her as far from agencies as she ever wanted. But she chose to stay. More than that, by joining Lockwood and Co. she decided to step back into a field that killed all of her friends. She had every reason to leave, but Holly Munro chose to stay and fight.

I bet she didn't expect more resistance from teammates than ghosts.

I can't imagine how horrible she must have felt when Lucy announced her resignation. Everyone, and I am certain that includes Holly, thought Lucy was leaving because of her. I remeber feeling as if the floor had been ripped out from under me as I read that scene, but imagine what it must have been like for Holly. Maybe she'd thought they'd made up, maybe she was excited to put their past pettiness and differences aside and move forward as a united agency...but no. Lucy left, and now it was up to Holly to keep the boys together.

I wonder if they blamed her. I know she must have blamed herself, even if only a little. And yet, once again, she stayed. I can just see it, her looking at Lockwood and George as they realize Lucy is gone and not coming back. The hopelessness that must have surrounded them. I bet she took on a lot more responsibilities after that. I think she took it upon herself to keep the case book full, make sure they ate, and just did everything she could to help keep them together when they were falling apart. It's no wonder that her first words to Lucy are how much she missed her.

And then comes my favorite part. We get to see in Aldbury Castle Holly's reaction to Lockwood and Lucy 'dieing'. It's hard to explain why but it brings literal tears to my eyes to think of a wild, mad eyed, crazed hair Holly going absolutely savage on the research workers after thinking her friends had died. Like Lucy, seeing the madwoman behind the primp and proper lady made me love and admire her so much more.

I think this is when it struck me how human Holly is. How fiercely loyal she is, and how much she truly cares. It was never a bad thing to be like Holly, and this is when I started to see that.

It was a little bit after things had settled down (and promptly got stirred up again) that my next favorite part comes. It's when Penelope comes to Portland Row, using all tactics at her disposal to pressure Lockwood and Co out of business. Lucy's pretty silent through the whole thing, but the second that snake dares paint Holly as a coward- if their rapiers had been within grabbing distance you know someone would have walked out there with blood on their hands.

Holly began in my eyes like somthing of an infection, quick to run its course and needing to be taken out. But I now I see her for the true beauty and nessecity that she is. Lockwood and Co would not have survived without her. She is the constant, she is their stability, and when they need it, she is their brave, brilliant, and a bit of a madwoman of an agent.

[sapphire-weapon]

I love RE4 remake, but if there’s one thing I feel that we were absolutely robbed of, it’s the scene when Leon attacks Ada. It had so much potential. They could have really expanded on it. We’ve seen throughout the game that Saddler can command people who are infected with the Plaga without being near them. Imagine if they had included that scene and we could actually see/hear Saddler give Leon the order to attack Ada. We could've seen Leon desperately trying to resist Saddler's control and ultimately losing the fight over his own body. We could’ve seen him trying to warn Ada as she approaches to see what's wrong, knowing that he’s not going to be able to stay in control for much longer. The scene would have also shown us that even if there is some tension between Leon and Ada, they still care about each other. This would be apparent by Leon being desperate not to hurt her, and Ada showing concern for Leon while he’s fighting with the parasite for control. Maybe this could even be when Ada finds out that Leon is infected (I’m not entirely sure if she knows at this point in the game since he never brings it up to her. She only knows that Ashley is infected, I think). The scene would've also worked as a parallel to Ashley attacking Leon earlier in the castle.

I've thought about this quite a bit tbh because I also wanted a violent Leon plaga freakout for various reasons don't kinkshame me, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was removed for a reason.

Or, rather, a few reasons.

His plaga freakout in OG never really made much sense, and it definitely wouldn't make sense in the context of remake. In OG, he almost just kind of goes berserk and starts attacking Ada because... ???? The ganados attack people, I guess? But in this version of the lore, Saddler would have had to have given that order directly, and if Leon and Ada are alone in a room together, there's really no way for Saddler to know where she is, because he doesn't have full control over Leon as part of the hivemind yet. So how would he give the order? With Leon and Ashley, it was easier, because her plaga was more advanced than his was, and it's a given that if Ashley's not in the hands of the Los Illuminados, then she's with Leon.

Ada's goals in remake where Leon is concerned seem to have changed. In OG, Ada keeps checking up on Leon because she needs his mission to succeed because her plan the whole time was for him to get the sample by killing Saddler, and then she'd take it from him. So, she was always checking up on him to make sure he'd get to where she needed him to be. In remake, Ada's using him as a distraction. She makes sure that he's always pointed in the right direction so that he can go fuck shit up while she does things in the wake of his chaos -- but she doesn't need him, necessarily. It sounds like she and Wesker have a contingency plan already in place if Leon was to get killed and/or blow it. There's no need for her to be checking in on him in person this time around the way that she does in OG. So, there'd be no reason for her to approach him in order for this scene to happen in the first place. It'd run counter to Ada's character motivation this time around.

Having Leon successfully fight off Saddler's influence undercuts Saddler's power and menace as a villain. Neither Leon or Ashley successfully break away from Saddler's hold on them at any point (it seems like Saddler either lets them go voluntarily or he's reached the limit of what his influence can do with their plagas being as early in development as they are), so for Leon to randomly do that makes the threat less threatening and lowers the stakes significantly.

The scene itself is unnecessary when it comes to conveying that Leon and Ada still have concern for each other. The boat scene does a lot of heavy lifting this time around. Ada is downright warm towards him in the boat scene, and Leon conveys that he very clearly still wants to think the best of her, even if he's wary about doing it.

Their relationship is not meant to be the same in remake as it was in OG. Just. Straight up. Unlike OG, RE4R is very aware that Ada is a significant part of the trauma that Leon's still trying to process from Raccoon City. Leon distrusts Luis up until the moment of Luis's death because of what Ada did to him -- is still doing to him. In OG, that part of Leon does not exist, which is why he trusts Luis instantly in OG. For remake to put in a scene of Leon trying to fight off Saddler's influence in order to not hurt Ada, it really takes away from the efficacy of that part of his character arc, and it's a distraction from all of the ways that Ada's already hurt him. It would show that Leon is still in the same place he's always been in terms of putting everyone before himself, regardless of who they are, when that's not supposed to be who he is anymore in remake.

So. yeah. While I want plaga!Leon, too, (and also maybe wish that Ada still kneed Leon in the balls), that scene was removed for a very good reason, and I'm glad they cut it.

[newtabfics]

The Wrong Kind Of Love. Childe x Fem!Reader

Summary: After learning Childe's real name when helping Aether with Teucer, Y/N teases the harbinger any chance she can, absolutely using the fact that Teucer likes her to her advantage immunity-wise. She jokes and says she wants a night she'd never forget.

Triggers: Both of them are toxic af. No one but Paimon and Teucer is pure in this one. But also spicy content which is a lot of rough play and taunting.

Teucer’s arms snapped around Y/N’s waist, startling Childe from his hiding spot. He watched her stumble before smiling and hugging him back. He then caught the mischievous grin on her face before she squeezed him hard and lifted him, twirling as the boy squealed with joy in her arms.

“Quit!” Teucer laughed.

Aether chuckled as Paimon beamed. Y/N set him down and ruffled his hair. “Be careful on your way back. Make sure to have awesome stories for when we visit.”

“You better have stories too, Y/N! I wanna hear about all your adventures. Be careful on the way to Inazuma. Bye-bye!” With that, the boy ran out.

“Aw. Someone’s maternal instinct is kicking in,” A voice taunted as he came from behind them.

Y/N glanced over at him with a smile. “Well, that depends, gonna fulfill that instinct with me?”

Aether choked and punched her shoulder. “Not in front of Paimon.”

“Aether, I know where babies come from. I am a travel expert,” She pointed out.

Childe smirked as he tilted his head. “What’s in it for me?”

���Nothing. Just good fun…Ajax,” She cooed, making him glare. “Nope. You totally saw how much your little brother adores me. Sooo…you can’t kill me! You can’t kill me!” She chanted childishly, making Aether shake his head in shame.

Childe pursed his lips, nose crinkling in disgust. Pest, he could only think as he smirked. “Well, I can’t help but wonder. This wild cat is quite cute when she’s all maternal.”

“Maybe you should help with that then,” She repeated, making his body tense. He could only imagine the face she’d make under him which caused him to look away. This earned him a snicker from her as she approached. He had to hold his breath, resisting taking in her sweet scent as she whispered, “Don’t be too childish, Ajax.”

He glared at her, ignoring Paimon’s squealing laugh. “His ugly face is kinda funny. You really don’t like her, do you, Ajax?”

Childe simply stared at her as Aether sighed. “Quit. That’s between those two. Only Y/N gets to call him that and live.”

Paimon squeaked and hid behind Aether before gasping and shaking him. “Like how a husband can call his wife darling!?”

The next day couldn’t have come sooner. Childe found himself in the market, looking at items he needed to buy to send home to his brother. When the singsong, “Hello, Ajax,” rumbled into his ear, he sighed and glared at her.

“Aw, not even a little spooked?” Y/N huffed, pouting up at him.

He smirked. “You’re a lot less sneaky than you think. I saw you see the Traveler and Paimon off to come to me,” He chuckled, nodding in the direction of the disappearing Traveler.

“Fair. Shopping for Teucer?”

“I am.”

“Mind if I join? I’d like to send something to him too and well…you know his address.”

Childe blinked and nodded. “Alright then. Is there anything particular?”

“I’ve already got it picked out actually,” She chuckled. “I ended up showing him how to do some origami folding and he really got into it. If there’s a kit I can buy him so he can practice, I’d like to send it to him.”

“You…taught him origami?’ he asked curiously.

“Yeah. It was while you and Aether were talking about some stuff and asked us to stay behind at the campsite. Had to keep him entertained. Besides, it was fun! I used to do it to keep my hands fiddling as a kid. Thought he’d enjoy it. Turns out he did. You’ll love this,” She chuckled as she dug into her bag.

He watched her pull out a familiar journal she used for documenting her travels throughout Teyvat. From it, she pulled a small folded frog. He blinked at it. She smiled and set it on the nearby table, using her finger to make it hop once.

“Well, I’ll say, the wildcat has some dexterity.”

“Teucer has one with him too. This is the one he made for me after he practiced a ton.” she put it back in her journal, looking at it fondly before closing it. “He seemed really into it so maybe he’d enjoy it back home.”

Childe hummed and nodded. “Fine then. Let’s search for your gift.”

“Oh, Ajax, thank you,” she whispered, keeping her voice low.

This only infuriated him, making him glare at her. “Quit. I can’t let that name get out.”

“Oh, you’ve seen what I can do when I’m actually being sneaky. Don’t be so mean. Besides, convince me not to and I might consider it.”

He glared at her before smirking and gripping her chin. “I think everything comes at a price. I’m sure even I could convince you.”

‘You know you can’t buy me though,” She chuckled, cheeks flushing from the contact.

“Which is why I’ll be taking you out to the town. Come on, wildcat. Let’s have some fun.”

Y/N blinked as the harbinger led her into Liyue Harbor before following him eagerly. She admitted to Aether long ago about her feelings towards the man that was better put a frenemy of theirs.

“I know it’s nothing like true love or something so romantic. I do have feelings for him and I know I’ll get over him…once he’s uh…out of my system.”

“Uh-huh. More like in your system.”

“You’re gross, shuddup!”

The Harbinger wrapping his arm around her shoulders made her blink. Part of her was alert to his closeness, keeping an eye on his body language to determine if there was any deceit in it. The other part of her wanted to yank him down the alleyway and kiss him and reach her hand along his stomach and–

“Are you even here?” Childe teased, pulling her close to him. “I figured you’d be bouncing with joy. Finally, someone’s taken an interest in the wildcat.”

Y/N smirked up at him. “Aw. You like me then?”

“Like a pest,” He snickered. She laughed and elbowed him gently, making him genuinely smile. “You haven’t been able to explore Liyue Harbor much, right?”

“No. Aether and I met at a festival in Mondstat. When I bemoaned about wanting to travel, he just said to join him.”

Childe blinked at that. “Wait, really?” He heard from informants that Aether’s new friend seemed to be an experienced traveler.

“Yeah. I mean, I was a part of the Adventurer’s Guild but I just wanted to do more. I was mostly stationed in the city because I mean…look at me, Childe,” She sighed, gesturing to herself. “Most people don’t take me too seriously. Mostly the height.”

“I can see it,” He amended. “I’m not innocent in that judgment either though.”

“And I don’t even fault you for it,” She giggled. “Still, I’ve been enjoying it. Though, as soon as we started coming into the city, we met a handsome little Schneznyan!”

Childe laughed at that, nodding. “Apologies for him. I’m glad he did meet with you all though. He was in capable hands. You likely remind him of our sister.”

“He said as much.” She smiled as they walked through Liyue Harbor, taking in the sight. “So, what will you show me then, Childe?” She caught Zhongli’s eye and waved. The man studied the harbinger for a moment before nodding and waving back.

Childe hummed, knowing the man was likely keeping an eye on them for her safety. Didn’t change that it irritated him though.

“C’mon. Let’s get a private place so we can enjoy our day,” He hummed, guiding her away. 

She blinked but smiled as she leaned into him as they walked. 

He tensed as he glanced down at her. He had to admit, holding her close wasn’t all bad, even if she was a pest.

As the sun set and the sky grew dark, Y/N found herself laughing with Childe as they made their way to the Wangshu Inn. He was walking her up to her room, helping her onto the elevator.

As the wooden box climbed up, Y/N smiled. “Thank you for this, Ajax.”

Childe scoffed and glared at her. “Would you quit saying my name already?”

“I figured you’d like it, Ajax,” she giggled, smirking up at him.

“Quit.”

“Make me.”

With a snarl, he lurched forward. Her hands went up her hand gripping her blade quickly before it froze as his lips found herself. She willed the sword away and wrapped her arms around his neck as he pressed her against the wall of the elevator.

As it came to a stop at the top floor, he broke the kiss and lifted her, carrying her to her room. She wanted to make a snarky comment about him stalking her but it died in her throat when she was pinned against the wall, the harbinger’s body pressed hard against hers. His eyes bore into her hungrily before his mouth was on her neck, biting and kissing aggressively.

“I’ll make you regret this,” He growled, grinding against her roughly.

“Make sure I never forget it,” She moaned, tugging his hair as she ground down against him.

He groaned as he pulled her from the door, finding his way to the bed and laying her down. The man was quick to strip her down, eying her body carefully. 

His fingertips found the scars over her torso, likely from fights with monsters much larger than her. After seeing her fighting style as her vision gleamed on the floor, he knew she dove headfirst again and again, earning her victories and those marks as proof they’d happened.

“Beautiful,” he hummed happily before bending and licking every scar his tongue could find before making his way between her legs. “You won’t ever forget this. I’ll have you sobbing my name,” He swore before shoving her knees against her chest and burying his face against her.

She gasped and moaned loudly, gripping his hair and tugging as his tongue lavished over her. Y/N cried out, slipping out, “Aj–” before biting her lip.

Childe snarled at that. “What? You can whisper my name but you can’t scream it?” he taunted as he threw his glove off his hand before sliding two fingers into her.

“Fuck!” She whined before meeting his eye as his fingers curled deviously. “Believe it or not, I r-respect your wishes to not be t-tracked.”

Childe cooed as he kissed her clit, rolling his tongue carefully over it before pulling away. “Such a sweet little wildcat. You might make me breed you.”

At her twitch, he smirked and stood, pulling his fingers out. Her whine only fueled him as he sucked his fingers into his mouth, cleaning them carefully before unbuckling his pants. Barely even removing them, he revealed himself to her, taking pride in the way she gulped nervously despite her hunger.

“Like it? That big enough for you?” He taunted. Her movement was so fast, he nearly kicked her, but how could he when this woman was suddenly kneeling before him, taking a long lick up his length? “Fuck,” He grunted.

“Gods you taste amazing,” she whispered, nuzzling against his thigh as she stroked him slowly. “Do I really affect you this much?” She asked.

Childe couldn’t answer as he was left moaning when her mouth sucked his length in. She was swallowing him down, bobbing her head along him eagerly as she reached between her legs to touch herself.

He almost couldn’t believe it as she looked up at him, almost taunting him for letting her gain the upper hand against him. All the fantasies he’d had of her were nothing compared to the way she pressed her nose against his pelvis, swallowing thickly as her eyes watered.

“What’s wrong? Is it–fuck–too big for your little mouth?” He grunted as he gripped her hair. He smirked before thrusting into her mouth, watching her cheeks flush.

Y/N let her jaw slacken as he began to thrust into her throat, keeping a tight hold on her hair to prevent her escape. Like she would. Her hand cupped her breast, twisting gently at her nipple as her fingers pumped into her. She looked up at him excitedly as she dripped on the floor.

Childe swore as he took in the sight of her, biting his lip and moaning loudly before forcing her to deep-throat him. After she swallowed the spit in her mouth, squeezing him, he slowly pulled out and pulled her up. Her whimper at the strain on her hair made him smirk as he gripped her face.

“Beg,” He commanded, lightly dragging his soaked tip against her thigh almost tauntingly.

“Childe, please.”

“Not that name,” He snarled, tugging her hair and forcing her face into the bed. 

She squirmed and grunted into the sheets as his hand slapped against her rear. Another strike had her hissing in pleasure and pain. It didn’t stop her from wiggling her lower half at him as if trying to hypnotize him with her naked form.

“Wanna try that again?” He asked as he let her adjust, keeping her hand against her shoulder to keep her down.

“Please, Aja–AX!” She squealed as he plunged into her in one fell swoop. 

Her moans sent a fire in him as he kept her in place, pumping into her as deep as he could. He couldn’t help but fall into the intoxicating feeling of her climaxing at his length as he held her down.

“That’s a good little wildcat,” he moaned. “Taking me so beautifully. Fuck, you’re such a pest.”

She couldn’t retaliate as she would’ve usually. Her eyes rolled back as she drooled on the sheets. Y/N could only moan as his fingers found her nub again as he moved over her. His hand found her neck and pressed against the sides of her neck.

“You’re soaking my pants?” He taunted, teeth finding her ear. “Such a naughty kitty. Gonna have to punish you.” He moaned as she tightened around him. “Masochist.”

“A-Ajax,” she rasped, shaking as she wavered closer to the edge as her vision blurred from the tears in her eyes.

“Come,” he commanded as he released her throat. She let out a shout as she did, slicking him entirely. Childe groaned as he lost himself in the euphoria, sliding his hand from her throat to her supple breast as he milked her. “Good kitty.”

Y/N mewled under him as he pressed against her, practically rutting into her as his hand slid from between her legs to her hip. He pulled her up against her, finding a new angle. “Fu-uck,” She whined.

Childe smirked as she began to whimper and thrust deeper into her. Her mewl and chanting of his name, begging for him to move again. He let her twitch under him as her feet found some stability at last and began to rock back against him.

“Look at you. So desperate for me.” he lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him. He shuddered at the debauched expression she held, not breaking her sight as his fingers slid into her mouth. “That’s a good little wildcat…Yeah. I think I will.” He thrust hard, making her yelp happily. “I think I will try to breed you. After all, it’s what you wanted right? Wanted me to fulfill that maternal instinct? Admit it. You’ve wanted my offspring since the moment you saw me.”

“Fughk, yesh,” She moaned around his fingers. “Puleash brreb me.”

He snapped and began to thrust harder into her, holding her tongue between his fingers as he found a brutal pace. He could barely hear her moaning his name as the blood rushed in his ears.

With a grunt as his teeth dug into her neck, he buried load after load into her. His body shuddered violently, only barely registering her whimper as copper prickled against his tongue. He pulled his mouth away, kissing it gently.

Morning came almost in a heartbeat as he blinked blearily at the sun peeking through the window. He looked around to find no sign of Y/N, not even her travel bag. Recalling the mention of Inazuma, he leaped to his feet and dressed.

Hurrying to the strange waypoint, he fixated on Liyue Harbor and hurried through the crowds. There he saw Aether and Paimon boarding the Crux with Y/N in tow.

“What? Not even a goodbye?” He chuckled, eying her.

“I figured you wouldn’t want to be disturbed,” She said nonchalantly, making him blink. “Besides, you looked so cute with how soundly you slept.”

Aether groaned and rolled his eyes. “Hurry up. Beidou is getting everyone ready.”

“I won’t be long,” she promised as the other two went up. “I know I’ll see you again.”

“Couldn’t get enough?” he teased.

“Nah. I’m good now,” she laughed, making him gape. “I mean, I knew it wasn’t romance or anything. It was good fun. Besides, I don’t play with used toys.”

Childe gulped as Beidou called for her to get on the boat. With a wave, she boarded the ship. He could only watch as she sailed away to the storm surrounding Inazuma, his heart pounding vehemently.

“Fuck, she’s perfect,” He sighed happily.

[arthropod-concoctions]

Interlude: at fort Crastle

(ch 1 - ch 9 - ch 11)

Prince Cleo awoke from yet another hazy fever dream to see Bdubs sitting on the chair next to her bed. She attempted to sit up, but gave up on that after collapsing into a coughing fit.

“Hi Bdubs,” she managed to say after the coughing subsided. “How has your day been?”

“Not good,” he replied. “Sanguacanis keeps invading closer and closer to our lands, and negotiations with king Ren aren't getting anywhere. If this keeps up, we're going to have a war on our hands soon.”

Cleo hummed in response. It was hard for them to care about the political situation in their current state. It's not as if they'd witness much more of it.

“But don't worry about that. How are you feeling?”

“Oh, you know,” Cleo said, gesturing vaguely with their hand, “Whatever I'm feeling now, it'll be worse tomorrow, so when you look at it that way, I feel great!”

Bdubs grabbed their hand. “You'll get better, Cleo. I promise.”

But Cleo shook her head. Bdubs was always so confident that he could simply will good things into existence. Fact was, her sickness was only worsening, and it was only a matter of time before it killed her and left her body so wrecked she'd not come back, no matter what colour her eyes were.

Unless they changed something.

“Listen, Bdubs. I need you to do something for me,” Cleo said, and attempted to sit up again. After some effort, and a steadying hand from Bdubs, they were sitting upright.

“Anything.”

“I want you to put me out of my misery.”

Bdubs' eyes widened in that typical way, and he shook his head. “No! I won't do that. Never.”

“Yes you will. Look, we both know that I'm on my way out--” another coughing fit conveniently emphasised their point-- “And at this point, I'm just a big hurting waste of air. It'd be better for everyone, including myself, if you killed me.”

He looked at the ground. “You'd respawn, if I killed you.”

“Maybe. There's three ways this can go. One, you stab me and I don't wake up. In which case, you'll have successfully put me out of my misery, and you can appoint a new person to be the second Prince, someone that can actually contribute.”

Bdubs closed his eyes and sighed, but nodded.

“Two, I wake up and I'm not sick anymore, in which case the problem is solved!

“And three, I wake up but I'm still sick. In which case... I dunno. Just wheel me to the front lines, stick another arrow in me, and let me die having some fun for my final life.”

Bdubs was silent for a long time. Cleo's mind started to drift, but then he said: “Do you really want me to do it?”

“I mean, you can get one of the guards to do it if you're scared-”

“No- alright. I'll be right back.”

He left the room, and for a moment Cleo really thought he'd gone to get a soldier. But he came back a few minutes later, carrying his sword. It was a beautiful thing, but didn't look like it had ever had blood on its blade.

There's a first time for everything, though.

“I explained what you said to the guard outside,” Bdubs started. “So people will know what's happened if... if this goes wrong.”

Cleo nodded, took one last look at Bdubs' yellow eyes, and closed their own. “Just get it over with, Bdubs.”

“I love you,” he said.

“Love you too,” Cleo mumbled.

Then the pain of the sword being plunged into their chest drowned out the exhaustion and the millions of small aches across their body. It hurt, but in a refreshing way.

---

Respawning was more peaceful than Cleo had imagined. She'd expected to have to fight with her own body for survival, but it felt more like waking up after a nice night's sleep. Which she hadn't had in a very long time.

She took some breaths, then sat up, without any resistance from her body. She didn't even feel where she'd been stabbed. Bdubs was still sitting next to the bed; his head shot up.

“CLEO!” he shouted, and before they knew it Bdubs had tackled them and pulled them into an embrace. “You woke up!”

Cleo smiled. “I sure did. Good morning.”

“How do you feel?” Bdubs let go of them, and looked into their eyes. Both of them were yellow-lived now.

“I feel...” How did they feel? Looking down, Cleo noticed their limbs were still notably paler and thinner than a healthy human's would be. Their pain was gone, replaced by a numbness that was a bit unsettling, but far more pleasant.

“I feel remarkably little, actually.”

Cleo sat up, then stood up out of bed. Bdubs offered a helping hand, but they didn't need it; then body did exactly what it was supposed to, even if they didn't feel it.

They looked down at the garment they'd been wearing, which now had a giant bloodstained hole at the chest. “I think I'm going to go change.”

Two hours later, Cleo had changed into real clothes and eaten real food for the first time in days, and Bdubs had just finished giving her a summary of the political situation.

“Right. So, a crazy Red king is marching his crazy Red army all across the continent, and he will defeat ours if he reaches us.”

Bdubs nodded grimly. “Pretty much.”

Cleo sighed. I almost wish I hadn't woken up at all, she thought. But she said: “And how about that rebel group you mentioned? Couldn't we get help from them?”

“Ragtag group of Reds living in the western desert,” Bdubs replied. “I don't think they'll do much for us.”

Cleo shrugged. “Sounds to me like a ragtag group of Reds is the best option we've got.”

[obsidianas]

counting on the fact serinar was an even smaller npc than nalice since he's literally only in the questline she's in wrath and she appears again in cata, so free real estate for me to do whatever i want, i was thinking reunion thoughts

referring to them as twins may not be exactly accurate with how dragon reproduction works and all, but it's akin to what they'd consider themselves to be; they were born moments apart, from the same clutch (whatever other dragons may have come for it, i imagine most are dead, and if they aren't nalice never got close to them either way).

they were together from the start and always had each other's backs. it's how they survived, in part; though initially an older sister helped, even as whelps they had to survive on their own, and not being utterly alone certainly helped. her brother was the only one she'd trust with anything. even though she'd kill and bleed to please her mother, that inherent trust doesn't exist between them. there are things nalice would purposefully keep from her. but she'd trust her brother with anything.

though he was not immune to corruption, he resisted it better than nalice herself. her anger and resentment against the world at large certainly provided fertile soil for the dark influences upon her mind, and when serinar does appear in game, he seems far more restrained and even more friendly than she is. sure, he admits to having been part of the shit the black dragonflight pulled throughout the years ("I've played my part in destroying entire civilizations… to have to lower myself to dealing with the wretched Cult of the Damned disgusts me."), but he also comments on her attitude in a way that does speaks of her viciousness, while not really making it his own, nor implying he necessarily feels or would act the same.

I'm trying to decide at which I'm more surprised… that you actually came to the aid of a Black Dragon or that you're still in one piece after speaking with Nalice. Her words drop venom, but I suppose Wyrmrest can keep even our kind in check sometimes. Or perhaps it's just the armies of the red dragonflight that are massed around her.

they're not entirely different, and much like she shows a desire to protect her flight and a place that belongs to them, serinar also suggests similar things in the quests with him ("They're drawing power from the bones of my dead brothers…" followed by a promise of merciless retribution, "I had hoped my suspicions were incorrect… they're resurrecting magmawyrms." followed by a promise to give the cult the death they so worship, referring to the obsidian dragonshrine as sacred, "The bones of my blood have been spared this filth." when the quest is done), just as he shows more than a little willingness to be violent ("Hearing their screams… watching the last life fade from their wretched bodies… it's invigorating, is it not? I relish it.", and all the talk about death and no mercy and the black dragonflight bringing destruction etc)

but ultimately he comes across as less antagonistic, perhaps because his meanness is directed at the cult of the damned, or perhaps because he acknowledges the player for their help (" You have served me well, and as such, you shall be awarded appropriately.") while she doesn't bother pretending to care at all ("Are you still here? I'm done with you.").

anyway. they refer to each other a little throughout the quests, in a way that suggests familiarity (serinar's tone isn't really critical; it comes across as banter when he suggests as sharp as her tongue may be she's being held in check by the red dragonflight, or in the end when he tells the pc to tell her she missed out on the slaughter - while nalice also suggests he is missing out on a 'gloriously messy battle'). i'd say she's more obvious with her "I had hoped Serinar would simply return himself once the task was done…" after expressing her disappointment and endless disinterest in the player.

but what i meant to say with all of that is that they had been working as a team since forever, that they definitely have similarities having chosen to stick together for so long and having grown up in the same circumstances, but that they also have some significant differences here and there, enough so i do think he came to see things differently. for all his desire to not see the shrine defiled or to ensure his brothers can rest in peace, even for all his talk about his flight and the mention of his own part in past events, serinar is not at all involved with what they do after this. he disappeared and apparently never looked back.

out of all the family members she's lost, this one is the loss nalice takes the hardest - like i said, they had each other's backs, she would trust her brother with anything. death... she got used to, in one way or another. but he didn't die, he disappeared. he left her behind, and after looking into it briefly, she'd be convinced it was entirely purposeful. i don't think she'd deal well with a reunion. it'd definitely break her heart again, and it's one of the things she wouldn't know how to deal with because it hurts more than it makes her angry.

[youmissedone]

Carlos resisted the urge both to act on instinct when he was grabbed and to comment on how much it hurt for her to be pressing on the egg on the back of his head. He didn't know for sure, but he imagined clones were more stoic, more tolerant to things like pain. They certainly didn't let loose with sarcastic and funny quips and comments. It was hard to resist his natural tendencies, but the threat of death was enough to keep him in line. Because if this Rain clone found out he wasn't her actual teammate, that's probably what he'd be facing.

"What, like you did?" was the only comment he made, though he kept his expression stoic. "Come on, admit it. This one got away from us. The situation, I mean," he said. "This was more difficult than anyone anticipated. "More and more, he was finding it easy to lie, because there wasn't all that much different between his situation and hers, as long as you left allegiances out of the mix. But as he listened to Rain reaffirm her desire to Carlos was realizing something startling. Rain wasn't just hard to convince... She might be impossible to convince.

The more she spoke, the more Carlos got the impression that accepting her lot in life, the compulsion to follow orders even if she didn't care or agree with them, and the lack of empathy were all... hardwired into her. He'd always thought that clones were blank slates that were trained to be the way they were, or somewhat brainwashed by memory implantation. But what if different clones were permanently programmed to be and do certain things, and they don't have the capacity to deviate from it? What if there was no way to work with this particular version of Rain at all?

That left Carlos with a dilly of a pickle indeed. If he can't convince her to abandon her mission to kill Alice, he'd have to kill her. But he couldn't kill her, not with her enhancements. He wouldn't have the time to get a killing blow on her, and even if he did, she'd only heal and then kill him. So if he couldn't kill her, and he couldn't deter her... what else could he do to make sure she never harmed Alice or any of the others? For once, Carlos lamented not being turned into some super person by Umbrella. Then at least he'd have a fighting chance.

When she poked him, once and then twice, Carlos felt something flare inside him. For all he knew right now, he was a clone. What's to say the original didn't die way before even the Hive incident, even before the Raccoon City outbreak, and he was actually a clone of that Carlos? He knew he wasn't. Knew it. But... so did so many other clones. Memory imprints were really effective. And even if Umbrella hadn't somewhere pulled a really big fast one on him, wasn't he still expendable? Hadn't he always been? He'd certainly realized that fact during that night in Raccoon. Use it.

"I know. I know I'm a clone. I know I'm expendable. And there's nothing I can do about being a clone, but I can sure as hell decide not to act like one," he said back. "So what if we're expendable, Rain? You know what really makes us expendable? It isn't Umbrella making that overtly obvious to us with the way it pumps out versions of us on a regular basis. It's us. We're doing this to ourselves. We're giving Umbrella that power over us. You're right, in this line of work, our life expectancy is next to nothing. But come on, at least fight for something you believe in, not because that's how it is. You're stronger than that. I'm not content being expendable anymore."

He sighed and stood up, looking over the remnants of the fight that had taken place there. "Whether we go off on our own or we go after Project Alice, I don't plan on dying," he said firmly. "I choose... not to be expendable anymore. So you can forget about having to eventually clean me off your boots. And if cracking my head gave me this liberating epiphany of freedom, then maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Come on. Let's get out of here before we freeze into a solid block of ice."

He couldn't believe Rain was going to try and flip the snowcat right-side up. Then again, he didn't know the extent to which her enhancements amplified things like strength. As he watched her unsuccessfully try to do it for a time, he was about to say they should forget it and just take the mini sub, but then she... started to crack and smolder? She looked like a cooling lava flow, and that was beyond disturbing. "Jesus Christ..." he whispered under his breath as she actually managed to flip the damn thing. "Right," he then said stoically in response to her, knowing shock and horror were probably two emotions that would get him killed.

So they were really doing this... going after Alice. Carlos knew he had to think of something fast, but in his exhaustion and frustration, he was coming up blank. At least he knew how to operate a snowcat, so that glaring omission in what should've been his training wouldn't be getting him killed anytime soon. He climbed inside and tried to take stock of the inside of the thing without being too obvious about it. Carlos then set about starting it up and seeing if it was still operational.

[Sooo... saw that ask about Carlos and clones, and it made Bad Rain wanna say hi] Rain silently assessed the man in front of her from behind the dark-tinted goggles of her gas mask. After her little dinner date in the ocean, her retinal implants started malfunctioning and she could no longer discern if this was a new Carlos or what. "...I thought you were dead," she stated.

Carlos was pretty sure he was the last man standing as far as whoever was still left inside the quickly-failing facility. On their side, that is. There were still plenty of clones running around, and Jill had beaten him to the midget submarines with whoever she still had with her. At least nobody had noticed he was still kicking, or that he'd taken one of them for himself. He barely knew how to work it, but right now it was his only chance. The failing facility was quickly flooding from every angle, so he had to get out of there fast.

Alice and the others were long gone as well - he hoped, anyway - and Barry... Well, Barry hadn't made it. Maybe that was for the best, considering the injuries he'd gotten from that uber licker had probably doomed him anyway unless they could locate some of the antivirus. Carlos had stood by him until the end, hoping they'd bought enough time for Alice and the others to escape.

Carlos wouldn't have figured Alice would agree to leave him behind, but... hey, there was a child involved, and someone had to buy time somewhere. Barry was already screwed and Carlos... was kindof used to taking one for the team. His narrow escape from death back in Nevada was proof of that. He didn't blame Alice one damn bit for taking the opportunity and getting the hell out. At the end of the day, people like her and him were protectors, and sometimes protectors didn't walk away with their lives.

That didn't mean he wasn't going to try. Laying down and dying for no damn good reason wasn't something Carlos was about. He was gonna try to fight his way out of here, or he was gonna make his death useful in some way. So he'd taken one of the midgets subs, donned the trappings of his clone from whatever Umbrella commando attire he could find stored in it, and set out. He didn't know who he was going to run into, after all.

It was a while before he encountered Jill's sub, with any and all communications having been wrecked by all that water. And of course, he didn't have the benefit of any retinal implants. Surfacing so he could get out and see what had gone down, he was met with a disappointing scene. There was no sign of Alice, Becky, Leon, or the rest of the strike team. Except... for Luther. Poor bastard. Luther had been a good guy, and Carlos was sorry to see he'd met his end here. Jill and her clone army wasn't anywhere to be seen either, though. Where did everybody go?

He turned when he suddenly heard Rain's voice, of course knowing she was a clone. Any Rain he ran into anywhere was a clone at this point. He'd heard Alice's tearful accounts of what had happened to the original Rain enough times to know for sure that she was completely dead. Silently, Carlos told himself to be careful, play the part.

When she said she thought he was dead, he had to resist the urge to crack some kind of joke. That was what came naturally to him, something to the effect of , rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated or, I'm a lot harder to kill than that. But clone Carlos wouldn't make jokes. About himself... or the fact that Rain was drenched. What'd you do, decide to take a dip in the ocean? Nope, he had to play it straight.

"No. And neither are you, it seems," he answered flatly, still holding his rifle at the ready, acting like he was suspicious of her for a moment, before lowering it. "Rest of the team is, though. Whatever that explosion was let half the ocean in and took everyone out. I'm blind here, save for the GPS system in the sub. No comms, no maps, no target scanners, nothing. The salt water fucked with all of it," he said, acting annoyed yet also restrained about it. "Where's Project Alice and the rest of the intruders? What about Chief Valentine?" he asked, remembering the various monikers he'd heard the Red Queen use inside the facility.

There just hadn't been enough time, though, to perfect everything before Rain showed up, and Carlos knew these clones were smart. They were engineered that way. So he hoped his outfit was on correctly, that all his major scars were covered, and that he didn't have too much of a haggard five o' clock shadow. Anything like that could give him away, and he knew he couldn't take on a clone version of Rain alone... especially when he knew the clones had access to Las Plagas enhancements that made them damn near indestructible...

[joaquinwhorres]

thorough (fckboy!Joaquin Torres x f!Reader)

SUMMARY ››››› When Joaquín texts, you know what he wants. And you also know that despite your better judgement and all of the other things you should be doing, you're going to give it to him.

PAIRING ››››› Fuckboy!Joaquín Torres x Female!Reader (written in 3rd person so you can pretend it's an OC like I do) Read the OC version here.

WORD COUNT ››››› 3,928

WARNINGS ››››› Joaquín's pretty out of character because my angel would never. oh yeah, and smut

A/N ››››› This idea has taken over the entirety of my thoughts. It has consumed all of my free time, so I figured I should try to wrangle some of the vibes and vague ideas into an actual story. So, here is this little imagine which is v smut heavy and v plot light. But, I am thinking of turning this into a fake dating/redemption fic, so lemme know what you think! Divider from firefly-graphics (not tagging because this is a work of smut).

A single notification flashed across her screen. 

U up?

Y/N reached over, clicking the screen dark. She was up. But not for him. Instead, she turned back to her textbook and the packets of printed out notes strewn across the desk in front of her. The only men who would be getting her attention tonight were the esteemed scholars Sedra and Smith. And maybe Dr. Barnaby if she got around to reading her lecture notes over. He would have to find someone else. And there would be someone else. There was always someone else for him. She just had to hold out long enough for him to move on and go find them.

Her screen lit up again. 

Or has circuits put u to sleep? 🥱

This time she rolled her eyes as she dismissed the notification, a small smile playing at her lips despite herself. Of course he knew exactly what she was doing. Even if he never acknowledged her, he still sat in the same lecture hall as her and dealt with the same lectures and exams. 

Y/N returned back to the textbook example problem, fingers sliding under her glasses to rub at her eyes. She withdrew her hands, fixing her glasses before picking up her pen once more. She needed to stay focused. This test was going to be thirty percent of her grade. If she wanted to pass, she needed to learn how to apply input resistance to both Example 6.11 and her own life.

Oh god. She was broken.

Shaking off the thought of her mental deterioration, Y/N pressed her pencil to her notebook paper, copying down the problem in front of her. Just one more section and a skim through of her lecture notes after this. If she powered through, she could probably finish before three and get a solid five and a half hours of sleep before the exam. Yet, as Y/N worked her way through the problem, her eyes continued to slip over to her phone and the dark glass screen that reflected her desk light back up at her. 

Circuits.

Not dick. 

Circuits. 

Not–

Her phone lit up again.

It didn't kill u did it??? 😱🪦 

She snorted a laugh through her nose as she picked up her phone, thumb swiping to unlock it. As she began to type out a reply, the white auto suggestion box popped up. 

Not today Satan.

She exed out of her roommate's attempt at a safeguard, as if on autopilot.

Not yet but I am slowly dying.

The three dots in response were instantaneous. 

Sounds like you need to take a break. 😉

The auto suggestion box popped up once more as she typed, this suggestion an indictment of both her idiocy and predictability. She clicked on it.

Come over.

Very little studying was accomplished in the time between Y/N sending her text off and receiving the text that he'd arrived. The promise of a break seemed too much for her brain to withstand, and she'd only managed to work out an answer for the RIN before she finally gave in and took off her glasses. After that, she'd only had time to shove her dirty clothes in the closet and straighten her sheets up from where they hung  off the bed before her phone buzzed.

Y/N put her phone back down, slipping out of her chair and padding across the still apartment towards the door. Pulling it open revealed Joaquín dressed in a maroon ASU hoodie and dark grey sweatpants. His hair was ruffled, and his own glasses were on. 

 Evidently he'd been studying for Circuits too. 

The corner of his mouth quirked up into a soft smile—the same one that he'd given her last fall when they met eyes across the crowded frat. She had known even then exactly what she'd be getting herself into if she smiled back. But there was something about the genuine delight in his smile–the fact that he looked almost awed–that had her lips curving into a smile almost on their own accord. Much like now. 

"Hey," he whispered. 

Y/N leaned against the partially open door "Hey." 

"Is it cool that I parked in the lot?" he asked with raised eyebrows, and she nodded. 

"Yeah, they don't usually check for tags at 3 am."

Joaquín breathed out a laugh, hanging his head and shaking it as his own stupidity as Y/N smiled at him. "Yeah, I probably should have guessed that." He looked back up at her with a small smirk, and it was Y/Ns turn to shake her own head before motioning with it that he should come in. He obliged, stepping into the small dark apartment and waiting for her to lock up behind him. 

He probably could have made his way back to her room without her, but instead he remained, eyes roaming over the dark living room and kitchenette as if it were his first time there and he was taking it all in. She took this as an act of kindness–a preservation of the little dignity she had left when it came to Joaquín Torres.

So, Y/N quietly led the way back to her room, ushering him in and closing the door as softly as possible behind them to avoid waking her roommate. 

When she turned back to him, she found Joaquín bent over her notes, curls falling into his face. He looked intently at what she had written, his eyes following along each line of her solution before he shook his head. "That problem's been kicking my ass for the last hour," he said, tilting his head to look up at her. "Think you could walk me through it tomorrow?" 

The sheepish grin he gave her made her stomach flip, and she really should have kicked herself for it. Because there was no way he didn't know exactly what he was doing when he looked at her like that. And he knew that she knew what he was doing whenever he flashed his dimples too. And yet she still couldn't find it in herself to tell him to go to hell.

"Depends how much sleep I get," she said with a shrug, attempting to fix her face into something more smirklike than smiley and feeling like an utter failure at it.

His eyes gleamed mischievously as he straightened up and turned to face her. "How much sleep is enough?" 

She shrugged as she walked past him and over to the foot of her bed, setting herself down to sit on the edge and leaning back on her hands. "I don't know, three hours? Four?" 

"What if it's two and a half, but I buy you coffee," he bargained, leaning back against her pushed-in chair with his arms crossed across his chest. 

"It'd need to be really good coffee." 

"Starbucks counts as really good coffee, right?" 

She scoffed, and Joaquín laughed softly, his head tipping back as the amusement lit his face up. When he faced her again, it was with an expression of warm amusement. "What if it's Starbucks, but I make sure you thoroughly enjoy all of the time you're not sleeping tonight?" he asked, eyebrows raising up over his glasses as he took a step towards her. 

A tingle shot through Y/N as she followed his slow, purposeful movements towards her, and she fought the urge to press her legs together. "I guess that would depend on how thorough is 'thoroughly'." Somehow her voice managed to keep its teasing playfulness even as the look in Joaquín's eyes became more focused, more intense, more hungry. 

He stopped in front of her, close enough that the fabric of his sweatpants brushed against her bare knees and she had to tilt her head up just to see his face. She raised an eyebrow at him, and while she had intended for it to be questioning–a prompt for an answer–she couldn't keep the smirk from playing at the corners of her lips, turning the look into almost a challenge.

He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he lifted a hand, brushing her hair back behind her ear, his fingers trailing down her neck and along her shoulder until they reached the strap of her cropped cami. His pointer finger hooked under the strap and he pulled her towards him by the thin piece of silk, until her head was tipped all the way back just to see his face.

Joaquín leaned towards her, his breath warm and promising more than his words could ever deliver on. "Thorough," he murmured, letting the word kiss across her skin, setting her nerves alight with anticipation before he closed the space and kissed her himself.

It was easy to get drunk off of Joaquín's kisses. She wondered if this was simply a paired stimuli given the nature of their first encounters. If the dizzying effects his kisses had on her was her body remembering the weightlessness of too much Jungle Juice and a cute boy's attention. If the way she seemed to melt into him was a conditioned response from him pulling her close to him so easily even when her limbs felt heavy from Jell-O Shots. 

But maybe it wasn't classical conditioning or muscle memory. Maybe it was just the natural biological response to the way his hand took hold of her waist, squeezing at the bare skin there as he deepened the kiss and stepped forward, between her legs. Maybe it was just a natural reaction to feel lightheaded when an attractive boy slid his hand up under your crop top and moved his lips along your collarbone with each kiss like a whispered promise.

Her head lolled to the side, allowing him more room to work, and he took advantage of the newly exposed stretch of skin, placing hot, open mouthed kisses there. Y/N sank her teeth into her lip, biting down into it to keep herself from making any of the embarrassing sounds threatening to spill from her just from a bit of kissing. It was a pointless measure though, for as if inspired by her action, Joaquín's teeth caught at the tender skin on her neck and pulled it into his mouth, sucking harshly. Her fingers curled into his shoulders, dragging him closer to her as he moved up her neck, picking a new spot to nip. A gasping noise escaped her as his tongue swiped over the spot, sounding far too much like a whimper for her own comfort. 

Joaquín dragged his lips further up her neck to just under her ear. "Fuck you make the most beautiful sounds," he praised, pressing a kiss below her ear. "Drives me crazy."  He kissed her again before taking a hold of her ear with his teeth. 

Another noise, much like the first escaped her, and her fingers reached up into the hair at the nape of his neck, threading through the strands and then tugging him backwards and away from her so she could see his face. His glasses had slid down a bit on his nose, and his pupils were blown wide and dark, and she knew, she knew,  that whatever happened next, it would be thorough enough.

"Did you come here to compliment me or to fuck me?" 

He grinned. "Por qué no los dos?" 

She leaned closer so that her lips almost brushed his as she demanded, "Cógeme." 

Joaquín practically tore his sweatshirt and shirt from his body, his glasses catching in the material and flying off somewhere with the clothes to a corner of her room. Her own arms were crossed across her middle to pull off her top, but she didn't get a chance before his hands wrapped under her knees and yanked her forward so her back fell onto the bed.  He knelt before her, hooking his fingers into the waistband of her pajama shorts and dragging them down her legs. 

His eyes snapped to hers as he pulled the silky fabric free of her legs. "Impatient, aren't you?" 

Y/N reached down, flicking the side of his head. "It's how I sleep." 

"Mhmm," he hummed, disbelievingly as his eyes focused  back to her parted legs and her center that was completely bare to him, not a scrap of lace or satin or cotton or anything to shield it from his hungry gaze. He lifted her leg over his shoulder, pausing to press a kiss to the inside of her knee and then trailing a line of kisses and nips up to the top of her inner thigh. Y/N squirmed, and he chuckled, moving his other hand to her hip to hold her in place. "I haven't even gotten to the good part." 

"I'm sensitive," Y/N breathed out,

"I know," Joaquín grinned, leaning forward to lick a large stripe through her folds, sending her arching off the bed with a gasping moan. "Qué buena estás." 

And then he dove back in. 

There were a lot of reasons why allowing Joaquín into her bed at three in the morning was a bad idea. 

For one thing, she really should have used the time to study for the test that would make up a solid third of her grade in a class that took many people two tries to pass. There was also the inevitable exhaustion that would probably affect her performance on that test. 

Then there was the fact that if they woke up her roommate, she would have to deal with side eyed glances, reproving sighs, and little comments for at least a week. Not to mention the fact that her roommate would probably tell the rest of their friends, and then she'd be getting it from all angles. 

But the biggest reason this was a bad idea, the reason with the most inevitable consequences, was the fact that he'd leave behind an ache that chased her throughout her morning, reminding her of how stupid she was for doing this. 

But as she gripped onto Joaquín's head like her life depended on it, hips chasing a release on his tongue, it was difficult to really think about any of that. It was difficult to think at all. All she could manage were small bits of breathy praise spurring him on.

"Fuck. Fuck yes, right–ah!" She threw her head back into the bed as he sucked harder around her clit. One hand freed itself from his curls,  clawing at the sheets to give herself more purchase as words left her in favor of high pitched, gasping noises that sounded vaguely like his name. And then, finally,  she could hardly get out any sound as a wave of pleasure coursed through her causing her whole body to go taut as Joaquín replaced  his tongue with his fingers to help her ride out the high.

"I've got you. I got you," he reassured, coming back up her body to place kisses along her jaw as she slowly came down, chest heaving. Y/N pulled in deep breath as his lips continued to rove  around her chest and collarbone, neck and face, always whispering bits of praise before gracing her skin with a kiss. One hand slid across her bare stomach, taking hold of her waist as he gave one last kiss before looking up into her face. 

"And?" he asked with a small smirk.

"And?" she repeated in question, the word coming out more as an exhale.

"How am I doing so far? Thorough enough?" he asked, his hand inching up under her top to take hold of a breast. The pad of his thumb ran over the nipple there, and for a moment, Y/N's mind went hazy. "Or is there something I'm forgetting to pay attention to?"

"I think you already know." Despite the words themselves, her voice came out needy and airy, and it elicited a low chuckle from Joaquín whose hand retreated back to the edge of her top, teasing her with the promise of taking it off. 

"I want you to tell me." 

"Stop teasing me, and put that mouth to better use," Y/N snapped, and he grinned this time. 

"Close enough," he said, pulling her top up and over her head, flinging it away from them.

His mouth was truly a gift from God, but his hands, and the way they massaged her breast, twisted her nipple, worked her in ways that were positively sinful, they could only have been given that skill through a deal with the devil. So, she lay there, fingernails scratching at his shoulder blades as he worshiped her chest, switching between the breasts and from mouth to hands in ways that made her feel holy. Holy but aching. 

"Joaquín," she mumbled, hand sliding from his shoulder to his bicep, pressing her away from him. He lifted himself from her skin, eyes meeting hers. "Flip over," she commanded. His face lit up, and he complied so quickly and eagerly that Y/N laughed. 

Joaquín tucked his hands under his head, watching intently as Y/N moved to straddle him. "We can't be too loud," she whispered, placing a finger against his lips. "Ok?" 

"Got it," he said, biting her finger playfully. She withdrew her finger from between his lips, running her hands down his muscled chest. It was almost criminal, the fact that he always wore loose fitting t-shirts instead of something that showed off the hard work ROTC had him put into his body.

She leaned down, allowing her tongue to explore the planes of his chest, dipping low to swirl around his belly button and lower to the center of his v line. Joaquín groaned, and Y/N hooked her fingers in the waistline of his boxers, dragging both the underwear and sweatpants down his legs and off his body. When she looked up at him, she found Joaquín's gaze fixated on her. There was a quiet desperation to his look, not as needy as she was sure her own faces were, but almost like he was a second away from an answer, and she was the only one who could help him get it. 

Y/N crawled back up his body, taking his cock in her hand and teasing it with long, slow strokes. Under her, Joaquín's eyes had closed, a grunt passing through his lips as he managed to lift a hand to take hold of her hip. Her thumb passed over the head, spreading the precum along his hardened length, her hand twisting around him before she dipped down and kissed the head of his cock. His hips jerked up from the bed, as if chasing her as she pulled away. Joaquín opened his eyes, casting her a look of confused desperation. 

"I'm not the one who made promises," she said with a tilt of her head and a smirk. He let out a gasping laugh, pinching her hip, and she rolled over him leaving the boy groaning underneath her. 

"Hold on," she said, pressing a hand to his chest and leaning up over him to reach into her side table. She fumbled around, fingers slipping over the contents of her drawer until at last the smooth feeling of the condom packet greeted her fingertips. She snatched it up, not even bothering to shove the drawer closed as she withdrew to her position over Joaquín's hips, tearing open the package with her teeth. 

She probably could have been more sensual about it–moved a bit slower with teasing touches and seductive glances–but instead she tossed the empty wrapper and immediately went about rolling the condom over Joaquín's waiting cock. Because while she probably could have withstood a little bit more anticipation, a little bit more build up until this moment why should she have to when she could have him now? 

Y/N raised herself a little higher, Joaquín's hands coming to her hips and slowly guiding her down onto his waiting cock. He hissed as she lowered herself even further until he filled her completely. Y/N paused, hands flat against Joaquín's chest to allow herself a moment to adjust to his size. "You good?" Joaquín asked, gently squeezing her side, and she nodded. 

"Yeah," Y/N breathed. "Yeah, I'm ready." 

There was a reason she always seemed to cave whenever Joaquín texted her. A reason she never told him to go fuck himself or any of the other things her roommate and friends suggested she say. A reason she snuck him in and out of her bedroom late at night or times when most  people were at class.

And it wasn't because she was stupid enough to have feelings for him again.

It was because he knew exactly what to do to make her body feel electric. It didn't matter if he was letting her ride him slow, fucking her fast from behind, or clutching her close to him as he stroked hard and deep–he knew exactly what her body craved and he gave it to her. He gave it to her with murmured bits of Spanish and breathless cursing and moans that made her chest constrict. He gave it to her with fingers that circled her clit and twisted her nipples and pulled her hair at all the right times. He gave it to her with hot, hard, and fierce kisses.

And as much as he gave, it was never enough. 

Even after her second orgasm left her feeling close to overstimulated and boneless, she still clutched at him. While she hardly had enough energy to raise her hips to meet his thrust, she locked her legs around him and pulled him closer as he buried his face in her shoulder. She stayed with him as his hips stuttered and strokes got sloppy and it became clear that he was going to come. 

Admittedly, Joaquín's orgasm face was rather dumb, ridiculous even, with his mouth hanging open and only a grunting sound coming out. But she kept her eyes trained on his face, not to remind her that this god in bed was a mere mortal who made stupid faces too, but because after he finished, when his face relaxed, he was nothing short of angelic. The corners of his mouth turned up just barely into a light smile and his eyes fluttered open and looked at her like she really was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. 

Joaquín placed a kiss on her shoulder as he helped to lower her legs back down to the bed, finally withdrawing from her to dispose of the condom in the trash by her bedside. It was all Y/N could do to catch her breath, her body hot and sweaty from the activity. Yet as Joaquín climbed back into the bed, she allowed him to pull her in close to him, arms wrapping around her, and chin resting on her shoulder. Because this was part of the deal with Joaquín and something that had almost made her doubt her initial assessment of him back when his body was brand new and she was still discovering all of the things it could do—after sex, he always stayed. Not necessarily the night, but long enough to hold and cuddle her and talk about things that didn't matter. 

"Better than studying?" he asked, and she let out a snort and nodded. 

"Yeah." 

"Good enough for Starbucks?" he asked, tilting his head to try to look at her face, and this time she gave a full laugh. 

"I'll meet you there at seven." 

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What if Petunia never got jealous of Lily? What if they had a good relationship, and their husbands actually liked each other? Would the story be different if Harry was raised equal as Dudley in a loving and supportive home?

So, what if everyone was an entirely different character, basically? Well then, yes, we'd have a different story.

Harry would have a well-adjusted childhood which would probably lead to bad places when he gets to Hogwarts? Why? This Harry Potter isn't the one Dumbledore was looking for.

Harry gets his letter. Petunia's probably a little worried, given what happened to her sister (dies extremely young, drafted into a war effort and illegal resistance movement by her headmaster, who is still headmaster of this school Harry's going to). She has a long talk with Harry and she'd really rather not send him to this school.

She's pretty sure other schools exist in Europe that Lily mentioned now and then, maybe they can send Harry to one of them instead.

Harry responds "no" to the letter and asks if he can't have the name of that French school instead.

Dumbledore panics, this isn't a part of the plan. He sends Snape to go and 'convince' Petunia to send Harry to Hogwarts.

Well, Snape goes, and Petunia's even more pissed (didn't Lily say this guy became a terrorist or something?) Snape tries to convince Petunia that this was Lily's dying wish (it wasn't) and then he gives up and obliviates her.

Suddenly, Vernon and Petunia think they' agreed to send Harry to Hogwarts. They changed their mind. Only Dumbledore can possibly protect Harry from the Death Eaters still very much at large (they're not).

Harry is... confused but says "alright" and heads off to Hogwarts. There, things get weird.

Everyone keeps calling him Potter even though his last name is Dursley. They keep seeming to forget his muggle family exists, that he was raised by his muggle relatives, and whenever Harry reminds them they seem... upset about it. I imagine Harry doesn't become friends with Ron because of this, as Ron just gets really weird about Harry living with muggles.

I imagine sooner or later Harry becomes friends with Hermione, in part because she's also muggleborn and doesn't get too weird about him. (Though still weird enough to mention he was in this one book she read.)

Well, adventures happen, Harry writes home to his family that weird shit keeps happening that's very dangerous. Harry almost gets eaten by a dragon, by a three-headed dog, almost was murdered during quidditch, etc.

Well, Petunia probably raises hell and writes to Dumbledore. That's it, she's pulling Harry out and he's going to France. That gets her yet another visit from Snape.

Suddenly, all her responses to Harry's letters are that Hogwarts is great and Lily always thought of it as a second home. THINK OF YOUR DEAD PARENTS, HARRY.

Harry... thinks this is getting really really weird. Well, then he almost gets killed by Voldemort and hospitalized, he goes home and... his parents aren't normal.

They've been obliviated a little too many times and are starting to ask funny. They're very forgetful, especially when it comes to Harry himself and all the magic stuff, and are acting really out of it. Harry starts getting really concerned, asks Dudley how long this has been going on, to which Dudley replies pretty much since Harry went off to school.

This trend continues throughout Harry's very dangerous Hogwarts career until Hermione eventually stumbles on side effects of oblivation. Then it all comes together.

Harry throws a tantrum in Dumbledore's office and is likely mollified when Dumbledore says it's for their own good because Harry can only be protected at Hogwarts.

Eventually, Harry's groomed for suicide so that Voldemort can be defeated. By this point, nice Vernon and Petunia are probably vegetables.

[farfromsugafanfic]

Sutures - Chapter Ten: Amiodarone

Genre: Soulmates AU, Idiots to Lovers, slight Enemies to Lovers

Pairing: Yoongi/Named Reader

Warnings (chapter specific): family member hospitalization, therapy, angst if you squint

Synopsis: “A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.” –Jean de la Fontaine

There was only one thing you and Min Yoongi had in common that night. You were both brokenhearted. You only intended to be together for one night, but when you both end up in the hospital the next day you discover that you are soulmates. It could kill you to be apart. As you and Yoongi attempt to sever the bond between you, will another be formed?

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The first thing you felt--before you opened your eyes--was Yoongi's white T-shirt against your cheek and the warmth of his skin beneath it. His arm was around you and his hand rested on the peak of your hip. You opened your eyes and looked up to see his hair splayed across his forehead and his lips pouted.

You smiled as you slowly removed yourself from Yoongi's arms. He stirred as you stood up and were away from his grasp, but he softly moved as he rolled onto his side and his arms reached for where you had once been. You could get used to waking up next to Yoongi every morning. Something about the way he missed you--even when he wasn't awake--made your heart swell.

You quickly pushed those thoughts away as you took two mugs from the table and flipped them right side up. While you were used to cheap hotels with packages of instant coffee and--if you were lucky--an electric tea kettle, this hotel, however, had a full coffee maker and a few coffee brands to choose from. You chose a brand you recognized and placed it in the coffee maker.

It wasn't long before the entire room smelled of coffee. As you were pouring the second cup of coffee, you felt a soft touch on your waist and turned to catch Yoongi's soft smile and messy hair as he reached for one of the mugs.

"Thanks," he said, his voice raspy and deep.

You nodded and took a sip of your coffee and sat down at the table, Yoongi soon following and sitting across from you.

"You like it black?"

"Yeah," you said. "My dad would always drink it black and when I was old enough that's how he made it for me. It just kind of stuck."

"Do you miss them?"

"Of course," you said. "It's hard when they're so far away, but I don't regret staying here. I can make a living here, more so than I could in the US."

"When did you see them last?"

"Around a year ago. Minki came with me and it was the first time he'd been to the US and the first time he met my family. They didn't like him that much. I guess I should've listened to them." You chuckled sardonically and took a large sip of coffee, creating a silence--while not uncomfortable--had a small bit of tension laced in. "What about you? You don't get to see your family much either, right? Being an idol and all?"

The question caused him to sit up straight and meet your eyes before quickly looking back down at the wooden table. "Uh, yeah, we usually see our families a couple of times a year. Usually towards the end of the year and then sporadically throughout. Some see their families more often cause they live near Seoul, but getting to Daegu is hard. We didn't always get along when I first moved, so it was hard for a while."

"Oh," you said. While all families fight and disagree, you couldn't imagine not talking to your family or not having their support. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he said. "We've moved past it. It was a long time ago. We talk more often now and they really want to meet you."

You laughed, not sure if it was from the nerves of thinking about meeting his family or simply because the idea itself was laughable because you weren't in a relationship. "Why? I mean, they know what we're trying to do, right?"

"Yeah," he said. "They're convinced it won't work though. We're soulmates. We'll always come back to each other."

"It's worked before. Pairs of soulmates able to distance themselves and move on. I think we can do it."

"Yeah," he said, his words punctuated by sips of coffee. "Yeah, we can." There were a few moments of silence before he set his mug down and his eyes met yours. "So, I promised you a proper date, but after everything that happened yesterday, do you want to risk going out into the city?"

"Not really," you said. "I don't even want to leave the room. I want to see the city, but it makes me nervous just thinking about going back out there."

Yoongi reached across the table, his fingers brushing over the back of your hand. "I'll bring you back someday when we can properly wander the city."

Your stomach flipped. You knew it was probably just an empty promise and supposed to be comforting, but considering you had just talked about distancing yourselves from one another, it seemed unwise to promise, even something empty and trivial.

---

Two hours later and the two of you were laid on the bed, close, but not touching. Empty plates littered the bedside tables and each of you held a wine glass in your hand. You smiled as you sipped the deep red alcohol and felt as a buzz came over your senses. It wasn't unpleasant, just like a small vibration in your head. The same one that had convinced you to sleep with Yoongi the first time you met him.

"You're sure this isn't too much?" you asked, glancing down at the nearly three hundred dollar room service bill.

Yoongi laughed. "You really don't have to worry about it."

"It makes me feel bad," you said. "Will you let me pay for something later?"

"If it makes you feel better." His fingers glided over the skin of your left hand that rested on the bed, dangerously close to his thigh.

The couple in the movie you were watching kissed and you felt a stirring low in your stomach. It had been so long since you'd felt Yoongi's lips on yours. You knew he was feeling the same way, as he squirmed slightly beside you.

"You feel it, too?"

"Yeah," he said. "We need to try and resist it."

"Didn't the therapist say to try and get through it with mainly friendly things?"

"I think so."

His arm came around you and his skin felt like ice on a sunburn. You nearly let out a moan. You wanted to feel his lips on your neck and his hands on your thighs. The bruising way he grabbed your skin without leaving any bruises. How his hair looked pushed back and the way his lips swelled after even the softest of kisses.

"Yoongi, can--can I kiss you?"

"I don't think that's exactly friendly."

"Just one," you said. "It'll be less than we did last time this happened."

"All right," he said. "But, we can't let it go too far."

You nodded and shifted so that you faced him, the front of your body pressed into his side. His hand came to rest on the small of you back and his lips came to meet yours before you'd fully closed your eyes.

They were soft, like always. You could taste the red wine on his lips and the hesitation as he pushed the tip of his tongue into your mouth. His hand bunched the fabric of your T-shirt and your hands laced in his hair. You never wanted to let go.

Yoongi pulled away first, although his eyes were pained as he did so. He reached up and smoothed your hair back.

"Damn," he said. "If only I'd met you before Jihee."

"Yoongi, you can't mean that."

"Maybe if it was a different time, or if I wasn't an idol, I don't know, but I like to think there's a universe where we work out."

Your lips formed words you hadn't thought of yet when your phone vibrated on the bed beside you. You reached for it and saw it was your mom. It was nearing 9 p.m. in Los Angeles and your mom normally called you just after dinner. 

"I--uh--have to take this." 

---

You walked into the bathroom and answered the phone as you shut the door. 

"Mom? Hey, what's going on?" 

"Sumi!" Your mom's voice sounded panicked. "Are you still in Japan?" 

"Yeah, we're flying back to Korea tomorrow?" You paused. "Is everything okay? You don't usually call me at this time." 

"Well, I don't want to worry you. I want you to enjoy the rest of your time in Japan, okay?"

"Okay..."

"Grandma fell and is in the hospital. She broke her wrist and the doctors say her blood sugar was too low. They don't know what caused it yet, but they're going to monitor her for a few days." 

You nodded and already felt the tears forming in your eyes. Your grandmother was nearing ninety and you knew your time with her was limited, but she'd been the one to encourage you to stay in Korea and do what you wanted. She always knew and wanted what was best for you and you loved her more than anyone for it. 

"Okay," you said, your voice cracking. "Is there anything I can do?" 

"Call when you get back tomorrow. If she's feeling better, I'm sure she'd love to talk to you." 

"Of course. I'll call as soon as I'm back." You reached up and wiped the few tears that had managed to squeeze out. "Just keep me updated."

You heard a soft knock on the door as you hung up the door. You opened it and met with a soft-eyed Yoongi, his arms almost immediately coming to rest on your hips. 

"Everything okay?" 

"Uh. yeah," you said. "My grandma's in the hospital. It's not too concerning at the moment, I just, uh, get a bit emotional when it comes to her." 

He nodded and led you back to the bed. He didn't say anything else, just electing to keep one of his arms around your shoulders and turn the volume on the movie up. He handed you an unopened bag of cookies as if he knew it was exactly what you needed. 

---

A few days later

"So, how are things going?" the therapist asked, her notebook resting on her lap and her glasses slid down the bridge of her nose. 

"Uh, well, we get along better now. I-I think we understand each other better now. But, we've run into something a little more worrisome." 

"What's that?" 

"Well, we had a fight a while ago. I'm fairly close with his other members and one of them was trying to comfort me and when he touched me, I burned him." 

"Yeah, I also have a weird emotional attachment to her. Like, my emotions are tied to hers. If she's sad, then I feel overwhelmingly sad until she's happy again." 

You turned to Yoongi with your lips pursed in curiosity. "What?" 

"Oh, I thought you'd caught onto to that." 

You had noticed that Yoongi had seemed to understand you better recently. He was always there whenever your mood flatlined, you soon found Yoongi coming with a snack or a cup of tea. Sometimes he stuck around and sometimes he didn't, but he never failed to jumpstart your mood.

"Is this happening constantly or only after a conflict?" 

"I'm always tuned into her emotions. However, negative emotions always come through the strongest, whether caused by me or not." 

You felt him looking at you and it caused your cheeks to heat. "Oh, the burning happened twice. Once as we mentioned and the second time I burnt through another's T-shirt, but I didn't actually burn him." 

The therapist nodded and chewed on the end of her pen. "There aren't many precedents for these sorts of things, as you know, soulmates are rare. It's even rarer for a pair to decide they don't want to be together. The physical symptoms we've seen before were not that different from the ones you're exhibiting." She jotted down a few notes and flipped back to a previous page. "Now that you're exhibiting these symptoms though, it means that you've grown to the stage where we can begin to back off the connection.

"The only things you two need to do is to try and minimize the conflict between the two of you, continue resisting urges to the best of your ability, and we will be prescribing some medication. Since such a high profile soulmates case has come up, the interest in research recently has increased and so your medical treatment may change. So, you'll need to go in for a checkup in after about a week on the new medication."

"I have a quick question," Yoongi said. "My, uh, parents really want to meet Sumi. They know we're trying to break this and everything, but we have some time off and I was wondering if that would hurt things if she came with me to Daegu?"

The therapist shrugged. "I don't see why it would. It's perfectly fine for the two of you to act as friends and you have to stay together until the bond is completely severed. However, if something feels off during the visit, leave." 

You looked at Yoongi. He'd left you speechless for the second time during the appointment. He never brought up meeting his parents, only that they wanted to meet you. Your palms went clammy and you began to pick at the skin around your fingernails. You wished you'd brought your needles.

---

"You never mentioned actually meeting your parents," you said, carrying your prescription and ducking into the car before anyone could catch sight of you and Yoongi. 

"I didn't really think it was happening, but, I don't know. If we only have one soulmate, I want them to meet mine."

"Okay," you said. "I-uh-I just don't have much time to prepare." 

"What? Why would you need to prepare?"

"So they'll like me." 

"You don't need to worry about that, Sumi. They'll love you." 

---

Mom (3:45 am): Sumi!

You (3:47 am): Yes? Is everything all right?

Mom (3:49 am): Hey, isn't it early there? Shouldn't you be asleep?

You (3:50 am): It's all right. How's Grandma?

Mom (3:52 am): Oh, she's fine. She's getting discharged now. She's actually in fairly good spirits. You'll never guess what arrived this morning.

Sumi (3:53 am): What?

Mom (3:55 am):

Mom (3:55 am): From Min Yoongi. It made her so happy. Give him our thanks.

[the-stage-manager]

My polite rebuttle below! (I'm actually 100% on Gale's side, fuck Mystra, but I simply cannot resist a good debate. I'm a whore like that.)

Tldr: Inspite of the grooming, Gale really should have known better

My biggest qualms with your argument is that it completely neglects the fact that Gale made some pretty shitty choices.

Firstly, the Karsite Weave and the Orb: Mystra DID in fact know that Gale wanted that Orb, and she very specifically forbade him from going after it, but he chose to do so anyways. He did so because he wanted her to show him more of the weave than she was willing to. I have to dock Gale points here—she set a pretty firm boundary, and he went out of his way to attempt to weasel around it.

Yes, he was groomed from an early age, which is absolutely abhorrent—Elminster's letter implies that he started catching her attention when he was only 8. That's extremely fucked up. He was the "gifted child" who only got praised for his magical abilities and nothing else. Obviously, all that praise massively inflated his ego, so perhaps he genuinely believed he could be Mystra's equal, but I find that sort of hard to believe. I mean, if you're a mortal man in a relationship with the literal goddess of magic, you have to know, at least on some level, that you will never be equals. I am not at all trying to discount the effects of the grooming, because those left an obvious mark. HOWEVER, I think there's a difference between the power dynamic between a child and an adult, and the power dynamic between a mortal and a literal God. There isn't a comprehendible equivalent on earth.

And this is where I think Gale's ego really bites him in the ass, and the point that I think OP was trying to make: Gale, a mortal man, thought he knew better than a Goddess. She told him that she would not show him more of the weave, he sought to convince her to change her mind. She told him specifically not to seek out the Karsite Weave and warned him away from it, but he did so anyway, thinking that he knew better. I mean, he KNEW what happened to Karsus! He KNEW what happened to Mystyral and the weave. Karsus literally unleashed a power so devastating, it killed a God and made it so nobody could channel the weave for centuries. But Gale? Oh, he thinks he knows better. So he goes fucking around with something that literally killed his Goddess, thinking she'd be please.

Talk about fuck around and find out.

So Gale, having ignored the command of his goddess, is stuck with an extremely dangerous piece of magic in his chest, one which has the capability to (at best) level a city and (at worst) completely destroy his goddess and the weave again. Honestly, I'd argue that Mystra's behavior towards him is MERCIFUL. She has every right to strike him down, to damn him. But not only does she allow him to live, she allows him to continue to rely on her weave. Yeah, it sucks that he's no longer her chosen, but imagine being in her shoes: You ask your BF not to bring something home because it's dangerous and you have a traumatic history with it. But not only does your BF bring the thing home anyways, he EXPECTS YOU TO BE PLEASED WITH HIM. Babe, that's when you dump his ass.

About Blowing up the Orb: the thing is, asking him to blow himself up is only shitty from a mortal's perspective. Gale and his companions can only comprehend their short, mortal lives. But Mystra? Mystra is eternal. She sees into infinities. She is offering him yet another kindness by offering him redemption—and it IS redemption, by no small stretch of the imagination. Yes, Gale's mortal life will end and that is sad. But! If he blows himself up, he gets to spend eternal life in Elysium. Inspite of EVERYTHING he's done, she's still merciful enough to offer him a paradisical eternity as opposed to the eternity of suffering that he 100% deserves for defying her and putting her and the entire weave at risk.

A lot of Mystra's behavior fucking sucks, and I am absolutely not trying to defend her for the grooming. However! Gale is nearly 40! He's an archmage! He has the capacity to make his own choices and he makes some really shitty fucking choices. He fucked around with something immeasurably powerful and, despite everything, she continues to offer him second chances.

Extremely hot take but Mystra kind of seems reasonable? Like, telling Gale to go kill himself is obviously not great, but look at the events from her perspective. Her boyfriend tried to control a magic that nearly killed her and raised a madman to Godhood. She sends him away with a bomb in his chest because she knows he wouldn’t endanger anyone else and he needs to be punished for his hubris (rather Greek of her). She finds out that the Dead Three can only wield the Absolute power with the Crown of Karsus, and that can be destroyed. She reaches out to him when he’s tempted to rise above his abilities and fall into the same madness and hubris she saw in Karsus and she offers to forgive him and heal the bomb, all the while directly feeding it her Weave. Remember she tells Gale to blow himself up because 1) she thinks that will solve the problem (it won’t) and 2) she will forgive him and not send him to languish on the Fugue Plane, which she sees as worse than a quick death. She also can’t directly become involved because of Ao, and she knows Gale is her most potent offence. Plus when Gale realises that the Crown shouldn’t be in mortal hands, he gives it to her and she heals him and fully restores him, including his good standing amongst wizards.

[bittykimmy13]

Wounds (GT Angst)

This is a Shot in the Dark AU known at the “Dark Future AU”.

Fairies have been exposed to the world. Bounties have been placed on their capture. They’re not going down without a fight.

Characters belong to me and the lovely @marydublin5 / @little-miss-maggie​ , creator of the rad header image  <3

Warning: Blood

(( More Dark Future AU ))

A human in the safe house.

It was unheard of. The news spread through the halls like wildfire, accompanied by frantic questions of potential evacuation. If one human had found the haven, surely a mob of them would soon breach the glamour barrier and capture every last fairy.

That morning, Zia only heard about the rumors and chaos secondhand. If evacuation was necessary, it would have been underway by now, she assured herself. Though she was chilled at the thought of a human somewhere on the grounds, she continued tending to her patients and studying diligently to be prepared for whatever wounds were brought before her. 

During the past months, the healing ward had been so packed with the influx of arrivals that she scarcely found time to eat or sleep, let alone chase rumors. She couldn’t afford to lose sight of her role’s importance. Fairies showed up half-dead from their exhausting journeys, sometimes harboring injuries from humans.

Never had the world been such a hostile place for her kind.

“Saffron. Maeve.”

Zia looked up from her book, where she had been carefully studying an incantation for healing burns. 

It was Audrine who had spoken. She looked more vexed than usual as she entered the healing ward with three unfamiliar fairies in tow. They didn’t appear to be injured, but they had the wide eyes of new arrivals who were no strangers to suffering. Saffron and Maeve, the leaders of the ward, assigned nearby healers to their patients and hurried to Audrine. Zia tried to focus back on her spellbook, but she couldn’t help but overhear

“I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the human,” Audrine said, skipping the pleasantries. “Well, we have a bit of a situation. Which is to say, we have a clusterfuck of a situation. The human brought these three with him, claiming he wanted to get them somewhere safe.”

“It’s true,” murmured one of the new arrivals, whose face flushed when he was ignored.

“Naturally, we can’t let him leave. He knows where and how to find us.” Audrine cast a sour look at the three fairies, who must have led the human through the glamour barrier—their most reliable line of defense. “He put up no resistance to being taken to one of the south wing dormitories. We have our best guards—excluding myself, at the moment—watching him.”

Saffron, normally a picture of gentle composure, pushed himself in front of Maeve protectively. “What does this have to do with us?”

Audrine sighed. “He’s injured. And our new friends say he is worth being healed.”

“He saved us!” the same arrival blurted.

“He… he and his other human friend broke in to save some girl with a traitor mark,” said another, a young woman. “His friend was killed. The girl became unstable. She was an ice affinity. She froze the whole room and killed all the humans in it—all except for him. She told him to save us. S-she… she didn’t make it. Her own magic consumed her.”

By then, Zia was openly staring, along with everyone else in earshot.

“Please,” said the third arrival, who couldn’t have been older than seventeen. She looked to the lead healers, voice hitching. “You have to help him! He’s hurt so bad. All he did was wrap up his wounds. The blood’s showing. He doesn’t even seem to care that he’ll die.”

That finally seemed to make Saffron waver. He shared a look with Maeve, who bit her lip and said, “His injuries are that serious?”

“I’ll do it,” Zia said, the words flying out before she could stop them. When all eyes turned to her, she squared her shoulders. “Take me to him.”

Saffron shook his head. “Zia, we don’t know the danger this man poses.”

“All the more reason I should go,” she said. “You won’t let Maeve go alone, and she won’t let you go alone. And… if he is dangerous, the safe house can’t afford to lose both of you. I’ll go.”

“Excellent, glad it’s settled.” Audrine beckoned Zia to follow before there could be any protest. Nodding curtly at the lead healers, Audrine left behind the new arrivals and all but pushed Zia out of the healing ward. “She will be guarded. If the brute dares to lay a finger on her, that finger will be incinerated.”

Glowing orbs hung all around the safe house, pushing back the night’s darkness. Zia and Audrine flew through the foyer, past the enormous staircases, and crossed into a part of the building that had not been structured with fairy accommodations yet. It made sense to keep the human in the south wing, where fairies rarely wandered. However, Audrine did need to shoo off a group of teenagers who were trying to peek into the corridor to catch a glimpse of the human.

Most of the doors in the expansive hall were open. A group of five fairies hovered at attention in front of the last dormitory.

“Any issues?” Audrine questioned Emiko, one of the guards.

“He’s hardly budged,” he said.

“That’s as good a sign as any.” Audrine turned to Zia. “Are you ready?”

Zia squinted past the doorway. Something fearful fluttered in her stomach. There were hardly any lights in the room, but she could see a massive form sitting at the edge of a human-sized bed. She had the peculiar and frightening feeling of looking into a monster’s den. 

Humans had always been a threat, but the past months had proven they were more than that. They were apocalyptic. And she was about to put herself within reach of one.

He’s hurt.

“I’m ready,” Zia said in a small voice.

She entered the room flanked by Audrine and Emiko. The human raised his head as they approached. As her eyes adjusted, she saw that he was hunched forward, arms folded on his lap. A tingle ran along Zia’s skin as she sensed the injuries upon his body—puncture wounds that could have only been made with human weapons. Even a non-healer could have smelled the blood. It was a wonder he was still conscious.

The three of them came to a stop in front of the human. Dark as it was, he seemed to cast an even deeper shadow over them.

“What do you want?” His voice rumbled like thunder when he spoke, but Zia had a feeling he was barely muttering.

Audrine made a noise of contempt. “I want nothing more than to have you bleed out somewhere outside. The mess would be easier to clean up.”

“Fine by me.” The human grunted and started to rise.

Zia cried out involuntarily, covering her mouth too late to stop the noise. He was even bigger than she could have imagined. Audrine and Emiko immediately shouted incantations and ignited spells to their hands. The human looked between them with narrowed eyes before lowering himself back to the bed.

“Careful,” Audrine said. “If you frighten away your sweet little volunteer, I doubt you’ll be getting another.”

The human's overwhelmingly sharp green gaze settled on Zia. “Volunteer? Don’t tell me this is some kinda creepy sacrifice thing, ‘cause I’m not in the mood.”

“I’m a healer,” Zia said, wincing at how her voice cracked. She tried to compose herself and face him the way she would any other patient. “I’m here to help you. Can you point out what’s hurting the most—”

“No healers,” the human growled, leaning away from her like she was poison.

Zia stared, speechless. Considering the lengths humans had gone to abuse fairies for their magic, she hadn’t even considered that he would turn down the opportunity to be healed.

“Are you an idiot?” Audrine flitted closer in response to his retreat. “You’re lucky you weren’t killed the moment you stepped through the barrier! She’s offering to save you from a slow and painful death. Be grateful. That is, if humans have the capacity for it.”

The human tensed, and Zia’s eyes darted to his hands, certain that he would snatch Audrine out of the air to crush the life out of her. But he merely heaved a sigh and pressed his fingertips to his brows. 

“No healers,” he said with a note of pleading. “Just leave me the fuck alone.”

Audrine hissed, clenching her fists at her sides. “You do not tell me what to do, you overgrown, thankless—”

Zia cleared her throat. “Audrine?”

She rounded on Zia with a glare. “What?”

Fiddling with her fingers, Zia was somehow more nervous than when the human was looking at her. “You’re very good at a lot of things,” she said delicately. “But I don’t think this approach is working. Do you think… I could have some space with him? And more light?”

Emiko looked at Zia like she'd gone mad. “Leave you alone with him?”

“I’m not helpless. You can watch from the door if you like. Just some space, please.”

Crossing her arms, Audrine reluctantly pulled away from the human. “Stay sharp, Zia. He could lash out at any moment.”

“I won’t,” the human muttered.

“And if he continues to refuse your generosity, don’t bother with him.”

Zia nodded, though she had no intention of leaving the room until the human’s wounds were healed. Audrine and Emiko sent out more orbs to fill the room with light. As her view of the human was cleared of shadows, Zia felt the spike of intimidation drive deeper. She tried to see past his size and found her heart breaking for him. He looked positively wrung out. He had a handsome face, no doubt about it, but his expression was cold and empty.

As Audrine and Emiko gave her the space she requested, she couldn’t stop thinking about what the new arrivals had said about the human. When his eyes slid to her, however, she blanked for a few seconds.

“I’m Zia,” she managed, folding her hands in front of her.

“Cliff.” The response alone seemed to exhaust him. “Look, sweetheart, I appreciate it, but I already said no—”

“No healers. I know. But what about some company instead?”

“You don’t want to be here. I’m scaring the daylights outta you.”

“Says who?”

He looked her up and down, heaving a sigh like a gust of wind. “You think you’re fooling anyone? You’re shaking like a leaf. Just go.”

“I’ve never been this close to a human,” she said. “I can’t help but be a little… nervous.”

“You should be more than nervous. Healers have it especially rough out there.” His fists clenched on his lap. “You stay the fuck away from other humans, you hear me?”

Her breath caught. It was distressing to process that level of anguish on such a large face. “I heard what the new arrivals said,” she murmured. “I’m sorry about your friend. And… and the ice affinity girl.”

“They were my family,” he snapped, making her flinch. Her fright eased when he looked a little sorry for startling her. He blinked hard and swiped tears from his eyes before they could fall. “Sylv,” he rasped. “And J—” His voice choked off, mouth pulling into a tortured grimace as he doubled over on the bed and heaved a sob.

“Cliff?” She was surprised to feel tears pricking at the back of her eyes. Flying in tentatively, she reached out a shaking hand to touch his knuckle. She looked up and tried to catch his gaze. “I’m so sorry,” was all she could say.

He shuddered. “It should’ve been me.”

“It shouldn’t have been any of you!” Her own tears finally began to fall. Her voice wobbled, and she pressed on nonetheless. “But you’re here. And I want to help. Please, Cliff… Let me heal you.”

“Don’t you know what’s happening out there?” His voice rose, and he practically shook her off. “Fairies are being caged in iron until their magic is needed for study or whatever sick shit the researchers decide it should be used for. Healers like you are being forced to use their magic. If they don’t comply, they’re tortured. Hell, they’re tortured anyway. I’m not taking anything from you. Not one fucking drop of magic. Don't waste your generosity on a human.”

“You’re not taking,” she insisted, flying up closer to his face and persisting when he tried to turn away. “I’m giving. You saved some of our own, and we’re grateful. Please. Let me do this, and we’ll be even. The ice girl… Sylv. She used her magic to save you, didn’t she?”

His gaze snapped to her, and for a moment, she worried she had crossed a line that would awaken his true human nature. But sorrow flooded in.

He swallowed hard. “She told me… to save as many as I can.”

In that moment, she knew that she was not looking at an enemy, monster, prisoner, or whatever else Audrine and the others wanted to think he was. Maybe even he needed to be convinced that he was none of those things. Pursing her lips, she tried to look at his face and not at the bloodied bandages she so desperately wanted to pull away and heal. 

“We’re trying to save as many as we can, too,” she murmured. “Do you want to help?”

Their eyes met, and she did not flinch away as he studied her. Something shifted in his gaze. He gave a nod that was barely perceptible even at his size.

Zia inched toward a soaked red bandage on his upper arm. “Well, you can’t help us if you’re dead.” She started to tug, but it was wrapped too tightly for her to make any progress.

With a sigh, he unwrapped the wound and allowed himself to be healed.

[aros001]

Going in blind: Watching season 1 for the first time. Random thoughts.

This show is kind of nice because I have no memories of the original She-Ra show, or even any of He-Man, honestly. I'm not sure if I ever watched the original, so I have no frame of reference for how the series is "supposed" to be. I can just take it and judge it as is.

Of the bat, all I know is that supposedly She-Ra and Catra get together as a romantic couple later, but I'm also a huge My Hero Academia fan and the fandom around me ships every character with every other character, so for all I know that might just be shipper wishful thinking I've been seeing and hearing. Given fandoms for Gravity Falls, Thor, and Supernatural ship even siblings together, I've learned not to trust anything except for what I see in the series for myself.

By the way, this isn't a review, just random thoughts and comments I'm having as I'm going through season 1 for the first time.

Episodes 1 and 2: Right off, I really like Catra's "No duh" response to Adora about the truth of the horde. She knows they've been lying to them and have been doing terrible things, she just doesn't care. If she and Adora play their cards right they could end up being the ones in charge and then they'd have all that power. Not necessarily to make things better but enough to where they could do whatever and live however they want. That's a good build for an antagonist. Not ignorant to the fact what they're doing is wrong, just simply so selfish that they don't care.

Episode 3: It really feels like there was no good reason why Glimmer didn't just outright introduce Adora to her mother and every reason she should have known it was a bad idea to try and hide her for a surprise. Being a former horde soldier she'd probably get treated with hostility if Glimmer brought her to the front gate but you'd almost guarantee Adora would get arrested or outright killed if she got caught while no one else knew she was there.

On the other side, we have Hordak being pretty intelligent in promoting Catra. He probably knows Shadow Weaver already doesn't like him, so it's not like he's losing anything making her upset with him, and it's clear she favors Adora way more than Catra, so that little bit of advancement towards Catra probably goes a long way in earning her loyalty to him and a person on the inside with Shadow Weaver.

Also, I'm not the only one who saw Madam Razz and immediately thought Adora had found her Yoda, right?

Episode 4: I don't know how it was in the original She-Ra and He-Man series but I kind of like She-Ra being this title from legend. Adora is not the first She-Ra, given what Razz was talking about with a Mara, so instead of being something new, impressing everyone with abilities they've never seen before, and creating the legend, Adora is placed in a position WAY over her head where she's having to live up to what came before her.

Episode 5: Calling it now, as long as her personality is genuine I think Scorpia is going to be one of my favorite characters in this show. She's...endearing, I think is the best word. She's like a mix of Kronk and a nicer Shego.

For a little bit I thought Mermista was voiced by the same actress who played Poison Ivy in the Harley Quinn animated series. She's not but they do have the same kind of Daria-ish inflections, thus by confusion. Given the prom episode, Sea Hawk feels kind of like her Kite Man.

Episode 6: Okay, now it's between Scorpia and Entrapta who are likely to be my favorites by the end of this. She's fun and quirky.

Episode 7: Quite the lore drop. Shadow Weaver was once a Mystacor sorceress known as Light Spinner. I like to imagine we'll get more on that later. Her haunting Adora reminded me of the Teen Titans' episode where Robin was similarly haunted by Slade. This didn't go as far as that but that's probably for the best, since TT had two and a half seasons to build that dynamic up with Robin and Slade while we're only now halfway through the first season.

Episode 8: Well dang. Again, I don't know for sure if Adora and Catra do end up together but boy do I buy why they're shipped together after that dance. Also, good on Bow for standing up for himself. It's clear that he'll always be Glimmer's friend and this won't change that but that doesn't mean he has to just accommodate her. I understand where her issues stem from but I am still glad he gave her a reality check. It helps him feel a little more like his own character.

Also, another nice little bit of lore and worldbuilding. Scorpia's a princess, the horde landed where her people lived, and they seemed to join them willingly.

Episode 9: Surprisingly don't have a lot to say about this other than I don't buy for a second that Entrapta is dead (EDIT: She's not). This was mostly action.

Episode 10: Not going to lie, this one kind of annoyed me a little, at least the first half. The conversation between Glimmer and her mother saved it a bit. It was a bit of a trifecta. You have the alliance breaking apart, saying that the loss of Entrapta only happened because they were all together...even though Entrapta only "died" because of her own machine obsession that caused her to deliberately walk back into the purging chamber. You have Entrapta who might be turning to the horde's side because she feels abandoned by the other princesses...even though they thought she was dead, and again it was her fault they got separated. And you have Glimmer refusing to tell her mother that Shadow Weaver's dark magic has caused her powers to go on the fritz and is causing her great pain. It just feels like none of this would be an issue if most of these people would stop being self-absorbed for three seconds and talk like any normal person would. It feels very CW drama, like something I'd see in a bad season of Arrow or The Flash. The only person whose issues I buy is Adora, who is basically a soldier who was never properly raised to deal with emotion or loss and is already struggling with the burden of being She-Ra, the legendary savior. I get why she's beating down on herself for not being able to do more even if nothing that happened was her fault.

Episode 11: JEEEEEEEEEZZZZ, that was such a good episode! Focused entirely on Adora and Catra and their past together. Like, just showing someone this episode alone could probably get them to want to watch the series. That was everything you needed to know about their dynamic and history together.

Also, that moment when Catra and her past self are looking at each other, while obviously Catra takes the opposite lesson, it reminded me of this fanart I'd once seen of Jason Todd, the Red Hood, looking at his past self as Robin. The past says to the future "You ruined everything". Catra could be happy but, ironically for someone who hates Shadow Weaver, she's probably going to be a lot like her, sacrificing everything for power and ambition.

Given the way she looked, I'm guessing Shadow Weaver is either addicted to the power of the Black Garnet or she suffered some kind of past injury and its power is the only thing keeping her going. Or both.

Episode 12: I'll be honest, Swiftwind being able to talk kind of gobsmacked and I needed a moment to recover. What a great voice they chose for that character.

So She-Ra is kind of like the legendary heroes from Rising of the Shield Hero, coming from a long line of people chosen to wield the sword. I tend to dislike chosen one types of stories because I think prophecy takes a lot of weight out of the character's actions, so this and Avatar are more what I like. The MC is special but not the only one who's ever been special and they can still easily fail. Their destiny was only to be able to use the weapon, not that they would succeed in any specific purpose.

And dang, Catra's turn against Shadow Weaver happened faster than I thought it would but I'm not complaining. That great "This is what you've really been preparing me for" speech and Hordak, again, being an intelligent villain. "Oh, this experiment could net me a MASSIVE gain and all it could potentially cost me is this rock I already gave away to someone who lately hasn't been producing any results and has been consistently disobeying me. Yeah, I'm going to let this play out."

Episode 13: That was kind of a brutal fight between Adora and Catra. Not the worst I've ever seen even in other shows for this age range (Samurai Jack, for example) but those punches are connecting and those claws are leaving marks.

Also, maybe I'm just misunderstanding the exact situation but shouldn't the good guys' side be called the Resistance instead of the Rebellion? Being a rebellion would imply they are rebelling against an established power or rule over them, but the actual conflict we are shown is the established power and rule that is the kingdoms of Eternia resisting an outside force that wishes to establish a new order over them.

Season 1 verdict: I'm into it. I'm definitely more invested in the villains' side of things but that's not a fault of the series, that stuff is just way more geared towards me than the current princess stuff. I actively am at attention whenever the horde main characters are on screen. For the good guys it's mostly Adora and the She-Ra stuff I'm invested it. That isn't to say I have any real dislikes for that side. Bow especially I'm liking much more than I thought I might. He has kind of this gravitational pull around him. You will be his friend regardless of how much you might want to resist. He's definitely the rock for everyone else to hold onto.

Minor side note, kind of like Korra in Legend of Korra, I love how even when her powers aren't active Adora is shown to still be pretty strong physically with how easily she was lifting people up at the prom.

And I was right, Scorpia is my favorite side character.

On to season 2!

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/PrincessesOfPower/comments/nyll2e/going_in_blind_watching_season_1_for_the_first/

[getitinbusan]

My top OT7 Smut Recs!

Fic Recs in a Fic

Much love to @noona-la-la-la @tayegi @softyoongiionly @fortunexkookie @gukslut @honeymoonjin @yminie for being amazing writers!

Jungkook arrived at his wardrobe appointment just past two o'clock. He never minded coming in, truth be told he had developed a bit of a crush on his Clothing Stylist.

Her pretty smile and contagious laugh frequently caught his eye as the fashion team stood together chatting and laughing. He wondered what they were constantly amused by, happy giggles surrounded them even after long days. They were totally off limits but that didn't stop all the boys from thinking about them now and again. 

"Hey JK," she smiled sweetly, "I know we were just going to do casual wear today but your new suits just arrived. Do you want to get them all done now or do you have to be somewhere?"

Suit fitting day meant extra touching, she'd be running her hands over his chest and up his inseam. "Yeah we can get it done today, I don't mind spending some extra time with you." 

"Great! I'm just going to run downstairs and grab them from receiving, I'll be back up in a few minutes." Grabbing the rolling rack she pushed her way out the door. 

Casually looking around as he waited, he picked up the steamer and playfully shot it a few times. 

Just about to see how hot it would be on his face, he heard the distinct sound of Jimin's "Excuse me!" Puzzled, he looked around, he was still alone. Convinced he was hearing things he went back to the steamer, "Excuse me!" It was coming from a phone...her phone...sitting there unlocked. 

He knew he shouldn't look, he knew it was wrong, but when he heard "Excuse me!" again he had to look. 

✂️ Noona: I just finished with Yoongi.

✂️ Noona: Made him a blonde and fuck he looks good.

✂️ Noona: I wore a low cut blouse, caught the dirty boy looking 🤭

Jungkook's eyes got bigger in disbelief, the Noonas talked like this...about them? He couldn't resist, he figured he had about 5 mins before she'd be back. Quickly choosing select all text, he copied, plugged in his own number, pasted, sent and deleted his message once he'd heard his own notification go off. Setting her phone back down, the anticipation of reading the messages had him both nervous and excited. 

The door pushed open as she walked through it backwards tugging the rack inside of the room. "Your phone went off a few times while you were gone Noona," he said with big eyes. "Your notification threw me off a little, is Jimin your Bias?"

Her face went pale, that was the notification sound for her smutty Noona Group Chat, come to think of it he never really used the term Noona with her, what had he seen? 

"No Kookie, I'm definitely 0T7," she dismissively laughed.

He held his phone in his hand looking at the text that was begging to be read. "I uh, just got a message from Joon, emergency group meeting, I'm afraid we'll have to reschedule."

Taking his leave he headed straight back to his apartment, he couldn't wait to read these messages. 

___________________________________

Laying back on his couch he opened the message. The group chat was called BTS Noonas and it seemed it was between the 3 stylists heading each department.

👔 Clothes Noona ✂️ Hair Noona and 💄Makeup Noona

Licking his lips he was eager to read on. 

___________________________________

💄Noona: ㅋㅋㅋㅋ I just found this online, I told you that outfit was an abomination! Even the fans are writing about it. 

J Hope Flight 18 @noona-la-la-la

✂️ Noona: Just happened to find that online huh? You were looking up Hobi smut, admit it. 

👔 Noona: Yes, I told him to wear it. No, I didn't tell him to wear it 2 days in a row without a shirt. 

👔 Noona: This story fits...I asked him why he wore it again and he couldn't give me an answer. He's such a player.

💄Noona: I'd join the mile high club with him. I've had way too many dirty thoughts on those long flights. 

✂️ Noona:  So since we're sitting here waiting for them to finish shooting what else can we find….?

💄 Noona: Alright, I'll admit it...I've got a few saved. You know what Jimin does to me…

Jimin Fuck, Marry or Kill @tayegi

👔  Noona: Ahhh, poor little Jimin ssi, always so insecure 💔

✂️ Noona: No way, he is always the one who hits on me the most. I bet he fucks like there's no tomorrow. 

💄Noona: Agree, when he wants something he gets super aggressive. But really FMK..answers please!

👔 Noona: Fuck Kookie, Marry Jin, Kill Jhope

✂️ Noona: Fuck Taehyung, Marry Yoongi, Kill Jin

💄Noona: Fuck Jimin, Marry Joon, Kill Jungkook

👔 Noona: So if Jimin is a switch let's talk about our little subs! I think we all agree on Yoongi and Jin?

Yoongi Sugar Plum Fairy Lights  @softyoongiionly

Jin A Bonding Experience @fortunexkookie

✂️ Noona: And Dom's, we don't all share the same preferences. What I wouldn't let Taehyung do to me….💦 That boy is a freak in the sheets GUARANTEED

Tae Fun And Games @gukslut

💄Noona: But we all know Joon would be a first class lover. 

RM Sexual Healing @honeymoonjin

👔 Noona: Is he though? He probably gets lucky by tripping and falling into some vagina. Not exactly as smooth in real life as in fiction.

✂️ Noona: OR are you just completely Jungkook biased? We all know what you're thinking when you're on your knees tailoring his pants. 

👔 Noona: I'm not going to deny it! I may have gasped out loud the first time I "accidently" grazed it. This one seems accurate...

Kookie Vaunt @yminie

👔 Noona: Jungkook keeps watching us, maybe we're having too much fun.

💄 Noona: How exactly are we supposed to keep working now? 

✂️ Noona: Break time is over ☹️ back to business. If you find any other good ones post later!

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👔 Noona: Fitting with my baby 🐰 today!

✂️ Noona: I've got Yoongles for hair and my best lacy bra on. 

💄Noona: Fuck I've got nothing, have fun and report back. 

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✂️ Noona: I just finished with Yoongi.

✂️ Noona: Made him a blonde and fuck he looks good.

✂️ Noona: I wore a low cut blouse, caught the dirty boy looking 🤭

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Jungkook couldn't believe what he'd just read. It was hard to imagine that these dirty things were running through her head. He thought only guys said, and fantasized about things like this but he couldn't deny he was turned on. 

Clicking her contact name he sent a message.

JK:  I'm sorry for having to leave earlier, can we try again tomorrow?

👔 Noona: Absolutely, I hope everything is ok?

JK: Never better, see you soon.

Jungkook came in smiling, knowing how she felt, he could flirt without repercussions. Passing him his first outfit he let his hand intentionally linger against her arm while taking the hanger. 

"I'm worried they may be too tight," he let his hand fall over his crotch and he adjusted himself, 'Yeah, it might not fit."

He could see the thoughts running through her head as he used the same words from the story she had shared. A small grin formed on her lips and a blush creeped over her cheeks. 

Getting on her knees to check the hem she worked her hand up his thigh, "Do you have enough room?" She looked up at him directly from her spot between his legs. 

He grabbed her hand, "Don't you want to feel how big it is Noona?" 

As she nodded he placed her hand over his bulge, "All you had to do was ask."

Virgin Jungkook Recs - My Laptop Died So I Used Yours

Taehyung Smut Recs - I Found Your Tumblr