#I feel like even if we don’t get one there’s still potential for those loose ends to be wrapped up in books/novels since they’re already

[thebaldursmouthgazette]

Listen I know further installments in the series is not a given for funding reasons, but it’s extremely wild how it’s very very obvious that they are fully intending to continue the series if they are able to but people are acting with complete confidence like this was meant to be a conclusion and therefore it’s bad that not every piece of the lore has been explored and not every loose end has been tied up

This game is a conclusion to the evanuris arc only. It’s not meant to be a conclusion to the series. There’s gaps in lore still because they’ve deliberately left unanswered questions to be explored in the future works they want to make

Real “quit telling everyone I’m dead” “sometimes I still hear his voice” moment

[youreyeson1y]

still got so much to find out

pairing: bang chan x producer!reader(f)

title:i like it by stray kids (album: ate)

cw: swearing, mentions of drinking/getting drunk

synopsis: chan thought there was something between you both, but when he saw you put your arms around hyunjin's waist as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he began questioning the whole situation.

tags: fluff, mutual pining-ish, miscommunication-ish heh, stubid :( and petty chan, minor minho + chan bonding, loong exposition, hwang siblings = real siblings (!!)

link: ao3

note: there were some issues with the povs I faced while writing this, so for the first part, it'll be in 2nd person, while the last 3/4th of the story is in 3rd person. sorry for the confusion !

word count: 2.9k

enjoy !

“I think you need help, man.”

“What’chu talking about, I’m fine.” The man you were basically carrying on one shoulder tried to stand up, tripping over his feet and words.

“See?” He stumbled, standing up on one foot to prove his sobriety. “Are you proud of me now?” He flashed an endearing smile at you. Your face flushed at the sudden eye contact. You covered it with a groan as Chris fell right into your arms again. 

Instead of the quiet evening you had planned, you had never imagined that you'd end up spending your Sunday night at a restaurant watching over eight guys drinking as if it's their last day and telling a very drunk Christopher that you were proud of him for standing up.

You turned around as you heard a click sound behind you, and saw a chuckling Felix clicking pictures of their leader. 

“Aw man,” Jeongin looked over his shoulders. “That has such good blackmail potential.” 

“Or a really cute birthday post.” Felix cackled. 

“Hey, come on now guys, don’t—” Felix turns his screen towards you with a smirk. “—forget to send that picture to me. Anyway, instead of smiling like fools, come here and help me get him in the car.” 

Changbin and Jisung walk towards you, followed by Minho and Seungmin, who were the most sober of the bunch, and helped carry Chan off of your shoulders. 

“Hey, no, wait,” Chris whined as soon as Changbin pulled him off of you, his senses seeming to come back to him. “Let me drop you home, y/n.” 

“Chan,” Your eyes went soft with a smile. “I would love to, but neither of us are sober enough to drive, and I—” 

“She's coming with me, man, not with your drunk ass,” Hyunjin walked over, casually draping an arm over your shoulders. “Lets get going, y/n. We can't be late.”

As you gave Christopher’s hand a squeeze and walked over towards Hyunjin, it felt as if you had squeezed the life out of Chris. 

Had he misunderstood you this whole time? 

As Chris sat sandwiched between Jisung and Changbin in the backseat, he saw you and Hyunjin get into another car while you were giggling with an arm casually wrapped around his waist. 

As you got into the car, he saw Hyunjin hand you a present. 

Chris thought you and him had something going on; he didn't know what, but he sure felt something. And those feelings were stronger this evening, when each smile he brought out of you made his heart ache and his lips twitch up. 

But was it only him who was feeling that way? 

“You okay, Chris?” Minho called out from the driver's seat, looking over at him with concerned eyes. “I've never seen you drink so much.” 

“Ah, yeah, don't worry about me,” He rubbed his face with a groan, the effect of the alcohol making him tired. He smiled as he felt Changbin and Jisung’s heads fall on his shoulders with a soft thud. “You know how hectic it has been with the new single. I guess I just wanted to let loose for a moment.” 

“I get it,” Minho paused, debating on whether to continue or not. “I just… I hope you're not pushing yourself too much, Chan. We're here to help you if you need… and y/n’s here too. So just, reach out, okay?” 

“Mhm,” Chris smiled. “I will. Thanks, Minho.” 

Usually it would seem weird that they were having a heart to heart after a night-out when one of them was sober, but Chris understood where Minho was coming from. 

It was unusual for Chris to drink, let alone get drunk, so he might think that something was on his mind for him to drink like that. 

But little did Minho know, it wasn't something, but rather someone. 

Chan wasn't even planning on drinking, knowing he had a producing session the next day, but when his stupid friends suggested a game of a shot for a secret, he couldn't help but comply, intoxicated not by the soju, but by the need to learn more, to know more about you.

But as he remembered seeing you wrap an arm around Hyunjin as if it was the most natural thing in the world, Christopher didn't know what to feel. 

The only thing he was sure of now was that no matter how he felt, the feelings of his brother came first; he could never do something that would hurt Hyunjin, or put you in an awkward position. 

Y/N, although a fairly new producer at JYPE, was already popular amongst other artists. She had almost received a celebrity status, when even the public knew a song produced by y/n was sure to top the charts. 

But as a kpop fan since her younger days, for y/n, her job was more like a paid hobby, where she got to meet and collaborate with other artists.

So, when she was proposed to co-produce several songs for Stray Kids’ new album, she jumped at the opportunity; not only because of the group’s popularity, but also because she was a die-hard fan of the group. 

She was obsessed with their music, their  vision and the momentous impact they’d had on artists and fans around the globe— she felt honored that she would be able to leave her mark amongst their talent. 

She was excited to work with them; even while casually greeting them in the halls of the building, she found their energy to be highly contagious. And that feeling remained when she became close friends with the members only after a few weeks of working with them.  

While becoming friends with all the members, y/n couldn't help but want something more with a special member. 

Maybe she did have a tiny crush on him even before they started working together; greeting him in the elevator or bumping into him while getting coffee used to be the highlight of her day. 

But after spending more time together, it wasn't just his extremely handsome face, but he became incredibly attractive to her once she saw the way he treated those around him, his commanding but caring personality and his charming aura. 

Being co-producers, she always had to spend time with him, and looking at him in his element, his passion is what made her look up to him as a fellow artist too. 

Y/n was down bad, but how couldn't she be?

Because the person living rent free in her head was Christopher Bang of all people. 

But what excited her, was the fact that maybe she wasn't the only one feeling that way— 

From asking her to hang out with them during dance practice, to purposefully going on coffee-runs together, or going on late night drives on the guise of dropping her home when both of them knew they had drivers.  

Y/n couldn't help but feel delusional and believe that Chan was doing these small gestures as a way to spend more time with her. 

And maybe. Just maybe, her suspicions were proven right last night, when in a crowded restaurant, it felt like it was just the two of them. 

As the group decided to go out to celebrate, everyone expected Chan to look after them, as always, and stay relatively sober for his session the next day. But contrary to popular belief, when y/n saw him gulp down shot after shot to know more about her, y/n couldn't help but feel special. 

As the other members were immersed in their own conversation, Chris and y/n were in a different world.

They shared their hopes and dreams and desires, and the moment that y/n knew that this moment counted for something, that it was different, is when Chris told her, the most relaxed and genuine she had ever seen him, that “It's nice being just Chris, for once. Thank you for not being bored of Christopher y/n.” 

She knew as a leader, and as a performer in general, how much responsibility Chris had to shoulder on a daily basis. And hearing him say that made y/n feel somewhat proud of herself, for letting him let go for once. 

In the dead of night, when half the city was asleep, she whispered in the softest voice, almost unknowingly, as she helped him walk out of the restaurant. 

“I think I'm in love with you, Chris.” 

But as he stumbled over invisible rocks, y/n felt thankful for drunk Chris because spilling it out like that felt like a mistake. 

But once hearing it out loud, she understood these feelings were here to stay, so she decided she would have a conversation with him once he sobered up. 

But now, roughly an hour had passed of them sitting uncomfortably in the recording booth, and for the life of her, y/n couldn't figure out what the hell was going on with Christopher Bahng. 

As she had entered the recording booth an hour ago, she’d felt herself smiling instinctively as she saw Chris sitting on the couch, nervously clutching the hangover medicine in her hands.

“Hey,” Y/n stood in front of him with an uncharacteristically nervous smile. “How are you? Yesterday was wild, right? I brought hangover medicine for you… I wanted to make sure—”  

“Oh, I'm okay.” Chan replied nonchalantly, not looking up from his phone. “Just so you know Changbin and Jisung will be late, so you can probably save it for them, I guess.” 

This was different.

Chris, no matter how busy or preoccupied he was, always made an effort for the other person, may it be the other members or a polite barista. 

The thought hitting her like a pile of rocks, y/n realized what if he had actually heard her confession last night and this was his way of rejecting her? 

But no matter what, they still had to work on the songs together, and y/n thought maybe this was for the best, so that they could still continue working together as if nothing had happened, because no matter what, y/n did not want her own feelings to meddle with Stray Kids’ performance. 

But as an hour had passed with them making little to no progress on the new song, y/n was fed up. 

They usually had such good chemistry, and it felt like their production and arrangement styles merged perfectly, but honestly, she felt like Chris was being a major asshole now. 

Chan was working as if she wasn't even in the room, or when she made a suggestion, he added it without as much as a thought, making her feel as if he was just humouring her. 

Okay, maybe it was hard to work with someone you know has a crush on you, but did he have to act as if he couldn't even stand when your hands brushed together? 

Y/n was hurt, but as a workaholic, she was also frustrated by his closed-off behavior. She was surprised too, because she knew how much Chan valued his work, so it made no sense for him to be acting this way. 

“Okay, man.” Y/n finally snapped, when they'd been replaying the same three second audio clip from the last fifteen minutes. “What's your problem?” 

“What's my problem?” Chan had the audacity to act surprised. Y/n hated how she still found his accent attractive in this situation. “I don't know, maybe you'd like to answer that when you've been the one silently just sitting here s—”

“What else do you expect me to do when you don't even want to acknowledge my presence in the room?” 

“What do—” 

“Okay you know what,” Y/n had to address the elephant in the room, or else they'd be going back and forth the whole day. “I know I fucked up, okay? And I guess you must hate working with me now, but can we just forget about it and act like nothing happened? I swear I won't do anything weird.” 

“Wait a minute, back up;” Chan’s face flushed. “Can you tell me exactly what you're talking about? Did… did something happen last night?” 

“What the hell, man” Y/n wished the ground would swallow her at this point. “You want me to say it aloud? Is this your way of making me more embarrassed than I already am?” 

“No, I—” 

“I confessed, okay? I said it.” She blurted. “And now you're uncomfortable, I understand, but please try to—” 

“You confessed… to me?” 

“Are you dumb? Of course, Christopher, who else?” 

“Wait but,” He didn't know what to feel, happy or distressed. “What about Hyunjin?” 

“Hyunjin? What about him? I—” Y/n was confused, but then her eyes opened wide in realization as she covered her mouth in shock.

“Oh my God, are you with Hyunjin?! Shut up, I'm so sorry! He did tell me he was with someone but I never thought… Oh my God, Chris, I never meant to—” 

“What the actual fuck? No?!” Christopher stopped her, unable to hear her talk about this for another moment. “I'm not with Hyunjin, okay? We're literally like brothers. And why aren't you mad… aren't you dating Hyunjin?” 

“Me… and Hyunjin? Ew, no!” Y/n looked like she was about to throw up. “He literally is my brother. Well, my cousin, but still. What the hell, what made you think we were together?” 

“Hold up, you guys are cousins?” 

“Well, yeah. I mean we didn't want to be public about it because people may think I got the job only because of him. Honestly I thought he told you guys, but it may have slipped his mind.

"And I didn't think it was my place to tell you guys, so I guess its kind of like a secret?” She scratched her head. “But what made you think we were together?” 

“Well,” It was Bang Chan’s turn to be embarrassed now. “Last night I saw him give you a present and you both went together to—” 

“Don't even finish that sentence.” She made a mental note to have a talk with Hyunjin and the members and finally tell them about their relationship, otherwise she was going to loose her mind. “It's Ye-ji’s birthday today, remember? Since the three of us are close, Hyunjin and I had planned a little something for her to wish her at midnight. So the present you saw was for Ye-ji, not me.” 

“Oh.” The silence that followed was the most awkward moment of Chris’ life. 

After what felt like eternity, it felt like the ice had finally been broken has they broke out into unfiltered laughter once they met each other's eyes. 

“Wait,” Y/n smirked. “Does that mean you were jealous, Chris?” 

“Whatever,” Chris gave her an endearing smile, the same one from last night. “I was okay? I was jealous, and I'd never felt anything like that before. I just didn't want to put either of you in a difficult position, which now I realize was a pretty stupid move from my side because I guess I could've simply just asked either one of you.” Both of them chuckled. 

Chris gently took y/n’s hands in his as he continued. 

“So, I tried to distance myself from you. But I realized, I just couldn't. We're a great team, and I think it's because we truly understand and know each other, which is a surprise, because I've never felt like this about anything or anyone in a long time. 

“And not only that, you're one of the most talented and amazing people I've had the honour of knowing. Unfortunately, I do not remember what you said last night, so, I'm going to shoot my shot and hope i don't make a fool of myself.

"I think I'm in love with you, Y/n. It may be a risk, but you're a risk I'm willing to take. So I want to ask you, y/n, would you please—” 

Before he could finish, Y/n, misty-eyed and overjoyed, reached forward to kiss him, and she felt relieved when she felt him smile against her. 

“I guess that's a yes?” Breathlessly, Chris smiled. 

“Yes, yes, yes… A thousand times yes, Christopher Bang!” Y/n laughed. “I think I'm in love with you, too. You—”  

The two of them jumped in their seats as they heard something fall. As they turned their heads, they saw Changbin and Jisung standing near the door, looking at everything but them. 

“Oh, hey, guys, didn't notice you there!” Jisung said in an extremely high-pitched voice. “How are you?” 

Changbin, the voice of reason for once, smiled knowing. “We were going to say that we're sorry we're late, but I guess you did not really feel our absence.”

Chris knew that smirk— it was that of him winning a bet. “We can complete this song another day if you want.” Changbin said, smacking Jisung on the head for acting so dumb. 

“It's okay guys,” Y/n wanted to die. She knew she was never going to live this down. “We were just waiting for you—” 

“No, you know what, thanks, Binnie.” Chris held y/n’s hand with a smirk as they stood up and walked towards the door. Chris knew they were not going to live this down anyway, so he might as well take this opportunity. “We'll let you know when we'll be free. Don't call us!” 

As Chris and y/n walked out of the room in a fit of laughter, they heard Changbin laugh just as loud. 

“Sweet!” Changbin cackled. “I’m gonna be 50 dollars richer!” 

a/n: honestly i never really thought how hard it would be writing an xreader fic, because at one point i literally started using you as a name instead of a pronoun lol. literally was so much harder and i had actually written a snippet weeks ago before i abandoned it due to writer's block but then ate dropped (go stream y'all !!) and the new era has been living rent free in my head, so that gave me the motivation to finally get back to that and make it what it is today lol.

my first xreader and honestly channie was the best person as my muse ♡ i can only say i may write more hehe

i hope you enjoyed and please lmk what you thought and leave comments in my ask box, on ao3 or the tags !! requests are also welcome ♡

untill next time 💌

bang chan masterlist

[mysterialistic]

I have an issue with the fact that Qiao Ling and Xiao Li are dead too. (Long ramble)

For me, this undermines Lu Guang's complexity and motivation. Why? Because they're portraying him as some kind of hero—the great "last hope."

For over a year since the Season 2 finale, we've believed the opposite about Lu Guang. We saw him as hypocritical and deceitful because he was trying to change the past and break a death node—a rule he established and even scolded Cheng Xiaoshi for disobeying. At the end of Season 2, Lu Guang says, "I want to use the last chance to go back to the beginning and save YOU." For so long, it’s been clear that he only cared about saving Cheng Xiaoshi. They've repeatedly emphasized and convinced us through songs and promotional material of this: that his sole focus was Cheng Xiaoshi, and no one else mattered to him.

The fact that Lu Guang prioritized saving Cheng Xiaoshi, despite the potential consequences for others (like the theory that avoiding Cheng Xiaoshi's tragic fate caused the deaths of Li Tianxi, Chen Bin, and Emma), is what made Lu Guang a great character. He wasn’t a typical hero—he was human. He was afraid of loss and suffering, of living without his best friend. This fear consumed him to the point where he never even allowed himself to grieve. Cheng Xiaoshi brought meaning and color to his life, and Lu Guang deemed him the only one worthy of saving because of his good intentions and kind heart.

If they now include Qiao Ling and Xiao Li among those Lu Guang wants to save, it completely changes the essence of his character. It takes away the personal, deeply human motivation that made him so complex and relatable. We could relate to him because, if we were in his position, with the power of going back in time after tragically loosing a loved one, many of us would do the same or at least consider it. And now, instead of Lu Guang being driven by personal loss and denial, he becomes a stereotypical hero trying to save everyone. It’s an absolute cliché that even goes against the main principle of the series back in season 1: "past or future let them be".

Maybe Qiao Ling being dead could make sense, since she’s close to him, but even that feels off. Lu Guang has never shown a strong desire to save her specifically. Besides, it doesn’t align with what we’ve seen: in Lu Guang’s memory, Qiao Ling didn’t see herself die like Cheng Xiaoshi did. Killing her off would also strip away an interesting aspect of her character—her determination to protect her younger brother. In Season 3, she could confront Lu Guang about his actions and actively try to help him. If she’s meant to die too, it reduces her to a damsel in distress, reinforcing the unfortunate tendency of Link Click to mishandle its female characters.

As for Xiao Li, his inclusion feels completely random. He wasn’t close enough to Lu Guang to justify being a major motivation for him. If anything, he would be at the very bottom of Lu Guang’s list of priorities.

Anyway, I’m sorry for the long ramble—I just needed to get this off my chest. I still hope this might be a red herring and that they’re not actually dead yet. Or perhaps they died in the first timeline, but Lu Guang managed to save them while still being unable to save Cheng Xiaoshi, no matter how hard he tried. I don’t know. I’ll trust Link Click and wait to see how they justify or resolve this in a way that makes sense and preserves the characters’ essence.

[fadingdaggerr]

Hii!! I hope you've had a great day!!

So, I had this idea and I can't stop thinking about it, it's like rotating in my brain like a Rotisserie Chicken. IDK if you're still taking requests but I just had to send this.

Anyway, Melissa and reader are in someone else's house (R parents or idk some kind of sleepover with the teachers) and for some reason they can't sleep together in the same bed/room, like they're used to, which is concerning R because Melissa doesn't really sleep well alone.

But Mel tries to ease R saying she'll be just fine for one night, and very reluctantly R agrees.

Well, it turns out she can't. R and obviously a few others in the house wake up to Melissa's screaming in the middle of the night and R runs to her, shes is sobbing, shaking and clutching R for dearlife, just absolutely terrified and not even letting R move. R calm her down and take care of her, like with a lot of fluff and comfort.

I'm just obsessed with R taking care of Mel and being really sweet.

Yeah that's it. I love your stories, they are really really good. And I could only think of you when this thing came out of my brain.

+ I absolutely loved what you did in "Know I'm Alive", I was kicking my feet and internally screaming. (I sent that anon 👉👈) So thanks, I enjoyed it a lot, like a lot a lot, like, if I could I would eat that it.

You're really talented!! <3

by the sun, by the moon

pairing: melissa schemmenti x gn!reader

summary: request above! | 4.8k

includes: no pronoun use for r, fluff, hurt/comfort, family play fights/sibling banter, r’s family adores mel, probably ooc!mel oops

warnings: unhealthy relationship dynamic (short), attempted violence (short), mentions/insinuations of sex, one outdated traditional value, sleep difficulties/nightmares, anxiety/panic attack

note: please feel free to skip the section that discusses the unhealthy relationship dynamic/violence. it begins after the first section divide with the line “for her entire childhood…” those topics are only explicitly stated there and only referenced one other time. please do not feel as tho you need to read triggering material to understand the story, i tried to make it understandable without having to read potentially distressing content :)

Melissa’s head tips back when she hears you coming back downstairs, having been waiting for you since your mom called during The Real Housewives time. The way you’re watching your feet with furrowed brows makes her fully turn until she’s kneeling on the couch, leaning over the back to get closer to you.

“Something wrong?” Melissa asks, reaching to grab your hand to pull you closer.

You shake your head, “no, no.” Warm hands rise to cradle the redhead’s face, “how would you feel about spending the night at my parents place Saturday? They’re hosting Jonah’s birthday, wanted our help to set up the night before.”

Her eyes widen, “just Saturday night?”

“Just Saturday,” you reaffirm, tucking a loose hair behind her ear. She cautiously nods, barely moving. “We don’t have to if you’re not comfortable with it, I’m not going to make you.”

“I know, I know,” she says through her breath, “we’ll stay the night.” The kiss you press to her forehead feels heavier than just a silent thank you.

—☽—

For her entire childhood and through her marriage, Melissa slept like a rock. She slept through Kristen Marie’s and Joe’s snoring, her college girlfriend’s sleep talking, her parents having a screaming match so loud the cops got called. Before starting teaching, she even had to train herself to wake up at the sound of her alarm, knowing that being late to the school was ten times worse than being late to JC Penney.

Two years after she finally left Joe, Melissa met Eric.

Tall, charming, nice-smelling Eric with his salt-and-pepper beard always tidy, a covered up Marine tattoo on his forearm. He’d bought her drink after his friend accidentally knocked hers off the counter of the bar, and two hookups later, she was agreeing to a real date. Three months later, she was his girlfriend and allowed him into her apartment. He got to know where the spare key was hidden after a year.

Eric was everything Joe was not. During arguments, Joe would shut down and leave, only returning when he smells like cheap liquor and some other woman’s perfume. Eric always stayed, told her his point of view, listened to hers, calmly told her when she was overreacting. He was smooth, never raised a hand towards her or threw things at the walls. Melissa always knew when she was in the wrong, but he never made her feel bad about it.

Eric was particular. He liked his shirts folded a certain way, beer only from a glass, and silence when he worked. If she was excited about anything, he only ever allowed her to speak about it until he’d lost interest, almost always by the time she paused to take a breath. When he properly introduced her to his friends, his hand on her knee would tighten when she spoke. Quickly, she learned that the tighter the grip, the less she should speak. Four hours at some sports bar and Melissa had only been able to say a total of six sentences. Eric liked Melissa quiet. Melissa became quiet.

He started to prod about meeting her family, and she shut him down. Again and again. The fourth time, he banged his fist against the table, the end of his fork creating a small dent. Green eyes fixated on the dent as he began to calmly explain that he had introduced her to his family, it was her turn. Mumbling those were your buddies got her stuck on her own couch that night, clutching the blanket Nana made her before she started college.

Two months later, she began to slowly bring back Eric’s clothing to his apartment on the off-chance they went there for a night. Grading her student’s assignments began to take longer and she triple-checked the scores to waste more time, suddenly too tired to have sex or even talk before going to sleep. Otherwise, she listened to his rules, spoke when spoken to, cooked when asked.

The morning he narrowly avoided calling her a moron to her face when she made the eggs over-medium instead over-easy, she officially made her choice. That night, at the Italian restaurant he brought her to, she called it off.

“Why?” Eric asked, eyes stone, unwavering from hers.

She took a deep breath, “you treat me like a pet. Speak when spoken to, move when told, I’m sick of it.” Her grip on the table cloth tightened, “tomorrow, I will put your stuff outside. You’ll pick it up when I tell you to, and then you will leave.”

He sits back in his chair, tongue poking at his bottom lip, “and if I don’t want to break up?”

“Too bad,” she shrugs. Standing from the table, Melissa leaves him with the check and the sad excuse of Italian cuisine on the table.

At work the next day, it takes all morning, lunch, and prep to fully debrief Barbara on everything that had been going on. It made sense to the kindergarten teacher why she had yet to meet this Eric fella, but after hearing this, she knew Melissa wasn’t proud of getting herself in this situation. A promise of a wine weekend and greasy food makes Melissa truly smile. Barbara hadn’t realized how fake every little grin had been until now, she missed her best friend.

That afternoon, Melissa came home to the loose brick that hid her spare key ajar. The blood in her veins runs cold. Opening the unlocked door, glass scratches across the wooden floor, crunching under her heels. Every picture frame, the television, the radio, the coffee table, the stovetop, the tea set from her grandfather, all smashed to pieces. Holes were in nearly every wall, the stair railing broken. The entire first floor was destroyed, only upstairs was left pristine, as if nothing had happened at all. Bat in hand, she checks every closet, under her bed, in the bathtub, everywhere. He was gone.

Leaning against the wall, she slides down and sobs. Melissa is forced to make a choice she didn’t want to make. Opening her phone, she calls Joe.

Joe, despite everything he had done, was at Melissa’s house within the hour. In one hand he held a bag from the hardware store, containing new locks and keys, the other hand had his very own bat, nails pounded through the wood. Like he said when they signed the papers, just because he wasn’t in love with her, doesn’t mean he didn’t care.

Three weeks later, after things had settled and locks were changed, Melissa felt more secure. Still every night, she woke at every sound, wind and the smoke detector quickly became her mortal enemies. Bundled in her soft pajamas and thick comforter one night, she finally fell into a hard, deep sleep forced from pure exhaustion.

Paperclips, a screwdriver, and a small sheet of flexible metal are all someone needs to pick a lock and shift the deadbolt. Eric surely knew that, always the smart man, yet never the brightest. Slowly, he moved up the stairs, bourbon fueling his motions as well as his heavy steps.

A particularly loud thunk wakes Melissa, hand flying under her pillow to the bat Joe had made her promise to keep there. Another thump made her jump out of bed and to the side of her dresser with an iron grip around Edith Houghton. When her door opened, she stayed pressed into the corner, hoping she stayed hidden just long enough for him to leave so she could grab her phone.

Liquor breeds stupidity, worsens it when it is already present, and Eric had left to check the bathroom. Quickly, Melissa called the police, shakily texting Joe as she whispered to the operator. At that point, she didn’t care who got there first. She just wanted to be free of him.

She moved to a new apartment before the month even ended. Barbara insisted on cameras, which Gerald installed. Joe insisted on a nailed up bat, which he made himself. Not a night has gone by since then where she didn’t have it within arms reach of the bed.

It took six years for her to sleep again.

—☽—

The light tracing of nonsensical patterns on her abdomen is what wakes Melissa, eyes cracking open to the bright sun peeking through the curtains. She wishes now, more than ever, that she had agreed to the blackout curtains, groaning into her pillow. With the knowledge she’s now awake, several soft kisses press against her shoulder, traveling to her neck. With a sleepy grin on her face, Melissa turns to face you.

“Morning,'' you mumble against her lips, hand traveling up to her hair to separate the knots that you created. “Sleep good?”

The only response you get is a little huff that almost sounds like yeah, her face burying in your neck to hide from the light. You lay there with her, finishing your detangling mission as Melissa’s nails trace up and down your arm. A final, sound kiss lands on the crown of her head before you shuffle out from underneath her, reaching for your previous discarded university shirt and sweatpants. The redhead watches through droopy eyes, scanning over you before your pajamas cover everything she adores.

“Gotta get up, beautiful,” you say through a yawn as you walk out the room, “we need to be leaving for one.” A tiny groan escapes her lips as she rises from the bed, though a small smile crosses her lips when she sees your sweatshirt thrown over the chair in the corner, just waiting for her.

Not even halfway down the stairs, there’s a clatter from the kitchen and a quiet exclamation of fuck. “You’re not even awake and you want me up,” Melissa says as she walks to the coffee maker. She’s met with a small slap on her ass in return, not even caring to be embarrassed of the girlish giggle she lets out.

Whose fault it is that you’re late leaving, who could tell? Between the forgoing packing and wrapping your cousin’s present last night for a taste of Melissa and her lack of pants this morning, it’s hard to say. Nothing that going a gentle twenty over on the highway can’t mend.

Driving up the dirt road, the dense trees thinned and your parent’s yellow house came into view. Your father’s questionably functional truck sits in the front of the garage, your mom and brother’s cars parked close together on the lawn. Seeing the way your hands tighten on the steering wheel, Melissa slides her hand from your elbow to the free hand on your thigh, playing with your rings to calm you. Being at your parents house was always overwhelming, fun, but overwhelming.

Narrowly avoiding scraping the side, you pull in next to your brother’s car. Looking at each other, you and Melissa give each other a nod of we got this. She’d been over here before, she’d been to three family reunions and almost every birthday party, but never had you two stayed the night, always being some of first to leave to sleep in your own bed.

With a little grunt, you hop out of the car and jog to Melissa’s side to open her door. She gives you a half glare when you tap her hand away from helping carry the bags in, you never let her lift a finger, if you can help it.

“Well, look who decided to show up!”

Both you and Melissa jump at your mother’s yell from the porch, bangles clanking together as she widely waves to the both of you. Gravel crunches under her feet as she rushes over to the two of you, immediately pulling Melissa into a hug. Before you were banned from saying it, you used to joke that your parents preferred your girlfriend to their own child. The giant smile on Melissa’s face when she interacts with your family makes it worth it.

Tumbling upstairs, you bring your bags into your childhood bedroom with Melissa close behind. Even with every time she had been here, she loved being in your room. It was a time capsule of your life before college, all the posters of bands and movies still hanging on the walls, trinkets covering every space. She particularly loved the little collection of rocks on your bookshelf, clearly in order from favorite to least favorite.

The bed bobs as you both drop onto the mattress, groaning at the comfort after three hours in the car. You turn your face towards her, leaning to press a kiss to her shoulder, “I love you.”

Melissa leans in closer, “I love you, too.” She watches your eyes flick to her lips, beating you to the chase and pressing her lips to yours softly. It takes every ounce of effort to not moan at your tongue tracing her lip, her hand coming up to grip your shirt and keep you close. Stomping up the stairs makes you both jump apart, feeling like teenagers getting caught, not that the room was helping.

The door opens to show your dad, boots trekking in dirt that will inevitably get him in trouble with your mom. The hand not on the doorknob is over his eyes, “you two better be decent. Ma has lunch ready downstairs and clothing is probably mandatory.”

“Knock it off,” you mumble as you shuffle towards him so he can give your head a gentle noogie. Neither of you were big on hugs, only really being physically affectionate with your partners, but the love is always clear in every fistbump and hand on your shoulder.

You and Melissa trail behind your father as he goes to the kitchen, both fighting laughs after nearly getting caught by your dad. However, the second your mom peers over at the two of you, you both act like you had been silent the whole time, eyes flicking around in feigned innocence.

Lunch is a mismatch of all the foods your mom made for the birthday party the next day, making you all be her taste testers, even if she only really wants Melissa’s opinion as the other cook in the family. Pasta salad, potato salad, mac and cheese, shortcake, even some chicken with her new lemon pepper recipe. You and your brother fight over who gets first dibs on the pasta salad, ending with his wife taking the serving spoon from your hands and grabbing some for herself.

“Act your age,” Kennedy says to her husband, making you laugh, before she gives you a sharp glance, “that goes for you, too.” Melissa turns away to unsuccessfully hide her own laugh from you.

Lunch ends with your mom and your brother arguing over another serving of macaroni, “we need food for tomorrow! Fuck’s sake, Marcus.”

—☽—

Your father divides everyone into groups to set up the backyard. Your mother takes Melissa and Kennedy to help set up the tables and lights, forcing you and Marcus to help your father with the tent, bonfire pit, and yardgames.

Getting all the yardgames for the little cousins was the easy part, even if it took a while because the three of you had to play a game of cornhole before you could do anything else. None of you got a single one in after two turns, making you all set into defeat, the game was agreed between the three of you to be stupid now. With your father taking a break now, getting the tent together was a doomed venture with you and Marcus.

“If you don’t let me hold it up, it’s gonna keep falling.”

“Fuck off! No, it won’t,” Marcus says with confidence, trying to stand the tent all at once before securing it. Four had already fallen, and a job that should only take twenty minutes was taking nearly an hour.

“How is it gonna stay up if nothing’s holding it, huh? Thought you knew everything?” He flips you off and doesn’t answer, continuing putting the spike in the ground, though without the other end being held up, the weight pulls it down again. Giving up, you walk away and attempt to find your dad for something else to do. You stop in your tracks, just step from the patio.

Watching Melissa with your family always makes butterflies erupt in your chest. She used to be so nervous around them, uncharacteristically quiet and meek, but now she’s almost as carefree with them as she is with her own. The sunlight makes her hair shine, and it’s damn near impossible to look away. It seems you’re of similar mind, her head turning towards you, fighting a grin when she sees the dopey grin on your face.

You almost start to walk towards her, but a strong hand pulls you back. Your dad pushes the hatchet into your hands, “you’re on firewood duty.”

“Bu-”

“Nope, you’re not slinking off to your girl. Go chop the wood, Casanova,” he says as he walks back to help Marcus with the tent.

It’s hours before you even get a chance to see Melissa again, as if your parents were keeping you apart. Which they were, knowing that you’d ignore everything you had to do if it meant you got to just look at Melissa. By the time you got back inside, the button up you’d been wearing was abandoned on a lawn chair and you were out of breath. How much firewood does one bonfire even need?

Walking in the backdoor into the kitchen, Melissa is leaning against the counter, her eye on the mixer filled with what will be cheesecake going to your tanktop clad form as she chats with Kennedy. Creeping up beside her, you wrap an arm around her waist and press a lingering kiss to her cheek, mumbling a greeting into her skin before trudging upstairs to shower the sweat and dirt off.

—☽—

By the end of the night, everyone is half-awake and struggling to keep their eyes open as a TV movie drones on. Neither you or Melissa are paying attention, too wrapped up in one another in the arm chair. Legs dangling over the arm, Melissa is seated on your lap, head tucked into your shoulder as you mindlessly play with her hair. The hand on the back of your neck stops its soft ministrations, her breathing slowing as she fights falling asleep.

You speak quietly for only her to hear, “you ready for bed?” She just nods against you, and you tap her legs to prompt her to move. Her hands hold onto your arm to steady herself, wavering where she stands.

“Alright, we’re calling it. Night guys, we’ll see you in the morning,” you announce into the room as Melissa starts going towards the stairs, not trusting her ability to speak when she’s this tired. You get a quiet chorus of night before you walk to the stairs, but your mother’s voice stops your movements.

“Jellybean, could you do me a favor and take the trash out before you head upstairs?” she asks without taking her eyes off the TV.

You internally groan before nodding, turning to Melissa, “go up, baby. I’ll be right there.”

This catches your mother’s attention, immediately moving to face you, “you mean to say ‘goodnight,’ right?”

“What?”

Her eyebrows rise, “you’re saying goodnight, then going to your room. Right?” Melissa’s blood immediately runs cold, color draining from her face. If she was tired two minutes ago, she was wide awake now.

“No...” you say slowly, confused, “why would Mel not also be in there?” You peak over your shoulder to Melissa, giving her a look before your attention is back on your mother.

“So, you’re staying in the guest room? Or is Melissa?”

Your face screws up, “Neither of us? My room’s got a full, that’s fine for us.”

“No.”

“Hell you mean ‘no,’ Ma? Marcus and Kennedy are sharing a full, it’s not a huge deal,” you hear Melissa step down from the stairs, her shaky hand holding your elbow.

“Marcus and Kennedy are married, unlike you two. I know you live together, but my roof, my rules. You know that,” she says matter-of-factly. The other three people in the room pointedly avoid looking at you, not wanting to get on your mom’s bad side.

You argue back, “that’s fucking ridiculous, Ma. We are grown adults, in a relationship.” The arched brow on your mother’s face tells you that you shouldn’t be arguing, but she doesn’t know. She doesn’t know about the panic that is starting to eat away at Melissa’s veins at the sudden thought of sleeping without you, something she hasn’t done once in over three years now.

“No rings, two beds. Don’t think I won’t be checking.”

Not wanting to make more of a scene, Melissa tugs on your arm to gain your attention. Turning to her, you can see the silent plea in her eyes for you to give it up. Shoulders sagging, you let out a grumbled fine. Breaking away from her, you go to the kitchen and roughly pull the trash from the bin. It takes a great deal of effort to not slam the door as you stomp to the garage. When you come back in, you don’t bother saying anything to anyone, just wrapping an arm around Melissa to guide her upstairs.

When you get into your room, you shut the door and lean against it with a huff. The two of you silently change into your pajamas, moving slowly from exhaustion and an attempt to prolong your time together. Melissa turns away to fold her clothes on the bed, and you move to wrap your arms around her waist, propping your chin on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” you say, “I’ll stay in here tonight. Not like she can’t ground me anymore.”

Melissa turns in your arms, loosely wrapping her own around your shoulders, “it’s alright, I’ll be fine. I don’t want her mad at you for my sake.”

“Baby-”

“Don’t do that,” she says, though the sigh in her voice gives away her uncertainty, “I’ll be okay, amore.”

Your eyes scan over her face before you nod. Her arms pull you closer, noses brushing before she presses a sound kiss to your lips. Melissa’s arms shift and her hands cup your face, moving your head to press kisses to your cheeks, forehead, and chin, until the sour look on your face disappears.

Tugging her into you, you bury your head into her neck, pressing a long kiss there. From her neck you mumble, “I’ll be in the room right next door.”

“I’ll survive in the guest room, this is your bedroom,” she says, though she doesn’t fully mean it.

“What’s mine is yours. Plus, this one’s more comfortable, you’ll thank me later,” you hug her tighter, “so... I will be next door.”

“I told you, I’ll be fine,” she says. It’s more for her than you this time. Three years. Three years of falling asleep with you still awake beside her and waking up with you already looking at her.

You walk her back towards the bed, getting in with her, though not under the covers. With everyone, especially your mother, you don’t think it’ll hurt to stay until Melissa falls asleep. Her back presses to your front, hand holding yours to her chest, fast beating heart beneath. In a hushed voice, you speak about little things that don’t matter in hopes that it will calm her enough. Slowly her breath evens out, face burying into the pillow as it always does when you hold her like this.

Carefully, you detangle yourself from her and press a kiss to her hair, “I love you.” Stepping out of the room slowly, you leave the door cracked just a little and eye Melissa before turning. At the top of the stairs is your mother, brows raised.

“You better be going to your own bed,” she says quietly, though her tone is hard.

Rolling your eyes, you respond, “I am. Just had to make sure Melissa was asleep first.” You try to go into the room next door, but your mom’s face is silently asking for context, “she doesn’t sleep well. Different place, different sleeping arrangement, it’s difficult.”

You don’t particularly appreciate the dismissive way your mom just nods before walking towards the master bedroom, clearly thinking it was just an excuse, but it’s too late to fight about it. The sooner you sleep, the sooner you can wake up and crawl into bed with Melissa before she wakes. You watch the crack in the door and listen for Melissa until sleep comes over you.

—☽—

Something wakes you just past three in the morning, an ear splitting scream coming from next door. At first, you think it’s just your own anxiety, closing your eyes slowly. A second scream, this time of your name, and you’re springing out of bed, throwing the door open hard enough to bounce off the wall and slam shut. Four steps bring you to your childhood bedroom, rapidly swinging the door open to run in, not noticing the others joining you in the hall.

When you get into the room, moonlight illuminates Melissa where she’s sitting up with a hand gripping her shirt as she breathes in quick, panicked pants, eyes flying around the room until they land on you. Before she can even reach for you, you’re practically pouncing on the bed to get in front of her. Your hands go to her shoulders, her own gripping your forearms, her watery eyes darting around your face. Taking in deep breaths and letting them out slowly, you motion for Melissa to mimic you, trying to slow her rapid breath and heart.

Short gasps become slow, shaky breaths as panic begins to fade and tears form. A whimper of your name makes you pull her into you, her arms gripping your shirt and she cries into your neck. Between broken sobs, only the words window, knife, and everywhere and mention of a him come through, but you understood. This wasn’t the first time Eric’s actions haunted her at night, though it had been nearly two years since she’d woken up in a sweat.

Peeking over your shoulder, you see your parents and brother in the doorway. The look you give your mother is filled with anger and a raised brow that says I told you to listen. The clear fury makes your father pull her back towards their own room, pushing your brother to his. Some level of courtesy hits your mom, closing the door fully before she gets tugged away.

Attention back on Melissa, you alternate between playing with the ends of her hair and lightly dragging your nails over her back under her shirt. You tuck her hair behind her ear, tacky from tears, “you’re safe, Mel. Nothing and no one’s going to hurt you, I promise. I wouldn’t let them.”

Rocking side to side gently, you feel her breathing return to normal, body no longer shaking from tears. Trying not to jostle her, you turn your body to lay down with her, keeping her tucked into your neck with your arms around her. Pressing a kiss to her head, you slide an arm down to grab her hand, lacing your fingers together.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, just below your ear.

You squeeze her hand, “you never have to apologize for this. If anything, I’m the one that should be sorry. I should have stayed.”

She sniffled, “I’m a grown woman, I should be able to sleep alone.”

“And I should be able to stand up to my mother about sleeping in the same bed as my girlfriend, yet here we are,” you say jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

Thankfully, she chuckles, the vibration on your skin making you smile, “so it’s all your fault.”

“I’ll gladly take the blame,” you mumble as you settle into the bed more, relaxing as you feel the redhead relax against you.

In a sudden move, Melissa props herself up over you, hair dangling in your face. Leaning down, she kisses your forehead, then each cheek, and finally your lips, long and loving. It’s a quiet thanks that she will never owe you.

“I love you,” she whispers.

“I love you more,” you whisper back.

It takes half an hour for sleep to creep back in, Melissa’s breathing growing slow where she rests on your chest, your heart beating under her ear. When she eventually falls back asleep against your chest, you stay awake and trace lines on her back. You’ll gladly stand guard if it means she sleeps peacefully, stay awake if it means she’s safe.

note: solaris write a fic under 3k like u planned challenge good lord man. also thank you thank you for the compliment, it’s an honor to be the first person u thought of to write this. i hope i did ur vision justice <3

as always, feedback appreciated <3

[friendlyghost07]

Concept: tommyinnit in Gotham like those Peter in Gotham fics (specifically C!Tommy)

Just think about it. First off, the way C!Tommy is written in fics is rly similar to Andrew Garfield’s spiderman if he was aloud to cuss a lot and be British. So already we know the dynamic would work.

Plus, if you go with C!Tommy and not content creator Tommyinnit, then this is someone who knows nothing about the modern world. In Peter in Gotham fics his culture shock is the diff between hero society mostly, and Danny is usually still in the same universe he just moves towns, but Tommy?

Bro doesn’t know what a vigilante is. He knows what a hero is, but would he know about vigilantes? He’s never lived in a world where that was a possibility, so he’s probably never heard the word before, so the bats are just a new concept to him entirely.

And that’s not even touching him learning about modern technology. The technology in the dsmp is so fucked, there’s nukes, but they still use bows and arrows? Plus, their comms are the closest thing to a phone he’s ever seen.

I’m just picturing him entering the library like Peter does at the beginning of every fic, but instead of hacking a computer and high tailing it out of there he lingers, because he has no idea what he’s doing. He just nearly got ran over by a car, but he doesn’t know what a car is, so it seems like a good starting point. He avoids the computers bc “wtf r those block things?” And ask Barbara where “the redstone section is”. (Tommy assumes anything tech is redstone powered) and Barbara is confused bc redstone is a fictional made up thing by Minecraft. And thru this failed interaction Tommy is directed towards the computers, and fails to use one properly for the next hr. Barbara watches in shock, and immediately messages the GC about a “potential clone/alien/escaped lab rat situation”.

He doesn’t think to get a form of ID bc he’s never needed one, or get a job. Everyone always built their own places and lived there in Minecraft. So taxes and economy and working for money is something new he’s learning.

Also his unique trauma just giving the bats a headache, like what do you mean you fought in a national war at 9??? You gen believed ur brother was gonna make u president at 14, then he blew up said nation in front of you??? Tf is a HYBRID? Tim also fucking loosing it at their cracked technology in the SMP.

If someone were to do this my one ask is you add Tommy being scared of ppl with masks on. It makes him tense when he can’t look at someone’s facial expressions to see if they’re mad (thank you c!dream). So red hood’s helmet, and Batman’s clow just fucks with him. At least hood has a domino mask underneath that makes Tommy feel better (not great, but better) but Batman will forever be untrusted until way later in the fic.

Tommy: I don’t have a good track record with brothers, or family in general.

Literally any of the batkids: neither do I.

queue bonding

[frangipanilove]

Thoughts on Isabelle as a Beth proxy

(Beware of potentially unpleasant romance-related spoilers below)

@bethgreeneprevails I hope you have recovered from your traumatic morning the other day (hopefully this won't traumatize you further). As promised, here are a few of my thoughts on why I’m not terribly distressed by the prospect of potential hints of romance between Daryl and Isabelle. I typed this out the other week, then of course yesterday THOSE spoilers came out (under the cut, to save lives), then all hell broke loose, and here we are.

Yes, they are unpleasent spoilers for sure! I’ll address them briefly in here, but they actually don’t really significantly change how I already feel.

And honestly there’s not really anything new and groundbreaking in here in terms of analysis, just a few thoughts I’ve been having about Isabelle as a Beth proxy.

So to get it out of the way, the recent spoilers report that apparently Daryl and Isabelle will share a kiss. I know, I know. I wasn’t thrilled to hear that either. But I’m still not terribly concerned about it, and I’ll try to explain why.

First of all, I don’t know if these are credible spoilers or not. It’s my understanding that they originated from DearTV, but I haven’t been able to confirm that, so keep that in mind.

But at a certain point last night they seemed to be all over the internet:

And while I reserve the right to be moderately grumpy about it, I don’t think we’re in for a porno here. I expect it to be fairly harmless and innocent. I think we’ll survive. Unlike poor Isabelle.

I originally wanted to write this post because I feel strongly that Isabelle has so much Beth-proxyness (totally a word) about her, and anything that happens between Isabelle and Daryl, on some level says something about his relationship to Beth. While it was subtle during season 1, it was definitely noticeable, and I believe it’s going to become a lot more obvious during season 2.

First a few words on why I originally came to see Isabelle as a Beth proxy. It actually started long before season 1 aired, and it has to do with their names:

As you can see, the French “Isabelle” (and Spanish “Isabel”), originally derived from the medieval French /Spanish version of the name Elizabeth. And “Beth” is an established short-form of the name Elizabeth. So “Isabelle” is etymologically directly linked to the name Elizabeth, and “Beth” is an established short-form of the name Elizabeth.

I was curious about this connection even before the show had aired, because it seemed like such an unlikely coincidence. The two names basically share the same origin! That’s earns a major side-eye from me, why would TPTB do that if not for establishing a subtle connection between the two characters? Keep in mind that this was an impression that was formed before the show had aired, solely based on the name etymology. I wondered if Isabelle was there to function as a Beth proxy, and I wondered how this would carry over to the show.

Then episode 1 was released, and we saw this:

Yup, Isabelle has a wrist scar, just like Beth does. She’s definitely a Beth proxy. Because the wrist scar, that’s undeniably a Beth callback. That’s something that was a topic in 4x12 Still when Daryl and Beth had the fight at the moonshine shack, it was something Dawn used against her at Grady etc. The wrist scar has become something that’s tied to Beth, not anyone else.

And it’s significant that this is one of the very first things we learn about Isabelle. It’s quite literally the first glimpse we get into her character that goes beyond the superficial stuff such as her appearance, that she’s a nun etc.

It’s a defining moment for Isabelle, we learn that there’s more to her than just being a pious nun, and it’s something that ties her character directly to Beth.

And as the season went by, there were other things, dialogue callbacks etc. I don’t even remember. But that wrist scar was the main reason I could never unsee the parallels to Beth.

And towards the end of the season we could definitely see some sort of connection forming between Isabelle and Daryl, a connection that wasn’t necessarily strictly about platonic friendship. I expect us to see more of that in season 2, and no, it’s not going to be delightful to witness. But we’ll survive.

I'm not going to lie, we’ve had reports suggesting that Isabelle will die, and it’s likely that my anxiety would be higher if we didn’t already know that.

But if Daryl starts falling for her, he’s falling for a Beth proxy, because that’s how she was introduced to the show. Obviously that’s not all she is, she’s a character in her own right, but she definitely carries traits that are supposed to remind us of Beth.

Her presence makes room for Daryl’s memories about Beth. Again, it was subtle and understated in season 1, but I expect it to increase in season 2. For instance, I do believe we’ll see a conversation between them about Beth prior to the hallucination scene in the Euro tunnel where Daryl eventually instructs her to tell Merle, Beth and Glenn he tried, which I discussed briefly here and here.

Another thing; I might be in the minority here but I interpret Isabelle’s lying and manipulation differently than many others. I’m fully expecting pushback on this but hear me out:

Isabelle is Laurent’s de facto mother figure. She’s his only remaining family, and she’s protecting him as though he’s her own child. There’s a parallel to Beth here, in that she’s also been a parent figure (to Judith and others), she’s fiercely protective of children and has been surrounded by parent/child symbolism.

And while in isolation, Isabelle’s behavior towards Daryl is indeed manipulative, I interpret it as a mother’s (or mother’s figure’s) desperate attempts to ensure her child’s safety. I don’t think her behavior comes from a place of malicious intent, I see it as a testament of the lengths to which a mother will go to protect her child. She perceives Daryl as Laurent’s best chance of survival, and she goes all in, unapologetically. I can’t hold that against her, I would probably also lie and manipulate to protect my child. I think that’s human nature.

And we see how Daryl, while reluctant at first, slowly start to develop a bond with Laurent. That scene of them on the riverbank when Laurent let the boat go is stellar. First we see Daryl give into his anger, lashing out at Laurent, likely following the pattern he learned from his own father growing up.

But then we watch him reach a moment of clarity, where he sees himself from the outside, replicating the dysfunctional parenting style of his father. He manages to regulate his emotions and get control over himself. He then sincerely apologizes to Laurent and chooses a different path, a different parenting style, one of love, patience and tolerance. That’s an incredible moment of character development for Daryl, and it shows that whatever manipulation he’s been subjected to by Isabelle has in fact made him a better person. Maybe Isabelle knows what he needs better that he knows himself. Much like Beth did.

We see a similar moment of real, healthy parenting in the trailer, where Daryl talks to Laurent about the three of them going to the US.

Obviously, I haven’t watched this scene yet, so for all I know my analysis could be completely wrong. That’s a problem for future me. For now, I’m loving this shot. I’ve never seen Daryl this paternal, and quite frankly it’s HOT! This, to me, looks like solid, healthy parenting, by someone who’s come a long way, emotionally speaking. He excels when he gets to be a parent.

And he has Isabelle’s manipulation to thank for that. Her “manipulation” unlocked something good in him. I actually don’t see it as manipulation. She’s surviving and making sure Laurent survives too.

I think you could actually argue that Beth would have responded to the situation in a similar way, which is another reason I’m side-eying Isabelle’s character. I 100% believe Beth would lie and manipulate in order to protect her child, or any child. We’ve already seen her do that to protect her loved ones, in 5x4 Slabtown, before her escape attempt with Noah.

We saw her, ice cold and lying through her teeth, telling Dawn that she saw Gorman go into her office. Her steady gaze and cool calm demeanor as she lied to Dawn’s face, seconds after having fed Gorman to walker-Joan, just so that she and Noah could escape from Grady, that’s imo the same impulse Isabelle is following to protect Laurent. Do whatever it takes to protect your loved ones. Lie, manipulate, steal…

And she later does the same in order to save Carol’s life, when it’s decided that Carol isn’t worth the resources it would take to save her.

I don’t see it as manipulative as much as I see it as being fiercely protective and ruthless on behalf of your loved ones and your children. I don’t see it as an inherently “bad” quality, I see it as “doing whatever it takes” to protect your family. Both Beth and Isabelle have that same ruthlessness when it comes to protecting their loved ones. And I’m excited about that because it’s yet another parallel between them.

And Isabelle, just like Beth, sacrificed herself. She returned to her abusive ex boyfriend because she thought that would be Laurent’s best chance of getting to safety at the Nest. Beth sacrificed herself for Noah, twice. And stopped at nothing to save Carol’s life.

So yeah, I think all of this is just a long way of saying that I believe we’ll see even more similarities and parallels between Beth and Isabelle in season 2. We probably will see Daryl develop some sort of feelings for Isabelle. Yes, it will be difficult to watch, but I think it’s a part of the process Daryl needs to evolve. I think there’s a reward for us at the end of it. And ultimately it might even be good for Daryl to have a little taste of those feelings. He might open up about Beth, I fully believe we’ll see them talk about Beth, and I do believe it will be thoroughly communicated how important Beth was to him, either explicitly through dialogue, or alternatively more subtly, through symbolism. And Isabelle will most likely die, while Beth will hopefully “resurrect”.

I believe the budding romance (or whatever) will make space for so much Beth symbolism, if we can just tolerate watching it for long enough to get a good grasp on the symbolism surrounding it. I do believe it will mostly be fairly innocent, at least that’s what I’m going to tell myself for now. And Beth will always be lurking in the symbolic shadows. In the narrative it will be about Daryl and Isabelle, but beneath the surface it will also address Daryl’s feelings towards Beth.

I think my main message with all of the above is that I expect to see the Beth-proxyness of Isabelle turned up a notch this season, and that it will function as a primer for bringing Beth back. I think we’ll see it both in terms of more subtle, between-the-lines symbolism, but also increasingly by having her explicitly talked about, for example in conversations between Daryl and Isabelle, such as we saw from the leaked script pages the other week.

[ivymarquis]

Hi loves 💕💕 I saw requests are open so I figured I'd send one in! I absolutely love your work you're so talented and I binge read all of your fics!!

I would like to request fem reader x soap where Soaps wife adopted a dog she found on the streets and keeps her even though he hates the idea.( he has a cannon fear of dogs which I find a little funny) slowly but surely he warms up to the dog but not fully. While he's out on a mission there's a robbery and the dog protects the reader and scares off the intruder. Soap hears about this and is instantly is best friends with the dog because even though he hates dogs he loves that the pup will protect his wife (I also hc that mabey it's not a street dog but a retired k9 reader adopted to feel safe while he was gone and she just didn't tell him until he comes home and sees a dog. it's up to you what you pick💓)

Hello anon I appreciate your patience!! I did pick and choose a wee bit to make the fic make sense for me, I hope you like it!

The Exception to the Rule

Pairing| Soap x Reader Rating| T Word Count| 1.9K Content/Warnings| Housekeeping first- this fic is SFW so if you find it in the tags I won’t be bothered about minors reading it but I am an MDNI blog and I will block any minors or ageless blogs who follow me. Got it? Cool. The author is an American attempting to write a Scottish accent, likely inaccuracies about how military dogs in general or bomb dogs in specific work. Allusions to prior animal injury, allusion to potential dog choking (in the context of choking off a working dog who won’t release its quarry), allusion to home invasion, dog bites, Johnny is not happy, the author does not condone getting animals you know your partner has issues with (but the plot necessitates it so on we go!)

Soap knows his wife well enough to know when she’s taken a “ask for forgiveness rather than permission” course of action. It’s written all over her face when she accepts his FaceTime call and answers his greeting of “What did ya dae, hen?“ with a “Please don’t be mad.”

Now certain men might have to worry about their brides stepping out on them on deployment. Soap knows her well enough to not even entertain that notion, so the wheels start turning for what exactly she could have done that has her looking this guilty out the gate.

The answer comes very suddenly in the form of a bark on the other end of the screen.

John Soap MacTavish sputters, something he is not often inclined to do, “Is that a fuckin’ dog?” And not just a dog. That wasn’t a little yappy fluffball who can be picked up with two fingers if need be. It sounds like one of the damn bomb dogs always yapping over in the kennels.

“Please don’t be mad!” She pleads again.

“Well a’m not happy, that’s for sure. Where and why did ye git that thing?”

This is completely out of character for her. Soap’s disdain for dogs (and why) is well known. She bloody well knows. So what the hell?

“It’s not permanent! You said this deployment would be a long one, and there’s been break ins in the neighborhood and I got nervous and my friend told me about this rescue group that helps rehome retired military dogs.” Her explanation is all in one breath. “They approved us” (Us??) ”as a foster family. He’s already got applications in for a permanent home. It just feels,” she pauses to catch her breath, and Soap can feel himself softening ever so minisculely to the dog- as long as he’s on the other side of the world, away from it, “safer here, with him here since you’re gone. The break ins have been really scary, they haven’t caught the guy yet.”

Fucking hell how is he supposed to argue with that? Especially if there’s some prick on the loose breaking into houses.

“Cujo better nae be oan th’ bed wi’ ye,” he grouses, acquiescing while still making his displeasure known.

“His name is Kabar and I’ll have the bed freshly stripped when you’re due back I promise.”

Soap is a god damn sucker for those pleading doe eyes, giving a big exasperated sigh to signal he’s letting her off the hook. “Fine. Bit he better be gaen by th’ time I pull intae th’ driveway. Let’s see th’ damn thing then,” Christ he hopes it’s not a Belgian Malinois. He knows they’re popular for military dogs but his darling is not built to handle a maligator, retired or not.

“Okay hang on,” she replies, notably cheerier as she taps the screen.

It’s a German Shepherd, thank fuck (Johnny must be having a stroke to be grateful for the sight of a German Shepherd in his bed)

He knows as well as anyone else they can be intense, but they’re a step down from the Malinois at least.

The coloring is traditional, but Soap’s brain starts nudging him that something is wrong with the dog. It takes a moment to click before he realizes the problem.

The damn dog only has three legs. “Is he a tripod?” The question is out before he can stop himself because no he is not inquiring about the damn dog. It was just a thought that escaped.

“He is a disabled veteran!” His bride corrects cheekily, before much more solemnly adding “He was a bomb dog.”

Oh Christ. He did not need to know that. Doesn’t need to think about the damn animal waking up one day with four legs and clocking in to work with his handler before boom.

“A’m only entertaining this because of the break ins, hen, am ah clear?”

Maybe having that booming bark rattling the windows will keep any would-be intruders at bay. This is the worst part of the job- being stuck on what might as well be the other side of the world when she’s got something to deal with.

“Absolutely crystal clear!” She’s all too agreeable, pleased as hell to have her cake (the dog) and eat it too (Johnny tolerating it).

Somehow this is going to blow up in his face and he’s going to permanently end up with a fucking military dog he doesn’t want, he just knows it.

But there’s no fucking way he can tell her No. Absolutely not. He goes back today, with a potential threat lurking around the neighborhood. He’d never forgive himself.

The rest of the conversation is much more in line with what he usually anticipates with their phone calls being- He doesn’t much like talking about work off the clock although lets her know of any interesting shenanigans around the base, and listening with baited breath as she regails him of tales both extraordinary and, well, extra ordinary.

Usually their phone calls end when she passes out in bed, and they’re perfectly poised to continue that habit tonight also.

“Ye made sure all th’ doors and windows are locked, hen?” He asks as she starts snuggling into the bedding underneath her.

“Yeah Johnny, I,” she cuts herself off with a big yawn “-I double checked them.”

It’s a few minutes later that the phone slips from her hand, camera pointing at the ceiling as she drifts off.

Johnny can almost imagine he’s at home laying on his back, watching the rhythmic movements of the ceiling fan in time with his lovely girl snoring slightly in his ear (despite her verbose protests that no she doesn’t snore- okay. Whatever you say, gorgeous.)

It’s an incredibly comforting moment that lets him feel a bit closer to home that is ruined by the sound of snuffling by the speaker.

The dog’s nose appears on screen, the angle making him look like an aardvark as he sniffs the phone before laying down, presumably relishing in the fact there’s not a damn thing Soap can do about this situation.

“Ye better keep an eye oan my girl, Cujo.” Soap grumbles as he begrudgingly hangs up the phone.

The mission ends quicker than expected- substantially quicker- and as content as Soap is with getting home he also is annoyed.

The mission got cut so short, and it’s so damn late by the time Soap is driving home that he knows the fucking dog is still there. The agreed upon date has not yet passed, which means that fuck is lazing about on his side of the bed.

Not to mention the mere obstacle of convincing a former military dog he’s never met, in the middle of the night, that yes this is his fucking house and he’s the one paying the bills around here and yes that actually is his spot on the bed so kindly fuck off.

At a point during his drive home, a police car flies by him. Then another. Then another.

Must be the fucker that’s been breaking into homes. Hopefully he gets caught and that’s one less thing to worry about when Johnny leaves again.

Except the red and blue lights seem to be fucking honed in from the spot that he’s steadily driving to, and Johnny’s convinving himself that he’s seeing things. There is no way that those lights and sirens are stemming from his house, thank you very much.

Even still, he feels himself driving faster. The sooner to quiet his anxiety that’s brewing.

The anxiety doesn’t dissipate as he makes each turn to his home. If anything it gets worse.

Because all that noise and the flashing lights are stemming from his own fucking home. Johnny can barely get the thing in park before he’s flying out of the vehicle. He can hear screams and specifically her crying and in an instant Johnny’s beyond being keyed up.

One of the officers attempts to intercept Johnny- thinks he’s just some nosy fuck from who knows where- and it takes everything in him not to blow his top entirely as he cuts the man off with a stern “This is mah house ‘n she’s mah wife!”

The sound of his voice booming into the night is enough to catch her attention and bring her running to him. Johnny embraces her as she flings herself at him, crying into his shirt as he strokes her back and soothes her.

He can piece together the general what happened, although he’s completely unaware of the details.

One piece begins to fit into place as he starts to hear what all the screaming is. His initial attention completely fixated on ensuring his wife is whole and hale, now he can check that off the mental list he now has the bandwidth to listen to the bellowing.

“Git it aff me! Och Jesus, someone git it aff o' me!”

“Cannae git th’ damn thing tae release him,” Johnny hears one of the officers comment dryly.

“Can always choke him off if the owners can’t git him tae let go,” the other one supplies.

“Eh, ah guess,” the first one responds in a bored tone that makes it clear he has a this guy fucked around and now he’s finding out, and I don’t see a reason to hurry- the dog looks happy anyway, stance to the situation.

On the side of the house, face down in the grass is the man who presumably broke inside.

He is so incredibly lucky there are witnesses and a sobbing wife to curtail the dark, angry thoughts swirling around in Johnny’s brain. Otherwise all it would take would be one phone call to Laswell and this prick disappears forever.

Attached to the calf of that man is Cujo, happily laying on the ground with his tail wagging slowly like his teeth aren’t sunk inside a man’s flesh. If the dog gets too annoyed with the man’s wiggling he shakes him like a chew toy, starting up a fresh round of someone git this fucking dog aff o’ me! until he lays still.

The mention of choking the dog off the would-be intruder doesn’t slip past his darling in the slightest, looking up at him with wet, pleading eyes.

Damn it all, he’s always a sucker for that look.

“Johnny, do you know how to make him let go? I don’t want him choked!”

He decides she’s probably better off not being told how often that ends up having to happen, and that Cujo will be just fine minus a few brain cells if push comes to shove.

But he has spent enough time (against his will, mind) around the dogs that he’s learned the basic commands over the years through repeated exposure.

“No promises, hen, bit we’ll see.” The dog has never met him a day in his life- there’s no guarantee he’s going to listen to a man that’s a stranger barking orders at him, but Johnny gives the sharp German command anyway.

To his surprise, the dog lets go immediately and turns towards them, giving the skipping lope that a 3 legged dog does before placing himself in a heel at Soap’s side, eyes wide and head tilted.

Johnny doesn’t want to think about what could have happened tonight if it wasn’t for Cujo- Kabar- taking such an involved roll in apprehending the man stupid enough to break into his home.

And he’s most assuredly not magically over his aversion to dogs- especially military dogs- but he might be able to tolerate an exception if it means having some peace of mind that his wife is safe at home.

[in1-nutshell]

Last one I promise (I love all your work so so so freaking much I have so many ideas and I’m trying not to send in too many) but. BUT.

What would the TFP memory loss back to Orion Pax arc with Maxima be like? How would Megs try to spin this in his favor?

Or! Following the nutshell summary ficlet where Maxima loses her memories, what would Megs do to her? Would he try and turn her into a weapon for the Decepticons, knowing what a skilled warrior she is, or would he keep her close by, like he did with Orion?

And what about Optimus! Did he lose his memories and become Orion Pax, or is he still Optimus Prime, and has to deal with his daughter getting taken from him, maybe even turned against him? (We already know that Maxima considers the Matrix to have taken her father from her, would those feelings still linger for Megatron to use???)

Thank you for all your wonderful writing and for sharing those skills with us!

This has been a writing I have been putting off on the sole reason that there are too many outcomes that could come out of this change alone. Decided this one was going to be the main one.

Hope you enjoy!

Maxima looses her memory

SFW, Platonic, Familial, Angst, Mention of injury, Cybertronian reader

TFP

Maxima felt like her helm was being pulled in so many different directions at once.

From getting over the fact the Earth was Unicron.

To wanting to dropkick Optimus for even considering going to fight him ALONE!

To nearly having whiplash hearing that Megatron was coming through the spacebridge.

At this point Maxima swore she was going to punch him just because of how many times she heard his name today alone.

She made sure to stand in between Bumblebee and the kids when the Warlord came through the groundbrigde.

A harden glare bore into Megatron’s helm on realizing who else was in the base.

Megatron: “Well, if it isn’t Prime’s daughter. A fitting reunion, isn’t it?” Maxima stays silent. Raf suddenly comes from his hiding place to stand in front of Megatron. Maxima nearly felt her spark leave her chassis as the other humans came out to get him. She was thankful that the adults managed to get Jakc and Raf back. Miko on the other hand… Miko: “If you even think about going anywhere near her this will be the last thing you will ever see! You can double cross anyone but mine is the face you’ll never forget! Never!” Maxima swiftly scooped her up and held a defensive position, as if waiting for him to make the next move. Megatron: “Ha! It seems as if some training I instilled still remains. Tell me, how many times you have used this exact position on the very bots who have taught you.” Maxima: “Don’t flatter yourself Megatron.” Megatron: “It is simply a complement from a former teacher to a former student.” Optimus then stands in between Maxima and Megatron. The subtle protective stance that had not gone unnoticed by the others. The two leaders stare at each other in silence. Megatron: “Such a waste of potential Prime. She would have made one of the finest Decepticons in my rank. She still can.” Maxima was glad that she managed to carefully cover Miko’s mouth, even with a furious muffle noise coming out of her. Bee whirls in anger now trying to get in front of Maxima while Optimus shifts himself, so he is covering more of Maxima. Optimus: “We did not bring you here for this Megatron. You are only here to assist us in subduing Unicron. That is all.”

Soon enough it was time for everyone to go.

Maxima remembered patting everyone on their heads.

She remembered promising to them that she would keep on optic out for their guardians.

Bumblebee had rhetoric back that he would be watching her back.

Maxima just smiled and fist bumped him.

The monster truck never like caves, especially underground ones.

There were too many dark spaces and unknown depths and rocks around.

Too much like…

No, no time on thinking about her, there was some fighting to do!

Just as Bumblebee had promised, he watched her back.

Bumblebee: “Bep beep! (On your left!)” Maxima easily slashes a bot with her twin axes. Maxima: “Bee on your right!” She blasts the drone on his right. Bumblebee: “Boop! (Showoff!)” Maxima: “I’m not showing off. They are!” Maxima points at Prime and Megatron effortlessly fighting off the enemy in sync. Bumblebee: “Beep. (Yeah, you’re right.)” Maxima: “Always am.” Bumblebee: “Beep! (Hey!)”

The side-by-side fighting doesn’t last long though.

Bumblebee had gone to help Bulkhead and Arcee while Maxima had bolted to Prime and Megatron.

And why wouldn’t she if she saw them both going into a secluded area.

She was not going to let Megatron get any advantage of offlining her father if she was around.

Maxima could make out bits of what Optimus was saying through all the noise in the area.

Soon enough she found herself fighting back-to-back with Megatron.

Maxima shoots a drone in the helm. It was heading to Megatron, key word ‘was’. Megatron flashes her a smirk. Maxima: “Don’t mistake this for me joining your side Megatron. We need you alive for now.” Megatron blasts his fusion canon right by her helm, destroying another drone behind her. She barely flinched. Megatron: “Why my dear, whatever gave you that thought? On your right.” Maxima swings her axe to the right and punches the drone. Megatron: “Your form needs to be more guarded and strike quicker.” Maxima: “The day I ask you for fighting advice is the day I join the Cons, which news flash Megatron, isn’t happening anytime soon! Down!” Megatron sucks down giving Maxima a clear shot to the drone.

Did it feel good to fight alongside her uncle again?

…She would never admit it out loud.

The sound of whirling made her look over to the Prime.

Maxima’s movement staggered a bit at the sight of the Matrix of Leadership.

Too many memories started flooding into her processor.

For once, she was glad to have Megatron’s voice ground her to the battle.

But a sudden harsh tremor shook everyone and everything around.

Two giant rocks had knocked both Megatron and Optimus unconscious as Maxima was barely managing to dodge the falling rocks.

She ran over to Optimus, making sure he was alright.

The Matrix shown bright in his limp servo.

Maybe she could…

Oh, this was a terrible idea, but the only one she had right now.

Maxima grabbed the Matrix from his servos and jumped over the fallen rocks until she reached the front of the core.

She prayed to Primus that the Matrix would open, if no for her, for her family, friends, and everyone who would be affected with the wakening of Unicron.

To her surprise the Matrix opened easily and its energy humming through her and sent a beam straight to the core.

Soon everything went quiet, and Maxima fell, the Matrix bouncing off some rocks near Prime.

Megatron hefted himself up noticing the numerous rocks around and how quiet everything had gotten. He noticed Optimus unconscious a couple feet away. This was his chance! The Warlord hauled himself up and started to his enemy, getting his blaster ready. Another painful groan caught his attention. Maxima was struggling to get up. He watched her sit up, a look of confusion clear as day. She looked over at him with… confusion and relief? Maxima: “Uncle Megatronus? Where are we?” …what…? She tried standing up but let a painful hiss holding her pede. Maxima: “Megatronus what’s going on?” Megatron powers down his blaster and walks to her. He helps her to her pedes while hoisting most of her weight by the waist. Megatron: “We will be alright Maxima.” Maxima takes a closer look at him. Maxima: “Uncle Megatronus what happened to your faceplate? Why are you so pointy?” BLAM! Maxima shrieks and holds onto him like a lifetime. Team Prime was slowly pouring in as Optimus was slowly waking up. Maxima stared at the blasters. Maxima: “Who are they?” Megatron: “They are our enemies! Soundwave activate the groundbrigde.” Maxima: “Soundwave? Where is he? What’s a groundbrigde?” The portal appeared behind them surprising the injured bot. Megatron: “Can you run?” Maxima: “I think so?” Megatron: “Go. I will give us cover.” Maxima looked at him hesitantly before starting to limp and run into the portal. Optimus was conscious enough to see Maxima run through the portal. He struggled to get up with fury in his optics. Optimus: “Megatron! What have you done!” Megatron: “Until we meet again next time Prime!” And with that Megatron ran into the portal.

Optimus has no idea what in the world just happened.

One minute he was holding the Matrix, the next he woke up to see the Matrix a few feet away from him and Maxima looking scared in Megatron’s hold.

According to Bumblebee, she looked scared and confused.

As if she didn’t know who they were.

Optimus retrieves the Matrix, noticing it felt much lighter than usual, and heading out with the rest of the team.

At first the humans were happy to see the guardians alive but quickly turns to confusion and worry when they notice a particular monster truck was nowhere to be found.

Ratchet is the first to ask where Maxima was.

Optimus has a heavy spark when he retells what happened in the cave.

Meanwhile with the Decepticons.

Soundwave had been listening in on Megatron’s open coms the second he was alerted that he was down.

He was the first to greet Megatron and Maxima.

Maxima’s optics went from fear to utter joy when she saw Soundwave.

She ran up to him, grabbing his servo and asking so many questions it left him a bit dizzy.

Many Vehicons were nervous when they saw Maxima on the ship.

He notices them reaching for their weapons and loudly states that Maxima was the latest recruit.

Maxima is confused.

The Con’s are confused.

Soundwave has a feeling he knows what’s going on but needs more context.

Megatron leads Maxima into another room.

Now time for stage two, the backstory.

Megatron goes on a detailed story about the rise of a false Prime and how his side had brought a horrid civil war that ravaged their planet.

Megatron turns to Maxima. There is a look of distraught and fury in her optics. Like father, like daughter apparently. She stands up straighter and smirks at him. Maxima: “Where do I sign up Uncle Megatronus?” Megatron smiles back and places a servo on her shoulder. Megatron: “First thing is first; you will address me as Lord Megatron in front of the others. Second, you are to follow my orders, do not question them, Maxima.” She nods. He gently pushes her to the exit. Megatron: “You will get patched up by our medic, Knockout as well as get the Decepticon insignia.” Maxima: “Decepticons? No offense Megatronu—I mean Megatron, but that makes us sound like the bad guys.” Megatron: “That is a discussion for later.” Maxima: “Wait! You never told me what happened to Orion?” Megatron stopped in his tracts. Oh, Primus he had completely forgotten about that. Maxima’s voice quivered a bit. Maxima: “Megatronus… please tell me he is still online. Please…” Megatron: “…He is offline Maxima. He has been for years now.” Megatron is caught off guard by the sudden tears and hugs. She had done her best to muffle the sobs in his chassis, but it could only do so much. Megatron looked around and hesitantly hugged her back. Maxima: “He can’t be gone… he just can’t…” Megatron: “He is gone Maxima… I am sorry.” He stayed like that until most of the sobs had left her frame and both quietly walked to the med bay for repairs and branding.

Megatron was thankful that Maxima was tired enough to not ask too many questions.

As much as he wanted to place her on the field, he was not going to risk Optimus getting his servos on her.

She would do as the Chief Archivist and decoding relic glyphs for the time being.

The youngling could still decipher the readings almost as quickly as her father.

Good enough to give the Decepticons an edge in finding the rest of the relics.

After enough time passed and loyalty stable, was when the training and missions would start.

As Megatron had said before, Maxima would make a fine Decepticon.

And under his guidance, a fine one she would be.

[sobx9]

The fact that the pates said 4x10 is the best episode they’ve ever done and they’re really proud of it & it’s the lowest rated ep & the fans can cite a handful of better eps through the whole series just proves they never understand us enough - or their characters/plot lines

Hi, I completely agree.

I think there is a huge disconnect between what show the Pates wanted to create and how fans took to it. In my opinion, they wanted a dramatic action packed show about treasure hunting. But the viewers fell in love with the characters, with their friendships and relationships and their emotional journey. And they didn’t know how to handle that since that wasn’t their intention.

You can see this clearly with how many plot lines are swept under the rug and how the characters seem unaffected about what’s happened to them. We don’t see Kiara and JJ being affected by nearly drowning, we don’t see how Kiara feels about her parents sending her away or how Sarah actually feels about being pregnant at 19. We don’t even really see Sarah and John B being affected with loosing their fathers. It’s just go go go to the next thing. We don’t see any depth or development. Even Topper is still the same “villain” of the show in season 4, or Ruthie suddenly appears, but she’s there just to be a bitch to the Pogues and we don’t even really know why. Because showing us all of this would take time away from the action.

They don’t understand those characters they created. It’s why I think so much screen time is given to grown up men (Ward, Big John, Groff, or even Rafe) because they can actually relate to them the most. But fans don’t care about them. They care about the Pogues. The female characters specially are completely butchered over the years, because there’s no woman creating this show, no one to give them input on what it’s like being a teenage girl.

I get they were super proud of the finale episode, because it included all the action: fighting, bike ride, shootouts etc. It was probably super fun to make, they were on a beautiful location for most of it and had a big budget to play around with. But it was completely lacking the things fans love about the show. Obviously the death of JJ didn’t help the rankings. But for me the finale was bad overall and I skipped around a lot. For example the scene where JJ is actually getting the crown from the statue was unnecessary long, especially when you compare it to how short his actual death scene was. Or even if you compare his death scene with the scene of Big John dying. For JJ you had him dying, one shot of each Pogue and done, again you don’t see the emotional toll, just straightaway to the next thing, planning revenge.

It’s such a shame because the show had such a huge potential to be so great, but the Pates just didn’t manage to do it.

[camp-mithril-lake]

“Megatron, on board the Lost Light? On board me? Megatron?” sputtered Rodimus. He rebooted his holoform’s audial sensors a few times, just to ensure he was hearing Ratchet correctly.

“It was either you or Metroplex,” said Ratchet. He was still staring at the new “Rodpod” in the hangar, aghast.

“What, did Metroplex say no already?”

Ratchet sighed. “We can lock him up if he steps out of line. But Prime wants to give him a bit of rope, and some responsibility, to see if he’s really on the level.”

“He wants Megatron running loose in me? Not even in my brig?”

“Well, we’re not going to tell him about your ‘condition.’ Like most of the crew, he’ll just think you’re a neutral that avoided the whole war and didn’t want to return to Cybertron.”

“Ah yes. Megatron: famous for getting along with neutrals,” He pointed at Ratchet, “I’ve heard stories from Drift, you know.”

“And if anything, Drift probably toned down those stories. Still, as a precaution, we’re dosing him with Fool’s Energon.”

Rodimus fumed, crossing his arms.

Ratchet sighed, “Look, nobody’s going to make you bring along anyone you don’t want along. Especially after the debacle with Prowl.”

Rodimus winced, “About that. Could I get some advice?”

“Oh, Primus, you don’t have someone else locked up, do you? Who is it, Killmaster?

“No! Nothing like that, it’s just- here, take this.” Rodimus materialized a datapad and handed it to Ratchet.

Ratchet looked at it and frowned, “Is this from the ‘anonymous’ vote you took to see who wanted you removed as captain? I see there’s a list of names attached.”

“Well,” Rodimus scratched the back of his head. “I was thinking of using it to see who to kick off the mission, but…”

“But you realized that would be petty, especially since most of the crew doesn’t even know that would be possible.”

“Pretty much.”

“If I were Ultra Magnus, I’d be reminding you that Cybertronian laws still apply to you, even though you’re not an Autobot.”

“And trying to coerce me into another lecture.”

“Coerce,” Ratchet scoffed. “He’s been nothing but soft with you.”

Rodimus made a face.

“I’m serious. Ask one of the wreckers if you don’t believe me. Besides, this list is wrong.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m not on it.”

“You voted against-” Rodimus sputtered, “But you know that’s impossible!”

“You can’t leave the ship,” Ratchet shook his head. “But, you need to listen to Ultra Magnus’ advice more. He’s not going to make you do anything, but if he tells you to do something, you should still do it. Ancient titan or not, you’ve only got the memories- and personality- of a new spark. I know you’re excited about going wherever you’d like, but you can learn a lot from following someone else for once.”

“Fine. I’ll try and listen more. And if Ultra Magnus wants me to help Autobots, then I guess I can bring along Megatron. I’m still captain, though.” Rodimus leaned against the railing. He froze. “Wait, what did you mean by Optimus giving Megatron more responsibility?”

“Well,” said Ratchet. “I suppose nobody would ever accuse Megatron of being soft-”

***

(For context, I'm thinking Ultra Magnus was sent along as a mentor a la TFA or to see if he'd be a suitable cityspeaker. However, he feels too awkward to order around someone who hasn't been able to make their own choices for millions of years and isn't an "official" autobot, either.)

Oh, I love ALL of this. Ultra Magnus as a potential cityspeaker and being soft on Rodimus is lovely. Especially given the fact Rodimus isn't an Autobot plus Magnus isn't exactly being open about his identity as well. All on top of the fact Rodimus has only had free will for maybe a thousand years so he's sensitive about any authority he didn't specifically select.

Ratchet and Rodimus's relationship is fun!

The use of the holoform is perfect and the fact it is a secret from the crew is 100/100. You perfectly captured the vibes I have for this AU.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Gotta admit to some confusion with the “Max is a sexist” takes? If it’s rooted in how he assumed Marinette didn’t know how to play the game, I could see a bit of merit even if there could be other reasons, especially since it happens in line with Kim’s more expressly sexist attitude of surprise. But when he loses, he congratulates her, and his upset while clear is framed as being completely due to losing his spot in the competition.

Ignoring how his anger was a part of his own private thoughts which HM exploits, Max as an Akuma targeting Marinette instead of Adrien always seemed to me to be due to the fact that she is the one who replaced him. Yes, they both beat him, but Adrien winning didn’t lead to Max losing his spot, Marinette winning did.

Also, the lesson of the day seems squarely centered around how Max deserves to play because he’s the one who really wanted the opportunity, which is why Alya as the writer’s mouthpiece scolds her beforehand about taking it seriously and cinched when Marinette explains why she’s surrendering her position. And while I’m not arguing the episode itself as whole doesn’t contain sexist elements, I feel the writers attempt to avoid that reading by having Adrien surrender his position to Marinette because she is the better player.

For Max, is there perhaps further context than Gamer that I’m just missing? Because I don’t nearly see the same amount of “Kim is a sexist” takes, and unfortunately Max being Black does put him at risk of being held to higher standards than other non-Black characters.

I will do my best to walk through the episode and explain why it makes Max read as sexist to a lot of people. (Or, at least, this is why I think people reach this conclusion. It's why I reach it.)

It's true that Max's reaction to Marinette wanting to play is potentially a little sexist because he assumes that she doesn't know how to play:

Max: The rules are elementary, You battle each other's robots with your own and... Marinette: Please... Every time you win, you loot its items and gain XP, which upgrades your mech. I'm not a noob, thank you very much. Max: Ah, sounds like you have a sufficient amount of knowledge. Let's see if it's enough to beat me.

It's hard to be sure, though, because we don't know if he tried to explain the rules to everyone. I still think it's fair to read it as sexist because it's paired with other characters acting like Marinette can't play, but I also don't think this is a big enough issue to call Max the clear problem of this episode. If he is being sexist, then he's far from the worst one in that scene and his initial reaction to loosing is excellent and without a hint of sexism!

Max: I accept this defeat. I relinquish my position at the tournament. Congratulations, Marinette. And Adrien.

It's also not even remotely sexist that he's upset by his loss and goes on to rant about it as soon as he's alone:

Max: I should've been going to that tournament. I was the chosen one! I worked so hard for it! This is Inconceivable!

While it's not sexist, I would argue that this reaction is something that he needs to work on. If Max wants to be in competitions, then he has to own the fact that he may lose them. This is an issue that we'll get to in a minute. First let's talk about what happens while Max is an akuma.

Even though Adrien and Marinette are together when Gamer attacks, Gamer is only out to get Marinette. He is obsessed with the idea that Marinette should have lost and doesn't care about the Adrien loss.

(Suddenly, the Gamer's robot appears. Marinette and Adrien notice it.) Marinette: Tell me this isn't some kind of publicity stunt for the tournament! Gamer: Well, well. Marinette, let's see who's victorious this time. Adrien: Doesn't look like a publicity stunt to me.

Gamer: Game over, Marinette! Marinette: How does he know my name? Max! (the Gamer's robot fires lasers at her) I guess he really did want that spot in the tournament!

While this makes sense since Marinette is technically the one who cost Max his spot, it doesn't change the fact that this obsession and the earlier framing of Marinette's win make the focus of the episode Max's reaction to Marinette winning. That means that the episode's ultimate lesson will be about the validity of Marinette's win.

This is where Max's part in the sexism really kicks in. Not in the pre-akuma stuff, but the post-akuma stuff. That's where this image comes from:

[Image description: Max and Marinette standing outside of the tournament arena. Max has a sad expression and is refusing to look at Marinette who is awkwardly standing behind him]

As you can see from this image, we don't see post-akuma Max apologizing to Marinette for blaming her when she didn't do anything wrong. Nor do we see post-akuma Max just generally owning his loss, promising to work on taking losses better in the future, and saying something like, "I'll just have to do better next year." Instead, we get post-akuma Max pouting and refusing to even look at Marinette.

This is hardly the behavior of a good loser and yet the story completely validates it. We go from Max pouting to this:

Alya: You bent over backwards to be in the team and now you wanna pull out? Marinette: It's just that I feel so bad for Max. And well, it just wouldn't be right. Alya:(stops her) You're doing the right thing. But honestly, it's not like you get the chance to play with Adrien everyday... Marinette: ...Max? I've thought about this a lot, and... Well, I think you should be playing tonight, Max. Max: What? Marinette: Don't get me wrong! I love gaming, but it's not my heart and soul. This is your baby. It's your tournament, Max. I don't wanna take that away from you.

The appropriate reaction to Marinette's offer is for Max to say, "No Marinette, I'm sorry, I'm behaving terribly. The school is supposed to be represented by the most skilled players. That's you and Adrien, not me. I lost fair and square. I'll work on my skills and get a spot next year." This is how you show character growth and emphasize that Max has moved on from viewing himself as the "chosen one" while unfairly blaming Marinette. Instead we get this:

Max: I don't know how to thank you.

While Max certainly isn't saying anything awful like, "damn right I should be playing you stupid girl," this ending still validates his anger towards Marinette and implies that his behavior was perfectly fine. That it wasn't wrong for him to ignore her until she gave him back "his" spot. That's the sexist element. We should not have seen Max rewarded for treating Marinette poorly and making her feel guilty for daring to win a videogame.

It's important to note that this all happens on the day of the tournament, meaning that it's been days since Max lost and yet he's still mad at Marinette. That's not a great look. At the very least, he should be equally angry at Marinette and Adrien by now. Instead, his anger is still shown to be focused on Marinette as if she is the one and only source of his problems when, in actuality, it was his double loss that cost him his spot. Marinette only knocked him out of the running because Adrien won first. If the order was reversed, then would it be valid for Max to be angry at Adrien? According to the show, I think that the answer is "no." At the very least, I don't see how you can argue that it's clearly "yes" based on what we were given. Adrien's win is treated neutrally by everyone and Adrien letting Marinette play is treated as him being kind while Marinette letting Max play is treated as her righting a wrong.

As others have pointed out, when it comes to Max getting akumatized, what difference does it make if Max loses to Marinette in the preliminaries or to someone else in the main tournament? Do you really think that he'd be fine losing at any point in this competition when he thinks that he's the "chosen one"? At what point is it not cool to hold onto the anger of losing in spite of all your hard work? And why does Marinette's motivation matter when it comes to Max's feelings? He had no idea that she was only playing because she wanted to be Adrien's teammate. All he knows is that she beat him fairly and that she now feels bad about that for some reason.

It's really important for kids to learn that hard work doesn't always lead to a win, but this episode doesn't teach that. Instead it says that it's totally fine for Max to feel wronged and that you should only compete in tournaments if you want to win for the "right" reasons, whatever those are. If you're going to go this route, then at least give Max a noble cause to contrast Marinette's selfish one. As is, he's just as selfish. It's not like he wanted the prize money to save his family from poverty! As far as we know, there is no prize money! He just wanted bragging rights.

What's even more bizarre is that Adrien gives us the lines that Max should have given:

Adrien: Go on, Marinette. You're a hundred times better than me. You belong on the team. Win the tournament for the school. I know you can do it.

What even is this mess? The episode didn't establish that Marinette was better than Adrien! We did get this exchange:

Adrien: Wow! We won again, thanks to you! Marinette: Yeah, um, yes we did. Adrien: We? That was practically all you. You're amazing, Marinette. I guess you wouldn't even need me. I'm so lame compared to you... Marinette: Um, no no no, I... No, you're so good. I mean, I'm the one who's not good. I mean... I'm lucky, that's all.

Leading to Marinette giving Adrien her lucky charm, but this isn't Adrien losing to Marinette. It's just Adrien being impressed by her skills when their team won a match. We never once see Marinette beat Adrien.

There's also the fact that the rest of the episode is focused on Ladybug and Chat Noir gaming together against Gamer, proving that they're the dream team, not Marinette and Max. The logical ending of this plot is for Marinette and Adrien to do the same thing on the civilian side because they're the dream team no matter which side of the masks they're on. Instead we validate Max's anger towards Marinette and tell the little girls at home that it's wrong to show off to boys. How feminist?

It would have played so much better if Max initially took Marinett's spot, but changed his mind after Adrien's line since Adrien's logic isn't unique to Marinette. It applies to Adrien as well and logical Max should have seen that. Why is it right for Adrien to give his spot to the better player while it's fine for Max to take a spot from those who beat him? Shouldn't the best players be the ones to represent the school? Especially when those players have actually been practicing together while Max hasn't done any co-op training? The lesson here makes no sense at all!

It's definitely true that Max isn't the only one who comes across poorly in this episode. Kim, Alya, and Rose's reactions to Marinette's initial win all also play into the "A girl? Playing video games? No way!" issue. Alya and Tikki play into the, "Marinette was in the wrong to ever play because we must be good and virtuous in our motivations and not do things to impress boys" issue. Both of these elements exacerbate how Max comes across by setting a sexist tone to the episode, but that doesn't change the fact that Max completely failed to learn a very valuable lesson, unintentionally making him look like a bit of a sexist loser even without the sexist leadin.

Max's sexism is also heavily exacerbated by some real world issues that are going to impact the way that people view this episode, so let's skim the surface of those rabbit holes because I think we have to acknowledge them to really understand why this episode bothers people.

I'm going to give you some studies here to back up what I'm saying because, when it comes to these sorts of claims, I want to give you something you can evaluate for yourself. I don't want to just talk about known issues as if they're hard facts without any proof and I prefer studies to opinion pieces or articles that mention studies without the details for you to evaluate. However, I will note that I'm limited in what studies I can access because many research papers are stupidly price locked and my public library's research database is pretty limited, so I'm stuck between that and what I can find for free online.

Feel free to reblog this or to send me an ask with suggestions of better studies or books on these topics or even on the topic of the way that black people and characters are held to higher standards because that's certainly a very real issue that's important to keep in mind! We all have unconsious biases from things like the media we watch and the only way to become aware of these biases/learn to look for them is for someone to point them out and for us to do some learning. Like I'm trained to look for sexism by my experiences, but picking up on subtle racism is much harder since I don't have a lifetime of experience to pull from. There are lots of great resources out there, the trick is finding them and maybe even accessing them as I certainly found when I was looking for studies. I'm far from an expert on gender or racial studies. My hobby research field is history.

Issue One: Female Socialization and Those Precious Male Feelings

It is a documented phenomenon that women are socialized to be nurturers. They're taught to prioritize the feelings of others - especially men - over their own wants, needs, and successes. One study on this topic focused on how success effects intimate relationships and noted that:

We find that climbing the societal ladder has positive associations with women’s well-being and relationship outcomes... however, these associations reversed for women who surpassed their partners in social status. ...Among women with higher status than their partner, traditional women intend to adjust their behavior to fit the gender norm (e.g., thinking about reducing work hours in favor of their time at home), whereas egalitarian women did not, but felt guilty toward their partner.

In other words, this study found that women have happier relationships when they don't do as well as their male partners. When they do surpass their male partners, they either try to compensate for that success or tend to feel guilty for failing to compensate.

While this study was about romantic relationships, I don't think that it's a stretch to apply it to platonic relationships, too, especially since we're talking about the messages a TV show is sending to young girls. That's where Gamer comes in. What does that episode have Marinette do when she surpasses her male friend Max? She feels guilty and compensates for daring to be better than him, reinforcing a pretty ugly gendered stereotype.

This type of thing goes beyond interpersonal relationships. It's a well-known issue that women are looked down on when they act too "masculine" in the workforce:

Numerous studies have highlighted that female leaders are evaluated less favorably than their male counterparts when engaging in identical behaviors. For example, using a job-hiring paradigm, past research demonstrated that female candidates who violated the modesty prescription by self-promoting during an interview were evaluated as less likeable and less hireable than self-promoting male candidates.

Gamer was not an instance of Marinette doing something questionable to get close to Adrien. It was her taking her hard-won skills and using them to show off to her crush so that they could get closer, a thing that Adrien was clearly 100% okay with.

This episode should not have been an instance of Marinette being show to be in the wrong. A show that aims to empower little girls should never include an episode where a girl is chastised for daring to self-promote, but that's exactly what Gamer does. It says that Marinette was wrong to put her wants over Max's feelings. What kind of girl power show sends this sort of message? How do you take a woman fairly beating a man and make it a bad thing?

If anything, the message of this episode should have been focused on Marinette being told to NOT feel guilty. After all, that's the far more likely issue for young girls to face. They will have lots of people reminding them to treat others kindly. The message could have also been about winning gracefully and been fine, imo.

Issue Two: Gender Discrimination in Male-Dominated Hobbies

It's a well documented fact that female gamers have long been treated as outsiders by the gaming community as this study discusses:

The researchers played against 1,660 unique gamers and broadcasted pre-recorded audio clips of either a man or a woman speaking... Findings indicate that, on average, the female voice received three times as many negative comments as the male voice or no voice.

Since most of that study is behind a paywall and I don't know if you can access it, I'll also give this openly available study that looked a subset of the recordings from the initial study as it gives you some fine details of what they saw. I think that this second study is a little weird in terms of what it's trying to argue, but the hard data and the research methodology seem fine and that's what I want to focus on here:

We show that lower-skilled players were more hostile towards a female-voiced teammate, especially when performing poorly. In contrast, lower-skilled players behaved submissively towards a male-voiced player in the identical scenario. This difference in gender-directed behavior became more extreme with poorer focal-player performance... Higher-skilled players, in contrast, were more positive towards a female relative to a male teammate.

There's also this study which was free through my public library, so hopefully you can find a way to access it, too, if you want to read the whole thing. For the purposes of this post, I'm just going to highlight some of the statistics and cases that it talks about during its introduction:

Recent studies have suggested that sexual harassments in online games are committed mostly by male gamers against female gamers. For example, in South Korea, one of the countries with the largest per capita gaming populations, players who play the female character Mercy in Overwatch are commonly called by an online slang, Bo-Rcy, which literally means ‘Mercy played by female genitals’ and connotes that women are incapable [of playing] the game. Also, a female professional gamer has been falsely accused of using an illegitimate tool simply because her win rate was too high for a woman.

33% of female gamers experienced gender discrimination, and 57% experienced severe sexual harassment after disclosing their genders. Furthermore, 64% of female World of Warcraft players answered that they experienced various in-game sexism such as exclusion (i.e. removing women from the game-play) or gendered flaming (i.e. using derogatory language specifically against female gamers) Also, a report documented that women are exposed to worse forms of online harassment (e.g. stalking, physical threats, etc.) and that about 44% of Internet users, regardless of their sex, agreed that online gaming is ‘more welcoming toward men’. Overall, it can be concluded that ‘video game culture is actively hostile towards women in the private as well as the professional spheres’

In other words, by having Max only ever blame Marinette for his loss, Gamer has Max acting like a tame version your typical woman-hating gamer who can't handle the fact that they've lost to a girl. This is something that I've seen myself and is part of the reason that I lost interest in online gaming. I even know one girl who had to change her in-game name because it openly acknowledged her gender and got her a ton of harassment. Of course, the guys that we played with blamed her for choosing such a harassment-inviting name because heaven forbid that a woman openly play videogames!

Conclusion

Sexism or no sexism, Gamer undeniably validates Max behaving poorly. The perception of that poor behavior is simply exacerbated by existing gender issues. These real-world problems are why people look so negatively on Max's actions. While his behavior is far from the worst gamer rage that I've ever seen, it does represent a classic, sexist issue in gaming.

If it weren't for all of the complexity around the real-world treatment of talented women in male-dominated spaces or the issue of women being taught to prioritize the feelings of others, then this episode would just be one of those episodes with a nonsense moral. For example, it would still be bad if Adrien was in Marinette's spot, it would just no longer be sexist.

However, we don't live in a world without those issues, so this episodes comes across as hella sexist and Max is the main victim because he's representing some major gendered issues that woman have to deal with. I can name so many real world moments that this episode reminded me of and none of them are happy memories. Every single one of them involves someone telling me to put a man's feelings over my own desire or comfort. This is not the kind of messaging I want to see in shows aimed at young girls.

All that being said, I don't think that Max was supposed to be read as sexist. The writers just did him dirty and made him look terrible when he could have been a wonderful lesson on taking a loss with grace and treating female gamers with respect. After all, as we've already acknowledged, Max did start out handling his loss reasonably well. The rest of the episode just completely undoes that initial good reaction, making it so that a lot of viewers will only remember Max being a pouting sore loser who gets rewarded with the thing that he wanted while Marinette feels guilty and gets lambasted by others for daring to want a spot on the team. I am not surprised that the credited writers for this one are a pair of dudes. I sincerely hope (and assume) that this was them being oblivious to a gendered issue and not anything more malicious.

[wayfayrr]

Good day dear!

I want to order a Red Velvet spiked latte, sugar-free! I'm craving Warriors in a qpr, and I'm having one of those days involving being Aromantic :')

I hope you're doing well; please and thank you 🙏🙏🙏

Here's your order - I hope it's to your liking <3

I get having those days, sometimes they just like to sneak up on you without any warning and it's the worst ;-; I know it's a bit late but I hope wars can make you feel better darling

[Event masterlist]

Why did the portal have to split us up and spit me and wars out in the hebra region of all places. Did the shadow get sick of throwing monsters at us and decide to off us with hypothermia? Even with that, why drop us off in a cave rather than in the snow?

“You still have our bed rolls right? I’m not entirely sure we’ll make it through the night if we don’t have them and I’d really prefer to not risk losing any limbs.”

Oh, no, no, no, don’t look through your bag then at me like that. That shy smile with those adorable eyes, like you’re waiting to tell me you don’t have them. I could have sworn that he had packed them both away in there this morning, did my own eyes lie to me? 

“Only one of them is still intact, I think the other one started tearing this morning and seeing as legend has the group's only sewing kit…”

“So we shouldn’t risk making it any worse till we can fix it but this cold it’s sure to be worse at night.”

“If we light a fire and sleep in shifts it shouldn’t be so bad.”

This is how people die, I’ve seen it in films back home, and I’ve heard stories of overzealous climbers perishing to the cold, I refuse to let us become like them. Even if it is being over cautious. 

“We could share the last bedroll and use the torn one as an extra blanket. If we scout out the cave and push some of those loose boulders into the entrance we most likely won’t need to take shifts.”

“You’d be alright with sleeping like that when there’s no one on lookout?”

“Any other way and it might only be one of us waking up tomorrow if we’re lucky.”

I’m not sure he likes that suggestion, he’s glancing around and biting his lip like something is wrong. Any link to be uncomfortable with the idea, wars makes the most sense. He’s the captain, someone who’s had to live through too many betrayals and ambushes to stay sane, why wouldn’t he be nervous of being alone like this? I’d like to hope he knows that I wouldn’t ever betray him though, why would his partner do something like that to him? 

“if you're alright with it then, I don't want to make you uncomfortable being that close?”

That's what he's worried about right now? my comfort over us freezing to death, is he out of his mind?

“I'm certain, it'd be far more uncomfortable waking up to the frozen corpse of my closest.”

“...”

“did you really not consider that?”

“I just want to make sure you're safe… if that means killing myself… well anything for you.”

Was that drilled into him during his training, that he should be willing to die like this for any reason? With the blush on his face I would say otherwise though, why would he get so flustered over something like this. We’re talking about his potential death here, not some vacation together.

"Wars you idiot why would you let yourself die of hypothermia if there's such an easy solution?"

“I didn’t want to think about that but you’re right. We need to stay as warm as we can.”

Finally, that’s gotten through his thick skull that I don’t want him sacrificing himself for something as stupid as that. So we can get to preparing our very hasty camp for the night, with his scouting showing we’ll be free of any monsters and my efforts in shifting a couple of rocks closing most of the entrance. The two bed-rolls thrown on top of each other look more inviting than anything I’ve seen in a long while. 

“After you.”

“Sure.”

It is not as warm as it looked. “Stop looking so uncertain, I promise I’m not going to suddenly stab you in your sleep.”

“That’s not what I’m…”

The squeak that left him when I pulled him down on top of me was cute. He’s redder than I’ve ever seen him too, but that started to die down after I pulled the makeshift blankets over us, or it might’ve, not that I could see it after turning over anyway. 

“Night link.”

Not even an answer then. He must be a bit flustered still. Nothing even as my eyes flutter closed, when I feel a very soft weight on my side, keeping me barely awake to hear what he says, but not enough to respond.

“Would you be bothered if we never reunited with the others? I’m all you’ll ever need right… I’m sure we could find a way back to your world, even if I have to call in a few overdue favours. They wouldn’t even need to know we’re still alive… just you and I forever. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

What?

“Even if you don’t know what I’m really looking for we can start tomorrow. Sleep well darling, I hope you’re warm enough like this…”

[reblog-house]

A New Sort of Civilization

Written for the @mcyt-rarepair-exchange, my gift for @feyscape! Wc: 13,680 (this is a long one, beware) Ship: EMF/Evbo/Seawatt AO3: Here! Parkour Civilization had changed a lot over a year, but there were some changes that needed to made.

Parkour Civilization changed for the better since the new Champion rose up and Evbo moved the ranks to Parkour God. The changes Evbo had installed when he occupied the throne were by all accounts better than what they had before, but the Master-born Champion took the reins in a satisfying way.

Currently, there was a parkour tournament going on at the Parkour Arena. A no-stakes tournament where everyone, regardless of their parkour, level could attend and even participate in to celebrate the one year anniversary of this new reign, both of the Master-born Champion and Evbo’s ascension, as well as to commemorate all those who couldn’t come back from the attack at parkour civilization. A new era of parkour had started and the Master Champion, upon endless bugging from his divine companion, decided to host said tournament. A friendly free-for-all with a great variety of blocks to choose from.

Everyone was cheering and howling at someone attempting a one-block downwards diagonal backwards 360, and all hell broke loose when she achieved it. 

“Good thing this is no-stakes, huh?” Evbo nudged the Champion with his elbow, as he hovered by his throne. “Else, you’d probably be overthrown about now.”

As he spoke, her opponent tried to build a harder course and was prepping himself for the jumps.

“Don’t say stuff like that, bro. If she’s truly better at parkour than me, there’s nothing stopping her from challenging me in the future…” He leveled Evbo with a glance. “Or trying for the God position itself.”

The opponent did the whole course without falling, but it wasn’t enough. He got dealt damage and the structures disappeared.

Evbo started stuttering and shaking his head from side to side. “Now who’s being rash? Oh forget it.”

The Champion smiled. It was so funny to get a reaction from Evbo.

“You’re right, anyway.” Evbo said, resigned, and sat on the armrest of the throne. “Let’s just keep watching.”

They watched as the girl remained at the arena and the guy poofed and respawned at the no-stakes-tournament bed, letting somebody else in. 

“I will admit, she shows potential. Wouldn’t mind getting replaced by someone like her.”

Evbo’s head swung to him with his jaw wide open. “No way! Don’t joke about that! Only i can joke about those things!”

Next thing they know, the girl failed too many consecutive jumps and poofed outside the stage. She was pouting and sat on the bed, like claiming it for herself. Evbo chuckled and turned to face the Champion.

But his face… His eyes were trained somewhere in the distance. Focused like nothing else mattered on the stage. Evbo started asking him what was wrong, but a flurry of wind picked up in a circle. Those on the stage looked around with shock in their eyes, unaffected by the wind. Everyone else cowered down into their seats, covering their heads. Everyone’s hair and clothes were whipping wildly. Evbo tried reaching for his parkour god powers trying to find how to stop whatever was happening, but all his powers were parkour-related and thus useless for going against a natural phenomenon, if that counted as such. He couldn’t do anything.

“Bro, stand up!” he yelled to his companion, but he was sitting still. Too still. If this was something like the parkour villain, Evbo wanted them to be ready for action. So why was he not moving? He punched him. “Earth to my bro, stand up!”

“Something’s wrong,” is all he could say. 

Evbo was starting to grow exasperated. "Yes and if you don't move—”

“No… We need to stay, Evbo. I feel like we need to stay.”

As much as his heart was pounding to tear his companion off his seat and dismissing the competition to evacuate everyone, and his skin was itching to go out there and Parkour battle against the forces of nature, he trusted in his partner's calling too much.

Oh, this was all going to go horribly.

The thought had barely manifested and everything changed. Thunder striked the center of the arena somehow missing the opponents by a vertical trapdoor's-breadth. And like one of Seawatt's potion attacks, everything turned dark.

The silence was deafening. Evbo couldn't move.

Suddenly, thunder striked in the center, barely missing the two opponents. Everything turned dark for a second. A few seconds of uncertainty as to what could’ve possibly happened. It was all silent for a good moment, and then the light came back. 

—

Where am I?

Seawatt’s head hurt like nothing he’d ever felt before. It pierced through him, and trying to open his eyes only made it worse. The light was like a bomb to his retinas. The noise around him was just as unbearable. Shrieking and a shrill in his ears that just wouldn’t shut up. His hands tried to swallow all his senses by pressing all around his head, but nothing worked. The throbbing kept going and there was little his pressing around was helping.

The noise did subside, if only a little. 

That is, until somebody yelled his name right into his ear.

“Seawatt!”

He jumped back in surprise, eyes wide open and his hands clutching onto his ears. He turned to face the intruder to his senses.

“Sheesh, did you have to do that?” He said through gritted teeth. The light was too intense still, so he narrowed his eyes and tried to make out the shape that had so awfully assaulted his poor ear. From between his dark eyelashes, a blob of peach and yellow, surrounded on the bottom and top by a bunch of black, white and green lines, greeted him. To its side was a blob of darkness. He narrowed his eyes further and focused on the figure in front of him. 

The image slowly became clear and against his best judgement, he opened his eyes fully. It hurt his head a little, but he had to get used to it eventually. “Evbo?” And that master friend of his that they’d captured. He never caught his name. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I- You were dead!” He looked around. “Although all the others here were dead too, but you get what I mean. You all died due to the Parkour Villain!”

“We did?” Seawatt’s head hurt trying to picture what he could last remember. It was a bright day, the sun reflecting off of the sand below him. He’d just betrayed Evbo’s trust and done everything in his power to let the ‘Villain of Parkour’ escape so his people could be avenged. He’d done everything right and then- the Parkour Villain turned to him. Turned on him.

He’d tried to run, but a force pulled at his legs, his body. He was stuck and all he could do was accept the challenge and accept his fate.

He never should’ve betrayed Evbo’s trust.

“Oh, right,” he said nonchalantly, trying to keep the hurt from the betrayal — both betrayals — off his face. “Doesn’t that mean you two are dead too?” He crossed his arms. “So I don’t see why you’re so confused. As far as I know, death has always been pretty linear, and if he managed to escape, taking so many down as you said, it’s no doubt you would be included in the bunch as well.”

The thought of that tugged at his chest.

“Seawatt,” the man at Evbo’s side spoke. The deepness of his voice made him turn immediately, caught off guard. He forgot how deep it was.

“What?” He turned his chin up and switched his weight to one leg. A strand of hair fell down on one of his eyes and he shook it away.

“Look down.”

Seawatt rolled his eyes. Were they really trying to bring him down to their level? But there was little he could gather if he didn’t play along. He brought his head back down and stared directly into the eyes of Evbo’s friend.

“No. I mean literally look down. Look at our feet.”

“Weirdos,” he said, but complied, if only because curiosity was starting to bite at him, and–

Black boots. Diamond boots. Evbo’s boots were made of netherite, and his friend’s…

“Woah, woah, woah, what is going on!” Last time they’d seen them, Evbo was wearing the boots of his people, and his ‘friend’ was in his Master attire. What… happened? It couldn’t be that… “What about the- what happened to-”

“The Parkour Villain?” The friend — seriously, he needed a name for him, or he would start calling him some abbreviated form of ‘Evbo’s Master Friend’ - or would it be Champion now? His head was starting to hurt again — said. “Evbo did a quick work of him.”

“It wasn’t easy,” Evbo intercepted, “but I got these sick boots and the previous Parkour God’s blessings so I could finish him off. Now I am Parkour, guiding the new and stellar Champion to my side to do great things for Parkour Civilization and everyone lived happily ever after, the end.” He finished his monologue with a flourish and Seawatt was starting to feel sick.

“Except for everyone who until now seemed to have died forever because of the Parkour Villain you set free.” Evbo’s M… oh whatever, EMF’s- EMF… was that right? It should probably be ECF instead, but that sounded bad. EMF’s eyes bore into him.

This was… wrong. So wrong. The Parkour Villain was meant to win, but- he was glad he didn’t. His head was throbbing again, harder than before, and acid burned up his throat. His feet couldn’t support his weight anymore, tumbling where he stood. 

He doubled over and let go.

—

Seawatt came to himself somewhere without any noise. His mouth stunk and his stomach complained at him for being empty. Seawatt groaned and grimaced, unsure what had happened, and pushed himself off the ground with his hands. His back creaked as he stood, and his muscles contorted and stretched. Once up, his whole body asked to be stretched, and he gave it what it wanted. 

The flavor in his mouth was starting to become unbearable. Seriously, what happened? He looked around himself and—

The middle of a platform surrounded by grandstands. Fully empty except for himself — but that wasn’t the case before. Too many people, too much noise. Everything had hurt and he–

Ah.

Oh, gross. Seawatt frowned and looked at the void — world — below. Well, at least it wasn’t anything he’d have to deal with. Nothing that could be linked back to him and that was the important part.

But there were a lot of people. They saw him. They must have, unless they were all too focused on their own troubles. How embarrassing, truly.

“I see you’re awake now.”

Seawatt froze up and turned around with a controlled smile, projecting a confident version of himself. “Ah, I didn’t see you there, uh… New Champion.”

“I figured that out.” His eyes seemed to be… smaller, now. Did the man have eyelids? That seemed obvious now, but to be honest, Seawatt had never seen him open his mouth either. He wasn’t even sure he had a mouth, so anything could go.

They stared at each other in silence, and Seawatt wondered if he looked as unkempt as he felt. His hair was sticking to him in all the wrong places and his robes were creased in a way he’d never let others see in any other context. But he couldn’t let on to how much he hated being seen this way. He had to make do with what he had.

“So… are you just gonna stare at me in silence?” Seawatt cocked his head, a hand on hips.

“Evbo trusts you, for some reason. I don’t understand why, but I trust his judgement. You’re on thin ice, Seawatt. I haven’t forgotten your part in all this.”

He rolled his eyes. “Sure, sure, blame me for all the evils of the world.” He took a decisive step forward and pointed at the other’s chest. “All I wanted-” He poked at EMF’s chest. “-was to bring justice to my people.” He looked up at him with narrowed eyes. “Not like you would understand.” And he stepped back. 

EMF looked at him with an unreadable expression. Nothing about that man was ever readable. Before Seawatt was ready for it, EMF turned around and started walking away.

“Wait! Where are you going?”

“Leaving you at it. Not like I’d understand.”

Seawatt stared at him go and looked to the side, the sound of his footfalls a constant rhythm. He hugged himself tightly and looked back up. 'EMF’ was preparing to jump off the platform and onto the grandstands.

“Hey, um. You mentioned Evbo?”

EMF stopped in place. “Yes. Why do you ask?”

Seawatt's skin itched. Oh how he hated to do this. Made him feel weak. He rubbed at his arm. “Could… could you take me to him for a second?” 

EMF didn't respond for a second. Seawatt was avoiding EMF with his gaze, but he still felt observed.

EMF sighed. “He'll be disappointed if he hears you wanted to come with and I told you no. I know he looked very casual back there, but he has many questions for you. Come on, now. Follow me.”

—

You were hoping your meeting with Seawatt would go better than it did. The parkour over to the top of the world wasn't hard, considering you were the current Champion, but Seawatt wasn’t too keen on following your lead.

“Are you sure I should follow you up there?” 

“Is something wrong?”

“Well…” he looked at the way up. “I don’t see anything, for one.”

“Just follow my lead.”

Seawatt stared at you long and hard.

“And if I do get up there, what then? Would I become a challenger to the throne as well? Because I would manage to do the seemingly impossible in parkour.” He crossed his arms. He looked like he wanted to say something else but he stayed quiet. His brow was furrowed looking at the high walls.

“You think you’re going to fall?”

“That doesn’t matter. Just get him down here, alright?”

You decided not to fight him on it. Besides, it would be best to have a moment with Evbo to explain the situation to him before Seawatt got there. You just hoped this wouldn’t backfire on both of you.

—

“Oh! You’re here again! What… happened with Seawatt?”

“He’s downstairs. Feared he’d fall, though he wouldn’t admit it. He’s a bit pissy, so don’t expect him to collaborate much.”

“Well…” Evbo dragged his words. “He did just come back from the dead. You’d be like that too, if you found out you’ve been dead for a while.”

You sighed. "Maybe so. Just warning you so it doesn't catch you off-guard.”

Evbo smiled and walked up to you. He laid his arm across his shoulder. “Always looking out for me. Don't you worry your head, I can handle myself.” He then looked at you sincerely. "But… thank you.” He walked over to the cliff and brought out a water bucket, then looked behind him. “Hey, aren't you coming?”

You looked at him for a second. You wanted to accompany him, and his face showed how he wanted you to follow him. But you knew whatever conversation they were going to have was best left to themselves, without the pressure of a third party in there. Let alone one whose dislike for the other was mutual.

“You know, I think I'm going to sit this one out. You have fun with your conversation. If you need me, I'll be up here.”

Evbo furrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth to complain, but he looked at you for a moment longer and let out the tension in his shoulders.

“Well, if you say so… Be back in a moment.” And he jumped down.

You couldn't help but feel you should've followed him, but too late for that now. You sat on your champion throne and waited.

—

Evbo did a perfect MLG water bucket clutch and landed right in front of Seawatt. Seawatt didn't last a second before speaking up.

“So, you came down, your…”  he looked him up and down, “majesty.”

“Oh, come on now, no need for titles. I’m just a regular person like you and my partner and-”

The words he said didn’t match his body language. He was clearly proud of the title and preening. Seawatt smirked. So Evbo didn't catch his sarcasm. That didn’t surprise him. 

“Your so-called ‘partner’ is the Parkour Champion, and I’m from a forgotten layer. Are you sure we’re good points of comparison for ‘regular people’?”

Evbo ignored the jibe. “So…” he started saying with a forced grin. “Your layer, huh?”

He narrowed his eyes. “What about it?” he said cautiously, as a threat. 

Suddenly, Evbo’s grin faded. His teeth were still showing in a grimace. Seawatt crossed his arms.

“You betrayed me.” He made direct eye contact. “I thought you were my friend.” And then, “I mean, we weren’t friends at first, and I was ready to attack you with a parkour battle at any point because I didn’t trust you, and in the end, I shouldn’t have trusted you,” he rambled on. But then, he turned serious again. His voice lost the rambling tone of before. “Because you… helped the Parkour Villain. But then… your last words. If you did feel that way, why did you do it?”

So this was happening. He tightened his grip against himself. “You already know about my people. I think that’s enough explanation.”

“You could’ve told me. Why go behind our backs?”

He deflated and looked behind Evbo, to the infinite horizon. “You already pointed out how I only had the clues for each Disc because I was given them. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything if not for my contacts. I wasn’t willing to jeopardize that.”

It was only silent for a moment, but then Evbo spoke up. “And now… you’re back, somehow. You all are.”

Seawatt perked up. “My layer. Is it…”

Evbo grimaced. “I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. Trust me, I’ve tried!” He rushed to add. “But hey, maybe now that we have you…”

Seawatt narrowed his eyes. “Did you try, really?”

“I… may have given up eventually. But really, I tried! I have no idea how to access those things, and the Old Man is long gone, so the only person who may know how to reverse it–”

“He wouldn’t have helped in the first place. He’s the sole reason it all happened.”

Evbo shook his head in resolution. “Yes, but if he saw I defeated the Parkour Villain, he’d agree to help.”

A headache was starting to flare up again on the sides of his head, and Seawatt brought his hand to the source of the pain, shoulders tensing.

“Let’s just… leave it for now. I can’t deal with this right now.”

Evbo seemed unsure. And like always, he vocalized it. “If you say so…”

Seawatt needed some time alone. He needed space. “Do I still own my house?” he asked dazedly. 

Evbo shrugged with a slight smile. “I think you’ll find that you do.”

—

Evbo seemed to appear everywhere he looked. He was often jumping around, offering challenges for players wanting to get better at parkour. Never teaching them, but leaving a trail of blocks where he went. He often left items not even Seawatt knew how to use in Parkour, possibly so the person could figure it out on their own. He was still confused about the boat he found in the middle of nowhere. 

Evbo was far from being a distant god, like the previous one had been. And after the day he was missing, a new person ranked up. Most people only knew of him from legends, only very few managed to see him, and even less people managed to interact with him in any real capacity. 

Evbo was different, in that regard. 

He was much too prone to showing off. It’s like he was allergic to being anything but the center of attention. No surprises there. It would be more shocking if he suddenly disappeared from public eye and stopped interjecting in people’s day-to-day lives.

His Champion Friend didn’t often follow suit.

Despite implying in his conversation with Evbo that they’d see each other again, Seawatt was relieved to find he didn’t take that as an invitation to run up to him whenever. He was sure it must be costing him a lot of self-restraint, or maybe a few words from his friend, but as long as Seawatt maintained his distance, he only caught glimpses or evidence of his presence from far away.

A part of him was glad for that, but he had to get moving at some point.

—

The city was unrecognizable from how he once knew it. He spent days just getting used to the new paths and structures all around. He was surprised his house stood as he knew it at first, considering nothing else was the same, but then he remembered what Evbo had told him the last time they met. Of course he’d be behind it.

But it had been a few days already, since then. Wandering the streets had already lost its splendor and he began to get bored. The Champion hadn’t come down in a couple days either, so there was little he could do on that front. All he could do was wait, and waiting was starting to get on his nerves.

His previous job was repetitive, but it at least was something, and it was always fun to figure out where a new member might fall and seal their fates. Sadly, with the restructuring of both the city and… political everything, it no longer stood. 

His job wouldn’t even make sense under the new political system.

Despite his initial reluctance, he found himself in front of the job assignment dispenser. 

—

Seawatt held his head on his hand, elbows on the desk, as he waited for people to come in.

It’d been very slow, and he was wondering why he even bothered picking up a job if he was going to get something as boring as… do nothing all day. He sighed through his nose and looked at the ceiling.

From the distance, he heard some chatter approaching.

“Yeah, he just came down!”

“Really? I don’t believe you.”

“Come on, he was just over by the town center.”

“What would he even be doing here, though? It’s weird, he never shows up but then he appears for no reason.”

“Beats me! Now come quicker, before they leave!”

“I’m going!”

And the voices fully vanished.

His attention was fully peaked now. If they were talking about who he thought they were—

This was the chance he was waiting for. 

He couldn’t care less about his job for the day, anyway.

—

There they were. The Parkour Champion and Evbo, acting as a barrier between his friend and the people trying to approach them in large groups. Interesting, Seawatt thought as he came closer. Despite being the Parkour God, Evbo thought the people would be more interested in seeing the Champion. Maybe that was the case, given how much Evbo made his presence felt in Parkour Civilization, but Seawatt still noted it down. 

The friend was clearly uncomfortable, even from afar. He was still, oddly quiet, and trying to look nowhere, after making the mistake of sweeping his glance around the mass of people. Direct eye contact, the easiest way to get unwanted attention. Evbo was jumping around him trying to distract everyone, and it worked, to a certain degree. Apparently, the novelty of the Parkour God had long dissipated, but some of it remained. The Champion said something to Evbo, but Seawatt couldn’t hear it over the sound of people asking to be challenged in a Parkour Battle, some even insisting on it not having friendly fire. Some were willing to die just to have the privilege of fighting against the Champion or God, even if dying was completely unnecessary in all regards.

Seawatt considered the scene for a moment longer before he decided to approach. They clearly needed his help, and if it would soften the pair’s opinions on him, Seawatt was willing to try it out. 

“So…” He approached the group and nudged some people off – the unfortunate fell off, others simply jumped away with his intrusion and tried to insult him, but he simply rolled his eyes and ignored them. “I see that the Parkour Champion has decided to grace us with his presence.”

“Oh, it’s you again.”

The people surrounding the pair all turned to look at Seawatt. 

“Yes, I did say I’d have to speak to you before, didn’t I?” Seawatt lied through his teeth. He never told that to ‘EMF’, but to Evbo instead. Still, he was giving them a lifeline, and he hoped the Champion would take it. 

EMF looked confused at first, but they caught on to Seawatt’s expectant expression and agreed.

“Ah, yes. You had some… things to clear up.” 

Evbo also took the sign and spoke up. “You heard the Champion! He has matters to attend to! It was nice to see all of you, but he has to get going now.”

The people didn’t move at first, but Seawatt stared at individuals directly until they got a move on.

Once the last person had left, EMF visibly relaxed. Or they did, until Seawatt cleared his throat, and their eyes jumped to him. It was like the Champion had completely forgotten his existence for a second. 

“Right, you came here. Why?”

“Oh, I thought I could lend a hand, you know? You were looking a bit crowded there, weren’t you? I did you a favor, for all you should care.”

“Nothing is ever just a favor with you.” EMF glared.

“Ouch,” Seawatt said with a heavy dose of irony. “Do you really think I’m like that? I would never. I just saw you were in trouble and decided to help. I can’t imagine how it feels being swarmed with people when you want to be left alone.”

EMF glared at Seawatt, while the corner of Seawatt’s mouth tilted upwards. They stared at each other, until Evbo interrupted.

“We should… probably not be in the middle of the street as we talk.”

“You’re right,” EMF said while still looking at Seawatt, and then dragged his eyes away, looking in a new direction. It was the Parkour Temple. “Let’s go,” he said, and started jumping. Evbo and Seawatt got a move on.

“So,” Evbo said, to break the tension. “You finally got your bearings, right? It’s… been a while already.” 

“Yes, yes,” he said dismissively, then corrected himself. “Yes, actually. Everything has… changed.”

“For the better!” Evbo interjected. “You know, I miss the green buildings and the Evbo theming, and my partner here did have a hard time figuring out the command blocks unlike me…”

“Hey.”

“But once he got the hang of it, not gonna lie, I think he’s handling it better than I did. I was not made to be a Champion, too many responsibilities and decision-making.” He pointedly looked at his friend, who hadn’t slowed down and was a block ahead of them, and smiled wider. “This guy’s much better at it than me… once he gets out of his mindset of following orders. Did everything without my input!”

He shook his head with his eyes closed, seemingly to himself.

“And… how long ago did this… new regime start?” Seawatt said slowly, hoping not too much time had passed.

“New regime,” Evbo repeated. “Not sure about that title. Does every new Parkour Champion count as a different regime?”

EMF ignored Evbo’s question, and despite not looking back, Seawatt felt him glaring at him as he next spoke. “The ‘new regime’ started right after Evbo defeated the Parkour Villain and he ascended. That was over a year ago already.”

“You, and everyone else, came back on the one year celebration, actually.” Evbo added, and looked down. “It’s been… hard providing a new house for everyone who came back, but my partner’s been hard at work doing that.”

… Is that the reason EMF rarely left the last layer of Parkour Civilization? Where were the people that came back staying before he gave everyone a home?

… Wait, wait no.

“Wait, hold on a second.” He dug his heels on the dirt block and shook his head. “You mean to tell me I’ve been gone for a year?”

“Yes.”

Seawatt felt the grass block under him breaking. He stammered and hid it with a dry smile.

They were already in front of the parkour temple. 

“Right, well, what are you waiting for? If you think you can fool me, you might as well leave while you’re at it.” He jerked his head toward the structure.

Evbo froze. EMF seemed unimpressed.

“Beats me. Evbo, let’s go.”

Evbo’s eyes were wide, mouth slightly agape. EMF started leaving, but they stayed in place. “We didn’t- why would we-” He shook his head. “Look, I’m trying to be understanding here, but you’re really,” he stressed the last word, “making it hard for me, you know?”

Seawatt started fidgeting with his hand like it was a stress cube. “So you think I’ll just accept that blindly? Maybe I misjudged you, Evbo.”

His words stopped even EMF. Evbo’s eyes narrowed and he made both hands into fists. “Hey, don’t try that. What do you think you’re doing? I’m giving you a second chance when Parkour G- me knows I shouldn’t.” 

Seawatt stayed silent, unmoving. After a moment, “What are you two waiting for? I already told you to leave.”

Evbo opened his mouth, eyes searching for something to say, but he shut it and groaned. “Fine. But I don’t understand what your ‘master plan’ here is. You’re just pushing away someone who could understand.” He started walking, EMF wasted no time following. “Goodbye for now.”

Seawatt hummed in response and stayed in place until the pair were at the bottom of the invisible way up. Evbo looked back one last time, but Seawatt didn’t move. And then, they were going up, jumping on block by invisible block. Seawatt tracked their movements with his eyes.

—

Legs crossed, sitting on the sides of his feet as his torso laid on the floor of his house, Seawatt brought pen to paper and contemplated the drawing, supported by his straightened left arm and right forearm. Sheets of papers sprawled in front of him, each personally lined vertically and horizontally into a grid – the first few were done with precision, but the later ones were less and less straight. Fine drawings turned into scribbles and then discarded. He brought his pen to his mouth, supporting his weight on his elbow rather than forearm, and chewed the cap. No, that wasn’t right either. Another crossed out line and he groaned and pushed himself back, his back hitting the frame of his bed as he fell backwards. It stung a bit. This was getting nowhere. How was he meant to get any progress done when he couldn’t even remember everything? Only a few pieces he was sure of, but not much. 

Thankfully, it was enough to practice, so at least he wouldn’t spend most of the day in an uncomfortable position trying to make sense of something to no avail.

Resolved, he uncrossed his legs and helped himself up with the frame of the bed, and all his muscles screamed in response. Clearly, being in an uncomfortable position for large periods of time wasn’t his greatest idea. His first step shot a spike through his back, and he fell on his bed, legs still on the floor. This was getting ridiculous. Of all times… 

He took in a breath. 

No. He wasn’t going to let this win against him. He waited until the sting subsided and he straightened his back, groaning as he did so. Slowly, all his muscles set back into place, tension leaving his body. He felt good enough now not to fall as soon as he stepped out the door.

As he approached the door, he took a glance at his compact ice mirror and stopped in his tracks. His hair was going everywhere, his clothes were wrinkled, his face looked like it had seen better days. He couldn’t go out like that.

—

Seawatt found his way to the practice grounds without much trouble. It helps that in his days of rest, he’d done his best to mentally map out where everything lay. He stood at the entrance, just to the side of the arena, until the last person inside left. He didn’t need anyone in there to pick up on what he was practicing. 

Setting foot inside, he realized just how big the place was now, in comparison to its previous state. A bunch of blocks in a variety of places littered the trees and ground. They truly were doing their hardest to improve their skills. He spied some fences, ice blocks, a few end rods as well.

So maybe nobody would suspect him, then. 

He set to work.

Those few jumps were engrained in his memory now, from how much he’d drawn them over and over again.

No one had gone inside since he started building the course, so he grew determined. He stared at the jumps and prepared himself for it. Once on the first rod, he knew it was going to be easy. Just a simple–

His foot landed on the rod and his muscles seized. He slipped and for a second, imagined he was over the void, about to fall down into Parkour Jail. If he fell, he’d never get anywhere. He’d be stuck forever trying to–

He landed ungracefully on his rear. The moment he was just in and the reality of the situation hit him- he could only stay sitting there as he processed his situation. Nothing bad had happened. He was fine. It was only a mistake his body made, and a practice run.

If he fell so early on in the easy and clear jumps…

He frowned. He didn’t like that thought.

“Woah, that was a dumb fall.”

The voice shook him from his daze. His heart rate picked up again in panic as he looked up at the source of the voice. Evbo was standing there, looking at him with an amused expression, although not outwardly smiling. “Do you need help?”

Seawatt scoffed and used the tree to his side as support to stand up. “No, thank you. I’m fine. I just slipped.”

“If you say so…” Evbo said, but he stayed in place. 

Seawatt’s skin pricked, as he walked to the beginning of the course. He had no choice but to do the course now. If he left, Evbo would start to suspect something. He had to come off as transparent as possible. So he walked to the start again and jumped. 

After each jump, he crouched, setting his center of balance in the middle to avoid slipping again. Unfortunately, his body wasn’t liking the very sudden movements between crouching and running into a jump, and as he prepared to stand up and take a turn, he fell face-down into the grass. Air escaped his lungs and he stayed immobile. That hurt. Without moving his body too much, he reached into his pockets and took out a golden carrot and used his hands to slowly push himself back up.

“Okay, being honest, I was just teasing then, but you’re clearly having a bad time down there.”

Seawatt rolled his eyes and sat up. Evbo was in front of him again. 

“I’m just rusty. That’s all.” He narrowed his eyes.

“Well, good thing you decided to be rusty in here, then! You don’t want to be sent down to the lower layers!”

“Wh–”

Evbo looked at him strangely. “Oh, didn’t I tell you? People have infinite tries now to get better. That’s the first change I implemented when I got into power, and my partner liked it, so he kept it. If you don’t clutch on the way down, that is.”

That calmed Seawatt down. So it wouldn’t be practically game over if he were to fall. Still not ideal, but…

“But really, you probably shouldn’t be jumping right now. I don’t know what happened to you, but that seems like a nasty wall.” He whistled. “Good thing no one else saw you. That would be very embarrassing. Good thing it was only me.”

Evbo was acting like the previous exchange from the day before had never happened. It twisted something inside him.

“Why are you telling me this?”

Evbo looked at him like he was stupid. “Because I’m here to encourage people to parkour to their heart’s content, and you clearly aren’t having fun.” He then jumped the end rods and sat on the tree, legs dangling from the top. 

Seawatt had to crawl away to still be able to see him. Normally, it would be embarrassing to be sitting on grass in the middle of a public space, looking up at someone, but for a moment, he didn’t care.

“I don’t know why you’re trying to learn when you’re clearly hurt, but hey, if you wanna keep going, I can’t stop you! I just don’t think you’re going to get any results like that.”

Seawatt looked down at his legs, but he was looking nowhere.

“How did you…” He looked up. “How did you become the Parkour God? You mentioned something about defeating the Parkour Villain and ascending, but…”

Evbo pursed his lips and looked to the sky with his arms crossed. Seawatt wondered how the sky looked without the layer of darkness everyone but Evbo and EMF saw. Was it like in his home?

“I thought I was gonna lose. The Parkour Villain challenged me to a race, but my side was incomplete. I had no way to win. So I looked at the void and jumped.”

Seawatt shook awake. He was already awake, but the words made him more aware of his surroundings than before. The blades of grass under his palms felt grounding as he hung onto them. 

“You just… jumped? You gave up? But all the time I’ve known you, you—”

Evbo shrugged. “It was all I could do. I was gonna lose anyway.” He grinned. “And I’d rather lose in a dramatic way than just stand there, you understand.”

Seawatt did, in a way. Strange to think about that. He shrunk into himself. His last words to Evbo… 

“And then…”

“Well, the Parkour God intervened, said it was time I took his place instead and gave me his sick powers. Winning was easier afterwards. I just… became Parkour.”

Seawatt hummed. “So you’ve never failed a jump after that?”

“Nope.”

Seawatt stared far and deep into the branches Evbo was sitting on. It would be so easy to prove him wrong. He reached for an end rod in his inventory and–

“Woah! Careful, there!” Evbo gracefully jumped from the tree and landed on the grass. 

Seawatt wasn’t even close enough to move a single branch, even with the help of the end rod. Even if he had been below the tree, he still would’ve had to stand up in order to budge it. It was like Evbo had read his mind. Seawatt frowned and didn’t meet his gaze. 

“Well, I guess that’s my cue to leave. Just be careful about your jumps. Make sure you’ve got a grip on the block before going for another jump, and really, did nobody teach you to take it easy when your back hurts? I’d tell you to go home and rest, but your safest bet is probably staying here for a while.”

“I can still do long jumps, Evbo. There’s a reason I managed to get here. It’s just the sudden stopping and crouching and jumping that messed me up. I know how to parkour.”

Evbo grinned in embarrassment. “Right. Didn’t mean to imply you couldn’t! I mean, you’re a Parkour Master for a reason. A Parkour… Fighter?”

Seawatt tensed. Evbo seemed to pick up on that.

“Aaaanyway. Good luck with your parkour. You’ll get it soon, I just know it.”

Evbo didn’t wait before walking away. Seawatt followed him with his gaze and had to twist around to see him jump off the park. After a moment, the tension faded away and a smile creeped into his face. He chuckled and stared distantly, until he saw his parkour course again. A new hollow feeling creeped into his chest as he looked at the end rods, one after the other. The determination he once felt dragged him down now.

 —

“You took your time,” you said when you felt Evbo materialize behind you. He used to do that to make you jump at first, but you quickly became accustomed to it, to sensing his presence even if no one else did. 

“I wanted to head down while I was at it. Visit some people I once knew, in the lower layers.”

“So, how’s the betrayer doing?”

Evbo started pacing behind you. You couldn’t turn around because you were sitting on your throne, looking at the aerial view of the city and trying to gauge what a group of people were doing. They seemed to be daring each other to make a jump, but it wasn’t a proper parkour challenge. You narrowed your eyes to get a proper view of the group and—

Well, there goes one person to the bottom. Their friends moved in a way that looked like laughing. One of them crouched until they were on four inside the block and brought their hands to their face to, you assume, yell down to their friend. They wouldn’t be able to hear. It would be some time until their friend managed to get back up to their rank, but they didn’t seem to mind.

“He doesn’t seem malicious.” Evbo finally said. “He’s still a bit on edge, but he’s not really causing anybody problems.” He then laughed. “Well, maybe except for himself.”

You turned your head, but of course, you could still not see Evbo. “What do you mean?”

“He’s straining himself, no clue why.”

You hummed. It’s true that more people have been doing their best to progress in their parkour abilities since Evbo showed them there’s many ways to push oneself, but Seawatt didn’t seem like the kind of person to push his abilities for no reason. If he was straining himself, it must be for something. You kept those thoughts to yourself. You knew Evbo would try to dissuade you from thinking that, but you have no idea why. You’ve never known Seawatt personally, but he was an instrumental piece of the puzzle for the Champion and Villain you opposed. He was not just a cog in the machine, but the motor that kept the faulty machine running until it broke. Evbo was so willing to forgive him, but you still remembered how it felt to be trapped over that void, a parkour jump away from losing his life, your own determination to not end the fight, to not claim defeat, that kept you from succumbing. When Evbo helped you with the little blocks he had, you thought you wouldn’t be able to make it, but the relief that washed over you once you finally made contact with the ground… You still remember Evbo’s grin at that moment. You were still shaken from the whole ordeal and couldn’t possibly imagine where you would end up a mere days after that. 

But Seawatt… You truly didn’t comprehend why Evbo was so willing to not only reintroduce him into society, but try to get close to him.

Your thoughts had overtaken your vision so much that you didn’t notice when Evbo had walked right next to you. 

“You should probably talk to him,” he said like it meant nothing. Like it was just as easy as that.

“Quit joking, bro,” you said. You knew Evbo enough to know he wasn’t joking.

“What?” he took on a joking tone. “You think he’s going to break the block under you? I don’t think he cares that much about becoming the Champion, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

You took a moment to think. Why did Evbo say that? 

“I wasn’t worried about that before. Should I be?”

“Nah, I already told you not to worry.”

That wasn’t a proper answer. “What makes you think he doesn’t want it, anyway? He’s not said anything about his motivations. For all you know, he wants to change the status quo.”

Evbo walked up to the command blocks and sat on top of one like he had no care in the world. Being in this position really fit him. Just seeing him… it made you feel free, even as your mind tried to work around the problems that may arise, even as you need to constantly progress at the same speed as everyone else now, if you wanted your skills not to fall to the wayside, even despite all that, Evbo helped you feel free, like parkour for its own sake really is something to strive for. He was a source of inspiration when you were tasked with helping him defeat the Evil Champion, but now, even though he literally ranked above you in a way much greater than you to the Masters, you’d never felt as equal to another person as you did then. Despite the jokes Evbo always sent, he meant none of them. He always looked up at you, pushed you to become better, to strive for more.

And at that moment, Evbo was staring at you like something wasn’t making much sense.

“Would that be a bad thing?” He suddenly said. “I mean, we changed the status quo multiple times already, haven’t we? We even provided a way up for everyone to participate in that one tournament. That’s breaking the status quo, right?” He jumped down. “And before that, you helped me defeat the Evil Champion, which had become the status quo by then.”

“Y- yes.” You thought you knew where he was going. “But he took the Old Man’s throne.”

“And when I tried to give it back to him, he refused.” Evbo continued. “It’s just a cycle of breaking what we’re used to and letting change happen. The first thing I did basically broke the whole premise of Parkour Civilization up to that point.”

“The Parkour Villain also tried to change everything. And he did - he defeated so many people…”

“And we rebuilt, and now they’re all back. We can change stuff if needed. I don’t know what you’re thinking Seawatt would do, but I don’t think something comparable to the Parkour Villain is gonna happen. He was clearly in it for his own sake, not for the Villain itself.”

“And do you know what he was in it for?”

Evbo stopped. “I can’t say that for him. You two should talk.”

“No. No way. I’ve already had enough of that man to last me the whole month.” 

Evbo walked over to the cliff and glanced back. “Okay, if that’s your decision.” 

You eyed the water bucket now in his hand. “Where are you going?”

“Lower levels.” He looked out to the world. “Not sure where yet, I’ll see where I fall.” He turned back to look at you one last time. “If you need anything…”

You shook your head. “No need.”

“Great! Be back, uh… at some point.” And off he went.

His body quickly disappeared from sight, and left you with your thoughts. 

You were going to have to do that, weren’t you?

—

Seawatt had given Evbo’s suggestion actual consideration, and he felt much better for it. Soon after he’d left, Seawatt started packing his blocks. Normally, people left their courses laid out in the open for others to also try them out, but there was nothing against getting them back, and Seawatt would rather not have to go through the hassle of explaining what he was trying to learn, or… whatever else may happen if those were found.

He stayed the rest of the day in his home sleeping, and by the time he went out the next day, his body was feeling much better.

Instead of going straight to the practice area, though, he went to the plaza – one of the many places that didn’t exist beforehand. That was something the original layer, or the versions before, had been missing — places to simply exist. There were, of course, recreational parkour courses, but at least here, there were proper places to sit and, Parkour God apparently not forbid, talk to one another without the risk of falling. He wasn’t sure what he was there to do, but he needed the fresh air, and maybe watching people would give him some sort of inspiration he was missing. He wasn’t sure how that would happen, or if it even would, but he just needed any excuse.

The plaza was tastefully black in the center and spiraling out into white at the sidelines, a beautiful glass parkour in the middle. Large trees surrounded the perimeter. 

His eyes were fixated on a person trying the challenge. Spiral and spiral, the person’s foot barely connected to the glass panes before they were off onto the next. Up in a spiral, visible from every angle. Seawatt let himself be hypnotized for just a moment by the movements. 

Was it that simple?

His thoughts were interrupted by a distant figure falling from the parkour temple, and disappearing into thin air. Huh, so that’s how Evbo got around everywhere. He’d never thought about it before, the fact that he could disappear and supposedly show up somewhere else at will. Seemed convenient.

Evbo had left to whoever knew where, meaning, his so-called ‘partner’ was up there. Seawatt looked up to the top of the temple, unable to see anything past the usual. Just a layer that hid it from sight.

A layer. Of course. Even if– it wouldn’t… he’d… but would that mean that… no. No.

Seawatt clutched his robes and shut his eyes. So much for trying to organize his thoughts. This had been a bad idea, but for once, he wasn’t sure what part of everything he was talking about. It was all just… wrong.

Before he could finish his gathering thoughts, someone stood next to his seat. Seawatt wanted to tell them off to leave him alone, but when he turned around to say that… he stopped with his mouth wide open. 

The Champion was just standing there, except, he wasn’t wearing his Champion boots.

Clever. That way he wouldn’t be harassed. But why–

“What are you doing here?” he finally said. 

EMF kept watching the person go up the parkour spire. “I assume the same thing as you.”

“Uh, no, you’re clearly standing next to me for a reason. I came here to think. You have a whole layer to yourself so you can think.”

EMF straightened their back. Seawatt knew he was pushing him, but in all fairness, all he wanted was to be left alone at that moment. EMF, by their mere presence next to him, was pushing his buttons in turn. Anyone would be. 

“What do you want?”

Seawatt was taken aback. “What do you mean ‘what do I want’? You’re the one who suddenly approached me.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Seawatt made a display of rolling his eyes and sitting back on the bench. He stretched his arms up in the air to exaggerate the movement, his head following suit. After a moment of holding it, he dropped his arms behind the backrest and let his head drop too. He was looking up into the foliage of a tree, sunlight falling from between the gaps.

“All I want…” he said, dragging his words. “Is to fix a mess that no one else dared fix in the time I was gone.”

Seawatt was still facing upwards, but at the silence that followed, he turned his eyes to the side. The Champion was looking away still, but he felt that under the white eyes of his, he was eying him back. 

“And that mess is…”

That’s it. Seawatt sprung back into place and pushed himself off the bench. Once he was on the same eye level to him, he said, “Look, I don’t have to explain myself to you. You clearly don’t want to help with what actually matters. You’re just in it for… for power? For whatever. I bet you don’t really care to listen to the people.”

“You really think that?”

At that moment, Seawatt noticed the people closest to them in the park turn glances their way. They were both keeping their voices low enough not to become the center of attention, but it wasn’t enough to dissuade the most curious people. 

“Tell me in what way the Evil Champion listened to anything anyone wanted out of Parkour Civilization. And yet, you did his bidding, you were his pawn. I don’t think you’re one to talk.”

“Maybe I had my reasons. You don’t know me.”

Apparently, he pushed just the right button with that phrase. EMF exhaled with clearly contained rage and closed their eyes. “Evbo said the same. But if you’re so secretive about it, I don’t think you have real reasons for it. You just want to feel like you have control over others.”

Seawatt scoffed and raked his fingers through his hair. “Really? Is that what you truly think?” He started walking towards him, and stopped once they were one block apart. “You honestly think that everything I’ve done so far has been to have power over everyone else?” He laughed. “You really don’t pay attention to your surroundings, do you?”

EMF tilted his head upwards in response. 

“Tell me,” he continued. “Tell me what is missing in the world and maybe then I’ll admit you have spatial awareness.”

“Missing in the world?”

“I’ll wait. Think.”

A crowd was starting to gather around them, although far enough away not to feel trapped.

EMF shook their head. “You’re not making any sense.”

That was the final straw for Seawatt. “Fine! Fine. Keep living in your perfect bubble, oh dear Champion. Keep walking around in false gold boots and continuing living like you always have, in a world where obviously I am the one who’s wrong. Go ahead, go back to your throne, Champion. I’m sure the people will love you for it.”

Murmurs started to spread through the group once he mentioned the Champion. Those uninterested in what was going on now came closer. Someone in the group spoke loudly, “Wait, is that the Champion?”

Seawatt turned to face them with a pulled grin. “Oh, yes. He’s just wearing different shoes to mix in, aren’t you, Champion?” He glanced back at him.

EMF’s hands were turned into fists, but they stayed quiet. Their eyes never left Seawatt’s face.

Seawatt hummed. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go now.” He spoke to the people, “If you want to talk to your dear ruler, you can right here! I’m sure he won’t mind to hear how all of you want him to beat you in parkour. Go ahead, come right up!”

Glances were shared among the group, until some brave people took a step forward. Soon, some lines were made. Seawatt walked between the lines and someone went and took his place. He couldn’t just end it there, so Seawatt turned around one last time to look at EMF, and the other hadn’t stopped looking at him. The random person had started talking, but nothing in his expression showed EMF cared at all about what they had to say. 

Seawatt smiled to himself as he left.

—

You feel like an idiot for deciding it would be a good idea to do what Evbo thought was best. You had to disentangle yourself from a mob of people who just wouldn’t leave you alone, and by the end of it, of course, Seawatt was nowhere to be found. You looked down at your shoes and sighed. But those things he said, they got you wondering, even for just a second.

What was he talking about? What was the thing missing?

Or was that just a tactic to get you to lower your guard? 

You didn’t like this. But you liked what was being implied with his words even less.

As you went back ‘home’, something itched the back of your head. Something that needed to come out, but it was just under the surface.

—

Evbo hadn’t been gone for such a long time in a good while. You were used to him disappearing every few days for a mere day or two, but the third day had come and gone and he hadn’t yet made his presence clear. 

Could he be in danger?

Surely, because he’s the Parkour God, nothing could’ve happened to him, but the doubt sticked in your mind. 

The last conversation you had with Seawatt came back with a vengeance. He seemed ready to do anything in that moment of anger, and you would be none the wiser if you simply stayed in your tower the whole time through. For once, something he said, you actually agreed with. You couldn’t be hiding away in your bubble waiting for Evbo to appear. If anything had happened and you’d done nothing, you’d feel like you’d betrayed him. When you disappeared, he did everything to get you back in safety, and even ensured with his help that you would become even better at parkour than you ever were before that. He would definitely be against you saying that you owed your current position because of him, after joking about it, but it would still be unfair to everyone if you did nothing.

But even beyond that, even beyond the help he’s given you and how he’s sacrificed for you, you couldn’t imagine a life without your partner at your side.

Everything decided, you went down and set for the first place you could think of.

Seawatt’s house.

—

The place stuck out like a sore thumb after all the remodelling that went on in the layer, but Evbo was insistent that at least for now, until he was able to get used to the new environment, at least that would stay the same.

You pointed out how the other people who came back didn’t get to keep their previous commodities, but Evbo reminded you that those who disappeared still had people they cared about. They could get used to the changes much more easily, but Seawatt…

Seawatt was isolated, always in his schemes. Evbo didn’t say that, but you filled in the gaps. It would be a bigger risk for everyone if he was thrusted into an unfamiliar place with nothing recognizable about it. There was always a chance that he would break under the pressure and try to come back with an army to overthrow them, causing… whatever he was looking for. It didn’t seem to be chaos. His way of presenting himself went against that idea wholly, and he sure seemed open to maintaining some sort of order in his acts. 

All that to say, finding his house among the other buildings was easy.

This time, you not only changed you boots to fit in better, but removed your crown. That had always been part of your ensemble, nothing you gained upon becoming Champion, but if there was anything you could change to be as unrecognizable at a glance, you would take it. If those who had seen you remembered your appearance beyond the shoes, then you would never be able to get anywhere.

So far, nothing had happened, in the city, and you were glad for that. So when you found yourself in front of his place, you went up the spiral staircase near it and dropped down. 

This was it.

You knocked on the door.

—

Seawatt knocked his head against the bed frame. He was again sitting on the floor mapping out the routes and writing in a separate sheet what could possibly be needed to accomplish his goal, because getting up there was just one part of the plan. He clearly had not learned his lesson from the other day, but he excused it with the fact that he wouldn’t be doing any extraneous activity that day. Surely in that case, he should be free to be as uncomfortable as he needed to be for his brainstorming. 

Those plans were completely pushed out the block gap when a sudden knock on the door brought him to the present, in the most violent, yet not pvp, way possible.

“Augh, that hurt…” he rubbed his head. What did they want of him? No one had knocked on his door before. Was it some sort of ‘welcome back’ jumpwagon? Kind of late, and too many people to go through, if that were the case. Were there some secret parkour taxes he hadn’t paid because he didn’t know about them?

As he thought of these possibilities, he yelled, “Coming!” and stumbled to the door, still rubbing his head. The world wasn’t straight and his vision blacked out for a moment, but once it came back, just a moment later, the door was suddenly in front of him.

He was reaching towards it, and he paused. 

He’d been an idiot letting them know he was home. The most likely person, or persons, behind the door were a much, much worse option than those he’d, in his dizzy imagination, had thought of. Now that his mind was straight, he could see that much clearly, but he’d already taken long enough and they would think he was doing something bad. But he couldn’t let them see the insides either.

Just in cue, they knocked on the door again. 

In a panic, Seawatt opened the door, and exited in an instant.

It was only the Champion, no Evbo in sight. And by the look of their expression, they were not expecting him to come out like that. Their eyes were fully wide, and they backed away into the wall when Seawatt all but rammed into them in order to get out. If Seawatt had been dizzy before from a knock on the door, surprise, and his head against the wall, EMF was dizzy from their own knock on the door, surprise, and their head against the wall.

Maybe they were not so different, after all.

Scratch that. It was most deserved that he’d experience that if Seawatt had to as well.

He let the Champion come back from the shock patiently. He made it seem like he was impatient, rapidly tapping his foot against the floor, but internally, Seawatt knew that speaking now, as EMF tried to orient himself, would result in nothing positive. 

Besides, he knew how it felt to be rushed when all that had just happened to you.

The wait only lasted for a moment, and EMF came back to himself at once. And he was angry.

“What- why did you do that?”

“Sorry,” Seawatt replied. “You gave me the same shock, so an eye for an eye.”

“That’s not the point of that phrase. It’s not even the full phrase.”

Seawatt shrugged, and EMF seemed to be debating with himself internally before he got the resolve to speak.

“Evbo. Where is he?”

Evbo? Huh. Seawatt had thought it strange that EMF had come down without his so-called partner like that. Sure, he’d met him a few days ago alone, but Seawatt had just seen Evbo jump down somewhere else.

Either way, he did notice his disappearance from the picture, but… he didn’t think there was an actual problem behind it. 

“What happened to him?”

Even if Seawatt didn’t know how to feel about the whole situation, with very conflicting emotions when he thought of everything that had happened and his involvement with it, about Evbo’s part in everything… he didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. Not really.

He must’ve let his worry come through in his words — embarrassing — for EMF didn’t jump to accuse him immediately. They hesitated for just a second. 

“You… you obviously know where he is,” he continued, but his voice was slightly trembling. A sign of weakness. Seawatt could try to exploit this, but what would he gain? He needed to get rid of all suspicion his way, because he wasn’t responsible for this whole mess, but lay it on too thick and he’d get another problem on his plate.

“No, I don’t. This is the first time I’m hearing about it.”

“Then let me see your house. Surely, if there’s no hints to where he is in there, you’d be fine with letting me in.”

He scoffed. “Of course not. I’m not obliged to let you in because you think I did something I didn’t. It’s my own house, and you’re coming at me with baseless accusations.” He said practically. Tried to seem reasonable, and not at all like he was actually hiding anything from him.

Good thing, then, that he would react the same way had he had nothing to hide. 

“Besides, what would I be able to do to someone who can appear and disappear at will? I know some parkour tricks, but nothing to control a god, and those tricks would require him not be able to fight back, which we already know he can do perfectly well.” He tilted his head. “So? Is that enough proof for you? Even if I wanted to do anything to him, which I don’t want to, there’s nothing I could do.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you don’t want to have this conversation inside your house. That would be way more private, you know?”

Seawatt rolled his eyes. “It’s my house. I don’t want just about anyone be able to get in. It’s my stuff, it’s my bedding, it’s my own privacy, not yours to walk around in.”

EMF finally dropped it. Seawatt waited for him to say something next, but he was out of words now, so he continued. “Why do you think I’m responsible for whatever happened? Could he not be… I don’t know, in his own space?”

“That… could be possible, but he rarely takes this long. Usually, he doesn’t like being alone in there for too long. Always ends up coming around to bother me or start something elsewhere. Even then, he’s not usually this late to show up home.”

That last word pulled a grin on Seawatt’s face. “Home, huh? So up there with him is your home?” 

EMF furrowed his brow — he had one, which Seawatt could only see now that he was this close to him, and after having to decipher his facial expressions from what little could be seen through the seemingly featureless void of his skin.

“Of course,” he said like it was obvious. “He’s my partner.” He grew silent again, then, “wait, did you think we meant ‘partner’ in the ‘work partner’ way?”

Seawatt’s brain short-circuited. Oh. Ohh… so, huh.

“Ah, I see.”

EMF looked at him in shock, and then, something happened. The sound of air coming from him, not a hapless sigh but… 

His shoulders started to shake. 

He was laughing. 

The image of the Champion, who up to this moment Seawatt had only seen serious, angry, dismayed, vengeful, annoyed, breaking apart by a simple laugh was enough to shock Seawatt into laughing himself. The conversation itself wasn’t even that funny, but the more it went on for, the harder it was for Seawatt to control himself. It started as a light chuckle in response, then he was properly laughing, and EMF’s laughter brought him back whenever he managed to compose himself for a moment. 

This… all of this was so ridiculous. Seawatt was getting dizzy again from a lack of oxygen and he rested his body against the building so he wouldn’t accidentally fall off. Now wouldn’t that be ridiculous? Thinking of it, replacing himself with EMF, brought it back fully. It hurt now. His face, his stomach, he couldn’t breathe, and his face was burning.

That went on for longer than probably was reasonable. Nothing about this was reasonable. He was with the partner of Evbo who he never got along with, after having an argument with him, laughing together endlessly after he made a senseless comment. All while Evbo was, apparently, missing.

That thought sobered him up immediately. 

EMF didn’t notice at first. Seawatt was now fully straightened looking the middle distance. Eventually, EMF caught onto his silence and he looked up. Seawatt saw through the corner of his eye how he remembered himself and stood up straight as well. Neither of them spoke, the air growing thicker and more awkward the longer it went on for. He couldn’t believe he just… did that. A new feeling of embarrassment broke through the seriousness, got a hold of his chest, and it spread to his face. Once again, his face burned, but this time, not in a good way. Oh he hated this.

He shut his eyes to drive the shame away and exclaimed, “So.” He opened his eyes. “Evbo.” He forced himself to look back at EMF, although his face was still warm from before. Seeing the Champion worried for his partner was enough to finally slow his heart down and help the blood off his face. “Is there anything he did before leaving? Something that you remember?”

EMF looked away. “We were… talking.”

Seawatt eyed him. “Just talking?”

He nodded. “He said he was going to the lower levels. Said he’d be back at some point.”

Seawatt’s eyes forcibly shined. “There we go!” he said with false optimism. “Case close, he’s still there.”

“Sure…” EMF said, “but usually what he means by that is ‘don’t expect me by sundown, I’ll be back tomorrow’.”

Seawatt exhaled and looked up to the sky, shoulders dropped. “What were you talking about before that, then? Because unless you think he somehow got overpowered by a Parkour Noob or Pro, there must be a reason in that conversation why he’s gone.”

EMF grew quiet. “Wouldn’t that be… uncharacteristic of him? He’d know I’d get worried, would he?”

Seawatt shrugged, and fell back on the wall. “I don’t know, you know him more than I do.” A glimmer appeared in his eye as he thought about that. He eyed him with a side smile. “Way more personally than me, of course.”

EMF made a guttural sound, broken off. They stumbled over their syllables, and Seawatt didn’t need to feel their face to know it must be burning. 

Seawatt’s chest felt lighter, out of nowhere. It started getting to his head. A laugh escaped his chest, he couldn’t control it.

Glancing back at EMF, he got lost in the pure white of his eyes. Somehow, despite not having any discernible pupil, Seawatt could tell the way his eyes were searching from side to side. It looked nice. 

Seawatt’s face started to get warm again.

No. Once again, he forced whatever that was down and closed his eyes. The darkness would help him clear his mind. “So, yes,” he said after remembering where he left off. “Your conversation. He must’ve said something before that… that could be a clue…” His heart was still beating harder than he’d like. He swallowed. “As to where he is.”

There was a small moment of silence in which Seawatt realized how quiet the world was as soon as one wasn’t moving around. Unless you had your head in the game, or were talking, or otherwise near people who were moving around constantly, the world was completely quiet.

That had never bothered him before.

It did now. 

“We were talking about- change.”

That didn’t seem right. Something about the way he said that didn’t seem right, like he’d changed his mind at the last second. 

Seawatt played along. “What about change?”

“Whether it’s good. In what ways it can be good, or… or harmful. What can be done about it, one way or the other. What… what do you think?”

That seemed like a trap, if Seawatt had ever seen one, but he couldn’t lie about this. He didn’t want to lie about this.

“It’s necessary, isn’t it? In some forms, at least. I’d say you two have definitely changed how things work around here, have you not? This place is unrecognizable from a year back, and even more so from before. Some changes are necessary.”

“And some are bad.”

Flashes of the Old Man appeared on his mind. His face of determination. The way his life changed radically because of it. 

“Yes,” his voice turned grave. “Yes, some are.”

Silence took a hold of them again, more serious this time, with none of the awkwardness from before. Seawatt breathed in.

He didn’t want to do this. Everything about his life up to this point told him that if he revealed his cards way too soon, to the wrong person, everything he’d worked towards would crumble down like your course after a missed jump on a Parkour Battle. 

But… it was now, or he might never get the chance to explain. And now… it wouldn’t feel right to follow through with the plan without-

“You two have- you’ve changed a lot of things but-” It was hard to get the words out. “You’re missing something, and you don’t even consider it for a moment, even when I hint at it, you just… pretend it’s not there, like it doesn’t exist. You’ve done everything no one has specifically asked for, but the one thing-” the longer he spoke, the harsher his words came out. They burned their way through his throat and out into the world. “The one change that everyone would benefit from, the whole reason why I-”

“I… don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“My layer. The ‘secret’, the ‘hidden’ layer of Parkour Civilization. The whole reason Evbo became a god and you the Champion.” He gritted his teeth. “It’s like it doesn’t matter to you.”

He clawed at his arms in the form of a hug. Rage seared under the surface, ready to boil.

—

Seawatt’s words pierced you in place. You tried to form words, but they all felt inadequate. 

Why hadn’t you done anything?

It’s true you simply weren’t able to figure out the way to bring it back, you and Evbo both tried to do it once, but everything from that encounter had still been fresh. It seemed like opening the civilization up for an attack, because surely, if the Parkour Villain still had followers on the other side, who knew if bringing the layer back would overthrow the peace you’d managed to find yourselves in.

Peace in your own world, giving second chances to everyone who fell, making parkour something to strive for rather than a mere form of living. 

In contrast to the discontent in that layer, the world still unrelenting to whoever fell into the void — even more than this side ever was, since at least parkour prison had been a thing before the second chances rolled around.

You had improved your own lives and to anyone who could directly benefit from the system as it was, but you never deeply considered the implications from what happened over there. It was like… it never existed.

Maybe you hadn’t changed Parkour Civilization as much as you had previously thought.

You didn’t fix a system, not fully. Not at all, and Seawatt was proof of that.

You stayed in silence long enough for Seawatt to shake his head. “Even now…”

He looked… defeated. You hurried to get your ideas in order, before he walked away.

“Is… no, forget that. You’re… right.”

Seawatt’s demeanor seemed to change at once. As soon as the words left your mouth, Seawatt stood straight and turned to you with wide, furrowed, eyes. His chest inflated as if to say something, his mouth opening as well. There was hope in his eyes as he searched your face for any lies. 

There was a moment in which that changed. His face lost its shine, his mouth turned into bared teeth, pushing his lower eyelids up and his brows closer together. 

“That’s it?” he said with a bite. “That’s… all you have to say to that?”

The spotlight was on you now. Like hundreds of eyes were watching you, judging your every decision up to this point. You swallowed. “No… you’re right, we should’ve… we should’ve figured it out by now,” you said, “but we didn’t. We didn’t see a way to do it, so we left it alone. Focused on what was right in front of us and…” You shook your head. “We didn’t consider it as we should’ve. That’s… that’s something we have to work on.” 

“You will.” Seawatt said with no room for questions, and took a step closer to you, then another. “You will figure it out or I’ll be forced to take it into my own hands, and I don’t think either of you want that.”

You walked back as he approached. Every step brought you closer to the void beneath, and you only noticed when half your step felt the emptiness below. At that moment, Seawatt finished talking, and more importantly, finished walking. As you processed his words, he stepped back, giving you space to breathe again. You, of course, had your water bucket handy, so there was no real threat to your safety, but the message was very clear.

You considered acknowledging the threat.

“If you did, though. If that was the case, what… do you have in mind?”

Seawatt looked at you strangely, like he hadn’t anticipated that response, and honestly, you hadn’t either.

“I… I’ve thought about it. I don’t know exactly how yet, but… I’m working on it. I already have some ideas, I just need to see if they’d work.”

That response… made sense, in a way, but it still wasn’t exactly what you were expecting. He was working on it. 

You were about to ask something that might as well break all the progress you’d made at that moment, but you had to know.

“Is that what you’re hiding in there?”

As expected, he froze. His eyes went dark. “Why do you think I’m hiding something in there?”

“Because… you’ve already admitted you have plans in place, and your reaction really isn’t doing you any favors right now.”

Seawatt looked to the door and back to you. “Don’t make me regret this.”

You nodded.

He opened the door, and the two of you walked inside.

—

“Well, that’s enough catching up now,” Evbo said from his perch on the table. “I’ve had fun, but I think I should get going now.”

His previous neighbor of the Pro layer nodded slowly. “Uh, but you were- you were very insistent on staying until… right now.”

“Yeah, but I think that’s enough now.”

“What… do you mean by that?”

Evbo jumped down the table and hopped over to the entrance. “I had to stay until I didn’t anymore.” He looked behind him. “Oh, if you want to level up to become a Master, do it while it’s still easy!”

His pro neighbor smiled in bemusement. “I… don’t understand you, Evbo. But I’m fine here. Uh, good luck?”

Evbo hummed. “I will!” then he disappeared after crossing the door.

The Pro player stood confused by the way Evbo left- as easily as he entered the first time around.

He hummed and went on with his day.

—

His partner and Seawatt were on the floor of Seawatt’s house looking over a bunch of papers when he found them. 

“There you are!”

Both jumped in sync, hitting themselves against the bed frame. He surprised his partner again, that was new. He grinned at seeing that. 

Seawatt was still rubbing his head, muttering something about ‘why that kept on happening’ when his partner stood up and in very few long steps reached Evbo.

“You… are an absolute…”

“But, did you talk?”

He stared at him, his gears clearly turning.

“You worried me so we’d talk?”

“Woah, woah, woah!” Evbo took a step back. “It was never my intention to worry you. I just thought, hey, if I’m here, they’re only going to keep making things worse, so…”

His partner turned around slightly, met Seawatt’s eyes and said, “excuse me for a moment.” He walked to the other side of the house as Evbo looked at him with a grin, and a resounding shout was heard throughout the building. Maybe outside as well. Definitely outside as well. Seawatt looked directly into Evbo’s eyes with worry. That was something

“Are they…”

His partner walked back into the visible portion of the room. They made eye contact for a moment, and they let out a weary laugh.

“Of course that’s what you were doing. Should’ve seen it coming.” He sat down on the floor again, like he’d been before Evbo appeared in the room, and brought a sheet of paper closer to him. Seawatt’s eyes stayed on Evbo for a moment longer as he slowly turned his head to the sheet of paper in his partner’s hand, then his eyes turned fully, focused on something his partner was pointing at. 

Evbo’s smile grew soft. 

“Are you just gonna stand there?” His partner looked up expectantly. 

“No,” he said, his voice brimming with affection. “No, I’m going.” 

He walked over to the pair and settled snugly at Seawatt’s side, hugged by the wall. Seawatt stared at him for a moment, and Evbo leaned forward to inspect what was written down. Silence lasted for only a moment, until Evbo said something about the plans. Seawatt started explaining after a beat, and they went back to their previous rhythm.

Evbo’s heart felt content, and looking at the other two, he knew they were too.

[i-heart-hxh]

Do you think Kurapika will die by the end of the series? I’ve seen lots of people saying he will, and that togashi said he will, but i don’t think i’m sold.

largely i just think it would be a poor ending to his character. i don’t think him dying and the Kurta being lost forever would be a very satisfying ending. (although, i trust togashi to make any direction he ends up going in very good.)

i especially don’t think it will happen any time soon at the current point in the story. there’s just far too many loose ends that haven’t been tied up. i sincerely doubt he would die while the troupe is still active or the eyes are still out there.

I think what’s most likely to happen is that we get a technical death, similar to what happened to gon, where he “dies” but is brought back to life due to some dark continent fuckery and possibly some of leorio’s medical knowledge. bonus points if we get a classic scene of dead love ones encouraging him to keep living, lol

as a follow up to my last anon (about kurapika): i think it would be unnecessarily sad to make kurapika die permanently. maybe it would make sense, character wise, as he is totally driving himself into the ground at the moment. but i have a hard time envisioning a way that end could be a satisfying one. it would mark the absolute decimation of the kurta. permanently lost to time, with absolutely no hope of any kind of revival. kurapika is currently the only person with a deep knowledge of the kurta culture and traditions, and the only person who could pass that knowledge on. or even pass on the scarlet eyes. it kind of reminds me of the air nomads from avatar. but it would be like, if aang died in the process of fighting ozai and no other air benders were born after that

Hi anon! It's funny you sent this, I actually was just thinking about making another post about my guesses on Kurapika's fate about an hour before I received this. Good timing! I actually did a poll on this topic a while back and then added some of my thoughts after it finished. However, my thoughts and guesses have solidified quite a bit since then.

I agree with you--I actually think Kurapika is likely to pull through, albeit potentially after a death and then revival or some other drastic near-death situation similar to what happened to Gon. I agree that it's hard to imagine a fulfilling ending where Kurapika doesn't survive (though I have faith in whatever Togashi may have planned, even if it goes completely against my guesses). I have some thoughts to add on why this is my guess as well.

First off, the way Leorio's character is set up. Putting him in the same place as Kurapika while he's training as a doctor, knowing that his largest character motivation is not to lose any more friends... It would be awfully cruel for Togashi to have Leorio go through Kurapika's death in light of that. His role as a doctor needs to be tested and come to fruition, and his character arc needs to come full circle as someone who deeply wants to prevent his friends from dying.

Secondly, the themes of the series. I've talked about this a lot in discussions of Gon and Killua's relationship, but some primary themes of the series are second chances and the transformative power of love and human connection. When thinking about the series through that lens, having Kurapika not pull through after all (and having Leorio lose him), does not feel like it's in line with those themes. Kurapika needs a second chance to connect with the world of the living and find meaning in those around him.

I also suspect that Kurapika's storyline is going to come down to a choice between two things: Life and death, but not just his own. Here's why:

Kurapika, obsessed with getting revenge for the Kurta clan and gathering the body parts of his murdered family and friends, is currently guarding a baby. I think he will be put in a situation where he has to make a choice between Woble's life, and getting his revenge and gathering the body parts of his loved ones. He already had to make a similar choice once, in Yorknew. He had Chrollo in his grasp, he could have killed him, but ultimately he had to choose between doing this and Gon and Killua's lives--and he chose Gon and Killua's lives. He isolated himself from his friends as a result of this, trying to force himself to stay on his path of revenge without letting anyone get in his way (including, perhaps most importantly, himself), but now he's in a position again where it seems likely his plans will go off track when he has to choose between a living child and his people, who are already long dead.

(I also suspect he might find out the Phantom Troupe wasn't responsible--or at least wasn't entirely responsible--for the Kurta massacre and his ultimate antagonist will be Tserriednich, but that's a bit of a digression that I can talk about in more depth another time.)

I think ultimately this is how his character is set up: Will he choose to focus only on what he's lost and those who are already dead and on causing more death (including ultimately his own), or will he decide to protect and focus on those around him who are still living and on finding reasons to live himself (likely in Leorio, Gon, and Killua, among others)? It's true that, if he continues to live, he can bring the memories of the Kurta into the future with him, to honor those he lost, rather than living only for revenge that I'm sure his loved ones wouldn't even want him to burn down his life for. It's a bleak ending for him if he doesn't survive, and the Kurta would simply fade into history forever with him, like you were saying.

So, it's possible he will "die" or very nearly die in a fight against Tserriednich, in order to protect Woble, and then Leorio will have to find some way to get him to pull through--possibly using his training, possibly using something in the Dark Continent, maybe both. It would satisfy both of their character arcs to a certain degree and make sense with the trajectories they're on.

As usual, however, Togashi is unpredictable and he could have something entirely different up his sleeve, or even be misdirecting the audience on what he's trying to do. Only time will tell! But in the meantime, I agree with you that Kurapika's probably going to make it, even with the dire circumstances he's currently in.

[count-alucard-tepes]

To have his heart💕…part 1

Part 2

Part 3

“…you gonna be late, Cora-san…and that would leave a bad impression especially on a first date”, Law said as he was at the dining room table, eating dinner and reading one of his medical books.

Rosinantè slipped on his blazer and walked out to see his kid before ruffling his hair, “…I know, I know…just call me if you need anything…I shouldn’t be out too late…and if you can’t get a hold of me, call grandpa Sengoku”.

“…I’ll be fine, just go already and don’t forget the flowers”, Law said as he pointed to the roses without looking up.

Rosinantè took the flowers and headed out for his date. He had to admit, he was a little nervous since he hadn’t been on a date since Law started med school…they both were so busy but things finally stabilized.

He met Y/N at the marines HQ hospital unit while trying to get Law an internship. Y/N helped him out with all the paperwork as that was definitely not Rosinantè’s forte. He built up the courage to ask them out once he found out that they were single.

He thought the first date should be pretty simple like dinner and a walk afterwards since he didn’t want to put too much pressure on his potential S/O.

He got to the restaurant first (thankfully) and waited for Y/N. They wouldn't take too long to arrive and Rosinantè presented them with the flowers, "...I thought you might like these", he said gently.

Y/N accepted the flowers and inhaled their scent, "oh they're perfect, thank you so much", they said gently before giving him a hug.

He blushed in response before taking a seat opposite them, "...I'm glad you like them, so how has your day been?", he asked curiously as he watched his S/O settled down and take a sip of their water that the waiter had poured for them.

"It’s been pretty good, I just stayed in for most of the day…and baked some cookies “, Y/N said with a smile, “…and don’t worry, I brought some for you and Law”.

Before he could even inquire more about the cookies, a cute container was pulled out and handed over to him. This of course made him blush, not because they thought about him…but because they thought about his kid.

“…look at you, little miss/mr baker…thank you, I’ll make sure he gets them”, he said with a smile, “…I had a pretty relaxed day too, it’s my day off work and Law was just prepping as usual for the next week…I encourage him to go out with friends every now and then but he prefers not to”.

Y/N laughed a little in response, “…he’s got his head screwed on right…I don’t think you have anything to worry about”.

He smiled and rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah, still though…”.

Y/N smiled in response and looked at the menu, “…shall we order, Rosinantè?”.

“Yes, of course…go ahead”, he said gently as he looked at the menu, but he already knew what he wanted to eat.

“You know when you asked me on a date, I was pretty surprised you were even single”, Y/N said with a smile after they placed their order.

This made Rosinantè blush again, “…o-oh? Why is that?”.

“Well you’ve never at the social events the marines usually host…I assumed it was because of your spouse or something along those lines”, Y/N replied gently.

Ah he could understand how that could look but he was just always busy with making sure his kid was fine even if they were a college student, he just never really thought about himself for such a long time. It was not in his nature to be that way.

“No, not a spouse but my kid is important to me even if he is pretty much an adult…I’ll try to attend those now if you’ll keep me company”, he said with a little smile.

“Of course, I will! It’s stressful being in the marines as it is…but the social parties do help every now and then to let loose…I count those as my social days so I don’t feel too bad for not going out as much as I should”, Y/N admitted with a little blush spreading across their cute face.

Oh how cute they were, he thought to himself.

“I didn’t think about it like that but you are correct, I should do the same…it would be nice to get to know some of my new colleagues better”, he said thoughtfully.

“So Rosinantè, this might be a bit of a heavy question…but I’d like to know what are you looking for when dating?”, they asked curiously.

Y/N was bold but he loved that, he was almost 40 and didn’t want to mess around anymore. He wanted to settle down and grow old with someone…maybe have more kids.

“No, I like that you asked that…I am looking for someone I could potentially spend the rest of my life with…I feel it’s time for that”, he admitted, “…same question but you answer this time”.

Y/N smiled in response as they took a moment to gather their thoughts and words, “I’m a hopeless romantic, I��ll admit but I’m realistic too…I’ve been into my career for so long that I feel like it’s time I found my forever person…someone who would genuinely care for me and value me as much as I would them…”.

This made Rosinantè smile in response, “I’m glad we are both on the same page…”.

After dinner, the couple walked out hand in hand, “…it’s a chilly tonight”, Y/N said as they looked up at the sky.

“You can have my coat if you like…”, Rosinantè said gently as he began taking off his coat, stopping only when he felt Y/N wrap their arms around his waist and cuddle into him.

“Nope, I’m good like this…”, they said with a big smile as they looked up at him.

He blushed a little in response, “…o-okay…let’s continue our walk then”, he said gently as he placed a hand on the back and slowly caressed as they walked.

“Do you want to go home for some coffee? My apartment isn’t that far from here”, Y/N asked gently as they walked.

By now, Rosinantè was starting to feel a little cold too but his ears began to burn when he heard Y/N invite him to their home.

“Oh sure, I wouldn’t want you to catch a cold…Sengoku would kick my ass if you got sick because of me”, he said with a weak smile, “…lead the way”.

Y/N smiled brightly in response and lead him to their apartment.

He ended up spending the night with nothing scandalous happening and made his way back home in the morning.

He opened the door as gently as he could without trying to make a sound and headed inside, “…good morning, dad…”, Law said with a little smirk across his face as he cuddled on the couch in a blanket and watched some tv.

Rosinantè blushed and scratched his head, “…sorry I was out all night…wasn’t my intention…did you eat?”.

“You’re alright, old man…I already made breakfast…yours is in the microwave as usual”, Law said before turning his attention back to the television, “…by the way, your brother was trying to call you all night…then he started calling me but I didn’t answer…he started sending drunk voice messages so I blocked him”.

Rosinantè sighed softly in response. It was Friday night so of course Doffy wanted to spend time together and since he and Law didn’t get along…he was often left alone with his big brother who would often get drunk and talk about their childhood.

“…my phone died…I’m sure I have a million messages too”, he grumbled as he put his phone to charge and went to take a shower. He came back to the kitchen and began eating while listening to the 323 voice messages Doffy sent.

Law came in and began washing up the dishes, “…so how’d the date go?”, he asked gently.

Rosinantè smiled a little, “…it went well…they sent some cookies for you that they baked…I want to continue to see them”.

“Oh yeah? That’s nice…I’m happy for you, dad…maybe now you’ll keep yourself preoccupied and stop forcing me to hang out with you”, he said with a grin.

“You little shit, I’ll make you regret that…“, Rosinantè said with a smirk as he began video calling Doflamingo.

“…hey where the fuck were you last night? I thought you were coming over”, Doffy said as he yawned, clearly still in bed…the lazy fuck that he was.

“Yeah, yeah I was busy…by the way…Law wants to spend day with you for some uncle/nephew time…you should come over”, Rosinantè said with a grin as he looked at Law who tried to snatch the phone away from him but was way too short compared to his dad, “…Cora-san, noooooo!”, he whined, using the endearing pet name.

“Oh yeah? I’ll be over in a couple of hours…make sure you got some food”, Doflamingo said with a smirk, “…see you soon, nephew! Love you!”.

Rosinantè laughed in response, “…now now, get ready for your uncle…you know he’s gonna a menace when he gets here”, he said as he ruffled his kid’s hair before texting his S/O a good morning text.

((I could picture this in my head and it’s so cute I can’t deal😂 ))

[startrekprodigyfan]

Okay yeah… I binged the whole season in one day.

It was actually surprisingly easy to do so. And while that means my planned slower recaps and speculation are basically out the window, I also now just don’t have to worry about spoilers for weeks on end.

I’m still going to keep spoilers under a cut though. Even if you block key hashtags, stuff can get through, and just making the spoilers further down a text post you have to scroll past to continue browsing tumblr doesn’t help either. Hide that content behind a cut, please!

Non-spoiler thoughts:

It was so good. It was honestly more Trek than I could’ve possibly expected. And to all those early naysayers who were confused by the Protostar and where it was supposed to be in the timeline after the first episode of season 1, all of that gets answered and put into context by the end of season 2. Thank GOD! Every single plot point people brought up and thought was a “plot hole” gets filled and explained.

It’s not as emotional as the first season, but the situations and events definitely still have a lot of weight and the stakes are so high for so long too! There’s a surprising number of dark events that happen throughout the series. Way darker than even I’m used to watching the animated shows that I do. Kudos for not skimping on the peril and stakes of the mission for the sake of kids being traumatized lol

And while there is the potential for more, if we never get a season 3 this would still be an extremely satisfying ending all the same. I am very happy there aren’t any loose ends here.

Prodigy is without a doubt the most reliably consistent Star Trek show that’s ever existed. Not a single episode feels like filler. Not a single episode wastes time or characters. Even the goofy episodes have character development and callbacks later, and I genuinely don’t think there’s a single episode that I would skip or not watch again. That’s an amazing feat in and of itself, but as a Trek fan that’s just unheard of! Kudos all around!

Now for my longer spoiler thoughts under the cut:

Okay…

How the HELL did you guys make Wesley Crusher’s time traveling arc sooo good? As a TNG fan I was always annoyed with the “traveler” storylines and with Wesley’s character in general. Even as a kid I never really liked him. But this storyline makes him interesting and gives a lot of weight to his powers. He’s almost like The Doctor from Doctor Who, someone who has so much going on in his head that he’s sort of lost it.

That honestly was the biggest surprise to me. I was convinced that Hologram Janeway (and the construct) were somehow manipulating time and events because of the wormhole. Janeway would be trying to help them, while the construct was trying to stop them. That was my working theory for the start of the series. Imagine my surprise when it turns out it’s Wesley Crusher! wtf!?

I do like that he gets to reunite with his mom finally. And that he learns he has a brother.

Incidentally that’s something else I was not expecting. How MUCH of this series was going to be timeline connected to the events of Picard and Lower Decks respectively. Like, wow… they connected the Mars Shipyard explosion and the Romulan evacuation plot points that made sense for the story. Like holy crap, then FINALLY getting into Starfleet only for the shipyards to explode and Starfleet is severely crippled. I did not expect that to happen, and it’s sadly realistic too.

I still hate the Romulan evacuation storyline from Picard, but as a matter of keeping things consistent it makes sense for it here. And while I don’t like it being a canon event, it’s overall good for the consistency of “prime” trek.

I do like that Dal became a second in command. I’ve always felt like Dal was never really destined to be the captain and that he’s always been better at helping others be their best selves. So it makes sense for his character arc that he learns he doesn’t need to be in charge to make a difference and that there’s no shame in being second.

Overall I am still reeling from how much Trek happened in this season. There’s never a dull moment. Unfortunately I am not optimistic about a 3rd season. Netflix picking up a mostly completed series to broadcast on their streaming service is far FAR cheaper than paying for an entire season to be created outright. And sadly, as much as I want more Prodigy, I have a feeling it’s just not on people’s radars enough for it to do gangbuster numbers enough to convince Netflix to pick them up for a 3rd season. I hope I am proven wrong, but I will not get my desire for more season unrealistically hyped up.

I do want to rewatch the entire show now, because there were clues left in the first season that only get answered at the end of season 2. And I love closed loop time travel storylines like that! I can’t wait to go back and connect the dots knowing what I know now.

An excellent series. Probably one of Trek’s best in decades. A true love for the material and the characters and the legacy of Trek lore all rolled into an amazingly animated package.