#I need to work on more stuff for other ships

[hannahbarberra162]

Fully Human (Sci Fi AU, Marco x Reader, dark, dead dove, non con, humans as pets)

18+ MDNI | on Ao3

Summary: Humans had been the best incubators ever found; their little bodies seemingly designed only for sexual reproduction. They had no horns, hooves, claws, scales, fangs, armor, or venom - only smooth skin, soft hair, and tight holes. Too bad their species went extinct many cycles ago.

You are a few credits away from being able to afford the medicine you need for your sister. Everything is going to work out just fine and you'll be able to get back to Lafftale.

Until Marco of the Whitebeard Pirates finds out you're fully human.

A/N: You might be thinking "Hannah, *another* work where someone gets kidnapped by the Whitebeard Pirates and taken to the Dick?"

I would answer "yes."

Lore heavy in this chapter, the sexy stuff really kicks off in the next. Just roll with the sci fi tropes, I'm not world building from scratch here.

Thank you to @tryingandfailingtowrite for beta-ing this for me <3

Marco walked down the dim hall of the dingy merchant ship, his eyes on his data pad. He was nearly done taking stock of the meager but helpful supplies they’d requisitioned from the ship. Thatch would be pleased, Marco thought, since the ship evidently dealt in trading spices and foodstuffs. The merchant ship had the misfortune to be within magnetic range of the Moby Dick , the Whitebeard Pirates’ main ship. It was their standard operating procedure to board all foreign vessels and raid their stores for anything useful. Since the little ship wasn’t aligned with Whitebeard’s territory, they were fair game for the taking. The Pirates would leave enough supplies for the ship to get to its next location but other than that they’d take whatever was deemed useful.

The 4th division had raided the merchant’s wares after putting the few crew members in containment cubes. The crew hadn’t put up a fight so no battle had taken place; the few beings that worked on the ship were merely being restrained to prevent any annoyance that might occur. Whitebeard wasn’t in the business of causing undue damage to ships or beings, especially not those on the periphery of his territory. All Marco had left to do was to scan all the beings on the foreign crew for their human DNA percentage and he could go back to his own division. 

Along with taking supplies, it was standard procedure to scan all foreign crew members for their human percentage. Humans as a species had been extinct long before Marco was born, but a few creatures in the galaxy had high percentages of human DNA. The higher the human DNA (hDNA), the better chances were for the being to be compatible for reproduction across species. Creatures with hDNA were in great demand but the availability was incredibly low.

Humans had been the best incubators ever found; their little bodies seemingly designed only for sexual reproduction. They had no horns, hooves, claws, scales, fangs, armor, or venom - only smooth skin, soft hair, and tight holes. It was like the universe had made them for fucking, every curve and line of their weak bodies enticing to all species across the galaxy. Once the first human had been found, their planet had been quickly raided for humans in their fertility window and sold across the galaxy as incubators and sex pets. 

Unfortunately many humans did not survive the transition from their planet to another. One of the issues was that humans were delicate, only able to tolerate a very small range of temperatures and conditions. Most had died quickly, unable to bear the harsh conditions into which they were sold or placed. As more humans were taken, other species learned what humans needed for survival through trial and error. 

And humans made for incredible incubators. Almost all races were compatible with humans, the females able to carry young from an incredible range of alien races. The birthing process was messy and complicated but many found the process worthwhile. Many alien races were saved from the brink of extinction by mating with human females, their children slightly weaker but able to carry on their genetic lineage. Human males were mostly kept as pets; they were less commonly used for mating but it did happen from time to time. 

Those who did not need humans for incubation found they made excellent pets if kept within narrow life supporting conditions. Humans were amusing, social, crafty, but ultimately foolish creatures. It had been determined that they did best when they had a singular master controlling their lives and issuing commands. Many aliens came to love their human pets, elevating them nearly to the status of a partner. Alas, full blooded humans did not last long in the universe.

The problem was that so many humans were taken and sold off to different races that no one thought to let the humans reproduce with one another to create more humans. Not only that but pure blooded human children took an incredibly long time to develop into adults, needing tending long after most species would be considered matured. No one wanted to spend the time or effort breeding humans with one another, everyone wanted humans for their own ends. 

Which meant that after only a few short galactic cycles, all the pure blooded humans were gone. It was said that the Galactic Government had a small cohort of humans that they kept for themselves but Marco had never heard of anyone actually seeing the humans. Those born of humans were later mated themselves, leaving each subsequent generation with a lower and lower hDNA percentage. Many beings had some hDNA in them, but not enough to make a significant difference. 

Even after humans themselves went extinct, their descendants still carried on some of their genetic capabilities, particularly around reproduction. So the higher the hDNA, the more desirable a partner would be for mating and reproduction. Anything above 20% was highly sought after, though exceedingly rare. It had been many galactic cycles since humans had gone extinct and the percentages dropped with each subsequent generation. Females would boast about their hDNA numbers as long as they weren’t too high. Beings with high hDNA percentages over 30% ended up getting trafficked into slavery and sold to the highest bidder unless they could find a mate who could protect them from such a fate. 

Marco didn’t have great hopes for high hDNA percentages given the crew members he saw in the individual cubes. Containment cubes were a useful tool used widely in the galaxy - able to be sized to almost any size of cargo, nearly unbreakable walls, able to be moved with a hover pad, and the walls could be made transparent or opaque. Most ships used them for their intended purpose of storing and moving supplies. The cubes weren’t initially designed to store living beings but the off label use was extremely helpful. 

Still, when ships would be raided, it was common to access everyone’s hDNA percentage. Whitebeard was firmly against the slave trade but he wasn’t above keeping beings for his own purposes if the need arose. Whitebeard was unique among the Emperors in that he specialized in collecting strays - most of the Commanders were the last of their kind of species, Marco included. Pops had always encouraged his crew to try and multiply their numbers, and humans were their best best. Unfortunately no crew Marco had ever scanned had anyone with a hDNA score over 20. 

In his youth, Marco viewed every scrap of information he had found on humans. He was completely fascinated by their kind and had thought through how he’d take care of one before many of his sleep cycles. It had been his dream to find a full blooded human and become their master, to have someone to take care of who would depend on him for everything. He also fantasized about mating a human female in order to continue his dying species. Marco spent hours pouring over documents, images, and videos of humans that had been taken before their untimely demise.

Oh, the videos. Marco had watched every human mating video he could find, fisting his cock and imagining he was the one plunging into the female humans. The females were diminutive and soft, their skin easily marred during a rough taking. Both sexes made incredible noises when aroused, the sounds never failing to make Marco hard. But what he really enjoyed watching were videos where the females were brought to orgasm themselves, their tight holes clenching around the partner they’d been given. It was not always a given that the female came in the vids. Most species did not care one way or another for the pleasure of female humans since it was not a requirement for successful breeding. But Marco searched video archive after archive, looking for vids where the female was lost in herself, completely succumbing to the sensations her partner brought to her. How he wanted to see a human's little face scrunch in pleasure as she milked his cock. It was one of his most enduring fantasies, lasting longer than any other. 

Alas as he got older, Marco realized the naivety of his quest but his heart still harbored a secret wish to find a human and mate them. It was why he personally scanned all foreign crews despite being the Commander of his own division and a physician besides. Sighing again, he looked at the small row of containment cubes stacked on top of one another.

Various common species were present but Marco still dutifully scanned them all. Marco pointed the device at the first cube, which seemed to contain a calm looking Kumate. It was also important to scan and determine what races every being was in case of an aggressive species, you couldn’t just tell by looks alone. 

“Two percent human. Kumate.” 

Marco had a knack for correctly guessing what most beings were after scanning and meeting so many for years. Moving on, Marco scanned the next cube with a bored looking Torino inside. Marco suspected they’d been raided before, it was all part and parcel of running merchandise outside of the Galactic Government’s system. 

“Five percent human. Torino.”

Marco was feeling bored himself as he scanned the next cube. It looked like there was a sweating Three Eye inside, laying on her stomach in the small rectangular prism. Marco considered the female, who was steadfastly avoiding eye contact with him. She was much more agitated than her counterparts, moving about as much as she could within the small container. It was too bad she was a Three Eye – they outwardly looked the most similar to humans but couldn’t be crossbred since the males had three pronged genitalia and the females had a matching vagina. They could only reproduce with each other and weren’t often found without another Three Eye since the race preferred telepathic communication. Curious.

“100 percent human. Human.”  The robotic voice chirped. Marco stopped in place and looked at the scanner. 100 percent? Not possible. After shaking the device, Marco scanned the cube again. The Three Eye inside had gone pale and wasn’t moving around anymore.

“ 100 percent human. Human. ” Now Marco was sure the scanner was broken. He pointed it at himself and activated it, waiting to see if it said he was 100% human too.

“ Eight point five percent human. Phoenix. ” the scanner read out loud. Now Marco’s brow furrowed even more. That was his correct percentage and species, so why was it malfunctioning on the Three Eye? Marco hummed and tapped the top of the containment cube with his finger. It was connected to the controller cuff around his wrist – they’d procured some shipments of the newest cuffs available and Marco hadn’t had time to look through all the features yet. Even so, he could use it for something as simple as containment cubes. The cube hovered and awaited his movements, programmed to follow behind him. Even though Marco had no doubt the issue was a simple scanner malfunction, his blood was pumping with the fantasy that he’d found a human.  

Your POV

You were so fucking screwed.

You’d joined Nacl’s crew precisely because he didn’t look too closely and didn’t ask you any questions beyond if you could lift 50 weight units. You thought you would work with him for a few galactic cycles, make a few credits, and move along to bigger and better things. Namely, getting more resources needed at the Outpost before heading back home. No one had told you to go on this mission, in fact they'd forbidden you from going. So you had commandeered one of the two working space vessels and taken off into the void before anyone could stop you. 

And things had been going great for a while - you learned some of the more recent technological advancements you hadn’t seen on the Outpost, you worked, and you’d even been able to taste something you’d been wanting since childhood - chocolate. You had a few credits to your name and you only had a few more to earn in order to afford the medicine you needed. Then you could head back to the outpost and put this whole stupid misadventure behind you. 

Until the fucking Whitebeard Pirates showed up out of nowhere. 

You weren’t completely unaware, you knew it was a possibility. But you thought it was a possibility in the way that a star exploding was a possibility, or like being sucked into a black hole was a possibility. The Whitebeard Pirates didn’t bother with small fry like Nacl’s ship, or so you thought. They fought the Galactic Government, other Pirates, and generally protected the planets under their control. You thought you would be safe, your identity hidden behind a shoddy Three Eye disguise.

You weren’t.

Not when you saw Marco the Phoenix personally scanning your crew members, the device reading out everyone’s species and hDNA score. He looked similar to his wanted posters but they didn’t do him justice. He was incredibly tall, his bird-like legs ending in sharp talons that clacked against the floor as he walked. He had a rather aquiline face, his mouth almost beak-like. His arms were normal but ended in taloned hands, unlike your own blunt fingers. But his most grabbing feature were his eyes - large teal eyes with a dark ring around them. Even though you didn’t want to attract his attention, you couldn’t stop yourself from staring at their beauty. Eventually you broke your stare and looked back down at your hands.

He was humanoid in this form, but he had others as you’d seen on various video feeds. Marco could also change his anatomy and turn into a full Phoenix, a deadly opponent on the battlefield. The Whitebeard Pirates were a favorite among your crew to watch on vids and you were glad that at least you knew who you were dealing with and how strong they were. 

You’d gone into the containment cube without protest, trying to copy the demeanor of your crew members. The Silk Road didn’t have the same kind of fancy equipment as the pirates did, they only had hover cubes that functioned as basic storage units. Fred the Torino said that they’d been raided before and if there was no fighting they’d be left in one piece. You thought that meant the Whitebeards would free you once they’d finished taking the spices and food the ship had been transporting. You hadn’t expected the First Division Commander Marco to personally be scanning the crew for hDNA percentages. You didn’t even know they had mobile hDNA scanners. 

Technology on Lafftale Outpost was old and outdated, transferred from person to person as the need arose. You weren’t up to date on the most recent technology and it had almost cost you your cover several times. The Silk Road, Nacl’s ship, was a technological wonderment to you and you had to fake understanding of many things before you got the hang of everything.

But now it was all for nothing. This stupid fucking pirate was going to scan you and take you and sell you and you’d have to be a sex pet or breeder for some disgusting jelly alien or a tentacle alien or they’d freeze you to death or serve you only raw food you couldn’t eat and your sister was right you should have listened you-

Ok, you needed to calm down before you hyperventilated. You took a deep breath and held it in your lungs, expelling it slowly. You weren’t completely out of options. You’d just have to wait and plan your escape before they sold you at the nearest slave auction. There were a few escape pods still on the Silk Road, you would need to get to one before they figured out exactly what you were.

Except it looked like he was taking you to their massive ship.

Fuck.

Marco POV

Marco had the containment cube trailing behind him to the next available transport beam, his mind mulling over the facts thus far. The Three Eyes was even more agitated than before, testing the containment unit for any faulty design that would open the hatch and release it. It wasn’t possible but he did give you credit for trying. You still hadn’t spoken to him, which was understandable. He had a fearsome reputation in the galaxy, his bounty in the billions. Many creatures were scared to be in his presence, even though he wasn’t particularly aggressive unless provoked. 

Your agitation steadily increased as he approached the transport beam in the next supply room, your three eyes wide and fearful as you watched cargo being beamed aboard. Thatch was overseeing the taking of the cargo and hailed Marco as he came up. Thatch himself had a high hDNA percentage, a fact he kept carefully hidden. Humans weren’t known for their fighting abilities and he didn’t want to appear weak, especially as a Whitebeard Commander. The rest of his DNA was comprised of a warrior species, complete with scales, forked tongue and muscled tail, but Marco understood why he was one of the few who knew Thatch’s secret. 

“Whatcha got there? A Three Eyes? Cute, but why are you taking her?” he asked, looking you over in the cube. You bristled and tried to hide your face from his perusal. You were cute, Marco thought to himself, but that didn’t have anything to do with it. 

“Abnormality on the scanner. I want to examine her more closely on the ship. Come by after you’ve completed your duties if you’d like,” he said, making sure his tone was casual. Marco did want to talk to Thatch but didn’t want to make his findings known in front of anyone else. Besides, the most likely outcome was that she turned out to be a Three Eyes and Marco sent her on her way with an apology and put in a ticket to have his scanner adjusted. 

The cube trailed behind Marco as he stepped into the beam. The being had all three of her eyes trained on the beam, crouching as far back in her cube as she could, which wasn’t very far. Her face drained of blood and she looked like she was going to scream, though she still hadn’t spoken to him. Strange , Marco thought, transport beams were invented by her race. She should have been well familiar with them. Just one more mystery to solve, he supposed. 

He had the two of you beamed to the port closest to the infirmary, walking briskly after the beaming was completed. You were panting heavily, as if relieved that you’d made it through without disintegrating. Marco’s gut was telling him there was something unusual about you, and he’d been on the Grand Line long enough to trust it. He was going to discover whatever secrets you were hiding.

Entering into his private lab in the infirmary, Marco turned to you as the doors locked behind him automatically with a tiny snick. You were scanning the room, likely looking for an escape route. Marco watched you for a few moments until you realized all his attention was on you. You stilled and licked your lips, watching him closely.

Marco leaned over and tapped the cube with his left hand. It turned vertical so your feet were now by the floor of the lab. A quick tap in succession and the cube’s hatch opened, dropping you to the floor with a small thud. The cube folded itself up until it was the size of his talon and placed itself within the inventory in his controller. You were watching the proceedings like they were magic instead of the commonplace technology available throughout the galaxy. The Three Eyes were technologically advanced, he was certain you would have seen this kind of thing before.

After the cube was gone, your eyes snapped to him, as if you finally realized you were trapped in a room alone with him. Marco nearly smiled, you telegraphed your thoughts and feelings so clearly he didn’t need to be from a telepathic race to understand your next move. Marco leaned against an examination table as you fidgeted in front of him. As a powerful Commander, he was used to making others uncomfortable with his presence alone. He was going to use that to his advantage.

“Why does my scanner show that you’re one hundred percent human?” Marco asked curiously, his eyes roving over your smaller form. 

“It’s broken,” was your quick reply, the sound of your true voice detectable even as your words were translated. Marco’s head tilted slightly – your universal translator was external? He hadn’t seen one of those since he was a child many cycles ago. They’d all been replaced by internal translation units for a long time. External translators were faulty and finicky and internal ones were cheap – why were you using one?

“It functions correctly on your crew mates and myself. So why not on you?” he continued. He stood up, his talons clacking against the metal floor. He advanced towards you, watching your every movement with his sharp eyes. You swallowed and took a step back for each of his steps forward until your back hit the wall. You were fairly short, the top of your head only reaching to the middle of his chest. Not uncommon across the galaxy, but further settling in a suspicion Marco was more seriously considering.

Marco reached for your arm, feeling your wildly racing pulse as he took your slim wrist in his hand. He removed a thin metal bracelet from his controller and Marco snapped it on your wrist before you could react. You licked your lips and stared at it, as if unsure what it was. 

“A few more tests and I’m sure I’ll be sending you back to your crew,” he said quietly, watching you squirm against the wall. He should really have backed up to give you space but something in him liked having you underneath his body, your body heat radiating onto his front. Your scent alone had his cock hardening, you bore a scent that he couldn’t quite place. He wanted to sniff you all over and find the source, lick it off you with his tongue. The smell was yet another abnormality since Three Eyes tended to smell like mold, especially the females. Whatever it was, you were making him harder than he'd been for many cycles.

“Is this mandatory?” you asked, your eyes looking anywhere but his face. Your translator gave your voice a metallic tinge, Marco wondered what you’d sound like without it.

“Yes.”

Your POV

You didn’t know what nearly anything in the room was for nor what any of the tests Marco was running were for. The Silk Road wasn’t very technologically advanced, which was why you were able to covertly learn along the way and fake your way through various tasks until you were proficient. Now you were trapped with Marco, in an examination room, and no closer to getting away from him or the ship. 

You startled as the thin bracelet around your hand chirped twice, a green light flashing. You watched it, trying to make sense of what it was detecting. Marco gently pushed you towards an examination table, needing to pick you up to set you on the high platform. You would have protested but your attention was drawn by the bracelet’s lights changing colors to red.

“Hey, what’s this-  ow!” you yelped a moment later. It had jabbed you quickly with a small needle. Not enough to hurt, but enough that it wasn’t a pleasant surprise. Marco barely gave you a glance as he looked down at his data pad. His was fancier than any you’d seen before but that didn’t mean much. His eyes were practically glued to the information it was spitting out even though his stance was still the same. You tried discreetly pushing the bracelet off your wrist but it tightened as you tried to get it over your thumb joint.

“It stays on. Measures your vitals, blood flow, oxygen saturation, things like that,” Marco explained absently, scrolling through the information with a taloned finger. He finished reading and looked at you, as if seeing you anew. 

“Lean back against the chair,” Marco ordered, placing his data pad on a nearby counter. You eyed the door but decided against making a break for it. He hadn’t directly said anything about you being a human or reacted in any way towards the test results. Maybe he didn’t know? Maybe the tests weren’t identifying you since humans were de facto extinct? Either way, he was much stronger than you and if all he wanted was you to lean back, it wasn’t so bad. You’d comply for now until you saw an opening to get away. 

The bench shifted before your eyes. Instead of being a bench it was now a stylized chair, almost like a dentist’s chair you’d seen once in an old human book. You put your arms on the armrests and settled your legs down, trying to calm your racing heart with a deep breath.

Until ionic cuffs bound you to the chair.

The red forcefields seemed to come out of the air itself, binding your wrists and ankles to the chair. You struggled, bowing your middle outwards in an effort to get away. Marco frowned and tapped the control panel on his data pad. Ionic bonds wrapped around your midsection, neck, elbows and knees, pulling you flush against the chair. You were completely trapped. 

“Let me go!” you yelled as the bottom half of the chair split. Your legs were now separated from one another, every part of your body immobilized by the bonds. Marco came closer to you, his taloned hand reaching for your head. You shrank back, you definitely knew what was coming next. You regretted yelling, and bit your lip to stop from crying out when he hit you. Marco’s frown deepened. 

Marco POV

Marco’s eyes kept rereading the reports as the data came from the creature’s blood. The results were conclusive.

You were human.

A fully, completely, one hundred percent human female.

Marco kept his features and body language the same as his mind raced with the information but he couldn’t keep his thoughts from straying with every errant thought that came to mind. There was so much he needed to do, so much he needed to prepare for you. The fact that he had a human, a female human in breeding range, was monumental. He’d have to tell Pops of course, right away. It would shake the New World galaxy once the news spread that Whitebeard had a human female. He’d keep it quiet for as long as he could but there was no way a finding of this magnitude would remain secret for long.

But beyond telling his Captain, Marco's mind started to race with the amount of supplies you needed.  There were so many things that humans needed for survival, he’d have to get you new clothes, he’d have to get Thatch to make you special food, he’d have to have an enclosure made for you, get special lights,…Marco quickly tapped out a list of items he’d need and orders he would need to give after he talked to Pops.

You were still struggling against the bonds of the inspection chair, but Marco wasn’t worried. That chair had held Fire Fist when he first joined the Whitebeard Pirates and he had incredibly strong pyro-enhancements. You were weak, not able to break through the thin clinical cuff he put on you earlier, much less the inspection chair. You were trying desperately to get away like an animal in a trap. Marco felt so much pity for you and even reached over to pat your head, a gesture humans enjoyed.

He wanted to reassure you that you didn’t need to be worried anymore, you had him. And Marco knew exactly how to take care of you. He just had to acclimate you to your new circumstances and have you accept him as your Master. Humans needed one creature to listen to as an ultimate authority and they often clung to the first kind being they encountered. Humans needed someone to firmly guide them, to provide boundaries, rules, tender care, and sufficient sexual outlets. You would come to understand that he was going to help you, that you needed someone to watch over you. Humans weren’t the kind of creatures that could be left to their own devices. You were lost in the galaxy, a creature that needed tending and someone to care for them. 

It wasn’t purely selfish that Marco wanted to become your master. Humans were social creatures, they needed a master otherwise they became despondent and listless. In your case, that would be Marco, and he’d happily take on that role. You were lucky that Marco had been the one to find you. Marco was stern but fair, part of an incredibly strong crew, and most importantly, knew a lot about humans. 

Which raised another question - where had you come from? Why had you been pretending to be a Three Eyes on a small merchant vessel? Marco quickly tapped out a message to Thatch, asking him to grab all your belongings off the other ship. They might hold clues as to your origins or perhaps contain a comfort item or two. Humans were an emotional and sentimental species and often clung to various inanimate objects during times of duress. He didn't intend to upset you but based on your reaction, he surmised you might be unhappy with his treatment of you thus far.

“Let me go!” you squeaked at him, trying to escape your bonds. Oh right, the translator. The old one was likely causing you pain or headaches in addition to being outdated. That had to go, he’d replace it with a new model soon.

Your eyes were wild as Marco reached behind your head to turn off your translator. Poor little human, so frail and afraid. Your shoulders hiked and your eyes scrunched shut, as if awaiting a blow from him. Marco frowned, he didn’t like that you had a defensive response. Where had you learned that? Who had struck you before? Were you escaping from another master? The thought of someone hurting you, a defenseless and weak human, had him clenching his fist. Calming his mind, he reminded himself that you were now his, and you’d never have to deal with such things again. He’d keep you safe from anything in the universe.

Marco’s fingers bent your ear forward to see the external translator. The site it was implanted in was red and bothered, whoever had done it wasn’t a professional. He would have to ensure you weren’t getting some kind of infection from it; the very thought of you being in pain upset him. He hummed in thought as his fingers adjusted the external box. Now it was only receiving communications but wouldn’t be able to transmit them, so you’d be able to understand him even if he couldn’t understand you. 

He would replace it eventually but truthfully he also wanted to capture some of your human language. There hadn’t been many recordings made of humans speaking to one another in their own language, so recording the words you used might prove scientifically helpful at some point in the future. In his heart, he also wanted to hear what your little voice sounded like without being translated. His memory of the human mating vids was crystal clear. Would you make noises like that?

“Don’t worry, little human. I will take excellent care of you,” he said, trying to approximate a human smile with his mouth. His species was not in the habit of smiling but he tried his best to make you feel at ease. Apparently that was not the thing to do because he got an alert that your heart rate was spiking beyond normal range. 

“Calm down. I will not harm you,” Marco said decisively. Your heart rate did not change and in fact became faster. Marco belatedly remembered that humans were notoriously bad at controlling their body functions, not even being able to modulate their body temperature, heart rate, or blood flow. No wonder your species had died out. You were squeaking rapidly to him but he didn’t understand what you were saying. He was right to turn off your translator, your voice was melodic and sweet to his ear. He couldn’t wait to inspect you and see if humans really produced all the sounds he’d seen on videos.

“I will replace your translator soon. It is causing you pain and is outdated. In the meantime, I cannot understand you,” Marco said, gently grabbing your jaw. You tried quickly turning your head to knock off his hand, but your efforts were futile. He wanted to hold you, so he would. You would come to understand that his desires were commands, not suggestions. As he held your small face, he ran a thumb over your cheek. Your skin was so soft, he’d never felt anything so smooth in his life. He wanted to run his fingers over every part of you, see if the rumors about human epidermis were true. But for now he would touch you as much as possible to acclimate you to his touch. 

“I am going to examine you and determine your level of health and sexual compatibility. Afterwards, I will contact my Captain and inform him of your existence. He will let us know further steps. Be assured little pet, I will not let anyone take you from me,” he said, watching you with unblinking eyes. You shrank back as much as you could within the confines of the bonds.

“I am your new Master. My name is Marco and I am the physician and Commander of the First Division of the Whitebeard Pirates. You are mine.”

[she-takes-her-time]

Quite interesting.

However, I don’t think his wish for a woman to cater to his every need comes only from the typical Liverpool male values of his time (though he was certainly shaped by them). His mother, Mary, was actually the main breadwinner in their household. She was educated, ambitious, and never stopped working, even after having Paul and Mike. They remembered her getting up in the middle of the night to pedal off in her little midwife uniform.

Jim worked too, but earned far less. He was perfectly capable of washing his own shirts and bringing home supper when Mary was out on call. Mary’s job wasn’t a simple 9-to-5... she was effectively on call all the time, so when she wasn’t attending a birth, she was home cooking, mending uniforms, darning socks. It was a surprisingly liberal split of gender roles for that era, and everyone seemed content with it. That was Paul’s life until he was 14.

And then?

SHE FUCKING DIED.

That shattered his sense of security. Losing that nurturing, hard-working woman (and watching his father briefly crumble before shipping the boys off to relatives), left a deep mark. It meant not just losing “mom stuff,” but also financial stability. That did a serious number on him. In his mind, money equaled stability; and the woman in his life represented that calm, secure center.

Now, I’m in no way excusing his pathological need to control Jane and Linda (and hats off to Jane for not tolerating it for a second). I’m simply saying that his compulsion for the women in his life to play a certain role was likely rooted less in raw misogyny, and more in a profound need to feel safe, loved, and cared for, because in his mind, that’s what kept the chaos at bay. Underneath it all was also a gnawing fear: the terror of losing that security again, of watching everything unravel like it did when he was a boy. That kind of pain is very sudden, devastating, and in Paul's life, tied to both emotional and financial ruin; it etched itself so deeply into him that he’d do anything, even try to control others, just to keep it from ever happening again. Of course, growing up in a world steeped in rigid gender roles only reinforced these instincts, making them that much harder to untangle.

It can also be likened to his desperate attempts at keeping the Beatles together. They were ALL drifting apart, all of them were desperate to have more room to creatively stretch their legs, but being a Beatle represented security for Paul. When the band finally split he had no choice but to face the utter devastation of grief, which, due to the EXTREMELY POOR COPING CHOICES made by his dad when he lost his mom, he had NO IDEA how to do. He let himself go, took every substance imaginable, quit bathing, at at some point even considered lying face down on his pillow until he suffocated. Yeah, it was THAT intense.

This man's biggest insecurities are tied to not having the guarantee of being cherished and appreciated, and of course, loved. It wasn't just that his mom died... but the fact that when she did, his Aunt Jin told him and Mike to be tough, not cry, and be strong for Dad... all the while, Dad sent them away so they would not see him grieve. So Paul has literally no idea how a man is supposed to handle pain, loss and grief. So best to make sure that his wife (or anyone for that matter) is doing exactly what he wants when he wants and the way he wants it, not out of whim, but out of crippling anxiety and a desperate need to avoid the remote possibility of loss of anything: love, stability, money... life.

I mentioned Paul's strong resistance to being recognized as effeminate man or gay (here). Although he can hang out with gay guys, wear rainbow flag in public [yeah I definitely need to write that again in case someone didn't see it], being considered gay or "cute" is beyond endurance. I know someone love to interpret this as "don't want to his sexuality being mislabeled", which indeed looks sensible when it comes to the homosexuality, but this excuse can't be applied to the "cute" thing, right? You can't say being cute or feminine is the same thing as being gay, can you? Well, I can hear Paul's every single cell screaming O!M!G! Feminine! all the time. He doesn't want himself have anything to do with feminine, which, unfortunately can not be simply regarded as personal preference, it's indeed a despising of femininity, and femininity? Of course it's about female. Yes, "phallicism", the worship of masculine are still popular in today's society, but it doesn't mean it's right. I have to say Paul's thought is the product of this society, not to mention that he is an old man who grow up in a working-class family six decades ago, we can't demand him that much. His attitude towards women is the same thing.

PAUL: We were more amazed to see the [Japanese] women leaping up out of the seats for the promoter, because we'd never seen that in the West. The subservience of the women was amazing. They'd say, 'Oh God, I'm sorry - was I in your seat?' I remember us getting back to Britain and saying to our wives and girlfriends, 'I wouldn't want you to do that, but maybe it's a direction worth considering?' Promptly rejected.

— The Beatles Anthology

Although Paul seems to know that it's pretty cool for a woman to pursue her own career, like admitting Jane was famous before he was, allowing Linda to write a cookbook or have a photography exhibition, the androcentrism is too ingrained for him to forsake. He acknowledged Jane's achievements but still wanted her to give up work completely:

'I always wanted to beat Jane down,' says Paul. 'I wanted her to give up work completely.'

'I refused. I've been brought up to be always doing something. And I enjoy acting. I didn't want to give that up.'

— Hunter Davies, The Beatles

He allowed Linda to do her own thing, but they are not entirely hers - all those projects are belong to MPL, and do not forget Paul said this after Linda's death:

She never did anything on her own because we were together so much. 

— Paul McCartney, interview w/ Chrissie Henderson for USA Week-end: Tears and laughter. (October 30, 1998)

That's so sweet to see Paul would support his wife any time, but on the other hand it also shows that Linda never get the chance to do something entirely on her own without Paul's interference after she got married. No wonder so many people from inner circle [including Linda, yeah] described Paul as "typical Northerner":

Linda confided that Paul was a ‘typical Northerner’ who believed women should stay at home while men worked.

— Bonnie Estridge, The Mail on Sunday. (March 20th, 2005)

Paul was raised the old-fashioned way. Men were the breadwinners; women stayed at home, had babies and tea on the table. He's still an old-fashioned guy, very careful with money.

— Ruth McCartney

Like the other Beatles, he [Paul] was essentially an old fashioned Liverpool man, who wanted his woman tucked away at home cooking the dinner and minding the kids.

— Cynthia Lennon, John

Jane was a serious actress and wanted to continue her career, but Paul had other ideas. That’s why Linda was so perfect for Paul; she was just what he wanted, an old-fashioned Liverpool wife who was completely devoted to her husband.

— Marianne Faithfull, Memories, Dreams and Reflections

I'd say Paul was not that old-fashioned, at least he allowed his wife to do other things besides being a full-time nanny, but everything she does must cater his needs. As Jane once mentioned, he always wants his girl to adore him like fans:

The trouble is, he wants the fans’ adulation and mine too. He’s so selfish; it’s his biggest fault. He can’t see that my feelings for him are real and that the fans’ are fantasy.

— Jane Asher, Love Me Do! The Beatles’ Progress by Michael Braun

I know some of the fans can't wait to jump up now and shout "Paul and Jane didn't have a mature relationship!" "He's much mature after he meet Linda!" "Paul and Linda had a very very very healthy relationship!" Ok, if you really did some research, you may know that he's never mature enough to know how to fully respect women, at least before the end of divorce with Heather Mills. I have seen the theory appears too many times that Paul and Linda's marriage is the result of careful consideration: Linda came along with a ready-made child and she's ready to marry again - well, I regret to tell you both Paul and Linda wouldn't agree with you.

I was a great disappointment to my family When I got married [to a geologist] and moved to Arizona, it was crazy. I had been pressured by men all my life. I rather liked being on my own, making my own decisions. I had actually sworn to myself that I would never get married again.

— Linda McCartney, interview for Playgirl: An intimate conversation with pop’s preeminent pair. (February, 1985)

As she says, she's quite enjoy her freedom and had absolutely no interest in marriage. What did Paul do? He "twisted her arm" to make her agree.

I persuaded Linda to come to London for a visit. Then I rang Heather in New York and said, ‘Heather, will you marry me?’ She was five. ‘No, don’t be silly,’ she said. ‘I’m too young.’ ‘Well, I can wait,’ I said. So we went to New York and brought her back to London to live with us, and I twisted Linda’s arm and finally she agreed to marry me.

— Paul McCartney, interview for Playgirl: An intimate conversation with pop’s preeminent pair. (February, 1985)

Linda also said neither of them knew what they were doing when they got married:

LINDA: 'So instead of getting an agent I met Paul instead and got married. Or I was going through a transition then and didn't know quite what I was doing and he obviously didn't know quite what he was doing so we ended up marrying instead.'

— Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now

Again, I'm not saying Paul and Linda never loved each other or their marriage was completely made up for media, there must be many sweet moments here, but I don't think his marriage with Linda enabled him to prioritize other's feelings [his status as one of the four head monsters doesn't help]. Linda's overmuch unilateral compromises certainty don't make him look mature. Let alone his excessive dependence on her.

[fishyaudio]

I LOVE YOUR ART SO MUCH RAHHGG

Thank you!!!

I don't want to get anyhow vent-y or parasocial with my audience, the internet's no place for getting emotional to strangers, but for a longer while I've had the need to write something more out about how I really deeply appreciate all comments of this sort, whether in asks or in actual comments/reblogs (and it's something I feel other artists may also feel/want to hear, so. Yeah, one post for emotional vulnerability as a treat). The community here on Tumblr, especially the Rain World fandom, I think is the first that made me feel truthly fulfilled as an internet artist/content creator and it was SUCH a big surprise when at first I went into it with a mindset of "eh whatever maybe 3 people will enjoy mu dumbass headcanons and weird ships".

I think everyone who creates things has doubts once in a while, I am no exception and have the terrible tendency (that I try to overcome! Working on bettering youself is fun and healthy) to overthink and distrust kind words about what I make. It's most likely because the places I posted art to before were all smaller circles and groups, where politeness and interest in each other's stuff was rather an unspoken rule of reciprocating investment. This is a double edged sword - it's fun to have a support system of closely-tied artists who are willing to help each other out, that's something I value a lot as well, but it is not fun when "they're invested because they like what I do" blends with "they're invested because that's the standard and they expect I get invested back even when maybe I don't want to as much" to the point one feels that everyone's just dishonest and nice to everyone out of courtesy.

Throwing art out to the game's tag on a whole new wild west of the internet (which Tumblr as a site was for me, I was only a sporadic tag scroller before lmao) is a whole another thing, I'd just drown in the sea of other people's stunning art if what I did just wouldn't sit with people. And that makes me appreaciate all the genuinely kind words I get so, so much more.

I am very sorry to use your ask as a start to a monolouge dear Anon, but it was a great occassion to say this;

If you as a viewer ever thought about something kind when seeing someone's art, please always say it out loud. There's no being too fangirly, too weird, you're not bothering a person by giving a comment, they will most definitely treasure all those thoughts and words like precious gold. And for artists - please remember that what you do is probably loved more than you hear or see. There's probably someone who shared your drawing with a friend, there's someone who looked at it for way longer than they would at other drawings, there's someone who wanted to comment but maybe forgot and just left with a like. It's a great thing to think about, really. This is semi-related to what I said before but just pretend that this motivational paragraph makes sense okay thanks

Ok sob stories over once again, thank you so much, anonymous asker

[spnfanficpond]

June 2025 Angel Fish Awards

(Angel Fish design by @slytherkins!!)

Every month all of you fantastic writers work your asses off to post some truly incredible stories. Our Angel Fish Awards are the way for all of us, as a community of writers and readers, to lift each other up and give praise to those who have captured our attention and deserve a few kind words. (Click here to learn more about how to nominate a fic for an award!)

Nominated by @heavenssexiestangel

Deadly Games by @castielscaplan

I just love someone else writing this ship ok??? And also, it gave me evil, kinky ideas

hold me back, I'm a bit too deep by justsleepwalkin (AO3)

Literally growling screaming crying these two are a disaster and I love them and they love each other and I like how there is like. This softness between them even through the anger and fear of abandonment

Our Omega, Our World by Anonymous (AO3)

Crying in despair because I want more I love this stuff I slurp it like it's water on a hot day ok. I'm weird I do not care polyiam omegaverse with Omega Dean my beloved

pet by randomfills (AO3)

Hellhounds as pets is always too cute bahahah and Ducifer to go with it? Yesss

Finding Forever by Slhollan (AO3)

Purgatory Debriel let's gooo. I loved this so much to be honest. I've been reading so many fics of this author

~*~*~

Nominated by @justwhisperingfantasies

Piece Of My Heart by @copperboom82

All of Annie's fics are great but this is my favorite. The way she brings her OCs to life is amazing. Lainey is so relatable and real. The chemistry that her and Dean share is beautifully written. All of the details and little things paints the picture so perfectly in my head. The way she writes Dean is 100% on point. This piece is just fabulous.

Let Me Take Care Of You by @leatafandom

I can feel how much Deana and Samantha care about each other is this fic. Leata wrote this need to take care of one another so well. Plus the smut, so steamy but hits you in the feels just as hard. Their closeness and affection warms my heart. It was wonderful.

~*~*~

Nominated by @leatafandom

Sheffield Steel by @walkingaline

This story was so wonderful! I love a character study especially an angsty one and this delivered on all accounts. It also gave such a wonderful view about demonic memory which was fascinating! I really enjoyed the concept of the blurriness of memories and the clear distinction between Fergus and who he became. Such a fabulous read ❤️

Not Such A Bad Place by @hectatess

Oh there were so many wonderful things about this story. The delicious angst, the wondrous characterization, the characters used (I came for Gabriel but oh man did I love Adam), the storyline and au, the art that inspired it! It was just an all around treat to read.

You Got It, Boss by mukur0 (AO3)

This was such a twisting turning story and a wonderful treat. I really enjoyed the outside perspective of a non-hunter trying to work through a case like this along with all the stunning characters and plot!

A Hunter's Bucket List by whatifiwasrosie (AO3)

If you love the angst and Sam, this story is just *chef's kiss* This story was just heartbreakingly beautiful. The emotion they captured and expressed so moving and breathtaking. The concept of Sam working through Dean's unfinished bucket list as he works through his grief is just fantastic. It hurts so good and the process of Sam healing and coming to better terms with the loss of his brother. It is just powerful!

~*~*~

Nominated by @mariekoukie6661

Where's the trust? by @impala-dreamer

It's cute and fluffy!!! It is so cute!!! Dean being adorable and all!!!

~*~*~

Nominated by @mrswhozeewhatsis

Phoenix and Dragon series by @ladylilithprime

This was my first Sam/Michael fic, and it included my favorite part of angel fics: WINGS! So many wings, in so many colors! ♥

~*~*~

Nominated by @walkingaline

Bounds Of Not Blood by Diary (AO3)

Short stories are often overlooked, and this perfect drabble shows exactly why they deserve more love!

Daffy Winchester by cj-ghostemoji-destielpie (AO3)

What would happen if you gave Dean Winchester a duck? This fic is the perfect answer to a question you didn't know you needed to ask. (It says dUck, you filthy animals. Quack quack!)

Dead Power by @quietwingsinthesky

A great peek behind the curtains of Cas' stint as Leviathan-powered God, through the eyes of two of his most notable victims.

~*~*~

Nominated by @xpurdyglambertx

Showdown At The Midnight Silver Mine by @samanddean76

This fic is so fresh and different in the best ways - I haven't read another wincest fic quite like it! Sal is as always, amazing descriptors, and nailing characterization for the boys ON THE NOSE! Stuff that never happened in canon, you can read this fic and hear Sam and Dean saying or acting them out, because it's just so on point! And there was a moment in the fic that literally made me laugh out loud 😅 Such a great story and I enjoyed every bit of it!

(Divider by @glygriffe)

THANK YOU ALL, KEEP UP THE AMAZING WORK, AND AS ALWAYS, HAPPY WRITING!

- From your Admins and Manta Rays:

Michelle - @mrswhozeewhatsis

Marie - @mariekoukie6661

Arthur - @heavenssexiestangel

Laili - @spn-fanfic-reblog-writes

Andrea - @walkingaline

Liz - @xpurdyglambertx

Leata - @leatafandom

Mana - @manawhaat

[mensahbots]

one last gif for the pin-lee iconic moments collection

they didn't get to do very much on the show, sadly. there were some good moments. i thought the actor was very good and i loved some additions/changes, but it's a shame so much of their screentime was squandered with ratthi seemingly never-endingly pushing their boundaries and their tv wife being bizarrely uncaring and unattuned to them. is that fun for mainstream audiences to see?

i have a friend who is watching the show without having read the books and told me they dislike pin-lee, and i was bummed but at least could reassure them that the character feels very different in the books. this is fully on the tv script, too. i think the actor 100% could have portrayed something close to how i interpreted book pin-lee's personality and interpersonal stuff in such a fun way, and i'm sad we didn't get to see that. i wanted to see them more abrasive, perpetually taut, crude/cursing all the time and making vulgar jokes, so stressed they're throwing things in private, competent and knowledgable about so much, devastated by bharadwaj's mauling, comforting bharadwaj, flirting with her, having an "old comfortable" dynamic with her whatever adorable thing that means.. whatever... i usually don't get anything i want.

so all the stuff with mensah was a delight to see and so perfectly executed and also totally surprised me, since the mensah crush being a deep yearning is something i've headcanoned since my first exit strategy read, but i assumed the show would just cut the crush entirely or only passingly hint at it via pin-lee's admiration of mensah. i thought the dynamic with mensah was incredibly well written and acted, even though it was different from what i expected. it worked really well for me, and there were so many genuinely beautiful moments there. i also thought pin-lee's dynamic with gurathin was fun and well executed, again different from what i imagined, but definitely some of my favorite pin-lee acting moments/emotions in the show.

the emotional beats with the character were very good, especially the emotional extremes. but seeing their boundaries get crossed and that being played lightly/for laughs and never get even marginally resolved/addressed was disturbing and makes a lot of the show unwatchable for me. i am not at all rooting for tv ratthi's happiness, and every scene with him and pin-lee i need to skip because seeing that is legitimately triggering to me (#just csa/rape survivor things). i also get no joy from seeing them interact with arada, which is too bad because i think if their relationship had evolved just a little more i would have been more invested in the pairing and felt more positively towards tv arada (who i do think has some interesting depth, i just find her largely unsympathetic (shoutout to that little moment in episode 4 that i'm obsessed with, though)).

finally, i think it sucks that pin-lee basically didn't interact with bharadwaj at all. no, i'm not biased (i am a little, obviously). listen i do ship them, but when i write their book stuff, i'm obviously inventing so much. so the tv show could have painted their dynamic literally any way and i would have found it plausible, and it likely would have looked nothing like my fanfics. i write bharadwaj stone! you think apple tv even knows that non-butch stone tops exist? okay i'm getting derailed. anyway, what i'm trying to say is that their tv personalities would have been fun to see work off of each other, even if the show painted the dynamic as strictly professional and/or platonic and/or onesided pining.

we hardly see their interactions written out in the book, so the live action medium could have shown some really fun rapport between them and expanded it in all kinds of ways. it could have looked like pretty much anything, and i feel like we really missed out, since i think it would have been fun, possibly even cute, and the show needed more of that kind of energy/vibe imo. the glimpses that we did get of their dynamic honestly made my chest ache— they're so respectful and kind and caring with each other compared to most dynamics on the show. i could see them being a thing.. a situationshippy flirty mutually emotionally gratifying thing perhaps... but not enough to write tv universe bharadwaj/pin-lee.. maybe one day when i'm less emo about how the writers undermined the mensah-murderbot dynamic.

anyway.... tldr, i would say pin-lee is the easily best character in the show after mensah and deserved better from the narrative or at least more screentime. there were more than a couple pin-lee moments i was hoping to see which were cut but would have worked really well in this medium. if the show gets to es and ft, i hope pin-lee gets to shine like the book character did instead of being overshadowed by .. let's say sociopolitically and economically motivated changes about who takes up time and space in the narrative.

[very-super-silly]

watching house and tryna keep track of all the hilson moments, but sometimes it just surprises me how wilson and house are just . always together 😭😭 like mf arent you an oncologist this is not your department??

[white-hole-station]

OWV really had the exact right "crazy mf" to "voice of reason" ratio to get that project off the ground, huh.

You've got Slate, whose idea of a good date is an explosion - and who says that they (Slate) (The Explosions One) have no idea how Feldspar lived long enough to become an astronaut, based on their nonexistent sense of self preservation. And then you've got the aforementioned Feldspar, whose idea of a good time is flying straight into the eye of the Giant's Deep storm for breakfast, and Dark Bramble for lunch.

Those two are the roaring engine of the endeavor, but if Hornfels wasn't methodical enough to channel that energy with actual science, they'd be an uncontrolled blast instead of power with steering. Gossan is the safety rails to the objective, the one to handle "how can we do this and live to do it again" and "how can we do this repeatably enough that other people both can learn and want to". If Slate and Felds are the engine and Hornfels is the steering, Gossan is the fuel line, a measured and steady input to give the whole thing staying power and make sure it's built to last.

Without the wilder half to take the plunges, they never would have passed the point of prototyping with the scant resources and unanswered questions they had. Without the more grounded half, they would have leapt too far too fast and become a barely-spoken cautionary tale instead of an inspiration. The existence and success of this project is as precarious and beautiful as flight itself, and it is so interesting to me to think about how each of its components helped to lift it to where it is by the start of the game.

(I briefly forgot about Esker but I fixed it in the tags) (Esker Rights forever they deserve to be remembered for their role and also visited, somebody visit them please,)

[zomboyfren]

"Good kitty"

Also bonus doodle from the other day lolll

[dykedvonte]

A crazy thing about Mouthwashing is that Pony Express lost communication with one of its freighters for months and didn’t send anyone to check.

A genuinely reputable company, or at the very least a decent one, would have sent someone, something out to check after about two weeks of silence. Two months is when the crew start questioning if they are even being looked for which implies they were already expecting it to take a while cause P.E just doesn’t care.

They don’t care about who they hire. They don’t care about the conditions they place their crew in or how safe the safety measures actually are. They just don’t care, made rules and regulations so they can care less and succeed in getting away with it with how little those ideas are discussed.

[quibbs126]

So talking with my brother about Transformers Miitopia, he suggested a scenario in which we had Princess Megatron, Neighboring Prince Starscream, and Besmirched Noble’s Son Shockwave, though I also suggested Optimus after hearing the first two

And I’m not gonna lie, I think he was cooking here

[dafpork]

dafpork is like a modern day speakeasy to me because everyone comes in like it’s forbidden but since it’s the modern day it’s perfectly normal. Little secret club

LMAO YES!!! THIS IS A REALLY GOOD ANALOGY.. AND SEE IT'S SO FUNNY because i'm like I DON'T WANT IT TO BE FORBIDDEN... i'm such an accidental hypocrite in that regard because i'm like "i want more people to talk about them i want people to be loud and proud it makes me sad to hear that people might have been initially embarrassed to ship them there's so much to love :(((( anyway here's my SHITTY ART of these people i HATE i'm so EMBARRASSED thanks for putting up with me in my SHAME CORNER UGH i'm so EMBARRASSED they're so EMBARRASSING i SUCK they SUCK it all SUCKS" LOL and i do mean it in a joking manner... mostly... but i'm kind of now at the point where i'm like. Okay well you're going to have to put in some more legwork if you want people to talk about them. (but, again, just the fact that people talk about and support them enough is so great! it's so weird and wonderful to me that people are calling it on dafpork on platforms other than this one, people who may not know i exist... it's cool hearing a term you and your friend came up with in a private discord be used, it shows how much growth there HAS been since there really used to be nothing!)

a dafpork speakeasy sounds so cool though oh my god can you imagine Porky and Daffy themed cocktails...............

COME JOIN US AT THE DAFPORK SPEAKEASY. which, you are not supposed to advertise that a speakeasy is a speakeasy. but it's subversive. like Daffy. or something. this is your sign to play pig and duck with us. yes you

[akechis-special-case]

A Sudden Bold Kiss

Words: 300

When feeling a little funny I decided on the following all of a sudden – So one of Goro’s outfits as Crow is making him wear a red mask with a long, pointy beak. Though his mouth is still available.

So one day I just suddenly get in the mood within the Metaverse. Of course I do it where no one can watch, so I drag him into a nearby corner, away from everyone’s sight. And then for the next few minutes I hit the beak of his mask.

It pokes me around my head whenever I try to lean in. One poke after the other. I let out light groans of discomfort each time or a quiet ‘Ow’. Yet I don't learn so I keep trying.

I can feel Goro's judging gaze. He sees me trying and trying yet failing each time. It goes on for a little while before I feel his breath against my skin. 

Suddenly he grabs my shoulders and pulls me backwards, only to lift up his mask suddenly, at least for a short moment. And before I can ask any questions he launches forward, his lips against mine. 

It catches me off guard. My body freezes, stiff, unmoving. All from this surprise. I did not expect him to just suddenly go for it but here we are. He initiates the kiss. And his lips linger on mine for a while.

Though he pulls away soon enough, probably seeing how caught off guard and red I am right now. He doesn't comment on it though, only pulling his mask down and walking past me. “Let's get back to the others, shall we?” He says as he walks off, leaving me all by myself for a moment.

Goro can be pretty bold if he wants to be.

[nenoname]

.....ok it's legit wild to see people saying that emma may is unironically their fave character

[some-pers0n]

Every once in a while I think about the ship I've been obsessed over for close to two years now and feel like I'm ascending to another plane of reality. Like sometimes you just encounter a ship that hits every single mark and is perfect in every regard and you're left stunned how something like that can even exist

[parchmentknight]

realizing that i am an outlier in fandoms because i do not ship anyone with anyone

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

if dorian didn't show up, do you think louis would have shot minnie?

I do. I know some people think either he wouldn't have or he would've missed so that's why the writers had him shoot Dorian instead, but mmmmmm no, I don't personally think so. I like to think that if he had taken the shot, his shaky hands would've caused him to shoot her fatally.

Mostly because I'm already so normal about the fact that of the Ericson crew, Marlon and Louis are the only ones with a body count. Well, that we know of, but shown to us in the game, at least. Plus, we know it's Louis' first kill.

Like yeah, Clementine and AJ become part of the crew and they have bigger body counts, and if we're counting indirect kills caused by actions, then Tenn has a count... and I guess everyone has blood on their hands for blowing up the boat... but I'm talking about killed directly with a weapon like....... I lied, I'm not normal about that at all, Louis and Marlon are the ones who have killed someone in Louis' route. I'm also not normal about the fact that Louis kills Dorian and then even as he's clearly in shock, he tries to go with Clementine to get AJ, and then later on when they talk about it, he says it feels like bile but not quite and he's glad he has it in him to do it.... listen, listen, listen... I'm obsessed with that.

Anyway, so if Louis shot Minerva, I think he would've accidentally killed her and can you imagine? He's already enough of a mess after killing the woman who pinned him down and tried to cut his finger off [or succeeded] but he knew Minerva, they were friends before the twins were taken. Even Violet couldn't kill her even though that would've been the smarter thing to do, and we know thanks to meta knowledge that killing her would've saved lives, but Violet couldn't, and I don't think Louis would intentionally either.

Speaking of Violet, if Louis killed Minerva, I hate to think about what that would've done to Vi. I think she might've actually left at that point, like what was planned before it got changed to her being burned. I don't think she would've attacked Louis over it, though, like yeah she attacked Clementine in the cell but Louis? I don't know, but I don't think so just because it's Louis and he'd be a mess about it anyway.

Though if he did kill her, it would be a neat parallel to draw... y'know, because Louis forgave AJ for killing Marlon even though he was pissed and heartbroken, and Violet was annoyed with him the entire time... but could she ever forgive Louis for killing Minerva? Y'know? We already have a similar parallel with AJ shooting Tenn, but still.

If Clementine killed Minerva in that moment, though, then I could see Violet attacking her since in her eyes, Clem proved her right.

So yeah, I get why they added the Dorian kill to his route. It adds another compelling element to Louis as a character, but we also need Minerva alive for episode 4; Louis can't kill her, he can't miss, and he's not going to stay with her because we need Violet to stay on the boat and him to be on shore for all routes.