#I took a risk swapping POVs all the time but I think it worked out well

[anxiescape]

Celestial Bodies AU: A Battle Between Two Monkeys

*contains major spoilers for Celestial Bodies*

(Also, warning, this is a bit of a long read.)

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I wrote this out to answer a question for @mage-of-words, so I hope this answers it! (The tag isn’t working and I don’t know why 😭)

So, do you guys remember how in JTTW, Wukong and Macaque had that huge fight during the journey, which ended in Macaque’s death? Of course you do.

But did you know that that same battle happens in Celestial Bodies? And that it still results in Macaque’s death?

“But why?” I can hear you asking in despair. “They’re so sweet with each other. They love each other. Wukong legiterally takes on the Jade Emperor for him! Why would they fight? And why would Wukong kill Macaque?”

Well, let’s start at the... not the beginning, per se, but at a significant point in the story, shortly before Wukong was thrown into the Trigram Furnace.

During a talk between Wukong and the Jade Emperor, the Emperor claims that Macaque betrayed Wukong, and told the Celestial Realm all about Wukong’s plans and such during the battle. This isn’t true (the Jade Emperor be bluffin’ here), and Wukong doesn’t want to believe him, but... how else could he have lost?

(Because you’re an overconfident, cocky idiot, Wukong. That’s how you lost. But anyway.)

During his 49 days in the furnace, and his 500 years under the Five-Phases Mountain, Wukong has a long time to think about things. About Macaque, and their relationship, but one thing that keeps coming to his mind is what the Jade Emperor told him about Macaque’s supposed betrayal. This continues to be on his mind, even during the journey.

Now, let’s swap to Macaque’s POV. He has been in a magic-induced sleep since his capture by the Celestial Realm. Pretty fun, right?

Well, the Jade Emperor and Lao Tzu have been at work. Obviously, Macaque was pretty darn useful to them, what with his super-hearing and natural intelligence and all. He was a pretty good fighter, too. Obviously, they want him back. But they’re not going to risk waking him, because then that gives him the chance to escape.

So Lao Tzu has been at work. He has been experimenting—making clones of our celestial moon monkey boi. It took at least a couple hundred years before he succeeded in making one that was actually stable and could survive outside of his laboratory, but he isn’t able to make a spirit to put into them—to give them life.

Now this gets into, like, sci-fi territory, just a little bit. Do y’all know that one episode of Doctor Who, where Amy Pond was replaced by a flesh duplicate? (Uhh... Doctor Who spoilers, by the way. 👀) She was piloting the duplicate from a weird tube/containment pod thing that she was trapped in, and she never even knew that it wasn’t her real body, or that anything was amiss, until she was released from the connection with it.

A very similar thing happens here with Macaque. Using some pretty intense magic seals and spells, Macaque’s mind is connected to the first proper clone. From there, Lao Tzu tries to brainwash him, for lack of a better term. And the “good” thing about these clones is that they are significantly weaker than a celestial monkey. So anytime Macaque tries to break free and escape in one of the clones, he is restrained, and the connection is broken until they are ready to try again. If they fail to restrain the clone and he flees, it is destroyed.

This continues for many, many years—decades, if not centuries—until Macaque’s brain is so messed up that he stops trying to run. Then the real brainwashing can begin. They tell Macaque that Sun Wukong has been captured, and is being held captive by a group of demons and their human master. They tell Macaque that they will allow him to go after Wukong, and if he can free him, then the two monkeys can go live happily ever after—they don’t care about the war anymore.

Obviously, this sounds too good to be true. But Macaque is desperate at this point, and his brain is really confused with all sorts of “false memories” that are left over from the previous “de-comissioned” clones. This poor monkey has suffered through quite a bit of gaslighting, as well. So he eagerly agrees to this plan, and is sent off in search of the scripture pilgrims.

“Woah, woah, wait,” you’re probably thinking. “Why would the Celestial Realm send Macaque after the pilgrims? Don’t they want the scriptures retrieved and all that? Aren’t they on Tripitaka’s side? Kinda?”

Well, yes. But as mentioned before, the Macaque clones are weaker than actual celestial monkeys. They are much easier to kill. So, Lao Tzu and the Jade Emperor’s plan is for Macaque’s clone and Wukong to fight, and for Wukong to kill the clone. Then Wukong will think that Macaque is dead, and he won’t bother to look for him anymore anyway, because obviously he would hate Macaque for attacking his pilgrim brothers, right? And then they can leave Macaque’s sleeping form to rot in its prison cell, forgotten, never to wake and cause trouble for them ever again.

Well, not exactly. Wukong fights the clone, and kills it out of a mixture of rage, exhaustion, and many other overwhelming feelings, and he is distraught. He can’t believe what he has done to the one that he truly loved. And he breaks down.

But luckily, the Buddha is here, and he’s pretty frickin’ cool. He could tell immediately that the clone was not the actual Six-Eared Macaque, and he lets Wukong know this. Mr. All-Knowing here lets Wukong know that Macaque is still in the Celestial Realm, being kept captive under powerful spells and hidden away in Lao Tzu’s tower. This sounds too good to be true, but Wukong is willing to believe it—it’s better than believing that he killed Macaque.

So the journey continues, and eventually comes to an end. And now it’s time for a monkey rescue. Wukong and his awesome pilgrim brothers head back to the Celestial Realm to get Macaque back, and I’m not gonna spoil any of that fun 😈, but it does result in Wukong rescuing Macaque and waking him from his so-called “eternal slumber.”

This is the first time Macaque has “woken up” since his “death” by Wukong’s hands, and the first time he has actually woken up since he was placed under the sleep spell. Macaque tells Wukong about this awful dream that he had where they fought, and Wukong killed him. Wukong is silent.

Macaque’s voice shook as he looked Wukong in the eyes, and fearfully whispered: “It... it wasn’t a dream. Was it?”

Yeah, these monkeys have a lot that they need to work through. But that’s okay. Now they have each other, and all the time in the world to work things out. Together.

The end. 💕

~~~~

Sorry for that info-dump, but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway! Let me know what you think!

Also, you guys can thank Amalgamorph for this wonderful clone-Macaque idea, because I was originally just going to have Macaque straight up die. It was going to be really sad. 😭

[memento-morri-writes]

The Midwinter Ball

Two oblivious idiots apologize to each other.  Important things are said.  Kind of angsty? Also kind of cute, though.

ATQH Content Masterpost | Referenced Scenes One + Two

Wordcount: 786

Trigger Warnings: (vaguely) implied neglect/abuse, mentions of alcohol.

Taglist: @enchanted-lightning-aes​ @ink-fireplace-coffee​ @inkingfireplace​ @rose-bookblood​ @italiangothicwriteblr​

Fallon glanced at the door for the tenth time in as many minutes. Around her, a gaggle of nobility chattered aimlessly about something boring.  A baroness’s divorce, she thought it might be.  It didn’t matter.  Her eyes scanned the room, searching for someone who was not there.   Kristopher looked through the archway and into the room of swirling nobles.  He was reminded, rather uncomfortably, of the balls thrown at Westcliff, the disapproving glares and whispers.  I need a drink, he thought, then shook his head.  A drink was what had gotten him into this mess in the first place.  This was a challenge he would have to face sober.  Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the ballroom and was swallowed by the crowd. He’s not coming, Fallon thought, turning her gaze away from the door.  But a flicker of movement pulled her eyes back.  Kris.  He looked dashing, dressed in a jet-black coat with gold embroidery down the front.  His eyes met hers and he began to make his way across the ballroom.  Fallon’s heart sped up as he drew closer, picking his way around the clump of nobles. She looks stunning, Kris thought.  In her floor-length black gown, Fallon stood out among the brightly dressed nobles. The soft fabric of the dress seemed to glitter in the candlelight.  Nervously, he glanced down at his own outfit.  He had rarely bothered to dress up, and the coat he wore now was probably 5 years out of fashion.  He looked back up at Fallon.  With every step towards her, his worries grew.  What if he messed up again?  He couldn’t — not if he still wanted a chance. “Excuse me, Your Majesty.”  Kristopher’s voice was smooth and measured, no trace of the slurred words or desperate anger from the night before.  Fallon turned, heart in her throat.  He extended a calloused hand.  “May I have this dance?” Surely he imagined the waver in her voice as she replied, “Certainly.”  Or did he?  Heart racing, Kris led her to the dance floor.  As they arrived, a new song began, one he had heard many times in Oryn.  This was a dance he knew well, one that he could perform even when drunk.   And he was most definitely sober now.  So why did he feel so unsteady? Up close it was obvious that Kris had put effort into cleaning up.  His stubble was freshly shaved and his hair, freshly washed and combed, shone in the candlelight.  Fallon thought she could smell the hint of sandalwood from the soap he had used.  “You look… well,” She said, and instantly regretted it. The Prince, however, merely smiled and replied “And you, Your Majesty, look stunning.” At first they danced in silence, moving effortlessly through the steps, each familiar with every movement.  I can’t put this off any longer, Kris thought as he watched Fallon dance.  He took a deep breath, trying in vain to steady his nerves.  “Fallon, I-“ “Kris-“ They both froze, mouths snapping shut.  “You first,” Kris said quickly. “No, no, I insist,” Fallon said firmly.  She might have lost her chance, but she was curious to see what Kristopher had to say. “I-“ He paused. “I’m sorry.”  He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.  “I acted horribly last night, and you were right.”  Fallon opened her mouth to protest, but he continued.  “The person you saw last night was the person I was back in Oryn.  The version of me I became, because that was what they expected of me.  You reminded me that I don’t have to be that person anymore, not here.  Not with you.”  He swallowed, glancing away.  “So, thank you.” Fallon stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to say.  At last she settled on “I forgive you.”  It wasn’t enough, wasn’t what she wanted to say, needed to say, but it would have to do. Kris breathed a heavy sigh of relief before fixing his face into a smile.  “Now what is it you wanted to say?” Fallon exhaled slowly.  “I wanted to apologize for yelling at you like that.  No matter how poorly you behaved.”  That made him laugh.  “You didn’t deserve that.  Not when you were already hurting.  Will you forgive me?” Kris pulled her closer as the song came to a close.  “Of course I forgive you,” He said softly.  Taking her hand, he bent down and pressed his lips gently to her knuckles.  “By the way,” he said, slowly releasing her hand.  “My middle name is Odis.  Just in case you need it again.”  With that he turned and left, disappearing into the crowd.  Fallon stood staring after him, heart aching to follow.

[ateezfanficthingies]

ATEEZ AS MURDERERS PART 2: 2/8 HONGJOONG

Word count: 588

Kind of a part 2 to "ATEEZ as Murderers" maybe I'll make a part (or "part") 3. To make it easier and funnier for me; the victim's name is Victor (get it? Cuz they sound similar.) Mori (cuz death. And also; Memento Mori.)

This one's pretty short. I'm sorry. [Edit 06-01-23: It's been who knows how long since I posted this and I just realised this sounded like a short joke-]

Obviously this is going to be rather gruesome so please read at your own risk.

I DON'T OWN THIS IMAGE/THESE IMAGES. I EITHER GOT THEM FROM TUMBLR OR GOOGLE.

This is purely a work of fiction and is not meant to represent nor slander ATEEZ in any way. This is for entertainment purposes only.

——————————————————————

HONGJOONG

——————————————————————

Victor's POV:

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

I tried to get away from him but I just COULDN'T! This motherfucker was everywhere!

I've turned every corner, jumped every fence, gone in every circle and avoided every dead end… until now.

I know every corner and fence and circle that all I have left right now are the dead ends. He's destroyed and blocked any and all exits.

I darted into an abandoned warehouse thinking I had lost him. I ran in and stopped to catch my breath. I couldn't hear his footsteps so I was pretty sure I had lost him.

Then I heard that signature giggle.

"You're a fast one, aren't you?"

He strolled into the warehouse a tad out of breath and with a surprised look on his face. He looked as if he had been refreshed by a morning jog. This was nothing to him...

"You're like a bunny! You were hopping everywhere and destroying everything by setting off all the traps I had placed, like DAMN! I wasn't expecting you to survive even ONE of those!" He laughed like a madman.

Through all his cackling he pulled out a gun and shot at my leg but I moved just in time.

"Oh come on now!" his disappointment showed, like I had ruined his fun.

He kept shooting and kept missing as I tried and somehow successfully managed to dodge them. That was until he got my ankle.

I tripped and fell to the floor in crippling pain. "Daaammmnn… that was SO unnecessary!" He sounded out.

He aimed at my body trying to hit my shoulders and knees. After 3 stray shots he actually got all four of them. With a Mario jump of success he skipped towards my screaming writhing body.

He giggled and couldn't seem to stop. His gaze was locked on and I don't think he even blinked once as he came closer, his wide eyes and evil smile triggering every response I had.

He simply aimed the gun at my head and pulled that damn trigger.

Hongjoong's POV:

I took off my backpack and swapped out my gun for the cheap makeup I had bought. I wasn't about to waste good money on these guys. As I took it out I realised I was out of stock and took out my phone to make a voice note.

"B u y  m o r e  s m o k e  b o m b s ." I put my phone back along with the makeup excluding the red lipstick. I took that over to Victor and drew a nice big smile on his face. It was a bit crooked so I tried fixing the messy lines. I was going to scout the best wall to spray paint when I heard sirens just as I had finished his pretty smile.

I heard the rush of footsteps from the cops racing towards the warehouse. I threw the lipstick back in my bag and grabbed a paint grenade I made a few days ago. I zipped the bag back up and put it on. Covering both of our heads with my jacket, I threw it almost directly in front of me and the paint covered everything. I heard people exclaiming and coughing and I knew they were close by.

Letting out a giggle full of excitement I dropped Mori's corpse and quickly made my way to and through the manhole behind me, covering it back up before running away through the underground pathways once again.

[myblueeyedbuggers]

My Boys

Chapter 8

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7  Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14

Pairings: Reader x Steve Rogers (best friend) Reader x Bucky Barnes

Word Count: 2415

Warnings: Language, Fluff

Summary: After being abandoned by her parents in Brooklyn in 1929, y/n makes a living for herself by working for the Црни лабуд gang until she meets two boys in a back alley and her life slowing begins to change.

So there’ll be a slight change in the Uploading plans, originally I wanted to update daily, but with my college and work it might not be possible on some days, but there will be new ones the following day, As always enjoy ! :) 

Reader POV

Well this isn’t how I thought today was gonna go at all, I hadn’t planned on running and hiding from a pair of idiots with a younger girl all because someone might have said one of the boys laughs like a possessed school girl. Disapproving glances were sent our way by the nurses, not like I’d let somethin’ like that stop the fun, the sound of Becca’s laughing and the boys yelling after us only made me run faster.

“Y/N! GET BACK HERE AND APOLOGISE! MY LAUGH IS AS MANLY AS A LOIN WEARING A LEATHER JACKET AND YA KNOW IT!” Okay what kind of example is that?! “Never Barnes! There’s nothin’ wrong with sounding like a chipmunk on laughing gas! Some girls find it adorable when boys wheeze like an old man!” I felt Becca’s hand slip outta mine, glancing behind me to see her rolling on the floor laughing, Steve was in the exact same state a couple of feet behind her as Bucky looked at both in disbelief.

I couldn’t help myself, a few giggles escaped my mouth at the sight of Bucky’s face, which in turn signed my death sentence when he turned around a glared at me, his eyes narrowing as he started taking a couple of steps towards me. Okay now is not the time to laugh at the poor lad, MOVE YA ASS Y/N! THE BOY IS PISSED I REPEAT THE BOY IS PISSED! I think my natural instincts kicked in, one minute I was frozen on the spot and the next I was half way up the hallway runnin’ for my bloody life. Our footsteps thundered up the corridor, a small scream left my throat when I turned around and realised how close the bugger was, my heart was pumping from both the exercise and excitement as a small laugh left my body.

Out of habit my eyes started searching for the nearest exit, a mischievous smirk spreading across my face as an idea popped into my head, at the last second o turned and dove behind some chairs, leaving the idiot to full on crash into the wall in front of me. Bucky’s eyes widened as soon as he realised what I’d done, thankfully he managed to cover his face before hitting the wall and crashing to the ground. Groans filled the air as I fell to my ass, not being able to support myself from all the laughing going on.

“Okay…as far as I’m concerned no-one saw that, oh Jesus Christ my head is poundin, y/n give me a hand please?” now I felt a tiny bit guilty as I looked down on the poor lad, a slight bruise was formin’ on his forehead. “Yeah sure Buck, no-one except from the staff and people saw you completely each shit, come here ya big lug” his hand grasped mine in a firm grip as I hauled his ass of the floor, once he was completely up right I brushed the hair outta the way of the bruise.  Completely missing the shiver from him when my fingers made contact with his skin, gently I pressed my fingers on his forehead and tried to find the area that might have been hurting him the most. I must have found it, cause Buck let out a small hiss of pain, I quietly apologised giving the bruise one more check before pulling away, his intense gaze fell on my face and I quickly looked away attempting to hide my blush. Dude seriously? Why am I acting like an actual girl?! OH GOD I MUST BE DYING!

“Aren’t ya gonna kiss it better for me Doll?”. This cocky motherf**ker. I turned towards Satan himself with narrowed eyes, and of course he was stood there with a shit-eating grin plastered on him stupid face. “You’d need a miracle for that to happen Barnes” and que the swapping of expressions in 3,2, 1… I raised my eyebrows at him, a smirk on my face as I slowly walked away from him, my eyes trained on his as he began to follow me. Again. “Well if you ask me, it’s only fair considering ya lead me straight into that wall, plus my pride is still wounded from your earlier comment doll.” I rolled my eyes as I turned away from him, though I’m pretty sure he saw the small smile on my face, his arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me into his side, “Even if I wanted to Barnes, I’d need a bloody stepladder to reach your giant head” I swear down if I carry on smirking this much my mouths gonna get stuck like this and I’ll end up looking like a deranged pigeon.

Biting his lip to stop himself from laughin’, Buck started to shake his head as an amused smile spread across his face as he turned to me, somethin’ in his eyes screamed mischief as I cautiously started backing off from him. Well it was more like attempting to back away from him, but my stupid ass forgot he had his arm around me and Buck kindly reminded me by pulling me back to him, “I might be able to help in the height department doll face”. Quickly he wrapped his other arm around the other side of my waist and the next thing I knew I was flying…I’m kidding the bugger decided to pick me up! “Barnes, I swear to god if you don’t put me back on the ground in the next 5 seconds I will kill you! and quit man handling me goddamn it!” naturally the pillock laughs and moves me up higher whilst walking towards the exit.

“Not till ya give me a kiss doll, it takes a lot for a mans pride to recover and you sure did a number on mine, I think half of it’s still spattered on the wall back there” this boy is almost as impossible as me!  “What’s the chances of you not putting me down till I do ?” I think my eyebrows have reached my hairline at this point, “Hmm…Slim to nothin’ , you ain’t getting outta this doll”. For once I didn’t disagree with him, rolling my eyes at him I gently pushed the hair away from his forehead and placed a small but quick kiss on the bruise before pulling back, my gaze was met with a very unimpressed Bucky. “What? I did it didn’t I? why ya sulking Barney boy?” I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop a laugh coming out, Buck’s face contorted into one of horror at the nickname and a slight shiver passed through his body, in short, he looked like he was gonna throw up. “First off never call me that again! And secondly that wasn’t a proper kiss doll, that was a peck on the head at best.” I shot him an exasperated look, only to be greeted with a triumphant smile, shaking my head I leant in again and pressed my lips to the centre of his forehead, gently cradling his head with one hand as the other rested on his cheek.

3Rd person POV

The young couple were oblivious to the audience they’d gained, the rest of Bucky’s family looked on at the scene from the hospital doors, Mr and Mrs Barnes huddled together, a warm and gentle smile on their faces as they watched. Steve hurriedly grabbed Becca into his arms and covered her eyes from the sight, the little girl protested against this but gave up after a minute to stand in her silent confusion, the older boys face held a grin so wide people would have thought he’d just won the lottery.

The illusion was slowly coming to a close, slowly the older girl pulled away from the brown-haired boy, choosing to rest her forehead against his, both had small smiles on their faces as they gazed each other in the eyes, neither of them broke eye contact as the boy slowly lowered her to the ground again.

Readers POV

Almost reluctantly, Bucky removed his arms from around my waist, I’d already started to miss the feelin’ of his touch. Approaching footsteps broke our eye contact, Mr and Mrs Barnes were heading over to the two of us with Steve and Becca behind them, Steve must of done somethin’ to annoy her cause Becca was glaring at him from the side.

“Come on then Sweetheart, think it’s about time we got back home. Boys! What have I told you about messin’ around at the side of the road?!” well that was short conversation. The feeling of a small hand grabbin’ mine distracted me from the absolute bollocking Steve and Bucky were getting, Becca’s bright eyes met mine as she smiled at me, it’s honestly impossible not to smile at this girl. “Mama said that when we get home we can make cupcakes! Are you gonna help us as well y/n? I promise it’ll be fun!” I know I’ve mentioned that she’s adorable, but dear god she is so cute! I could feel my eyes crinkle as I smiled back at her “Of course I will Sweetie! Oh, how about we ask your mama if we can make them pink?!” Her already bright eyes lit up even more, I have no idea how that was possible, “Yeah! I’ll go ask her now!” with a sweet smile Becca ran over to Mrs Barnes as she jumped up and down excitedly, telling her our plan.

-Time Skip

Everything I owned was in one small box, despite me telling both the boys and Mr Barnes that I could go and get my stuff myself, the insisted that I stay at the house while they went and fetched it with the excuse of “It’s in a really bad area y/n , it’s way too dangerous for you at this time of night”. Don’t get me wrong I was very grateful, but they seemed to forget that I’d been livin’ there for a good couple of years and knew the best way to get around the neighbourhood, they were gone for a fair few hours and came back just as we started serving up dinner.

Afterwards Mrs Barnes sent us away for half an hour, so I took that time to go and unpack whatever I had left from my old life, I mean I knew for a fact it wasn’t much but most of the things I had left were things for self-defence and I didn’t wanna risk Becca seeing them. The only way to tell where’d I’d gone was the occasional creek of the floorboards underneath my feet as I closed to door to mine and Becca’s shared room, as soon as my body hit the bed the lid off the box was torn off.

Oh right, I forgot I had half of this crap… my hand reached for the small handgun carefully packed away in some tissue, the weight felt worryingly welcome in my palm as I turned it over, examining the fine details. Hang on a sec is someone coming upstairs…nope just my imagination, not the time to get distracted y/n! focus for god sake you’ve got half of the army’s Amory on your lap! My attention turned to the remaining items, each and everyone had been “gifted” to me by the gang for good work. A medium hunting knife engraved with my initials was next outta the box, followed by a swiss army knife and my brass knuckles, at some point I’d had to use all of them back at my old place, a shiver made it’s way down my spine as the memories came rushing back to me.

“Y/n? You in here?” oh flipping hell! “Yeah just give us a minute Steve! I’ll be out soon” I don’t know why I keep expecting these boys to listen to me anymore, clearly Steve didn’t listen to a bloody word I said and walked into the room, freezing when he saw all the weapons. “Y/n where did all these come from? And why do you need them?” his tone was deadly serious, wait what the hell? Didn’t he go with the rest to get my things?! , “Erm, Steve I thought you’d already seen them, didn’t you pack up some of my stuff?”. Both of us stared at each other for a few seconds, the pair of us confused by each other, “yeah I did, but Buck’s dad packed your stuff away while we looked around, that still doesn’t answer the question of what the hell you’re doing with all this stuff” ohh that makes sense.

He raised his eyebrows at my silence, moving from one foot to another as he waited for an answer, “ I’d use em for protection back at my old place, the people around there have no concept or wrong or right so it was the perfect place for me to lie low” you’d think that would be about as obvious as a punch in the face but apparently I was wrong. Immediately Steve’s posture changed, his eyes darkened as a frown appeared on his face, his eyes were clouded like he was lost in thought, “I’m sorry y/n, I hate that you had to go through that on your own for so long, I shouldn’t be making judgments on your actions, it’s just what you had to do to live right?” his eyes met mine, a sad understanding present in them as we held each other’s gaze.

“As much as I hate to admit it, that exactly what it was like Stevie, I should of told you and Bucky what you were fetching instead of leaving you in the dark” my feet dragged me over to the blonde boy, a sad smile was shared between us as we closed in for a hug, admittedly it was a tiny bit awkward considering I was a bit taller then the lad, but it was nice enough.

“Kids come back downstairs were about to make the cakes!” the sudden shout made us spring apart, causing us to bump heads with each other, “Bloody hell Rodgers what’s your head made out of?! Friggin’ rock ?!” leave it to me to ruin a moment… despite this, Steve shot me a playful glare followed by a quick shut up as he followed me out the room, the memories of my old life being forgotten and replaced with new ones.

As always, I’m open for requests and imagines, any feedback is welcome too :) Thanks for reading!

Rose xx

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Higurashi Gou Ep17

Haha yeah at this point I give up on thinking this is newcomer-friendly, lmao.

Anyway, thoughts under the cut [plus Umineko spoilers]

Well this sure was an episode, lol.

At this point I think that regardless of how the rest of the show goes, it kinda just definitively doesn’t work properly as something for new fans to enjoy. It’s not like it wouldn’t make any sense, but it’s just a straight up inferior experience to watching this as a sequel after the VN. Even with the fast-paced montage of Matsuribayashi plot points, new fans still don’t even know stuff like what Takano’s whole backstory is, what her motives where, and what her actual plan even WAS in the first place beyond just ‘she’s gonna kill everyone somehow for some reason’. And I doubt that we’re going to get much time spent at all on Rena and her backstory to explain what she was doing in Onidamashi.

I think Gou works fine as a sequel to the VN, but as a starting point for new fans it just throws enough spoilers at you to ruin the experience of reading the VN afterward, without enough time spent on those plot points and characters to make it worth it. Though I also have to wonder now if it was even worth spending 13 episodes going over mostly the same events as the original question arcs if immediately afterward they were going to drop all pretenses of this being a remake.

I’m pretty negative about this whole aspect of the show, but I still think that the sequel aspect of it is good and interesting. Even if a lot of that is just me being desperate for any amount of indirect Umineko content, lol.

This episode might have spelled out that Satoko is the second looper on the gameboard, but it seems pretty obvious that there’s a higher power influencing her and giving her the power to loop in the first place. I’m still suspicious of Hanyuu/Featherine, but this episode made me think it’s much more likely that it might actually be Lambda.

I wasn’t really sure about it earlier since it felt like wishful thinking, but the whole beginning scene where Takano apologizes to Rika and says that she wouldn’t believe her even if she explained why she suddenly changed her mind about her mission seems to indicate that Lambda has basically abandoned Takano and revoked her blessing of certainty, and she seems to remember the events of Matsuribayashi anyway, so she’s basically just accepted her defeat. I don’t think it’s as simple as that, though, because of what Takano said about Rika not believing why she changed her mind, so I think it also involves her connection to Lambda.

It might actually be a lot like how Lambda acted in Umineko, where she took over the game master position for a while after Beatrice abandoned the game. This might be Lambda taking over the Higurashi game board because Hanyuu abandoned it, and she’s decided to make Satoko her new piece.

We’ve already seen Satoko talk about how Oyashiro contacted her and made her into his new priestess because of Rika’s sins, so I think Lambda probably just posed as Oyashiro to convince Satoko to become her piece.

It’d also help explain how weird a lot of Gou’s game board feels, and how silly the whole concept of Satoko being a criminal mastermind is, if this is the Higurashi version of Umineko Ep5, where Lambda created a ‘game without love’ where she didn’t technically contradict anything about the story or the characters, but pushed the limits of how out of character she could make them act.

I’ve already felt for a while that Nekodamashi in particular feels more like a case of the culprit just trying to unfairly torture Rika instead of trying to present her with a fairy mystery to solve, and that’d definitely fit with the idea of Lambda just wanting to mess with Rika and manipulating the pieces and the game board to do so.

It kinda risks entering the catch-22 territory of something being ‘intentionally badly written’, in a sense, if the whole point is that the real mastermind is just being sadistic and not trying to establish a fair mystery, but it’s at least something that’s been established before in the overall franchise. I dunno how well it works to have that be the premise of an entire season, though, compared to how only one episode of Umineko worked this way, and it was already established there that Lambda was the new game master at the very start of the episode, so there weren’t any surprises or secrets there.

Either way this could basically just be the hand wave-y explanation for any questions of how Satoko apparently managed to obtain the syringe in each arc and inject all these random people successfully in each arc. And also why it doesn’t even seem to make sense from Satoko’s POV for her to act in such a roundabout and risky way.

Honestly, it kinda reminds me of the whole mentality some people have where they wonder why Rika doesn’t just use her supernatural knowledge of everything going on to perfectly game the system and manipulate everyone. The whole point there is that she’s just a little girl who’s only physically capable of doing so much without outside help, but Lambda might be straight up giving Satoko the unnatural ability to actually do all of this stuff even as a random little girl. Which, again, feels kinda iffy as a writing choice, but it’d also fit with a lot of the commentary Ryukishi likes to do about this type of stuff.

One thing I’m curious about is if the next arc will start off with a new loop, or if this one will keep going. Usually we don’t have loops carry over between arcs, and with how this episode ended we might just find out that Satoko immediately shot Rika, but considering how Rika obviously planned this whole scene to happen, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s able to stop Satoko from shooting her.

I didn’t think this up, but I’ve seen other people theorize that part of the ‘birthday party preparation’ involved Rika explaining everything to her friends off-screen and getting them to help her deal with the whole Satoko confrontation, which I think would make a lot of sense, and it’d make it a lot more likely that the next arc will start with Satoko getting stopped before she can kill Rika. Although if the next arc starts that way, and everyone’s already aware of what’s going on with Rika and Satoko, and we’ve already gone through all the stuff with Takano giving up her plans and leaving the village, I have to wonder what they’d even spend seven whole episodes doing, lol. All the stuff with Takano and the clinic in this episode also makes it feel like this will be the ‘final loop’, since it’d feel a bit weird to have to go over it all again later on, but we’ll see.

I’ve also seen people point out that Satoko’s gun at the end seems to be the same type as Mion’s toy gun, so instead of her getting physically overpowered, we might find out that Rika got Mion to swap her gun with Satoko’s. I dunno exactly how Rika would have known about Satoko having a gun, or how she’d be able to make the swap happen without Satoko realizing it, but I could see it playing out that way.

Anyway, this really feels like it’s shaping up to be a Bern vs Lambda game, where Lambda’s whole goal is just to keep Rika stuck in this loop as long as possible no matter what. And I still feel like if they’re gonna go this hard into the Umineko connections, they should really just go the whole nine yards and have this lead into a proper Umineko anime remake. Otherwise it’d feel like a wasted opportunity where Higurashi fans get disappointed that their series got ‘tainted’ by Umineko-related story baggage, while Umineko fans are disappointed because it’s not the sort of content we’ve been hoping for, and it’s not as substantial as a full remake would be.

It doesn’t help that Okonogi and Amakusa both show up in this episode, lol. I know they both show up in Higurashi, but still. At this point it’d just feel cruel if all this teasing doesn’t actually lead to anything noteworthy.

Also, even in spite of how much this episode explained about the whole mystery, I feel even more confused about what the whole final arc could possibly be about at this point, especially if I’m right about this loop continuing for maybe the entire rest of the next arc. It kinda feels like we’re already at the endgame where both sides have revealed their intentions to each other, and we more or less know exactly what the mechanics of everything going on behind the scenes are. It feels like there isn’t really any mystery left to unravel, aside from maybe the specifics of what happened to Satoko after Matsuribayashi that clearly lead to her getting influenced into doing all this. But we still have seven whole episodes left to go, so clearly there’s a lot left to happen.

Ideally they’re going to find time to actually go over stuff like Rena and Shion’s backstories, and the exact details of what happened in the previous years of the curse killings, and Takano’s whole backstory and what her big evil plan actually was in the first place, so those things don’t just end up left in the VN for new fans to not find out about, but I dunno. Ironically, I don’t think there’s *enough* episodes left to properly go into all that, unless it’s as fast-paced as how this episode went through a bullet point list of details from Matsuribayashi.

There’s still the question of if we might get a second season, but I doubt it. Maybe it could be a one-cour second season, but it already feels like we’re at the end of the story. We’re basically at the equivalent of the end of Minagoroshi, and there was only one more arc after that in the VN. But if we’re making comparisons to the VN, then we’ve still basically skipped over Tsumihoroboshi and Meakashi, lol.

Also, before I forget, it still genuinely bugs me that even though Rika apparently remembered Takano being evil this whole time, and clearly still thought she was evil this whole time, she’s apparently done absolutely nothing to try and investigate or stop her in any of these timelines, and she spent all of Nekodamashi being like ‘wow, I can’t believe people are going unnaturally L5 and killing me while taking about parasites . . . . who could possibly be behind this . . . . . .. .  oh well guess I’ll just die lol’. I don’t want to call it a plot hole, but it just feels like genuinely bad writing caused by the unnecessary conflict of Gou trying to appeal to new fans while also being a sequel. But in the end they ended up giving a sparknotes version of Matsuribayashi that spoils Takano being evil anyway, so it feels kinda pointless that they sidestepped the issue so hard up to this point, at the cost of having Rika basically act like an idiot who doesn’t bother acting upon any of the knowledge she has.

Anyway, if we don’t get a full Umineko remake out of this in the end, they should at least just have the next arc turn into full on Umineko shenanigans with logic battles and witches with laser swords and shit.

I might sound like I’m just really negative toward Higurashi in general compared to Umineko, but even though I prefer Umineko, I really like Higurashi, and that’s a big part of why it bugs me so much that they didn’t just commit to this being a proper remake. An actual remake of the VN that has more concise pacing and works better as an anime would be genuinely great in it’s own way, but that’s not what we’ve ended up getting, lol.

[verai-marcel]

The Light That You Shine (RDR2 Fanfic, John Marston x F!Reader, Chapter 1 of 6, 18+)

Summary: John Marston was proud to be part of the VDL Riders, a biker gang led by Dutch van der Linde, and had been with them since he had run from home at the age of 15. He and his makeshift family lived by three principles: live free, help those who need it, and punish those who deserve it. For five years, his gang was all he cared about and nothing else mattered. But then John meets you, and his priorities start to change.

Author’s Notes: Go check out @veradia’s biker AU RDR2 art for what inspired me to write this. This is a prequel to Before This Dance Is Through, so everyone is 6 years younger; John is about 20 in this story and so are you, my dear reader. 

Tags: prequel fic, eventual smut, romance, drama, violence, cheesy 80s vibe even though it's 2012, modern AU, switching POVs

AO3 Link is here, sweetheart.

--------------------

Chapter 1 - Start at the End

Word count:  2032

“Dammit Morgan, you could’ve warned me!”

Arthur grinned as he slapped John’s back. “Well, that wouldn’t be any fun, now would it?”

The others laughed while John rubbed the back of his head, leaning down to pick up the can of beer. It looked too shaken up to open at this point, so he set it on the table and glared at his brothers. Stalking past them towards the mini-fridge, he pulled out another beer, popped it open and took a long gulp. Dressed in his favorite black leather jacket over a plain white shirt, ripped black jeans, a chain on his belt to keep his wallet from being stolen, and scuffed biker boots, John looked like he bought all of his clothes in the late 80s and never changed.

“So, what’re we doing tonight?” Javier asked, leaning against the mezzanine railing. He had his medium length hair tied up, strands of it falling from the hair tie to frame his angled face. His leather vest and his blue jeans were impeccably clean, and not a single misplaced thread was on his V-neck shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He carried his favorite combat knife in a holster on his hip, hidden under the vest, and he wore black fingerless leather gloves.

Lenny sat on the couch, his freshly polished black boots propped up on the coffee table. He looked like he didn’t quite belong in a motorcycle club, in his black pants and black T-shirt. His white cowboy hat was clean, his white blazer crisp. He had his own knife holster, concealed under his jacket. 

Sean was standing behind the couch, leaning against the back of it. He wore a green headband around his shoulder length hair, fancying himself an Irish Rambo, choosing to wear a blue athletic cut T-shirt and olive green khakis. He wore his brown Timberland boots, the same ones he had since he joined the gang. They looked dirty and scuffed to hell, but they still did their job, so he had no reason to buy new ones. His green & red striped flannel was tied around his waist, hiding a knife holster.

Charles was sitting back in one of the arm chairs catty-corner to the couch. He had his long hair braided tight, the sides of his head shaved. His dark blue peacoat was open to show his black turtleneck and blue jeans. Both of his black biker boots had knife holsters with a few throwing knives.

They all looked towards Arthur, who shrugged as he looked at all of them. He had his worn cowboy hat on with his old bomber jacket over a grey shirt, faded blue jeans, and cowboy boots. He pulled a cigarette out and lit it with his silver zippo lighter, breathing in and letting out a puff of smoke before he responded. 

“Dutch wants us to go run security at some rich feller’s house party.”

“And how are we supposed to manage t’at? I don’t have any fine clothin’ for the occasion,” Sean groused.

“No amount of clothing can save you,” Javier joked.

Sean glared as the others laughed.

“Dutch said we just wear black polos and black jeans so we look like a security company,” Arthur said once the laughter died down.

“So. Is there an alternative motive for this job?” Charles asked.

“Of course there is,” Lenny said confidently. “There’s no way Dutch would deal with those kind of folks without a reason.”

Arthur nodded. “Word is that the rich feller has quite the car collection. We sneak in after the party while everyone’s wasted and drive a few of them outta there. Swap out the plates, get a paint job over at Hosea’s, done deal.”

“And if they have alarms or kill switches?” John asked.

“You know how to hot wire,” Arthur sniped. “You, Javier, and Lenny can deal with it.” He walked past all of them and headed down the stairs. "Meet you all back here by 6pm."

John shrugged. As they split up to prepare for the job, he looked around the small warehouse they called their biker club. Walking down the stairs, he went past their bike shop area underneath the mezzanine and paused for a moment. They had slowly built this place up from scratch, bringing in old furniture for their hang out space and tools to take care of their bikes.

And on the other side of the warehouse were two offices that had been converted into bedrooms. While the others had their own places to live, John and Arthur lived at the club, having both been orphans and taken in by Dutch. Their rooms weren’t anything fancy, just a little bit of room to sleep and store their worldly possessions. John headed to his room to take a nap.

Instead, he lay on his old mattress, staring at the ceiling. He had been with the gang for five years, since he ran away from his foster home. His mother had died six years ago from a drug overdose. When she was lucid, which wasn’t very often, she was kind, even as her eyes bled sadness at the edges; those were the memories he held onto the tightest. He didn’t even know who his father was, or if he was even still alive, but he knew that if he ever met him in person, he'd knock his lights out for leaving his mother such a wreck. 

After he had been sent to foster care, his foster parents didn’t try to understand him, they only tried to mold him into what they thought a proper young man should be. So he ran away. When Dutch found him, scrounging for food in a trash can behind the warehouse, he took him in. Gave him shelter.

Then there was Arthur. He was like a big brother, taught him how to fend for himself, taught him what it meant to give more than you received, even if it came with insults and punches to the face at times.

As more outcasts joined the gang, they also became his family, his brothers. Javier, Sean, Lenny, and Charles, one by one, they all joined and quickly became an intrinsic part of his life. He’d never want for more than this.

But lately, Dutch seemed off. For the past year, John had noticed him taking bigger risks, sending them on more violent jobs, and slowly stepping away from the hands-on work, leaving it to “the younger, faster men,” as he called them. There was a tinge of blind desperation in how Dutch led them now, almost as if he wanted to push them towards something greater, but wasn’t sure what that something was.

Rolling over, he stared at the wall covered in Led Zeppelin, Eagles, and other classic rock posters. He looked at the one Metallica poster he had and smiled wryly as he remembered Arthur throwing it at him, snarling “happy fucking birthday”, and slamming his door. He later found out that Arthur had snuck into the concert, stolen a poster, and ran half a mile to get away. And all because John had whined about not being able to go that night because he was sick.

He sighed and got up. He wasn’t going to get any sleep now. Leaving his room, he tinkered with his Honda Shadow Aero, his pride and joy, until it was time to go.

***

“We certainly look dangerous,” Charles said with a hint of humor in his voice as he calmly got out of the gang’s Sprinter van. 

“That’s because we are,” Javier said matter-of-factly as he hopped out next. 

Everyone bounded out of the van, with John the last out. He pulled the sliding door shut and followed the others into the house, hanging back as he listened to Arthur talk with the party host about the job. He trailed behind them as they were led around the house and made mental notes about where the party goers were allowed to go and where they were forbidden.

Once they were left to their own devices, Arthur turned around. “Alright men, let’s get to work.”

***

The party was wild, the party-goers were disgusting, and at the end, half of them were drunk, and the other half were passed out. 

It was almost far too easy to sneak into the garage, pick a couple cars that were not too flashy, and drive them off the premises. 

As they took off down some quiet back roads to lose any would-be followers, John sat and stared out the window into the pitch black night as Arthur drove with the window rolled down, his arm hanging out the window. Lenny and Sean had taken a car while Charles and Javier had left the party earlier, driving the van to Hosea’s shop.

“Hey.”

“What.”

John scratched his beard. “Do ya think—”

“I think more than you,” Arthur interrupted.

“Dammit Arthur, I’m tryin’ to be serious here!”

“Calm your balls,” Arthur said gruffly. “Yer so easy to rile up, I can’t help it.”

John let out an exasperated sigh. “Do you think Dutch is… do you think he’s tired of this? Of the club?”

Arthur was silent for a few moments. “Why do you say that?”

“He hasn’t been around much lately. He tells us to go do these jobs that are more and more dangerous. We haven’t done a charity drive or anythin’ nice for the community in the past two years.”

“Yeah, I noticed too. I don’t know, I’m sure somethin’ will come around. Maybe he’s been busy just tryin’ to get us steady work.”

“We used to just get jobs that were just jobs. Now we always have some double crossin’ or thievin’ or some shit that could get us in serious trouble!”

Arthur was silent for a little too long.

“Arthur?”

His sigh was long and tired. “I know. I know.”

The rest of the drive was silent as they drove the two hours back to the city.

***

After they had dropped the cars off at Hosea’s car shop, Charles drove them all back to the club in the van. It was 4AM by the time they all got back, and collectively they decided to call it a night and get back together the next night. As the others took their bikes and headed to their own homes, Arthur glanced over at John, who was still silent, still thinking.

“Yer goin’ to think yerself into the ground there,” Arthur commented.

John shrugged. “I can’t ignore it anymore.”

Arthur nodded. “Yeah. Let’s talk to Dutch tomorrow.”

As Arthur headed back to his room, John stepped outside and leaned against the brick wall. He pulled out a cigarette, lit it with his disposable lighter, and slowly took a drag as he stared up at the twilight sky, the stars barely visible in the city. He had an itch to be out in the open again, to sleep under the river of stars like he did in the desert. Or even to be out of a city, just for a while.

John finished his cigarette and slunk back into the warehouse, crawling into bed and staring at the ceiling until the sun came up before finally passing out when even his churning thoughts could no longer keep him awake.

***

“I swear, if we have to hear one more lecture about not having enough faith…”

Arthur just shook his head as he followed John out of the convenience store, quietly drinking his soda. 

“We just asked one damn thing, and he blows up at us like we’re questioning his entire existence!”

“You know how he is,” Arthur mumbled.

“I know how he was. How he is now… he ain’t the same.”

John’s statement was met with silence.

“You know I’m right,” John insisted.

Arthur let out a long sigh. “Well, what am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know!” John looked away. "All I know is that things ain't the same anymore," he mumbled as he stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and went silent as they walked back to the warehouse.

"Well," Arthur said after a while, "It weren't us that changed, that's for sure."

----------------------

Chapter 2 coming soon!

[petersboyfriendsonofthor]

Sinister Six: OC!Male Reader x Peter Parker

Part I of II

Warnings: violence, lots and lots of violence, language, some angst, and a little more VIOLENCE. Also potentially awkward writing style. Wrote half of this ten months ago and my writing style/quality shifted during that time. 

Tagging some folks who might be interested: @the-claire-bitch-project @bringmethehorizonandpizza @madmadmilk @all-about-tom @keepingupwiththeparkers

Feel free to ask me about the OC, my POV choice, and tell me what you thought of it!

Description: Peter takes on more than he can handle, and you have to rush to save him

You sat on the couch at Peter and May’s apartment, lazily making out. Date night was going well so far. May was out of town for the weekend and most of the Avengers were off on various missions around the world, leaving you and Peter with an apartment to yourselves and no obligations to fulfill. The Netflix movie was long forgotten as your hand cupped Peter’s face. His hands ran over your chest as you moved your lips along his jawline. 

“Mmmh,” he moaned before tensing up. “Baby wait, stop.” He pushed you away. You looked at him with a worried expression. 

“Did I do something wrong?” You asked. He shook his head. 

“No no, it’s just, my spider-sense is tingling.” He left the couch to find his suit. You went after him. 

“Peter, we’ve been planning this alone time for over a month!” You entered his room to find him slipping the suit on. “I’m sure it’s just a mugging or something, the police can handle that. It’s their job, you know.”

“I know I know,” he replied. “But this feel different. I think it’s that Rhino guy. He must have broken out of jail again.” Peter moved to the window, ready to open it. 

“Need me to come?” you offered. “I’m pretty handy in a fight, you know. Plus, we could spend time together.” Peter walked over to you and cupped your face. 

“I love you, but I can handle this on my own,” he said. “Plus, I really don’t want to risk you getting hurt.” You just laughed. 

“Dude, I’m part god. I am pretty confident some guy in a rhino mech suit isn’t gonna do much damage.”

“Well, actually, he’s been genetically enhanced now, so he IS the Rhino.”

“All the more reason for me to come.” 

“I handled it last time easily enough. He’s not all that bright, so it should be a walk in the park!” 

You laughed, kissing him deeply. “Please come home safe. And call if you need help.”

“I got it, thanks,” Peter said, opening the window and swinging out into the night. 

For the next half hour, you couldn’t stop pacing. Something was gnawing at your insides. This didn’t feel like an ordinary patrol. Against your better judgment, you summoned the remote to your hand and turned on the news. Your heart stopped at the image on the screen. 

The footage showed Spider-Man engaged in combat with not only Rhino, but the Vulture, Scorpion, The Green Goblin, Electro, and Doctor Octopus. Peter successfully uses his webs to swing the Goblin’s Speeder into Vulture, sending them both spiraling out of control. Doc Ock, however, uses one of his vibranium arms to grab Peter by the leg and throw him into the camera crew, cutting out the feed. As the anchor returns to the screen, you’re already racing for the window. 

You double-tap your wristwatch, a birthday present from Tony, and your suit was constructed from the vibranium nanoparts kept within the watch. What happens when you put Shuri, Tony Stark, Hank Pym, Bruce Banner, and Peter Parker all in one room for thirty-six hours? Magic, that’s what. Shuri found a way to enhance Tony’s nanopart suit construction technology with Vibranium, and Pym and Banner were able to store all of the needed parts inside of a quantum storage unit inside of the watch. Peter was there mostly for stylistic design. He was the one to credit for the look of the suit. 

The Vibranium nano parts washed over your right arm, enveloping your arm with a glove and a wrist gauntlet. Your chest was covered with a vibranium muscled breastplate, and a modified, sleeker version of a Viking helm formed over your head. A Vibranium chain mail hauberk materialized over your torso, and greaves appeared over your calves and feet. You looked every bit a Viking as you had all those years in the past. Using some of the magic Loki taught you, you swapped out your street clothes for a crimson cloak emblazoned with a golden dragon. A vibranium shield formed on your left wrist, and a spear in your right. You rolled your neck, bounced on the balls of your feet, and leaped out of the window, using your powers to fly towards the fight in Midtown Manhattan. 

Using your HUD you called Tony, who didn’t pick up. Next, you tried Ned. He answered. 

“Chase, thank God,” he said, his voice filled with worry. “I’m watching the news right now. It doesn’t look good.”

“Yeah I know, I’m on my way to help him,” you said. “Tony didn’t pick up. You remember that number I told you to call if there was an emergency of Superhero proportions?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Call it,” you ordered. “And don’t stop until you’ve reached one of the other Avengers, understand?”

“I got it.” Where there was once fear and worry, there was now only determination. Ned would do anything to help his friends, especially Peter, even if it meant facing a grumpy Happy Hogan. You ended the call just as the fight came into view. The police were being held back by Electro and Vulture, who had recovered from his earlier attack from Peter. Scorpion, Doc Ock, and the Green Goblin were giving Peter the fight of his life. Rhino was off in the bank nearby, looting the cash, gold, and other valuables in the safe-deposit boxes. The most pressing issue was Peter’s safety, so you wanted to see to that first. However, Electro and Vulture stood in the way. They stopped fighting the cops and turned their attention to you. 

“Well look what the cat dragged in,” Vulture growled, wings spreading menacingly. “Fresh out of the history museum, I see?”

“Can it, bird-for-brains,” you retorted. Admittedly, that wasn’t your best one-liner, and Electro seemed to think so. 

“The Hell kinda insult was that, kid?”

You shrugged. “Not my best work. Stark’s the best with those.” You propelled yourself forward to tackle the Vulture out of the sky when Electro shot a lightning blast at you. It scored a direct hit, and you stopped in your tracks. You slowly turned your head to face the surprised villain. 

“I’m the son of Thor, asshole. All you did was piss me off.” You charged your spear with electricity and hurled it at Electro. He didn’t have time to respond and was impaled and sent tumbling to the ground. You raised your shield and fought with Vulture. You nimbly dodged his bladed wings but took a kick to the jaw. He used this opportunity to grab you and slam you into the pavement below. Your armor took most of the damage, and you were able to throw him off. You extended your hand and made a grasping motion, grabbing him by influencing the air around him and threw him into a nearby building. You slammed him into the wall repeatedly before abandoning him for Peter, who was fighting for his life in a parking lot next to the bank. 

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., connect with KAREN, I need to communicate with Peter!” Peter’s voice soon filled your helmet. 

“Take THAT, armsy! OOF!” You watched as Peter took a hit from one of the Goblin’s grenades. Before he could recover, he was stung by Scorpion’s tail. He writhed in pain before Doc Ock grabbed him and flailed his body around, smashing him into any light posts, parked cars, and the ground. He finally threw your boyfriend into a brick wall and pinned him there with his metal arm. He raised another, the claws rotating like a drill, and prepared to smash in Peter’s head. One of the eyes on Peter’s mask was ripped off, and you could see that he was in a daze. 

“Peter!” you cried, flying down to assist your boyfriend. You threw your shield just like Cap had taught you, and it hit Doc’s arm at the right time, sending it into the wall a few feet from Peter’s head. Doc turned up to see where the projectile had come from, only to be met with your fist. He flew back into a parked car, smashing it. The arms went with him and Peter slumped to the ground, barely conscious. 

Scorpion and the Goblin both recovered from their initial shock and charged you. You used your wind powers to throw a pick-up truck at Scorpion, leaving only Goblin. He threw a grenade, which you forced back with a gust of wind towards the recovering Scorpion. You leapt into the air and punched Goblin off of his speeder. He grappled with you on the way down, however, and managed to land on top of you. He reared back his fist and punched you repeatedly. Your armor could take the pounding, but you couldn’t concentrate hard enough to summon lightning or force him off with your mind. Instead, you had the nano parts from your greaves reassemble on your wrist to form a small shield, which you raised just in time to block the Goblin’s next attack. 

“Ah!” He clutched his wrist. 

Ahh, much better, you thought before punching him off and sending him across the lot. The shield dissolved and reformed your greaves. You summoned back your shield with your magnetic wrist gauntlet, and it reattached itself to your wrist. You stuck it on your back and raced over to Peter’s side. 

He was in worse shape than you thought. Aside from his suit missing an eye, it was torn across the stomach and part of his left sleeve was gone. Additionally, he was bleeding from several cuts and scrapes. You weren’t a doctor, but you could just tell by the way he clutched his side that at least two ribs were broken.

“Chase? What the hell are you doing here?” he managed, wincing. 

 “Peter, baby, come on. I’m going to get you out of here.” You frantically tried to lift him, but he cried out in pain. 

“Stop stop,” he cried. “It hurts. Let me try to get up and help--”

“No no, you stay right there,” you ordered. “I’ll protect you.” You turned around to see the Sinister Six reforming, now including Rhino, who had successfully opened the vaults in the bank. Electro was absent, still pinned down by your electro-staff. Unfortunately, you needed that spear right about now, so you had to recall it, enabling a very pissed-off Electro to rejoin the battle. He could not harm you, however, so you didn’t think much of his presence in the parking lot. 

“Hopefully some of the Avengers get here in time,” you muttered. “I don’t know how long I can hold them off before I start to wear out.” Your powers were not limitless. They tire you out just as any other form of exercise would, and you had already expended a lot of energy. You put your shield back on your arm and braced for the fight. 

“We only want Spider-Man,” Doc Ock told you. “We will kill you if we have you, but there is no seed for you to die tonight, son.” 

“I have no intention of dying tonight, Octavius,” you shouted back. “And if you want Spider-Man, come and take him!” 

Vulture and Electro both dove for Peter while Rhino prepared to charge. Doc Ock sent his arms to rip off car doors, and the Goblin prepared more grenades. Scorpion charged at you from the flank. 

Doc Ock lobbed two car doors in your direction. Reaching out with your mind, you sent one flying up towards the Goblin, intercepting his grenades. The other one smacked Electro out of the air and into a wall. You turned and threw your shield at Vulture, who could not evade in time and was knocked out of the sky. You knew you couldn’t stop Rhino’s charge, so you grabbed a parked car with your mind and threw it at his head, steering the rampaging mutant towards Doc Ock. He used his arms to leap over Rhino and landed near you and Peter. 

You morphed your spear into a sword and recalled your shield. You managed to parry the attacks from Scorpion’s stinger and Ock’s arms at first. One of Ock’s arms tore away your shield, and you had to make a new one from parts from your greaves. Ock grabbed your exposed leg. The grab at your leg distracted you enough that you didn’t see Scorpion reach for your helmet, which he violently tore off. He began punching you repeatedly in the face. The taste of iron filled your mouth. Ock grabbed your face with his metal claws and began to squeeze. You cried out in pain until you saw your shield slam into the side of his head, sending him into a light post. You and Scorpion both turned to look in confusion to see Peter standing against the wall. 

Using his distraction to your advantage, you summoned your helmet to your hand and bashed Scorpion over the head. A kick combined with a gust of wind launched him into a building. You morphed your sword back into a spear and used it to channel a blast of lightning at Rhino, who was again preparing to charge. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw both Doc Ock and Electro recover. Deciding that Electro was less of a threat, you focused your attention on the Vibranium-armed villain. 

You jumped and weaved through his arms, getting in little strikes as the opportunities presented themselves. You punched the spectacles off of his face, which only enraged him. He managed to grab your arm and toss you into the same building you previously kicked Scorpion into. Scorpion grabbed you, stung you, and held you up to watch the scene in the parking lot unfold. The venom from the sting coursed through your veins. You could feel the burn travel throughout your body, as if someone filled your heart with sand and it was pumped to every last nook and cranny in your system. 

“You seem pretty protective of your Spider-friend there,” he rasped into your ear. “So that’s why you’re gonna watch him die before I kill you.”

“No!” you gasped through the pain. Between the venom and your frequent use of your powers, you were almost completely spent. You couldn’t muster the strength to break free of the villain’s grasp, not could you intervene in the parking lot battle. You felt utterly helpless to save Peter from a painful death. 

Peter tried to defend himself but was too weak. Doc Ock threw him into the side of the brick building, and Electro began electrocuting him. You could hear his screams through your comms channel. You only had a matter of moments before Electro would kill your boyfriend. 

Gathering your strength, you broke free of Scorpion’s hold and narrowly dodged an attack from his tail. You grabbed it and threw him at Electro, sending them both hurtling towards the ground. In one great bound you crossed the lot and landed in front of Peter. You summoned your shield just in time to block one of Goblin’s grenades, which sent you flying back into the wall. You landed next to Peter. 

His suit was charred, and so was some exposed skin. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was bleeding from so many cuts and scrapes. His suit was in tatters. There was no way he would survive another attack. You knew what you had to do. 

“Chase,” Peter croaked. “Chase I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“I’m gonna get you out of here, Peter,” you promised. You placed your hand on his thigh and sent all of the nanotech vibranium to Peter, covering him in a suit of vibranium. Repulsor jets formed and lifted him into the air. 

“FRIDAY, take him back to the compound and cut comms with KAREN. I don’t want Peter’s last memory of me to be the sounds of my death.”

“Got it, boss. It has been a pleasure serving you. Mister Stark would be proud, and so would your father.” 

You choked back a sob. “Thanks hun. Tell Peter I love him?”

“Absolutely. Anything else I can do?” The Sinister Six were beginning to reform for one final attack. You heard Peter frantically calling your name from within his full vibranium suit, but the sounds were muffled. You took one last look back at your boyfriend, your only reason to live in the twenty-first century. You locked eyes and sent him a look of reassurance, but his only showed panic and fear. 

“I love you, Peter. FRIDAY, send him off. I’ll hold them as long as I can. I’ll try not to make an embarrassing show of it. And you know what? There is something you can do for me. Search Spotify and play “Swedish Pagans” by Sabaton in my earpiece. I was born a Swedish Vikingr, and I’ll be damned if I don’t die like one.”

The song began to fill your head, and your old Viking heart swelled with pride. Peter blasted off towards the north, and you turned to face the regrouped Sinister Six. Vulture peeled off to go attack Peter, and you knew just how to make your final stand as the Son of Thor. You called forth from the sky six massive thunderbolts and brought them down on the six villains. Each of the six was brought down in a great flash and a mighty roar of thunder. You collapsed instantly, and as your vision slowly turned to black, you saw a small fireball and another bolt of lightning arcing towards the parking lot...

[unluckyxse7en-moving]

Can I ask a question? I have been wondering stuff about myself and in the panel where it says "before 'me' disappeared." it stuck out to me. I've never had a good grip on who I am and figured I had to build it. Idk hat that is. Nor do I expect you to answer that. My question is, could you explain it more?

Yes, absolutely, you’re totally welcome to ask! and idk how well I can explain it but I’ll do my best based on my current personal understanding and experience! obligatory disclaimer, many systems have unique experiences and it’s not always consistent or cut and dry from system to system, but if something about this does hit home I encourage you to look into researching it more as you feel comfortable! Also a heads up, I’m going to probably overexplain terms and concepts since I’m not sure what you do know, plus if someone else reading this isn’t familiar I figure that may help them too, so bear with me! ^^ (this got incredibly long and incredibly personal, I hope that’s ok! We’ve found hearing about personal experiences from others always helped give us a way to compare our experience better in ways that medical definitions don’t help with, so we got detailed in hopes it’ll be helpful to someone. heads up, there’s some references to feelings of unreality.)

Gonna try to put this under a cut since it got so long, let’s hope tumblr cooperates!

So admittedly, I was intrigued when you sent this line in, because while I’ve reread this comic a couple times before posting it, I didn’t remember writing a line exactly like that. As it turns out, the writing was meant to say “when ‘He’ disappeared” but it’s really oddly unclear whether it’s an H or an M at first glance compared to the rest of the script? If I’m honest I actually prefer your interpretation better, especially because the ambiguity lends more to the comic’s meaning in retrospect. I’m not gonna say something like ‘oh one of my alters must’ve done that on purpose’ because back then our handwriting was just an inconsistent mess in general and the most involvement we could probably credit to the alters was just one person tried to write that H in their handwriting when someone else was supposed to be writing it. But I thought that was an interesting case of serendipity so I couldn���t help pointing it out lmao 

 That said, I think your reading actually makes just as much sense in the context of the comic, and is a phenomenon I think I can readily explain that I have had a little experience with. Currently, my system setup is a little bit like an archeological dig. The alters that have surfaced the most, who have been the ones in charge of actions/words/emotional responses/etc, aka ‘fronted’, are all the ones who have formed in more recent years. The ones from years past are further back, and harder to access because we’ve developed a protective setup where the newer alters act as barricades to keep the older ones from being more exposed to trauma, or anything else they can’t handle. At its core, that’s what the function of a system is - to develop other alters who can handle situations more vulnerable parts can’t - but not all systems are built with an onion-layer setup like mine either, so just keep that in mind.

That said, since I’m built with an onion-layer setup, that means most of my system experience is based upon those older alters being shielded and walled up. When you add enough layers, we can’t dig them out again and for us that’s where most of our ‘disappearance’ comes in that we know of.  There’s another phenomenon that could cause the ‘disappearance’ effect but we’ll touch on that in a moment. In our case, we just eventually feel so distanced from who “I” was supposed to be, whoever that is. Very few of the ones who have been out in recent months are from older times. We’ve had a small handful who are from our high school years (we’re 25 now), and maybe caught a glimpse of alters older than that once or twice. We very rarely remember much of the time from that far back, and what we do remember feels incredibly detached. Almost more like we saw it in a first person pov movie rather than actually been there. We’ve gone through name changes a couple times by now, and I highly suspect that those name changes are further reflective of our archeological layers and who we decided to try to model our collective behavior around, to try to seem like one whole person. 

“Erika” was a girl who behaved one way. “Erin” was someone who behaved another way. and “Cleo” has been our current blueprint for who we’re supposed to be on the outside when being incognito. And what’s interesting is that you mentioned feeling like you had to ‘build’ yourself, because while it’s not so precise or in our control, we’ve approached it much the same way. For each name change it was like different models. out with the old model and in with the new, now introducing Cleo v2.0, with these personality patches and old bugs fixed. Around the time we changed to Erin, we had firmly decided we wanted to put our ‘old self’ behind us and improve ourselves. We had come out of toxic experiences eyes open, and we were terrified of reflecting that internalized toxicity outward. So we took ourselves to the metaphorical workshop, and spent many many years scrutinizing who ‘Erika’ was under a microscope for our faults, our flaws, what made us work that way, so that we could iron out the kinks when introducing ‘Erin’. As we took ‘Erin’ for test runs in college, we would find different flaws and faults that needed fixing, so once we’d accumulated a comprehensive list of those we took Erin in for workshopping and shortly after we dropped out of college, out came Cleo. Our entire life experience from the outside has been a long-running fixer-upper project, and for a while we were proud of ourselves to see the long strides in improvements we’d made upon “myself”, for being so quick to see our flaws and find ways to manage them. 

But what was really happening under the hood was, we weren’t actually changing as an individual, cohesive person.  We were adapting and forming new alters, or at the very least reassigning them based on who handled what better - so if we had become sick of our short temper, we swapped that alter out so that what normally caused them to respond, would instead elicit someone less volatile and slower to anger. If one of us froze up at the sight of blood, they would be swapped out of the front for someone who had no problems with it. This is why we ended up onion-layering ultimately, to lower the risk of the other alters being in front at poorly timed moments.

So tl;dr for us, a lot of our ‘Disappearance’ of our selves was us trading them out or hiding them away, and most likely encouraging a state of alter dormancy - when alters become inactive for long periods of time. (for some of us we describe it like sleeping - I think it tires us out on a physical level if one alter is active too long, it probably works certain parts of the brain more depending on the alter, but that’s all speculation.)

Backtracking a little - there is another experience that would cause a more definite and permanent ‘Disappearance’ effect. We haven’t experienced it since coming out as a system to ourselves. But we’re pretty sure we experienced it once, or twice, way back when. It’s formally known as Fusion. Fusion is what happens when two or more alters end up “physically” (for lack of a better word) merging together. They cannot separate, and they become an entirely different alter. The new alter often has some elements of their components in terms of personality traits and memories, but also isn’t a complete merging of everything. Memories and emotional attachments can often get lost in the process. This is where the other Disappearance can occur.

We know it happened to us at least once. Somewhere around middle or high school, for no apparent reason, we had developed an acute awareness and fear of Amnesia, and the identity death that would inevitably come with it. We were always scared, what if we hit our head and lost our memory? What would we remember, if anything? Would we get it back? Media always dramatizes amnesia, where amnesiac characters have some twinge, some spark, where they get drawn to things super important to them from before the memory loss. Would that happen to us? What if it didn’t? What if we never remembered the things that mattered so dearly to us? Would we even be the same person anymore?

If you compare that to the concept of fusion, it’s almost uncomfortably spot on. But we had no idea about systems or fusion back then. Which can only mean we had experienced a fusion, and somehow that caused a disturbance in the system that led to that latent fear to hang over our heads, along with the constant feelings of unreality and dreaming that followed us all through high school.

But somewhere along the line, just as suddenly as that fear developed, it just. Dissipated. It’s still a terrifying concept for us. But we no longer obsess over it like we did back then. We also suspect that’s probably related to another fusion of sorts. We have no clue who they were, or who they are now though. 

So to tie it all back in, in the comic the ‘Me/He’ disappearing would be parallel to an alter going dormant, or possibly fusing. The characters the protagonist and Tormenter are built around were originally part of a storyline of two separate identities that ended up ‘fusing’ to form a different whole, and while I can’t say the comic is faithful to the scientific or actual experience in a system, since I didn’t know about it at the time, I’m pretty sure it was based on what I had picked up on in my subconscious, so that’s the implications there, inaccurate representation though they may be.  I have heard from a few sources that fusion is often the result of a necessary function, to help protect or help an alter that can no longer function or cope the way they have been by creating a new alter that can cope better, so with this understanding, and the direction of the comic, it makes a sort of sense. 

These are my thoughts in regards to your question about ‘disappearance’ in the context of the comic based on my personal experiences, I hope it helped! Feel free to ask more or send in followup questions or statements, hopefully now that I’ve given a lot of context I won’t be quite so long-winded haha

[restlessfeathers]

Is Simon Blackquill your favorite character or just your favorite prosecutor?

Honestly, my tastes shift around all the time, and I really don’t have issues with ANY of the main characters what-so-ever…but yes, I do have a weird obsession with Simon Blackquill.

Read more for my rant explanation.

Point 1: I love writing for him. I’d say “as” him, but I write scripts where the POV changes constantly. I’d say that he and Rayfa are my favorites to write for. He’s got a really specific gimmick - not the sword thing, that part’s easy, and not the British thing either, that’s a bit trickier but not the part I like. His long sentences have rhythm. His short statements are as restrictive and to-the-point as they could possibly get. I love the way his words flow, and it’s so much fun to see him interact with others. For some reason, I take pride in my portrayal of Blackquill as it’s carefully curated to be in line with his SoJ interpretation and also more of an evolution of what he learned from both games. My writing colors my interests a lot, so my bias comes from having so much fun while doing his character.

Point 2: He’s not afraid to do take a risk. Yes, he’s selfless, but that’s not the part about him that I love the most. I like that he has the courage to do things I know I couldn’t, and I envy that. It comes across as an attitude, but he’s actually not too much unlike Phoenix in that he has to go off on guesses and bluffs and whims in order to get people to see his points. He guesses less, yes, but he still does it. You just don’t notice that’s what he’s doing until you play through his cases again. Telling the court that the witness is literally possessed by a demon? That’s a risk, and he had to take it to make his point.

Point 3: He isn’t afraid to change his mind, but his morals are clear. When you first face him, it’s really hard to understand what his motivations are, but once you get to the end of DD, it’s absolutely clear that everything before then, when it seemed like he was swapping sides constantly, was all in the name of truth. He upholds his own honor code, and because of his time in the prison system, he knows when a mistake can slip through the cracks, how a system can literally be corrupted from the inside-out, and that one should protect their allies at all costs. My absolute favorite thing about both Simon and Gavin is that they aren’t out for a verdict, they’re out to find out the truth - to do their damned jobs and do it well. For Simon, it isn’t manipulating the judge into thinking he’s right, it’s trying to have others see the situation as he does. The evidence first makes it appear that the defendant did it. It’s his job to have the court see into that line of thinking until the evidence no longer supports that theory. 

I know his design is kind of weird, I know he has a bit of a bad attitude, I know so many people think he’s an edgy jerk who watches anime and wears a fedora and white knights all over the place… But, really, I think, following his story-line through from Dual Destinies, he’s got some great material in there.

…however, I do think they jumped the shark by sacrificing Apollo’s story for Simon and Athena’s. Dual Destinies did some unfortunate things for the series, and it’s impossible to discuss Simon Blackquill without looking at the narrative follies of the game he comes from. I think there was a lot of unfounded redemption in Turnabout Storyteller (my favorite case that isn’t from AAI2) in that he and Athena loosen up in order to work together on something in the moment. The writers never had to give us that case, they never had to let us see that side of him, where he helps the protege of his former master, but because they did, you get to see a lot more of his personality in that case than in most of DD, and that’s probably, no, it’s DEFINITELY why I took to liking him.

Again, though! I do not have any characters I consider “awful” that are in the main cast. Some have bad morals, some have bad motivations, some have bad designs, and some have bad arcs. But I don’t think any of them are bad characters. Simon is just the one that I understand the most. A lot off his flaws come from the things attributed to him, like the anime stuff, which I have no idea where that comes from, he’s more of a history nut than anything else. I think those attributions have to do with the culture Dual Destinies was released in. 2019 is a different beast; understanding how closely his morality ties to his interests is a lot less (excuse the pun) black and white than it probably seemed back then.

TL;DR: Simon sits in a slightly different category of character for me than anyone else. I love all the prosecutors, lawyers, spirit mediums and magicians, yes, but some of them I just cannot get in the head-space of. A lot of it has to do with how I write, because that’s so tied to how I understand the characters of this series, but for Blackquill, it’s a little bit more than just that.

….also his hair looks sooooo fluffy. I wanna touch it.

[mrsspidermanmaryjanewatsonparker]

...let’s do this...

“Dan Slott’s decade-long tenure on writing Spider-Man recently came to an end, swapping the prolific writer out with former Captain America/Secret Empire scribe Nick Spencer. The first issue of his and artist Ryan Ottley’s much hyped run, Amazing Spider-Man #1, took Peter Parker back to the basics. The hero has lost Parker Industries, is under investigation for academic fraud, was fired from the Daily Bugle, and other New York heroes hate him because they think he’s buddy-buddy with Kingpin of Crime turned New York mayor, Wilson Fisk.”

First of all Peter lost Parker Industries during Slott’s run so i dunno why this ‘article’ is framing things as though that is a development from Spencer’s run.

Second of all heroes hate Spidey because Kingpin made it look as though they were friends, its not as though Spider-Man really was friend with Fisk as this article frames it.

 “The issue ends with the two kissing and Peter declaring that this is “their story,” emphatically saying what the suspicions have been for some time: the new run of Amazing Spider-Man will begin to undue the events of the controversial “One More” and “Brand New Day” storylines that Slott became infamous for, which saw Mephisto destroy Peter and MJ’s marriage in exchange for bringing Aunt May back to life.”

 *pinches bridge of nose* ohmygodohmygodohmygod.

 Okay so...Dan Slott WASN’T RESPONSIBLE FOR OMD OR BND!

M**********r Wikipedia could have told you that! HOW?! HOW do you not know that Joe Quesada wrote OMD!

HOW do you not know this piece of comic book osmosis that everyone knows! My God!

Furthermore aunt May didn’t effing die in OMD. That was literally the point. They mad ethe deal to SAVE her from death. Not undo it!

I know people who’ve not even read the story and THEY know that!

Also Dan Slott became infamous but it had nada to do with OMD but other stuff.

Also also the story hasn’t shown or promised to undo anything yet but clickbait gotta clickbait.

Also, also, also UNDO ISN’T SPELT THAT WAY!

Holy fuck how do you write for the front page of the biggest comic book news site, get paid for it and not spell check shit?!

“And like those now infamous wedding issues for Batman and X-Men, the move to bring Peter and MJ back together doesn’t really work. There are couples who’ve gotten back together after a time apart, but the issue itself piles so much misfortune on Peter’s doorstep it feels like Peter should be looking into a therapist or anxiety medicine instead of making out with his ex.”

-Is what someone who’s never read Spider-Man would say.

Like Peter went though a lot of bad stuff in ASM volume 5 #1 but:

a)    Asshole please, this is nowhere near the worst most stressful or therepy worthy shit Peter has lived through. Supporting his sickly recently widowed mother figure financially whilst going to school, getting bullied, having a crappy boss, dealing with an unreasonable girlfriend and ALSO fighting crime in a city that feared and hated him for no reason. THAT is anxiety and that is also known as the start of Spider-Man’s entire story you fucking hacks!

b)    So when you’ve had an awful day and everything has fallen apart getting TLC from someone you deeply love and who deeply loves you...doesn’t  make sense. Okay sure.

c)    Justin Carter where the fuck did you learn how to read subtext? Shit, nevermind the subtext, where did you learn to read the text bro! The story spells it out for you. Peter’s life is bad, he keeps making the same mistakes again, he wants things to change to be better. So he steps up to the plate and puts the effort in to MAKE it better, specifically by chasing the thing he wants most, the thing he’s yearned for and literally dreamed about (as CLEARLY SHOWN on the first effing pages!). He reunited with the love of his life. For the fuck is that something that DOESN’T work!

d)    Exempting the X-Men wedding the Batman wedding issue in my observation totally worked from a characterization pov even if it wasn’t the result fans wanted to deserved.

“Peter and MJ Are A coulee Again! And It's The Wrong Move...”

 It isn’t the wrong move and I see no reason why anyone should take this article’s claims that is is seriously when it can’t even spell the word couple!

 “Like all relationships, the ones between superheroes and their non-powered partners are full of drama. In the decade since their split, Peter and MJ had many relationships that provided what neither could offer the other at the time. MJ got to date men who were reliable and had the stability that Peter couldn’t entirely provide, and Peter was with those who were more accustomed to or in the line of superheroic work as he.”

 Go fuck yourself CBR seriously.

 Let’s start with Peter. What in the flying fuck is this shallow, Celebrity gossip rag, juvenile, simplistic, unlearned horseshit of a mentality towards superhero relationships over the last several years that has the absolute biggest hard on ever for the idea that heroes have to date heroes.

 Especially Spider-Man.

 Whenever the mere idea of Spider-Man dating another hero crops up that is literally the ONLY thing people talk about.

 They have so much in common because they are both heroes.

 Well shit...why doesn’t he date literally any of the women in the multiple Avengers teams he was a member of. No Carol Danvers doesn’t count, it was one date.

 I’ll tell you why.

 Because if any of these jackasses knew what the fuck they were talking about with Spider-Man’s character, both in terms of who he is as a person and the entire concept behind him, they’d know that civilian women are both his preference and more in line with the idea of him as a hero who could be you.

 YOU in the real world do not date goddam superheroes. You date normal people. Therefore Spider-Man also dates normal people.

 ‘But what about Black Cat’, I hear you cry out.

 Yeah Felicia let’s talk about her for a second shall we.

 Felicia, the cat burglar costumed criminal. The one who tried to trick her boyfriend into a life of crime literally the issue after they hooked up.

 Felicia, the woman who recoiled upon seeing Spider-Man’s real face.

 Felicia the woman who lied and went behind Spider-Man’s back to get super powers that literally caused him cosmic bad luck even after they broke up.

 Felicia, the woman who jeapodized Peter’s secret identity multiple times.

 Felicia, the woman who literally got in bed with a mercenary (in every sense of the word) in order to frame Spider-Man for murder by seducing him.

 Felicia the one and only girlfriend Peter had before he got married who was a fellow costumed person...and she was literally named after something that brings you bad luck.

 It’s ALMOST like it was doomed to fail from the start.

 It’s ALMOST like it was intended that way.

 It’s ALMOST like it was a great big subtextual commentary about how Spider-Man is better off with normal non-costumed women.

 Oh...but if only there was some kind of page or panel clearly spelling out the idea that Felicia the costumed person was wrong for Spider-Man but someone else, someone normal, someone rooted in the real world with all it’s relatable problems and activities, was right for him...

...if only...

And if only the comic book run most guilty of shipping Spider-Man with a costumed person post-OMD which was initiated by a hack writer had itself a page or panel spelling out that Spider-Man dating costumed people because they ‘get’ his lifestyle more doesn’t mean jack shit, showcasing even they recognize it to be a stupid shortsighted attitude to Spider shipping.

IF.ONLY! 

Let’s move onto Mary Jane.

 MJ dated exactly 2 men during the decade after OMD. Bobbi Carr and Pedro the fireman who was literally a poc fireman version of Peter.

 Reliable and stable huh?

 Tell me how exactly is the life of a rising A-list movie star ‘reliable’ or ‘stable’...even aside from the fact that he was a drug addict?

 Tell me how exactly is the life of a firefighter whom would be rushing off whilst on duty and risking his life A LOT be stable for poor Mary Jane’s anxieties over his safety?

 What? Reliable is steady job+regular hours?

 That’s what Peter couldn’t provide so this reconciliation is bad?

 ...Didn’t Mary jane literally WORK for goddam Tony Stark, the globe/galaxy trotting superhero Avenger leader who went into a coma then disappeared?????????

 And she took that job by effing choice? AFTER breaking up with Pedro the fireman?

 How much ‘reliable stability’ does she really want or need?

 Because assholes MJ dated and was married to Spider-Man for fucking years. And she liked it. Are we just IGNORING that?

 Like assholes that wasn’t even the thing that they broke up over. MJ didn’t break up with Spider-Man in OMIT because he was unreliable and didn’t provide stability. She accepted that. She accepted that shit even in the nuclear levels OOC flashback sequences to their aborted wedding.

 She broke up with him because it endangered her family. THAT was the rationale. THEN she got back with him in Superior. THEN she broke up with him at the end because she wanted normalcy but then she literally said pages later that she’ll never get it because she lived in NYC and because guys like the Goblin wouldn’t care if she was dating Peter or not. THEN she threw away normalcy by working for Iron Man FFS. THEN in Red Goblin she claimed she couldn’t be with him because I don’t even know, some bullshit about feeling guilty that she was keeping him away from being a hero.

 So the stable reliability argument holds no goddam water to her pre or post OMD characterizations.

 Basically the above paragraph boils down to:

 “Peter and MJ getting back together is bad because they dated people who could offer them the stuff that neither could offer the other, even though there is nothing indicating either wanted that stuff in the first place.”

 “Not all of these relationships were perfect, but they were signs of real change, something that isn’t typically allowed in big two superhero comics, or at least, not in any lasting, meaningful way.”

 No they weren’t. They were signs of Marvel putting the characters on rotation because they axed the ACTUAL meaningful change that was the pair getting married and committing to a longterm permanent relationship that lasted 20 years.

 Hence why literally none of these relationships had ANY lasting impact upon either character.

 MJ was unchanged by Bobbi Carr dating her beyond it prompting her to return to NYC, i.e. return to her old status quo.

 Peter was unchanged by Carlie Cooper, Liaeean Teaaen, Mockingbird and Silk. I mean my God this article bangs on about how Mockingbird was so important because she provided something Peter otherwise couldn’t get from MJ but the seires literally handwaves away their relationship. They don’t even get a major break up scene or issue. It’s just. “We broke up, brief flashback. That was it.”

 “The last couple of times that Peter and MJ broke off their romantic relationship — after that one time Doc Ock jacked Peter’s body for over a year — it was because she didn’t want his, frankly, ridiculous life as a superhero to define hers.”

 The article says the last couple of times they broke it off then lists one example because what is counting.

 And as I said that was NOT the reason they broke up after superior. Hell they didn’t even really break up that time. Otto broke up with MJ in Superior ‘2, then she called him up to break up with him many issues later then she went to Peter when he got his body back to give a break up speech to someone she wasn’t even dating!

 “More, she didn’t want to keep risking the danger the comes from being close to a superhero.”

 And then she went to work for an even more famous superhero who didn’t even have a secret identity and who have much more powerful enemies many of whom would’ve targeted him even if they didn’t know he was Iron Man..before re-entering his friendship group in from Power Play onwards thus rendering her entire rationale for breaking away moot....not that it made any sense to begin with.

 “If anything, his life has become even more crazy since their split, since his teacher is the Lizard and he’s a roommate with Boomerang.”

 The Lizard was his teacher in the silver and bronze age too you goddam hacks and having a villain for a roommate is NOT crazier than your body being stolen by a villain for God’s sake.

 “Both of those situations are going to end pretty badly, and that’s coming just before the “Spidergeddon” event that’ll bring together the Spider-heroes of the multiverse yet again in a fight for survival against evil vampires.”

 I didn’t know CBR could see the future and also apparently knows that despite all current evidence to the contrary that Spencer would be doing a tie-into Spider-Geddon.

 “Fans of Peter and Mary Jane as a couple aren’t exactly hard up for a comic about their exploits. The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows series may be set in a new universe, but it’s been quietly operating as a book for the two to be happy together. Not only do they have a daughter in that universe by way of Annie Parker, the three of them are a crimefighting family where Annie is Spiderling, and MJ gained powers of her own and became Spinneret. ”

STFU CBR.

a)    EVERYONE knew RYV had a limited shelf life

b)    RYV is about Peter and MJ are a superhero family, which is a cool concept but also not what a lot, probably even most Spider-Marriage fans want to see. They want to see Spider-Man with a non-powered MJ in the main 616 universe because that is the original real versions of the characters and that dynamic is innate to the inherent concept of Spider-Man as a relatively realistic guy

c)    RYV places a lot of focus upon Annie, probably more than on Peter or MJ, especially after the time skip

d)    NOBODY who loved RYV was going to simply accept it as a suitable substitute for 616 Spider-Man and MJ not being together. Because as much as we love RYV Peter and MJ those are not THE characters. The specifics of each version of each character carry different emotional investments for the readers. And Marvel knows this hence why they didn’t permanently replace the 616 Spider-Man with Miles Morales, just the other Peter Parker Spider-Man who sold less and had been around for a mere 10 years. It is also the reason why Spider Marriage fans didn’t just say “Oh well at least I still have Peter and MJ in USM and Spider-Girl’ after OMD

 “Even if Renew ends and is considered no longer needed, it’s provided the most logical endgame with the best outcome one could think of. Doing that all over again in the 616 universe comes across as redundant and the only thing it really does is reduce the amount of Spider books on the market.”

 This one is a real headscratcher.

 RYV is not the logical endgame because MJ with powers is not the logical conclusion. Merely ONE conclusion.

 FFS RYV isn’t even the same as Spider-Girl despite the premises being similar.

 You can take the same broad ideas and do them suitably differently.

 Like I dunno exploring the inner dynamics and ups and downs of a couple who do not have a kid?

 Focussing mostly upon that as opposed to the kid and all three of them working out how to fight crime together.

 Not to mention from this point to even get to RYV (even pre-time skip RYV) would take effing years. Peter and MJ just got back together but it’s a write off because we’ve already seen Peter and MJ with an 8 year old kid so fuck following the trajectory that might get us there?

 What kind of nonsense is that?

 CBR nonsense, that’s what.

 Just like the ‘it will reduce the amount of books on the market’.

 Well fuck dude we used to have FOUR Spider-Man books every goddam month about literally the same version of Spider-Man. then 10 years later we had 1 book about Marvel Adventures Spidey, 1 about a high school Spidey, 1 about Mary Jane, then 3 about an adult married Spider-Man.

 I THINK we can be okay with a Spider-Man who’s dating or married to a normal woman and another one where he is married to a super powered version of that woman and they are raising their teenage super powered daughter FFS.

 And even if we do unfortunately lose Renew Your Vows the argument of ‘we’d be losing a Spider book’ doesn’t even hold up THAT much because...WE ALREADY HAVE TOO MANY SPIDER BOOKS!

 Amazing Spider-Man TWICE a month.

Spectacular Spider-Man

Miles Morales

Spider-Gwen

Venom

Scarlet Spider

And soon to come

Spider-Geddon

Spider Force

Spider-Girls

Yet more bullshit I’m sure.

Like I don’t want to lose RYV but dear God we’ve already got TOO MANY Spider books as is.

 “And it may have been better for them both to just stay friends, or at least not jump into getting together again so amazingly fast.”

10 years isn’t amazingly fast bro.

 So to sum up this article is hot trash that utterly failed to justify it’s own stupid title.

 Or maybe it just chronically misspelled it’s own title. Who effing knows. But burn it with fire either way.

[ur-mom-kayn]

Loyalty Chapter 21: On The Road To The League

Zed Pov

"There is no need for you to apologize. That’s your decision and we have to respect it." Even if he doesn’t understand at all. But Kayn finally had the choice of being the Shadow Assassin he always wanted to be. He could take it easy with Zed. Okay, he could do that with Rhaast and maybe his decision was the right one. " Thank you, master, I mean, if I betray Rhaast now the trust that we have in each other would be broken and I would never get a benefit from his immortality. That’s why I believe it’s better for me to build a healthy relationship between us, I hope I didn’t disappoint you. Kayn could not disappoint him anymore. Zed came close and hugged him, in front of all the ones reunited. He stroked Kayn's corrupted shoulder. It was important for him to know that he had Zed’s full trust. "I'm proud of you, my boy. I will always support you. No matter what decision you make."

Before his students could build even more hatred towards Kayn, Zed released him. "Come, my students. It's getting late. Let's go eat. Summoning my shadow clones has cost a lot of strength." " Fine, master. But can you please explain to me what was that from before. You didn’t even take it seriously. You barely hit me except for a few cuts. I do not even bleed anymore." Everyone was shocked by the way Kayn treated their master. What all of them didn’t know was that Zed smiled under his mask. Of course, he didn’t take the battle with seriousness. It was all for testing purposes. However, he found funny that Kayn doesn’t bleed anymore. " Any idea why you cannot bleed?." "Hello? Did you forget about me? Apparently yes. Only for you stupidity knowledge. Kayn’s Shadow Step can heal him. I am immortal. So if he becomes a Shadow Assassin, through me and not stabbing his chest I am able to heal him during the transformation. But only during that short of time. That’s why it was wise of Kayn to go back. Otherwise, he would never get benefits from my immortality ever again."

“Does that mean that you heal for complete when you change body?” Zed asked curiously. “Yes …” Rhaast replied dully. That was indeed a very important realization. “Good. It was definitely the right decision. But let’s go eat first. We can discuss later on how you will continue together in the future.” All obeyed their master and followed him into the dining room. Kayn always stayed close to him. He was visibly uncomfortable with his comrades. It was really hard to restore his reputation. No matter how well Zed portrayed him It didn’t help in absolute, his men hated him and that’s wasn’t going to change that fast.

At the dining table, the mood did not get any better. Kayn was a thorn in the side of his men. He really did not understand anything anymore. His student was now in control. What do they want from him then? At this point, all he could do was to control Rhaast. Zed noticed that all his students had their gazes locked on the weapon behind Kayn. His best pupil, on the other hand, scanned the seats with his eyes. Zed suspected evil … “Master? Where is everybody going? I didn’t want to say anything this morning because the mood was so bad, but some comrades are missing or am I wrong?” “Kayn … we talk about this later. I’ll tell you everything you want, but please not at the dinner table.” Zed tried as best as he could to distract him from the topic. Unfortunately, his clan didn’t cooperate. “How would the seats be filled when everyone is injured or dead? Could Kayn please explain that to us?” “Yes, Kayn! It’s all your fault!” Everything got out of hand. Several acolytes go mad against Kayn and it seems like there was no way to stop them. It was not his fault, but Zeds, he failed. Kayn looked confused. He doesn’t understand the world anymore, Zed could see that through his cabin. However, it was not good just sit there and do nothing.

"Do you have it soon?!" Zed yelled through the hall. Suddenly it became quiet. “You really don’t have any clue, right? Kayn stayed all this time in his room. He followed my command it was me who failed against Xayah and Rakan, not him. So stop bothering him. He did a great job meanwhile we were outplayed by two birds. First, take hold of your own business before condemning another person. For God’s sake! Are you my students or a bunch of teenagers looking for their next victim to bully? You must be all be ashamed of yourselves.”

Zed could not stand watching his men at Kayn. He still looked innocent and did not understand the world anymore. The rest also remained silent. Unfortunately, it did not solve the real problem. Kayn remained as their target, even though nobody said a word after that. Zed sat aside his barely-touched food and reached for Kayn’s wrist. He just wanted to take him away from there. His pupil reached for his scythe and left the room with his master. Together, they went to Kayn’s room, where Rhaast found a new place in the dresser. “What the hell?! are you kidding me? I thought we were partners." "We are partners. That’s why I want to save you from certain scenes. Just sleep. Safe is safe.”

Zed could only hear from their conversation that his student had planned to spend the evening kissing him again. Great … the master of the Shadows really wasn’t in the mood. He was still troubled by the memories of his defeat. Zed sat down on the edge of Kayn’s bed and took off his mask. After the boy finished talking with his weapon, he joined him. Zed knew exactly what was to come. "Zed ... what happened?" For the first time in a long while, Kayn just called him by his name and he was very grateful to him for that. He really did not want to be a master in the story. It was just too embarrassing.

"Sorry Kayn, the others are so mean to you. It was not your fault, it was mine. While you were here locked up, I also locked myself. I didn’t want to see anyone and I did not feel like doing anything. Without you, I felt empty. The bad thing was that I was not at my best. Nevertheless, I went on an important mission with some of the elite unit, but also from the weaker ranks. That was a fatal decision on my part. I was not in my senses. I have never been so unfocused. My body and mind were not in line. And so we failed. The others blame you for being sure that my lousy mood is related to you. They're right, too. But not because I'm sorry for you, but because I can not stand without you Kayn. You are my best friend. To see you suffering like that, my non-existent heart broke. Do you understand what I mean? I was often so close to walking to you and liberating you, even though you were not ready yet. Just so I could look you in the face. It would be a very selfish act of mine, which is why I left it. Instead, I was lying in bed, just thinking about how I could help you. I did not really come close to a solution. I'm sorry Kayn. I really did not want you to suffer. Unfortunately, it was inevitable. I hope you can forgive me."

Kayn hacked into Zed's left hand with his right hand and laid his head on his shoulder. "I've never been angry with you, Zed. You just did your job. I would have liked to support you, unfortunately, I could not. The risk was too high. And if the others want to mark me as their culprit, then leave them. Anyway, I do not think they'll ever trust me again. I also missed you terribly and have to hold back from not visiting you. But you know me. I can not resist your orders. No matter how stupid they may be ... " "What's that supposed to mean?" Zed questioned. "Sry, but 100 men were a lot for me. It was a suicide squad. I would be dead without Rhaast." "Yeah. I saw that too. And I wanted to bring you back, but you were already gone. I really hope you can forgive me." Kayn leaned over to Zed and kissed him on the lips. That was enough answer.

Although Zed initially did not feel like this kind of closeness, the kiss was incredibly good. He knew for sure that he would be with him forever and ever. No matter how much pain the boy will take from him. Kayn loved his body and soul. The least he could do was try to reciprocate that love. Zed broke away from the kiss to take off his armor. From Kayn's closet, he got some sleep clothes and changed. "I have enough for today. I will take free the rest of the day. What about you Kayn? Do you want to cuddle with me?" His student nodded and also changed. When they found themselves together again in bed, they did not really know how to position themselves. The father-son-mesh did not work anymore ...

Kayn Pov

Somehow Kayn felt uncomfortable when Zed locked him in his arms. Of course, the position was nothing new, but still, it felt very wrong. When they kissed each other and Zed pulled Kayn closer to him on his hips, the keg came to him. He was not Zed's wife. Kayn broke away from the kiss and glared at Zed. "What is it?" His master asked. "What's that crap Zed? I'm not a woman. Can not you make out with me like a man? Yesterday everything was okay and now you’re trying to make me submissive? You can calm that down as a master, but not as a lover. Let it be." Zed just looked at him in confusion. He did not understand what Kayn meant until his student pointed him to his hand on Kayn's hip. Zed immediately took his hand away. "Sorry ... I never had anything with a man. No idea how I should behave there. Please be patient with me ... Do you have experience with a man?"

Suddenly Kayn blushed. He did not really know if he should tell Zed the whole story. Unfortunately, he was like an open book to him, so Zed leaned over Kayn and pinned him to the bed with both arms so he could not escape. "Okay, okay. I'll tell you. It was like that ... 3 months ago there was this one sharp woman who could wrap anyone around her finger, including me. I wanted to fuck her, but she allowed me only when I deflowered in exchange her gay best friend. I thought so, hey why not? I'm in love with a man anyway, so fuck it. And that's how I ended up in my first and last fiend's threesome." Zed stared at his student with wide-eyed. Kayn has no idea that the Ionic eyes could open that wide.

"Y-you..had a threesome? 2 men, 1 woman? Was it worth it for the woman and .... and were you the dominant? ", Zed seemed to be very fascinated. Somehow Kayn was embarrassing, but there was no escape. "Yes, I was dominant in both cases. move to another topic now? Memories that I repressed are coming back." Zed released him and lay down next to him. "Was not it cool to be with a man?" "No, ah ... it's complicated. It was cool yes. But only until the time I came. After that, it was just a fiesta ... The man had not emptied his contents before ... and ... shit. Can we please change the subject?" Ah! holy shit Kayn. Oh my god… I can see your memories … what ?! Dude … I’ll turn off the spot … Ahhhh !!! Do you really want to have sex with Zed after that experience? Kayn wasn’t sure. Basically, he did not want more than a smooch. He was not ready yet.

"Okay ... I understand Kayn. So just kissing?" "Yes, please ... ", Kayn replied highly motivated. After the conversation, he could no longer look Zed in the eye. It was just too embarrassing for him. Zed felt it too and left him alone. "Hey, Kayn. Another topic. What are you going to do with Rhaast now? Have you ever thought to swap roles with him in combat? Always depending on who stands in front of you? So not either or, but Shadow to switch to Darkin in the same second and vice versa. By that I mean to jump directly between the level as 'normal' Kayn. Do you think you can do it?" That was indeed a good question. "Maybe. The problem is that there is no communication between us. When I am a Darkin, I can not speak anymore. The one how is in control have to speak out loud and the other one just listen and mentally prepare for an exchange. It’s going to be difficult … " "Understood ... Let's go on a mission tomorrow and train the flowing change." Kayn nodded in agreement. There was nothing else left for him.

"Kayn ... do you want to be the big spoon? You've been wanting that for 2 years don't you?" Surprised, he looked at his master and realized that it was full of seriousness. "Eh .... yes? May I really?" "Sure. But only on a trial basis. If I do not like it, we'll switch again." Kayn agreed unconditionally and hugged Zed from behind. Before falling asleep, Zed turned around and gave Kayn a good night kiss.

...

The next morning Kayn regretted being the big spoon immediately. Holding Zed in the arms was nice, but the pressure of Zed’s ass was more than embarrassing. Immediately, Kayn turned away as he noticed where his morning latte had made himself comfortable. Fortunately, his master slept, but not his 'partner'. You are helpless, still, you don’t want to have sex either. Please explain that to me again… Kayn wondered if Rhaast ever had sexual intercourse. It's complicated. My kind has … let’s say sex too, but it’s… different. But we are able to reproduce. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to have siblings. Unfortunately, that did not answer Kayn's actual question. If you do not stop asking stupid questions, I'll take your penis and rape your master. Just for the record, when you become the Darkin, an exact replica of my original body. Similar but not 1 to 1. And now silent.

Rhaast was angry and somehow that amuses Kayn. Somehow it amused him. But good to know that Rhaast kept his tail. After all, he could specify it. Pff ... sure ... Kayns erection decreased before Zed woke up. He turned to Kayn and kissed him. "Morning Kayn ... slept well?" "Yes ... and you?" "Everything's fine. Except that I don’t let your forearm stretch." Kayn knew exactly what he meant by that. Several times his arm became numb laying under Zed upper body. How could he do that every time without complaining? Anyway, it was a nice change to be the bigger one, but he would not do it permanently. A warm butt was more important to him than the symbolic superiority.

...

After the modest breakfast, Zed, Kayn, and Rhaast went to a camp full of Noxians. This time their number was only about 70 men. No problem for 2 Shadow Assassins and a Darkin. Alone Rhaast could eliminate them by himself, but that would not be in terms of training. Before they attacked the wooded camp, Kayn had to balance his strategy with Rhaast. " So my friend, is there any other way to change roles with you instead of stabbing the blade into my chest?" "Haha yes. But it was so much fun. In principle, my blade only has to cost of your blood. If you submit to me voluntarily anyway, it will be a breeze." "Really Rhaast?" Kayn asked pissed off. "According to me. I just cut my left arm when you should come out. That's where the connection to you is strongest anyway." "Okay ... then I just concentrate that bit of shadow magic that I've learned on our right arm, that's your sign to appear. I pick the thicknesses and you take care of the shooters. Meanwhile, Zed can drink tea without hesitation. Give us a minute. And we’ll be done ."

Zed held his hands protectively over his chest and stepped back. The stage belonged to them and the first actor was Kayn. He became the Shadow Assassin to close the distance from his location to the camp within a millisecond. Once there, he fought the guards with bows and swords. Afterward, Kayn tried the fluid exchange and cut the meat with the point of the blade. In the Shadow Step, Kayn switched from Assassin to Darkin. Rhaast understood his task and focused on the Juggernauts. When he took them down, he exchanged with Kayn. He took care of the swordsmen who came to him with a Blade's Reach. After that, there was not much left of the Noxians. Finally, a gigantic Juggernaut emerged from the forest and attacked Kayn. He flew first 5 meters and crashed unpleasantly against a tree. Kayn quickly cut into his left upper arm and relinquished control to Rhaast. The Darkin did not find it funny how their opponent dealt with Kayn and sent him straight to hell.

After the fight was over, Kayn became a hybrid again. All his wounds were gone, but still, he was breathing hard. He was exhausted, tired. His eyelids were getting heavier. "Hey, Kayn! Do not go limp." The young acolyte felt Zed hold him from behind. "Shit Master ... That drained all of my power. So the change." "Yes, but it was fluent and successful. Maybe this is not a technique for everyday use, but when the going gets tough, you can take advantage of it to make you a good team." "Lick me!" Rhaast did not like the word team neither if that meant being with Kayn. Partner was still clear, but they were not a team.  Even if Kayn didn’t see any difference, it was there for Rhaast. But why? Because my siblings are my team. You ... you're just the perfect host. Don’t hope that I will work with you. I just like your job. Nothing more.

Whatever. Kayn's breathing stabilized again so he could stand without Zed's help. "Let's go home. I want to go to bed." "Shall I carry you?" Zed asked briskly. "I'm not your bride." Kayn snarled and started to move on his own. Zed followed him quietly but stayed close by so he could catch him in case of emergency. However, Kayn was too proud to be helped. Even if he loves him, if he won’t manage to get home on his own feet, then Kayn could feel ashamed for all eternity for what matter. Luckily, his body wasn’t injured. He was just deadly tired. When they arrived home, Kayn immediately threw himself on Zed’s bed. His Master followed him but retired earlier. Together, they just lay in bed and kissed. So they also spent the rest of Zed’s vacation …

Three weeks later...

At last, it was time. Kayn stood with his master at the entrance gates of the Institution of War. Both were intercepted at the reception. Zed had to go through a fingerprint scanner, as he never showed his face to the persons from the staff and there was no other way to identify him. When his identity was confirmed, he was allowed to pass. Kayn, however, was not even registered. "Let him through. He belongs to me. We want to go to the committee to register him." Immediately they let Kayn pass but with a stern look towards his weapon. They were used to weird characters, but they still remained skeptical. When they arrived at the office, they entered without knocking. With Kayn, it was easy to credit him for even crossing the threshold. In the room was an oblong table with 5 important-looking persons in large robes.

"Zed, how can we help you?" " Thank you for allowing me an audience. I’m here because my best student wants to join the League." The five of them took a closer look at Kayn. Maybe he should not have come half naked for a job interview. "Young man step closer and please introduce yourself. Tell us your motivation to join the league." He had practiced this conversation 100 times with Zed in the last few weeks. It already pisses him off that he had to lie. But that was the only way he became more interesting. "My name is Shieda Kayn. I am with Master Zed since he found me as a small child on the battlefield. Before, as a child soldier, I served the Noxian forces, but since then, I hate Noxus. With Zed, I learned the most secret arts of shadow magic. I am also a weapons master. There is no weapon I can not control. And now this is my actual motivation…" Kayn took Rhaast in Both Hands and presented him the 5th. "This is Rhaast. He is one of the 5 legendary Darkins. I've been able to prevent him from taking over my body, but he's still fighting it." Kayn just thought 'now'. At his cue, Rhaast corrupted his left arm and eye. The board jumped slightly as Kayn changed.

"That's the current result of the Darkin. I'm just a hybrid, but soon it could be different. I can hear him in my head and he tortures me with his evil laugh. But still, I can screw him too. In plain language, we only argue. The final outcome of our conflict should be in the league. I will not give up control, but he will not. If I win I will become a Shadow Assassin like Master Zed, but if Rhaast wins, I will become a Darkin. I'm ready to fight this fight forever in the league of legends." At first, no one said a word but then everyone starts clapping at him. It was that a good sign, right?

"My goodness ... We have not heard such an interesting story for a long time. I think we agree on hiring you. Please come back in the summer. We would be very happy to have you here." Just a moment ... in summer? It was just January. He could not wait for 6 months. "But summer is pretty late. Can not I just stay here in the meantime?" " Unfortunately, that won’t work. two ionic champions are scheduled for this spring and we cannot offer you a room in the Ionian quarters section. Xayah and Rakan are the priority right now.  "XAYAH AND RAKAN?!?!?!? !!?!? Are you fucking serious?! First, you put Jhin in front of my nose and now the two birds?! You really have to hate me, right? And now you want to send my student home just because you can not find a bed for him?! Ridiculous!"

A stupid coincidence after another. Zed was really pissed off hard. Understandable. "We are very sorry that you have not been feeling like you lately, but we do not have a room for Kayn. If you find someone willing to share, then you can do that. But he will get his own room at the earliest in 5 months.", Said the man in the middle. All the talk gave Kayn an idea. "I could live with Master Zed. He's theoretically my dad and at home, his room is not far from mine, so that will not be a problem for us." The board was amazed when Kayn put the word father in his mouth. "So if Zed does not mind, Shieda Kayn can stay here quietly." "Hm, what?" Zed asked. He was so absorbed into his rage that he had missed the conversation. " Could your student live with you temporarily?", Asked the woman at the right wing. "Eh ..", Zed paused before answering. "Never mind. Of course, he can stay with me. Everything he asks for is deducted from my salary. I worry about his wellbeing anyway. Why not here too." Zed turned, pulled Kayns arm and took him out of the room. That meant that Kayn officially belonged to the League, right?

[a-tired-bitch]

You, Me, and an RV

1 Part: Completed

MASTER LIST

Summary: After traveling with Nicole for two months in some raggedy RV, the constant rise of sexual tension between the two gets to a point where Negan can’t hold back anymore POV: Negan for the most part, but when the smut ensues it switches. Characters: Negan, Nicole (italics), Turner (italics x indent) Word Count: 5k Author’s Note: This started out as a roleplay post for Joe on some off-site forum I used to take partake in and recently was brought back into, but anyways, after looking over it, I decided to alter the story a bit and swap out Joe for Negan and wa-la. The Joe storyline was far hotter but I’ll use that for YSKB. Negan’s OOC since this is in the early months of the ZA and I wanted to switch up his personality. It’s been over a year since I created a Negan piece, so here you go. @Kate who will eventually read this: I not only hate you for making me get back into RPing and creating this, but I love you for doing that and for the content.  Warnings: I don’t get my content beta’d anymore. My oneshots are always so long, lol. Negan’s basically holding his dick while they talk, lol. I wouldn’t say this is necessarily PWP, but it is PWSP - porn with some plot. But yeah, the usual warnings apply.  Quote: “See, I told you that ‘stupid red scarf’ would look a lot better on you.

Two months…Two months since the rise of the living dead and the crumbling of a civilized society. Two months since the beginning of the battling of not only the lack of sleep, the immense hunger, and the shifting of one’s own saneness and conscience, but the battle of survival that raged between the living against the dead and the living against the living.

One month…One month since the crossing of paths between Negan and a firecracker of a woman named Nicole. One month since the beginning of their shared survival and travels through the state in a raggedy RV that was on its last lifeline.

Two weeks…Two weeks since Negan had acquired that black, leather jacket. Two weeks since the beginning of the rise of sexual tension between the two survivors.

One week…One week since it was Negan’s turn to sleep in the bedroom of the RV instead of the less-than-comfortable couch in the living room. One week since the beginning of the shift from the occasional spout of sexual tension that was usually playful in nature, to a full-blown waterfall of lingering stares and sexual propositions that were never acted on.

A few hours…A few hours since the couple stopped to scavenge a pile-up of cars.  A few hours since the beginning of a partnership with a man named Turner – a skilled mechanic who had offered to look over and repair any problems the RV might have in exchange for a ride and a place to sleep overnight.

One hour…One hour since they had stopped for the night. One hour since the beginning of nightfall. One hour since Turner had disappeared into the tree line to scavenge the woods.

“Our new friend,” a voice spoke, cutting through the long span of silence that enveloped the innards of the RV, “he’s been gone longer than expected – think he’s still alive out there?”

With his tongue sandwiched between his lower lip and the pearly whites of his upper teeth, Negan meticulously wrapped a roll of barbed wire around a bat he had stumbled upon one of their scavenging expeditions.

With the woman’s question going unanswered, Negan lifted his newly created weapon, examining it in the dim lights that brought light to the RV – thick and overlapping strands of steel wire wrapped around the head of the weapon while single loop strings clucked to the shaft.

Far too mesmerized with his creation, he had failed to notice that the blonde had taken a seat next to him on the couch.

“Aye,” the woman called, pulling her hand up to his ear and snapping a single time, “are you listening?” She questioned, her hand returning to her side as she took to her feet once more.

Being forced out of his trance, Negan shook his head a single time while carefully leaning the bat against the couch. “Well, Nicole,” he began, falling back into the pillows of the worn-out couch, “I hear you but I’m not listening,” his gaze settled on the woman who was now facing the kitchen countertop, “so the answer to your question is ‘yes’ and ‘no’.”

Scoffing, he shifted his attention to focus on the window that rested in the middle of the RV door. There, he searched the darkened world for any silhouette of the missing man.

“You know, I’ve probably said the about a million time since you and I crossed paths, but you’re the actual definition of an asshole.” Nicole jested, returning to the couch, but this time, holding two bowls filled with beans.

“Maybe, instead of repeating something I already know and have no ability to change since being an asshole is engrained in my DNA, you should figure out something new to tell me.” A somewhat playful smile took hold of his tired features as he turned to face her, eyeing the bowl for a quick second before accepting it.

With raised brows, Nicole stood there, her mouth agape just the slightest as she stared down at the man who was dressed in something the cast of Grease would wear. “You wanna hear something new?” Her questioned was both a rhetorical one and a way for her to think of a comeback. Scanning the man who was testing out the head of the beans by touching it with the tip of his tongue, Nicole took a seat on the opposite side of the small couch. “How about this: you look ridiculous in that leather jacket and that stupid red scarf.”

With raised brows that accompanied wide eyes, Negan lowered the bowl onto his lap after shifting in his seat so that his body was facing more in her direction. “I said tell me something new, not hurt my fucking feelings. But you know,” he leaned in just slightly, “this ‘stupid red scarf’ would look ten times fucking better on you than it would on me. Shit, maybe you can model it for me one of these days – walk up and down the length of the RV as it was your runway.” The two shared a moment of intense eye contact before Negan leaned away, a couple of throaty laughs coming from him.

This seemingly never-ending game of ‘let’s-continue-to-tell-jokes-to-build-this-obvious-sexual-tension-you-and-I-have-just-to-see-who-crosses-the-line-and-breaks-down-first’ seemed to resemble a game of hot potato – a game they both not only enjoyed playing but were masters at.

“Oh, come on, Negan, why don’t you just admit that you want to see me wear nothing more than that red scarf while you sit on this couch and rub one out.” Suddenly, Nicole’s legs began to stretch towards the man until her feet rested on his knee - this simple, yet semi-innocent action was something Negan was far too familiar with since it was something Nicole had done quite often. “Remember, though, looking for free, but touching is going to cost you.”

Gazing down, his eyes scanned the length of her legs before settling on her face. “Well, shit, in that case, looks like we're both going to miss out, especially you.”

“Prove it. Why don’t you show me what you’re working with and what I’ve been missing out on for these last two months. Go ahead. Do it.”

“Are you fucking with me? You really want me to do this right now?” Negan asked, cocking a brow.

Receiving a nod in response, his hands frantically worked at the button and zipper of his pants before the grey material was free from its constraints. Next, and without breaking eye contact, his right hand dug beneath the waistband of his boxers.

Suddenly, and just seconds before he was about to reveal what she had really been missing out on, an ankle came up and nudged him in the stomach, forcing him to stop.

“I was fucking with you.” Nicole laughed, her leg returning to rest on his knee. “Calm yourself, put that thing away, and let’s talk Turner.”

With his cock in hand, a clenched jaw, and cold and almost deadly stare, Negan just sat there, unamused with her so-called ‘joke’ and annoyed with her constant questioning of the missing man. He knew that there was no way he was going to allow this to slide, so, within the shallow depths of his mind, he began to concoct a plan.

“What the fuck about him?”

Tilting her head just the slightest, she spoke, “Mm, someone’s a bit agitated for no reason,” a smirk pulled at the corner of her lips before she continued, “what are we going to do if he doesn’t come back? Do we go looking for him or just pretend he was never around?”

“Look,” Negan sighed, “maybe we can go scan the tree line in the morning if he doesn’t come back, but for now, it’s not our problem. My only fucking problem is this thing right here,” he muttered, glancing down to his dick that was still hidden beneath his boxers and still within the grip out his hand.  “For now, we do nothing because he isn’t our responsibility. The only people were responsible for is each other.” The tone of his voice was stern and unwavering.

Considering that they had stumbled upon the man just hours before, Negan was in no position to go out and risk his neck for some stranger - after all, the motto of the new world was ‘survival of the fittest’.

Finally, after pulling his hand out from his boxers and buckling up his pants, he peered out through the window of the RV door. “Plus, I like it a lot better when it’s just you, me, and an RV.” He briefly looked over to her, a full-fledged smile taking hold of his tired features.

Nicole couldn’t help but look down at tent that hadn’t been fully pitched in his pants, but nevertheless, that didn’t stray her from looking. “Sleeping arrangements,” her eyes coming up to meet his as he turned his sights from the RV door and rested them on her, “what do you wanna do with them if he does decide to come back? I was thinking it would be a lot safer if you and I sleep in the back bedroom and he sleeps on the couch – you know, for safety reasons.”

“’Safety reasons’, huh?” Realizing that this was a perfect time to get back at her and thankful that it was just a few moments after her span of taking the lead in their little game, Negan began leaning in - close enough so she could feel his breath on her but far enough so that he was a foot or so of space between the two. “Why don’t you just admit to yourself that you want to see how good I am in bed.” His hand began to snake its way down from the armrest before resting on the lower portion of her calf. “Go ahead, admit to yourself that you wanna see how good and…persistent I am…,” fingertips that were once gliding along her leg while he spoke now firmly gripped onto her leg.

With a smile that truly revealed the depths of his dimples, Negan continued to linger there, watching as her eyes traveled down to rest on his lips and feeling how a wave of goosebumps spread out across her skin.

As much as she wanted to lean forward and meet this challenge head-on, Nicole was frozen in place. Despite his lingering from a foot away, the position of him leaning over half of her body made her mind reel in so many wrong directions. It was impossible to not imagine him pulling her to him, but as much as her mind played with these images, her body remained still. When his lips parted to whisper words to her, Nicole could feel the goosebumps crashing against every inch of her skin. She parted her lips to speak, but before she could his clutch on her calf tightened, pulling it so that her body was forced an inch closer to his as he continued to just linger there. As much as she tried to remain emotionless, her eyes widened a bit, blood pounded in her ears and raced up her neck and she had to take her bottom lip between her teeth to keep herself from closing the gap between them as his devilish smile imprinted itself into her mind.

“How good and persistent I am at hogging up all the covers and taking up most of the bed.” The once intense look in his eyes was now replaced by a playful one as he leaned back into the corner of the couch – the tips of his fingers gliding across her skin yet again before resting by his side.

Before either of them could continue with this banter, a knock forced Negan’s smile to fade and for his legs to instinctively bring him to his feet. Looking out the window, he saw Turner staring right back at him while waving his hand.

Rolling his eyes, Negan approached the door just a few steps away, “just as things were about to get good, he decides to show up,” he joked as he unlocked the door, pushing it open. 

Lingering on the last step of the motorhome and blocking the man from entering, Negan looked over the man who was currently soaked in water, shoeless, and holding a container in his hand.  “Go for a swim?” Negan questioned, looking away from the man and glancing around the area. “I’m not sure if you know this, but when the sun fucking disappears, and things begin to get dark and frogs to croak and shit, well, that means its nighttime. I say all this because you said you would be back before dark and would you fucking look at that, it’s not only dark but you're soaking fucking wet.” The only tone in his voice was a tone of neutrality – he wasn’t trying to lecture the man nor was he attempting to make a joke out of the situation. 

Listening to the man’s excuse which revolved around slipping on some rocks and landing in the water, Negan rolled his eyes, shooing the comments away. “Before you come in, change into something that isn’t wet.”

After an hour or so of gathering around and shooting the shit, the time to settle in for the night was rapidly approaching. Following the actions of Nicole who was heading into the back room, Negan slowly took to his feet as well.

Watching as she made her way to the backroom, Negan approached the man who was sitting in a chair just opposite of him – his eyes closed, and his body slumped into the comfort of the chair. When approaching him, Negan grabbed onto his barbed-wired bat with one hand and the man's shoulder with another. “Remember, despite out hospitality and our little deal, that doesn’t mean I won’t kill you.” Negan warned, his voice quieter than usual, making for the warning to be a lot more personal and intimidating. “One mess up. One perceived threat. Hell, if I hear you moving around in here, I assure you, I will take this bat and bash your skull in and then I will kill you.”

Because of his final warning, Turner’s eyes slowly opened, his pupils dilatating accordingly to see the older, black-haired man lingering just inches away from his person – a stern and cold expression grasping his visibly tired and dirtied face. With the warning, the younger man simply nodded – not a word sounded from his mouth, not a breath lifted from his chest, not even a breaking of eye contact interrupted the two, just a silent and fear-filled agreement. 

Standing tall, Negan slapped the man’s shoulder just once while devilish smile replacing his cold expression, “good,” he smirked, “and with that,” he turned, walking towards the backroom where Nicole was lingering in the threshold, “have yourself a good night.”

Placing his hand on the small of her back to move her forward, the couple slipped into the back bedroom – their presence disappearing altogether from the man once the door closed and the ‘click’, indicating that the door was now locked. This lingering touch quickly faded as Negan walked to the small closet while Nicole took to her side of the bed.

“Mind if I change in here or would you rather I go put on a show for Turner?” Rummaging through the pile of dirty clothes, Negan finally found what he was looking for – a less than half bottle of cologne and a stick of deodorant that was on its last leg. 

“I don’t mind if you don’t mind.” Nicole almost teasingly replied while stripping off her jeans. All the while in doing this, her eyes glanced towards Negan at regular intervals as he stood before the small closet, spraying and applying the contents he held. Her glances turned into plain ogling when Negan began peeling off his jacket in a painfully slow manner. This was followed by him stripping his neck free from that ‘stupid red scarf’ - which he tossed over his shoulder towards the bed. Finally, with her gaze still latched onto the man, she traced each line of muscle on his back and lingered on several scars that were scattered across his now naked back. Heat rose up Nicole's neck at the sight and she absentmindedly traced her bottom lip with her tongue as his arms fell to his sides, the shirt crumpled in one hand. She placed her jeans on the bedside table and kept her body turned a bit away from him, but her gaze lingered on him for a moment too long - he cast a single glance over his shoulder and caught her looking his way. The man's chuckle made blood rush to her cheeks and she looked at the wall in front of her, trying her best to ignore the man that was to her left.

“Enjoying the show?” He teased, and when she didn’t answer, he pressed further. “You know, like you said, ‘looking’s for free, but touching is going to cost ya’, so go ahead and look away.” Accompanied with another chuckle, Negan turned, revealing the front of his chest to her, but since her eyes were now closed and her body turned away, it wasn’t much of a reveal. Looking over the woman, Negan came to the realization that she was wearing nothing more than that oversized flannel Turner had offered her and whatever lied beneath. With a slack jaw, Negan forced his eyes off her and down to his pants which he began to slowly unbutton and unzip.  "You're right, tonight's my lucky night," she replied in a huskier tone. Within a few seconds her shirt was open, and since Negan was still behind her, she peeled it off her shoulders and allowed it to slowly pool around her lower back before resting on top of the bed. There, she could feel his eyes latching onto her, scanning over her almost bare body as she tilted her head to the side and began to unhook her bra.

This time, instead of turning away, Negan watched as the process of her undressing unfolded. His eyes – just like her eyes had done just seconds before – scanned over her small frame, pinpointing the handful of dark freckles that marked her back and the imprint her bra left on her tan skin.  Within his mind, a waterfall of not only sexual thoughts flooded in but a string of curses as well, knowing far too well that if he were to remove his pants, he would truly reveal how much of a toll these games took on him, but Negan, a man who was very confident in his manhood, had nothing to worry about.   “I suppose that can go for the both of us,” Negan spoke, dropping his pants and turning to face her.

Reaching back and grabbing her flannel, she slipped it over her shoulders, buttoning the first few buttons, and leaving the bottom open. She then stretched her hands above her head and felt the pleasurable crack of her back in several places before she finally took to her feet and turned to Negan. Noticing that he was now only in his boxers, she had no shame now in letting her eyes trail along his body as her tongue ran across her lower lip before returning her eyes to his. She moved around the bed until she stood in front of him, her eyes rested on his lips as she took a step towards him. Running her fingertips along the man's arm until they came to a stop on his right breast, a devilish smile came to her lips before closing the gap between their lips, only to stop before making contact. “I’m guessing I’m going to have to pay for that.” A wide smile lifted her lips as she stepped back. Watching as the man leaned there like a fool, his eyes slowly opening, Nicole pulled away, crawling over the bed, grabbing hold of the scarf he had discarded before slipping beneath the covers.

A shaky breath escaped the man’s lips as a hand was brought to his face, covering his mouth and nose – his fingertips pulling his eyelids closed. Usually, Negan was one who had a good reign over his emotions, but right now, he was practically like a dog with a bone.

Approaching her end of the bed, Negan rested one knee on it, followed by a hand, which was followed by the other knee and hand. He lingered there for a moment before crawling towards her – an animalistic force driving him to do this. With every crawl, he came closer and closer until her body was under his and their faces were once again inches apart.

Nicole’s body buzzed as if on an adrenaline high, and her mind reeled with all the possibilities of what he would do or say next. They were both wild cards that slowly stepped over new limits with their growing desires. She didn't have to look down to know Negan’s arousal, the look on his face when she leaned into him just second before was enough. The blonde had him by the balls and he had played along like a child being coaxed with candy. Slowly, he rested a knee on the bed, and she lifted her chin and met his gaze challengingly, only to be surprised to find a predatory gleam there. The hairs on her arms instantly raised and her pupils dilated, intimidated by the nature of his approach, literally crawling across the bed until he was above her body - any control that she had once had on the situation was ripped away. Every cell of her body hummed to life beneath the shadow of Negan’s body. Her mind played through all the endless possibilities of how her night could pan out. She imagined his hands wandering across her skin, leaving trails of warmth behind them. Crystal orbs watched his lips as her mind played out what it might feel like to have them latched to her own or trailing down her jawline to her neck. Since her mind was buzzing with the images that tortured her.

Throughout the ordeal, Negan’s eyes never wavered – that predatory sexual hunger never faltering. He wanted her, and he knew the feeling was mutual in her eyes as well – it had to be, with all the teasing and the events that just unraveled within the past couple of minutes, he knew she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. 

“Why don’t we see how this red scarf looks on me.” And with that, rough and calloused hands slid onto the exposed skin of her leg, setting it ablaze with a rush of electricity that ended at her neck and she leaned forward, finally closing the gap between them. Her eyes closed and the hands that had once gripped the scarf now awoke and searched for a place to take hold. Her left hand moved from the front of his bare chest and around to between his shoulder blades, pulling her own body upwards to meet his as her right hand settled onto his neck. His body shifted away from her and her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist, not wanting him to break away just yet. In response his hand snaked up her leg until his arm was around her, supporting most of her weight as he lifted both of them off the bed. Suddenly her heart began thundering in her chest as her head tilted further into the kiss.

Slender legs tightened around his waist as Negan’s hands moved down to her calves and tried to remove her from him. The feel of her tongue gently racing across his bottom lip forced a soft and reluctant groan from the back of Negan’s throat in response before she finally allowed him to lower her body to the floor. Now, with her body pressed against his frame, he knew that she could feel the full extent of his erection against her. "Now, let's lay down a few rules," he began, his voice holding an authoritative tone while leaning to grab the crumbled-up scarf.

Now, his hands rested on top of her shoulders for a moment before slowly traveling down her arms, "I get to touch you, but you must keep your hands to yourself," his hands reached her wrists and lifted them, so he could begin tying entrapping them within the constraints of the cloth. "If you disobey an order," he finished constraining her before suddenly spinning her body around, making her stumble slightly until her back was pressed against his chest. Negan’s hand began to travel around his body while lips grazed her neck, never making full contact until they brushed lightly against her ear when he whispered, "I'll stop.”

As much as she wanted to shift into his hand to feel them press roughly against her again, she didn't, knowing that this might be considered her touching him. His feather-light touch sent chills traveling through whatever area of her body he chose to torture. Muscles tensed on cue and her head tilted to the side when his arm snaked around to lie flat on her stomach, but this didn’t last long for his hand began to move up her stomach. Nicole’s head leaned back until it rested in the crook of Negan’s neck as his left thumb started teasing the bottom of her breast while the tips of his right fingers slipped beneath her underwear and began moving along her slit. The blonde's breathing hitched as chills raced down her spine as he tilted his head and began nipping at her neck and ear, his beard a rough contrast to his tender lips. 

After what seemed like ages of agonizingly being teased, both hands suddenly attacked their indicated targets. Nicole's back arched- the fingers of his left hand roughly gripped her breast as the right's plunged into her. A soft moan escaped her lips and both of his hands immediately stopped. His left hand gently slid back down before gripping her side, turning her around and pushing her back onto the bed. Her eyes locked with the depths of brown as his left pointer finger pressed against his lips, 'shhhh' he whispered softly before hovering above her – his sights now targeting her neck and ear area.

"You," he breathed, taking the lobe of her ear between his teeth, and grazing it gently with his tongue before continuing, "are going to be – “, a trail of kisses started from the crease of her neck until he slowly kneeled for the edge of the bed, his kisses now sprinkling across her lower abdomen. “drowning in debt after this."

With that, he slowly pried open her legs before his index fingers looped around the material of her underwear and began pulling them off – while doing this, a string of kisses began to spread out across her thighs.

“Now remember, we have a guest in the room over, so try not to be too loud.” Negan teased, his hands coming up to lock around her thighs, pulling her body towards his face. Chuckling on last time, he glanced up at her before making sweet contact. At first, his licks were almost kitten-like as he teasingly lapped at her, feeling her squirm above him, but this didn’t last long. Instead of short and barely-making-contact-licks, Negan presented her with something more satisfying: a hand that was gliding up to grab her breast, a tongue, and lips that meticulously and rhythmically paid attention to her clit, and a pair of fingers that plunged into her.

This new and unfamiliar action made another soft moan fall from Nicole’s lips. In this moment, and for the moments to come, she wanted so desperately to grip onto the locks of his hair, but she knew, just as she had before, that this may be considered her disobeying his stern order. Instead, she allowed her hips to grind against him with every lick, nibble, and suckle. As a result, the wave of pleasure that was slowly building up throughout the ordeal was rapidly approaching – daring to wash over her body at any second.

“Oh, come on now, don’t hold back on me – you know I won’t do that to you.” He muttered, his breaths heavy and his eyes coming up to watch as her body grinded and squirmed with his actions. Watching as the woman passed closer and closer to climaxing, his hand gripped her breast more firmly, his fingers increased in pace, and his tongue continued bringing her pleasure.

It didn’t take long but her grinding came to a halt and her back arched – a wave of pleasure crashed through her body and a string of contractions wrapped around the culprit of her pleasure, making his fingers slowly come to a stop.

Pulling his fingers from her, Negan slowly lifted himself – his hand coming away from her breast to rest on the red scarf that kept her hands together. “I know I said that you’re going to be drowning in debt, but,” he paused, his tongue running along his lips to sponge up her fluids, “but you listened and didn’t touch, so I guess you’re in the free.”

Laughing, he brought his fingers up, examining them in the light – here, his eyes watched as his fingers glistened with her cum. A pride-filled smile spread across his lips before disappearing as his fingers came up and his mouth sucked them clean.

Untying the wrist from the limp woman’s arms, Negan took the scarf. “See, I told you that ‘stupid red scarf’ would look a lot better on you.”

[tailsbeth-writes]

The Serpent Or Me - Part 1 (Bughead/Serpent!Jughead x Serpent!Reader)

Jughead has never cared about fitting in, as long as he has Betty and the gang he knows he has his place in Riverdale. However, Southside High has brought him an odd comfort and new friends very easily. The serpents have taken him under their wing, one in particular y/n has started to show him how things work in the gang. Jughead starts to grow a fondness for y/n that feels uneasy, he’s stuck between two worlds. Where or who should he choose?

Characters/Pairings: Jughead x Betty, Serpent!Reader.

Warnings: Kissing.

Word Count: 2140.

Notes: Firstly I’m sorry this is out later than planned, I’ve been teasing this piece for way too long. Secondly I stuggled a bit getting into Jughead’s POV style. I think this just gives me an excuse to rewatch the season again and pick up on his narration style. Finally if you have any suggestions on where you think this should go let me know, I have the next 2 parts planned but I am intrigued to see where you think it will go. Collabing is my fave! Anyway, enjoy.

Masterlist.     Read on Ao3

Jughead’s POV

Southside High was certainly rough around the edges. Riverdale was a beauty in comparison.

The metal detectors were new to me, I’d never been searched to go to class before. It was a sign of the times, I guess. Just another new thing to get used to. I headed to my locker, headphones on and eyes to the ground. I was still the new kid after all. I took out my math textbook and a copy of ‘Of Mice And Men’ for English, luckily I’d read it at Riverdale so I wouldn’t be unprepared. I checked my phone, killing time before first period. Betty had already text me twice, despite us being on the phone only twenty minutes before.

Betty: Riverdale feels weird without you Jug. I miss you :( xx

Betty: I can’t wait to see you again. Friday can’t come quick enough xx

Me: I miss you too Bets. Being the new kid is strange. Friday is going to get me through though. Can’t wait to see you x x

At Riverdale, I may have been the outcast but I had Betty Cooper by side. Betty was the strongest person I had ever known, I knew if anyone could handle this distance it was her. I had moved here to keep her safe, I just hoped she wouldn’t get herself into trouble. Considering the current state of affairs that was the town of Riverdale however, trouble could be anywhere we turned.

The lunch bell rang and I quickly made my way to cafeteria, if anything could help this day it was food. Food was reliable to make things better. I quickly queued up and filled my tray. I gazed around the dining hall and found a free table in the corner, I could hopefully keep to myself. I sat down and took out a book from my bag. I wasn’t planning on reading much but it was a good way to get way with people watching.

As I munched on a bag of chips, hidden away behind a copy of ‘American Psycho’, I began to take in the residents of Southside High. I definitely didn’t stick out as much here, most kids wore my outcast uniform. There were still cliques but they were less defined than Riverdale’s. There was a table of cheerleaders, instead of a collection of neat ponytails and impeccable uniforms, they had faces full of piercings and wore shabby gym clothes in the black and red school colours. To the right of me was clearly the geek table, instead of obsessing over the latest gadget or video game, they were playing some fantasy card game, arguing over the last ‘spell’ used.

I could also see a lot of Serpents around, their famous emblem standing out amongst the students. I had decided not to wear my jacket yet, I wasn’t ready to declare to the world I was joining the gang. I tried to be discreet as possibly taking in the student population but one girl caught my attention. She wore the familiar leather jacket and sat at a table with a few other Serpents. She didn’t seem to be participating with her peers however, her eyes were pretty steadily staying in my direction. As we made eye contact, she quickly gained interest in the conversation her friends were having. Her actions came across as confident, appearing as natural as possible when I caught her. I couldn’t help but feel curious, wondering what her story was.

As the week went on, I started gaining more attention. I could hear chatter going around of my dad’s apparent heroics and my arrival at Southside High. There was only so much I could do to avoid my fellow students. It was the end of the day and I swapped my textbooks at my locker. I could see shadows forming on the floor in front of me suddenly, I felt a group crowd gather around me. A few wore gang jackets, making it obvious why they were talking to me.

‘So you’re the famous FP’s son?’ A guy to the right of me asked, his hair was dark and greasy.

‘Jughead, right?’ A thin girl to the left of me said, snarling slightly. I turned around to face the group of intrigued faces. They had closed in around me, giving me no choice but to answer them.

‘Yes and yes.’ I replied. I noticed the girl from the cafeteria at the back of group, her presence had been very regular all week. She was in all my classes and her locker was only a few down from mine.

‘That was pretty cool what your old man did.’ A short boy piped up, he must have only been fourteen. I couldn’t help but smile, for the first time I actually had a reason to be proud of my dad. He’d helped so many people by staying quiet, he stopped more families being torn apart and well, he’d saved my life.

‘So you’re joining the Serpents, we heard?’ The cafeteria girl asked, raising an eyebrow at me. My mouth twisted, my decision wasn’t set in stone yet but I didn’t want to risk upsetting anyone right now. I’d managed to keep a pretty low profile all week and didn’t want to shatter that now.

‘Yeah, think so.’ I got out, it seemed to satisfy the group as they all grinned at me.

‘We’ll be seeing you around then, Jughead.’ The skinny girl declared and the group walked off. I took a deep breath, happy to have survived my first grilling. The cafeteria girl had gone to her locker and noticed me sighing in relief. She giggled at me, her laugh was delicate. She started to sort books in her locker.

‘I’m y/n by the way.’ She pushed her hand forward. I took it, giving her a brief handshake.

‘Nice to meet you. I’m Jughead, but you already know that.’ I gave a light snort. She gave me a little smile. It was nice to finally place a name on the mysterious girl. She made the writer in me go mad, the intrigue was intoxicating. We started to walk out the school, accidentally walking together.

‘So how are you finding Southside?’ She asked me, her tone was friendly.

‘Well it certainly isn’t Riverdale. I don’t stick out here and I’m just trying to get my head around that.’ I answered honestly.

‘Yeah, I think this school was founded just for outcasts.’ She joked. We laughed, she made a fair point. We had got to the parking lot, we stopped at a motorbike.

‘Well this is me. Need a ride?’ She asked, her y/e/c eyes widened innocently.

‘I’m okay, thanks though.’

‘Okay. Feel free to chat to me y’know, I know how much it sucks being the new kid. See you around Jughead.’ She got on top of her bike and started it up. I gave her a quick wave before she put her helmet on. With a quick roar, she was off. Warmth grew in my stomach, I realised I had just made my first friend at Southside High.

Friday finally came round and I couldn’t have been happier. I had missed everything about Betty; her humbled smile, her infectious laugh, how she clasped my hand, the way she kissed me.

Betty: I am so excited to see you! I think everybody’s annoyed at me cause it’s all I’ve talked about today. I’m on my way to Pop’s now xx

Me: It’s been hell without you Bets, I can’t wait. You’ll probably arrive before me so order my usual please x x x

Betty: No problem, see you soon Jug :) xxx

I practically ran to my truck when the bell rang. My foster family had trusted me enough with their truck pretty quickly, they understood I had a life in Riverdale that I couldn’t just abandon. As I started it, the radio came on automatically. Normally I’d turn it off but today it didn’t bother me, I was finally getting to see my girlfriend and nothing could spoil my mood.

I pulled up to Pop’s and could already see Betty in a window, the neon lights placing an angelic filter upon her. I hurried up to the diner, Betty was already up from the booth and pacing towards me. I came to join her and placed my arms around her. The smell of her sweet perfume filled my nostrils, I’d missed that scent. She brought her lips to mine, I kissed her back immediately barely controlling myself. Our lips crashed together frantically.

We finally separated, hearing a sly cough from another customer. We let out a breathy laugh, Betty mouthed a quick sorry to the table next to us.

‘Hi.’ She smiled at me, laying her forehead on mine.

‘Hi.’ I had missed her blue eyes, I could stare at them for days.

‘Maybe we should sit down?’ She suggested.

‘I suppose.’ I gave her a fake frown. She giggled at me and took my hand, walked me over to the table. My food was ready and waiting for me thankfully, I was starving. I sat down and instantly tucked in.

‘Some things will never change.’ Betty looked at me with a smirk.

‘A guy’s got to eat.’ I replied, before taking another bite from my burger.

‘So how’s Southside treating you?’ She enquired, leaning on the table with her elbow, her petit face in her hand. I wasn’t sure what to tell her, I didn’t want to freak her out with Serpent chatter. I decided to edit the truth.

‘Pretty well, it’s been easy to keep to myself.’ Betty frowned at me, I could see disappointment in her eyes.

‘Haven’t you made any friends?’

‘Well there’s one girl, y/n. She’s been in most of my classes so we kind of accidentally got talking.’ I think keeping the fact that she was a serpent, out of it was for the best. I could see a tinge of jealousy across Betty’s face, she leaned back in the booth.

‘That’s cool. No one else?’ She quickly dismissed y/n, it was ideal as I already felt uncomfortable lying to her.

‘Nope, I like my own company Bets, you know that.’ I reassured her. I placed my hand on top of hers on the table. I rubbed her soft skin under my rough fingers.

‘I know, but I just want to make sure you’ve got someone to look out for you. I hate that I can’t be there with you.’ Her voice sounded a little choked up.

‘I’ll get there Betty, please don’t worry about me.’ I gave her a rare grin to let her know everything was okay. It seemed to make her feel better as she took both my hands. Her hands always felt warmer in comparison to mine. That’s how we were in general, Betty was warm and inviting but I was cold and locked up.

‘What about Riverdale? How’s Archie doing?’ I had left at the worst possible time for my best friend. Fred Andrews had been a temporary father to me and when I heard he had been shot, a little part of me broke. I’d texted Archie a lot but he barely replied and when he did, I got a couple of words at most.

‘He’s struggling, Juggie. His dad’s still in hospital, so his mom is back in Riverdale. He started back at school this week and he’s just not the same. Veronica is trying everything she can, me too but he’s just cold. I really don’t know what to do Jug.’ She bit her lip, I’d seen that concerned face many a time. I knew it meant Archie really was in bad shape. I squeezed her hands.

‘We’ll figure something out, okay? I’m going to try and see him tomorrow.’

‘Don’t expect much of a conversation, I’ve never seen Archie so quiet. His mom said he’s not even playing guitar.’ She looked at me doubtfully. Knowing Betty Cooper, I knew she’d probably tried every strategy to get Archie’s old self back.

‘I’d rather try than not at all. I’ve been a pretty bad friend, barely around so I need to do something.’

‘Hopefully he’ll be happy to see you.’ Betty looked down at the table, a little dazed.

‘You okay?’ I asked, tilting my head to the side. Betty sighed.

‘I think I’m just a bit out of it, everything’s getting to me and I don’t have you by side.’ She hesitantly flipped her hands over, I recognised the little red scratches on her palms. I hated it when she did this, it still seemed odd to me that Betty was just as dependant on me as I was her. I dipped my lips to her hands, leaving small kisses across her wounds.

‘Well I’m here now, Betty.’

Read Part 2 Here

Series Tag List: @andywicked

[droneseco]

The Zhiyun Smooth-Q2: The Gimbal That Fits in Your Pocket

Our verdict of the Zhiyun Smooth-Q2: If you are looking for a portable smartphone gimbal that actually fits in your pocket, the Zhiyun Smooth-Q2 delivers. Tiny, well made, easy to use and budget-friendly, this is the perfect gimbal for all smartphone users.1010

Mobile phones have turned us all into videographers. Whether we are posting stories and videos to social media, or capturing important moments in our lives, more video is created daily than in any other time in history.

A gimbal can give shaky smartphone footage a smoother, more professional look. There’s only one problem: any gimbal worth buying is too bulky to transport easily or expensive.

Until now.

The Zhiyun Smooth-Q2 is a pocket-sized gimbal and is currently the subject of a successful Kickstarter campaign. At $109 for the basic package, it’s budget-friendly—but is it any good?

Small Gimbal, Big Claims

Smartphone gimbals are not a new concept, but what sets the Smooth-Q2 aside is its size. At just over 20 cm high, it fits comfortably in trouser pockets. This is one of the main focuses of the Kickstarter campaign for this gimbal, which will be shipping to Kickstarter backers starting in October.

The basic early bird package for the Smooth-Q2 on Kickstarter costs $109, with a premium kit including accessories for $119. There are other Kickstarter price options, but the cost of the gimbal on release will likely be $30 more on top of the early bird prices.

My review of the Smooth-Q2 coincided with covering IFA 2019, a large and busy tech conference. As such, there were long periods in between filming things, and at no point did it feel cumbersome in my pocket.

Unboxing or Lack Thereof

Since this an unreleased pre-Kickstarter product, there are a few caveats to this review. The Smooth-Q2 came in simple packaging and without an English language manual. Even after translating the Chinese manual, I discovered that the “ZY Play” app which accompanies Zhiyun products wasn’t yet compatible with the Smooth-Q2.

This means that the promised timelapse, object tracking and Hitchcock dolly zoom effect were not available during the review. I was, however, able to connect my phone using Bluetooth and use the in-handle record button.

Everything I am reviewing today is the gimbal “as is”, though given our previous experience with Zhiyun it’s fairly safe to assume these extras will work as promised.

Included in the pre-Kickstarter kit were the gimbal, a USB-C charging cable, and the quick start guide in Chinese.

The Specs

In terms of specs, at 8 x 4 x 1.63 inches (204 x 102 x 41.5 mm) and 1 pound (450g) it’s both small and light.

It supports smartphones from 2.17-3.19 inches (55-86mm) wide, and 0.17-0.57 pounds (75-260g) in weight. The internal battery is a 4500mAh 21700 Lithium-Ion cell which gives up to 16 hours of run time. Charge time is around 4 hours.

The body is made of CNC-machined aluminum with a rubber handle, and the build quality feels excellent. Robust without being too heavy, it’s not rugged but it’s also unlikely to get damaged in your pocket or bag.

Now would be a good time to mention that the gimbal also doubles as a battery bank. There is a micro-USB port on the top arm of the gimbal for charging your phone, or powering it when in use. While this will undoubtedly cut into the gimbal usage time, it’s a neat feature.

Even better, in an age where batteries are sealed inside devices, inaccessible to the user, the Smooth-Q2 has a screw-cap base allowing quick swapping of batteries.

Zhiyun Smooth-Q2 In Use

Setting up the Smooth-Q2 was quick and easy. After charging I added my phone to the quick release clip and slid it into the gimbal before locking it in place. The gimbal auto leveled the phone, and I was ready to go.

Bluetooth pairing was simple and linked the onboard record button to both the default camera and Open Camera app. While the “ZY Play” app does not yet support it, the app is simple to use with other Zhiyun products, and there’s no reason to think the Smooth-Q2 will be any different. The gimbal has five settings as standard:

PF – (Pan Follow): Follows twisting of the wrist left and right but locks the tilt, which is controlled by the joystick.

L – (Lock): Locks the position of the camera, giving the “chicken head” effect. The joystick effects both pan and tilt in this mode.

F – (Full Follow): Follows wrist movements for pan and tilt, the joystick effects roll.

POV: Tilt, pan and roll are all affected by wrist position, the joystick is deactivated.

Vortex Mode: Spins the gimbal continously via the joystick.

Every mode here has its uses. I found myself using the full follow mode the most, simply as it allowed the greatest freedom. The vortex mode is a little different as you need to hold the gimbal out in front of you like a torch to use it.

The different modes are all fairly intuitive to use, and switching between them on the fly is simple with one joystick press moving forward through the choices, and two presses moving backward. Pressing the power button once displays battery level using the onboard LEDs.

Portable and Practical?

The combination of the small size of the gimbal and the quick release mechanism makes the Smooth-Q2 very quick to set up. From getting it out of my pocket to filming took under 10 seconds. While the clip makes my already large phone a little cumbersome, it has a surprisingly low profile.

The bottom of the gimble has a 1/4 inch screw thread which fits a regular tripod mount, and the premium Kickstarter package includes a mini desk tripod. I found in my testing that the gimbal will quick happily stand alone without a tripod on a flat surface.

The motors felt solid at all times, even with my phone slightly off-center due to the position of its buttons.

Any Problems?

Throughout testing this gimbal, I found it to operate much as promised. The footage remained smooth, and the battery never gave out on me. The simplicity of the device is one of its major plus points, and there is no learning curve using it. I’m confident anyone could pick it up and use it more or less immediately.

At the time of review, to use the gimbal in portrait mode, you need to hold it sideways. This could get tiring pretty quickly, but I’m still in the camp of vertical video being unacceptable at any time, so it didn’t particularly bother me.

I could imagine someone with a wider angle lens on their phone having issues with the gimbal arm coming into shot in certain modes. While you could flip your phone in the mounting clip, you’d then have it covering the screen when recording. This is only an issue when holding the gimbal straight up, tilting it forward would put the arm totally out of the way, and for a gimbal this tiny I think it’s an acceptable trade-off.

I suspect for many users the quick release clip might be somewhat redundant as it’s straightforward to put your phone in. In my case, the clip is a little too thin for my phone, and it didn’t sit correctly, though it was still secure. Any phone with a power button halfway down the side of the body will not sit centrally.

Despite my phone being heavier than most, the gimbal only struggled when I was moving my hand so erratically that it couldn’t compensate.

Should You Buy The Zhiyun Smooth-Q2?

Kickstarters are always a risk, and no matter the company, you should be aware that many people have been burned by them. That said, Zhiyun has plenty of previous examples of delivering great products, so we think it’s safe to treat this campaign as a pre-order.

Even without the extra smartphone app features, this gimbal is solid and simple to use. It would be equally suited to someone wanting a budget device to up their social media game, and someone wanting to incorporate serious cinematic effects into their creations. Whether you pay $109 for the early-bird package, or the $139 it may cost on release, this gimbal is an absolute steal, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Enter the Competition!

Zhiyun Smooth Q2 Smartphone Gimbal Giveaway

Read the full article: The Zhiyun Smooth-Q2: The Gimbal That Fits in Your Pocket

The Zhiyun Smooth-Q2: The Gimbal That Fits in Your Pocket published first on http://droneseco.tumblr.com/

[grassroutes]

The Zhiyun Smooth-Q2: The Gimbal That Fits in Your Pocket

Our verdict of the Zhiyun Smooth-Q2: If you are looking for a portable smartphone gimbal that actually fits in your pocket, the Zhiyun Smooth-Q2 delivers. Tiny, well made, easy to use and budget-friendly, this is the perfect gimbal for all smartphone users.1010

Mobile phones have turned us all into videographers. Whether we are posting stories and videos to social media, or capturing important moments in our lives, more video is created daily than in any other time in history.

A gimbal can give shaky smartphone footage a smoother, more professional look. There’s only one problem: any gimbal worth buying is too bulky to transport easily or expensive.

Until now.

The Zhiyun Smooth-Q2 is a pocket-sized gimbal and is currently the subject of a successful Kickstarter campaign. At $109 for the basic package, it’s budget-friendly—but is it any good?

Small Gimbal, Big Claims

Smartphone gimbals are not a new concept, but what sets the Smooth-Q2 aside is its size. At just over 20 cm high, it fits comfortably in trouser pockets. This is one of the main focuses of the Kickstarter campaign for this gimbal, which will be shipping to Kickstarter backers starting in October.

The basic early bird package for the Smooth-Q2 on Kickstarter costs $109, with a premium kit including accessories for $119. There are other Kickstarter price options, but the cost of the gimbal on release will likely be $30 more on top of the early bird prices.

My review of the Smooth-Q2 coincided with covering IFA 2019, a large and busy tech conference. As such, there were long periods in between filming things, and at no point did it feel cumbersome in my pocket.

Unboxing or Lack Thereof

Since this an unreleased pre-Kickstarter product, there are a few caveats to this review. The Smooth-Q2 came in simple packaging and without an English language manual. Even after translating the Chinese manual, I discovered that the “ZY Play” app which accompanies Zhiyun products wasn’t yet compatible with the Smooth-Q2.

This means that the promised timelapse, object tracking and Hitchcock dolly zoom effect were not available during the review. I was, however, able to connect my phone using Bluetooth and use the in-handle record button.

Everything I am reviewing today is the gimbal “as is”, though given our previous experience with Zhiyun it’s fairly safe to assume these extras will work as promised.

Included in the pre-Kickstarter kit were the gimbal, a USB-C charging cable, and the quick start guide in Chinese.

The Specs

In terms of specs, at 8 x 4 x 1.63 inches (204 x 102 x 41.5 mm) and 1 pound (450g) it’s both small and light.

It supports smartphones from 2.17-3.19 inches (55-86mm) wide, and 0.17-0.57 pounds (75-260g) in weight. The internal battery is a 4500mAh 21700 Lithium-Ion cell which gives up to 16 hours of run time. Charge time is around 4 hours.

The body is made of CNC-machined aluminum with a rubber handle, and the build quality feels excellent. Robust without being too heavy, it’s not rugged but it’s also unlikely to get damaged in your pocket or bag.

Now would be a good time to mention that the gimbal also doubles as a battery bank. There is a micro-USB port on the top arm of the gimbal for charging your phone, or powering it when in use. While this will undoubtedly cut into the gimbal usage time, it’s a neat feature.

Even better, in an age where batteries are sealed inside devices, inaccessible to the user, the Smooth-Q2 has a screw-cap base allowing quick swapping of batteries.

Zhiyun Smooth-Q2 In Use

Setting up the Smooth-Q2 was quick and easy. After charging I added my phone to the quick release clip and slid it into the gimbal before locking it in place. The gimbal auto leveled the phone, and I was ready to go.

Bluetooth pairing was simple and linked the onboard record button to both the default camera and Open Camera app. While the “ZY Play” app does not yet support it, the app is simple to use with other Zhiyun products, and there’s no reason to think the Smooth-Q2 will be any different. The gimbal has five settings as standard:

PF – (Pan Follow): Follows twisting of the wrist left and right but locks the tilt, which is controlled by the joystick.

L – (Lock): Locks the position of the camera, giving the “chicken head” effect. The joystick effects both pan and tilt in this mode.

F – (Full Follow): Follows wrist movements for pan and tilt, the joystick effects roll.

POV: Tilt, pan and roll are all affected by wrist position, the joystick is deactivated.

Vortex Mode: Spins the gimbal continously via the joystick.

Every mode here has its uses. I found myself using the full follow mode the most, simply as it allowed the greatest freedom. The vortex mode is a little different as you need to hold the gimbal out in front of you like a torch to use it.

The different modes are all fairly intuitive to use, and switching between them on the fly is simple with one joystick press moving forward through the choices, and two presses moving backward. Pressing the power button once displays battery level using the onboard LEDs.

Portable and Practical?

The combination of the small size of the gimbal and the quick release mechanism makes the Smooth-Q2 very quick to set up. From getting it out of my pocket to filming took under 10 seconds. While the clip makes my already large phone a little cumbersome, it has a surprisingly low profile.

The bottom of the gimble has a 1/4 inch screw thread which fits a regular tripod mount, and the premium Kickstarter package includes a mini desk tripod. I found in my testing that the gimbal will quick happily stand alone without a tripod on a flat surface.

The motors felt solid at all times, even with my phone slightly off-center due to the position of its buttons.

Any Problems?

Throughout testing this gimbal, I found it to operate much as promised. The footage remained smooth, and the battery never gave out on me. The simplicity of the device is one of its major plus points, and there is no learning curve using it. I’m confident anyone could pick it up and use it more or less immediately.

At the time of review, to use the gimbal in portrait mode, you need to hold it sideways. This could get tiring pretty quickly, but I’m still in the camp of vertical video being unacceptable at any time, so it didn’t particularly bother me.

I could imagine someone with a wider angle lens on their phone having issues with the gimbal arm coming into shot in certain modes. While you could flip your phone in the mounting clip, you’d then have it covering the screen when recording. This is only an issue when holding the gimbal straight up, tilting it forward would put the arm totally out of the way, and for a gimbal this tiny I think it’s an acceptable trade-off.

I suspect for many users the quick release clip might be somewhat redundant as it’s straightforward to put your phone in. In my case, the clip is a little too thin for my phone, and it didn’t sit correctly, though it was still secure. Any phone with a power button halfway down the side of the body will not sit centrally.

Despite my phone being heavier than most, the gimbal only struggled when I was moving my hand so erratically that it couldn’t compensate.

Should You Buy The Zhiyun Smooth-Q2?

Kickstarters are always a risk, and no matter the company, you should be aware that many people have been burned by them. That said, Zhiyun has plenty of previous examples of delivering great products, so we think it’s safe to treat this campaign as a pre-order.

Even without the extra smartphone app features, this gimbal is solid and simple to use. It would be equally suited to someone wanting a budget device to up their social media game, and someone wanting to incorporate serious cinematic effects into their creations. Whether you pay $109 for the early-bird package, or the $139 it may cost on release, this gimbal is an absolute steal, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Enter the Competition!

Zhiyun Smooth Q2 Smartphone Gimbal Giveaway

Read the full article: The Zhiyun Smooth-Q2: The Gimbal That Fits in Your Pocket

The Zhiyun Smooth-Q2: The Gimbal That Fits in Your Pocket posted first on grassroutespage.blogspot.com

[rfwhatsnext]

RF Leadership Academy - Reflections from Hong Kong and New York

We asked two of our 2017 Ruder Finn Leadership Academy participants, Carmen Lee (Hong Kong) and Emilie Hayhoe (New York), to reflect on their experiences at this year’s RF Academy which took place in Kuala Lumpur.

Did the RF Academy meet your expectations?  Carmen It was what I expected in terms of the opportunity to network with colleagues and experts from other offices. But the experience of creating a crisis management plan with colleagues from other offices, and presenting the plan to the guest judges of senior management, was really beyond my expectations. I enjoyed this process a lot! The group discussion on digital storytelling and analytics also exceeded my expectations.

Emilie It was difficult to know what to expect heading into the Academy. I knew it would be a chance to connect with global colleagues and learn about our crisis and digital capabilities in greater detail, but that was it. Now that I’m on the other side of the experience I can say the Academy exceeded my expectations – everything we did at the Academy was edifying to a degree and I came out of it with new friendships, a better understanding of the work we’re doing globally and inspiration to work more collaboratively with global offices.

 What did you enjoy most at the RF Academy? Carmen I enjoyed the analytics part the most. To me, our role as consultants never changes – we help clients understand their customers, and then formulate communications campaigns to drive business results. The advances in marketing technologies and visualisation tools are here to help us make more informed, real-time decisions. We should all learn how to utilise these tools better.  During the training, all of us agreed that data analytics needs to be a core element of our work, both internally and externally.

Emilie Hands-down, I enjoyed meeting and networking with the people at the Academy. I greatly enjoyed seeing Jean-Michel (Chairman of Ruder Finn Asia) lead the Academy with finesse, ensuring every participant was engaged; getting to know Charles Lancaster (Head of Crisis and Risk in Asia) and learn his POV on crisis communications leadership; hearing David Ko (Head of RFI in Asia) passionately present the creative, smart, inspiring work he’s leading in Hong Kong and his enthusiasm for digital and analytics. Connecting with the smart and motivated leaders of Ruder Finn’s global offices made the Academy exceptional.

What is your number one takeaway from the conference? Carmen How much business opportunity data analytics can bring to myself and my colleagues! 

Emilie We’re better together. It’s pretty cool that we have the ability to tap into a diverse pool of deep thinkers, industry experts, trend starters and thought leaders.

 How will your experience change the way you work moving forward? Carmen There are two things I am focused following the Academy. One, to be more collaborative and find ways to interact and engage with colleagues around the world. It helps now that I know the faces behind the names, and that I have people I can easily reach out to. Second, I will be more open to incorporate digital tools in developing and delivering our clients’ stories. I learned a lot about how to incorporate digital, even on a small level, to my work, and the impact it can have on the results.

Emilie  The Academy has inspired me to think differently – whether it’s bringing a creative lens to a new business brainstorm, leveraging analytics to drive deeper insights for existing clients, or tapping into Ruder Finn’s global team for expertise or inspiration.

If you could give advice to next year’s participants, what would it be?Carmen  Enjoy your conversations, discussions, and meetings with the colleagues, judges and trainers from all the different offices. Make the most of them during your experience. There is always more than one way to do things, and there are always better alternative solutions available. All you need to do is open yourselves up to the different possibilities, share your experiences, and learn from each other.

Emilie Be a sponge and have fun. The Academy is such a unique experience, the best thing is to go into it with a positive and open mind. Here are some additional considerations:

-          Connect with everyone at the Academy – presenters, senior executives and fellow participants

-          Be curious – gain an understanding of what we’re doing across our global offices, understand the key players and clients and swap key learnings

-          Ask questions – it’s a great way to demonstrate engagement and learn from others

-          Stay connected – make an effort to continue the relationships developed during the Academy