#I will say this one shot has given me ideas for the actual plot for the au

[raventroll80]

Troll! Doomguy Halloween Special

Here’s a little one shot of an alternate first meeting between the Intern and troll!Doomguy. Also, the intern finally has a different name for the troll au, it’s Derrin!

This story contains Blood, Injury, Mild? Gore, Dead Things (decapitated demon head), syringes? I think that counts, and possible medical malpractice (Slayer’s trying ok),

This story takes place after Slayer killed the Icon of Sin, and the ARC is trying to get their bearings straight in the aftermath of the Demonic Invasion. Slayer is on the hunt for Hayden for abandoning Vega on Urdak, and him on earth.

It had been a little over a week since Derrin got left behind. He was doing pretty well actually all things considered, even if he was being stalked by the Slayer. Though it did mean he had to keep moving and couldn’t really stay in one building for more than a night, at least he didn’t have to worry about any demons getting him in the night.

The Demonic Invasion had just ended a little over two months ago when the Doom Slayer had killed the Icon of Sin. How or why the Slayer was here was beyond him, Derrin had though maybe the Slayer was here to protect them but his behavior had been far from friendly. On the reclamation teams first day in the town Derrin and his group had been chased by the Slayer after he scared off an Imp scout.

After that, things got weird, the Slayer must have found the Imps nest as there was gunfire from a nearby valley, but in the middle of the fight the earth began to shake and mountains had erupted from the east, and the sky had lit up as the aroura swirled in the sky above like a cyclone. Derrin had almost thought the Invasion had started again but as quickly as the event had started it had stopped. The sky cleared up and the earthquakes had ceased.

Things were fairly quiet after that, sure there were a few Imps and Gargoyles in the town but nothing outside of the soldier’s capabilities. Some people had thought maybe the Slayer had died during the quake, but then one night during a celebratory bonfire after the team had gotten the radio antenna up, he appeared.

Derrin was about to turn in for the night when he noticed something in the shadows, just outside the light of the fire… eyes. Eyes that towered over the buildings, eyes that reflected the light of the fire, eyes that were staring right into his own.

Derrin had froze in his seat, too afraid to move. Some primal part of his brain was telling him to run, to hide from the predator that was currently staring him down, but another part of him was still hoping the Slayer meant no harm… but now he wasn’t so sure.

It didn’t take long for Derrin’s friend Asher to notice what he was staring at; the soldier followed his gaze and was met by the same eyes in the dark. But unlike Derrin, Asher immediately jumped into action and had alerted the rest of the people around the bonfire. After that everything was a blur, people had rushed into the safehouse and the soldiers had grabbed their weapons. The Slayer had fully stepped into the light of the fire and had tossed the severed head of an Imp brute towards everyone who was still outside before stepping back into the shadows.

The commander in charge of the expedition had been inspecting the head when the Slayer started moving towards Derrin which caused Asher to open fire. The blue glow from the plasma had illuminated the Slayer revealing his bloody face through the broken visor of his helmet. The energy collided with his right arm causing the Slayer roar in pain and snarl at the group before taking off into the night, soldiers firing at the behemoth as he fled. A few soldiers, the commander included had gotten injured by the Slayer’s tail mace as it detached and collided with the group.

After that if anyone encountered the Slayer, they were met with hostility and would be chased off. It was almost impossible to try and secure the town or set up any other safehouses with the Slayer around.

Everything had come to a head when Derrin had been out with his group trying to get to the news station in the southern end of town when they encountered a small group of Imps, presumably stragglers from the nest the Slayer had slaughtered. His group had hidden to try figure out what to do next when Asher’s radio crackled to life, it was the commander, he was calling for everyone to return to base to evacuate back to the Safezone.

Asher had tried to silence the radio but it was too late, the Imps had heard them. Derrin and the other took off running, with Asher giving them cover fire. Even then the Imp were able to catch up with them and Derrin got separated from the group. He started taking random turns in hopes of shaking the demons from his trail, he could hear their screams and howls as they chased him through the streets.

Their howls turned to shrieks as the earth began to shake and a deafening roar shook the air. The Slayer had found them. With the Imps thoroughly distracted Derrin had tried his best to make it to the safehouse in time but he was on the opposite end of town and he didn’t know if he could run much longer. Derrin heard the Slayer approaching, his footsteps growing louder and louder, and he had been filled with a renewed burst of adrenalin as he ran across town.

But he was too late, the boat had left. It was already miles off the coast and there was no chance they’d be coming back for him. Derrin had stumbled into the safehouse and had barely been able to lock the door before vomiting from the exhaustion of running as much as he did. He had felt shaky and could barely stand up because he was so tired. Derrin had chosen to sleep in the raised office of the post office the safehouse had been set up in.

Since then, Derrin had been wandering the town setting up smaller safehouses where he could spend the night, all while being stalked by the Slayer. Asher and the rest of his group had managed to leave him some supplies during the evacuation, it wasn’t much though, just a radio, a few MREs, a water bottle, and a pistol. They were all left in a backpack that had been tucked away in a corner with a note attached, saying that they had tried to convince the commander to wait for him and that they’d try to get a rescue team sent for him, though Derrin doubted that’d ever happen.

Now the it was just Derrin the Slayer’s behaviour had changed significantly. He’d no longer growl or give chase, just silently follow him form a distance, watching waiting. Arguably it was worse than getting growled at, at least then he vaguely knew the Slayers intentions.

If something growls, it’s a warning, it means they’d rather not fight. But silence? Silence meant it was hunting, stalking prey, and Derrin was really starting to feel like prey.

Earlier in the week, when he was exiting an electronics shop, Derrin had rounded the corner and was greeted by the Slayer standing right in front of him. The man had almost walked right into the giant but was stopped when it stepped back…

It? when did he start calling the Slayer it?

Derrin looked up and yelped before sprinting back into the store and hiding behind the counter. Why hadn’t he heard the Slayer approaching? How long had he been out there? Was it waiting for me? Why do I keep calling him it? Derrin peeked around the corner and saw that the Slayer was now crouched down in front of the store, looking in through the window, right at him. Derrin ducked back behind the counter and waited, for what he didn’t know. Death? Massive clawed hands to tear through the building and grab him? Or perhaps the Slayer would just topple the building and leave him for the Imps… None of this happened of course, in fact all the Slayer did do was sit there, waiting.

The suspense was killing him and Derrin didn’t want to wait for something to happen and instead opted sneak out the back door instead. Derrin had learned to move quickly and quietly in order to avoid confrontations with the imps and Doom Slayer. After that Derrin would always double check his surroundings before entering a building and leave through a different way than he entered.

Things weren’t adding up, why was the Slayer’s behaviour changing so much? Back in on of Derrin’s new safehouses; the towns library, he had set up a conspiracy board of sorts. Well, he wouldn’t exactly call it a conspiracy board, it was more for tracking the movement of the Slayer and remaining Imps, as well as any other odd happenings. The board had a large map of the town in the middle with different pins to signify what was seen where, green was for Slayer sighting/encounters, red was for Imps and Gargs, and purple was for anything else he had seen that was out of the ordinary.

What was left of the Imps and Gargoyles appeared to be congregating in the old hotel, Derrin had seen them crawling about the exterior of the building. He pretty sure that was where their new nest was, though he was nowhere near equipped to deal with that.

It was harder to gauge where the Slayer actually went when he wasn’t stalking Derrin, if he ever stopped stalking him. Due to his massive size, the Slayer was able to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time, so he had pins all over town. Though it appeared he hadn’t found the Imp nest yet, maybe if Derrin managed to lead him there, he’d deal with the rest of them?

As for other happenings, Derrin had a fair amount of the purple pins. Some were fairly tame such as rapidly growing trees; which had been reported before post Invasion. One of the pins was right next to the original safehouse at the old post office. During the Eruption two of Derrin’s group members; Baker and Westing saw two strange creatures. They described them as Imp-like, but they were also too thin and gangly and their heads were apparently far too big for them to have been an Imp. the creatures didn’t attack them, they just watched them from a distance… Derrin found that far more unsettling.

Derrin placed some new green and red pins as well as a single purple pin for a weird plant he saw earlier before hitting the sack, unaware of what tomorrow had in store for the poor intern.

Derrin woke early in the morning, just before the sun would start peeking over the mountains and fog still hung low in the town, and began making his way to a convenience store at the port hoping to find something that hadn’t spoiled yet. He had recently run out of MREs and was having trouble finding something to eat, most of the food had been looted by the reclamation team and all that was left was usually inedible or already gotten to by scavengers.

It appeared that Derrin had had a turn of luck as he was able to find several cans of beans and soup on the shelves of this little storefront. He stuffed as many cans as he could into his bag before continuing his search, further investigating also yielded a matchbox and some lighters. Before he left the convenience store, Derrin had grabbed some newspapers to use as kindling for any fires he may need to start.

Derrin was wandering towards the post office safehouse when he felt a deep feeling of dread slowly begin to creep over him, it was the same kind of dread he’s get when Imps or the Slayer were nearby. A quick glance of his surroundings yielded no signs of the Slayer… shit, it must be Imps.

Derrin ducked into an alleyway and crouched down between some dumpsters and waited, much to his horror Derrin heard movement in the alleyway with him. The stench of brimstone grew closer as Imp approached, its claws clicking against the pavement. Derrin covered his mouth and held his breath as the demon got closer in hopes it wouldn’t notice him.

The Imp came into view, it looked pretty worse for wear; it’s chitinous plating was cracked and crumbling with some parts missing completely. It also looked pretty thin too, maybe they did see an imp…

Unfortunately, Derrin’s luck had run out and the Imp spotted him. Its mouth turned into a wicked grin as a soft hiss rattled in its chest as it crept forth. Derrin’s eyes widened as he tried to crawl back, forgetting that he had voluntarily cornered himself. The Imp stood up to its full height and Derrin screwed his eyes shut as the demon prepared to gut him. Another more guttural hiss sounded from above the two and the Imps entire demeanor changed, its once sadistically gleeful grin was now one of pure hatred as it responded with its own hiss which quickly turned into a shriek as it was tackled.

Derrin opened his eyes and saw that the Imp was currently pinned down by some large creature with sickly pink-grey skin. With the Imp distracted, Derrin ran out of the alleyway and drew his pistol and shot blindly into the alley, not caring what got hit.

Both the Imp and the creature howled in pain, though the not-imp was in significantly more pain. The Imp acted first and slashed at the not-imps chest causing black oily blood to spill out, the not-imp got off the Imp and quickly disappeared down the alley. With its competition now gone, the Imp turned its full attention to Derrin once more, but this time he was prepared.

Before the Imp could react, Derrin fired into it with the pistol until started to overheat, Derrin lowered the weapon as it hissed and steamed from the cool air. The Imp was dead, its body torn apart from the onslaught of plasma. Derrin let out a shaky breath followed by a shocked laugh as the demon’s corpse slumped over. The intern continued to laugh in shock until the howling of more Imps sounded out across the town, apparently the Imps screams did not go unheard.

Shit, thought Derrin as he started running for a safehouse, not that it would do much other than delay the inevitable. Something heavy collided with Derrin, a sharp pain radiated from his side, a demonic screech rang in his ear. An Imp had pinned him down and had dug its claws into his torso, Derrin could feel the blood soaking his shirt and the imp beginning to pull, when a guttural roar erupted from down the street.

The ground shook and a deafening gunshot boomed above him and the Imp was torn off of him. It let out a shrill scream before a loud crunch silenced it, bright red blood dripped onto Derrin’s face as he regained his breath. Once the blood was cleared from his glasses, he was greeted by a far too human face staring down at him. The Slayer looked angry yet concerned, the Imps blood still covered his lips.

Derrin gasped and tried to crawl away from the giant, but his wounds were screaming at him to stop, not that he would’ve gotten far anyways. The Slayer quickly caught up to the injured human, a soft grunt escaping him as he grabbed Derrin. Derrin yelped in pain and began struggling as much as his wounds would allow but the Slayer had a firm grip around his chest.

“L-let me go, please! Th-the Imps! They’re hiding in the hotel! Just let me go, I don’t wanna die… please” Derrin choked out between sobs, the Slayer just looked at him and let out a soft rumble before changing the position he was holding the intern in.

The pressure around his chest lightened as one hand was removed and scooped up his flailing legs, the remaining hand pressed him firmly against the Slayers chest plate. Derrin struggled to get one of his arms free, but the Slayer’s grip only tightened. A deep rumbling vibrated from the giant’s chest causing Derrin to sob more.

The blood loss was starting to get to Derrin as he felt himself get more and more lightheaded before passing out. The last thing Derrin remembered was a worried sound escaping the Slayer’s throat as he picked up his pace before everything went black.

——————————————————————————

The Slayer had been stalking the intern for about a week, staying just outside his line of sight. He was good at saying out of sight when he wanted, though usually the things he stalked ended up being nothing more than a pile of gore. But not this one, no, he wasn’t hunting them, he was shadowing them. There was a group of humans in the town but the group had recently evacuated.

The one he was following had missed the boat and was left behind. He felt guilty due to his actions being responsible for the human’s evacuation in the first place. He hadn’t meant to scare them when he gave them that Imp head. He had wanted to show them he was there to protect them, to help them…

That human… the one who saw him, the one he’d been shadowing, it was the same one he had seen at the ARC complex. He was the only one who had looked at him more in awe than fear, now whenever they crossed paths the intern looked fearful. It… hurt, the one human since Mars who hadn’t been outwardly afraid of him was now begging him to not hurt them.

The intern had gotten a head start on him and was already halfway across town when he had caught up, he could smell the Imps long before he saw them. When he saw that one had pinned the human down, he flew into a blind rage. The Slayer let out a roar of fury before he fired his shotgun at a cluster of the demons scattering them, he rushed over to the one who had pinned down the intern and ripped it off him.

The Imp let out a scream before Slayer shoved it into his mouth and crushed it between his teeth, its blood was bitter and tasted like ozone, but he didn’t care all that mattered was that the human was safe… the human!

When Slayer looked down at the human, he had been trying to crawl away from him, fear was plastered across his face. His shirt was drenched in blood, too much blood… he had to act fast. Slayer picked the human up by the torso and began applying pressure to the wounds in an attempt to slow the bleeding which caused them to cry out in pain.

That was when he started crying, begging Slayer to let him go. A part of him wanted to, to let go and try to explain, but he didn’t have time. Instead, he changed the way he held the poor human into what he hoped would be a more comfortable position. Slayer used one arm to support the human’s legs while the other kept as much pressure he dared to use on the wounds. A purr began to rumble in his chest surprising himself, though that surprise quickly turned to concern as he felt the human go limp in his arm.

Slayer broke into a sprint as he glanced down at the intern and saw how pale he had gotten. When he reached the warehouses where he had made camp, Slayer set the intern down on the makeshift table he had before dumping the contents of his rucksack onto the floor.

Ammo and other bits and bobs were scattered about the floor as Slayer looked for the medical pack he had. A familiar dull blue glow caught his eye and he immediately snatched up the health kit and ripped out the injector. It was filled with the same stuff as the medical stations back on Mars, though Slayer couldn’t remember what Vega said was in it.

Slayer inserted the needle into the intern and watched the blue fluid drain from the injector. Slayer didn’t wait for the liquid to take effect and began bandaging the torso, making sure not to wrap it too tightly. Once he was mostly certain his impromptu patient wasn’t going to bleed out, he flipped open a panel on his gauntlet and flipped a switch. He hoped the transmitter hadn’t been damaged during his fight or journey.

Finally, the adrenalin had begun to wear off on Slayer and he began to feel exhausted. He removed the top half of his armour and replaced it with a tunic he had been given, it felt nice to finally take off the armour, even if it was only half of it. Slayer gently scooped up the human, who squirmed in his sleep, and lied down on the bedroll. He rested the human in the crook of his arm and cradled their body with the other, his hand cupping their head. Sleep quickly took Slayer not long after he settled, a soft rumbling purr emanating from the giant as he curled around his guest.

——————————————————————————

Derrin woke with a start, his chest ached and he still felt lightheaded from the blood loss. The room he was in was dark and he could feel warm air washing over him. Was he dead? Probably not, due to the throbbing pain in his side.

As Derrin looked around, he froze when he realized that the warm air was accompanied by loud, deep, breathing. Slowly, he turned to the source of the both the sound and air and was greeted by the face of the Slayer, only now there was no helmet between him and their face. Luckily, the Slayer appeared to be fast asleep, unaware that Derrin had woken up, unluckily for Derrin he realized he was situated within the Slayers arms.

The Slayer shifted and Derrin froze, he was pulled closer to the giant who nuzzled his head into Derrin’s shoulder. Fear was replaced with confusion when the Slayer let out a soft whine and pulled him even closer, now Derrin was right next to the Slayer’s face. He could make out each hair in his brow and every little scar that littered his face…

Speaking of his face, now that Derrin had a closer look, the Slayer appeared to have a worried look etched across it as he slept. Was he having a nightmare? Derrin wonder what the Slayer could be dreaming about to cause such a reaction. As the Slayer’s breathing picked up Derrin’s fear began to dwindle and sympathy began form.

Tentatively, Derrin reached out and placed his hand on the Slayer’s nose and gave it a gentle rub. The Slayer’s eyes snapped open and Derrin immediately froze, his heart rate picked up as he retracted his hand. The two stared at each other for some time before the Slayer gently rubbed his thumb over Derrin’s forehead, seemingly trying to return the gesture. It did marginally make Derrin feel less afraid, but he was still frightened.

Slowly Derrin drifted back to sleep, his mind still swimming as he drifted out of consciousness. He was still confused by the Slayer’s intentions, but maybe he was right, maybe the Slayer really was just trying to help…

[bisexualiteaa]

actually dying for a cooper howard x vaultie!reader smut where they have some slow burn longing steaminess, but coop thinks she’s too good for him UNTIL she comes in contact with a sex pollen-esque chem and he finally gives in to save her 🥵 please work your magic and elaborate however you want

A Flame in Your Heart

Cooper Howard x Fem Reader (SMUT!!)

CW: NSFW like absolutely filthy y’all, you’ve been warned. 💀 unprotected sex, irradiated cream pie, p in v, p0rn w/ plot, slow burn, flirting, cursing, perverted thoughts, dub-con (because of chem usage though consent is asked and given!) rough sex, dirty talk, choking, praise kink, degradation, squirting, mention of fingering, FEELINGS!! Slight deviation from TV series, possible grammar/spelling mistakes, cooper starts off mean but slowly warms up to reader

AN: I absolutely LOVED this request! I was up all night writing down all my ideas and spent all this morning perfecting it, and this has to be my longest one yet! I thank you for your patience anon and my lovely readers as I finally post this! Hope you enjoy and that I have done your ask justice! ❤️

Life outside of the vault was difficult to say the least. You felt hunger and dehydration in ways you’d never experienced before, going out of your way to do desperate things you would normally never do in order to get said food and water. The heat was unbearable, every stretch of land you walked across had a danger lurking around every corner, and worst of all, you’d never felt so alone. You weren’t sure what it was about you, maybe it was because you were new to the surface, maybe it was your nearly perfect skin, but everyone seemed to stare or glare at you when you would walk through. It wasn’t until you’d passed through Filly, meeting Ma June that you realized people didn’t take kindly to people like you. “Vaulties” she called them, an audible disdain in her tone, making you look down to remember you were in your blue and gold Vault-Tec suit. “I’ll be going then, have a nice day!” You said skiddishly, offering her a kind smile before turning and exiting the shop. You just wanted to make friends, why was that so hard up here? So when your eyes set on a man clad in classic Wild West cowboy clothes, watching smoke settle after a stand off, you weren’t sure why but you knew that was who you needed on your side in this world. Before you knew it, your feet were already moving and mouth speaking to him, grabbing his attention.

“I ain’t no charity case sweetheart, I don’t take on strays” The ghoul spoke, his southern drawl making him even more memorable than the marred texture of his skin. You looked to the dog that trailed not far behind him as he walked, changing its pace to keep up with the man. “The dog there with you tells me otherwise” you quipped. “Ain’t my dog” he responded harshly as he continued walking. “I can make it worth your while!” You yelled, making him stop in his tracks for a moment, a scary sight at first before you worked up the nerve to come closer once he turned back to you. “And how you suppose you’d do that?” He asked, and at first you didn’t know what to say, the words leaving your mouth before you could really think of a good enough reason. Did nobody like company anymore these days? “Well…I can be your scavenger! Pretty good at collecting stuff” you offered, shaking your bag and making things rattle around inside to prove it, making him give a huff of a chuckle. “‘f I wanted a pack mule I’d‘ve found a brahman” he shot you down. “Okay, then I can be good company to talk to!” You offered. “They make radios for when I want to listen to someone yack” he shut down once again. “I’m a good cook! Even with shitty supplies, I can make a stew that’d put a smile even on the meanest son of a gun’s face” you said, hopeful that he’d at least take you for something, but you had a feeling he’d probably turn you down again. “Iguana on a stick’s just fine” he said, though he had to admit the stew sounded good. Reminded him of home before all this wasteland bullshit. “Oh, umm…” you said awkwardly, your tone growing quiet and my how it put a sad look in your eyes. The evil part of him liked it, seeing your sweet innocent face all downturned but the part that was still human deep down, the part that hardly ever saw the light of day anymore, had half a mind to let you.

“Got a lotta nerve walkin’ up t’ me, girly. If you somehow been lucky enough that you ain’t met dangerous yet, you’re lookin’ at someone who could put you down before you’d even mutter your last words” he threatened, motioning to the double barreled shotgun in his hands. “I know, I saw it first hand. You hold yourself well, I envy that. I’m new to all of this and just really want someone who can help me hold my own the same way” you explained. “Look, I know I don’t look like much but please just give me a chance” you begged, looking up at him with a fighting spirit in your eyes that he had to admit, he was pretty impressed in seeing in a vaultie. “You help me, I help you, however that ends up being” you offered, standing strong on this and damn if he didn’t see a little bit of himself in you at that. He gave a sigh, tilting his head down before shaking it, not believing himself for the words he was about to say. “Alright, but the minute you start draggin’ you’re out, got me?” He said, and he hated the way his cold heart seemed to pump a little faster upon seeing your eyes light up with joy and a smile stretch to your face. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” You said, opening your arms up to hug him but being met with the barrel of his gun poking your stomach to keep space between you. “I don’t do hugs” he spoke gruffly, making you back up enough to where he’d drop the gun back to his side. “R-Right…sorry” you apologized, embarrassment washing over you but still glad to finally have someone in your company. “C’mon, I ain’t got all day now” he said, motioning you to start walking, so you joined him.

Your travels with him certainly weren’t at all what you were expecting them to be. From being used as bait, to being tied up with rope most of the time you’d traveled together, or being sent in as his scavenger, you weren’t prepared for a lot of the reality you faced with being up on the surface. Most nights made you question why you’d ever left the comfort of the vault, why you’d abandoned a trusty food supply, regulated temperatures, a safe place to sleep that wasn’t riddled with radroaches or had the likely hood of waking up to a raider with a knife at your throat for no reason. Then you would remember the experiment in your vault, why you left that awful place for arguably a worse reality on the surface but at least you had freedom. Out here you were free to say what you want, do what you want, consume what you want so long as you could defend yourself incase that supply wasn’t unclaimed. You’d gotten pretty handy with a gun in the most recent weeks. Cooper, you learned one night was his name, using empty glass bottles as targets to help teach you accuracy and how to hit things from a longer range. In exchange, you came a little more useful than he had first thought. You had some useful stuff on you for trade like chems, ammo and food, were a good extra bag to hold stuff in, and you were a better cook than you’d talked about. Sure you had a tendency to talk too much, and you weren’t great with a gun, but you were getting there.

“Might I suggest takin’ them clothes instead of wearin’ that suit?” He said, making you look at him weird for suggesting you strip a dead raider of their clothes. “Why would I do that…?” You asked, genuinely confused and not sure what he was implying either, he was a hard man to predict. “Because, people see that shit and get real mad. People up here don’t like vaulties or the ones that run ‘em” he said and it made sense, it helped you understand why you kept getting evil glares each time someone would look at you or talk to you. You figured he knew best, so you took the shirt and pants from one of the female raiders, tucking them into your bag to change into at a better time. He gave a chuckle watching you do so, apologizing to the dead body profusely as you took their clothes and whatever valuables they had on them for the betterment of your own survival. You were still so naive, part of him was hoping he could slowly start to break and corrupt your way of thinking, but that was a thought for another time.

Before you knew it, night finally began to fall. The sun setting across the horizon gave the air less of a hot, harsh bite as the temperature began to cool rapidly across the sands of the Mojave. All you managed to grab was a pair of beat up, old jeans and a tank top, so as soon as the sun set, the chill set in. As you both set up camp for the night just outside of an abandoned rest stop, you started a fire to cook some of that stew you talked about being good at. He had to admit, it was pretty damn good, likely the best thing he’s had since before the bombs went off. Though even the kindling fire couldn’t manage to chase the chill away, watching you run your hands up and down your arms to try and warm up some by it. He felt a slight pang in his heart, watching you shiver like that, how your eyes lit up by the blaze of the fire and your hair seemed to be tousled just right. You were pretty, too pretty to be trekking this wasteland, and certainly too pretty to be trekking it with him of all people as your company. Even he had a heart still, as cold as it was, so out of kindness he shrugged his duster from his shoulders, draping it around you. You looked at the fabric pooled around you, pulling it over you better before looking to him as he sat down across from you again. “Ain’t no use if the cold gets ya” he said, making you smile appreciatively at him as you realized what he did. “Thank you” you replied, a slight blush fanning to your cheeks as the chattering of your teeth finally died down and you grew warmer. It smelled like him, sure it had splatters of old dried blood and was rather worn, but it had that gunpowder and smoke smell to it that you associated with him. “Don’t say I never did nothin’ for ya” he replied, trying to sound cold but it didn’t come off that way, making you chuckle. “What do I owe you?” You asked, making him fall silent for a moment as he pondered the answer to your question. He looked you over for a second before tipping his hat down to cover his face a bit, the signal that he was about to try and get some sleep. “Just keep watch for a bit, I’ll be up in a few hours” he responded, and while it wasn’t what you were expecting, you’d take it.

He was startled awake a couple hours later when he heard a commotion, you yelling at someone telling them to back off that this place had been claimed. The raider you were up against didn’t seem to like that very much, claiming that wasn’t how it worked up here. The altercation took a turn for the worst when the man reached for his gun but you were quick to fire and kill him before he could let out a shot. A shaky feeling set in your hands and a horrified expression across your face at the realization that you just killed someone. Cooper, who was certainly wide awake now, was rather impressed by your quick timing and precision, coming up behind you to lay a gloved hand to your shoulder. “Well would ya look at that, looks like them lessons been payin’ off after all. How’s it feel?” He asked, looking down at you as you stared at the gun in your hands. “He was yelling at me but…he was aiming at you. I don’t really know what came over me, I didn’t like that he was going to shoot you so I just…I killed him” you said, recounting the encounter to him as if he hadn’t seen it himself. He didn’t really know what to think in that moment as you explained how your mind worked, he was proud for sure at your show of improvement with a gun, yet also touched at the same time. No one ever really looked out for him since he started his bounty hunting, he was a well hated man by many but you defended him without really any reason to. You’d just learned his name not but two weeks ago, and before that he was dragging you around with rope yet you still defended him, had you two really gotten closer in the time that’s passed since? He wasn’t sure, but it was something he could mull over while you were sleeping. “Get some rest vaultie, sun’ll be up soon” he said, knowing you likely wouldn’t get much sleep with the adrenaline still coursing through you, but it was at least worth a try, you two had a long day ahead of you.

When you woke up that next morning, things felt a little different between you two. You weren’t some annoying little dog following him anymore, you were an equal. He no longer looked at you and treated you like you were lower than him as you both set out across the wastelands, he had respect for you. Hell, he even started talking with you now when you were out traveling which was almost unbelievable. You learned through those conversations that he used to be an actor in Wild West themed films, explaining his outfit, and that he was married before the bombs dropped. You of course told him bits and pieces about yourself in exchange, after all it only felt fair but it was also nice to just finally talk to someone after all this time.

When night time fell again you two sat enjoying a meal by the fire together, only rather than across from each other, he sat next to you, making a blush come to your face as you’d smiled sweetly at him. “Glad to know I don’t have germs anymore” you said jokingly, making him chuckle. “Give an old man some credit. It ain’t exactly all peaches and marmalade out here darlin’, even cute can be deadly” he said, the nickname and him calling you cute sending a deeper blush to your cheeks despite knowing it’s just how he spoke. Whether it was the lack of contact with other people for so long, or just his charm you couldn’t quite tell, but it always seemed to have an effect on you. “Just teasin’ you, I get it. I’d tie me up and use me for bait too if I’d been doing this as long as you have. It’s a shit hole out here” you said, making him look at you as you dropped the first curse word he’s ever heard from you. “Well I’ll be damned, either I’m a bad influence or you’re finally growin’ outta that naive shell there, vaultie” Cooper replied, making you laugh as you saw a smirk stretch to his thin, marred lips, the first one you’d seen in a while that wasn’t brought on by drugs, chems or that first sip of a good bottle of alcohol. “Probably both” you quipped, making him chuckle. “Yeah, probably. Been told I ain’t easy to stomach” he said, making you hum. “You’re alright in my book, Coop” you replied with a sweet, genuine smile that matched your tone and was that butterflies you felt in your stomach? Did you just call him Coop? No ones called him that in ages, why did it make his heart start to flutter a bit? “You ain’t so bad yourself, vaultie” he responded, still affording you that small smile before turning back to his food. “Keep making food this good and I just might have to keep you around” he joked, making you giggle and break the slightly tense silence. “It’s not much but I certainly try. I’ll definitely make sure to stay good at it, I like traveling with you” you said, unintentionally coming off flirtatious and fuck there it goes again, that feeling in his chest and his stomach like he needed to hit his inhaler but he felt great. What were you doing to him?

“Hey, if it isn’t too much can I ask you a sort of…personal question?” You asked, holding the beat up bowl in your hands as you looked over at him. This was normally the part where he would say no, absolutely not, he wasn’t here to be questioned on his personal matters. Yet, with you, it was different. Ever since last night he hasn’t been so on edge with you, it was like he’d warmed up to you. “Depends on what you’re askin’ there, sweetheart” he said, the nickname once again making you blush. “Do you…miss them? Your wife and daughter?” You asked, not sure if it was a good subject or good question to ask but after finding out, you were genuinely curious. He looked down at his bowl again, thinking of the proper response to your question. The old him would have been defensive, told you it was none of your business, but now? He wasn’t sure. “Ain’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about ‘em. About the way I ran out on ‘em when them bombs dropped” he answered, making you give him a sad look as genuine guilt filled his tone. This was the most honest and open he’s been with you this whole time. “I feel guilty. Not sure if I feel guilty for runnin’ out and leavin’ ‘em behind or guilty for the way I ran out, been tryin’ t’ figure that out for quite a while now and I still ain’t sure” he added, and you sympathized with that. Everyone has regrets, things they’ve done in the past that they aren’t proud of, people up here were no different in that aspect. “Well, in the short time I’ve gotten to know you, I’ve come to understand that everything you do has a valid reason behind it. So even if you feel it was a shitty thing to do, you obviously had a reason for doing so. No one can blame you for trusting your gut, and I don’t think you should blame yourself for doing so” you responded, your hand falling to his as a comforting gesture, your words ringing in his head almost as if you’d opened something in his mind, something he’d never really gave himself to think about before. He looked down at your hand that rested on his, noticing the way you didn’t flinch away from him like others did, the way you were brave enough to walk up to him, talk to him, *trust* him when he made it very clear that you shouldn’t. It was smaller than his, softer for sure, but warm all the same, then he looked up to see that caring look in your eyes and smile on your face that told him that you cared. “Guess you’re right, still wonder sometimes if it was the right choice to make” he replied. “I understand. Everyone has regrets, we all look at the past and hold at least something that we’ve done before in regret, it’s what makes us human” you said, making him give a huff as a chuckle. “You got anybody?” He asked, making you look down as you moved your feet along the dirt. “An ex-husband, but not anyone I really care about, no. My parents passed a few years before the bombings and he and I split up when I caught him cheating on me with some other woman in the vault..” you explained, not sure why it hurt you to tell the tale still, but you felt it was only fair considering what you’d asked of him to share. “Sorry t’ hear that” Cooper said, making you chuckle weakly, a somber look coming to your face that made his heart wrench. “I haven’t exactly been in love since, and considering he and I split up just a little over ten years ago, really says something I guess, huh?” You asked, trying to laugh to bring up the mood, knowing you sounded pathetic. “He was the fool, not you darlin’. He was the one skippin’ out on one hell of a woman” Cooper said, making you look to him and blush a bit as you gave a chuckle at his response.

“Thanks” you replied appreciatively and with a smile before casting your gaze down to see your hands were still connected and it left you blushing harder with embarrassment, you’d been holding his hand this entire time without realizing it. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable if I have I-“ “relax vaultie” he cut you off, pushing your hand back down onto his to assure you that he was far from uncomfortable. “It’s…rather nice actually” he admitted, making you feel relieved but your heart fluttered in your chest from it. A thick tension soon began to set in between you both after that night, something of an unspoken, kindling romance beginning to develop. “Then there it can stay” you said, making him smile softly at you, tipping his hat at you as a silent thank you.

Months passed on like this, where you’d spend the days scavenging, picking the land for its resources you could find and hunting bounties by day, then spending your nights by a fire growing closer and closer with every passing day. Through your shared meals, jokes, deep conversations, and plenty of near death experiences, you started to notice your fondness of the ghoul you traveled with. The way you’d hang onto his words with that southern accent that seemed to pull at your heart strings, or the way you’d go out of your way to stand between him and a stray bullet. You’d helped him on more than one occasion in getting out of a sticky spot, or getting him the stuff he needed to keep from turning feral. In return, he started to notice he was feeling the same towards you. There was this sudden need to keep you safe, to do nicer things for you, to speak better towards you, even flirt with you at times. Some nights there’d be so much tension in the air, it’s a miracle you haven’t jumped each other yet. Though in his eyes, as much as his heart yearned for you, he knew you were too good for him. You’d been hurt before, and he had a reputation for hurting people, feeling undeserving of even just the sweet smiles and company you afford him even now. You didn’t need someone like him, you needed a good man, someone who didn’t kill for a living, someone who could treat you right, someone who didn’t look the way he did. You were soft and warm, he was rough and cold, though he supposed that’s where the term “opposites attract” came from. So even when he was a whole bottle deep, he was sure to hold his tongue to a certain point.

Some of those nights around the fire were spent sober, others not so much, and this night happened to be one of those nights spent under the influence. You two had stumbled across a mini-mart, doing your best to out run the radstorm that had been trailing you guys for hours, coming in just to find whatever supplies you could to make it through the next week and possibly hunker down for the night. So imagine your surprise when you seemed to have found the largest chem stache you’d both ever laid eyes on. “Coop! Come here, you gotta see this” you said, making him run towards you to make sure you weren’t hurt or in trouble. His nerves were eased once he saw you, fully intact. “Tell me I’m not seeing shit” you said, pointing to all of the supplies sitting in a box on the table, joined by other supplies around it. You both looked at each other in complete and utter disbelief, this would keep you stocked for months, maybe even a whole year if you conserved it well. “Well ain’t that just the prettiest fuckin’ sight” he said. There was no way a horde of chems this large and this valuable was just completely unprotected you reasoned, so you routed around the place, scoping out for any raiders, straggling traders or ferals who happened to still be around. It was as if heaven was shining down on you both as you found no one around, seemed like no one had been here for days. So you did the most logical thing anyone would do in this situation. Stuff each of your bags to the brim of drugs of all varieties! Seeing as you had food, chems and even some clean water and alcohol lying around, Cooper locked and barricaded the door shut, proposing it could be a good spot to sleep for the night. With a radstorm approaching, it was best to have a roof over your heads to keep out the rain and potential radiation sickness that came with it. “This is the closest fuckin’ thing to a slice of heaven I’ve seen in ages” he said, aside from you is what played in his mind but he couldn’t speak that out loud, no matter how much he wanted to. “You said it!” you replied, and it’s even better with you here you thought, but thought it best to keep it to yourself. He plopped down on the couch, kicking his feet up to rest on the small table that seemed to be in shambles, enjoying a tape that was playing on the TV that he was surprised to still see functioning. “Holy shit, this thing still works?” You asked, amazed to see working technology out in the wastelands, sitting next to him as you watched it with him. He gave a smirk at your reaction, thinking it was cute the way your eyes would light up when you got all excited over something. Deep down it made him want to give you everything you laid eyes on like that just to see it pointed towards him. “Guess so” he replied, enjoying your excitement only to see you turn and look his way, which was his signal to stop staring holes into you before he gets caught. “I dunno about you baby doll, but I ain’t about to spend tonight sober with this stache sittin’ here ‘n front of us” he said, making you laugh as he routed through all the different drugs and chems til he found what he was looking for.

In the process of searching through it all, a small metal box fell to the floor at your feet. It looked like a box of mentats only the design was different, instead of the characteristic green and white box was a red one covered with hearts labeled DN-Chem. You supposed the worst that could happen was turn into the man sitting next to you, which you figured wasn’t the worst fate to succumb to all things considered, so you went against all better judgement and said fuck it, popping two of the mentat like chems and chasing it with the vodka he’d found to wait for it to take effect. “The hell is DN?” He asked, looking at the box, wondering what it was you took. “Don’t know, guess we’ll find out here soon because I took two” you said, taking another sip from the bottle of vodka he passed your way, and he gave a chuckle as you handed it back to him. “You come a mighty long way, little lady” he commented before setting the metal pill box down. He took the bottle from you, taking a swig, then placing one of the small viles into his inhaler before taking a hit of it then lying back, breathing a sigh of relief as it and the alcohol entered his system like the perfect remedy to any ailment. As about a half an hour rolled by, you waited for the high to set in but it never came, instead you were just getting hot, like really hot. There weren’t any windows open, and it was night time so you shouldn’t be this uncomfortably hot for how it was but you felt like you were on fire. “Shit, it’s hot as hell in here…” you complained, shaking off your jacket that you’d picked off of some raider a few weeks back, making him look to you curiously. “Lightweight” he quipped, making you chuckle. “Accept I don’t feel anything, I just feel hot” you said, making him hum with intrigue before turning back to the TV. “Give it some time, you’re new to all this. ‘m sure your body is wonderin’ what the hell you just put in it” he said, and he had a good point, maybe it was just a side effect of not doing them so often compared to his every day use.

As time went on, you began to notice the way your eyes couldn’t help but be glued to him, more specifically glued to the way his legs were now spread as he sat back. You wondered to yourself what he looked like beneath all that cowboy get up, what his reaction would be like to see you getting on your knees for him and slotting yourself between his spread legs. You shook your head to try and rid yourself of such inappropriate thoughts, but what you couldn’t stop no matter how hard you tried was the feeling of arousal beginning to pool in your panties. Sure he flirted with you every now and again, but you doubt he felt towards you the same way you did for him. To him you were sure you were likely more akin to a pet than a friend, useful and nice to have around, but not anything further. At least so you thought. You’d rather hoped you were wrong in assuming so, that maybe he saw you the same way you saw him. You bit your lip as you tried bouncing your leg to relieve the ache between your thighs, a light pink dusting your face and neck even up to the tips of your ears, but nothing worked. Even as you closed your eyes, all you could picture was you laid out on the couch beneath him, or bent over it with him behind you, or you riding him on it. “Been awful quiet. You doin’ alright over there, sweetheart?” Cooper asked you, and the audible whimper you let out from the nickname left you completely embarrassed. You clasped a hand over your mouth, god you were horrified but he gave a grin and a chuckle in response. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what’s gotten into me all the sudden. I feel so…weird?” you said, unsure if that was really the proper word to explain it but it was the only way you could really word it off the top of your head with how much your brain felt as if it was turning to mush. “Ya took some chems, it’s gonna feel a bit fuzzy” he said, trying to assure you that feeling a little funny was normal, but this? This didn’t feel normal, not even for a chem high. You tried your best to swallow harshly, doing everything you could to try and relieve the dry ache you felt in your throat at the moment upon looking at him. You grabbed the bottle of vodka, taking a few sips but even that couldn’t grant you bliss from it. The throbbing in your core was driving you absolutely insane. You swore up and down that it was like you could feel your heartbeat in your chest, stomach, and in your cunt all at the same time. “No, this is different…I don’t think what I took was a normal chem, Coop…” you said, trying not to panic at the effects that were setting in but god you felt like you were absolutely feral. He turned to look at you, watching as you clamped your thighs together and the red that fell over your face. “I feel like an animal in heat” you said bluntly, making him go into a near coughing fit as you took him off guard. However that piqued his interest enough to pick up the little metal box again to see what it was you took. “I ain’t ever heard of a chem that does that, was that DN shit the only stuff you took?” He asked, growing slightly concerned for you and whether he had a possible horde of laced chems, or just an extremely horny woman on his hands. Speaking of hands, you were lost in thought staring at them, at the way they gripped the couch like you wanted him to grip your thighs, at the way they looked in those leather gloves he always wore. You wondered how it would feel wrapped around your throat, or how it would feel if his fingers were buried deep inside of you. Shit. This was getting out of control.

“Hey, ya with me still?” He asked, snapping to try and get your attention back on the matter at hand, making you shake your head yes as you broke from your perverted thoughts. “Is that DN shit the only thing you took?” He asked again, making you shake your head yes once more, because you knew damn well your voice was going to betray you the moment you tried to speak. That had to be it, it was the only thing that was different out of it all and the only thing he’d never heard of before. He knew it wasn’t the vodka either because he was drinking it with you, so if it was affecting you, it would have affected him and it hadn’t.

It took him a minute to put two and two together before he finally realized the abbreviations stood for Date Night, reading the instructions and effects on the inside of the tin’s lid. “Shit..” he said as he read it, realizing this was a hand made thing thrown into the bunch by whoever was running this place. “Did you read the lid before you popped them pills?” He asked, making you go wide eyed. As if this couldn’t get any fucking worse, this shit show could have been avoided had you just read the inside of the lid. “There was instructions?? Oh my god…what the fuck did I take?” You asked, concerned for yourself and the tone he had while reading it. “Somethin’ that the creator of it called Date Night. Looks like it’s a…well looks like it’s a handmade sex chem” he said, making you cover your face with your hands out of sheer embarrassment, you’d never wanted to die out in a radstorm more than you did right now. “Please tell me you’re fucking joking, cooper…” you whined, watching him read it more. “How much of it did you take?” He asked, almost scared to know and you were scared to know why. “Two?” You replied, making him whistle at that as he read it. “Fuckin’ hell sugar..” he said through a chuckle, and that nickname made a shiver run through you, sending electric bolts straight to your throbbing cunt. You did your best to bite back the whimper. “You’re only s’possed take one, and with you bein’ new t’ all this, I wouldn’t have taken more than half” he said, making you just wish you could just dig a hole and die in it already. “Fuck me…wait, shit! N-Not literally fuck me I- well I mean I’d like if you did but…FUCK! Forgive me Cooper, I’m so sorry, I can hardly think straight” you said, making him chuckle. “Well sweetheart, I think you and I both know there’s only one good fix for this situation” he said, making you whimper pathetically at the thought, your thighs squeezing together even more as you tried to fight to stay sane. Your eyes cast downwards to his lap once more, seeing the tent forming in his pants, clearly you weren’t the only one all worked up here. “I don’t want to make you feel like you have to, Coop. I can run off and take care of myself if it makes you uncomfort-“ you rambled but before you could finish, his hand cupped the side of your face, pulling you in for a long awaited kiss. You moaned into it without meaning to, feeling the way your body immediately relaxed upon wrapping your arms around him with no hesitation as the sweet innocent kiss turned passionate and dirty rather quickly.

“I won’t lie t’ you, doin’ this with you has passed my mind more times than I’d care to admit, but I don’t wanna cross that line unless you really want this” he said, looking into your eyes and making sure that this was truly what you wanted, that you felt the same way he did. “Coop, I know I’m under the influence of whatever the fuck this drug is, but trust me when I say, I’d be just as good with it sober. Been thinking about it for probably just as long as you have, if I’m honest with you. I want this, I want you and right now I want you so fucking bad that I might lose my mind if you don’t fuck me” you answered bluntly, taking him by surprise at just the sheer amount of absolute filth that left your otherwise innocent mouth, making him chuckle at your use of curse words and how desperate you were for him. “That so sugar?” He asked with a grin, enjoying teasing you at your neediest moments, including now. “God yes, Cooper please..” you begged, nearly moaning in reply and he’d spent time mulling over it before, denying himself the chance but just as the chem stache was a pot of gold, he took this as one of the best opportunities being placed in his lap by whatever higher power existed out there, making him waste no time in kissing you once more. “Good, because I don’t think I’d be able to hold myself back once we’ve started” he said, and the idea made you moan. “Don’t want you to hold back, want all of you” you said, and your wish was his command.

By the time your brain could finally catch up with you again, your clothes were strewn out all around you, your tank top hanging over the back of the couch, your jeans thrown haphazardly on the arm rest behind you, his pants on the floor, his hat on the table and shirt and duster having fallen somewhere behind the couch. By now, you’d already cum on his fingers twice, and on his cock once, this was your fourth round and this shit still had you on fire. “Yes!! Oh fuck, Cooper!” you moaned as your legs wrapped around his hips, keeping him as close to you as you could get, your fingers digging crescent shapes and puffy red lines into his back that unfortunately he knew wouldn’t stay long thanks to his ability to heal stupidly fast. “Doin’ so good for me, baby doll. Look so pretty like this for me, all splayed out like a needy little whore” he praised and degraded through his groans, making you moan and roll your eyes into the back of your head at the praise mixed with degradation as his cock was drilling deep inside you like tonight was all you guys had. “Yeah, you like that, huh sweet thing? Like it when I tell you how good it feels and call you names?” He asked, making you nod your head yes because there wasn’t a single thought in that brain of yours other than his name, which you spoke like a mantra. “Never knew such a sweet lil’ thing like you would be such a dirty little minx. Fuck…enough to make a man like me go feral, ya know that?” he said, making you giggle as you moved his free hand up to your throat, urging him to choke you, and he groaned at the sight. Your kiss swollen lips all puffy and shining with spit, your cheeks dusted a constant pink that grew darker anytime his cock brushed that spot deep inside that made you cling to him, your eyes half lidded, looking up at him like he was your savior. It made him absolutely rock hard knowing you’d pick him over anyone else in this god forsaken wasteland. “My, you are just a little freak, ain’t you? Oh we are gonna have fun together, you and me honey” he promised, squeezing your throat tight enough to restrict your airflow but not enough to hurt or cause any damage. Just enough to get that puddle of a brain of yours all fuzzy as you got closer to your fourth orgasm of the night. “Cooper…’m so close, so close please!!” You begged, feeling the heavy drag of his cock as he pounded into you, leaving you damn near screaming as it nudged your cervix and that spongy little bundle of nerves deep inside. “Go on honey, I gotchya. Let go for me, wanna see those pretty faces and hear those pretty noises you make” he said, angling his hips just right to hit that spot over and over again. “Oh fuck, oh fuck I’m gonna cum again, I-“ you warned before your moans rose in pitch as your walls clamped around him, gushing on his cock as your orgasm hit you like a freight train. Your body arched off the couch, stars filling your vision for a moment as you felt your release gush out and coat your inner thighs, screaming his name like it was your only chance at salvation. “Well ain’t I just the damn luckiest man in the wastelands right now, got me a pretty little vaultie and she’s a gusher” he said, making you whimper at his teasing but judging by the way he emptied himself inside you for the second time, you took it as a sign that he liked that about you. “Holy shit, I-I didn’t know I could do that” you said, thoroughly shocked with what your brain and body were doing as they almost seemed to almost be working against each other. “Do it again for me” he said, grabbing you and moving you both to where you were straddling him this time. His hands rested on your hips, helping guide you as you speared yourself on his dick with ease from how absolutely soaked you were, making you both throw your head back and moan. “Now that’s a damn good sight” he said, making you lean in to kiss him once more as his hands helped you start and keep a steady rhythm with your hips. It was definitely going to be a long night, but one you two have been needing for months, maybe even longer.

It’s a good thing ghouls have remarkable recovery time, because in order to finally get you sated and back to normal, you both had to spend all night going at it. Granted, it was aided by the mix of pent up sexual tension and pent up sexual frustration, but it was dawn before you both had gotten to a point where you could even *try* and fall sleep. First few times was on the couch between missionary, doggy and you riding him, next was you bent over it, with your pretty legs spread and ass in the air for him. Then, you used the arm rest of the couch as a pillow beneath your hips as he stood up while you laid out on the couch. He liked that one a lot for the way your tits would bounce with each and every forceful thrust into you, jolting your body. After that, it was done standing up with your back pressed against a wall, your legs and arms wrapped around him to keep him deep inside of you and fill you til he had nothing left to give you. From that point on, the rest of the night was all a hormone-hazed blur, but you knew well that he took care of you. You woke up unbelievably sore, your joints aching in places that you had no idea could even ache, a swollen, angry throb between your legs for the harsh, almost punishing treatment to your pussy followed by bruises, bite marks, scratch marks, hand prints etc. littered your skin as you woke up curled into Cooper’s side. You gave a gravelly groan as the sun shone in your eyes through the windows, making him chuckle at the way you were such a ray of sunshine except in the morning. Coming to learn that you absolutely *hated* mornings. Though you suppose you started to enjoy them more since traveling with him. “Mornin’ sunshine” he said coyly, making you groan disapprovingly at the way the sun was in your eyes, making you hold your hand up to cast a shadow on your face and grant you some relief. “Morning” you answered, your voice hoarse and half gone from sleep and all your activities that transpired the previous night. “Ain’t that a pretty sight” he said, turning and seeing you curled up to him, naked, your hair all messy from sleep and the hickeys and bite marks littering your skin, making you chuckle. “Last night was definitely something, can’t believe you’ve been holding all *that* out on me” you joked, making him give a dry laugh. “Could say the same thing about you, sugar. Had no idea that mind a yours could be so filthy. You’re a wild thing to party with, lil’ lady” he teased, sliding his arm around you to keep you close, making you hum as you lay soft, appreciative kisses to his collarbone and chest. “You’re fun too, and thank you for taking care of me last night. I’m sorry that it ended up happening the way that it did, I wanted to work up the courage and tell you some other way, I really did, but I guess life had other plans” you said making him chuckle as he saw you blush when he kissed your head. “Drunk words are sober thoughts they say, so I’d say I made out pretty good. But don’t sweat it, not sure how I deserved someone as good as you, but it’s good to know I ain’t as hard to stomach as most people say” he said, pulling you in for a soft, heartfelt kiss. “I think you are just perfect, Cooper” you said, your hand resting on his scarred chest as you looked at him with that gaze he swore he’d do anything to see pointed his way.

“You really wanna be my girl?” He asked softly, sounding shocked and with some self doubt still lacing his tone, but he had to be sure this was what you wanted outside of the drug’s effects. He cared for you deeply, in a way that he hasn’t felt in a very long time, but maybe you were just the right person for him to finally open his heart up to. His question made you giggle as your heart fluttered in your chest with excitement. “I absolutely do, I meant it when I said it last night, I mean it just as much now. I think we’ve danced around it for long enough, don’t you?” you replied, making him smile the most genuinely happy smile you’ve seen him wear since you’d met. “Just checkin’” he said, before laying a sweet kiss to your lips, wishing every morning could be like this one. Maybe it could, now that you were here with him.

[soshadysoquiet]

TUA S4 thoughts.

Below, spoilers.

Okay. Lord gonna need some strength to get through this coherently.

Basics first:

The Music: Maybe 2-3 good songs. Dissapointing. Let's talk of a mo about Baby Shark: to me it wasn't funny, the song being such a social media present one in this world really took me out of the show. Yes sure the funnies of parents having to listen to kid music and them being stuck that way but I really wish they'd taken the time to make an original annoying jingle. TUA is usually such a delight for the ears that this hurt me bad! Plus they then kept changing whether the song was on or off, seemed like Diego could control it somewhat, but then why would he turn it back on for them riding into the final battle?

The Dialogue: Felt forced and cheap in places. They can use the word 'fuck' now and seem to therefor have decided they don't need to make the characters have witty insults for each other.

The 'Themes' of the show: Why has my quirky family drama been turned into a 90's romance film. Who asked for this. No.

The "Plot": When your own characters don't care about the plot for the sake of shindigs you think will be more entertaining then you know you fucked up. It made sense the first 2 series them having side quests. Less so in the third. Even less so now. Literally at times they had to say to each other 'oh yeah shouldn't we find Ben?' I'll be here in the corner raisining. Also they came up with these 'stages' for the apocalypse but had one guy throw up, a couple things go boom and then they merge, it was one of the least threatening depictions of apocalypse I've seen - though that could be that it wasn't shot in very interesting ways.

Also side note for why there were so many shots that started upside down and rotated? Like I get if Klaus is upside down, and yeah the umbrellas are inside out, but it (plus the Bennifer monster) gave me too many stranger things vibes.

Now the sub-cast:

Jennifer: Love that for 1/2 the protagonist of the apocalypse she had little to no love put into her character, I legit kept forgetting her and Ben were part of the storyline. I loved that she was birthed from the squid, but why put something eerie and cool like that in and make it have meant nothing? Such a waste.

The villains [Gene, Jean and Abigail/Psy(sp?)]: Whilst I liked the idea of memories infecting the timeline, literally all of these guys was Tell don't Show. And for a series with only six episodes I do not want my time wasted with some side-character villains getting a dance number over the main cast. Despicable. Also there were WAY too many villains here especially if you then also count Reggie as one. Literally make Jennifer be trying to link up with Ben and coercing him (then Viktor could break through to him briefly from past experience of a similar relationship - the symmetry is nice) and have Abbigail be pulling the strings. There were so many side characters of no import that I lost track of the main cast. Hell, make Kenny's Mom be the bad guy I'd have loved that! Also, I like that Abigail was somewhat evil, but then they tried to make her good too? No thank you. Pick a lane not everybody needs redemption.

Special RIP to Diego and Lila's twins that Never Even Got Names 💀 fucking hell that's lazy ass writing.

Now the main cast:

Viktor: He deserved better, why bother to introduce that he's had a girlfriend, slept through the entire town, and owns a bar when you then don't talk about any of it. He's told to 'grow up' it's so specific, what does it mean? Also since last we saw he was the sort of ride or die for his love type (with both Leonard and Sissy) this is a frustrating turn with no explanation. Also his whole fight with Reggie and getting things off his chest arc felt forced and not as well written to me. And his character seemed to have been given zero changes from the last 6 years. I miss when his powers actually had a sound element to them rather than just, Havoc from X Men hands. You're taking the Viktor out of my Viktor.

Allison: We have no explanation of how she and Klaus found each other and fell in together. No info of how she and Reggie parted ways. We only hear that 'Ray left her' and nothing else. She says no one wants her at the party but then seems to know Gracie? Has she talked with Any of them since? Nothing was addressed from the end of last season, or even referred to being addressed in the past. I don't see the point of her new powers, or any of them having slightly off or new powers when then some of them don't? Either way, her rumours are so classic and now she's floating people? I see the link and if they'd been developing new powers over 6 years fine but no. You're taking the Allison out of my Allison.

Luther: Praise be, I did like Luther this season. He mentioned Sloane (shock horror, a love interest from a time gone by being brought up?!?! In TUA!!??) he was cracking me up and was really being Best Boy. Although I felt a lot of his dialogue was flat, and it seemed really out of character for him to start attacking the piñata? I don't think we've ever seen him physically lash out unless angry? It looked to me like 'oh yeah here's another silly gimmick that will be a haha. Diego, sure. Luther, no. They also decided (not surprised but always so disappointed) to make him getting ape-i-fied again humorous and not the soul destroying thing it would be. Also, why was he ape-i-fied??? His ape-ness came from the serum not the marigolds? Generally though, I really did enjoy him this season.

Diego: Love that we're throwing every over used marriage-in-pieces trope in the book at these two. Love that. Especially as they seemed to have sorted out some of their communication issues. I get their trajectories but was so deeply, Deeply bored watching it. Diego was sadly pretty dislikable for the whole season, which was real sad because I had grown to love him. There were some funny moments don't get me wrong, he's got too much personality to be a boring character, but whilst they didn't have to have a perfect marriage it was so dull and in hindsight such an obvious set up for the bleh that was to come. Plus they threw in a 'don't make me turn this car around' type moment to show how 'he's a parent now look wow' but I can't imagine any of the siblings hearing that and not laughing at him.

Lila: Again, marriage and wrong-conclusions and it was so boring. She's such a fun character and she was reduced to 'ooo how can we make her be a cheater and with Five' Why do you even need to do that? I just feel sad about it. And it doesn't help that we Don't Know Two Of Her Kids Names and neither her nor Diego seem to think of them for however long they're on the road, and she mentions them only once in the 7years of subway hell and both of them seem relatively undistressed without them. Sure, parents do need a break, but if you don't care about the kids visibly you know for sure I the audience member ain't gonna. Also why the eye lasers save for again a brief gag? It makes no sense when she then also has mimics abilities?

Claire: Let's give Claire a side note at this point. I do so hate it when shows decide to make children their parent's brains and moral compasses, take little to no time to show any bond between parent and child until the last 2 episodes, and instead choose to spend that time showing us how naturally fractious a relationship they have. Love that, so much. Never seen it before really. I get it's normal, but when ever other part of the show is cookie cutter predictable I don't need this too. Give her an actual personality that isn't "the wise old rebellious teenager"

Ben: Wow. So glad that A) I had to hear a character explain crypto currency for me, so glad we wasted precious time of a 6 episode series on that. B) Ben had changed 0%. C) that he had Even Less input and impact at the end emotionally than in any previous season and this one was About Him! And do you know why? Because D) they basically used star-crossed-lovers-can't-help-ourselves and made him use every creepy stalker OTT moving way too fast line in the books especially when Jennifer at a lot of moments was verbally saying she wasn't into it.. Also why does he talk about her like he's a 12 yr old and, idk, it was a shame to have no real impact from him until the end when he's suddenly scared and pushing Viktor away to save him but we see no connection from him and Viktor previously as to why he'd listen it would make more sense if it had been Klaus or Luther at this point.

Klaus: Now, I know a lot of his storyline this season came from the comic, and sure it's good material, that should probably have been used Throughout the seasons rather than crammed into 1 day. But let's chat for a hot mo: Now I like that we got to see him be nasty rather than the precious uwu Klaus that I've been guilty of perceiving at times, and that we see some of the negative effects of addiction on the family for the first time. Great moments, important. BUT. I'd have felt his rage out at Allison and turn to drugs would have been a lot more impactful if they'd bothered to show him waking up to the sound of being screamed at, barely able to hear his siblings, struggling to focus on them and wanting to drown it out. But we don't get that, the horror of what this means for him. Then we proceed to got through this whole let's have him want to get shot by a drug dealer (don't quite get why - or how Claire knows he's immortal now? did the powers back thing ever come up??) have him kidnapped and forced to prostitute himself, take more drugs (but still use his powers?) Develop a new power though without using the comic's fun quirk that he has to take his shoes off, and then bury him alive. Wow. this guy had plenty going on, but sure. Then -he can save himself, I thought this might become something poignant - he's able to conjure the dog to Go to Allison and lead them there, but no, he just gets rescued again. Gee I wonder what grave he's in Mom? All I don't know Claire, how about the Only One That's Been Dug Up? I thought it was really interesting to see his moments as a teen with Allison, and how he was living with her and thought they handled the worry about death/germs etc thing well tbf. Though also how the hell did he get home from being 13 hrs away and why nobody cared to go with him was pretty low.

Five: Dear lord that moustache was awful and I'm glad they all called it creepy and he had no concept. I despise 2 things they did here: made it canon that he gets romantic with Lila. Made going back into the literal apocalypse that he spent time having flashbacks about barely if at all affect him - it's unsure if his hesitation going back into it the second time was hesitation to go in there, and that's what I hoped they would do, but then, no. no. Please, Pleeaasse don't take away this nice, safe space I had in this nice, safe 'you literally can't sexualise him with anyone it would be so problematic' character and say 'they held out 7 years but yeaaahhh they hook up.' don't see why it was needed. It didn't 'heal' him, it was a plot for conflict but I've got plenty of other conflict plots that can end with Lila and Diego fighting without having to make every damn character have a god damn love interest! I loved their bond before, it was so fun and special to see a male and female not have to fall in love, and they ruined it. And it was for nothing? And they didn't have time to make the 7 years feel like 7 years and it was lazy writing for cheap conflict in my opinion. I hated it, I hate that it's "canon". I don't think I can describe just how awful I found it and unnecessary. I also don't buy that Five would be willing to not drink the marigolds as much as the others, or that there would be a timeline full of given up fives that sit around a diner. It was fun to watch though. And up until they started the montage in the subway and we knew where it was going I was enjoying Five in this season. that boy has had such a shit life and this is how it ends?

I will say that the flashback to them as kids was my favourite part of this series. It's always good to have a little deeper insight into how they interacted as children but I do have some Opinions here too of course: Reggie saying 'you look ridiculous' to Viktor, no, he made their outfits? I felt that was lazy writing when Reggie in the past has laid into Viktor's insecurities much more keenly: 'That outfit is only for your brothers and sisters / we've been over this, you're not special take it off / I will not have you wasting time with frivolity when the Academy has important work to do, leave us." etc. Also I thought there might be something different about why they all forgot their Ben memories. It was brutal yes, which I appreciated, but I can't believe that these guys wouldn't see their father kill their brother and not One of them flip their shit? Idk, it was a little... good and bad I guess.

I think that's it for now, if anyone read this far then well done! I might write a fix it post in a bit for my own entertainment.

[sazandorable]

akai shuuichi

For nearly a year now I have been plagued by awareness of and lust for Akai Shuuichi from classic manga/anime series Detective Conan, of all things. It never stops. It keeps getting worse. My friends with me in the fandom are angels of patience, indulgence and gentle teasing, but for everyone out of that loop I need to explain.

Akai Shuuichi.

He's got striking green eyes and identifiably long lashes.

He is so tall, wears leather jackets, and often has one or both hands in his pockets.

He's left-handed.

He smokes.

He drives cool cars.

He has lived in the UK, in Japan, and in LA.

He used to have princess long hair he was super proud about. He chopped it all off after "a bad breakup" (more on this later).

Most of the time he looks like death badly warmed over in a prehistoric microwave oven. Bags under his eyes, sharp boney facial structure that makes his face look like a skull, an entire scene dedicated to him dropping a can of shitty coffee in dramatic slow-mo, apparently out of exhaustion. I want to bundle him in a huge duvet and spoonfeed him chicken soup.

He is so fucking smart.

He is so fucking funny in a deadpan way.

He looks so serious but does the wildest shit like it's a normal (and easy) thing to do.

He is a sniper. An absurdly good one.

Also excellent physical fighter. He's so cool, he doesn't do karate or judo like the protag's close allies or even boxing like Sherlock Holmes -- he does Jeet Kune Do like Bruce Lee.

He is good at everything.

He's FBI, one of their best.

He doesn't say shit but understands everything.

At any given point you have no idea where the fuck Akai is and what he's doing, but he'll always be where he's needed.

Hottest trait: reliable. Unfailingly reliable.

He infiltrated the big bad meanie shadow organisation at the heart of the series' overarching plot and became a very high-ranking member of it.

Now that he's been found out and burned, the common reaction to Akai Shuuichi from members of that organisation is "shit, he's our biggest threat, kill kill kill".

A guy from the organisation once realised he was being chased by the Akai Shuuichi and immediately shot himself in the head rather than deal with him.

Another shot himself after having been dealt with by Akai Shuuichi.

To be fair, it's apparently the guideline of the org to not leave loose ends and not get caught alive, but still. This doesn't happen with other characters.

He was a honey pot.

His seduction method was to let his target hit him with her car and then hit on her when she visited him in the hospital.

He ended up catching genuine feelings for her. Then she got killed, so now he has angst about that.

He refers to wanting to avenge her death and kill the guy that killed her as "I'll make my girlfriend cry tears of scarlet blood in regret for ever dumping me".

He says to himself "Hi, my precious, precious lover ❤" while sniping at the man who killed her through that guy's own sniper scope from over 700 yards away.

Hits him, too. 600+ episodes later the guy still has the scar on his cheek and touches it occasionally.

He also dated a FBI colleague, whom he first met when they bumped into each other and he pointed out she should apologise too because "the blame was 50/50".

She was super offended. And then she dated him.

Another, male, colleague once referred to Akai Shuuichi as "my wife".

The official resident Pretty Boy fanservice man is obsessed with him because he believes Akai caused the death of his own childhood friend(/boyfriend).

It was actually the pretty boy's own fault. For incomprehensible reasons, instead of ever telling him that, Akai "the blame is 50/50" Shuuichi takes on that responsibility and even tells him he still feels sorry about it, and lets this incredibly dangerous man repeatedly try to out and/or kill him and put so, so many people in danger in an attempt to get his revenge. It is all incredibly homoerotic.

He still humiliates this guy every time they meet, and sometimes when they don't.

He's so sweet about so many upsetting things like this or his own honeypot girlfriend incident, but also so ruthless about others. He'll do anything to get a foot into the shadow organisation. He'll use himself as bait. He'll use a colleague who idolises him as decoy (with his knowledge and consent). He'll use a 6yo as scout. He'll use a comatose woman, her little brother, your crush's dad, your dad, his ex, himself again.

"No, Conan-kun, don't get your loved ones entangled into this, what we do is dangerous and sometimes we get people killed. Anyway let's use this entire hospital full of injured civillians for a high-risk trick." - Akai Shuuichi

He's so sweet and also such a dick.

He also has daddy issues because his father was MI6 and seems to have died on the job in mysterious circumstances.

He's an oldest brother.

Because of his choice to start a dangerous job after what happened to his father and various other plot reasons, he is estranged from his remaining family they don't even share a last name anymore.

He and his little sister barely know each other, but she's emulating him and looking for him and trying to know him and it's so sweet. He can't let that happen for both of their safety, but also he's being a dick about it.

He faked his death.

So he's currently on his 4th name (that I know of).

He's now pretending to be a 5 years younger phD student with pink hair, glasses, and turtlenecks.

The turtlenecks are for hiding the fact that he's constantly wearing a voice-changing device. The device is a metal choker.

He's now living his best domestic quiet life at the hero's parents' manor-like house, reading their books and drinking their booze.

The hero's dad, who is a very popular author, wrote a book inspired by him. The book inspired by him got adapted into a movie and won an award.

The hero's mom, who is an incredibly talented and famous actress and a total hottie, has a crush on him. She taught him to cook.

Sometimes he drops by the neighbours' to share a meal he cooked with the old man and little girl living there and the kids often visiting. The kids told him his curry was not that great so he's working on it.

For another meal that failed to satisfy, he read cookbooks then asked an old lady to teach him the special recipe that had emotional value to her.

Man who is good at everything is not good at cooking. So he's learning that. From the women in his life. For the kids in his life.

He's so fond of the hero. They get each other and they don't usually run into anyone who does. They like each other so much. Autistic to autistic communication.

The hero is in the body of a 6-year-old. Akai is so impressed with him and thinks he's so cool and talks to him like an equal.

One time they went fishing and for a cover the hero called him "daddy".

Akai Shuuichi knows he's a weapon of destruction and can do pretty much anything. He's not a brag about it, just practical. He is basically the hero's on-call guard/attack dog now.

When the hero needs help, he calls Akai-san, and Akai says yeah, I followed the situation, I was waiting for your call, I know what you're going to ask me to do. Point me at the target and I'll take care of it.

And then he just does that.

In the latest movie, the hero needs to take care of an armoured submarine that is currently underwater and doesn't get picked up by radards. Akai goes "ok, I can handle that".

He shows up in a helicopter with an American rocket launcher and is like "ok, just show me where it is". The hero just has to light up the submarine for a couple seconds. Then Akai one-shots it. From the helicopter. While it's still underwater.

Then he goes home.

(To the hero's parents' home.)

This is Akai Shuuichi with little resources and lots of constraints, such as being an FBI agent in Japan not supposed to be there or do anything, certainly not use weapons, and by the way legally dead and cannot let the organisation know he's still alive because that would endanger several other people.

He plays the accordion.

[familyagrestefanblog]

There is this ongoing thing with Adrien drawing back from kissing Marinette all the time, which at this point in "Collution" doesnt make sense anymore as him just 'backing out'. "Emotion" too brought this up already as legitimate issue Adrinette is going through that after the ending of "Adoration" every single time Adrinette tried to kiss, Adrien stopped it and even ran away.

This is a great opportunity for me to FINALLY talk about this massive subtext plot that started for real with the end of "Adoration" but up til now I didn't know from which angle I should approach an analysis post about it. This kissing detail being back and visually more elaborated on is EXACTLY what I needed!

In "Collusion" we see that Adrien's facial expression looks like as if an older order put in him is lighting up for a second preventing him from kissing her:

I mean, the shot composition is even purposfully leading your eyes towards Adrien's head with the background wall for example. It's clear who you're supposed to focus on the most.

"Emotion" already implied it through dialog but "Collusion" now pretty much proves that the one time on-screen we saw Adrien draw back from Marinette in "Emotion" wasn't merely caused by the damn phone (although this isnt the first time something weird happens with Adrien's phone this season) or an order somehow given in real time as one would assume, every single time after "Adoration" where Adrinette tried to kiss, Adrien seems to be stopped by an order Gabriel gave him after Gabriel turned Adrien into a puppet in the end scene and Marinette was so worried about if Adrien might be in danger in his home, but tried to remain hopeful:

This is something I figured for a while now. That we were supposed to feel exactly what Marinette is feeling here. She has no idea if Gabriel is doing something to Adrien and if its bad. She is the the outside person, she doesnt know whats happening in that house and she can't help Adrien once he's in it alone with his father. All she can do is hoping that there is another explaination.

Though that turns out to be wishful-thinking, because "Emotion" in fact has already told us that Gabriel did something to Adrien on this evening in "Adoration" after Adrien was forced back inside and Gabriel kept on and on twisting and using the ring while creeping backwards where WE know exactly that Adrien has just returned inside. They would have met in the foyer.

There is nothing far-fetched about a conversation having taken place once Marinette was gone and in my opinion it feels more like wishful denial to say that Gabriel 100% totally did not go to talk to his son. I mean, Adrinette was straight up about to have their first kiss right in Gabriel's view and that right after the events of "Protection", the episode right before "Adoration":

Re-enforcing to Adrien through harsher means to not be in a relationship with Marinette seems like a fitting punishment order Gabriel would pull after "Adoration's" horror show ending.

Give me a logical reason for why that wouldnt have been a realistic thing to happen? A reason that please isnt rooted in the logic of "we didnt see it when we followed Marinette's pov and therefore nothing happened". Cause I sure followed Marinette's pov and she ended this episode very alarmed and concerned.

Alarmed and concerned for a very good reason. The entirety of "Emotion" then goes on and on and ON about asking WHY Adrien is acting so weird and WHY he hasn't told Marinette about the Diamond Ball:

This question is a central theme all through the entire episode, and in the end the truth about Adrien's silence gets revealed.

Marinette herself has no idea and everyone else in this episode is also just giving their best guess of what makes the most sense for them. But that doesn't mean anybody actually got this right. And we know that because in the end Adrien outright SAYS that he didnt mention it because his father ORDERED him not to:

And then Adrien's and Gabriel's father son talk elaborates on that further from Gabriel's perspective:

I don't know what to tell you, it's right THERE. Adrien did not tell Marinette because Gabriel forbit it. It was an order Adrien couldnt go up against because it explicitly stated that Adrien is not allowed to tell Marinette specifically about the Diamond Ball. And as we saw in "Emotion" this order manifested in Adrien panicking around Marinette and lying in a way that at least somewhat still contained the truth:

I really find it upsetting when people victim-blame Adrien for not rebelling and "being brave" the way Félix and Kagami do (or even worse, compare him to Marinette who isnt a Sentihuman at all) because unlike them Adrien is not wearing his own amok AND is unfortunate enough to have both his parental figures wear them, so of course there are alot of direct interactions.

But if that one moment in "Collusin", where Adrien talks back at his father, indeed showcased Nathalie giving Adrien the means to really fight back for a moment by having laid her ring hand on Adrien's so one of his amoks would for the first time touch his skin and making it possible to nullify Gabriel's order depending on how passionately Adrien is against it, then this was a first taste of what Adrien would be like if he were given full control over himself:

Nathalie did that on purpose to protect Adrien from Gabriel and enable him to choose his own happiness as Emilie wished, which is what we saw moments before:

Adrien in "Emotion" and "Pretention" was not a 'coward', that is such disgusting victim-blaming against a person who is literally mind-controlled by their parent without even knowing it for their entire life. It's like giving Kagami shit for giving her amok back to her mother when Tomoe demands it, as if Kagami KNOWS that her ring holds her entire mental and physical autonomy. These poor children have it horrible enough being literally almost enslaved to their parents demands from the day they were born for some sort of sick purpose. Cool that Marinette doesn't have that problem at all and Félix doesn't have it anymore so THEY are able to do whatever they want, but they have no business being held as the golden standard.

This is about Kagami and Adrien who are still being taken advantage of and lied to ever since birth from the people who are supposed to love and protect them. Yes, they act weird and nerve-wreckingly sometimes and in ways that apparently dissappoints you because - of course - if you were a Sentihuman half enslaved and kept in the dark by your parent you would just choose to not have those problems, no biggie, but unfortunately Adrien and Kagami arent you.

They're weird and frustrated. Weird, frustrated, exhausted and abused little half-slaves, left in the dark and still minors so they cant escape anyway.

These things matter.

DETAILS matter.

Details like between the ending of "Adoration" and "Emotion" the episode has Marinette tell us that there was a time skip we didnt see in which Adrien has been acting very weird:

New and suspicious extremes MATTER.

Gabriel crossed a massive line by turning Adrien into a literal puppet at the end of "Adoration" seemingly for the first time from a further distance, since this seems to be the first time THIS happened in Adrien's head:

The fact alone that this was the instance where Gabriel crossed such a fundamental line is already a give-away that whatever is about to follow from Gabriel as Adrien's father from this moment onwards will be on an even more extreme layer of abusive. Which we know to be true from all the episodes afterwards.

But even if you wanna ignore all that, Marinette is then increasingly more worried about Adrien's safety in his home and everything regarding his father and has to truly face for the first time her underlying fear of "what if Gabriel isnt just a bad father?" and "What if Adrien is even being hurt in some way?" although she tried to approach it from deflecting angles until Gabriel talked to her in "Pretention".

But more and more Marinette is learning in what hellhole Adrien has been living in for all his life.

Because, you know, that is the case with highly abusive parents and its something one very likely has to face when one enteres a relationship. This is perfectly realistic, just the abuse method is fantasy. Something the show is not yet letting any of the children besides Félix know yet.

But we KNOW that Adrien is a Sentihuman at his abusive father's mercy and "Emotion" tells us that Marinette's concern at the end of "Adoration" was correct. Gabriel DID do something to Adrien but we, just like Marinette, couldnt fully see it because the biggest portion of the abuse happened behind closed doors as most abuse does. And Marinette, just like us, was left wondering what just happened to Adrien when she saw something disturbing happen to him which may stand in connection to his father.

And she, just like us, asks herself if he's even safe living with this man (no he isnt) when THIS is what happend to Adrien just being near his home and father:

And just like Marinette WE were supposed to find Adrien's silence after this concerning. Marinette read this correctly but she doesnt know yet how to properly interpret all of Adrien's types of silence and the family contexts surrounding it.

Adrien didnt tell Marinette about the Diamond Ball because Gabriel silenced his son, something that Adrien himself wouldnt properly recognize as such and only blames himself for as a failure on his part.

Who cares what the other characters' guesses are for why he didnt say anything? The only two people who truly know why Adrien didnt tell her are Adrien and Gabriel themselves because that's the abusive parent and his abused child. And that's the truth Marinette should be after. Not the one she prefers to be true and she is finally making good progress on that front.

And we can take the silencing in "Emotion" even further, because that wasn't the only time skip + silencing situation we had.

Just like in between "Adoration" and "Emotion", there is yet another significant time skip very cleverly handled - and almost hidden - between "Emotion" and "Pretention". We know that there is a time skip because once again Adrinette tells us:

Honestly, no doubt they will go back to these important time skips in season 6 or 7, there is so much important Marinette development for her love-related anxiety alone deliberately skipped before and after "Emotion" because of what it was entangled with. Not to mention everything else!

Optional rant ahead, I need to get this out of my system for a second: "Emotion" still barely makes sense and dont get me started on Félix! When do you think he fell in love with and stalked Kagami besides in the time skip? He wasnt in love with her before he found out at the diamond ball that she's like him, he probably barely made anything of her when he thought her to be a "normal human". Kagami and Marinette were not part of Felix' plan, Kagami he only just found out is a sentihuman too and therefore deserving of concideration for him, and Marinette wasnt even supposed to be there!

I swear, "Emotion" and the time skips before and afterwards are driving me crazy. I have to make a seperate post for the Felix and Amilie stuff alone and Adrien too was just plain weird in that episode with no proper explaination besides for the little amout that was required to make this work for Marinette's outsider perspective who doesnt know what's going on inside those families anyway. Félix apparently was gone for WEEKS and apparently both Adrien and Kagami knew that because they werent surprised hearing that and neither Gabriel nor Tomoe seemed to care that Amilie went off on Gabriel about it in infront of their children.

Félix was gone for weeks. Adrien knew it. And then we see Adrien immediately recognizing Félix as peacock miraculous holder even despite the magic; not being too surprised seeing Felix there transformed and AT ALL when he should be missing and is willing to go to him in a friendly enough and trusting manner despite that being weird too with no context! Félix is a completely new person who suddenly is aware that Adrien has always been a victim caught in a hellhole with Gabriel and what the fuck was that fake miraculous ring from Adrien Felix had?

Screw you, something happened there in this time skip before "Emotion" and we only got to see the tip of the ice berg! And screw this show for barely giving context for anything in "Emotion" yet because we are stuck with Marinette as main character and Adrien didnt wanted to involve her in his family shit because why would he?

*GROAN* I'm turning grey because of this damn show...

ANYWAY

What "Pretention" does very cleverly is picking up the same character goals established at the end of "Emotion" prior and starting this episode with it. But that doesnt mean at all that this is the next day. NOTHING about what Adrinette tells us about how Gabriel now breathes down their necks makes sense if this is merely the next day:

It's at the very least a couple of days and that's being VERY generous. I'm personally putting it at one week. That would mean Gabriel is being increasingly more of an ass for one school week where Adrinette has to get more and more creative (and Adrien ending up knowing when his father is busy) and at the beginning of the second Marinette has had it. One week is also a perfectly reasonable timeframe for the kids to put off talking to Gabriel and Tomoe while its also a realistic point in time where you would draw the line and motivate yourself again to finally do it.

Kagami's dialogue is the factor that very cleverly tricks the audience into thinking it can just be the next day since Kagami is "oh so much braver than Adrien who doesnt dare to talk to his father", which the episode then subverts by showing that Kagami rightfully fears her mother too and shouldnt be concidered less for it because Tomoe is an abusive hardass too who Kagami needs to be protected from as (her) child and Sentihuman who doesnt know she is one & the end of "Emotion" literally showed us Adrien talking to his father right after he told Marinette that he would try to convince him to have a heart-to-heart with her to clear up whatever he has against her:

Adrien did NOT fail to talk to his father after he said he would because we saw him do it right away. What he did "fail" to do though was mentioning towards the girls that he already talked with his father and tell them what Gabriel said - though that's understandable, Gabriel is being an irrational fuck; blaming the fiasco on Marinette when it's realistically on Félix - and to convince his father to talk to Marinette. But even for this Adrien's on-screen talk with Gabriel has the explaination for:

Did you pick up on the pattern too? That as well was an explicit order from Gabriel with the ring.

Adrien in "Pretention" didnt 'manage' to talk to his father again about him and Marinette so they can have a heart-to-heart because prior to that Gabriel forbit Adrien through an order to ever mention Marinette towards him again (and that means, since Adrinette didnt talk to Gabriel yet, Kagami in turn put off talking to her mother too)

So of course Adrien couldnt do it, which is why he went along with the only option he subconciously felt like he had left. Bringing Marinette to his father so SHE can talk to him by his side, forcing his father into a corner. Adrien unknowingly loopholed himself and out of Gabriel's order that's literally silencing him.

Details, time skips and circumstances matter.

So to bring this back to the failed Adrinette kissing in "Collution":

I'm pretty sure that from the ending of "Adoration" onwards we are now going to see a further and further escalation of ways for Gabriel to enforce his power over Adrien. Regularly just as his father (which is already bad enough) and also the ways in which Gabriel can hurt Adrien through the amok ring

- but in ways he can for now at least somewhat still hide from Nathalie, though no doubt this is going to end BADLY where even Nathalie cant help Adrien anymore as it was already established that Gabriel can absolutely do that and still cross so many more lines-

and in "Emotion" that already included silencing Adrien from letting Marinette know about the Diamond Ball and then not letting him talk about Marinette to him at all (for which I'm quite sure Nathalie touching Adrien with the amok ring in "Collution" helped Adrien break through that barrier because that WAS the first time he really talked ABOUT Marinette towards Gabriel since "Emotion" that isnt just him mentioning her name in logical situations or vaguely talking around the relationship topic like in "Pretention").

But I'm also betting that Gabriel odered Adrien to not kiss Marinette after he puppeteered Adrien back into the mansion in "Adoration" or some other variation of an official grand gesture that Adrien is in a relationship with her. Something that... yeah, DID indeed stop after "Protection", didn't it? (Ooh. That explains why the date was made such a big deal for Adrien's story through the parallels to Gabriel's and Emilie's date in the past in "Evolution"; that was the last time Adrien was able to do something like that...)

But poor Adrien of course does not know the true reason for why he's still hesitating to kiss Marinette even now in "Collusion". He must be so relieved that Marinette is reading it as him needing more time with her too to get comfortable enough to kiss. It's so rough watching all these episodes and seeing Adrien beat himself up and think so low of himself when he's literally being abused through mind-control. All I want is for Adrien to finally have his rings on his hand like Félix and Kagami get to. I just want my boy to be free :'(

[yutasbimil]

Intimidating

jaemin x fem!reader x mark | nct dream ff. [one-shot] !!! also posted on my ao3 acc! { here } tags: fluff, smut cw: nsfw minors dni, minor plot, threesome mfm, trio dynamic, friends, crack, established relationship, tickling, kissing, kinky, hair pulling, teasing, dom-sub dynamic, fingering, dumbification, oral sex, blowjob, deep throat, mouthfuck, spitroasting, double penetration, buttplug, lingerie, anal sex, condoms, overstimulation, nipple play, unprotected sex, praise kink, filmed, pet names, FLUFF!!! D; ! not that comfy w/ 2nd POV, but hope 3rd POV is good for y'all ♡ word count: 7.5k

do not repost © yutasbimil (2024)

The idea of them three, skin-to-skin, in the midst of doing it, bare bodies near each other… all of it seems intimidating.

The thought momentarily brushed Y/n’s mind, and it quickly produced cold sweats from her temples down to her feet. And all that’s left is clammy hands for her.

She didn't expect Jaemin to be serious in even entertaining the thought. Or has the slightest thought been given on this matter even?

Y/n could only sigh at her tense state.

Jaemin even said that the morning prior to today he actually already talked with Mark about the threesome set-up.

And he agreed.

Y/n doesn't want to admit that's all that consumed her head throughout the ride on the way to the airport. 

She's skittish as fuck about this.

Like who wouldn't?!

Yes, it was her idea in the first place. Most of the time she blames her curiosity, and this would certainly kill the cat.

The clenching of her pussy– cat certainly troubles Y/n in putting herself in these types of situations. FYI, she didn't really have anyone in mind to do this with, most importantly, not a close friend— as she can't even begin to put two-and-two together to think of sexual things towards a friend.

At most, here and behold Na Jaemin though as he is with one of his unpredictability streaming within his veins. 

Keep your head out of the gutter, Y/n. She tells herself off. It’s not a good impression to make of a friend. Let alone it being the first time meeting their friend.

What will he make out of me after this?

She can’t help but feel the intensity in her system the more the moment comes closer.

It’s not long until Jaemin and Y/n arrive at the airport to come and pick up Mark.

-

“It’s only until I move back to the dorms with Haechan,” Mark says, getting more napkins to wipe some droplets off himself. It came from his cold drink. They settled to fill themselves at a fast food place.

“You’re sharing the place with others too?” Jaemin asked, and the other guy nodded as they continued eating off their plate. Jaemin volunteered that Mark could go on and stay at his place until further notice.

“Once classes start, yeah, I’ll be moving in a week or two before or so,” Mark says, sipping his drink.

Y/n is just tuning in, she swallowed up bits of the iced coffee, feeling cold feet across the guy she mostly only interacted with through the internet. The closest they had been interacting was through group call sessions, so it was still dissociating to hear Mark’s voice beyond the robotic filter.

Although they had been friends before meeting… It can be said the same as how they're staring meekly at each other over fast food as they’re eating. Earlier there had been a nice meeting between them, even sharing an embrace and getting a hold of each other’s vibe on the bus ride.

“How long have you been staying in Jaemin’s place, Y/n?” Mark’s question shot Y/n back to the conversation, adding to her boyfriend’s hand on her lap as he taps to check in on her. 

He smiles at Y/n softly before gesturing her towards Mark, who’s waiting for her to catch on the convo.

“Not too long, I’m only staying ‘cause I need help wrapping up some stuff for my thesis.” Y/n states, her shoulders getting less tense as she continues talking. “And it’s nearer my campus where Jaem’s residing.”

It’s not long until they’re back at their pace, finishing their food before catching up on life updates.

-

Jaemin would most likely give in to her request, so she should’ve seen this coming.

Certainly, we’re talking about Na Jaemin here…

She didn't know they’d do it too soon.

“N-not immediately, pabo!” she almost shrieked out of surprise, keeping her head low along her voice as Y/n smacked Jaemin by the shoulder. 

He had to laugh at her coy behavior. Her boyfriend pats her on the shoulder to at least lessen her agitation.

Y/n could only grab hold of the pitcher of water, pouring herself a glass and then chugging it.

Y/n is doing any means to postpone it, but mostly behind or interpreted as a mask of consideration for their friend. He’s got jet lag from the flight after all. She voiced out her reasons, a stutter slipping off her senses. “Let him rest…”

But it's intentional.

Jaemin likes teasing her, the blush on her face adds to his amusement, he grins. “Not immediately, no rush of course.”

She can't say the same for the ‘amusement’ Jaemin is showing, if it can even be called that. Y/n wants to drown out her thoughts but alas, she put it onto herself hmmm?

All because he discovered her porn stash in her secret folder. She wants to pull hairs off her body, it’s funny how her boyfriend is open and understanding. Y/n wants to throw herself on how he’s keeping his utmost attention to her even with all that embarrassment.

Y/n was even sure she was being repetitive and pouring assurance multiple times with her statement: “Even if I die I'm okay with it just being a fantasy, okay?”

It can stay as is, a fantasy.

Turns out it’s not fully okay after that hug and talk with Jaemin, in parallel to him that he had been bothered for days end. His response borderline melts her out of embarrassment and just pure wanting to bury his whole entire being in her arms.

“But I feel bad and I want to make you happy…”

“You already make me happy enough, my love, and I've explained before it's more on the stimulation all over… on why the idea intrigues me. Nothing about you or our sex life dissatisfies me, hmmm? Your dick enough makes me weak, Jaems.”

Fuck, she needed to resort to such nasty wordings huh? But it holds sheer truth in her.

“But I feel bad if I won't be able to do something that would make you happy.” He firms his ground on this sentiment. 

If anything, Na Jaemin can be insistent as fuck.

She’s not fully against the idea, as much as Y/n stands with her main statement, the opposition is more driven by fear.

Y/n knew most of these types of situations ending in shitty ways. She doesn't even want to ruin their friendship or even the means of their ego or self-esteem.

Y/n tries to further elaborate on her point and preferences. “Okay, so let me put it this way, what if I am not okay with two girls then you?”

“But that's different,” Jaemin says. “I'm fine with it.”

Not me having to emphasize– she had to take a deep breath. “But babe, again, I am more worried about the aftermath, in terms of self-esteem and comparison. Our relationship after, along with the other party...” She had to pause, feeling heaviness on the agitation of how this would turn out, she pressed. “It's all too risky.”

But with this, it managed to end well.

-

It’s just a convenient coincidence that Mark happens to be staying with them and he is a trusted individual to start experimenting on this matter.

They make use of this opportunity as Mark also happens to want to experience this type of thrill. A win-win situation, right?

The couple did notice how evasive Mark is with them though, and it’s getting silly. Their game of tag of dragging him on the bed and then him moving back to the floor with his gadgets at hand. They find his timidness amusing.

However, it’s more about respecting their space. At most, he’s just chill.

She’s mostly used to the two being close, especially from what she heard when they were dormmates a few semesters ago. 

Even the teasing and making her “jealous” how they’re the two who showered together back then, and how Mark is the first who slept beside Jaemin before her. Even their “babe” nickname agenda for each other would make her ears ring. Although most of it is just for laughs.

Mark seems to be on the edge as he signals for Jaemin, too immersed in their game.

“Ya, YA! They’re attacking our side!”

“Aish, I’m in the middle of something, I’ll catch up–”

“JAEMIN!!! HELP!” Mark shrieks, almost nudging Jaemin to the edge of the bed, the other just clicks his tongue, eyes furrowed.

It’s endearing seeing the two comfy in bed, with Mark on Jaemin’s lap while they’re playing their mobile game.

Y/n decided to join in beside them, her presence seemed unwavering for the two guys’ attention who just had their focus in their phones.

Though she felt Jaemin’s hand on her head before heading back to their game. He moves Y/n near Mark, to at least make them comfortable near each other.

To add more to being comfortable with each other’s presence, Y/n and Mark are now able to not flinch at being skin to skin, with Mark laidback on Y/n’s shoulder as they went on to watch TikTok videos on their phones.

A lightbulb popped up on Jaemin’s head.

As if Y/n wants revenge as she’s mostly used to this, she expects this from Jaemin’s usual antics. She joins in, locking Mark in her arms as Jaemin starts poking him by his side. “Y-YA! Ayo! Hold up—”

It full-on erupted as a tickle fight, the couple unified against Mark as he squirmed in Y/n’s locked arms around him. “Y’all crazy, stop!”

They're more on dragging Mark and him shrieking like a high school girl on how he’s panicking, holding for his dear life on the sheets. “Na Jaemin!”

In between huffs are laughs and giggles from the three, mostly Mark grabbing hold of the two, trying any means to stop them.

After a few minutes, the trio is catching their breath, Jaemin lets out a playful laugh looking at Mark. “That’s more like it.” 

Mark raised a brow at him, grinning as he had just recovered from excessive laughing. “What?”

“Are you nervous around us?” He points out how Mark is just casually by Y/n’s side, evidently looking more at ease. Jaemin confronts him, he’s noticed him rigid since earlier.

Y/n just realized how Mark’s face is near, she swallows nervously.

“Well, to be frank, yeah, especially we talked about it,” he admits, glancing at Y/n then back to him, further confirming they’re on the same page. “The three of us… you know.” He evades his glances but the couple got it.

“Okay, let’s lessen that.” 

Jaemin is quick to think and do some action.

As if another sync happened between the couple, Y/n just moves by Jaemin’s instruction. The two corners Mark and him refusing their clutches, more as he's shy and hesitant because, of course, she’s Jaemin’s girlfriend.

The thought makes him panic as undoubtedly… it’s his bro’s GF!

Turning the tables, Y/n is now the one being pressed down the bed. Though she submitted as she consents and wants to just lay down with all of this.

They ended up settling in bed anyhow, just a hug-pile in Jaemin’s bed.

Y/n’s head was atop Jaemin’s lap while Mark had his head on Y/n’s belly. Jaemin playing with Mark’s hair, and him giving Jaemin a side eye back like WTF? 

He likes it though. 

Y/n just finds this amusing how they’re like a cat and dog at times.

Jaemin had a thought to make Mark warm up further, cornered him in other words.

The look of panic on Mark’s face flushed all over when Jaemin grabbed his arm as he guided his hand near Y/n’s stomach. It spikes immeasurably as it lands on her chest.

“Come on!” Jaemin insists, Mark heaves in a panicked huff. He shuts his eyes, not even noticing how he had held his breath at the sensation of newfound softness. 

Y/n can feel the nervousness in Mark's shaky hands, so he tries to do it gradually. Jaemin is guiding Mark’s hand on her breast further, keeping gentle touches along with looks of permission.

Y/n just swallows, she shyly nods as Jaemin follows along, obviously more comfortable fondling her breast.

Jaemin is now lifting her bra up, her boobs now exposed. The hit of cold air and hot breath in contrast to the two made her shiver.

Y/n shrieks at their cold touches, making Mark look at her wide-eyed as Jaemin puts his hand back. Y/n lets out a yelp the moment Mark touches her other bare breast. 

He hesitates as Jaemin insists on keeping his hand in place.

“I-I told you, I, she doesn’t want to–”

“No, no… it’s fine, it’s just a bit weird that it’s not Jaemin’s hand…” Y/n is quick to respond, trying to open her eyes again, peeking in between her hands, covering her flushed face. This is to get familiarized with a face other than her boyfriend touching her intimately.

She lets out a faint breath, squirming as Jaemin starts playing with her nipple. Mark mildly reads onto it, merely moving his hand.

“So you’re fine with this? With me?” Mark assured her once again. His line of vision also comes across Jaemin who’s just gently smiling back at him.

Y/n nods, now the one voluntarily guiding his hand on her chest more, navigating it to her now erect nipples. “You guys do anything you want.”

She heaves in a sigh as they gladly do so.

“Told ya.” Jaemin points out, caressing her face before looking back at Mark. “And of course she’s shy, she’s the one who put herself into this.”

“Jae, stop teasing, it’s already embarrassing enough that I agreed.” Y/n covers her face with both her hands again, but Jaemin stops her, disapproving and signaling his girlfriend to keep her eyes on them.

She can’t help but pool more in her panties as Jaemin restricts both her hands atop her head. With such impure thoughts, she burns up, aroused at being pinned down like this. “Now Mark thinks I'm a pervert!”

Mark laughs, smirking. “So you're saying I'm also a pervert since I agreed to this?”

“Touché… ahh.” 

The playful banter is cut short as Mark leans close to her chest, lightly brushing his lips on the bare skin near her sensitive knobs. It's warm…

Another set of lips crashed into her, Jaemin is now kissing her, sealing her moans of pleasure shut momentarily. It’s making her hover in the middle of reverie and being grounded.

His hands moved downwards. Jaemin’s rogue touches along with Mark’s lips caressing on her body hits her like a combo, weakening her in indulgence. 

Her boyfriend looks at her intently, as if reminding her to keep conscious. 

“Eyes on us only, princess,” Jaemin adds, raising her head with his finger to keep her eyes on them, his finger grazing over her chin. 

She gaped at how breathless his deep stare was on her.

Look, isn’t this what you wanted?

Y/n breathes in, changing to a heave of sigh in satisfaction, moaning as Jaemin shifts. It served as answers in accord with their touches on her.

Mark meekly looks at her, following along with Jaemin as he gestures to Mark to start licking her nipples, already erect from the cold and excitement. As much as she hates to admit it, it’s arousing to have two people focusing their bold attention to pleasure you.

The passionate strokes of her boyfriend fill her with so much anticipation. On the other hand, she can feel Mark’s timidness through his leisure touches.

Right off the bat, she noticed the difference between the soft and strong start of the two men. 

“Please, ah, oh no… hmmm… more.” She pulls onto Mark’s hair, still controlled as she tries not to hurt his scalp.

Feeling the hot breath of the two guys near her bare skin, Y/n can’t help but writhe in place. More on how she’s turning more and more disoriented in their touch. 

“Jaem… Mark— fuck. You’re doing so good, holy, h-how…” 

The labored breathing out of Mark, compared to his soft, little licks later on spreading out his tongue wide, it’s sensational. It’s slow and respite, sucking gently by the side of her chest then moving to pulling her nipples.

She tries to keep herself lucid.

“Ah… oh, my love.” Y/n hissed at Jaemin’s touch as he reached down below. She whimpers more on how he became more torrid with his fingers, brushing the surface of her panties, now sticky and embarrassingly drenched in her fluids. 

Jaemin is already settled in, strong and firm with the movements of his tongue and mouth from guzzling the side of her breast and then back to her erect nipples. He’s even squeezing in her breasts while moving it to his tongue to lick all over.

“Ah, ouch… oh, yes.” Her expressions shift swiftly at every quick pace of Jaemin's actions. He bites onto her nipple, the stinging sensation makes Y/n hiss but eventually, it feels good as he kisses it, sucking it again till it feels right.

The switching to pulling and biting feels heavenly.

“Give Mark a look as well, baby, not only me.” Jaemin reminds, she quickly listens, observing their friend with lulled eyes.

The way their fingers sink into the soft skin of her boobs is breathtaking, it’s turning her further into mush the way Jaemin is breathing in her scent. 

“Good girl.” Jaemin kisses the gap of her breasts, it makes her squeal when Mark goes in to pull her other nipple.

Y/n is squirming in place, almost melting to the feeling of the production of her juices flowing more elevated than usual. The pleasure and simultaneous stimulation is gradually overflowing her senses.

She cannot even catch on with her ragged breathing.

Jaemin released her nipple with a pop. “You like this?”

“Is this fine?” Mark also checks into her.

Y/n nods twice, switching from glancing at her boyfriend and her friend, to getting too lost in her blurry, hazy vision.

Looking at Mark, he’s getting more comfortable in placing his free hand to occupy the side of her boob. “Ahh… like that.”

She maintains eye contact with Mark as he pokes his thinned tongue onto the side of her nipples. He’s now mixing in techniques that she cannot fully comprehend his every move.

Y/n makes her hands useful by grabbing and brushing their hair aside, Jaemin frequently observes her as she’s getting more lost in too much pleasure. He even did her more by flicking her nipples whilst licking around it. 

“Uh, oooh… yes, that’s fu-shit, go-ood.” Y/n lets out a sigh, raising her head in delight. 

Y/n pulls Mark’s hair a bit harder, stroking him by the hair down his neck now gently, as he concurrently matches Jaemin’s touch. It seems to be to Mark’s liking as he feels well taken care of.

“So wet already, baby.” Jaemin bellows, he takes the initiative to guide Mark’s other hand to touch Y/n’s pussy. 

“Ah- no… uh,” she gasps, as if denying the obvious. She flinches at the sensation though quickly easing to assure the two that she consents and wants to proceed.

It fills her more with excitement, what more for the actual act when they're this good for the opening act.

She bites her lower lip in satisfaction, seeping in their heed.

The mixture of new sensations swallowed Y/n senseless. To Mark’s sucking and licking of her breasts to her neck, along with his hands and Jaemin’s fingers playing with her clit and walls. It drives her to the edge. If this is bliss, she’s surely already in it for the ride.

After the last pump, a moist and dripping finger of Jaemin out of her wet core, and the last suck of her supple skin from Mark, Jaemin glances at the two of them with a satisfied smile. 

“Hope that at least familiarized you both with each other, hmmm?”

Lost for words as she’s drained to the drop, Y/n wordlessly wraps them both in her arms. And in that position, with Jaemin and Mark close to her chest, they drifted off to sleep.

A day has passed, and they’ve rested and cleaned up already. The trio went out to just hangout in the mall and got a meal after. 

Now they headed to the arcade to wind down a bit.

Y/n suddenly feels a bit heavy down the head and neck though. And as if it’s hazy in her vision, or is Mark a bit more giggly than usual?

She shoots him a glare then back at Jaemin, her boyfriend seems laidback and just playing though. 

This just started when we took a picture a few moments ago. She just hums, maybe it’s just in her mind. 

She then followed Jaemin and played with him.

Y/n just took no mind off it for the rest of their time in the arcade, which was her mistake.

They’re about to leave the mall, going up the stairs, Jaemin grabs Y/n’s hand as they walk together, with Mark following behind them.

“You guys sure you don’t need anything else?” she asks, looking around the stores to make sure. Y/n reaches for the nape of her neck mindlessly. It added a line to her forehead when she felt something soft from her hoodie. Huh?

Feeling her neck, Y/n now grabs onto whatever was put in her hoodie. She hears a laugh at her side.

“What the fuck, Mark? I thought you swallowed your burger whole in one second!”

“What?” Jaemin shoots the two a glance, eyebrow raised at his girlfriend holding up a wrapped, untouched burger, clearly looking pissed.

“I put the burger in her hoodie.” Mark holds on to a laugh, stifling but quickly bursting as Jaemin breaks into a laugh as well. 

“The fuck?” Jaemin swears then gives a high-five to Mark as if it’s the most funniest thing he'd done.

“I swear you two—!” she rolls her eyes at them. No wonder things had been odd since earlier.

Man, she can’t believe these are the same two people she dealt with in bed last night. 

Y/n just laughed along at this point, no wonder these two are close. Both are weird af.

-

“This is just one time,” reminded Jaemin, and he’s just going through the limits and agreement again, pushing down his fingers one by one to make a point. “No penetration in the vagina. Consent at all times. No kissing.”

“Of course, babe,” Y/n says, hugging Jaemin by the arm. They're both lying in bed.

“We’re cool with that… but… is this your plan all along?” Mark asks, seeing Y/n already down on her knees with Jaemin grabbing hold of her on both shoulders.

“For today, yeah.”

Mark remained silent, just leaning by the bed frame.

“Why? Are you tired?” Y/n asks. They just went to the mall after all. Mark shakes his head. “Nah, just asking… you're really cool with me here?”

Jaemin nods. “Yeah, if we weren’t, we should’ve just left you in the mall really.”

“Makes sense.”

Jaemin sits down, guiding Y/n’s head to his already bulging tent in his pants.

Releasing his erection, it sways, Y/n grabs hold of it casually. Her nervousness is now mostly gone even with the presence of the other guy in the room. 

Y/n just focuses her gaze on Jaemin.

“You can join us later if you want— urgh…” Jaemin groans as Y/n wraps her mouth around him, stroking Y/n endearingly by her head. “Or just do your thing there and watch.” 

He gestures, suggesting Mark to jack himself off while watching.

Taking note of this, Y/n goes on and twists her hand while bobbing her head to make Jaemin noisier than usual. 

“Uhhh… Y/n.” Jaemin bites his lips, and Y/n takes a brief glance at Mark, seeing his Adam’s apple bop a bit as he’s fixated on them. She smirks, further taking in Jaemin deeper in her mouth.

She at least wants to give him a show.

Whilst giving her boyfriend a blowjob, they can see Mark’s hesitation in touching himself. His flinching, shaky hand, and intent gaze at them says something else.

Noticing this, Jaemin pulls Mark closer, guiding Y/n’s hand to Mark’s erection, making the other shiver at her touch, prominently still shy.

Y/n raised her brow at his, muffling a bit with her mouth full.

“Don’t tell me you’re still shy around me after that burger-hoodie fiasco?!”

Mark just guffawed at this point. That is too funny for him, huh?

Y/n pulls him back in, trying to return the mood in the room as she reaches for Mark’s neck.

“What do you want to do?”

At the question, as if a bead of sweat appeared by his temple. The bop of his Adam's apple answered for his anticipation as well. “Anything you're down for really, it's already a good time letting me into your fun.”

Mark looks at Y/n and then back at Jaemin. Now, the two are looking at Y/n, her already occupied with her mouth in her boyfriend’s dick.

She just looks at her boyfriend as if getting permission for the next step. Jaemin already had something in mind to give her the pleasure she deserves before she could even ask.

Jaemin helps by taking off her shirt. And at the wiggle of her butt, Mark is shocked at the sight of the buttplug as Jaemin sets her thong aside. It crossed his mind, now burning red and embarrassed as they’ve been together the whole day, she’s got all that hiding underneath?

Jaemin teases Mark, caressing his reddened ear. He knows the sight of his hot girlfriend had his friend flustered.

“I told her to get ready in case things are going down soon.”

Mark just nods, blushing pink in cheeks to ears.

Jaemin goes to remove her lingerie, even teasing to move around the buttplug a bit, making her yelp. She quickly crosses her legs to hide, but Jaemin restrains her.

 “Nope, no can do, jagiya. Show us everything, c’mere.” Jaemin chuckles, spreading her legs with a grin. He goes in and kisses the side of her inner legs. 

“Stop being a tease, Jaem.” She looks away blushing even as Jaemin gestures to position herself to be on all fours.

She starts facing him to hug Jaemin first then continuing to blow him.

Her bum sticks out and the buttplug is shining as if to allure Mark. Diving in, Mark adjusts her near him. 

“F-fuck, oh.” Y/n sighs. With a lick, Y/n almost buckles at the feeling of his tongue.

Mark eats her out while she’s sucking Jaemin’s dick, as if looking like a pleasure train.

“Ah, ahh… hmmm.” She tries her best to speak up but is restrained by the dick in her mouth. But holy fuck. The sensation and rhythm are already different in how Jaemin is handling her, literally with the hand as he's playing her pussy.

The shape of Mark’s fingers is different, the twists and combinations he’s choosing are unpredictable. From the pacing to the licking, the way he's pulsating his digits in and out of her is making Y/n weak to the knees.

It is getting more difficult to multitask on her end. It's gradually getting harder to simply focus on pleasuring Jaemin as she’s moaning too much. Add to her squirming at what Mark is doing as he eats her out while inserting his fingers. Even twisting it as he sucks her—

“Fuck, you're so hot, love. You're doing… ha… so good.” Jaemin grabs hold of her head, guiding her to thrusting his dick in her beautiful mouth. Mouthfucking her into reverie.

Her moans are vibrating around Jaemin’s throbbing dick, she can further feel the growing hotness at the back of her throat.

“Jaemin… my, oh yes, love.” Y/n whimpers, shaking her head. She's trying to get hold of what's going on behind her, but her legs are turning weaker. She grabs on the sheets, onto anything— writhing. Y/n gasps for air, sipping onto loose saliva failing her.

“You’re doing great, Mark, oh fuck, what are you doing?”

This is far different from Jaemin’s tenacious licks. She shuts her eyes tight to at least envision what the heck he may be doing, but her mind's too clouded.

She had to resort to asking directly. “You sure that’s the first time you’ve eaten pussy?” Y/n lets out a chuckle, wiping her sweat as she manages to break into some. “Wo… woah. Hun, even your fingering is good, holy fuck.”

“I'll just continue this then.” Mark smiles, carrying on with his business.

“Yesh, please… ahhh-uh. Ah.” Spilling out a few more syllables, she happily goes back to pleasuring her man.

Y/n just gives up at this point, as if a dog in heat, she lets her tongue let loose. Licking and sucking on autopilot. She tries her very best to keep her eyes in focus to not go off too high into bliss.

Jaemin is even taking notes of this.

Y/n is fully enjoying herself grinding on Mark's fingers.

“You're enjoying this too much, huh, love?”

“Yesh… uh,” she pauses, heaving in a breath as she's forgetting even the basics of breathing at this point. “Ohh… very much so… I love you.”

“I'm… urgh, glad. Love you too.” Jaemin hisses as he pinches her legs, peppering her head and body with kisses. He reaches out to play with her breasts.

“Aish, these two lovebirds.” Mark comments, he goes back to mind his own business though.

“Join in then, babe.” Jaemin banters, earning an eye roll from Mark. “I'm good.”

“If you say so.” He chuckles, focusing back on Y/n who's amused watching them.

Jaemin caresses her face, setting her stray hair aside as it's getting a bit rough in handling her. He looks at Y/n with such doting eyes, sharing the pleasure of seeing her with so much delight.

Mark continues to devour her, his tongue is a bit more gentle but he attacks more with his fingers. Mark spreads her legs more apart as she keeps squirming, twitching embarrassingly tight around his fingers as he keeps attacking his tongue on her clit and hot entrance.

She could almost see white all over, but she's not quite there yet. 

The feeling elevated her senses, how she didn’t expect to like it this much. Having her holes taken care of, with her mouth sucking while feeling someone is sucking her at the same time.

She could almost cry out of pleasure.

Just as she's about to give in, her legs are moved to another position. Y/n cannot protest as her core had been yearning for a dick inside her ages ago.

Jaemin thanks Mark as he already got Y/n ready and wet. With a quick alignment, Jaemin easily penetrated her pussy.

While they’re fucking, Mark is quick to catch on, twisting and licking her boobs and nipples. The added sensation made her extra loud and wailing. It almost rendered her incoherent.

Being more adept in multitasking, Jaemin gets Y/n’s phone, the camera already open to be handed to Mark. “Film us.”

Mark perks a brow, the other hand now pumping on his dick as he reconfirms with Jaemin. “Like record you two fucking?”

Jaemin nods. “She’s into this shit, watch how she’ll turn into a pool of mess just by filming her—”

“Na Jaemin! Don’t expose me like that!” She tries to retort, pulling herself off Jaemin, but the pounding dick in her restrains her from doing so. Jaemin now has full control over her with Mark at the side.

“Awww… babe, it’s okay,” Jaemin assures. “It’s just Mark, I’m sure he wouldn’t think it’s weird.”

“It's because it is Mark that I think he’ll think of me weird!”

Mark just laughs, shrugging it off, and proceeds to film them.

“Do this as well.” Jaemin insists, demonstrating to pull Y/n’s hair as a request.

Y/n sees her surroundings slowly crumble as Jaemin reveals her kinks to Mark one by one.

Stop it!

She wants to complain but she's practically pushed down under their submission. Everything just feels so good.

The way Jaemin is fucking her in doggystyle, even the clapping of skin along with slapping her ass. 

Jaemin just tells Mark off to go on and pull her hair.

Jaemin grabs hold of both her hips as he’s going at it, ramming into Y/n.

“Uh… ah, please, oh-fuck.” She's left with quivering lips at this point. Taking in mind Jaemin's dick the hair pulling seems to be something else.

Mark is enjoying it a bit too much, he unintentionally went too far as it already hurt.

“Mark? Oh, arghh—” Her groans are now replaced out loud by pain.

Why does it seem odd?!

“Hm-Mark! YA! That felt like something else, do you have any grudge against me?!”

“My bad, my bad. Sorry.”

He doesn't seem to have any remorse though. 

Y/n huffs at Mark, taking a break for a laugh and even casually talking while they’re having sex in front of him.

They're seeing Mark with his dick out, pumping himself as he watches over the couple.

The sound of sex and skin slapping adds more to the arousal of the three.

Earlier as they started off, they were still shy af. But now while she’s getting fucked, she’s stimulating Mark's erection, even wanting to spring free his dick. 

“Is it okay to suck you, Mark?” Y/n assured every step of the way but she didn't feel any sense of refusal from Mark stopping her from stripping him off. 

He places the phone tidily nearby to continue to film their supposed sex tape.

Mark swallows, nodding a bit and the meeting of Y/n’s tongue on his erection fully turned his lips agape.

Although slightly hesitant, the way it twitched at Y/n's touch drew it nearer to her touch. As if Mark's body itself is craving for any sensation available. And luckily, they're already here to fulfill that thirst for lust.

It weaves on naturally how she's down on all fours, with Jaemin still making use of her sweet pussy as he's ramming into her. While Mark is now the one occupying her mouth, fucking her is still a bit too gentle for her liking.

“More, please…” she barely mumbles clearly with her cheeks full. Y/n also put her hand around Mark's dick along her sloppy movements, sucking him harder. She feels two different sets of hands touching around her chest, her boobs springing free ever so slightly. Jaemin removes his hands to which Mark takes charge of squeezing her boobs together.

She feels herself getting tighter and tighter around Jaemin as he pounds in and out of her. She pulls in Mark so that he can reach the back of her throat. “Yes, that's.. urgh-uh, it… more, harder!”

No use getting shy now that they went up to this point. Now they're braver and pushed confidently in getting lost in pleasure as that is their main goal here.

The difference between Mark and Jaemin is that they’re a warning with Mark’s end, him mumbling a “Here we go,” before excusing himself to fuck her mouth. Compared to Jaemin just wordlessly entering her, slamming in and out roughly. 

She’s mixed between wanting to be treated as fragile with care or being completely manhandled.

With Mark pushing her hair aside to get more hold of his dick into her mouth, while Jaemin is grabbing hold of her hips and slapping her ass in the process of making her a moaning mess.

It adds more fluidity as she gets wetter by the second hearing both of them groaning and a mix of moaning as she lets them use her senselessly.

With open arms, they're more on enjoying the moment and experience.

This is the feeling of getting sandwiched by two guys whom you trust and who care about you.

At most, this is far different in comparison to her surprise in getting into this situation. Quite literally to get caught up between two men to whom she's dearly close.

Even in between the nastiness and roughness, she feels well taken care of.

With just enough strength, Y/n sticks her butt out for Jaemin removing the butt plug with a pop. While this is going down, she puts on the condom on Mark’s erection with Jaemin assisting them.

Jaemin lays down on his back, with Y/n on top of him. Adding more lubrication, Jaemin spits into her ass, spreading the saliva all over, mixing it with her wetness. 

Mark is getting ready to insert his dick into her ass, aligning it before pushing it.

With a huff from Y/n, Mark starts working. It took no time for Jaemin to slip into her hot wet core, as well, sliding in so easily as a moan slipped off his lips.

Basically, Y/n is sandwiched in between them, Jaemin inside her pussy while Mark is thrusting on the back. She’s practically pinned down to Jaemin’s chest, her breasts rocking back and forth. The friction on each of their skin adds to the heat of their senses.

The hollows of her neck are filled by Mark’s hot breath, their proximity almost blurring as the gaps in front are settled in by Jaemin’s warmth.

It’s getting tougher, and more perplexing as Y/n tries to keep her consciousness intact as she keeps tactile, feeling the gaps and the angle. The distinct rhythm and attention also shakes her core, her system going full overdrive.

To keep her boobs from swaying freely, Mark cups her breasts, adding a twist to her nipple. She felt lips smacking on her skin, Jaemin was grazing his teeth on her supple skin.

The nibble and bite marks Jaemin is doing prolong her desires.

“Please, ah! Ah… hmph…” she rasps, scrunching her fists to the bed sheets. Y/n feels everything slipping away like the fabric on the bed as she’s getting more stirred up to the guts. Both their dicks keep hitting the sweetest spots. She wants her holes to be filled with white all over.

Mark gets hold of her, supporting Y/n’s stature as Jaemin spreads her legs wide like an eagle spreading its wings.

“Wait, wait… uhh, hngh!—” In the middle of speaking, she wasn’t given an ounce of rest as she remained tight around her asshole. Jaemin is also devilishly grinding against her to keep her from breaking away. It also involves her sensitive clit as he is banging into her, weakening her knees. Besides taking hold of her dangling tits, her boyfriend did not forget to stimulate her clit. 

Jaemin rubs his fingers to her sensitive clit, the dirty noises of their mixed juices sloshing along their pumping dicks in her holes amplified Y/n’s moans.

She shakes her head as it’s getting confusing to distinguish the difference with both her holes being worked on.

The sensitivity grows with the variation of sensations and rapidity in her holes getting in and out, the pounding inside her pushes Y/n closer and closer to her climax.

“F-fuck, wait, guys…” She sucks in a breath, sipping her saliva and soul back into her. She tries to buckle her legs together, but the two guys are preventing her from flailing away from their bodies. 

But she doesn’t want this to end yet!

Before she completely gets lost in pleasure they change it up, adjusting Y/n to their desired position. Y/n is scooped in by her arching back, with Mark carrying her. He grabs hold of her shoulders, moving to slightly choke her neck with his veiny hands. He’s breathing in close to her ears, creating harsher goosebumps down her spine.

“You’re so tight.” Mark breathes out, his hands on her hips tightening. 

Y/n could only swallow in response, holding onto the nape of his neck, mewling as Jaemin continued to hammer her juicy pussy.

Y/n is now back pinned down at Jaemin’s heaving chest, she feels Mark spreading her butt cheeks, pounding rougher, harder than any pace she expected out of him.

Is he also close?

Feeling a more heightened awareness of both dicks inside her twitching, she’s clenching shamelessly tighter by the second around them. 

“Y/n…” Jaemin pulls her close. Simultaneous to this, Jaemin goes to hug her, and she also feels Mark embracing her from behind. Both guys are holding her stature, with Jaemin intricately placing kisses on her while feeling Mark near her. Each of them is swallowing each other’s breaths at the proximity.

“Uh… ohh… fuck, I’m close, Y/n.” Mark groans near her ears. Her drenched state becomes unbearably good. This is the first time Jaemin ever noticed Y/n this soaked to the core.

“Me too… uhh,” Jaemin also hisses, his movements unwavering despite his ragged breathing. “How about you, baby? Feeling good?” 

“Uh, huh,” she nods, mewling in the kiss in the mix of her boyfriend’s groaning. She feels so loved with him checking in on her. Also, Mark occasionally tapping her on the shoulder as well. Jaemin devours her with his passionate kisses. His rampant pounding is consistent, ever getting sloppy as he’s getting harder. His width and the feeling of his firm girth feel familiar, he’s about to burst.

Swearing along them is Mark, his lips crashing by her bare back. He’s brushing her hair to the side as he keeps pummeling his dick to her ass.

At this point, Y’n is gasping for air, tongue sticking out mindlessly with her eyes disarrayed up high to so much pleasure.

Jaemin guides Mark's hand on the hollows of her neck, motioning him to tighten it a bit close to a choke. Jaemin remains unfaltering with his thrusts while still keeping lustful eye contact towards her as she gets lost in bliss.

She keeps her tongue in control, but it’s getting harder to keep it inside her mouth as the two men get more and more ragged.

Y/n creased her nails on the sheets, trying her best not to scratch Mark’s back with her other hand as she is getting desperately close—“I’m coming, fu-fuck!” Y/n feels herself spasm, embarrassingly tight around them at their persistent fucking of both her holes.

She almost wants to shout out her orgasm, curling her toes. But it’s too late as she already feels warmth in both her holes, strings of white covering her body. Her back gets pumped up a moment later as the three of them rupture in a trance.

The trio catches their breath. She crashed herself on the soft sheets, barely hitting the pillow. 

Now with Mark lying on his back, he curls up near Y/n as she lays in between them.

Mark now reaches for Y/n’s phone to stop the recording, they barely remember it was there in the first place. Jaemin also helped clean up, along with Y/n helping Mark discard the used condom.

Jaemin stands up and gets a clean towel from the rack, he casually throws it to Mark.

“So when do you want to do this again?” Jaemin huffs, returning to the bed. He’s supporting himself with his elbow, caressing Y/n’s face. He’s tracing her features while expecting an answer from Mark.

Their friend raised a brow at Jaemin. “I thought this was just a one-time thing?”

Jaemin pauses, then reconfirms the look on Y/n’s face. He slightly shrugs, nonchalant.

“Seems like the other one here enjoyed it a bit too much,” Jaemin kisses atop her forehead. “She might look for that type of pleasure, hmmm?” 

It’s obvious from Jaemin's grin that he’s teasing.

Too worn out to even argue, Y/n just blushes. 

“Whatever, it’s up to you, guys,” she quietly says. She moves away from them, curling up the other way to hide her face from the two guys.

To be frank, it’s anything but ‘intimidating’ from what she expected in her head. It’s not even established as ‘timid’ from the energy they got from each other.

The outcome is about the chillest experience she added to her non-existent to-do list. She’s glad she’s able to look at them with no awkwardness. If anything, this is the very reason they got closer to each other.

This is a great addition to her fantasy fulfilled. Four out of Five would do it again.

※ my masterlist | #enjeiwrites ※

[morethansky]

***TBB FINALE SPOILERS***

"The Cavalry Has Arrived" aka MY OTP IS CANON NOW

A truly absurd amount of meta and thoughts and screaming under the cut:

Overall

• I...loved it????? This is the biggest plot twist of all for me. Like I've said incessantly, I've had so many issues with the writing choices for this show, and I'm so grateful the brainrot set in so I could start watching it through a fandom lens and have way more fun with it than through a media critic lens and being a hater. But like...that was actually really satisfying to me within the parameters of where the show had led to in the last four episodes??

• As everyone on the planet probably knows by now, I would've been much happier if this show had led to the Batch choosing to do the right thing and joining the clone resistance, and if we never get another clone series, I will continue to be unbearable and salty about the lost potential of telling that story. But after Echo left and we stopped following his story, I gave that hope up. And ofc nothing about my criticism of this season is invalidated. But given the pieces on the board, I'd pretty wholeheartedly give the finale my stamp of approval!

• I'm ultimately glad that this show ended on a "We don't leave our own behind" note, because that's the clone energy and general Star Wars energy I'm looking for, and they did a great job of applying that theme to every non-villain in this episode, minor and unnamed characters included—but it's still so darkly funny for them to have continued to push this idea even though the first season is literally about them leaving their own behind and moving on. And then Crosshair calls them out on it. And then he just...leaves himself behind. Even in their first appearance in TCW, the Batch's entire vibe is that they keep trying to convince Rex to leave his own behind lmao. I just feel like the show wanted this adage to tie everything together, but then forgot to keep applying it somewhere along the way. But hurrah for this abundant use of it!

• My overall biggest criticism was that even within this one episode we got back on the rescue/captured/rescue/captured treadmill. It's the biggest plot crutch of the show. It's so goofy that Omega and Echo rescued both the children and the imprisoned clones by themselves. The setup made it so that by going to rescue Omega, Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair actually put her in more danger. And because they were there, more clones died, wtf!! But I do like the narrative flip—Echo and Omega were both saved by the Batch in their introductions in this era, and here are they are being the ones to save them in return. Omega and Echo also are the characters in the main cast who deserve the rescuer plotline the most, since they have been consistently portrayed as helping those in need no matter what.

• Hilariously, one of the most pivotal roles that the Forest Trio plays in regards to the GFFA at large is that they were essentially Rampart's rideshare drivers, thus enabling him to be there and force Nala Se not to hesitate to destroy Project Necromancer.

Rampart and Nala Se

• Hemlock saying his work makes him indispensable is fantastic dialogue; it just seems like some dickish thing he would say to shit on Rampart, but it ends up giving Rampart the idea to try to leverage his work to become indispensable himself, and in saying that line, Hemlock ushers his own ruin!!! This is the kind of script work I've been begging for.

• Also I was so right about Rampart being like a Kallus foil! That infamous shot of him in his sad, sterile room after Bahryn is mirrored here with Rampart sitting in pretty much the same position, except his path is the opposite from Kallus's.

• They did an EXCELLENT job with Rampart's fate. I was worried they were neutering him these last couple eps, even if the comedy was gold, but this was very well done. Everything that happens leading up to his death makes complete sense for his character, and it accomplishes the very key plot point of destroying Tantiss. At the start of the season I couldn't figure out how and why the Batch was going to end up delaying Project Necromancer for like thirty years, so I feel validated that they pretty much don't. Very typical of this show to not have the protagonists do the heroic work, but fuck it, I like this instance.

• The humanizing of Nala Se in this show has always been a bit of an interesting choice given that this is feels like such a direct successor to TCW and she was so clearly a villain there. But although they don't quite redeem her, her motivations and her fate were also artfully executed here. Her conversation with Omega pretty much takes into account every Nala Se scene in this show, which is a great way to wrap her character up. And I really like the mirror of Nala Se giving Omega her datapad in the season premiere, and Omega giving Nala Se a datapad here. Both times, Nala Se is determined to set Omega free.

• And I'm so glad there was a follow-up to the destruction of Kamino as well! Nala Se getting a bit of revenge against one of the beings responsible for the genocide of her people and destruction of her homeworld is not something I expected at all, and I love it. And the setup of Nala Se picking up the detonator and Rampart picking up the blaster is just fantastic, because you know from just those two shots that Rampart is willing to kill to gain Palpatine's favor for himself, and Nala Se is willing to die to make sure the being she loves will be free.

Echo and Omega supremacy

• Give me an Echo-led rebel show where he convinces all sorts of people in the Empire and the underworld to defect/help them, please!!! He's so good at it, completing Emerie's turn so efficiently! We have to assume Rex is also good at it given his cell and that he has clone spies and even undercover agents, but every time he sees Hunter he has tried and failed to recruit him lmao. Also REX'S NAMEDROP but him not showing up surely means...we'll see a continuation of his story soon after this...right??? Also this means Howzer still lives, oh, thank god.

• "Because it's exactly what I would do." Strategist Echo comeback yessss!! A nice little callback to the Techno Union arc that kicked this story off as well. And HELL YEAH Omega's relationship with Echo is my favorite out of all of her connections, and I'm living for their spotlight together this ep. I'm extremely invested in found family stories not relying on nuclear family narratives, and I love that you see throughout the show that Echo doesn't "raise" Omega like a kid—he trains her like a cadet. Like someone who he intends to be his equal, which is a nice and very appreciated contrast to others treating her like a precious sheltered baby.

• Their goodbye scene in "Truth and Consequences" is one of my favorites in the show, and I just adore that when Omega is upset, Echo doesn't coddle her—he reminds her of her duty to watch over the others, giving her a purpose and a reason to stand tall. When he conveys that he was worried about her and thinking of her while she was captured, he gifts her a weapon he designed and made for her during that time, so that she won't have to be defenseless after being defenseless for so long in captivity. It's so clone trooper, and I love it and the glimpses these details give us about clone culture and how the older clones cared for the shinies and the cadets and showed their love for each other.

• I also liked that Omega couldn't have escaped without Tech's training, since slicing was so vital. And all her stealthy stabbing is of course reminiscent of Hunter. And finally some emotional payoff for the ongoing bit about Wrecker being afraid of heights! I'm weak for inspirational Star Wars quotes, and this show hasn't had many, but "Just stay focused on what's ahead, not what's below," is a lovely one.

Forest conversations, my beloved

• The Kiners scored the fuck out of this episode!!! So many clever, thoughtful reprises. This is the first reappearance of Crosshair's theme that's played on the synths since he began healing! And then it segues into a soft violin tremolo version that makes me cry, and then it intertwines with "The Sacrifice" from Tech's death, ouchhhh. I have a lot of meta I need to write out about the tracks "The Reunion" and "They Always Work It Out" and how they say so much about Hunter and Crosshair, but I can't believe how well my analysis paid off in the cues in this scene! More on that in another post.

• Gosh, Wrecker's injury scared the shit out of me. But I love him so much and I'm glad he got at least a little moment, even if he didn't really have a story arc here. Or you know, in the entire damn show. And I ultimately liked that the purpose of it wasn't just to freak us out but to give them a plausible disadvantage and to give Crosshair someone to fuss over the whole time and act more recklessly because of it, thus reiterating this key character trait of his.

• I love Crosshair being worried about Wrecker and Hunter and them being worried about Crosshair. That's the squad content I crave and have been missing!! Unfortunate that it specifically has been happening when Omega is out of the picture. Writers, I swear to you, you can do both.

• Can't believe it took another half season for someone to say something about Tech's death, and it was Crosshair, who wasn't even there?? Cool line and sentiment, but man, so frustrating. I like this callback to his conversation with Rampart, though. "Depends on who's giving them" and in this first act he keeps trying to give those orders himself. Thinking of Rex on Umbara: "We're not programmed. You have to learn to make your own decisions."

• God the forest conversations in this ep and the previous one fed me so much. Hunter saying, "And so do those clones" had me literally jumping out of my seat and cheering. Baby boy, it took you so goddamn long, but thank you for finally actually giving a shit before the conclusion of your story. And "It's what I deserve," hnghhh that's the good shit, and it hearkens back perfectly to "I belong in here." And Hunter immediately telling Crosshair hell no made me very happy. And then later Hunter saying "Crosshair—" when he's worried Crosshair is still going to sacrifice himself, but Crosshair reassures him that he'll be right behind them... My heart! What a Crosshunt feast we got in this ep!!!

• Can't believe we also got so many Crosswrecker moments from the get-go and they kept coming! And my three precious little Techwrecker crumbs: the way Crosshair specifically chooses Wrecker to say the cutting remark about Tech to; the way Wrecker bows his head because that was right on target; and Wrecker being the one to watch Tech fall and to scream, "Don't do it, Tech!" in "Plan 99" yet the one to say with such conviction here, "We've always known the risks. And so did Tech." That's just so...finally accepting your beloved is gone ;_; Not really deserved by the text, which kept all but a total of like maybe one total minute of mourning off screen for some fucking reason, but.

Clone X, more like Clone Sexy

• There aren't nearly as many Clone X dudes as I expected?? I guess Crosshair's situation wasn't that rare after all? Or do they just run through them super quickly because Rex's team keeps taking them down?? Regardless, god, THEY ARE ALL SO SEXY. The way they animated their movements was so creepy and hot. And them not speaking was so eerie, I loved it. And then the moment that CX-2 did was so effective and terrifying!!! But remembering that those were clones in there is so, so heartbreaking.

• I really like that Echo really felt like both a clone trooper AND the resistance agent he is now this whole episode, and Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair actually briefly got to feel like commandos. The slick stealth and silent communication was also very sexy.

• MY GOD, I loved these action scenes. They were lit and choreographed so cool, they were super intense and had real consequences and close brushes with death, and the logic of the fight flow was really good, too. A character being incapacitated because they went to try to help an ally is always a wonderful driving force for action and gives it that crucial character-driven element that raises the stakes, and is great for making sure the main characters aren't too OP, and there was a ton of that here.

• Hunter and Wrecker getting shot by laser cannons and Hunter pushing Wrecker away from the blast made me shriek in terror AND THEN CROSSHAIR SHOOTING THE PILOT DEAD ON NO HESITATION NO ANXIETY NO TREMOR BECAUSE HOW DARE YOU HURT MY HUSBAND I'M FUCKING LIVINGGG. And then Wrecker stumbling over to Hunter and lifting the debris like he does in TCW. Boom, three pivotal character-driven action scenes in a row that divulge a key characteristic of each character! Excellently written and directed.

• Also I am SO SO SO HAPPY that we're getting to see this protective Crosshair come out in full force!!! This is the Crosshair who risked his life to try to save Mayday, who shouted hysterically when Hunter fell into the ice and was so desperate to get him out, who worried over Omega on Teth. I also really like this contrast with how he was about Echo—"Echo's on it." He knows Echo will get the job done and be safe and that's despite his former prejudice against regs. He's worried about Hunter and Wrecker and that's despite previously spending time trying to hunt them down. And when he suffers consequences, it's because of him worrying about them, and that's so delicious.

• Finally got to hear Crosshair screaming! And Hunter was already the screamer in this show, but goddamn does he get to scream in this episode. Thank you, directors, for this whump material! My man Steward Lee never lets me down.

• THE WAY THAT WHEN CROSSHAIR IS TRYING TO SAVE WRECKER HE REACHES FOR A DC-17 OMG!!!! I feel so validated! And just like with Mayday, he's incapacitated afterward...

• God the way CX-2 waits to be tossed the vibrosword and then leans down with it while Crosshair is already incapacitated is SO brutal, like this is not a battle injury. It's straight up what Anakin fucking Skywalker does to Count Dooku just before he becomes a Sith Lord, like holy shit, dude. This scene is so cool and I've watched it 10,000 times over the past 24 hours, but also why did he do that lol, is he just supposed to be particularly cruel?? Obsessed with tormenting Crosshair for some reason?? Also, these vibroswords are exactly how I've pictured Ahsoka's being in A Future for Us :D

• At this point I was like, uhhh, the messaging of Crosshair struggling with this psychomatic hand tremor since the first episode of the season and then the symptom literally being taken out of his........hands sure is a Choice, especially coupled with how they've treated Echo (or you know, not). When they showed him still with the symptoms later, I was very relieved, AND THEN HUNTER LITERALLY CURES CROSSHAIR THROUGH THE POWER OF THE LOVE AND FAITH AND TRUST HE HAS FOR HIM IS THERE ANYTHING MORE BEAUTIFUL IN THE WORLD???? But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Echo is the GOAT

• "You were helping us, Dr. Karr?" / "I am." I love this subtle line and how Emerie acknowledges that she wasn't sure of her loyalties before but is certain now. And I love that she says such a clone trooper thing, "You have my word," and then doing the clone shoulder pat, especially in direct contrast to the natborn kids hugging Omega just before.

• "Hey, kids. ...And other kids." is just so fucking 501st, I can't explain it. I'm just so ecstatic that they did Echo such justice in the end, giving a nod to everything about his character, even his dorkass cadet personality. And it wasn't just so he could die, thank god!!!

• Like Echo even got a DARTH VADER homage??? That's his mass-murdering general (affectionate). More on this here!

• Also is there anything more Big Dick Energy in the world than Echo eviscerating Rampart—who either the clones would recognize as a former vice admiral or at least see his captain rank plaque—with what may not be a theme this show really earned but is ABSOLUTELY a theme that Echo deserves and has shouldered for over two seasons...and then just straight up shoving him out of the way so that he can talk to his brothers???? And with his stormtrooper helmet—which is like Echo refusing to dirty his hands (including his new, long-awaited one) by touching Rampart oh my god??? Sexiest man alive.

• So the answer is no, there isn't. Fives is hollering from the afterlife. Half those clones immediately developed a crush on him in that moment. That one clone later placing a blaster in Echo's arms so gently confirmed this for me (remember the symbolism of Echo making the energy crossbow for Omega? He even gives her his borrowed blaster in this scene), but it's so sad that he died because of it, whyyy.

• Also I love the "Clones don't leave our brothers behind" riff on the "We don't leave our own behind" adage. It's very fitting that Hunter would put it that way because he only means his squad (+/-1), whereas Echo would see it as meaning his people.

• And I love how when Rampart first shoves Echo, the clone in front that Echo's been talking to prickles and makes brief eye contact with him, to be like, "Should we take him? I've got your back." I felt that girls (gender neutral) in the bathroom energy so hard.

• The clones helping each other out of their cells made me so emotional. And it's the same way that Hunter and Crosshair do later...

• Echo asking for volunteers, just like Rex did on Umbara..................

• I think this post is breaking and I'm still only two-thirds of the way through my rewatch, oops. And yesterday I stayed up until 8 a.m. after I put it on again after watching it for the first time... I'm so normal about this show. More tomorrow!

• Part 2!

[cartoon-cass]

Murder Drone episode 7 & 8 trailer analysis

This is the first bit of Murder Drone news we've had in a while so I'm biting at the chance to do some analysis. I'll do new dialog first as there isn't much of it.

"hahaha thanks for giving me the planet. Fricking idiot."

This is said by CYN or Absolute Solver, which ever one you want to call them. At first I thought this was a thing that happen in present time but that seems like a pretty big plot twist to put in the trailer so more then likely it's either what happen when Copper-9 core collapsed or what happened to Earth.

"All I know is I need you. [We'll] figure things out, together?"

I put the "We'll" in square brackets as I'm not a 100% sure that's what he says, theirs a loud crash right before it and there are no subtitles so can't be sure. N is not having a good time, poor baby. I'm guessing Uzi found out about the whole kill all infected worker drones and N is comforting her that he won't kill her.

On to the images now.

This shot is pretty dark and we get no context about it but it appears to be some sort of man made cave system, with wooden support beams and a wooden crate with what appears to be an old timey gas lamp. The hole in the wall is made out of fleshy growths with human skulls and rib cages, the fleshy growths are reminiscent to other fleshy stuff the Absolute Solver has made and the human remains are likely from the scientist or other types of workers unlucky enough to be in the blast radius when the hole was created. My money is on one of those Null black holes like the one Uzi made in Episode 6.

Uzi and N hug UwU. All jokes aside they appear to be in some sort of church, surprisingly clean for what I have to assume is god knows how far underground. The hug seems pretty desperate so they seem to have been separated from each other, as shown in the next shot, also Tessa or Doll are nowhere to be found.

This is the best shot I could get of this scene. N is being dragged on the floor into the hole by eldritch hands, this seems to be the same spot as the first image. N is grabbing something and for the life of me I have no idea what it could be but N seems to think it's important, It's not a core, maybe a human heart but that is a big maybe, but it's my best guess.

Here we see 2 sentinels chained up and a giant church, the sentinels are probably guarding it. At first I thought it was raining in this scene but on closer inspection it's actually stalagmites and stalactites, which means their definitely underground. there's a human skull on the bottom right and in red, possibly blood, is written null, there other words on the column right behind it too but it's to hard to read it.

In this frame you can better see that there's a banner on the church that says, "Lab space for rent" there seems to be red tape on it with other text but that's way to small to even guess at what it's saying. There's also a miner helmet and a bloody pickaxe, given the blood I'm guessing this was for a human and not a drone.

The sentinels seem to be reacting to some sort of light but the source of the light is not seen but it's from above, which is why I first confused it for lightning but given their underground that seems unlikely.

The only thing we see of Tessa and it's slamming Nori's locker closed, there was nothing in the locker if you were wondering. I love the little drawings, hopefully we get to see more of Nori she seems to be an interesting character .

Something weird I noticed is that thing in the bottom left corner it's not there for one frame and the next it's there and I have no idea what it could be. It's probably nothing and maybe just a result of editing for the trailer but I thought I mention it.

Look at them their so cute. I think they heard something and turn around to see what it is, likely after the hug but no idea. the light there facing is red and it persists throughout the next few shots too, maybe it's Doll, the eldritch thing from earlier or both, eldritch Doll.

Uzi is holding a crucifix of all things??? Also Uzi does not seem ok, she seems to move weird.

This frame shows that Uzi has some sort of image on her screen, or her screen is off with no eye lights and it's reflections, it's really hard to tell, but I think it's the first as the frames before this where her head is down has the same thing which wouldn't be if it's reflections.

At first I thought there was a disassembly drone in the background but it appears to be a light fixture, though it doesn't seem to do a lot of help as it's dark as hell down there. Also Rip N's hand. I think there might be a N and Uzi fight but I doubt either of them wants that.

It's interesting their leaning heavily on the Christian theming, it's always been there, the disassembly have wings and halos, head band lights, and where even referred to as sky demons, but they've never been so upfront. If I'm reading them right N is meant to be an angel or a fallen angel and Uzi a demon but what that means for the episode I'm not sure.

[pain-in-the-butler]

do you think, though it’s the climax, we’re gonna see the end of the kuro story soon? i feel like with the amount of unanswered questions and, well our main objective, we’ve still got a long way to go, but i don’t know now. regardless of pacing and chapter lengths, do you think we’re finishing up? or do you think we’re kicking off with a bang?

If you asked me before the hiatus news dropped, I would've said we probably have about four or five more years of Kuro left. However, after Yana's announcement that we're basically looking at the finale... we might have three years or even fewer after the hiatus is over. Which is shocking considering how many loose ends there still are.

It's impossible to say how long this hiatus is going to be, but it seems the plan is for Yana to come back and give us her best shot. I hope she'll use this time off to recuperate and come up with a strategy to tackle everything that still needs to be said so that her ending can be as solid as possible.

What I am beginning to anticipate and fear, because I can be a bit of a negative Nancy, is that she's using this time to see how to condense the plot as much as possible and get it all over with while still making it coherent and covering most of her bases. Before today, I thought we were looking at two more arcs, each about two to two and a half years in length, but now I think Yana's really looking to wrap it up in one big go. That's...... interesting!

Yana has always been a bit of a shaky writer to me, with some actual good storytelling and ideas baking slowly over a long period of time; then at other times she relies on exposition and new characters who aren't even that interesting to carry her plot before sending them off to the Shadow Realm (Blavat who?). So to me, it's really hard to say what a hiatus is going to lend her. She deserves a break (she should have been forcibly given one long before now), but as for what the behind-the-scenes discussions about the story sound like, I can only wonder endlessly for the rest of my life.

tl;dr: Black Butler is definitely being prepared to end. We just have no idea when we'll actually see it.

[fazedlight]

Do-Over (supercorp ficlet, 100th episode angst, no plot impact after)

Rao, I can’t believe we did it.

She had nearly given up, after the last timeline - she could still feel the sting of kryptonite in her veins, the harrowing image in her mind of the green stone in Lena’s chest, as she refused to fight her. “Then you will die screaming.”

But the odds of another world like that - where Lena used 5th dimensional magic, blocking Mxy out - was low. So after Kara caught her breath and shook off her nerves, they decided to give it another few goes.

They hit it in the very next shot. Kara had decided to jump forward again, meeting Lena just after an uncomfortable incident in the elevator to Sam’s apartment - “I can never trust her again” - and giving her the truth. And Lena had been pissed, at first. But over the course of the timeline, she thawed. Kara and Mxy found themselves watching a movie night, Kara’s head in Lena’s lap as Lena gently scritched the blonde’s hair, Kara dozing off in the middle of the second Pirates of the Caribbean. 

“This is it,” Kara said, delighted as she turned back to Mxy. “She doesn’t hate me! No one died! This is it-”

But Kara cut off suddenly, watching the screen with widening eyes, as a sheepish and fond confession fell from Lena’s lips. And she found herself a voyeur to her own dreams, watching herself as this other Kara sat up, cheeks turning a bright pink with her own confession, before the two women’s lips gently met.

“Turn it off,” Kara said, jumping off the couch and turning away from the television. “Turn it off, Mxy.” “But this-” Mxy stuttered, confused. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”

Yes, Kara thought to herself, overwhelming anguish ripping through her body. Because it was everything. Everything that could’ve and should’ve happened.

Had she not been such a fool.

It was a misguided endeavor, she realized now. She could’ve ignored her misgivings, for a time anyway. Embrace a reality where she and Lena were friends again, where she had never hurt her, or at least not driven her so far.

But the pit of nausea in Kara’s stomach grew. Because the idea of being in Lena’s arms, being in her bed, feeling her wanting body, without Lena ever knowing what Kara had done, suddenly felt anathema. It wouldn’t be real. It would simply be Kara taking advantage of her again, far worse than before.

“I’m keeping the real timeline,” Kara said brokenly. “I can’t… I can’t run from this. I- I don’t know how I’m going to fix this. But I can’t undo my mistakes like this.”

Mxy’s eyes gentled at the turned-away kryptonian, holding back a sigh of relief as he snapped his fingers, the projector and reels of film and popcorn dissipating back to his dimension. It was ironic, really, that all of his fake timelines had only made the kryptonian dig in her heels, eager to find something that actually worked. But the one real timeline he had them glimpse - back on Earth-413, before the Crisis - was the one that led to her finally accepting that she couldn’t change time.

Which was great, because neither could he.

Kara took a deep, steadying breath, turning back to Mxy. “I know it didn’t turn out the way we expected,” Kara said, handing back Mxy’s recorder with his backwards-recorded name. “But you still helped me, Mxy. Now I know the only way out is through.”

The kryptonian stood - sad, but hopeful again - and Mxy gave a small smile. As with so much of the mystery of the universe, he couldn’t say how or when Kara and Lena would find their way. He only knew that they would.

“It’s true what you said, Kara,” Mxy said, thinking of the words the woman in front of him had said, not all that long ago. That’s all this endeavor was, really, returning that favor. “Magic can’t be forced. It has to be found.” And it will.

[humbledragon669]

S1E6 – The Very Last Day of the Rest of Their Lives P1 - up to the dissolution of the Horsemen

Well can you believe it? The last episode of the first season! And the first thing I want to make a note of is… the episode title. I really struggle to make sense of it because, linguistically, the only way something can be the very last of the rest of anything, is if it’s the very last of the thing at all. I can sort of make this idea make sense if I look at it from the perspective of the end of episode 5, where Armageddon is starting, and it does very much look like the world is about to end on that particular day, but it feels pretty woolly to me. Neil has been asked about this particular episode title before, but his answer did not help me wrap my head around the concept. In fact, it just made things worse:

Nope. No, I’m sorry, but that makes literally no sense. Anyway, I don’t want to get hung up on the little details... Hey, didja notice how Crowley (aka Aziraphale) greets his trial panel in exactly the same way as he greets Hastur and Ligur in the graveyard?

And that throw away line about getting some houseplants is pretty telling when you remember that  it’s actually Aziraphale delivering that line (oh, spoiler alert there I guess, but I would have thought that anybody reading this far into the labyrinth of my brain wanderings is probably going to have seen this show at least once before). It shows that Aziraphale knows exactly what the inside of Crowley’s flat contains, and that the only thing he would care about enough to actually furnish a space is houseplants. One thing I do question though, is how Aziraphale would know who Hastur and Dagon are. He definitely would have known who Beelzebub is, saw her on the tarmac at the airbase in fact, but those two? I don’t know when he would have come into contact with them before, particularly in their demon forms. Crowley could have given him a description of as many of the named demons as possible I suppose, but it’s a bit thin as a theory goes. But more curious is presence of the montage at this point in the episode.

It’s just short of 7 seconds long, and takes place less than 2 minutes into the episode. It also happens to contain the entire storyline for the episode in reverse. Shots of Aziraphale (Crowley really) tied up in Heaven, Aziraphale and Crowley in the park together, the Bentley and book shop in their respective restored state, Adam with Aziraphale and Crowley complete with wings, Satan breaking through the tarmac – it’s all there. It even comes complete with those fuzzy little lines that you used to see when you were rewinding a video back in the days of VHS (yes, I do actually remember that) to show that we’re watching events in reverse. It’s not like we haven’t seen montages used to represent the passing of time in this show before, but this is the first time it’s been done with parts of the story that we, the audience, haven’t yet seen. It goes by pretty fast so it’s not like you’d be able to work out the plot by watching it in real time, but I think it’s a risky play nonetheless.

Next curious thing in this episode. The music playing from Crowley’s Bentley as he approaches the gates of the airbase is different to what we heard in the previous episode. It’s the same song, but it’s a different section. Not only that, but the music continues playing from inside the car after he closes the door, whereas in the previous episode the slamming of the door cuts the stream of music off abruptly. There is nothing else different about this rendition of the scene from the one at the end of the previous episode as far as I can see but it’s a subtle difference that I find interesting, especially when you consider how many of the beings involved in the events leading up to Armageddon come to have somewhat blurry memories of what happened.

I have to say, the depth of Crowley’s grief at the loss of the Bentley came as something as a surprise to me when I first watched this show.

It’s true, we’ve seen him driving the car a fair amount in this season, and we saw him repairing the dents and other assorted damages following his collision with Anathema in episode 2, we even saw him giving it a pep talk as he willed it through the flames in the previous episode, but he talks about it here almost like a pet.

You were a good car.

But if I was surprised at Crowley’s response to the Bentley’s demise, I was more surprised at Aziraphale’s refusal to allow the demon to grieve purely because he still thinks of himself as “the nice one”. Well, mate, for someone who’s supposed to be inherently “nice”, you aren’t showing an awful lot of compassion here, and towards the being in the whole of existence that means the most to you too. Honestly, there are a lot of times I have been quite forgiving (no pun intended) of the angel’s behaviour because he genuinely believes in his own goodness, but I struggle with this. WHY IS HE BEING SUCH A PRICK? And who said he had to send the soldier anywhere (complete with magical miracle noise, in case you missed it), or harm him in any way? He could just have miracled the gun away, or slid him into unconsciousness like Death and Adam have already done with entire groups of soldiers. Is he just so used to Crowley doing all the footwork in situations like these that he’s lost the ability to think for himself? Or is it that him being “the nice one” is part of their agreed partnership, and that’s the role that the two of them have agreed he will play, not because that’s what he inherently is, but because that’s what makes the most sense and would usually be the most comfortable role play for them? Perhaps it really is the latter, because it’s not too long before we see Crowley make a conscious decision to resume the role that he is being expected to play.

I can’t help but feel like the incoherent noises that Crowley makes are his attempt at trying to ask Aziraphale to deal with this next group of soldiers because he’s not done grieving. I should think he knows he’s pushed his luck on that front a bit too far when his bumbling is greeted with this look from Aziraphale/Madame Tracy:

That is the face of woman/man/angel that is not to be dicked about with. And he knows it, giving himself a pep talk and asserting his position in a way that almost makes it sound like it was his idea in the first place. Almost.

Side note: there are a couple of lines missing from the original script here that I feel very sore that we didn’t get to see:

CROWLEY: Aren’t you going to introduce me to your new body? MADAME TRACY/AZIRAPHALE: Yes. Right. Madame Tracy, this is Crowley. He’s… Well, we’re sort of business associates.

Sad as I am that we didn’t get to see those lines, the tirade of double entendre from Aziraphale telling Shadwell to brandish his weapon so that they can “lick butt” almost makes up for their absence. Watching Crowley’s physical reaction because of his choice of words goes the rest of the way.

It’s interesting that he manages to use this phrase at all, even if it not only looks but sounds as if he’s about to throw up; he couldn’t even bring himself to say the word “Heaven” when he was screaming in the book shop earlier that same day.

Quick note about R.P. Tyler: this really is one strange little individual. He seems to think that a child causing damage to some plants is equivalent to that same child waltzing into a highly classified military air base. Eejit.

We’re taking a quick visit to the soundscape again, inclusive of an Easter egg. I am in no way surprised at the use of a harmonica at the beginning of this scene, particularly given the stage directions provided in the script:

The feeling here is spaghetti western.

I am not of the age that I would remember the original film and scene that this is clearly an homage to (the “Man With a Harmonica” stand-off scene from Once Upon a Time in the West), but I have been to my fair share of Muse concerts (I think I’m in double figures now), listening to the “Man With a Harmonica”, to get the reference. A tribute to the original piece was also used in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, again as a backdrop for a stand-off. I have absolutely no doubt that David Arnold’s treatment of the Omens theme tune in this way was intended as both atmospheric and as a pastiche of a piece of music that is arguably the most well-known of all spaghetti Western soundtracks.

Do you remember how I waffled on about the parallels between the members of The Them and the Horsemen? Well, in case you weren’t sure about that being a thing, or maybe just hadn’t cottoned on yet, this shot should spell it out loud and clear for you:

It’s interesting to see the character development that Aziraphale has gone through since his realisation that Heaven is perhaps not as “Good” as it portrays itself to be when we see him taking control of Shadwell’s gun to kill the Antichrist with, something which he has adamantly declared that he would be unable to do previously.

Crowley’s stance on the other hand appears not to have changed at all – he’s more than happy to support the decision to end the life of an 11-year-old boy in order to save the world, just so long as he’s not the one pulling the trigger. In fact, he not only supports that course of action, he vehemently chastises any doubts in it being the only one available to them. Madame Tracy’s interference with this particular plan of action feels to me like another statement of a recurring theme throughout the show – that the presence of free will is an inherently human quality. On this occasion, we see two non-earthly entities that both believe that there is only one course of action to be taken (i.e. there is no free will) whose actions are disrupted by a human entity who believes that this cannot be the case. What’s interesting to me is that the theoretically weaker of those entities, the human, wins out this little battle, suggesting that the actions taken as a result of free will always be victorious when pitted against actions taken through a lack of choice.

I absolutely adore watching Crowley’s expression when Aziraphale and Madame Tracy are separated. He can barely take his eyes of the angel, except when Madame Tracy announces that the separation made her feel “all tingly”.

That side glance looks almost jealous to me… And what's with the little head dip with the flirty yet smitten (smited? smote?) shoulder squaring…

Oh, that’s right, it’s love. And probably not just a little bit of gratitude and relief that Aziraphale has been returned to him, at least for the moment. There’s even a slow blink at the very end of that clip that looks a bit like he might be trying to keep the tears away. This tiny sequence of body language cues has my heart melting every time I watch this scene, and bearing in mind that David is actually acting in the background of the shot here it speaks volumes to just what an incredible job he’s doing that I don’t watch anything in the foreground – my eyes are firmly fixed on him and his reactions. I’m pretty sad we don’t get to see the moment when Aziraphale goes to join Crowley (this assumption is based on the positioning we see in this shot and the one immediately after Newt tells Anathema he isn’t really a computer engineer) – there is a part of me that screams to see the eye contact and facial expressions involved in that whirlwind of inevitable emotions.

For a show that’s filled with dark comedy, there’s a slightly jarring sense of social delicacy in the dissolution of the Horsemen in that we don’t see any of The Them actually land a “fatal” blow. We see them take up the sword, see them holding that same sword after they impale their respective Horseman, we even see the suggestion of an impact, but we don’t see the brutal imagery of an 11-year-old child thrusting a weapon through the middle of an adult-shaped monster. The speech at the end of this episode is heavy on the subtext of the disappearance of innocence from children as they grow older, and I suspect the desire to maintain the feeling of childlike innocence in each of The Them is the reason we don’t see them committing a very violent act. We’re not only allowed to maintain that image, but it’s strengthened by Adam’s empowerment of each of them to do what needs to be done, and his assertion that the things they’re doing battle against aren’t actually people, but concepts. It makes the whole thing feel like children playing games in the woods, which I think is probably the whole point, and the reason we saw them doing so much of it earlier in the series (and especially in the book – honestly I actually got a bit bored of how much “children playing in the woods” content there was in the original text).

As a side note, and knowing that it has been pondered over by many others before me: how did Aziraphale’s flaming sword become War’s flaming sword?! I remembered to look in the FAQ list for this one, and couldn’t see that it has ever been answered.

Next side note: Dagon says that all of the legions of Hell that are readying for battle were angels before. Does that mean that every demon is a fallen angel? Because that’s a lot of fallen angels (Beelzebub says that there are 10 million of them later on in the episode).

That’s also a pretty big revolution to have taken place “before the Beginning”. Surely if you were in charge of a place where half of your employees took place in an uprising, you’d have to question the validity of your leadership skills? There’s a little kudos going out to the sound editors here too – that effect of Beelzebub’s voice to make it sound like she’s buzzing like the flies she’s lord of is brilliant, mostly because it’s not there all the time, but fades in and out for maximum effect.

I also love the idea that a nuclear holocaust could all be avoided by running the disk defragmenter. It’s actually kind of appropriate, the job of the defragmenter being to rearrange important elements so that they fit together better, eliminating bad clusters as it goes, and all to ensure the hosting system can perform more smoothly. Feels like quite an appropriate analogy of a world gone mad with war.

Bearing in mind that I have been rattling on about parallels between the members of The Them and the Horsemen, there’s something interesting about Death’s parting comment to the group on the tarmac.

I AM CREATION’S SHADOW. YOU CANNOT DESTROY ME. THAT WOULD DESTROY THE WORLD.

If we’re considering that the previously mentioned pairings are mirror images of one another, would this suggest that Adam also cannot be destroyed? Or would it mean that his destruction would result in the creation of something else? Or if we took the words literally, would that make him the product of shadow (“shadow’s creation” instead of “creation’s shadow”). I like this latter idea, given who his father is (at this point anyway), but there’s something to be said for his potential for creation too, especially given his chosen name. I think there’s probably a lot to be said for possibilities for Adam’s character, which I’m planning on exploring in the future so I won’t go into this any further here.

Given the repeated suggestions we’ve seen that death = starlight (I’m paraphrasing for simplicity) in this show, and in other works by the original authors, it’s hardly surprising that Death disappears into a cluster of starts. God even tells us that, although they look like stars, they may be something else entirely, and that they reside within Death itself.

The complete dissolution of the Horsemen feels to me like a good place to stop. As always, questions, comments, discussion: always welcome. See you next time 😊

[saltysplayt00ns]

Page 849 Reworked

I've been waiting a long time to show this one, and had to adjust some stuff cause the author thought rushing to place an out of place fog would make things better, but just adds on the confusion of a fog only showing around their and not around the area. Also would've had a scene of them going through the fog and we seen the Two tribes coming in through the fog. This would've been a better battle and advantage CAUSE LET ME REMIND YA. There are two tribes band together to take down Meteor tribe and a few of Whispervale members. THIS IS A NO WIN BATTLE, Meteor has to be strategic and improvise from a no win scenario. Ronja and other would've taken advantage of the fog and fought them there and not up the freaking mountains. taken advantage when the elements plus the rain coming down would make it more thick in mist. THE BATTLE SPEAKS FOR ITSELF!!!.

Close-up shots;

I did adjustment of the whole scene cause this is an action scene;

Panel adjustments and add-ons

Added lighting and shadows

Added SFX

Reworked the BG

Added armor

Added tribal paint

Worked Dialogue bubble cause yikes Ronja.

KARGO HAS PAINT ON BOTH SIDES!!!

He also has the other half of his body.

Adjust to make the dogs more like fur.

Diarko had him more primitive and connect the dark markings.

Also quote from the author themselves; " No paint on any of them for this, it's tedious enough to have to draw all this armor X)" SO BASICALLY YOU, an author that is drawing a Raiding battle of tribes that is between life and death, doesn't want to do paint nor any detailed important stuff, so we don't know who's fighting who. It's not even battle armor cause None of them ARE WEARING ANYTHING TO PROTECT THEMSELVESM, Meteortribe is more equipped with clothes then the tribes that are experienced not wearing any, they're the one's that say burning bodies is ' primitive '. let me tell ya after 2-3 pages its laughable on him trying to make this the final boss type BS when they. How these dogs advanced again? ya got literally spirits giving out free loot XD This is what I mean by ' changing plot to fit the story ' and ' inconsistencies ' like this an annoying blemish, instead of a competent tribes that are more experienced and trained to handle such things, you are NOT given armor nor paint nor anything of an build-up, because you was lazy and don't know how to find an easy way to do said battle armor - PLUS don't know how to have meteor tribe not lose members. Like, why the heck are the two tribes waited MONTHS to start invading them now why not then?? because kiq. doesn't know how to fix the plot holes, since basically would've been wiped out regardless of the extra protection. why meteor waited so long to fix their defenses?

why Keirr is not with them, isn't he a family oriented dog.?

Why Rhovanion and Feaf are not their isn't Rhov and family oriented dog?

Why meteor didn't leave around winter and waited many months to move at all? , this is not a vacation, its an evacuation.

why Tribes waited years to actually start something now then 30 years ago.?

Why Roamer wants to take the idea from Kargo which was meant for Kargo, roamer, Ferah to make their ' new life? ' why not just have it where its an idea you made on your own???!!!! really putting salt on that wound ain't ya?

When did Kargo know about Rogio, more then Roamer who is literally his boyfriend?

Why Rogio dumping all the chores on Roamer to do? he's been doing it a lot and somehow Roamer have to agree, cause remember those scenes when Roamer put OUT HIS OPINION??!!! and tried to help? he gotten gaslighted and a upper cut of emotional manipulations.

Why Rogio wants a Polycule now? especially after we SAW Rogio snooping AGAIN on other dogs conversations. and Kargo so far is focused on other things then having a threesome. and all these glaring and many more glaring questions. Again the question is why?? why, why and more WHY'S. This stuff usually is dealt with after doing drafts, concepts and revisions.

-----

Ps.

The quick placement of the Fog was laughable, cause think about it like, why kiq. going to do a dues ex Machina on the mountains and not in the fogs. Think about it in a tactical planning for Ronja and writers. The Fog is more an advantage to hide in the thick mist in dark shades of the trees, then being exposer on plan sight on top of a mountain. Meteor ( Nordguard ) 1. does not know how to wield a sword, 2. they're outnumbered, 3. lack experiences and 4. have children. They needed to think strategically and fast. The fog would've been a perfect scene for them to hide in and cover their scents, Rain and thunder is coming, so more thick fog and cover up from the tribes, they would use that to their advantage and scatter the raid them around. It's a risky maneuver but Ronja can't be hesitant nor meek on this, is all or nothing. THIS STUFF IS GOOD TENSION AND CHARACTER BUILD-UP.

---- This creating armor and concepts is like whip cream on an ice cream cake for me. But hey it's not my Comic to stress over, be a pump and dump for all I bloody know . .....

Side Goodies:

Quick Armored concept for Dragonsfall

Dragonsfall Paint marks

The Dragonsfall tribe is a group of Canines who have forged a strong alliance with Fire-breathing lizards, believing themselves to be descendants of these majestic creatures. They are known for crafting a unique bronze metal, believed to be hardened and melted with metal from the scales of dragons. This bronze shines like fire, is harder than regular metal, and exhibits weird translucent colors like the scales. The tribe also molds bits of leather to create softer but sturdier materials. While they may have lost some of the fierce traits associated with dragons over time, certain traits like their scales, reproduction and facials still show hints of their connection to these mythical beings.

---

HAPPY EATING YA BLOGGERS ♥

[lookingforcactus]

Maybe this is a stretch driven by my hope for siuaraine, but I wonder if the final scene between Suian and Moiraine went the way it did because Suian thinks Moiraine might have turned to the dark

"You lied to me about being stilled."

My eyebrows shot up when I heard that line, bc that's a big deal accusation for an Aes Sedai. And parallels nicely with Alanna and co. accusing Lan of being a darkfriend last episode

Which I know some people hated, but the thing is, Lan and Moiraine have kind of been acting super sketchy, if you don't know the things we know

Like, from Siuan's pov: Lan shows up and tells her Moiraine has been stilled, which in MONTHS of letters, Moiraine never mentioned. Siuan is horrified that happened, has got to be terrified that Moiraine is going to kill herself, and is also lost and hurt and baffled that Moiraine would hide this from her

Like, that omission was a HUGE DEAL, relationship wise. Not a good move keeping something that important from your wife, especially when they were plotting together and it would be 100% reasonable and probably also a good move for Moiraine to turn to Siuan for help

And going back to Siuan's pov, she's dealing with ALL THAT, plus the Dragon, which is another thing she and Moiraine (seem to be?) at odds about

There's darkfriends in the Tower

Moiraine has been hiding something from her

Moiraine has been stilled

The town they're in is assaulted and set on fire

Someone has broken the Dragon out of the White Tower's custody

And when Siuan goes to try to, presumably, get him back, what happens?

She turns the corner and finds Moiraine, Lan, and Rand standing there, alone, in front of a waygate that MOIRAINE JUST OPENED

And I'm sure that normally, this wouldn't make Siuan worry about Moiraine's loyalties, but...she just found out the love of her life was stilled and then spent six months completely failing to tell her about it

Who wouldn't be shaken? Who wouldn't already be asking "If she hid something as big as THIS from me, what else could she be hiding?"

And then she shows up and Moiraine has just used the One Power to open a waygate

Earlier in the episode, when she finds out Moiraine has been stilled (well, close enough), what she says is something like "Six months of letters, and not a single word about that." The very common Aes Sedai route of lying by omission

When she shows up at the Waygate, she says "You lied to me about being stilled."

Siuan thinks Moiraine was able to break one of the oaths. Which Moiraine could only do if she'd sworn herself to the Dark.

And as Lan establishes, the idea of tying off a weave and leaving it in place is so not a thing anymore, it's barely even the stuff of legends. Why would Siuan think that's on the list of possibilities? Especially in such an overwhelming and emotionally fraught and literally things are on fire moment?

And all Moiraine says in response (in her defense there are a lot of things going on) is "I can't"

Which, yeah, Siuan knows that is (supposed to be) the case

And THEN, fucking Lanfear shows up, gets pretty easily talked into not killing Moiraine by Rand, and then Moiraine and Lan follow Lanfear and Rand through the waygate without a word

I think it would be 100% reasonable, actually, for Siuan to suspect that Moiraine is a darkfriend after all of that, and given what she knows

So much of Moiraine's life has been out of Siuan's view, for like 20 years now. So much could've happened

And now Moiraine is using the One Power even after she told everyone that she was stilled

Kind of a guilty look actually!!!

(If this is what they're doing though they definitely should've been more clear/explicit/developed with the setup, tho. But otherwise I think it's really interesting as a potential plot point!)

[thedragonagebigbang]

Bang Creator Interview: Tumblr: @fatale-distraction  |  AO3: Fatale_distraction |  Wordpress: History Will Say This Was Just a Book Blog

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have! 

Woman single-handedly ruins decades of work using one simple technique you won’t believe!

Fataleity and Dema talk rarepairs, Swayze-coded Cullen, punk rock Solas, and Shenanigans

Dema: Starting very, very basic: how long have you been in the DA fandom? What about it inspires you to write?

Fataleity: ​​Gosh, it’s probably been around fifteen years or more? I played DAO not too long after it originally came out and while I haven’t always been active in the fandom, I’ve been a fan since then. I’m super inspired by the characters and the lore, in particular anything relating to the elves. I love that the DA universe took typical elven lore and kinda flipped them upside down.

Dema: Do you have a favorite bit of Elven lore? Or if “favorite” isn't the right word, a piece of lore that particularly struck you?

Fataleity: Along with everyone else atm, I am really fascinated by the Evanuris and the idea of Ancient elves like Abelas and Felassan. I also love that each Dalish clan has different customs, different levels of knowledge, etc, but are still connected by a common history and language, lost as they might be, and try to lean into that in my writing.

Dema: So, you played all three games more or less as they came out, but when did you start writing fic for DA? What prompted you to start?

Fataleity: It’s been a while, but I believe it was around the release of Inquisition that I started actually posting. As far as writing, it would have been from the start in private notebooks or sharing with a friend of mine. Inquisition’s release was when I started getting into the tumblr fandom and seeing others posting their work, and figured if others were going to, why shouldn’t I?

Dema: Oh wow, right from the beginning! You’re an OG! What was your first published DA fic about?

Fataleity: It was a short one-shot of Leliana and Zevran during Inquisition. They crack me up as a couple. It was mostly banter and porn tbh, very little if any plot, lmao.

Dema: Oh my god, this was a pairing I did not know I needed until this moment. Fabulous, thank you.

Fataleity: You’re welcome. It’s a good one.

Dema: So do you tend to be more inspired by the canon characters or by your OC's? Or if not "inspired" per se, do you write more of one than the other?

Fataleity: I wanna say it's about even? I’ve noticed that recently I’ve been writing more from the perspective of canon characters than I did when I first started writing, even when writing about OCs. I think it's fun to try to emulate their voices, and also their reactions to some of my OCs ridiculous behavior.

Dema: Who is your most ridiculous OC?

Fataleity: My Inquisitor for sure. She’s the youngest of a very large Dalish family so she’s a little childish for her age, very affectionate and kind, but she has a powerful sense of justice. She’s best friends with Sera and the Chargers, so she gets herself involved in all kinds of shenanigans.

Dema: Gotta love the shenanigans. Did she romance anyone?

Fataleity: She romanced Solas primarily, but I have also shipped her with Krem and Fenris. I did a few OT3 fics of her, Krem, and Solas that I think came out pretty sexy. 

Dema: Krem is under-shipped, I fear.

Fataleity: I do my best to fix that. I’ll put him with anyone who will treat him softly. Or not. Depending on his mood I guess. He deserves the world and more.

Dema: Thank you for your service. This is like asking for your favorite child, but do you have a particular canon character you really love to write?

Fataleity: Krem for sure. Great narrative voice, great jokes, and since he’s not as canonically developed as other characters, there’s a lot to play with.

Dema: Do you do anything in particular to get into the heads of the canon characters? I find that's such a challenge (a fun one!) to adopt the voice of a character I didn't create, and am always curious how other people do it.

Fataleity: Getting super familiar with the source material is obviously very important. For some characters that’s easier than others, so I will also rely on similar characters from other media that I feel resonate strongly to the character I’m trying to portray. Also simply putting myself in the character’s shoes. “If I was this particular character with this particular background, how would I react to this particular circumstance based on my prior experiences?” I feel like I’m also pretty influenced by whatever media I’m consuming at the time. For instance, writing 90s Cullen around the same time I rewatched Dirty Dancing, he ended up VERY Swayze-coded.

Dema: Omg, incredible. Is there any non-DA media inspiring your fic for the Bang?

Fataleity: I’ve been listening to AURORA’s newest album a lot. My partner and I are also watching a lot of comedic detective shows recently, so I feel like that sense of humor is going to be a big influence by the time this is done.

Dema: Man, I feel like any follow-up I ask to that question will have to be redacted, ha! What's the most out-there piece of media that has inspired a fic for you?

Fataleity: I don’t recall if there was a particular piece of media that inspired this, but I created a Y2K dragon age AU specifically so I could cram the characters into specific period-appropriate outfits, specifically young Solas as an early 80s late 70s punk kid. I think It might have stemmed from rewatching That 70s Show. This is also where Swayze-Cullen came from.

Dema: Was there a musical number. Please say yes. 

Fataleity: I tried to shoehorn my Lavellan into having a band on top of everything else, so there were definitely musical numbers. Krem was playing the solo from Freebird. ABBA was involved.

Dema: Amazing. God, I am dying to see some Solas 80's punk fanart now.

Fataleity: I would die. I would pay blood, sweat, tears, money, and my first, second and third born children.

Dema: Anarchy patch on his leather jacket…

Fataleity: Piercings. The piercings alone, man. I made him a college professor so he got rid of most of the piercings, but he kept a few. “The ones that would hurt most if I wanted to get them done again.”

[Dema and Fataleity have an increasingly suggestive emoji exchange.]

Dema: Sorry, I'm incorrigible.

Fataleity: As am I.

Dema: Do you find you write a lot of AUs?

Fataleity: I think I imagine more than I actually put down in words. My favorites are definitely different time periods. I’m a sucker for costuming.

Dema: Same. Costumes tell you so much about the culture and the characters! Do you tend to have visual references when you are writing, beyond what is provided by the games?

Fataleity: If I have a particular outfit or setting in mind, especially for AUs. For those I’ll have Pinterest boards or the like. If I’m doing something more based around existing settings, I’ll look up a reference as needed, but I don’t tend to have, like, a vision board or anything for those.

Dema: If you have any visuals for your Bang fic, will you give us a teaser? 

Fataleity: https://unsplash.com/photos/purple-flowers-near-mountain-during-daytime-S73YlRU8hy0 

Dema: Oohhh the vibes! I’m looking forward to it. On a very different note, if your bang fic had a clickbait title, what would it be?

Fataleity: “Woman single-handedly ruins decades of work using one simple technique you won’t believe!”

Dema: Perfect. Thank you for your time, Fataleity! 

Fataleity: Of course, this was fun! 

[deadlyflames]

I have to say, I was absolutely obsessed with your Reverse Falls AU back in the day (still am tbh), and it was/is my favourite version of any Reverse Falls AU that had been done. I love that Gideon and Pacifica weren’t just given Dipper and Mabel’s personalities like a lot of other versions of that AU, and that they felt like the better version’s of themselves. I’m still wondering what the plot was gonna be concerning what Stan was up to and with Ford being trapped in the portal and such. Regardless, your writings still have a chokehold on me, so thank you <3

Thank you so much! I'm so happy to you enjoyed it. I love getting messages like this <3

I don't think I'll finished my own full version of the plot as I planned to, because it was kinda intense. But I'm very glad I made all those one shots and that they make people happy. I loved writing them and I still adore this AU.

TBH, I had a huge plan for the Stanford backstory and it was so unnecessarily complicated. Theres stuff I would keep but other stuff I would probably axe.

Short version is Stan and Ford moved to Gravity Falls when they were 12. They befriended a young Carla and Fiddleford and the four of them formed a little scooby gang that would solve the mysteries of Gravity Falls.

A young Ford stumbles upon the cave with the incantation to summon Bill and he translates it. So a young Pre teen Ford meets Bill much earlier than in canon and this influences him for the worst.

Stan doesn’t break his machine, Ford still gets rejected and this sends him on a dark spiral. He leaves town without a world.

Ford still builds the portal and falls into it, but this time it wasn't an accident and he was pushed in it on purpose. By Stan. 😬

The one who is actually trying to open the portal in this AU was Pacifica's mom. 😱

Here's a link to a more detailed timeline of these events - be warned - its hella messy.

Even tho I’ll probably never finish this story, it has a special place in my heart. ❤️ So I’ve included the draft for the first chapter of the official reverse falls au and my other chapter plans below the cut.

You didn't ask for it so ... here you go.

Play It In Reverse

While working for their Granny Carla, Pacifica and Gideon come across a nameless journal with mysterious content. They start to unravel the secrets of their home town, but they find some things are better left hidden when their path crosses with the Pines twins.

Ch 1 - Part Time Tourist, Full Time Trapped

Priscilla Northwest had not been happy when her daughter had brought up that she wanted to get a job for the summer break. Priscilla had stated that it was below a lady of her station to have a part time job and work for one of the lowbrow hicks that lived in the town. Besides, what was the point in getting a job when they were already rich.

But Pacifica had been persistent and Priscilla had seen the fiery rebellion in her violet eyes. She wouldn't easily back down from her position, not without constant tantrums and complaining. The child had always been annoyingly stubborn when she set her mind to something. Though Priscilla couldn't say she was much different when she was Pacifica's age.

She didn't really want to deal with an angry reckless teenager when she had a city to run. And she doubted Preston could keep Pacifica in line on his own. And it would be much easier to continue with her work if Pacifica wasn't wandering about the mansion on a constant basis.

The more Priscilla pondered on letting her daughter get a summer job, the better the idea seemed. The only problem was finding a place for her to work. She wouldn't let Pacifica be caught dead laboring in the greasy lumberjack diner. Priscilla would have to make sure that she had a respectable job with a trustworthy employer. An employer who wouldn't mind being saddled with a fourteen year old girl with no previous work experience and no knowledge of how to work for a living. It would be a difficult task, even for the mayor of the town. Priscilla was gifted in finding the right strings to pull to make sure things would work out to her design, and she didn't doubt her abilities. But not many respectable people would accept taking on a new employee for the entire of summer when the season had just started.

Acquaintances were unlikely to accept Pacifica, but family was another story.

Long and short term plans formed within her mind as she reached out to pick up her phone. Dialing a familiar but unused number on her phone, she took a deep breath as she brought the receiver to her ear.

An eccentric voice answered on the third ring. "You've reached the Mystery Shack, home of the legendary swamp beast foot. Just the left foot though, the rest of him is still buried in the swamp, plotting a way to find his missing limb. If you'd like to see it for yourself, come on down and enter-"

"Mother," Priscilla said to the woman on the other end, cutting off her sales pitch. "It's Priscilla."

The friendly tone in her mother's voice flipped on a dime. "Ah Priscilla, thought you might call," Carla stated with clipped sarcasm. "It's only been a year."

She cringed to herself in response to her mother's attempt at guilt tripping her. She hadn't called in order to get told off for not keeping in contact. Even though she was sure that her mother would love to focus on that subject.

"You know how busy I am, mother," Priscilla replied flippantly. The response left her lips before she could think better of it. Too late to take it back now. She examined a bit of paper work that had been pushed off to the side of her desk. Something to focus on other than the rant her mother was going to go on.

"Too busy to keep in touch with the family?" Carla snapped, temper showing in the sharpness of her voice. "Honestly Pris, I haven't seen you in years, and neither has Gideon. And seeing you on TV does not count. You haven't even called or written. We live in the same town, for god's sake. I've barely seen any trace of my granddaughter, who I also haven't seen in years, by the way."

Priscilla's ears perked up at that last sentence and her mind raced to engineer the perfect speech. Immediately, she adjusted her voice and spoke in an pleasant tone. "That's actually why I called you," she stated diplomatically. Lies spun out of her mouth like spiderwebs, laced with ulterior motives and secret plans. And like a spiderweb, they entrapped the woman on the other end. "Pacifica has been so consumed with her studies for the past few years, I thought it would be good if she had a break. I was hoping that you could let her work for you this summer, since you aren't particularly well staffed. It would be a great chance for you to bond."

There was a long pause on the other end, and Priscilla wondered if her mother was able to see through her. If anyone could, it was her. But even if her speech had rung false in her mother's ears, she doubted the woman would pass up the chance to spend time with her only granddaughter.

"So, you want me to take your teenaged daughter off your hands " her mother asked, a hint of amusement in her tone that Priscilla wasn't particularly fond of. "Alright, I'll let her work for me. On one condition."

The word condition alone was enough to tense her muscles and cause an uncomfortable flexion in her fingers. However, despite an initial discomfort, Priscilla kept her composure, because this was her mother and she rarely had an ulterior motive that extended beyond extra family time.

"What did you have in mind?" she asked with a neutral but polite tone that never betrayed her emotions.

"Pacifica stays here at the shack, it'll be like summer camp," her mother chirped, and Priscilla could tell she was smiling on the other end. "Plus I won't have to waste gas money, driving her back home."

The idea of Pacifica sleeping in the musty old shack Priscilla had despised in her childhood, made her cringe with disgust. However, it lined up with her motive to keep her daughter out of her way for the summer. Besides, it would be a good learning experience for her daughter, experiencing how the lower class lives. Perhaps she would finally understand the difference between the Northwests and everyone else in this town. Perhaps she would return home and actually be grateful for everything Priscilla had given her.

So, despite the revulsion that twisted her stomach when she thought of her daughters perfect blonde locks resting on the stained and unkempt beds of her childhood room, Priscilla kept a cheery tone. But not too cheery and with just the right amount of tension in her vocals. "That sounds wonderful."

She could practically see the triumph in her mother's eyes when she replied. As if taking in a teenager for the summer was some great victory. "Swell, you can drop her off this weekend." With that Carla hung up the phone, probably feeling very proud of herself.

There was a twitch at Priscilla's lips when she hung up the phone. In another life, if she had been burdened with a lack of ambition like other pretty girls, she probably could have become an actress.

Xxx

A small group of shuffling tourists pilled into a small, dark room. A young boy stood at the front of the group, leading them further into the darkness. Once the last person entered the room, the door slammed shut behind them, startling the tourists inside. Even in the darkness, people were able to see the little boy's light up shoes and the glimmering rhinestones adorning his cap. He was the only thing their eyes could follow as he came to stand on a platform.

"Now y'all gather in close," the boy stage whispered, his southern accent ringing clear as a bell. "And listen well as old Clarabelle tells you the darkest secret of Gravity Falls. I suggest those of you with feint hearts cover your ears."

The group was collectively pulled in closer by the softness of his voice. They were gathered tightly together now. Each person whispering of either conspiracies, skepticisms or wonder at what they were about to hear. No one saw the large smile on his face when he spoke again. "Now try not to scream, old Clarabelle's in a ... delicate situation."

There was a click and a single spotlight shined on the stage. The sudden light source assaulted everyone's retinas for a moment, when their eyes readjusted to the light the group let out a series of gasps. The white haired boy stood atop a stage that was made to look like a creepy living room, with ancient looking furniture and spiderwebs hanging off of everything. There was a single rocking chair in the centre of the stage, and sitting on it was an old woman who's appearance caused some of the audience to tremble. She was tightly bound in an old fashioned straight jacket, that would have been white if it weren't for the questionable dark crimson stains that streaked it. Her hair was long, stringy and a mess upon her head. But the real terrifying thing was her sunken in, erratically shifting violet eyes.

When she looked upon the people before her, a crooked and wild grin found its way to her lips. She tilted her head to the side to show off the sharpness of her teeth, causing people to notice that she had long fangs in place of her canines.

"Well, hello there, dears," she crooned to the crowd in a sickly sweet tone. "It's so nice to see such fine people visiting our little town. This sleepy little town, with wholesome citizens and lovely sights. At least, that was what the uninformed would assume. But I know differently. There are shadows in the forests, shifting when you get close enough. Strange phenomenons that cloud this town's history. Why even in this ver-"

She paused, crazed violet eyes snapping upwards towards the ceiling. Her breath hitched as she stared ahead, her gaze not really fixed on anything. Everyone waited in anticipation for her to finish her statement, or perhaps for her to snap into a violent rage.

She slowly craned her head towards the audience, a smile stretching at her lips but not affecting her dead eyes. "Sorry dearies, it seems you've come to visit old Clarabelle at a terrible time. You see-"

The old woman was cut off by a sudden rumble beneath the stage. She glared down at the floorboards as if they had offended her.

"You see, tonight is the new moon and-" the woman tried again, though her character was slipping. Her voice was a lot louder this time but her words were drowned out when the mechanical rumble bellow to stage turned into a full fledged roar.

A trapdoor in front of the old woman's rocking chair opened up with a slam. Puffs of smoke poured out from the opening, accompanied by the sound of distorted dog growls. The now confused and horrified audience watched as something large and fury emerged from the stage.

An animatronic werewolf jumped up from bellow the stage, only its hide was on fire. It's hinged jaw jerked rapidly and the rubber skin and synthetic fur melted away as it was licked by the flames. The thing's voice box was damaged by the heat, and the long howl it was programmed to make became distorted. The screech it made sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

The tourists screamed, some of them feeling the heat from the very real and dangerous flames. This little scene had clearly gotten out of control, and no one wanted to stick around to see the damage that would come of this malfunction. The group fled the room in fear, rushing passed the gift shop and back to their cars. As a collection of cars sped away on the dirt road, no one in the line had an inkling to ever go back to the Mystery Shack.

The boy, who had been guiding the customers, had fled the scene to fetch a nearby fire extinguisher. Luckily, due to prior experience with combustible machinery, he was able to douse the flames in a few moments.

As the large clouds of smoke rose up from the opening, the animatronic flopped over lifelessly and it's rubber skin sizzled. The old woman fluidly slipped from the confines of her straight jacket and tossed it to the side. Upon finding the room barren of tourists, she cursed loudly. The boy's hands automatically shot up to cover his ears as the woman cursed over and over.

"I thought you said it wasn't going to catch on fire this time, Melody," Carla McCorkle snapped, yanking the itchy wig from her head and throwing it to the ground in disgust. She spent all month preparing for this werewolf bit and now all these rehearsals went to waste. Not only that, but all the paying customers had booked it out of there without so much as a tip.

"I'm sorry," a feminine voice called out from under the stage. From the trap door, a young woman emerged. Her face and clothes were coated in soot and her hair was severely disheveled. "I really thought I fixed all the problems but when I went to turn it on, there was this pop and then a flame sparked and everything just got worse from there. I'm really sorry Miss McCorkle, I think it had something to do with the-"

"I don't care how it happened, just get it fixed," she said, brushing past the bewildered and frantic young woman. She yelled at the top of her lungs. "Robbie! Robbie, get over here!"

When there was no response, Carla stormed out of the room and into the gift shop, only to find her cashier missing.

Pacifica sat before the cash register, counting the money, or rather the lack of it. When her grandmother entered the room with the fury in her violet eyes, she straightened her posture to put up a facade of alertness.

“What happened?” the blonde asked, a sculpted brow arched in confusion. “I saw everyone run out of there and I thought someone died or something.”

“Those people are wimps,” her grandmother growled, glaring out the window where she could just make out the tail end of the retreating automobiles on the dirt road. She turned to her granddaughter with a frown. “Where the heck is Robbie?”

“He went AWOL after all those people ran out without even buying anything,” Pacifica answered with a shrug, though she turned her head to gaze wistfully out the window, the way she had seen the cashier go. “He said he would be hanging out with some friends.”

“Lousy teenagers,” Carla grumbled, crossing her arms and glaring out the window. “This is coming out of his pay check.”

The young boy came running in, out of breath and grinning like they hadn’t lost out on a whole lot of money.

“Good news,” he chirped, and Carla looked towards him with a skeptical gaze. “Melody got the fire out. Bad news is she’s going to need a week to fix the werewolf bot.”

Carla groaned dramatically, raking her fingers through her thick grey curls. While she mumbled a string of curses to herself, her grandchildren shared a look of acknowledgment and subtly nodded to one another.

“Weeeellll,” Pacifica said, dragging out the word as she stepped out from behind the counter. “Since today was a bit of a bust and Melody is working on fixing the werewolf, Gideon and I were gonna go out for a walk in the woods.”

Upon hearing this, Carla to her granddaughter with a suspicious glare. She inclined her head in interest, searching for any hidden intent in Pacifica’s facial features or posture.

xxx

Gravity Falls wasn't the kind of place you would expect people to travel to on purpose. It was a small town, built on the lumber industry, with not much in terms of attractions. There was a grand total of four restaurants, two motels, and one mall. The town held some weird traditions and fostered a bunch of creepy local legends, but other than that it was basically a pit stop for weary travellers taking a road trip in the pacific north west.

xxx

The tree was cool to the touch, and had the texture of steel. The realistic paint job mimicked the colour and shadows of bark and had fooled Pacifica and Gideon into believing it was real.

Out of curiosity, she carefully ran her hand along the tree side. She paused when her fingertips caught on a small grove in the metal, indicating that there was some kind of opening.

Xxxxx

These were my chapter plans for play it in reverse - some are more thought out than others lol

Part Time Tourist, Full Time Trapped: Gideon and Pacifica go out to get pictures of something spooky, they come across gnomes. The gnomes find the two truss passing on their lawn and try to force one or the other into marriage. When they escape, the cousins stumble upon the third journal. They use it to escape the gnomes by summoning the manatoar to scare them off.

Once in a Waxing Moon: Pacifica finds a poster for the Mystery Museum's new wax exhibit. Carla flips her lid and immediately calls up Fiddleford Mcgucket to assemble a new attraction to beat out Stan. Pacifica and Gideon help Melody and Fids with the creation of the Gobblewonker. They do the painting. Pacifica meets McGucket for the first time and learns how Melody started working for Carla and how she became a mechanic. Like a try hard, Carla shows of fat the wax exhibit unveiling and shows up Stan with her gobblewonker. After an enormous explosion takes out everything, Paz and Gideon decide to find out who caused the destruction. With a tip from Wendy, they find out that Stan was around when the thing blew up. But that's weird because Carla and Stan were fighting at the time. Something Is sketchy so they go snooping around the mystery museum late at night for clues. They find out that it was actually Stan's wax figure that blew up the robot and they nearly get killed by some wax figures. Pacifica meets dipper Stan and Carla get into a fight and Paz gets some free tickets to the tent of telepathy.

There's Something About Mabel: Paz and Gideon and Melody go to the tent of telepathy. Mabel is interested in Gideon and approaches him with the intent of owning him. He's excited to be hanging out with her but he gets severely scared of her and has to put up some boundaries. This makes Mabel even more determined to have him and she starts pressuring him to date her and smothers him and nearly threatens him. Paz, seeing the effect Mabel has on Gideon, confronts her and tells her to lay off a bit. Mabel doesn't take this well and traps her at a factory and promptly tries to kill her. Gideon receives the ransom note, and tries to appeal to her better nature. He lets her down easy but Mabel goes full out horror show on him. Paz tries to rescue him but Dipper shows up and stops her. Dipper convinces Mabel not to kill Paz or hurt Gideon and she begrugenly follows him, not without threatening Paz on the way out.

Season of the Hand Witch: Gideon and Paz start panicking about the mystically powered twins and consult the journal for answers. They can't find anything on the mystic amulets but they do find info on a psychic witch who may have the answers to how they can defend themselves. They go to the handwitch who tells them how to make hex bags to stop the pines twins from using their powers on them.

Mabel goes to meet them at the shack and act threatening but finds she can’t use her powers. Pacifica is a bit gloaty about it.

Mabel goes to tell Dipper about how they got had. Dipper is surprised that Pacifica found away around her powers, and he’s impressed but not too upset. Its just a couple of kids after all. Sucks for Mabel tho. Mabel is like yeah it is unfortunate. Especially since Pacifica has the other journal. Dipper just screeches "WHAT?!"

The Art of Failing at Seduction: the party at the mystery shack, a birthday party for Stan thrown by Carla because she thinks its funny and she makes a big deal about advertising how old he is. Pacifica and Dipper share a confrontation when she keeps catching him sneaking around while she fails to put the moves on Robbie. He gets his hands on her journal but he is dumbfounded when he sees that it’s journal number 3. Dippy thought she had journal number 1, he had no idea there even was a 3rd journal lol. She hits him with a chair and gets the book away from him. He demands to know why it’s the third journal and where the first is. She has no idea what he’s talking about.

Pioneer Day: Pacifica and Stan are both mortified at the discovery that its Pioneer Day. Carla sets up a pioneer station at the shack to get more customers and to piss of Stan. Pacifica has to do the Pioneer Day speech every year.

Trick or Treat or Die: Pacifica pisses off the summerween trickster and then they have to collect a whole lot of candy.

Splash: Gideon falls in love with a magical manatee.

Worst Date Ever: Dipper somehow convinces Pacifica to investigate a series of disappearances around a convenience store. They end up needing to be saved by

Where Have All The Good Men Gone: Dipper and Robbie fight or not.

Something Wicked This Way Comes: Bill Cipher

Pacifica Northwest Vs The World: Dipper and Mabel get access to the Mystery Shack

Nearly Almost Dead But Not Quite: zombie kareoke

It Must Be a Conspiracy: Pacifica and Dipper believe their relatives are up to something.

Experiment #210: Seuss melody date

Mind Swap:

What is Love?: love potion incident.

Witches Be Crazy: Lollipop, Taffy, bubblegum, candy

Ancient Sins: the haunting at Northwest manner forces Priscilla to hire Dipper and Mable to deal with it. Pacifica is pissed off when he shows up.

Order of the All Seeing Eye: the crew discovers a cult dedicated to cipher lead by blind Ivan and they all work to erase the memories of gravity falls so no one will stand in the way of cipher when he returns. They find out about how the portal will open soon, mcgucket finds out that the kids have his memory gun now.

My Soul to Take: Dipper gets his ass possessed. Bills like, well you’ve figured out too much already so we’re gonna destroy those journals of yours and kill all those that know about the impending portal.

No One You Can Trust: the crew tries to find out who could be trying to open the portal and it leads them to mcgucket stan and Carla.

The Thickness of Blood: the portal opens and Ford emerges. Mcgucket manages to contain the rift that had been created via the portal.

Last Ditch Effort: in an attempt to get the power away from the northwest’s, Stan runs for mayor.

Beginning of the End: Mable trades the rift for bill to no longer be able to possess her and her brother while allowing them to keep their amulets and magical abilities.

Weirdmagedon: The Final Temptation: Bill offers Dipper everything he could want so they can make another deal and so he will have dipper under his thrall.

Weirdmagedon: Into the Rift:

Weirdmagedon: The Way Is Shut: the blood is spilled in the circle

[respectthepetty]

I know you've been getting a bunch of asks about your favourite qls, but I'm specifically curious about what your favourite *chaotic* qls are.

Off the top of my head, some chaotic qls I enjoyed were Chains of Heart (THE GLOVE DISCOURSE, THE SUBTITLES, etc) and Big Dragon (asshole4asshole? no. clown4clown), while also enjoying the way that the shows were shot.

@kayatoasted, I'm re-reading this ask to make sure I don't answer it with my favorite *trashy* qls, like Hit Bite Love and Together With Me.

You want *chaotic* and they had to be beautifully shot, so although I love the chaos known as Love Mechanics and Dangerous Romance, both had beautiful shots but weren't consistently beautifully shot.

And I had to have enjoyed not only how it was shot but the show itself, so shows like Vice Versa and Only Friends are out.

No, you want my favorite beautifully shot *chaotic* qls that stayed chaotic which significantly reduces the list, but I can give it to you!

My Favorite Beautifully Shot Chaotic BLs

given in no particular order, and much like this subject, this list is chaos

Dee Hup House - Yes, the entire house

I'm not coming for Director Tee or Cinematography Jim. Their shows are beautiful and more adult. I have loved every single one of them. But the endings . . . ? The endings wobble in Step by Step, Something in My Room, Hidden Agenda, and I Feel You Linger in the Air. Yes, I'm including the last one because Tee & Co seem to pick long ass novels that should be multiple seasons, yet a lot of nothing gets shoved into each over-an-hour-long episode, which causes chaos. Even Lovely Writer, which I love the ending, had a moment with the dad's reveal that didn't have time to get fleshed out. Look at Step by Step. We had an entire baby happen in three episodes when the side couple fizzled. I will watch every show from this company and gush about it, but I know it's going to be beautiful chaos.

Big Dragon - Duh!

I'm not going to defend this show. Y'all already know I love this show. It was beautiful. It was chaotic. It was the moment. Period.

Chains of Heart - It's a given

You mentioned it in your ask with reasons why: It was beauty. It was grace. Then, it kicked us in the face. The plot itself was hard to grasp, but the subs only made it worse! Who was who? Why were there so many Men in Black? How did they all fit into the plot? Why would Din volunteer for an entire face transplant only to reappear, never tell Ken it was actually him, then disappear again?! And yet the cinematography was selling this wonderful vision to me each and every episode. I hated it there, and I need more of it immediately. WHERE IS MY SPECIAL EPISODE?!

Not Me - Think about it

We all need to be very honest with ourselves, and really reflect on the premise of this show. Todd put Black in the hospital, proceeds to call his twin, White, to act as him. White says yes even though he has absolutely no idea about Black's life, but he gets a big ass tattoo and his ass kicked multiple times by Sean (because he can't fight). While that is happening, we have Yok chasing around a rouge artist who is actually a cop named Dan who killed [spoilers] dad and Gram is apparently straight the entire time. Then, Papang is in it. Oh, and let's not forget being held hostage in a black van that protestors beat on until the kidnappers, just, let, them, go. Sure, Jan. And I didn't even mention Sean's leap across buildings! It was a good show. It's in my tops. I love it. The rainbow flag scene is embedded in my heart with the other beautifully shot protest scenes. But it was chaos! Let's hold space for that truth.

609 Bedtime Story - Messed up TWICE!

I enjoyed this show until I didn't, and that was when we got TWO endings, yet neither made sense. The colors in the show were immaculate. The plot though? Chaos. One character was traveling back in time and the other was traveling forward, but they weren't even in the same dimension. Then, the sister could not take a fucking hint and ruined the central love story by being a dramatic heterosexual. The point of the time travel was useless because one of the characters still died, but it didn't matter since that character was still alive in the other dimension and . . . MAKE IT MAKE SENSE, MARY!

Cupid's Last Wish - It was the mom for me!

EarthMix have gotten Director Aof twice, so maybe this is why this series, which isn't Aof, feels like chaos. It has such amazingly gorgeous outdoor shots, that I wonder if Thailand's Ministry of Tourism sponsored some part of this show. The series is a great advertisement for Thailand's beautiful landscape and cuisine, but then we have that plot. Body-swapping isn't the issue, at least not for me. The issue is the timeline. For a man who wanted to get out of his sister's body as quickly as possible, Win was doing the most to hold up the process. Oh, AND THE DAMN MOTHER! She was the true villain of the show, which got glossed over in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment. I'll never get over that reveal even though the show wanted me to by the next scene. She really did that shit and kept it a whole ass secret until the very last damn moment. *looks into the distance at a baby cow* AHHHHHHH!

The Director Who Buys Me Dinner - In short

I'm going to quit picking on Thailand for two seconds to pick on Korea instead. Like all the others on this list, I like this show, and I've actually rewatched it a few times because I think it's pretty and it's so short. But there lies the problem - It's too short. The math was not mathing and the plot was not plotting. It skipped over information that was pivotal to the story. I still have no idea what that idol business was really about. From what the kind folks of Tumblr gathered, the idol was apparently supposed to get the guy in their past lives, but the other guy stole him and that's why he was crazy. How hard would that have been to explain to the audience? I did it in less than a sentence, but apparently the show spent its budget on lighting and not screenwriting or editing.

#1 - Mood Indigo - A masterpiece!

I wrote that these weren't ranked, yet here is number one in "My Favorite Beautifully Shot Chaotic BLs" list. The other shows on this list are child's play in comparison to the second installment that serves as the prequel in The Pornographer/The Novelist series. Regardless if it's a BL or not, leave it to Japan to offer me this deliciously beautiful chaos. Unlike all the other shows, the plot of this show is not what makes it chaotic, but . . . it is. It's not chaotic in the sense that it's disorganized or doesn't make sense. It makes perfect sense, and that's why it is chaos. It's supposed to be.

One character is depressed and has no fucks to give, so if something stirs an emotion in him, he does it without question (including giving the other character a bj in front of the older man who demanded it for another novel). Then, we have the other character who should be the more logical of the two, but somehow he is worse. I. Love. It. Everything that happens in this series makes everything we saw in the first season click into place including why these two toxic assholes are 1) toxic, 2) assholes, and 3) STILL FRIENDS!

God, they're awful.

I love them.