#I’ll totally get the next issue when it comes out BUT THE DESCRIPTION OF IT WORRIES ME LMAOOOOOO

[bugeyedfreaks]

I bought the comic! 💖

I have a couple of my usual little minor nitpicks (as I am want to have), but I don’t even want to get into them because there were so few and they didn’t impact my enjoyment of the comic all that much. I thought it was super cute!

I won’t spoil anything in case anyone’s interested in buying it for themselves (which, I would say… yeah, buy it, totally!), but what I appreciated the most– especially since this is the first issue and it’s establishing who the girls are for anyone not super familiar with them– is that the girls end up saving the day together. It shows the importance of them not just being heroes, but also being a team (and also being supportive sisters, which… 🥹🫶) and that makes me feel like, even on a basic level, they get the characters. And that’s reassuring! Yay!

[ladymochimochi]

✦♡✦ Need To Know - Part Two ✦♡✦

Katakuri x Fem!Reader [AO3 Link] Part One Description: Katakuri's fantasies become reality. Tags: Clothed sex, Face sitting, oral sex (F!Receiving), Multiple orgasms, Dirty talk, Desk sex, Size difference (Reader is slightly sized up to better fit Kata), Come shot, Facial, Come swallowing, 18+ MDNI Words: 3.6k ₊˚ ‿︵‿︵‿︵୨୧ · · ♡ · · ୨୧‿︵‿︵‿︵ ˚₊

It truly was getting to be too much. You could not get the sound of him saying your name that way out of your head. So desperate, so needy. It made your stomach flip and your blood run hot. Ever since that day, it was like you were stuck in a haze - floating through your daily routine around Katakuri’s estate, his moans on repeat inside your head. It had definitely spiced up your private time in your bed chambers at night as well. 

The only issue is that you would never bring this up to him. How were you supposed to go up to your huge and intimidating boss – who you also had a crush on - and casually tell him, “Hey, by the way, I was totally listening in on the other side of the door the other day. It was really hot. Should we...?”.  

Yeah. Not happening. 

So, you had kept your head down and worked diligently while trying to avoid bumping into Katakuri. But that could only last so long and you felt your face go pale when you were told it was your duty this week to clean up his office. 

Not only could you potentially see him in there, it was also the scene of where it all happened. How were you supposed to do your job and not want to die the whole time? 

₊˚ ‿︵‿︵‿︵୨୧ · · ♡ · · ୨୧‿︵‿︵‿︵ ˚₊

Fortunately, luck had been on your side and when you had entered his office after knocking, it was evident Katakuri was out at the moment. You quickly got to work, wanting to get your chores done in here before he could return. His office was quite large but not much was in it. Just a large desk and chair and a chaise lounge with a low table, along with a rug, some decor and bookcases. The chaise lounge you always figured was just a part of the decor since there was no way Katakuri actually used it. 

Just as you were wrapping up, you heard the door open behind you and you froze. Of course, your luck could only last so long. You heard Katakuri say your name like he wasn’t expecting to see you and hearing your name from his lips again sent a shiver down your spine. Gathering your courage to face him long enough to get out of here, you quickly turned and grabbed your bucket of cleaning supplies. 

“I just finished, my lord,” you told him. “I’ll be out of here in a moment.” With a small bow, you attempted to leave but he shut the door behind him before you could even cross the room. Panic flooded your senses and you could only watch as he strode up to you. Certain bloodlines within you made it so you weren’t tiny next to him, but you still only came up to about his abdomen. You shyly looked up at him to see him looking down at you and his gaze made it feel like he was analyzing you.  

“M-My lord?” You stammered out, unsure of what to do.  

“I feel like I haven’t seen you around that much these past few days.” Katakuri told you and you felt a lump form in your throat. You swallowed it down and looked away from him. 

“Oh... W-Well, you know, I’ve been so busy cleaning all over the place. So... So many rooms, you know?” You rambled out, your face going the color of crimson. It was a stupid excuse but you couldn’t just tell him the truth outright. You had been avoiding him but you never expected him to notice. He was an important and busy man and you were just a maid that worked for him. It was clear from the other day that he was attracted to you but the fact that he noticed your absence from his presence made your heart flutter. 

His stare only continued and he made no reply to your excuse. It was evident he was not buying it at all and your odd behavior only piqued his interest even more. You began to fidget, hoping he would just let you go and die from shame in your bed chambers. His eyes drifted down to where you were white-knuckling your cleaning bucket and after a second, he visibly stiffened. 

“...You overheard, didn’t you?” His question was so quiet but you heard it all the same. A knot formed in your stomach and you felt tears prick at the back of your eyes. You could have tried to play dumb and say you didn’t know what he meant but you knew it was pointless and also cowardly. Words bubbled up your throat and you couldn’t stop yourself from speaking out. 

“I’m so sorry, my lord. I truly didn’t mean to but...” You started to confess but you trailed off, not knowing how to excuse your spying on him. Not able to face him anymore, you turned your back to him, still death gripping your bucket. You knew it was rude to do, especially to your boss but your heart just couldn’t take it. “It was wrong of me.” You whispered. 

“No.”  His reply stunned you. “It was wrong of me to do that and then put you in this position.” You turned slightly back to him and while you couldn’t see half of his face due to his signature scarf, you could see the tips of his ears were a dusty pink. The sight made your heart beat faster and it was something you wanted to burn into your brain. You turned away again, staring at his desk. This whole situation was awkward for the both of you but here you were and this needed to be taken care of.  

It was time to be honest. 

“It’s alright... I actually didn’t mind at all.” You said, your face burning hot. He stepped closer and you could feel the heat of his body right behind you. 

“Is that so?” He rumbled out, right by your ear. It sent a shiver down your spine and you finally dropped your bucket. Him being so close was making your head spin.  

“Yes. It was...” You trailed off, feeling too shy to say it aloud. But he wasn’t going to let you off like that. 

“Tell me.” He ordered as he stood back up to his full height and put his hands on your shoulders. You lost your breath at having him finally touch you. Your heart was beating so fast you felt like it may just burst from your chest. Was this really happening? Where was this even going? If it was going where you thought it was, you weren’t going to say no.  

“It was really hot. Hearing you say my name like that, knowing what you were doing on the other side of that door.” You whispered, your skin burning. He didn’t immediately reply and the silence was killing you. 

“What were you thinking about?” You breathlessly asked him and he gripped you tighter. You needed to know. What had been going through his head while he stroked himself to the thought of you? 

A beat of silence passed before he replied. 

“How about I show you?” 

You stared up at him over your shoulder with wide eyes and slowly nodded your head, your mouth now gone dry. With that he turned you around and lifted you up, hitching your legs around his waist. You let out a small, startled noise and clung to his broad shoulders. You didn’t expect him to move so quickly after how slow the two of you were going just a moment ago.  

He brought you over to the chaise lounge and sat down on the edge of it. You were now straddling him and could feel his arousal press into you. It was quite large and it made you swallow while wondering how you were going to take it – if this even went that far. 

His large hands moved to your waist to hold you in place and - to your surprise - he laid back onto the large rectangular cushion.  

“Wh-What are you doing?” You asked him startled. Katakuri was the man who never laid on his back and here he was now laying beneath you. Not that you minded really. Having this huge man now pinned under you made heat coil in your lower stomach. 

His eyes roamed over your body and his hands moved down your waist to your ass, pulling your short dress up to bunch around your hips. He then grabbed your ass roughly and you gasped.  

“I’m going to let you in on a secret.” He said as he kneaded your ass. His movement caused your hips to start rocking, grinding your core against his cock still confined to his pants and you panted lightly. “I do lay on my back from time to time. Especially when I’m about to have my hot maid ride my face.”  

His words stunned you to silence and you could only stare down at him wide eyed, mouth slightly agape. You were most definitely wet at this point and you could feel your pussy throb at how seductive he was being. 

“Now, I’m going to need these off.” He said as stopped kneading your ass and he snapped your panties against the skin of your hip. It jolted you out of your stupor. Biting your lip, you continued to grind yourself down on his arousal. You didn’t want to have to get off of him for even a second.  

“Rip them.” You told him like a soft command and his eyes widened, pupils dilating and he let out a growl as he promptly ripped both sides of your panties. You lifted your hips enough to get the ruined cloth out from under you and he tossed them across the room. 

“Close your eyes.” He rasped to you and while the sudden command left you confused, you did as he said. “Don’t open them until I tell you to.”  

“Yes, my lord.” You whispered in response, darkness the only thing you could now see. Not being able to see what he was going to do to you next added another level of heat to the situation and you could feel your heart beating rapidly in your chest. Then you felt his strong hands on your hips and he was lifting you again. A small gasp left you as he brought you up and set you back again. You felt the soft fabric of his scarf on your thighs and you put two and two together that he had you hovering over his face. Knowing your bare pussy was right in front in his face made you feel so light headed, you were worried you may pass out. 

There was a small sound of fabric shifting and then you felt it. His large, hot tongue licked up your slit and you threw your head back as you let out a loud cry. One of your hands went backwards to brace yourself on his broad chest while the other fumbled to find his hair and you gripped it tightly, earning a grunt from the man below you. His fingers dug into your thighs and then he went to work on you like a man starved. 

You moaned loudly as his tongue lapped at your clit. It was an extreme pleasure you had never felt before and you gripped his hair tighter. Katakuri let out raspy groan in response and flicked his tongue faster. You cried out again and began to move your hips. As you rocked your hips in time with his licking, you could have sworn you felt...fangs? Your mind was in such of a sex haze though that it quickly left your thoughts.  

You could feel your orgasm building quickly and you quietly begged him for more. He started to switch between licking and sucking on your clit and it wasn’t long before your orgasm ripped through you. You let out a high-pitched moan and squeezed your eyes shut, trying not to snap them open. You rode out your orgasm on his face while he kept licking and sucking.  

Once you were able to catch your breath, you started to shift away from him. But he only gripped your thighs tighter. 

“I’m not done yet.” He growled beneath you and you were about to question him when his tongue plunged into your hole. You screamed out at the hot, wet intrusion. Your hand on his chest pressed down harder and you dug your nails into his flesh. You wished you could open your eyes and watch him go to town on you but you didn’t dare disobey him. His tongue repeatedly went in and out of you and you could nothing but moan, pinned down to his face.  

“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.” You gasped over and over, another orgasm coming quickly. “It’s so good.” You groaned out, now having found your voice. Katakuri moaned in response and went even faster in and out of you. Your thighs began to shake and you pressed yourself down onto his face harder.  

“Yes, yes, yes!” You squealed out as you rode out your second orgasm. Once this one passed, you let out a harsh breath and doubled over, still keeping your eyes closed.  

You lifted yourself from his face and this time he let you. His own haggard breathing could be heard and it made your walls clench. It reminded you of him jerking off and you hoped you could hear more of his noises. 

With your eyes still shut, he lifted you again and put you back on his lap. His erection felt even harder than before and you bit your lip. There was shuffle of fabric again and you waited for his next order. 

“You can open your eyes now.” He told you and you slowly did so, getting adjusted to the lights again. You looked down at him and drank in the sight of him.  

His hair disheveled, large chest heaving, half covered face flushed red, eyes absolutely hungry. You could come again just looking at him. It must’ve shown on your face because he swiftly sat up, wrapped your legs around him and stood once more. This time he took you over to his desk and set you down on your feet. But your legs were still shaking and you had to grab him before you collapsed to the floor. 

“I got you.” He said as he held you up. “You doing okay?” He asked you gently and you nodded back. “We can stop if you need to.” He said but you shook your head. 

“No, I’m good to keep going. Please don’t stop.” You told him softly, looking up at him. His gaze over his scarf turned hungry again and then he turned you around, placing a hand on your back. His large hand on your back slowly pressed you down so that your front was pressed down against the top of his large desk. The hand still there gently rubbed your back as it slowly made its way down to your ass.  

He pushed your dress up so that you were exposed to him and he turned his hand to slip two fingers into your wet cunt. The sudden intrusion made you cry out as you rocked your hips back to ride his fingers. He large fingers dipped in and out of you at a brutal pace. It stretched you out good and you knew this was in prep for his large cock.  

After everything he had done to you, it wasn't long before you reached yet another orgasm. You were a stuttering mess of oh yes and please as your third orgasm ripped through you. Your breath was ragged as you rode your high. 

“Please...” You started to beg. “I need your cock, my l-lord.” You couldn’t even catch your breath but your body needed him and needed him now. You could feel yourself dripping wet and your thighs slick. 

He removed his fingers from you and you heard the clink of his belt coming undone. Your mind was fully hazy again with lust and all that was on your mind was his cock. You wiggled your ass at him, excited at the prospect of getting fucked. His hand came down and smacked against one of your cheeks causing you to cry out. 

“Stay still.” He ordered huskily and your eyes rolled back.  

“Yes... Yes, my lord.” You panted, the side of your face pressed against his desk. Then you felt the head of his cock as he notched it at your entrance. One of his hands gripped your hip as he slowly directed his cock into you.  

You moaned loudly at the stretch; he was much bigger than you ever expected but you were determined to take it all. His thumb rubbed circles onto your hip as he entered you inch by inch.  

“You’re doing so good.” He gently said to you and you clenched around him, whimpering in reply. Soon he was seated fully within you and you were breathing rapidly at being so full. Once you were fully used to the stretch, you gave him the go ahead to start moving.  

He started out slow, pumping into you with control. Your body was slowly giving into the pleasure, every thrust feeling better and better. You started to mewl and moan and he went faster, fingers digging into your hip. 

“You’re so big.” You said breathlessly. “It’s so fucking good, yes, fuck me.” You pleaded to him, starting to see stars across your vision. 

The hand that had been leading his cock into you slammed down onto his desk next to your head and you gasped. 

You felt his large frame press onto your back as he bent over to be on top of you and your walls clenched ever tighter around him. He started to drill into you and you could barely catch your breath. To be taken in such of a feral fashion made your eyes roll back into your head. 

“This... is what I was stroking my cock to the other day.” He seductively said down to you, his thrusts unrelenting. “You crying out for my cock while I fuck you like this, after I ate my fill of your sweet pussy.” 

His words alone were about to send you into another orgasm. You cried out again and dug your nails into the wood of his desk. At this point, words were beyond you and you were just a crying, mewling mess. The hand on your hip suddenly moved and he brought it between your body and his desk so he could play with your clit. You started to scream out, your legs shaking violently. It was too much, way too much. The feel of his fingers moving against your clit, the harsh thrusts of his huge cock inside you, the press of his body against you. 

Your vision blacked out for a second and yet another orgasm crashed into you at rapid speed. He picked up his pace, fucking you faster and faster through your orgasm. You were screaming so loud you were sure the whole estate – maybe even the whole island – could hear you but you didn’t care at all. Never in your life had you been fucked like this and you were going to enjoy every second of it. 

You were slowing your rapid breathing down when you realized you had been drooling on his desk. As you were going to lift your head, Katakuri grabbed your waist and brought you up himself so the two of you were standing against the desk.  

“There’s one more thing to this fantasy.” He rumbled out to you, slightly out of breath himself. You couldn’t fathom what else he had in store for you but you were willing to go along with anything at this point. “On your knees, mouth open, tongue out.” He ordered and slipped his cock out of you.  

His words made your whole body shiver and your pussy throb yet again. He stepped away from you and it didn’t take much effort for you to get onto the floor. Your body basically thanked you for doing so. You faced him on your knees and this was the first time you actually got to see his cock. 

Your brain short-circuited as you tried to process how the hell that had fit inside of you.  

What brought you out of your thoughts was his hand stroking his huge cock and you remembered he was waiting. Looking up at him, you opened your mouth and stuck out your tongue just like he told you to. He groaned and pumped his fist faster.  

This was really what he fantasized about? Holy shit.  

You placed your hands on the floor in-between your spread knees and hefted your chest up, cleavage on display and stuck your ass out, wanting to give him the best view. His face, still half hidden by his scarf, flushed at you doing this and his eyes had a look of desperation in them. His fist went faster and faster until he let out a guttural moan and his cum shot out onto you. 

You closed your eyes as most of it landed on your tongue but some ended up on your cheek and even the top of your breasts. Slowly opening your eyes, you made eye contact with him and then drew your tongue back into your mouth and visibly swallowed.  

“Fuck.”  

It was all Katakuri could mutter after seeing such a display. You tilted your head to the side while still looking up at him, smiling softly but with wicked look in your eye. 

“Was it everything you wanted, my lord?” 

[rosenotactuallyquartz]

Hii!! I think I saw you asking for more pearlrose comic moments so I can give you a funny one: on issue #33 from 2019 Peridot accidentally gets Pearl hyperfixated on a fictional character in Camp Pining Hearts called Counselor....... Peony (very subtle) 😭 She was all judgy at first but the way her eyes SPARKLED when she saw the character... “I hate this kind of enterta-- pink?? lady?? say no more!!”

JUST LOOK AT HER. Her EYES. Get someone who looks at you the same way Pearl looks at her new beloved blorbo.

I love her so much.

another pearlrose moment from the steven universe comics, issue 33, 2019

thank you so much, i love this. i love pearl saying she was wondering when [penny] was coming back, because penny reminds her of rose. it almost seems like a subtle reference to love like you, but that’s probably just me. i also love pearl’s sassy side, and i love that we got to see that in the comic.

please feel free to send more pearlrose comic moments and i’ll share them here, with an image description ! also, gigi-mari, i think you’re the person who sent me an ask about it’s over, isn’t it. i’m writing a long post that answers another ask right after this, but it includes a part where your question should be answered because it has quotes from creators and everything ! but i am so sorry for the late responses, people. catching up on asks now after just personal things,, but they’re always open and i love asks so much

🩷

[image description: the first image depicts pearl standing in front of amethyst and peridot, who are sitting on a couch in the living room. amethyst says: “yo, pearl! come watch this show with us! this kid looks like he’s gonna blow up!” pearl sits down as the show from peridot’s tablet says, “one more,” and “percy, please!” and amethyst says, “he’s totally gonna hurl,” with pearl adding, “why did he eat all that pie? of course he’s going to be sick.” they all sit around peridot’s tablet, amethyst and peridot with excited expressions and pearl with a disgusted expression.

the second image depicts pearl saying, “i’m afraid i don’t see the appeal of watching a child gorge himself on dessert.” peridot says, “it’s not about that, it’s about campers and…” pearl interrupts her by saying, “wait, who’s that?” peridot says, “that’s counsellor penny.” on the screen is a woman with wavy hair resembling rose, a camp counsellor who says, “great work, everyone!” peridot says, “she’s one of the four supreme leaders of the camp, in charge of watching over everyone from the arts and crafts cabin to the dining hall.” pearl has stars in her eyes and her hand over her mouth, staring in adoration. peridot adds, “in season five, she—” but amethyst cuts her off with, “i like her shorts.”

the third image depicts pearl, suddenly very immersed in the show. the screen says, “i love you, penny! don’t leave the camp!” and penny replies with, “i’m sorry, patrick, but there are campers who need me out there around the world!” pearl says, “she’s so dedicated to her cause!” and peridot says, “according to the camp pining hearts online encyclopedia, she went to be on a season of paw and order, whatever that is.”

the fourth image depicts pearl and peridot watching the show as it’s gotten dark outside. pearl says she was wondering when penny would come back. peridot says, “but…”

the fifth image has pearl, amethyst, and peridot. peridot says, “so much more of the plot and story could be explored if they didn’t waste time on the romance! and it’s not even good romance! it’s all wrong!” and pearl agrees. the next panel has steven watching them as pearl says, “as a show so preoccupation with romance, it can’t seem to recognize how counsellor penny is much too good for a man like patrick. in the final panel, steven is smiling as he watches the three of them talk and laugh together as the show plays. end of image description.]

[nesttrust]

Ilift top hat

#ILIFT TOP HAT DRIVER#

#ILIFT TOP HAT MANUAL#

#ILIFT TOP HAT PROFESSIONAL#

Sure, cases can be made that the 40-yard dash has little to do with the movement requirements of American football, but there’s no doubt that players are being scouted on their raw ability to move with speed. I have worked with college football players that missed making it to the NFL strictly because they ran a bit too slow in their 40-yard dash.

#ILIFT TOP HAT PROFESSIONAL#

How many times have we heard that? Anyone who has worked with team sport athletes understands that in order to make it to a professional level, athletes MUST have the speed necessary to do so. Eventually I'll get around to removing them and seeing if loosening with an impact is possibly able to unstick them.Speed kills. What I did not realize at the time, though, was that sustained impacting like that tends to slam the adjusters toward the full-loose side, jamming them in place. Still had to keep the shaft from spinning, but they went together way quicker. So, sharp fella that I am, I grabbed my 3/8" cordless impact and used it to tighten the rears. I converted to NB mounts and remember tightening the front by hand. Maybe adding 1% more wear to my bumpstops or something.Īfter my last re-install, my rear rebound adjusters did become seized, but I'm 99% sure it wasn't from grabbing the shaft (.). Either with Knipex pliers, plain old-school channel locks, or, my preference, the swedish pipe wrench (no, that's not a euphemism for a sex move). I've assembled them by grabbing the larger 'ball' section at the top multiple times. I've been afraid of clamping anything on the shaft to stop it from rotating for fear of damaging the shaft. The lockwasher under the shock nut looks compressed. I don't know if the shock shaft is moving in the mount, or if bearings or other parts in the mounts are moving.

#ILIFT TOP HAT DRIVER#

I tried hitting it a few times with a 1/4"impact driver with a right angle attachment, but it didn't seem to make a difference. I was never able to get the shock nut to 10 ft*lbs since the shock shaft spun before this happened. I verified the torque on the upper mount nuts. I believe this is where the noise is coming from. I can feel some movement between the upper shock nut and the mount. When I do this I hear a noise from the upper shock mount area. I think what I am feeling is movement before the shock starts to resist. With the car up on the lift I can feel some "free play" when I lift on the rear lower control arms. A bad noise from what sounded like the upper shock area when driving over bumps after install. I suppose the next test to confirm the cause of the issue, would be to swap the Flyin'Miata tops left and right, while leaving the shockabsorder and spring on their current sides, to see if the noise moves to the other side with the top hat?ĭid you figure this out? I might be having a similar issue with the FM 2.5 kit (konis and purple top hat). In total it's traveled no more than 150km (approx 90miles). The vehicle drives great, handles well but the noise is horrible and concerning. Refitted the new shock absorbers and had the wheels aligned. I've refitted the old shock absorbers incase it was caused by them - no change.

#ILIFT TOP HAT MANUAL#

In attempt to resolve it I've gone back and loosened off all the suspension bolts and retorqued to Service Manual torque specs. Does this sound like the symptom of a failed spherical bearing? At higher highway speeds (110km/h - approx 70mph) it does seem to ease up and almost become not noticeable. Any small bump in the road seems to cause it. A friend described it as 'chatty' which seems to be a fitting description. Recently reassembled I took it for a test drive and have an awful noise coming from the rear left corner - it's a rattly, clunky noise. my 89 NA6 was off the road for a year or so during which time I replaced all the suspension bushes, ball joints, tie rod ends and shock absorbers, fitted the Flyin'Miata NA Rear Upper Shock Mounts and Bumpstops, frame rail braces, braided brake lines, updated to 15" wheels with Bridgestone RE003 tyres, fitted a 2 1/4" exhaust and headers. Due to our first son being born, renovating the house, work being busy, etc. What is the signs and symptoms of a failed spherical bearing in the Flyin'Miata NA Rear Upper Shock Mounts ?

[filthforfriends]

On the Kitchen Table

From that Thomas prompt you saw yesterday

ITS DONE BITCHES

Thomas x reader

Word count: 5279

Prompt: "can u imagine the reader and thomas “hating” each other (mainly cause of them wanting to deny the sexual tension and being attracted to one another) so they’re constantly trying to rile each other up until they get into a huge argument over idfk led zeppelin over some other band but it gets really heated and he kisses her"

TW: sex, swearing, angst, conflict

@mywritingonlyfans @damianof @starlettescarlet @cheese-toastie-11 @thomasraggilovebot @mariedeangelis @bjjkko

I doubt that Thomas’s knew how poorly this reflected on your fucking career. No one had an issue with you, absolutely no one, except him. Thomas who wasn’t just Thomas, but was an extremely valuable artist. Famous, profitable, marketable, and actually talented. A rockstar who gave a fuck. He  had the kind of aesthetic you could sell, make a line of clothing from, and have him be the face for. He had an identity on social media which was beloved and totally devoid of controversy, making him a valuable influencer. And it was all genuine. Thomas was ¼ of a band that could push out two platinum albums and two tours in a year, Lauded, beloved, capable, and bullet proof. You had to mitigate all the companies that wanted his signature on a contract, all while lovely little Thomas made your life immeasurably difficult.

“I literally didn’t order this. This is not even remotely what I ordered.” He threw the plastic fork at the container, tipping it over, spilling the contents on the studio floor. Thomas signed like that was your fault too, but at least had the decency to turn back and start picking up the chunks of roasted vegetables. Leo was a good boss, and you had come into this knowing that you'd be doing the grunt work he had a few years ago. So you ran to grab some stain remover for the sake of the studio carpet.

“Back in one sec!”

“Oh yeah, don’t bother helping or anything!” He jeered, just as you ran back into the room with a tub of cleaning supplies you kept in the cabinet right next to the studio entrance. Leo had complained of red wine mishaps during late night writing sessions, so you had been proactive.

“Sorry” you responded automatically, reverting into your customer service voice. You wished you could tell him to fuck off, especially when he rolled his eyes at your apology. “I was getting cleaning supplies so the sauce doesn’t stain the carpet.” You fumbled to put the pieces of yam and squash back in the takeout container so you could just go throw the whole mess in the trash. Your hands kept bumping into Thomas’s as he did the same. It was awkward but you still enjoyed the skin to skin contact way too much, but that was only because you were touched starved.

“Hey, stop, I'll do it. It's my fault I’ll do it!” He said, growing angry as he helped grab chucks of eggplant off the floor. You noticed the thick gold ring on his right hand catching the light. The ring that pulled focus semi-permanently enough to make you think about his fingers in the shower.

“Its okay, this is my job,” you retorted, glaring at his handsome features while he scowled back at you. You tried not to notice the heat from his body or how proximity pulled you. “I’ll clean it, just let me do it.”

“Cleaning is not in your job description , y/n.” Thomas was the only person whose mood was soured by not having to do house work.

“I think I know my role here Thomas, so if you’ll just let me-”

“Stop! Just Stop! Let me do it for fucks sake,” he snapped, raising his voice. You had to focus all your energy on keeping the tears from your eyes. Thomas had truly yelled at you, six inches from your face. The room was quiet in a way that made you realize the other band members had been chattering before. Because this dynamic between her and Thomas was just the norm.

Being yelled at by men was your weak spot, ever since your father did it when you would make the tiniest mistake as a child. It didn’t matter the content, the volume triggered some trauma response. You would have to get over it if you were to work with celebrities, but right now you aren't. Right now you were crying in front of a band you were supposed to personally assist. In celebrity management, you had to take the high road, every single time, without fail, until your toes were all blisters. You felt blistered in this moment, with your head ducked to hide that Thomas had hit a nerve, because that was unprofessional. What was also unprofessional was your inability to speak as you left the room.

Thomas being a brat was old news, he liked to challenge you on small things. He’d hold your gaze like he wanted to eat you alive and despite your best efforts to the contrary, you wanted to slap him lightly then kiss him hard. You’d remind yourself that being attracted to Thomas actually made you normal, not the exception. He was an Italian sex symbol and obvously wouldn’t have become so popular if he didn’t have mass appeal. You were simply recognizing his mass appeal. At least that's what you told yourself. However, there was a moment between his petty provocation and your emotional reaction. In that moment the air was so charged you thought he might electrocute you or find the nearest horizontal service, put three fingers inside you, and make you beg for his cock.

This heavy sexual tension had never been squashed by Thomas’s behavior, because it was never severe enough.Always the push of his pettiness and the pull of your chemistry. But shouting didn’t feel like a game, this felt like a knife to the gut. Your mental space had gone from unsustainable to unstable. You couldn’t feel this way, no job was worth your mental health. So you steeled yourself to finish the day with grace, then you’d talk to Leo.

A knock on the front door startled you, and you realized that Damiano’s and Ethan’s lunch orders had arrived. So that will be the first thing you do now that you’ve decided it's your last day: feed the band. You bring in Dami’s and Ethans food and decide to play the perfect part.

“Here you go guys,” you say brightly. “Victoria let me look at the delivery tracking, and yes it's almost here!” The feeling in the air is heavy, and you feel vindicated that the others had called out Thomas for being an asshole. “Okay so Thomas would you like to order something else for lunch?” You stayed cheerful as you stooped to pick up the old container of his rejected lunch. You spray down the carpet with stain remover, acting as though nothing had happened. If emotional compartmentalization was a sport you’d be an Olmpian. “All right, so I’ll finish cleaning that when you’re out of the studio. Thomas can I get you anything else?”

“No, thanks y/n” he replied. You’d expected him to mumble it, slumped over and avoiding eye contact. Instead he met your eyes and was so somber and apologetic that you wanted to throw out every bad memory and climb onto his lap to tell him everything was all right. You don’t realize how dark a room is until the light is turned on. It was the same thing for our eye contact. You didn’t realize how much Thomas had been avoiding sustained eye contact until this moment when he held your gaze like he was holding your hand.

“Okay, good luck writing.” When you closed the heavy studio door, you pledged to yourself that you would not waver from this position.Undoubtedly, you and Thomas had the chemistry to be lovers in another life. However, the fact that you were so physically close in this one and he couldn’t bring himself to be welcoming was all the more reason to leave.

You pulled your suitcase out from the bottom of the closet and put it on your bed. It felt impossibly heavy and the thought of packing it was exhausting. It was as if all your energy had been drained and you were simply a shell of yourself, staring into the gaping mouth of your suitcase. You decided to text Leo that you needed to talk to him later and busy yourself with some ornate dinner.

Packing after dinner felt more manageable, but it still made you sorrowful. Being a nomad was hard, and you loved this place. You didn’t want to fail your employer or your client and this was both. It was so suboptimal you wanted to just bite the bullet and stay anyway, just ride it out. But oh, mental health is such a fickle thing and you couldn’t put yours at risk.

“Hey, Leo. Sorry to call on short notice.” It was nice to talk to a person with whom I have much fewer pretences.

“Hello, y/n it sounds like you’ve had an awesome day,” Leo answered sarcastically.

“Is it that obvious in my voice?”

“Well, that, and I heard from the band.” You cursed yourself. All you needed was a shitty report from a shitty band member for your file. Not only did it piss you off that the band had gone over your head to complain to you about Leo, but it made you nervous.

“I suppose that if I get fired I was wanting to leave anyway.”

“Oh no, they don’t want to fire you! They were worried they’d offended you.”  Then why did they say absolutely nothing about it during dinner?

“I wouldn’t know, no one has spoken to me.” Lovely, they’ve expressed regret to Leo, but not me. Maybe none of them like me and Thomas is the only one to show it. Maybe they want Leo back.

“Sometimes they speak without speaking, you know? You have to pay attention. There is a reason that they are musicians.“

“I do all my duties, I don’t know how I could pay them more attention.”

“You should ask them.”

“Look Leo, I don’t want to disappoint you but I’m done. I’m packing, I need to leave. I will buy my own plane ticket if I have to. I know how it's going to look professionally, but I don’t care, living here is excruciating. I know I’ll have to deal with difficult clients and I can do that. I can do mood swings and perfectionism and arrogance, but I can’t deal with someone repeatedly targeting their negative energy at me specifically. I shouldn’t have to.”

“You’re right y/n, you shouldn’t have to. I guess Thomas was right when he said he took it too far this time.”

“Thomas, talked to you? He talked to you about me?” You could hear Leo cursing himself on the other end of the line, realizing he said something he shouldn’t have.

“Look I’ve been a mentor for Thomas since he was 16, we’ve been friends a long time. He’s a really sweet kid, but he’s not very emotionally articulate.” Sweet kid. Where is this sweet, sensitive kid, talking to Leo because he’s worried he’s hurt my feelings?

“Leo I really don’t know what to say other than we know very different Thomas’s. I genuinely don’t know the person you’re describing. Like I’m not trying to insult his character, I’ve just never met the person you’re talking about.”

“Well I guess that Thomas has made an ass of himself as much as he described, in which case you have every right to leave.”

“What about my resume? I have a bunch of crappy reports, then it says I didn’t fulfill my contract. No one is going to hire me!”

“Y/n…” Leo began slowly, “Maneskin has never given you a report that didn’t sing your praises. If it weren’t for the Thomas of it all, they’d want to keep you on for the tour.”

“What the fuck?” you thought, clapping your hand over your mouth when you realized you’d said it out loud to your boss. “Sorry, but I can’t believe I’m not touring Europe because Thomas doesn’t like me.” Truly, what could you have done to this man?

“No, no, it's the other way around. They didn’t ask you to go on tour because Thomas thinks you don’t like him, and doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable.” Well yeah I don’t like him, obviously. Or do I? Why could I like him after everything?

“Leo this is the most convoluted bullshit I’ve ever been part of.” At least I can hear my boss snorting with laughter.

“Yes, okay, its something to think on. In the meantime, I will book you a flight for the day after tomorrow. If you don’t want it, you can change the ticket. And no, this will not leave your career in shambles so chill out and drink a glass of wine. Okay? You worry too much.”

You’re in the kitchen, following boss’s orders, pouring yourself a glass of red wine. You’re sitting on the kitchen counter, deciding if it's drinkable, when Thomas comes in.

“That's not the best,” he says, gesturing to the wine. He’s meeting your eyes again, nothing malicious or cruel. Thomas opens the fridge and while fumbling for something on the shelf, knocks a tube of garlic paste onto the floor. He makes a precious “oops” sound then meticulously places it where he knocked it from. Were malicious and cruel even accurate words to describe his behavior? Petulant, aggravated, sure, but he never chose anything with weight to make an issue of.

“You know it's really not,” you agreed. “It tastes like disappointment and a headache.” You both smiled easily, Thomas with his face lit from the open fridge. There was something very different about his energy and disposition right now. This was the first time you and Thomas had been alone together.

“It’s what Victoria and Nica left, when they went out.” You made a disgusted sound. “So you really shouldn’t subject yourself to drinking it.”

“Ugh, Chist.” You emptied your glass into the sink, rinsing it a couple times before filling it with water. “No wine for y/n, then.”

“Well you should try this,” Thomas suggested, closing the fridge with a bottle in hand.

“If anyone finds out you keep red wine in the fridge they’re gonna revoke your citizenship” You teased, but regretted immediately because Thomas would take that as bait for conflict and you were so enjoying this gentle peace.

“I couldn’t agree more, but this is a Lumbresco so…” Lumbresco was your favorite, you moved to hop off the counter and look at the label, but Thomas brought the bottle to you instead. It was a Labrusca Rose.

“Thomas what the hell are you doing with a 20 dollar Pink Lumbresco?” you asked, delighted.

“You mentioned that it was your favorite so I thought I should try it.” The look on your face sent him stumbling over his explanation. “When I meet a new person and they tell me their favorite wine I try it and there’s no use trying something if you don’t give it a fair shot. How would I know I liked it if it was a shitty bottle? Buying a crappy bottle would be counterproductive, like I- “ You stopped his rambling with another question.

“But Thomas, why haven’t you opened it yet?” You could actually see Thomas’s walls go up, see his darkness snuff the light of his tenderness out. “Oh, duh! Because its sparkling, it's not like you were going to drink the whole bottle in one go.The only way not to waste it is to share it.” Thomas relaxed back. That was the difference in his disposition, he was unguarded.

“Precisely,” he said, as if everything had been in his control the whole time. “Now for the corkscrew…” He opened the drawer right next to your thigh. This was the closest you’d been, standing almost cheek to cheek, but facing opposite directions. You were alone in the kitchen. When his hand accidentally brushed the top of your thigh, he yanked his it away and stopped breathing. So maybe Thomas felt the same way you did. Maybe that's why he avoided being alone in rooms with you. You have to test that theory now. If you were leaving in two days, you could afford to be bold.

“Thomas” you murmured, and waited for him to turn his eyes from the drawer’s contents to your face. He did so sparingly, which only spurred you on. “You smell really good.” He froze, opening and closing his mouth a couple times like a fish out of water.

“Ugh, I’m not wearing any cologne, I don’t think.” He said, looking down at himself.

“I don’t think it's cologne, you just smell so good.” At this point you observed his reaction. He was shocked, but not pulling away. In fact, Thomas was infinitesimally closer to you. You had to wait a couple beats for his brain to resume functioning, but when it did, he smirked proudly, and you knew he was on the same page. He reaches a hand toward your face, but then you hear a door slam somewhere in the back of the house. You sprang off the counter and took a couple steps back.

Suddenly you’re aware of the entryways to the kitchen, of the windows above the sink. Suddenly the prospect that someone saw made you panic, because maybe you didn’t want to throw it all away. Maybe, if Thomas could find a balance, you didn’t want to throw it all away by fucking your client and leaving in two days.

“Relax, everyone’s out except Ethan, he's just going out to the pool to smoke.”

“He could have seen Thomas. That would be incredibly unprofessional, he’s my client!”

“I get that, will you calm down, it was just the door to the porch.” You loathe being told to calm down.

“It could have been the front door or some other door!”

“But it wasn’t.” Thomas’s arrogance was showing.

“And how do you know that Thomas, how do you know?”

“Because I know what the door sounds like and I made sure it was just Ethan here!”

“But how can you be sure that's what the door to the pool sounds like for sure? That's not possible.” Great, they were arguing about sounds the doors make. Then, you processed the second part of what Thomas had said. “Wait, why did you make sure that no one was here? Were you that confident that we were going to have sex? Oh my god, did you tell them all to leave so we could have sex?!”

“No, they were already going to go out so I could apologize! I just like you, okay?” Thomas matched your hysterics.

“Then apologize! Or is there someone else you need to discuss it with before you discuss it with me?” You were bitter, you had a right to be.

“I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry for everything and for this afternoon and fucking all of it! Are you happy now? Is that the apology you wanted?”

“I don’t ask you for anything and you know that,” you said, quiet but powerful.

“Yeah I know that,” Thomas replied spitefully. The way he said it, you wondered if he wanted you to need something from him, so he would give it to you. It wasn’t your job to guess that people had good intentions.

“You don’t consider anything. You don’t know what it is to have my career, to do my job. Okay? Because then you would know-” you point a finger in the direction of the pool, but Thomas interrupts you.

“How can you say that I don’t know anything about you, huh? You’re afraid of how society’s opinion might affect your career? Try getting followed by cameras! Because I’m in a band, instead of an office? There's-”

“Yes, because you’re in a band! The relationships are totally different, saying otherwise would be simplistic.You have more freedom, but for me there are regulations and rules for how I conduct myself!” You were finally able to finish your thought, while Thomas studied you.

“You follow the rules because you’re supposed to, yes? And that makes you happy y/n?” You nod and Thomas walks around the table as he speaks.

“Yes they do! Because I have a career!” you insist.

“So do I.” Thomas said, but he continued talking before you could beat him to the punch. “But that is because we are different people, right? For you to be successful and happy you need rules.” He comes to stand directly in front of you and lifts his finger accusingly. “You call me simplistic. You should try to feel something outside of the little cage you’ve built around yourself.”

“Fuck you!” you growl at him.

“Finally, something,” he says, as if you’d had a breakthrough.

“Fine, then what's your great expanse of emotional experience, Thomas?” You put your hands on his chest and shove him towards the table, where he has to catch himself on one of the chairs. “Playing FIFA and fucking girls with the lights off? Waking up at 1pm? Sounds riveting! Maybe I should try that, maybe-” But Thomas is kissing you. He pulls away for a second to give you a choice, but you grab him by both lapels and bring his body against your own. There's no tepidness, this has been between you for weeks.

Thomas reaches down to thighs and tells you to jump. You spring off the ground at the same time that he hauls you up his body. You love being able to coil your legs around his hips and establishing a vice grip so Thomas doesn’t need to support you. He does anyway, moving his hands up to the soft place where cheek meets thigh. At a slightly different angle he’s be fingering you. You’re both too hot this close, and its making you sweat wonderfully. The fight and arousal have made both your faces flushed, lips plush and pink. The transition to using tongue wasn’t awkward, as the verbal foreplay had rendered both supple.

You arched your back, trying to get closer and tugging at his hair for future reference. Trying to figure out what is too much and not enough, finding that Thomas’s pleasure has more to do with the amount of sensation rather than severity. He makes these little grunts and breathes out hard when something feels good. You grab as big a section as possible at the back of his head and pull, arching your back to get closer. You lick his adam's apple and the hollow at the base of his neck, sweat pooling. His hands knead your soft upper thighs in pleasure.

Thomas then hicks you up higher, so your legs are around his waist. He kisses a line up your neck, then sucks a hickey, hard. He runs your earlobe between his teeth. It's gentler to test the waters, but you don’t like gentleness, you like pain and pleasure in a 1:1 ratio.

“Hard, you can do it hard.” It's the most coherent thing you can say. Right now the primal desire to fuck Thomas was underminning all frontal lobe information.

“Top off.” He held you up, flush against his body so you could use your hands without falling. You unceremoniously yanked your shirt off. Thomas leaned down, getting the muscle that ran along the top of your shoulder between his teeth. He bit down so hard that you felt the muscle spasm in his mouth with glorious white hot agony. You let out an embarrassing screeching moan that surely anyone in the house could hear, but Thomas didn’t put a hand over your mouth. Instead he put his lips by your ear and purred your praises.

“Mhm I thought you’d be a little freak. Already doing such a good job.” Thomas didn’t pull away, he stuck his tongue in your ear. No one had done that before and you figured it’d feel strange, but it was amazing. The wet, hot muscle of Thomas’s tongue was felt acutely by the highly sensitive receptors in your ear canal. He had to grip you tight as you shivered. Getting Thomas’s shirt off in this particular position was difficult, but you could unbutton it. The burnt orange fabric parted to reveal the skin below.

When Thomas pulled you flush against him again, you felt suddenly self conscious. You were so turned on by him that your tights had soaked through, and you were wearing a skirt with no panties. This meant that your wet crotch was pressed against the skin above his belly button. You were totally vulnerable to him. Thomas moved so that your back was pressed against the wall instead of his. This allowed the wall to hold some of your weight, but also for Thomas to press further against you. Thomas hiked up your skirt and leaned into your groin, so your wet cunt was pressed against him as much as possible. This meant that your legs were splaying almost totally open against his waist. Being up in the air like this made you feel small, taken care of, but also at the mercy of your partner.

Thomas must be getting tired by now, but instead he shrugged off his button up and unclasped your bra. When he went straight for your nipples you understood why he wanted you in this position. All splayed out, Thomas could literally feel himself making you wet. Thomas went through the normal, vanilla licking and sucking. When that didn’t elicit a reaction from you, he used his teeth. Just seeing him drag his front tooth against your nipple made you dig your nails into his back. When he did it with force, you almost came, and he felt that when you spasmed, and where your cunt was pressed against his abdomen. You’d lost track of when you’d started making noises, but you needed more. You needed more pressure, more stimulation, and this state of being completely aroused was painful.

When he did put your feet on the ground, your were both so desperate to fuck that when Thomas asked you to lean over the table, you said yes. Before turning around, you undid Thomas’s belt and pants. He watched you, the visual of seeing your hands on his groin an immense turn on. He stepped out of his jeans, then froze.

“Condoms, damn it!” Thomas looked crestfallen in a way you found flattering.

“I’m on birth control, are you clean?”

“Yeah I just got a panel done.”

“So let's do it without. It's better anyway and I want to feel you.” The look of wonder at the proposition of safe, unprotected sex on a mans face never gets old. It's like Disnaeyland but more so.

“Fuck thats so hot.” He rushed forward to kiss you and the urgency was back. You pulled off his underwear and got a brief look at his cock as you turned around. It was long, veiny, and circumcised, even pretty. You pulled up your skirt and Thomas tried to peel back your tights for about 2 seconds before he ripped them apart at the seams, growling. You let out a sound of indignation.

“I’ll get you new ones.” Thomas grunted. You felt the tip of his dick against your hymen for a moment, before he pulled away. Thoomas’s knees hit the ground and his mouth was on your opening. He went in tongue first and sucked, as you squealed. The first finger was easy, but the second wasn’t, which was why he was adding more foreplay to begin with. He was too big, you realized. As Thomas worked on a second finger, he murmured words of encouragement.

“Sweetheart you gotta relax. Relax for me baby, it’ll feel good. You’re safe, relax your body for me baby.” You focused on relaxing your pelvis, breathing deeply. It had been months since your last fuck, but you didn’t figure you’d end up this tight. “There you go baby, you’re doing such a good job. You’re relaxing so good for me, opening up so good.” Once the second finger was in the third came easily and Thomas was back on his feet.

“Do you want me to-” you said, gesturing at his cock.

“No, no, it's fine. You feel ready?” You nodded. “Still okay with doing this here?”

“Yeah, yeah, it's fine” you answered, feeling a little embarrassed. But then you felt the head of Thomas’s cock again, this time pressing in. You took a deep breath, and Thomas sank into the hilt. It knocked the air out of you, so you surged towards the table and he caught you.

“Still good?” You nodded adamantly. The sensation was a surprise but it was also fucking wonderful. The deep ache, combined with Thomas’s stimulating nerves that hadn’t been stimulated in months, was a new favorite. You calmed your body for a moment and hummed with pleasure. In response, Thomas did the unexpected. He kissed the nape of your neck like a lover.

You realized Thomas knew what he was doing when he started by searching for the right angle, instead of viciously thrusting. Soft, yearning moans came from the back of his throat while he kept a reasonable pace. You could feel in the way that Thomas’s body was coiled, that he was holding back until the right moment. You rolled your hips back against his thrusts to coax more vigor from his movements. Thomas moved one hand from the table, onto the hinge of your hip to control your movements. You whined in the back of your throat when he used that hand to bring your body back against him, down his cock.

That’s when he found your g-spot and you wailed, feeling your toes curl against the tile of the kitchen floor. Thomas must have spent at least the next five minutes fucking you hard and deep, with you pressed against and onto the surface of the table. The enamel of the table was cold on your nipple’s and Thomas’s unrelenting pace brought the catharsis of being fucked thoroughly. At some point you’d moved the table half a foot across the room and your feet weren't even touching the ground. Thomas pulled you up off the table like a ragdoll and rested his chin on you shoulder.

“You think you can come, sweetheart? For me?” You couldn’t managewords, but a nod of the head was enough for Thomas to take full advantage of his new viewpoint. The hand grasping your hip moved between your legs. He was looking down, finding the clitorous. Soon he was applying such direct pleasure that you were gasping.

“Too much!” His breath was hitting your shoulder rapidly. You could feel Thomas’s hair, damp with sweat, ticking your neck. The light ministrations on your clit and angle of his cock were so perfect that all Thomas had to do was bite down again, and you fell onto the table in orgasam. You don’t remember exactly when Thomas came, but it seemed that he’d been waiting for you first. He collapsed half way on top of you, both of you with ragged breathing. Thomas moved to sweetly kiss the back of your neck again, a chaste kiss. You opened your eyes to watch him and found yourself being watched, tenderly and with care. You said the first thing that came to mid, in order to fill the silence.

“Thank you.” Thomas chuckled, head resting on his folded forearms.

“Happy to be of service y/n.”

“But I should check with Leo to make sure this is part of my job description. I wouldn’t want any permanent write-ups in my file.” In response, Thomas laughed so hard he fell onto the kitchen floor.

“Careful where you lay your face down”

“Ew!”

Notes: this work is inspired by a prompt anonymously submitted to another blog who invited other writers to use it. I’m not sure of the proper format for that. Also I wrote the entire sex scene high af lol This as far from proofread as I'm willing to post so sorry for all the mistakes.

Masterlist

[plaidbooks]

Love Comes to Those Who Wait - Chapter 2

A/N: Here’s the next installment of LCTTWW! I hope you all are enjoying it so far, even though it’s just some story/scene setup!

Masterlist / Last Chapter

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Words: 823

Taglist: @witches-unruly-heart  @beccabarba  @thatesqcrush @itsjustmyfantasyroom @permanentlydizzy @ben-c-group-therapy  @infiniteoddball @glowingmess @whimsicallymad @lv7867 @storiesofsvu @cycat4077 @alwaysachorusgirl  @glimmerglittergirl @joanofarkansass @caracalwithchips @beardsanddetectives

After making dinner plans for that Friday night, you had introduced Ryan to your squad. Everyone seemed friendly, shaking his hand and greeting him, but after he left—with your card/number—your sergeant, Mike, pulled you aside.

“Hey, what did that Ryan guy want?” he asked, his voice a little strained.

You furrowed your brow. “He wants to catch up—we’re going out to dinner Friday night. Why?”

“I don’t know…something seems off about him. I just want to make sure you’re safe,” he explained.

“He’s been my friend since birth, Mike. He’s safe. But thank you for looking out for me,” you replied, and you meant it. The fact that this could easily be an awkward conversation for him made you appreciate it more.

He nodded. “You know I trust your judgement. Even so, I’d like to be sure. How about after your dinner with him, we meet up for end-of-the-week drinks?”

It wasn’t the first time you and Mike grabbed a few drinks together at the end of a long week, though it was the first time it would be under the pretense of not trusting one of your friends.

“Yeah, okay. We’re having dinner at six—meetup at Forlini’s at eight?” you asked.

He smiled, “sounds good. Thank you.”

*************************

You took Ryan to one of your favorite restaurants for dinner—one close enough to Forlini’s so that you could walk to it afterwards. At first, the dinner was going well as you caught up, but you quickly found that Ryan wasn’t nearly as polite as he had been in high school.

He started with a long, in-depth description of his life from the moment you lost touch up until he showed up at the precinct. His whole story took upwards of an hour, and you hardly got a word in edgewise, outside of a “yeah,” or “oh wow.”

And when he asked for your story—one you vowed to be at least a quarter of the length of his—he’d interrupt you to somehow relate your life back to his. It got to the point where you were subtly glancing at your watch, silently counting down the minutes until you could escape to Forlini’s.

When the waiter brought the bill, you insisted on paying your half, determined that he couldn’t somehow hold this over you as a date. Surprisingly, he wasn’t hard to fight on the issue, instantly agreeing and totaling up the amount for you.

“So,” Ryan said once outside the restaurant, “did you want to get a nightcap?”

“Oh, well, um…no thanks. I’m pretty tired—it was a long work week. I’m just going to head home,” you replied. You weren’t quite sure why you lied to him—you figured you just didn’t want him to follow you to Forlini’s, where Mike was hopefully waiting.

“Ah, too bad. Well, want me to walk you home?” he offered.

Your mind flicked through excuses before your phone chimed, making you jump. Pulling it from your pocket, you saw that Mike had texted you, asking if you were alright or if he needed to come rescue you.

“Actually…” you muttered while texting him back that you would be five minutes late, but not to worry, “that was my boss—I gotta run. But it was nice catching up with you.” You went in for a hug, and he hugged you back, his hands respectfully on your back.

You broke away from him, then turned and started heading down the street in the direction of Forlini’s. “I’ll text you when I’m free!” you called as you hurried, pretending to be rushing for work.

You glanced back once you were close to Forlini’s, but you didn’t see Ryan. Letting out a sigh, you pushed into the bar, finding Mike sitting at a tall table in the back. There were a few patrons, mostly couples, but some single guys scattered around.

“There you are,” he said as you sat in the chair across from him. “I was about ready to go out and find you.”

You sighed, “I’m fine, Mike—I told you he was safe. Though, he’s turned into a pompous jerk in the past twenty years.”

The bartender stopped by, placing your usual in front of you—you and Mike came here too often if you didn’t even have to order anymore. Mike watched you while you took a long sip of your drink, the alcohol burning satisfyingly down your throat.

“You wanna talk about it?” he asked once you put your glass back down, half its contents drained.

You shook your head. “Nothing really to talk about; I got his whole life story, and he constantly interrupted me when I tried to tell him mine. At least I don’t have to move to Maine.”

“Maine?”

“Long story.”

“I’ve got time.” He took a sip of his beer, then sat up, giving you a smirk. “And I promise to not interrupt.”

Next Chapter

[blindbeta]

hi! would you be willing to share any tips on how to roleplay a blind character?

Tips For Roleplaying Blind Characters

I don’t know much about roleplay, but I’ll try. If anyone else has ideas, feel free to share.

Image Descriptions

First, make sure your materials, such as pictures, are accessible. Provide image descriptions. Try to make sure your text is accessible as well. You can do this by a avoiding letters and writing that aren’t accessible to screenreaders. For example, using symbols or letters in different languages in the same word to create an effect people often considered fancy or cool. While people can normally understand the meaning using sight, screenreaders often make such words unintelligible.

For information on making content accessible, read here.

Generally, try to add image descriptions directly under pictures you use. The format is usually:

[Image Description: describe the image as best you can do readers know what is important about it. End image description.]

Having clear markers of beginnings and endings of image descriptions help readers know when the description has ended so they don’t get lost in the following text.

What Kind of Blindness?

Next. When roleplaying, understand what kind of blindness your character has. Are they totally blind? Do they have low vision? Do they have something related to the brain, such as Cerebral/Cortical visual impairment? If you are role playing a character bound by source material, such as a film, there is a chance the material may not be detailed about the person’s blindness and you may need to use clues in the narrative and creativity to come up with something. You don’t need to worry about getting it exactly right so much as having something to use as a base.

If you aren’t sure, make something up. If more information comes out later, you can adjust your writing or make up a storyline that has them losing more vision or something.

Once you have an idea of what your character’s vision is like, figure out what assistive devices they use. This could be anything from canes for travel to Braille or large print for reading or both. Incorporate them into your roleplay.

If you are writing a character who is not blind in the source material, such as Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender, try to keep in mind tropes as you plan the character. For example, Zuko is burned in a traumatic incident with his father. One way around the trope about going blind through trauma would be to have Zuko already have low vision or something similar before he was burned.

Communicating With Your Roleplay Partner

Your roleplay partner may need to understand how your character uses such devices unless your character will correct or explain it to them as part of the roleplay. For example, a character can surely text or email your character no matter how much sight they have. Texting a picture without a description might not be the best thing if your character is totally blind unless you want a comical scene. Know ahead of time how you want to address any issues that come up, whether it means talking to your partner before or addressing any issues within the roleplay itself.

With this in mind, be ready to have conversations with your roleplay partner. It may help to ask what kind of ideas they have ahead of time. If you notice things that might be stereotypical, such as a romance with characters touching faces, you can address them. Maybe you’ll get lucky and your partner will already be on the same page as you. Be prepared to address issues either outside the roleplay or during the writing process, such as having your character correct something the other character said.

Addressing Ableism or Iffy Tropes in Source Material

This problem is unique to fandom material. How you address it depends on the nature of the problem.

If the problem is embedded in the plot and unable to be changed, writers might consider an AU or simply writing around the issue. Addressing it in a small note on posts is also a possibility.

If it can be avoided, do so. For example, if a character in the source material, wears sunglasses all the time, give the character light sensitivity and minimize their use of sunglasses, such as indoors. If another character is always making ableist comments, have them addressed in the roleplay and reduced.

Other than that, I think roleplaying should be pretty similar to writing a blind MC for a story. Feel free to use this blog as a source of research and inspiration. Have fun writing!

[evilzoldyck]

Fiancée

part II

Suppressing down a burdensome sigh, you  looked back at the establishment who regretfully informed you that you were not able to match the prerequisites that the job description required. You knew all too well the insinuation of that statement, coming from a zero educational background and a rather low income class, the echelon of the societal hierarchy was brutal in your pursuit of a second occupation. Instead of quality, values and work ethic, they chose to look at the brands of your shoes and your status in this highly polarised civil structure.

Perusing through the town for any opportunity you could sought out until your heels formed blisters was a normal part of your everyday life, this day though, you figured you could take a short break by resting underneath a shady spot at the bustling market. While you were rubbing on your sore calves you can't help but overhear the excited prattle of a group of girls nearby. They all adorned leathered purses and scintillating jewelleries; young, beautiful and free of any burdens and responsibilities. 

“Have you heard? The Zoldyck family are hosting a formal competition for the chance to win the noble position of becoming a wife to one of their son!” The blonde haired woman reported with wide eyes. 

“Really? That family of assassins are holding a public trial?” Another one with carefully manicured acrylic nails spoke up. “You’d think as an assassin they’d be less privy about this.” 

“That’s not all, I heard that the winner also gets ten billion jennys,” the last one stated. “The Zoldycks are always ostentatious as ever, probably a marketing strategy to lure more girls in to participate.”

“Who cares about some jennys. I’d want to see the groom in question and if he’s really as tall, dark and handsome rumours made him out to be. If I hadn't been engaged, I'd try it out in a heartbeat.”

The blonde woman scoffed and retorted back, “good luck with that, I heard there’s over a hundred girls coming in from all over the world intending on participating already, and that’s just the numbers on the first day. Who knows how many will actually end up in three days time when the trial officially begins.” The group of girls wandered away until you couldn't hear their idle chats anymore, but their conversation still replayed over your mind like a broken record player. 

Ten billion jennys? In three days time? Those numbers alone made you heart skip a beat. There was a strong urge for you to look further into this for a mere moment before you scolded yourself mentally afterwards. There was no reason for you to get involved with someone as infamous as the Zoldycks. ‘The costs far outweigh the benefits,’ you told yourself. Propping yourself back up to your feet, you began to head home once the sun sets beyond the horizon. 

“Mother?” you called out once you stepped inside the shabby hole in a wall restaurant you ran with her. The candle lights all but one had been melted down, making it hard for you to see through the small, dark space. Once you turned around the corner and into the small kitchen room you spotted her cleaning up after a rather large spill which looked like porridge from the stone pot. “Mother what are you doing? You know you’re not allowed to look after heavy tasks,” you reprimanded, guiding her up back to her feet and wiped off the spoiled food from her hands with a nearby towel.

“It’s fine, just a little accident is all.” she waved you off as you continued to clean her hands where you spotted a rather large bruise on her along her inner arms.

“What happened?” you demanded in bewilderment. “Did that bastard come here today? Did he do this to you?” your series of questions did nothing more than to drive her away from you, but the thought of that filthy loan shark landing a hand on your mother made your blood boil and hands shake until you couldn't see anything else. “I’m going to kill him the next time I see him.”

“Oh hush, there’s no need for that,” your mother dismissed as if it was a trivial matter. “I’ll just clean this up and head on to bed-” you stopped her from bending back down to clean up after the mess and insisted that you do it yourself as you directed her back into her bedroom upstairs. Supporting her weight all the way up the stairs you assisted in preparing her bed and tucking her in. 

“You’re such a good kid,” she suddenly cooed, bringing up her frail and roughened hands from labour comfortingly up to your cheek. You held onto it and smiled down at her softly in response. 

“How did the interview go? Did you get accepted?” Once your smile disappeared into a disappointed frown she immediately soothed you. “Opportunities will come and go, don’t fret about it, darling. You’ll get it next time.” Though you nodded along with her words with a small beam, you knew you couldn't survive on optimism for much longer. 

“Good night,” you kissed down on her temple and blew away the fire flickering beside her bedside table before closing the door. Though it may sound impossibly crazy and foolishly dangerous, you knew where you had to go in a few days. Though the chance of you winning may be less than one percent, you would take any chance you had in order for you both to escape the life you currently had. 

The next two days went by in a blur, monotonous and grey as ever, and when you finally arrived onto the grounds of the Kukuroo mountain on the third day have the reality finally knocked you into your senses. Around five hundred girls filling your very peripheral visions stood and crowded in front of the ill-famed gate. Their mere chatter mass assembled together sounded like a roar, intimidating you by the sheer size of the sound of your competitors. Nevertheless, with a determined spirit, you filled in with the massive crowd around you. 

Suddenly, the noise all but halted once an old, feeble looking man made an appearance before the participants, smiling joyfully as if he knew something you didn’t. “Welcome ladies to the first day of the public trial on behalf of the Zoldyck family,” he greeted mirthfully. “We have expected a big turnout and for that we are more than grateful for. Therefore, this morning and the next marks the first preliminary task.” 

“Without further ado, each of you will have one chance to open the Testing Gate, which all of you must know that the first panel weighs around two tonnes and the ones after weighs twice as more as before, you are free to choose which panel to open. If you fail in opening the gate within the first five minutes I am afraid you are immediately disqualified from the competition. There is no need to label numbers as we expect them to go down drastically, I will monitor the first task for the time being and to all of you, I wish you the best of luck.”

There was an unnerving glances shared with each other by the girls, anxious on how to overcome the first issue with their high end shoes and neatly done hair and makeup. Of course, the Zoldycks won’t be looking at appearance to fit the mold, rather it was strength that they were seeking for. You cursed at yourself for not realising it soon enough too, wearing the nicest clothes you had in your closet and even going as far as spraying a bit of your mother’s perfume.

As the time goes by, the numbers slowly decreased with each failure. Some even left without trying, those who went undercover as a news reporter, a media freelancer hoping to snap a quick picture and those who thought they didn’t bear a chance. So far there were only five who managed to open the gate with one or two choosing the heavier panels. Once it was decided that it was your turn, the sky had already turned dark with the moon and the stars hung high above the skies.

Narrowing your eyes in front of two tonne door, you began to lean all your weight and force into pushing it open. There were sweats beading up to your forehead already as you continued to push on forward. “One minute,” the man stated. The minutes turned into seconds and so far no progress has been made. Gritting your teeth you kept your force constant hoping that you could manage to get a crack soon. 

“Four minutes.” Those very words alarmed you, making you lose focus for a mere moment. Though as quick as it came, you fortunately caught yourself, instead you drowned out the crowd behind you, along with time, sound and your senses and the elements of the world. Carrying that energy you had, you honed in on pushing your momentum forward. Suddenly a gap shifted, making you focus on not losing that velocity.

The older gentleman was counting down the last twenty seconds but you couldn't hear him, the ladies in the back watched in awe as you were the first one in a while to make such progress in the last few hours. When the crack widened to a space that you deemed was enough to slip your body through momentarily before the door swung back and crushed your bones, you managed to squeeze inside within the very last second.

Gasping tremendously for air from the overexertion of your strength, you looked around to find yourself on the other side in a quiet, shrouded forests along with the other girls who made it through before you. Once they've acknowledged your presence, they were quick to assess you head to toe with their sharp eyes. 

Of course, you couldn't forget that this was a competition.There was thick tension in the air between you all knowing that these people did not view you as anything but a rival. Taking your spot wordlessly on a tree stump, you waited for the first task to finish with the others and that meant waiting all night and day until each girl has had her turn on the gates.

This waiting game continued on until the next late afternoon when the sun was about to set again. There was now a total of fifty three of you waiting on the other side, each anxious and tired as every second passes. Suddenly, a pair of finely dressed men arrived bearing a stone faced expressions while carrying finely ornate candlestick to light the way. 

“Congratulations on passing the preliminary round. We now continue on with the trial by heading to the estate. You'll do your best job to keep up with us.” Without any further questions, they swiftly turned around and headed into the direction to the top of the mountain. It took you all a second to process what they said before you all followed and began your long trek uphill.

You were no stranger to walking vast distances but as you were currently running without sleep or food it made it quite strenuous for your journey up ahead. Once you've arrived, you’re greeted with the sight of a gargantuan house and in front, somebody waiting for you. 

“These are the ones who passed?” a woman dressed in a Victorian attire with a mechanical visor implored with a testy tone. 

“Yes Madame, should we escort them to their quarters?” One of the worker asked. The lady raised her hand in objection whilst keeping a steady view on all fifty three of you. 

“No need, I shall take them from here, you may be excused.” Without another word they bowed respectfully and left. “You all are here because you wish to make space for yourself in this family. Before you can idly daydream of such foolish fantasies, I will be here to test you all. You will be subjected to many trials, as many as I deem necessary, it will take days, months or even years but the trial will not end until I am satisfied that one of you is worthy enough. Should you break, cry, slip, scream, fall- should you show any sign of weakness during these times you are immediately disqualified.”

“Those of you who are not prepared for such endeavours, I advise you to head back now,” she stated, waiting for anyone to back out of the competition and when no one did, she narrowed her eyes further. “Very well then, follow me.”

There was an insinuation in her voice that tells you no matter what any of you will achieve you may never be deemed worth enough to earn a place in the family. Following the lady of the house dutifully she showed you all to a large room where fifty three futons are laid out in perfect symmetry on the floor along with a concave wood with a stick attached on the middle of the back and a pair of small bowls, one filled with rice and the other with cherry blossom petals for each bed. 

“You shall all sleep here during your time in the competition, those items you see are crucial to your rest. Place the rice to your left and the petals to your right head. The sticks are to prop your head up while you sleep where you will not make a single movement or sound. We will monitor you all night while you do and if I such as find a grain of rice or a petal out of place from their bowls or even failing to keep your head upright by these sticks, you are finished from here on out.” She instructed and before she could add more, she sniffed and grimaced for a second. 

“Be ready by six in the morning, the showers are down the hall to the left.”

Once she left, everybody claimed their spots on the bed and you took yours near the end of the back where it was the quietest. The one next to you was searching for her bowl of petals and you spotted it beneath her futon, out of her line of sight. When you offered it to her with a small smile she snatched the wooden bowl from you and averted her gaze instantly. 

“You shouldn't be here,” she muttered, sinking in her blanket. 

“What?” You couldn't help but ask. 

She rolled her eyes and huffed out an air of annoyance, “you’re going to get yourself killed.” Propping her elbows up to level with you, she eyed you seriously, “you’re not a nen user. We could all sense that back on the gates. Everyone here is a user except for you and that testing gate was nothing compared to what’s going to come. You shouldn't be here, you won’t come out the same if you do.” 

You watched her carefully rest her head on the stick and shut her eyes. Silently you did the same and through the pain and stress of your neck from balancing your head perfectly upright should’ve bothered you, it didn't do as much as her words. Still, you're willing to put yourself through hell, there was no other choice and to back out now would defeat your purpose.

It was close to dawn, and though you were restless all throughout the night you fought the urge to move and stayed perfectly still. Once you woke up however, you saw ten less empty beds. Frowning a bit, you got up to put your bed away and wash yourself before the clock strikes six.

Forty three people now remain and once you have all assembled in the main room before the entrance, the lady from before along with two other butlers arrived. This time she formally introduced herself as Kikyo Zoldyck, the Madame of the house and family. They directed you all towards a large room where a bowl of rice and soup was already prepared for each one.

“You must all complete your breakfast with proper, courtly manners, anything less revolts me. That means you must at all times during the meal to not slouch or make a sound, sit on your heels and eat a grain of rice one at a time.” She ordered acerbically. 

You took a seat to the one nearest to you and waited for their signal for you to eat. Once it was given, you apprehensively picked up your chopsticks and ate a single grain and more or less swallowed as it was so small you could barely taste or chew it. Five minutes have not yet passed when suddenly a girl doubled over, spilling her food everywhere whilst retching into the floor. Everyone turned their heads over to her in horror as they realised what you have all been eating.

Poison.

The smell of bile filled the room as Kikyo fanned her face to waft the air away from her vicinity and gestured to the guards to take her away. The rest of the meal was unfortunate as you struggled to ignore the groans and nausea of the others who fell victim along with the putrid smell around you. Ignoring your innate instinct to reject the food you chose to focus on your mind over matter, no matter what they were going to do to you, it was not nearly as painful as seeing your mother suffer when you could do something about it. 

It was then that your body went on almost pilot mode as you could not recall having any more thoughts or memories of yourself subjected to various torture trials. The days increased into weeks and the number of girls that were here soon dropped like flies. The woman that you spoke to on your first day, she was gone too by the fourth night as you watched the now empty spot beside you as you went to sleep.

Every day was a routine of testing the limits of your strength. Every meal given was always laced with some poison, it has come to a point where you suppressed your urge to vomit so hard each day that now it had sit still in your stomach. 

The same could be made every time you are sent to the electrocution chamber down in the depths of the cold basement where you could spend the whole day being shocked in miscellaneous voltages by the workers who looked like they were enjoying it too much. Or when snow came in, they would strip you bare of your clothes and drench you all in cold water outside. The lashings were always held arbitrarily though, they would only stop until the markings started to show as Kikyo deemed the sight of a scarred back to be ghastly to gaze upon.

Then there were only three, this time however, the task you were assigned was definitely an odd one. Kikyo was known for her admiration of finer things in life such as traditional japanese and eurocentric arts, this task she requires you was to perform an intricate dance. Beauty and gracefulness came later in the part of the competition you guessed. 

Though the level of difficulty was just the same as the previous ones.There was an emphasis on how every movement from the slightest tip of your fingers could immediately expel you if you strayed from the original choreography. For days at night you practiced until your feet would give out or until you heard birds chirping at the sight of the first light of the day. 

When the day finally came to determine your performance you are finally escorted onto the Zoldyck estate, though only one participant must attend at a time and you settled with being the last. So when it was finally your turn, you arrived at a private room where there was a screen that divided you from your spectators. The room itself was beautiful, lit with red candles and carefully carved up wooden walls that tells infinite stories.

You could see before you that Kikyo was not alone this time, there was another sitting patiently beside her. Before you could pry more to try and make out the mysterious figure, Kikyo’s voice reverberated through behind the screen to instruct you to begin. You inhaled a small breath and blinked in shock momentarily. You hadn't noticed before but the floor was absolutely covered in small broken glasses. You knew better than to expect the least by this point.

Clearing your mind as you do with every single trial that you participated in, you stepped forward. You could faintly hear the sounds of small shards of glasses every time you moved as well as feeling the red liquid slowly pooling beneath your feet. Nevertheless, you began without a moment to waste. Twisting at every turn, sliding your feet across the floor while masking your emotions with a stone, cold exterior. Hanging to every last words of her instructions to follow the exact routine. 

You were halfway done with your performance when the other figure suddenly stood up and came closer to the divider. Though you presumed it was quite unusual, you continued on with your dance until the person swiftly cut the screen seemingly with his bare hands to reveal an expressionless, grim man with long midnight hair and as far as you can tell, endless deep eyes.

The strange man that emanated pure darkness stood before you uttered your name in a low breath. “That is your name?” you halted your routine once he had addressed you as you nodded politely in response, looking down out of respect. 

“A daughter of a mere commoner, you run a restaurant with your poor, ailing mother down on an unnamed street. You don’t come from an impressive background or lineage, nor martial training of any skills and your nen has yet to be awakened.” He stated matter of factly. You held your tongue for you feared that you would be the cause of your demise.

He stepped forward towards you, his bare feet coming on contact with the sharp glass and yet no blood came gushing out like yours did. “You know the ones before you, they were the exact opposite. They came in and used their nen skills to protect and form a barrier against their skin and yet you endured even without having basic nen training which I would find quite impossible until this very day.”

“I could sense you are determined, but your heart is set somewhere else,” he came in closer and Kikyo now stood up, her lips pursed disapprovingly. “It is not me that you desire, is it?” The man was impossibly close to you that you found it hard to catch your breath and answer promptly. Judging by the implication of his words, he must be the son of the Zoldyck family.

“No.” You answered truthfully, not knowing whether or not that was the smartest move. He let out a small hum before asking once again, “then why do you do it? Why do you subject yourself to such extreme affliction without any power? Why do you fight so hard just to live another day?” 

“There are those worth fighting for, for every horrible persecution you put me through I will continue to fight.” His demeaning words spark a gust of defiance within you. “And you're wrong, I am equipped with power, something far more greater that no other kind of nen could reach.”

Furrowing his eyes, he looked at you in disbelief, “you're misunderstood, emotions cannot give you strength, they are mere obstacles in life’s objectives. It makes you weak.”

“Emotions aren't weak, they make me stronger, love made me stronger.” Looking into his eyes you saw no trace of empathy within him, you’re not shocked to learn if this man knows no concept of it. “It’s what kept me standing here after all this time.”

He stood still for a quiet minute, silently staring you down with those cold, dead eyes. He raised his arms and for a moment you thought he would strike you down with it and immediately dispose of you for speaking out of turn towards him. Instead, you're startled to find yourself swept off of your feet and held firmly by him, relieving you of your pain while your droplets of blood fell languidly, making a subtle drop against the wooden floor and glass.

“Illumi! What are you doing?” Shrieked Kikyo, holding up her dress to run towards the both of you. 

“The trial ends here,” he responded absentmindedly. “I have found my fiancée.” 

“No! It's only been a month!” She refuted erratically “She is the weakest of the bunch, her luck will run out soon just give it more time! There are far others more deserving with noble titles and background. You are upsetting the order, she cannot take your place beside you, she is far lesser than-” A look from Illumi caused her to clamp her lips shut.

“The sole objective was to find the strongest one to take the place as my wife and strengthen the Zoldyck family, was it not mother?” he asked bluntly. When she didn't respond he continued, this time facing you as he spoke, “I have seen proficient nen-users crumble under the pressures of these tortures, imagine the strength that she possesses once her nen is awakened.” 

“There is no need to look any further then, send the others home.” Illumi finished and began to carry you away from the room and Kikyo who appeared as if she was about to have a meltdown. 

Once the heavy doors were closed behind you, you flinched once you heard her piercing screams that shook the manor as he gave you a small imitation of a smile all throughout the time. 

You did not know whether to let your heart soar as you won the indisputable prize that could set a proper life for you and your mother or shrivel for the future. You could not have imagined in your wildest dreams for the man you’re sent to be wed off to be one that personified death. Just being held by him shook your very core. His aura radiated nothing but darkness, you felt no light in it that you could almost choke from the tension. 

There was no telling that this man would ever show compassion, there was something that tells you days with him would be worse than what you've endured these past few weeks. Setting your gaze forwards you tensed as you looked upon a macabre painting ahead of you, ironically painting your future ahead. 

In sparing your life, you ultimately gave him yours in return, but he and all his family would be a fool if they think they could take your love away.

[seeyounexttime]

As you may know, Black Clover is having an online exhibition. If you look at it here (has to be on mobile though) you see 0/20 and 0% in the corner. I saw the screenshots that some people shared also have zeroes and wondered... After some clicking around and struggling with Japanese, I’ve gotten a full score :D

So for those who want to know what to do, or can’t see the exhibition yourself for whatever reason, I’ve made a walkthrough that’s what it’s called right?

First, you’re asked to please turn on the sound and enjoy. There’s an ON and OFF option

Devil Possessed Work Is On Display. DEVILS AND ~THE DON’T GIVE UP MAGICAL EXHIBIT~ Black Clover 6th Year Anniversary Celebration

The Spade Kingdom’s evil devil hosts have set their hands on Black Clover’s online exhibition, the “Don’t Give Up Magical Exhibit”, from the 5th year anniversary celebration!? Only the “devil-possessed works” were shining a suspicious light in the transformed exhibition hall.

[yellow/gold box] To the Devils and Don’t Give Up Magical Exhibit >>

Asta has newly awakened devil power!? -- Together with the devil Liebe, get power to confront the invasion of the Spade Kingdom, including the Dark Triad!

[white/silver box] To the Don’t Give Up Magical Exhibit >>

Complete Revival of the “Won’t Give Up Magical Exhibit”!? -- Because of the Spade Kingdom’s invasion, the “Don’t Give Up Magical Exhibit” has ended up in miserable condition, but Nero’s sealing magic has succeeded in completely returning it to the way it used to be! Let’s dive into the work and explore Asta and friend’s “won’t give up magic”

I recommend starting with the previous year’s exhibit, so flip your phone to the side and click the white box with Nero on the corner..~

A little tutorial: you can click in the picture frames, swipe, and pinch the screen. Nero says “I’ll tell you if you get lost. Don’t worry.”

“Not giving up magic” isn’t only Asta’s magic.

Everyone who supported Black Clover will surely have the power of “not giving up magic.” Now, with your magic power, let’s dive into the world of Black Clover’s story.

PROMISE -- 約束 (yakusoku) -- The source of the power of Asta’s “not giving up magic” was a “promise” with his rival, who pursues the dream that they can never give up on, called “to become the Wizard King.”

Nero says “Tap the framed picture.”

This causes a little manga movie to play - about Asta and Yuno of course. Their promise, words exchanged at the dungeon, that time they saved Hage, and times they fought side by side in the Elf Arc are shown. When it comes to an end, it displays this manga spread:

Nero says “Tap the demon’s bones...”

This plays a manga movie about Licht’s and Lumiere’s tragic battle...

Nero says “Tap the icon on the upper left to return to the original world.”

You’ll be taken back the Promise screen and should now have 1/20 at the bottom corner

PRIDE -- 誇り (hokori) -- Magic Knight Squads that protect the world with magical power. The Wizard King with the magic knight captains whom he brings together. It is that “pride” built up due to their overwhelming achievements that is the source of power.

Again, tap the framed pictures. A slideshow of their most prominent moments (before the timeskip) play. At the end is a panel of their most impressive spell at least that’s what I think they were trying to do here?

Nero says “You want to know more about your comrades right”

Tap the yellow button next to her (it says “see details+”). This pops up:

At the top is their type of magic. Then a short description about them. The rest is mostly stats that were already in their manga profile’s + a little extra. In order it’s: {their name ☘, age, height, birthday, sign, blood type, favorite thing, birthplace, and rank}

Yami’s birthplace is the Land of the Sun; Dorothy’s is the Witch’s Forest; Jack’s is in the Common Realm; everyone else was born in the Noble Realm

COMPLEX -- 劣等感 (rettoukan) -- A person who can deal with their “inferiority complex” is also a blessed person who has the chance to become stronger than anyone else.

*note: the kanji specifically refers to “inferiority complex”

A manga movie about her struggles with magic plays, then switches to this:

Nero says “Pinch out and move forward.”

As you “zoom in” panels of Noelle’s development with spells, from Sea Dragon’s Lair to Valkyrie Dress, rotate around, ending with:

“I... won....!!”

FRIENDSHIP -- 絆 (kizuna) -- For their precious friends, sometimes a person can even go as far as surpassing their limits. A magic blow vested with the “bonds” of friends has defeated any despair.

*note: the kanji means “bonds (between people)”

Nero says “If you look at all the framed pictures of bonds…”

When you click on each framed picture, you get panels like in the Complex section but these one’s don’t rotate

It focuses on an important fight for each Black Bull, I think one that emphasizes their bonds with someone and/or teamwork. Magna & Luck share framed pictures; Gauche, Gordon, Grey and Henry share another. Usually at the end you see the kanji for their magic attribute (Charmy’s ends with “food magic”)

Like with the captains, there’s also a panel of them looking impressive. Again, Nero says “You want to learn more about your friends right.”

At the top is their name, description about them, then Profile ☘ and stats in the same order as the captain’s in the Pride section. I want to note that Charmy’s birthplace is literally “?”

But Before You Finish Looking At All The Frames-!! swipe left and take a look 👀

Try to tap this~  Nero says “If you look at all the framed pictures, there will be something good.”

After you watch the 8th one, you’ll find that the middle frame has lit up

“Tap the framed picture” Nero says. A manga movie about the Black Bulls plays, showing their good and awesome times, then ending in the group shot of when they busted in during Asta’s and Nero’s trial --but wait!! there’s more!!!

We’re moving left-?! Omg SECRE-!??

“Well done, you undid the seal.”

“I will undo the seal with my magic.”

Sealing Magic

Inverse Release

LOVE -- 愛 (ai) -- The magic of Black Clover has been sustained by the “love” of everyone who continuously supported all the characters, including Asta and Yuno, and this story. Thank you very much for so much “love.”

That’s right: you just unlocked Love :’)

Tapping it opens up a high-quality image that you can download for yourself.

Nero says “It’s a commemorative wallpaper. It’s yours.”

☘ Instant Posting Magic ☘ Let’s share with everyone that we came to play Black Clover’s 5th anniversary project “Never Giving Up Magic” 📖 Use Instant Posting Magic

Tapping that opens up twitter. Nero says “Post in celebration.”

--but wait! there’s even more!! swipe one more time 👀

Zenon, what are you doing here? staring at a framed picture of the Heart Kingdom... Tap it, Nero says

oh shit

a preview of volume 25 plays

Click Here For Part 2~! ☠ 

※✧※

*Disclaimer: The exhibit used 諦めない魔法 (akiramenai mahou). Akiramenai is the negative form of the verb akirameru "to give up" and mahou is "magic." It's definitely a reference to Asta's "my magic is never giving up" line, and I guess it could be translated as "magic that doesn't give up" but doesn't that make it sound like he has magic? This becomes more of an issue when they begin to apply it to others beside Asta... So yeah, sorry that sounds awkward. Also depending on context and because I got tired of repeating the same phrase I changed the form from "don't give up" to "not giving up" and others.

I was using google translate quite a bit, after I looked up kanji by parts because I couldn't copy-paste the pictures (it was decent practice; I think I can totally identify the word "not giving up" now). This isn't an official release, but I did try to clean things up to at least sound coherent and give you a better idea of what's going on.

[artcupcakes]

Okay okay. stop me if I’m wrong. We don’t know what makes the Kings get their titles except that it probably has something to do with the Kataru. (And that a fourth is mentioned but not expanded on) I haven’t done the Secret so bear with me here!

Watchers are apparently aliens that have come to take over the world,,,? What does that make Bain then?

Remember the origin story in that outfit description that one anon mentioned?? Yeah it says “in the late 1960’s, a man was born”

WHICH WHAT. Hold on but he’s a Watcher and Watchers are supposed to be aliens?? But this says he was born???

Why did the Kataru experiment on Bain? Could’ve been anybody else, but they chose him. NEVER EXPLAINED. Bain has an alien bloodline or something, I swear. This might’ve been the reason why. (Side note: stealth Big Bank, Bain mentions that his grandfather used to go heisting, so def born)

Even in the Safehouse, Dallas questions if the virus was really what gave Bain his whole power boost thing.

What if we redefine Kings as the highest rank in Kataru you can have? Bain being the Elephant’s Watcher doesn’t make sense lore-wise. Wiki says that Duke has a voice line that alludes to him being trained for it, though I can’t confirm whether this is true. (Are the Kings immortal or what? Do they reincarnate every so often??)

(Duke’s grandfather had a hand in all this Kataru stuff, I remember that they used to be a benevolent organization before they defected and became Kataru? Description in one of the heists says, when I find it again I’ll refer. The tape Bain left behind DOES mention it being Duke’s family issues and such)

Him being the Elephant’s Watcher won’t fly because! He’s rude when he talks about him. The description of the mentor sounds a lot more like someone he’d look up to? Also the Elephant betrayed the PAYDAY gang, so there’s that.

And if Bain is the PAYDAY gang’s Watcher. Maybe he’s using them to take over the world? If the team took down the Dentist (a King) then they would be more than worthy to hold that title, with the whole relic box and all.

Him being an alien (and your Watcher) would explain a few things: his protectiveness over his gang, “you better not be messing with my crew!” (Alaskan Deal, he probably hadn’t contacted Locke by that point. Because why would the next heist have happened if that were the case?)

him seemingly being able to communicate with them no matter the circumstances, (EMP bomb, Boiling Point. Bain is able to talk to you AND see through your eyes. How else would he know about the lead scientist?) in all of the trailers and live action stuff, the gang is never shown to be speaking to Bain. Verbally, that is. CANONICALLY in the side comic (on their official website) Bain is shown to be talking to them outside of a heist,,,on Dallas’ smartphone. What is that??? (And it’s not like they were to lazy to model earpieces onto the heisters, the Train Heist guards have them)

him marking things for you through walls, especially when he said (Diamond Heist Classic on Loud) “the CFO thinks he’s clever, but he can’t hide from me.” MARKING HIM WHEREVER HE IS. Bain is psychic somehow, if you take the briefcase early in Boiling Point, sometimes he will ask you if you are psychic. No really! This is one of the things that tipped me off about it.

his near omnipresence, during times he’s taken off-guard, he’s always there for you? (Goat Simulator Day 2, nothing was supposed to happen)

his near omniscience, yeah you’re totally a normal person Mr. I-Don’t-Know-Where-The-Vault-Is-Try-Moving-Bookshelves. (Framing Frame Day 3)

and him putting his team’s life above his own. If he was your Watcher, that would make so much sense. He’s getting attacked while you’re in the van already and he wants to ‘get you guys out of there’???Curiously, I think OVKS changed the dialogue for the “Cutting the Red Wire” achievement? Earlier recordings has Bain congratulating you for defusing the C4, but now? He sounds very worried about you??

There is definitely something weird about the Paygang, actually. Mind Control? Defying Death itself? Completely normal. “Your persuasion tactics were resisted,” and then you can convert the same officer once you have a slot open. (Not to mention that they curse at you then fight their comrades for your sake?) let’s not talk about the regenerating armor or anything, run-of-the-mill everyday stuff y’know? (no wonder they’re feared by the government, and how they never get caught)

The only crew voice lines that refer specifically to Bain (besides the tutorials, where Dallas treats him like he’s a servant) is them being worried/afraid over their navigator not being able to guide them. This is either a severe case of dependence or?

All in all, I just want to say. The PAYDAY Gang are collectively the fourth King, and Bain is their Watcher. They’re also psychic and he’s probably an alien. (his dad is the alien from Shacklethorne Auction, lol jkjk)

But that’s just my opinion.

(besides the tutorials, where Dallas treats him like he’s a servant) Listen, he's just being extra careful. It's been like two years.

Also pretty sure it's implied somewhere that the alien boios are dead(Well almost but let's not talk about the Shacklethorne Auction). But they did gift the three kings a form of immortality alongside their watchers.

Honestly you just have a case for Bain having supernatural powers more than alien heritage in my opinion. I mean things like the sixth sense skill and the Halloween stuff already have some implication on this kind of stuff.

However I still like your fourth king theory as it's pretty fun if anything. Even if I think it has a couple of holes in it here and there.

There's also a joke about parasocial relationships with Bain but idk how I'd word it XD

[koalatydm]

Hot Brown Morning Potion Podcast Episode 5 - The Deluxe Elf Interview with Devon Giehl and Iain Hendry

Transcription Part 1 of 2 (includes Wonderstorm questions and Kuno's questions)

[Transcriber's Notes: This took me SO LONG to transcribe, like multiple hours and I'm only halfway done... But I will make it through at least this one episode because I want fellow Moonfam enthusiasts to have a text source, not to mention make it easier for deaf/HoH people to follow along. I guess I'll tag @kuno-chan since she said it was OK at the beginning of the podcast, sorry if I'm bothering you!]

KUNO: Hi guys, so I have a personal request for this particular podcast episode if you guys could tweet, post, both at least one piece of information that you learned from this particular episode, that you love, that inspired you, that you thought was cute, whatever. Like, I really—one thing that really tends to happen is that people listen to the podcast and they kinda just go about their day. We don’t actually see the information circulate through the community, which we really try to have creative questions—questions that are fun and explore the characters in different situations. And it would just be really, really cool—it would mean a lot to me to see this actually circulate through the community, actually circulate through the fandom, and see, you know, it would be awesome to see it be inspired—to inspire fan works, fan fiction, fan art, especially fan art. I just—we talked like a solid hour at least—really like a solid hour about Runaan, Rayla, Ethari, that family, um, and Moonshadow elves a lot. We talked a lot about that. And I think this is information that a lot of people really wanted, even if it’s in largely headcanon form. But Devon and Iain were so gracious and we talked so much about that family, and including Ruthari, and of course some Rayllum in there. So if you guys could live tweet, or even just one tweet, at least one tweet. Tag us, tag me, tag Hailey, tag @HotPotion, even if you send it directly to me on Tumblr, that’d be awesome and we’d retweet, reblog all your stuff. It would be good for the podcast and I just really want to see this information circulate through the fandom, so at least one tweet. Alright, um, let’s get to the episode though. Thanks! Hope to see you guys on social media about this.

—————

KUNO: Alright, hey everyone, this is the Hot Brown Morning Potion Podcasts with your hosts Tamika and Hailey, and we are here with Devon Giehl and Iain Hendry, two writers on The Dragon Prince at Wonderstorm, and Devon being actually the recently announced lead writer at Wonderstorm, so say hi everyone!

DEVON: Hi!

IAIN: Hi, this is Iain…

DEVON: Hi, I’m Devon… (laughs)

KUNO: And so we have a ton of stuff to get through today, um, a lot of questions, so—but we’re going to ask Iain and Devon a little bit about themselves first, since I think—I’m not sure if this is the first interview they’ve really had, personally, so uh, Hailey do you want to start—head that?

HAILEY: Um, yeah, sure. Uh, could you tell us about your roles at Wonderstorm?

IAIN: Uh, sure, uh—I’m also a writer at—official title “Senior Writer” at Wonderstorm. I was one of the writing team on the show, not quite as early as Devon, who was basically employee 1 after the founders but um, I joined sort of, end of 2016 when season 1 writing was really starting to get rolling, and was you know part of the process all the way through all the seasons. Uh, and since this—it’s such a small start up company, all the writers take a bunch of other, like, production roles on the show. Like, throughout all three seasons we’ve done, like, continuity notes work, we’ve given feedback on like every step of the production process. And then the other kind of side things we have, like you know, very top secret game that we’re making in here. And like, kind of straddle the line between the show writing and the game so that that’s all kind of on point and feels like it’s in the same universe with the same characters as The Dragon Prince, but ah, can’t say too much about that just yet.

DEVON: Iain does a lot of—a lot of secret work (laughs). Um, yeah as for me, I’m also a writer on The Dragon Prince and my—I was a Senior Writer until very recently, and now I’ve been made into a Lead Writer, which means I just get to flex a lot. Um, but I started in, I think the very, very end of 2015 when Wonderstorm was first getting off the ground as like a tiny, tiny startup. And we were basically four people in a room about, I don’t know, like 20 ft by 10 ft. It was really, really awful—

IAIN: Really smelly.

DEVON: Really smelly, really tiny, like only a skylight for a window, it was great. And I—so I was involved in like the earliest of brainstorming for the show. I helped sort of like put together a lot of the pitch deck when we you know took it around to studios and like, I named like most of the characters—is like my most self-indulgent claim on the show cause I got to do a lot of really silly stuff. Um, but yeah, and then I like help out on a million other fronts at Wonderstorm too because we’re a small company and—yeah, the funny thing about the—the small tasks we have, like you mentioned continuity checks. Um, we often had to make sure that Callum’s backpack and book and Rayla’s bindings were always correct, and that was kind of, the funniest and most intense, like, stage of production ever. Cause you would, you know, watch one shot and then the next shot would come up and Callum’s backpack would have disappeared. So we had to be like, “OK, let’s give Callum backpack back on.”

IAIN: Yeah, and it’s not just for accuracy, but like, the way fandoms operate, like, we just knew if Rayla’s binding reappeared sometime, it wouldn’t be viewed as an error. People would be like “WHAT DID THE KING GET UNKILLED WHAT HAPPENED OVER HERE”.

DEVON: No it was just the—

KUNO: Oh, yeah.

IAIN: Woo!

DEVON: —continuity’s way harder than anyone thinks it is (laughs). It’s a lot.

KUNO: Oh bless you guys for knowing that though cause we—we totally would. Like, think, there was a point I remember saying that they changed Viren’s eye color because they didn’t want too much continuity with Rayla’s eye color and I feel like we were really that close to having a ‘Viren is Rayla’s real father’ issue. We really were. Somebody had to have thought about that issue (laughs).

DEVON: I actually think there is—there’s still at least one shot in the show where Viren has the wrong eye color and if you can find it, congratulations (laughter in background). That’s where we missed—missed it. So it’s in there somewhere.

KUNO: Xadia CSI (IAIN laughs). So you two are married, um, can you tell us what it’s like being married writing partners?

IAIN: You wanna go?

DEVON: Um, yeah, I mean it’s—we actually knew each other professionally before we dated, so it wasn’t like we—it’s sort of like, it was easy for us to—to remain work partners because that was how we existed in the first place. Like I met Iain when I interviewed him for a job and I—he was great (IAIN laughs), he was fun, he was all right.

IAIN: Apparently I passed.

DEVON: But um, so yeah we had a professional relationship before we had a dating—‘dating’ relationship. Um, so it’s strange because a lot of people will say like, “Oh, that’s probably terrible. You probably, like, become absolutely sick of each other” but somehow we’ve managed to—to have like, two relationship patterns where when we’re at work and we’re working on writing stuff we have this very professional thing going on and then at home, we’re just married idiots and we have a lot of fun. So like, I don’t know, I’m never tired of you, personally.

IAIN: No, (DEVON laughs) yeah I mean when we’re writing it’s generally like, Devon’s the one on the keys uh, you know, putting the words in and so on, and it will kind of bounce back and forth between like, I’ll have the idea for the—how the scene should flow and I’ll kinda narrate bits and then we’ll go back and smooth things over. But I mean, I could imagine that with some people it would get tense, but I think Devon and I, we’re just absolutely the most comfortable with each other and neither of us takes it personally when it’s like, “that line that you pitched isn’t working” or “this joke could be funnier”, anything like that.

DEVON: It’s usually Iain who’s—cause I usually type cause I type really too fast.

IAIN: She’s really too proud of her typing (laughs).

DEVON: I type super fast, it’s my only real talent, but—like I’ll just sort of go off on some sort of like incredibly unnecessary, long description of something and Iain will sort of let me get about like four or five lines into this unnecessary nonsense and he’ll just sort start going like, “OK so like, do we really—do we need that? I mean, you know, could we sort of parse this down a little, a little less, a little less”. And then I, just like, “Ugh, fine” (laughs).

IAIN: But um, every word she writes is great.

DEVON: Mmm (skeptically)

IAIN: It’s perfect.

DEVON: Completely not true. Also in our scripts I think like—

KUNO: Aw.

DEVON: —in terms of the way that we work professionally, I think like a lot of my strengths are in—in really almost self indulgent levels of drama and he can kind of pull me back from being too indulgent on those fronts. And then I think that Iain is objectively absurdly funny and so when you kind of look at our episodes usually everything that’s pretty funny and lighthearted and like the sense of levity often comes from you and then if there’s anything that just feels really painfully sad it’s probably me?

IAIN: I’m the funny one.

DEVON: (laughs) It’s true.

KUNO: Aw, I feel such a connection to you Devon, because I’m actually, episode 3 was actually one of my favorite ones because I love all that like domestic stuff. I love just kind of like—oh, I don’t know what you call the trope, like a safe house trope where you go somewhere, you’re still kind of in the adventure but we’re in a space right now, a narrative space where people are safe, if that makes any sense. Like you—if you’ve ever seen How To Train Your Dragon, like (T/N I don’t know what was said here, sorry!), the base is the safe place, that kind of thing. So, I totally get that, I actually see—episode 3 was one of my favorites outside of pretty much every episode where Rayllum was a thing. (laughter from multiple people)

HAILEY: The whole season basically (laughs).

KUNO: Pretty much the whole season, um. I think there was one more question about two.

HAILEY: Yeah sooo.

KUNO: Before we get to the elves.

HAILEY: Yeah, definitely. Uh so it was mentioned that you’re now lead writer, Devon, and can you tell a little bit more about what that entails if you can, and how that’s been going?

DEVON: Yeah, I mean… I actually don’t know what I can say about it, um… I think it—it means that uh, for future Dragon Prince stuff I’ll sort of like take a bit more of an active role in leading the—the development and the storylines and things like that. It also means that from a company perspective um I’ve been kind of involved in some other side stuff that Wonderstorm is quietly looking into developing and um I help a lot with other IPs that we would love to make a real thing someday and that’s kind of all I can say about it I think or I’ll get in trouble.

HAILEY: All right, that’s great, that’s good to know, thank you.

KUNO: The Dragon Prince 2 (laughter from multiple people). I’m totally joking everyone that’s not a thing so don’t take that for—

HAILEY: Wow.

KUNO: I’m joking.

IAIN: Two dragons.

DEVON: The Dragon 2 Prince.

KUNO: Yeah. OK also if there’s anything that you guys say that you want redacted this is probably not going up for another week because I have to get our reaction episode out. So anything you guys think about that you’re like, “Maybe I shouldn’t have said that” just message us and we’ll redact that. Yeah, cause we know that—

HAILEY: Or just say it. Just tell us, like, what’s—

DEVON: Hopefully we have some self-control but—

KUNO: Okay, so we are going to get really indulgent here and I think this is going to be really in Devon’s wheelhouse. We have a lot of questions and a bunch of the scenarios so try to get through as much of it as possible. Um so the first question is can you tell us more about the Silvergrove? What is the government system like in Silvergrove? Who runs it? If you could tell us that is that the only—at least like the leadership role? Um, is that the only Moonshadow elf village? And also do they actually get any real daylight because I noticed when the illusion thing happened it just got shady and I’m like, “They might be taking this Moonshadow thing too far”. Like the elves—do they really like that much? So like tell us about the Silvergrove and where Rayla grew up.

IAIN: So I guess it’s probably worth just starting off with a kind of blanket like, ‘if it hasn’t been in the show, we can’t say it’s 100% fact. A lot of this is just gonna be what kind of we thought, rough shape of things happen in our heads—‘

KUNO: Yeah, absolutely.

IAIN: —going into the writing and so on. So you know, don’t come after me with any, uh, fandom lawyers, anyone. But um yeah, I guess like it’s sort of—it’s most useful for us to think about it in comparison to how the Sunfire elves, like clearly they have very structured society. They have a queen, obviously, and they have large cities and so on whereas we think Moonshadow elves live in, as you saw, much smaller communities. And I think the Silvergrove is not the only one of those, it might be one of the better known ones where clearly the best assassins come from. But uh, I think are other ones out there, um, and maybe even Moonshadow elf people do not know where all the other ones are. Obviously the Silvergrove is hidden and maybe they don’t even have access to all the other ones. So I think there’s a sort of community run vibe to things. I think you know when they decided to—to ghost Rayla, and before that Rayla’s parents, I think that was probably a ‘let’s all come to a consensus before we make a decision about something like this’. I think, Devon, if you want to talk about the kind of like sunlight vibes things, because that was a big part of your driving force behind how this episode looked and felt.

DEVON: Um… well… first, I will say that it was potentially from the top down a complicated visual decision to have episode 3 take place in a Moonshadow elf shady forest grove and also the kingdom of sunlight.

IAIN: Yup.

DEVON: It created a couple production problems in terms of like the way we wanted the Silvergrove to look was very like evening themed and cool colors and you know shaded. And I had this really sort of self indulgent thing where I really wanted it to be as close to night time as possible and yet the story line in Lux Aurea was clearly taking place in the middle of the day. So we came to this sort of compromise that you know it is technically daytime through the whole day and there is enough tree cover that it’s already pretty shadowy but also I think there is some magic at play that’s sort of like generally um shrouds the whole thing in more of like a night time vibe. And my inspiration for that was I’m a big World of Warcraft player, or was I don’t super play a ton anymore but I really loved Ashenvale and some of the night elf regions and they had that similar thing that no matter what time of day it was it always felt like at least dusk or like this sort of like ever—ever shaded feeling. And I indulgently kind of wanted that to be where Rayla came from. So that’s what that’s about.

IAIN: Yeah and I think they’re magical beings. They don’t need vitamin D from the sunlight or anything like that. They’re totally fine if they just get moonlight every so often.

DEVON: But yeah, don’t write a script that has, you know, moon themed place and sun themed place at the same time. It was a… questionable choice (laughs). But I think it turned out—

KUNO: Yeah, ‘cause I was wondering—I was wondering—I was like “Okay” because a lot of the stuff you run through—you run the okay, if I were to write a fanfiction how do I use this. So it’s like, do they just never like—if they like—if Callum were to say live in the Silvergrove would he just have to get used to the fact that like it’s just never totally bright daylight or unless you leave the Silvergrove in the forest, uh, and like—that type of—is that what’s kind of like going on, they just like their shade?

DEVON: I think they like their shade. It’s like Scotland in the winter.

IAIN: Oh yeah, except we all get miserable by around about February when we haven’t seen sunlight in several months. But um yeah, I think it’s kind of like yeah, a combination of ‘oooh, magic’ and also just extremely, like, thick tree cover in the deepest parts of the forest. But I don’t think you have to travel too far. But uh, I think there’s a reason why everyone in that town was a Moonshadow elf and there were no Sunfire elves or random humans just like, chilling and living there. I think only the most goth of kids would be able to live in the Silvergrove without going a little bit mad.

DEVON: I mean you only have to go as far as the adoraburr field which clearly still gets a significant amount of daylight.

IAIN: Yeah.

KUNO: And you said there’s not really like a leader. They do as a community, but is there anyone that like makes decisions, like is there anybody that like if they were to go to somebody, like if they have like village leadership decisions. And obviously, um, blanket statement that all this we assume is kind a little bit of headcanon so it doesn’t have to be like for gospel, but you know for purposes of writing stuff.

DEVON: Um the way I thought about it—well, to back up a tiny bit, there was actually a version of the story where there might have—this was super, super early on, we were thinking about how the story might play out and we talked about there being potentially another Moonshadow elf leader type character that they would meet who, you know, was the one who ultimately called for the Ghosting decision. But that didn’t really fit the sort of, like, very personal nature of the story we wanted to play out with Rayla specifically. Um but thinking about that and the way that we were, you know, trying to shape it—I would imagine that like the assassins are sort of like a specific group that live in the Silvergrove which is otherwise—it’s not all assassins, like, not everybody there is an assassin. And I think that means that like you know Runaan was the leader of the assassins so he might consult with the leader of the blacksmiths who may be someone over Ethari but maybe it’s him now who might consult with the other general leaders—I don’t know. Like I think it’s more of a counsel of different groups than one single authority. It just seems like that would be a better fit for Moonshadow elves than the sort of like very, very strong-army, structured, high-and-mighty feeling that the Sunfire elves have, so, does that make sense?

KUNO: That totally makes sense, a little bit like an oligarchy, I think I had the idea that like they sound like they like a counsel. Like it sounds like a elven conciliatory.

DEVON: Yeah I think like someone might say, like obviously something horrible has happened and Rayla is exactly the person we thought she was. I’m calling for a—a ghost vote. And then you know—

IAIN: With a cooler name than that.

DEVON: No I think it’s canonically, I’m sorry—

IAIN: Ghost vote?

DEVON: The canon is “ghost vote” now.

IAIN: Okay.

DEVON: But yeah, they would all sort of like weight in kind of like a town hall scenario about of like why this is obviously the correct call and they would all sort of like have to come to some sort of agreement about what to do versus the Sunfire queen just being like “mph, time for the light, light decides!”

IAIN: Yeah.

KUNO: Okay um the next question being almost a little on that, does Ethari regret, um, what does he—does Ethari regret doing the banishing spell now that he knows the truth about Rayla?

DEVON: Oh absolutely 100%. But I don’t think he would have the power to—to reverse it. Like I think he could do a quick charm to help reverse it in the moment just to speak with her but ultimately it would take a lot for him to undo it and I’m not—we haven’t talked about what he’ll get up to in the meantime, but I don’t know he would be able to pursue it so directly—I’d have to talk about it, I think it would be an interesting side thought to think about how he might pursue redeeming her in the eyes of her people knowing what he knows, but—

IAIN: Yeah I think given that we said it would take everyone to do it collectively and make an agreed decision it would similarly everyone would have to understand the truth and go back on it and ‘oh I saw her one time and she said she didn’t do anything wrong probably isn’t enough to overturn that. But yeah I think he probably felt some regret even at the moment, but you know he’s in some of the worst grief of his entire life and he’s not going to make perfect rational decisions. And I’ve seen you know some people were slightly upset that he got so angry with Rayla in the moment of seeing her but I think like when you first see the person that you’ve tried to convince yourself sort of took the most important person in your life away from you, you’re gonna feel a big mess of feelings and it will bring up some grief that maybe you thought you were just—just starting to get over, so ah. Yeah I think hopefully he can turn that around in the years to come but they’ve all had a rough time. They’re at war. It sucks (DEVON laughs). Don’t go to war, kids.

KUNO: Hailey did you want to ask the next one or did you want me to?

HAILEY: Sure I can ask it. Could you—so I mean—you mentioned a stuff—a couple things about their government system and whatnot, but is there anything else you could tell us about Moonshadow culture, like what their day to day is like, and what it means to be a Moonshadow elf?

DEVON: Um I do think that a lot of the fandom I’ve been pleased to see has picked up on this sort of idea of a fairly rigid culture and you know there’s a lot of importance placed on things like honor, loyalty, and the ability to commit to things. And um I think that could come off as pretty strict but I actually think it comes from the place of valuing a close knit community. And I think, like, to the idea that we said like they probably have some kind of counsel instead of some single authority kind of ruler. It’s—I think their day to day would be very much going about their business in ways that support each other you know? Like does that make sense? It’s—you go to the blacksmith and he does work for you and it’s friendly and conversational but it’s productive—it’s all very for the good of the community.

IAIN: Yeah I think early on in season 1 even Rayla says that you know they’re not really meant to show their feelings. So I think everyone kind of commits to doing their task for the good of the village and doesn’t gripe about their day to day until something bad happens as the entire series to this point has been driven by. But um yeah I think they uh—they’re just committed to having a good, small, close knit village life and all supporting each other the best they can. And then occasionally the dragon queen tells you to go kill someone and that’s your job so you better go do that without complaining about it.

DEVON: I think we use the words “reclusive yet intimate” in the article we put up about the two moon creatures, the moonstrider and the shadowpaw. And I liked that a lot because I think they’re reclusive in the sense that they’re a little bit shut off from the wider world and they’re um isolationist in their preservation of their own culture but they are very close to each other and that is something that they hold at such an—like a preciousness level but it’s also a bit extreme, like if you betray that in any capacity like obviously they take that very seriously. And so it’s a double edged sword if you will, to have a community that supportive and that close but also your ability to perform all of yourself for the good of that community can be your undoing so—

KUNO: No I actually kinda get that um ‘cause I’m Pacific Islander so I think we’d call that what you’d call a collectivist society where it’s like the needs of the group supercede needs of the individual so I kinda like I—it’s not the extreme I think that they are because they’re very like reclusive but um I kinda live like that in a little bit of way. It’s what I grew up with. So I actually totally get that which might be why I like that so much (multiple people laugh). Um so the next question would be how does the banishing spell work that, um, that was used on Rayla politically and magically? I think we’ve talked a little bit about politically already but magically is—I’m assuming it’s a collective decision or does each person, like, opt in? Like could Ethari have opted out of doing it or did we—did they all have to agree?

DEVON: I think everybody have to agree?

KUNO: And how is it broken?

DEVON: I don’t think you can opt out?

IAIN: Um I think ‘how is it broken’ is something we definitely want to save for—for the future uh we really hope that Rayla manages to undo that. In terms of I think that it’s just culturally ingrained that you wouldn’t opt out. Um I think they would probably just argue forever until they manage to come to an agreement. So I—yeah I don’t think there’s you know half the elves in that village who are seeing Rayla and were like “Oh hey Rayla how’s it going?” I think uh they all came to the collective decision. That’s kind of the political angle. Um sorry, what was the other part? Magically how it works?

KUNO: Yeah? How would you do it?

IAIN: I—again, you know if it’s not in the show it’s not canon, but I sort of inspired by how the entrance spell works where they do a dance and there’s a ritual and I imagine it’s kind of similar. Like I think there’s a lot of that kind of like ritualistic style of magic and it’s kind of like what you see when they put the flowers out onto the water as well. There’s you know a collective dance probably involving a lot more people, a lot more cool intricate runes that happen only with a much more somber mood than the fun, happy times of Callum and Rayla dancing around in the forest. Um so yeah it’s probably—I would imagine it’s probably tied to some whatever the saddest phase of the moon is and that’s when they all get together and really somberly and really sadly uh commit to never seeing this person again. At least that’s the part of the plan. An interesting question that I think could be something that fanfiction writers such as yourself could get into is has any one of these ever been broken before or have they all been pretty sure that they would never need to go back on it? Is that going to be something that Rayla is going to figure out for the first time ever or is there a precedent for this happening. And we don’t have an answer right now but I think that would be a cool story to think about and write.

DEVON: Oh man I love the saddest phase of the moon idea. Imagine if they do it at the new moon because it’s like the moon’s face is hidden forever. Whoo.

IAIN: Whoo.

DEVON: Sad.

KUNO: Maybe we’re birthing things while we’re doing this interview. I actually think it would be like Callum does the Historia Viventum thing and it would be so—cause now I’m just imagining this whole village doing this sad dance which is the Banish Rayla dance essentially. And like that would be so sad for Rayla to witness that just for the drama of seeing her entire village decide to just not see her ever again. And that’s like wow, I’m so sad now.

DEVON: I love sadness.

IAIN: Yeah Callum just crushing a series of Moon Opals to show such a clip show of all of Rayla’s saddest history moments (laughs).

DEVON: Oh god.

IAIN: That’d be great.

DEVON: Thanks Callum.

KUNO: Thanks Callum. Um, she’d love him anyway. But um okay so some of my favorite stuff, what was it like for Rayla when her parents had to leave her to live with Runaan and Ethari and what was that transition like for them all? How old was like Rayla too?

DEVON: This was one that we’ve had a couple different ideas about so this is another one that’s like heavy not quite canon bubble. Like if we actually end up doing a story that involves some of these details it’s likely to change and be slightly different but the versions that I’ve liked have involved her being pretty young. And because honor is such a you know key part of Moonshadow culture I think like overall it was something that she felt you know sad about because she knew that she wasn’t going to be directly seeing her parents very often anymore. And—but it was uh such a huge honor that she felt you know pride in what her parents were being selected to go do. You know, act as Dragonguard and serve as these sort of like honorific, um, warriors that left the collective of the Silvergrove to go represent Moonshadow elves in the service of the Dragon Queen. And I think she had—she grew up being told what an honor that was and how much pride she should have in her parents because that is such a special thing. And then I think like it speaks a lot to how proud she was when she believed that they ran away and abandoned that duty because you know, how could they? If that was their reason for leaving her when she was a child and then they ran away from that job, like, how important could it have really been? And then you know, I’m sure that makes her feel very, very small. It made her feel so hurt that she told Callum at first that they were dead so she took it pretty hard.

KUNO: Yeah.

DEVON: But I think the other thing about it that we’ve sort of kicked around is that like, Runaan and Ethari were Rayla’s parents’ close friends and I think she was familiar with them enough that she didn’t feel like she was being you know left with two strangers. It’s sort of just like, you’re going to be under the care of people who are already very, very close to you and care about you quite a bit.

IAIN: Yeah I think with like Moonshadow elves in general the thing I think about a lot is like the good and evil that comes from suppressing your true emotions to show a different face to the world and I think we see a lot of that in Rayla. Like I think she probably committed pretty hard to Ghosting her parents because she had this like big mess of like sadness that she’d left but at least the soft landing of Runaan and Ethari to live with and so on. But believing like this sadness is worth it because they’re doing something so noble and then the betrayal of that—it just came out in kind of a messy like toxic way, right, where now she’s committed to becoming an assassin at a really young age in a way Ethari doesn’t agree with and so on. But I mean on the other side I think having a strong handle on your emotions is often one of Rayla’s strengths right? Like we saw in episode 5 of this season after she’s going through a whole lot of stuff, both her family situation and this new development with Callum, she’s just able to like operate as a cool badass extremely cool assassin without letting any of that affect her. But you know I think there’s balance in how you handle your feelings and how you externalize them in a good way that people can learn from, but sometimes you gotta—you gotta work (laughs).

KUNO: That makes sense. Oh well yeah I always had this personal headcanon which I kind of like incorporated into my fanfictions where she felt abandoned by her parents so in a way it’s kinda like slightly—kinda like that except it was all those feelings that have been repressed from years and years basically came out when she felt like—like the abandonment came to like the head when she felt like they had left because they had ran away—they kind of like ran away like from her.

DEVON: Oh yeah, absolutely.

KUNO: In a way—their duty to—

DEVON: I think that validates the suppressed feeling, you know.

KUNO: Yeah, since their duty to the Dragonguard was in it’s own way more important and that’s something that was like okay because it was an honor but since they ran away it’s like obviously it was more important in a terrible way, if that makes any sense?

IAIN: Yeah I mean I think it’s like she did her best and she’s trying to be a grown up but it’s hard at a young age to accept that you know there are meant to be higher callings than a bond between parents and children, right? Like that’s hard for her to grasp and she probably didn’t express that openly ever really. But I think it really did help that she had two genuine loving father figures ready to accept her with open arms even if one of them did train her to become the best assassin of her generation, which again I wouldn’t advise to—to most parents out there.

DEVON: I do think like even that was considered, you know, honorable. It was you know, you’re going to—not only are you going to get to live with Runaan and Ethari, like Runaan is the leader of the assassins, or at least maybe at that point in time he wasn’t the leader but he was very up and coming. I don’t know, it could be either or, but that I think was probably something that she fully embraced and fully wanted, like you know, ‘this is my purpose in life, this is my calling, my parents have gone off to do their calling and it’s a great honor for them, and this is my path and what I’m going to do with myself’. And that didn’t end up being true but it was probably a comfort to her at the time.

IAIN: Yeah.

KUNO: That makes a lot of sense. Moving on, okay, this, we’re getting real indulgent now—do you know what Ethari and Runaan’s wedding was like and what are Moonshadow elf weddings are like in general?

DEVON: Um, I have a, so a lot of the dancing stuff is because I have an enormous soft spot for tropes involving cute dances, like, just a huge, huge soft spot. And the thing that comes to mind is, if you’ve seen the movie Prince of Egypt, which is such a weird reference—

KUNO: Yeah, I love that.

DEVON: —the scene where he and the girl, I forget her name, they do the thing—

KUNO: Tzipporah.

DEVON: —with the ribbon and they do the cute little dance with the ribbon. For some reason that’s what I think of when I imagine what a moment in their wedding would look like would be a dance with a ribbon that they sort of use to—you know, Moonshadow elves love ribbons, I guess, but this is a good ribbon! It’s a love ribbon. But anyway, that’s just my idea. I love that specific—that song that, “Through Heaven’s Eyes”, it’s during that sequence but that—

KUNO: Yeah.

DEVON: —would be my go-to inspiration for like, it’s like that and then you know, everybody dances with them because Moonshadow elves like to dance.

IAIN: Yeah, I kind of like the idea of the—there’s a lot of these symbols that are sometimes extremely sinister. I mean I think Ethari even kinda calls this out when he shoots the—the Shadowhawk arrow to inform the queen that her son is in fact alive. But like, Moonshadow elves believe that death and life are not good and evil, they’re mirrors of each other and an important part of the cycle. And you know, the moon has cycles and that’s an important part. So I think thinking about all the rituals and stuff that they have, which initially you’re introduced to as ‘let’s go murder someone party’, like if that was—there was a kind of inverse to that that was a big part of their wedding ceremony I think that would make a lot of sense to Moonshadow elves because this is two people binding their lives together forever. Binding for a shared purpose in a good way and not the grim ‘let’s go kill Prince Ezran’ kind of way.

KUNO: Yeah. Cause naturally this is involving like several ships so I’m like, I had to ask that. And on the piggyback of that, as detailed as possible, can you describe courtship customs for Moonshadow elves?

DEVON: Oh man.

KUNO: I mean like dating—dating customs, like a headcanon even if it’s just headcanons.

IAIN: Devon is deep in thought (laughs).

DEVON: I’ve never—like for some reason the—the headcanons that I’ve thought about are more specific to like, Runaan and Ethari than I’ve really sort of like branched out into thinking about how Moonshadow elves do this in general. So I imagine there’s intended—there’s some formality to it, I would imagine, in that like, because they’re so, you know, purposeful and thoughtful with how they express their feelings if at all, I think it would be, you know, exchange of gifts like small favors and making your purpose known in a way that starts small but has purpose. So I think like, there’s versions where Ethari would put extra detail into the work he was doing for Runaan which you know, could be perceived as a sign of affection or Runaan was coming to Ethari asking him to work on his weapons or metalcraft stuff a little bit more than was necessary and—stuff like that, where it’s a bit stiff and difficult but I think like once—once there is clear reciprocation I think there can be more of an open discussion about it, does that make sense? But I think Runaan probably struggled with this a whole lot, like, ‘cause he’s—did I, it might have been you who I responded to on Twitter but someone asked me something along these lines and I think Runaan had a really hard time even with this first sort of like simple offerings of affection because that’s just him. Like he sort of takes that aspect to an extreme. Like he has a hard time being like “here is the way I wish to express myself in a soft way and not with a—a sharp object. So I think Ethari had an easier time because he’s just more naturally soft (laughs).

IAIN: Yeah I sometimes think that Runaan is the most Moonshadow elf of all Moonshadow elves, but like, you know, it’s—

KUNO: I was gonna say that.

IAIN: Yeah, um, you know when they have such a hard time showing their feelings and they sometimes feel like they’re not supposed to and so on, and so Runaan is trying to pick up on the tiniest possible hints through professional exchanges and so on. And I think when it’s actually time to confess that there’s a feeling there you would, I think especially Runaan would have to be 100% sure and then do it entirely in private, the most private situation possible where there could be no possible spies who could see this if it was going to go wrong because that would just be the end of his entire life, obviously.

DEVON: Yeah he would bind himself to his own death (laughs).

IAIN: Yeah, that’s it. Gonna assassinate myself because I confessed love and it didn’t get reciprocated. That’s that.

DEVON: It’s over.

IAIN: So yeah, lot of—lots of awkward advances where they’re trying—trying to have the escape hatch of “Oh I didn’t really try to suggest that I liked you, this was just me asking you for a professional favor by let’s never speak again”.

DEVON: And then he comes back the next day (DEVON and IAIN laugh).

KUNO: Oh my goodness. Uh I felt—I—I kinda like headcanoning now that Ethari tells Rayla all this “how I met, you know, your surrogate dad” kind of stuff. Like, and that’s how she—she’s like, this is how you do love apparently.

DEVON: I do think that like, yeah, he had a much easier time and probably picked up on stuff. And to me there’s a side of Ethari that you don’t really get to see in the episode because he’s very sad. I think he’s a—he does have a playful side and I like to imagine that while Runaan was doing his, like, really just not-the-best attempts to display affection early on, like Ethari would pick up on them but not necessarily give the full signal back. And he played a little bit oblivious but he absolutely was—he’s just more emotionally in tune. So I think, “Oh hey, you’re back again, wow. I thought I did fantastic work on your blades last time. I cannot believe they’re already dull!” Like and he just sort of like, he knows—he knows there’s something there.

IAIN: I think like this kind of gets echoed in Rayla, like where Callum in an effort to pick her up and be honest about how he feels that she’s just an incredible person. Like to her that’s like, ‘person being entirely open with their feelings in a positive way? That’s a love connection!’ And then it goes wrong for one entire episode and then it turns out that Callum was also not fully aware of how he was feeling and so on. But I think like, yeah, I think that’s why she was like immediately “Wow, this is clearly meant to be romantic and this is—this is going exactly the way I want!” and then it didn’t. But then it did! So we’re all happy.

DEVON: Aww.

KUNO: I am! I’m certainly happy. Um—uh let’s see—the next one is—okay. What was Rayla like as a child growing up in a household she did—household? Um, she mentioned going to school and we’d love to know how baby Rayla fared as a student and just a child growing up in the Silvergrove and what that experience is like for a Moonshadow elf child?

DEVON: You want—you want me to do this one?

IAIN: Go for it.

DEVON: Yeah, um, I think Rayla was feisty (laughs) in a word. I think she—for some reason there’s a scene in the beginning of Korra where she’s already mastered like, three elements and she like comes out punching. I kind of think about that when I think about baby Rayla. She knows she’s—there’s that end credit scene where she’s got the two sticks and she’s posing with them and Runaan’s sort of lifting one of them up and I’m thinking like, okay so sheg’s like, from a tiny, tiny age thinking like, “I’m gonna be the coolest assassin the Moonshadow elves have ever seen!” and she’s like rambunctious about that almost, because you know, as a child you don’t really understand what the ramifications of that are but it’s considered like a highly, highly valued, honored position and so she’s obviously like, “Yeah I’m gonna do that and I’m going to be the best at it and there will never be any complications whatsoever!” In terms of Moonshadow elf childhood, I think with the way that I would think about it is—we talked about the sort of community aspect. I imagine Moonshadow elves have pretty, like, what’s the word, like, a lot of general education, sort of, like, “this is what weaponsmithing is like and this is gardening and raising crops and things to provide for the community” and so I think they would have a lot of ‘school’ that covers a lot of just like, life basics because you are expect to find a place that contributes to the collective whole. Does that like—?

IAIN: Yeah, I think like it’s also lucky for Rayla that a big part of Moonshadow elf culture is what we would call PE. Like I think she excelled at striving to be an assassin warrior and so on. Especially like, she’s trying to live up to her parents who at first were honored Dragonguard and you know, Runaan as well. I think in terms of like, more academic stuff like if there was Moonshadow elf history lessons and “let’s go out and understand the, you know, ecology of the Moonshadow forest” and stuff I think she was probably a bit kinda like, rambunctious and not super paying attention and running off and not really giving it her all and so on. Um, you kind of get that impression from early on where she knows what Primal sources are and she’ll explain that to Callum but like, when she’s talking about ‘how do you do that Moonshadow form thing’ she’s like “I don’t know, it just feels right”. Like I think that’s—she did everything very intuitively and focused on the things she cared about and understood and kinda did what she—did what she could on the other subjects, I guess, but didn’t care as much.

DEVON: Yeah I feel like if you imagine the kid that is going to grow up to be an artist is doing doodles on their math homework and just sort of like doing the math homework but—but you know, clearly the effort is being placed elsewhere. I think it’s that but she was excelling at PE and assassin training and therefore fell very, very easily into her supposed path.

KUNO: The—this isn’t on the thing, but did—did she ever—did she ever really have any friends? ‘Cause she doesn’t really mention—ever mention friends. I—maybe that has to do with the whole assassin thing where if she wasn’t learning being at school she would probably doing assassin stuff with Runaan or assassin training stuff—I guess not really assassinating. But um did she have really friends growing up?

IAIN: I think if she had friends they were not super close. And I think she valued her alone time. There’s a sweet moment early in—well end of season 1 where she like tries to cheer up Ezran by saying that fitting in is overated and I think she felt that a little bit. Um and you know I think there’s some amount of when you’re being trained in the art of an assassin like you’re probably somewhat taught to—to keep people at arm’s length a little bit, right? And I think she—she took that to heart. So I think that’s a big part of why when she was first traveling with Callum and Ezran there wasn’t that much trust between then and it was kinda like, it was Ezran honestly that bridged the gap being most empathetic number 1 child. And yeah, I think having a close friend is relatively new to her.

KUNO: Makes sense. Like just few, not the many. Um okay then next question before we get to Hailey’s batch of them are um, what are Runaan’s feelings toward Rayla as of right now and everything that’s happened since season 1? I understand he’s in a coin, he’s in a finacial crisis, he’s probably not thinking about it too hard—

DEVON: Oh my god (laughs).

KUNO: But you know, like he’s gotta be—you know he’s not doing anything right now, I’m assuming, so like what would be his feelings about her at the moment?

DEVON: I mean he’s got a lot of time to think, wherever he is. I think like—I got into this a little bit on Twitter in a self-indulgent rant at one point where I think he went through a lot very quietly during the first few episodes of the show where he very, very much wanted Rayla to succeed, even if he wasn’t necessarily like being the dad on the sideline of the soccer game, like, cheering for her. But he thought this was her moment, this was her time to prove that she really was more dedicated to you know, her cause and her people than her parents were because they had, you know, been the subject of such shame. And then ah, everything goes the way it does, I think he has a brief crisis of, “Is this my fault? Did I fail to train her well enough? Like, was Ethari right?” Because he always thought she had, you know, a softer heart. And I think like those are the types of things that he’s still stewing on, um like did—”did he overstep? Was it something—was he so eager to give her the opportunity to prove herself that he, you know, ultimately put her in a position where she could not succeed?” I think like, the other thing that I mentioned on Twitter was I think he took her off the mission both because he very, very much wanted to give himself and the others a chance to complete the mission even if it meant their deaths. But it also meant that Rayla had the chance to survive even if it was potentially going to be misinterpreted and she’d get slapped with the Ghosting, I think he believed that her alive was better than everybody being dead. So I think like, he’s got a lot—a lot to work through and I think like—I think he feels guilty. I think there’s the smallest part of him that he has the—again, a lot of time to potentially stew on and reflect on is he does feel like he put her in a position that was, you know, not fully taking into account the type of person she was and more projecting onto her the type of person he wanted her to be and gift he wanted to give her of redeeming herself in the eyes of her people for her parents. And I think he’s gonna have to work through that. Poor dude.

KUNO: That’s so sadly heartfelt. That’s so sadly heartfelt. Here I am thinking that he’d be, like, maybe a little angry with her, ‘cause obvious reason, but now it’s like, oh he feels guilty. Like, “Oh, okay, let’s just slap the angst on, okay”.

DEVON: I mean, I think like—

KUNO: Yeah, mm-hm.

DEVON: Sure he’d have some anger, like, “Awgh, I gave her everything. I gave her the exact opportunity she needed”. But I think like the guilt and the reflection leads to the “Maybe I—maybe it was me who stepped too far here”.

IAIN: Yeah, I mean another part of it is like, we don’t know what it’s like being trapped in the hell coin dimension, right?

DEVON: Oh I do. I—I mean—

IAIN: Oh you do?

DEVON: It sucks.

IAIN: Oh it sucks?

DEVON: When it happens to me on the reg (IAIN laughs).

IAIN: But you know, does it feel like an eternity is passing? Does it feel like no time has passed? Is he in eternal pain? Because if it’s like real bad—

KUNO: Oh my god.

IAIN: —in there I can imagine that like yeah there’s definitely some of those kind of anger feelings that you don’t want to feel in but you do sometimes, right? Like it’s like, if he has a snap moment of “I wouldn’t be in here if she hadn’t gone off and disobeyed our orders and, like, lied to me and so on”. So if he ever comes out uh don’t know what side of the emotional coin he’s gonna land on.

DEVON: Ohhh, please leave.

KUNO: Oh my god.

DEVON: Get out, oof, ouch.

IAIN: Finger guns.

DEVON: I do think like that sort of complex—

KUNO: It sounds—

DEVON: —emotion is just, I don’t want to give any time to that pun, we’re moving on. Like that sort of complexity of emotion and relationships is something that I really like in the show overall. Like you said earlier, you saw some people that were a little bit upset that Ethari was so willing to lash out at Rayla at first and I think like to me that was always part of the big, big thematic of the show, which is this sort of endless cycle of people being willing to hurt each other and not forgive each other and not, you know, accept that you can choose peace. It’s, you know, it’s—Runaan having that impulse to anger is a very natural thing and it doesn’t—I don’t think it necessarily makes him a bad person for feeling that. And I don’t necessarily think that Ethari having his moments of grief lead him to actions that are ultimately like, regretful, like I don’t think he would want that to define him in the long run. Like those are very human things but those are the things as we acknowledge them and as are—so long as we are capable of recognizing how flawed we are and how violent and…

KUNO: Messy.

DEVON: Messy! Thank you, that’s like, I was going to say like churning, messy is good. Like messy emotions can be and how they can like, dictate the way we treat each other, um, but forgiveness and patience and acceptance are ultimately just so much more powerful than those negative perpetuating lashing outs. That was an inelegant way of ending that screed, but yes.

KUNO: I actually really love that um ‘cause I from the beginning I’ve loved their father-daughter relationship so I love how complicated it is, ‘cause the truth is you know every parent-child relationship is a little complicated, except theirs is a little more complicated with assassination going on in the works, the family trade. So I love that it is this complicated ‘cause I know I remember in the beginning where people were like you know—you know she does have a dad. And it’s like I know she has a biological dad but until I am told otherwise that’s her father. I don’t care and I love their relationship so I love that that really reflects that. Another—the next question out of me before we get to, um, Hailey’s, which are all about different elves, is um, course I have to ask, my policy is one Rayllum question per interview. Um what are Runaan’s feelings—whah, no, whoop, how would Ruthari and Runaan react to Rayla’s relationship with Callum considering he’s not only a human but a human prince? ‘Cause as far as we know Runaan really hates, um, humans and I’d love to see that story later, both individually and as a couple. Because as far as I know, Ethari probably doesn’t know that their in a relationship unless he sensed it?

DEVON: Oh man, I—I think you should take this one, but I do want to say that I saw one comment on Tumblr at one point where someone said that they wished that Ethari had said something to Callum along the lines of like, “Take care of her”. And I want to travel back in time and pretend that was in the script ‘cause I think that would have been really, really nice. And I do think like, he picked up on the fact that Callum was important to her even if it—he didn’t necessarily read it as romantic right off the bat. I think he mostly was like, “Oh this guy is kind of like a cute—he’s a human but he’s, you know, a friend to someone I care about and that in and of itself is valuable and there’s something there”. So I think—pretend that was in the script. I wish I had thought about something like that but—

KUNO: I will (DEVON laughs).

IAIN: Yeah.

KUNO: That’s canon as far—as far as I’m concerned that’s canon.

IAIN: I think uh it would be best for everyone involved if they found out together, uh, because I think Runaan’s impulse would not be good immediately. I think like, when you spend so much time as an assassin and you drill into your head that the people that you’re meant to kill are not people, they’re the enemy right? Like I think that’s—sometimes that’s a thing he turns on to do the job and so on, but I do think that’s gonna bleed into his personality and it’s—you know, especially given his extremely recent history he’s not got the best feelings about humans. So I think it would inspire an immediate negative reaction in him that would not be pleasant for Callum and Rayla, but I think Ethari just has a much softer heart and that is where Rayla kind of got that side from. So I mean I’m not going to say that he would immediately—you know, they’ve been at war for hundreds and hundreds of years with humans and they’ve been told all through their history that humans committed the original sin of dark magic, et cetera et cetera, but like, I think it would take not that much time of seeing Rayla and Callum together for Ethari to see that there’s something there and then I think Ethari would have the ability to ah, to talk Runaan down pretty quick. But I also think that like, Runaan might not even show any of this, there might just be a kind of seething resentment that he’s not really talking about inside. Um unless it was like on the battlefield or something and he was like, “That’s a prince that I’m meant to kill” or something like that. But overall I think Ethari would sense that Runaan was not like—was not taking this well and they would be able to talk it through. At least that’s my gut.

DEVON: No, that sounds right (DEVON and IAIN laugh).

KUNO: I feel like poor Callum is just always on the edge of “Am I going to die tonight?” while he’s there, “Is this gonna be it?” Just gonna be like, “Oops sorry I had an accident—hey I had an accident in the middle of the night, you know, just a knife to the throat, that’s all”.

IAIN: I mean, he’s doing pretty well, like he said as they were about to meet Ethari and Rayla was like, “Remember Runaan?” He was like “Oh yeah, that guy who tried to kill me as soon as he met me? Cool guy”. Callum’s doing pretty well on the acceptance front these days.

DEVON: I do—

KUNO: Yeah.

DEVON: I do want to say that I think Ethari and Callum would get along really well because I think they both have sort of like a soft hearted friendliness to them that they would have a fun rapport. And that’s the sort of like “Trees to meet you” line is definitely supposed to be like—they’d you know, crack some goofy back and forths and I think that would soften Runaan too because he couldn’t ever hate someone that Ethari liked.

IAIN: Yeah, I think it’s a weird—

KUNO: Aww.

IAIN: —reversal where like Callum’s the one doing the dad jokes and Ethari’s like humoring them and Runaan’s like, “I don’t understand. Trees do not meet.”

DEVON: “Please stop saying ‘trees to meet you’.”

KUNO: Aw it never gets old. I love that. Um alright, Hailey, take it away. Your turn.

[laviethepooh]

snowfall | iwaizumi hajime x reader

summary. iwaizumi walks you home in a snowstorm after oikawa breaks up with you

ft. iwaizumi hajime, oikawa tooru

cw. breakup, crying

wc. 1k

notes. haha, i successfully made reader gender neutral! honestly, i'm not totally happy with the ending, but i tried my best. this is my first piece in a while so it's not the best in terms of descriptions, sorry D: (maybe i shouldn't have rushed, but that's on me) constructive criticism is always welcome! hope you enjoy! <3

"we're done"

"w-what?"

the brunet looked up from his bag, scowling.

"i said, we're done."

too shocked to cry, too stunned to ask why, you just stood there.

you heard tooru sigh as he zipped up his bag. with a slight groan, he stood up in front of you. he grabbed you by the shoulders, moved you out of the way, and left the club room, leaving you alone.

you felt your legs buckle beneath you and you landed on your knees with a thud.

we’re done.

it was as if someone turned off a switch. you couldn’t hear. you couldn’t see. you couldn’t move. it couldn’t be true. you loved each other. you’d gone to all of his games. he’d look over all your photographs. what went happened? what did you do wrong?

if you fixed the issue, he’d come back.

right?

you shivered as you felt a cold draft come in through the open door. strange. when you wore tooru’s jacket it was never cold. the mere thought of his natural warmth spread a cozy feeling over you. the way his blazer was too large on you made you feel protected, even if it looked a bit weird.

you stiffened. a soft, white blazer was laid over your shoulders, instantly warming you up. did tooru return?

“get up, stupid.”

you turned around to see not tooru, but iwaizumi. his hair and winter jacket flecked with snow. like always, his eyebrows were furrowed as he looked at you. but this time he looked more worried.

you looked up at him with wide eyes, wondering what he was doing. practice had finished a while ago and all of the other teammates had left long before you arrived. perhaps he had left something, or maybe he noticed the light in the club room was still turned on. either way, here he was now.

“if you get sick, your boyfriend’s not gonna be too happy about it.” he said as he glared at you. the slight quirk in his brow revealed it was meant in a good-natured manner.

but you felt hot tears start to run down your face.

iwaizumi looked alarmed as he tried to get you to stop. he started looking around for tissues. he quickly gave up before squishing your face in his hands and demanding, “what happened? what’s wrong?”

you tried to talk, but you couldn’t get out any words before choking up again.

“come on,” iwaizumi grunted as he let go of your face, lifted you up from underneath your arms, and gently put your winter coat on you, “i’ll walk you home. this snowstorm’s only going to get worse and i can’t let you go on your own.”

as he started for the door, he turned back to see you still standing there. he let out a sign and took grab of your hand. you looked down in shock at the way his large, rough hands dwarfed yours. you tried to form words but didn’t have anything to say. instead, you responded by looking back up at him with large eyes that were still teary. he noticed your reaction and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

he opened his mouth as if he was about to speak, but stopped.

what was he about to say?

“hurry up, the snow’s coming down harder,” he said instead.

the walk home was silent. the only sounds were the occasional sniffle from you. there were few cars on the road and the snow started to lay on your surroundings, leaving the world white. you wanted to take out your camera, but you remembered that you were with iwaizumi. you didn’t want to keep him out in a storm any longer than he needed to be. he was kind enough to walk you home, you’d only be burdensome to ask him to wait.

it would probably only take a few more minutes to reach your home. luckily for the both of you, you and iwaizumi lived on the same street. tooru lived in the opposite direction from you, so he rarely ever walked home with you after school or practice. until now, you never realized how often you had walked home with iwaizumi. not that it mattered anyway.

you turned a corner and your home was now in view. after a few more steps, you could barely make out iwaizumi’s house. the snow was still coming down and the lights inside of your home were turned on. somehow, you had made it home.

“well, i guess i should get going now.” iwaizumi gave you a small smile. “get inside quickly, warm up, and rest. you need to look after yourself.”

“thank you, iwaizumi,” you replied as you returned the smile.

he began to leave, but turned around and hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“do you … want me to know what happened between you two?”

you froze.

iwaizumi was tooru’s best friend. he definitely had every right to know what happened and he’d probably rather hear it from tooru. besides, you didn’t really have the mental fortitude at the moment to tell him yourself. then again, maybe you needed to talk to someone about it. no. you shouldn’t involve iwaizumi in something like this. he’s tooru’s best friend.

iwaizumi seemed to notice your uncertainty.

“it’s alright, you can tell me about what happened some other time. i’m always here for you. i’m sure you or oikawa will tell me when you’re ready.”

he gave you an awkward pat on the back before saying goodbye and heading off. from your door, you could see his hooded figure rush through the snow into the comforts of his own house. you followed suit by entering your own home and sighing in content relief. you didn’t realize how cold you were until you came in.

as you took off your snow-covered coat to hang it up, you realized that you still had iwaizumi’s blazer still around your shoulders. you had forgotten that you had it on the whole time. the next day was a school day as well, so you figured you could probably return it while you leave the house. you left it next to your bag and went to wash up.

during dinner, your parents had asked you why your eyes were red and you responded with some excuse about the cold weather and the snow. after that, your parents decided to leave you alone. for the rest of the evening, you seemed to be on autodrive as you could barely remember doing your homework and getting ready for bed.

finally, you felt a wave of exhaustion come over you and you threw yourself onto your bed. it had been a long day and so much had happened. you were both emotionally and physically worn out. instead of crying yourself to sleep over your breakup like you expected you would, your mind was preoccupied with iwaizumi. as you thought about him, you felt your eyelids start to close and you fell into a deep slumber.

[alwaysfeelingsaintlike]

Driving Me Mad [G.W] - Part 2

Series Description: You and George come up with a plan to pretend to date each other. But what happens when you actually start to catch feelings...

Pairing: George Weasley x Gryffindor fem!reader 

Word Count: 2k

Part 1

Description: After an unexpected breakup, you and George formulate a plan to incite jealousy in detention.

                                                       X

“Morning babe,” you said as you planted a kiss on Roger’s cheek. You took a seat next to him and started building your plate with breakfast items. His mouth was full and he managed to spit out a greeting. 

“Where were you last night? I thought you would’ve been at the party,” you asked casually.

“I just got carried away with some studying and I forgot,” he said. It sounded a little rehearsed but you didn’t question it.

“Well, you didn’t miss much. Although, I did get caught heading back to the common room. Detention on Thursday.”

“Mmm.”

“Are you okay? I feel like something’s bothering you.”

“I’m fine,” he said, shoveling more food into his mouth.

“So, I’ve been thinking. For the Yule Ball I might get a navy blue or a purple dress. So don’t get your dress robes until I pick one out. I just wanna make sure we match.”

“Y/N, you’re getting ahead of yourself. The Yule Ball is still months away.”

“I know, I just can’t help but be excited! And I want us to look perfect.”

Roger slammed his fork down on the table and sighed, “You’re making this so difficult.”

“What?”

He grabbed your hand and pulled you out to the Entrance Hall. “Look, I didn’t want to do this right now, but...” he spoke.

“Roger, what are you talking about?” you grabbed his arm and looked him in the eye, thinking no good could come of this.

“I…I think we should break up.”

You were speechless, unable to process what he had just said. This was the last thing you expected.

“Please don’t be too upset. It’s nothing you did. I just…I’ve found myself interested in someone else and that’s not fair to you.”  

“…Someone else?” you asked, holding back tears.

“I’m sorry. I never meant for this to happen.”

“We can work through this Roger. It doesn’t have to be the end,” you pleaded.

He merely shook his head, kissed your cheek, and walked away. You sat on the staircase and realized things were really over. You felt heartbroken, but mostly blindsided. You knew you were never going to marry Roger, but you didn’t have any serious relationship issues. Things were always great between you.

You sat there a while longer, waiting to see if someone would find you or if your emotions would change but nothing happened. You went about your day, attending classes, as if nothing had changed even though you were hurting on the inside.

                                                          X

You arrived at McGonagall's office ten minutes before your detention was to start. You sat there, waiting for George to arrive and a few minutes later he dashed into the room, out of breath and took a seat next to you.

“Excellent, now that you are both here, we can begin your punishment. This evening, you will be polishing the trophies in the Trophy Room, by hand. Once every trophy has been polished and is up to my standard, you may go.” She summoned rags and polishing liquid for you and sent you to the trophy room. You walked in silence to begin with but you knew it would be a long evening if it kept up like this.

“I’m sorry. About what I said the other night,” he said as he started on the first trophy.

“Don’t be sorry. You were right. I have been a bit of a bitch to you. I’m sorry I’ve treated you so poorly all these years.”

“S’okay,” he mumbled casually.  

“I don’t know how it got this way. I just caught up in unimportant aspects of life. I guess I wanted to be popular and now look where that got me.”

“I heard about Roger and Fleur.”

“Fleur? That's who left me for? Bloody hell, my life keeps getting worse and worse.”

“Sorry, I thought you knew…” he muttered. 

“Is everyone talking about it?” you asked him seriously.

“I…I only overheard it from some Gryffindor girls. That’s all I know about it.”

“Yeah, word spreads so fast here,  I can’t say I’m surprised.” You moved past him to work on the next trophy. “The worst part is, I still want him back.” You caught yourself before you revealed any more. “Sorry. I’m sure you don’t want to hear any of this,” you chuckled.

“No, it’s okay. We used to be friends at one point. You can tell me things. But if you want my opinion, you can do better than Davies.”

“Hardly, he’s the school’s most eligible bachelor, behind Cedric and maybe Harry Potter now that he’s been crowned champion.”

“So what’s your plan then? How are you gonna get him back?”

“I…I don’t know. How can I complete with Fleur? She’s part veela for God’s sake.”

 “That doesn’t mean anything. You’re just as beautiful as she is. Plus I guarantee you have a better personality.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Absolutely. You’re actually funny, and you have a toughness to you which means you can stand up for yourself. Fleur’s more…delicate, fragile.”

“And since when do boys look for personality in a girl?”

“Personality is the biggest factor in looking for a lass to bring home. Guys want someone who is confident and comfortable in their own skin, and who can actually talk about things other than clothes and makeup. Someone real. And you have that quality.”

“No offense, George, but I don’t think Roger dated me because I’m ‘real’.”

“Perhaps you should be questioning your taste in men, then.” You pondered this when he added, “Do you really want to get back with Davies?”

“Yes.” At least, you thought you did.

“Then you have to get back at him.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“You gotta get even. He has a new girl, so you can’t try and win him back. Instead, you have to make him jealous.”

“Okay, okay. I see where you’re going with this. But with who?”

“That I don’t really know. Probably someone who is well known by everyone, but different than your usual type. Someone unexpected; someone who will shock everyone. Who that is, I’m not sure.”

You stopped cleaning your trophy and looked at him, a sly smile creeping onto your face. The gears were turning in your head and there was no turning back now. He questioned the look on your face and said, “What…you know someone?”

You nodded and said, “Oh I know someone alright…”

“Who?” he asked. You didn’t say anything. Instead you let your smile grow a little bit and tilted your head, hoping he would pick up what you were putting down. It took him a moment but you saw his face change when he realized who you were talking about.

“No, no absolutely not,” he said, shifting his attention to the latest trophy he was polishing.

“Oh come on. You’re perfect. Everyone knows you, and loves you for that matter. We run in different circles so it would be totally unexpected, yet we’ve known each other for years so it’s believable.”

“Y/N, this is crazy.”

“Is it really that crazy? This whole thing was your idea and I actually think it could work.”

“Okay, say I do agree to this. What’s in it for me?”

“Easy. You can get the attention of a certain girl on the Gryffindor quidditch team that I know you have your eye on. Act like an awesome boyfriend to me and she’ll be more inclined to date you. And we’ll get to spend more time together. Just the other day you said you wanted to hang out more-“

“I did not say that. I said ‘we haven’t talked in a while.’”

“Still, I make a compelling argument. So what do you say?”

He didn’t look at you; he continued to polish the already spotless trophy in front of him. You walked over to him and put your head on his shoulder. “Come on, look at how cute we are together,” you looked at your reflection in the trophy and he did the same. “And you know it’ll be fun,” you said, shooting him a winning smile. “Help me out here and I’ll owe you a favor. Or five.” You hoped your last statement might set him over the edge.

He sighed, “Okay fine.”

“Really!?” you chirped.

“But on one condition, an easy out clause. If at one point, either of us wants to end things, we end things. No questions asked.”

“That sounds perfectly reasonable. But, I just want you to know that I don’t half-ass anything. If we’re doing this it has to be believable. We have to be attached at the hip; inseparable.”

“This takes commitment from both sides. You can’t go around making out with other guys if we’re supposed to be a couple.”

“You have my word I will not make out with anyone while our fake fling is going on.”

“Then I’m in.” He held out his pinkie and you interlocked yours with his, making this deal quasi-official.

“You really are something else Y/N,” he laughed. You continued working through your punishment and you made the best of it. Somehow you forgot how funny George was. You were laughing at almost everything he said and every now and then you would send a joke or a funny comment his way. You kind of forgot what it felt like to laugh. 

The laughing made the mundane task go by much quicker. You weren’t sure how much time had actually passed but a moment later you were polishing the last trophy.

“Looks like it’s time to call McGonagall in for approval,” he said. She closely inspected every cup and plaque and gave you the okay that you could head back to the tower. 

“Any plans for tonight?” he asked as you started your trek.

“Probably just catching up on school work tonight. What about you?”

“I have some business to attend to…” he said.

“Wow, vague.”

“I can’t spill all my secrets to you just yet.”

You reached the common room and you gathered your books and started working on your latest essay as George disappeared, probably up to no good.

                                                          X

“Still up?” George asked you as he found a spot next to you on the couch a few hours later.

“Yep. Trying to be as productive as possible. What about you? Finish up with that business?”

“Ah yes, it went quite successfully.”

“Let me guess…another prank? Who was it this time, Filch or a group of first years?”

“We decided to mix it up this time and go with some Slytherins.”

“Ah, a justifiable prank. Well done.”

“So have you thought about how we’re pulling off this ultimate plan?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” you hoped he wasn’t backing out.

“Like, are we doing this gradually or just going full force?”

“Well, what do you think is more believable?”

“Personally, I think we need some sort of build up. Instead of just emerging as a couple, we should build the suspense. Make people speculate.”

“Okay, I can agree with that. So right now we just need to do a lot of public appearances. Nothing overly touchy or flirty, just spending time together.”

“Excellent. I just wanted to check with you before telling Fred about the situation.”

“Wait, what? You…you can’t tell him about our arrangement.” 

“Y/N, he’s my twin brother and my best friend. I can’t hide anything from him.”

“No, no, no. You can’t tell him. He is a key player in this situation. His reaction to us needs to be genuine.”

“I tell him everything. I feel like he’ll know something’s up if I don’t say something.”

You paused for a moment, as you realized you weren’t being fair. “Look, I know that I’m asking a lot of you, but please don’t tell Fred. At least not yet. Please.”

He looked at you with a pained expression and said, “Okay, if that’s what you want.”

“Thank you, George. Now go get some sleep and I’ll see you at breakfast.”

[border-spam]

Does troy really have a split jaw or is that fanon?

It's total fanon!

The design of the split lines across his cheekbones and chin coupled with the cheek clips and v shaped hinge outline next to his ears lead to a lot of people coming to that same outcome, that there is something up with his mouth from a prosthetic/mod standpoint.

So much of his design is never mentioned once or referenced in any way (hightech spinal rig with tattoos under it, neuro connector, mech arm that's much older and doesn't seem related to the spine and neuroport, implants on bicep, face mod etc) that like Tyreen's scars and possible lower body Siren markings, fandom took over when it came to coming up with logical explanations for 'em.

This actually touches ground with some Ao3 comments I wanted to share as they are all Leech Lord compliant, so I'll list them here alongside links to the fics they were related to (note warnings!)

You leave no avenue for characterization unexplored. Troy's facial prostheses finally receiving backstory is amazing

- Maw (Gore/Bodyhorror)

I LOVE the idea of it being not just decorative shit on his face, but my MO for any content I make is always based around asking why, over and over, and trying to make sense of what material I'm using in the first place. The modded mouth is a popular piece of fanon but you know... why? Why would he do that shit to himself. WHY would he want to be grotesque, why would he be chasing the reaction people would have to it when canonically he seems to really not be interested in fan attention the same way Tyreen is, what's the difference to him between being adored as his persona or being lusted after as a monster, etc. I just love deep-diving into the logic behind character and world building? It's what adds meat to the bone for me.

Big 'ol character and worldbuilding / lore responses list under the cut -

He could afford better robots but these ones UNDERSTAND Ty, don't you get it?

- Good night in (tooth rotting fluff)

Hey just because it's mangled and broken, and can't perform its intended function to a degree expected of it by everyone around it... and it's got rusty sharp bits it accidentally hurts you with sometimes... and it's cranky but it doesn't mean it... and sometimes it errors out in a way that's mildly disturbing in a way you can't place.. uh.. doesn't mean you should just GIVE UP ON IT you know? He can fix them :) They will be fine :) No one should just throw away something that's trying so hard just because it's damaged... haha... :')

It's so hard seeing how much they tear each other down when they're the only thing they have left. And what a poor self-image Tyreen has beyond all that glitter and bluster...

- Wolf in sheep's clothing

The twins function well enough as a unit till tensions rise, and I was trying to seed in The Leech's influence on them in earlier work like this too - towards anyone else Ty would become MORE aggressively confident, more assured in her complete and utter dominance of the situation, her flawlessness, but against Troy who see's her for what she is, it turns inwards and eats at her instead of lashing outwards. He switches from relatively submissive around her to almost surgical levels of dissection, he knows exactly how to go for the jugular with words, and doesn't hold back. She's The Leech's mouth but he's its eyes and it's only when they lose control emotionally enough for it to claw to the surface of their psyches that you get an idea of how much it really affects them individually. GB had an absolute goldmine on their hands here of cosmic/body horror and the concept of toxic family when all you have is each other, there's so much to work with, and I figure it's a factor in why some people still really enjoy messing around with Calypso content.

I like how you allow Troy to be a disabled character, how his congenital defects and prosthetics colour his outlook and appear in ways big and small in all these vignettes. It's easy, I think, to see him as largely untroubled by his health apart from when he needs a charge from Tyreen in the game, but you allow him to struggle with his weakness.

- Chronic (Drug use)

I'm really glad to hear that's coming through in the writing because it's something I noticed a lot too. Very often when Troy, or other characters canonically disabled / chronically unwell are written it's "told" and not "shown". Chronic pain, illness, it's not something that is just a little tickbox in a life or some descriptive terms added to a character synopsis, it's something you live and deal with. There are bad days. There are times it is a negative that has to be worked around or faced in ways that aren't pleasant. It doesn't make you lesser or weak to have times where illness does leave you unable to function to a level you want to, it's not a failure for you to be unable to perform tasks when a disability or flair up means it's not viable. I feel personally that by showing scenes like this where his health and body issues do have a very visceral and impossible to ignore the effect on his ability to function, and going through his mental processes of dealing with and managing them, it brings the character across as stronger than if he never seemed to be shown dealing with symptoms or weaknesses. People are more than their disabilities and conditions, those aren't just kinda taglines to add onto a character's description and then never address. I feel like doing that in a way undermines what people deal with who manage chronic illness, pain, and who have disabilities that affect their daily lives negatively. Appreciating the effort it takes to manage them is important.

What I really like about these is that you can really understand as a reader how their dynamic must have evolved. How even before Leda's death Tyreen would have felt demonized while Troy got the attention because of his condition, because he was less willful.

- Starlight, Moonbright

Ah man, absolutely - and that shit stayed with them. It wasn't his fault and he never wanted it, but of course their parents would have had their extremely ill child at the forefront of their thoughts, especially during weeks when he was.. bad. Tyreen by nature even without The Leech's influence is a little attention seeker, she'd be the life of any party and she BLOSSOMS if she's got the spotlight, but as a little kid who's got literally no one but her parents and her brother, and who all three of which can't give her nearly as much time as she deserved? That's rough. That's really unfair. That coupled with The Leech's warping effect on their egos as they grew up and the bitterness and resentment they harbored in different ways created a reverse dynamic. She'd never be out of the Galaxy's attention again, and he'd have no choice but to take his rightful place in her shadow.

I love how you illustrate both how much more, and yet how much less Troy is now. How the blameless child, full of potential, is inextricably linked to the brutal, larger-than-life avatar he fashions.

- DeLeon ( Graphic Violence / Gore / Hallucinations)

He's molded the monster he is now out of the bones of the man he should have been - there's no going back really. There's nothing left to go back to. He broke Troy DeLeon apart to build the persona that acts like an iron lung now, suffocating him breath by breath while forcing him to still take them. That life is over, he killed it before it had a chance, but the idea of it is still there in his subconscious. Somewhere in the absolute trainwreck of Troy's brain is the tiny, flickering belief that maaaaaybe one day this will all be over and he can shuck off the bracer and spines, peel off all the shit he's covered his skin with, and just go back to not being Calypso. DeLeon here isn't some aspect of his mental state or his sins haunting him - it's The Leech, spitting venom at a host it loathes in something that's not sound or comprehensible language. His subconscious has just translated it into something it can understand - his greatest regret.

On if Borderlands Humans originated on Earth -

There's a really tenuous link between BL verse and rEarth, but it's there and can't be ignored. The cultures, accents, terminologies, so many are Earth specific despite these people being spread across galaxies, so hell yes - Earth as an emergence point makes total sense. The next question then, is why is it never mentioned - and you can cover for that with a lot of things like say, tt was so long ago that it's not relevant to anything that would ever be discussed, or it could be a mass evacuation from a catastrophe there is little record of now. I like to go with something along those lines, that the first human Siren host emergence on earth just absolutely decimated the planet. Like, we were doing fine till this random woman somewhere in the ass-end of nowhere develops weird markings overnight, then goes apocalyptic. The first Leech maybe, not understanding her powers and having them rip across continents in a spread of crackling electric death that only left husked shells of plants and animals in its wake, or the first Firehawk who went nuclear and burned the sky, or the first Voidgrasp who lost control and began to collapse the planet's core - some extreme shit that had humans fleeing en masse with barely any preparation and HUGE swathes of history and knowledge left behind. That would cover so many social things surviving into the BL verse, cultures, accents, cooking, that shit comes with us regardless of what we were able to throw into escape ships. Like so much data would be stored on any tech and data arrays within the vessels people would use to leave a dying planet even in an insane rush, but that shit waters down over time - if you're farming barely edible plants on some planet that smells like farts, are you really gonna be that stressed about teaching your kids history from a lost planet when your current concerns are not being eaten by something with 19 legs and 4 buttholes? Don't think so.

On if the other Siren entities are as influential to their hosts as The Leech -

I touch on it a wee bit throughout LL, but the others are FAR more passive and meld more to their host's whims. The Firehawk Siren wouldn't.. like.. care? If the host was burning down a planet or fighting off an evil corporation? They are removed from any nonsense happening on this side, they might not even really be able to tell, it's like asking an amoeba or a collection of sentient atomic particles what its opinion is on Brexit. That's not really its priority. The Leech is so aggressive in its control of the twins and desperation to drive them towards an outcome it desires only cause it's split, broken, removed from the song, and completely lost. We're talking a caged, half-mad animal removed from its natural environment and left totally isolated from its own kind for millennia. It's in pain, it's confused, it wants to find its way back to the song and the others and where it belongs, but it's stopped by a barrier it can't comprehend ( the twins and being ripped between them), so in its impotent rage it feeds back that hatred onto them. It's not really sentient in the way we would describe functional intelligence, but it wants, and craves, and FEELS. And it feels very, very angry.

Big thanks to @undergoingcalibrations for talking through so much of this with me!

Asks are Open!

[lizzielikeborden]

Just A Stranger

Request: general #17 for diego?

Character: Diego Hargreeves

Prompts: General- #17 “Are you jealous?”

To be completely fair he was unaware of the situation ahead of time. Your whereabouts were completely unknown, if you were dead in a ditch you were gone before he woke up so what you were wearing was also mystery, and unlike usual you did not leave him a little list of things you were going to do. Usually this would be “- work, - grocery store - pharmacy - picking up dinner”. Not such a minor detail as “I’ll be home about 30 minutes later than usual”. Little ref whistles and red flags popped through his head the moment he lifted the note to flip it over to see if maybe you had written more. But, there was nothing, it was completely blank. Diego stared at the note, and kept reading it over trying to make sure he wasn’t missing anything. After doing so he jumped up from where he sat, hitting his knee against the table due to not pulling the chair back enough to get out of the seat properly. 

My god where did I hang the clock. He thought to himself as he ran around much too anxious to find anything, including something you made him put up that he dropped on himself multiple times. Once he had finally made a full circle, seeing that the clock was directly above the front door. 

Okay wait. She gets off work at 3:30 PM and it’s 4:30PM. He counted on his fingers a little and refocused multiple times just to make sure his math was correct. The second the realized that he was right he dead sprinted out the door. 

She has to be in some sort of trouble. His heart raced faster than he ever thought it could. Once he got in the car he did not even think to put on a seatbelt or even completely shut the door. Lead foot Diego took off down the street, went 80mph in a school zone, and almost hit multiple people. In his mind you were already dead, stuck in the trunk of car, getting tortured, or getting harassed. About five minutes into driving he realized he had no idea where you even were. He knew not work, because you did not like to stay after due to horror stories Diego had told you about things that have happened in seemingly empty parking lots. So, he checked the grocery store parking lot and did not see your car. He went past the pharmacy because no cars were anywhere to be found in that tiny little lot. As he went past, he saw what looked to be your car at a nearby gas station. 

Mother fucking christ this light could not be any longer. Diego smacked the top of the steering wall with both hands as hard as he could. The light seemed to be red for ages. It was so long that he could tell you were not in your car, nor at the pump next to the gas tank. The light turned green and luckily he was in the front or a fun game of bumper cars and trade insurances would have happened. His tires squealed as he made an incredibly sharp turn into the parking lot.

That’s her car. Where the hell is she? He read your license plate and looked around the pump, you were no where to be seen. Diego parked his car and grabbed knives from the middle consul. He hid them from direct public view and stepped inside. Detective police officer vigilante Diego was on the loose now. He was looking everyone up and down. A few shady characters were present, but none were walking toward your car or a car big enough or in good enough shape to have a human hidden inside. 

Diego walked up the counter and stood for a moment, gathered his words to make sure he wouldn’t stutter, and then spoke “Hey man, you seen a (description of you) looking woman inside?”

“Yeah, she came in to pay for gas and then this other dude came in. He was having issues with is gas so she went out to go help him.” The man behind the counter pointed at the gas tank next to yours where the car once was. “She left with him.”

Diego’s blood boiled, not just out of anger, but with hints of anxiety. Why the hell would she get in a car with a strange man? They must know each other. No wonder I got such a short note. He stormed out the gas station and slammed the door. The bell that hung over top hit the glass and broke a small section. She’ll come back for her car. And I will be here when she does. He sat parked and tapped his foot and left hand vigorously. 

15 minutes later

Diego’s anger was no where near settled. In fact the longer time went on the angrier he was becoming. His mind was running in circles around the same terrible thoughts. The cashier did not give a description of the vehicle but the moment the little blue sports car pulled in Diego’s instincts picked up. His suspicions were confirmed when you stepped out of the car and waved at the man who did not step out. 

Oh fuck no. Diego got out of his car and stepped directly in front of the little sports car. It tried to maneuver around him but he had other plans, taking out a knife he ran and rolled across the ground. The blade cut straight through the tire like butter. The car spun and came to a halt.

“Diego?!” You ran over to the man now on his feet, you put a hand on his shoulder and he jumped a bit. Harshly he turned toward you. 

“Y/N, what a pleasant surprise! I would never expect to see you here at the most shady ass gas station in a car with another man after leaving a vague mother fucking note.” 

Your eyes came out of your head, you did not expect this, or any of that day to happen. No words were forming as a very very angry Diego stood in front of you. So, you just blurted out the first thing that came to mind, 

“Are you jealous?” You could see in Diego’s eyes that out of every single sentence, phrase, or word you could’ve said those were the wrong ones.

“Jealous? Should I be?” He took a step back instead of anger he seemed more upset. 

“No of course not. He’s a total stranger.” Diego’s mouth hung open, his eyes popped out of his skull, eyebrows furrowed. and his head was tilted. 

“YOU GOT INTO A VEHICLE WITH A COMPLETE STRANGER? AND THEN LEFT WITH THE STRANGER?” He yelled in frustrating and swung his arms around. 

“Excuse me bu-” The so called stranger you were with stepped out of his car but did not get a full sentence out before being shut down by Diego,

“You have two choices, fuck off, or more than just that tire will be slashed.” Diego did not even have to turn around to intimidate him before he ran back to his car and called someone to come get him. “Now back to you. What in the hell were you thinking?” His tone did not change but his demeanor did, he was much quieter and a bit calmer. 

“Well. I have been running late all day. I actually did not have a plan, so I assumed 30 minutes late was already how far behind I was. I just assumed my day would be about 30 minutes behind. Once I got about here I realized how low my gas was so I decided to get some, and that guy was having horrible trouble. So I stayed and helped him pump his gas but it wouldn’t work, I offered to help him again and we went to the gas station up the street.” You explained.

“You cannot be helping grown adult men or getting in cars with them. Hell any strangers for that matter. I know you think you are oh so capable but in real situations people tend to become a whole lot less capable.” He grabbed your hand and squeezed it, still keeping some distance between the two of you. You couldn’t really argue with him. You had never been in any situation like that so you couldn’t prove him wrong. Statistically he was correct. You gently pulled for him to come closer. He did so. 

“Thank you for being protective and cautious. You just care, more than normal, but you care. I shouldn’t have done that. But Mr. Vigilante you should not have slashed that poor mans tire.”

“You need to be happy I didn’t slash his thro-.”

“No no, we do not need to work you back up.” You put a hand on his cheek and made him look at you, you shook your head at him.

“What am I gonna do with you?” He smiled and leaned down, he matched your action and placed a hand across your cheek and kissed you softly. 

You gave it a moment and pulled back, “I could ask you the same thing.”

You took your keys from you pocket and started to walk back to your car.

“I will be following closely behind you the entire way home. Do not test me.” Diego commented as he wandered back to his car.

You smiled and took off faster than him down the street. You were gonna be the death of him... 

[wanderinginksplot]

Nobody Listens to Kix

Previous | Next | Masterlist

Case 00627: Scorch

Kix glanced up at the familiar sound of the medbay doors opening, frowning as he saw two commando troopers walking in. Their distinctively styled helmets gave an air of uniformity, but the designs painted on them spoke of very different personalities.

The commando wearing the helmet marked with red, jagged lines - almost suggesting a handprint - was half-supporting, half-dragging another commando with a simple, gray-green helmet painted with white and yellow details. Kix studied both new arrivals, but couldn't find any visible injuries on either.

"What happened here?" Kix asked, already starting toward the men.

"Scorch here blew himself up," the red-painted commando answered, with a motion of his helmet that clearly said he was rolling his eyes. "Di'kut."

"I did not!" the injured Scorch said defensively, turning to address Kix. "I had a minor disagreement with a wall."

"Yeah?" the red-painted commando asked, "What were the arguments?"

"Whether or not the blast from a thermal detonator plus my own fabulous aim would make the wall go 'boom'," Scorch replied, clearly grinning under his helmet.

"Congratulations on winning your argument, sir," Kix said dryly, already promising himself to blow up the Resolute and everyone inside before he would let Scorch and Hardcase meet. "Let's shed the armor and see how much damage that wall's rebuttal caused."

The two commandos completed their half-walk, half-drag journey to the first bunk in the medbay and Scorch leaned up against the mattress, stifling a pained groan. The red-painted one, obviously fed up with his brother's antics, unceremoniously lifted and deposited Scorch on the bed.

"Come on, Sev!" the commando complained loudly. "You know I'm injured and delicate."

"It doesn't count as an injury if you've always been stupid," Sev told him. "I'm going to report back to Boss."

"You're going to leave me here, alone and hurt?" Scorch asked dramatically. His only reply was the medbay door closing behind Sev. He shook his head and told the door, "Well, that was rude."

The door seemed unsympathetic.

Kix cleared his throat, wondering if he should crank the scanner high enough to scan for brain injuries, when Scorch turned back to him. He pulled off his gray and white commando helmet, grinned, and stuck out a hand. "Scorch."

"I gathered," Kix replied. "I'm Kix."

"Good, I'm in the right place," Scorch said, heaving an exaggerated sigh of relief as he began stripping off the rest of his armor. "But what is the best medic in the GAR doing attached to the 501st?"

"The best medic," Kix repeated skeptically, scanning the now de-armored commando.

"Oh, yeah. I've heard the stories," Scorch told him, eyes wide and sincere, though they sparkled with an edge of barely there mischief. "Granted, mostly from the pilot on the way here, but still."

"Troopers like to talk. And as for why the 501st…" Kix let some of his constant fond exasperation come through, "no one gets in more trouble or hurts themselves in stranger ways than them."

"And you like to treat them," Scorch summed up, the look on his face more intense than the situation called for. Kix was on-edge before the commando spoke again. "Makes you feel powerful, doesn't it? Makes you feel like you're better than them, more than just a regular trooper."

"Makes me feel like I've got one more living brother," Kix corrected sharply.

Scorch raised his hands in a gesture speaking of an innocence that his sparkling eyes belied. "Hey, I had to make sure you weren't one of those power-trip troopers."

Kix shook his head and silently went to gather the supplies he would need to treat his patient, unwilling to continue an insulting conversation. However, since the commando had started it… He turned to meet Scorch's eyes. "If we're asking uncomfortable questions, let me ask one."

Scorch made a beckoning gesture with his less-injured hand, as if he were inviting Kix to continue.

"Why do you sound different from every other trooper, but look exactly like the rest of us?" It was something he had been wondering since Scorch took off his helmet, but he had been too polite to ask. At least, until the commando had accused him of treating men for the ego boost. As if it did wonders for his ego to be vomited on, covered in blood, to need to help his brothers to the 'fresher, to hold their hands as they took their last breath-

"I'm an excellent mimic," Scorch answered, using Kix's own inflection. Kix stared at him steadily until he continued in his normal offbeat voice. "Sometimes, a situation calls for a voice to be different so we don't sound like normal clone troopers, no matter how much we look like them. Delta Squad is full of differences. Boss has a thicker accent than most native Mandalorians, Fixer has worked to speak the most pure Basic, and Sev's vocal cords are damaged. Me, I just talk this way because I want to."

"Yeah, you can never meet Hardcase," Kix muttered to himself, fighting a shudder at the ridiculous accent the 501st trooper would be sure to put on as a result.

"What was that?" Scorch asked.

"I said, oh excellent mimic, that you've bruised your ribs, pulled a hamstring, and most of the left side of your body will be covered in bruises for the next few weeks, maybe less if you can take a couple of days to rest up." Kix frowned down at the datapad showing the scanner's results. "You managed not to break anything, which is - frankly - a miracle."

"Commando armor," Scorch told him with a sharp rap on his chestplate, wincing as the movement strained his injuries.

"Bruised. Ribs." Kix repeated, biting the end off each word so that the commando would be sure to understand him. "I'll issue you some pain meds, but the most you can do to improve your recovery time is to sleep as much as possible and stay hydrated. Most importantly-"

Kix cut himself short as the medbay door opened and Scorch instinctively turned to see the new arrivals, hissing in pain at the twisting motion. "-don't twist or move your body in unusual ways," Kix finished, giving a perfunctory salute to the commando sergeant who stepped up to the bed.

"How is the patient?" the sergeant asked. Despite Scorch's overly casual manner, Kix had to admit that the commando had given an accurate description of his squadmates and their voices. This one with the thick Mando'a accent must be Boss.

With a shrug to answer the sergeant's question, Kix told him, "Not much I can do, actually."

"Told you those thermal dets would kill you some day," the rough-voiced Sev said to Scorch with no small amount of satisfaction.

"What? No," Kix told him, nettled by the idea that a patient of his could die from such minor injuries. "Scorch is covered in bruises and he pulled a few muscles. Nothing life-threatening, but they aren't injuries I can do much for. I'm issuing pain meds, but he could stand a few days of bed rest, sir."

Boss nodded while Scorch looked horrified. "I can't stay on bed rest!"

The last commando, the non-accented Fixer, sounded irritated by his squadmate. "Six-Two, you can't just choose which orders to follow. If Three-Eight says you're on bed rest, that's where you'll be unless you want a court-martial."

Scorch looked pleadingly at Kix. "I could die from my injuries, right, Kix? Even Fixer wouldn't try to boss around a dying brother."

"Er... " Kix trailed off, glancing around at the group of commandos. "Bruises have a notoriously low fatality rate, Scorch."

"I think his vocal cords may have been damaged," Sev observed. "Could you order a total lack of speaking for the foreseeable future? For medical reasons?"

"We'd make it worth your while," Fixer wheedled.

"Is it too late to say I don't want any visitors?" Scorch asked, though even that sounded like a joke.

"We probably should leave," Boss agreed, cutting through Sev and Fixer's gloating with a simple reminder of, "Lots of reports to write."

"Ugh. Really, sir? For a self-inflicted injury?"

"I was having a good day, Boss."

Before he left, Boss patted Scorch gently on the shoulder. "I'm glad you're okay, Scorch. Rest up or we'll leave you behind on our next mission."

"Kix?" Kix glanced over at the commando sergeant, one brow lifting in silent question. "Make sure he rests. Sedate him or strap him down if you need to."

With one last threatening look in Scorch's direction, Boss left the medbay. Kix silently held out the pain meds for Scorch, passing him a cup of water at the proper time.

"You're good to sleep now," Kix told the commando. "If the pain gets bad again, let me know and I'll increase your dosage."

Scorch nodded and had just settled back against the pillow when the medbay door opened and Kix's heart nearly stopped. He walked briskly to the front of the medbay, making small pushing motions at the new arrival. "Hardcase, get out of here. You're fine."

"You don't even know what's wrong yet," Hardcase pouted.

"Hardcase?" Scorch asked, sitting up with a manic interest gleaming in his eyes.

"Yeah?" Hardcase asked, leaning to peer around Kix's shoulder. "Whoa, a commando! I heard you guys get to deal with more explosives than anyone!"

"You ever juggled thermal detonators?" Scorch asked, giving Kix an innocent shrug when the medic glared.

"No!" Hardcase said, pushing past Kix to perch by Scorch's bedside, wearing a look of utter fascination.

In only moments, the two were swapping stories, each trying to outdo the other while both seemed impressed by the other's exploits. Kix groaned. Force willing, he wouldn't have much to do with Scorch after this, but he already expected a wild number of injuries in Hardcase's near future.

---

A/N - First off, I want to apologize to... well, just everyone. For those who are not familiar with Republic Commando, you're probably a bit confused about who these guys are and why they're here. I read a fic featuring the characters in a minor role and proceeded to inhale everything I could find with them in it. For those who are familiar with Republic Commando, I would like to apologize for any errors in characterization, background, etc. Sidebar: if you know of a good fic featuring Delta Squad, please share the name of it with me!

Please reblog this work! It helps me grow my readership!