#I'm completely insane for this move in case that wasn't clear

[icarus-mp3]

FUN LITTLE VISUAL DETAILS IN PROMARE - PART 1

...Brought to you by a guy who has rewatched this movie well over 40 times. My insanity for this film is boundless. Here are just some fun little stuff I noticed in Promare. (Most of the stuff I say here are just my own observations so take it all with a grain of salt)

Varys likes basketball! It's easy to miss, but at the start he is shooting a basketball into a hoop

And his locker also has some basketball jerseys inside of it (and what looks like deodorant?)

Speaking of lockers, each member of Burning Rescue has special details on their lockers!

Starting off with the outside, from right to left we have: Varys, Aina, Lucia, Remi, and then Galo (Galo's is not visible in this shot.) All of them have traces of stickers that have been peeled off.

Varys' has a hart hat and some decals, seemingly more basketball-related things. One right to the left of the hard hat has a paw print on it.

Aina's locker has a baseball cap, some rainbow/emoji stickers (one that looks like it just says Inter Net? And maybe a Barbie one?) along with some motivational sticky notes (You are STRONG) and two 'A's. Probably her initials.

Lucia's locker has the most stickers, and to me, it looks like they're mostly of different candy/candy brands. Other than the T and the "ATATA" they just look like candy stuff. She doesn't have any hat hanging there (it would probably be difficult to wear a normal hat with her hair)

(Edit: To quote a-blue-revolution, "Lucia likes videogames!!!! In that close up of the lockers you showed there's an "atata" sticker that looks EXACTLY like the atari logo" There are also some other stuff that show her video game nerdiness. Thank you a-blue-revolution!!)

Remi's locker is just a hard hat and some papers. One's on white paper, and to me it seems printed, like a legal document or something. The other is on yellow paper, and to me looks more handwritten. Who knows what these are.

Here is the outside of Galo's locker. It looks like it has Matoi decals, to the surprise of no one. Some simple characters, the side of a firefighter holding a Matoi, and the tip of a Matoi at the very top. (I'm not completely sure what the dark blue decal in the lower middle is, perhaps a firefighting outfit?)

(Edit: To quote burnt-grapes from the comments: "That dark-blue sticker in the middle of Galo’s locker is actually a Bonshō! They’re large bells used in buddhist in Japan that are typically made of bronze :] (hence the sticker’s colour)" Thank you burnt-grapes!!)

Now for the insides of everybody's lockers:

(I already showed Varys' but here it is again for reference, his hand is blocking a picture of someone playing basketball (you can see it in the next picture))

Aina has some, I think, fashion stickers? There's a figure with a hat in the top left corner, and some sort of ticket or check with what I think is a barcode on the left. To the top right of the mirror, she has a picture of her and her sister (aww). She also has a geometric poster for "Division", and another poster behind that one. My gut is saying a band of some kind?

To match the outside, Lucia's locker is filled to the BRIM with snacks, featuring some great brands such as "Cheetas," "Daritas," "Skettles," "W&W," and what I think is just straight up Milky Ways? And right where her hand is reaching one that says "Trigger." My gut reaction was that it was supposed to be a parody of "Toblerone," but the letters are brown, so it might just be a normal easter egg. She also has some books and red solo cups.

Boring documents on the outside, pinups on the inside. Interesting. Remi also has a picture of him next to a blonde-haired someone, also in a Burning Rescue uniform. (I've heard that that's his girlfriend who got turned into a crocodile, but don't quote me on that) He also has some red solo cups.

(We don't see the inside of Galo's locker, but I'm gonna take a wild guess and say it's probably more Matoi memorabilia)

Speaking of Matoi, when Lucia is working on her computer at the start of the movie, we can see she's looking at Galo's Matoi Tech suit! His Matoi/the folded up version of the suit is on the right, and how he actually fits into the suit is in the middle. (You can see the spikes on the back, identifying it as his special suit)

The computer actually shows all the suits customized for their owner's body types and the suits themselves. Right before Lucia sends out Remi and Varys, the computer shows this:

You can see, Remi's figure is very thin and lanky, and Varys can barely fit in his. Remi's ice canon is contained in his suit attachment, and Vary's is mostly just the arms, with the claw he uses to pry open the door to the scientists.

As Burning Rescue is leaving, a tiny car accompanies them. (if you look closely, you can also count the pixels in that image)

This is Ignis' car, the one he drives throughout the movie. You can see him getting out of it here:

(and a better picture of the car itself)

It seems to have a spoiler on the back. A pretty flashy car overall.

Most people know about this hidden Galo:

But there's actually a second one! As Lucia is fistbumping Varys and Remi, you can see him sulking, partially hidden by the light.

Poor guy. He wants to go so bad.

Aina has a headset with a mouthpiece, which no other characters seem to.

My guess is it's due to the helicopter. It could muffle the sound, and make it so that she can still talk whether she's inside or outside. Or it might be something to do with proximity, since Varys and Remi are both in their suits, and Lucia can have higher quality communication gear in the van that might not be available for Aina's helicopter.

(You can see Lucia and Varys don't have any)

This might just be reading too deeply into it, but right at the beginning, Vary's is launched out of a canon. Perhaps this is foreshadowing halfway through the movie when Lio gets launched?

This also shows the "shape symbolism," which is perhaps the coolest visual detail of all. According to the Wiki, squares are used to represent Promepolis, the city, Kray, Freeze Force, that general sphere. Triangles are used to represent the Burnish. And circles symbolize the freedom/the future. Once you notice that it's EVERYWHERE. The lens flares, the buildings, the clothing of characters, everywhere. And even on the canons here, you can see that Varys gets launched out of a square one, and Lio gets launched out of a triangle.

Goofy little detail is Lucia uses a joystick in the van, oddly enough. While holding it, she twiddles her fingers as if she's typing on a keyboard. Either there are sensory inputs on the ball of the joystick itself, or she's just excited.

(Here, while complaining about Galo being missing, she uses a genuine game controller to move a robot's hand. She likes video games)

Part 2

[ravenna-reid]

Admirer from the past... (Pt. 3)

TW: blood and extreme stalking/obsessive behaviour

Part Two here

You stood amongst the chaos; arms crossed and an expression that read complete and utter disbelief on your face. The stench of roses blood was imbedded into your nose, and the sickly feeling stirring in your stomach wasn't leaving any time soon.

"Fuck sake." Harry had been murmuring curses for the past 15 minutes as he continued looking around your once clean and untouched apartment. But now it looked like a snapshot of hell.

Red Robin had moved from beside you to collect evidence and clues, and Harry continued analysing the scene. But you were still stuck in the entry way of your apartment.

Your name was everywhere. Inky explosions all over your white walls, the style and size of handwriting changing as you went along. Most of the ink was black, but some of it was red and dripping...you didn't even want to know.

More black roses that were halfway to death were scattered across the floor, along with all of your paperwork. The worst thing by far though were the photos he'd left behind.

Photos of you at your usual cafe. In your office. On the pavement waiting for a cab. It made your stomach churn. And it made Tim blind with rage.

Tim, after placing a withered black rose and one of the pictures of you into an envelope, glanced in your direction. You had finally moved, gingerly making your way through the mess. Your gaze was trained on all of your hard work torn up and disregarded on the floor. You ran a finger along your couch before moving it to the walls were your name sat. Eventually, you lowered your head before shaking it.

"I can't fucking believe this." Your unease and disgust was soon replaced with resentment. You turned on your heel; your glare vicious and demanding. "This can't keep going any longer. I can't move again-"

"You won't have to." Tim was across the room and before you in seconds, his words spoken like an oath. "I'll make sure of it., I promise"

"But how? What do I do with this now?"

You gestured to your poor apartment, looking around at the countless strangers that were now in your home running their own tests and theories. Tim's white casing gaze remained on you, reading the frustration and fear on your face.

"I'll just have to clean it up. Organise it myself." You murmured.

It was all you could think to do. It was what you always did. When things went south, you would plan, re-organise, think and clean. Or drive yourself insane with so much work that you'd end up earning yet another certificate.

"No can do y/n." Harry stepped over a plethora of folders before reaching you and Red Robin. "This is a crime scene now. You're going to have to leave it to us for the time being."

You drew in a sharp breath as you turned to look back at it all.

Helpless. Tim felt completely helpless and he hated it.

"Do you have anywhere else to stay?" Tim asked.

You shrugged. "My friends are out of town, so I guess a hotel will do."

"You need money?" Harry asked.

You shot a deadened glare at Harry, forcing Tim to suppress a smirk.

"Sorry, right, I know." Harry quickly backtracked. "Just don't know what else to say."

"Yeah," You sighed, "Me either."

Tim immediately thought about his apartment. Immediately wanted to offer it to you. But he feared that he'd be coming across as too eager. Overbearing even, especially since you were dealing with this maniac.

You interrupted his thoughts. "I'm gonna go pack some things then. Can I go into my bedroom and bathroom Harry?"

"Yeah, he didn't do anything back there so it's all clear."

"Nothing in my bedroom...odd, but I'm grateful."

You moved past them both to go to your bedroom. The curtains were drawn and the once serene feel to it gone. And obviously, Harry wasn't as switched on as he used to be, because the photo of you and your friends that was stuck to your mirror was gone, along with your favourite silk dress and one of your pillows.

Rage simmered in your bones, but you kept yourself contained, only cursing under your breath as you moved around your room.

Your head snapped up once you heard the soft footsteps.

There Red Robin stood at the foot of your bed. He leant against the post, imitating someone who was confident and sure, but his body language said otherwise.

"You ok?" His voice was soft, and suddenly you were abundantly glad he was here.

"No. I can't believe how this has escalated. He disappeared for months and now this." You threw a pair of pajamas into your suitcase.

Tim battled with his nerves as he neared you. "Listen, I know you might not want to be around anyone right now, but...I have somewhere you can go."

You stopped what you were doing to settle your gaze onto him.

"Somewhere to go?"

He forced himself not to scratch the back of his neck, remembering that you would pick up on it instantly. "Yeah, an apartment. Don't worry, it'd be just you. But you could stay there as long as you like, and I could keep an eye on you."

He realised how it had sounded as the words left his mouth. Tim shook his head. "Not like that, obviously. I wouldn't be stalking you, but we don't know what this guy is gonna do next, and it's best I know where you-, you'll be safe."

The faintest of smiles tugged at your lips.

And holy shit, if only you could always look at him like that. Just you, forever.

Shit, what was he thinking?

"The elusive Red Robin isn't taking me back to his own apartment is he?"

Tim fumbled for a second too long. "It's safer than a hotel." He reasoned. "And like I said, I wouldn't be staying there...just you."

"But where will you go?" You came closer, folding a shirt in your hands as you waited for his response. "I don't want to put you out."

He had his little nook back at Wayne Enterprises and his bedroom at the Wayne Manor. He'd be fine.

Tim shook his head again. "I'll be fine. Trust me."

And you did. As crazy as it was, especially given the circumstances, you did trust Red Robin. More than you trusted the police even.

"Ok, let me finish packing first. I just need to get my make-up and-"

Tim had you by your arms in the blink of an eye. Pulling you with him, he swiftly pushed you against the wall, his body shielding your own before placing his gloved index finger on your lips. You were seconds away from back handing him with all of the rings on your fingers, but the simple notion of his finger to your lips kept you quiet.

You both stilled, his hold on you gentle yet firm. His breath was warm against your skin and your heart began hammering in your chest. But not as fast as Tim's. He thought he'd pass out being so close to you. But he knew what he heard. Was sure that it was your stalker. And he was eager to get rid of him.

Tim turned his head towards the door to your bathroom.

That was where the noise came from.

Your eyes followed his gaze before snapping back to him. Tim looked back at you, expression a mixed mess of determination and concern, to which you responded with a raised brow. Then you gestured towards your bathroom.

Go.

Tim nodded in agreement. Slowly moving his hands from your arms, he quietly motioned for you to stay put. And you nodded, even if you knew you were lying.

Tim didn't know whether he should kick the door down or try to sneak into the darkened room, but he went with the latter, gently opening the door before slipping into the bathroom. And that's when he saw it. The figure outside your bathroom window on the fire escape.

Tim sprinted through the bathroom towards the hunched silhouette and ripped the window open.

It was him. Just as Tim expected.

Anger coursed through Red Robin's veins as he launched at the man. Tim got a good hit to his face, a stream of crimson flowing from the corner of your stalkers mouth, but he used Tim's momentum to throw him off balance. Tim fell on his back hard, and the man took his chance to run down the fire escape.

"Y/n, one of my guys were just looking through your CCTV. Your crazy stalker only just found out where you live last night-" You hastily yanked at the sleeve of Harry's coat, dragging him out of your apartment.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" Regardless of your lack of a response, Harry broke out into a sprint right behind you without hesitating.

"He's here!" You yelled out. "Come on Harry!"

Red Robin slammed into him, the pair falling down the last flight of iron stairs onto the cement. Tim got back on his feet again, but so did your stalker, and Tim soon realised he was a lot stronger and swifter then either of you had realised.

As the man went to escape, he brought down stacks of crates to block Tim's path. A rookie move, because Tim easily evaded it with his grapple before he was on foot again, chasing the man down the alleyway.

"Fuck you! You can't have her!" His voice was hoarse and his demand haunting, making Tim all the more motivated. Tim threw small metal balls towards him, thick smoke releasing on impact.

You and Harry were out of the apartment building and scouring the streets of Gotham in no time. The club music next door pounded in your head, along with the rush of your blood as you tried to make out where your stalker could have possibly gone. Where Red Robin could have gone.

"I think they're back here y/n!" Harry shouted from behind.

You whipped your head around and followed Harry down the alley way, your heels trudging through puddles and grime when suddenly, smoke appeared. Thick, grey smoke.

You and Harry slowed down and approach with caution before you watched as he ran out of it.

Him.

Your psychotic stalker. The man who has been giving you hell for so long. Your eyes met and instantly a chill ran down your spine.

He looked animalistic. Insane. A sickening smirk on his face as he looked back at you. But it fell short once Red Robin emerged from the smoke. Just as he did, two oblivious and intoxicated girls came into view, presumably from the club next door.

They were giggling and swaying, and your stalker wasted no time; slipping behind one of them, causing both girls to scream before he had a blade against oen of their throats.

Your hand launched for the gun hidden in Harry's holster, but his hand quickly grabbed yours to stop you. "No y/n!"

Everyone stilled, the sound of music, cars and stifled cries wandering through the night.

Your stalker leered at you, and you could read that terrifying face. That unnerving expression. Eyes darting between you and the gun, he almost dared you to do it. But then his eyes glanced over your form before he tilted his head, subtly gesturing to the weeping girl in his arms.

It'd be your fault. That's what he was saying. Her death would be on your hands.

You clenched your jaw, watching on in anticipation.

Red Robin's chest heaved with anger, his hand secured around his bō. "Let her go!"

"Let me go then..." He dragged out, his eyes flickering down to the handcuffs in Red Robin's free hand. "If anyone's gonna shackle me up, it's you pretty girl."

You grimaced, your hand tightening on the gun as Harry's tightened around yours.

"Ok, just let her go." Harry quickly reasoned, justifying his action with the fact that he was sure your stalker wasn't going to hurt you anytime soon. But the girl in his arms? The one that had a machete to her throat? Harry couldn't let her get hurt. He couldn't fail another person. The girl continued crying, her weeps ringing through the air. "Just let the girl go."

Tim looked over to you. Took in the hate in your eyes. And so did your stalker as he slowly backed away, the young girl still in his hold. "Tell boy wonder to stand down." He snapped.

Harry didn't say anything, he didn't have to. Tim was one of Gotham's protectors, it was his job to protect all of the civilians. So he stood down. And just like that, the man of your nightmares disappeared amongst the crowd behind the club, his victim now sobbing in her friends arms.

Tim wanted to go after him, no matter how frivolous it would be now that he was mixed amongst a mass of people, but his attention turned to you.

You let go of Harry's gun and placed your hands atop of your head, breathing heavily from the rush and anxiety of it all.

Red Robin made his way over to you. "What were you thinking?"

You assumed he was referring to you grabbing Harry's gun and went to respond until he cut you off again.

"I told you to stay inside y/n. He could have grabbed you!"

"Red Robin, he didn't-"

"But he could have. He was armed!"

You fell quiet, slightly taken aback with how much he truly cared. Tim was just mad he couldn't grab you and hold you so this freak couldn't go near you again.

Harry checked if the girls were ok, calling some of his men to come out and meet them at the club, just to make sure everything was ok. But his attention wavered to where you and Tim stood, tension simmering in the air as you both looked back at each other.

Harry let out a long sigh before placing a hand on your shoulder. "It's been a long night. You should go rest." Harry directed his tired gaze to Red Robin. "I can get someone from the station to escort her to your apartment."

Tim wanted to scoff. "Not likely. I can take her myself."

The drive back on the back of his motorbike was morbidly quiet. Your arms remained wrapped around him, your head resting on his muscled back. You could feel Red Robin's heart thumping, but kept it to yourself.

Tim's muscles grew rigid as he continuously thought back to what had just unfolded. He knew he was just angry at that guy. He knew he couldn't remain angry with you. Not even if he tried. All he could do from here on out was keep you safe and keep his promise. He let out a tired sigh before the tires on his motorbike came to a screeching halt outside a building. As you looked at the place you'd be staying at for the next couple of days, your jaw dropped.

Red Robin seemed to have forgotten to mention that his place wasn't some ordinary apartment. No, he owned a suite in one of the most prestigious hotels in Gotham.

"This is where you live?" You asked, slipping off his motorbike before he could offer his hand.

"Yeah," he pulled up his seat and grabbed your suitcase from the inside. "Come on, let's head in."

Before you entered the glass double doors and stepped upon the marble floors, you came to a halt, turning your head over your shoulder to look back at the street. To look at the alleyways looming before you, waiting to see his sickly face staring back at you.

"Hey," Tim grabbed your elbow, softly gesturing for you to relax. "It's ok, you're safe here."

"What if he comes?" You asked, and you couldn't hide the fear in your eyes anymore.

It made Tim's heart snap in half, but it also did something else. Some fervent need to protect you. To bring this stalker to justice. Deadly determination weighed down on him as he looked at you.

"He can sure try."

Part 4 soon ya'll, lmk what you think :)

[rockergiirl]

I’d actually love to hear you babble about might and magic 6

Might and Magic 6 is great, the start of what many consider the "golden age" of the might and magic series ending at 8 (we don't talk about 9 and 10)

This game is near and dear to my heart, being one of the first games I can remember playing that wasn't like an edutainment game, when I first played it my dad showing it to me was like "arrows keys to move, A to attack enemies" and then walked off to do something, when he returned he found that I had tested the controls in the starting town, arrows keys to move into the main street, and then pressing A test the attack button on an innocent civilian that I proceeded to punch in the face and then get the whole town to gang up on me and kill me.

it's very much in the vain of old crpgs of old, you play not as a single character but a party of 4 characters, each with their own skills and equipment clearing dungeons and completing quests (pretty much every single one is either kill a monster or collect an item tho)

It was the first game in the series to use 3D environments and models, although the models were limited and all the npcs in the game are just sprites of recordings of the model animations, but tbh I really like the aesthetic of the enemies, think something similar to the old DOOM games but it has a little extra like true 3D (or at least faux-3D I'm not fully aware of how the engine works) but the sprite based characters that I like, idk they just have a nice aesthetic.

The skills are defined by the character classes you pick at the start, for example a sorcerer won't be able to wear chain armour like a knight can, but a knight can't learn magic like a sorcerer. There are 3 main classes: Knights which specialise in physical combat, Clerics can use various divine magic, and Sorcerers can use arcane magic, then there are 3 sort of overlap classes: Archer a combination of Sorcerer and Knight, Paladin a combination of Cleric and Knight, and Druid is a combination of Sorcerer and Cleric. Each class also has advanced classes that require you to complete a specific quest for but give you bonuses.

There's skills for the various weapons you can find like staffs, swords, spears, bows, and blasters, then there's armour like shields, leather, chain, and plate, the various schools of magic, arcane being elements like fire and water which tend to lean towards offensive spells like fireball and slow, and divine magic is stuff like spirit and body which tend to be supportive spells for getting buffs or clearing effects like disease or insanity, then there's misc for things like body building for getting more hp or meditation for more spell points or disarm trap so you don't get suddenly killed by opening a chest.

Each skill has 3 levels, learned which just gives you the benefit of having the skill, expert gives a small bonus, and master gives you a massive bonus, for weapons it can do things like increase damage with the type of weapon or make you more likely to hit, with armour it can increase the ac bonus from wearing that type or reduce the speed penalty to actions, for spells it allows characters to learn more powerful spells like town portal and fly while also increasing the effectiveness of lower level spells so they don't get left behind (even though some spells in different schools have some overlap :P) and misc skills it just increases their effectiveness like being able to disarm higher level traps or being able to repair higher level gear.

You learn and train skills by reaching skill level requirements and sometimes even attribute requirements then finding trainers, which you find either from information provided by other npcs or, in most cases, barging into everyone's house at 3am after you returned from a dungeon and reached the skill level for the next training level. People that can initially teach skills are easy to come by, but skills tend to only have about 2 people that can train to expert, and only 1 for master.

Each class can learn most of the skills of different types, although knights can't learn any magic skills and for some reason clerics can only use maces, bows, staffs, and blasters

The main gameplay loop is you enter an area, go through the houses and points of interest picking up quests, go to various dungeons filled with monsters that you fight, collect gear and complete objectives, then return to town to sell excess gear, level up and increase skill levels and train skills when you can, hand in quests, move on to the next area.

It's a fairly mindless game that doesn't require as much attention as something like Baldurs Gate 3 or something, I've gotten the most out of it having it as a podcast/video essay type of game to play while listening to something else (but do not miss out on the ingame music, it is divine) and can be played with modern controls, resolutions, and QoL improvements (and a bit of modding weirdness) with the World of Enroth mod that combines 6, 7, and 8 into one game because why not

Story spoilers under cut (just in case idk this game might be to obscure for some people but you never know)

Anyway story: simple explanation in the context of might and magic 6 alone there are these demons that have recently appeared and attacked the town of sweet water which caused the player characters to flee to new sorpigal on the literal other side of the continent. The characters are trained by a warlock that teleported them there, there's a cult called the Church of Baa that have been gaining a foothold in Enroth because they provide affordable healthcare (I am not joking) but everyone is suspicious of them because they might be working with the demons and might be threatening the royal Ironfist family and might be trying to remove the Ironfists from power.

One thing leads to another the player characters are tasked with stopping the demons but must first get aid from the Oracle which requires the consent of the Enrothian council which makes up the early game of the player running around doing errands for each of the council members, also the child king nicolai escapes and literally runs off to the circus but you just look up the circus timetable and teleport to the place they will be at track him down and return him home. After gaining the approval of each of the council members you are allowed to see the oracle, and this game you thought was made by tolkein nerds SIKE IT'S ALSO STAR TREK NERDS! (but you may have already known that because when you leave a church one of the lines the priest npc says is literally "live long and prosper")

The oracle is a computer called Melian and the player needs to find and retrieve it's memory crystals from various dungeons. After retrieving the crystals it explains the demons are the Kreegans which are an alien race that have invaded the planet and the players after doing some more busy work get those blasters I was talking about and descend into basically a xenomorph hive and kill the kreegan queen, destroy the reactor, and job done, congratulations your winner.

[eriexplosion]

TIME TO MEET UP WITH LIZARD WIFE.

The fact that Crosshair's wrist is apparently even remotely near a small girls wrist size is hilarious to me. Eat more you skinny creature your limbs are only slightly bigger than a child's. He does say it's not an exact fit but. Close enough to work.

Wrecker doing Gonky lifts in the background is wholesome.

"The Jedi who are all dead?" is still the most 0-100 response, good job on your immediate escalation Tech. He's correct but damn.

LIZARD WIFE LIZARD WIFE

Anyway in case it wasn't clear I am extremely Pro-Cid. I love her even though she has committed crimes and betrayals. She looked really sad while doing it you see.

Tech's COMPLETE distaste for this place is hilarious. MAYBE he was ARRESTED for VIOLATING COUNTLESS HEALTH CODE REGULATIONS. It doesn't look that bad but he is Offended.

Love Omega just instantly tuning into the fact that Cid is engaged in the ancient art of 'straight up lying' while in the background everyone else discusses what their next move is if this isn't Cid's place like they didn't just walk under a big glowing sign that says "Cid's"

God bless them all

Deadly looking Crossbow: Exists

Omega: This is? for me to touch?

Nice foreshadowing to her actually getting a hold of a bow though.

I just love Cid's office full of concerning objects like said Crossbow, a mounted clone trooper helmet, and what looks distressingly like a wookiee pelt on the back of the chair. If Cid can do one thing it's design an office.

Echo is so deeply horrified by the concept of becoming a mercenary. They really were setting up the split early, it was obvious from the start that Echo wasn't going to run with this forever. It goes against everything they ARE.

Wrecker and Omega when Cid calls her the brains of the operation LOL. I love them.

Cid I love u but don't be mean to Wrecker in particular he's an angel and we're glad he's here.

The 'what's a slave trader' conversation is minorly annoying still because 'people can be sold' Omega let me tell you a story about THE ENTIRE BASIS OF THE KAMINOAN ECONOMY. Through Echo's whole explanation I'm sitting here going YOU. THAT IS YOU. YOU ARE THE PROPERTY THAT WAS BOUGHT AND SOLD AND NO ONE IS MENTIONING IT. There are points where it feels like they're just straight up not allowed to imply that while the Empire was WORSE for clones, the Republic was also very bad.

Another great moment though that shows how much Echo already doesn't fit this is when Tech helpfully fills in AS WELL AS EARN A DECENT AMOUNT OF CREDITS ONCE THE JOB IS COMPLETE and Echo sounds so damn downtrodden saying 'yeah, that too' they want to be doing good things for the sake of it not worrying about if it's going to get them paid. Tech meanwhile seems more like. You do a good thing (rescue a child) AND you get a good thing in return (the ability to eat regularly) what's there to be upset about?

Old Ord Mantell is goregoussssss

Hunter like 'I'm going to do a good job of parenting and make Omega stay with the ship' and then NOTHING HAPPENS AS PLANNED.

Truly insane that Echo was assigned to be the eyes in the sky, Echo you have one arm go climb that building right now, do it. I know they're used to having Crosshair to do this but surely secondary duty should fall on ANYONE BUT THE ONE WHO DOESN'T HAVE TWO HANDS.

Echo should by all accounts be severely injured from that fall, almost like people in Star Wars don't take fall damage.

Yes I'm going to be thinking about Tech through every one of these so SUE ME. IF THEY DIDN'T WANT ME THINKING ABOUT IT THEY SHOULD STOP SHOWING ME HIM FALLING.

Anyway after the fiasco in Cut & Run and this it is clear that losing Crosshair dramatically decreased the batch's fighting ability, almost like the family needs to be complete to truly thrive.

"I have my BEST PEOPLE (some guys and a child I met five minutes ago) ON IT"

Every food in TBB is simply some form of cylinder.

Something so sweetly domestic about Omega and Gonky on the ship she's just chilling with the family doggo who is actually a half charged brick of a droid.

Also to be fair to Omega. This time she TRIED to just stay on the ship like she was told.

I love when my faves are endangered so the entire batch being captured by slave traders is like catnip to me. Would watch a whole arc about this, I want them constantly getting hurt to protect each other please. My favorite narrative.

Once again Tech is the one to spot Omega clearly he should have been sent up the tower to be the eye in the sky.

Hunter trying to convince her NOT TO COME RESCUE THEM by insistingly shaking his head. You should already know that won't do ANYTHING Hunter.

This guys design and menacing demeanor go so hard for NO reason he's in it for like two and a half minutes tops.

Also regarding this scene, Echo going with 'the Republic outlawed slavery' is some real 'what do you mean you're being murdered that's illegal they can't do that' energy.

Leading Omega along where she needs to go via loud boasting is a great idea though.

"If you do not comply, the person next to you will pay the price" is a TERRIFYING LINE and it is happening ENTIRELY offscreen and I only know he says it because of the subtitles. More peril please.

MUCHI. GREAT HOW NOTHING BAD HAPPENS TO HER IN THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY RIGHT :'D

Still one of the more attractive things Hunter's ever done and I wish we could see his face for it, you know the stare is INTENSE.

Love Wrecker's tiny thumbs up

The moment of sending Muchi off is cute, GREAT HOW NOTHING BAD HAPPENS TO MUCHI R I G H T

The last bit with Cid <3 my girl I just love a crime grandma okay, I love her. She had no reason to make life that difficult for them she just did it Because. Something is wrong with her <3

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Teen Wolf (2023) Movie Thoughts (Mostly Ranting)

Mainly, I'm disappointed.

First here are the things I'm neutral about/did like:

I honestly thought Liam was Stiles at first. It could just be me, but Sprayberry strongly resembles O'Brien, and Liam came across more like a mature, collected Stiles than a grown Liam in that first scene.

For all the issues I have with Derek's storyline, I did like both the writing and the acting presented dad!Derek. I liked the fact Derek is helping out law enforcement when there's fires being set around Beacon Hills.

Unfortunately, this is pretty much all I liked, and to be clear, mistaking Liam for Stiles is something I'm neutral about. I didn't particularly care one way or another about Liam in the movie, and I was fine with Stiles not being in the movie.

Liam's girlfriend is another thing I'm neutral about. I'm not going to hate on an actress for accepting a job when another actress was done dirty. I didn't dislike this new character, but I didn't see anything that made me interested in her, either.

Now onto what I didn't like.

For all I liked dad!Derek, it rubbed me the wrong way that there was no mention at all of Eli's mother. It seemed pretty clear to me that Eli was Derek's biological son, and so, this is not a case of single Derek adopting a kid, which, I'd be totally down for.

Look, was he married? Is he divorced? As much as I usually hate the trope of dead mothers, is she dead? Did he have a one-night stand, and she handed the baby over with explicit instructions to never contact her? Did he get involved with another horrible woman, and there's a court order stating that, if she comes within hundred feet of Beacon Hills before Eli is eighteen, she'll be arrested?

Moving on, I could unhappily accept complete lack of Corey, but Mason as a cop?

No.

Nope.

Uh-uh.

This is like if Lydia was a deputy.

Bear with the jumbled way I try to express this.

Sheriff Stilinski and Parrish are both intelligent men. In this universe, maybe, BLM doesn't even need to be a thing, because, the justice system is largely fair and about actually protecting people.

If so, then, the police would be essentially a blue-collar job, and I absolutely do not intend to demean honest, hard-working blue-collar workers.

Mason had an insanely high GPA, he genuinely loved science, was a bonafide bookworm, and there were hints he was from an upper-middle-class background.

If he decided on the justice system, he'd be a lawyer or some type of specialist, but I really doubt he'd decide on the justice system in the first place.

He wasn't particularly athletic, and while he wasn't one to naturally challenge authority, he wasn't one who would try to uphold authority, either. Yes, he wanted to help people, to protect them, but he was more, 'let's figure this out so that I can get back to kissing my boyfriend, working on my grades, and learning all this cool stuff about my friends,' than anything.

But moving on, I wish I could have liked the Ethan mention, but it's not great when a person goes to a dangerous place to put themselves in danger without telling their significant other, and it's even worse when they decide to do all this despite knowing that their significant other has big, big problems with them doing so.

Assuming Ryan Kelley or whoever that bare-bottom belonged to was okay with their naked bottom being shown and touched on TV, then, yay for equal opportunity fanservice, but ugh to Parrish/Malia.

Ugh to Malia apparently going by the surname Hale now.

I could have been on-board with Harris' return, but the movie had to frell that up.

I accepted a long time ago that Harris being Jackson's biological father wouldn't happen, but it's canon that Harris showed genuine concern, possibly even affection, for Jackson.

And of course, his motivation is that, like almost all the villains, whether correct in doing so or not, he blames Scott for his pain and suffering.

I wouldn't say Adam Fristoe was bad, he does seem to be a good actor, but aside from all my problems with Harris' role, I felt as if Fristoe was playing a way different character than Harris ever was.

Random, but when I first the line, "They call me Mister Tibbs," I thought, 'But the character is a detective.'

I had a similar thing when Peter referred to Deaton as 'Mister' Deaton. He is a licensed veterinary doctor.

The thing is, I honestly don't think this was a race thing with Deaton, but that's where my mind went.

Finally, onto Allison.

This had the potential to be great, but it wasn't.

Erica and Boyd were never brought up. So, everyone going on about how Allison wouldn't harm a fifteen-year-old boy- how old was Boyd when Chris himself said, paraphrased, 'Caught came awfully close to kill.'? Erica was sixteen when Allison shot an arrow at her whilst she was lying on the ground from another arrow shot.

Whether Allison ever truly felt bad for contributing to Erica's death or whether she was just horrified she became this person she recognised as immoral due to manipulation was, arguably, never made clear in the series.

That could have been explored. Has everything made her a coldly practical person who is determined never to cross certain moral lines and to follow this path of being a warrior, or is she a passionate, empathetic person who is trying to heal from the mistakes she wishes she could take back but knows she can't?

Chris had a line about how he'd kill to protect a fifteen-year-old boy, but whether he actually did hold a gun to Scott's head to get Allison to agree to stop seeing Scott or that was unreliable narration, he did do a lot of other things to make it clear that teenage shifters were lesser in his eyes.

And I'm still convinced, if he could have, he would have locked Lydia in his basement after her fugue state until she either died from a combination of starvation, dehydration, and possibly infection, or until she turned, whereupon he either would have killed her or secretly deposited her in Eichen's.

In the end, it was all about Scott/Allison, not about Allison rediscovering/reclaiming herself.

This is minor, but Scott not knowing what 'wistful' means was stupid. I didn't buy that.

That's all for now.

Fin.

[kim-poce]

New Witch (Curse Words)

This is a Curse Words fanfic. Original story by @derinthescarletpescatarian.

Next

CW: abandonment of a child, mention of parent death, witches.

=-=

It was noon on a hot sunny day, everyone was either helping in the kitchen or doing something that did not require going out under the sun.

Pietro was in the middle of a knitting project he had been putting off for some time now. While he loves this hobby, truth be told, no sane (or insane) person in that city would put a sweater on, still, he was bored of making capes for random objects, so whatever.

There was a weak, fast knock on the door. It could only mean two things, either a client or a new witch. Pietro hoped it was the first, sighed, got up and couldn't help but close his eyes at the strong light after opening the door.

“Hello,” he said, blinking several times and wiping some tears away.

“A-ah, hello…” the woman at the front door said, her shoulders shrinking into themselves while she awkwardly held the wrist of a small girl of whom Pietro tried to guess the age out of habit. Seven years old. She was quietly looking down, not seeming to mind the uncomfortable way the woman was holding her. Pietro stared at the girl’s hand with curiosity, since he had never seen someone wearing gloves for no reason.

A new witch then. “Would you like to enter and have some tea?”

She searched his every exposed skin, before looking behind his shoulders and looking for someone else, “Are there… I mean…”

“Yes. There are witches inside” he said, wondering what would be her reaction upon actually seeing his witch mark and whether this would make her give up. “May I help you with anything?”

“Is it true?” the woman asked in a desperate voice, staring at him with reddened eyes, there were deep dark circles under her eyes.

“What is tru-”

“I swear I'm not the kind of woman would….” she glanced at the girl, “make this kind of… decision. But I have a life too! It was already so hard to lose my sister. I loved her, even after everything, I would even take care of her daughter as if she was mine but…”

“But she got a curse,” Pietro completed, he knew where the talking was going, and truthfully he wasn't in the mood for it. It was hot. He wanted to go back in and drink a glass of water.

“I wouldn't be like this if that was the case, I'm not bad! I wouldn't come here if she had just got cu- this thing into her. I… I don't want to hate a child, much less my sister's daughter but she… that thing in her killed my sister. I'm sure of it, I can't just… I have to let her go. So I implore you… is it true?”

Pietro shouldn't have opened the door. He should've just called Milena and let her deal with emotional people as always, but here we were so he let out a consoling smile, “We will take good care of her, yes. There is no need to worry, she will be safe.”

The woman nodded. Suddenly getting lost in thought, she told herself once again this was for the better, that this was what her sister would want, that she has no choice. She has no choice at all.

Still, what should she do now? Should she talk to the girl before leaving? Should she say something to the man in front of her about her niece? Like things she likes or something? Would she be able to leave her behind after talking about her like this? Should she say goodbye? Should she tell her that she doesn't hate her, but she has no choice. Does she have a choice?

The girl did not complain as the woman unconsciously gripped her wrist harder, nor did she reach out to her when, after taking a deep breath, the woman opened her hand, turned around, and walked away without looking back.

The witch just turned around too and watched.

“She won't be back,” Pietro said to the girl after a minute or so. He really isn't the one who knows the way of words to new witches. “You'll live with us from now on.”

The girl didn't move or say anything, just kept watching her aunt walk away. The trail down the hill was clear so it would take about twenty minutes before the woman completely vanished from sight.

There was no need to stop the new witch from watching, so Pietro walked back in, fetched his knitting tools, and sat down at the front door, not letting on his face how much he hated the sun on his face. He didn't know his way with words, so the least he could do was to stay by her side.

The minutes went by, the woman had long vanished, Milena had glanced at the two on the door once and made sure not to let anyone disturb, the sunlight had fortunately been covered for a passing cloud and Pietro could almost focus on the knitting. Almost.

Is she still waiting for her? He wondered. The girl seemed to understand what was happening, but maybe it was just Pietro's wishful thinking. She was young, there was a limit of how much she can get without someone telling her.

“What does your curse do?” Pietro wondered out loud, like an insensible idiot. “Sorry you don’t-”

The girl raised her gloved hand and slightly touched his shoulder, making him flinch away and dropping the needles. The girl’s eyes widened at his reaction, she took a step back and held her hands close to her chest, trying to look small and harmless.

“No, no. I’m not hurt or scared, don't need to worry,” Pietro tried, carefully not touching the freezing cold spot on his shoulder. “I just wasn’t expecting the cold, that’s all. I’m just surprised.”

The girl looked up warily, making Pietro self conscious about his facial expressions.

“I’m Pietro,” he tried, stretching out his hand for a handshake, which he assumed was the better way to show her he wasn’t afraid of her touch, even when he partially is.

After looking at him for a long while she ever so slowly touched his hand, a small freezing touch at first and in the lack of reaction from the older witch she gave him a freezing handshake. As soon as he was out of her sight he would heat some water for a bath.

“What’s you name?” he asked, grateful the girl had let go of his hand.

“Ember,” she said quietly, her voice was hoarse as if she had a cold.

“Nice to meet you, Ember. Would you like a cup of tea?”

Ember glanced down the hill once again, closing her hands into fists for a few seconds before looking back up and nodding. “Thank you.”

=-=

[allegra-writes]

"The Game"

Tom Holland x Reader

NSFW

Warnings: Smut, daddy kink.

Golf is boring. You wanna play something else...

"Swinging on the front porch, swinging on the floor.

Swinging where we want, cause there ain't nobody home..."

Cherry Pie - Warrant

He should have known it was a trap. He should have known it from the very first minute. This was punishment, plain and simple punishment. Unusually cruel punishment. He didn't even know why he was so surprised, in fact, he should have seen it coming a mile away. After all, you were about as subtle as a train wreck. And that was exactly how you had hitted him. 

You had always despised golf, said it was snobbish and boring. But he always invited you to tag along just in case, because sharing one of his favorite activities with his favorite girl? That sounded almost like paradise to him. That was probably the reason why that morning, when you had jumped at the chance to join him at the country club, he hadn't suspected a thing.

Oh, how naive he was. How trusting of him. Because now, he had to play 18 while trying to conceal a throbbing, almost painful erection, watching you prance around wearing that. It was ridiculous. It was silly. It was cliche.

It was driving him completely insane.

Your little ensemble was straight out of some soft-porn movie set, he was sure of it: Keds, knee high socks… and a criminally short pleated skirt, especially designed to torture him. You guys weren't even half way through, and he was already about to snap, with his arms enveloping you, hands over yours on the handle of the club, as you bended over just a little, ass pressing against his pelvis just enough to tease him, to remind him how good it felt being buried to the hilt inside your tight, tight heat, the slapping sounds of skin against skin combining with your moans...

One of his hands let go of the club, subconsciously wrapping itself over your hip bone, when you moved, twisting, hips getting away from his. 

"Oh my god! I can't believe it, did you see that?" You turned around to face him, eyes alight with joy at having hit the ball for the first time in your life. 

And for a second, he felt bad. He was probably reading too much into it, chances were you didn't even know what you were doing to him. You were innocent in all that, it wasn't your fault not knowing just how damn irresistible you were, how hard you made him just by standing close to him…

Until he noticed the outline of your nipples under your white t-shirt, made almost see through under the bright sunlight. His eyes squinted in suspicion.

"Are you wearing any underwear?" He blurted out, cheeks immediately turning red, looking around to make sure no one had heard him. But there was no one around, not many people playing on a wednesday morning. In fact, you had the whole course pretty much for your selves.

His cock twitched inside his pants, but he shook himself, squashing the thought before it could take full shape.

You seemed to ignore him, as your face fell.

"I… don't think I was supposed to shoot it that way, though" 

Tom's eyes followed yours, but try as he might, he couldn't find the white dot he was looking for.

"Where the hell did it go?"

"I think it landed behind those bushes" You pointed to the far away patch of hydrangeas on the other side of the field. He couldn't help the snort that left his mouth,

"Yeah, that's not even close to where it should be!"

"Hey! Don't laugh at me"

"I mean, at least we know you have a strong swing" He let out between laughs

You rolled your eyes,

"Be gentle with me, this is my first time" 

The laughter died in his throat like you knew it would, as the innuendo hit him, eyes darkening as they roved over your body once again. You had to know what you were doing... 

You turned around so he couldn't see your smirk, as you started walking in big strides in the direction of the bushes, leaving him to struggle to follow you, carrying the bag full of clubs. 

It wasn't a bad sight, he had to admit, watching you walk ahead of him, your skirt bouncing with your movements, hips swaying gently from side to side. And it was even better as you reached the tall plants, parting the branches trying to see past them, bending over once again, your short skirt riding up your thighs, higher, and higher. He gulped, what little blood was left in his brain rushing south, as he saw the cleft where the round globes of your ass met your legs. You climbed on your tiptoes, and he choked on a groan: just a little bit more and the answer to whether you had or not any underwear on would be right before his eyes, literally…

"Found it!" You called out, victorious, falling to your heels again, walking around the lilac flowers, disappearing from sight, heedless to his disappointment. 

He knew it was a bad idea, as he trailed after you, like in a trance. But there you were, waiting for him behind the tall wall of bushes hiding you both from sight from every angle, mischievous glint in your eye.

The ball was nowhere to be found, and he finally understood.

Your stomach made a flip as Tom tugged at his glove with his teeth, discarding it on the green grass, his whole demeanor changing before your eyes, jaw squaring, eyes hardening, movements slow and measured as he circled you like a tiger stalking his prey. 

"You dirty little liar" He accused, watching the corners of your mouth twitch, trying to hide your satisfied smile, but it was useless: you looked every bit like the cat that got the cream. Well, he knew of another thing that looked great dripping down your chin…

"You think you're real clever, don't you? Really sneaky, teasing me all morning with this little outfit," He let his now naked hand trace your nipples, already hard under the fabric of your tee, making goosebumps erupt on your skin. He was right, you hadn't bothered with a bra, "making me hard with your little touches and smart mouthed comments…"

"Golf is boring" You shrugged, "I wanna play something else" 

He stepped back, away from you, leaving you feeling cold without his heat, despite the bright sunshine. 

"Too bad, baby girl, I'm done with games" His eyes were steel as he commanded, "Show me"

"Show you what?" You looked at him through your eyelashes, you knew how much he liked it when you played coy. But this time, he had told you the truth, the games were over.

"You know bloody well what" His south London accent was always heavy when his patience was wearing thin, "lift that little skirt and show me what's mine" 

You obeyed, and this time, he did groan, the wet patch on the simple white cotton of your thong almost better than his fantasies of your bare skin. 

He fell to his knees on the grass. God, he was so whipped! His plan had been to have you kneeling in front of him, choking on his cock as he fucked your mouth so deep and hard that tears would stream down your face. He would release himself down your throat, leaving you begging for his softening cock, his fingers, his tongue, his freaking golf club, anything to fill your empty little cunt. But of course all of that flew out the window the second he actually saw that pretty pussy through your panties, made almost transparent with your desire for him, the fabric clinging to every curve, every little detail clear for him to admire.

"Come here, baby girl" His tone was much softer as he spoke, "let daddy have a little taste" 

You did as you were told, never stopping to hold your skirt up high for him. Tom nuzzled the cotton, breathing you in before hooking one finger on the damp fabric, tugging gently to the side to reveal your most secret spot to him. He let his tongue poke out, placing kitten licks against your clit, eyes rising to meet your face. Your own were closed already, little frown between your eyebrows, as if the tiny shocks of pleasure coursing through your body confused you. So expressive. So responsive. 

How could he ever stay mad at you when you were so fucking perfect? It only took one taste of you to melt whatever was left of his anger, as he marveled of the angel whining so prettily above him, delicate fingers digging into his shoulders to support herself as her legs shook for him. It never failed to amaze him, to blow his mind. It had always been like that, he had put you up on a pedestal long before you had started dating. 

But now, he wanted to lay you down, and spread you open under the sun. 

He tsked at your huff as his tongue left you.

"No, baby, you don't get to complain today. You've been a very bad girl, so now," He helped you down onto your back on the grass, making quick work of your panties. Taking a hold of your ankles, he hooked them over his shoulders, aligning himself with your dripping center, "you're going to take my cock like a good girl" 

With that, he let his head breach you, entering you slowly, so slowly. Savoring every second, sliding in inch by inch, making you feel every millimeter of his thick, thick length as he buried it into your sweet pussy, stretching you to the limits of pleasure. He had you fold almost in half, as his pelvis finally met yours. You sighed, you had thought he would burst through your ovaries before he was completely seated inside you.

"Can you feel me, babygirl? Feel how deep I am?" 

You nodded, unable to form words. He relented, only a couple of inches, before surging back in. 

"Feel me stretching your tight little cunt? Fuck, it feels so snug…"

He drew back again, snapping back against you harder, making you cry out,

"Yes!"

"Only I can fill you like this" He breathed, in and out again, and again. And again, establishing a harsh rhythm, "This pussy belongs to me…" 

"Yes, daddy" You sobbed, obediently. By now you knew exactly what he wanted to hear. He tugged at your t-shirt, sneaking his hand under it, massaging your breast. 

"These pretty tits are mine…"

It was hard to concentrate with him railing you into the ground, fast, brutal. Making sure the base of his cock dragged against your clit just right with every thrust.

"Yours, daddy" You managed, somehow, earning yourself a smile. If wolves could really smile at lambs before gobbling them right up...

He leaned forwards, bracing himself on one arm, the other travelling from your chest, to your neck. To your jaw. His tumb caressed your lower lip, and you opened up to him. Two of his fingers slid inside your mouth, pressing down on your tongue, you sucked them eagerly, hollowing your cheeks just the way he liked. 

"My princess… so pretty with your mouth full" Tom praised, hips never stopping, plunging his cock into you as far as it would go, over and over again, "wanna fuck your beautiful face… but this pussy… feels too good"

You sobbed around his fingers.

"So good… won't let me go… a slave" His thrusts were becoming messy. Erratic. Tom took his fingers out of your mouth to flick your clit with them.

"No, Tommy! Too much…" You cried, pushing at his hand, overstimulated. But he wouldn't budge. 

"Don't care. You're gonna take it" He growled, but sweetly kissed away your tears. He needed you to come, fast. Because there was no way he was lasting much longer, and you knew what to say if you really wanted him to stop anyway. 

"Fuck… yeah, just like that" he could feel you tensing around him. You were almost there, and he was right behind you, "so good… gonna come, baby girl. Gonna come inside you…" 

You shook your head, too delirious to express it with words, but he knew. You didn't like feeling dirty, didn't like the smell. But he fucking loved it. 

"Oh yeah… gonna fill you up… and you're not getting those panties back" His smirk was devilish, filthy. And you were sure that, even without his cock jackhammering into you, you could have come from that look alone. "Gonna see myself dripping down your thighs as you walk…"

His movements were downright sloppy now, as his words edged himself as much as they were edging you.

"Gonna have you sit in the car just like that… ruin your fucking little skirt… OH, FUCK" 

You felt his cock swell, pumping his seed inside your loins. You bit the inside of your cheek to keep from screaming, as his climax unleashed your own. Still, he kept moving,

"Gonna put your mouth around me while I drive…" There was no way the morning was ending without him having your mouth.

"Tom…" You could feel him begin to soften inside you, but he still wouldn't stop.

"Shhh, baby girl. Wanna make a mess…"

The end.

Buy me a coffee

[bigender-titan]

Try Again

Eda and Raine during O Titan, Where Art Thou.

Raine said Eda had been bragging about Luz for hours, which meant they'd been talking for hours, and I kind of went from there. It was meant to be fluffier, but, uh, content warning for a panic attack. Oops.

AO3

@aphelea @rainbow-frog-earrings @perhaps-it-was-never-before

Guards are talking outside. Eda can't hear much, but she catches the words "the human" and "Belos" and it's perfectly clear that if Luz is taken to Belos, she will die, and there's no actual reason for Eda to think she can protect Luz because she's always failed at that but all it takes is the image of Luz at Belos's mercy flashing across her mind is enough to send rage boiling through Eda's chest. Her hands are feathery now, clawing at her cage, the guards will probably kill her for this but it's worth it if there's even a chance she'll save Luz-

"Eda, calm down, it's okay!" somehow breaks through the roaring in her ears, and it's Raine's voice? That can't be right, Raine can't be here, isn't Raine back at the castle- or- or she did send them to retrieve the package, in which case they're near the danger even though there's nothing they can do without getting hurt- "Eda, you're safe. I'm going to open the door now, okay?" She has just enough presence of mind to tell herself not to claw their face off when the doors open. 

Raine's jaw drops. "Eda, I... you look... what..."

Oh. Yes. Harpy form. This is new to them. If she was a little less panicked, Eda would be very satisfied with the flush on Raine's cheeks. As it is, she demands to know what's happening, voice cracking at the end.

"Well, when I heard you'd been captured-" their voice breaks a little, too.

"They looked pretty terrified for someone who insisted they were completely over you," Darius interjects.

Raine glares at him, blushing. "Darius and I found you on the way to the conformatorium and rescued you from the old guards." 

Everything is still pretty jumbled in Eda's head, and the absolute insanity of the situation doesn't help. She takes a deep breath, trying to figure out what in the Titan's name is going on. "Isn't Darius the one who captured you back when we-" How does that sentence end? Back when we were in the BATS. Back when we were working together. Back when we played that song. Back when we had a chance at repairing our relationship?

"If I wasn't the one to capture them, someone actually on Belos's side would have hurt them much worse than I did."

That does make sense, as much as anything right now makes sense. Eda still doesn't like him. 

Raine clears their throat. "Now that we've answered your questions, will you please tell me why you look like that?"

"Oh, you know. Got drugged by my owl tube door. Had a dream in which I revisited every relationship the curse took away from me. Hung out with the owl beast on the shore of an ocean made out of elixir. Made peace with the curse. Woke up with the ability to turn into a harpy at will. I look hot like this, right?"

Raine doesn't agree, but they do turn bright red, which Eda will count as a victory. "Well," they say, very subtly changing the subject. "I think that's the most you've ever told me about the curse."

It stings. It was probably meant to. She stares at her hands, slowly morphing from feathered to normal. "I know. I'm sorry I didn't let you in. I should have been more honest with you about everything, I just thought that if I was... you would try to fix me, like my mom. Or you just wouldn't love me anymore."

"Well, you're an idiot for thinking I would stop loving you over something like that." They very pointedly do not make eye contact.

"Yeah, I know." She runs a hand through her hair. "I won't keep things from you, moving forward. Assuming, you know, we don't die in the next two days."

Raine grins. "Lord Calamity, I'm so glad you're okay." They hold their arms open and Eda doesn't hesitate to launch herself into them, nearly lifting Raine up to spin them around. They hold her just as tightly as she's holding them, and despite the fact that Belos is going to kill everyone in two days if they don't think of something fast, Eda hasn't felt safer in a long time. 

"I missed you, Rainstorm," she mutters.

Darius clears his throat. "Touching as this reunion is, can we perhaps focus on stopping Belos?"

Heat rushes to her face as she steps back. "Right. Yes. Good idea. We need to save my daughter first."

"Your... daughter?"

"Luz. Luz Noceda. The human. The one who's currently being taken to Belos to be killed?" She... did not mean to sound quite so terrified.

Raine puts a hand on her shoulder. "We'll find her."

Even if she doesn't totally believe them, the sound of their voice makes it a little easier to breathe. "Okay. Okay. I'll let Lilith know what's happening, maybe she can help."

"Lilith? I thought you guys hadn't spoken in years. I missed a lot, didn't I?"

"I'll catch you up, just give me a moment to call her."

Darius nods. "While you're doing that, I'll notify the... other rebels."

"We have a name, you know."

"It's a stupid name that I never agreed to."

"The CATS is a fine name, you're just mean."

Oh, Titan, she missed Raine.

Lilith finds them soon after, bringing along King and Hooty and some guy named Steve that she decides not to ask about. The more people, the better. The old BATS come along too, greeting her with a "Hi, mama Eda!" Maybe she has even more kids than she thought. More people to lose on the Day of Unity. More children she has to protect and more children she will inevitably fail to protect and more people to lose because she's useless and-

"Eda? Are you okay?"

Raine's voice, gentle, a soft brush of their fingers on her arm. She tells the voice in her head to leave her alone and forces a smile. "I'm okay, Rainstorm."

Their eyes narrow. "I thought you said you wouldn't keep things from me anymore."

As much as Eda hates to admit it, they're right. No way is she going to lose them yet again because she was too stubborn to let them get close. So she sighs. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just really freaked out about this whole Day of Unity thing, and I'm worried about my kids. I just want them to be safe and I..." She sighs and leans her head on Raine's shoulder. They put an arm around her.

"What's this Luz like?"

Despite everything, a smile comes to her face. "She's incredible. Absolutely brilliant. And she's got such a good heart, she always wants to help people." Eda talks for what feels like hours about everything from Luz tumbling through her portal onward. How she tried teaching the light spell and Luz discovered glyphs, the absolute chaos she wreaked at Hexside- that made Darius, former victim of Eda's Hexside chaos, agree Luz was definitely her daughter- and how she and her girlfriend were Grom Queens. She tells Raine all about the failed petrification ceremony. It gets less like fond reminiscing after that, more like recounting everything they'd been piecing together about the Day of Unity, but Eda makes sure to mention how adorable she was with Amity, how smart she was building the portal, how brave she is even now. By the time she's done rambling on about Luz, Eberwolf has located her, and the group moves quickly.

"I'm excited for you to meet Luz," she mumbles to Raine after they take out the guards. "You're gonna love her."

Luz kicks the doors open and starts screaming, looking on the verge of tears when Darius grabs her ankle with his abomination goop and dangles her over the ground. Eda rushes over. "Luz! Luz, it's okay."

Darius lets her down, and Eberwolf undoes her handcuffs.

"Luz!" King rushes towards his sister with a tackle hug, and Eda smiles at her kids.

Raine walks over to them. "So, you must be the famous human witch. Eda's been bragging about you for hours." Guilty as charged. "I'm Raine."

Luz squeals. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm actually meeting you in person! I heard all about your adventures with Eda and how you became Head Witch of the bard coven, but were secretly a spy. And then you and Eda played that duet and- and then you got captured!"

"And your memories got all scram-jambled," King adds.

Raine explains how Darius wasn't actually trying to hurt them, and the two resume bickering. Eda ignores them over the sound of the question building in her head. "Raine, why didn't you tell me anything? I could've helped."

They scratch their neck. "Is it so unbelievable that I wanted to keep you safe?" Raine cares, Raine cares, Raine still cares. A lot. Later on, they are most definitely going to have a conversation about hypocrisy, and how neither of them should keep secrets from the other anymore, even for their own protection. But for now, Eda's too glad to be with them to start an argument. "But in typical Eda fashion, you're not gonna stop until you make things right."

She looks down at her feet, trying to hide the stupid smile that's spreading over her face. "I guess not."

"Things aren't hopeless," Lilith says, trying to draw the conversation away from Eda-and-Raine-being-blushing-messes and towards stopping the Day of Unity. "They have a plan to stop Belos and the Draining Spell." 

Luz gasps. "Really? Wait, wait. Before you get into that, please tell me you have a cool rebel name!"

It wouldn't be a Raine Whispers rebel group if it didn't. "Actually, we do. Please allow me to introduce..."

"Wait, hold on!" Darius says, stretching out a hand.

"...the Covens Against the Throne..."

He massages his forehead. "We talked about this. You promised."

"...AKA..."

"I did not agree to this name!"

"...the CATS!" They wave their hands excitedly, and the former BATS hiss, and Eda can't stop smiling at the look of delight on Raine's face.

She is so in love with them. 

On the way to the CATS hideout, Eda decides to have that hypocrisy conversation with Raine. They might not get many more chances, between planning and trying not to die and maybe dying anyway. She rests her hand on theirs. "So, you were lying and keeping things from me to try to keep me safe?" Raine winces, but she keeps going. "After breaking up with me because I wouldn't tell you things, didn't trust you enough to let you help, pushed you away- you go and do the same thing to me? You are so annoying, Rainstorm, and you're lucky I like you."

The last part wasn't supposed to be out loud.

"I know. I'm sorry. It was wrong of me, but I... couldn't bring myself to put you in danger. I messed up. I'll do better." They lace their fingers with hers. "If we survive all this, would you want to... try again? Being honest with each other this time?"

"I think I'd like that," Eda says, and Luz shrieks something about raeda behind her. 

Whatever happens on the Day of Unity, her family is together, and annoying the hell out of her, and Eda wants this to last forever.

[aslitheryprinx]

ok writing prompt: tiny!Slimecicle and giant!Quackity soft/safe mouthplay (though he’s slime so you can do all kinds of things without hurting him). Half-asleep Quackity in the casino's kitchen, popping what his sleepy mind thinks is a small piece of jello in his mouth, only moments later to absentmindedly go ‘no wait that’s Slimecicle’ (I wanna say he taste like green apple jelly 😋)

Yesss this is a really soft prompt. This was really fun to write, and a little out of my comfort zone in a good way since I don't really write either of these characters. That being said, I did stick with a Quackity pov on this one bc I don't even know where to begin with a dsmp!slime pov lol.

Also, I'm pretty sure this I made it clear enough in the writing, but just in case I didn't, this isn't a ship piece, this is purely some platonic fluff!

NSFW do NOT interact

CW: brief implied/mentions of torture from the prison, soft/safe mouthplay, soft/safe vore

_____

Damp and Dark

_____

It was late when Quackity got back to Las Nevadas. It was normal for people to be out and about far into the night in this city. The main attractions were the casino and club, after all. But 4am was late, even for here.

Quackity didn't normally get back this late. He preferred to make his… excursions a bit earlier in the day; Sam preferred it too. But what he was doing… what he had to do up at the prison… Quackity refused to let it become a routine.

Dream deserved every goddamn thing that happened. Quackity believed that with every fiber of his being, and the memory of Tommy's body that he'd seen a glimpse of- though it had presumably vanished when he was brought back- was enough to keep him from ever doubting what he was doing. But actually doing it… if he ever let that become just a routine, if he ever forgot how dark the path he walked for the greater good was, he would become just as much of a monster as Dream.

So his prison visits had no set schedule, which meant he would occasionally get home at odd times. Like 4am, when the lights of the buildings were off and nobody roamed the streets. Few people roamed them anyways, but the city felt like even more of a ghost town at this hour.

Quackity stumbled into a building- he wasn't entirely sure which one, but it had a kitchen at least. Exhaustion tugged at him, and he longed to pass out somewhere even vaguely bed shaped. The gnawing emptiness in his stomach took priority though, and he searched the kitchen blearily for any food. He'd gone longer without food, but the hunger would keep him awake no matter how tired he was.

There was nothing in the fridge, and he huffed in frustration. He was about to try another building, when his eyes caught on a tiny bowl on the counter. It was full of what looked like gelatin. It was probably leftover from the jello shots they'd stocked the club with.

Quackity had eaten far stranger things than jello left out on the counter for an unknown amount of time. It was barely a mouthful, but it should fill him up enough to let him sleep. Not bothering to grab a spoon, he scooped up the jello with one hand and popped it into his mouth.

It was thicker than he expected, but the crisp fruity flavor reminded him of apples. He hummed appreciatively as he rolled it around in his mouth. The texture was really strange. No matter how much he chewed, the jello didn't dissolve, or seem to change at all. Still, he enjoyed the taste, and as it started curling around his tongue-

Wait.

Quackity spat into his hands, heart racing. The jello- or rather, slime- began to move, curling around his fingers in a familiar way.

"Slime?!" He said incredulously. Sure enough, possibly the slime in his hands shifted slightly, forming into the face of what was possibly the strangest resident of Las Nevadas.

"Hello, Quackity of Las Nevadas!" Slime said, completely unbothered by the fact that Quackity had nearly eaten him.

"What the hell are you doing? Are you insane?" He asked the currently tiny slime. "I nearly ate you!"

"Yes!" Slime agreed, and his lack of self-preservation was going to make Quackity pull his hair out one of these days.

"Do you even know what that means?" He snapped, glaring at the slime in his hands. Slime was just as unaffected by the look as always, and Quackity fully expected he'd be giving another lecture that dying=bad today.

"Yes!" Slime said. "It means you swallow me, and then I go to the dark and the damp! Just like a hole!"

The statement threw Quackity for a loop. He stared at the sentient slime in his hands for a moment before he processed what he'd just said.

"Wait, wait, you want me to eat you?" He asked incredulously. Slime nodded- a little awkwardly as he'd only recently been taught how to do the gesture- and Quackity took a moment to adjust to yet another strange thing about Slime.

"Normally if someone's eaten, they die, you know," he told the slime.

"Don't worry, Quackity of Las Nevadas! You can't hurt me!" His friend(?) said cheerfully. Despite himself, Quackity felt an uncomfortable chill go down his spine. He never liked being reminded that the strange creature he'd essentially adopted- though he'd deny that to his grave- was very likely immortal. He was terrified what might happen if he got on the slimes bad side- if Slime even had a bad side.

"You're sure?" He asked, pushing away his discomfort.

"Of course!" Slime replied. "Are you going to eat me, Quackity of Las Nevadas?"

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. The exhaustion was creeping back now that he'd gotten over the shock of his snack being alive. It was incredibly weird to think about eating his friend, but Slime had obviously done this before. And Quackity really didn't want to go searching for something to eat.

"Yeah, I guess I am," he grumbled, lifting the slime to his mouth.

Slime crawled in with no warning, and Quackity nearly choked. For a moment, he just stood awkwardly, holding the slime in his mouth. Slime curled against his tongue again, and he licked instinctively. The same fruity flavor burst in his mouth, and he frowned, baffled. Why exactly did Slime taste good? It was like he was eating actual jello.

He couldn't ask while his mouth was full, so he pushed the question aside for later. He wasn't entirely sure what to do, until he remembered earlier, before he'd realized that it was Slime. He'd been chewing and biting down, but the slime had seemed perfectly fine. It felt strange to not chew when he had something in his mouth, so he very gently bit down.

Slime didn't react at all, so he started to chew normally. He was worried about hurting his friend, but it seemed the slime was right. Quackity couldn't actually hurt him.

Having Slime in his mouth was a little like chewing on an entire mouthful of gum. It wasn't unpleasant, but after a while, his jaw started to get tired. Hesitantly, Quackity started pushing the glob of his friend to the back of his mouth. He really wasn't sure about this part. If it felt weird to be chewing his friend like a piece of food, it felt flat out wrong to actually swallow him.

But, as naive as the slime could be sometimes, Quackity trusted his judgement- when it came to how he worked at least. If it was safe, and something that would make the slime happy, then Quackity would do this. Besides, if things went wrong, he had some nasty failed potions that would make it very easy to get Slime out again.

Quackity tilted his head back, and took a deep breath through his nose. Slime seemed to melt slightly, almost like he was relaxing. The slime's calmness about being swallowed made Quackity feel better too. Before he could keep overthinking it, he pushed his tongue back and swallowed.

Slime started to slide down his throat, the sensation smooth and cool. His friend was wiggling slightly as he went down, and it almost tickled. It took several thick swallows before Quackity could breathe again, and he rested a hand on his throat, marveling at the strange sensation of Slime traveling down.

He actually felt it when Slime reached his stomach. There was the feeling of something dropping into his stomach, and then a gentle pressure, almost like the slime was pressing against the walls of his stomach. Absently, he pressed back.

The weight of his friend settled below his heart was making something like warmth burn in his chest. It felt almost like… he was hugging Slime, protecting him. He was struck with the sudden realization that he cared about Slime, he cared about his friend even though he'd tried to distance himself. He wasn't sure when that happened, and he wasn't sure if he was ready to deal with that.

Before he could think too deeply, he was hit with a wave of exhaustion, and he remembered why he'd needed a snack in the first place. Slime was curled up comfortably in his stomach, he felt comfortably full, and he was ready to pass out.

It was all Quackity could do to stumble out of the kitchen and collapse onto the closest couch. As his eyes shut and his body fell limp, he curled unconsciously around his middle, a hand resting protectively over where Slime rested.

[furiousgoldfish]

My parents are super strict with me and really lenient with my younger brother (there's a 3 year difference between us and I'm the older sister) I'm expected to be responsible and set a good example and stuff and I do all the time.

My dad's made multiple threats to me all the time like saying he'll make me shut up forever. Or he'll break some part of my body. Then he has the audacity to ask me why I won't give him any affection. Earlier today he said that cooking wasn't the job of a father and his son but for the mother and her daughter.

My mom told me to lose weight last night and it made me cry a lot. She says I'd be perfect if I wasn't so disrespectful but I'm just setting boundaries like not wanting to be made fun of my looks and interests.

Plus I'm not even allowed to pursue the career I want. Im being forced to take business and they've isolated me from any and all relatives. I haven't seen any of them since 2014. My brother goes to hang out with his friends every day but I'm not allowed to. They just hate that I'm not obedient and submissive that I won't let them walk all over me. They strongly believe that they can hit me whenever they want just because they're my parents.

Moving out or running away is a taboo in our country. I'm completely lost and have no idea what to do. If you have anything to say I'd appreciate it but i won't mind if you just listen only

Thanks and have a good day

This is heartbreaking, I'm so sorry you're being put thru this, my heart stopped when I read the last line and realized it's even more hard for you to get away because of your country's culture, and this enrages me. The situation is so difficult, I wish I could advise something, but I'm glad you came here and wrote to me about it.

For abusive parents it's common to treat one child favourably, or give them a 'golden child' treatment, and to keep the other a scapegoat and a designated victim. But in your case, their standards are unbelievably sexist! What they're doing to you is not okay, you're a person just like everyone else, not a servant, not a cook, not a decoration. It sounds like they're reducing your value for every single thing that you are yourself for, that doesn't fit some insane standards they have for you, and that is sick! You do not need to lose weight, cook, or be respectful of people who don't deserve it, in order to be valued and recognized as a good person. What they're saying is sick and sadistic bullshit and I wish you weren't put thru all that. You don't deserve this, nobody deserves this.

The fact that you're not allowed to socialize as your sibling, and that you're exposed to threats and hatred every day, that your ambitions are ignored and you're supposed to just do what is convenient to them, is making it clear how much you're hated, how badly they're keeping you isolated, quiet and sabotaged from getting any freedom, any happiness. It's inhumane what you're being put thru. I wish I could say something to make it better.

You deserve to get out of this and have your freedom. I hope that one day it will be possible, because nobody should expect out of you to just bear this, to just be obedient and respectful when the situation is calling for rage and revolution. Nobody should be expected to be okay with this. My heart is with you, and I hope you can get at least some comfort of knowing me, and other people, we are on your side, we don't think it's okay for you to be exposed to this much hatred and isolation, and people putting you thru this do not even deserve you.

[thatgirlstrawberry]

Emily's girl

In which Spencer is flirting with a clueless Y/N after a long case at a bar and Emily is not very happy

Emily Prentiss x fem!reader

Warnings: a tiny bit of angst, swearing, mentions of sex, fluffy/spicy ending, lmk if I missed anything! Pretty short <3

Emily just couldn't understand how Y/N could stand there, across the bar, talking to Spencer Reid and not flirting back. Unless she was totally clueless which was even more desirable.

Nobody knew about the few times they'd spent in each other's beds. Y/N was just a little bit more... innocent than Emily.

By a little, she meant a lot.

Emily watched as Y/N nodded along with Spencer's knowledge spew, completely interested in whatever the doctor was talking about. She rolled her eyes when Y/N started to giggle.

The woman sighed and moved closer to them so she could eavesdrop on their conversation. Something she'd do without shame.

"So I guess what I'm saying, is that snakes can out live mice because," Spencer stopped to chuckle. "Because most of the time, it's the snake that kills the mouse."

Emily watched from the side as Y/N nodded and giggled. "That was very interesting." She told him while laughing, almost doubling over. Emily would hate to admit it but she was insanely jealous. Jealous because Y/N was laughing so hard at something that wasn't even funny.

After the laughter stopped, Spencer cleared his throat. "Uh... can I uh... can I ask you something?"

Y/N looked up and smiled her sweet little clueless smile. "Sure, Spence. What's up?" She asked, sipping her beer.

The doctor bit the inside of his cheek and looked anywhere but at her. "Uh... I wanted- I want to take you to... the- the movies. There's this French film in the park next Saturday."

Y/N's smile never fell. "Oh! Of course, Spencer." She stopped and giggled. "Remember when the first time we went together, this lady started screaming when birds attacked her and her bread basket?" She could barley get her sentence put do to the laughter. "I mean who brings a bread basket to a park surrounded with birds!? I-"

"N-not as friends, Y/N." The woman stopped and inhaled. Her smile was still there but very, very confused. "Every other time we went, we were friends. But- but I don't want to be friends this time." He stuttered out nervously. "I want to um... pick you up at your house. And... and I want to kiss kiss you goodnight when I drop you off."

Emily rolled her eyes once again. "God, he's gonna embarrass himself." She whispered, rubbing her temple.

"I just... I've had these feelings for you since the first time we went together."

Y/N's smile had disappeared by now. She's way to nice to say no. Emily thought.

"Uh... I'll be right back." Y/N told him. "I've had a lot of... beer." She said quickly, holding up her bottle. Spencer nodded and Y/N rushed off after shoving her beer in his hand.

Spencer furrowed his eyebrows as he watched Y/N leave towards the bathroom unusually quick. Maybe she just... really had to go?

Emily sighed and smiled as she went to stand right in front of him. "What the hell are you doing, Reid?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"R-remember when you told me to ask that girl that I liked kn a date? Last week?" Emily nodded, faking a clueless look, knowing what he was about to say. "W-well, that girl... it was Y/N. And I just asked her out. Then, she just ran away! I mean, I know she's way to sweet to reject someone like that but, running away was a bit... unlike her. Don't you think?"

Emily bit her lip and looked at the ground. "Well maybe she's just not into people like you..." She trailed off. She was still insanely jealous but she felt bad. She wanted to let him down easy for Y/N.

"Well, she seemed pretty interested the other day..." The doctor said, biting his thumb nail. "She was giving me all the signals."

"No, Reid." Emily stopped him. "What I mean is, she's not into... your kind..."

"My kind? What do you mean by-" Spencer stopped. He looked at Emily who had raised eyebrows and a small, expectant smile. "Oh."

Emily nodded and went to move past him but she stopped and placed her hand on his chest, getting close enough so only he could hear. "And, Reid." The man looked down at her. "If you're thinking about how I know... I want you to think about that for a second."

Spencer gulped. Emily continued, this time with a predatorial loom in her eyes. "She's mine. Don't hit on her again." She shook her head slightly and smiled again before walking away.

Reid stared at the ground as he let her words sink in. A pair of heels stepped into his vision. "Uh... hi." Spencer looked up at her.

"Hi, Y/N."

Y/N looked scared. "I just wanted to let you know that I gathered up all of my courage to say... no." She nodded firmly. "Now, by any chance, do you know where Emily went?" She asked, her voice a little quieter.

Spencer nodded and pointed his thumb in the direction of where Emily had went. Y/N nodded again. "Thanks. A-and I'm sorry." She smiled, patting his chest before leaving.

Outside, Emily was waiting for Y/N with a smile on her face. When the woman came out, Emily's smile grew.

Emily called for a taxi and wrapped her arm around Y/N, kissing her very roughly. "You rejected Reid, right?" Emily asked after pulling away.

"Of course I did." Y/N nodded.

"Good." Emily crashed her lips to Y/N's again as the taxi pulled all the way up next to them.

Y/N reached behind her and opened the door, still connected to Emily's lips. The two pretty much collapsed into the back seat of the car and struggled to shut the door while kissing still. Emily moved her lips to Y/N's ear.

"You are so in trouble tonight."

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

Hey! This was another request from @ready-4-spencie !

Hope you like this and also, Emily Prentiss is bae ;)

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

COSMIC - S3:E3; Chapter Three, The Case of The Missing Lifeguard - [Pt. 1]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

𝘌𝘭 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘉𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘋&𝘋. 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦.

⚠️: more Billy/Mind Flayer shenanigans, more Y/n being Not Straight™️ and slight, whatever the huffy, whiney hell Hopper was during a majority of the season

📝: yall, idk how to describe hairstyles so I'm gonna clear it up now; the hairstyle Y/n is doing on El is the coil ponytail she wears at the end in That Scene™️ 🥲🚚👋📝🛣

Yes, I regret the whole "sisters" failsafe I put in specifically to stop myself. But as it turns out, no I cannot suppress the gay. So innocent, mutual pining ahead! 🥳🎉🌈

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

A pair of sock-covered feet bounce happily on the carpeted floor as Madonna's Angel blasts through the radio on the dresser. Max jumps back and forth on El's bedroom carpet, singing into the hairbrush she had found on the nightstand. Beside her, sitting on the bed is the girl herself, sporting her new colorful look; engrossed in a selection of teen magazines that are splayed out before her.

"You must be an angel,"

El bobs her head along with the tune, careful of Y/n's hand weaving through her hair from where she's kneeled behind her on the bed. She grins up at Max before going back to her work, her lips moving as she silently sings along.

"I can see it in your eyes,"

Y/n finishes the last coil behind El's left ear, and pulls it together with the other, merging her hair into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. After she tightens the bright blue scrunchie one last time, she mutters a defeated, "Alright. I tried," before she maneuvers around El across the mattress and allows herself to fall back on the right side of the bed, her head propped up on the rows of pillows. She grabs a magazine, boredly sifting through it while El delicately feels around the back of her head with a smile, admiring Y/n's work.

"Full of wonder and surprise,"

El's attention quickly returns to the magazine in her hands when she flips the page. She has to turn it sideways to see the whole thing. A young man, who El guessed to be just a little older than Steve, was smiling back at her.

Max's singing and dancing come to a slow when she notices El lingering on the page. With a chuckle, she discards the hairbrush from where she found it and kneels beside the bed.

"Oh, you found Ralph Macchio," Max simpers.

"Macchio?" El asks with a smile.

"Yeah," Max nods. "he's the Karate Kid,"

Both and El and Y/n jump when Max suddenly cuts the air in a mock karate chop and yells, "Hai-yah!"

They giggle and Y/n just rolls her eyes playfully. Particularly, at what comes next.

"He's so hot, right?" Max asks.

An amused grin glues itself to Y/n's face as her eyes peek out over the top of magazines to catch El's reaction. Y/n's smile spreads, buried under the pages when she sees El's face lit up in a blush.

"I bet he's an amazing kisser, too," Max says, drawing out a funny look in El's eyes. "Hey, uh,"

Y/n finds her eyes drawn to Max when she feels the old mattress dip a little under her weight. She notices a funny, almost intrigued look on her face.

"is Mike a good kisser?" She asks.

Y/n lets out an involuntarily "Blech!" At the question, discarding her magazine back to the pile with her nose scrunched up in disgust despite the smile still on her lips.

El laughs at Y/n, lightly shoving her knees that sat propped up above her as she shoots her a smile. "Not 'blech',"

Y/n has to readjust her head on the pillows to gawk up at El properly, a funny look hidden in her eyes.

"Wait, so is he like, actually," Y/n makes another face, failing to get through the sentence with a straight face. She laughs a little, putting a mocking tone in her voice. "'good' at kissing?"

El doesn't answer right away, much too confused with the direction this conversation had gone. She blushes again, giving her awaiting friends a bashful shrug.

"I don't know. He's my first boyfriend,"

Max is quick to correct her, but she does so gently. "Ex-boyfriend,"

El's face falls.

But Max is also quick to console her. She lands a gentle hand on El's shoulder, her voice going soft.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Okay?" El still doesn't seem too sure. "He'll come crawling back to you in no time, begging for forgiveness."

Y/n subconsciously fiddles with the ring pop still on her finger, a thin sheet of plastic still covering the candy diamond.

"I guarantee you, him and Lucas are, like, totally wallowing in self-pity and misery right now," Max's face scrunches up as she mocks the aforementioned exes. "They're like, 'Oh, I hope they take us back!'"

Y/n laughs, her left hand lightly smacking Max's arm, grabbing her attention.

"Yeah, but, Mike's probably more like," Max fights a sudden laugh when she catches the knowing look in Y/n's eyes. "'I hope they take us back! They have to—'"

Neither Max nor Y/n can fight the grin breaking out on both their faces as they finish in perfect sync.

-"take us back! Nyeh-nyeh-NYEH!"

Once again delightfully confused, El's stare travels between her newest best friend and her oldest; a warm feeling burrowing deep in her chest and gut, her stomach aflutter as she laughs with them.

"God, what I wouldn't give to see the look on their stupid faces," Max says, shaking her head wistfully.

El goes quiet, something neither of her friends miss.

"What is it?" Max asks.

That seems to snap everything into place, and Y/n props herself up on her hands. There's enough mischief in her eyes to match El's, and she quirks a brow.

"Wait. Are you serious?"

El only smirks, shrugging her shoulders.

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Max asks, only to find herself under two impish stares.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

El sits cross-legged against her dresser, the radio switched to static sitting just above her head. In her hands is the multi-colored headband Y/n had gifted to her over the holidays when her hair started to fall in her face. They both knew it could also double as a comfortable, makeshift blindfold in case she ever found herself traveling to the void again.

As she prepared to do now.

She hooks the headband over her head, pulling it down over her eyes as Y/n and Max took a seat.

"Is this really gonna work?" Max asks excitedly from where she's perched on the edge of the bed.

El nods, and Max's face lights up in awe.

"Holy shit, this is insane-!"

"Max."

"Right, quiet. I'm sorry,"

Y/n chuckles up at her noiselessly, completely understanding the excitement of it all. Particularly, since she had never once witnessed El demonstrating these powers unless it had been necessary.

Then came the waiting part.

Y/n had forgotten about the waiting.

It was all they could do. Wait as they watch El draw in a deep breath, allowing her mind to reach out to the person it had most.

She feels the imaginary water at her feet first, as she always did. It didn't take her as long as it used to to fine-tune the distorted voices cutting in and out, much like what she found her radio to do sometimes. But she did it soon enough.

She's back in the void, for the first time in a long while.

Part of her was worried it would be harder without as much practice as she got last year, but it wasn't.

The image that lay ahead of her was clear, the voices even clearer.

"What did I do wrong? What could I have done wrong?"

Mike.

He was laying on the couch. The one from his basement. El recognized it immediately.

And he wasn't alone, that much she  had suspected.

"Do I have to go through this again?" Lucas asks, sounding tired.

He was pacing around the couch, rubbing his face. Will was with them, he was hovering over the small table she had sat at only years ago.

"I see them," El says.

Max lowers herself to the carpet, sitting next to Y/n who leans in curiously.

"What are they doing?" Y/n asks.

"Eating."

The crunch of Dorito chips Mike had shoved into his mouth was loud enough to echo out across the entire void. He continues through an obnoxious mouthful.

"I just don't understand what I did to deserve this,"

El has neared them now, and she turns her head curiously to Will when he scoffed. He looked frustrated, and he sounded it too. But El could tell he was trying to fight it for the sake of his friends' feelings.

"Look, it sucks that that happened," he says. "But why don't you guys try and take your mind off of it for-"

"For the last time, Will. No! Not now," Lucas says, turning away just in time to miss the boy's shoulders slump. He back to Mike, releasing a heavy sigh. "You didn't do anything, Mike. That's my whole point. You're the victim here."

El's eyes fall back to Mike, not all sure about what she was feeling.

"I know," he cries out. "It's just, why is she treating me this way?"

"Mike-"

"I don't know." Frustrated, he shakes his head. "What did I do wrong? What did I do wrong?!"

"Mike, stop it!" Will has to yell to be heard, but his friends eventually turn their attention his way. "you know what you did wrong!"

They watch him carefully, as does El.

Just grateful to have their attention, he softens just a notch "You messed up, alright? But there's just not much you can do right now,"

"He's right," Lucas sighs, bending over to move Mike's feet out of to make room before taking a seat. "I mean, we told the truth and everything,"

Will let out a bitter laugh. "No, you didn't! You got caught! You told them you were shopping for them, but that's it. You still kept lying about your Nana,"

Max and Y/n watch El carefully, the only indication something had happened came from her angered sigh.

"They lied about Nana," she says finally.

"Oh, I knew it," Max hissed.

Y/n merely placed her forehead in her hands tiredly as she waited for more information.

"But we still tried! That's gotta count for something," Mike cries, stuffing more food into his mouth. "I mean, shouldn't that count for something?"

"Mike, relax. Just... relax," Lucas sighs into his hands yet again, clearly exasperated. "And stop asking rational questions."

"I know, I know. You're right," Mike sighs. His expression quickly turned bitter as he sent his friends a sour look. "Because women act on emotion and not logic,"

"Precisely," Lucas nods. "It's a totally different species."

El's breathing grows deeper and for a moment the pair of friends fear the worst. But the truth was, while El didn't quite exactly know what they were saying, she knew it was foul.

"They say we are 'species'."

-"What?"

-"Come again?"

"'Emotion, not logic."

-"What?"

-"Come again?"

Will shifted on his feet, looking unsure as to what to say, or if he should at all.

"Will is upset,"

Y/n scoffs, looking between Max and El. "He should be if they're saying that shit." She fires, worry briefly taking over her anger over the doubtful thought seeded in her mind. Quickly she leaned forward.

"Wait, he wasn't saying that was he?"

Relief sweep over her when El shakes her head.

She finds her eyes on him again, looking as if he was trying too hard to fit in and not say the wrong thing. El hadn't known him for terribly long, but she knew enough to realize this shouldn't be normal.

"Guys," he says, his eyes darting to the small table he had been setting up. "Come on, it's ready. You already said you'd play a month ago when Dustin got back. I've been planning ever since! And I really think it'll help take your mind off of all this."

Lucas groans.

"Will! We already told you. Not right now," he shakes his head as if scolding a small child.

"They are upset with him."

"Why?" Y/n pressed, sharing an equally concerned look with Max.

"They broke up with you, what else is there to talk about?"

"Easy for you to say, you still have a girlfriend!" Mike throws back.

"'Easy for Will to say,'" El repeats.

Y/n could only imagine what they were putting Will through right now. Or just what her words could mean. Her guilt from having to cancel weighed heavier and heavier.

"He says..."

They all watch, El included, as all his frustrations boil over.

"Well, none of that matters now, does it?!"

Shocked at his outburst, Lucas and Mike break into matching, sour grins nevertheless.

"Then join us, Will," Mike says, sharing a smirk with Lucas. "Join us in trying to figure the greatest mystery of all; the female species!"

"What? What's he saying?" Y/n asked.

But she receives no answer. El had fallen quiet.

El cocks her head, her glare thrown to each boy like daggers, feeling an anger of her own. As well as a protectiveness.

That didn't last long, however. Not moments after, Mike seemed to be challenging his own foul behavior. His mouth opened up wide, letting loose a deep and billowing belch.

"Dude," Mike laughed lazily, gesturing around him as he grinned up at his friends. "You can smell the nacho cheese,"

El recoiled, her upper lip hooking in a grimace both in and out of the void.

She's relieved to see even one of them disgusted by his antics — Will, but it doesn't change her annoyance. But it was better, and far less confusing than Lucas who broke out in a sly grin.

"I get that beat,"

"What?" Mike mumbles in between picking his teeth with his tongue.

Baffled, El looks to Will again whose face pales. He quickly shakes his head, his words pleading.

"Oh, no."

"No, Lucas," Mike says, jumping in. "No!"

El watches curiously as Lucas's grin stretches wider — "No, Lucas!" — and he lifts his right leg — "Lucas! LUCAS!" — and...

El stumbles back in shock when the sound hits suddenly. It echoed louder than the burp had — far louder — and only grows louder as Lucas lifts his leg higher.

El rips the headband off her head to reveal her widened eyes, her shoulders moving and falling in a panicked-like state.

Never blinking, her mouth still wrenched open in shock, she turns to gape at her friends.

"What happened?"

She didn't answer.

"Are you okay?" Y/n pressed, fearing the worst.

She breaks out in a grin, a fit of sudden giggles sent her slouching into the carpet and her head landing in Y/n's lap. Max and Y/n welcomed her reaction with open arms, her infectious laughter spreading to them despite the utter bewilderment they were feeling. Y/n looked down at her friend, trying not to laugh.

El managed to peel her eyes open long enough to see Y/n's crooked smile poking into her view of the ceiling and she loses it all over again.

"What?" She laughs.

"What happened?"

El clutched her aching sides. Every time she tried to speak, the silliness of it all stole her words all over again.

It had been completely revolting and

angering. But it was also the most fun she'd ever had in that horrible place. This also being why it was so hard to wipe the smile from her face.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Will stumbled back as far away as possible from the massive stink cloud he was sure would drown him. Mike had stumbled off the couch, waving at the air as Will buried his nose in his shirt.

"Oh, man," Mike groans. "what the hell, Lucas?"

"Come on, that was impressive,"

"So was Will," Mike shoots him a knowing smirk. "Finally realizing the frustrations of the female species,"

"That wasn't what I said," he shakes his head, growing angrier by the second. "I said it doesn't matter if I have a girlfriend or not right now cause I can't see her! Both of us have to clean up your messes and it's the same reason why we missed our six month anniversary last month,"

Both Mike and Lucas wince. "Congrats?"

Will sighs, throwing himself in his seat at the D&D table.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

The cabin's front door was nearly thrown off its hinges as an inebriated Hopper stumbled across the threshold. The door slammed shut behind him, shaking the room as he huffed and puffed. Several times he nearly lost his balance just standing still, but despite the blurred vision and numbed senses he could still make out the muffled radio from his daughter's room.

That wasn't good. At least, that's all Hopper could comprehend right away before he pieced together why; that always meant Mike was here.

And the door was shut.

"Hey!" No response. "Hey!"

The ache of rejection and embarrassment he had been feeling all night had been drowned in bottles of wine from Enzo's, numbing a great deal when Joyce had failed to show. But it couldn't quite extinguish his anger, and that was all that was left now. And he had no problem channeling that into this moment.

In his drunken state, he manages to march across the living room without stumbling into anything and his voice rises behind his gritted teeth.

"When I say three inches, three-"

A small yelp and a short burst of hot hair stinging his sweating skin and knocking over the lamp on the desk was the first thing he registered after the boom of the door being busted open. Before him, was the sight of El and her friends lounging across her floor, flipping through magazines and gawking up at him.

He realized then what had happened judging by Y/n drawing in a deep breath, and dropping her head into her hands. She had clearly been especially startled being so close to the door and had inadvertently created a mini shockwave that swept across every loose item in the room. He could hear her cursing into her hands as Max glared up at him.

"Do you knock?! Jeez!"

"Yeah!" El repeated. "Jeez!"

At that moment, Hopper couldn't remember a time he had back-pedaled so quickly. He could hear his slurred words stringing together a nervous apology.

"Wo-wo-oh, hey," he gulps. "I'm sorry."

The three girls continue to gawk up at him from the floor.

"I thought that, uh-,"

"If you were expecting Mike, he isn't here," Y/n said.

"We wanted to have a sleepover," El says, still beyond excited at the thought of having one since Y/n told her about them almost a year ago. "Is that...okay?"

"Yeah,"

The word fell out of Hopper's mouth before he could will it, his entire demeanor melting away in relief.

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah," he said, his voice going higher than normal as he stumbled through the tension. "Your parents know you guys are here?"

"Yup," Max says, and Y/n nods.

Blazing through the past few moments, or at least attempting to, Hopper waves his arm dismissively and his slurring intensifies.

"Uh, yeah, it's cool. Yeah. That's-That's really cool."

This was great! His "heart-to-heart" had worked. At least the way he did it. He couldn't count on his hands the number of times he had asked El about the others; silently hoping she'd take the hint and get him out of long, awkward discussion. But she never had, she only went on about Mike, and the more the summer stretched on the less he heard about Y/n or—

"Did you need something?" Max asks, snapping him out of his thoughts.

He hadn't realized he had been just standing there, swaying slightly and zoning out.

He was overstepping. He could see that now. And not just because of the embarrassment written all over his daughter's face.

"No, no," he says quickly, shaking his head and making a lazy grab for the doorknob. "Uh, I'll leave. I'll just let you... I'll leave you..."

His voice trails off before being swallowed completely when the door shuts with a click. For a moment, Hopper just stands there processing it all.

A smirk hooked his lips.

No Mike.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Pride Month Resources and Links

168 Ways to Donate in Support of Black Lives & Communities of Color

Save The Tears: White Woman's Guide

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[stargaze-issei]

— "𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞" (𝐛. 𝐤𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐢 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫)

𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭; when your father, the head of the japanese mafia, was killed, your childhood friend swore to protect you till his death. now, you're the empress of the underground world, and he doesn't know what's harder, to keep you safe or manage to hide his feelings. what will he do when, for the first time, your life's at risk and he isn't anywhere near?

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞; mafia!au, angst.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬; swearing, mentions of blood, guns, murder, kidnap, yk... mafia stuff.

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭; 2.7k

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞; lemme know if u want a part two bc i felt like it was getting too long and i don't know if anyone will read it or like it 👉🏻👈🏻

"where the fuck are you?" bakugou's voice stroke over the phone, noticeably angry. he had told you several times to never go anywhere without him, which you mostly did, if it weren't for him being away a lot of times. nothing less was expected from your right hand, who handled every dirty job, and considering your line of work, it wasn't scarce. but you did had other bodyguards, just as trained as katsuki, willing to give their lifes for you, which was extremely better than having bakugou giving his life.

to his eyes, you were still the little girl from before. he saw you as a someone who needed protection. at first, you agreed. your father was murdered, someone managed to get through all his security and killed him, none of the guns he and his security team carried around could protect him, killing you would be like stealing a sweet from a baby. bakugou had always kept you safe, despite his agressive usual safe, he cared about you more than he cared for himself. so you stuck to his side, believing, hoping, he'd die for you. but that was a long time ago, now, you could defend yourself, and had raised a sense of loyalty in your people by your own. your father's empire was based in fear, yours? by admiration. you didn't see your people as working ants, but as important parts of a whole. still, anyone who was a threat to you, bakugou made sure to erase them forever.

"don't talk to me like that, i'm your boss" you could feel him losing his shit, a smile began to form in your face. even when everyone respected you, he was still the same.

"you can't boss anyone if you're fucking dead, you dumb shit" a laugh came out of your throat, he couldn't avoid smiling at the sound "wait, oh, okay, i know we're you are. stay there, i'll be in three" he hung up before you could reply.

you looked back, at one of your guards who was just putting away his phone. of course they told him. why couldn't you go get your own coffee? being in the office all day was tiring, to be five minutes outside was all you asked for. a few seconds after, they handed you your coffee, obviously, a guard had to try it first, in case that barista wanted to suddenly murder you. of course he didn't.

"who let her go outside without me knowing, huh?" a furious katsuki appeared through the door, making a scene in the place. you gave him a warning look. if there was something you hated, was that. everyone in the area knew who you were, but why make it any more obvious. those people were just living their usual lifes, and people tend to get nervous around you. "the car is waiting outside" he understood, but you knew he was going to scold you anyways.

you walked outside, smiling, and got into the car, followed by katsuki and one of his subordinates, the other one got in the front sit, next to the driver.

"save it, i'm n–"

"the fuck you are" he cut you "your safety is my responsibility, if i say you can't go out without me, then you fucking don't. specially not when there are people after your head" there was no denying he was right, but still, it upset you.

"there's always people after my head, bakugou".

two weeks ago, two men went into your office. they were in charge of some dealing territories, though small, important. most contraband had to pass those places, you controlled those police departments making everything easier to your truck drivers. they were beaten, cover in blood and barely standing.

"our men, all of them... they all..." only one of them could talk, the other being too shocked to even look at you. "kazuhito's men, it was them... they said we had to tell you, they're coming after you" you couldn't show any fear in front of your so called soldiers, and your template remained at ease. a shout was enough to get those men the help they needed, after holding their hands, you promised to go see them once they were checked by doctors. you called bakugou as soon as they left, he was the first who should know and help you decide what to do next.

the kazuhito family had always been rivals, enemies of the worst kind. everyone suspect they were behind your father's assassination, but with no proof, even you knew it would be the biggest mistake to charge against them, despite your personal desires.

"i already told the drivers they had to take rout b for a while, but we can't let them just keep what's our" you explained to katsuki once he arrived. "those drugs have to get in town by us, damnit". it was clear how frustrated you were, those assholes had mess with your and your father's hardwork.

"if we retaliate, a war will unchain. your father tried to avoid that for years"

"and see how he ended up" bakugou didn't know if it was the anger, or you talking. "we will lose everyone's respect if we don't do something, they killed dozens of our people, katsuki".

he was trying hard to stay objective in that situation, but it was near impossible. a war would put you in more danger than ever, your life was at stake, and bakugou wasn't sure if he was willing to risk it. growing up by your side, your father taking him in when his parents died, you were his only family. more than that, he loved you. the only reason he was able to do his job right, was the fear of losing you. your head was already valued in millions, how could he protect you in the middle of a conflict, that would end only with your death or the kazuhito's leader's death? your power was bigger than theirs by little, but they did something that reckless, which meant they thought they had out powered you. had they? or were they just bluffing? had they miscalculated?.

"we're taking action, wether you support me or not" you looked into each other's eyes, you knew him enough to understand his fear, just not the reason behind it. your voice softened "but i'd much rather do it with you by my side".

"you're the boss" he spoke, already regretting it "i'll schedule a meeting so the high charges let everyone else know, i'm staying at your place so we can trace a plan".

and there you were now, being reprimanded by bakugou. he was extremely tired, he decided to stay with you until things were calmer, which could be several months from then. getting up at six a.m, going to sleep past midnight, being always looking for possible threats, it had given him bags under his eyes.

"i'm sorry" you said once you were alone with him, it was only then that you could let your guard down "i'm making this harder for you".

"yeah, you are. but it's my job, after all" that came out wrong, he thought. it wasn't his job, it was his fucking life purpose. he wanted you to live a long, happy life, as hard as it seemed.

"i guess it is" deep down, his response disappointed you.

"hey, look at me" out of nowhere, his body was insanely close to yours, you felt his breath in your face as he lifted your chin with his finger "there's nothing i wouldn't do for you, got that, dumbass?"

for a brief moment, the taste of his lips was all you could think about. i bet they're soft. but as fast as it started, it was over, katsuki pulled away harshly, inventing an excuse to leave. he had flown too close to the sun, so close that it burned his skin.

a few more people went to see you that day, asking for diverse permissions, advice and stuff like that. since it had been slow, compared to other times, you decided to home early. a call to your team, and the car was already outside. bakugou left instructions for your departure, because he had things to do somewhere else, much to his displeasure. you were accompanied by your escorts to the doors of the building, that seemed like a normal office compound. there were waiting two other guards, making a total of six people protecting you. way to go, bakugou.

"how's your wife, ryota?" you asked the driver. of course, not everyone fitted in the same car, so you got into the second one, middle seat, between a built up woman and a big man. you tried to remember everyone's name, but it was difficult.

"she's good, ma'am, sends her regards" he smiled at you over the mirror.

"and the baby? he must be a month old, right?" at the memory of his child, his face lightened "you should take some days off, i bet your wife and son miss you"

"i have a duty with you, m–" a loud impact interrupted him, the front glass had exploded. the car had an abrupt movement back and forward, all you could see was blood, everywhere.

the woman next to you took her gun out, in order to protect you , you thought, completely wrong. before everyone could react to her act, she shot the guard in front of you.  you looked at your side, searching for someone alive, the same bullet that had killed ryota was in the guard's at your right forehead. besides you , the only other person was that woman. if she hadn't glasses on, that stare could've seen throughout your soul. then you remembered, katsuki made you bare with a knife under your sleeve. with a weird move, you felt its sharpness against your skin, it was there, but she read you like a book. before you could even pull it out, another shot stroke followed by a intense pain in you thight. the bitch had shot you. you blamed it on the adrenaline, because nothing hurt. what happened after was a couple of blurry images in your memory.

bakugou had called you more than a hundred times, you, the drivers, the guards, everyone in his fucking team, but no one knew anything. the cameras at your house never showed you arriving, your phone's location was off. he was out of his head, if he didn't hear from you in the next five minutes, someone's going to die. he rushed into his car, following your rout at a dangerous speed. 

both cars were full of bullet holes, and every guard he had hired was dead. there wasn't a place without blood. tears of pure rage came to his eyes, fuck, it was his fault. he started to look for you, but the whole world was spinning around him. where were you? where was your body? were you alive?, this couldn't be happening. he had left you unprotected, alone, and now you could be dead, because of his uselessness. his phone vibrated in his pocket.

"sir, we– we have– the kazuhito's are here" he left as fast as he came. they had touch you, they had taken you away from him, and he wasn't going to let them get away with it, even if he had to go against a whole army, whoever was behind it all was going to pay.

a man in a suit was sitting in the chair of your office, smoking a cigarette, as calm as a rock. katsuki was so close to rip his head of right there, that somebody had to hold him down. his own people updated him, saying that he had gone into the building alone, with no weapons of any kind, not even a cellphone.

"where the fuck is she?" he crashed his hand against the desk.

"ah, mr. bakugou, please take a se–"

"tell me where she is right now if you want to keep your head, fucking bastard" his hand had wondered to the tip of the gun in his belt, menacing to blow up at any second.

"you won't do that, mr., if i don't return to my people in one hour, she'll be so fucked up that not even you will recognize her" a laugh surge grom bakugou, a dark, cold laugh.

"i don't have to kill you, then" one of the man's hand rested in the desk, like asking for katsuki to rip it off his body. as you did, he also carried knifes under his shirt. in less than a second, one of them was buried into the man's hand. he screamed, both in shock and pain, giving your bodyguard a hatred look. "what do you want, shitface?"

"i-it's quite simple, actually" his face was white as paper, and even though he wanted to talk normally, his voice shivered "we want you to take over the y/l/n's business, under our command of course" he let out a sigh, trying to keep his composure and ignoring his bleeding hand "if you– if you agree, she will have to leave japan and never..."

bakugou won't agree to that. not now and not ever. to give away what you and your father built from scratch, and spent decades keeping safe, was like killing your child, and your father's memory. to send you away, alone, where he most likely won't see you again in years, was also off the table. it wasn't funny anymore. he started walking around the man's chair, picking up his sleeves. he checked the clock in the office, he had forty-five minutes with the man, meaning, forty-five minutes to make him talk. he ressourced to every fast interrogation method he knew. the people outside the door weren't surprised when they heard the man's screams, even wondering what had taken so long for the boss to start acting. katsuki was never a patient man. his senses were blocked, he couldn't hear anything but screams and begging, all his eyes could see was pain through all the man's body, his hands felt nothing but warm blood. but for the first time in a while, he wasn't enjoying it. he was doing it out of need, the need to save you. every minute that went by, was a minute were your life risked. he never felt so close to losing his sanity.

"outside the city! she's in one of our safe houses outside the city! i don't know which, please stop!" ten minutes before the timeline he finally gave up. your intelligence had all their safe houses, storages, garages, every location needed. not a second passed when one of yours men delivered a map with all the points marked. there were five in total.

"throw him outside in ten minutes" he shouted, walking to the armory "two teams, six people each, my fucking people, hear me? now, dammit! we're leaving in a minute, if i have to go by my fucking self, i'll do it"

when he was armed to the teeth, almost a dozen of people followed him outside. they were his most trusted men and women, being trained together, he knew they were as skilled as him, and they were all willing to put their life's at stake for you, their boss. in the car, bakugou barked the instructions. he had narrowed it down to two possible locations with all the information he had. if they had to kill every person in those places, then be it. he's going to get you back.

[prompt-master]

Bear Trap (Part 1/3)

Request fill for @hibiscuswolverine and art done by @doodles-by-noodles

The world was starting to heal.

Little by little, everyone who survived Hope's Peak Academy's killing game was bringing about change to the world. It had only just started, and they likely wouldn't live to see their vision fully realized, but there was hope. Hope the world hadn't seen since the tragedy broke out in the first place.

Yep, Naegi Makoto had a lot of work to do, but he also already had so much to be proud of. He and the survivors had already proven themselves to adapt to a world that was nothing like the one they left behind. They had been given a warning from Enoshima Junko herself, but even with the knowledge of killer robots and rampaging despair-induced rioters nothing could really prepare them for life on the outside.

Honestly, they had never expected to make it to where they were right now. Proud members of the Future Foundation, able to work together with the higher ups to take down the biggest threats against the world's progression. It felt like just yesterday they were sleeping in the rubble of what once were apartments, tightly packed together in case anything were to break in. And now Makoto stood proud and tall, going over his next mission on video call with a member of one of the higher divisions.

"I suppose I shouldn't be terribly surprised that the Ultimate Hope would be so adamant on these matters."

Makoto smiled, still as strong and inspiring as it had been back in the killing game, "Really, you don't have to call me that. I'm nothing special, just Naegi is fine."

She completely ignored him, looking over the notes he'd sent to her one last time. He and Aoi had accidentally discovered a distress call from a group of survivors in an unsafe area. There was no way he could ignore something like that, he wouldn't ignore any possibility that someone was suffering like his class did. Even if there was an equal possibility that it was a trap.

"Well, your plan asks for Ultimate Detective Kirigiri Kyoko and Ultimate Affluent Progeny Togami Byakuya to go with you. With those two, plus the Ultimate Hope, equipped with hacking guns then I see no reason to be concerned for any mishaps. Your mission is approved."

Makoto's smile widened at that, feeling a rush of pride and hope at her words, "We won't let you down! Promise!"

She didn't even look up at him, simply humming to let him know she heard. But he could tell, there was a slight smile on her face. Makoto managed to melt his fair share of hearts even if he couldn't explain how. The call blinked off, and Makoto shut his laptop gently, but with no regard to what it was running.

He let out a loud sigh, slouching back into his chair. Any and all office calls felt so nerve wracking. Each one held its own weight in importance. Every exchange oversaw the future. He pulled his arms over his head, stretching them as far as they could go.

He could already feel himself getting pumped up. A small, prideful smirk snuck it's way onto his face. The plan wasn't anything extreme, but he knew with his friends by his side it would all be ok. They were meant to go together in a group so that they could protect themselves in the event of a trap or other unforeseen circumstances. The distress call came from a fallen city mostly blocked off by a collapsed building. They would drop off inside the city's bounds, and continue on foot to find any survivors they could. They knew there would be some despaired within, but that was a given anywhere they went now.

It would all be worth it to save them.

Now he just had to tell Byakuya and Kyoko the good news

It was clear to anyone near the survivors that Byakuya, Kyoko, and Makoto were a force to be reckoned with. While the general public has no qualms with calling Makoto the leader of the group, it was more so all three of them were coleading. Each taking charge in their own way, from the start of their new lives to now. The three of them were all incredibly smart in their own ways and their combined skills lead to a team that could likely conquer any despair they faced. But it took an even closer eye to see the emotional connection the three shared with each other. 

Makoto walked in front, leading since he had heard the distress call in the first place. It was certainly an interesting relationship that the three had. Although Makoto certainly didn't see himself as the leading type it seemed that Byakuya and Kyoko both trusted his guidance entirely. And he did the same for them. There was no way to describe the significance that lay underneath the floorboards of their bond. For the two most emotionally shut off of the survivors to so openly trust him? To Makoto that was enough to lay their hearts out in the open for him to see. And not to mention…

Makoto glanced back at the two. Byakuya was messing around with his hacking gun, glasses slipping down his nose, and hair nearly hiding his eyes from Makoto's view. Kyoko was taking in her surroundings, trying to figure out sooner rather than later if this whole thing was just a trap as suspected. Her eyes may be void of emotion but the color and warmth was vast. Makoto faced forward again, his face feeling just a bit hot. 

They were both really pretty. 

No, no he can't focus on his silly crushes. Yes, crushes plural. Because Makoto's sensitive heart was so big he managed to give it away to two different people. That didn't matter right now though, because the focus was on the mission. 

The town was about as decimated as it looked from the outside. It reminded him of his first experiences out in the new world, making him wonder how many survivors might be hiding under rubble, scared to come out. So far they hadn't run into any sort of trouble. No robots, no despaired, no survivors. There was really...nothing here. It was starting to look more and more like a trap. 

Makoto stopped walking at a split path, "The call said to find the convenience store but...I can't tell where to go since everything's been destroyed." 

Byakuya came to stand by his side, "Not that it should matter much all things considered. Let's just get this over with so we can clear out those insane idiots and rebuild this place already." 

"Togami-kun!" Makoto pouted, Byakuya may have softened up but he still had a habit of harsh thinking first, "don't say that. I'm sure there has to be someone here who needs saving. There's people who need to be rescued everywhere we go!" 

"Indeed" Kyoko chimed in, "but it's not a bad line of thought. If we stage a rebuilding operation here then that increases our chances of finding survivors then if only a search team walked around." 

Byakuya smirked, pushing up his glasses in that annoyingly arrogant way of his, "And to do that, we need to weed out the problems first no?" 

"Yes...yes we do." 

"Besides what would you rather do? Try to talk to the despaired? And get clubbed again?" 

"It was one time, Togami-kun!" 

Byakuya laughed, placing his hands on his hips as he looked around, "Come now, this way. All these buildings are too destroyed to make any sort of distinctions regardless. And by your sentimental logic we should be checking more than just the given location, wouldn't you agree." 

Byakuya didn't wait for an answer, he walked ahead to begin searching the first building to their left. Makoto had to break into a light jog to catch up to him; damn your long legs Togami! 

That marked the start of their exploration, building after building. They found nothing. Not to mention everywhere seemed like it has been residential, no sign of the store they were told the survivors were. Even Makoto felt like something was a little bit off but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. Regardless he kept up hope, he had heard those survivors speak with complete clarity in their voice. They had to be here. He wouldn't give up over a simple bad feeling. 

Byakuya stepped over broken glass, moving further into the crumpled home he was currently inspecting. A surprisingly intact kitchenette caught his eye, and decided a thorough search was necessary without telling his company. Although they didn't need much prompting to understand when he went off trail again. Kyoko thought if he was going to focus on possible material goods stored away in this forgotten piece of life, then she could at least see if there was any current piece of life hiding away as well. Makoto stood at the door of the house. He'd given nothing more than a glance to Byakuya before turning toward the outdoors again. Looking for anything. Any sign of life lurking under the foreboding red sky. 

Nothing. 

He sighed, turning his attention down to what used to be a grass area. Not much was left of that, in fact it looked almost like any plant life besides the weeds in the street cracks were...set on fire. The ground had this grey ashy feeling to it. And when Makoto scuffed it with his shoe….yeah, that was definitely the remains of something burning. That was a good sign right? It meant that someone was alive. This couldn't have been that long ago. 

Makoto opened his mouth to call for his friends, when a cold hand slapped over his mouth and forcefully tugged him backwards. 

Huh

Huh?!

Makoto was immediately kicking and yelling. He bucked like a disturbed wild animal, trying everything he could to get out. Wiggling, kneeing, elbowing, even trying to bite the hand over his mouth but none disturbed the individual. The house was getting farther and farther away but his voice was too muffled to ever reach it. There was heavy breathing in his ear, the air wet and warm against his skin in a way that made his body shudder. He forced himself to look up at his kidnapper. An individual with a wide smile on their face and eyes that spoke of a spiraling psyche. Everything about them...from their expression to their actions to their lack of reaction to pain...it all said despair. 

Eventually Makoto was dragged into the street and thrown down like a slab of meat. Makoto was about to scream again for help, when a hand quickly reached out for him. He couldn't help but flinch back, shoulders bunching up in an attempt to shrink away. His tie was yanked off, the force pulling his body upwards. When the tie snapped off he fell back again, he could feel rocks digging into his skin from the fall. Then his hands were tied behind his back. This was bad. This was so bad. Bad didn't even BEGIN to cover it. 

His captor came uncomfortably close, having lost all concept of personal space in the madness the end of the world has provided. Makoto tried his best to keep calm as they placed their arms to either side of him so that they were above, staring down below. There was a tense moment where neither moved, they simply tried to catch their breaths so that the silence would stop being filled with panting. It felt like a test. Like they were waiting for him to even dare to try to escape. They wanted to show Makoto what happened when he disobeyed! He could see it in their eyes! In the manicale look, in the smile that kept opening and closing like a strange gutted fish. The way their arms trembled and shook by Makoto's head, just waiting with the high of excitement.

Arms still shaking, mouth overflowing with spittle and pupils pinprick sharp, they began to slowly lower themselves. Makoto held his breath, willing his body to sink further into the concrete. His heels scraped against the ground, but he willed himself not to move in fear that any sign of escape would reward him with a slit throat. Their noses pressed against each other. The captor let out a shaky relieved sigh, as if the contact was the greatest thing they'd felt in a long time. Their eyelids fell half lidded, their smirk from excited to downright sadistic.

"I've got you now, Mr. Ultimate Hope."

Stay calm. You've dealt with this kind of person before. 

Makoto's nails gave a tug as he ran them against the concrete in an attempt to ground himself, dirt filling the space between skin and keratin. His heart hammered in his chest as if he were a scared rabbit, but there was no time to panic here. His life depended on it.  The despaired were completely delusional...which meant..

Makoto felt a laugh rise out of him, nervous and high in pitch.  A bit too high in pitch. He scraped the ground again, enough so that it began to hurt from the force. Calm down. Stay fucking calm. 

"Heh...heheh! Yeah! You got me..!" A smile graced his face, "what did you...get me for?" 

They pulled back, but not enough so that the pungent smell of smoke and ash left Makoto's nose. Their head tilted, daring to make an innocent face, "You know who you are, right?" 

"I do. And who are you?" 

Their body moved back and forth as they laughed with everything they had, their knees closing in so that Makoto could feel it against his leg. "Me? Me? Mememe?? Forget that! You're the Ultimate Hope!"

"That's right…" 

"I wonder what Miss Junko would say right now. Seeing you pinned down like this?" Their eyes flickered to the sky at the fantasy that no doubt filled their mind. 

Makoto tried his hardest not to cringe, and just attempted to change the subject instead, "Do you want me to do something for you?" It was a loaded question. One that made Makoto feel like he was picking all the wrong dialogue choices. 

"I do!" 

Progress. He wasn't sure if it was good progress, but it was, in fact, progress. 

"What's that?" 

Their voice dropped to a whisper, waning and cracking in excitement once again. They reached into their pocket. 

"I want you to watch this" 

They pulled out a little remote that looked horribly put together. Even with how much their hand trembled he could see that it was made of what seemed to be the remains of a torn apart scrap pile. Before Makoto could ask what they meant, they pressed the only button built in. 

What ensued was a large explosion. 

------

BOOM 

A loud eardrum breaking noise filled the previous silence. Byakuya was forced to grip the kitchen countertop as the world around him shook, a sudden intense burst of wind following soon after. The heat uncomfortable against his face. He made his way to the open wall, Kyoko not far behind him. 

"Was that an explosion?" Kyoko asked, not wanting to waste any time. 

Byakuya looked outside at the smoke and fire that overtook the sky. It was suffocating just to look at. Shit, it was definitely a trap then. "Looks like it" 

They watched frozen, transfixed on the horror as a building toppled from where it was standing, joining the others as rubble for them to walk on. They still stayed in place. They knew there was nothing they could do to prevent or help the issue. 

Byakuya was so focused on the sight, thinking about how he had to call for an early pick up that he didn't even notice until Kyoko asked. 

"Where's Naegi?" 

------

Makoto gasped and gasped as he ran for his life. After whatever that person had rigged went off he found himself surprisingly not being pinned anymore as the person sat cackling nearby. He had managed to slip away when more despaired came over and argued with the individual who had been pinning him.  Now he was running as fast as he could hoping he wouldn't get caught once again. 

He struggled against his traitorous tie, feeling it chafe against his wrists uncomfortably. Untying it would have been enough of a challenge without the running aspect. Now he found himself tripping over his own feet trying to think about the two things at once. 

Before he knew it, his feet had slipped right out from under him and he barely caught himself before faceplanting. 

Taking the fall as a hint, he stopped to catch his breath, looking around the area to gauge where he was. It seemed like more of the same until he saw a rather structurally sound convenience store. It was surprisingly big too for how little damage it had. A smile overtook his face. Aren't I lucky? Maybe the people inside can help me get this dang tie off. 

After letting his breathing calm down he made his way toward the store. Elation filled his heart, a familiar hope that kept him going. He knew it couldn't have all been a trap! Almost there now. Once inside he'd have someone untie his hands, and then he'd find his friends and-

His friends. He hoped Byakuya and Kyoko were safe. He had no idea how far the damage of the explosion traveled, but if it was enough to collapse an entire building there was certainly the risk of them being in hot water. Not to mention the multiple despaired that were walking around, who knows what sort of danger they could walk into. Then again, if anyone was capable of holding their own it would be Byakuya and Kyoko. But he should probably focus on his own safety instead of imagining Byakuya and Kyoko taking down their enemies in the most attractive way possible-

He was right there. He'd reached the convenience store. All the windows were covered up so that he couldn't see inside, but he knew someone inside was waiting. He just had to- huh? What's that? 

Makoto looked down to see a familiar, very unwelcome sight. It was a Monokuma with yellow and black stripes. At the top of its head was a red siren. And they were making eye contact. 

"Shi-" 

Instinctively he reeled back at the loud, sharp noise. The sound raised and lowered it's pitch smoothly, reminding him of tsunami drills he had to do back when he was in school and the implications it brought were similarly horrifying.

So much for being lucky. Makoto felt himself panicking again, the siren was loud enough to hurt his ears. He couldn't tell if his ears were ringing or if the siren was just that obnoxious. But he didn't have time to complain about that. The noise and the light… no doubt others would be coming soon. 

"Shh...shhhh!! Stop it!" He couldn't break the machine with his hands the way they were...he had to settle for getting help. 

Makoto stopped in his tracks before he could approach the door of the convenience store however, because there was someone watching him through the window. They'd opened the curtain to check what the commotion was. Makoto saw no madness or instability in their eyes...the survivors really WERE here. Makoto smiled, wishing he could wave and gesture for help, but he had to hope his expression was enough. 

The survivor frowned, eyes fixated on the Siren Monokuma. Without looking at Makoto again they closed the curtain.

No one was coming to help. 

Makoto backed away. That's ok. There was still a chance. If he ran quick enough maybe he could get away before reinforcements arrived. 

The growling he heard mocked his fruitless thoughts. That was the deranged sounds a Beast Monokuma made…he couldn't hope to outrun one of those. They were like real rabid bears but worse because they never got tired. They never stopped running once they had you in its sights, just like this one. 

But Makoto tried anyway to flee, only to end up taking a riot shield to the face from a Guard Monokuma. 

"Oof!" 

He fell back hard feeling all air leave his lungs. The snarling and pounding of the Beast Monokuma was getting louder. Too loud. Makoto rolled onto his side, scrambling to get up. He winced as a claw grazed his cheek, first blood of the night welling up. 

He felt like an insignificant worm with how he desperately rolled on the floor, hoping to find good enough footing in his panic to stand. But when he got to his knees he was met with another riot shield. He almost didn't react in time to dodge another slash from the Beast, managing to get the tie around his wrists cut. 

He'd never gotten to his feet so quickly before in his life. Bits of gravel stuck to his palms and blood ran down his right arm. He scrambled to find something -anything- to defend himself with, but he was already surrounded. It was too late to even bother going for the Siren Monokuma. How the hell was he supposed to-? 

He yelled out as sharp metal claws dug into his back, seemingly deep enough that he feared for his spine. The claws rake along his back as the beast removes them. If that wasn't enough to bring him back to reality, he was quickly overwhelmed, bruises being beaten into every inch of his skin from the shields, and slashes from regular Monokuma's on his arms. And worse of all the Beast Monokuma that was trying its best to chomp his head off with it's twitchy manic movements. He tried his best to fend it off, pushing at it personally with his bare hands despite the continuous relentless assault he was receiving. 

Another good hit with a shield and his hands slipped. In a split second moment that he didn't even get to think about, he reached a leg up and kicked at its face. He only had a moment of victory.

It bit down on his leg and didn't let go.

Now the interesting thing about Makoto is that even though he doesn't seem capable, he's grown to be able to keep himself calm when it mattered. Even at his own execution, where he was slowly heading towards his untimely demise, With frequent reminders of what was about to come, he had managed to keep as calm as possible. Even well he fell stories down into the garbage. He refused to make a peep and panic when every one of his friends could see. But right now no friends were watching.

Naegi Makoto screamed.

-----

"I'm going to kill Naegi my damn self for running off when we find him." Byakuya was, as per usual, annoyed as hell. 

Kyoko sighed, "Calm down. I'm sure there's a reason, you know he isn't like that." 

Byakuya rolled his eyes, but didn't say a word. Kyoko was completely right, but he would never give her the satisfaction of admitting that. His silence was enough. 

They had made way for the source of the explosion only to find the path to the other side of the city was completely blocked off by the collapsed structure. Due to the closed off nature of the cities remains that left them with only one option: go the long way around and hope those entrances aren't blocked as well. 

When it was just Kyoko and Byakuya there was always this weird silence. Sometimes comfortable, sometimes tense. Makoto was always the one to fill it, he was like the bridge between the two. Kyoko wished he could tell Byakuya to cheer up -his attitude was getting on her nerves- but Makoto's absence was the whole reason for it in the first place. 

"Keep your guard up" she reminded, her own hand staying close to the pouch strapped to her thigh. Inside was an all weather purpose mini notepad and a handheld taser. She quite liked her taser, it was both heavy hitting and satisfied Makoto's wish to not kill anyone: even the despaired. "I'm certain that explosion was rigged up by a person." 

Byakuya scoffed, "I am Togami Byakuya" he kindly reminded her. Kyoko rolled her eyes, she'd heard that way too many times to count. "My guard is always up and my reaction time is perfect. Maybe you should worry about yourself instead." 

"Incorrigible as usual, I see." 

He glared back down at her, still walking forward with overconfident strides, "I'll have you know-" 

There it is. Another rant which consisted only of Byakuya boasting about his own skills. She shut him out without a second thought, focusing on her surroundings instead. It's not as though Byakuya would provide any sort of new information anyway. 

"Wait." She interrupted, which Byakuya hated, but his feelings be damned, "do you hear that?" 

Byakuya paused, facing towards the direction she was looking. There was a sound in the distance, something familiar. It was far, but if he focused hard enough he could figure it out. 

Kyoko and Byakuya looked at each other, both having recognized the siren's undeniable screech at the same time. With a nod, they began to run. Makoto or not, whoever was caught by that Siren Monokuma was in danger. Byakuya steadied his hacking gun in his hand and Kyoko effortlessly pulled her taser from it's bounds. Despite their great desire to find Makoto meer seconds ago, they hoped that anyone else would be caught by the Monokuma's. But, this was Makoto after all. 

It took an undetermined amount of time for them to loop around to the convenience store, but the time spent felt uncomfortably long to them both. When they did arrive they found it was a chaotic mess. There was a group of Monokuma's huddled together over one unseen person. There was blood scraped across the concrete as though someone was dragged with their horrible injuries and all. But there were no sounds of a struggle. The sight was more akin to school yard bullies gathering to kick a victim than a genuine fight. 

Without wasting much time Byakuya fired at the Siren Monokuma, destroying it without a second thought. "Damn noise was getting on my nerves" He said. 

Kyoko shook her head, "Focus" she pointed her nose towards the pile up. Byakuya's uncaring attitude toward the situation showed that he believed the person was already dead. One by one the machines fell apart or destroyed themselves. And in their wake was a small, bloodied mess in human shape. The smell of copper and the sickening sight of messy pink was one they had gotten all too used to over the years. But that didn't make it easier when you recognized one of those bodies as someone you cared about. 

Byakuya felt harsh, furious breaths of air pushing in and out of his nose. The action was an almost unconscious response. He couldn't help but let anger well up at the sight of Naegi Makoto laying on the ground curled up on his side.

He grit his teeth, "Is he…?" Dammit. A Togami didn't hesitate. Certainly not Byakuya.

"No." Kyoko's voice was barely more than a whisper, and for a split second he thought she was simply in denial. But no, she had caught  sight of Makoto's chest moving up and down. She made way to him, hands hovering over him unsure of how deep his injuries ran. The first thing she saw were vicious claw marks running down his back. There were bits of debris clinging to the wound. They were ugly and jagged things. She wanted to roll him onto his back to get a better look at him but was it even safe to move him at all? She didn't want to risk paralyzing him. Not to mention she'd be pressing his wound to the ground. She glanced to his leg. A complete mangled mess, she could tell the unit that attached itself to his leg was relentless in its attack. Shaking and thrashing and the like. The fabric that once covered his leg was all but torn to shreds leaving the whole injury on brutal display. There was blood pooling underneath where he lay on the ground. His skin was pale from blood loss, breaking into a cold sweat that made her certain shock was already setting in. Almost all exposed skin was blossoming into a different, unnatural color indicating a plethora of bruises. His breathing was quiet but heavy, he'd already lost a lot of blood. When her eyes finally trailed up to his face she felt a small bit of relief that his features were marred by only a small cut on his left cheek, with a lazy stream of blood pouring from it. 

Byakuya and Kyoko were two individuals with a massive disconnect of their emotions brought about by their upbringing. Byakuya turned any emotion he felt into anger and disdain. Kyoko snuffed out most emotions she felt so that nothing would show. They had the emotional resolve of steel, it wasn't easy breaking down their walls. Makoto was that strange part of the equation that ruined all of that. He managed to get Byakuya to be intrigued by someone so seemingly insignificant and he managed to get Kyoko to act pouty and almost childish during the game. Yes, their entire lives were spent crafting these defenses. And now they had to fight to keep it all together with only elmers glue in their arsenal.

Kyoko was up close and personal with all the gruesome details of his attack. She tried to shove it all down so that she could completely focus on ensuring Makoto's survival. But he was looking up at her with a dazed half lidded look, as though any second the world would slip away from under his feet. And despite that Makoto smiled when he caught eyes with her. Kyoko's heart cracked. 

Byakuya could only watch with his fists by his side. He had set out to ensure all the survivors of the first killing game continued to survive and here we are. He forced all these feelings to be translated into anger. But he knew the underlying causes. He knew there was a part of him that simply was scared for his friends sake. 

The two of them both understood the others emotional grievances. And that's exactly why Byakuya's heart skipped a beat when Kyoko looked up at him with fear vibrant in her eyes. 

"It doesn't look good." 

[obislittleone]

Intelligent Insanity

3/?

Jerome Valeska x Reader

Aight so this chapter is a filler and don't worry I'm just building up to Jerome's grand entrance lol

Series Summary: Two lives can start very differently, but it's never the beginning that makes the story. It's the the journey the lives take that eventually bring them down the same path.

Chapter warnings: mentions of depression, angst

The first month at Arkham Asylum was pretty much just as grim as you would imagine it. All the other people it contained were truly insane, and even though I wasn't feeling quite myself, I did not possess even the shred of madness these other occupants did.

People could not hear me speak, and I didn't understand why, but that didn't make me crazy. I just had a minor issue that no one cared enough to figure out. Therefore I sat alone in the corner of the madhouse every day, never interacting with the other inmates, for I knew they wouldn't be able to hear me.

I had been given the nickname fidget, because of my fingers that were constantly moving at the speed of sound. Due to the fact that I could not correct them and give my real name, I responded to the nickname when called by it. Not that it was called often, but even just to get my attention for a split second by one of the other crazies, I responded.

I watched several new inmates come and go, getting transported to another location, or being released completely. I was one of the first to ever reside in this hell hole, and so I knew when new faces came and went. There may have only been about fourty total inmates when I'd arrived, and though I could not communicate, I got to know them through subtle eavesdropping and observation. People said I couldn't talk, they never said anything about me listening.

While my case had long since been thrown out, and I was accused as guilty for the murder of my uncle, instead of self defense, I was still a meek little lamb compared to the crimes of those that lived in the Asylum with me. One man murdered his family with an axe, then went on a rampage in the city. One man, who was actually quite calm looking most days, had killed and eaten several women from Gotham. A woman that resides in the cell across from mine had snuck into her ex's house and murdered him and his new girlfriend during the night, all for petty revenge.

And to think, I was lumped in with the rest of them, simply because I stood up for myself once in my entire life. I would not let myself be abused any longer, and the price I paid was possibly a life sentence in this horrid place.

I no longer was allowed to have the privilege of pancakes in the morning, like my neighbor would feed me before my work day began. I no longer got to watch sesame street after breakfast, which felt like a nightmare most nights to think about. It was something childlike, and innocent, and it tethered me to the ground lest I float away amongst all the crap in my life.

Now I was really on my own. I never got any visitors like other inmates did sometimes. They got gifts brought to them, some by friends, some by family. Even the worst criminal in this place was provided with outside human interaction, and was made to feel like someone was in their corner. I didn't even have that. If my mother is even still alive, I doubt she would ever come to visit. Not that she even would know I was here in the first place. I weighed her down from day one, and that day she got rid of me was the happiest day of her life. She'd made it quite clear.

I had no place in this world. I wasn't going to change that. Why should my outcome be different than what everything leading up to it has been? Would it even make sense if it did? Would I even deserve it? Probably not.

One day in the cafeteria I'd been in my same old spot, sitting still and minding my own business... well, almost sitting still. My right hand moved quick as lightning, spelling out the words that were formed by thoughts in my head. I wasn't even quite sure what the thoughts were trying to convey, for they were just random.

I looked to my left when I felt a nudge on my shoulder. I saw one of the bigger men in the joint, I believe his name was Aaron. He looked at me with a stone cold expression, but I wasn't sure why he was even here.

"Why do you sit by yourself?" He asked, sitting in the chair beside me.

'No one can hear me talk.' I reasoned, although just as I presumed, he didn't understand why I did not speak.

He furrowed his brows and almost seemed frustrated after only having asked one question.

I wasn't afraid of him by any means, but I did want to try something I hadn't really thought of before. I held my right hand up as I prepared to speak again.

'No one hears me.' I spelled out again, slightly different this time. He tilted his head to the side, wondering what it was all about. He for sure didn't know what was happening, or what those crazy motions were, but he may have come to a conclusion of his own.

"You're a mute kid..." he said, nodding his head, as if confirming to himself what he believed was true.

I lowered my hand and dropped my head, wanting to cry. One person in this entire crack house takes an interest in my being, and he's already lost that interest for the same reason everyone else has.

He stalked away, back to the table with his friends, and forgot about me the next minute. I didn't despair too long. I curled my legs into myself on the chair, staring back at the wall and beginning to spell again.

The hours kept droning on, and with it, every ounce of my sanity made rounds in my head, trying to decide whether or not it wanted to remain there, or leave completely and make me the same as the rest of these no good criminals.

Of course, even if I did lose my sanity, I wasn't the same as them... they commited the crimes because of their mental health. My mental health would decline simply because of a crime I committed, that wasn't even a crime at all.

Days and nights passed, slowly, borning, and never once was I ever going to be able to live my whole life out in this place. That I was sure of. Breaking out was too risky. Maybe if I could figure out how to make people hear me, perhaps I could reclaim my case, and have justice done for myself.

I will one day get out of this place, and if it takes me years, then so be it... the treatment here was already far better than what I'd received growing up, so until I got out, it wouldn't be too bad... just boring, and lonely.

Tags are open!

@gabile18

[acertainsomeone]

Finding us- EdSer one shot

If he had any doubts before, this incident cleared them altogether. Eda Yildiz had not only taken over his holding and life but his dog as well. He couldn't come to terms with the fact that his best friend, his dog, whom he had brought up since he was a baby, had turned his back on him. Ever since he proposed to Selin, Eda had asked Seyfi bey to get Sirius back to Bolat place. Not that she didn't love him anymore, she found it appropriate that the dog was returned to his rightful owner. She didn't wish anymore for Serkan to treat her worse, if fate planned, his memories will come back otherwise she was not going to desperately beg him to choose her over Selin. It wasn't about pride. Her love was much more than self-respect. She realized that Serkan was scared of her because she managed to strike chords of his heart that were nonexistent for him. If she pushed him further, if she hovered over his head, he would be irked and god forbid if something serious happened to his health, she won't be able to forgive herself.  

Sirius wasn't home, this was twice in the last three days that he had managed to escape. Serkan's pride was too much to call Eda and ask her to pay a visit to Sirius. Usually, he came back wagging his tail, it wasn't hard to spot him around but this time Serkan panicked. He checked the entire neighborhood and every possible place where Sirius could've gone. He had lost his memories; he couldn't afford to lose him.

"Where are you oğlum ?" He drove across the seats of Istanbul in apprehension. His heart skipped a beat thinking of a much worse possibility. Sirius wasn't among those dogs who get along with people, forget strangers.

What if somebody tried to harm him?

It wasn't hard to come across such crackheads, who would hurt animals for their pleasure.  

"Alo" Serkan answered his phone in panic upon seeing Eda's name on the screen. She was going to chide him enough for being so careless.

As if he wasn't to be blamed in her eyes already

"No need to wander around the streets, Sirius is with me. I'm sending you the location. Hadi gel." Her voice was devoid of any emotions, she didn't let him speak and hung up asap. 

 Did he make a mistake?

What was this place? And why would Sirius come here? He wondered while climbing the steps of the apartment. He entered and found a wounded Sirius lying in Eda's lap. He was asleep, and Eda was caressing his head.

"SIRIUS!" He cried in panic, and Eda glared at him for being so loud. 

"Shhhh you're gonna wake him."  

'What happened?" He asked incredulously. Sitting beside Eda, caressing his only best friend with affection.

"I think he ran from your place - to find me. He would've expected me to be at the park. Few children hit him there. Thankfully, I was there for a walk and spotted him immediately."

"What park? I checked all places where he could be."

"There are places that became Sirius's preference, if not yours." She rolled her eyes

"Anyways Serkan, tell me in all honesty, can you take care of him or not? I can't risk his life like this."

He was about to fight back with a 'he's my dog' but he knew that would've turned into a nasty conversation. He owed a thank you to Eda.

"Teşekkürler Eda."  

Eda looked at him plainly. It was hurting him to see her eyes without that love he was used to seeing ever since he came back. Why was it bothering him?  He pushed her away, that's what he wanted.

"You stay with him tonight. He needs to rest."  

"What is this place?" Serkan asked

"Home." She sighed in reverence. "I mean your home, you shifted here."

"Neden."

"I'll leave that story for your fiancé to tell after all she had been telling you everything, and you only believe her."

Eda picked her bag and stood up. "There's food in the fridge. Sirius's food is by the coffee table. And-        your room is upstairs."  She seemed in a hurry. He felt she was only telling him this to fulfill an obligation. He could feel her restless. But why? He had no idea

Serkan examined his room carefully. He was amazed Selin hadn't told him about moving out. The bedroom screamed that he was in a relationship with her Eda Yildiz.

Yok, the bed was made and broken lamps were fixed.

It had their memories. Her memories and belongings. Belongings that he would've never allowed in his premises.

Her clothes and undergarments were piled up along his. Her toothbrush and other toiletries were neatly placed in the bathroom. It didn't seem that they were placed there recently.

A weird sensation was pulling him towards those things. He ran his fingers through her belongings, having flashbacks. They were vivid.

For the first time, he heard her cackling voice too. It was blurry but even his bones could tell that they were in bed, and – he was doing things to make her laugh.

It can't be me

He shook his head in denial.

Serkan opened a drawer and found a USB. It wasn't the USB that grabbed his attention but the flower and note attached to it. That was his handwriting

"For us to remember all the good times- just in case."

***  

"Serkannn!! Would you stop? Look at my state." A sleepy yet annoyed Eda shrieked at Serkan, who was prolly filming a video. He chuckled at her words, not paying attention to whatever she said.

"Eda I know how you look like without clothes." She threw a pillow at his head, and the video disrupted. "Watch out!"

"Are you filming us naked in bed?"

"Hayır, I'm filming this for us to remember that you can't stay mad at me for long." He replied in amusement. This was one of those nights when she had been mad at him but they made out in less than a moment.

"You think too highly of yourself Serkan bolat."

"I've got the brightest star for myself. Shouldn't I?"

"Can you stop this? I have to get up Serkan!"

"How about first you record a message for an 80-year-old Eda, who might've forgotten me?"

"How are you sure that it can't be you."

"I love you way too much to forget you. More than you could. We can bet on that." He winked at her shamelessly

"Tamam." She wasn't going to fight him on this. Eda moved forward cautiously wrapping her naked self with the duvet and kissed Serkan on the tip of his nose.

"This message is for old, yet madly in love Mr. and Mrs. Bolat! No matter how hard the times are, no matter how grave misunderstandings can be, no matter how bleak the road of hope is, we will find our way back, together." 

"Always." He said with a smile and pulled her into a kiss. The video was for them so it didn't matter if it was all being recorded in that state. 

*** 

We don't choose our parents, we don't choose our family, and at times life doesn't allow us to choose our partner as well. He would've never in his right mind made an illogical choice of falling for Eda Yildiz.

Yet he did

Did he make a mistake?

Because all that he had given her in this relationship was pain, so far.

The video brought back a bunch of memories. Their first kiss, first fight, first night, and the last goodbye.

Serkan was mercilessly driving on the empty roads of Istanbul. It was raining heavily and he was drenched. This rain could've made him sick, terribly

But did he even care anymore?

He had hurt the most important person in his life. He ruined everything

How could he forget her of all people? Serkan always claimed to love Eda more than she could. His love was fragile

He sobbed mercilessly, wishing to hit the car somewhere and end this pain. Events of the past few weeks circulated in front of his eyes. The way he was indifferent towards her. The way he resisted her touch and broke her heart all over again.

I never deserved her

He smacked his head against the steering wheel. His tears blocked his vision and he had no idea that he was driving beyond the speed limit with an absolutely insane state of mind.

Suddenly it grew all dark. He couldn't see anything. It felt that the steering wheel was moving in its own direction

All he could hear was noise. Eda's cries and his broken promises.

He was sitting in the police station absentmindedly. Eda was completing the formalities. They hadn't had any eye contact so far else he would've started crying right there. She took him by his arm as if he was lifeless.

"Serkan noldu? You were absolutely fine when I left." She asked him apprehensively, careful not to touch him. "Do you want me to call someone? Selin-"

She stopped immediately. He looked at her for the first time. 

The gaze

Eda caught her breath. It was him. 

It was really him

She knew that man 

Those eyes, they weren't of a stranger. Those eyes recognized her, and she had seen love for her in them. But why was she seeing something stronger than love right now? Anguish

"Serkan!" She gasped unbelievingly. Her hands wrapped around his face possessively as if he'd leave this time if she didn't hold him tight

"I-" he was struggling with words. Should he tell her how scared he was when the pilot told them that the plane was going to crash? How he cursed himself for leaving her behind? Or how much he loves her? Where do I begin

Eda sobbed with happiness. She did not know what to say anymore. He was there, right in front of her. Her Serkan. Her robot bolat

The man who loved her

They were sitting at the shore. Looking blankly at the sea. The waves were calm but their hearts weren't. He had held her hand, and the grip was so strong that it was hurting her a bit but she didn't complain۔

"Eda" he broke the silence

"I don't even have words to ask for your forgiveness. I made another mistake, I broke your heart once again, didn't fulfill my promise, and became the reason for your tears." He was stuttering۔ words weren't leaving his mouth easily whereas Eda kept on looking at him with tears in her eyes

"What I did in the last few weeks can't be forgiven. I've hurt you. I won't beg you to return back to me. I can't make mistakes repeatedly and expect you to stand by the road waiting for me. I-" He stopped and his voice broke further

"Eda you might not want me back in your life but can you please forgive me? One last time? I won't be able to live with the fact that you hate me. Just don't hate me please"

He was begging her, his hands joined together in front of her pleading for forgiveness. His eyes were screaming in pain. He won't be able to bear that hate in this heart. If she stopped caring for him, he won't even bat an eye, but accepting the fact that she despises him? Serkan Bolat would die.

He knew he was being selfish. Yet again, he was thinking of himself. But he was selfish, he never deserved someone as selfless as Eda Yildiz. He disgraced their love, he ruined their relationship, and now if she wished to discontinue this fragile relationship, he won't subject.

"I failed our love Eda. I failed you." She could tell that he was not able to breathe properly. Eda's heart sunk the moment he adjoined his hands in front of her. With each pleading, it felt as if someone was squeezing her heart mercilessly.

"Fate failed us Serkan." She sniffed between her sobs. Her hands cupped his face immediately. She wanted to protect him, she wanted to curl his masculine self among her soft frame. She wished to provide him that comfort and safety his heart seek for the last few months.

He was asking her to forgive him. He feared that she hated him now. How could she?

Serkan had become more than a partner for her, he was a part of her. We don't detach ourselves from what lies within us.

He looked at her disbelievingly. Eda wiped his face with her palms. No more crying. They had enough, more than enough. The pain they had endured was enough for a lifetime.

"We'll leave. Somewhere far away, nobody could find us. Away from this mess, this hate, this chaos. Serkan we have each other. We are not going to let them ruin our happiness."

Was she for real?

"Tamam?" Eda pestered. He nodded in return, unable to say something.

"Seni cok seviyorum." Serkan mumbled only for her to hear as she adorned his face with delicate kisses.

"I have so much to tell you." She sighed in between.

"Where are you taking us?" He did not know why he was asking this. It didn't matter, the question came out of his mouth involuntarily.

"We are going to look for phoenixes." He did not know what that meant but he need not ask. As long as she was there, he didn't have to worry about anything. Eda embraced him protectively like a child. He was in his safe haven.

He was finally saved from the crash.