#It was just so damn COOL and clever and I thought it was neat :)

[whogirl42]

Also I haven't seen anyone talk about this but HOW FUCKING COOL were the opening credits in 2x06???? Cause Loki was going back in time they literally reversed the marvel superhero montage/sequence/whatever you wanna call it. It's just!!! It was so cool. And such a great way to make it clear from the get go that this episode we're dealing with LOADS of timey-wimey shit even more than until now

[cairavende]

Worm Arc 13 thoughts:

Everything is fine, everyone is doing great, but Brian might need to use some vacation days. Just, I dunno, something tells me the dude might benefit from a short break.

We start right off with Taylor refusing to admit she kicked Mannequin's ass, even though all of her allies and all of his allies both agree she did. Which is my daughter 101. I wish she could love herself a little more.

Lisa got her game. It might not be perfect but I think it was well done by her. It still gives them more structure to work with, and more ways to fight back. As this arc shows.

Aisha is way to fucking reckless. I mean I feel for her I really do, but god damn girl. Sometimes your teammates are right! Even if your brother can be a bit of a dick about it.

General note, I absolutely love how Wildbow wrote stuff around Aisha using her power. Just every bit of it. It is very good. I have legit multiple times during this went "Oh fuck I forgot about IMP!" and that is perfect.

Mannequin kills Lucy, so he goes from being on my shit list to being on my super shit list. I'm going to be sad if I never get to see him die.

If Bentley had died I would have burned the world down. So luckily that didn't happen.

Sucks that Mannequin also killed some of Skitter's people. And that he ended up living in the end. But it was fun to watch him get his ass kicked a second time and have to get saved by Burnscar.

I fucking LOVE Genesis. I'm so glad we get to see more of her. Her power is so much fun.

WOLFSPIDER! Taylor bonding with Bitch over trauma. Taylor basically thinking you want someone to tell you want to do. And then “You had me at no holds barred"! AHHHH! Murder lesbians. Go fuck them up girls.

Skitter had a pretty decent plan for attacking the Nine, all things considered. Very good use of their strengths and the abilities they had on hand. But she did make one major mistake. Well, to be fair everyone involved did. And that was having Trickster be the only sniper. They should have brought a few of Coil's troops. Even one more half competent sniper and they would have killed one of the Nine in that first attack. If they had brought Coil's Sniper? 2 of the Nine dead minimum, maybe 3.

Also, the mannequins for Trickster to swap people with were very clever. Though they could have prevented Brian getting captured if they had brought 1 more. And you don't even need a good sniper with those. Point a gun at the head of a mannequin. Swap and shoot at basically the same moment. Bullet hits them before they even know they've swapped and you can't miss. But still, they did pretty good.

I mean maybe not from Grue's PoV, but whatever. He didn't die! He's fine.

Cherish getting absolutely fucking DESTROYED by Tattletale! Oh god it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Cherish tries to get into Tattletales head and Tattletale is just constantly 10 steps ahead and just gaaahhh! Fuck I love it. I would read 100 chapters that was just Tattletale fucking with people like that.

The setup Skitter used to talk to the Protectorate was so fucking cool. Full blown mimicking human speech with only bugs?! She's amplified her words before, but never had the bugs speak entirely on their own. Just the most badass thing. The thing that makes everyone remember you! Swarm of bugs shows up at the superhero base, takes the shape of a person and starts talking with bug sounds, saying "oh hey we just kicked the fuck out of the Nine and captured two of them, wanna actually be heroes and help us finish this?" God damn.

Also Trickster getting through a locked door by teleporting the lock away was very neat.

Of course the heroes don't help. Miss Militia and her "We can handle that on our own, with more calculation and less recklessness." Really? Are you really going to have less recklessness? Cause I've read the interlude. But more on that later.

HOLY FUCK IT SUCKS TO BE BRIAN! I mean, he got better. But still!

I knew my daughter wasn't going to die. I knew her two girlfriends weren't going to die. I was pretty sure Imp and Grue weren't going to die (I wasn't sure how Grue was living but it seemed likely) but even with all that I was kinda panicking during the whole Bonesaw thing.

SECOND TRIGGER EVENT! SECOND TRIGGER EVENTS CONFIRMED! FUCK YES! I'M SO SORRY THAT HAD TO HAPPEN TO YOU BRIAN BUT THAT WAS SO COOL!

Fucking power thief! So much possibility here!

Siberian a projection confirmed. I mean basically confirmed. Confirmed enough for me. Like sure the details aren't revealed and such, but they are totally some form of projection. (I don't list my predictions on here usually so everyone will just have to trust me when I say I guessed Siberian was a projection in arc 11 or 12.)

Also saw some (I assume) other alternate earths in that trigger event, which is neat. I'm sure they'll never come up again.

Skitter sending a note to the Protectorate that was basically "We killed one and injured another, you are a bunch of cowards that suck, fuck you!" was wonderful.

I am very sad for Doll Lesbian and I hope someone can help her! She needs care in this trying time. Cause I love her and she is so cool and it isn't fair that shitty things are happening to her.

"It isn't fair that shitty things are happening to her" is like, 85% of Worm I'm pretty sure though, so I'll probably just have to deal.

Lisa put a blanket on Taylor when she fell asleep. GAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!

Interlude 1 - Aisha's mother sucks. I'm so sorry for the poor girl. Aisha also makes very bad choices. She got so fucking lucky she got away from the Nine the first time and then just went and got herself caught anyway! The fact that her power is passive and she has to work to turn it off sure fucking sucks though.

Interlude 2 - Hey Miss Militia, remember how I said I was going to get back to the "more calculation and less recklessness"? Cause we're back to that. Piggot is planning on dropping WHITE PHOSPHOROUS on part of a city! And then dropping a bunch of bombs made by a dangerous supervillain! Bombs that no one knows exactly what they do! How is that "less recklessness"? Also the PRT is just horribly run. God damn Piggot shouldn't have to be requesting stuff from other offices directly, they should have a central admin that manages reallocation of resources in situations like this. And they should have a full system of teams setup that aren't attached to a city, but instead deploy where they are needed! The government already has systems like this for disaster response and stuff. And between Endbringers and the Nine and other stuff the PRT knows that sometimes certain locations need more support. Terribly managed, badly run, they need better admin staff. They need people that know how to use a god damn spreadsheet. I have a lot more to say about Piggot and her plan but I feel like I'll get some chances to comment on it in Arc 14.

[astro-break]

Thoughts on the 9th ep of Hypmic Rhyme Anima+. Spoilers beware

Season 1 | Ep.1 | Ep.2 | Ep.3 | Ep.4 | Ep. 5 | Ep. 6 | Ep. 7 | Ep. 8

rip kuko isn't athletic weakass punk (affectionate)

oh those are some pretty neat names i guess, their dynamic is pretty cute, very shippable imo

so it does seem to be something that only we as the audience can see, the effects and stuff. I still hope its explained as a mass hypnosis bc if it is, that has such cool implications for the series as a whole

ugh again pacing is weird. The fight scene just felt stilted and not great. Leagues better than season 1 for sure but i still mourn what could have been if the animators were given the proper money, time, and resources to do it

DoHifu is very cute and still one of my fave dynamics

HAHAHAAA DOPPO TAKING SELFIES STILLL

I love how Dice mixes up Momotaro and Journey to the West lmaooooo

Poor Doppo always getting the short end of the stick

OH damn, theyre following the myth pretty closely with the magical circlet and all. In the myth, Buddah puts a magic circlet on Monkey's head so that Tang Sanzang (or tripitaka depending on the translation) can control him from goofing off too much. Very intriguing in how they might use the circlet in the episode

If you're curious Dice is Zhu Bajie (Pigsy), Gentaro is Sha Wujing (Sandy) and DoHifu is Bai Long Ba which directly translates to white dragon horse. Because thats what it is, a shapeshifting dragon who took the form of a white horse. Rip horsey

RIPP LMAO I love when each other know their strengths

Damn bad guys being bad guys montage

Thats cuuteeee I love the little roomba device he rides

LMFAOOOO RAMUDA AS THE SISTERRRR

Oh huh so thats the origin of that idiom. Wasn't aware of that which is fun, always leaning something new

I like the reverse of what you'd think of what a ninja is by being larger and beefier.

I like the imagery of Ramuda rushing ahead like Monkey, its a nice comparison

LMFAOOOOO so thats how they do that, very clever. Tho Jakurai has like box shoulders and i think thats hiarious

THE HORSEEEEEEEE I CAN'TTTTT IM SORRY

Poor DoHifu they got done so dirty just being horses among the amazing outfits

Oh look at that my faves got very pretty matching sets now!

THe multiplying of Ramuda is another Monkey power which is that he can transform his hairs into clones of himself. very fitting for Ramuda The answer to the question of if Monkey would fuck his own clone is undeniably yes but would ramuda?

They're also sitting on the palm of Buddha, a very instrumental place at the very start of Journey to the west. It speaks of Buddha who challenges Monkey to jump out of his hand but when Monkey tries, he realizes that Buddha is infinite and there is no escape from even his nail. This is how Monkey gets trapped eventually leading to his addition to the tripitaka's party

Hm, im on the fence about this one. Its good but not great. I think over time it will grow on me a lot but not anytime soon

The beat is very good tho, i would love to just listen to a instrumental version of this

Idk i think fling posse's overall voice is just a bit too high for the song while Matenro makes it nice and mellow

awwww thats sweet. Also Gentaro is very fitting for Sandy who is an idiot but a fun idiot as opposed to Pigsy who just wants to beat monkey at one thing but never can

I never realized but in the illust, Ramuda has a tape measure on his costume and only there. its a neat little detail

[caitimetravels]

she's insignificant

chapter 10: where you've gone

the umbrella academy x (fem) reader

disclaimer: i do not own the plot/storyline of the netflix tv series and i do not own the umbrella academy characters.

warnings: none

masterlist

with a sigh, y/n stood. five was still writing away behind her on the walls non-stop. she didn't dare interrupt him, simply leaving. she would be back anyways. all she needed was a nice walk. 

as she wandered down the street with no destination in mind she spaced out, eyes trained on her feet. suddenly someone knocked her shoulder and brought her back to reality. she raised her head, hoping they weren't someone looking to start a fight or argue with her.

"y/n?" instead she was met with allison. her technically older sister seemed frustrated.

"allison? are you okay?" y/n's eyebrows furrowed, looking up at the curly haired woman. 

"yeah.. i think so" she frowned, "i'm worried about vanya. she won't listen to me but her boyfriend, whoever he is.. i think he's dangerous. i couldn't find anything about him-"

"you went searching for his records?" y/n pulled back in disbelief, "allison! you know vanya doesn't like-"

"i know, she already got angry with me" allison sighed, shaking her head.

"why would you do that?" y/n tilted her head up at her, eyes narrowing incredulously. "where are you even going?"

"well, i found his address. i was going to see if anything's weird.." she earned a disapproving look, "i can't just sit around and do nothing y/n! please, help me, for vanya?"

y/n's expression only darkened, "why are you trying to ruin one of the only good things in her life?! she deserves to be happy for once and im not going to help you take that away from her!" she begun to shout, freezing as she realised her powers were getting out of control in the middle of the street. "just.. leave them alone!" 

she took off, hoping to get away, she needed to get away.

————————————————–

as the sweet melody came to soft halt y/n smiled up at her sister. vanya donned a similar grin, placing her violin down and joining y/n on the floor, cross legged and leaning back against her bed.

"one day, you're going to be amazing, v" y/n mumbled quietly, looking like she was in a slight daze, "more amazing than you are now.. you're going to be a famous violinist, i can see it now. 'vanya hargreeves, the world's best violinist'" 

vanya softly nudged her shoulder, shaking her head. "no way, the world? c'mon" 

"i'm serious!" y/n was adamant, sitting up straighter to see her better, "you're gonna be so cool! and everyone here is going to see you and say 'damn, wish i had seen how awesome our sister was back then' and you're going to have lots of fans!"

vanya snorted, shyly brushing her long hair to the side, "yeah, right"

".. you won't forget me when you're famous, right?" y/n leaned back against the bed to avoid direct eye contact, her voice was much softer now. "don't forget me.. okay?" she nervously side eyed her sister, trying to gauge her reaction.

"i could never" vanya shook her head, leaning into the h/c haired girl. both of them shared small content grins.

————————————————–

as she walked upstairs to five's room she heard a commotion, hopefully he hadn't gotten into a fight with one of their siblings again, right?

wrong.

"put her down" five snarled, holding a gun up to luther who held dolores' body out the window. y/n grinned at the sight, highly amused. who would have thought luther would ever threaten someone? well, y'know excluding their missions.. but five nonetheless? she leaned casually against the doorway, arms crossing and waiting for them to sort out whatever issue she walked in on.

"put the gun down, you're not killing anyone today. i know she's important to you so don't make me do this" luther paused, waiting to see what five would do. "it's either her or the gun.. you decide"

eventually five did decide that dolores was more important and dropped the gun before spacial jumping to catch dolores before she could fall. not that much damage would have occurred to the mannequin anyways, maybe a few scratches.

"i can keep doing this all day" luther spoke triumphantly, now holding the gun at his side. y/n snorted, catching their attention.

"you're such children" both glared at her in response, "c'mon, surely you have a better plan than whatever ended up in this-" she gestured vaguely between them, "squabble"

"we did not squabble" five hissed, placing dolores down and straightening his jacket. "but yes, i do have a one other plan" 

————————————————–

the three of them, five, luther and y/n, drove down an empty road before slowing to a stop. five unbuckled his seatbelt and sighed, looking around.

"you know, i never enjoyed it" he started and luther turned to him in confusion.

"what?"

"the killing. i mean i was- i was good at my work and i took pride in it but it never gave me pleasure" he took a deep breath, "i think it was all those years alone. solitude can do funny things to the mind"

"yeah well, you were gone for such a long time.. i only spent four years on the moon but that was more than enough. it's the being alone that breaks you" luther placed a hand on the briefcase, "you think they'll buy it?"

"well, what i do know is that they're desperate. it's like a cop losing his gun" he alluded, "if the commission finds out they'll be in deep shit, well not to mention that they'll be stuck here until they get it back"

"i should hold onto it" luther suggested, patting it with one hand.

"hm?" five's eyebrows furrowed,

"incase they make a move on you" he added to explain his point.

"okay, luther.. but be careful. i've lived a long life but.. you're still a young man, you've got your whole life ahead of you. don't waste it" y/n snorted and five turned to her, unamused.

"what?" they stared at each other for a moment before five shook his head, looking away with a small smile.

suddenly a car began to drive towards them and they all made to get out of the car. "here we go" five sighed again, he was doing that a lot, y/n realised.

the car continued to drive past them, stopping a few metres away.

"if this all goes sideways.. do me a favour and tell dolores i'm sorry" five turned to luther who nodded slowly.

as five walked away from them y/n leaned back against the car.

"i have a bad feeling about this" she nervously picked at her nails and luther frowned, looking over at her.

"why? what's wrong?"

"that.. i don't know yet" she looked down the road, "i just.. feel like something's off" she shook her head as five walked back, leaning next to her.

luther stepped forwards a bit, "what happens now?"

"now we wait" 

barely a moment later they heard the music of an ice cream truck. y/n squinted against the sun and wind, trying to work out who it was. she took a moment to focus, sensing klaus, diego and ben. uh oh.

as the car got closer luther turned to five, "is that her?"

"luther, you idiot" y/n shook her head, "it's klaus and diego" right on time klaus waved to them as they passed.

the two assassins begun shooting, thinking it was a set up and y/n raised her arms to cover her head as luther stepped in front of her and five to block any shots.

suddenly time stopped.. well, only for five.

he frowned down at y/n next to him, the girl cowering in on herself. he felt bad for bringing her into something like this but she was very persistent.

he slowly stepped under luther's arm, looking at everyone frozen in slight confusion.

"neat trick, isn't it?" a feminine voice called out behind him and he turned to face the woman he had asked to see. the handler. she stared at him, pulling the veil over her face up and onto her hat instead before pulling her sunglasses off.

"hello, five" she smiled, "you look good.. all things considered" she softly gestured to all of him.

"it's good to see you again" he nodded back,

"feels like we met just yesterday, 'course you were a little bit older then" she teased, "congratulations on the age regression, by the way. very clever, threw us all off the scent"

"ah, well, i wish i could take credit" five shrugged, looking away. "i just miscalculated the time dilation of projections and.. well, you know, here i am" his gaze met hers once again, throwing his hands up before putting them back in his pockets, casually.

"you realise your efforts are futile" the handler shifted so that her briefcase was behind her, "so, why don't you tell me what you really want?"

"i want you to put a stop to it" five moved his own hands behind his back. 

"you realise what you're asking for is next to impossible even for me" she shook her head, "what's meant to be is meant to be. that's our raison d'etre" 

"yeah?" five smiled sarcastically, pulling a gun from his shorts "well how about survival as a raison?" 

"i'll just be replaced, i am but a small cog in a machine" the handler waved it off, ignoring the gun pointing straight at her heart. "this fantasy you've been nurturing about summoning up your family to stop the apocalypse is just that.. a fantasy. i must say though, we'll quite impressed with your initiative, your stick-to-it-tiveness, really quite- quite something. which is why we want to offer you, a new position back at the commission, in management" the handler held a hand up, smiling like her offer was an obvious choice.

"sorry what's that now?" five scoffed as she stepped closer, hand tightening on the gun.

"come back to work for us again, you know it's where you belong" 

"well, it didn't work out too well the last time" he glared up at her, not liking the persistence.

"oh but you wouldn't be in the correction department any longer, i'm talking about the home office, you'd have the best health and pension and an end to this ceaseless travel" she laughed freely, "you're a distinguished professional in.. school boy shorts. we have the technology to reverse the process. i mean you- you can't be happy like this" she slowly pushed his gun down, stepping ever closer.

"i'm not looking for happy" he spat through gritted teeth.

the handler only tilted her head, eyeing him carefully before raising a hand to stroke his cheek, "we're all looking for happy. we can make that happen, we can make you.. yourself again"

five huffed a laugh, gesturing to his siblings. "what about my family?"

"what about them?" the handler raised an eyebrow, acting like she didn't already know he intended to save them.

"i want them to survive" 

the handler took in a deep breath, taking in the sight of luther protecting y/n who was still crouching against the car as well as diego and klaus who were in the middle of crashing the ice cream truck.

"all of them?" 

"yes, all of them" he narrowed his eyes at her,

the handler gave him a small smirk, moving towards the recoiled girl. five watched carefully, waiting to see what she would do.

"it's such a shame.. she would have done well with us. if only we could take her too" she reached a hand out, about to touch her but five moved first, spacial jumping in front of her and grabbing her hand. he held her away from y/n.

"don't touch her" he snarled, unmoving from his protective stance. 

"my my, five, i didn't expect such protectiveness from you" the handler merely smirked, stepping away. as they walked back she once again proposed her deal.

"well" the handler begun, reaching a hand into her pocket and pulling out her sunglasses before putting them back on her face. "i'll see what i can do from them.. do we have a deal?" she reached a hand out to him, awaiting his acceptance. he merely stared at her hand before sighing,

"one thing" five stepped back, putting his gun in his shorts again. he walked over to hazel's gun on the floor, taking out the ammunition and chucking it on one side of the road before chucking the rest of the gun to the other. he turned and walked back, noticing the bullet headed towards luther and y/n. he frowned, using his pointer finger and thumb to move it over so that it would hit the car instead of them.

as soon as he shook her outstretched hand they disappeared and time was restored.

y/n shivered, ignoring the bullet hitting the car next to her and the way her siblings scrambled around to get away quick. she allowed herself to be shoved into the car with klaus and diego, spaced out.

"you alright?" diego turned to her while klaus stuck the middle finger up at hazel and cha cha. 

"i felt someone else.. it was only for a moment but i felt someone.." she spoke solemnly, staring at her shaking hands. "and then five just.. disappeared"

tag list: (if your name is crossed i couldnt tag you) @rxses-and-reverie @lostgreekgod @on-yourmark-99 @bicyhot1 @navs-bhat @midnightmystic @shawkneecaps @baby-bi-bi-bi-yeah @velveticxyyy

[ibijau]

fave 10 characters from any media and why u like them?

10. Ori from The Hobbit. He's a fun lil guy and he was my main blorbo in that fandom and I just liked him a lot for his pointless bravery and how very adorable he was

9. Tiffany Aching from the Discworld. Many reasons, but mostly it's a specific part of the first book that has stuck with me through the years. I don't have the exact quote, but something about her opponent calling her selfish like it's the worst thing she could be, and a part of her just owning it like. Yes, she's selfish. And she's still going to protect the people around her, because those are her people. And it just... I just love that moment.

8. Polgara from The Belgariad (and associated books). Role model lady!! But more seriously, I loved how complex she was, and how she was allowed to be clever and powerful and kind, but also bitchy and petty, and it wasn't... the narrative didn't judge or punish her for it? I don't enjoy David and Leigh Eddings books as much as I did as a teenager, but damn, the characters in it were really cool and Polgara most of all

7. Rapunzel from Tangled. To make it short, I got the dvd the year I went no-contact with my mom, and I watched it dozens of time, and it was very therapeutic.

6.Katniss Everdeen, but specifically from the book as I wasn't too impressed with the films. She's just a fascinating character, with so much rage and anger (all justified!!) and it's really cool to see her grow to understand that her world is even more fucked up than she thought, and trying to figure out how to deal with it when everyone is trying to manipulate her one way or another.

5. Lan Xichen. I love his mix of gentle politeness and determination. He is a good man whose kindness is treated as a fault to be taken advantage of by his best friend. Again and again he is confronted with difficult choices (leaving or staying when his sects burns, what to do with lwj when he sides with wwx, what to do with jgy when his guilt is revealed) and he very sincerely tries his best with the information he has. I love him. Fuck but I love him. He is so good. He is so very good, and he tries so damn hard to be fair, and I love him.

4. Granny Weatherwax from the Discworld. She is a BITCH and we LOVE HER. Just. Damn, but there's something so reassuring about her existing as a character? Like. Yeah, she's not very nice. But she tries her best to be good, even when it's not easy, even when it's not pleasant.

3. Nie Huaisang. Whaaaaaat, he is only number three? what fraud is this?? But yeah, I love him a lot, and I think he's just cool. I have no idea who he is in canon. We know who he was, and who he appears to be, but there's pretty much no clues as to the person he really is. How much of the image he presents is real, how much is fake, and does it even matter, does he even know himself what's real or not? I love a character open to interpretation!

2. Bertha Mason (from Jane Eyre). I think she's just a fascinating character, shrouded in mysteries. She is the greatest of evils, and she is the greatest of victims. She is a murdering foul bitch, and she is a woman whose life was controlled by the men around her. There are so, so many ways to read her character, so many possible interpretations! It makes it really fun to write fanfics about her, and to read about people's opinions of her. Which... is kind of a theme here, uh?

Link from any of the main games except Skyward Sword. Listen I know he's usually got the personality of a paperclip, but also he's cool and brave and funny, and I've spent countless hours of my youth (...and of my adult years too...) playing Zelda games, and I started writing and drawing out of love for the franchise, and I just think he's a neat character bc you can project whatever you want upon him

[didsomeonesaydaddydraco]

My Oh My | Draco Malfoy one shot

Request: yes! @leydileyla (I would like to request a Draco Malfoy fic, with a Female Hufflepuff Reader (you don't need to specify Hufflepuff if you don't feel like it goes with the story) with the prompt,2. Take another step, and I can’t be responsible for my actions.Maybe it could be something like, they could have been flirting for a while and both sides feel like they are hitting their boiling point )

Word count: 3,205 words

Warning: drinking (just a tiny)

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x Hufflepuff!reader

Note: This was a requests from the prompt list. Used prompt: “Take another step, and I can’t be responsible for my actions” 

They say he likes a good time

He comes alive at midnight

My mama doesn't trust him

He's only here for one thing

But (so am I)

The dungeons. The Slytherin Common Room was located there. A place for the cunning, ambitious, determined and resourceful wizards and witches. And of course the kingdom of the Slytherin Prince, Draco Lucius Malfoy. He was mysterious as the night, but oh Merlin, he was the most alive during the dark hours of the day. He really knew how to have fun and how to throw the best Common Room Parties without the professors or Filch founding out. Those parties were the topic of every conversation. Students were talking about how the Slytherins managed to sneak snacks and alcohol to their Common Room, and how clever they were to use the Muffliato Charm, so the loud music wouldn’t be heard from outside. But the most interesting and exciting part of those parties was the way students from other Houses were invited. Not so many people had the privilege to be good friends with a Slytherin, due to their struggles with trust, but that didn’t mean they refused to have some fun time with their fellow school mates. You could only enter the party, if a Slytherin invited you. They would leave a note in your book, on your desk before class or sneak it into your bag with the exact details and the password. That’s how Y/N was invited. Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were at the same Transfiguration class, and one Monday, when Draco Malfoy passed her desk, he dropped a piece of parchment. She bent down to pick up the folded note and give it back to him, but she saw her name on the middle of it, written in neat handwriting. 

Beautiful, come to our party this Friday, 10 at night. Bring only one FEMALE friend if you want. The password is serpent. I’ll be expecting you - Malfoy

That was the beginning of a beautiful flirtationship with the Slytherin bad boy. That night, Draco never approached Y/N, but he was always around her, glancing at her while I was talking to our school mates, staring at her while she was dancing with Pansy on the tables. After that party, it was hot glances at each other during class. Draco couldn’t kept his eyes off her, and after a while, it wasn’t enough for him. For some strange reasons, he wanted to be as close to the Hufflepuff girl as possible, so he made her House mate move from next to her and sat by her side during classes. Draco would greet her with a compliment, and Y/N would wink at him in response. The small nice gestures and words soon turned into more. She would stroke her hand along his back as she passed him in the corridors. Draco would touch her hand secretly while they were chatting with friends. He never hid how he was feeling about her, and wasn’t afraid to threaten anyone who tried to approach the subject of his admiration. The flirting between the youngsters was something that couldn’t stay unnoticed by anyone. 

“Who is the boy?” Her mother would ask when she was back at home for Christmas. She kept receiving owls with litters and small parcels with her name on top of them. Same neat handwriting. She would smile brightly and even blush while reading the shorter or longer notes attached to her gifts from Malfoy. 

“It’s probably still Draco” Y/N’s sister groaned and with an annoyed expression on her face, she shoo away the owl. She didn’t like the idea of her sister being involved with someone who was mostly famous for his jerk behaviour and the idea he was brought up in. In her eyes, Draco Malfoy was the devil himself. She wanted to hex him just because he would breathe around her. Of course she didn’t want Y/N to get hurt or being used by him. 

“Draco? As in Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy’s son?” Their mother looked up from her book and her kind eyes focused on her youngest child. She knew that family and heard enough about their shady businesses and arrogant behaviour “I don’t trust him, darling” she shook her head disapprovingly.

“You know he likes to sleep around and mess with girls, right?” Her sister asked, but Y/N shut their voices out. Of course she heard about his reputation, and even saw him throwing girls away from one day to another, but that was what pulled her in. She wanted his taste. Maybe he wanted only one thing, but so did she.

A little bit older

A black leather jacket

A bad reputation

Draco Lucius Malfoy. Everyone knew who he was. Everyone knew about his reputation at Hogwarts. And of course, everyone warned her about him. He had everything that a girl could wish for in a guy. He was tall and strong. He was hard to get and a total twat. He bullied everyone who wasn’t good enough in his eyes and he never regret it. But he had the most beautiful pair of stormy blue eyes with the slightest hint of baby blue in them. And that damn smirk that could make a girl faint. He was just a few months older, but his features made him look much mature. Y/N always found herself staring at him when he wasn’t by her side, just admiring the man he was. After a while, Draco would feel someone watching him, and would look for the person, secretly hoping it was the girl who he wanted so badly. He could have made her his fully, but they loved and lived for their little cat and mouth game. The bickering and flirting entertained not only the two of them, but everyone around them. 

“Bite me” Y/N said to the blonde bloke towering over her body. She couldn’t tell anymore what they were arguing about, she just wanted to push his bottoms and see when he would snap. Her remark made Draco smile at her darkly, and leaned in, dangerously close to her face.

“Where, princess?” His was deepened and he bit his bottom lip. A tiny gasp left her lips and he knew he won this round “You thought you were so badass, but then you met me”

“You think too highly of yourself” she rolled her eyes and pushed him away. Draco sat back next to her on the bench and put his hand on her thigh, softly stroking her soft skin with his thumb.

“Am I not everything you wanted?” He asked with raised eyebrows, and he sneaked his hand up a little higher. They crossed the line of innocent flirting a long time ago. Y/N and Draco were basically on fire when they were just simply in the same room, yet alone sitting next to each other.

“I wanted a little less arrogance” she pushed his hand away and stood up, grabbing her back from the ground and walking away with a huge smile on her face. She loved the affect she had on the Slytherin boy, and enjoyed teasing him too much to end it anytime soon. 

“You can’t resist me, Y/L/N” Draco yelled after her and watched how her hips swayed as she walked further and further away. That girl really knew how to ignite the fire inside him over and over again, but never stayed long enough to let it warm her. Draco smiled at the thought of chasing after her in the corridors and throwing her over his shoulder to her back to his room. 

Insatiable habits

He was onto me, one look and I couldn't breathe

Yeah, I said, "If you kiss me

I might let it happen”

I swear on my life that I've been a good girl

Tonight, I don't wanna be her

Y/N was a good girl, always the first to submit her homework and the one who volunteered to tutor the younger witches and wizards when they had troubles with any of their classes. She liked to know all her assignments were complete and outstanding, searching for new information about the topics of their lessons to add to her essay and show her professors how determined she was about her studies. She was nice with everyone, she was the shoulder you could cry on even if you didn’t know her that well. She liked to help people and loved to make new friends. But she had a side that only a few people knew. She wasn’t that innocent little Hufflepuff girl like so many students would have thought. She was always up for a good party and flirt with boys. They were young after all. It was their time to live, to experiment, to fall in love and to make mistakes. She loved her life and wanted to live it fully. That was what Draco admired her. Her essence and the way she saw life. She was fun to be around, and hot to stare at. And he liked to watch every move she took.

“Like alchemy, Kabbalah isn’t one generalised study either, but several different branches. The two beaches that specifically have the most influence” she was trying to teach Draco  everything about their Alchemy class before their midterm test, but she rudely interrupted her.

“You gotta stop doing that” he said with a teasing tone. He was laying on his side on the bed, keeping himself up by his elbow while he was playing with the rings on his long fingers. 

“What?” she asked with a confused expression and looked up from her notes. Draco wasn’t paying attention to her words, but the way her lips moved.

“Saying things that make me wanna kiss you” she annoyedly rolled her eyes and pushed Draco of her bed. She might tried to act cool, but she couldn’t hide the smile dancing on her lips and her eyes brightening up by the thought of kissing him.

——-

“See you tonight, Y/N?” Pansy Parkinson asked as she passed by in the corridor. It was Friday afternoon, and they just get out of their last class. The usual Friday Night Party was the topic of every conversation, which made Y/N rather annoyed. She found it weird that she wasn’t invited. The last four months, she was there. Draco always made sure she was invited and had her by his side the whole night. But this week, she wasn’t. She kept checking for little notes in her books where Draco doodled during classes or Study Halls, she reorganised her bag to see if he had slipped a piece of paper, but nothing. Maybe he didn’t want her there.

“I wasn’t invited” she shrugged and tried to hide her disappointment with a smile. The Parkinson girl laughed and hugged her by the side. They weren’t the best of friends, but it felt good for Pansy so have another girl in their group of friends, who was actually a lot like them. It was a nice change to be able to have girly chit chats with someone, who wouldn’t make gagging noises by topics like skin care, menstruation or clothes. 

“Oh, bunny” she shook her head in amusement. Pansy found it funny how a bright witch like Y/L/N could be so stupid sometimes “You don’t need to be invited anymore. You’re one of us now, so when you hear about a party, just know that it’s your party too”

“Then I’ll see you tonight” Y/N smiled happily and quickly kissed Pansy on the cheek before she hurried back to the Hufflepuff tower to take a nap before the party. Her afternoon was a blur. After she woke up, she found Parkinson sitting on the floor beside her bed, drawing little butterflies and birds on a parchment. Pansy insisted that they get ready together to the party, because she needed some girly time and she was fed up with Enzo and Blaise making fun of her for taking too long to get ready. So the girls went to her dorm room and took a few shots of Fire Whiskey while they were doing each others hair and makeup. Y/N had a plan for the night. She was done with their little game, and wanted Draco to finally make the first move. She had been trying to make him do something that would move their relationship forward, but it seemed like the Slytherin Prince was more than happy with their current status. If Draco wasn’t man enough to make a move, then she will do it.

Her dress was perfect for her plan, and even Pansy drooled over her a bit when she saw Y/N coming out of the bathroom. The dress she chose was a simple black dress with think straps made out of diamonds and reached only down to the middle of her naked thighs. The fine satin fabric hugged her feminizing curves perfectly, the light fall of it on her chest and the slit of the dress on her thigh gave the whole look a slightly innocent, but teasing vibe. And everyone in the Slytherin Common Room agreed on that. Boys turned their head after her and tried to talk to Y/N, but the Hufflepuff had eyes only for a certain Slytherin, who was nowhere to be seen at the beginning of the night. She was tipsy and waited for the two more shots she took with Theo and Adrian to kick in and push her into another stage of drunk. All her insecurities, worries and boundaries were long gone, all thanks to the Fire Whiskey burning in her system. She was determined, she felt irresistible and she knew she had the boy in her palms. He just needed a little nudge, to finally make a move.

Draco Malfoy wasn’t the one who was easy to be amazed, but when he finally spot Y/N walking towards him, he almost choked on his drink. He had seen her in a jogger and sweater, with absolutely no makeup on and with messy hair, and he thought she was the cutest little thing ever. He had seen her in leggings and a workout top, with sweaty hair and face, and Draco felt motivated to go and workout too. He had seen her with a high pony tail and her school uniform, and he thought she was someone who could easily beat Granger at studying. But this was new. She never dolled up like this for a party. Her dress, the way her corrugated, tied up hair swung from left to right in perfect harmony with her hips made Draco to think about a lot of unholy things. She was a goddess in his eyes and he wanted to be the man by her side. His whole body, his heart and soul had been burning for Y/N for months, and he was getting impatient with their little game. He desperately wanted to take the next step, but he wasn’t completely sure if she was feeling the same way. Of course she flirted with him. They had their heated moments, where both of them were seconds away from crossing the line and kissing the other, but somehow, they managed to control themselves. Draco loved to replay their playful fights, their bickering that turned into heavy flirting and the secret glances and touches when he was in bed and tried to sleep. He loved to see the light blush in her cheeks when he complimented her hair, makeup or just her beauty or brain in general. He absolutely lived for the flame igniting in her beautiful eyes when he said something dirty and naughty to her during class or Study Hall. But he wasn’t brave enough to actually man up and ask her on a date. Or maybe to be his girlfriend. They were far too deep for basic things like first date, first kiss or anything like that bullshit. Their relationship was on a different kind of level, and he knew she was someone you just don’t want to lose. 

“Hey, handsome” she greeted him from a few feet away. Draco knew Y/L/N and Parkinson were getting ready together, and the two witches pre gamed a little before they came downstairs. He also saw her taking shots with their friends, so he was sure she wasn’t completely sober anymore. Not drunk enough, to not know what she was doing or saying, but definitely not sober anymore to be shy “Haven’t seen you all almost all night. Here I thought you were ignoring me” she smirked at him and twirled the end of her hair around her finger, looking at Draco with tilted head to the side. She wanted to take a step forward, but he held out his hand to stop her.

“Take another step, and I can’t be responsible for my actions” he warned her, his blue eyes never leaving hers. He couldn’t take this anymore. They were playing a very dangerous game, and they were so close to hit their boiling spot. Y/N straightened up and started the play with the ring on her necklace. Draco gifted her his ring two weeks ago, after he got enough of her always stealing it from him while they studied together. Little did she knew, Draco meant it as a sign, that she was all his. He wanted the boys at Hogwarts to see she was wearing his ring and she only belong to him.

“Than maybe you should take a step” her voice was teasing but serious at the same time. She bit her bottom lip and pushed her hip to the side a little bit, showing Draco that she was waiting. It was all up to him. And he did. The sassy look on her face, the way she was biting her bottom lip and everything that had been building up in him for long weeks, gave him a final push and he said fuck it. He grabbed her and pulled her to his body. Their chests were pressed together, he could almost feel her heartbeat. She looked up at him, fire burning in her eyes “If you kiss me, I might let it happen”

Draco kissed her. He kissed her like he had never kissed anybody before. It was exactly like it was written in romance books and said in the films. They had butterflies raving in their stomachs. Fireworks behind closed eyes. Hands holding onto the other like their lives depended on it. Lips moving in perfect harmony. She was his. He was hers. After months of flirting, it was good to finally burn in their love. 

“Just for the record, you’re mine” Draco said and rested his forehead on her. They were both breathing heavily, trying to catch breathe after the kiss. She giggled at his possessiveness and rolled her eyes at him. Of course he had to show who was the alpha “Oh, and this dress is coming off at the end of the night” he winked at her and pulled her face into another passionate kiss.

[oodlyenough]

psychonauts 2 review!

I played the first few-ish (not many... I'd guesstimate under 4) hours of the original Psychonauts years ago, but found it unruly to control and never progressed further. I remember thinking the concept was neat, though, and when I heard a sequel was coming I figured I'd check it out, since it'd presumably be more polished.

The sequel is very very good. I think it is the best game I've played this year. It's also maybe the most creative game I've played... ever.

When Rift Apart came out, a lot of reviews said it was "like a playable Pixar game". Having played (and enjoyed!) Rift Apart as well, I gotta say while that may be true in image fidelity, in basically every other respect I think Psychonauts 2 comes closer. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who's ever enjoyed this kind of platformer.

More detail and possible spoilers:

I'll start with the cons, because there aren't very many:

I posted early on that I found jumping kind of unwieldy/frustrating, which is bad for a platformer. Although I got better at it as I got used to the controls, I still did run into scenarios where I was creating a thought bubble while trying to wall jump, or rolling off the edge of a platform I'd just landed on, or otherwise just finding jumping clumsy. I turned off fall damage pretty early for this reason; it was infuriating to just keep dying because I couldn't make a clumsy jump, and then respawn with increasingly limited health.

(Also, fwiw, because I know gamers were losing their damn minds about this when it was announced, turning off fall damage doesn't allow you to skip out on executing all the platforming. You just don't respawn with a health penalty if you fail. You still have to eventually time it right.)

A few hours after turning off fall damage, I turned off combat damage too. So I guess I can't really evaluate the smoothness or difficulty of combat fairly, because uh... I was immortal. This is just me as a player though -- I played large chunks of Spiderman & Miles Morales & Rift Apart on immortality mode. Boss fights simply do not spark joy for me; I want to progress a story without repeating a segment several times. I will say, in this mode, combat was fairly repetitive, mainly just psi blasting and meleeing everything. I kept thinking about turning it off, to maybe appreciate the challenge or figure out other techniques.... but I really just wanted to keep progressing the story, so I never did.

HOWEVER... there's a ton of extremely profitable games where combat is literally just "shoot", so, even then I wouldn't hold it against Psychonauts much.

I'm an idiot I guess and didn't realize levelling up skills was a separate thing from buying pins to augment the skills. So I played like a good chunk of the game with every skill at level 0 lmfao.

Easily my least favourite level is the first one, which I think is a bit unfortunate... I don't have, like, a dental phobia and I was still not really enjoying that part, and compared to how colourful and cool and imaginative the other worlds are it just seems like it starts the game off on a weird foot.

I know some purists are reading this like SO YOU PLAYED A GAME WITH NO DAMAGE AT ALL? Yep and I appreciate DoubleFine allowing me to do so. ✌🏻

And then onto the pros:

Like... everything else?

Playing Rift Apart this summer made me feel like a kid again, as a someone who grew up on cartoony platformers like Spyro and who still craves the satisfaction of first discovering you can charge that cracked wall and find an orb behind it. Psychonauts 2 had all that fun of exploring maps and finding secret, hidden locations and collectibles... on top of having the most creative and varied level design I've ever seen.

Seriously the levels were gorgeous. I was constantly spinning the camera around to take in all the little details, and there were SO MANY different levels where the gimmick would surprise and delight me. Almost every level for me was like "omg how did they think of that". Even when I was getting irritated by (for eg) the unruliness of trying to steer a giant bowling ball down a precise ramp, I was at least marvelling at the ingenuity involved.

The script was wonderful. Funny, charming, clever in its use of metaphor, and genuinely touching at times. If ever anything felt a little bit simplified, well, it's a kid-friendly game... I can't be too mad about that.

Raz is so endearing! It's very easy for the plucky young kid character to uh, become grating, but I always found Raz charming and I was rooting for him. Richard Horvitz is so good.

TBH all the characters were super lovable and funny. In a giant cast of cartoons I don't think there was a single one where I'd be like "ugh, this guy again" which is quite a feat honestly. They were all charming and well-acted and bursting with dialogue.

Even the random NPCs around the motherlobe who have their own progressing storylines via conversations... I love that detail! It was one of my favourite parts of Life is Strange: True Colours and I was delighted when I realized it was happening in this game too. It was fun to check in on some of your faves as the game progressed.

I'm pretty thorough, and I love exploring maps, and boy do these maps have a lot to explore, especially the hub areas. I STILL haven't figured out how to get everywhere in the Questionable Area, lol, or gotten every psy card, etc.

I like the music, especially the music in the quarry area that absolutely makes me feel like I am walking around Epcot. Perfect vibe. (And the Small World knock-off music in Nick's brain lmao...)

As soon as the projection started talking I was like, "this is GIR, right? This is intentionally a Zim and Gir thing?" So I felt validated by checking IMDB after lmao.

Ummm... I think that's about it. Honestly great game. I might give Psychonauts 1 another go... although I'd say there's a high chance I instead watch it on YouTube, lol.

[nighttimepixels]

TALK TO US ABOUT MASS EFFECT I HAVE BEEN AN INSANE MASS EFFECT/SHAKARIAN TRASH PERSON SINCE 20-FUCKING-11 AND LEMME TELL YOU THOSE FEELINGS HAVENOT TARNISHED A SINGLE FRACTION IN THOSE TEN YEARS OH MY GOOOOOOODDDSSSS!!!!!!!

I DEMAND A PLAY-BY-PLAY UP TO THE MINUTE OF YOUR REACTIONS TO EVERYTHING!!!!

you are so valid and I totally see why everyone I've ever mentioned it to loves the hell out of it

aksdjlsdfj I meannnn if you want to hear my rambling about it then hell yeah

Okay, gonna put this below the cut to save everyone else XD also- since I'm not leaving this Mass Effect obsession anytime soon, if you're not interested in seeing occasional posts about it, please feel free to block the tag "night plays ME"~

(mild spoilers ahead??)

((also for real I mean it when I say this is rambling as hell lol, apologies and no stress if absolute no one reads all this))

OKAY SO Mass Effect 1-

Stars help me, I was honestly hooked right from the start?? Like even in Legendary Edition (the combined trilogy just re-released in one "can play it on one system + minor improvements", for anyone who doesn't know) where it's smoothed out, of course it's obvious that ME1 is a decade old... but the foundation for these relationships are all there and gods I love them already.

Like - Kaiden right off the top is a delightful good fightin lad, what the hell. I've heard that he's viewed as 'bland' by a good portion of the fan community but I dunno, he's a delight and even more complex by the time 2 rolls around and you encounter him on Horizon, it was honestly Ashley I was way more meh about - mostly because before you can learn about her family history/etc, she comes off as hella xenophobic and I was immediately offended for my growing space family that she didn't like/trust all the aliens around, pfff.

(she gets redeemed a bit through further actions/evolving thoughts, but I thought in retrospect it was a bummer that they didn't flip the order there, give her a chance to be liked before the complicating factor of being so rude about aliens >:c that then she could grow from... ah well. Apparently she has a good arc but uh, let's just say I chose Kaiden at the "key junction" in the latter part of the game so I won't be seeing anymore of Ashley uh... anytime soon, haha.)

Garrus??? Is??????? The ABSOLUTE best???????????

I liked him from the start, I'm always a bit of a sucker for a rogue-detective "the system won't bring this bastard to justice, so I've got to" type and all their moral shadiness XD But he just gets better, honestly, and where I'm at in ME2 (right before the Reaper IFF mission, as of typing this, with everyone's loyalty!) I am only digging myself deeper into this hole-

-*wheezing* okay anyways -

Wrex is AMAZING I love fightin' middle-aged krogan bastard, gods. Liara is great too, I'm a sucker for a wlw relationship (playing fem!Shepard, so) - buuuut I'll admit she's a bit more one-note in ME1. Last week while I was still on ME1 I remember hearing (while trying to dodge spoilers) that her arc is really good, though. I think they leaned a little hard on the 'innocent but sexy' sterteotype on her (so despite the yikes aspect of a few of the things I've learned in ME2, lol, I actually really like the complexity that's been added to her character.)

Saved Liara first, so by the time I got to Noveria and had the standoff with Benezia there was the chance to have emotions over Liara having to face her TwT and of course, I made the questionable but quality decision to free Queen Rachni heheh. no ragrets

More than a blow-by-blow of my choices though I totally wanna take the chance to say that even in the mild jankiness of ME1 (goddammit, the Mako.... please..... please just go up this impossible cliff I just want to resource hunt-) the way that the lore, both obvious/key to main plot and the lesser/filler/background/world-building kinds... I just love it. It incorporates it well, you can go ham in the codex learning more, or just dive into the basics - it's clearly a complex galaxy (and they do an even better job in 2 of fleshing it out further), and it never really felt overwhelming. It was pretty natural figuring it all out-!

Plus the interesting implications of resource hunting amongst the sapient races, and the little side missions you better bet I did every one of- there's so much rich depth in the story if you do 'em!! (And that lead with that Keeper side mission...? Looking back, damn, clever foreshadowing-!!!)

And oh my gods, Ilios??? hell yeah. I loved that mission so much, especially having Garrus & Kaiden with me when talking to the hologram/computer, and more than anything, that last sprint in the Mako trying to get to the jump before it closed-???

yeet the boi-

Also mannn I love a good setpiece, and having to go up the side of the elevator, space-side?? such a cool setup!!

Plus it felt good having been Paragon enough (as simple as the good v bad vibe system is, I don't hate it, lol) to avoid one of the Saren fights, ngl. And the er, "second fight" with Sovereign-Saren.... hell yeah

... I'll admit I had to double check my choice re whether to save the Council. I did in the end, but I swear, sometimes the way they phrase things I'm like ".... okay but Garrus is right, defeating Sovereign is more important than these few leaders??????" woops. Listen, priorities, is all I'm saying..... (￣ヮ￣|||)ゞ

'Course later they emphasize (in ME2) that there were 10,000 people on that same ship and I was like well I wouldn't have second guessed if I'd known that, I mean c'mon-

Also I did indeed romance Liara in this one, so I got that scene ;Dc But,,,, I also knew by the end that I was totally gonna romance Garrus in 2 since he's an option then finally,,,,, lemme tell you the guilt as I waffled over whether to romance Liara bc of it. hahaha.

Aaaaand Mass Effect 2-

So I'm only up to right before the Reaper IFF Mission, so I don't know the ending, etc etc lol. That said, I've just finished every side mission I've found with the exception of the Shadowbroker Quest and the Arrival Quest (I've heard the latter basically leads into ME3, and the former is best either right before the Omega 4 jump or in postgame).

So from the start - fuck yeah fuck yeah what a high adrenaline start Shepard noooooo but also yes save Joker aH-

The motion comic too hot damn nice job

I loved this setup, seriously - especially forcing Shep into this situation, having to work with/for Cerberus, and the compelling reasoning given behind "why" they do what they do (I especially found it a good point that the Salarians have the Task Force, the Asaris the Commandos, the Turians the- etc... like, true, when you put it like that, having a similar group advancing human interests/solving human interstellar problems is pretty reasonable...). That said, I love too that it really isn't shied away from how Cerberus is nonetheless fucked up - or its at least done fucked up stuff.

Listen, I still think some messed up stuff is gonna be revealed in 2's endgame......... after that Horizon mission and the Collector's ship???? TIM I SEE YOU YOU SHADY MF-

aaanyways lol...

I'm so so glad on a gameplay level they nixed the Mako style exploration. A few Hammerhead missions are fine and a lot more focused than the slippery ass navigation in that glorified ATV, pfff. The probes are a neat way of getting after similar resources - and more importantly, having good levels and some good hubs (the Zakera Wards, Omega, Ilium, etc) is way way more fun than having a more 'sprawling' space that is.... a lot of empty nonsense, lol.

Then there's the fact that we get Joker right off the bat and you can interact with him so much - and him and EDI??? Get out gods I love them. Kasumi is so right when she says they sound like a bickering old married couple lol. I have a terrible feeling that some shit is gonna happen with EDI..... but I don't think she's evil as-is, at least.

Side-eying the hell out of those "access forbidden" parts of her that she doesn't even know.... and the fact that her AI core has a locked door access................... something's gonna happen gdi LEAVE OUR ADOPTED AI ALONE.

(Also Joker pls stop fracturing your thumb on the mute button)

Also please save me there are so many hot aliens in this game,,,,, the xeno/monsterfuckers really comin' through strong in the sequels............... doin' the lord's work........................................

In general, I love how many levels ME stepped up in two with complexity and interwoven narratives!! Like, to the point it'd be almost a drag to replay ME1, even though it was fun going through it (if occasionally a bit tedious with the cookie cutter rando planet science/mine facilities, lol). Like, just from how fun and interesting ME2 is, mostly! more of all the pre-introduced races, plus new ones, plus more filling in of intragalactic politics, and more interesting implications of all these space-faring races mixing....

Also gods WREX and his planet holy shit,,,,, fuckin' hell yeah my man get their shit together and also adopt Grunt yes good-

And Mordin??? My singing semi-evil scientist best friend forced to confront his choices more than he thought he ever would have???? With some of the best ongoing general report chatter of all the companions??

(when I tell you I choked on my coffee when I talked to him after confirming romance choice w/ Garrus and that 'pamphlet' and 'anaphalactic shot if ingesting-' kajsldkfjsldfjk)

Like, fuck, the fact that they actually dive into the mixed morality and horrors of the genophage, and you can confront Mordin on it, for good reason, yet he still stands his ground, until finally some bits of his loyalty mission seem to... affect him, and I'm guessing might set up things for 3 with him? Unsure, but either way, damn, the fact that they start to dig into it...

And Taliiiii my beloved forbidden alien wife TwT her loyalty mission was SO GOOD. I love how varied they all are?? Getting to defend her and discover what she'd unwittingly been a part of-!!

Zaeed is a bastard but tbh I love that he is and that he's unapologetic in him - and Kasumi omg, best thief. A heist?? Gods, yes- I love our couch lounge chats XD

Samara is..... illegally.......... she's an illegally powerful and beautiful and eloquent MILF...........................

(.... listen I'm sapphic as hell and I'm kicking my own ass for picking her up last aksjdlfksjdfl - but her loyalty mission, damn. And seeing how there's this interesting cultural subset, and the struggle with the Asari in that they unquestioningly accept/respect justicars, but also know that the impact outside their culture is a diplomacy nightmare waiting to happen-)

,.,,,,,T,,, Thane,,,,,

I am weak for morally implicated murder dads okay?? And that voice??? His mannerisms?????? How you first see him, and that prayer after assassinating her...???????? And his history/his people's history with the hanar, gods I love how messy it is, it feels so much more real!

Also Jack is a mess and I love her (and want to get her some therapy, omg), and her and Miranda nearly duking it out after you've done both their loyalty missions??? so good and makes a lot of sense-! Honestly I would love more interactions between teammates on the ship, but there's already so much the devs had to balance I can't blame 'em for minimizing, heh. But suffice to say I also love Miranda and Jacob, even if I'm softest for my alien crew XD Hell yeah Jacob, we'll get loud and spill drinks on the citadel indeed TwT

.... I could write a whole essay on how much I love Garrus oTL Perhaps because he and Tali are the throughlines from 1 on your 2 crew, I have some of the strongest feelings about them... but genuinely, he was one of my favorite companions in the first game, and how you find him as Archangel in two? Getting to help him fight his way out after he's gone nearly 48 hours straight fighting off three gangs alone, jfc. His vengeance quest and what can happen there.... That line? fuck me, that line -

It's so much easier to see the world in black and white. Grey? I don't know what to do with gray...

How DARE you come for my heart like this, devs holy shit

(also, some other choice faves so far from the series from him include We can disobey suicidal orders?? and This wasn't in my training manual... [in 1, if you have him with you @ th Thorian fight] and his whole.... pop the heat sink - in his romance ;Dc)

asdasdfksadjfkl like I said I can write an essay on him PFFF suffice to say I'm very looking forward to his romance scene and where things go in 3

But yeah gods I'm just gonna keep rambling if I'm not careful lol. Gods I don't even know what to talk about it's all so good and while I can understand people roasting the obviousness of Paragon V Renegade (v neutral) choices/alignments, I think they do a pretty damn good job in 2 of pushing it further - to the point that there were some times that I accidentally got renegade points and I wasn't that mad, haha. There's so much fun in the interactions that I just have a good time anyways~

I have so many thoughts about TIM (The Illusive Man) and Cerberus.... theories evolving galore............... and like, what the hell!! Omega 4 going to the center of the galaxy is such a cool twist, goddamn - though my heart still breaks at losing Kaiden (his line if you haven't romanced him?? about feeling like he lost a limb when he lost you??? holy shit.... but I also can't blame him for not trusting Cerberus to the point of it affecting his ability to trust Shepard... like fuck Shep go after himmmm) I'm really excited to see where that goes since he comes back in 3, and what the fuck happens with Cerberus bc while I love the fact that obviously there are a lot of people in it for the right reasons, doing good work, there are those that are doing the opposite, and I have a very bad feeling about where TIM will end up landing....

All that said though I need to do the Reaper IFF mission (where I'm lightly spoiled as to getting That Boy, but not how/what happens to make it so - just that it's apparently wise to have all your side missions done before getting him...) and the actual Omega 4 jump. So we'll see what happens and what I think about it from there heheh!

.... major kudos and genuine props if you made it here to the end, I am so sorry for not editing on condensing all this, and appreciate you so much ;w;

[szecretary]

thoughts on voltron: legendary defender, season one, first five episodes. this will be like witnessing your mom watch a show for the youngins and being confused the entire time. 

warning for spoilers, obviously, but idk what for because i’m later to this show than the alteans were to the war.

i almost closed netflix bc i saw that the first episode is one hour long wh-

this is how shiro is introduced? harsh. but i like that in the first few minutes, the galra are already established as a force to be reckoned with.

first scene with lance, hunk and pidge, already showing their dynamic and their current situation! also, lol, lance getting told "you're only here because the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue" way to create tension between characters, keith isn't even there and we already know lance kind of hates him.

i like hunk he reminds me of po from kung fu panda hehe

what's pidge's thing with the kerberos mission? he seems very very invested in it, even for a character that science oriented.

OH IT'S KEITH. man i'm actually really impressed with the character introductions in this first episode, they're so clever and very effective, they show the most important facts about the person without slowing down.

keith really lived alone in that desert cabin for however long huh

where's the cat going

oh the cat went home, neat.

i love how at this point it seems that only blue chose its paladin, for the rest of them allura did a personality assessment off first impressions and assigned the rest of the lions, she really said "the bond cannont be forced... by anyone except for me" ma'am these are 5 random people from earth.

apart from that, i'm loving how intuitive piloting is with the lions!

lol lance fully killed some people there

listen if pidge doesn't turn out to be related to the people in the kerberos mission... just :( the way he reacted to shiro quoting the commander? there's no way he doesn't know them.

"go. be great." SHUT UP 😭

blue woke up yesterday and she's already getting beat up give it a rest it's been 10.000 years.

FUCK OFF SENDAK. I know of you, you lame ass excuse for an antagonist.

shiro i love you that's all i have to say.

THE COMMANDER IS PIDGE'S FATHER I KNEW IT HHHHH

the mice are so cute i can't believe allura is a fairytale princess with animal sidekicks.

YEAH GIANT HERO ROBOT!

ok second episode let's go:

this druid lady has a very cool character design, not sure what's her point in the story tho

pidge when are you gonna tell us your secret?

third episode!

it's really not fair how cool shiro is, paladin of the black lion, and "the champion"

oh no, shiro was forced to fight for galra entertainment? mmmmm yeah why not i love pain and suffering.

the little people who live on arus are very cute.

i'm sure shiro only attacked pidge's brother to keep him from fighting the gladiator don't be mad pidge :(

oh so the thing was the same gladiator, makes sense.

OH PIDGE'S NAME IS KATIE she's matt's sister this makes so much sense, i'm very sad, i can't wait to know her story.

ok episode four, the iconic failed team cheer i used to see on twitter.

the way lance pronounced varadero beach made me want to cry but at least it's the first mention of anything related to cuba, so i'll take it.

why'd they already beat up lance gdi give the boy a break.

episode five, i'm stressed.

NOT THE FLASHBACKS I CAN'T KEEP IT TOGETHER :(

kerberos mission: takashi shirogane, and samuel and matthew holt :(

pidge you are such a badass you have my heart too, also it's so sweet how rover has like a little personality.

"hasta la later, keith" MAKE IT STOP

(but ok that does sound like something i would say to be annoying)

hunk and bolin from legend of korra would be such good bros you can't change my mind.

ok the galra are the bad guys but they have style, "nothing stops me but triumph, and death" that's cool.

THAT FLYING ROBOT BETTER COME BACK OR ELSE.

damn even the mice have a kill count everyone has a kill count.

love lance waking up only to shoot a bad guy and then dramatically faint again, maybe he has hispanic heritage after all, he has the flare.

"we are a good team" hell yeah you are buddy.

final thought on the first five episodes: honestly? i’m impressed, the pacing is great, the characters are well defined and they all get their little moments to shine. loved the pidge focus on episode five, and i’m very excited too see what happens next. that’ll have to wait because i haven’t slept and now my brain is repeating that voltron forming sequence they play EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

rest of season one liveblog.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale Reviews: Miraculous World: New York

(The following review contains spoilers, and if you would like to not be spoiled, I would recommend watching the episode before reading)

(I had to pause a LOT to get through this special)

-Oh s*** Cosmo bug and Astro Noir. That is so cool.

-Okay maybe its my audio, but their voices seem a bit deeper. No big, just something I noticed.

-Okay the yellow flower was cute. Good on you kitty.

- Also, side note. This is very nice animation. Very crisp.

- Marinette is moving on... kinda. Well, she is trying. Its not easy getting over someone you have a thing for. I guess that means Miracle Queen did happen and I will need to suck it up. But.... I am not moving on yet either.

- The puppet show was perfection. And honestly on par with what you would expect from middle school projects. (I almost thought it was the adults showing them and was like WTF)

-BACK THE F***. Madame Bustier is PREGNANT! PREGNANT?! I am so lost? What is the story!? Who is the father! Is she married? Is it artificial insemination! Is it the principal?

-Adrien so moved by Marinette’s outburst of Friendship. Marinette ‘Just a friend’ Dupain-Cheng is going the Tia Gardner method of friendship. Lol

-Marinette ready to fight and Gabriel just like ‘Yea sure whatever’ (Gabriel’s smile murders puppies)

- Kagami trying to cheer adrien up. If you love adrigami, get that juice. (That looked like a kiss kiss, but the angle seemed off, so I am not counting it that way.)

- Kitty Clicker is wonderful. This entire scene is gold.

-  Gorrilla doesnt like planes, poor baby

- Plagg, you are a devious little s***. I love you so much. As a writer, his dialogue on how to convince adrien is so devilish its amazing. Using technicalities to tempt adrien.

-Lukanette shippers get your juice... even if it was still tainted a bit by Adrien inclusion. You still get a kiss.

- Okay, can we appreciate that Adrien is also having the same amount of trouble as Marinette moving on, but also include Guilt into the equation? I love this because you KNOW Chat noir is going to get an ear full later.

-Marinette has totally moved on from Adrien.... Oh my poor sweet little girl. You havent. You havent even a little. This ride is litterally the reverse of Startrain and its amazing. Alya is NOT helping. Also, give the person that drew Marinette’s Daydreams a f***ing raise. They earned it

-Marinette pulling herself OUT of the situation. Now adrien is slightly bummed out. Well i am sure that this is the last awkward experience with Adrien she will have. It isnt like the two of them will get lost in NY together... thats whats gonna happen isnt it?

-Marinette walking past all the couples sleeping together. JULROSE GET YOUR JUICE!!!

-Ah yes, nothing like watching the sunset with your good friend. Yes, you good pal, Adrien. Who is Just a friend. Wow, the realization that Marinette used the word friend in this movie more times then Adrien did in the entire series so far. (Or at the very least close)

- Adrien, STOP! Marinette is trying to move on from you! Stop making it so damn difficult for her. (I am not serious, i am eating this s*** up like Sushi)

-Nino confirms he loves Adrien. ADRINO COME GET YOUR JUICE! But yea, I feel alya and Nino’s pain. So they are going to help them both.

-Adrienette hugs. Yes, good.

-And thank goodness for Techno Pirate! Saving everyone from awkwardness by trying to bring down a plane... thats heading for NY...

-OH SWEET! BATMAN RIP OFF AND Captain Marvel rip off! And their sidekicks, Robin rip off and... Medusa girl? Okay Neat.

-Jokes aside, Majestia and Night Owl are boss as hell.

-Wow, I know that Ladybug and Chat noir got powerups now. But these United Heroes make their powers look so bland in comparison.

-Get rekt France!

-ADRIEN! DONT USE YOUR PHONE ON AN AIRPLANE! Well, unless he is using the in flight wifi, then he good.

-How come New York has a f*** ton of superheroes in this universe? America really gets all the cool stuff regardless of what fictional universe your in.

- Why are the superheroes so keen on watching over Marinette’s class? Do they know? Do they know Marinette and Adrien are there? Or is it like they just want to prevent an international incident. PLEASE LET IT BE THE LATER.

- I have only had Aeon for 15 seconds and I would violently murder anyone who harms her.

-Oh my Sabrina! GET YOURSELF AN AMERICAN BOY! ... And Chloé is going to ruin the fun. Oof tough break roomies.

-The entire class! I cant even! Not even a second after the door closes they out to party on the roof!

-Aeon, “See? They are made for eachother!”

- Damn, now that’s some guitar playing! Plus Her design is boss as heck. America really just has better versions of EVERYTHING.

-American boy basically snuck in to see Sabrina! GET IT GIRL!

-HOTDOG SUPERHERO! WITH MAGIC HOTDOGS!!!!!! BEST NEW YORK EVER!

-Nino and Alya be tag teaming this!

-Wow Zag, you stuffing me full of Adrinette goodness. Gorilla is a beautiful sunflower.

- Marinette and Adrien havent been in the US 24 hours and they already have two shippers of them. Also, what do doors have against them?

-Jess is Shipping it too hard. “Lets put them in danger!”

-Jess is having way too much fun with this.

-Hawkmoth akumatizing an actual Super villain. FINALLY!

- “Wouldn’t you rather have an Atomic Bomb?” I love Techno pirate.

-”Super Heroes should never use their powers for personal gain.”  Hmmm I wonder how this will back fire on everyone involved.

-”OH S*** HE STOLE THEIR CANNONS! BOOM GOES THE CANNONS!”

-Okay, I take back what I said, these heroes need some Miraculous asap.

- Ladybug is 100% justified in being angry with Chat Noir. It is his fault.

-AEON!!!! NO!!!!!!! Okay, guess i have to kill that techno pirate, and Chat noir

-MAJESTIA IS F***ING PISSED! WRECK HIM MAJESTIA!

- Seems they really hammering it in that Chat noir f***ed up. They right though, but at least Ladybug isnt angry enough to agree that Chat noir should give up his miraculous to some rando. FLEEING FROM THE LAW!

-So lucky charm can only fix damage due to specific villains. It cant fix things when the villain is gone or they are out of range. I always knew it had limitations, but damn. Chat noir REALLY screwed the pooch on this one.

-Adrien no! Oh s***! He cant just... I mean.... He can but...

__________

-Gabriel stole the Eagle! The Kwami of Freedom. The irony is so delicious here.

- So night Owl and Sparrow are both chick with Masculine superhero appearances. Thats actually pretty damn smart, great way to keep people off their identity.

-Welp, i am depressed. Adrien doesnt have Plagg.

-EVEN THE PRESIDENT IS A SUPER HERO! AMAZING!

- So an akumatized person can USE A MIRACULOUS WHILE AKUMATIZED! WHAT THE F*** THATS AWESOME. Also why didnt catalyst do that?

-Gabriel actually getting adrien out of there while before s*** hits the fan. That is actually kind of a decent parenting move. Granted he is going to cause it, but appreciate it.

-Marinette the bike thief is back! And she is an international criminal!

- She tried so hard. Welp I am glad that Marinette is clearly over... actually no. This trip made that clear.

-Liberation, Wow. That is the most American power I have ever seen. I LOVE IT.

- Okay, so I never thought i would say this. maybe there is such a thing as too much freedom? Or at least Freedom that lets you impede on Other people’s freedoms.

- I know what Zag is up to, and it is working. I want a tv series Of Jess and Aeon. They are wonderful.

-So Majestia can casually move the moon. Yea, thats amazing and terrifying! I love her.

-Quantum masking! So there is a glamor effect! I knew it! So Aeon knows who ladybug and Chat noir are.

-DID I F***ING MENTION I WOULD MURDER FOR AEON!

-aeon will never see Tikki or plagg. Thats so sad.

-At least Adrien learned an important lesson.

-Cute LADYNOIR REUNION

-The was clever, using the keychain

- Eagle jess is epic.

-and Majestia can catch missles. Considering she can move the moon. Not surprising.

-OH DAMN, Night owl and Sparrow are LEGACY HEROES! Thats like the Phantom, Or like Jojo.

-That was sweet of Marinette and the class.

-Oh so the guardian of those miraculous came back to claim it.

-But now sounds like the set up for a new series.

____________________________________________________________________

Overall, I did greatly enjoy this movie. Though there were times i wanted to know more, and times I wanted to know less. I know this takes place sometime during season 4, but the exact time is vague. It did tell a really cool story. It felt like a three episode saga combined into one. It was kind of interesting. And damn the drama was higher.

I give it a 7.5/10.

I would rate it up there with my favorite ML episodes.

[badlydrawnmanic]

you’ve all wanted it, and i’m not ready to go to sleep yet, so here’s the latest installment of the sonic underground rewatch!

episode 6 thoughts under the cut!

• unrelated to the episode but there was some lego ninjago commercial that showed like. non-lego versions of the main characters and it looked nice. don’t know if it was for a show or the website idk i wasn’t paying attention • [GUITAR RIFF] SONIC- • i will literally never get tired of the opening theme and you can’t change my mind, i would die for a remaster of this. it doesn’t even have to be a cover. gimme a live performance and i will cry • “tangled webs”. spider concerns already • ooh, swatbot factory. interesting • manic just slid down a little rocky hill on his ass and that’s gotta hurt • sonia stop shining that laser pointer in manic’s eyes you’re gonna kill him • “switch six, switch six...” reminded me of the fun fact that your brain can only identify numbers up to a maximum of 4 or 5 at a glance, i forget which. but like... notice how if you only look at something very briefly you wouldn’t be able to immediately know “oh there’s 27 objects there” but you can very quickly identify 1-4 • sonia stop hitting manic with the drone what is wrong with you • some of these background characters are passable and some of them are hideous, there’s no in-between

• oh it’s the lion boy!! his voice is weird but it’s him!! • god dingo’s face is all kinds of fucked up in this close up as he’s talking • why is robotnik’s cape flowing so far behind him when he’s walking at a somewhat slow pace • i find it funny when eggman’s henchmen mock him when he’s not around, but i didn’t expect sleet to do that • “intruder .8 kilograms? what?? • how does it weigh a drone that is hovering in mid-air • somehow dingo identifies the drone as being piloted by sonia despite it being a hunk of metal with cameras on it • dingo being or looking like in the case of my headcanon a grown man and slobbering over sonia is kinda freaky (it’s partially why i made the hc so it’s less yikes but it’s still uncomfortable and i’m definitely gonna tone it down because fuck) • sleet don’t hit him!! • sonia is clearly frustrated during her conversation with manic (he’s being reckless as fuck) but the animators decided to give her a dead eyed smile for the whole scene • i wonder how they made the mechanical sounds? like the electronic shweeshweeshwee of the robots walking or the whoosh of doors opening? foley stuff is fascinating to me and i wanna know if they had to do any weird shit

• sleet is monologuing about how he hears the pitter patter of manic’s little feet and oh my god his eyes • how is dingo sneaking up behind manic he’s so fucking huge and noisy • sleet says “sylvia” before whacking the drone out of the air with what looks like an entire swatbot he just sort of picked up? i don’t get the reference and since when is he so strong • okay in the next shot it’s just an arm but still • “sometimes you just have to get their attention”? • cool transition between scenes with the camera glitching and shutting down from the perspective of the drone, that’s neat • dingo picks up sonia but wasn’t he just behind manic? once again the pacing is confusing me • “oh, ick” me too sonia • manic and sonia are tied up and were but in gigantic chairs and it looks so funny • “now, sarah” okay i get the “sylvia” thing now, sleet’s just forgetting sonia’s name somehow • sonia says “twit-face” and i feel like she could be more clever than that • “whatever, sophia” • “where’s sonic!?” [NYOOM] • sonic’s voice sounds... really weird, is that what jaleel white sounds like when he isn’t trying to sound all nasally and shit? also he burps and it’s gross • god the movement in this scene is very janky in general • sonia starts lecturing sonic but gets interrupted by a laser blast and manic pipes in like “can we talk about this later?” • sonia strong • is sonic just spilling lava everywhere??? • you’d think there’d be more sounds here • “am i good or what?” feels like it was pulled from satam? • “you’re insufferable” “thank you” • sonia’s voice is so shrill jesus christ • i feel like this is a pretty good confrontation of how sonic not working as a team with the other two can cause pretty significant problems • sonia i don’t think robotnik would throw you in prison, that’s what the roboticizer is for and i don’t think he’d keep y’all separate from that • cyrus does a weird double take and i think it’s an animation error • this cyrus kid is pretty sus- who is this hippie dude- • CYRUS SUS CYRUS SUS • there was deadass just a normal animal bird with some kind of accessory on its neck as a background character • damn it cyrus • SONG TIME??? • apparently no • once again manic and sonia are tied up which lasts 2 seconds • aosth slow-mo beam, purple flavor • what are these background characters they’re so ugly • OH NO I REMEMBER WHAT SANCTUARY IS NOW • children... i’d love to see the tiny babes but they’re undoubtedly ugly as fuck • ROBOTNIK WANTS TO MURDER CHILDREN • one of the kids looks like reptar • SONG TIME NOW • why is this so. idk, whimsical? idk how to describe this but i already don’t like it • they forgot to draw manic’s head quills in a shot • why is cyrus looking so pissed at these children • sounds like a weird off brand christmas song. don’t like it very much but i guess it isn’t bad. maybe a 2/10 • sdnjksg assaulting your siblings with a cloud of flour sounds fun if not wasteful but still, manic seems to be enjoying his little tech demo • sonia says “this place is gross” and manic goes “hey, you’re talking about my childhood home” and i think it’s a good thing that the show didn’t just forget where they all came from and how this can create very minor conflict between them? like manic and sonia seem to slight each other rather frequently when it comes to sonia’s attitude towards dirty places and manic finding it comfortable there due to familiarity even if it wasn’t all that good. i can relate to that • sonic walks off the right side of the screen after refusing some goggles then. pops up and puts on the shades again? i don’t get it • oh my god sonic knocks cyrus (and manic by extension) over and they literally just. rotate the asset in place and leave them planking. there wasn’t a water splash or change of pose or anything • how does sonic zoom past a swat bot looking directly at him without triggering any alarms? why didn’t it notice him • why are there so many regretful traitors on this show • how does sonic not notice the clearly a hologram man in front of him • god the animation in this episode in general is abyssmal • ah jeez manic and sonia have been captured again • “attention sonic hedgehog” • OH NO CYRUS’ DAD but the expression he made in response to seeing him roboticized killed it

• i know he didn’t snort here but i can feel the little “snrk” sound here. it was at this moment he knew he fucked up • PULL THE LEVER, SLEET • that little drone thing is fucking insane, it melted the entire roboticizer?? • i much prefer when background characters resemble actual animals • aww hug • poor cyrus :( • GOD SONIC AND SONIA SIT DOWN TO COMFORT HIM BUT MANIC LAYS DOWN ALL DRAMATIC JUST SMILING, READ THE ROOM BUD-

[hopelikethemoon]

Clandestine (Javier x Reader) {MTMF} [smut]

Title: Clandestine  Rating: Explicit Length: 3000 Warnings: Smut  Notes: You can find everything about Maybe Today, Maybe Forever here. I want you to go along for the ride, so I’m not telling you anything.  Summary: A clandestine meeting between Javier and Reader.

@grapemama​​​​ @seawhisperer​​​​ @huliabitch​​​​ @beccaplaying​​​​ @thewallpapergoesorido​​​​ @twomoonstwosuns​​​​ @gooddaykate​​​​ @livasaurasrex​​​​ @ham4arrow​​​​ @plexflexico​​​ @readsalot73​​​​ @hdlynn​​​​ @lokiaddicted​​​​ @randomness501​​​​ @fioccodineveautunnale​​​​  @roxypeanut​​​​ @snivellusim​​​​ @lukesrighthand​​​​ @historynerd04 @mrsparknuts​​​​@ ​​​​​@awesomefandomsunited​​​​​​​​​ @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead​​​ @exrebelshocktrooper​ @synystersilenceinblacknwhite​​​​ @ah-callie​​​​ @swhiskeys​​​​ @exrebelshocktrooper​​​​ @u-wakatoshii @space-floozy​​​ @cable-kenobi @cool-ultra-nerd​​ @himbopoes​​​​ @findhimfives​​​​ @pedrosdoll​​​​ @frietiemeloen​​​ @arrowswithwifi​​​​ @random066​​​​ @uncomicalhumour​​​​ @heather-lynn​​​ @domino-oh-damn​​ @cyarikaaa​​​​ @ahopelessromanticwritersworld​​​​ @im-still-a-pieceofgarbage @ksgeekgirl​​​ @yabby-girl​​​ @xqueenofthecraziesx​​​ @punkass-potato​​​ @coredrive​​​ @pascalesque​​​ @theduchessofkirkcaldy​​​ @queenquazar​​​​ @sabinemorans​​​​ @buckstaposition​​​​ @holkaskrosnou​​​​ @yespolkadotkitty​​​​@seeking-a-great–perhaps @kochamcie​​​​ @jaime1110​​​​ @katlikeme​

“How about I buy you a glass of wine, sugar.” The man to your left offered as you leaned your forearms against the bar. 

You rolled your eyes and caught the attention of the bartender, “Whiskey. Neat.” You ordered, not paying any mind to the man beside you. 

“Whiskey.” He drawled out, shifting closer. “Seems like you might just be my kind of girl.” 

“I promise you, I’m not playing hard to get.” You gritted out as you turned to glare at the man. “Hope you’re not here for the convention,” You continued with a scathing tone. “Because you’re shit at picking up on blatant clues.”

The man recoiled then, snatching his glass of bourbon off the bar top. “Bitch.” He snarled as he walked away. 

You snorted, “And proud.” 

“Here you are,” The bartender said as he sat the glass down in front of you. “If you have any issues with the gentleman—“

“I’m good.” You held up a hand to stop the man. “But thanks.” You picked up your glass and took a sip, before retreating across the bar to one of the secluded booths. 

The thought of being cooped up in your hotel room for the rest of the night was unappealing. You’d spent three hours on a train from Philly to Washington and you really just wanted to unwind and people watch. 

The jackass that had called you a bitch was across the bar with a table of equally insufferable men. He’d clearly gone back and bitched about you like a baby, because they were not-so-subtly looking in your direction.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” You muttered. 

This, right here, was why Mitch had been nervous about the trip when you’d told him about it. A woman — alone — at a testosterone laden convention filled with one too many of the boys in blue. 

You’d dealt with enough shit at the academy to know exactly what sort of situation you were in. It didn’t matter how well you did in your college classes or how proficient you were during training— you were still a woman that they wanted to fuck. 

A man stepped into your line of view and helped himself to the seat across from you. “Act like you know me.” 

Your brows rose upwards, a snide remark primed on the tip of your tongue but you pushed it aside in favor of offering a friendly smile. “But I don’t.” You said coolly, lifting your glass to your lips and taking a sip. 

“Those assholes have been harassing every woman who has walked into the bar tonight.” The man offered, pressing his tongue to the inside of his cheek as he rocked his lower jaw.

“Charming.” You huffed, sitting your glass back down. “And what do you call this?” You questioned as you gestured between the two of you.

He arched a brow at you, a short chuckle escaping him. “Guess I’ll be on my way then.”

Before you could stop yourself, you reached across the table and grabbed the man’s forearm to keep him from leaving. “Stay.” 

The man’s eyes narrowed as his shoulders relaxed and he settled back into his seat. “Alright.” 

Your eyes flickered across the bar towards the table of men who were still eyeing you and laughing amongst themselves. “Pigs. The lot of them.”

“Yeah,” He rubbed at the back of his neck. “Well, there is a law enforcement convention in town.”

“I know.” You retorted. “That’s why I’m here.”

“Really?”

“Don’t look so surprised.” You shook your head. “Let me guess, you’re here for the convention too?” You questioned, gesturing to him. “The mustache and the aviators tucked into your shirt are dead giveaways.”

The man’s lips drew upwards at the corners, forming a wry grin as he stared at you. “Clever.”

“Oh,” You lifted your glass to your lips and took another sip, “You have no idea.”

“Javier Peña.” He offered, tapping his fingers atop the table as his gaze lingered on your face. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” You smiled a little. “Texas?”

Javier clicked his tongue against his teeth, “That obvious?”

“You’ve got a slight twang to your voice.” You shrugged. 

He nodded, “Yeah, I’m with the DEA in Austin.”

“Nice.” You pursed your lips with an approving sound. “I’m looking.” You shrugged. “But I have a feeling that it doesn’t matter that I graduated top of my class.” You nodded your head towards the table of jackasses. “I’ll still get passed over in favor of some dick who probably failed firearms training twice.”

Javier ran his tongue over the edge of his teeth and nodded with a grim expression, “It’s a tough fucking field.” 

“I just want to make a difference.” You sighed, rubbing your thumb over the curve of your glass. “I’ve hitched all of my horses to this and the stable’s empty now.”

“How many of those have you had?” Javier retorted with a chuckle, both of his brows rising upwards.

“Oh, fuck off.” You laughed softly, shaking your head. “I’m just saying — I have two options. Either this works out for me,” You gestured vaguely around the bar. “Or I go back to Philadelphia and let my sister-in-law find me a nice rich investment banker to play house with until I die of boredom.”

Javier grinned at you, “Then it sounds like this has to work out for you.” He leaned against the table. “I may not know you, but the latter sounds like perpetual hell.”

You scrunched up your nose, “What’s worse than hell?”

He laughed, “That bad, huh?”

“I get that some people want that life, but I don’t think it’s in the cards for me.”

“Yeah, me too.” Javier shrugged a shoulder as he glanced away. “You mind if I smoke?”

“I only mind if you don’t offer me one.” You countered with a smug grin.

Javier smirked at you as he leaned back and pulled the packet of cigarettes and a lighter out of his leather jacket. He pulled two out, passing you one before sticking his between his lips.

“So, did you sweep in and save any of the other women they heckled?” You questioned as you took the lighter from him. 

He blew out a breath of smoke, shaking his head. “Nope.”

“I’m flattered.” You took a drag off the cigarette, before tapping it on the side of the ashtray on the table. “As long as you don’t play white knight for everyone, I’ll permit you to stay.”

“Good to know.” He chuckled as his gaze flickered over your face. “You seemed like you had it handled.”

You nodded as you watched the smoke dissipate as you exhaled. “I’m not afraid to make those assholes go home as eunuchs.” 

“Damn,” Javier pressed his tongue to the inside of his cheek. “You gonna treat me that way if I offer to buy you another whiskey?”

You bit down on your bottom lip, sweeping your eyes over him. “I suppose you can buy me a drink.” 

He winked at you before he slid out of his chair and strolled over to the bar to do just that. You couldn’t help but watch him walk away — the jeans he wore hugged his ass too well for you not to appreciate them. 

Javier wasn’t your typical type. The last handful of men you’d gone on dates with had been ‘pretty boys,’ for lack of a better word. He seemed like he was a few years older than you — maybe ten? The mustache was weirdly appealing too and your mind wandered down the path of wondering how that might feel between your—

“All you had to say was that you were taken, sugar.” The man from the bar had returned and he was fuming with barely controlled anger. 

And they let assholes like him around guns?

“Oh, I didn’t know I had to give my reasons for telling you to fuck off.” You shot back. “Silly me.”

“Listen here, bitch—“

“Is there a problem?” Javier questioned as he returned.

You snatched up your purse and pulled the strap over your shoulder as you slid out from behind the table. “I’m not really feeling the atmosphere down here, babe.” You said smoothly, reaching out and running your hand along Javier’s forearm, before taking your glass of whiskey from him. “Why don’t we enjoy our drinks in our room?”

Javier played into it seamlessly, “I’m sorry you had to put up with these assholes, baby.” He said as he curled his arm around your waist possessively. “C’mon.”

You didn’t pull out of his embrace once you were out of view of the bar. You didn’t even pull away once you were safely in the elevator alone with him. 

“What floor?”

“I’m on eight.” You told him, watching as he gripped his drink in his hand and used his knuckle to press eight and ten on the panel. 

“Sorry you had to cut your evening short,” Javier said lightly, his fingers brushing over your side as he released the grip he had on you. 

“It’s alright,” You tilted your head to look at him beside you. “I’m probably way off the mark here, but…” Your gaze flickered to his lips briefly, before meeting his dark gaze again. “The night doesn’t have to end.”

Javier’s tongue ran along the seam of his lips as he stared back at you. “Would be a shame to waste good company when there’s still drinks to be had.”

You smirked a little, lashes fluttering as you angled yourself towards him. “I think you should get off on eight.”

“Yeah?” He clicked his tongue against his teeth. 

“You might even get off on eight.” You added, leaning in slightly. 

Javier rolled his eyes, “And you’re funny.”

“I’m a package deal.” You took a step away from him, just before the elevator dinged — announcing your arrival on the eighth floor. 

You walked backwards off the elevator, lifting your glass to your lips as you held his gaze. “Well?”

Javier pursued you, “How can I say ‘no’ to you, baby?” He drawled out with a smirk. 

You turned your back to him as you made your way down the corridor to your room — room 87. You had not intended to have any guests in your hotel room and yet, something about Javier made you throw away all the promises you made to yourself. 

“It’s not much,” You told him as you held the door open for him. “I always pictured hotel hookups happening in swanky high rise penthouses.” 

Javier chuckled as he sat his glass down on the small counter by the mini fridge, and you couldn’t help but watch him as he slid out of his leather jacket. “Better than a motel hookup.” 

“Intimately familiar with those?” You countered as you sipped at your drink. 

He shook his head, “Nah.” Javier dragged his fingers through his hair as he arched a brow at you. “Is this a hookup?” 

You chewed on your bottom lip, “It’s whatever we want it to be.” You told him as you stepped past him to sit your glass down beside his. 

“What do you want it to be?” Javier questioned. 

You stood a little straighter as you turned back to him, your heart beating a little faster as you met his heated gaze. “Let me show you.” You said softly as you reached out to graze your fingers along his jawline. 

Javier’s hand curled around your hip as you leaned towards him and kissed him. His mustache tickled at first, but you were far too focused on the feel of his tongue sliding past your lips to find yours.

A soft groan escaped you as you sank into the kiss, your hand curled around the back of his neck as your lips slanted against his.

He stepped forward, making you move backwards until you were pressed flat against the wall behind you. 

Javier nipped at your bottom lip, his tongue soothing the marks his teeth made as his hands slid under your shirt. Your own fingers worked at the buttons of his shirt, greedily touching every inch of skin that was exposed to you.

He broke away from the kiss to peel your shirt off of you. “Is this what you want, baby?” He questioned as he slid his knee between your thighs and slid it up until it was pressed right against the seam of your pants. 

You cried out softly, rocking against his knee as you felt the burn of arousal in your lower belly. You were embarrassingly wet — you could feel your underwear sticking to your slick folds as you ground down against the pressure of his knee. 

“Yes.” You breathed out, dragging him back in for another kiss that was far too short lived. 

You came awake suddenly, your chest heaving as you tried to catch your breath. It took a second for you to get your bearings — but you recognised the moonlight spilling in through shades on the patio door.

Miami. Josie and Sofía. Javier. 

He was snoring quietly beside you, completely unaware of the intense dream you had just had about him.

You chewed on your bottom lip as you shifted uncomfortably, even that little bit of friction made you want to moan. You could practically feel your clit throbbing from the desire you’d felt in the dream. 

You slid you hand under the waistband of your shorts and underwear, fingers sliding through your slick folds. You inhaled sharply, the tip of your finger grazing over your clit. 

“Javier.” You breathed out as you circled your finger around that little bundle of nerves, your inner walls clenching around nothing as you worked yourself towards your release. 

“Having fun without me?” Javier murmured, his voice an octave lower and still heavy with exhaustion. 

You moaned as you felt him curl his hand around your upper thigh, “I’m close.” You told him, your pace never faltering. “Fuck.”

“That’s it baby,” Javier whispered, rubbing his thumb over your skin. “I can hear how fucking wet you are, baby.” He kissed the curve of your throat, before brushing his lips against the shell of your ear. “Come.”

Your body obeyed him, your hips bucking upwards as you came apart under your own touch. You turned your head, finding his lips in the darkness and kissing him desperately. 

Javier broke away from the kiss, breathing raggedly, “I hope I was involved with winding you up like this, baby.” He murmured, kissing you again. 

You laughed against his lips, winding your fingers through his hair. “It was all you.” You told him, running your hand down his chest and stomach, before cupping his cock through his boxers.

“Yeah?” He breathed out as he hooked his fingers in the waistband of your pants, trying to work them down your hips. 

You rolled onto your side, shimmying out of your shorts and underwear, “I’ll have to tell you… all about it.” You whispered as he curled an arm around your waist and hauled you back against his chest. He slid his other arm beneath your neck and reached for your breast, palming at it through your shirt. 

“Fuck.” Javier rasped out as his fingers found their way between your thighs. “You’re soaking wet, baby. Goddamn.”

You reached behind you, grabbing at his hip as you sank back against him. Javier shifted as he guided his cock to your center. Your nails bit into his forearm as he slid into you — your inner walls fluttering around him, still sensitive from your orgasm. 

Javier pressed his face into the crook of your neck, “You feel so fucking good, baby.” He murmured as he moved. 

“So do…” You rolled your hips in time with his movements. “Fuck. So do you.” 

“Tell me.” Javier urged as he nipped at the soft curve of your neck. 

“We were,” You started, running your hand along his forearm. “Strangers.” You turned your head, eyes straining in the darkness to see him. “At a conference in Washington.” 

“Do conferences make you horny, baby?” Javier chuckled, kissing at your jaw. 

“You do.” You tensed as his cock grazed a sweet spot within you that made your thighs tremble and your toes curl. 

He groaned out your name, his pace faltering. “Shit.” Javier hissed as he buried the length of his cock within you, “Come on, baby.” 

You clenched around him, grinding back against him as his fingers found your clit and coaxed you over the edge again. 

Javier slid out of you, maneuvering you onto your stomach before his cock slid back into you. You stretched your arms out in front of you, grabbing at the edge of the bed beneath your pillow as he  fucked you into the mattress. 

That was exactly what you needed and apparently what he needed too. 

Your name was on his lips as he came apart, his release spilling out deep within you as he draped himself over you. 

“Holy shit.” You breathed out, turning your head so you wouldn’t smother to death in your pillow. “Thank God tomorrow’s Sunday.”

“Hmm?” He questioned, pressing a kiss to a spot at the base of your neck. 

You laughed softly. “Nothing.” You reached behind your head, playing your fingers through his hair. “I don’t think dream Javier could’ve fucked me that well.”

“Glad to know my competition is myself.”

You grinned to yourself, “Can’t even have a sexy dream about anyone else.” 

“Good.” He kissed your shoulder again, his breath hot against your skin. “Fuck, that was good.”

“Mhm.” You hummed sleepily, feeling far too warm and comfortable beneath the weight of him. “The dream made me a little sad that we’re shit at roleplay.”

“Yeah?” He exhaled slowly. “Can always…”

You let your eyes slip closed. “Hmm?”

“What?” Javier ran his hand along the back of your arm. “We can try again.”

You nodded as he slid his arms beneath you, keeping you pressed against his chest as he rolled over onto his side. His cock slipped out of you and you missed the connection the second it was gone. 

But you were far too tired to protest. Two orgasms and a little mind numbing fucking had done you in. 

Even in your dreams, Javier was the one you wanted to go home with. 

[theluckyyyoneee]

Guise

Pairing: Yoongi x Reader (ft. Namjoon)

Genre: Angst / Fluff (in later chapters)

Word Count: 5.19+k

part 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 

SoulmateAU! Where he hides his soulmate tattoo from everyone, especially you.

“Hmm?” You mumbled unintelligibly into the phone after being awoken by the hunk of metal ringing its default ringtone, which you almost mistook for an alarm but you remembered you hadn’t set one for today, plus it wasn’t even laundry or cleaning day. That was Sunday and today was a Thursday, or so you believed. And also the piercing sunlight that had you seeing a candy red beneath your eyelids, a grimace taking over your peaceful sleeping expression as you tiredly grasped and brought the phone to your ear. 

The questioning and amused tone you recognized as the brat who simultaneously managed to annoy you and grab hold of your reluctant endearment for known as Jeon Jungkook. Jungkook was only a few months older than you, but you were definitely the more mature of the two, or so it seemed like most of the time. “Are you still asleep?”

“What-... time is it?” It took a few moments to get those words out of your mouth, sounding like a slurring croaking frog, which you would normally become embarrassed by, but at this time moment in time you were too drowsy to feel any kind of self consciousness. 

His laugh created static on the other end of the receiver and your face scrunched up at the sound, and at the time Jungkook had informed you it currently was. Damn, it was late. Honestly, you were a bit surprised he could understand you, but after years of enduring these random and burdensome types of morning wake-up calls, you guessed he had adapted to comprehending your sleep induced mumblings. 

“Well, I was going to invite you to go get some food with me, but I didn’t know you would still be asleep at two in the afternoon.”

You sneered at the laughter in his voice and exhaled a breath as you gathered the strength to sit up from your lying down position. “Shut up. It’s summer.” Was your clever response to which he childishly mocked. “I’d be down to do something tomorrow, though.”

“Oh yeah, cool, that sounds good...” he agreed at once and stalled a bit on the other line, to which you took a glance at your phone to see if he had hung up, but he hadn’t. You placed your phone back on your ear just in time to hear him question in a shy and timid tone you had rarely heard from him, taking on that soft and gentle timbre he only used when he wanted a favor, “do you think you could ask Namjoon, too? To see if he would want to come?”

“...what?”

“...he’s cute.”

“Oh my gosh, you didn’t call me to ask me to hang out, you just wanted me to set up a blind date meeting with Namjoon!” You were wide awake now, sitting on your bed still wrapped in your blanket with a wide grin on your face, if you were to glance at yourself in a mirror, you would have seen a crazy woman with extreme bed hair wearing a wrinkled bed shirt with morning breath, grimacing as you reached for your half empty water bottle near your bed.

“Nu-uh!” He practically screamed into the phone and you couldn’t help but laugh at his obvious affection and attraction for the older man, glad you had yet to take a sip of the stale water. “It’s just-... well-you guys are always studying and being boring, and hey, it’s summer now! Time for you two to do something other than bury yourselves in books.”

“Yeah, right. You loser, why don’t you just message him yourself?”

“Oh yeah? And say what? ‘Hey I think you’re cute and y/n has told me how nice of a guy you are, do you want to maybe go out sometime?’”

You had your phone resting by your knee on speakerphone, your arms stretched above your head as you partook in your morning stretches you tried to do after waking up to alleviate your sore muscles from sleeping for more than nine hours a night. 

You laughed in reply to his obvious fib. “That sounds perfect, do it.”

“No,” he whined cutely. “I’m too shy.”

“I don’t believe that, remember that one time-”

“That was different.” He cut you off abruptly, knowing exactly what incident you were referring to. 

“How?” You were really curious as to how this was different than that one time you and Jungkook had been out getting some food for takeout, which was basically all you two really did other than play games, when you had noticed this cute ass guy giving him the eyes. So confident Jungkook leaves you to seductively saunter over to him to get his number. 

Jungkook, reliving the same encounter as you were, sighed on the other end. “Namjoon just sounds so nice, I mean... I know I haven’t even met him in person yet but he just makes me so nervous. Every time I see a picture of him,” he paused to utter yet another sigh, and you silently cooed at how lovesick he seemed. “He’s just so cute, and I don’t know, something inside of me just stirs... And-and what if I ask him out and he says no and then I make things awkward for you two?”

“Why would it be awkward? It’s none of my business if you guys start seeing each other or not.” By his silence, you could tell he was mulling over your words. Grinning a bit wider, you tried to encourage him a bit more, “Plus I doubt he’d say no, have you seen you? Never mind, of course you had, with your big head.”

An offended noise sounded and you cackled, happy you were in the safe confines of your enclosed room, and guessing by the time, you guessed your roommate was off at work.

“Plus, he’s not seeing anyone right now, he would’ve told me. And I personally believe that you two would make a really cute couple.”

“Whatever! I’m done talking about this! Just ask him and tell me so I know whether to dress up and fix up the apartment or if I can just bum it out like usual. Bye~”

Rolling your eyes, you finally climbed out of the bed and began fixing up some breakfast, or a late lunch considering it was nearing two-thirty, after using the restroom. You would take a shower later and freshen up, but you were so hungry, you didn’t think eating could wait. 

Jungkook had a bit of a thing for Namjoon ever since you had posted a picture of the two of you at a cafe and not ten minutes you received a message asking: who is he?

You didn’t really take him all that serious, thinking that it was a momentary attraction and that he would forget all about him, but as you began to spend more time with Namjoon, he would continually ask and have questions about the older man, yet denying any offers to the cafes and casual meet-ups, though now you guessed he had finally mustered up enough courage to finally meet the man he has been thirsting over the course of a few months. He had been sure though, before he even thought of starting something with Namjoon that you didn’t have any feelings other than platonic friendship for the man, otherwise he would’ve backed off in an instant no matter how much he found himself drawn to him.

You could understand his captivation with the lovable giant you had the honor of being best friends with, and no doubt whoever he ended up with would be the luckiest person in the world. They would be able to wake up next to the most considerate and gentle, slightly dorky, sweetest man you have ever known, and not to mention that he was very easy on the eyes, which wasn’t everything, but sealed the deal for many. 

If he wasn’t your best friend with that unbreakable bond and didn’t have that brother-sister relationship, you were one hundred percent sure you’d be completely head over heels for the man. 

You frowned to yourself over your bagel as you were reminded of the dream Jungkook had woken you from. It came back in vivid and quickly vanishing fragments, your memory failing you, but you were sure it was of Yoongi.

“It looks fine, Kook,” you sighed for the nth time, reaching a hand out to stop his incessant pacing and minuscule rearranging of furniture. “What you should worry about is him finding your apartment since you said you needed me here, but you don’t know how clumsy and how he has no sense of direction whatsoever.” Your arms were crossed as you wore a smirk on your lips at the nervous but handsome man, occasionally shaking the auburn strands that slid into his eyesight. You checked your phone once in a while as the time for the meet-up gradually grew closer.

You hadn’t seen his apartment this clean since the surprise visit his parents dropped on him and he had called you in a frenzy to help clean up all the dinnerware and laundry he had accumulated over the first few months of living there. Out of the goodness of your heart, you had agreed and were met with a sight that haunted your worst nightmares ever since. How he made that much of a mess in that little time, you would never understand, just the thought of having to go through that once again made you shudder. 

Snacks had been assorted in a neat way along the coffee table, it smelled of clean laundry detergent and it was at a comfortable temperature. 

“Well, I was nervous...” he mumbled cutely into his chest, fixing the loose flannel button up shirt he wore over a plain black shirt, looking effortlessly alluring, but you knew just how much time and anxiety went into choosing it.

“Was?” You could help but tease with a knowing expression he was purposely avoiding noticing.

“Okay, okay, I’m still nervous.” He rolled his eyes at his confession and shook his head, finally taking a moment to just calm down. “I don’t know why though, I guess I just want to make a good first impression.”

It was your turn to roll your eyes as you waved his anxieties off. “You will, I basically talk about you all the time.”

“Oh yeah? What do you say about me?”

“Just that you’re a brat who spends all his time either at the gym, or at home playing video games.” You stuck your tongue out when his mouth dropped open at your words, both of you knowing full well you were just fibbing. Phone vibrating in your hand, you read a message from Namjoon that said he thought he found the right complex but wasn’t sure.

Smiling, you informed Jungkook you were going to bring Namjoon in, closing the door behind you and making your way carefully down a single flight of stairs and out the front door, you noted with a grimace at how humid and muggy it was outside compared to how cool it was inside the apartment, thankful Jungkook had well functioning air conditioner.

You were dressed very comfortably, this was not your first time meeting either men so you had no reason to be nervous like Jungkook, just in some light shorts and a t-shirt. You saw Namjoon leaning against the drivers seat of his car, looking a bit more stylish than how you were expecting him to come dressed, which threw you off a bit, you weren’t going to lie. You had told him when he agreed to come hang out that it would be very casual, and those form fitting faded blue jeans were the complete opposite of his favorite pair of sweatpants you had seen him wear on a regular basis. 

Maybe he wanted to make a good impression on Jungkook as well? You smiled to yourself, thinking how cute they would be if they ever decided to form a relationship together that was more than just acquaintances or friends. They had both had girlfriends and boyfriends in the past, but you knew for sure that they were currently both single. Even though you teased Jungkook to the max, you would never push either man into pursuing a relationship like that on them, you’d let them figure it out on their own, because even though they were your closest friends, it wasn’t up to you to meddle in someone’s love life. 

Lord knows yours was complicated and revelations you didn’t want to get into, you sure weren’t going to stress yourself out even further by butting in where you didn’t belong.

“Hey, you found it! I was scared that you’d get lost.” You greeted him jokingly as you jogged to where Namjoon stood, using his foot to push himself off his car to meet you halfway, a familiar wide smile that made his prominent dimples appear graced his features.

He chuckled in a rich timbre as you two exchanged an embrace, which you almost always greeted each other with whenever you met up, it had become almost second nature by now. It was a bit too warm outside for your comfort and sharing body heat like this was not really necessary, and you two released each other and smiled at each other. 

“I know, I was scared I was going to end up at a dead end, I drove real slow to make sure I was following the gps correctly.” 

Laughing and shaking your head at him, you told him as you pointed, “Jungkook’s apartment is right up there, come on. He’s really excited about finally meeting you.”

Keeping your gaze on him as you lead the way, you gauged his reaction to your words and wasn’t the least bit surprised at the smile that lit his face. “I’ve been wanting to meet him, too. Especially since you mention him all the time.”

Sticking your tongue out at him, you opened the front door to the complex and sighed in relief at the cool air hitting your warm skin. “But, um...” Namjoon suddenly added, sounding more nervous than before and you paused and looked at him quizzically. “I do have something I wanna talk to you about later on.” He had one hand behind his head, rubbing the back of his neck that you easily recognized as his nervous habit he picked up a little over a year ago. Your brows furrowed as you watched him shuffle on his feet as he awaited your answer, biting the flesh of his lower lip. 

You wanted to push him on what it pertained to, but you receded, sensing that it was a bit more serious than just meeting a friend of a friend, but not urgent enough that it had to be attended to right away. “Sure.” You nodded and smiled warmly at him, reaching a hand up and patting him on the shoulder and noted with relief as he grinned warmly right back at you, becoming his confident self again. You urged him to take the lead, pointing to a door you could easily view from the stairs you two were climbing. “It’s number thirteen. The door should be unlocked, but you can just knock if you want.”

“Yeah, I’ll knock, it’s more polite, especially since I’m meeting him for the first time.” He replied easily, passing you, a blur of dark ink catching your eye as he strode past. His own soulmate tattoo, of course you had seen it numerous times, a unique design of letters overlapped, twisted around each other in an aesthetically pleasing way, located in the hidden region behind his ear, fitting in the tight space just before where his hair started. 

Still following, now at a bit of a slower pace, the design burned brightly in your mind that was experiencing a strange feeling of deja vu. Now that you got a better look at it than you usually did, due to the close proximity you two maintained on the narrow staircase, it seemed so frustratingly familiar, and not just because you had seen it on him. 

You had definitely seen it somewhere else. 

Where else have you seen that design? Think, y/n, think.

Still preoccupied in your own musings, you arrived at Jungkook’s apartment door a few seconds after Namjoon had, waiting for him to open the door since he had already knocked quietly to state your arrival.

It was instantaneous as the door flung open, your heart suddenly spiking in your chest, as you watched with unwavering eyes the scene that was about to transpire. You took your eyes off once, but only to glance once again at the ink behind Namjoon’s ear to make sure what you thought was indeed true.

Your eyes met Jungkook’s eager ones, the same ones that gazed at you as he would ramble on and on about what he thought his soulmate would be like. Unlike you, Jungkook was pure and hopeful when it came to the concept of two souls being connected forever by the ink on your skin. You always listened with a small smile, his authenticity bringing a smile on your face as you just nodded along, not having the heart to alter and stain his thoughts with your negative ones, instead eyeing his tattoo with interest, wondering who indeed, could ever deserve him. 

And of course, as you understood now, it was the exact design, it was in the exact same placement; behind the ear, fitting in the tight space just before where his hair started.

The realization that Jungkook and Namjoon were soulmates, and that they were about to see each other for the very first time. 

You couldn’t help but think back to the first time you had met Yoongi. That first glance had left you suspended, motionless, and you had no control of that, the universe telling you to just enjoy the revelation. You remembered being completely enamored and captivated by the pale beauty, your heart thundering in your chest as it was now, but now it was from your epiphany, not fatal attraction. 

Breath getting caught in your throat, you watched as they stood in front of each other, your ears catching the quiet inhales, the slight tensing of the body as they continued to stare at each other for a prolonged moment, their smiles ceasing to fade, seeming to forget your entire existence. 

Feeling like you were intruding on an extremely private and intimate moment, you forced yourself to look away, taking a small step away and tried calming your thundering heart that seemed to want to escape the confines of your chest. 

Hearing them dreamily and pleasantly exchange names, you felt a small smile tug the corners of your lips up, noting internally how love struck and awed they already sounded.

Out of your peripheral vision, you saw their arms reach out to each other, obviously going for a handshake, and you couldn’t help but watch out of the corner of your eye. Having experienced it first hand; the shock, the warm electricity that would inevitably wrap around them as the effect of the first physical contact made, you could only stand frozen there in anticipation as their hands neared closer and closer for an innocent handshake.

Palms connecting, held in each other’s warm grasp and another intake of breath sounded, this time it was more noticeable and the smile you wore grew even wider in response to seeing Jungkook’s smile grow in front of you. “Are... Are we...?” Of course, he had all the right to ask and assume, it was not everyday and everyone you met someone who your body and soul reacted so strongly and deeply towards. 

Jungkook’s dark eyes fluttered around Namjoon’s frame before seeming to remember they shared the same placement. Jungkook released his hold on Namjoon’s hand to reach for his right ear, turning his head as he showed his tattoo, his bunny smile still very much present as he eagerly placed hands on Namjoon’s shoulders and leaned forward to see for himself for the matching ink.

The soulmate bond was something you could no longer deny or ignore. You knew first hand the pull you felt towards the other person, the strong emotions that swallowed you whole. 

Relief and happiness filled you as you realized that Jungkook was going to end up with someone who deserved him, that was something that you had always worried about. But now, knowing that it was Namjoon, you felt you could rest easy. Namjoon wasn’t Yoongi, he wasn’t an asshole, he was an honest, kind, dependable man-

Namjoon staggered back a few unsteady feet and you responsively shot your hands out to secure his footing, the smiling previously adorning your face slowly slipping with each passing second at his reaction. He flinched back from your touch like you had scolded him with hot coal, only his labored breathing sounded as his wide brown eyes jumped from you to Jungkook before muttering a shaky, “I’m... I’m sorry.” before sprinting in the direction you just came from.

“Wait!” Jungkook called out from beside you, a gust of wind whirled around you at the sudden speed he ran behind him, the sound of footsteps hitting the pavement echoing loudly in your head. “Wait!”

You could only gape wordlessly from your spot as you heard rather than see him chasing Namjoon as he quickly made his escape, Jungkook’s piercing voice ringing through your head. 

You spent the remainder of your night consoling a devastated Jungkook, your heart clenching painfully as he blamed himself over and over again, no matter how many times you interrupted that destructive train of thought.

Turns out, Namjoon was quite the hidden track star as he made it to his car and peeled from the parking lot even before Jungkook got completely down the flight of stairs.

“Why would he run away from me like that?” He hiccuped, his large frame clinging to yours as you ran a hand soothingly through his hair, coddling him like an infant.

You took a deep breath as you brought him closer, offering more of your warmth which he appreciated, snuggling in closer to you, feeling his tense form gradually go lax as his eyes drifted shut, slipping into what you could only guess would be a restless sleep.

You shifted out slowly from underneath him, placing one of the extra pillows under his head and going into the closet where he kept his extra blankets and draping it over him. 

Watching his sleeping form fidget from his position on the couch, you felt yourself becoming worked up. 

What was Namjoon’s deal?

Maybe him and Yoongi weren’t so different after all. Your heart hurting for Jungkook, you prayed and hoped Namjoon wouldn’t reject him and that he was going to talk to you, whether he wanted to or not. 

Staring blankly in front of you, your arms crossed in a defensive manner, the sound of distant conversations and silverware clinking echoing in the semi-busy cafe you two often frequented together was all you heard, your usually order of vanilla iced mocha sitting in front of you untouched on the table in front of you, forming a puddle of water around the bottom of the cup on the wood as the ice slowly melted in your drink.

Your first choice was to meet in a private setting, but he had wisely chosen a public space, knowing you did not have the guts nor conscience to scream your lungs out at him as you so badly wanted to in front of throngs of innocent bystanders that had just wanted to have a nice lunch.

It had taken some threatening coaxing, about twenty missed calls from you, then you had pounded on his door and demanded you two talk, and you had never seen him so afraid than at that moment. You had never really gotten upset with him before, so this behavior was obviously a change for him, but what did he think after running out on one of your closest friends like that?

“So... I, uh, guess I have some explaining to do.” His own drink had about two sips left, due to his nervous gulping down of the cold beverage as he sat in front of you. He tried to smile but it came out more as a grimace as he tried to break the tension.

You raised an eyebrow as you offered no change in your expression, urging him to continue, or start, his explanation.

He blinked a few times as he took in a deep breath before straightening up in his chair, placing his elbows on the table as he leaned his upper body a bit more closely to you as to not have to talk so loud. “I’ve never really thought about my soulmate before, I always believed that it just a hoax.”

His earlier words came rushing to you as you remembered what he said when you had asked him about soulmates.

“I don’t really have an opinion on it. I’ll worry about it when it happens.”

“I get it now. I get it completely, experiencing it for myself instead of just reading it in textbooks or having people relay their own experiences to me made me realize just how wrong I was.”

He hung his head and your anger ebbed a bit at seeing how exhausted and guilty he seemed. You could understand what he was saying, you had thought the exact same thing, had your whole world shift upside down at meeting that one person. 

“But I... I had feelings for someone else already.”

Your eyes widened in surprise. You hadn’t known that, your sympathy growing even more at his words. Surely he wanted to make his own story, just like you wanted. 

“I liked them so much, they were all I thought about when I wasn’t busy cramming for tests and midterms. We were very compatible and it was really easy being by their side. I really thought that there could be nobody in the universe more suited for me than her. Or so I thought.”

You remained silent as he told you his monologue, talking to himself more right now than he was to you. 

“But now, after meeting him, I realize how wrong I was once again. It’s like the romantic aspect I felt for them just went away. It’s really fucking weird. So when those feelings just went away... I was overwhelmed, I was confused, I was angry... and I know it wasn’t the right thing to do at all and it’s a terrible excuse but believe me, y/n, I feel horrible for running out like that.” He gazed at you with a tortured expression and you had to avert your stare, not being able to handle seeing the carefree Namjoon look so dejected and ashamed. “I can still hear him screaming after me, I couldn’t sleep at all last night.”

“Neither could Jungkook.” You spoke up, relaxing your arms from their crossed position on your chest to mimic his posture, hard expression softening up a bit as you admitted, “you know he cried himself to sleep last night, asking why you ran away and that something had to be wrong with him that you wouldn’t want him.”

He cringed at your words and mumbled, “All I want right now is to make things right with Jungkook, and to hold him and-” he broke off with a sudden clearing of his throat as an embarrassed expression broke out on his face. It was like had finally realized that you were here also. 

“Well, you should. Make it right. I can’t stand seeing him hurting, he’s like family to me, like a brother.” You pouted, wondering at how it would go from here on out. 

“I will. I’ll apologize and explain everything, and grovel for however long it takes for him to forgive me.”

Rolling your eyes, you shook your head as a smile crept on your lips. “Knowing him and how crazy he is over you, he won’t even last five minutes with you there with him.”

His eyes grew wide and you laughed at his shocked face, a pleasant feeling growing in you as you noted the blush rising from his neck all the way to the tips of his ears. “He’s crazy about me?”

Shrugging, you finally picked your watered down beverage and took a sip, the cool liquid soothing your throat. 

Trying to calm himself down, he told you much more seriously, “You should try with him, too.”

“Who?”

“Yoongi.”

“Wha-” you rushed to ask and the coffee went down the wrong tube and you were suddenly coughing out a lung, the customers around you jumping up in their seats in alarm and watched as you struggled to breathe correctly, glaring at Namjoon who was trying his best to keep his composure. “How do you know about him?”

“We’re sort of friends, remember?” He sassily remarked and you shot him a death glare that had him straightening once again. “It just came up.” Was all he chose to say, leaving you unbelievably frustrated. 

You had let Namjoon go after chatting a bit more, knowing that he was restless to make things up with Jungkook and he all but jumped in his car and will most likely get a few speeding tickets to his way to his apartment, and you didn’t say anything, letting them sort it out themselves.

You were roaming the streets, in a bit of a daze at Namjoon’s words. 

“You should try with him, too.”

Your dreams were filled with the pale, dark haired beauty, wondering even if you did want to try with him, were you going to be able to let down your walls that you’ve spent years and years building up to let him in?

Would he even want to try with you?

Doubts and second thoughts filled your thoughts and made your mood even crappier than it already was this morning.

It was summer vacation, for goodness sake. At least during the school year, you could catch a quick and unfulfilling glance at him, where were you supposed to find him now?

You were waiting at a stoplight, waiting to cross the street, watching the cars zoom past and saw that it was starting to finally dwindle down. Getting ready to cross the street, you froze in your stance, not believing your eyes.

Maybe it really was fate, maybe you two were supposed to somehow work out.

Because right across the street, was Min Yoongi staring back at you with mirrored wide eyes and a look of surprise on his face. 

The animated person lit up underneath the red hand that went black and you wasted no time, running with all your might and flung yourself into his arms. 

He smelled of detergent and sunscreen, a scent that made you smile into the soft fabric of his loose t-shirt, his rigid frame relaxed and his arms wrapped protectively around your frame.

“I missed you.”

once again, sorry for the wait it’s been a bit hectic at work! but as always ty to everyone who reads this story and i welcome and love any and all feedback it really makes my day a 1000x better! if u would like to be added to the taglist, just request down below or shoot me a message! <33

tag list: @hoodiebangtan @xanny91 @babeejeon @chocolatemilk1221 @fuckthatfeeling @cremextart @secretlypg95 @proudslytherin39 @paracii @tragicrosemoons @sunshinein17 @xxluckydreamsxx @skzleaf @lidda @thesugatoyourtae @marycarabell @pawschimchim @namjoonsslutakakoreanmanswhore @crackhead1-800 @annoyingpessimist @moccahobi @sana-b 

[silverselfshippingchaos]

[dorky-self-shipper] 🎫 here’s a gush pass :3 feel free to gush about whichever f/o you want, however much you want, then send this ask to 3 other selfshippers

Oh, my friend!!! Ahhh thank you so much for sending this in!! I have been a bit iffy because some things in my life have been piling up, but!!! I am so excited to dig into this!!! I really need a good gushing session haha!

Today's target for gushing hours with your girl Ash is none other than Yaag Rosch!

This ended up being pretty long, and is a mix of lore, screaming, keyboard smashes, his gorgeous design, and more screaming.

Saying that this man lives in my head rent free is an understatement. He is all I think about it. Honestly, I think it's funny considering Yaag's role in FF13. He's only around in the first game, and shows up in like five cutscenes.

Also. We get crumbs of him in the novels. More on that later. Back to the game.

All he does is "hey yall suck" "your lives don't matter" "uhh i need to kill you guys" "oh wait no i'm not evil" "*dies*"

But!!! He's very cool!! His character is so interesting to me. He's so driven to do whatever it takes, but beneath his actions, there's always an edge of hesitation. He seems like he comes off as so sure of himself, but... I'm not sure about that. Now, I can't say anything for sure because the writers hate him, I really liked those few moments where we get to see his actual thoughts.

For example, "Do you think we want to Purge our own people?!" And things like that where you see him question his orders. I feel like there's a lot of underlying hatred, distrust, and overall fear of the system.

Also, his development from "They aren't people, they're targets." to "I'll trust in your humanity." Gets me every single time.

Also don't get me started on his "if this is my punishment... i accept it." when he's bleeding line.

I am here to gush, not analyze. But both are happening anyway.

I feel as though he puts a lot of thought into what he says and how he acts, and I really do admire that.

For context, Lieutenant Colonel Yaag Rosch is this military higher-up guy. I remember seeing him for the first time and my jaw simply dropping. I know that these games have a history with hot villains. After all, I am an FF7 fan. I have seen the SOLDIERS, I have seen the Turks, I've seen Rufus. They're all hot.

There. I said it.

This intro scene gave us some damn good food. Like??? The silver hair??? The ponytail??? The scar on his forehead??? The overly dramatic speech about how the protagonists need to be eliminated??AJKLFNAWKJFNAWKLJFNWILEN.

(Also, I'm beginning to see the resemblance he has to Felix. I am a very predictable woman, aren't I?)

I am actually going to scream. He’s so handsome!!! His jaw!! His eyes are such a pretty color too!!! I wanna give him a kiss ahhh!! Especially on his forehead scar!!! He's so... woah.

Also, he has a really, really nice voice. Like??? WOW. I want this man to like. narrate my life. Here, lemme find some clips of him talking.

Here. Enjoy.

This one is a fan favorite as well.

It's not a Rick roll. I promise.

..... Unless?

Anyways, as time went on, I realized that he's actually such a deep and interesting character?? He gets done dirty by the writers and the game, but the potential he has makes me so excited!! There's so much material to work off of!!! Truly one of the more interesting villains the trilogy has to offer. Honestly, it's kind of difficult going through the second game knowing that he isn't there.

However, it's also difficult going through the second game because I??? Can't beat?? The goddamn boss fight??? I'm also playing on easy mode. I didn't struggle this much during the first game either. What the hell, Ash.

Back to the actual topic.

I'm gonna start off with his design before we delve into s/i lore and fun tidbits.

(His coat is so cool... Do you think he'd let me wear it? I'd probably waddle around in it because he's pretty tall and I. I am not.

He's around 6'2 (around almost 188 cm..? I think?), but take into account his boots too. Which means that normally he's slightly taller. That means that he's about a foot taller than me. That means that I'm pretty much the perfect height to bury my face in his chest. *screams*)

Talk about a kickass design. He's really cool to look at. Not only, uhm, *blushes*, but because of how cool his outfit is too! It does a really good job of portraying that "heyyy i'm super importtanntttt" energy that he has. He carries himself like he's the shit. And you know what? He is.

He's pretty professional. Minus the times he gets kinda pissed. The novels say, and I quote,

"They said he was the most straitlaced man in PSICOM - if you put serious and stubborn in a military uniform, you'd get Colonel Rosch."

And yeah. That basically sums it up.

Also, there's this scene where he gets all pissed and pulls out his sword and I'm over here like *insert debby ryan hair thing here*. I'm telling you, it's always the sword boys that get me. I'm sure you've noticed that by now. I don't know what it is but. It's a thing.

Oh!!! Oh!!! Speaking of the *tucks hair behind ear*, there's this one scene where he's chasing the protagonists. And he goes, "Clever, aren't you?"

*SCREAMS*

That scene is truly a masterpiece. Thank you for the good food, Squeenix. I remember having to take a moment to just pause and regather myself. Actually, I had to do that the first time I saw him too-

I wasn't alone at the time when he was introduced so I was just silently like "ohmygodhellosir ajrfnaklwenjklwenjklrn" but oh my GOODNESS.

My s/i works with him! She's pretty much his right hand woman. She always has reports and intel on all their missions ready to go! I find it cute how well they work together, be it for mission-related matters, or just when they're relaxing together.

Just like pretty much all of my other s/is, she's a raging academic and total nerd. In the first game, they basically live on this human paradise called Cocoon. It ends up not being so great because the gods want to murder humanity but anyways! Education is pretty much free and you can study whatever you're passionate about. That's why she has studied just so many things.

She's not exactly the type who aspired to join the military, but alas! Things happened. I like to think of it as a "heyyyy y'all needed my help once and then once turned to twice and twice to thrice and then i never left" type thing.

Oh, and then she fell in love with Yaag while she was there.

Her cheery attitude is a direct opposite to his, but they're also able to have some very serious conversations with each other. I love their dynamic so much! Also, he can get a bit softer when he's opening up to her and,,, Soft Yaag??? Hoo boy.

Her motives and beliefs tend to align a bit more with the Cavalry branch, but i feel as though she fits in better with PSICOM. Also, the book describes the soldiers to be a bunch of dumbass dorks and just the thought of her smiling and cracking jokes with all of Yaag's men make me super happy.

Oh and she gets a cool uniform too! Because I said so.

Now, they've known each other for years by the time the end of the first game rolls around. They're happy together, maybe even engaged! It can go one of two ways here. He either dies or he doesn't.

I like adhering really closely to canon with my ships (*laughs in genesis angst*) but I also think it would be a blast if he were to survive.

In the novels after his death, some recordings of his are found. It's basically him talking about how the government sucks from the inside. A character finds these and reveals them to the public to get rid of the old government and an invite a newer one that actually cares about the people. However, it's never quite stated how he got those recordings. And that's where Ash steps in.

She brings them to his attention and helps him out, but then returns to live with the rest of the remaining soldiers in that camp they set up in the second novel. They all look up to her as a leader-type, which I find is really funny because she doesn't exactly have the qualifications? She worked with PSICOM, but was never exactly a soldier. But hey, it's right after the world (quite literally) fell apart, I don't think that anybody cares about that.

Also, there's another chapter where Snow ends up visiting, and she has a friendly chat with him!!! She helped out the protagonists a little bit near the end of the first game, so they have a slight idea of who each other are, but that doesn't exactly change the fact that she fell under the category of villain for a lot of it, despite not actually being a bad person. I also think that their dynamic would be fun. Snow also just makes me really happy LMAO.

I think that this version of Ash is really fun just because of how much the experience hardens her? She spends a lot of time grieving. Also!!! Whether or not she makes a cameo in 13-2 (maybe near the ruins early game?) is totallllyyyy up to you hehe! I think it would be neat for her to talk to the protagonists of that game, especially since Yaag was the one who orchestrated the Purge and at the ruins, there's a huge monument of the names of people who were killed there.

Also, whether or not she has a son here is up to you. I like to think of all my ideas all happening in alternate timelines so everything I want can happen without stepping on other events? I imagine their child to have Yaag's pretty silver hair with Ash's brown eyes.

Also, 13-2 is about time travel so like. The protagonists meeting their child in the future when he's all grown up? Good stuff.

But hey, in the main timeline she's alone after Yaag's death. She helps the other characters. I also think that in time, she does work for the Academy? I mentioned that she's pretty nerdy earlier, so that definitely helps out. She's super cool!!! Such a badass!!!

Now, on the flipside of things, what if he survived? Then what happens? shameless self promo

Yaag still has those recordings, and they do still reach Captain Rygdea. They both live in the small village that the remnants of PSICOM created. It's a sweet life. Are fankids a thing in their future? Yeah, probably.

I feel like Yaag would be a really good dad. I headcanon that he has a very strong relationship with his own father as well. He's caring and stern, but also knows when to turn down the serious scale. The novels also say that he likes kids!?!?!? I know I've screamed about this point like 24892 times on my blog. But.

It's so cute??? Who would expect this super serious and mean man who quite literally says that the protagonists aren't people, they're targets to like children of all things???? It really is my favorite thing ever just because of how cute it is. I also have a few tiny cousins in my family, so him playing with them makes me very soft too.

("Would you please stop tugging on my hair- Ash, this is not a laughing matter!" "Oh, but it so is.")

I think that detail really helps hint at him having a more gentle side? And I adore that.

Also, I mentioned how Snow pays a visit to the PSICOM camp after the events of the first game? I think that would be very interesting with Yaag there because before Yaag dies in canon, Snow says, "Stay alive. We'll see you when it's over."

And now he finally gets to see him. The conversation would get surprisingly deep and definitely dive into Yaag's motives and real thoughts about his actions in the game. I really enjoy the few interactions those two have in the game.

Anyways, now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's dig into the meat and potatoes of this ship.

In 13-2, they get a separate dlc side story just to themselves. Because I said so. I'm not sure how the plot of this works, but it's basically them exploring Gran Pulse together. Maybe to map things out? Maybe to get better acquainted with the world they thought was a hell their whole lives? Maybe there's some sort of big mission they have to do? We'll figure it out.

Basically, it's a whole side story of them exploring and kicking monster ass together. The combat is regular 13 combat.

Yaag has his sword along with some explosives (we see him carry some grenades at the end when he blew himself up). And Ash also has a sword because I like swords.

In the game, usually only l'Cie, or magic god slaves, can use magic. However, after the fal'Cie (magic gods) go poof at the end of the end of the first game, some normal humans can use magic? It makes no sense and exists only for plot convenience, but I'm not complaining because it makes my plot easier too.

My point is, Ash can use magic! Because A) she's quirky mage material B) we need a balanced team C) Every single version of Ash so far has been a mage. D) I like magic a lot. Would be my go-to as well.

Also, if you're interested in how they work in battle, roles divide up very nicely between them.

Yaag has: -Commando (physical attacks) -Sentinel (beefy tanks) -Sabuteur (debuffing enemies)

Ash has: -Ravager (magic goes brrr) -Medic (i think you know) -Synergist (buffing allies) -Commando (physical attacks)

Maybe Yaag could get medic too to balance off the load in battle? They're a blast in combat because they really do compliment each other.

Anyways, back to the adventure.

It's the two of them traveling around. The main focus of it is their conversations as they travel. There's a lot of fun banter. Ya know how like when you're walking around in Naughty Dog games and your characters are just chatting? Yeah. That.

Their conversations are super random and they cover pretty much every single topic ever. They go from really serious to them just being stupid. I love their friendly banter.

Also, when they set up camp and are about to sleep, we get to see sleepy Yaag in action. And do you know what that means?

It means we get to see Yaag with his hair done a bit looser, maybe even down!!! Yaag with his hair down is all I want to see. It's what we deserve. It's what we need. The day that I see Yaag with his hair down is the day i achieve true happiness LMAO.

It's what we need.

Ash playing with his hair??? Yes, I most definitely think so.

Oh and there is totally a "Yaag, I'm cold." "Allow me to help remedy that. *pulls her closer*" type moment because they're cute like that.

All in all, their travels are really fun. Maybe somewhere around there they run into the protagonists? Either from the first game or the second game. I think that would be a fun mess.

I feel like Yaag can show a softer side of him around her and that makes me really happy. He deserves to be happy and I love him very much.

I think about him all the time, and just the thought of him holding me makes me so happy. He really is just adorable.

Before I wrap this up, I have a few more things I want to speak about! Firstly, allow me to share one of my favorite pictures of him because oh. my. god.

*screams*

The urge to backhug him!!! Ahh!!! He's so cute!!!! I just wanna hold him aelajflanef.

One of my favorite pre-relationship moments from them is this one time where Yaag is pretty down in the dumps, and Ash is talking to him about it and offering her advice. And as she talks, she gently places a hand over his (they're seated side by side btw). He looks up at her in shock, and she takes back her hand is like, "O-oh! I'm so sorry, I should've asked first, I just thought tha-"

And then he just snatches her hand back and gently holds it. You can see the tips of his ears burning red haha! I think that they're pretty cute ajfwnjklef

She always tries her best to take care of him, too! He needs a hug, and she is more than happy to provide. She always tries to remind him to eat his meals on time and such, even if she can be questionable at following her own advice at times. She can also be a bit of a tease sometimes, so he can get pretty annoyed (not really, he thinks it's cute) sometimes.

However, he also does his best to take care of her. Would he pull the "that's an order." card after she refuses to rest, pulling several late-nighters for work? Yeah. Probably. He's very caring, even if he can come off as very serious and scary sometimes.

To wrap things up, I love Yaag Rosch.

Thank you for your time.

[gofancyninjaworld]

OPM Manga Chapter 104, Revised -- That wasn’t even clever!

What a treat this one was! :)

Story

It started with a ‘clever’ plan: to get the mercenaries out of the base without fighting any monsters by pretending that the heroes had been captured by them instead.  I nearly died with laughter watching Bushidrill try and fail to fake cry:

Ah well, nothing wrong with Plan B!  Commence the monster mash!

Unfortunately, monsters gonna monster, and the monsters decided that three heroes was one too many, surely Gyoro-Gyoro wouldn’t mind if they ate one. Whereupon heroes and mercenaries unleashed hell on the monsters.  With the mercenaries giving great account of themselves.  Now that they weren’t mind-controlled morons, they proved to be skilled fighters whose power armour boosted their abilities wonderfully.

We got a great insight into what working as a mercenary was like and how it differed from that of a hero. In a funny way, watching Nori crying as she strangled a monster as she reflected that they wouldn’t get paid if they returned without Waganma.  And also in a very unfunny way, when Captain Tongara elbowed Iaian in the face for coming up behind him, explaining that it was a reflexive habit developed in the course of guerilla warfare (more on this later). 

Then the ground got very sharp as Devil Long Hair brought the floor down. The fight that ensues is familiar from the previous version, but it’s much more nicely fleshed out.  The disciples sort out how to deal with Devil Long Hair in a means both wholesome and pragmatic, by leaning against each other’s backs so as to present a blade-bearing front with no gaps and start slicing away!

This time it’s left to poor Noria to get a shock as she sees Pig God eat both a monster and another monster that they’d chased round the corner.  Poor mercenaries!

Meta

My god, what a great treat for the eyes!

In a chapter filled with much to feast the eyes on (armour?  Are you sure that isn’t body-paint, hmm, Murata?),  I was most drawn to the great expressions on the disciples’ faces.   I have a special love for Bushidrill’s, fight me if you don’t agree.  You’re wrong, that’s flat! :) 

One of the things I’ve been dying to see is for Atomic’s disciples to better individuate themselves and now I’m very happy to see that we’re getting more of that.  Bushidrill is honest and forthright to the point that he’s called out on his inability to deceive (good beardy egg!).   Okamaitachi’s ‘thing’ for monsters is well-established, but I’m liking more and more her protectiveness towards the rest of her group.  And the contrast between Iaian’s leadership and his being the baby of the group, ah, what a nice dissonance!

I love that in contrast to the mercenaries, who look out for themselves, even as they considered their predicament, the heroes are still thinking of how to prevent the monster’s hairs from targeting the mercenaries above.  If you ever needed to know why heroes are different, this is part of why.

Super neat -- Bushi’s weapon!  I’d wondered how his drills work.  Aside from being blade-bearing cones, they also contain swords.  I’m not sure how practical it is, but damn it’s cool.

It’s not because they’re nice people that they’re still alive

It’s looking like ONE hasn’t spared the mercenaries simply because it’d be too mean to have Amai Mask kill them.   For the first, we can see why Narinki selected the group to go extract his son.  Even with few weapons left, they’re seriously competent. 

Given their fixation on rescuing Waganma if at all possible, I’m wondering if they’re going to try to take the kid with them if they make it back up to the surface in one piece.   The support heroes may well give the boy to them so as to be free to continue to sweep up the monsters -- originally they delayed leaving because they were reluctant to leave any monsters be so this could work out well for them.  Or not.  We shall see! 

Speaking of weapons, their body suits are near dead-ringers for those the Paradisers ‘stole’ from The Organization, as in they thought they’d stolen them but were actually providing free field-testing for them. Including the no-helmet design that was the downfall of both groups.

The manga is more self-contained than the webcomic. In the webcomic, the first time we heard about mercenaries were the Neo Hero security detail Destro and Erimin, in chapter 125.  Mercenaries not only show up earlier in the manga, but their role, fighting in guerilla warfare, tells us something. While soldiers are normally associated with nation states, people can stand private armies.  It’s more evidence of a government that has problems making its writ run.  Very interesting detail here. 

It also answers a question I’d had from the very beginning: just who the heck were The Organization making power suits for?  With private armies, there’s now incontrovertible evidence of a market.  There really is a lot of money for wearable weaponry.  And where there’s money, it’s worth killing people. The Organization has a representative on site, G5, who had had no problem using the mercenaries as a welcome gift to get into the Monster Association and had flogged their attributes like a salesman extolling the virtues of the latest kitchen appliance.   I wonder if G5 -- or another co-conspirator -- will come to collect their valuable battle data.

There are some very interesting and story-illuminating possibilities ahead.  I’m glad to see that some long-running loose threads might be tying in at last!

Overall, I have loved this chapter for the great character building, very nice action and the story possibilities it creates.  ONE’s getting everything he can out of every character.

[365days365movies]

January 15, 2021: Casino Royale (2006) (Part 1)

So...we meet again, Bond. What’ve you been doing for the past few years?

...What. Not who, James, WHAT. Jeez.

Whatever. BrosBond had 3 movies after GoldenEye, and they were...not great, from what I’ve heard. Remember, I wasn’t as big of a fan of GoldenEye as many critics and fans were; so, I can’t imagine what I’d think of the latter three. Maybe one day, but not today!

Today, I’m focusing my sights on the revitalization of the brand. See, in 2002, Die Another Day came out, and that movie was apparently crazy. TOO crazy. So crazy, in fact, that audiences and critics accused it of losing the plot, and the production studio in charge (Eon Productions) had a yearning to change direction. And their inspiration came from...a surprising place.

See, Joel Schumacher’s campy, over-the-top Batman films were basically wiped out by Christopher Nolan’s 2005 reinvention of the character in Batman Begins. Which is, in my opinion, a highly underrated classic, Seriously. And in 2005, this film was absolutely a smash-hit. Batman was cool again, which a lot of people never thought would happen in film. Eon saw this, and thought...how can we apply that to Bond?

Out with Brosnan...in with Craig.

The first of the new, darker, reinvented Bond films is planned for release in 2006, starring Daniel Craig as the suave, sophisticated spy. And the director of the film was selected to be...Martin Campbell? From GoldenEye? The guy who kinda sorta started the modern over-the-top Bond? Really? I mean, OK. The writers this time are different...except for one. I didn’t talk about the writers last time because I don’t like putting people on blast if I don’t gotta. This time...maybe. We’ll see.

If this Casino Royale is basically Bond Begins, I’m definitely interested. Maybe this’ll revitalize that Bond-love from the Connery days. Let’s find out! We’re also gonna look at the Bond checklist again!

Gadgets: better have more cool gadgets than GoldenEye, I swear...

Bond Girl: GoldenEye’s Natalya wasn’t bad, to be honest; let’s see who his Inevitable Love Interest is this time.

Villain: Alec Trevelyan had so much potential. I need my dastardly villain, let’s do this. Oh, and let’s throw the henchman in here, too. Xenia Onatopp was...a lot...but she was a memorable henchman, at least.

Music: Of course. GoldenEye’s theme was good, and we’ll see how 2006 does.

OK, movie time. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

We start at an office building in Prague, where a man makes his way up to his office. Waiting there for him is, of course, James Bond (Daniel Craig). The man is Dryden, section chief at the British Embassy in Prague, whom M has accused of selling secrets, a big no-no. But Bond...isn’t a double-0 agent. Huh. You got me interested.

Apparently, agents get the two zeroes once they’ve killed two people on file. James hadn’t killed anyone...until recently. Which is when we get this.

OH SHIT

This is an absolutely BRUTAL fight. It’s not choreographed flashily, it’s not pretty...it’s rough. It’s intense. And it’s...oh my God, wow. Made me feel it. And what’s astonishing is that it’s SO short.

On learning this, Dryden tells him not to worry, the second one is...

...YOU GOT ME. I’M IN FOR THE FUCKIN’ RIDE

HOW??? How is it that in 3 minutes of screentime, I’m already more satisfied by Craig’s Bond than I was for the ENTIRETY of GoldenEye? That is masterfully done, right off the bat. WOW. We even get a smooth-as-silk segue into the classic bullet turret sequence, and that takes us right into the song and opening credits. And...wow.

Here’s the thing about Bond openings, as I mentioned last time: they were all directed by one guy up until GoldenEye, and were basically all silhouetted women with themes and scenes from the movie projected around them. The Brosnan movies followed suit, always having silhouetted women in one way or another. Die Another Day used CGI women and...a really bad Madonna song. It was...it is NOT GOOD, guys. Look it up, it’s the most 2002 thing I’ve ever heard.

But here’s the fin bit about Casino Royale. This is the first Bond movie opening with no women in it. Yeah. It’s the first one. And the song is Chris Cornell’s You Know My Name, and it’s good! Not sure it’s going in my soundtrack, though.

Finally, the opening credits sequence itself: it’s once again Daniel Kleinman doing it, and it’s actually inspired by the first James Bond book Casino Royale, which had already had a TV special and unofficial Bond movie made from it! The cover had a playing card motif, and the opening carries over that motif creatively. I really dig it, if I’m honest! Definitely a welcome break from the 44 years of Bond films preceding it.

Uganda! And we meet the villain of this film: Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). And GODDAMN if that isn’t a Bond villain! He’s a banker, making a deal with a rebel leader, Steven Obanno (Isaach de Bankole), via their liason Mr. White (Jesper Christiensen). Setting up an attack by supplying Obanno with money, he sells his stocks of a company called Skyfleet, knowing that they’re about to fail.

Meanwhile, a ferret’s fighting an Asian species of cobra. In Madagascar. My zoology senses are EXPLODING, OH my God. So much wrong there. Anyway, there’s a bombmaker in the crowd watching the fight. He’s being tailed by Bond and another agent, Carter, who tips off the guy by being a bad spy. Bond chases him to a construction yard. What now, James?

Awesome. Why is this awesome when I said that the tank was dumb? Because at least it makes sense for a bulldozer to go haywire in a construction yard, just sayin’. Plus, this dude clearly isn’t the best, as he fires on construction workers and cops.

Eventually, this chase sequence brings us to the top of a crane, where this exchange happens.

I, uh...I love this movie already. That’s goddamn great.

The chase scene as a whole is also fantastic, as it continues off the bridge and into an abandoned building, then escalates into the streets, brings in law enforcement, and eventually ends with Bond at an embassy, facing down both the military and the bomb maker. He kills the guy, shoots some gas tanks, grabs the bomb, and then gets the hell out of there.

...Y’know what, that was fucking amazing, but he also almost certainly caused an international incident there. And I should be annoyed about that, but guess what! It makes sense! This is an inexperienced Bond, one who’s JUST been promoted to 00 status as 007, as the prologue explained. So, y’know what? I’m into it!

Cut to a yacht, like you do in a Martin Campbell Bond film. There, we have our villain, Le Chiffre, playing a card game. Also, he weeps blood. Yeah. HE WEEPS BLOOD.

OK, if that isn’t some Bond villain shit, I don’t know WHAT is. He’s also asthmatic, because I love it. I love it so much. He’s a mathematically-brilliant asthmatic that weeps blood. More, please. 

He’s also a person aware of what Bond did at the embassy, as it’s already become an international incident! Thank you for showing consequences, movie! Damn! I love it! This has two additional consequences. One, Le Chiffre notes that the code “Ellipsis” used by the bomber may be soon to expire, indicating a connection between the two. And the second consequence? M’s pissed.

M! DAME JUDI DENCH! One of my favorite things about GoldenEye was bringing in Judi Dench as M, and she made it through the reboot! And she’s still as entertaining as she was before, calling Bond out for his stupidity, and explaining that she misses the Cold War.

In her apartment, M does her normal exposition schtick, and her interactions with Bond are fantastic here. She’s understandably angry at him, and gives him what for, but she’s also clearly impressed that he FIGURED OUT WHERE SHE LIVES, as well as her REAL NAME. Shows her opinion of Bond and aspects of Bond’s character in a single, masterful stroke. 

Well. Goddamn. Done.

The Bahamas! Bond’s here to find Alex Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian), a Greek businessman who’s believed to have a connection with Le Chiffre himself. And, as James Bond is wont to do, he finds him at a party, playing cards. And here’s where the reinvention of Bond comes full circle.

See, Bond’s doing all the typical Bond things, yeah. But there are some differences present here, as well as some neat nuances. Bond isn’t wearing the suit, first of all. He actually hasn’t worn a suit the whole movie, which makes perfect sense for a spy. Suits aren’t exactly the least conspicuous thing in the world; bound to get you noticed if you don’t want to be.

And then, there’s the girl. This is Solange Dimitrios (Catherina Murino), the wife of Alex who was treated BADLY by him at the party. That gives her a reason to take Bond’s offer for a ride to his place, outside of just his raw animalistic charm that he seems to have in some of these movies. Look at that, already more chemistry than he had with Natalya in GoldenEye.

And yes, this results in her cheating on Alex. Is her cheating justified from a moral standpoint? No, of course it isn’t. And of course, this leads to the typical Bond-handsome-sex-GOOD sequence, but again, some nuance here! First of all, he doesn’t win her over with corny clever lines, like what we saw in GoldenEye multiple ties. Second, this is actually all an attempt to get some infomation from her about her husband. Bond might be enjoying it, but his womanizing here actually has a purpose. And that’s rare!

That’s further punctuated by the fact that he STRAIGHT UP LEAVES BEFORE ANYTHING HAPPENS. Yeah, she tells him that Alex just made his way to Miami, and he leaves! Dick move, yeah, but it makes sense! James isn’t here for pleasure, he’s here for work!

He follows Alex to a Bodies at Work exhibit (you know, the preserved and skinned cadavers put into poses that used to tour around the USA? I saw it in Times Square at the end of its popularity. A little ghoulish, maybe, but I think it’s pretty cool), where the two of them get in a very tense close-up knife fight in public.

Alex is dead, but not before passing off a package to someone else at the exhibition. Bond tails the guy to Miami International Airport, where the largest airplane in the world is set to be unveiled. Using the code sent to the bombers, Bond gets into the back, and goes to intercept the disguised bomber who’s set to blow up the SkyChonk (I mean it, that giant airplane is THICCC).

Time for another cool chase sequence! Some luggage is destroyed, along with a bus, the cops join in on the chase, an airplane is prevented from landing (making someone on that plane probably very upset), and Bond somehow manages to prevent the plane from blowing up. And it’s by the SKIN of his teeth, lemme tell you. Also, he blows up a dude with his own flashlight bomb.

Nice. Somehow, Bond isn’t arrested, and makes his way back to the Bahamas. And it looks like Solange isn’t the Bond girl after all. Because she was thought to be the information leak (which she was, to an extent), she was tortured to death. Whoof.

M’s in the Bahamas now, and the exposition continues. She’s done with Bond’s bullshit, and she plants a tracker under his skin. She explains that with the big boi plane destroyed, somebody stood a lot to gain financially from the stock crash to come. Except that the plane wasn’t destroyed, and that person lost $100 million by “betting the wrong way.”

That person, of course, was Le Chiffre, a manthematical genius and chess prodigy, who plays poker for fun, and plays the stock market with his clients’ money. Bond’s the best poker player in MI6 (a good addition that we already saw foreshadowed earlier! See what I mean?), and she’s sending him to a high stakes poker game that Le Chiffre’s looking to regain his money from. 

Bond FINALLY dons his suit, and gets on a train in Montenegro, where he meets...

Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). THERE’S our Bond girl! Although, there’s a reference to Miss Moneypenny in their introduction, which is interesting. But Vesper is an agent for the British Treasury, supplying the money for the buy-in for the tournament. And their conversation on the train...wow. Now THIS is chemistry, seriously.

Vesper’s a great character, and she gives Bond NO quarter. She reads his character, and calls him out very accurately. They also explain why both Bond and Vesper are good at poker: it’s all about reading people. I’m genuinely impressed by how this movie is put together, and how well-thought out Bond is as a character. And this is the dimension I love to see in a Bond girl as well!

GODDAMN, I am in love with this movie. More coming in Part 2!