#Kay you unleashed a monster with this ask

[bizarrescribblez]

MIA HI i finally got to see atsv this weekend and it was so good and cool and i enjoyed it a lot!!! now that i'm caught up on the lore i feel like i can finally call myself a proud member of the jellyspot nation (<- finally understands what the hell everyone is talking about) <3 the spot is suuch a good character i love the combination of Silly and heartbreaking and menacing augh i'm so glad u're here to hold him and give him kisses!!!

also i was looking at some of his concept art earlier and all of his outfits are so fun!! it made me wonder if him and ur spidersona ever went shopping together....picking out silly shirts for each other....u two would look iconic next to each other that's for sure 💖💖 (also he has tattoos?? that rules honestly and i wanna know what the are so bad)

KAY KAY KAY KAY HIII HIIIIIII!!!!

OHMYGOSH IM SO HAPPY YOU THOUGHT SO/ENJOYED IT!!!! 😭💖 it’s so sososososo good.. movie of the year even.. AND A!!!! JELLYSPOT NATION GAINS A NEW MEMBER LETS GO 😼😼😼😼 AND IKR????? I just love the slow descent to actually being evil because it is sad knowing how goofy and shy and silly he used to be 😭😭 come back to me silly goofy Johnny we miss you!! BUT ILL GIVE HIM SM KISSES NO MATTER WHAT FORM HE TAKES!!

ALSO OHMYGOSH I KNOW RIGHT?????? All his outfits suit him so well he’s got such a surprisingly good sense of fashion 🥹 (I was surprised there wasn’t 1 bad science pun shirt in sight 💀) ALSO STOPP THAT IDEA MAKES ME EXPLODE…. 😭😭💖💖 you are the smartest person on planet earth I am never gonna get over that!!!

Out of them all these are the ones I totally picked for him.. ESPECIALLY THE LEFT ONE THE PINK SOCKS??? THE PANTS?? That’s a classic Mia pick right there 😌💞💞💞

AND I . KNOW .

HES SO…….. I ALSO WANNA KNOW WHAT THE TATTOOS ARE I WANNA KNOW SO BAD 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[froppy-butterflyfan2000]

In the dungeon of the Solaria Royal Palace where the flaming torches are the only light sources, the cell that is brightest is where residing in this chamber is a magical creature calls a lumen. It appears no one has visited the lumen. The only interaction she ever made is the capricious and malignant fairy.

A knock on her cell door cause the lumen to snap out of her trace of thoughts. “You have gotten visitor!” Said the Royal Guard. Keys are jittery and the click from the metal lock cause the strong oak plank door to open. The lumen get off the bench seat she was sitting on to looks up at her visitor, entering her cell. The lumen is shocked to see it is none other than Princess Stella Junior Dorana of Solaria. Also known as her victim she corrupted into the monster. The air is tense and there was only silence as the fairy and lumen did not looks at each others. However the tension is finally broken when the apologetic lumen bow to Stella Junior.

“I’m sorry Princess Stella Junior Dorana of Solaria, I am responsible for turning you into this staryummy form that you are now cursed upon.”

“No need to apologize,” Stella Junior declined the apology, letting it slide because she knew it was not her fault at all. “You were a staryummy with no will… Thanks to Kai.”

The lumen gasped, and saw the conflicted feelings in her body languages - narrowed eyes, shaken fists, clenched lips, and wrinkled nose with flaring nostril. The lumen shake her head and try to stop the wedge between Kai and Stella Junior from going further.

“All he wanted was to know what a staryummy is like, after he overheard his mother and sister’s conversation-”

The lumen covered her mouth, realizing she said too much, especially when it is costing Stella Junior’s relationship to her own family. Stella Junior’s attention shifted, changing her bitterness toward her little brother to a complete shock on this revelation. “…. About the sorcerer, Valtor.”

The one responsible for the destruction of Domino, her godmother and her big sister’s home planet. But why did her mother and her little sister were talking about Valtor? Twinkly already knew about the story, The Winx and the Dark Wizard, Valtor. Stella Junior is reminded of this as a part of her curriculum, History on her first year at Alfea. Perhaps, this lumen know something than she don’t.

“What do you know about Valtor?” Stella Junior asked. The lumen’s lips are tighten. If she said more, Stella Junior will feelings betray.

“Please, it could be your ticket to bailed out of this prison….” Stella Junior negotiated. “If you can help me know what is the full story of why I became like this.”

The lumen gulps, this could be her only hope of being freed. However, will she have a home to go back to? The lumen closed her eyes and told her about Valtor return, and how he drained the light to the core of the world, the star the lumens reside in.

“The demon my mother, my godmother, and the Winx fought… He had return…” Stella Junior’s eyes are widened. “Does that means he have Valtor’s Dragon’s Flame?” said a startled Stella Junior, jumping to assumption. The first princess of Solaria theorize that his magic has something to do with a piece of the dragon’s flame from Stella’s Bloomix power, and perhaps down the line of their adventure, it became corrupted somehow by Valtor in their battle to save the stars? But what the lumen said was shocking.

“No!… It’s dark magic I have never seen before.” The lumen exclaimed.

The lumen cannot help but remember the dark power corrupted her heart and obey Valtor to drained the energy of the star core and other terrible actions. Just saying that makes her bring up this trauma from years ago. Her stomach is now twisting and turning. Her soul feels dirty. The lumen’s light is flickering and is ready to unleash the light at any moments!

“Unknown dark magic that I don’t want to feel ever again.” Said The Lumen. “EVER!”

Stella Junior’s head is now spinning. “Wait…! That is not true… so when Valtor is revived by Argan, his magic is no longer from the Dragon’s Flame, but dark powers, outside to the Magic Dimension, which apparently Kai have now.”

The lumen hesitated at first, but then give a slight, yet fast nod and an anguished hum.

Valtor, the Magic Dimension’s Lord of Evil… Does not have the Dragon’s Flame as his source of magic. Instead it is from the dark power, alien to the Magic Dimension… Stella Junior is speechless. That means the dark power that fused inside of her to become a were-staryummy is foreign. And it is now becoming one with her Sparx! That is why Counsellor Hannibal and Counsellor Eugenia said they never seen this dark magic quite like this before. Then something struck her in the head. “Is it possible that anyone could manifest this dark power? Valtorian Magic?!?”

“No idea!” The lumen snapped, her strong composure finally breaks. The poor lumen finally start crying, she cannot take this anymore. The pain in her heart is too much for her. The Winx Club may have save the universe many times, but can they not make the bad memories go away? It is better to be locked up away in this cell, than take the offer Stella Junior has given her. The lumen snapping at her and breaking down caused Stella Junior to flinched. She can sensing the negative energy from the poor lumen. Stella Junior only just want informations. None of her parents know where she is, but one of the guards will inform her parents where she is. Now that she have it, she need to leave right away. “I just wanted to let you know that Kai didn’t do it out of malice. He cannot controls his own power… So please….” The lumen begged. “Don’t estranged your brother! Otherwise he will suffer from loneliness!”

Stella Junior is conflicted. It is logical that she has the rights to be angry at her brother for what he done. She does not want to see his face again because the damages were permanent for her. At the same time, her heart is telling her that the imprisoned lumen was right about her blaming Kai is wrong. He did suffer so much than her after all. Plus, Kai is now in Echo Creek, living with a host family. It was better off for Kai to stay at Echo Creek because he won’t be facing any sigma of being a dark magic wielder as there are families of wielders of the dark arts who would help him with his magic, The Diaz Family and The Butterfly Family, also known as the Butterflies of Darkness. That lumen need a peace of mind as well, since her father sent this lumen to the dungeon. Stella Junior would full heartedly accept the lumen’s request. However, she is in a swirls of emotions. She cannot accept it. She can’t do this. It is all too much for her. She is just a kid too. Not just a princess.

She is not the fun-loving girl anymore. She has traumatized her own sister because of her were-staryummy form. She is not worthy of being The Guardian of The Supernatural.

“Let me thinks about it,” said Stella Junior. “I cannot make a promise like this that could become broken…” Stella Junior admitted and explained it as best she could. Emotionally and logically to set boundary for herself. Something she learns during her time at Camp Synonymous. Stella Junior curtsy and dismissed herself. “Thanks you, I am truly am grateful of you given me a peace of mind. As promised, I will ask my parents to bail you out. It may take some time.”

Stella Junior leave the cell, where the distressed lumen is left alone in the cell. The Moon Fairy’s footsteps echo in the dungeon. She felt bad for not giving the lumen what she wanted at least: Reconciliation with her little brother. It is conflicting because, it would be only closure for the lumen only and not herself. And because of… Her own mother. Stella Junior doesn’t know if this is favortism or Twinkly is entrust with this secret, however it must have been a burden for Twinkly to carry it all alone. Their mother is overprotective towards Twinkly because Twinkly has survived many attempts in being kidnap. Plus, she is using her knowledges to help their mom, their dad, and their grandmother manage the kingdom. To become strong enough to protect their sister, Kai have spend a part of his childhood sparring with Sky and their father. Their mom do coddle Kai. However if their mom did not pass on her knowledge of their adventures that could be beneficial to the enemies, maybe Twinkly have less chance on getting kidnapped and Kai to spend more time having fun in his childhood. And to take the role of being the big sister and a good role model for them, because what about her? She is going to become Solaria’s next Guardian Fairy and one day, future Queen of Solaria. However….. right now, when she reaches the throne room, Stella Junior saw her mother and father, Queen Stella and King Brandon of Solaria on her throne with the queen mother, her maternal grandma, Luna and her little sister, Twinkly solving the problems for their subjects. It seems Twinkly knows what she is doing because she knows everything about Solaria. Only Twinkly is given the information about Valtor’s return but never Kai nor herself. It would seem Twinkly is the better candidate as Queen of Solaria because she has the ‘Ring of Solaria’ and she was the only one to know about Valtor’s first. Perhaps Stella’s Bloomix power would better off be in Twinkly’s hands too, or the Bloomix power die with her. After all, it is certain that her Sparx is incompatible to the Dragon’s Flame. Stella Junior looks at her two rings, her Moon Sticks, she is wearing, glistening in the sunlight. She use them to teleport back to Townsville. Tonight, she must look at the waning gibbous moon and bathe in its moonlight, just like the revelation.

Stella Junior Dorana of Solaria, Twinkly of Solaria, and Kai of Solaria (mentioned) belong to @gloriousdreamunknown

Hannibal Demerest (mentioned) and Eugenia Maximoff (mentioned) belong to @froppy-butterflyfan2000 (me)

[denimbex1986]

'Oppenheimer, as a movie, is as complicated as the man it is based on. Directed and written by Christopher Nolan, based on the book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, the movie documents the creation of the atomic bomb through the Manhattan Project during World War II and is framed by the Oppenheimer’s 1954 security clearance hearing and the cabinet hearing of Lewis Strauss in 1959. In the lead up to the movie, many were concerned about how it would handle the creation of the bomb itself and the message it would deliver.

In preparation for the film’s release, an open letter from atomic bomb survivors, victims of nuclear testing, and youth campaigners was sent to Nolan’s production company back in March, then released on July 16, as they hadn’t heard back. In the letter...the victims, survivors, and campaigners noted that they expected the film to be aligned with their message and asked that it be a little more explicit before the credits would roll: “With this in mind, we kindly request that you include epilogue text (or similar messaging) following the film that underscores the contemporary threat to humanity posed by these weapons as well as the current global efforts to safely disarm and eliminate them. Crucially, this would involve recognizing that nuclear weapons are now illegal under international law thanks to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).”

They have continued to highlight the importance of Oppenheimer driving a positive conversation about the effects of nuclear warheads on the environment, how it has continued to effect New Mexico, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, restorative justice for affected communities, and the real world fear many of us have for the potential of nuclear war in our modern time. While the movie itself does not paint the nuclear bomb as a good thing and leaves the audience with the knowledge of the mess this creation has caused, it is important to note that it seems those behind his letter were right to request a more explicit epilogue message.

There are many who have missed or ignored the film’s message, making the work of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that much more important—a treaty the United States has not yet signed on to, which would have been good for Nolan’s film to point out.

When I first left Oppenheimer, the message seemed clear to me, especially from its final moments. As the responses to the film trickled in though, it was obvious people managed to leave the movie—which ends with J. Robert Oppenheimer recognizing the weapon he created and the monster that he unleashed with it and saying that he thinks that he destroyed the world—talking about how much they suddenly wanted to study physics.

To me, that’s a terrifying thing about movies right now. You can clearly have a message talking about how bad something was, and instead of people recognizing that and trying to be better people for the world at large, they completely miss the point. Maybe if this message from the Youth for TPNW had been included in the film, we wouldn’t be seeing people, for some reason, being inspired in the wrong way.

I highly suggest taking a look at what the youth in support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has been working on. The letter ends with the following message: “With this film, we feel strongly that you have an opportunity to drive global dialogue regarding nuclear weapons in a manner that respects survivors and affected community members and that educates the general public about current real-world solutions to end the nuclear threat. We are ready to support and applaud this positive contribution to global security and global cinema.”

Everyone is willing to have a positive conversation about the horrific effects of nuclear weapons and why they should be prohibited in the world at large. We just have to actually recognize that that is a conversation we should be having after Oppenheimer. Not what Nolan’s Oscar chances are.'

[magicandjuliet]

Blood and Snow

A swift movement of the arm was enough to send the monster tumbling away from him in a distant trail of magical smoke, strands of hair as black as the leaden sky above Moonbroke fell out of what was the usual messy, loose ponytail that Malroth hastily binds to. in the morning before following Kairi and her running around the fallen kingdom.

"GRARGH!! ' he roared, unleashing yet another attack on the animal that swooped down on him, grabbing the club with both gloved hands and pounding until the being was turned to pulp.

Nothing outclassed the sheer adrenaline that flooded his veins when he knew he was going to shatter some skulls.

He couldn't see what his face was like, but he could no doubt assume that the adrenaline often made him forget who he was, where he came from… even if that was a mystery… and what he had come to do.

You are not here to destroy.

You're here to help Kairi.

That turned out hard to remember when that feeling that pressed against his bones like lava in a volcano was transformed into pure power in the face of the thrill of a battle…When Kairi couldn't be his anchor, it was up to Malroth to force himself to go back to reality, away from the clouded state his mind perceived.

It was a cry of joy and a figure that jumped energetically a little farther away to distract him from the trance, a smile arched his lips upwards.

"We beat them!" The builder exulted, sumptuous and adorable pink hair gathered in a high ponytail of her jolted, accompanied by the energetic movement of his jumps and her captivating laughter. "Mal! Mal, wasn't that great! Did you see me?! Did you see me?!"

"I saw you all right, you were phenomenal!" A wave of pride settled in his heart as he adjusted a few strands of brown hair that fell out of the long spiky ponytail in which his hair was gathered. "You're not hurt, are ya?" He asked, sheathing the club into the sheath on his back.

She had a tiny bruise on her face, but nothing that was unsettling.

'No! Healthy as a fish! ”She replied proudly.

He let out a sigh of relief, feeling some of the power ebb and become a small clump clustered somewhere within him, which would awaken when he would feel the earth shake again with the trembling of the next battle. He relaxed the tension he tended to build up on his shoulders, straightening himself from the bent position he was in to face Kairi.

"All done, Kai- Nrgh!"

But a deep wave of pain prevented him from doing this simple task and instead sent him back to the exact position as before, except with one hand pressed where the pain was mercilessly radiating to an unspecified spot within his left side ... what the hell-?

He suppressed a gasp of pain by biting his tongue, daring to remove his hand lightly from where he had laid it and frowning at the tips of his gloved fingers dyed a bright scarlet color.

…When?

He tried to keep calm and steady breathing so as not to alert Kairi, intent on gathering materials not far from him. "I'll be right back, You stay there, you don't need to follow me!" Her tone was so cheery and perky that Malroth felt a drop of sweat ticking down his cheek in an exonerating manner. "Great job, Mal!"

"Thanks." Oh, the effort not to make his voice tremble.

When was he injured? Was it possible he hadn't noticed? How could this be?

Breathe Malroth, breathe. He imposed it on himself with how much strength he had in his body. Panicking wouldn't help remember a damn thing, in this case, perhaps calm could really be a virtue. It seemed to trigger a mechanism by which the builder turned to look at him. "Mal, is everything okay?"

Shit.

His first response was to nod energetically, as if he wasn't trying to stop a bleeding with a glove - he hadn't even believed he was capable of bleeding until then.

When had he been hit? His mind laboriously tried to remember the events of the seconds before ... nothing, he remembered only the incessant throb of blood in his ears and the power that was waning. He didn't remember any blows that might have been dealt to him…

"Are you sure you're okay?" A light but reassuring hand landed on his back, which he straightened with a snap. "You don't look fine..."

Malroth tsked with his usual tone, that tone that made the world understand that he didn't care at all, and turned his profile to the young woman. "Don't be silly, I'm fit as a fiddle!" She said, masking whatever she was feeling now with a dose of enthusiasm, just the right amount for his innocent Kairi to give up trying to figure out why Malroth wasn't facing her. "I might even go for a jog right now!"

Yes, a jog to the nun before Kairi noticed the injury. He persistently ignored the sweat that was already beading his forehead, brushing it off with the hand that wasn't busy blocking the blood from falling everywhere and arousing the suspicion that such streams certainly cannot fall from a body where there are no injuries. "Oh! really?" Kairi giggled, looking at him with admiration. "You're a force of nature!" Malroth swallowed, forcing a smile that was anything but genuine, and forcing himself not to look down, quickly covering the injured area with his jacket as Kairi moved in front of him, watching him curiously with those green eyes.

"So? You wanna slaughter more skulls or are we going back?" She asked curiously... under normal circumstances, he would have sailed all over the islands to find another fight. But right now he was more inclined to go and lie down in a corner and find a way not to bleed out. "Eh, monsters won't show up for a while." Kairi noticed the disgusted face he must have assumed, as her hand moved to gently cup his cheek. "Is it me or are you pale?" There was a certain amount of alarm in her voice that certainly didn't help to lessen whatever sensation he was feeling. But for her he tried to keep his nerves as steady as he could, moving her hand away from his cheek with determination but far from the destructive force that went in when it came to beating.

With Kairi, kindness and gentleness came naturally to him as if in occult second nature somewhere behind those sharp red eyes.

"Not at all: it's all these white clouds that make me look like a rag." He replied, hoping and praying that Kairi hadn't noticed the way his hip was completely hidden by the jacket, praying that she hadn't noticed how his hand pressed with an unprecedented insistence on it.

"Are you sure everything is okay?"

He nodded firmly. "Come on, you know me! Am I or am I not your invincible partner?"

With a flow of blood held back by a rubber glove in a completely precarious manner he didn't feel as invincible as he proclaimed, but part of him couldn't help but feel strong when Kairi smiles fondly at him.

"And I couldn't have asked for a more loyal protector." She said, rising on the toes of her boots to lay a tiny kiss on his cold cheek. "Come on, let's go back inside."

Later. Malroth promised himself, casting a fleeting glance at the bloodstain that didn't seem to want to lessen. Later I'll take a look and stitch it up myself.

I'll recover, boy if I will recover. It'll sure as heck not be a stupid wound to knock me out…

He told himself, ignoring the fact that he didn't feel as fit as he was willing to admit if anyone asked him, even without using the hard way. Kairi was dragging him into town, occasionally turning to look at him to make sure he was following her and not stumbling... but with each step his head got heavier and the surroundings more confused, white on white instead of a panorama mountain defined by the harshness of the snow-capped peaks. He pressed his hand harder against the wound, drops of sweat beading on his forehead but hastened to wipe them as they passed the gate to see the horde of Moonbrooke residents rushing to meet them.

"Kairi! Malroth! You were wonderful!" Warwick exclaimed, his face slightly red from the run just made. He deftly took Kairi's hands in his and hopped energetically. "Especially you, Kairi! When did you learn to fight like this?"

A stroke of jealousy settled in his chest, he forced himself to look away from the scene, clenching his jaw tightly.

Tsk, stupid Warwick. He and that of him being so submissive to the will of a king that he didn't even know he had a kingdom in ruins in his hands.

"Oh, I had time to practice!" Kairi cheerfully replied when Malroth looked at her, hinting at a smile …

And then the world whirled and his vision swam violently, He let out a half groan, frowning and hunching his shoulders forward. He was leaning with his left shoulder against a wall, holding his side and staying on the sidelines hoping no one would see it : Everyone was busy congratulating Kairi on a recent new build that had served in previous battles and which apparently was in perfect working order…He too would have congratulated himself, had it not been that a sudden cold hit him like a fist and he found himself huddling in his jacket in search of shelter against the bitter cold that was gripping him everywhere in his body. The same tenacity hand held over the wound began to tremble in a way that seemed out of his control.

He forcefully repelled the trembling of his knees now ready to yield, opposing the sense of weakness that was slowly gripping his bones, numbing his muscles ... The only warm thing was the blood that was dripping, staining his clothes and falling in the white snow.

O mighty lord of destruction.

In addition to the pain in his side, an excruciating stab in his head almost sent him tumbling to his knees in the cold snow.

"What…" he growled, trying to keep his voice low even though the whistling in his ears was dizzying him like never before.

Oh mighty lord, who hurt you so?

Who dared to cut your flesh to the point of letting your divine blood flow out on this sinful earth?

We shall destroy them, o mighty lord!

Malroth clung tightly to his side, pressing his forehead against the cold floor, groaning from the concentration of pain curled up in two different but equally awful parts.

He clung to the frozen ground, feeling the bitter cold of the snow even through his gloves.

"Shut…up…"

He growled through clenched teeth, his entire face twisted by tremendous waves alternating from head and side.

It was atrocious.

"-Al?!" It was Kairi's alarmed voice that took him slightly away from the pain, and a pair of warm hands gripped his face. "Mal! Hey!"

"Ka ... Kai ..." He breathed, feeling drops of sweat falling clearly down his forehead like raindrops ... this did not seem to calm her alarm, who held his head firmly up so that he could look into her eyes. "I'm here ... I'm here..."

She was there.

Oh, she was there.

Malroth relaxed considerably, all the tension accumulated up to that moment melted like snow in the sun, strands of hair fell on his sweaty forehead.

React, my lord ... fight your own blood!

He violently pulled his hand from the wound to grab the skull hard, bending forward to press his head against Kairi's knees. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!" He roared, feeling the warm trail of blood gushing out of his body, warm and liquid, against Kairi's knees and dress and feeling her move with sharp and precise movements to check where the red was coming from, without moving him from that precarious position. which seemed to help his pain.

She slapped a hand over her mouth, a gasp passed her lips when she saw: It wasn't just a scratch like he thought, or someone who had run out of steam and smeared him but still strong enough to let blood out.

No.

In the fury of the fight he must not have even felt something sinking deep into his lower torso, in a diagonal gash that circled that area.

"Mal! Why didn't you tell me you're hurt?!" She screamed, wrapping her arm feverishly around his shoulders and hugging him to her small chest."Oh Mal! Mal! Who hit you?! Tell me!"

She was on the verge of hysteria, he could hear it from her breaking voice. Warm tears burned at the edges of his clouded, glassy eyes. He cursed himself for being weak, for being inattentive.

Or maybe he just cursed himself and that's that.

His heart was beating wildly, so hard it almost felt like he had it in his ears instead of his chest, with his free hand he grabbed on to Kairi, clumping the dress on her back in a fist and falling onto his injured side with his head on her knees, his face pressed into her soft chest meanwhile a series of gasping breaths rasped in the most remote depths of his chest, each of them stirred up the pain more and more. "Kairi… stop...stop fussing. I'm fi-AGH!" The second he tried to get up was the same second pain ran through his entire sternum like a myriad of lightning-fast ants. Malroth doubled over, clutching his hand tightly over the wound and hurried to put the other to his mouth, feeling the metallic taste of blood flow up from his body and down his mouth with the force of a waterfall from his lips and through his fingers.

A dull terror assaulted him, and he found himself wondering if losing so much blood was normal.

"When will you stop being so proud?" Kairi murmured into his hair, rocking his shaking figure back and forth ever so gently.

Malroth felt an urge to cough up all the blood in his mouth, but he repressed it violently by attempting to swallow it.

He was not paying any attention to anything, much less to Esther who was approaching to crouch next to the two. He didn't flinch when she placed a hand on his forehead, his eyes were dropping dangerously. "Malroth ... my brother, I need you to show me the wound." She took his bloody hands, prying it off Kairi's clothes to hold it in hers, constantly warm and reassuring and ever so calm. By instinct, the man curled up more on himself as a wounded and cornered animal does, eyes wide, pupil ferally restricted to a black dot in a sea of ​​red, an animal-like growl escaped from his chest. Kairi held him longer, harder.

"Malroth. Please." Esther repeated gently. "You're losing a lot of blood …"

"Nunya."

"Mal…"

His senses ceased to function, overwhelmed by an intense and excruciating wave of pain before the slow and punctuated voice spoke again.

Don't fight this pain, my lord! It's part of you!

All this building will tear the wounds in your soul even more until you wake up and rise!

arise, my lord!

He felt his temples pulsing with unheard of force and with a cry he curled up on himself, heavy breaths left his rib cage to disperse in the cold air. "Shut up…SHUT UP!!!!" His voice cracked like thin ice on a lake, tears of pain and frustration cascading down his cheeks, body shaking violently.

He no longer felt anything. Kairi's hand on her hair, which had previously seemed like the most grounding sensation of all about her, now felt like nothing but a breeze. One of those that flow and is not even heard.

Heavy, fragmented breaths shook his chest, accompanied by the sound of blood flowing into his ears and the red pool that stained the snow more and more beneath him.

He could hear Anessa giving disjointed orders, Esther's hand closed in his and the King approaching to monitor the situation, a worried look furrowed his face. He could hear him cry out to the goddess, as if begging her for mercy.

He was cold and hot at the same time, he could no longer focus on Esther's face or on Kairi's soft but firm touch. He felt himself slipping more and more towards unconsciousness, and although he was doing violence to himself to keep his eyes open, his eyelids continued to descend beyond his control.

"... Roth ... Malroth, you have to stay awake." Esther urged him. He heard a great commotion and suddenly the King's voice, hard as he had never heard it before, barked orders. "Hold on, alright? We're going to heal you, but you have to hold on a little longer…can you do that?"

He swallowed emptily.

"He finally started doing his job…huh?" A chuckle came straight out of his blood stained lips, right before he let his head loll to the side and his eyelids flutter ever so slightly.

"NONONO! MAL!" He could feel Kairi cupping his jaw and giving him light slaps on the cheeks in a desperate attempt to keep him awake.

"Kairi, He'll die if he falls asleep. You have to keep him awake. Is that clear? She absolutely must not fall asleep." Esther turned his wrist, determined to keep track of his heart rate. From the faint way it rang in his ears, he understood why The Nun was so alarmed when she felt the soft throb under her fingers. Malroth swallowed empty.

"We have to move him-" The king intervened very awkwardly, but Esther whirled around. "Your Majesty. Never, never and in NO case should a wounded person be moved." But the king did not lose heart. "Sister, If we don't move him he will die not only of bleeding but also of hypothermia!"

And then, hopelessly, his lids closed and Malroth slipped into darkness.

[thetwistedcryptid]

Deinósavros - meet the members!

This is a comprehensive list of the current ocs that i have for this dorm specifically - may or may not be updated to add more, in the future. if/when i get more ideas. somewhat long post, so be warned. (p.s: these characters, as well as other ones that i've posted on this blog, are now open for interactions through the ask box!) - Mod Moss ____________________ Housewarden;

(made in picrew) [twst styled pic/spite of him in uniform soon to come]

“You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.”

School: Royal Sword Academy

[Deinósavros] [the dorm was founded on the ambition of the king of monsters]

Full Name: Kaiyō Rūrābīsuto

Nicknames: Kai-kai, King, and Hippie (by Taranis)

Grade/Class: Year 2 (Sophomore)/Class (No.2-A)

Birthday: August 22 (Leo)

Age: 18 yrs old

Height: 7’8” (233.68 cm)

Race: Beastman (Kaiju - aquatic dragon - subspecies)

Dominant Hand: Left

Homeland: Coral sea

Club: Swim club Leader

Best Subjects: Practical magic, conjuration

Worst Subject: Flying

Hobbies: Taekwondo, and welding/metalworking

Pet Peeves: dorm members not following rules/instructions, other dorm housewardens telling him how to run his dorm

Fears: wouldn’t you like to know, weather boy?

Favorite Food: Sushi, and Spicy Udon

Least Favorite Food: anything veggie based

Talent: Glassblowing (making stained glass murals). its a sort of de-stresser activity for him.

Unique Magic: “Inferno” Incantation: “Don’t get heatstroke!” [The user can store and accumulate heat from any source - even other peoples fire/heat based magic attacks/um’s. They can utilize the energy for any purpose. They can unleash it all at once upon the point of release, in either many minor bursts of heat or one big wave of heat, to easily over exert opponents, melt surrounds, or boil/evaporate water sources dry. It makes the user scolding hot to the touch and the heated wave attacks are more blue then the typical red.]

Trivia: He’s loosely based on Godzilla. He gained the title of Housewarden in Deinósavros after only being in the school for two weeks during his first year. swiftly defeating the previous housewarden in just two attacks. He is royalty, only child. Honors student. He comes off as a quiet, strict, and composed person. but despite his usual standoffish nature, he will always lend a helping hand to those who are brave enough to ask him for it, and will always leap right in to protecting his dorm members, even to his own physical determent. is actually a very chill and understanding guy underneath the scary exterior and strict/traditional mindset. He has a tail growing out from his lower back that comes to a point, the tail weighs as much as a kangaroo tail is around 20kg, and is just as long as a kangaroo tail as well (43.5in/110cm). And has gills on the sides of his neck that aren’t very visible, when outside of water. The tail is black like his hair, but has crystal-esque protrusions/spikes of varying sides growing down the “spine” of the tail, from base to tip, that are the same color as his skin spots. Even has some going up his back/spine. These crystal-esque protrusions/spikes, along with his eyes, also appear to glow whenever he uses his unique magic or is in a dark place, they are also somewhat see through - like stained glass. But a lot more durable and sharp.

———

Character Summary: "The arrogance of men is thinking nature is in their control and not the other way around.“

[you’ll find out soon enough.. Just send enough interactions ;) ] ____________________ Vice Housewarden;

(the picture is a commission i payed a discord friend to draw for me a while ago) [twst styled pic/spite of him in uniform soon to come]

“The bar was set so low that it was practically a tripping hazard in hell. And yet here you are, limbo dancing with the devil.”

School: Royal Sword Academy

[Deinósavros] [the dorm was founded on the ambition of the king of monsters]

Full Name: Taranis Vervloet

Nicknames: Surge (prefers this), Tara, Tails, and Stripes (by Kaiyō)

Grade/Class: Year 2 (Sophomore)/Class (No.2-A)

Birthday: April 20 (Taurus)

Age: 18 yrs old

Height: 8’0” (243.84 cm)

Race: Beastman (Kaiju - dragon - subspecies)

Dominant Hand: Ambidextrous

Homeland: Sunset Savanna (mountains)

Club: Spelldrive

Best Subjects: Gym, Practical Magic.

Worst Subject: Animal Languages

Hobbies: Exercising, annoying/challenging Kaiyō, reading, star gazing

Pet Peeves: being 2nd or lower in anything, people who give up too soon or dont even try

Fears: [Ha! Trying to find out my secrets? As it! Get lost, runt.]

Favorite Food: Poffertjes, and anything meet based

Least Favorite Food: veggies >:(

Talent: Reading the stars/sky, predicting the weather/a weather event before it happens

Unique Magic: “Rollin’ Thunder” Incantation: “Shocking, isn’t it?” [Conjures a raging electric storm around the position of the caster. The user can control the properties of the storm, such as rain, lightning, and cloud density - to make the area darker. They are able to control the direction in which storm clouds go or absorb the rain or lightning to create their own storm clouds that can be fully controlled. can absorb any electric magic throw at him or electricity in the near vicinity to boost his own magics power level. Is more effectively used outside or open/big spaces.]

Trivia: He’s, loosely, based on king ghidorah - the king of monsters eternal enemy. Honors student. He is royalty, he has an older brother set for the throne and a younger sister. hes the middle child. He usually comes off as boisterous, cocky, and dedicated. is known to be rather suave and silver tongued when he tried to get what he wants - doesn't care for authority but follows it out of necessity/obligation. like Kaiyō he'd do anything for his dorm members. he often holds lessons for the newer dorm members, to teach them how to survive. ones that his dormmates eagerly attend and even show up early for on scheduled days/times, despite the.. brutal and non merciful methods he uses to teach. He can shake the ends of his spiked tails to make a maraca sound, like a rattlesnake can, when he's angry or trying to intimidate. He has a forked tongue like a snake and his four main canine teeth are more pronounced than normal, mainly the top two. Both tails weigh as much as a kangaroo tail is around 20kg, and are both just as long as a kangaroo tail as well (43.5in/110cm). He and Kaiyō have been rivals since childhood, and he is always training and challenging Kaiyō for the spot as housewarden. Hasn’t won so far, though. But is known to refuse to give up on what he wants, no matter how long it takes to obtain or what he has to do. he is able to sprout wings from his back if he concentrates his magic into that area of his body, its not too difficult for him as he's practiced it so much. he's quite cocky about being able to do it while no one else can. ———

Character Summary: “To the people who look at the stars and wish. To the stars who listen— and the dreams that are answered.”

[you’ll find out soon enough.. Just send enough interactions ;) ] ____________________ Normal Members;

(made in picrew) [twst styled pic/spite of him in uniform soon to come]

“Unlike you, I don't levy lives off the threads of fabrication.“

School: Royal Sword Academy

[Deinósavros] [the dorm was founded on the ambition of the king of monsters]

Full Name: Hikaru Seijū Tengoku

Nicknames: Hades (kinda prefers), Angel-face (by online 'fans'), Feathers (by Taranis), and Scar-face (by some nrc students)

Grade/Class: Year 1 (freshmen)/Class (No.1-B)

Birthday: ??? (??)

Age: 16 yrs old

Height: 6’8” (203.2 cm)

Race: Half Fae and Half (??) maybe harpy ??

Dominant Hand: Right

Homeland: Blair Valley

Club: Cooking (master chef)

Best Subjects: Flying, and Ancient Curses

Worst Subject: Alchemy

Hobbies: Cooking, Singing, and people watching from high places

Pet Peeves: people being physical with him (or others) without permission/consent, crowded places, sudden/rapid movements, and small/enclosed spaces

Fears: Fire.. (others wielding fire, people using fire magic nearby him, even things such as closed off fireplaces, firepits, and candles can make him panic - he has been except from alchemy classes for this reason)

Favorite Food: Kibidango (millet dumplings)

Least Favorite Food: Shellfish (he's allergic to it)

Talent: Fire magic (he despises that fact, though once he was ecstatic)

Unique Magic: “Wing into it” Incantation: “Be not afraid..” [The user has or is able to manifest wings that grow out of their back (upper back, mid back, lower back) and can use them for flight, the user being naturally gifted at anything aerial. They may also protect from rear attacks, the base joints being able to turn and thus letting them rotate the wings for full body protection, or detach and re-grow for quick getaways. They can grow multiple wings if they wish, always in pairs. Either two, four, or six. The fewer wings the faster they are as there is less weight to lug around, but the more wings the better their defense is - as the wings are able to be used as sort of biological pseudo shields or used for melee attacks. The feathers are unnaturally durable despite looking like and feeling like regular feathers..]

Trivia: He is of noble blood, being the adopted only child of a wealthy merchant. i suppose you could say hes inspired by mothra? ? He flinches/physically recoils whenever someone makes skin to skin contact with him (specifically with his scars), he doesn’t like his scars being touched by anyone else other than himself or people he’s close to/trusts. He's very insecure about his scars. He also has some internalized religious trauma due to his upbringing, and becomes anxious/unsettled by religious talk or imagery. The scars on his face/neck are also on different parts of his upper body as well (arms, back, & chest), his lower body being spared - they’re burn scars specifically. from an event in his childhood that he has persistent nightmares about each night. causing him to put off sleep for as long as he can by any means necessary. one of his classmates is magigram famous, and he accidently ended up in the background of a selfie once, and that classmates fans have being strangely enamored by him ever since. he was pressured into making an account, but doesn't use it much.

———

Character Summary: “I wade through honey-rich excess while you starve of your own volition”

[you’ll find out soon enough.. Just send enough interactions ;)] ____________________

(made in picrew) [twst styled pic/spite of him in uniform soon to come]

“Kuhi no ka lima, hele no ka maka. – (Where the hands move, there let the eyes follow.)”

School: Royal Sword Academy

[Deinósavros] [the dorm was founded on the ambition of the king of monsters]

Full Name: Eleu Neart

Nicknames: Bambi (by Taranis & Kaiyō), Sonic-hoof (fellow clubmates)

Grade/Class: Year 1 (freshmen)/Class (No.1-B)

Birthday: September 11th (Virgo)

Age: 16 yrs old

Height: 7’0”/213.36 cm without antlers, 7’6”/228.6 cm with antlers)

Race: Beastman (Kaiju - deer - subspecies)

Dominant Hand: Ambidextrous

Homeland: Shaftlands (the seaside jungle/taiga forest, known as “The Deep Bark”)

Club: Track & Field

Best Subjects: Defense magic, Astrology

Worst Subject: Mathematics

Hobbies: wood carving, fruit carving, bird watching, and foraging.

Pet Peeves: Loud sounds, something sharp scraping glass or metal, people who berate him for not speaking.

Fears: Anyone bigger than him/other members of his dorm/predator species beastmen

Favorite Food(s): Mango, Lemon, Papaya (he eats them like apples)

Least Favorite Food: anything that's meat based.

Talent: Wood working/whittling

Unique Magic: “Motion Sense” Incantation: “hello, my ol’ heart..” [The user can detect objects or living beings around them by detecting their movement, allowing them to see even objects or beings that are invisible or obscured (by fog for example), as long as they are in motion. May be accomplished by detecting kinetic energy, utilizing the Doppler Effect to detect the distortions caused by waves hitting or passing through a moving object, an extremely powerful sense of touch or other methods. Precision can vary - even a being standing perfectly still may still have a beating heart or twitching muscles which can be sensed if the user focuses hard enough. can be used through walls, floors, or bodies of water. anywhere they can sense vibrations and whatnot. The user can easily get overwhelmed if there's too much motion to keep track of.]

Trivia: He’s loosely based on the deer that reside on skull island, but tweaked a bit. He has almost scary inhuman levels of speed/dexterity/reflexes, despite his large scale body size, and was hazed into joining track by some upperclassmen despite wanting to join Botany.. but quite enjoys being useful to others on a team. he's effortlessly out ran many rabbit beastmen and wolf beastmen during practice and track meets. He knows how to speak, and is fluent in the three most common languages used in this world, but prefers to communicate with others through gesturing, facial expressions, and body language. though a majority of the time he uses sign language, instead of struggling through charades.. even in places/around people he's comfortable with, he still wont really talk and still just sign. When he does speak its typically in this worlds version of the Hawaiian language. His first name means “alert, lively” in Hawaiian, and his surname means “energy, bold, vigor (+many more)” in (Scottish) gaelic. He also has a lot of social anxiety, from being an outcast due to being weaker than other beastmen, and from his subspecies of beastmen being a prey species. Being raised to avoid conflict at all costs, to be both quiet and quick to avoid attention, all that. So he’d rather flee at the first chance than waste time bargaining for his life. He's naturally skittish and distrusting of others, especially rich people/predator species. but has a big heart and always tries to assist others, fellow prey species/non-’monsters’, despite his fears/self doubt.

———

Character Summary: '-It’s always ‘strength in numbers’.. Until you're hungry.-'

[you’ll find out soon enough.. Just send enough interactions ;)] ____________________

(made in a picrew created by G0966) [twst styled pic/spite of him in uniform soon to come]

“Problems aren’t stop signs, they’re guidelines.”

School: Royal Sword Academy

[Deinósavros] [the dorm was founded on the ambition of the king of monsters]

Full Name: Ramarak Sarasvati

Nicknames: Bullet (from fellow swim club members), and Big little boy (by his brothers)

Grade/Class: Year 2 (Sophomore)/Class (No.2-B)

Birthday: July 23rd (Leo)

Age: 18 yrs old

Height: 7’5 (228.6 cm) when slouching/walking using his canes, and 7’9” (236.22 cm) when bent straight upwards/laying down

Race: Beastman (Kaiju - Subterranean Serpentine {??} subspecies)

Dominant Hand: ???

Homeland: Land Of Dawning (Archipelago)

Club: Swim club

Best Subjects: Physical education, & Changes and Comparisons of Abbreviated Spells in Ancient and Modern Magic History

Worst Subject: Flying, and Conjuration

Hobbies: Swimming, hiking, hosting a study group for anyone willing!, and practicing his heat sensory tracking skills (on his fellow dormmates, for a good challenge)

Pet Peeves: Bright lights/places (daytime itself) as he has very sensitive eyes, and cold weather (fall/winter) as he is somewhat cold blooded

Fears: yet to be discovered/determined..

Favorite Food: anything/everything, he's not picky. Though meat products are high on his list.

Least Favorite Food: it's all good bitch!!

Talent: Tracking/hunting, and being able to recite a dictionary verbatim - even backwards.

Unique Magic: “Battle cry” Incantation: “Respect my roar!” [The user is able to shout so loud that they can blow away or break objects with their ferocious vocal cords which can cause vibrations. They may also be able to emit a roar strong enough to damage hearing, cause fear, or paralyzation. The force caused by the roar may even cancel out opposing attacks. It can also be used to alert someone of the user's location. The user may roar for only as long as they have breath. The user is powerless if they are unable to roar, be it due to illness, exhaustion, or vocal nullification of some kind.]

Trivia: He’s based off of the skullscrawlers from kong skull island. He’s the head of the 'student honors society' in RSA. He’s from a rather dysfunctional family, a descendant of the noble military family who own/oversee the Archipelago. Their home was made into a burrowed out large inclined part of land of the Archipelago, that extends down into the earth - like an underground mansion. He has a lisp and hiss’s on his S’s. he has a very high metabolism, and is always hungry - finding it hard to satisfy it, and not usually having the resources to do so before attending rsa despite being nobility. He gorges on the abundance of food from the cafeteria during lunch - but doesn't like it when others watch him eat, so he goes somewhere secluded to feed on what he's gathered.. His jaws possess two rows of serrated, razor-sharp teeth, on the top and bottom. His tongue is inhumanly long, and prehensile. Can unhinge his jaw like a snake. His pupils are horizontal and somewhat resemble those of frogs and toads (same with the double eyelid thing). Just like Kaiyō, he has hidden gills on his neck, allowing him to breathe on land and underwater indefinitely. He uses two custom folding walking sticks with both arms in order to move around, as his legs were not formed right when he was born, bent in the wrong ways, and can’t properly walk without the sticks. also only 4 fingers/toes on his hands/feet instead of the normal 5 (his pinkies’ are missing). But he gets by just fine, and is quite happy. He has an unnaturally high physical durability, muscle strength (upper body) - and mobility/speed on land despite his disability. (when in his aquatic form his disability doesn't have precedence since his legs become a single tail). Need's glass's for reading and when in bright area's as he has sensitive eyes, doesn't wear them at night/in the dark.

———

Character Summary: “Anger is the fruit of rotten roots.“

[you’ll find out soon enough.. Just send enough interactions ;) ]

[kayssweetdreams]

Maestro Hiccups 2 Nightmares Unleashed Part 16

Meanwhile, Back in the Shared Nightopia...

The group had gotten as far away as possible from the warring Jesters, and had found safety in a small building, that looked to be a mix of a fun house and a chapel. "What are we gonna do? As long as Reala and those other Nightmaren are around, we're never going to get the Berries, let alone get out of here." Attilio said. "We'll just need to find the bush again. There has to be another one right?" Jose said.

"NiGHTS said to find the Nightopians again, they're the ones that know where the bush is. If we find them, we'll find the bush." Cal rationalized. "Yeah, Well as long as the Nightmaren are here, they're gonna be to scared to try and find the bush." Haoyu said, pointing to the small creatures that had taken refuge inside, cowering underneath the seats.

Iben kneeled down, and gently held out her hand, signaling for the Nightopians to come out "It's alright, Everything's gonna be OK." she said quietly to coax them out. The small inhabitants of the dream realm slowly fluttered out, crowding around Iben as if she was their mother. Iben smiled at the small creatures, as one had made itself comfortable in her arms.

"Awwwwww!! I guess they like you Iben!" Sana cooed. Iben nodded before turning back to the Nightopians "Do you think that you can help us find another Dream Berry Bush?" She asked. The Nightopians quickly pulled Iben to her feet and began leading her down to another door, leading back outside "I guess they do!"

"But wait! What about NiGHTS?" Haoyu asked. "They're still out there, and Reala is-" Fiona slapped a hand onto his mouth "Maybe NiGHTS got rid of the Nightmaren, but we can't make the Nightopians scared again, or we'll never find the berries." She said. Haoyu let put a muffled "Oh" as Fiona removed her hand from his mouth.

"Well then, it's now or never, Let's Go!" Leo said, following Iben and her mini entourage. The others followed suit as they went Berry searching again.

Meanwhile, Back in the Real World...

Aria silently waited for Lance to make a move, or a sound, or at least groan in his sleep, but he had been still as a board ever sense he went to help the others. Kuro had taken a small seat on Aria's lap, also playing the waiting game with Kuro. "I hope that Lance is alright, He doesn't even know what's going on down here..."

And she wasn't wrong. While the group had slept to search for the cure, They had seemed to...change. Iben had grown antlers, and strange markings, while Cal had gained a crown, and VERY big muscles. All the while, The outside world had been affected as well, As random people now were screaming in fear. Some were trying to hide from monsters hiding in the shadows, while others were try to defend themselves from giant insects that swarmed around. There was even Echo (Fiona's favorite Dolphin) riding on a floating ball of water, and cackling maniacally, a laser gun in its flipper.

"C'mon guys...I hope your OK..." Aria whispered as Lance Hiccuped again in his sleep. Suddenly, Aria found herself sitting in what looked to be a gloomy graveyard. "H-HUH?!" She whimpered. When she got a closer look at the gravestone, she saw it had her husband's name on it. "No...NO!! Not again!!" She cried, but the other gravestones read the names of the inhabitants as well...

"NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!!" She cried, tears began falling from her eyes as she fell to her knees. More and more gravestones appeared around her, each one with someone she held near. The sobs and tears became uncontrollable, all the While, Aria never spotting the odd swirling marks that appeared on her skin...

Meanwhile, Somewhere Else.

Kaylo shook herself awake as she looked around. She just had the strangest dream, and she thought that it was...telling her something. "Hey Kay, you OK?" Marina asked, as she slipped some necklaces onto herself. "Y-Yeah...I'm good...I just had a weird dream, that's all." Kaylo said, slipping her hairband on her pink head of hair.

Marina looked worried at her "If you're feeling homesick we can go back." She said, only for The pink haired girl to shake her head "No No! It's OK! I'm good!" She said "I'm having fun! And besides I'm sure the others are OK without me!" She said. Marina raised an eyebrow before going back to clipping some hair barrettes in "Hey Kaylo...Do Me a favor and bring me a scrunchie from my bag?" She asked.

"Alright!" She replied. Running to the bathroom, Kaylo grabbed a rainbow patterned Scrunchie from Marina's bag, when something caught her eye. A strange, small crystal like ball rolling over to the bathtub. "Uh...Marina? Did you pack some weird ball bauble or something?" She asked, walking over and picking it up.

"What is this thing?" She asked, looking carefully at it. Suddenly the ball gave a bright pulsing, purple glow as Kaylo gave a terrified shriek. "Kaylo?! Are you OK?!" Marina asked, running into the bathroom. But when she got in, her jaw dropped, and her eyes widened in terror.

Inside the ball, Kaylo was trapped inside...

Aria belongs to @shadowqueen402

Marina belongs to @sundove88

[cassanovancats]

felicitate. nine.

eight < current > ten

Dec. 24, 2017

You make yourself comfortable on the rooftop, debating if you should go ahead and text your brother. He would be almost as disappointed as you were; Satoru had taken to calling himself the captain of your ship with Yuta and Toge, even coming up with a nickname that incorporated shortened versions of all three names. You sigh, deciding it’s probably best to not text him. He’s likely already worried about leaving you in charge, no need to add a worry about something that isn’t deadly.

A sudden yell disrupts your thoughts and you jump into position, nocking an arrow and aiming towards the scream. You hitch your breath at the sight: Geto is striding into your school alone, leaving a trail of headless assistants behind him. One of the bodies is familiar and you recognize her as the assistant that gave you chocolate with a bright smile after a mission with unfortunate timing left you covered in curse blood and your own. She didn't flinch or offer pity - just a single chocolate kiss. Now she is covered in gore and blood, her previously pristine white shirt coated with her own brain matter.

You feel your resolve hardens. Geto is a curse-user, a human at his core, but he also is a monster. The arrow flies an accurate course but the man dodges, leaving it to embed itself into the wall instead of his torso. He turns to your rooftop, calling out, “Ah, (y/n)! And here I thought your brother would lock you in a tower.” Geto unleashes a grade-one curse that looks similar to a wolf and sends it after you. He is infuriatingly unbothered by your presence and continues his steady gait into the school grounds.

You start running across the rooftops, jumping over gaps and dodging the curse’s attempts to bite you. The rooftop tiles bite into your hands and knees. It faintly registers that a nail broke when you almost missed a jump, narrowly avoiding falling to the ground.

Satoru didn’t say how long to keep this secret, but you assume now is a good time to give Maki and Yuta a heads-up. You spot Maki stepping away from a classroom, so you run there, drawing the curse after you. On the roof next to where she stands, you plant your feet and turn, suddenly drawing your katana and slicing at the wolf. It draws back, avoiding your attack before lunging suddenly. Its claws sink into your leg. You cry out in pain, falling to your knees. When the curse lunges again, this time aiming for your throat, you fall on your back and thrust your blade into its stomach. You force the blade down its body with a grunt, disemboweling the creature. The teeth around your throat loosen, but the dead weight of the curse dropping on you prevents you from getting up immediately. Guts slide out and onto you and you suppress a gag. You feel a lot like Carrie on prom night.

When you finally stagger to your feet, you see Maki has engaged Geto in a fight that she’s obviously losing. You cry her name and rush to her side. She doesn’t get a chance to acknowledge you as Geto, in one fluid moment, breaks her weapon and sends her flying. She falls to the ground as a ragdoll, bleeding heavily from her side and head. You watch her body land, horrified, before you’re snapped back into the fight rudely.

Geto is now the closest to you he’s been since you were a child, frightened and unable to communicate with the people around you. He feels some long-forgotten sense of pity as he slides the blade of his knife further into your stomach. “W-wh-?” You look at the handle sticking out of your body curiously, blood starting to leak from the corner of your mouth. The pain hasn’t begun to register but your body understands that you are unable to fight. You faint, missing the entrance of Panda and Toge by a few precious seconds.

When Yuta comes out from the classroom, he isn’t sure what he’s expecting to find. He felt a few earthquakes and thought it best to find you and Maki to wait out any aftershocks together. Yuta was sure it was to be a little awkward after his rejection, but also wanted to be sure you were okay. He didn’t expect to find you covered in blood, the same cute gym clothing you were wearing that morning when he rejected you ruined. A quick glance around and he sees the rest of his classmates, his friends, in similar form. Inumaki is clinging to consciousness.

Geto, the one who grabbed Yuta months earlier, stands surrounded by the bodies, hardly winded. “I truly wanted you to live, Okkotsu, but this is for the future of jujutsu.” Yuta wonders how he can fight this man. How can he protect his friends, the only ones to give him a chance since Rika, when Geto already destroyed the strongest people he knew. He was so, so weak compared to each of them.

Inumaki desperately calls a slurred version of his name and says, “Run away.” The fact that the command does nothing, that Yuta feels nothing, breaks him from his spiral. He summons Rika in a rage.

“I am going to kill you!” He declares. Yuta doesn’t think he has ever felt such anger and despair, the feeling of watching Rika die now multiplied by four.

Geto simply says, “You are going to die.”

-

A sudden pull on your stomach wakes you harshly. “Shit!” Your eyes snap open, to see a sheepish Panda holding the knife that was previously in your stomach. You automatically go to apply pressure on the wound but your hands find Maki’s already there, dressing the wound. “What happened?”

“The fight’s over, but we need to find Yuta,” Maki explains. “He must have healed all of us, but you still had the blade in you. It needed to be removed before you get up. All of us are going to be fine, (y/n), you can rest now.” She helps you to your feet and you cringe looking at your ruined outfit. Maki catches your pout and smiles, glad some things never change.

Toge comes to your side to take Maki’s place as your crutch. You hug him tightly, unable to express in words how relieved you are. He hugs back, equally overwhelmed after seeing what seemed like your corpse. Toge helps you limp along as you all start tracking Yuta’s residuals. Panda clears his throat and asks, “When did this happen?”

“Only a few days ago. Don’t act like you didn’t see this coming,” you explain with an eye-roll.

“No, I totally did. Just curious who won the bet.”

“If we didn’t just fight for our lives, I would kill you.” You four continue to try to have a light conversation until you come upon Yuta’s unconscious body. Toge helps you sit on the ground and you move his head onto your lap, muttering about checking for a concussion. All of you needed medical attention but you were desperate to help any way you could now.

Yuta begins to blink his eyes open and sits up urgently. “Your wounds… Panda! Your arm!” He seems to be working himself into a frenzy. You place a comforting hand on his shoulder as Panda explains that everyone will be okay. Yuta urgently looks over you, trying to determine how much blood was yours, before he seems satisfied.

“Thank you for saving us,” You whisper. His eyes fill with tears and you wonder how scared he must have been. You maintain eye contact, hoping to communicate how much you admire him, before Rika’s jumbled voice makes the both of you jump. Yuta stands, leaving the circle your class formed around him.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Rika,” he says, approaching her.

“What’s wrong?” Maki asks, a little fearful at how resigned Yuta looks.

Yuta hums a little before answering, “In exchange for her power, I promised to go with her.”

“What?” You screech and the suddenness of the yell pains your wound. Your classmates join a chorus of disagreement. Panda and Inumaki both grab fistfuls of his shirt to prevent him from walking any closer to Rika. Instead of her usual retaliation for someone restraining Yuta, her form just falls away to reveal a young girl. Four of you are confused but Yuta just mumbles, “Rika?”

A clapping distracts from the drama. You turn as best you can with a hole in your stomach to see your brother without any eye wear approaching your group. “Congrats. You broke the curse,” he continues to clap and stands next to you.

“Who’re you?” Yuta and Maki ask, causing you to snort before you groan at the pain.

Your brother pouts before replying, “Everyone’s favorite good-looking Gojo-sensei. Do you not see the sibling resemblance?” He gestures between your face and his, before carefully putting you on his back. He doesn’t even flinch at the grime covering you transferring onto him as well, relieved to see you awake and alert. You rest your chin on his shoulder and listen to him explain.

“I thought Yuta was interesting, so I looked into his lineage. Apparently, you’re a descendant of Michizane Sugawara. So, super-distant, but we’re relatives!” You groan and hide your face in Satoru’s neck; the teasing to come will be unbearable.

Your classmates look dumbfounded at the information while Yuta just goes, “Who?”

“One of Japan’s big three vengeful spirits.”

“A big-shot sorcerer.”

“Tuna.”

“The annoying side of the family,” you add.

Your brother takes back control of the conversation. “Yuta, you’re right. Rika isn’t cursing you, you cursed her. When the curser severs the bond tying servant to master and the cursed doesn’t desire punishment, the curse is broken. Though it seems you figured that out by yourself.” He gestures at the little girl and Yuta.

“Oh my god,” Yuta collapses in tears. “It’s all my fault…. Hurting so many people, Geto coming after me, it’s all my - all my -” He begins to hyperventilate. Inumaki takes a step to comfort him, but before he can, Rika approaches and hugs his trembling form.

“Thank you, Yuta. For giving me time and letting me be by your side. I’ve been happier these past six years than I ever was alive. Good-bye, be well. And don’t come over too soon, ‘kay?” She gives a bright smile, toothy and pure as she dissolves into bright ashes. Yuta stares at where she stood, long after all the ashes disappeared and everyone else walked away.

“See you,” He says to himself, before getting up to follow his friends to Doctor Ieiri.

[thanx-idonttry]

Mineta Being Disrespectful to (Y/N) HC Bakugou/Shinsou/Kirishima/Mirio

Katsuki Bakugou:

Bakugou is a very protective Of you

He loves everything about you like your skin regimen, your hair regimen, and everything you do to take care of yourself.

His secret guilty pleasure is doing facial routines with you and washing your hair. Don’t tell the other students shhh!

He also loves your taste in music, your taste in fashion, he also loves when you dance when you “think” you’re alone.

He also truly loves when you stand your ground against him and his crappy attitude. You shut everything down telling him that you are not the one to be a messed with, and tell him to check his attitude.

You are his queen, and a King should always protect his Queen.

So he basically walks with you everywhere, you only get your alone time when he’s off training.

When he walks with you, he holds your hand and he’s always close to you so other males realize that you are with him. He gives them glares, warning them and basically telling them “Don’t even try it.”

It seems like a Certain purple hair short monster didn’t get the picture.

When Mineta Approached you two in the hallway with a cocky smirk, you and Bakugou realize that you were about to hear some very offensive shit.

“Hey you Beautiful Curvy, Black, ThunderBolt! You know what they say: the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice. Can I get the chance to test that theory?”

Your Face was in pure disgust.

(You know like in Anime their eyes are shadowed over and your lips were a straight line as the background is like a dark blue lol)

Like everything he said to you was so disrespectful that you couldn’t even think of a comeback.

Bakugou grabbed Mineta by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up to the level of his raging eyes.

“Why you 3ft little ingrate! Apologize!!!! Do it now or I will regret the day you were born!” Bakugou threatened.

Mineta, who was shaking in fear, begged for his life and pleaded to the blonde to not unleash his explosive wrath on him.

“Mineta.” You started. “If you ever step to me with that weak ass game or any other game you like to play, I will step on you neck as I pull out your purple orbs until you’re bleeding and probably won’t stop after. Do you hear me you sorry excuse for a hero?!”

Bakugou stared with wide, proud eyes at you. He never seen you like this, and he have to say that he loved it. The whimper that Mineta gave snapped the Blonde back to reality.

Bakugou slammed Mineta against the lockers, giving him the same glare that he gave earlier. “I still didn’t hear an apology.”

Mineta apologized repeatedly, but Bakugou’s grip only got tighter around the grape student. Upset that Mineta KNOWS you to are the rice and still tried to shoot his shot.

“Listen here you little failure of a human, you know (Y/N) are together and you still came up to her flirting. I can’t stand a lot of things you do but what I really hate is the fact that you had thee AUDACITY To do try. If you try this again, Class A will have 1 less student. Got it?!”

Mineta fearfully nodded before Bakugou rolled his ass down the hall like he was a bowling ball. Adding a tiny explosion for extra push.

“I’m so sorry Teddybear..” Bakugou sighed to you. “Don’t apologize Babe, you did nothing but protected me. Thank you for making that runt apologize to me.” You said.

“No problem, but that can we talk about that sexy, angry, dark side of you? I never seen that side of you and I wanna know have I been rubbing off on you?” Bakugou smirked.

You chuckled as you rolled your eyes, you lightly pushed him off you and started heading to lunch.

Hitoshi Shinsou:

Shinsou has always been the laid back type, pretty chill and tamed. Like it’s kinda hard to piss him off.

But if you do want to piss him off, there are a few ways to do so.

Call him a villain because of his quirk. He hates when people misunderstand him and don’t want to try to understand, he will be highly pissed off.

And mess his beautiful (Y/N) A.K.A his Kitty Kat. He treasures the hell out of you, you’re his sunlight to his gloomy days. His sulking lessened when he met you.

He loves laying on your chest as you play in his hair. He loves to hear your heartbeat, he loves how soft and warm you feel. You’re like a dream to him, and hearing your heartbeat makes him realize you’re real.

His favorite pastime with you is letting you braid his hair as you two chat. He feel so lucky to have you.

So imagine how he felt when he was walking to meet you at your locker, and saw you and Mina there, looking creeped out by the short purple pervert.

“How you doing today you nesquik milky chocolate queen?” He said with such a cocky smile. Did he really think that was appropriate?

You and Mina scoffed and rolled your eyes. “Mineta, you better run.” Mina said as she saw your Boyfriend standing there.

Shinsou stood there with a death glare, fist cleaning hard, he was trying so hard not commit murder. How dare he say those to you, his Kitty Kay?! Oh he’s gonna pay.

“Hey Mineta, How’s your day?” Shinsou said in a happy voice.

“Oh it’s going-”

Got him.

“Beat yourself up.” Shinsou command.

While the graped fucker beat himself, and Mina watched and laughed. Shinsou came up to you, putting his arm around your waist, pulling you close. “Are you alright?” Shinsou asked you.

“Yeah, but I think you should stop him before he beat himself into a coma.” You said. “He’ll deserve it.” He said. “Agreed.” Mina said.

“Babe.” You said looking at him, he groaned. “Apologize to (Y/N).” Shinsou demanded Mineta.

“I apologize (Y/N).” Mineta said. “Punch yourself one more time.” Shinsou ordered with a smirk on his face. When the bell rang, Shinsou released his quirk.

Mineta was groaning in pain, Shinsou bent down to his eye level, and looked him dead in his swollen eyes.

His glare was scary, and cold. “Don’t you ever approach my girlfriend like that ever again if you want to continue breathing. Got that Grape Shrimp?” He muffed him then walked back towards you.

“I see I’m going to have to escort you to classes with this grape menace running around.” Shinsou said

“Shinsou that was funny! Can I get you to do that to some people for me?” Mina asked as she walked away with you two

Eijirou Kirishima:

Just like Shinsou, He’s kinda hard to piss off. I mean just look at him! He’s always smiling. (Oh smiley Magee head ass! Ik I love Kiri.)

You and Kirishima was close, meaning you two had feelings that either one of you were afraid to admit. So y’all hang out a lot because y’all like being around each other.

He loves when he listens to your music. You always have the greatest songs from Beyoncé to Chance the Rapper.

Whenever you pass him in the halls or around the dorms, he’ll pause his conversation or whatever he’s doing to come talk to you

And you, always loved talking to him. You loved his fangs whenever he smiled. You two would shyly flirt and talk to each other, you can basically hear Bakugou’s eye rolls.

“JUST FUCKING ASK HER, YA’ PUSSY!” Bakugou yelled from behind. He was tired of Kirishima talking about asking you out but never had the guts to do so.

“Ignore him, so I was wondering-”

Then Mineta came up to ruin this beautiful conversation, like he literally came out of no where.

“Excuse me Kirishima but I have something to say to (Y/N). How you doing, you Hershey Kiss beauty?”

Oh no he didn’t.

“Boy you better come correct when it comes to me!” You held your hand up, about to slap him when Kirishima stopped you.

“Mineta, I’ve put up with your constant creepy hook up line but I refuse for you to hit on (Y/N) like that. It’s not manly at all! Now apologize to (Y/N)!”

“Or what? You’re going to hit me? That’s not like you. That wouldn’t be manly now would it?” Mineta mocked.

That hit a nerve for Kirishima, he took in a deep breath, looked at Bakugou, and signaled him to come over.

“Apologize or Else.” Kirishima said. Mineta, who is unaware of Bakugou being behind him, folded his arms and refused. “Or else what?”

“Or else I’m gonna stomp you into the ground and create grape jelly out of you. You fucking short creepy fuck.” Bakugou said as tiny explosions popped from his hands.

Mineta stood frozen, looking between the three of you guys terrified. “Well, She’s waiting.” Kirishima said.

“That’s not fair! She’s not even your girlfriend!” Mineta whined.

“She is now, and she still hasn’t got her apology!” Kirishima said pulling you close. Butterflies are just flapping in your stomach as he held you in such a protective and claiming way.

“B-But.” Mineta tried.

“Bakugou…” Kirishima said, ready to send his feral friend onto the Grape Trash.

“Fine! Fine! I’m so sorry (Y/N)! I will never do it again! Please don’t send Bakugou on me!” Mineta begged.

“(Y/N) do you accept?” Kirishima asked. Kirishima will sick Bakugou on him If you didn’t.

“I do, but I still want Bakugou to beat him up.” You said. Bakugou smiled wickedly as he started his attack on Mineta.

You and Kirishima started walking away, and you looked at the red head with a cheeky smirk. “So, where we going on our first date since we’re a couple now.”

Kirishima blushed hard, tripping on words, he rubbed the back of his neck. You thought it was so cute. You grabbed his hand, “Don’t worry, I’ll pick the date.”

“No, I’m the guy. So I should show you an amazing time. I think I already know a place.” Kirishima said grabbing your other hand.

Mirio Togata:

The most powerful student in the school.

And he is your boyfriend. And the Best and sweetest boyfriend you could ask for!

Just like Kiri, he’s Smiley Magee! But because he’s so positive, I don’t see him getting angry…

More like Stern seriousness, and when he’s like that, you better take him seriously.

You and him have this game y’all play. Where he pops in randomly, through a wall, ceiling, floor, door to drop some words you probably need to hear.

He isn’t a stalker with it, it doesn’t bother. You think it’s fun, trying to predict where’s he’s going to come from.

He loves popping in on your down time when you just relaxing and being natural. Popping in when you’re watching a movie or tutorials. Helping you learn, while learning himself.

He is a master at putting on False eyelashes and he loves brushing your hair as you talk about your day.

He never invade your space and you get particularly bored when he’s not around. Be looking around, hoping he pops up.

Anyways, back to main thing. You think as a 3rd, certain first years wouldn’t have the balls to talk to you. But One Small Menace thought otherwise.

Here we have Minoru Mineta, trying to shoot his shot with you, not realizing it never even made it in the basket. Especially with the disrespectful pick up line he opened with.

You and your girls were stretching in the yard and when Mineta and Dennis came up to you girls. “ How you are doing! My black thunder beauty?”

You face went complete stale, even his friend knew that wasn’t a way you talk to you or any female period. And he thought he was cute with the nickname because your quirk is Sonic Thunder.

Next thing you know, you see a strong hand come from the ground and grabbed Mineta by the leg. You smiled, you knew that hand! Then instantly, Mirio pops up from the ground like a fucking daisy!

“Is this seriously how you talk to women? Also, you do know (Y/N) is my Girlfriend right?” Mirio asked as he held Mineta by the leg. Mineta started babbling and begging to be put down.

“I don’t like what you said to her, and I suggest you apologize before it really becomes a problem.” Mirio threatened. Then out a small bit of smite, he shook the little shrimp a couple of times.

“I-I-I’m sorry (Y/N)! I never meant to offend you! And please tell him to put me down!” Mineta begged you. You and Mirio had playful smirks on your faces. You two tortured him for a couple more minutes by shaking him, making him dizzy.

“Alright Miri, let the little shrimp go. I think he learned his lesson.” You smirked. As Mirio dropped him, Mineta was a bit Dizzy.

You thwacked him on the head, for your payback. It knocked him down, but not out. So he could still listen.

“You should never approach someone like that ever again, that is somebody’s daughter, somebody’s sister! Treat them like they are humans.” Mirio told him.

You and your friends got up and surrounded Mirio, thanking him. Then you wrapped your arms around him, planting a kiss on his lips, making him blush bashfully.

“You girls wanna hit up a restaurant? I’m pretty sure you want to forget this just happened.” Mirio asked once he cleared his throat, he had to regain strength because you make him so weak.

“Now you know I love me some food!” You beamed to him, he grabbed your hand, smiling back at you as you start telling him how much you missed him.

[m-aster-of-spinjitzu]

orange and gold

...I just need more Cole and Vania content, they seem like they'd be great friends.

Basically it's just 'Cole goes to visit her there, they almost burn down the kitchen, and make way too many puns', lol.

Set a few months after Master of the Mountain, but before Seabound or The Island.

Also yeah, I couldn't think of a better title, sue me- I just know that they wear one of the colours at some point, so... 🤦‍♀️😂

Trigger warnings: none I think? Huh-

Also, bingo!! I really need to learn better time management, dear freaking gosh- I hope I'm not too late though? I know it's like half a day late, eek- and I was supposed to post this earlier, but I ended up literally falling asleep while writing it😂

Thank you so much Fabro, for hosting such a cool event!:D Your comments on my fics literally never fail to make my day<3. And I'm so glad that I met so many awesome, really skilled people through this event too - it's been a lot of fun working alongside y'all:D, I wish I'd had more time to interact instead of posting stuff and vanishing lol, but exams be like:////

Prompt: cooking (does baking count as cooking? I realized too late lol-) from @ninjago-bingo 's warm board.

Word Count: 2497

---

Trying to escape from killer dire-bats hadn't been on Cole's to do list today - although the mountains were kind of beautiful.

It was a bit difficult to see them while he was being dragged to his death, but hey, didn't Jay always tell them to be more positive?

That was, until he made the mistake of looking down.

Miles of snowcapped mountains touched the pastel blue sky, but he was more focused on exactly how high he was from the ground.

Great.

Trying to swing back onto the Bounty, he didn't notice a golden-winged blur shoot past the bat, almost dropping their spear in haste.

"Let my friend go, or I'll-"

"Vania?"

She throws the spear at the bird, successfully knocking one of its wings.

Huh. She must've been practicing - throwing with accuracy while flying seemed kinda difficult.

"I'm so sorry!" she replies, grabbing his arm before he fell down too. She winces at the strain on her wings, almost dropping him onto the deck. "I was supposed to come earlier, but there was an issue with one of the mines, and it took forever to-"

"There ain't anything in this world that's managed to kill me yet," he replies jokingly, checking that the autopilot hadn't been damaged. "I doubt an angry bird is going to be the first."

"Didn't you mention that you became a ghost once? Pretty sure that means you were dead-"

"Shh, that's not an important detail," he jokes.

"If you say so," she replies with a grin. "Did I mention that Chompy's been tearing down the palace flower arrangements again?"

"Send my regards to the gardener-"

"Did you just make a pun?"

"Remind me why I decided to visit you again?"

"Because you love me?" she asks stepping onto the ground as the Bounty landed gently.

"I hereby crown you as my platonic soulmate," Cole deadpans, taking her hand. "Vania and Cole-"

"Destined to annoy each other for eternity," she giggles, swinging their hands up and down. "But seriously - thanks. I don't think I realized how much work being a queen was."

"What's it like?"

"I mean - I'm glad that people trust me, and they come to me if they have a problem, but the paperwork is a nightmare. I never get to go outside anymore, I swear."

"Paperwork? Also, you just invited me here for a week. I don't wanna disturb you?"

"Nah, I cleared my schedule, don't worry. And trust me, you don't want to know. Everything requires some sort of official written thing, and it's so boring-"

"Official? But you're the queen?"

"Well, yeah, but I don't really want to change something unless it benefits the people. Not after..."

Her smile dims, eyes straying to the palace walls.

Oh- oh.

"You're nothing like him," Cole says firmly, squeezing her hand. "I mean, if you need to take a break, or you can make your job a bit easier by cutting out something unnecessary, that's just gonna help you become a better queen. You've definitely got the interests of your people at heart, and that's the most important thing, you know? And well, uh, everything seems to be going great so far - you don't have to beat yourself up over someone else's mistakes."

"Thanks," she replies softly, her smile slowly returning. "Speaking of breaks, what do you think we should do this time?"

"You could show me around the city again?"

"You've already seen everything cool," Vania giggles, skipping ahead of him. "We don't renovate much - unlike you guys-"

"Hey, it's not our fault that our city gets destroyed every few months-"

"More like every few days," she teases, tying back her golden hair. "How about we find some dragons to adopt?"

"Tempting, but where would you keep them?"

"They could sleep in my room-"

She breaks off when she notices him laughing. "What?"

"N- nothing," Cole replies, in between laughs. "Jay and I just made a bet."

"On what?"

"How many dragons you've adopted. I bet at least six, he bet fifteen."

"Well, jokes on both of you - I'm pretty sure my advisor's going to throw a fit if I show up with another one," she starts, giggling. "We've got twenty living in the palace right now."

"Twenty dragons?"

"They're so cute! You just look into their adorable little eyes," Vania pauses for breath, continuing her animated gesturing, "and you can't help but wanna hug them!"

"Oh, Jay's going to be so mad."

"Aww, I'm sorry guys. They're just too adorable!"

"...Wanna hear a funny story?"

"Yeah, sure!"

"I actually used to be terrified of dragons-"

"No way!" Vania exclaims. "Y'all have been on a lot of adventures though, so-"

"Nah, we used to have our own dragons at first. They were pretty cool! I just- I'm a simple guy! Huge animals with wings are scary up close when you're barely a teenager."

"Or when you're really short-"

"We're the same height!" Cole exclaims, facepalming in a bit of a fondly exasperated way.

"I'm two years younger than you-"

---

"Ugh, whose idea was this?"

"Yours," Vania grins, sitting down on the kitchen counter.

"You were supposed to help me, not leave me high and dry!" Cole accuses jokingly, staring at all the appliances they'd found in the cupboards.

"'One must always be prepared for new adventures,'" she quotes seamlessly, waving one of- what was his name again? Mulch something? Oh! Clutch! Some explorer he was, leaving them to die in the pyramid - Clutch Powers' books in the air.

"Fine," he sighs, staring at the old recipe book she'd found in one of their back cupboards. "But you've gotta help me? I almost burned down-" "Woah, what? If you finish that sentence with 'kitchen'-" "In my defense, Kai was playing a prank on me-" "In my defense, I wouldn't like to explain how the queen of Shintaro burnt down the palace by teaching one of her friends to cook," she grins, flipping through the pages. "What do you wanna start with?" "Something simple?" "Have you ever tried baking bread before? It's a lot of fun!" "I haven't really had the time, but that sounds kinda interesting."

He skims the recipe, raising his eyebrows. "Wait, why does this take hours? I thought you said it was simple?"

"Trust me, it is," she laughs, adding, "besides, I still wanna hear about all your adventures!" "Uh... okay," Cole replies hesitantly, "but if this fails, I'm so sorry." "Give yourself some credit, you guys literally saved the world! Multiple times!" "Bold of y'all to assume we know how we did it," he laughs, only half-kidding. "Besides. I botched soup once."

"I've botched toast," she mock-sighs, smiling. "Pretty sure that makes us even."

"Lemme get this straight. You've messed up toasting bread, but you can bake it from scratch?"

"Trust me, I don't know either," she giggles, trying to open a brightly coloured packet of... something? Did flour come in packets that small?

"Uh, why are you opening something called 'feast'?" he asks, eyebrows creased in confusion.

"Feast," she echoes, trying to stifle her laughter. "Off to a... rocky start, aren't we?"

It took him a second.

"I already regret this," he jokes, facepalming. "But I'd say that your puns are, uh, gold."

"I've un- unleashed-" breaking off, she half-falls off the counter, laughing so hard her face starts to go red, "a monster."

---

"Uh, is it supposed to look like that?" Cole asks, frowning.

The mixture looked less like the dough he'd been expecting - more like one of Jay's inventions gone wrong.

Badly wrong, he thought, eyes widening at the goopy mess of foam that threatened to spill over the jug.

"The yeast?" Vania echoes, poking her head out of one of the cupboards. "Yeah, all good! It always looks a little gross, and you're gonna doubt ever eating bread again, but at least it doesn't taste like it's fermented-"

"It's what?"

"Yeah," she grimaces, exaggerating her disgust a bit. "If aliens ever fell from the sky, they'd think we were crazy for eating bread-"

"Aliens? I think we're a bit crazy!" Cole exclaims, trying not to laugh.

Vania smiles, then sighs, lugging a huge bag of flour onto the counter. "I can never open these bags properly," she starts, eyeing the the bag a bit warily, "and it always makes such a huge mess all over the kitchen. You'd think they'd make it easier for people to use, right? I swear-"

He jokingly puts his hands over his ears. "I can't hear you!" "But you know that I've sworn off swearing-" she replies, breaking off with a laugh. "Pun not intended - that actually made sense in my head. I swear!"

"No," Cole interjects with a grin, shaking his head. "You don't, remember?"

"See, this is why we're friends-"

"Friends? Is that all I am to you?"

"Oh, be quiet," she shoots back, exaggeratedly dragging a hand down her face. "I mean, sure, just because everyone thinks that we're dating doesn't mean that we-"

Wait. What?

"People think that we're dating?" he asks, clamping a hand over his mouth in a poor attempt to muffle his laughter. "I- I- really?"

"I know, right?"

"Even my friends thought so at first," he confesses, dragging a hand down his face. "I mean, as much as I love you-"

"I love you too," Vania replies, completely seriously. "Even if you'll always be more like an annoying-"

"Hey-"

"Sibling to me than anything else," she finishes, grabbing a pair of scissors. Cole watches, a little alarmed, as she stabs them into the flour bag over and over.

"Is it... supposed to be this difficult to just open the bag? Seems kinda stupid-"

"Well, er, they have this piece of paper with glue that you're supposed to pull away from the rest of the bag, but it never works properly and I-"

"Well, we could always make our own flour," Cole interjects, laughing. "I mean, I've got a scythe? Let's go!"

"Uh, but we don't have wheat growing here. I don't think it'd suit the climate very well?"

"Wheat a shame," Cole sighs jokingly, measuring out the flour (which had, finally, escaped the bag).

"Oh my gosh," Vania deadpans, "you did not just-"

"Yep, I did."

"You're horrible," she giggles, "then again, I was the one who started this whole debacle, so I think we'll share the blame."

"Debacle? Where'd you pick that one up from? Sounds kinda cool-"

"Oh, it's from a book someone wrote about you guys," Vania says casually, pouring a cup of water into the bowl.

"Hey, uh-" Cole starts hesitantly, twisting his fingers back and forth, then breaks off. "Why'd you read all that stuff about us, anyways? Adventure books don't really seem like something you read a lot, since we have similar favorite books. I mean..."

"Well, um..." Vania trails off, clearly uncomfortable. "Uh- I guess, well, it sounds kinda stupid, but I'd never really met anyone my age who wasn't a royal or something. I... er, I didn't want to be left out, you know?"

Cole thinks back to a scroll; a quest, a sacrifice. One that his friends never seemed to really notice, unless it was with horror or flinches. Not that he blamed them, but - joking about how he was much more useful to the team when he was freaking dead than he was before he'd stumbled and fell in the temple?

That had been a bit far, even for his best friend. Locks could always be picked or something, he didn't need to be a ghost to provide some sort of value-

Well, that's not completely true, is it? a small voice questions, and he can't keep his hands from shaking a little.

"Jay here thinks you're the least valuable ninja."

Not enough to be a performer. Now, not good enough to even be a ninja, apparently.

Well, he reminds himself firmly, you don't have to be the best - just stand up to those who are cruel and unjust.

Nothing but a scar that glowed warm orange occasionally left of the whole Cursed Realm ordeal, sometimes it was all too easy to forget - or pretend - that it had never even happened in the first place.

Other times, like when he'd dropped a glass of water on the floor and his hands hadn't stopped shaking for hours, or when he woke up screaming, expecting to fall through his bed again, it still felt like he was trapped as a ghost. Literally - and maybe a little figuratively as well.

Yeah. Yeah, I know.

"Thanks for trusting me with that," he replies softly. "And I'm sorry. That sounds... horrible, but, honestly, you're a pretty cool person, and I ain't just saying that because we're friends. People can be awful, and they can- they can leave, but you don't need to pretend to be someone you're not for people to accept you. I kinda know what it's like, and it's... just, uh, not great."

"No, thank you," Vania says, rubbing her eyes. "You're pretty cool, too. And I'm glad that we become friends, even if wasn't in the- the, er, greatest circumstances."

"Right back at ya. The fall was pretty terrifying, though," Cole says casually, as if memories of that nightmarish plunge into the depths of earth don't still send shivers down his spine.

"No, definitely! I was so sure we were gonna splat onto the ground or something, thank gosh we didn't."

"Yeah..." Cole trails off, reading the recipe they'd been following. "Oh- do we just leave the bowl somewhere for a few hours now?"

"Oh, yeah," Vania answers. "Other than clean up the kitchen, what else do you wanna do?"

"That's kind of you, but, ah, I don't mind. You can choose something."

"I don't mind either," she replies, covering the bowl with a dishcloth. "Seriously, I don't."

"Same here though."

"Really, I don't mind-" Vania breaks off with a laugh, adding, "Well, actually, there is something."

She doesn't elaborate, thoughtfully gazing out the window.

"Well, what is it? Don't keep me in the dark."

"Ugh, it's kinda stupid-"

"I'm sure that it's not- well, unless you want to try to jump off a flying ship with a homemade parachute to prove a bet to someone-"

"Do I even wanna know?"

"...uh, probably not. We're way too crazy sometimes, our Master has a hard time keeping us in check. Your thing, though?"

"Can I give you a hug?"

Cole blinks for a second, expecting some sort of punchline.

"That's your thing?"

"Well, yeah- I mean, I said it was kinda stupid-"

"No no, that's not what I meant. You're so sweet - that's all."

"Well, not more than you-"

"Nah, you're sweeter-"

"Let's just call it a tie," Vania says with a smile, reaching over to give her friend a hug. "Thank you so much, I swear- well, no, I don't, but you know, anyways-"

"Yeah," Cole replies, laughing softly. "I know."

[stephkaylor]

FAVES and FAILS: The Vampire Diaries

So I have decided that since The Vampire Diaries has a spin off, The Originals, I am going to divide the characters based on where they appeared the most. So on this list I will be talking about the Salvatores, the Petrova/Gilbert line, the Bennets and Caroline, etc. but I will discuss the Mikaelsons, Hayley, etc. on their own list with the other characters that appeared on The Originals mostly. As always, spoilers are abound as I will discuss storylines and character arcs below, so be warned of that.  In any case, here’s my FAVES and FAILS for The Vampire Diaries. 

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER: Damon Salvatore

Could it be anyone else? I don’t think so. He’s a delightful little sociopathic shit and I love everything about him. He is 99% id and 1% ego, if that, and even when I hated him, I loved him (god, I sound like Elena…). In any case, love this man, five stars, would recommend, chef’s kiss. 

LEAST FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER: …I think Matt Donovan…?

Ugh, it’s hard to pick between Matt, Tyler, and Jeremy, but I think it has to be Matt. I never enjoyed his judgey attitude against everything supernatural, he seemed pretty whiney most of the time, and he was just genuinely uninteresting for the majority of the show.  Not into it. Pass.

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER: Katherine Pierce (Katarina Petrova)

I thought about giving this post to Caroline by default, but if it comes down to it, Katherine nudges her way into the top spot. Katherine gave no fucks, knew what she wanted and was unapologetic about how she went about getting it, and an all around bad bitch. Was she primarily evil? Yes. But, to be honest, it never really bothered me. 

LEAST FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER: Bonnie Bennet

God, this woman was annoying. She was hypocritical, judgmental, and far too holier than thou for me to swallow her bullshit. She constantly played favorites with Caroline and Elena (I’m sorry, you hold Caroline becoming a vampire against her for like two seasons, but when Elena becomes one, it’s not her fault? Sure.). She hated all supernatural creatures because they “go against nature”, but it’s totally chill for you to perform sacrificial magic to get what you want, unleashing a terrible evil in the process (but it’s not her fault). How she nearly excommunicated Caroline just because she stayed with Stefan after Stefan killed Enzo, as if it was her fault in any way. How everyone treated her like she was a special little unicorn because she’s a Bennet Witch and she’s so magical, like, please, gag me. I could go on, but I honestly cannot be bothered. Hard pass. 

THE CHARACTER THAT DESERVED BETTER: Caroline Forbes

She was essentially shunned by all of her friends and family for becoming a vampire, even though she didn’t choose to become one at all. Also, she was basically used as collateral damage for the entire Salvatores and Gilberts versus The Mikaelsons debacle just because Klaus liked her. She was always the second choice no matter what the situation was (unless it’s her being impregnated with magical twins without her consent and then guilted into carrying the babies, but poor Alaric just lost his wife. I’m sorry, unless it’s your uterus, shut the fuck up). I’ll just be over here doing what exactly NO ONE on the show did, and pick Caroline first.

DEADWEIGHT CHARACTER WE SHOULD’VE DUMPED IN 2009: Tyler Lockwood

I couldn’t pick Matt twice, so Tyler, I guess. He was selfish, a terrible boyfriend to both Caroline and also Liv later, and if I have to hear that boy whine about his fucking sire bond one more time I will literally throw my laptop off of a bridge. 

UNDERHYPED CHARACTER: Lorenzo “Enzo” St. John

Honestly, he’s one of the one things that made the last few seasons of the show bearable.  His delightful British rogue was a lovely way to fill the void that the Mikaelsons left in my heart, his devil-may-care attitude was man-made-manifest of what I was always thinking while watching the show, his BFF relationship with Damon and later Caroline was a joy to watch, and he was way too good for Bonnie. 

OVERHYPED CHARACTER: Alaric Saltzman

He is marginally more bearable right now on Legacies, but he annoyed the shit out of me while he was on the first show. Does he hate vampires or is he best friends with them? Does he want to be a hunter or does he want to stay away from anything supernatural of any kind? Also, he (along with nearly everyone else) basically guilted Caroline into carrying his magical siphoner babies, which is a touch too icky for me…

SHIP YOU WOULD SELL YOUR SOUL FOR: Delena (Damon and Elena)

Could it be anyone else? I never shipped Stelena, as I found both Stefan annoying and Elena too woe-is-me while she was with him. She made Damon want to be a better person and he made her embrace who she really was, monster and all. They had a perfect balance between themselves, and it was a joy to watch. He got the girl, guys. 

SHIP YOU JUST WERE’N THAT INTO: Steroline (Stefan and Caroline)

They were just too…meh. I was entirely uninterested in them, whatsoever, and isn’t that even worse than a ship that you hate? I used their scenes for a bathroom break or to get a snack, as I was guaranteed to miss nothing interesting or important while they were on screen. 

CHARACTER YOU LOVE TO HATE/FAVORITE VILLAIN: Kai Parker

What does it say about me that all of my favorite characters are violent psychopaths…? I’m just going to leave that to be unpacked with the future therapists I’m bound to hire. Kai was the perfect evil. He was powerful, purposeful, and unapologetically demonic in the very best way. I could watch him terrorize my favorite characters forever and not get bored.  Perfection.

FAVORITE STORYLINE: Stefan and Damon’s Brotherhood

If you don’t think this is what the show was about at it’s core, you’re wrong. They loved each other, they hated each other, they died for each other, they killed for each other, and, ultimately, they let nothing and nobody come between them. If you asked me who Damon loved more, Elena or Stefan, I COULD NOT answer you, and isn’t that just the fucking point?!

STORYLINE WE COULD’VE DONE WITHOUT: Magical Babies

I know that a major reason this was even a storyline is because Candice Accola got pregnant, but still…how? Like…she is a vampire..? She is unable to biologically change…? Like can someone grab me a biology textbook and explain how this a thing that can happen BIOLOGICALLY, please? I get that they are mythical creatures, so science doesn’t mean much here, but it just doesn’t make sense in any universe. Also, as I said above, the fact that Caroline was impregnated without her consent and then largely guilted into carrying the babies is a touch too rape-y for me…

BIGGEST PLOTHOLE: Do they go to school, or…? 

Like, are they just compelling the teachers to not notice them not attending class like 90% off the time? Also, how do the people in Mystic Falls not know anything about the supernatural? Like, they aren’t subtle AT ALL so how do they keep sliding under the radar? Also, in a lesser way, how are hybrid witch/vampires a thing? Like, I thought if a witch dies (like they would have to if they become a vampire), they lose their magic…?Make it make sense, Julie!

MOST HEARTBREAKING MOMENT: Damon Dies (the first time)

Honestly one of the saddest moments in the entire series was Damon’s ghost watching Elena lose it when he doesn’t make it back from the Other Side. They were finally happy and together and they can only enjoy it for like five minutes before it goes to shit. Why, Julie??!

BIGGEST EYEROLL MOMENT: Magical Babies (again)

I try to not use something twice on this list but COME ON. This was ridiculous and I do not support this in any way.  (Also this twin bullshit is still fucking annoying on Legacies, if anyone was wondering).

MOST SHOCKING MOMENT (any spit-takes?): Elena forces Kathrine to take The Cure

This was one of the moments that I literally gasped aloud. Most of the time the foreshadowing on these shows is seen from miles away, but I honestly did not see this coming at all. Also, Kathrine was basically the LAST person who wanted that cure so it’s crazy that she was the one to end up taking it and turning human.

MOST BADASS MOMENT: Kathrine kisses Damon at the end of Season 1

Like I said before, she is the original BAD BITCH of the show (not an actual Original, but you know what I mean…) and this was an amazing entry for the character who would be, largely, the villain of the series. It played on the feelings that Damon is developing for Elena, it finally introduced the person who started it all for the Salvatores, and it showed us exactly who she is at her core, and that she isn’t sorry about it at all.

SERIES FINALE SATISFACTORY LEVEL (use no words, just gifs):

OVERALL MARKS OUT OF TEN (10 being this show has changed your life for the better, you happily rewatch the series over and over, and the show has made your life better in some way. 1 being this show gave you nothing but trust issues, a stomach ulcer, and high blood pressure, and you honestly do not know why you did this to yourself) 

7 out of 10. 

I look back on The Vampire Diaries with the kind of fondness that only comes from a bizarre mix of nostalgia and incredulity. When scenes from this series show up on my instagram feed or on my Youtube recommended page, an involuntary smile creeps across my face without me realizing. I could do without like half of the characters and some entire seasons were completely unnecessary to watch, but it gave me some of my very favorite characters and ships, and spawned an entire universe that I still enjoy to this day. This magical, crazy, beautiful world was a joy to experience, even when it made me want to beat my head against a wall at least once per season.

If you want to see the other ones I have made, here's the original post with links. x  Hope you like these! (I say to probably no one...)

[kessielrg]

[DA+KH] The Last Dream

Summary: Based on @chibi-mushroom‘s Dragon Age AU for the Kingdom Hearts series, in which Ventus learns that Aqua healed his father through one last dream. [spoilers for chapter 35 of Wayfinder and a certain relationship][Repliku is named Corvin][oneshot]

Rating: K+

Word Count: 1,496 words

Please reblog if you liked this story, and thank you for reading!

. . .

This version of Redcliffe was nothing but a wasteland now. As the months have gone by on Vanitas's mandate for Aqua to heal the arl, the more Ven's home came under the plague of jet black ink. It oozed off of the roofs as if it was taffy, bubbling out of the water like boiling tar, and the air was thicker than any fog Ven could easily remember in his entire life. But this wasn't real life, this was a dream. This wasn't the real Redcliffe- the real Redcliffe would still be healing from the monsters Ven let Vanitas unleash.

Knowing that he was dreaming at the moment probably made things worse. It both heightened and dimmed his senses to something he barely knew if he was controlling or not. Everything about the dreams he had these past few months felt so contradictory. They were real but they weren't. He could be in danger and then he'd be safe within some pleasant memory. He would drown in absolute darkness before finding a small beacon of light that he tried with all his might to follow.

Speaking of a small beacon of light…

Not for the first time, Ventus approached the black rabbit that stood on dream Redcliffe's fountain. It stood there, glaring at him, arms folded while it shifted its weight from side to side. Always angry, always trying to find a way to hide its light. At this point, the small dim light was the only thing he could see in this nightmare version of his hometown. Usually, out of an impulse well instilled by his mother, Ventus would reach a hand out to the creature in an honor of goodwill. But something else happened instead.

“Why do you keep following me?” the rabbit demanded, stomping its foot in annoyance. “Give it up already!”

Ven was taken aback for a moment. This was new. Usually the rabbit never gave him the time of day.

“Maybe...” the boy mused for a moment, “Maybe I don't want you to be alone.”

The rabbit sneered at him.

“I'm better off on my own,” it informed him, “Unlike you who's always surrounded by people that like you. People that encourage you. It's disgusting.”

“That doesn't mean you can't trust other people too, you know.” he reminded her. There was a small pause before he quietly added, “Like me. I… I want you to trust me-”

A name was said. One that Ven knew he said but couldn't hear himself actually say it. But at the moment he didn't question it, as if this conversation was happening in real time and the dream oddities didn't matter. Whatever the case, the rabbit still wasn't budging.

“Why should I trust you?” the rabbit asked in a prudent voice. It stood tall- its chest puffed out like it would give it a greater air of authority. “How do I know you're not going to be like everyone else and just leave? People are useless, Ventus. They always let you down sooner or later. It's inevitable.”

“It doesn't have to be.”

The rabbit's face immediately fell. In a small voice that didn't know whether to be angered or astonished, it asked, “What did you just say?”

Ven took a deep breath in. He had to choose his words carefully. It was the only way to get through to her.

“We leave other's lives as often as they leave ours. Sometimes we come back, and sometimes we don't. No one asked us what kind of lives we wanted to have, or who we'd be friends with, or who would stay and who wouldn't. We can't all choose when we get to leave home, with a lot of us being forced to anyway. Sometimes you just… have to leave home. You say good bye to your friends and family -if you're lucky- and you get thrown into a world you probably wouldn't have chosen on your own. People leave, but people can come back too if you both care about each other. It can be hard, and it can be scary, but you're never alone. Not really.”

The rabbit stiffened as it thought this over. It looked at Ven with a glowering stare. “How do you know so much about me?” it questioned.

“I was talking from experience.”

The rabbit held its head a bit higher. Deep down, Ven knew that he was getting through to it, so he took a few careful steps forward.

“You don't have to, but I hope one day you can trust me.”

“But that's…!” the rabbit tried to argue, but the words failed to come out.

Ven got a bit closer to the rabbit, holding out his hand as a sign of peace. The rabbit looked at it in both disgust and horror before looking back up at him. He then told her something, something that he was aware of saying despite not hearing the words themselves. What ever he said, you could see how the rabbit's expression broke into a sense of defeat. It slowly started to take his hand before bounding at him to give a tight hug.

“I'm scared.” it admitted. Its voice had been so quiet that you almost could have missed it.

“You're allowed to be.” Ven assured it. “But you don't have to be alone either.”

The rabbit held on to him even tighter, burying its face into his neck. That faint light within the rabbit, a light that had called to Ven since he first experienced this vision, started to glow a bit brighter. The light started grow and feel warm enough that Ven came to realize something about this rabbit; they represented someone. Someone he was sure he didn't know, but he wanted to. And for a moment, as he tried to memorize how this light shined when it wasn't being held back, the rabbit was no longer a rabbit. Instead, Ven was holding another human being. He tried to open his eyes to get a small glimpse at them, but the light around them had become too strong. The warmth of their heart becoming so intoxicating that Ven couldn't but slip under its spell.

After that, Ven woke up in the real world again with a start.

“I have to write a letter to Aqua!” he exclaimed as he all but jumped out of his seat- apparently forgetting that he and Corvin had been in the middle of practicing glyphs.

“Hey!” the golem shouted- more because Ven's sudden awakening had startled the bird that had been resting on Corvin's head. “Where's the fire?”

The boy didn't answer at first, quickly trying to find parchment that already didn't have something written on it, along with a pen and inkwell.

“She did it!” Ven happily said as he quickly wrote something on the parchment he found. “Aqua really did it!”

“Did what?” Corvin questioned. He didn't get an answer as Ven gave a shrill whistle. With a little flip, a small blue dog appeared on the table.

“Take this to Aqua,” Ventus said as he carefully placed the parchment in the pup's mouth. “She needs to know immediately. You can do it Walt!”

The pup gave a happy, but muffled, bark as it disappeared again with another flip in the air. Elated, Ven turned back to the golem and his bird with a wide grin.

“Aqua saved my dad from the poison he was given.” he explained. “I don't know how yet, but she did it! She really did it!”

The golem didn't seem very pleased at this. Instead, he reclined a bit in his chair before asking in a skeptic voice, “Oh-kay, but how do you know, twinkle toes?”

That made Ven pause for a moment. How did he know? Besides the feeling of being more awake now that he had been in actual months, of course. Oh well, didn't matter. Vanitas would probably explain it to him later or something. Ven was still too elated to really question it right now.

“What's important is that my dad is safe again.” Ven told his friend.

“Right.” Corvin snorted. “And now we're one step closer to having to fight a god. No pressure or anything, right?”

Ven answered with a quick nod of his head. A thought lingered though- it was about the light that woke him up this time. The faintest inklings of his dream reminded him that it had been an actual person, but who it was became a different matter. As Ven sat back down -adrenaline wearing off so he could write a bit more relaxed note to Aqua and her company- he thought about that light. A real person. Someone he's never met- or was sure he hadn't met. He didn't know why, but his heart fluttered at the idea of meeting them some day. An excitement, an anticipation, that maybe, one day, their paths would finally meet and he'd finally get to tell them, “You're not alone anymore.”

[tenacityreturns]

“ i know i’m a monster, but you look at me like i’m a man. ” / aomine

prompted // @peachmuses

kagami can’t catch his breath. sweat drops from every pore on his goddamn body despite the chill in the air, he’s run out of water, he’s not sure he’ll make it past the gate if they try to leave now. he’d thought playing a one-on-one with aomine after a shit day just kept getting worse would cheer him up. playing basketball against impossible opponents usually did -- hanging out with aomine usually did. but he noticed a shift in the way he’s staring at touou’s ace. it’s as if the butterflies in his stomach are reliant on a good mood, and if anything disturbs that setting, they die.

no, not die. they rest. he still stared in awe as, in mid-air, aomine unleashed one of those formless shots against one of his high jumps. it goes straight over his fingertips in a high arc. impossible. it’s hard not to smile sheepishly if aomine ever compliments his moves. compliments his outfit ( then kagami will realise he’s wearing aomine’s gifted shoes and will fight him on it - a welcome distraction from a bad saturday morning ). 

kagami still wants to be around aomine, but he also wishes he was alone to process his thoughts. instead, he’ll have to put them on the shelf and focus on the game. for a while it works. the formless shots, the steals, the dunks, it’s all just what he’d needed to feel better. he’s even smiling during the height of it. but the pressure he’d put on himself earlier with the mood drop results in frustration that he still can’t keep up. he’s taken on more training than ever lately, determined to get faster and stronger to beat him in these one-on-ones, but it’s no good. as kagami trains, aomine trains, and kagami had only won with seirin when aomine hadn’t been training much. had been out of sorts, not fully expecting to have to try. it sucks to lose.

it really sucks to lose.

still. kagami doesn’t know the meaning of discouragement. he’ll just have to pour even more of himself into his favourite sport. maybe go on runs before school if he can get up early enough?

all this time, kagami has been hunched over with his hands on his knees. not the best posture to recover, but he’s so fucking tired that he can’t stand up properly right now. his empty water bottle is discarded on the floor. he’s come to glare at the floor, dwelling on the problems he’d been so eager to shelf earlier.

a blue water bottle pops into view nearby. it’s aomine offering his. kagami doesn’t think anything of it as he takes it and has some.

“thanks,” he nods. after he’s had some, he returns it. no use finishing aomine’s drink - what about him! “i think i’m dying right now,” almost a smile, “good game.”

“yeah, you’re improving.”

is that a jab? his smirk is teamed with a roll of his eyes. kagami doesn’t have the energy reserves to fight right now. “shut the fuck up, i’ll win next time.”

“i don’t get it,”

another jab? he pushes himself to stand, and expects to see a shit-talking rival sneering at him. but he doesn’t. aomine is standing half turned, a few paces away, absently knocking his water bottle lid against his lips. ( the butterflies return - kagami’s mouth had been there moments ago! ) aomine looks thoughtful, kagami feels a lecture coming on and sighs.

“i’ll bite,” he says, “what are you talking about?”

“don’t take it the wrong way,” their eyes meet, “why do you always insist on playing me if you lose so much? how do you not let that get to you?”

“i’ll win next time,” kagami repeats with gritted teeth. “are you rubbing your victory in my face or asking me a serious question right now?”

“what’s the point of doing that?” it’s almost offensive that kagami should ask! but it isn’t clear which answer this is about.

“which one!”

“the first one, idiot! winning is enough, i wouldn’t do that.”

“oh,” he takes a deep, stabilising breath, and sits on the floor. part collapses, part sits, but this gives him more space to think. he’s quiet. aomine tosses his water bottle over and sits, too.

“finish it, i don’t want anymore.”

“ ‘kay,” kagami unscrews the bottle, holding the lid. thinking of aomine. looking at him, watching him stare expectantly, waiting for an answer to his question. oops. right. he drinks first, trying to word it. “why do you think i play you?”

“to improve your skill, i guess,” he shrugs.

“you’ve kind of got a big, fat head, don’t you?” kagami is annoyed again! aomine’s surprise is unexpected. so that’s just what he thinks? kagami meets up so much to practise? “i don’t do it for that.”

silence.

“you like basketball, and you’re strong, big headed about it or not.” kagami blushes, frowning as he looks away. “jeez, you’re embarrassing. it’s fun playing against difficult opponents, right? that’s what it is. and i know i’m gonna be stronger next time, and i’ll win then.”

“why are you sulking about it?!” aomine exclaims, “you’ve said just as much before, in games!”

“so what! if it’s so lame meeting me knowing you’re gonna win, then how come you do it?”

“huh?”

“what do you mean huh!”

“well-- i don’t know! sure not ‘cuz you’re fun to be around, or anything, dumbass!”

that poorly masked compliment went over kagami’s head. he launches to his knees, ready to make his way over and attack the victor, but it tires him out and, groaning, kagami will instead fall backwards onto the cold floor.

“ugh, i’ll fight you when i’m less dead.”

aomine chuckles to himself about something. kagami does his best to even out his breathing. the sky is grey, almost a blanket of white above him. will it snow soon? when will spring come around again? he can’t wait for the warmer weather. he misses the beach. misses the l.a. heat a lot today.

“i guess i play you because... i know i’m a monster, but you look at me like i’m a man.”

that catches kagami off guard. the sincerity is scary, almost. it feels a little too close to his feelings being discovered to be comfortable. moments pass and the only thing he can hear is his own breathing.

“forget it,” aomine says after the wait becomes too long. he won’t. kagami will not forget that under any circumstances. ever.

“oh, i think you’re a monster alright,” he’ll say it lightly, because he’s been called that too, and it’s a sore point. “but i’m never gonna give up on beating you.” that’s not embarrassing to say, it’s true! kagami rolls up again, hunching over against the cold. “you’re not untouchable, you know.”

it looks as though his rival takes that to heart. his smile is contagious. damn, where had that bad mood gone? kagami can’t find it in himself to get worked up about his dad’s stupid phone call anymore. and those butterflies that come and go, maybe it’s not so bad that he can enjoy the other basketball player’s company as a friend might, too. maybe loving someone isn’t just about the romantic side. their eyes meet again, and for a second, nothing needs to be said. the way aomine’s looking at him makes it obvious that he likes hanging out with kagami, despite what he says, and the same goes for the redhead in return. it’s a short-lived moment of transparency before they’re both frowning and looking away.

“you say some embarrassing shit, bakagami,” is said in unison with kagami’s less eloquent grunt. 

maybe he’s right. kagami stands, offering a hand to help aomine up with. he doesn’t think about doing it, but is somehow surprised when aomine accepts. if he’s ever done this before, it hadn’t felt as magnetic as this. their hands part ways quickly, he has to pretend that it hadn’t been a big deal, but he can suddenly think of hundreds other embarrassing things he could say. 

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Reviews: The Trickening!

Halloween Havoc continues! Louie’s greed and lack of concern for his brother’s feelings or well thought out schedule leads them to a real life haunted house with vampire clowns, dummies, a scary well lady and a gelatinous cube. Because there’s’es always room for gelatinous cube. Meanwhile Della wants to use Launchpad’s dangerous misconceptions about halloween to traumatize children for funzies and Donald had a problem with that for some reason. Also Scrooge is kind of an asshole on Halloween it turns out. No one is suprised. Ghosts, goblins, and full review with spoilers under the cut. 

Happy halloween month everybody! Halloween Havoc, aka my spate of halloween reviews continues as I roll into my first actual halloween episode review of the season! Yeah weird but so far we’ve covered demons getting exorcisims, little girls thinking they can raise the dead, and a horrifying plauge guided by the human incarnation of all that is evil, but not the actual holliday itself. Weird ain’t it? Well that changes with this so as always pitter patter. 

It’s HALLOWEEN here in duckberg, and the mansion kids are planning Trick or Treating. Natural given Huey’s OCD, he has everything planned out a and naturally the kids all have unique and adorable costumes. Huey is gizmoduck, though with a GK instead of  GD, a nice nod to “New Gizmokids on the BLock’ From the original series, an episode I haven’t seen but have heard of so theres that. It’s also because he likely wants to be Fenton’s kid sidekick which.. yeah please do that show. It’d be so fucking adorable. Plus Huey needs to be happy for once without having to go through a gauntlet of misery first. Let my boy be happy. +

Anyways Dewey’s is rather disapointing as it’s a “pirate on vacation” which while hilarious and very dewey, is kind of an anti-climax after months of speculation. Webby is some kind of ancient demon king as apparently in the duckverse the origins of halloween are based on appeasing various monsters, and this is so she can hide from them effectively. And Louie.. is Huey. Which means putting on Huey’s hat and a terribly insulting impression of him. 

Meanwhile Donald and Della are an angel and a devil, with, which I didn’t realize until a tumblr post, Della’s costume being the one one of the boys wore in the classic disney trick or treat short. So that’s a nice nod. Donald wants to nicely give out candy while Della wants to terrify the children. Both end up disapointed as Scrooge instead boots everyone from the house and locks the mansion gates, as he doesn’t like giving out handouts which.. yeah that tracks. 

As it turns out Scrooge also has his own plans.. which are gloriously ludicrous, sounding like something Glomgold would do: He’s going to go trick or treating himself, as when he was a boy, this was the one time of year a poor lad like him could get treats and he worked his tail off to do so and wants to prove he’s still got it. And as we see later SOMEHOW he still gets candy. It’s like if THIS was actually sucessful. 

I would genuinely not be suprised if Scrooge too hadn’t tried to get an oil well from an elementary school this way. As for leaving candy out he leaves out an empty take one bowl which is as clever as it is douchey. So in other words Scrooge in a nutshell. So with handing out treats and scares at the house a non-option, Della and Donald go to see what Launchpad’s doing since Beakly.. is.. I have no fucking idea. NO I really don’t, she shows up for the ending, but before that? If they mentioned where she was I clearly missed it because she’s just.. missing for most of the episode and given every other member of the main cast is accounted for this episode, it’s VERY noticable. Give her more to do dangit!

So yeah we get our two plots, which i’ll cover seperately, then cover the ending where they dovetail together. Kay? Kay. 

The Kid’s Plot centers around Huey and Louie.. specifically Louie wanting to go to a real life haunted house while Huey, as mentinoed has heavily established plans for their night. As for why Louie would go into danger, well as usual for when he does that theirs something in it for him: Rumor has it no kid has ever made it out with their candy.. thus leaving decades worth of candy just waiting to be nabbed and thus never having to trick or treat again. One big score for a payoff.. which didn’t make a lot of sense on first thought and my best guest is whatever preservative Gyro used for Oxy Chew, since it was still edible decades later, was probably spread to other candies since there’s no way in hell Scrooge would pass up a zillion dollar invention like that. Either way works.  Huey is outvoted as Dewey naturally wants the excitment and Webby wants to see if her demon costume works on actual demons. However things quicklky go wrong as they ecoounter a dewey dummy and a killer dummy, as well as a monster clown and a gelatonous cube, which yes. I may not play DnD but I love these things. 

The kids escape the house by accident while tryign to escape and Louie, still being a dick about things, finds out Huey DID know abotu the stash btu avoided it and Louie lays into Huey.. a bit much honestly, feeling he was agaisnt it purely because it wasn’t on schedule.. when you know, Louie could’ve asked to put it on schedule or actually given a damn about this, especially since Huey’s planned their trick or treats EVERY YEAR, so he’s had a full year to ask for this insane idea, or even the short time he’s known about it if shorter. Sure huey might of sputtered a bit, but Louie knows his other siblings, Webby and Dewey could convince him to loosen up and include the house. Louie’s just being kind fo a selfish dick here.. however i’ts not so overwhelming as to overpower the episode, as he has been before and while he should know better about risking his family’s lives after “Timephoon!” it is in character for him to protiize a big score like this over other people’s feelings and it’s not even the first time this season he’s done that. So fair enough. 

But we soon get the second best reveal of the episode: As the kids are backed into a corner by monsters.. they grumble theres no candy and it turns out the monsters.. ARE REAL.. but their traditional monsters like frankenstein, dracula, and the bride of frankenstein, just dressed up like this to scare kids. As it turns out the WHOLE THING is an elaborate yearly scooby doo hoax to get kids candy, with the brilliant twist it’s done by actual monsters> As the vampire points out they can’t exactly shop during the day.. or he can’t at least, so this is how they get candy for the year.. at tribute if you will. Also the Gelationous Cube gets a nice hat as you see above. It’s a REALLY clever twist and I absolutely love it. I DID NOT see it coming and even with some spoiler screenshots I thankfully did not have it spoiled for me. REALLY good stuff. 

As for why Huey’s been so obessed with his planning.. it’s actually really clever and really good character stuff: Huey simply got really into it because back when they were with donald this WAS their adventure for the year: the one time he let them cut loose and have fun, and he got a real kick out of it.. and Louie getting candy for life kind of destroys that. And that’s why Louie still works here.. because he instnatly realizes from this that was the problem and apologizes in his own way. It’s a nice bit of character from both: We’ve rarely had their pre-mansion lives factor in and it’s nice to see it for a change, and it’s nice to see Louie isn’t all dick, just like 20% dick. Unforutnately having no candy dosen’t appease the monsters who are pissed and descend on the kids.. until.. well for the until we have to back up a bit.  So onto the adult plot we go! Della and Donald go to Launchpad whose dressed in a jason mask and ash williams/jason coveralls, weilding a power sander and having barricaded his place. After he scares some children, a bit too much, and Della and Donald are reallyd amn confused, he explains.. and we get the best reveal of the episode.. which given the above is saying something but it’s clear like the “blath” gag in “Astro BOYD” and the non-anthro ducks gag last week, this is one of those things Frank has been keeping under his hat all series.  So as a boy Launchpad crashed his tryke into the mansion, ran into the monsters after reading off a candy wrapper.. and now assumes he unleashed a horde of monsters onto the world every halloween.. and tha’ts what he assumes the trick or treaters are. I just .. dont’ have a lto of words. This is pure comedy gold and easily the best gag of the episode and oen fo the best of the series. It’s clever, fresh, and really fits the character. Naturally Della wants to exploit this to terrify children ebcause she has underlying issues to adress while Donald tries to stop her. Thankfully before Della can get launchpad to scar children for life, Scrooge shows up and fights launchpad.. it’s part of why I also find scrooge’s dickery acceptable as launchpad beats the shit out of him.. it’s still an even fight, as not to suspend disbelief, but Scrooge still looses. I mean he gets out of being trapped in his candy bag easily because scrooge btu still, props to launchpad. So Launchpad decides to go face his fears and Donald and Della decide to stop him before he doesd a muder on a child.  Which leads to an AMAZING climax as Launchpad scooby doo chases the scared monsters around as they have no idea what the fuck’s going on and hte monsters end up really enjoying his scar eof htem and bowing to the master. It’s a good way to end it. After Della explains what’s going on, Louie and Huey decide to explain halloween to Launchpad by taking him to the once house he hasn’t been: the Manor. Scrogoe has finally opened it up, with a line of kids no less, the monsters bond with some kids in line. As for why.. as Webby sadly figures out Scrooge is charging admission, thakns to dewey who thought an all night candy store was a good idea which.. yeah it is. So everyone gets a happye ending and the monsters hang a photo of hte night up in the mansion. A really sweet ending, pun uintended but eh it’s welcome. 

Final Thoughts.  Easily one fo the series best. While the characters are a bit exagerated in places, i.e. della, launchpad , scrooge and louie, it works for the plot well enough and the jokes well enough to make it okay. My only real complaint is a lack of even a cameo from Lena and Violet, as it feels weird to not even have htem in the ending, much less trick or treating with their friends. It just feels odd and could’ve used a throaway line. I get WHY not , as Lena even pre-blue would’ve destoryed the tension with the monsters, but it still feeels really weird to not have them. But it’s a minor quibble in an otherwise REALLY funny and creative episode and a fun halloween treat to revist every year from now on. Really good work.  That does it for this week. For more halloween treats, follow this blog throughout october. So far i’ve done reviews of Demonicsim from Star Vs The Forces of Evil for Tomtober, Croaked, the Casagrandes day of the dead Special and the first of Marvel’s mini-series adapting Stephen’ King’s epic novel The Stand. And until next monday, or sooner if you decide to check any of that out, happy halloween!

[oldatlas]

February 4th, early.

@aleynagreer

The sun had barely risen when Atlas' car rolled down the streets of Astoria, crawling even as he looked at the abandoned streets. Two days ago his world had been destroyed. They were dead. They were all dead. His best friends. The man he loved. The beings that gave him purpose. Gone without a word, without a reason. Taken. Killed. Atlas felt as if may as well be dead too, there was nothing left of him but a sliver of his soul clinging to sanity. Its hold grows weak as he looked around, longing to burn the city to pieces, to destroy it for what it had done to them, to him. It had taken everything from him. It did not deserve to stand.

Except there were people here still. Innocent people. People mourning as he did, dressing their bodies in black as he now had. They didn't do this. That his sanity could tell. But someone was responsible. Someone would pay for this. Atlas would be sure of it; it would not be fast, no he would drag it out slowly, stripping their flesh from their bones, bringing them to the edge of death only to save them so he could start again. The thought has swirled in his mind, gave him purpose to stay, to force himself to live one more day. Soon he would be reunited with those he lost. But for now he had his revenge to take. For now the monster sat behind his eyes, watching the roads wondering who he would be unleashed on.

That sliver of the soul still inside him would be on display for now, not wanting to be taken or killed for the monster who wished to come out and play. He forced himself to think of the others, of Kai who had lost his love as well and how Bash would never be okay if Kai was end his life as well. Bash would not forgive either of them. But Atlas was not asking to be forgiven. Not any more. There were others too; like Seamus who would spiral, throw his remaining humanity away to be lost in the pills that let him escape reality. And Aleyna, whose child was stolen from her, the cruelest of fates. Anya was just a child.

The memory of their laughter drew Atlas' fangs out as he cursed out loud, enrage. Oh how he would make them pay for what they did. He promised them all silently as his car slowed, stopping by Aleyna's home. Think of her. Andy wouldn't want her to be alone, his soul whispered, desperately trying to find his heart again.

The hollowed vampire left his car with grace that on a normal day would be charming but today felt out of place, given how broken he was. His eyes were hidden as he pulls down black glassed from his hair, covering the pain that laid there. Then, one step at a time, he forced himself to her door.

"Aleyna," he calls as he knocks on the door. His voice is deeper, flat, there is no light in it, there is no light anywhere. "It's me." He does not say his name, he does not know if it is who he is any more. Perhaps Atlas Montgomery died two days ago as well. “You don’t have to do this alone.” He leans against the door, listening, waiting. 

[familiarlyfrigid]

Ruin or Redemption Ch 10: Monster Hunters

Beginning his second week of school, Krest still avoided other students most of the time. Classes could be stressful, but he was a quick learner and could study all night, since he didn’t need to sleep. It was the people he didn’t like. He’d lived alone for so long that he sometimes questioned if he even remembered what a normal life was like. He had never been very social—at least that was familiar to him.

He did occasionally make attempts to talk to people. A few days ago, he had met a guy, two years older than him, named Aaron. He was tall, with brown eyes and dark, chestnut brown hair. Maybe it was because he was introverted too, but Krest found him easier to talk to. They ended up talking about random things they wanted to do someday, and they both thought exploring abandoned places sounded cool. Now, Krest was surprised to see Aaron come up to him before lunch and ask him to hang out later. He figured that Aaron couldn’t get anyone else to go with him.

“There’s this old house out in the woods by my house that I wanna check out later. You wanna come?” he asked.

“Sure... y-you know, I think Dib is into that s-stuff, too...” said Krest. He thought about what Dib had told him a few days ago about Krest helping him catch aliens.

“He’s Professor Membrane’s son, right? Eh, I don’t care who comes. My house at 5?”

“Yeah,” he said. Aaron gave him his number. Krest had a phone from Irk, but it looked like a regular Earth one. He hadn’t been able to use it since he’d left Irk, since he had no service on the planet he was on.

After school, he found Dib as he was walking out the door.

“H-Hey Dib, wanna check out an a-abandoned house w-with me? I’m going with m-my friend Aaron.”

Dib turned to him. “Sounds like a good place for the supernatural. What time and where?”

Krest told him where they were meeting up, and Dib agreed to be there.

Later that day, they all met up at Aaron’s house. Dib kept his phone on hand so he could take pictures of anything they found. With everyone ready, Aaron led them behind his house and into the woods. Once the noise from the road faded, the woods suddenly felt barren. Any sound, from rustling leaves to the sound of their footsteps, was clear. They walked through the bare bushes and wilting grass. The sun was low in the sky and mostly blotted out by clouds, though a few rays of light filtered through the trees. The leaves were all shades of orange and gold, with half of them already on the ground. The woods looked warm and peaceful, but it was quickly getting colder as the light began fading and the sky turned darker.

Aaron spotted a small structure through the trees. “There it is,” he said, leading the other two over to it. They all looked at the gray, wooden house. The entire thing was weathered and had clearly taken damage from storms. They walked through the doorframe, which had no door attached, and looked around what seemed to be the living room. All of the windows were broken, the floor and everything laying on it was covered in leaves, and the beige paint on the walls was chipped and worn away. Dib tried to imagine what the place looked like when people still lived there. Where did they go? he wondered. Aaron looked at some wooden shelves. Anything valuable was already gone. He and Krest went into a bedroom. The mattress was still there; the closet still had a few scraps of clothing in it. An empty picture frame was on the floor.

Dib heard something moving around and walked towards it, but he stopped as he faintly heard growling and what sounded like something slamming against a wall. After a few seconds, he cautiously continued into a room with a small, dusty table and an empty cabinet that had been pulled away from the wall. He suddenly heard a crash and saw a streak of gray leap onto a mass of brown fur behind the cabinet. He stepped back and called out for the others. The slate gray reptilian was already on top of its prey, teeth sunk into its neck. It was the size of large dog, with short forelegs that had sharp talons and a long, thin tail. A line of blood red quills ran down its head to its tail. Dib looked down in surprise at the brown animal’s body. At first he thought it was a deer, but it didn’t have the same body shape and had curled horns that he recognized. It was the alien he and Krest had seen a few days prior.

Aaron and Krest came in, abruptly stopping as they saw the raptor-like creature. It lifted its head and stared at them for a moment, its eyes black with white slitted pupils. The three stood still, tensely watching in astonishment. Dib began to raise his phone to take a picture of it, but stopped as it moved again. It growled as it tore a chunk of flesh off of its catch, then dashed into another room. Aaron leaned forward and looked into the room. It was dark and looked like a storage space. He slowly turned back to the others and whispered, “What the hell was that?”

“It must be another alien,” Dib answered in a low voice. “Look—that brown thing is the alien me and Krest saw on Friday.”

Aaron glanced at the carcass, not really wanting to look at it. “I’ve never seen any of those things before, but... how would you know they’re aliens? Like, they don’t look normal, but that’s a big assumption.”

Dib was about to start talking about how Zim is an alien and probably unleashing alien monsters to destroy the city, but Krest stopped him. “L-Let’s go before that th-thing comes back,” he said uneasily. Dib sighed in resignation, and the three of them left the house. Dib kept telling them that Zim was behind the appearance of the creatures, but Aaron didn’t know enough about Zim to believe it. Krest believed that it was something Zim would do, but didn’t say anything. Once they got back to Aaron’s house, Dib and Krest began walking home.

Krest stopped by Zim’s base to tell him and Kay what he had seen. He seemed glad to hear that his Doomquill was alright, and Kay sent Bhir to capture it.

Later that evening, Bhir returned with the alien. The SIR unit had tranquilized it, and safely brought it to a glass container in the lair. Zim eyed the gray reptilian. “This wasn’t my original plan, but the one monster should still work,” he said.

“You sure it’s not gonna get out again?” Kay called out from somewhere else in the lair. “If anyone catches it, they’re gonna realize it’s not an animal that exists on Earth.”

Zim scowled—she’s always making things more difficult, even though she’s just trying to stop him from being too hasty. “I’ll watch it. Gir and my computer will stand guard.”

The Doomquill watched him, its pupils narrow slits. It was a deadly creature that would often hunt prey larger than it. It could cause serious harm to a human, or Irken, if left unchecked.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 229

Last time, Vegeta blew a hole in the Budokai stadium!

What do you have to say for yourself, Vegeta?    “I’m a baaaaaad wittle boy.”

The crowd flees the arena, and even 18 is disturbed by Vegeta’s actions.    She says she’s never sensed a ki like this before, wait, since when could 18 sense ki signatures?     She couldn’t do that before.

Babidi, on the other hand, is thrilled, because 200 people were killed.   Wait, why should that matter to him?  That doesn’t help him reach his goal, unless he just enjoys innocent people dying on sheer principle.   Babidi’s a terrific villain.   He’s kind of underappreciated, really.  The ranking should be 1) Cell, 2) Vegeta, 3) Buu, 4) Babidi, 5) Frieza.

The crowd pleads for Mr. Satan to save them from this tiny golden monster in their midst, so he steels himself and tries to get tough, but then he backs down and asks them nicely to settle down.

Vegeta ignores Mr. Satan completely, and tells Goku to fight him, unless he wants more people to get killed.    At this, Goku suddenly realizes that Vegeta might have let himself get mind-controlled, just so he could make an ultimatum like this.   

Vegeta’s only response is to shoot another part of the stadium.   This isn’t a bluff, and it’s not a negotiation.    If Goku won’t fight, then Vegeta will keep killing people until he does.

And you can tell that this pisses Goku off.    Yeah, he wanted to fight Vegeta too, but not like this.   

Gohan tries to intercede, but Vegeta just shrugs him off.    He’s not listening to anyone except “fighting with Goku.”

So Goku turns Super Saiyan, and it looks like they’re going to throw down right here and now.  

Vegeta basically admits to doing all of this on purpose.    If Goku’s so intent on saving the world from Babidi during his one day back on Earth, then the only way Vegeta can get his undivided attention is to join Babidi’s team.   Right now, the only way to stop Babidi is to go through Vegeta.   Literally.   

Here’s what makes this so awesome.    I feel kind of goofy even explaining this, because it feels self-evident to me, but maybe there’s someone reading this who hasn’t watched DBZ before.   In which case, dude.    This is the stupidest possible way to experience DBZ for the first time.    Just watch the show and come back later.    This liveblog will still be here.    Unless Wordpress shuts this site down.   

Where was I?  Oh, right.   So what makes this work is that the Supreme Kai is absolutely right to call Vegeta’s stunt foolish.... but.   But!  Anyone who’s watched the entire series up to this point gets it.    As horrible as it may sound, on some level, we wanted Vegeta to do something stupid like this, to piss Goku off, to really get him riled up, so that they would finally have their big rematch.

I remember when Goku first turned Super Saiyan.    For a while there, they had all this Super Saiyan Goku merch, and Vegeta looked so ordinary in his regular non-Super Saiyan form.    I thought it made sense for Goku to have this epic ascension, but it seemed like a waste that Vegeta would never be able to match it.   How could their rivalry continue like this?    They could never fight each other again, because Goku was so far ahead of him that it would have been pointless.  

Then Vegeta turned Super Saiyan, and it looked like they could finally settle things, just as soon as they got all those damn dirty androids out of the picture.  Only by the time that finally happened, Goku was out of the picture too.    Now the rivalry was truly impossible, because they would never see each other again.   

Then Goku comes back, for one day only, and it looks like we finally have this narrow window for Goku and Vegeta to fight.  They even got paired off in the tournament bracket.   First round, so there was no chance of Goku getting disqualified against Mr. Satan in some unlikely hijinks.    The fight can finally happen.   Goku vs. Vegeta, they’re both Super Saiyans or Super Saiyan 2′s or whatever, even steven, let’s see who comes out on top.   

But now, here comes Babidi and the Supreme Kai, with all this Majin Buu bullshit, and Vegeta has to wait inside a spaceship for like an hour.   And both sides of this conflict are idiots.   The Supreme Kai has no idea who he’s dealing with.    He didn’t know what Super Saiyans could do, he didn’t know Dabura and Yakon were on Babidi’s team, and his sidekick Kibito was the first one to die.    The whole thing was dumb and quite frankly not nearly as awesome as Goku and Vegeta punching each other.   

And let’s face it, after all these years, Vegeta’s still mad that Goku overpowered him way back in Episode 30 or whatever it was.   Since then, Goku’s saved his life, first from Krillin, then from Recoome.    Why, it’s gotten him so riled up just thinking about it that his face is all twisty.    What the hell...?

Is it stupid?   Yeah, it is.  Like I said, the Supreme Kai is right.    This is absolutely ridiculous.    Vegeta’s risking the fate of the universe so he can settle a petty grudge.   No one thinks this is worth it.    No one gives a shit whether this sawed-off asshole gets his do-over.   Well, I mean, the audience probably does.   I know I always did.  What I’m saying is that no one in-universe ever cared about this guy getting to avenge his pride.   

But Vegeta cares, and the fact that he’s the only one who cares is probably why he’s so desperate and upset about making this happen. 

I think this is what makes the character so appealing to people.    In spite of all the shitty things he does, people can relate to Vegeta’s passion and to the sheer loneliness of that passion.    We all have things we alone care about that other people dismiss as meaningless or unimportant.     What’s the big deal?   It’s just a TV show.   It’s just a drawing.    It’s just a story you wrote.    It’s not that important.   Meaningless, really.    Let’s go back to what’s really important, which is making Gohan feel better about whizzing that fight with Dabura, or congratulating Mr. Satan for his championship victory.   What a kooky character he is!

I think we’ve all been there before.   I’m not saying we’ve killed 200 people to make the point, but we’ve been in situations where everyone laughed it off and dismissed how we felt because “what’s the big deal anyway?”   And that’s one reason Vegeta leaves a lasting impression with people, because he’s powerful enough that he can make people understand why it’s a big deal to him.  

Against all of this, all Goku can say in response is to call out to Babidi.   He demands to be teleported someplace where there’s no bystanders.    Some place, like... I don’t know... Goku Town.

We did do it, Babidi.    This is awesome.   Good job, everyone.

Then the Supreme Kai gets in between these two, and he’s all “No!  This fight is too metal.    I can’t allow it!   If you’re going to fight Vegeta, you’ll have to fight me first!”

And Goku’s like “Sir, that was a very metal thing you just did, but please, get out of the way before I kill you.”

The Kai is stunned.    Goku’s not bluffing here.   He will kill the Supreme Kai right here and now, if that’s what it takes.  

But the most awesome part is Vegeta’s reaction.    He looks just as surprised to see how determined Goku is to settle this.    He’s been so focused on getting this battle that he forgot who he was dealing with.   

Defeated, the Supreme Kai stands down.    He did a brave thing, stepping into Goku Town, but he knows he can’t pay the rent.  

Man, this episode rules.   The Surpeme Kai is just so... despondent.  He’s completely lost control of the situation.  

And Babidi’s convinced that he’s won.   Once Vegeta and Goku start fighting, it’ll only be a matter of time before Vegeta inflicts enough damage to transfer the energy needed to revive Majin Buu.   And nothing can stop that fight from happening.    Everything’s coming up Milhouse Babidi.

So he grants Goku’s request and teleports them away.   Mr. Satan is relieved, because this means he can claim they ran away before he could unleash his righteous fury.

So, I think this is the Giskard Wasteland, but I’m not up on my Dragon World Geography.   This may even be the same setting as the original Goku/Vegeta fight, but I don’t feel like looking it up.  

From here, the Supreme Kai bows to the inevitable, and accepts that Goku and Vegeta will fight.    All he can do now is force open the hatch to Stage 4, so he and Gohan can proceed down Babidi’s ship and stop him before Majin Buu can be revived.   Of course, that means he’ll have to risk jolting Babidi’s ship, which could accidentally break Buu’s seal prematurely, but at this point he has to risk it.   

Note that this is precisely what Vegeta wanted to do at the start of the last episode.  If the Kai had gone along with it then, he would be in the exact same predicament he’s in now, except he’d have three Super Saiyans backing him up instead of just one, and he wouldn’t have the ticking clock to worry about.   

But Babidi has no intention of allowing the Supreme Kai to leave Stage 3 so soon, and he orders Vegeta to kill him and Gohan before they can carry out this plan.   

But Vegeta refuses, insisting that he doesn’t care what Shin and Gohan do, so long as it doesn’t get in the way of his objective, which is to kick Goku’s ass.

Babidi has some sort of leverage here, as it seems to cause Vegeta physical pain to resist him like this, but he remains steadfast.    Babidi might control him body and soul, but Vegeta still has his pride, which must be satisfied before he’d ever consider anything else.   

Babidi is astonished, as this has never happened before.    It begs the question of whether Babidi could ever truly control Vegeta.    Maybe if he defeated Goku in battle, Vegeta might become more pliable.   Or, perhaps beating Goku is the only thing keeping Vegeta and Babidi on the same side.  

But Dabura convinces Babidi that they’re better off letting Geets and the Supreme Kai have their way.    If Vegeta’s so determined to fight Goku, let him, because that’s good for Buu.    And they might as well let the Kai and Gohan out of Stage 3, so they won’t accidentally break Buu’s seal early.    It’s not like they can win on their own, since they’ll have to go through Dabura.

   So Babidi opens the hatch, but before Gohan goes through, Goku gives him a senzu bean, because he remembered he still had some from when he got them for Gohan’s girlfriend.   I like how Goku just casually says that, when the situation is too tense for Gohan to object.    “Hey, son, before we start our epic laser battles, I just remembered that thing I got for that girl you’re in love with!”    

Then he gives him one last piece of advice: Get angry, like he did when he fought Cell.   Goku seems convinced that if Gohan is furious enough, it’ll make up for his ring rust.   

Gohan takes minute to lament that Goku’s one day back in the living world ended up this way.    It is kind of sad.   Gohan just wanted to hang out with his dad, and all of this crap happens.    It’d be kind of funny if Babidi controlled Gohan’s mind, and he blew up the stadium demanding a hug.   

So they leave, and now it’s just Goku and Vegeta.    Goku’s like “Fuck this, I can’t take any damage in this fight, so I’m gonna go balls to the wall, right now.”    Well, that’s not his exact wording, but you get the idea.  

So Goku turns Super Saiyan 2!    Good job, Orange Brick DVDs.    It’s worth cropping Goku’s head so we can see all that stuff on the sides.

Of course, no one calls it Super Saiyan 2, because he term hasn’t been coined yet.    Vegeta just notes that Goku is stronger than Gohan was when he fought Cell, so you get the idea.

So then Vegeta powers up and now he’s a Super Saiyan 2, too!

When I first watched this arc, I honestly didn’t get that “Ascended Super Saiyan” was meant to be a distinct form, because it looks virtually indistinguishable from the original Super Saiyan.   I learned to tell the difference eventually, mostly thanks to the video games, which allow you to compare the models before and after, but in this leg of the anime, it’s just about impossible.   I think the animators had trouble keeping this straight.  

The main feature I picked up on is that Goku’s SSJ2 form has beadier eyes, at least initially, and more of his bangs stick up.    With Vegeta, I don’t even get that much to work with.   His hair looks a little more “knife-y”, but that’s about it.   

Anyway, Goku realizes that this will take a lot longer than he planned.   

And this is it.    Goku-Vegeta II.   The fight we’ve all been waiting for, but at what cost?