#Literally had to pause the game put the controller down and lie down mid fight I was sick of it

[phoenixcatch7]

Nearly at the end of bayonetta and honestly whoever green lit that missile/Jeanne final fight chapter -

[thefanficmonster]

I'm so happy you like the idea! Your first three words are: Rattle, Candlelight and Corset.

Oh this is gonna be interesting 🤭

Regretting

Pairing: Chris Redfield x Female OC (taken in by the Winters family as a daughter of theirs basically)

Warnings: Swearing (No Spoilers for any games don’t worry😊)

Genre: Romance, Fluff

Enjoy the mess my brain’s produced. Love, Vy ❤

“I have several questions surrounding this bullshit event!“ Gwen shouts from inside her room where she’s been getting ready for the past hour with the Captains of the BSAA keeping a watchful eye outside her door, making sure she doesn’t get any ideas of running away.

“I have as many as you do, trust me on that one.“ He replies, readjusting his tie. He hasn’t found himself in a three-piece-suit in a long time, all’s been soldier get-ups, bulletproof wests and combat boots. Truth be told, it’s not that he doesn’t want to dress nicely, he’s just rarely had any occasions worth dressing up for. Lord knows he’d be at home in this very moment, seated on the couch with a cold beer bottle in his hand. So to make the truth truer - he actively avoids places and events that would require him dressing up. It’s simply a hassle in and of itself, but dealing with the people at the even - that’s what he’s most bothered by.

“You cannot expect me to believe that’s the truth!“ Gwen shouts again, the sound of shuffling accompanying her voice. 

“Leon said it was important, Jill backed him up and you know I rarely get a say when the two of them partner up to support one another.“ Chris says, sighing while reaching for a cigarette before withdrawing his hand, remembering he didn’t take his pack with him on purpose. Claire says he needs to break the habit little by little so, in order to give her peace of mind, he does try whenever she’s looking. However, when she turns away, he’s quick to light a cig, almost as quick as a dying man getting connected to life support.

“You, Leon and I have very different definitions of the word ‘important’.“ She sasses back, her voice now being the only sound coming from the room which is a sign Chris cannot decide the meaning of - is she almost done? Is she starting over with everything? Either way, he doesn’t mind. Running late to the gala the mayor’s throwing is not particularly bothering him, he actually prefers it.

What’s been bothering him is the fact that he’s found himself impatient of something else. Impatient of seeing her - not that he’d ever admit it. Him and Gwen have been friends for quite some time. Well, they did get off on the wrong foot, but were quick to arrange a relationship alike a friendship and function without wanting to gauge each other’s eyes out. Somewhere along the lines they became actual friends without even noticing.

Gwen Winters had every right to be suspicious of Captain Chris Redfield. Not that she was always wary of him or anything - seeing as how him and her ‘parents’ are friends, she never thought twice about the guy. However, when she expressed interest in joining the BSAA and earned herself a scoff from him, she was rather pissed. Being the main chemistry project of an asshole with a saving-the-world complex back in Raccoon City, it’s safe to say she got some above average strength to her name. And that’s putting it mildly. Being rescued from that lab by Leon and getting taken in by the Winters family, she’s developed her own hero complex, the need to save those who can’t save themselves always dwelling within her.

And so, despite the amusement Chris showed when she brought up the idea, she became a BSAA soldier. 

“I think we established that on your very first mission, soldier.“ Chris chuckles, recalling that first mission he was so opposed to, mostly because Gwen was tagging along at her request and the allowance of Leon. He was very fucking afraid they’d have to carry her dead body out of there but the action was quick to turn the tables on him - having Gwen save his life more than once. What surprised him most though was her humbleness about it. She didn’t rub it in or nag him about having proved her point. She was just glad they had all made it out in one piece and that struck him with a whole new intensity. Almost like a wake up call.

The door beside him suddenly swings open, causing him to abruptly straighten up from his leaning position, shooting a look at the doorway from which emerges Gwen. Or at least he believes it’s her. Had he not known she was the only other person in the house at the moment, or had he seen her passing by on the street he wouldn’t have recognized her.

And he’d have every right not to: this must be the first time she has worn a dress since prom - if she even wore one then - and the same probably applies for the make-up she’s put on. It’s not much or anything, in fact the only reason he’s noticed it is because he’s so used to seeing her make-up-free face. So much so, he’d recognize even a drop of foundation if she applied it. And oh boy, is he whipped by the sight. He can lie all he wants and to whoever he wants to, but he cannot lie to himself. Especially not when his jaw has fallen to the floor, his eyes have grown wide and his heartbeat has picked up noticeably.

If Ethan could hear at least half of what Chris is thinking at the moment, he’d be as good as banned from the Winters home forever.

When Gwen’s eyes meet her Captain’s, she can’t help but smirk, “What is it, Cap? I exchange the bulletproof vest for a corset and you suddenly don’t recognize me?” She asks, raising a teasing eyebrow.

He knows it’s wrong, for so many reasons: He’s her captain, she’s his soldier; She’s an adult but he’s still significantly older than her; She’s the ‘daughter’ of a friend of his, to make matters even worse - It’s so wrong yet he can’t get the thought out of his head. It’s not just now, it’s something he’s been struggling with for quite some time. He’s constantly haunted by her: the sound of her laughter, her smile, that focused frown that appears every time she is looking at a map or a new case, analyzing its every detail, the twinkle in her eyes whenever she gets told she’ll be going on a mission and that same sparkle growing brighter when she returns from it having successfully completed it.

It’s all overwhelming, and in the nicest, wrongest way possible.

“Honestly, Winters, seeing such a shift does rattle a person. Especially when I haven’t seen you out of a soldier’s uniform for years now.“ He comments, his eyes traveling up and down her body on their own accord, despite his best attempts at keeping his gaze on her face.

She laughs, “Can’t really go to training in a dress and high heels, you know. If I had more opportunities, the dresses in my closet wouldn’t be covered in spiderwebs.“

“Duly noted.“ He smirks, offering the young lady his hand as he leads her down the stairs, “I could help you out with that.“

She frowns, pausing mid-step, “Oh no, no, no no. If what you have in mind is a bunch of charity events, you better get that thought out of your head. A bunch of rich assholes drinking champagne, really not my scene.”

Chris chuckles offering her his arm as they walk out the front door to where he parked his car upon arriving at the Winters home, running into Ethan, Mia and their five year old daughter, about to head out for the night. He won’t complain about the lecturing he received, he deserved it after all. It’s a miracle the two even agreed to let Gwen accompany him, not that they could stop her either way seeing as how she’s an adult woman who’s more than capable of making her own decisions.

“No, no, I know you hate those events. I do too.“ He says, oddly timidly as the two get seated in the car. “I was thinking more along the lines of...“ He contemplates how to say it without making the rest of this night awkward, or mess things up with Gwen in any way. She means a lot to him and he’d hate to lose her over his complicated feelings he wishes he could control. “Dinner under candlelight, maybe?“

He’s as stiff as a boulder, tense and expecting something, anything. Literally anything, even outright rejection would be better than silence. Regardless of her answer, he’s gonna regret this move later when Ethan hears about it and goes to kick his ass.

Out of the corner of his eye, he catches the slight shake of her head, a blush evidently appearing on her cheeks, visible even in the dim light in the car. A small smile graces he features as her hand travels to his which is nervously resting on the gear shift. “Sure, I’d like that.” She says, her smile growing wider.

There’s that same twinkle - the sparkle in the eyes of a soldier willing to fight for the greater good, putting everyone above herself. And, on his hierarchy, she’s number one.

“I’m glad.“

Chris Redfield has regretted many things in his life and will probably regret even more in the future. However, he was a fool to think he’d regret this decision - one look at Gwen’s eyes and all regret was erased. All ass-kicking he might receive for it seems more than worth it, looking at it from the perspective of this very moment.

Then again, Captain Chris Redfield has never been a stranger to a little ass-kicking.

Thank you so much, Anon for this super fun challenge! I hope to receive more three words to turn into fics cause I really enjoyed this experience 🥰

[hoopslab]

Game of Thrones S7 Ep 4 The Spoils of War: Stark Family Reunion

SPOILERS FOR GAME OF THRONES ON HBO, UP THROUGH EPISODE 4 OF SEASON 7. I said,  SPOILERS FOR GAME OF THRONES ON HBO, UP THROUGH EPISODE 4 OF SEASON 7.

"Dracarys.”

Yo, I’m not even going to lie...that episode was FUN! I could just as easily have put ‘Dracarys’ in the title, then led with the Stark Family reunion down here. Both events have been YEARS in the making, and offered a tremendous payoff for the viewer. And they both happened in the same episode...and a mid-season episode at that! The first few episodes of the season were solid as well, and moved pieces in to place, but on Sunday we started reaping rewards as the show moves into it’s final 10 episodes. Let’s go through it.

Jamie & Bronn’s bro journey

Jamie Lannister is a much more fun character when Cersei isn’t around. When he gets out in the field, be it with Brienne of Tarth or Bronn Stone, he turns into an almost likable guy. With Bronn, in particular, he plays off as the straight man to Bronn’s sarcastic wit. In episode 4, fresh off sacking Highgarden (but being secretly gutted by the Queen of Thorns’ dying confession that she murdered his son Joffrey), Jamie is in a mood as he hands Bronn a sack of gold as payment for his services. Bronn, knowing something is wrong but not what, proceeds to work on Jamie the way one would on a brother, trying to get him to tell him what’s wrong. When he can’t, he starts in on Jamie about how he promised him a castle, forcing Sir Gold Hand out of the doldrums through sheer cheekiness. 

Jamie, incredulous: "That’s a lot of money I just gave you.”

Bronn, deadpan serious: “It’s not a castle.”

Cersei redefining “efficient” as creepily as possible

Cersei starts the episode basking in the glory of her successes, promising to give the unctuous leg-breaker from the Iron Bank his money back with the Tyrell gold. The banker guy is practically drooling, eating out of her hands. He can’t remember ANYONE paying back a debt so large, he feels that Cersei is even more efficient than the paragon that was her father, and he hopes the bank can support her on her next venture. That venture? Take it away, Queen:

“My only venture at this moment is reestablishing control over this continent and every person in it.”

WOW. EVERY person? Scary much?

Anyway, after that exchange, I thought the biggest takeaway was that the Iron Bank guy hedged his bets that all of his gushing and support was based on him getting that gold back. I thought that meant that Dany (or someone) might hijack it before it got to King’s Landing, which doesn’t seem to be the case. However, another sneaky nugget in that exchange was that Cersei wants to hire the Golden Company of Essos to join her war, a band of famous mercenaries from the neck of the woods where Dany was before she came to Westeros. Where Day left her own band of mercs, led by her now estranged lover, in charge. Might Cersei’s recruitment effort see Daario brought to the continent in future episodes? Hmm.

Arya kicks in the door, waves in the 4-4

When Arya rides her horse up the hill and looks over to see Winterfell...maybe it was only me, but I heard Biggie Smalls in the background. Yes, it was a touching scene as she was completing her long trip home. But she was also the last Stark kid to make it home, which means that the unit is complete and ready for war. Thus, in my head I heard murder music as her theme song.

Her whole sequence was just fun. It’s a testament to how much she’s gone through and done, that when the idiot guards tried to deny her entry I was almost scared that she would kill them. But instead, the bumbling guards just provided comic relief as a foil to Arya’s awe at her homecoming. Her scene of looking around at Winterfell in appreciation, as the guards nattered in the background, was well done.

Sansa’s face was perfect, as well, when the guards mentioned that the “impostor” asked for Maester Luwin and Ser Rodrick. In fact, Sophie Turner (Sansa) and Maisie Williams (Arya) both just nailed their performances this week. Conveying pages of dialogue with the nuances of their faces.

The sister reunion in the crypt sent a tingle down the spine. Sansa and Arya, remember, “hated” each other as kids. They were rivals, but more the were opposites. Each was everything that the other wasn’t. Would the reunion be tense? 

Arya: “Do I have to call you Lady Stark now?”

Sansa: “Yes.” 

Then a slight pause, before the sisters come together with a heartfelt hug that lacked the hollywood dramatization of Jon and Sansa’s reunion last season, but had more feeling, especially after the dud of Sansa hugging robot Bran last week. Speaking of robot Bran, Sansa’s hesitation and dread in telling Arya that her little brother was also around was pronounced. Which made sense, because Bran was busy...

Bran & creeps out Littlefinger (yay) & Meera (sad)

Littlefinger has pretty much just lurked around in corners, giving Sansa side-eye, all season. But he approaches a bed-bound Bran and magnanimously offers him he Valyrean steel dagger that was once used to try to assassinate Bran and his mom. It’s unclear what Littlefinger’s angle was, but it seems that he dramatically underestimated the Three Eyed Raven. Littlefinger preachified about how much Bran had seen, how far he’d been, and how it was sad that he returned to such chaos, only to have Bran shut him up by delivering Littlefinger’s own words from an old conversation that he had with Varys in season 3: 

“Chaos is a ladder”.

Lord Baelish’s face was priceless. 

Unfortunately, the Three Eyed Raven wasn’t done. And he was just about to fumble the very opportunity that Grey Worm had spiked for a touchdown two episodes ago.

Meera Reed, fresh off dragging Bran on a liter across an entire continent, in the Winter, and thus proving her love and loyalty on an absurd level, feels like she should go home. The TER, being clairvoyant, knows it’s coming. Meera obviously doesn’t want to leave and obviously wants Bran to ask her to stay, the same way that Missendei really hoped that Grey Worm wouldn’t really just leave without saying goodbye. But while Grey Worm came through with the “you’re my weakness” speech that led to Missendei smiling weeks later (see below), Bran did this:

Meera: “You don’t need me anymore”

Bran: ”No, I don’t”

OUCH! Party foul! FUMMMMBLLLLE!

The TER says that he can remember being Brandon Stark, but he remembers so much more now. Hopefully, in the future, someone can help him remember his humanity.

All three Stark kids together!

Even though Bran gave Arya the patented robot hug in greeting, seeing all three Stark kids together was awesome. In addition to the emotional payoff, they are a power-packed three-pack right now. Like he did with Sansa and Littlefinger, Bran reveals that he has seen Arya in visions, this time when she was at the crossroads about going to kill Cersei.

I think my favorite part of that scene, though, was when Bran confirmed that Arya hadn’t been joking about having a list of people to kill. Arya looked back at Sansa almost defensively, but clearly Sansa LOVED it. Again, Sophie Turner killed the scene with her facial expression.

Bran also gave Arya the Valyerian dagger, which completed the months-long watch and speculation that began when Maisie Williams posed for a magazine cover with the dagger on her hip.  Before the episode is out, we start to see how potent Arya can be with that dagger (below). 

Oh, and if you’re emotional like that...the scene of the three Starks walking through Winterfell’s courtyard, with the big sisters pushing their little robot brother in a wheelchair, was almost a tear-jerker.

From Grey Worm to Jon

Small blurb, but Missendei’s wide and unquenchable smile when she talked about her now weeks-old experience with Grey Worm brought a “young love” smile to my grizzled old face. The timing of the scene was also interesting, as Missendei was trying to girl-time confess to Dany that it went all the way down, and Dany was all innocent/shocked...then had the conversation interrupted by Jon Snow, excusing himself into two blushing young women. Followed immediately by...

Tunnel (cave?) of Love...but Bend the knee, tho

I’m not a shipper, so I don’t have a dog in the fight of Dany and Jon potentially hooking up. Kinda icky that she’s his aunt, but a) they don’t know it, b) pretty much all Targeryens ever married family (which is part of why “The Mad King” was so crazy), and c) this show has been rocking twincest since the first episode, so an aunt or cousin barely even compares. 

That said, Jon taking Dany into the cave/tunnel, gushing over all the dragon glass, then bringing her through all the hieroglyphics about the Children of the Forest joining Man to fight The Whitewalkers...it felt like a first date. And just when it seemed Jon had a shot at his first kiss, Dany caught him with the “Bend the Knee” curb. Dany’s consistent “Bend the knee” messages to Jon are ridiculously meme-worthy...I don’t know whether to beg that she stop, or secretly hope the showrunners start spoofing it themselves. 

At the very least, Dany does seem like she now cares about Jon’s opinion. as she asked him straight out what she should do after her latest defeat. Jon talked her off the ledge of going and burning the whole castle, but either he or she DID come up with a really fun plan (more below)...

The Big Lady vs No One

Even with all of the stuff in this episode, probably my favorite scene was when Arya jumped in to spar with Brienne of Tarth (or “The Big Lady”, as Hot Pie calls her). Brienne started off trying not to hurt the tiny Arya, who was fighting like her sword dancer teacher from season one and pretty much moving faster than the eye like The Red Viper (pre head-crushing, of course).

The fact that Arya is a badass and would have killed Brienne like 11 times if they were fighting for real was cool. But what I loved about the scene was how much fun the two women were having in that spar, both of them rocking huge smiles even as they swung live steel at each other. That scene felt like I must look when me and my best friend play 1-on-1 basketball...like we’re both going for the jugular, but loving the comraderie of going your hardest against someone that can bring it back just as hard.

Another hidden gem in that scene was the look on Sansa’s face, as she looks on. Sansa has been established as the best ruler of the Stark kids, but for the first time she seemed jealous of all of the things that Arya is, that she’s not. 

Dracarys, and Jaime’s doomed charge

OK, this is running long, so I’m skipping the scene where The Onion Knight jokes that Jon has been staring at Dany’s “good heart”, as well as the one where Theon comes to shore and freezes up when he sees Jon (I was SURE Jon was about to punch him in the face). But, let’s get to the walk-off home run of the episode: Dany, her Dragon, and her Dothraki reigning havoc (and fire) all over Jaime’s crew. First, the memes:

Tupac weighs in

Horse-surfing cowboy

The memes about cover it. Mega payoff for those that have been waiting since Season 1 (or, like me, 20 years since Book 1) to see Dany’s Dragon(s) in action in Westeros. Also, seeing the Dothraki come in and absolutely wreck shop while doing rodeo archery tricks and talking trash (”Your people can’t fight”) was worth the wait as well.

Dr. Frankenstein’s dragon-killing crossbow was a little nerve-wracking, especially since Bronn was the one firing and I didn’t really want him to get killed either. But Drogon took the quarrel like a G, and still wrecked the heck out of the crossbow. 

Then, Jaime decides to charge a dragon with a spear. Yes, he saw Dany standing there and thought that if he took her out, the war was over. But still. Did I mention that he was charging a DRAGON???

I’ll let Tyrion say it

Episode ends with Jaime (and presumably Bronn) taking a swim in armor, which doesn’t seem like it’d end well, but if the showrunners were planning to let Jaime die they could have just let him get barbecued. So, here’s assuming that there’s an epic rescue by next week. And speaking of next week...

In the previews, sure looks like Jon comes face to face with a dragon (with Dany riding). Can it finally be time for the Dragon’s second head to be revealed? I guess we’ll soon see.

Other articles of interest

Game of Thrones S7 Ep1: Winter has been a long time coming

Game of Thrones S7 Ep2 Stormborn : Where is Ghost?

Game of Thrones S7 Ep3 The Queen’s Justice: Ice meets Fire