#OOF THIS TRULY WAS SO LONG ACK

[grigori77]

Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 71

Yay, back to regular reacting times. Long may it continue ...

Blimey ... I'm with you Laura, that is an ... INTERESTING look for Ashley ... but NOT AS BAD as Sam's ... oh gods, now she's doing a French accent ... which I STILL better than Sam's ...

Ashley: "I'm French! It's my way!"

Wow ... this actually might be the best NordVPN ad for ages ...

Matt: "I think you almost killed Travis ..." Yeah ...

HOMELANDER in Mortal Kombat? Both cool AND disturbing ...

Matt: "Lady I'm married to, next to the horse!" Travis: "Yeah, horse lady!" Matt: "Yeah, this is getting quite disturbing, very Twin Peaks ... as much as I'd love to keep Sam in that outfit ..." Sam: "Oh God, it's so hot!"

YEAH!!! Bye bye, Ratanish, you big butthead!

Okay, so where are we? This IS the Shattered Teeth, right?

Perception check already? Go Liam ... Nat20!!! OF COURSE he does ... monkeys? Look at Ashley, already cute-grinning ... :3

Chetney: "There's an ocean, nearby! Intoxicating! We are truly lucky to be here!" Ashton: "Are you okay?"

Alright, seriously, what IS going on with Chetney? Is he tripping on funny psychotropic moss?

Laudna: "Are you an island boy? Do you operate on island time?" Hmmm ... am I missing an in-joke here?

Cliff! Watch it ...

This is INTENSE landscape ... very broody ...

Jirana the Shore Shrew ... cue loads of playing around with shudhing noises for THAT name ...

Imogen trying to send a Message to Jirana ... Matt: "Roll a D100 for me." Balls ... and 3 points of psychic damage! Ack ... oh, no, just 1 point ... not SO bad ...

Looking for the Great Tree of Atrophy? Hmmm ... but are they on the right tree? Probably not ... but Imogen still wants to go up and see ... so dhr grabs Orym to take with her, and Laudna sends Pate too ...

Liam: "Have I ever actually flown before?" Oh boy ...

I'm sorry, HOW high? Oof ... oh great, just an endless fog bank ... great ... Liam: "So ALL of the Shattered Teeth are obscured?" Crap ...

The shadow is MOVING ... oh that's not good ... yes, dive. DIVE DIVE DIVE!!!

Laura: "What if it's a nice Falkor? It's never a nice Falkor ..." No. No it's not.

Wow ... I love that ... Orym has INSANE good perception and a truly HORRIBLE sense of direction ... XD

Pick s direction ... FCG: "We can't just stand around with our metal dicks in our hands."

"Squishies in the middle!" Yup ...

Little feetsies ... LOL ... Matt: "I just wanted to say that so bad."

Fireflies? Ashton: "Remember the last time we thought some little glowing lights were cute?"

Oh no, Laudna, this is NOT the time for a swarm ... oh well, there she goes anyway ...

Pass Without A Trace! Here we go ... meanwhile Ashley's distracted making sure she doesn't smell like the horse suit ...

Tiny beating wings? Oh great ... not pixies again, please ...

An AMPHIBIOUS pixie? Weird shit ... that can't be good ...

Low growling and thuds from somewhere? Oh hell no ...

Trusting Fearne to know how to move through a place like this IS probably a smart play, actually.

Ashton: "I'm more scared of IT than I sm of you." Fearne: "Well that doesn't sound right." Ashton: "No, you ARE very scary."

Sending Pate out to scout ... Laudna: "And don't HIT ON the faeries."

Wow ... only TWO of this party have Darkvision ... great ...

Now they're looking for spiders? Hmmmm ...

A big fucking footprint ... 7 FEET LONG?!!! Seriously, Matthew?

Grim Psychometry! Okay ...

Oh, so they're on a BLOODY GAME TRAIL right now ... that's just LOVELY ...

And there's bits of broken canopy ... shit ...

Not many places to hide, clearly ... Imogen: "This place is bad!" Ashton: "Yeah, it's bad, everything's bad."

A makeshift camp, then ... and Fearne can make sn extra overgrown think to shelter them too? Okay ... "A little Bob Ross cabin". Nice. Sounds tight, but also quite cosy ...

Liam: "Is the rest of the show gonna be us just decorating?" XD

Night time but for them it still feels like early afternoon ... oof, timezones are EVIL ...

Chetney takes first watch ... so that whooshing sound KEEPS happening? Not a good sign ...

Laudna takes second watch, along with Pate ... "This is as low as I go, you didn't make me to he quiet." Yeah ...

Laura: "Okay, what if the creature IS the Shore Shrew?" Travis: "Okay, go to sleep."

And now they're being CHECKED OUT by the pixies ... wow, and these things are FUCKING UGLY up close ...

Liam: "I can imagine it walking right across your eye." Laura: "Like in Aeon Flux?" Oh yeah! XD

Extra watch? Then they can get a LONG rest ... so it's FCG with Pate helping.

Now there's a whole bloody HORDE of the fucking things surrounding them ... FCG tries to Talk With Animals ...

Laudna sleeps with her eyes open? Of course she does ... O.O

FCG seems to be making friends ... he tries to pickpocket his meat from him ... that didn't go well ... Chetney: "You're not supposed to be bartering with them!" FCG: "GO back to sleep." I can't believe that worked ...

Detect Thoughts? Hmmmm ... meanwhile Pussy II jokes ensue ...

One perches in his hand and HE CASTS TONGUES in it? AND IT WORKS?!!! Holy fuck ...

No name, just "me" ... hmmm ... "the Spray Cannon"? Okay ...

Oh, the "Smelly One" is some kind of creature ... oh, they decorate their bodies to mask their scents ...

Ah ... so the stuff is actually their SHIT ... of course ... they have to cover themselves with pixie shit ...

The island is uninhabited? Oh, there's Toriz? The Protector? Ummmmm ... what?

Big fire? FCG: "Oh, you guys are pyros?" Oh, so they WANT a big fire ... XD Yeah, I reckon they can accommodate that ...

Okay, so waking everybody up yo meet the new friends ...

Orym rolls over and IMMEDIATELY starts doing his morning push-ups ...

This is like now SUPREMELY bizarre ...

I love Me so much, I swear to the gods this thing is ADORABLE ...

Imogen tries to speak in its head ... "I'm in your head." Oh gods ...

Me: "You promised a fire." FCG: "Oh yeah, they like fire."

Imogen: "You're worried they're just gonna push us off a cliff?" Orym: "Oh ... well I WASN'T ..." XD

So they're APPROACHING the whooshing sound? Hmmmm ...

An old, long abandoned campsite? Interesting ... Grim Psychometry again ... oh shit, something NASTY happened here a long time ago ... oh, now that was just quietly TERRIFYING ...

Okay ... so it's time to make ... The Fire ...

Imogen: "Me, could EVERYONE poop on us? Oh, so gross ..." Me: "You want a rain from Me?" Hmmmm ...

Insight check on Me? Ooh, WHISPERS!!! Aaaaaaah ...

Fearne bamfs out Mister ... meanwhile they're discussing if they ACTUALLY want to get genuinely SHAT ON by these things ... it smells like lavender? Oh, so it's THAT MOSS that Chetney was chewing on earlier ... that explains a lot ...

Oh yeah, these guys really do LOVE fire ...

Me (to his friends): "The newcomers require a rain party." Oh. My. GODS ...

They are actually getting PELTED with this ... SHIT. Yeah ... Ashton: "Sometimes I think I should have just let that living room set kill you all."

Building a suitable bonfire ... oh yeah, OF COURSE Chetney knows what wood burns well.

All right, here we go ...

Ah, so this will be Laudna trying her Fire Magic under Fearne's guidance ... wow, nice job, girls! O.O ... oh yeah, they're just making a BIG shos of all this, and the pixies are just LOVING IT ...

Oh, here we go ... something's coming ...

A massive multi-legged komodo dragon that can change colours? Oh boy ... and it has NO EYES, just a FUCKLOAD of teeth ... with a big star on its nose? Like a MOLE?!!!

Stealth check ... Chetney rolls STUPID high ... znd it STILL attacks? Not good ...

Go to break? NOW?!!!

Shit, that's a NAT20?!!! Matt: "Why are you cheering?" 62 POINTS OF PIERCING DAMAGE to Chetney? Holy fuck ... znd it's time to ROLL INITIATIVE!!!

Battlemap! Yay!

Liam: "So Chetney just got COMPLETELY WRECKED?" Gods yes ...

Charge! Orym rushes the beast, using Seedling to pull himself right into its face! Bait and Switch on Chetney, nice! Protective Orym for the win!

Imogen Summons her Reiloran! Hex Mind? Okay ... using SPECIAL SORCERER MATHS she casts a long range attack on the beast! Zap! Psychic damage, bitch! Now the Reiloran delivers a Mind Spike znx deals EVEN MORE?!!! Oh, and then Mstt reminds her it can do MULTI-ATTACK so it does it AGAIN!!!

Chetney: "Oh my FUCKING GOD!!!" Casts Blood Curse of Bloated Agony and starts to crawl off ...

It tries to attack Orym and he fends it off TWICE ... third hits, though ... 22 points of slashing damage? Crap ...

It xan ONLY sense Orym? Hmmmm ... so the shit works, unless it's already engaged with them ...

FCG Compels it, but otherwise can't do much of anything until he can get to Chetney ...

Laudna Hexes the fucker! Yeah! Then she sends Pate in to attack ... but he can't make it either this round ... bugger ... 2 Eldritch Blasts, both hit! 14 and then 12 Damage! Nice!

Ashton Rages! Big ass rainbow charge! And he starts BARKING at it? That's wild ...

FIRE!!! Fearne tries to torch it ... oooh, damage maths ... 16! Nice! Mister goes too, poop shoot! Here we go ... bah, MISS!!! Nuts ...

"What about the power ... to move you?"

Wait ... what the fuck is THIS?!!! Something ELSE is coming? Is this about to get so much worse?

This changes Orym's plan somewhat ... flanking instead, slashes once, misses, Gain and HITS!!! Goading Attack! In the ARSE ... 16 points of damage and disadvantage against anyone else ...

Imogen LIGHTNING BOLTS the thing! Nice! Boom! 9 D6 of damage? Crazy ... 31 points of Lightning damage? Ouch ...

The Reiloran CRITS it ... 11 points of slashing damage ... Chetney: "Is that all? Eye flash and that's it?"

It attacks Orym ... miss ... then a HIT!!! Laudna casts Silvery Barbs! Nice save! Still hits a little, though ... crap ... it NEARLY BITES HIS ARM OFF?!!! Fuck, Matthew! Orym is REALLY HURT now ...

FCG gets as close as he can go Ofym and does a 3rd level Healing Word for 12 points ... that the best he can do right now ... and then all he can do is try and shoot it with the Bolt Thrower ... znd he MISSES!!! Travis: "Well at least you're consistent."

Laudna sends Pate to it and casts Shocking Grasp through him ... ZAP!!! Skittering? A great swarm of Stink Bugs? Infestation! Nice ... FCG: "It can't smell past the stink!" Yes, nice distraction!

Still Raging, Ashton Charles in, grabs Orym and carries him off ... stows him in a little hollow and then pops back up into the fight.

Fearne casts 3 Scorching Rays ... and NONE OF THEM HIT!!! Argh ... but at least Mister's "fiery turd gun" hits for 10 points of Fire damage.

Something big DROPS OUT OF THE SKY!!! Great ... boom ... and everybody gets blown back from the impact ...

Gigantic fucking demon frog beast ... like a FUCKING KAIJU ... its mouth glows from inside ... wait, there's a HOUSE inside this thing?

Whoa, giant beast face-off! Matt laments the fact he doesn't have a mini THIS BIG to put in and they immediately start ribbing him about it ...

Orym hacks and slashes, trying for another Goading Attack ... it works! Action Surge! Go tiny fighter!

Imogen tries to communicate with the giant frog ... oh, this thing might be friendly? Okay ... Imogen (out loud, to the group): "Take cover!"

Everybody who can just SCATTERS ... meanwhile the creature flees. Laudna tells Oare to build and he's very vocal about thinking her for the warning ...

The Mes are all swarming around the frog's head now ... it jumps on the lizard mole, squashes it, then just takes off with it and CHUCKS IT INTO THE OCEAN!!! Nice ...

Okay, the frog's back and SEEMS to be chill ... it opens its mouth ... and there REALLY IS like a kind of weird house inside this thing ... and there's somebody living inside it.

A galapa ... oh, a tortle? Cool ...

So this IS a friend of Keyleth's ... she's quite sweet, real. Hello Jirana. And the frog is Toriz. It's her home AND her friend, that's bizarrely adorable.

Fearne gives Toriz scritches. :3

Jirana IS aware of the major changes in the world. Oh, she's inviting them inside ... buy first douses Chetney with a bucketful of water for all the blood.

Bari Mondolo? So THAT'S what that thing was ...

The pixies are Dolabos? That's cute ...

The Cloud Jaws ... like a sky whale? Scary big thing ... and apparently IT IS dangerous, but only to airborne things. Okay, so not a MAJOR danger, then ...

The interior of the frog is surreal but also quite quaint and cosy.

Imogen uses Prestidigitation to clean them all off of the shit. Nice.

Jirana clearly collects stuff. Imogen gives her the Taste of Tal'dorei tankard. Awwww ... :3

She us an expert on grief and loss ... seems Keyleth sought her out? Oh yeah ... yeah, we know what THAT was about ...

There are 43 islands in the Shattered Teeth? Crazy ...

She's 400+ years old ... that's fucking crazy ...

Meanwhile there's some confusion over whether time passes different here or if she's just confused zbout that ...

Ashton reveals his Titan blood secret ...

Now asking about the Tree of Atrophy ...

Ooooooh ... Calamity fallout lore dump! Sweet ...

So you can just CHOOSE to become a tree ... okay ... wait ... is the Sun Tree like this? That would be interesting ...

Jirana: "The Tree is ... honest. Not everyone can handle this level of honesty." Hmmmm ...

So ... looking for a boat, then?

The islands REALLY DO move ... that's just GREAT ...

Oh my gods, I love the way Travis always completely loses it when Matt gives them a map. It's completely adorable every time. XD

Let Chetney repair a boat, guys. He's so stoked about this idea, just let him have this one.

Sam's flask is trying Matt's patience in the best way ... XD

Three big mountains ...

A "floater of danger"? Hmmmm ...

Yes, I agree, teleportation is NOT a smart idea right now. No, just TAKE A BOAT!!! Let Chetney mend a boat, guys ...

Ooh! Compass! Sweet ... the lost compass of the Dread Pirate Novos ... wait, is Matt SERIOUSLY evoking THE PRINCESS BRIDE right now?

A dark deal ... a GHOST SHIP?!!! Wait ... is this some U'kotoa shit?

There's a motorcycle outside, apparently ... Liam: "Grog's got gas." Travis (as Grog): "Sorry ..."

Chetney tries to get a read on the compass ... ooh, vision of a memory ... that's some crazy shit ... "Yep, it's a pirate ghost ship, and it'll be ... AWESOME."

Wow, they're actually seriously considering going for some kind of Davy Jones deal with the Dread Pirate ... O.O

TWO Titans died here ... Jirana has to look up their names ... Rau'shan and Ka'mort. Okay ...

Oooh, care package ... what kind of goodies are they getting? 2 reef moss balms, a bottle of slickshimmer oil, 2 brackish Potions (basically two greater healing potions) ... cool ... that's gonna be so helpful ...

FCG gives her fresh baked goods, and she's very appreciative.

Oh Letters, you're doing better at this than you think you are. Jirana does a really beautiful job of bucking him up ... apparently HE needs to talk to the tree too, and she's willing to help hom too if he ever makes it back this way ...

Man, this ancient tortoise woman is really something special ...

Chetney: "The wolf requires a high metabolism." Jirana: "THIS is for stamina." Wait ... did she just give him some homemade viagra? O.O

Fearne gives her salt and pepper shakers she got from the museum heist. Awwwww ...

She can TAKE THEM to the North Shore? Sweet ...

Oh yeah, clearly this us gonna be a serious wild ride ... I love that she's just a massive daredevil about this while the rest of them are deeply alarmed by the journey ...

Stepping out ... aha, the Shore is in sight. Here we go, then.

Ashton: "How do you grieve if you don't know what was taken from you?" Oh man ...

Jirana: "I am perpetually surrounded by broken things. They can always be mended in time."

Farewell to Jirana then, while the rest of them head to the shore. And that's it for tonight.

Yeah, Matt DID go all out on the Miyazaki vibe tonight, didn't he? I loved it ... :3

[waywardfacegarden]

what’s your opinion of the last few chapters of ao no flag and how they fit in with the rest of the manga? 👀 (like do you think the ending was well set-up and satisfying?)

Sorry it took me so long to reply to this!!!!!!! I absolutely flipped of happiness when I got this ask, so thank you so much for sending it!!!! I love talking about things I love, and this manga is so criminally underrated imo, but I have SO MANY THOUGHTS!!! It’s nice having an excuse to rant about it, lol. Also, feel more than free to rant about this question, too, I would love to hear your opinion!!!

Here goes my way-too-long reply under the cut:

To be honest, I have a lot of thoughts about this manga but I’m too bad at expressing myself and articulating my opinions in a coherent way, so this is probably going to be pretty incoherent ajsdlashfldsf, my apologies in advance.

First of all, I have to state that I really like the ending!!!!!!! I totally understand that some people say it was rushed, but it wasn’t like that for me. At least, not in a way that made me feel like I wasted my time reading it.

As for the whole Futaba/Taichi breaking up and Touma/Taichi being endgame, I absolutely loved it. Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to have more context and background about how Taichi and Touma got together (and if the author decided to do a short spin-off about some moments between that time skip, I’d read it in a flash), but I also like the myriad of possibilities you can play with in your mind of how that happened. I like the open aspect of it. Also, I really, really, really, really loved Futaba and Taichi’s relationship, and I have to admit that when I read that “two years later... I broke up with Futaba” line, my jaw dropped LOL. I had to pause my reading for a couple of minutes to fully process it, if I’m honest. Not to say I hated it, but it did hurt me that they broke up LOOL. However, I also found it... realistic? It’s not like Futaba and Taichi’s relationship was bad or that at some point I thought “this is due to end at some point, I don’t think they’re going to last forever together”... it’s just that I liked... how it was handled? If that makes sense. Yeah, it was pretty simplistic, and I know some people say that it was out of nowhere and that the author didn’t even care to explain why it happened with that “sorry explanation”, but I really liked it.

I checked up the exact lines in my translation so i wouldn’t mess it up, lol, and here it is: “There wasn’t an interesting story behind it. People might ask why... or say what they would’ve done in our place... not understanding the little decisions we made. But... we decided to go our own ways... not to match the shapes set forth by others, but for our own shapes of happiness.” 

I love it. All the manga is a wholesome, pretty realistic (in my opinion) way to show the teenage years, the coming-on-age, the “have to take/make decisions that will affect your future” and the whole mess that is... feelings and the complexity of relationships. I like how, when Taichi is explaining it, he says that there isn’t something dramatic or big that lead to it. It probably was a bunch of things, and maybe the outcome wouldn’t be what other people would have done, but it was their decision, it was what made them happy. He makes it clear. I especially love it because:

1) It’s pretty normal. Relationships don’t always work. It doesn’t have to be because of something big, either. People change over time, take different decisions that, in consequence, lead to change in dynamics/relationships. That’s life. It’s always, constantly changing. I’m not the same person I was five years ago, and I doubt I will be exactly the same five years from now pn to the future. That doesn’t mean that if you’re in a relationship now and you both start changing that it won’t work, it’s just that sometimes it doesn’t. And that’s normal. It’s pretty simple but also real, in my opinion. He clearly states that other people probably wouldn’t understand the little decisions they made, but it happened. Which, again, realistic imo.

2) I love how he says “we decided to go our own ways, not to match the shapes set forth by others, but for our own shapes of happiness”. Why? Because it leads back to the repeated theme of the story of “what is your happiness right now”. Basically, I think the main topic/message by the end was how Taichi took the decisions--and how people in general irl make decisions--because that’s what made him happy in that moment. You don’t always know if you’re making the right decisions, but at the end of the day, you’re always chasing your happiness. So, I like how that theme played there as well. They took that decision to chase after their own shapes of happiness, not wanting to chase after what someone else think that would made them happy, but what they themselves thought that did.

I also love how he states that it wasn’t easy. Futaba was an important person in his life. She helped him change, she shaped a lot of who he was by the end of the time-skip, so of course it would be hard to break up. It wasn’t like she would die or something, but it was a big change. Even if it was a decision that was took for the best (at least for them), of course it was going to be hard for him, and I like that it was stated. I also love how Touma was the one who made them connect again, really an amazing touch and, again, one of the things I loved about Ao No Flag, and how the main love triangle wasn’t toxic at all. He knew both of them were important for the other, and I love that he was the one who helped them get in touch again. I also love how Touma was still in touch with Futaba and Masumi and that Futaba and Taichi reconnect again.

So all in all, I think Futaba and Taichi’s broke up was realistic. It’s true that just because you have a relationship in your teenage years it doesn’t have to end when you grow older, but a lot of times, it happens. That’s the complexity of liking/loving someone over the years and relationships/feelings in general. So I don’t think it was that out of place? As much as people like to complain, because, true, you usually have this endgame pairing at the end of the story and you, of course, assume everything is going to be happily ever after for them (or, like, as happy as it can get with its highs and lows) and they will stick together... this is also a realistic possiblity/outcome? It’s pretty uncommon in a story, and I understand that people thought that the manga took the route of focusing “way too much on Futaba/Taichi’s romantic development to just throw it by the end” but I don’t think the story itself was just that. The story, for me, was more than just Futaba and Taichi’s “romantic development”. And everything that happened, and how each other changed the other’s life was so meaningful for me even if they didn’t end up together. I love how they breaking up doesn’t change any of that.

Also, I don’t think Taichi’s romantic feelings for Touma were “our of nowhere”? OF COURSE, I would have loved to have a Taichi’s explicit realization of “oh, I love Touma like that” or “oh, he’s more than just a best friend for me/this is more than just platonic love”. But... Idk, this is probably just because I’m bi, so I’m probably biased (LOL), but I never thought of Taichi as other than bisexual? This is just my perspective, but I feel like there were hints everywhere in the manga that he felt strongly about Touma, and yeah, you can say that it was just platonic love, but even if he didn’t feel romantic feelings for him in his teenage years (which, I personally think he kind of had a crush on him when they were younger), he very well could have had developed them later. I know a lot of people irl that have known each other for years and never felt any slight romantic attraction to each other and then years later they started talking more, etc. and started liking each other. It can happen. More so if you’re already close? Of course I would have loved to have more explicit moments, but I feel like the author A) decided that Taichi would develop romantic attraction/feelings only later (in that time skip) or B) did want to include more but wasn’t allowed to because shounen genre. This is just my opinion, of course. But, yeah. I think it was already hard to make that ending happen (main reason of why I think it wasn’t THAT explicit either that it was Touma/Taichi and why the author didn’t show Touma’s face), and that they showed a lot of subtle moments of Taichi’s deep feelings respecting Touma around the story. I really, really, really, absolutely loved Taichi’s turmoil/conflict by the end after Touma confessed to him. Raw, realistic, emotional, deep... I love everything about it. I always cry like a baby when he reads the message inside the charm of “best friend power”, I tell you. I have that panel of him crying and smiling saved in my phone because I’m a fucking masochist aksdjlsdfjk. IT BREAKS ME. Everything about him breaking down, too, with that dream, throwing things in his room, EVERYTHING about his turmoil felt incredibly crude and real to me. Never ever fails to make me cry. And I really liked how he did thought a lot about his feelings and what he wanted and what Touma felt, instead of just going “no, I accept his feelings and I love him, but not in that way. Not like Futaba”. Of course, by the end (before the time-skip), that’s basically what he tells him, but I liked how it didn’t only went with that without showing all of Taichi’s inner conflict.

As a bonus, two more things about the final final chapter:

1) I’m assuming this, but I think I’m right, haha: I really, seriously love how the author knew the ending was going to be controversial and threw some lines that made it seem like (for me, at least) “I get it, most of you won’t get it but I’m fine with this ending myself”. With the whole “Friend or lover? Which will it be?” poster thing, Taichi’s comment about the ending like “the characters’ final decisions didn’t sit well with me”, the “oh, but then again... form someone’s else point of view, my decisions might also seem...” (ASJDLDSFJ it’s like the author is saying, ‘ahaha, yeah, ik, you might not get this, ik’, and I find it so incredibly endearing and satisfying and funny? I absolutely love it when authors make subtle mentions to their [probably] controversial/uncommon/or even cliché decisions in their own story).

2) I absolutely love the final panels of the chapters because they always manage to make me cry my eyes out? The simple but oh so realistic that I absolutely die for line of “life is a series of choices. Even if you pick, hoping for the best... You might hurt someone, or yourself, and regret it. And even if, you do gain happiness, you might be afraid of the next choice that comes, because you don’t want to lose it. Nevertheless, we continue to make choices forever. That’s why I pray that... the future that lies beyond this myriad of choices...” GAH, I LOVE IT. It’s so painfully real; and just... the underlying beauty of the hopeful open ending of the line, too? -- Also, the “hey, if it were you...” followed by the “haha, you’re so annoying!” panel of TAICHI SMILING AND LAUGHING SO FREAKING HAPPY, LIKE THAT’S EVERYTHING I WANTED FOR HIM, Y E AH. IT MAKES ME SO GODDAMN EMOTIONAL. AND TH EN, THE FOLLOWING PANELS, FUTABA BEING SO HAPPY WITH HER HUSBAND, MASUMI AND HER PARTNER, AGHHHHHHH, MY GODDAMN HEART, THEY’RE SO HAPPY AS WELL AND THAT’S EVERYTHING I NEEDED, AND AND AND THEIR CLASSMATES ALL HAPPY AND GOING ON WITH THEIR LIFES, AND THE FUCKING. ENDEARING, LOVELY DOMESTICY OF THAT LAST DIALOGUE OF TAICHI BEFORE THE “let’s go home”, thE FUCKI N G R I N G, I SCR E AMED (like i knew they were married, or i THOUGHT so before -- buT BU TT B UUU T AAAAAAAA), AND ALSO THAT PANEL OF TAICHI IS ONE OF THE BEST, MOST BEAUTIFUL, HEARTWARMING PANELS I’VE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE?????????????????????????? The way he looks so goddamn SOFT and SO FOND and the way he’s just in the middle and focus on the panel, like it’s everything Touma sees, and and and just how HAPPY TAICHI LOOKS, and the way the hand kind of... “goes out” of the panel, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE WHEN AUTHORS DO THAT IN IMPORTANT SCENES, AND THEN THE LINKED HANDS????????????????? BR O. I seriously was crying my eyes out. It was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful for me.

SO YEAH. All in all, I was satisfied! Of course, I would’ve loved more of Touma and Taichi’s explicit romantic development, and I understand that people felt the ending was rushed. But for me, the manga was more than just... couples and endgames, you know? The manga itself was so beautiful and wholesome and it had so many good points that the ending just felt like a beautiful closure and, at the same time, a hopeful, amazingly beautiful and touching opening for more of this heartwarming, real, so beautiful coming-of-age story. I think it matches with the tone of the rest of the manga of chasing your happiness and making the decisions that sit best for you and for what you want, even if others don’t understand. I think it matches with the theme of how complex and beautifully amazing relationships and feelings are. I think it suits with the beauty of the manga in general.

And in conclusion, I’m going to show you a pic of this comment on reddit (of a discussion of the ending) that pretty much sums up what I think and said in this:

[ticklishpeter]

cutie (diego/lila)

HELLO! despite the summary, this is a totally sfw fic!! someone tell me,,, why i can write a 1,000+ word fic in about 3 hours,,, while i still can’t start ANY of my papers for classes??? OOF. anyways,,, i’m proud of this one! 🥺

summary: how either of them ended up in this situation, they didn't know. well… they had started out trying out… different things in the bedroom, so here they were; diego with his arms over his head, wrists tied together with a belt, as lila straddled his lap. ... it certainly wasn't supposed to turn into a tickle torture session.

word count: 1,337

How either of them ended up in this situation, they didn't know. Well… they had started out trying out… different things in the bedroom, so here they were; Diego with his arms over his head, wrists tied together with a belt, as Lila straddled his lap.

It certainly wasn't supposed to turn into a tickle torture session. 

———

“Goddammit, Lila,” Diego said, residual giggles slipping out of him. She'd just found out how ticklish he was on his stomach, thanks to Klaus calling into the bedroom as soon as he heard laughter. So of course she had to take advantage. For five minutes before now.

“Iiii’m gonna getcha!” Lila grinned, beginning to wiggle her nimble fingers just inches over her boyfriend’s hypersensitive stomach.

He turned his head away, giggling into his shoulder and closing his eyes.

“What is it, handsome? I'm not even tickling you yet! Does it tickle already?” Lila laughed, repetitively jerking her hands forward as if she was about to make contact.

“I-” he choked out another giggle and a growl, “N-no! … i-it doesn't.” His voice was strained, and he still was avoiding eye contact at all costs.

“Does this tickle? Aww, don't worry, you can tell me the truth,” she cooed, poking her fingers towards his belly, not yet making contact.

“I-it doesn't fucking… t-...tickle- HA! ACK!” Saying the word was enough to get the giggles flowing out of him.

“You sure about that?” Her pokes made their way to his sensitive middle this time, and she chuckled brightly at the uncharacteristic yelp that came out of Diego’s mouth.

He muttered various expletives, feeling a giggle bubbling in his throat, “Shiiit, LILA! - Noohoho,” Hiding his quickly reddening face again, he pulled at his restraints, silently cursing at them.

“You are such a cutie,” Lila giggled up at him. “I’ll tell you what,” she started, propping herself up on her elbow, “You say how cute you are, then maybe I’ll stop. — Although, it’ll be really hard for me to stop if you keep all this giggling up; way too cute to stop, y’know?”

“Sh-shut up,” Diego cried, wiggling to and fro as he tried to close his mouth and stop laughing, “M’not cute!”

Lila tapped a few nails on his uppermost rib, “Actually, you most definitely are!”

She began to scratch five fingers in the center of his tummy, getting endless amusement out of the yelp she heard, and the stream of laughter that followed. Moving her face up to his, she grinned, “Listen to how cute your little laugh is though! And your eyes crinkle up all sweet! You should definitely smile more, you know that?”

“Shshsh-” Diego giggled before falling into wordless laughter, too flustered to make any out. He turned his head away from Lila’s playful poke to his cheek.

“Everytime I do this,” she quickly poked all ten fingers into his tummy, observing Diego’s violent twitch and particularly squeaky noise, “you do that.” Demonstrating her observation, she did the same thing again, and again, and again.

And at this point, Diego was laughing even when she wasn't touching him. “Stopit!” he sputtered between desperate squeaks and squeals, “Leave me alohohone!”

Suddenly, she brought her hands back towards her, crossing her arms adamantly, a mischievous spark still in her eye, “Okay, no problem.”

Diego’s eyes shifted at the silence. God, how he wanted to be able to move so he could get his revenge. He tried once more, to no avail, to pull himself free from the belt that his wrists were restrained with.

“Having fun?” Her head tilted to the side as she grinned down at him, leaning to hum in his ear, “Or do you want me to tickle you some more?” A giggle escaped Diego’s mouth at the sensation near his neck. He was so giggly already; he nearly forgot how to stop.

But the way she smiled and laughed while she tickled him… that was enough for Diego; more than enough really. If he could take part in something that produced a smile that sweet? He’ll do it, regardless of how absolutely unbearable it was.

“Hey! Yoo-hoo! Earth to Diego!”

A trance he didn't even know he was in got cut short by Lila snapping her fingers in his face.

“Can I please tickle you more? I'm just so bored and you're just so adowable,” she put on a fake pout as she squeezed his cheek, smiling when he jerked his head away.

Diego avoided eye contact again. He couldn't help but smile though. Although his arms were totally immobile, and she could totally kill him right now, he felt safer than he had in a long time. “Fine. But be nice, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she replied in a sarcastically dismissive tone before moving her face down to his belly.

“Woahwoahwoahwoahwhatareyoudoing- HEY! ACK! FUCK! LILA!” Diego shrieked when he felt a raspberry, something he hadn't felt since he was a child.

Lila cackled, “I knew that would work on you.” She placed another one way too close to his navel, and another one, and another one, nearly flinching at how violently he arched his back. Adding a quickly pinching and prodding few fingers to the torture, Lila was having too much fun listening to his reactions.

“LILA, God! F-Fuckin’ -” he squeezed his eyes shut in attempt to gain at least a little bit of composure, “GYAH, not THAHAT!” he cried, beginning again to kick his free legs as much as he could, his back nearly flying off the bed.

“Cool it with the kicking, knife boy, or you're gonna kick me in the tits,” she teased, holding a leg down, certainly not expecting Diego to laugh even harder, and let out another ever-amusing squeak.

She grinned an open-mouthed grin at him and paused all movement, “No way, Elmo! Your thighs?”

An experimental squeeze made Diego’s entire body jump as he snorted loudly, “N-No, no, they're n- AAH! FUCK!” Suddenly both of Lila’s hands were pinching up and down his wildly flailing thighs, and his shrieks turned into frantic giggles. “Y-You-,” hic, hic, “You said you'd be nice!”

“No, I didn't,” Lila shook her head, still smiling so much that her cheeks began to hurt. “Besides, you think this is being not-nice? This is being not-nice.” She stuck a wiggling finger into his belly button, while another hand stayed squeezing at his thigh, and her face leaned back down to place raspberry after raspberry along the sides of his tummy.

Diego went berserk; screaming and thrashing around, legs kicking out at every angle, his face was beet red, and sweat began to mat his long, messy hair. He had no idea how to deal with all of his worst tickle spots being ruthlessly tickled. The screams were mixed with silent, hiccups laughter as he shook his head. “LILA! LILA, OKAY! OKAY ST- ” he went silent again, drumming his feet on the mattress, “STOPIT, I CAN’T, I CAHAHAN’T,” hic, “PLEASE, PLEASE, OKAY!” His rambly laughter, however amusing, was beginning to sound truly desperate; maybe she should stop.

“Will you admit you're adorable?” Her British accent called over him, not letting up at all, relishing in Diego's smile and the bright, oh-so-precious sound of his laughter.

He nodded without a sound; there was no way he could say it with how hard he was laughing, and Lila noticed this. She moved her designated belly button finger to scratch around below it, easing up only slightly.

“Ihihi’m! - Dammit,” he turned his blushing face away, tucking his face into his shoulder.

“Ahp, ahp! Look at me while you say it.” Lila grabbed his chin gently and turned it towards her as Diego scrunched his nose.

Looking up at her with squinty eyes, he gasped for breath, “I'm- GAH, I'm... fucking c-cute, okay? Shihit-” Falling back into silent laughter, he shook his head, rambling, “Enough! - That's enough, oh my God, Lila, I'm gonna die!”

“Okay, okay, calm down, cutie pie,” Lila laughed, stopping her brutal tickle attacks.

As soon as Diego’s arms were released, one flew down to cover his torso and the other shot towards Lila’s side, tickling her off of his lap.

He smiled at Lila’s high-pitched squeal, sitting up, “My turn, cutie pie.”

[thickwamuu]

dragon!kars x reader

Made this in a cold sweat as a gift for @yanderebloodlust if I do end up making a second part to it it will for sure get a lil steamier bc we support pent up pompous lonely kars in this house. It’s my first time writing something like this I’m sowwy 😳😗

Words - 1,111

“Y/n, can you see anything?” Joseph piped up behind you as you travelled your hand along the cavernous rocky wall.

You halted, causing the large male to bump into you with an ‘oof’ that albeit quiet- managed to echo off the cave walls faintly. You turned to him sharply.

“Joseph!” You scolded in the lowest decibel you could muster, coming out in a whispered hiss. “As the one who dragged me here, you of all people should know what the stories say is in here. Being too loud is a death wish!” You rubbed at your aching temples. “I don’t even know why you made me come with you in the first place! I-I’m a baker! The only thing dragons and baking have in common is that if you jump directly into the fire you’re gonna be the thing that gets cooked-“

“Y/n-“ Joseph interjected.

“No! I’ve had enough! I’m tired, you made me walk through a swamp to get here and IM STILL finding leeches!” You continued.

“Y/-“

“Look, I know you’ve got this whole ‘valiant adventurer’ thing going on, Joseph but I’m not meant for th....”

You were cut off by a low bass-filled rumble resonating through the walls causing you both to swallow audibly.

“We should-“ You started.

“Run.” Joseph added.

“Yeah.” Nodding, you took off back the way you came.

-

By the time you stopped running you were a panting and sweaty mess, heaving and gasping.

“Lord Joseph..” you gasped “I don’t know.. how you.. my stamina.. is..” your breathing slowed and you paled as you noticed that you could only hear your own breath. “J-Joseph..?”

Silence.

Well that would have been the case had you not heard the slow dragging of scales on rock in the distance. You began to run blindly, taking random passages and trying your best to avoid obstacles. As you came to a slow, the hand you trailed along the walls touched something briefly making you jump. When you inspected it in the low light you realized it was a dry torch.

You’ve never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

You began to frantically pat around your attire for flint holding the torch high to balance as your thus far fruitless search led into your boots.

A gentle puff followed by the tender crackle of flame could be heard causing you to look up to the now lit torch and the subsequent large scaly snout behind it.

Watching ruby eyes glinted in the distance giving you a shine to the grand scale of the legendary reptile before you. It’s mouth opened ever so slightly giving way to a row of dagger-like teeth as a soft clicking hiss drifted past them from the depths of its throat. If you weren’t feeling disjointed you might have heard the faintest human-sounding “treasure” behind the layers of its vocalizations.

Your gaze traveled along the path from its nose and reached three proud horns gracing its forehead, bewitching jewels clustered at the base.

As if realizing you were enamoured by its grace, it tilted its head ever so slightly giving you a chance to notice the iridescent gleam to the beast’s violet scales when the fire light danced along it. Although large, it exuded an air of elegance and superiority. It truly was a beautiful creature worthy of praise and you surely were lucky to witness it face-to-face.

That was as long as you managed to survive to recall the tale.

As this thought pulled you from your trance, you did the most logical thing your brain could think of and thrusted a fist at the scaled nose, dropping the torch in the process.

A grunt came from the mighty dragon and you managed to run past its belly as it was momentarily stunned. It roared behind you loudly and clumsily began to follow you through the already tight passages, knocking against the cave ceiling. Many questionable turns later you managed to find a smaller passage you could just barely squeeze through and decided to take your chances with it.

This proved a good choice when a large angry red eye greeted you at the opening you came from. You pushed forward and could hear the beast struggling to reach you.

A razor-like claw grazed your back, cutting your sword sheath off of your hip causing it to clatter to the ground loudly.

“Y/n?” A familiar voice yelled from the direction you were headed.

“Joseph!” You replied, relief flooding your system.

“There’s an opening ahead! Just a little further Y/n, c’mon!” He reassured you.

As you squeezed forward the dragons attempts became more desperate and it was now ramming it’s body into the rock as its ferocious cry bellowed through the rock surrounding you once more.

Your sweaty hand met with Joseph’s as he heaved you through into an opening, and just like he had said, there was a large opening just ahead. A sigh of relief passed your lips when the sight of your horses waiting at the mouth of the cave met your line of sight.

A deep crack met your ears as rubble flew and the emerging furious reptile spotted you.

“Let’s go!” The Joestar that got you into this mess in the first place urged, letting go of your hand and sprinting towards the exit. You could smell the change from the stagnant cave air into the clear breeze of the surrounding mountain’s forest.

Joseph was untying the horses when you were yanked back by a single claw down the collar of your tunic.

“Ack!” You cried out.

“Y/n! Wait there!” Joseph urged.

“Well I can’t do much else!” You screeched.

A throwing knife shot through the air, past your ear and planted itself directly in the dragons hand causing it to cry out and let you go.

Without much thought you surged forward and hopped on your horse before taking off.

The large beast followed with a roar as you made your way towards the wall of thick trees, it’s giant body emerging from the cave you were previously in.

You could feel the intensity of the flame over your head that scorched to top of the tall trees.

“I’ll be honest, Y/n, I wasnt sure the knife wasn’t going to hit you, but I’m sur...”

Joseph’s voice turned into background noise as you turned to see if the dragon was still there.

It was.

It’s hawk-like eyes staring right back into yours as it calmly waited at the mouth of the cave.

You quickly turned away and felt the chill of a gaze on your back as you and your childhood friend retreated into the forest.

[solaneceae]

MFKZ OS 10: Flowing

Climate change was no joke it seemed.

Vinz awoke drenched with sweat, his blanket -the one with little tigers leaping around, his favourite-  pooling at the foot of the couch. He groaned in faint disgust as he hurriedly sat up, hating the sensation of moist fabric against his back. Gross. He rubbed the crust out of his eyes and looked towards the window; the sun had barely began to peek out over the horizon.

Uuuuugh. Only in DMC one could wake up to suffocating heat at 8am in the middle of november. The world truly was going to shit. Good thing the flames atop his skull were only hot if he wanted them to be, however that worked.

He sighted. Even with their new president doing her best to undo a decade’s worth of damage on environmental laws, it would be a long time until things started to change for the better.

“Wow, you look like death!”

The hothead turned around to huff at the other couch, or rather the half-alien laying upside-down on the back. His socks don’t match, Vinz noted distractedly. Heh. What an airhead.

Angelino flashed him a shit-eating grin, seemingly unbothered with the humid heat taking over the neighbourhood. Vinz glared back; his roommate’s freaky genetics must’ve granted him some kind of resistance to high temperatures. Lucky bastard. “Dude, shut up. S’too early for your sass.”

“What? I’m just being a concerned friend. You don’t look so hot after all.”

“Oh my fucking god.”

The skeleton jumped to his feet and hurried out of the room, eager to get out of earshot of his best friend’s terrible puns -the dumbass radius as he called it- and cool down in a cold shower. Which one he wished for the most right now was up for debate.

***

He didn’t step from under the delightfully freezing water until his fingertips turned blue and his body seized up in uncontrollable shivers. He should be set for a couple of hours.

The young adult entered the kitchen in a much better mood, finding Lino munching on cereals right out of the box, not-so-sneakily dropping some on the floor for his roaches to feast on. “Took you long enough, thought you drowned or something.” the hybrid stated, passing the half-empty box to Vinz’ awaiting hands. He smirked, a teasing glint in his inky black eyes. “Did you have fun in there?”

The hothead half-groand half-snickered. Christ, the hothead could almost hear the italics. What was he, fifteen? “Well I didn’t die. Glad you still care.”

“I always care!”

“I know. Remember that storm back at the orphanage? I went outside to see and you got so scared my flames would go out and I’d die. You cried for like an hour.”

Angelino tensed up in protest. “What? Bullshit, I didn’t cry!”

“You so did. You didn’t want to go outside cuz you’re scared of thunder -don’t give me that look, I know it still makes you flinch-, and when I came back you were screaming about Charmander. Ring any bells?”

His best friend looked like he just bit into a particularly sour lemon. He was fidgeting with the edge of his sleeve and was definitely avoiding his gaze now, his cheeks a darker shade than the rest of his pitch black face. Vinz wished he could take a pic to immortalize one of the rare moments he managed to shut his roomate up.

The image of a much smaller, younger Lino sobbing into his shirt, his tiny fists clutching the fabric came to the forefront of his mind. S’okay Lino, don’t cry! he remembered laughing. My flames are magic, see? Stupid water can’t hurt me!

He felt himself smile. Granted, he couldn't actually smile with his lack of skin (and facial muscles. And lower jaw.), but the way his eyes squinted and his flames turned to a vivid green were good enough indicators. He teasingly grabbed his pouting roommate and trapped him into a ruthless noogie. “Don’t worry you lil’ shit, I’m not kicking the bucket anytime soon. Someone gotta watch out for your scrawny ass.”

The hybrid hissed in discomfort and wrestled out of Vinz’ grip, rubbing this head. “‘Scrawny’?! Fuck you, yours is bony!”. He then proceeded to trip the other with a swift little kick. The hothead yelped as he hit the ground -thank god for the shitty carpet-, his rival cackling evilly. Angelino used the other’s stunned state to sit cross legged onto his back -earning a strangled oof in the process-, grab his right arm and, with a triumphant smile, twist it against his clavicle.

“- Ack! Lino, the fuck?!

- That’s what you get for screwing with me! Now yield!

- Hell no, you motherfucker!”

Vinz didn’t quite know how it had come to this, him face planted into the faded orange carpet with his best friend sitting on top of him and basically asphyxiating him. It was all in good fun though, he could feel the tremors of uncontrollable giggles rattling his chest.

“- You gonna say ‘uncle’ yet? No rush, you make a good seat.

-  Ngh… thought I was bony?

- A bony seat is still a seat.

- So deep. Ten outta ten, truly inspiring. You gonna write a book on that?”

The half-alien just smiled wider, pulling on his arm a little harder.

“Ow, ow, okay ow, fine, you win!” the hothead wheezed from under him. “You win! Now lemme go before I burn your ass!”

Lino let go of his arm, chuckling. “You wouldn’t dare. My ass is a national treasure.”

Vinz repressed a certain thought immediately after it came to existence, letting out a deep sigh and glaring over his shoulder. “Right, keep thinking that. You gonna get off or what?”

His roommate didn’t respond, still sitting crossed legged in the small of his back. He was staring right ahead, head tilted to the side and brow furrowed, like he was trying really hard to figure something out. The skeleton squinted. “Lino, not that I don’t appreciate you, but it’s a little hard to breathe here and I’m getting sweaty again so-”

“You think that place is still there?”

The hothead’s voice trailed to a stop at the interruption. The young hybrid had turned to look at him, something fuzzy and familiar in his bug eyes. He blinked. “...Well, it’s not like a place can actually go anywhere… else... than where it’s at. You talking about the orphanage? Cuz I’m pretty sure it’s still where it’s always been.”

“Not that, dumbass. I mean the stream.”

Vinz’ eye sockets widened, a glint of recollection in his yellow pupils. “Wait, that stream? The one with the little waterfall overhead?”

“Yeah.”

“The one where we ran off to when it was too hot and we wanted to piss off the old broad?”

“Yup.”

“The one where you hit your head while trying to do a flip and you almost died of hypothermia?”

“Uh, I don’t-”

Now Vinz was just fucking with him. The skeleton’s tone took a teasing edge. “The one where I went to get some water and came back to find you-”

“YES. Yes Vinz, that one.” Angelino quickly cut him off and jumped off him, voice going up an octave. His victim dramatically rolled onto his back and took a much-needed gulp of air, as the other sneered from above him. “Fucker.”

“Bitch.” Vinz responded, flipping him off. He sat up against the bottom of the couch and cracked his joints. “So, our old secret place. What about it?”

His friend grimaced. “Don’t call it that, what are you, five ?”

Yeah, five inches deep in your MOM. Oh how Vinz wanted to quote that iconic vine. But he refrained from doing so, given who stood in front of him.

“I was thinking…” the hybrid began, plopping down next to him. “It’s early, it’s warm as all hell and we got fuckall to do today. Maybe we can go back. To see if it’s still there. And not, y’know, bulldozered and shit.”

The skeleton stared at him. “...What, ten years later? Why?”

“Why not? It’s a bit far, but I remember how to get there. And with how we originally found it by complete accident and all, pretty sure no one but us knows it exists. Could be worth it.”

Huh.

Vinz hummed. Maybe it would, as the alternative would be to spend the day either under cold water or complaining about global warming. Why the fuck not. He turned to an expectant roommate, determination steeled in his features. “Okay. Let’s go.”

***

Angelino finally stopped at the edge of a huge grey rock, chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath. He didn’t remember the way up being so steep. Vinz wasn’t far behind him, his heavy breathing and cursing catching up to him. Given the colorful words leaving his mouth about the “fucking piece of shit trees that don’t have anything better to do than fuck up my day”, he guessed his companion must’ve had tripped on a root at some point. In any case, the hothead finally hauled his way up the rock and bend forward, panting in exertion as his best friend sat down, legs dangling over the edge.

“Shit.” Vinz wheezed out, wiping the sweat off his skull. “I think we need to work out more, I feel like passing out.”. The hybrid snorted, not tearing his eyes away from the scenery below. “Yeah, fuck that noise. I’m doing fine, you’re the one who needs to go out more.”

The skeleton made a noncommittal grunt and popped his back into place, sighing in relief. He opened his eye sockets and took in the sight below them.

It felt… weird. It was the same old place he remembered, but not? Kinda? The thin waterfall dropping down the red stone cliff was the same. The deformed bean-shaped basin at the bottom was the same. The clear water (hallelujah, it was still clear after all those years) overflowing from said basin was the same. But everything else seemed to have shifted slightly, and the whole place felt scaled down. Smaller.

Eh. After more than ten years it was probably normal.

They stood still for another minute, silently letting fleeting memories and faint nostalgia wash over them. Then Angelino looked up at his best friend and smiled softly. “Wanna go down?”

***

“- I remember it being a lot bigger, don’t you?

- Nah dude, you were just short.

- Shut up, you were even shorter than I was, and that’s saying something.”

The hybrid ignored the jab at his petite frame, staring at the sky peeking out from between the foliage. He was floating on his back, half immersed into the basin. Cold water lapped at his ears now and again, drowning the world the low hum of moving water.

The basin wasn’t that deep, two meters at most, and only wide enough for about two grown adults to do the starfish without bumping into each other. So, wide enough for two of each of them.

Thanks to that and the sun heating up the stones all day, it wasn’t too cold, juste pleasantly chilly. Vinz had insisted on preparing some heating runes and sigils for some reason, and Lino had indulged him with a shrug. And even though, deep down, the hothead had been intrigued by the strange (worried?) look Angelino kept giving him while he worked his magic (heh), he decided not to ask.

The half-alien closed his eyes and filled his lungs with relatively pure air, at least compared to DMC’s usual smog.

In. Out. In and out, again.

His lead felt clear, quiet, a welcome reprieve from the constant outside noises and the numbing buzz of his own thoughts. It was nice.

Had it been worth the two-hour long bus trip full of rude and sweaty people? The forty-minute trek through the wilderness that left them breathless, dusty and bloody in some places?

Heck. Yes.

“Vinz?” he called out, eyes still closed. His voice was quiet, most of his energy having been sapped by the heat and the climbing.

His friend only acknowledged him with a hoarse, inquisitive hum. Sounded like the hothead wasn’t faring much better. Angelino took a deep breath.

“Why did we stop coming here?”

A few seconds of silence. Thinking Vinz needed him to elaborate, he kept talking. “I mean, this place is amazing. S’always been this way, our own little thing, you know? It was hard to get there, I remember that much, but it was always worth it in the end. Sure, we got older and life kinda kept kicking us into the ground, but it was still here, just a few hours away. So why-”

“You mean you don’t remember?”

Angelino cracked his eyes open; Vinz was staring at him with a tired but sharp look, slowly drifting onto the surface of the water. He blinked in confusion. “Remember what?”

His roomate let out an airy laugh, running a now chilly hand against his face. “Figures. Don’t worry it’s fine, s’not a life-or-death kind of info. Uh, do you remember earlier when I told you you almost died here once?”

The hybrid lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah, when you were fucking with me this morning.”

“I wasn’t. It happened, for real.”

“...Oh.”

His best friend was staring at the sky now, hands folded casually in his lap. He continued. “I think we were like, ten? Yeah, sounds about right. We knew this place like the back of our hands by then, so we stopped paying attention to everything so much. We got uh, reckless.”

Hid hands fidgeted with the hem of his soaked shirt. “It was kinda cold and rainy that day, so not the ideal weather to go for a swim, but we didn’t give a shit. It was still better than being with the other stupid brats.” He lifted his arm and pointed to the top of the thin waterfall, about four meters above them. “Happened riiiight there, on that ledge. Take a guess at what happened.”

Angelino rubbed the back of his head, an uncomfortable ache pooling under his palm. “Knowing us, we probably did something stupid and someone fell down.”

“Close enough. Some dumb bets were made, doesn’t matter what they were about, I slipped off the ledge and we both fell. Cuz you tried to catch me.”

The hybrid’s eyes widened. He truly didn’t remember these events at all. And the ache wasn’t going away, even if it wasn’t getting worse either.

“So yeah, we both got knocked the fuck out. Think I busted my ankle too, it hurt like a bitch for days afterwards. Anyway, I think I woke up about ten minutes later? It wasn’t too bad really, just a concussion.” Vinz distractedly ruffled a tree branch hanging low over the basin. “Still, I was pretty damn cold, and the wind had picked up so it wasn’t making anything better. But uh, I realized pretty quickly that I was just peachy compared to you.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Dude. You slid into the basin when you fell and just, soaked there in freezing water for ten minutes. Good thing you were on your back.” He shook his head. “But the thing is, spending that amount of time in the cold is bad for everyone, okay? If you’re really unlucky you get a pneumonia or some shit. You looked like you were dead. Blue skin and everything.” The hothead slid a knowing glance at his friend. “Yeah, that shade of blue. Even without the uh, context we know about now, this was pretty fucking terrifying. Also your nose was bleeding, so there was a nice big head trauma on top of everything else.”

Lino stayed silent.

“I’m not sure how I managed to get us back to the main road, because I was so numb and cold and my leg hurt and i felt like puking my guts out. And bro, no offence but you weren’t exactly a lightweight for me at the time. But we made it somehow, so that was good! But then I uh, passed out again.”

Vinz linked his eyes with Lino’s again, his tone lighter. “But hey, someone found us and got us back to the orphanage, so no one died! …Obviously, I know, shut up. I was really sick for a few days after that -heck we both were, you were out for like a week- but I got over it. The whole incident thing.”

He looked up again. “You uh, didn’t. Not completely. After that, everytime I mentioned this place, or what happened, you got really weird. Like, all distant and jumpy and not all there, you know? Some serious PTSD shit, but I was ten and dumb so I didn’t know shit about that. So I stopped mentioning it, and then you just uh, came back to normal at some point.”

The young man hummed, squinting. “...Aaaand that’s it. We never brought it up again, life kinda happened, freaky shit happened, and now we’re back here. So yeah, I was a bit worried when you told me you wanted to come back. But it went well in the end, right?”

Vinz reached out, lightly touching his best friend’s shoulder with his fingertips. His flames were a cold blue, anxiety radiating from every inch of him. “You aren’t gonna freak out on me, right....?”

Angelino hadn’t stopped looking right at him. Something warm settled onto his features. “Nah. I’m good.”

“Oh thank fuck.”

Vinz let out a nervous chuckle, covering his eye sockets with his arm. “That’s, that’s great. Because I missed this place so fucking much and I’m really glad we came back.”

The half-alien bumped their shoulder together with a small smile. “Yeah, me too. Sorry I got you in trouble.”

“No you’re not.” his childhood friend replied without malice before turning back to the sky, eye sockets slowly closing.

Angelino did the same, darkness filling his vision. The headache was gone. Not in a “I just had an epiphany and remembered everything” kind of way. He still didn’t remember. But that was fine. He was fine. He had to be.

And he sure as shit intended to stay that way, because he knew that that moron would get himself killed trying to help him if he didn’t. He understood the reasoning behind the heat sigils now (watching your friend almost die of cold twice would make anyone paranoid he guessed), but that didn’t mean he had to accept it.

He wasn’t stupid. Coming home one day to find Vinz drained and barely conscious on the couch, the very same day one of his little voodoo -wicca or whatever- thingies stopped a truck from hitting him? It didn’t take him long to put two and two together. That shit could kill him, he knew that.

He wouldn’t let Vinz put his bony ass in danger for him, not if he could help it. By not ending up at death’s door every few days like the dumbass he was.

“Hey Vinz.”

A quiet hum. Quieter than before.

“...Thanks.”

“...Dun mention it. Didja ‘member?”

Vinz was slurring. Count on this weirdo to fall asleep anywhere.

“Nope. Sorry.”

A short silence. Their hands almost touched.

“...S’okay...”

Almost.

“...can ‘member for th’both of us.”

The water was cold, but the sun kept his core warm. Vinz’ slow, even breathing, not far, never far.

He was fine.

*slaps hands on table* 28 STAB WOUNDS-

jk, nothing that extreme. but it did take me eight hours to write this, cuz those two keep escaping me how the fuck do they keep doing that.

also DON’T do what those jackasses did and fall asleep in the sun. you’ll just end up with a monster headache and sunburns.

imma go eat now bye

[sheerioswifties]

5, 13, 20, 24, 30, 31, 38, 73, 75, 79, 80, 82, 94 😊

Asfgszdffdssdf okay here goes:

5: Are you self-conscious of your smile? Yes! I have dimples and get so self conscious when people point them out hhfxgfdgggfxgh

13: What's something that made you smile today? My chinchilla making silly happy peeping noises as he's playing around :)

20: What's your favorite eye color? Oof blue and green mostly

24: Is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets? Not anymore, I've learned that some things you just cannot ever tell another soul. But I have a couple people that I trust with like 99%

30: Think of it: have you ever been truly scared? Yes, and/but I learned things from it

31: What is your opinion of socks? Do you like wearing weird socks? Do you sleep with socks? Do you confine yourself to white sock hell? Really, just talk about socks. LOL... well I love "weird" socks and had started to collect some fun ones hehe. Although I hate how they seem to pill up and fade a lot faster so they're only really cool like when they're brand new. But fun! It's a cheap way to wear something just... fun lol. Also I love things like thigh high ones like Taylor wears in some of the Rep Magazine pictures and stuff like actually legwear in general I like. Ummm let's see. Sleep in them? Depends, sometimes; like when it's really cold or something. No white sock hell lol. Lots of tall like boot socks because I love to wear boots. Some of my faves I have include Wonder Woman ones with a little cape on the back lol, these ones that look like chicken legs, foxes a lá Taylor, and ones that are the pattern of the old PDX airport carpet (which is kind of a northwest inside joke, long story). And yes, I really want the REP socks! But they're too expensive for socks atm. So there you go. Socks.

38: Tell us about your pet peeves! Oof I'm too worn out from talking about socks to really go into this. I guess some things are; like weird/ random and incorrect capitalization in tweets👀, people burning plastic in fires, all the ableist judgment I get having an invisible illness (or really people judging others without knowing all the information in general...) disorganization... idk, I guess that's enough ha

73: What are some of your worst habits? I don't know; being too trusting when I should be more careful, and ack I can't think of anything else atm

75: Tell us about your pets! AHHH I have a sweet little fluffy chinchilla!! He turned 10 this year! He's a total Swiftie and Sheerio; he loves to listen to music and watch tv but has definite preferences in both. He's so funny! I've posted some about him, and I've got a long post I'll drop at some point from my drafts that involves him too. Otherwise everyone feel free to ask me things about him anytime, I love talking chinchillas!

79: What's one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you? Hmmm. I've had a few actually! But I'll go with this story; so one time Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was playing at the OMNIMAX theatre and a group of us went to see it including a boy I liked and we talked all about how good chocolate was and our favorite candy etc. The next day when I was at work at the makeup counter, he came by on his lunch break and handed me a newspaper and said "I think you'll really enjoy the food section." And just left. I was so confused lol but opened it up and in the "food section" were all my favorite candies and chocolates... it was very sweet; no pun intended😁

80: What color are your bedroom walls? Did you choose that color? If so, why? They're mostly white as they came but a couple were painted a kind of bright Tiffany blue, and I kind of chose it in that I was really sick at the time we were moving over into it and so I was asked if there was a color I'd like if it was possible to do a little paint and I'd said Tiffany so that's kinda how that happened but it's all a long story oof

82: Are/were you good in school? You're talking to a HS Valedictorian; 4.0 student; finished college/uni early with honors/dean's list, whoop whoop!

94: Who was the last person you know to have a birthday? @taylorswift !!!

Whew alright hopefully I got all the right numbers. Thanks!

[alpxcamin]

Retry

Requested?: Yup yup, thanks anon! Sorry for taking so long.

Words: 1.9k

Group: VICTON

Member(s): Seungsik

“Listen, I think we should break up.”

You instantly regret letting those words out of your mouth, but there is no turning back. It is for the best anyway. Your boyfriend...well ex-boyfriend, Seungsik, had debuted almost a year ago and you are going to debut soon. You are afraid that both of you will get hate and receive a bad reputation for the company. Dating scandals coming from rookie idols aren’t the best. All you want is the best for the company, VICTON, and your upcoming group.

“What?” a shaky voice interrupts your train of thought.

You had been so absorbed in your thoughts for the past minute that you almost forgot what kind of situation you are in. You bit your lips, trying to peel the dead skin off. You take a shaky breath before trying to explain.

“I said...we should break up. I don’t want your group to get hate because of some dating scandal or anything. Also, I don’t want the company to get a bad reputation along with our sunbaes…” you begin to ramble, a habit of yours when you get nervous.

“Hey, we’ll work something out, okay?” Seungsik reaches for your hand and you can tell that he has calmed a little from a few seconds ago.

“No, we can’t...we’ll get caught!” you insist.

Seungsik shakes his head out of frustration, “No. We can definitely figure it out. If I can figure out how to get Subin to stop tossing his cat onto Hanse, then we can figure this out.”

“Seungsik! It’s not that simple!”

“Yes, it is! Just trust me will you?”

You look into his eyes for the first time since announcing the bad news. Your eyes well up and you regret looking up. Hurt and betrayal are evident in his large, brown eyes. You instantly regret even opening your mouth as soon as he lets your hands go, leaving you with no warmth whatsoever.

“Look, I--”

“No, let’s just break up...if it makes you happy,” Seungsik turns his back to you, “I’ll still be here if you need me. I’m always here to help, okay?”

You know he means what he says, but just his act of turning around truly broke your heart. You didn’t mean for it to go this way. “Why didn’t I just listen to him?” you ponder to yourself.

You groan and slide down the wall you hadn’t realized you had backed up against. The tears that had collected in your eyes finally started dripping down your face drop by drop. Soon, the drops turned into waterfalls and you let out all your tears.

“Hey, you alright?” a soft yet familiar voice asks.

You look up to find Zen (yeah I know, he’s from MysMe but that game is lit), a trainee that you have been training with for the longest time. You and him are quite close...some even call the two of you best friends.

“Uh...I’m fine,” you mutter, wiping away the tears.

“Clearly not. I just asked just in case it was actually just allergies,” Zen tries to lighten the mood.

His attempt is successful and you laugh a little. However, your sadness quickly overpowers your happiness again and you sigh. Trying to hold in your tears, you fan your eyes and red face. You feel a muscular arm gently place itself around your shoulders and pull you in.

“Thanks,” you gratefully look at Zen, “I don’t even know what just happened to be honest.”

“You don’t have to explain now. I hope you feel better though...hmm, let’s practice some more to get your mind off of it. Besides, you’re debuting soon!” Zen lightly pats your back. Currently, Zen is the only one who knows about your debut.

You nod and Zen stands up, holding a hand out for you. You grab his large hands and let him pull you up. Perhaps practicing will distract you for the mean time. Just thinking about your debut makes you a little happier.

---

“Ack! Zen~ That’s not fair!” you laugh as you jump up and down, trying to reach the sacred bottle of water Zen is holding up.

“You’re too short, you’ll have to try harder, sweetheart,” Zen teases as he raises his arm even higher.

You pout and give up, “Whatever, I’ll go to the fountain.”

“Aww, don’t be a sore loser. Here, just take it,” Zen finally gives in and you smirk.

“Me? Being a sore loser? Never heard,” you snort and gulp down the ice cold water.

“Really, we’ll bring out the loser in you then. I demand a dance off!” Zen wipes the sweat off his forehead.

“Challenge accepted,” you cap the bottle and toss it off to the side, rushing to dance along side you fellow trainee.

---

It has been a month since your breakup and your debut is nearing. Over the last month, you decide to focus more on becoming better rather than having a sob fest over your ex. Zen has been a great participant in guiding you to where you are now along with your group mates.

To be honest, you have been getting over Seungsik more and more each day. Of course, you still see him around since you both work for the same company. However, you find yourself getting closer and closer to Zen.

“Oh, hey! You heading this way too?” Zen knocks you out of your train of thought.

“Yup, I think Jaehee and Jumin are coming along too. I wonder what we’re going to talk about,” you nervously walk into the meeting room as Zen holds the door open for you. You nod in thanks and wave to your two other members.

You sit down next to Jaehee and Zen sits face-to-face to you, next to Jumin. You look over to Jaehee who shrugs a little, indicating that she doesn’t know what exactly is going on either. Suddenly, the door creaks open and all four of you look over, only to find your CEO.

Standing immediately, you all bow and greet the CEO. It must be something important for the CEO to come in, like your debut. You gulp and sit down in sync with the others after the CEO has sat.

“So, you all must be wondering why I called you here.”

“Yes, sir,” you all say in unison.

“Well, as you know, I put (y/n), Jaehee, and Jumin as a new co-ed group. You all are debuting soon, congratulations. However, I am decided to add Zen to the group, to balance out the male to female ratio,” the CEO explains.

“Oh, thank you, sir!” all four of you bow.

Trying to stay professional, all you guys do is smile and when the CEO leaves, you are no longer able to hold in your happiness. You spin around and hug Jaehee and bound over to Jumin and Zen for a hug.

Mid-hug, the door is swung open once again and a familiar face pops in. Seungsik stands out the door, his head in the room. You part from your hug with your two band mates and all four of you bow to Seungsik. He is your senior after all.

“Hello,” the four of you greet.

“Oh, hello...um, everything alright? I heard yelling,” Seungsik looks at you with concern in his eyes.

“Everything’s great! The four of us are debuting in about a week,” you proudly state.

Seungsik smiles a little and congratulates all four of you. The rest of your members scatter and as you leave, Seungsik grabs your wrist and spins you around. You spin right into his chest and you pull back, blushing.

“Sorry…” you awkwardly mutter.

“Um, I want to talk to you,” you can hear the slight sadness in his voice.

This makes you replay all the memories you had made with him and you feel the tears coming to your eyes. You blink a few times before looking up at his handsome face...he is still as handsome as ever.

“Oh yeah, sure. What is it?” you ask, softly.

Seungsik leans into you and closes the door behind you. In an attempt to prevent your feelings from coming back, you place your hand between your face and his nearing chest. However, that seems to be the wrong action, as you feel your heartbeat quicken and you feel the blood rushing to your face.

“Look, (y/n). I really miss you…” Seungsik trails off as he takes a step back to look at you.

“Oh, um...I--” you stutter.

“You’re the one who broke up with me, so I understand if you don’t want to get back together, but please give me one more chance. I still...love you,” he sighs.

You blush at those words and you take a step closer. Although you had managed to convince yourself that you don’t miss him anymore, you really do. You still love him with your whole heart. You instinctively wrap your arms around his waist and bury your reddening face into his well-built chest.

“Um...I really miss you too,” you mumble into his shirt.

You feel a pair of arms snake around your waist and you tighten your hug. Seungsik does the same. The two of you hug for a while, enjoying the comfortable silence. You press your ear to his chest and listen to his heart quietly pump.

“We can work something out,” Seungsik finally breaks the silence.

“Yeah, I’m so sorry for breaking up with you...I really didn’t want to,” you sigh and hug him even tighter, if possible.

“It’s alright. I thought about it over the month and I realized that you did it for me and our seniors,” Seungsik says while gently combing his fingers through your hair.

“So...are we...together again?” you ask, pulling away.

Seungsik smiles at you and you smile back, knowing the answer to your question already. You close your eyes as he leans in and as soon as your lips meet his, you smile. You can feel Seungsik smile into the kiss. Today couldn’t have gotten any better.

---

“We did it!” you scream, as you hug your band mates.

You hug your bandmates tightly. The four of you have finally debuted and completed your very first stage. When you pull away, you spot Seungsik smiling proudly at you from back stage. You bound towards him and leap into his arms

“Oof, I almost dropped you,” he laughs.

He opens his mouth to say something, probably to congratulate you, but you cut him off with a kiss. He sets you down, his arms still remaining on your waist. The two of you decide to keep your relationship a secret for the mean time, but soon enough it will be revealed. No matter what the response is, the two of you promised to ignore it and continue on.

“Congratulations, love,” Seungsik breaks away from the kiss.

“Thanks, but that’s enough talking. Let’s go somewhere more private,” you suggest.

“Of course, of course,” Seungsik laughs.

He pulls you into his side, resting an arm around your waist. The two of you walk side-by-side in search of a room. Nothing could have been better.

~Admin Liz ♡