#So I don't know how often these missing keys would actually come up in playing it (piano) properly.

[loveletterworm]

as a now-keyboard-owner i finally understand that one line in deltarune about the hospital piano "missing most of the good keys" probably isn't actually intended to mean that it is physically broken like i interpreted it as being for the past 6 years but actually that it is just a smaller piano built with less than 88 keys which I guess does make more sense than the hospital piano being partially destroyed for some unknown reason and nobody doing anything about it

[softshuji]

'Is there a reason you haven't called recently?' As always, Ran is quick to get to the point.

You like that there's no here and there behaviour with him and he tells you-often this is- whatever you need to hear without mincing it all.

This time, you'd no choice but to pick up and you'd made the mistake of clicking on his unopened text so the excuse of feigning busyness hasn't seemed to work. You twirl the end of your hair around your finger still though- wracking your brain for some other reasoning that's airtight and waterproof and solid enough for him not to see through. Not that you know he won't, because he's always been far smarter than ever lets on.

'Oh y'know just....'

'If you're going to say you've been busy then that's fine. As long as that's actually what it is and not something else.'

You open and close your mouth like a fish out of water, hand still closed tight around the end of your shirt with the phone pressed to your ear.

There's a long pause then and the line is undulated by the rush of cars on his side, and the scratchy shuffle of him shrugging off his jacket and tossing it onto the arm of the sofa, a faint grunt as he bends to slip his shoes off- and the hum of the heater on your own side.

'Maybe I am busy, I have a life you know.' You don't mean for it come out like that. Venomous, and with a bite that you can't help because it's easier to scratch and shrug him off than it is to let him in. He's the kind of man that's strictly off limits to you and it's not to any fault of his own. You know what he's like that's all- a girl on each arm, a girl for every day of the week and always something new because he likes to pick and choose when he wants to chase something. Or so you think.

Ran frowns, a stone cascading to his stomach. 'I did not imply you didn't. Would it be remiss of me to say I missed hearing your voice that's all? I thought maybe we could do something since it's been a while.'

There is no way a man like him could be sincere about an offer like that and there is no way a man like that could be interested in a girl like you when you're...what you are. You wonder if he likes playing this game with every one of the girls. Whether he likes toying with them before he gets bored, watching them succumb in some way to his charm- just to rip something that looks like hope away from them.

You keep him at bay for this reason and you're convinced a man like him could only ever cause you harm. That for all his wisdom, giving him the key to your heart would be like losing a war.

You choke back a sigh. 'That's nice of you, but I'm sure you can find someone else to go out with huh? Your secretary for one, I think she likes you.'

You sound jealous, vindictive and it's a look you absolutely loathe, a scent that reeks of something unsaid.

'Huh? Well I don't like her. I asked for you.' And then, as if it's an afterthought. 'You can say no if it bothers you this much, I just thought i'd ask.'

'I'm just not feeling so hot right now Ran, it's nothing personal, I just don't want to bother you.'

'mhm I see. I'll come over then, at least to keep you company.'

'You really don't have to do that.'

'I wasn't asking permission Princess. I'll be there soon yeah?'

A thick and cloying tightness finds a home in your chest, a bare and terrifying vulnerability. 'Why?' you ask, and it comes out small, comes out tired.

But Ran chuckles as he shrugs on his jacket again. 'Because I can, because if you're saying it for yourself then that's fine but it shouldn't be because of me.'

You hate how soft it is, how warm and tender, a cloak of sunlight and radiance that filters down through the phone, and it makes sense when you think about it- how so many people find it in them to love him when he is just like this, so bright and smart and full of life, charismatic and charming to a fault.

'You don't have to deal with this.'

'Oh but Princess, I want to,' he says, a mirth to his voice as he slips into his car. 'Leave the door unlocked yeah?'

And the call ends as you stare at his name, leaving the hibernated safety of your room to unlock the front door just as the familiar drone of his car zips into the driveway. Like coming home, like a familiar warmth, like him.

reblogs appreciated

[withleeknow]

Can I req something for the milestone event with lee know using this prompt „time passes slower without you.”? ✨

navigation / masterlist / ko-fi

patience is a virtue, everybody knows that.

you know it too. the only issue? patience is a virtue that you don't have.

you're an impatient person by nature, born with an inherent restlessness within your bones that keys you up more often than you'd like to admit. in school, you were always thinking about your next degree. with work, you're always thinking about the next big thing, the future position you'll hopefully land once you gain enough experience. you're always waiting for something else, constantly looking forward to the days ahead instead of living in the now. it's a personal flaw, you're well aware of this.

it happens when it comes to even the most mundane things. what cafe should you try next weekend, even if you're not even half done with the caramel macchiato you're holding in your hands? what movie should you watch next, even if the one playing on your tv screen hasn't gone into its second act yet?

your impatience already flares up on a daily basis, but it's even more amplified and unbearable whenever minho is away. it doesn't help that he's often gone for weeks, if not months on end. you're always counting down the days until he's back before he's even out the door.

"just one more week, yeah?"

his words hang heavy in the silence of your bedroom. your phone is on speaker, set against the pillow next to yours so you could pretend like he's here with you when you close your eyes. you try to facetime every day even if it's only for fifteen, twenty minutes. just to catch up on each other's day and at least see each other for a while before you go to sleep. it's bittersweet, being able to look at him and hear him talk but only from the digital void of your phone.

even though you tend to hide from him how you really feel, how much you actually miss him and wish for him to be back by your side, you think it must still bleed through from time to time. be it the subtle way your voice drops during conversation or how your eyes glaze over with sadness just a little bit when you stare at his handsome face for too long on video call.

you know minho is trying to comfort you. he wouldn't be a very good partner if he can't tell that his own girlfriend is having a hard time without him, would he? and it's not like you bitch and moan any chance you get. no, you always try to hide it from him because it's not his fault that he has to be away sometimes, not like he's choosing to leave you just for the fun of it.

you know his gentle reminder is meant to mitigate your ache, but it only makes you be more aware of how time doesn't seem to pass when he's not here. the clock stops ticking the second he's gone, and you feel like you have to drag yourself through every minute of every hour and repeat the process for days and weeks and months.

"one week is too long," you say quietly. "time passes slower without you."

seven days. one hundred and sixty eight hours. ten thousand and eighty minutes. it's practically nothing compared to the time that has already passed, but that doesn't mean that you get to miss him any less even though it's only a two-hour flight away.

minho doesn't really reply directly to what you said. instead, he tries to distract you with anecdotes of his day - like a funny looking pigeon he saw on the street earlier or a cute photo of soonie that his mom sent him. it works a little. he considers it a success when you crack a smile and giggle at his theatrics.

he keeps the conversation light until you're biting back a yawn and he knows it's time to let you get some rest. even when you're saying your goodnights, neither of you mention what day it'll be tomorrow. you're sure that in the morning you'll wake up to messages from him - not entirely poetic because it's not his specialty, but they'll still be infinitely and wonderfully sincere. you don't bring it up in case he feels guilty, and you think he doesn't bring it up because the reminder that he won't be here might make you sleep restlessly tonight.

you fall asleep with a little bit of a heavy heart, and wake up when the sound of your doorbell ringing fills your apartment at precisely 7:06am. the other side of the bed still cold and devoid of your minho, but it's not the first thing that you notice like you do every morning.

no, the first thing that you register today is the vivid discomfort of having your peace disturbed so early on when it should be a day that you get to spend feeling nothing but comfort and contentment. or at least, as content as you can get without minho here. you carry that irritation with you all the way to the front door, wild bedhead and all.

the door swings open.

you're a deer in the headlights and suddenly your displeasure is vanished, gone in a second like it was never there to begin with.

"surpriseee!"

a sheepish greeting.

you rub your eyes, then pinch yourself on the arm.

you're not really sure what happens next. it's all just a blur of tears and ugly sobbing as you launch yourself into his arms, almost making him knock into the suitcase that's still perched right beside him. the bouquet of peonies in his hand becomes an unfortunate victim as it falls to the floor after the impact, but minho leaves it be, in favor of holding you as tightly as you're holding onto him.

his fingers tangled in your hair, your arms wound around his neck securely like you're afraid you're still dreaming and he'll disappear if you let go. you don't question why he's here; you just accept that he is.

minho peppers warm kisses to your cheeks, your jawline, your forehead and your lips. it's graceless and it's damp from your tears but neither of you could bring yourself to care. he murmurs with an upward quirk of his mouth where he's pressing his smile to your lips, all affection, all love. "happy birthday, baby."

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all rights reserved © withleeknow. reposting, translating and/or modifying is not permitted by any means. [posted 28.03.2024]

[panlight]

I know I've mentioned this before, but sometimes I think it's a blessing that SM hadn't really read/watched much Vampire Stuff before she wrote Twilight.

Don't get me wrong--there are definitely times where I'm very frustrated by this, where she misses a key moment that someone more genre savvy would have taken full advantage of. The main character being turned into a vampire in such a clinical way removes so much of the intimacy and eroticism of vampire lit, for example. Or the way she didn't give her vampires any weaknesses and how that makes it so much harder to raise the stakes and put them in any real danger. Or to feel bad for their cursed existence because like . . . it actually seems not that bad without all the weaknesses and limitations.

But It's a blessing in a way because it allowed her to come up with characters like Emmett, Esme, and Carlisle. MOST of the sympathetic, 'good' vampires in fiction end up being like Edward. This brooding vampire who hates what he is and probably has some kind of Dark Past (Edward's vigilante era in his own opinion) but wants to be good but oh, the endless midnights! And obviously that's a compelling story; these tropes are used so often because people ENJOY them.

But then you have Emmett, who is a 'good' vampire too and just . . . doesn't care. He's nice. He'll protect you. But he's also killed people. Whoops. Probably felt bad about it at the time. Probably still feels a little bad if he thinks about it now. But he's not brooding about it. He's generally pretty happy and fun and doesn't take things too seriously. Normally this would be a 'bad' vampire or at least morally gray vampire but as written by SM, he's clearly intended to be a good guy. Just one of the bros who happens to be a vampire.

Then there's Carlisle, who had every reason to be the brooding vampire who hates himself (was actively hunting vampires when he was turned! son of a pastor! alone for centuries!) but instead he . . . just got on with it. Also I think his success with vegetarianism is in itself kind of unusual and refreshing for the genre. I know lots of people think he'd be more interesting if he had killed people but as someone who read Twilight during a marathon read of other vampire fiction the fact that he HADN'T was actually what made him interesting to me. It was bizarrely . . . hopeful? It's the kind of thing that someone actually vampire genre savvy probably wouldn't have done.

Likewise Esme just being this white suburban midwestern vampire mom and playing it 100% straight. This isn't some commentary on how vampirism is a shallow perversion of motherhood or whatever, Esme IS the mom. She does mom things. It's taken seriously. She's not some sinister Other Mother, she is genuinely loving and gentle and motherly and again, I feel like someone genre savvy wouldn't have played it that way.

Anyway, yes sometimes I long for more typical vampire stuff in Twilight, but sometimes the lack of genre knowledge worked out in its favor.

[capt-t-leela]

why don't the new Futurama episodes scratch the itch in the same way that the classic episodes do?

I'm dashing this off quickly while my kid naps, so please keep that in mind when I speak generally and broadly and mostly from memory. It's also a very rough draft.

Classic Futurama had a pretty reproducible format that made it work from a story telling perspective as well as comedically and emotionally. The main source of humor was character driven - put a bunch of very different people into a sci-fi situation that they need to figure out and the conflict, comedy, and resolution will come together from that.

You could break the episodes down roughly like this and they'd all come together, with all of these established things paying off in the end in someway. Again, speaking broadly you establish the first act:

ACT ONE:

a. some big over arching sci-fi OR culturally satirical adventure / theme / scenario

b. an emotional conflict between some of the main characters / something someone is struggling with on their own and they need help with. This conflict is consistent with what we would expect from the characters and their development / traits.

c. a third seemingly goofy thing that was often played for laughs, but had some sort of plot relevance and helped drive the story forward.

Basically, in the first 7 minutes of the episode you'd get all three of those things laid out. The pacing is QUICK and it doesn't patronize its viewers.

Let's look at My Three Suns as an example:

ACT ONE:

a. delivery to the planet trisol - a unique and interesting setting that's new for everyone, not just fry.

b. fry is annoyed that Leela is so protective of him. Leela is annoyed that fry is being a careless idiot. Note: they both have VALID points here, one of them isn't just being irrational and easily dismissed.

c. wtf does bender actually do around here? SO once all of that is setup, we see the humor, conflict, and twists and turns stem from the questions all of these beats raise.

To boot, the characters work through whatever interpersonal / intrapersonal conflict in the context of the Big Adventure.

e.g. Fry realizes that his impulsivity has an effect on the people he cares about -- thanks to Bender's cooking leading him to drink the emperor and getting mixed up in another planet's dealings that then requires Leela to save him, despite her repeated warnings that he shouldn't be an idiot. None of this would have happened without the delivery to Trisol.

Another example:

Farnsworth Parabox:

ACT ONE:

a. the boxes with an infinite number of other universes. big sci-fi scenario to work through. with the potential for adventure! (big overarching adventure)

b. why won't Leela go out with fry??? they both know there's something there, but why is Leela so hesitant? what's stopping her? (interpersonal conflict / something emotional that needs to be resolved)

c. this episode spends a lot of time in the first act showing us key facets of the Planet Express Crew's personalities and quirks - how Leela goes about guarding the box (and her coin flipping, specifically), fry and bender trying to steal it and getting distracted (and Leela knowing what will distract each of them), professor being a crackpot, Hermes being a no nonsense pencil pusher, zoidberg being the worst - these are the goofy things that pay off because The Fighting Mongooses are our crew's foils and fun house mirrors and the comedy comes from their similarities and differences. (something seemingly goofy that helps drive the plot and conflict forward)

All of this is established in the first seven minutes of the episode!

Think about your favorite episodes, and I bet they breakdown similarly. Think about the episodes that don't land for you and I bet they're missing one ingredient (usually one, some, or both of the first two with the third thing usually being something completely irrelevant to the story).

Some Comedy Central era episodes that absolutely follow this formula to great success (not an exhaustive list):

The Prisoner of Benda

The Late Philip J Fry

A Farewell to Arms

Fry and Leela's Big Fling

Which leads me to my final point here....

IMHO one of the best Hulu era episodes is Related to Items You've Viewed, not just because I love me some Freela, but because it follows the formula. Momazon - tech company / monopoly cultural observation. Fry and Leela move in together, they have to navigate that big change together within the context of using Momazon. Bender does a Bender and feels left out, so he acts impulsively and runs away also to Momazon.

The formula isn't EVERYTHING, but it's a solid structure on which to hang lots of references and jokes and character growth.

Ok I gotta go actually like do parenting things, but there ya go. whatcha think?

[hoeratius]

okay, asking this question is maybe the dumbest i've ever felt bc it feels like there should be a straightforward, obvious answer here, but every time i've tried to look it up, i've found nothing but pages upon pages of what feels like people talking in circles and only serving to make me more confused in the end. since you're the most knowledgable person i follow when it comes to the Classics, i figured this might be a good place to ask and maybe get an actual answer? (that being said, it's fine if you don't want to/don't have the time to answer this! obviously!!)

where can i read about the older greek myths? as in pre-trojan war. mostly, i'm interested in theseus but also just pre-trojan war stories in general. i know not everything got the iliad/odyssey treatment and there's probably not any surviving text to point at in a lot of cases, but there must've been something. every time i try to look up where to read about the history of theseus, i'm being directed to a bunch of modern retellings, but google has gotten so bad as a search engine, i literally cannot find anything about the origins of this thing everybody's retelling

from what i understand, theseus was sort of everywhere sticking his nose in everything at all times, so i'm not asking for a comprehensive timeline of his whackass life and everything he ever appeared in or anything, but if you could point me in the direction of anything about him--actual plays or academic texts, anything like that--that's more credible than, like, a self-published, self-described "bold new reimagining" with a stock image of a dude in party city roman cosplay as the cover, it would be MUCH appreciated 😭

(again, sorry about how... basic this question is i guess lol? i'm very new to classics in general and still pretty ignorant about everything, so it's EXTREMELY likely that this is a very dumb question with a very obvious answer, but thank you regardless!)

Hello! What an exciting ask (and apologies for my excited and maybe incoherent answer)!

Since you seem to be most interested in Theseus, I’ll use him as an example but much of this can be applied to other Greek heroes/myths/stories more generally.

As you noted, few get the Iliad/Odyssey treatment. In fact, even Achilles and Odysseus don’t, considering the Iliad spans only 7 weeks or so, and the Odyssey misses out on Odysseus’s actions before and during the Trojan War, and after he came home – and he did a lot after he came home. So where to go to find all the other stories that happened?

Some things to keep in mind:

Writers assumed their audience was familiar with the hero’s greatest deeds already

The big boys – Achilles, Odysseus, Theseus, Perseus, Heracles, Oedipus – had their stories shared in many formats. Think of the Parthenon metopes, which show Theseus’s key deeds in sculpture, or vases, hymns, public performances, bedtime stories, etc. People would encounter these often enough that the outlines of these heroes’ stories were known to them from a young age.

One of the Metopes of the Parthenon, showing (probably) Athena and Theseus.

As a result, ancient texts never show the entire story; they select the moment they want to tell and focus in on that. Hence the Iliad focuses on Achilles’s wrath, the Odyssey emphasises his homecoming, and the Argonautica tells the story of the Golden Fleece. Similarly, tragedies will choose a meaningful moment: not all of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra’s struggles, but his return home in the Agamemnon, or the events that lead directly to Pentheus’s dismemberment in the Bakchai.

So finding one text that will give you a useful overview will be hard!

These heroes are often also connected to so many other famous characters, that sometimes they show up as a side character in their stories, so it depends on which stories capture your interest most.

Pre-Homeric texts are few and far between

But this is not to say there aren’t pre-Trojan-War myths!

There are loads! Anything with Heracles or Theseus is pre-Iliadic, and others, like the house of Pelops, link more to the Trojan War but are also separate from it. Plus, there is Hesiod’s Theogony (roughly contemporary with Homer), which tells of the births of the gods and goes all the way back to the start of the universe.

The Ovid situation

Many Greek texts are lost, and we’ve only got allusions to this or that part of the myth in the existing fragments, etc. etc. So how do we still know so much about so many of these stories?

Enter my fave: Ovid.

Far later than Homer (1st century versus 8th century BC), but with access to all the Greek texts and them some, he wrote a lot of fairly comprehensive stories. These include the Heroides, letters written from the perspective of female characters trying to connect to their male lovers, with letter 10 coming from Ariadne to Theseus, and Metamorphoses 8 with parts of Theseus’s story.

If you’re looking for a high-level overview of what was what in ancient myth, starting with the Metamorphoses will give you all the big boys and many of the smaller ones.

Theseus specifically:

I must admit that Theseus is not my strong suit, but sources I’m familiar with that I would recommend:

Hippolytus, by Euripides and Phaedra by Seneca: these both tell of Theseus’s second wife Phaedra falling for his son Hippolytus and causing his death

Catullus 64: A lament from Ariadne after Theseus has abandoned her on Naxos

Metamorphoses 8, 12, by Ovid: Snippets of Theseus’s life, incl the Minotaur

Ones I’m not as familiar with but might be up your street:

Life of Theseus, Plutarch: a historian/scholar’s biography. He had them in pairs, where he compared the two; Theseus is linked to Romulus

The Argonautica, Apollonius Rhodus: Follows Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece; Theseus is one of his heroes

Oedipus at Colonnus, Sophocles: apparently Theseus is a major side character here but I don’t remember!

There is also The King must Die by Mary Renault, a modern retelling from the ‘80s that blew me away. The only book set in ancient Greece I’ve ever read that doesn’t shy away from how alien their culture and values are to us today and doesn’t try to sugarcoat things.

And if you’re looking for more heroes: Wikipedia is your friend!

The Classics-related pages are pretty reliable, and they often mention the main sources per character.  

I hope this gets you started but please do hit me up with more questions, I always love diving into these things!

[fantisyoflove]

Snape's First Year of Teaching [Part 5 FINAL]

[Imagine from pintrest, if you know the artist please tag them!]

⚠️ as per usual , death, mentions of death, and death eater attacks ⚠️

Chapter word count: 6571

Total work word count: 24,244

That is how the following month went for you. You started bringing Severus around your father and his 'friends' more often. During the holiday break you spent the whole time at the Malfoy Manor.

You watched from across the room as Severus made the dark lord laugh. Tom threw his head back and cackled, he had just started looking more and more ... grey over the weeks.

Back at school you taught Severus how to steel his emotions and to use his powers more subtly. When he spent the weekends with you you had the most vivid dreams of him. What he did to you in those dreams made your toes curl. It also made you internally scream once you woke, always wanting for more.

During the lessons you had to admit he was actually becoming quite powerful and had even managed to break through your wall at one point. You played it off but deep down it scared you. You knew your unbreakable vow to Dumbledore forbid you from speaking about your plans but you didn't know how that would work if Severus saw something about it in your mind...

You brought this up to Dumbledore the next time you saw him.

"Miss Burke, I can understand you concern, but you needn't worry much longer. I foresee Severus becoming very busy before the year is up."

You weren't exactly sure what that meant but you knew the dark lord was close to doing whatever it was that he had planned. He only needed to take care of one minor detail. He was looking for them, the Potters, he believed their son was the key to his success.

You didn't understand how an infant impeded his plans but trying to talk about it with Severus made him shut down entirely. You were terrified of what the dark lord could have done to make Severus so afraid.

School was coming to an end and the disappearances had ramped up. Whole families could be wiped off the face of the Earth in a day. Owls came constantly, always with bad news.

Soon Muggle born students were leaving the school early. Their parents going into hiding to try and stay safe. Even some half blood families showed up and took their children away. It was dark times. You worried for the safety of all your students and fellow staff members.

You leaked information that needed to be leaked. You passed on information true and false. Left and right you treaded carefully unsure of who you could trust, worried that your current perceived loyalties would get you attacked by the very side you truly fought for, and weather or not you would be found a fraud by the side you dwelled so deeply in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laying in bed with Severus his finger lightly traced up and down your leg. The windows were cracked open slightly to let the cool breeze in but it was drizzling outside. You had on a tank top and shorts and Severus was in his usual long sleeves and full length pants.

You noticed he didn't even roll his sleeves up anymore, not since he got the dark lords mark on his arm. You really liked when he rolled his sleeves up while making potions or cooking, the flex in his forearm always took your breath away and now you didn't even get to enjoy that!

"Severus?"

"hmm? yes darling?"

You pressed your thighs together, his sleepy voice sending shivers down your spine. No amount of self satisfaction could replace the feelings you felt in your dreams. If that ever happens for real you hope it feels just like that.

"I want to have sex with you."

Severus was fully awake now. "What?!" he sat up making you sit up too.

"I want to see you naked. I want to have sex with you. You've seen me naked... I think it's only fair if I get to see you too."

Severus's mouth opened and shut like a fish, he didn't know where to look.

"You don't want to see me... like that" he said settling for looking at his hands as they bunched and unbunched the blankets over and over.

"I do!" You cup his cheeks and try to get him to look at you. "Please Sev, I want to be close to you. We don't know what the future holds for us right now and I just want to know that I got to be with you at least once before I die." Severus flinched at the word die.

"You arn't going die!" He snapped.

"You don't know that!" You snap back.

Severus looks back at his hands. No, he doesn't know that. He doesn't even know if you will still want to be with him knowing the truth. He doesn't want to lose you but he doesn't see this ending well for either of you. He thought it best that he didn't sleep with you, he didn't want to make you have any more feelings for him than you already did.

If you hadn't been so easy to love, so giving to him, so attentive and understanding, he doesn't think he would even be able to put up with you long enough to see this mission through.

"Severus," you whine. You kiss him, then kiss his cheeks, then his neck, in that sensitive spot that makes his breath catch every time. Severus's head lolls to the side, enjoying the affection. You nuzzle his neck letting your quickening breath brush his ear.

You palm the crotch of his pants and feel him stiffen beneath your fingers.

"Let me at least taste it?" That got his attention.

"Yo..you.. you wanna suck on my..." You sat up on your knees, both hands resting on his thighs, you smile and nod eagerly.

"I um.. well you... we can't... I .. I um" he was stuttering and fumbling and you watched him for awhile.

"Can you look in my mind for a minute?" You ask slidding your hands up his thighs a little higher.

Severus shakes his head yes and you feel his now familiar cloud of smoke hesitantly enter your mind. You mentally curl yourself around him and pull him towards a set of memories. Plunging head first you show him every dream you've had of him over the past few months.

Severus saw you two tangled together on the bed. He watched himself fuck you soft and slow and then rough and fast. He saw himself eating you out and the look on your face as he did so. He heard your moans, the way you cried out his name, and how you begged for him.

For a brief moment he saw you tied up in various ways, then a series of dreams involving toys, and then of there being two of him at the same time with you. His eyebrows shot up, he couldn't even imagine himself doing some of these acts, but he couldn't deny the way it all made his cock achingly hard.

Finally he saw the two of you, lying in bed, red faced and sweaty. He watched as you leaned over and kissed his dream self. You both sigh in content.

The real you guides him out of your head. Severus opens his eyes to see you staring at him.

"Well... what do you think?" You ask

"I want you to take off your pants," he said, his voice shaking.

"Also," he waved his wand and all the windows shut, the curtains were drawn, and all the candles had been snuffed out. Leaving you in a soft dim lit room. He waved his wand again and it was next to pitch black dark. "I don't want you to see me"

"Severus... I want to see you. I want to look at your body."

"No, I can't, I'm not comfortable ...."

"Okay, okay. Severus it's okay" you reach for him and rub soothing circles into his wrists. "You'll let me see when your ready." You give his wrists a squeeze and he squeezes your arms back.

You lean in to kiss him accidently bonking your head on his nose. "Okay maybe a little more light " he hisses and a soft glow enters the room. Now you can make out a rough outline of everything like when you wake up in the dark and can kinda see around you.

You give his nose a little kiss and then move down his neck. Straddling his waist you grind your hips into him. His cock is straining against his pants.

"Allow me" you say and wave your wand to vanish both of your clothes. You both gasp at the sudden chill of the room and the warmth of your full bodies touching together.

Severus feels your wet heat against his thighs, his cock twitches against his stomach.

You climb off of him and then off the bed. Holding out your hand you help pull him to his feet. Kissing down his chest you hear the sudden gasp, Severus hissing as you neared his cock. You licked down the length of it once and felt his knees buckle slightly as a moan parted his lips.

You licked it again on the side and then the other side. You then swirled your tongue around the tip of it. You noticed he shuttered slightly when your tongue brushed along the underside of his cock head. You focused your attention there and had him twitching soon after. His hand rested on your shoulder now the other gripped the headboard of the bed.

You took the whole tip in your mouth and sucked. Severus's hips bucked into your mouth, shoving his cock deeper down your throat. The feel making his moan more. You Bob your head up and down on his cock. Your pattern of Bob, Bob, Bob, swirl your tongue around the tip, Bob, Bob, Bob again had him squeezing the headboard trying not to fuck into your mouth. His hand on your shoulder moved into your hair. His fingers were light his nails scratching gently at your scalp.

Suddenly he held your head in place for a beat before pulling out completely.

"If you keep doing that I am going to cum" Severus panted.

"Well good that was my goal"

He kissed you "I know but I don't want to cum before I get a chance to make you cum"

You smile and kiss him back, "well do you want to ..." you lean back into the pillows and let your knees fall open.

Severus can't see too well but he reaches out a finger and traces along your folds. He finds your clit and circles it a few times with his finger tips. You sigh, your head dipping back further into the pillows.

He lays down on his belly and kisses along your calf all the way up to your thighs. His kisses turn into small nips followed by his tongue licking the sting away.

Your skin was flush, you couldn't believe this was actually happening. Part of you felt like you would wake any moment frustrated again. But then Severus's tongue pressed against your entrance licking down and up and around your clit.

You sigh with pleasure lifting your hips slightly to get closer to his mouth. He holds your butt up with his hands and let's his tongue dive deep between your folds.

It feels so good but you want more.

"Sev, use your fingers" you moan. Severus slides his tongue up to your clit again and begins to suck on it while pushing in two fingers.

The stretch feels nice but as he moves them in and out you feel like he is not hitting the right angle.

"Darling turn your hand over" Severus flipped his palm up "now curl your fingers slightly... little more... mmmhmm yesss oh gods. Okay now try" Severus curled his fingers just as you asked and then started pumping them in and out of you. The moans coming from you now were getting louder.

Your thighs started to twitch and your hands fisted the blankets as your orgasam drew closer. "Ooh Severus yes please just a little more" you beg and he picks up the speed. His tongue massaged your clit. He felt your walls tighten around your fingers, your breathing getting faster and then you called out his name as your orgasam crashed over you.

You were panting as Severus kept slowly moving his fingers in and out letting you ride out your orgasam. The feeling too much you gently pushed his hand away.

"That was ... oh man... that was amazing" you breath trying to catch your breath.

"Think you're ready to keep going?"He traced his fingers up and down your soaking wet opening and then smeared it on his cock. You watched him and nodded your head and licking your lips.

He climbs over you, positioning his cock at your entrance. He slides the tip up and down making you squirm.

He enters slowly stopping when he here's you hiss threw your teeth. "I'm sorry I'm sorry.." He begins.

"No," you cut him off "it's good. Keep going. I like it" you push you heels into his butt to nudge him forward. He slides in easily and you moan at the stretch and how he massaged against your walls so soon after your orgasam. Your body shuttered when he finally was all the way in.

"You okay?" He asked propping himself on one elbow so he could brush the hair from your face and kiss you.

You nod against the kiss and slide your tongue across his bottom lip. You suck his bottom lip into your mouth and moan against it as he pulls out.

He moves gently, watching your face with every push and pull. You get accustomed to the feeling of him inside you. He groans as your walls flex on his cock.

"Do you think you can cum again? " He asks sucking on your neck.

You moan "yes" and arch your back into him.

Your hand slides down to your clit and you being rubbing small circles into it.

Your walls squeeze against his cock again and his hips sputter out of rhythm. He picks up the speed and deep moans escape his clenched jaw. He lifts your hips and dives deeper inside you.

"I think I gunna...." He begins and before he has a chance to think or pull out he cums hard. He trusts his cock deep in your pussy as his seed paints your walls sending you over the edge. You both cry out and he holds onto your legs for support.

He pulls the top sheet loose and tucks into between your legs. Then he retrieves the blanket from the floor and covers both of you with it.

You snuggle into his side and he holds you close.

"I love you" He whispers as he kisses the top of your head.

"I love you" you whisper against his neck. He twitches, he is so sensitive there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After school ended you invited Severus to spend the summer with you.

He accepted

The both of you didn't foresee how much time you will be at the Malfoy Manor nor how often you would be with other people.

The Potters were still in hiding and doing a fine good job of it. It made the dark lord more aggressive and frantic. His hair had now fallen out.

Every time you both thought you would have some time together Severus would end up leaving clutching his burning forearm. That cursed dark mark.

One afternoon you were in Severus's room both of you in a state of undress his mouth firmly latched onto your nipple. When the door slammed open. Lucius Malfoy barged in followed by your father and then the dark lord himself.

Severus thrusted his shirt over you snapping, "Do you mind!" before he saw Voldemort.

He shot to his feet, "My lord!"

You father was pinching the bridge of his nose, eyes screwed shut. "Mel, can you please go wait outside... and put some clothes on before somebody sees you!" he snapped throwing his cloak over your shoulders and ushering you out of the room.

"I doubt there is anybody who hasn't seen. " Lucius purred and you tried to spin around in your fathers arm so you could spit in his face. His hands clamped down on your arms though stopping you and giving you one final push out before slamming the door.

You went back to your room and found some of your own clothes to put on and left Severus's shirt and your fathers cloak on the floor. The house elves would probably take care of it but you didn't care, how could they both stand there and let Lucius say that! You growled to yourself and stomp off to the library.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The night before Voldemort was 'holding court' as he liked to call it. Where we all gathered around and watched him torture someone, or make them spill your darkest secrets, or even to just curse someone and make them do ridiculous things.

This night a scared, rat looking boy, around your age came to 'request an audience with his darkness'.

He said that he had information on where the Potter's were. He told them the house and when he would be next on watch duty and the dark lord could just waltz in and take care of business.

The dark lord sent scouts out to be sure and the following morning they confirmed they were there! Severus was distraught requested an private audience with Voldemort.

You waited around for Severus but he was gone for the rest of the day. You had no idea where they had went. You spent the day wondering the halls and then after dinner went to wait for Severus in his room. You fell asleep waiting for him.

You woke to a crash and yelling and then the shattering of glass. You leapt out of bed looking around frantically. No sign of Severus or even of him being here at all in the night.

Outside the yelling is getting closer and you recognize curses being shouted. You grab your wand and move to rush out of the room but the door slams into you first. Two ministry men rush in and seize you and take your wand. You are arrested and put in the back of a carriage with the remaining living Death Eaters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several compounds were infiltrated and more and more people were either sentenced to Azkaban or confessed enough names of known death eaters to be set free.

Once word got around that naming names would set you free several people started to talk.

A lot of more 'influential' people were able to face trial and be found "innocent".

During a transport you saw him. Severus! He was slumped in the cell face hidden by his hair.

"Severus!" you call out. He looks up weakly but then sees you. He sits up his hand pressed against the bars but then you are pushed into the next room. They place you in a small circular cage and crank it up to the next floor. You find yourself in the middle of a court room. Several people all around you, stacks of paper covering any open space. Two men beside you start turning spikes into the cage so you can't move too much in the space. One spike pricks your cheek and it stings and welts with blood.

"Melyra Hawkthorn Burke." A man calls out to the room

"Read the charges" A dull man drones as he scribbles on the sheet in front of him.

"Miss Burke is charged with conspiracy of being a Death Eater, conspiring with Death Eaters, and the deaths of Marissa Davenport, The Elklong family, and the Kingsburrow family." Said the announcer

The dull man doesn't look up but continues to scribble on his sheet. "And how does the client plea?"

"Not guilt!" you shout. He looks up at you.

"And what evidence do you have that supports your plea?"

"What evidence do you have that places ME at those murders. I've never killed anyone! Bring me my wand and I'll prove it to you!"

"At this time council is not bringing in any wands for examination ..."

"HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO PROVE I DIDN'T KILL THEM IF YOU DON'T CHECK MY WAND!" You shout.

The man blinks slowly and sighs, "Please take miss Burke back to her cell..."

"YOU BASTARD!" you shout as they lower you back down.

"...where she can await her transport to Azkaban."

The cage lowers beyond and no one will listen to you anyways. At the last moment you see Dumbledore's face sitting contently in the crowd. 'He didn't vouch for you!?!' you thought angerly.

On your way back to your cell you shout to Severus, "I'M THINKING OF YOU!"

He doesn't move from his spot on the floor and you hope he understands....

Hours pass and nothing. You scream inside your head for him but feel nothing. You can't see him from here but you assume he will be going up soon to be charged as well and he should know that Dumbledore is just sitting in the audience watching!

Finally as you are about to fall asleep you feel the smoke creeping inside your mind. You visualize your 'trial' again so he can see the verdict. He doesn't say or do anything. He is probably too stunned to know what to say. They have been betrayed after all they have done, after all they sacrificed.

You felt him pull away and try and call him back but you are alone again.

You sat on the floor, pulled your knees up, and cried.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Days went by and you waited to here from Severus but never did.

Finally you were set to be transported to Azkaban. You couldn't breath, you felt the panic rising up inside of you, and then a rush of calm. As you saw the guard put his wand in his back pocket as he unlocked the cell with a metal key.

Without thinking further you rushed the cell door and shoved it as hard as you could. The edge of it swung and caught the guard in the nose. You snatched his wand from his pocket and took off. You took a longer way to see if Severus was still in the cell from before but he was gone. You heard shouting and ran further down the hall. Around a bend through a door and into a broom closet.

Gasping for breath you clutched the wand to your chest tightly and tried to steady yourself to think.

First you tried the wand with a little levitation spell, it responded nicely to you! One thing in your favor. You cast the legilimens spell and search for the familiar feeling of Severus. He wasn't anywhere down here. You worried he was already on his way to Azkaban.

You tried summoning your wand but unfortunately it didn't work. 'They had probably already destroyed it by now' you thought bitterly. You picked your way along the corridors until you found yourself at the stairwell. You climbed all the way to the top most landing and went out the door. On the roof you were able to cast a vine spell to climb down the side of the ministry.

Once on the ground you ran, you didn't know what you were going to do but you knew you couldn't go back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Severus clutched his chest as he fell to his knees in Dumbeldore's office.

"You said you would keep them safe!" He wailed "You said they would be safe! You promised!" He cried and cried as the rain fell against the headmasters window.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You couldn't go anywhere in the wizarding world without being recognized now. You decided to lie low until you could brew a polyjuice potion and find out what happened to Severus.

A month of living in the muggle world had really put a lot of things into perspective for you. You used as little magic as possible to ensure you wouldn't be found out and spent a great deal of time inside. You neighbors thought you were shy but you really just didn't want them to get to know you. You didn't plan on staying after.

Once it was ready you found a ministry employee and knocked them out to steal their hair and their clothes.

Entering the ministry was easy and you were able to get to the records room without any interruptions. Taking another swig of potion before you began your search you looked for Severus's court files to find out where he was. It should have the cell number he is in in Azkaban and you would be able to figure.... Your train of thought halts completely when you see the green rectangular stamp across his main file page reading 'PARDONED". He was pardoned, he was free! You were too busy celebrating to really think what that meant.

By now it was almost September and Severus would probably still be at home getting ready to go to the school. You disaperate to his flat in London.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Severus is packing his trunk when he hears a whoosh of clothes and sees a cloud of smoke curling out from his living room. Wand drawn at the ready he creeps to the doorway.

"Severus?" you call in just above a whisper.

He startles and jumps out from the bedroom casting to stun you. You deflect. He casts again, you deflect again.

"Severus!" you snap. Another spell

"Stop it!" Deflect

"Its me, Lyra!" spell

"Nonsense, Lyra is dead!" He hisses twirling his wand before sending out ropes to wrap around you. You can't react fast enough and they tie you up and you fall over your balance gone.

"Severus!" you screech as you fall to the floor with a thud.

"How can I prove its me? Look into my mind and you'll know for certain!"

"Even if it is really you" He spat as he knelt down in front of you "you got her killed! This is all your fault! You told Voldemort where they were hiding!"

"Who?! I didn't tell him anything!" you struggle against the ropes but its no use. Your wand is just out of reach.

"Please, Severus, it's me! I would never do anything to harm you!" you whine. Severus's face in inches from yours.

"Dumbledore told me how you've been lying to me this whole time!" his voice was flat now, emotionless. He spoke so calmly.

"No Severus please it's not like that! It was at first but I really did have feelings for you! I still do!"

"You used me!" he yells

"I had no choice!" You shout back

"There is always a choice Melyra!"

"Then what is your excuse!?"

You both are nose to nose, breathing heavy, and red faced with anger. Severus looks away first and stands up. He steps back from you and waves his wand, taking away the ropes.

"Get out of my sight." he spits. You try to argue but he just shouts "OUT!" and pushes his want against your throat until you back away.

"Severus" you whimper your eyes blinking away tears. "Please"

"I never want to see you again!" He screams and slams the door in your face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You decide to leave England and go on a safari expedition. You thought you had contracted some unknown dieses but it turns out you were pregnant. You gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Pollux Emery.

You raise him while traveling from Algeria to Nepal and everywhere in between that had never heard of you. You took on the last name Hawkthorn for yourself and your son and left Burke back in England.

Ten years had passed when you entered your house, Pollux right behind you and find a man sitting at your table drinking your brandy.

"He has returned" the man says setting the glass down.

You send a reluctant and curious Pollux to his room and pour yourself your own glass. After drinking it all and refilling it you finally speak.

"And what do you want me to do? Hmm? I'm a wanted woman. I won't get involved with the death eaters again. It's too dangerous.... I have too much at stake...." you say as your eyes cast to Pollux's closed door.

"The boy? Is he...?"

"Mine? Yes." You say firmly.

"The Potter boy lives. He is to start school this year. I have had all crimes against you absolved. I did so shortly after your trial." He adds with a smirk.

"And you tell me this now!? Convenient." You scoff

"You are a difficult person to find. I have held up my end of the bargain. I would like you to do the same."

Your forearm burns and the mark of an unbreakable vow surfaces on your skin in angry red welts before fading away again.

You sigh, "does he know?"

"Severus? Oh I haven't told him anything."

You furrow your eyebrows. "He thinks I'm the reason someone got killed. He said you told him everything."

"I merely explained to Severus that you had been on our side the whole time, working for me. He has clearly found whatever you two have... had, something that can't continue knowing this information now."

"Does he know you are asking me to come back?" You say cautiously.

"No."

"So you are going blindside him?"

"Severus is on a need to know bases... if you refuse then telling him would be a waste of time."

"It's not like I can really refuse!" You snap.

"He will find out in due time. Meanwhile, what arrangements can you make for.. " Dumbledore waves his hand in the air indicating your son.

"Pollux" you say firmly

"Ah, the brightest star and a demigod among his mortal twin."

"He will come with me. I know he's too young to start school but he can be my assistant and help with the greenhouse. Knowing the years I've seen we will need plenty of medicinal plants." You sigh and stand from the table. You leave no room for further discussion as you open the door and motion for Dumbledore to exit.

Standing he looks around the room fondly, "I shouldn't need to remind you of the boundaries of your vow but just as a reminder, you mustn't speak of this to anyone." He placed a finger against his lips and then ducked out the door.

Pollux cracked his door open, "mom?"

"Come down darling. How much did you hear?"

"Everything" he admitted with his head bowed.

You nodded your head unable to say anything more on the subject.

"So it's a school? " He asks, you nod your head.

"For kids with magic? Like me?" You nod again

"Amazing! Let's go! How big is it? Do I get to see the whole thing? Will there be kids my age? Can I get a wand like you?...." his questions rattled on and on. You both talked well into the night.

"And one more thing..." you take a great big sigh "the man who is your father will be there... " you watch watch his face over the rim of your glass. His face changes from glad to angry to confused.

"...will I meet him?" He says into his own mug.

"If you'd like. The castle is big enough you could avoid meeting him all together... I'm not sure how he will react given... everything" you couldn't explain any further you tongue heavy in your mouth.

He's questioned it before and you simply told him that his father and you didn't want to be around each other anymore. You also let him know his father had no idea about him because you never got the chance to tell him.

"If he knew about you I'm sure he would have done anything to be in your life." You said

"Well we will see won't we..."

You hide your smile in your tea and try not to roll your eyes. Your sweet boy had an air for the dramatics.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You levitated your trunks in front of you as you walk along the grounds towards the green house. You get everything settled and tell Pollux to stay near the shed while you go talk with someone.

"My dad?" He asks in that tone I hope doesn't stick around as he gets older.

"Yes, and you will stay here."

"Ugh fine!" He groans and you roll your eyes.

You hope Severus is here already setting up his classroom. If you remember correctly he always came as early as possible.

Finding the potions door proped open and the sound of him humming to himself you knew he was in there.

You felt stuck to the floor as you stood in the hall.

"Whoever you are. You might as well. Come. In" a deep slow voice calls from inside the room.

Your heart seizes and you hold your breath.

"Well...?" The voice says again.

You almost turn and run but them you force yourself to move through the doorway.

Severus looks older, not only with the passing of time but also the hardships he has faced. He is still just as beautiful to you though.

He is shuffling through a stack of parchment when he finally looks up hearing your steps on the damp stone.

He pales.

"Before you start yelling," you caution stepping in further. He rounds the desk the papers falling to the floor.

"I need to tell you..." He reaches for you and you force yourself not the flinch. He touches your cheek so feather soft. Feeling you solid before him and wraps you in his arms and starts crying.

You both slide down to the floor as he holds you close to his chest as it heaves with heavy sobs.

"I . . I. .. thought. . You you you were dead!" He wails. "I looked for you everywhere after the fall! I should have never sent you away." He pulles your face off his chest to look into your eyes and then kisses you.

Your body relaxes back into his as if no time has passed. Without breaking the kiss he waves his wand snd the door slams shut. He shoves the remaining papers off the desk and lifts you on top of it. He kisses you like a starved man, moaning into your mouth.

"I've missed you so much!" You cry tears trickling down your cheeks. He licks them up for you and then wipes his thumbs under your eyes brushing the rest away.

He kisses you more urgently now his hands tugging and pulling on your skirts. He slides your underwear and stockings down around your ankles and pauses to look into your eyes.

You smile and nod your head as he undoes his belt with a slapping sound. Your body shutters, you roll your hips against him and he eases you down off the desk and bends you over it instead.

Stepping out of your undergarments entirely he nudges your feet further apart with his foot. He leans his body over yours and whispers in your ear.

"I have waited so long for this" and presses his cock into your wet heat.

You moan as you pushes into you. Once fully sheathed inside of you he wiggles his hips back and forth making your back arch. He pushes your head back down on the desk then grabs onto your hips and holds them down as he pulls back out.

His cock thrusts in and out of you comfortably at first then Severus's pace picks up. His hips are slapping against your backside as he thrusts into you again and again.

You whimper as the electric feeling gathers in your belly. Your body jerks up as you cum around his cock.

One hand still on your hip he wraps his other around around your chest and holds you against him. Your head tipped back on his shoulder moaning into his ear and he rode out your orgasam, your walls flexing around him until he spills inside of you with a whine.

He kisses along your jaw then nibbles on your ear lobe affectionately.

You sigh satisfied and spent.

You brave yourself against the desk as he let's you go. Your legs wobble but you stay upright.

He pushes tour shoulders forward so he can watch as the mixture of both of your fluids gushes out after his cock. He waves his wand reluctantly to clean it up.

After a few moments to catch your breath you both right your clothes and Severus summons you a glass of water.

"Thanks" you sigh and then drink the whole thing down.

"What now? What are you doing here?"

"Do have any firewhiskey?" You ask sheepishly.

He looks confused but waves his wand as he walks up the back stairs to his room. You follow him up and are pleasantly surprised the room looks exactly the same. He waved his wand and a glass of iced firewhiskey floated to you. He held his own, neat.

You decided to break the big news first.

"You have a son."

He chokes and sputters on his drink and you quickly look away as you take a giant swig of yours.

He steps closer to you, "I have a son" he whispers stunned he sinks into the arm chair next to you.

You sit in his lap and tell him as much of the story as you can. Finally done he sits in silence. You have finished your drink and the refill that followed. Severus hadn't tried to take another sip of his.

"Can I meet him?" He asks just above a whisper, his fingers trace up and down your arm as he holds you to him.

"Of course, he wants to meet you too." Severus jumps out of the chair setting you a little sloppily on the ground.

"Is he here? What's his name?"

"Pollux. Pollux Emery. He's in the greenhouse."

"Pollux" he whispers to himself and nods. "And he's what? 9? 10?" He asks.

"He just turned 10 this spring"

"What's he like?"

You told him stories all about your son. How clever he was and funny. How he reminded you of Severus.

"Well atleast now he can get a proper education. No son of mine is going to be galavanting across the continent only learning about silly plants and animals"

"What's that supposed to mean?" You ask defensively.

Severus shrugged, "you did what you thought was best for our son but now that I'm here we can give him something much better."

"Lux is perfectly happy with how his life has been. He has learned and experienced things people can only dream of."

"While all that is incredible it sounds like you've raised my son to be some kind of wild child."

"He's not some wild child, he is perfectly respectable."

"And he will learn far better with some structure in his life. No son of mine... " He begins but you cut him off.

"HE'S NOT YOUR SON!" You snap. The pure panic welling up inside of you. You take a breath and try to meet his eye. "I mean to say that it's been just him and I for a long time. I know you were robbed of that time with him and I want you to be able to meet him. But please don't push it. I will do whatever is best for him. I am his mother and I've raised him all on my own." You feel your body calming down as you reach for his hand. "I'm sorry Severus. I really want you to meet him. Keep in mind though... you are a stranger to him. You are blood but you are not known. Let's create a relationship with him first before you try and parent him"

Severus is feeling a swell of emotions but he had to admit you were right. He had worked with children long enough to know if he tried to push anything they would only resist.

"Alright, alright." He says taking your hand. "Let me meet him."

[adamnablelittledevil]

Reacting to The Vampire Lestat - Part VII (with maybe big spoilers and quotes?)

Let's keep this funny little tradition one more time as this book comes to an end. :)

Okay, so the whole story about Akasha and Enkil was cool, but didn't have to take like a hundred pages? It got exhausting after some time.

Didn't care about Marius's, though.

Tbh, I don't like Marius.

My ranking of characters so far: Armand > Lestat > Gabrielle > Nicki > Marius.

Louis and the others didn't have enough book time for me to form an opinion.

Armand mention! Still collecting those like Pokemons while my babygirl doesn't return from the war.

Btw, I still miss Armand. Armand, COME BACK, THE KIDS MISS YOU!

I think it's funny how Lestat always has the need to low-key compare the beauty or his feelings for each character whenever he meets someone new lmao.

Armand takes the prize of The Vampire Lestat's beauty pageant, though. Lestat literally mentioned his beauty every single time he saw him (and even when he didn't). Like, I wish I was making that up. He talked about Armand's beauty even more often that he cried lmao.

Lestat's issues/trauma with his father, Magnus, God and religion run so deep I don't even think he fully realizes the depth of them.

And that's the reason he's so obsessed with Marius to me?

He's always asking him for permission, apologizing, trying to please him, make him proud, one minute with him and he was already talking like they were intimate friends, I'm like????

He literally just became a child all over again.

Lestat de Lioncourt, I am once again begging you to go to therapy because Marius can't help you with your issues.

And you have A LOT of issues, so DO IT, please.

Marius: Lestat, no. Lestat: Lestat, YES!!!

Like, you guys don't get it, the idea, THE I D E A!!!!!!! IT WAS STRONGER THAN HIM!!!!!!!!!

In his defense, I believe that might've been the case. Lestat is chaotic and breaks the rules by nature, but the whole thing with Akasha and Enkil is kind of hard to tell and I believe he could've been controlled by them or maybe a natural force/pull. Idk.

Btw, the idea of playing the violin was smart.

If only in all these years somebody had the brain to think about this musical instrument lol.

This whole moment with Akasha felt like I was watching something so explicit lmao.

The "make them in love" part was sweet. I hope we can get that on the show. Preferably talking to/about Louis.

“Impossible was that I was leaving Marius and this island right now. ‘You needn’t come down with me,’ I said, taking the valise from him. I was trying not to sound bitter and crestfallen. After all, I had caused this. 'I would rather not weep in front of others. Leave me here.’” This is a child on their first day of kindergarten being bitter and too proud to admit lol. I can see him so clearly, pouting and all.

“I had what I wanted, what I had always wanted. I had them. And I could now and then forget Gabrielle and forget Nicki, and even forget Marius and the blank staring face of Akasha, or the icy touch of her hand or the heat of her blood.” OH?

Thinking thoughts.

Thinking SO MANY thoughts.

I'm not sure you guys understand, actually.

I'm (not) fine.

Not only Lestat and Armand are potentially two BPD Scorpios, but NEURODIVERGENT too. Jfc. This would actually explain the chaos so much tbh.

This moment between them feels kind of weird and random, though? Like, I know that they can fight ugly, but I feel like I'm missing something with these accusations? Because the last time they saw each other they were in a good place?

I hope when I read Interview With the Vampire I'll find an answer for why Armand was pissed at him again?

Because, no, I don't think just "waiting for Lestat's love" is a good one. But... Whatever.

That's the only part of the book that has me feeling like maybe I'm missing something and should've started in the right order. But it's like this one thing at the end and didn't affect my comprehension of the book as whole, so I'll wait. It's just, like, this feels random and I'm confused???? But okay, I'm used to their insane dynamic now lol. We'll all live.

Ok, but what the actual hell is happening?

Is Lestat just insane or is Armand mind-controlling him or something lol

Oh?

Okay...

He basically said “I thought I was delusional. But if that were the case, Armand wouldn’t be the person I’d see. I was so weak, but managed to overpower him. But memory plays its tricks, so maybe I did imagine him. But I also knew he was there.”... Like, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN SAYING???????

Either way... OUCH! And I don't know what would hurt more.

Him being all alone and imagining/hallucinating ARMAND of all people.

Or Amand being there because, idk, as insane as they are and even Armand on his “villain era” I guess that might be better than being completely alone? Since loneliness is his chronic and biggest fear? Idk. Maybe I'm going just as insane as these vampires.

Like, obviously, if that's true those aren't sweet moments and they still emotionally hurt each other (and themselves in the process), but that's some level of care in a messed-up sick in the head vampire way?

Idk. I guess I'm just insane like they are.

"'Love me and the blood is yours,' he said. 'This blood that I have never given to another.' I felt his lips against my face. 'I can't deceive you,' I answered. 'I can't love you. What are you to me that I should love you? A dead thing that hungers for the power and the passion of others? The embodiment of thirst itself?' And in a moment of incalculable power, it was I who struck him and knocked him backwards and off the roof. Absolutely weightless he was, his figure dissolving into the gray night. But who was defeated? Who fell down and down again through the soft tree branches to the earth where he belonged? Back to the rags and filth beneath the old house. Who lay finally in the rubble, with hands and face against the cool soil? Yet memory plays its tricks. Maybe I imagined it, his last invitation, and the anguish after. The weeping. I do know that as the months passed he was out there again. I heard him from time to time just walking those old Garden District streets. And I wanted to call to him, to tell him that it was a lie I'd spoken to him, that I did love him. I did." OH?

Seriously...

WHAT THE HELL IS THEIR PROBLEM WHAT THE HELL IS THIS??

I would like to see Anne talking about whatever Lestat and Armand have going on because how do you even begin to explain it...

Like what was that crazy individual thinking when she wrote them?

I need to know.

I'm so stressed.

Immortality if dumbass vampires knew how to use their words:

These are literally fictional characters and they're ruining my life.

Season 3 can be so insufferable omg.

Btw, I LOVE the concept of one character hurting another and "winning a fight", when in reality they're just pretending and the two are actually losing. This is so intriguing. Congratulations, you're both idiots! Here, you won a tissue!

OH???????

IS THAT STILL HAPPENING?

WAIT.

WAIT MORE!

IS THAT THE OTHER THING?

“Lestat de Lioncourt In the year of his Resurrection 1984” HE’S SO UNSERIOUS EXTRA AND RIDICULOUS LMAO.

NOT HIM CALLING MUSIC VIDEOS VIDEO FILMS LMAO.

OMG IS THAT WHO I THINK IT IS?

LOUIS??????????? IS THAT YOU?????

Or maybe Gabrielle since he kept saying how he hadn't heard from her since their farewell but wanted to etc etc.

Or Marius.

Or Armand, but that's less likely?

Or Akasha because I know there's a certain moment coming, but I don't know if it's on TVL or QOTD...

...Or like a secret sixth thing.

But I hope it's Louis, I want to meet him so bad!

If that’s another dream/delusion/hallucination/piece of his imagination istfg!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m so invested, this CANNOT be for nothing!!!!!

fr Lestat describing people and stuff is somehow gayer than loving men, lmao.

Btw, is that really sooooo dramatic or does Lestat need to turn everything into a spectacle? Like, why does this feel like a big Hollywood movie scene?

“‘There’ll be time after,’ I answered. 'Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Nothing is going to happen. You’ll see.’” Can Anne Rice stop with the "five minutes before disaster" lines, please? Bruh is NOT subtle. Like AT ALL.

“And I had always loved him, hadn’t I, no matter what happened, and how strong could love grow if you had eternity to nourish it, and it took only these few moments in time to renew its momentum, its heat?” I NEED THIS TO BE SAID OUT LOUD ON THE SHOW SO BAD OMG???!!!!!!!!!!

I hope Sam Reid has been practicing this in front of a mirror since he was 14 just like he must've done it with the book's opening.

“‘Whatever happens, it will be worth it,’ I said. 'That is, if you and I, and Gabrielle, and Armand… and Marius are together even for a short while, it will be worth it. Suppose Pandora chooses to show herself. And Mael. And God only knows how many others. What if all the old ones come. It will be worth it, Louis. As for the rest, I don’t care.’” As I said before, this sounds like those dramatic child movies where a kid does the most over-the-top and probably dangerous thing ever just to get the attention of their relatives and bring their dysfunctional family together...

Maybe, deep down, Lestat is just a simple little boy who still wants a big family lol. It's not even just about having a father figure anymore, he wants big house full of people to love and hug. :((((

Or maybe he is just bored and wants chaos, lol.

Or both.

“I bowed my head. I laughed. I slipped my hands into the pockets of my pants the way mortal men did in this day and age, and I walked on through the grass.” Louis just made Lestat get shy like a teenage girl and I didn't know that was possible. Gotta respect him for that.

NOT LOUIS SAYING VIDEO FILMS TOO LMAO YOU’RE SO OLD AND LAME????

“Lestat, you think you understand,” this is literally them btw

Btw, now that I know New Orleans is "Armand's territory", maybe those interactions with Lestat were real? I need to check to see if there's info about the dates and if it adds up.

Lestat's concert lasting 3 hours. What a dream. Just some hard-working artist that really cares about his fans. Wow. Can musicians all over the world follow his example, please?

I'm glad he's having fun.

He's having WAY TOO MUCH FUN exposing himself like that lol.

Okay, so I think this rockstar thing made him even happier than the books or theater and that's cute.

I get him because the two best days of my life happened when I went to my favorite concerts.

“This little war of mine would put all those I loved in danger.” Congratulations for stating the absolute obvious, Lestat!

GABRIELLE!!!!!!!

Gabrielle is so done with her manchild of a son lol.

She has never been wrong, though.

Lestat, I love you, but you're exhausting.

I totally get Gabrielle wanting to run to the mountains, jungles, live among animals and not see another person again for so long. You're too high-energy and your parent is tired, Lestat.

Btw, their dynamic can be so funny, I hope the show explore that on season 3.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT ENDED LIKE THAT??????

I knew it would be a cliffhanger, but OMG???

Anywaysssss, that's a wrap on The Vampire Lestat. Mission finally accomplished! That was really fun, wohoo! x :) ^^

[watermelinoe]

don't say that i want to read your isekai opinions

i feel like i am being buttered up here but i will allow it bc i do love talking abt isekai hehe ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

so for context what made me think more abt isekai as a genre was finishing the main story chapters of saving my sweetheart, which i think is really strong for the first two thirds and then loses it in the last third for reasons i will explain shortly

and i've had this issue w other isekai/regression manhwa (i pr much lump these together under the isekai umbrella even though it is not technically the same thing) where things are just too easy, one that comes to mind off the top of my head is i shall master this family, which has great art and i like that it's less focused on romance but i ended up getting bored bc the protagonist just. never loses. she can always use her past life experience to perfectly predict what will happen and completely curbstomp whoever her opponent is.

"but isn't that the appeal of an isekai??" you may ask and you would be INCORRECT, yes the wish fulfillment element of isekai is about getting a do-over, but more than that my favorite thing abt the genre is how it plays with expectations and the idea of fate/any kind of higher power that decides how things are "supposed" to be. and oftentimes this force is an active character and antagonist. i've seen several manhwa now where the characters essentially have to beat "god" in order to get their happy ending. there are no predestined endings and true love is the love you make with the person you choose, not someone who is chosen for you. soulmates are made, not created. these are all themes that are extremely important to me and why i think isekai as a genre works so well. i'm someone who LOVES tropes - as tv tropes always says, Tropes Aren't Bad. isekai plays with tropes like i used to play with my dinosaur toys. it's supposed to be self-aware, it's supposed to subvert expectations, it's supposed to be fun and genre savvy and meta. it's really a treat for people who care a lot about the mechanics of storytelling.

the working isekai formula relies on establishing the wish being fulfilled - why is this person being reincarnated? and the answer to that question generally determines how the story first plays out, which is typically one of two ways, where the female lead either has to claw her way up through obstacle after obstacle, or the female lead is immediately welcomed and loved in her new life (but often there is still some underlying conflict that keeps her from being at ease and embracing Happily Ever After, such as her knowledge of what's "destined" to happen in the future). the latter is more of a hurt/comfort trope usually following a depressing first life. in either case, at the beginning the female lead can rely on her insider knowledge to score some wins early on, but the essential key is that there comes a point where her past knowledge means nothing anymore because the story has changed too much. and usually there will be an additional twist as well. this is to keep things from being too easy for the female lead, because even in a revenge story, it's not actually satisfying to watch someone win over and over with no meaningful conflicts. the archvillain's daughter-in-law also has a female lead who seemingly never misses, but the difference is that she thinks her father-in-law is planning to kill her so his son can remarry the royal princess (divorce is illegal), and honestly at this point in the story without spoiling anything that still seems like a reasonable fear. so the story isn't boring because you have this conflict of interests, she's attached to her new family but also knows she needs to be dead for her father-in-law to accomplish his overall goal. i shall master this family doesn't seem to have that extra layer, everything just goes her way.

saving my sweetheart does a great job with challenging the female lead for the first ~90 or so chapters and then in the last third, i swear literally every single obstacle is squashed before you can even start to worry about it. including the main looming death flag introduced at the very beginning of the story. it just no longer matters at a certain point. and obviously as readers we know that these types of stories will work out in the end, but for some reason this story decided that the characters should know that, too. in the third act. they literally solve things by showing multiple characters the future. sorry but if the main characters already know it's going to be okay... why am i here exactly lol it was like the story said yeah yeah you know what it's gonna be like huh??? what a baffling choice

and it's dangerously easy for stories that use gods as major players to eliminate any real challenge for the main characters because they literally have the power of god and anime on their side. there has to be some excuse why whatever divine power can't just stomp the bad guys with a giant foot monty python style. it's also just.... less satisfying for a story to have the Ultimate Objective Good on the side of the main characters. Good is often Boring. i liked how flirting with the villain's dad portrayed its god as more human and flawed, like a greek god.

what really left a bad taste in my mouth by the end of saving my sweetheart was that fate was never against them in the first place, it was the villain who upset the balance, and the two Good gods just give the main characters the answers because fuck it, you all know how it's gonna turn out anyway, who are we kidding. there's an especially laughable moment at the end and this will be a spoiler, but when a major character has to go to the land of the dead at the end to persuade another character to come back to life, this character worries bc in the happy future he originally saw, he wasn't in it. and for a split second you think there's going to be a nice message because the major character says smth like "i can't guarantee the future but i know we would be less happy without you in it" BUT THEN the goddess literally just fucking SHOWS the dead guy the future with him in it to prove it will all be fine and i am still not over it because WHAT WAS THE POINT THEN, what was the point of any of it, no one had to be uncertain for a single fuckin second because yknow power of god and anime

and i feel like an insane person bc everyone else was just like "this felt kinda rushed" but i had this whole rant built up inside me lmao i am aware i'm too into this genre but i think there's interesting parallels you can make here to like, christian media and why it's boring...

[quiveringdeer]

Hi nat 🥺🥺 I’m choked atm w thoughts of Bertie being dead so may I pls request some hesdcanons of him like. Coming back to life at the end of aot and reuniting w a Paradisian reader who has forgiven him. And missed him dearly? Maybe Reiner is also there and they have a big group hug or something? 😭😭💪

Awwww Tado sweetie. 🥺💗💗💗

I'm sorry this has been sitting in my inbox so long without response. My brain has such a tough time with these cause it refuses to suspend further disbelief with canon but imma do it for you. 🧡

Somehow Bertholdt comes back. Maybe Ymir decides to completely bring back some of the shifters who were killed during the transfers, like him Ymir, Porco, Marcel even. Gosh that's heartbreaking considering how many folks don't get that chance but damn it we're focusing on reunion Bertie things ok!! 😤😤😤

He comes back in the area where he died. Completely whole and with knowledge of what all's happened because of being in The Paths. Everything around him is completely destroyed due to the Rumbling. There are folks rummaging through the wreckage, looking for survivors, trying to salvage anything they can, and he immediately moves to start helping. Knowing all that he knows now--hell knowing what he knew before he died--there's no difference between him and anyone here. And without Marley knowing he's alive, he has no reason to keep allegiance. And there's no way for him to easily get across the ocean to make his presence known to his father or Reiner or anyone--he's not even certain he wants to. Not after everything. Not when so many aren't getting this second chance at life. A second chance he's doesn't feel deserving of. So he just decides to join the small populace of other survivors trying to make way in a world that doesn't make much sense anymore.

The idea that you would've somehow forgiven him after everything doesn't cross his mind. It's not something he would've dared hoped for. He certainly doesn't expect you to be thinking of him when there are so many other important things to be prioritizing.

Luckily, as massive as the colossals were, they didn't begin to spread out in formation until reaching the ocean. So, while there is irreparable damage done to the land, there's still unmarred land left on Paradis for folks to inhabit. If nothing else, there's the area of the island on the side of the walls opposite the rest of the world.

I feel like, due to Bertholdt thinking there's no way you'd forgive him, he wouldn't seek you out. It'd have to happen by happen stance. Maybe you're part of the Alliance along with Reiner? And in the aftermath of so much death and destruction, humans are going to probably cling to things that feel familiar. Especially pomp and circumstance. So whenever the Alliance is set to visit the palace, there's a big to do. It becomes common knowledge that the main members of the Alliance are those who had key roles to play in The Rumbling.

As much as Bertholdt knows he needs to keep his head down. And that he shouldn't test the tenuous thread of normalcy he's been able to rebuild for himself, he can't help but join the throngs of folks lining the streets as the convoy of officials make their way to the palace.

And as fate would have it--cause we love cliche moments of fate in this house!--You end up catching sight of him in the crowd.

Sure you dream of him often, but you've never actually hallucinated him while awake. Immediately you grab Reiner's hand and tell him to pinch you. Of course Reiner is asking why would he do that, but your eyes haven't left their lock on Bertholdt and as much as he knows he should probably leave, he's frozen in place.

You're talking to Reiner and fiddling with his hands while you sit on the back of the open top car, but he notices your eyes locked on something so he follows your line of sight to see the ghost that haunts both of you.

"Bertholdt?"

"You see him too? I'm not dreaming this?"

"I...think so."

No matter how much neck craning you both do, eventually it's impossible to keep sight of him as the vehicles trudge on. You're damn near about to jump out of the moving car except that Reiner keeps you in place. Jumping out now would cause a scene, and this isn't the time nor the place.

As soon as you're released from the duties of being an Alliance official, you're headed out of the palace grounds to where you'd caught sight of him in the crowd. Reiner's on your heels and has somehow convinced himself that you both must have been seeing some shared hallucination. What other explanation could there be?? But he's not able to keep you from going to check and he wouldn't let you go alone so he's by your side.

You've trudged up and down the streets and alleyways multiple times and haven't caught sight of him again. It's getting late and most people are either home, headed there, or headed toward different taverns for food and drink. Two things that'll always keep you in business. Reiner has kept his mouth shut for the most part as you stalk up and through the streets. But now that it's getting dark he feels the need to cut this search off.

"We should head back. Things are tenuous as is and they'll be wondering where we've gone."

"I'm not going back until I find him."

Reiner grabs your arm, unintentionally jerking you back as your forward momentum is abruptly halted.

"We're not going to find him. Bertholdt. Is. Gone." He still struggled using the word, dead. But he was under no allusion that he was somehow alive.

"We saw hi-"

"Nothing. We saw nothing except someone that looked a lot like him. He can't be alive. Armin took on the Colossal and...and that's that."

"Fine," you shake your arm from Reiner's grasp, tucking it back by your side. "Then I'm going to find the man that looks like him."

"How? Do you plan to knock on every door and ask to meet every resident?"

"If that's what it takes."

A pained groan leaves Reiner's throat as his palms drag over his face. "Do you hear yourself? This is insane!" It's not his intention to shout the last part but frustration and a messy concoction of other emotions are quickly taking hold.

"Bertholdt is dead, YN! Dead! He's not coming back and we're not going to see him again!" He's shaking at this point. And he's not sure if he's yelling at you or just trying to beat down the silly hope that'd sparked to life in his own heart earlier. "You're being unreasonable! What we saw was wishful thinking and we need to return to the palace before they realize we're gone. Now let's go!"

After it's all out the regret and guilt descend like vultures. Swooping in, pecking at his flesh, making him wince with every detail he takes in of your horrified expression.

"YN...I'm sorry I--"

Before he can finish you're stepping forward and grabbing his hand. Fingers lacing his own and squeezing tight. But your not looking up at him. You're looking past him.

"Bertholdt?"

Reiner clenches his jaw and sighs, squeezing you hand back. After all that he doesn't understand how you're still caught up on--

"Hi...I heard my name..."

The familiar voice has Reiner immediately whipping around. "No. No this is impossible."

As Reiner mumbles beneath his breath your other hand is reaching out and Bertholdt isn't sure if he should take it or not. Obviously he's already made trouble for you both. This was stupid of him. He should've kept walking but when he'd heard his name and seen you both standing here, he couldnt. Then you'd caught sight of him and any ability to leave had become impossible.

When he doesn't reach out for your hand you're moving forward, dragging Reiner along until you're holding Bertholdt's hand as well. It's warm. So warm. Your thumb runs beneath the underside of his wrist and you can his pulse.

Your grip is bruising but Bertholdt hasn't felt such a comforting sensation since he's been returned.

There are so many things racing through your head. Elation at being right. Thankful that your mind wasn't simply cracking beneath all the pressure and expectations. Incomprehension about how any of this was possible. So, so many things. And yet with all the tumultuous feelings swirling around, the next words you speak are clear and steady. "We've missed you so much."

Your hands release their hold on both men so you can wrap your arms around Bertholdt's lean frame. You're not aware of any exchange between the two men. Even if words were spoken you're too focused on recommiting the sound of Bertholdt's heartbeat to memory. Before too long you feel Reiner's body crowd in close as his arms wrap around you and Bertholdt.

[canmom]

nier automata anime! nier automata anime!

honestly? this was kinda painful. a mixed bag with some good bits but more miss than hit. but this is the intersection of two special interests so you bet I'm going to be picking this apart.

let's get the obvious out of the way: the CGI suuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. the flight units in particular - sure, the plasticy shading, the shots where they very obviously had a stiff CG doll inside the unit, but more generally, the way they moved, the way they were clearly going for a lot of classic mecha type of shots (Itano circus, Kanada pose in front of an explosion) but just... not selling it at all because of the very stiff way the rig is animated. so the first few minutes were pretty painful, especially since they lose some of the most memorable shots (the five YoRHa units flying together in a delta formation and getting picked off one by one) in favour of '2B doing cool shit' and then flub the '2B doing cool shit'.

that moment in the game is a moment of immediate desperation, like a parachuting scene in a war movie, where there's nothing to do but stay the course and hope you don't get hit. 2B, however, never feels like she's in any danger at this point.

but once they actually got on the ground, it gets so much better! 2B in action was a joy to watch. that's something that they got very right, hitting the feel of Platinum's fighting with the sort of lovely little details that you couldn't get in a game.

sadly that doesn't really last.

the first episode basically covers the tutorial mission of the game, with a kind of checklist approach of key scenes: the fight with Marx, the fight with Engels, 2B and 9S detonating their Black Boxes. there's a couple of bits of extra stuff: we see that the Engels unit you fight was not finished.

the pacing was sadly kinda shot. it's necessarily very compressed, but I think the balance is off. the Engels fight, which takes up about half the episode, doesn't have the sense of relentless escalation and desperation it does in the game. a lot of the episode is dedicated to action, often not very good action, and very little time to appreciating the emptiness of the setting.

in the game - and to be fair, this is a big advantage of games - you get a real sense of place as you make your way through the factory, descending into the dark and back out; the moment before Engels has a weighty sense of anticipation as you set out onto a large, empty road, uncertain of why you haven't found your enemy. here... there's a brief montage of 2B walking through the factory, seeing passive machines, as 9S talks in VO. this is nice, I'd have liked more of it. but it's not long before we charge into the next action scene.

seeing it in anime form with some Okabe's most Kenji Kawai-esque tracks underlines just how much Yoko Taro was cribbing from Mamoru Oshii, and while the pacing of Oshii movies is infamously slow, this really overcorrects. which would be OK if the action felt good and tense, but it doesn't; enemies come out of nowhere (e.g. a swarm of flying enemies abruptly surround 9S) and disappear about as quickly, while the big battle with Engels has a weird moment of downtime and very little sense of progression. Engels is active, then he's down, then he's up again. when 2B attacks with Yoko Taro staple 'would you just.. die already!' (here subbed 'just break down already!' - I can't parse the Japanese by listening unfortunately, but it's brief), it doesn't feel like the desperate yell of someone who's tried absolutely everything, and this fucking robot still won't die. (or 'break down'.)

it's a shame. they've hit all the expected lines and moments from the game, but as an adaptation into a new medium, it doesn't really seem to know how to play to the medium's strengths. and yet where they do make changes, like having 2B fight a flying goliath unit during the descent, it's largely for the worse.

when the lines from the opening (everything that lives is designed to end...) are recited at the end of the episode, they're a little altered - I think possibly a version from one of the concert readings? - so instead of hoping she will find God and kill him, 2B, says she will continue to wish for 9S's happiness. it feels like it's kind of rushing ahead in the relationship between 2B and 9S, but I guess that's a sign that they're going for something different, which is a very Yoko Taro thing to do.

one thing that surprises me is that the Crunchyroll translators have frequently made different translation decisions from the game localisation. that's fine - the original script isn't sacred, and it's not as bad as the localisations of the novels and short stories lmao, at least they get 'Machine Lifeforms' consistent. but, for the most part, I find the CR version worse. here it's "all existence is designed to become extinct", or the above "break down" instead of die. unless the Japanese actually is different? I'll have to investigate further.

it won't ever detract from the game, and obviously Platinum are a tough act to follow in terms of cinematography, but I had cautiously gotten my hopes up and now it doesn't seem like it will be much more than a show to mine for occasional sakuga. I hope to be proven wrong though.

it's frustrating, because there are some good aspects. the backgrounds are generally pretty solid. the 2D animation has some really great moments - the character interactions are clear, the 2D fight scenes are (as mentioned above) really good, and the omake puppet show sequence at the end was cute and playful in the right way. there's some really nice 2D effects animation... and some really bad 3D effects animation. but there's potential here. that's what's frustrating. A-1 wouldn't have been my first pick of studio, but they've clearly got capable people on it and they're leaning on amazing source material. hopefully the balance will get a bit better as they get into the later game, and don't feel the need to rely solely on action.

[araneitela]

All I can think about while I'm trying to write an entirely unrelated (to this topic) starter and my first IC thing, is how often I've seen miss ma'am over here mimic playing the piano, or the violin, or hear her hum over and over as HSR sits idle in the background, and how it's the... lightest and most fragile (and yet oddly controlled) sound and melody each time, I truly never tire of hearing it. And I think about the contrast of the humanity in that, and then I think about her line of how 'bullets are much more obedient'— why? Because they don't require emotion to be fired? And they don't risk giving away more than one intends? God, Kafka, classical and opera music out of everything. The piano and the violin, arguably two of the instruments most tied in with representing sorrow and melancholy. Why? Who did you lose? What happened? There's too many little hints and subtleties that aim at that reality, there's too much about you that tells me it's too likely. Your investment in Blade's well being is too on the nose. It's just. It's just.

Why am I listening to a gorgeously fragile piano rendition of Canon in D, the violin piece that plays during Kafka's introduction? I don't know, but I am.

If I have to watch this woman mimic playing either instrument one more time, instead of actually playing either, I will lose my damn mind. And yet, and yet, I actively think if she were to find herself in a hotel room, even on her own, and there would be a piano right there— I can see her fingers tracing over the keys so very clearly, even as if she were touching the keys to play and yet never pressing down. Why do I see this so clearly.

... There's this gif I use all the time lately in Discord when it comes to Kafka, and it's this bunny that shakes another bunny almost violently, and it's me, it's me being feral about Kafka and not being able to shut up about her. I want to use it 24/7.

[duckfucker77]

The light from his phone was the only thing illuminating his bedroom. Flashes of color danced on the wall behind him as the video he had been watching continued to play. David’s bed felt cold, even in the middle of summer. Perhaps it was because of the open window or the fan, slowly spinning above him.

He had work tomorrow, but couldn't sleep; an answer as to why David was watching a video on a subject he knew nothing about.

I should do something useful, I guess. He thought to himself as the video ended. David sat over the edge of his bed, contemplating if he really wanted to get up. He had dishes to clean, laundry to fold and put away. They had been sitting there for so long that both piles had grown into mountains for him. Even if they were only a couple of days old.

David stood up and walked over to his open window, taking in the fresh, summer air and staring out at the lights that lined his city apartment’s street. He wondered what it was like… out there. Was the night-life as scary and criminal as he'd been told in his youth? Was the air so crisp and cool as it felt coming through his window? Would he be so alone… out there?

David couldn't have stopped himself. Before he knew it, he was standing on the grass just outside of his apartment. Dressed in casual clothes and wearing his thinly rimmed glasses. He felt the summer’s night air wash over him, like a cool and refreshing glass of water on a hot day.

David looked around the empty street, it felt freeing. He felt free of all the problems he knew he would have to face another day, but they didn't matter to him right now. He was free.

His feet carried him away from his apartment, secure in the knowledge that his house key was tucked safely away in the same pocket as his phone. David ended up only a few blocks away, taking in the night sky. A couple of cars had passed him by as he'd made his way along the street, he wondered if they thought him weird. Or, maybe, they simply didn't think of him. That thought brought him a sense of relief.

David heard footsteps making their way closer to him, his eyes darted in the direction they were coming from. They landed on a blonde-haired woman, about the same age as himself, walking down the nearly empty street—nearly, save for himself.

His mind immediately raced as he thought of all the reasons someone like himself would have to be out at such an hour. He looked at his phone quickly, 2:16 am. It was late, later than anyone should be out on a night like this. He had to think of something quick, it felt as if his brain was working a thousand times faster than normal and a million times slower than ever. He couldn't think of something fast enough, her footsteps were already close enough that no other sound could enter his ears.

And then she spoke. “Hey, whatcha doing out so late?”

Her voice was kind, but stoic, like she was talking to a lost child. David hadn't considered what he was actually wearing: sweatpants, Crocs, and a T-shirt from a band he'd forgotten about.

“Uh… Just… Wandering around, I guess.” He said, sheepishly. The woman’s mouth briefly cracked a smile, it almost looked genuine.

“Well, are you lost?” She asked. “I know the area well, I can help you get home if you need some?”

David knew where ‘home’ was, only a few blocks behind him, but he appreciated the offer still. He didn't expect her to be so kind immediately. “Thanks, but I actually live nearby, so…” His voice trailed off, unsure of how to end his refusal.

She continued the conversation without missing a beat “Oh, nice. Me too.” She smiled again, this time for much longer. “I'm actually headed there now, so, if you don't mind…” Her words trailed off as well.

“Yeah, yeah. Of course.” He said, stepping out of the way, even though he wasn't really in her way.

“Thanks,” she said, continuing past him. But after a few steps, she stopped and turned around. “Are you… Out this late often?”

David was stunned for a moment again. “Oh, um. No, not often.” His answer seemed to cause a flicker of disappointment in her face.

“But I might start! I can't sleep and usually I just stay awake in bed… Although, that's been getting boring lately.” He ran his hand over forearm lightly as he spoke.

Her face perked up again slightly. “Well, I hope we see each other again. Maybe we could talk?” She seemed excited to have someone out this late. David wondered if she was out and about at 2 am often.

“Yeah, next time… We should.” He chuckled awkwardly, hoping to ease the tension he felt.

“Next time.” She said, giving him a wave as she turned down one of the cross streets.

David made it back to his apartment only a few minutes later, getting a glass of water before undressing and crawling back into bed. He felt like he could sleep better now. His bed wasn't so cold anymore.

[tomyo]

Hometown Story

The expectations of this game can be summarized as C grade ds game to awkward mobile game era game to one of those games that they really mean it when it takes time to warm into.

Given my years with Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons, I was genuinely expecting a much more in depth experience but came to an admittedly mid experience. When you find out it was also released on iphone with minimal downgrade, it suddenly makes it clear why I was able to buy a sealed copy for $4 . It isn't bad, it's a different focus and while admittedly too bare bones at the start, once I found a good gamefaqs guide for event triggers I found my rhythm. You really don't have to do much in the game, walk around, pick up everything you find, maybe buy some stuff from the village but definitely come to buy from the 2pm merchant, and stop in your shop to check a bunch of people out every so often.

Things I wish I better knew starting out:

Your tables are not limited, the game has you start out by just dropping one down but you can in fact immediately put more down. My dumb ass went in game weeks with just one item for sale awkwardly waiting around for someone to want it thinking I had to desperately wait for the merchant to have more.

The day doesn't start till you open your shop so if you want to reorganize a little first, do it at 6am.

Sometimes events are triggered by putting up key items to be sold on shelves. I didn't want a rando to buy it but the won't. However, also put it into unreachable corners since you won't need to restock those shelves often. I would definitely cross check guide info on what items go to what event if you dgaf about spoilers like me because sometimes you'll get them for characters you haven't even met yet which takes up valuable space. Then there's ones like the masterpiece which might require in game months of sitting around for their event to trigger.

Fill your store with fruits and sewing kits initially as some characters require that for unlock.

ALWAYS. BUY. WOOD. I was so used to wood being such an easy resource but this game has made it hell for me to wait to get 5 pieces. It can only be bought from the merchant and while he stocked it often at the start, suddenly he never had it. I'm making so much money but I'm stuck on level two because of not having wood.

Thus far I've gone a 12 hour playthrough probably with some gratuitous pausing to read several half finished sources to know that I'm supposed to do. I'm the type of person who like to tailor a guide for my HM style games so my ADHD doesn't overwhelm me trying to keep up with all the tasks so having a lot of very barren wikis and gamefaqs is stressful to say the least. It's been more of a game of patchwork this time. Speaking of said ADHD, the point was I'd say I've made it about half way through the story. I'm at a very awkward point where I feel like I've finished some quest lines while still not having met some pivotal characters to the story. So far I think I'm missing 7 story based characters. It is pretty annoying that the cutscene activation is fickle, I'll follow everything but sometimes it just won't activate that day. I'm barely one month through and I'd even say it's possible to see that whole game in just that one month, maybe two at most but its dependent on things you can't control. Multiple items sit on my shelf waiting to introduce a character to me for weeks in game while I had two item based cutscenes for a character back to back. I mean like literally the moment I placed the next item down after having watched the first. The imbalance in that can only make me think I might end up getting stuck in a slow down after this point.

I personally would like to see the story through if I can. I've been mostly playing this while sick at this point so I've had the time to rip through it.

I think the most unexpected thing about it is how the scenes kind of actually stick with me. As a long time fan of the series, I feel like I've always had a surface level relationship with villagers in farm games. I would say older ones give relatable struggles but don't get too deep into them, maybe even the closest being A Wonderful Life but that's a series I consumed as a kid when a lot of things went over my head and admittedly a lot of my backlog is just catching up on a series that admittedly, looks to have gotten extremely fluffier as it went on. Olive Town has not been that deep. I think one of the bachelors has a somewhat deep plot but since I'm not romancing him, I'm just off with my horsegirl girlfriend having cute dates and befriending the locals when I'm not drowning in makers. And then on the other hand theres Stardew Valley which for some reason only hit me in the last year how like, all the townspeople are just as terrible as the villians.

Maybe that's a stretch but it slapped me in the face when I realized the reason why I spent so much time on my farm was because a lot of them had pretty unlikable traits. So in all the places to feel emotionally invested, I did not expect the half baked spinoff to be it. Yet something about how the mayor and his wife are actually kinda cute with each other or how the mayor's wife coyly has an unaging friend wanting to bring her puddings, or the kinda real moments where the fisherman and the girl from the sea are clearly in an intimate moment and I'm let to realize this isn't even a rival moment like it would've been in some other game. This is it, you are irrelevant to the relationships these characters have.

I think maybe there was some really good power to that. The fact that it seems intentionally most of the romancible npcs are the last characters to arrive in town (two still have not moved in for me) but that you aren't in control of the relationship and can't even date till after the main storyline I think is actually a function that would benefit it's parent series. Imagine a Bokumono where you spent the majority of the time focusing on your farm, building the relationship you have with the town, and saving the day (the town, the harvest goddess, the farm etc) and then after all that some of the friends you met turned out to be people who might like you as more than that. I get why the formula is what it is, this series started in the 90s as a simple 'work hard and raise a family' type of life sim narrative and while it's been modernized that's still at its core but when we talk about franchise shake ups, I could see this being a really good one. I think to some extent people look at the marriage candidates as a check list goal rather than characters to bond with and sometimes that dating check mark even made me not really associate with other villagers outside of benefit. I can't say I'm still not doing that to some extent but the fact the character cutscenes are the progression checks has some satisfying merit to them. I can't ignore the village anymore and it's made me appreciate the characters beyond their benefit to my part in the story. How do I put this, I like the idea of being with Reina in PoOT because I like the idea of her with me and it also feels wrong that she's the only person in the whole town who lives in a basement and I could change that. I only ever saw Rick as an absolute dick as a kid because well he was but also out of some competition to win over Karen and I could never understand why she would go for him. In games like Animal Parade, I'm debating my spouse based off of what kids they'd have moreso in the way I'd miss out on content rather than think about how those characters work with each other or why they'd like each other at all. But hell, again I see this fucking probs a mermaid and fisherman and the way he's bothered she likes being with him and its like okay wow fuck, I'm feeling things for these baby faced sprites.

So like yeah, this was low key working up to talking about the big spoilery plot twist that they kill the local boy. He's literally every generic child boy character to exist in one of these games. He's excitable and adventurous and like, I acually hate kids y'know? But fuck if they didn't masterfully try to fuck with your heart to grow attached to him. Of course they use him for a bunch of like, early level questlines. He's basically a tutorial kid but then the town starts to expand and he gets some fellow snot nosed kids in town, a girl he likes and a 'in the shadow of my manly dad' best friend and y'know conveniently he's always there in storylines. His mother has a few about her restaurant and he's there fucking up making a sign because he's a hyper and excitable 9 year old or something. His sister is interested in medicines so one of those episodes revolves around him. Pretty much everything related to his Peter being sidekick to his grizzled shonen warrior dad has him chilling in the background as well or if there's a crowd around some newcomer of course he's apart of it. I applaud how well they probably actually fucked with the few who played this who then had to deal with a dead kid. Digs up a whole bunch reading The Bridge to Terabithia as a teen.

Like I said, I'd love to make it to that point if the spread of content last well. I don't think I'll play much after this weekend of the game if I don't but I'd say in the end $4 is worth the experience I got.

At first the town looks garishly barren. I still can't fully say it looks good either. A lot of areas start to get a couple of houses in it as it goes on and it really changes a lot though I feel the Town Square needed some much more in it. The map is confusing as hell and the fixed angles are nauseating at first but I've mostly worked out a rhythm. It was hard to stick through it this far if I'm honest but I think it was worth it.

[rinnie-marylin]

Since yall wanted the headcanons, here they are. I forgot some of them but i'll write what i kept obsessing about.

Yall are gonna hate me for this but becky's a housewife. I feel like tobey would have already matured alot at this age so he wants to make up for all the times she missed something important or didn't have enough time to have fun in her childhood, by working most of the time so she can stay home and manage to have enough time for herself and the city. He basically became a man :3

Tobey would probably work for a technology company (idk how companies work💀) like he would be the lead inventor/scientist/artist/whatever you wanna call him. He's basically the manager of all the other workers building and inventing smart houses, devices, etcetc... the CEO of the company would have given him a promotion but he's still a littllee wary of the ex-criminal.

I imagine becky would want to earn some money to help him manage their home (which i bet was probably built on the island becky's spaceship crashed on. And thanks to tobey's brains and becky's brawns, they basically built their own smart house. Kinda like one of those cartoon evil scientist's lair, but more...homely...?) So becky tried to become a librarian but it got mixed up with superhero duties, and with tobey's stubbornness, she quit and instead sold some of her key's to the city for money (assuming the key's were made out of gold)

I find it funny if tobey was a super strict mentor for his employees. Like they're all terrified of him because he used to be a bratty ahh villain. But as soon as wordgirl secretly barges into his office, with her family's traditional food in a paper bag, while scolding him for over-working and not eating breakfast before he left. They immediately see a change in his mood, he'd be calmer, more tolerant, more passionate for the rest of the day. Sometimes they'd even see a droopy smile on his face as he looks out the window.

The employees connect it to his wife, becky, as sometimes she comes in with a bag, presumably full of food, and goes to tobey's office. She'd often come out with her hair frizzled, but she assures everyone the window was open and there was a lot of wind! (With crazy hand gestures, cause seriously the only thing that didn't develop with her is her ability to keep a secret.) The employees actually treat her really nicely, in hopes that she would come more often and put their manager in a good enough mood to give them another hour for lunch time.

I feel like becky and tobey as a couple would still argue, but it wouldn't be heated, it would be more like debates than arguments. The thing with enemies to lovers is that the enemies already had enough arguments in the past, they literally got nothing to argue about anymore. The 'debates' would sometimes end up in insults, that obviously none of them would be offended by as they would both flirt their way back to compliments from the other. They just KNOW they can't stay mad at the other for too long.

And don't get me started on the wedding yall. Because tobey was apart of the villain's association and wordgirl obviously has some relations with them. They decided to save up the trinkets from their wedding so that wordgirl can give some of it to the villains. They played a mind trick at the special day to prevent any villains from committing crime and ruining it. Basically wordgirl announced to public tv that she was gping to be super busy on thursday (the day before the wedding) so she hopes no villain committes crime on that day. The villains, seeing this as their chance, all went out into the city robbing places, destroying them. And wordgirl, pleasantly surprised it worked, put all of them in jail so they can be locked up for tomorrow.

The villains didn't realize they played into a trick yet (they just thought she was in a hurry to catch them since she put in jail rather quickly) UNTIL wordgirl came into the prison, and started distributing the wedding trinkets to them two days later. It was then they realized wordgirl's plan. They were SO salty yall (But some of them still congratulated her dw)

Grown up becky & tobey (my take)

Yall i have so many headcanons for them-

I tried to make it as accuraate as possible with the show. Let me know if it looks fine, or if you'd change a few things about their designs :)

[bsblogsstuff]

LAKE HOUSE

EDDIE MUNSON X READER

TW: fluff, hints of smut 18+ (hints of oral sex), some cuss words, smoking and drinking, reader is 18+. if some others TW are missing please let me know!

you and Eddie had been going out for almost two months and you were trying to keep things private. not hidden, just private, as Eddie always said. he didn't want people to tell you that you were a freak or to just dodge you when they met you in the school halls.

even your closest friends didn't know about you two, except for Dustin Henderson. you were tutoring the little bastard and he also played D&D in Hellfire Club. he actually was nice to the both of you, never making you feel uneasy, but Henderson was dying to tell the others.

you and Eddie were playing it cool when you were seen together: he would hold your hips when no one was looking at you, you would hug him from behind and rest your head on his shoulder when the class was empty, he would drive you to school sometimes but parked far from the parking lots, so that the two of you could share a cigarette together and make out in the mornings.

the real problem happened when you and him were out with Robin, Nance, Steve and Johnathan. the two of you were surely comfortable around each other and it often lead to some awkward moments.

for example, you started scratching Eddie's back when he complained he was feeling itchy and he told you "that's the usual spot babe, just under my tattoo". your friends didn't even know that Eddie had a tattoo on his back.

another time you were all hanging out and Eddie suddenly rememberd he was supposed to go help Wayne with some stuff back at the trailer. you were keeping his van keys in your purse, so you just left them in his hand and you were about to kiss him on the lips goodbye, just like every time he had to leave. Eddie was fast enough to whisper in your ear not to kiss him, but people noticed that something was going on.

you were invited to a big sleepover at Steve's lake house and everyone else was supposed to be there, even Dustin and his friends, Lucas, Mike, Will, El and Max.

Eddie was waiting outside your house while smoking a cigarette. you got out the door, saying goodbye to your parents.

"bye mom, bye dad, I'll see you in two days".

"bye Mr and Mrs Y/L/N", Eddie waved a hand to them and they replied with a smile. of course your parents knew about you two.

"is m'lady ready for this adventure?" Eddie asked, placing your backpack on the rear seats.

"m'lady is so ready, my handsome man".

during the drive you and Eddie sang and laughed a lot.

"Eds..", he turned his head to you and smiled.

"I was thinking about just telling everything to the others, you know, it'd be easier to just stay together during this sleepover. I mean, they won't budge at the idea of us sleeping in the same room".

Eddie nodded as you lit up a cigarette and took a puff.

"I know babe, but I was wondering how exciting would it be to just sneak around to find some moments for ourselves or finding a reason to get out of the rooms in the middle of the night and fuck you in my van?"

you chocked on the smoke as Eddie said the last few words.

"you okay, sweetie?"

you nodded and replaced the coughing with a small chuckle.

"sorry babe, didn't see that coming".

Eddie smirked and you nodded.

"okay, we'll do things you way".

he smiled at you and placed a hand on your tight. "that's my minx".

you laughed and then remembered him to behave, "you know that we'll probably end up playing truth or dare tonight. please, don't embarrass ourselves." he nodded again, "copy that, sweetie".

of course, you two arrived together.

and of course, you two arrived late.

"we had to stop because we had lost the main road", you said to Steve as soon as you stepped out of the van.

of course you two hadn't arrived late because you had took a wrong turn, it was just because you were giving Eddie a blowjob while driving and it lead to a quick fuck. hence, you two were late.

Eddie was grinning when he heard your excuse and repeated the same story to the others, who gathered around to help the both of you to unload the car.

"you and Eddie have to share the bedroom, Y/N", Robin told you while hugging the both of you. "you were late so we just decided that". you smiled and pulled your friend close to you. "don't worry Robin, I'll just try not to kill myself".

Dustin looked at you and went like "I don't think that's actually a problem for this amazing couple". Eddie just slapped lightly his arm. "what the fuck, Henderson? are you jealous I'm sharing a room with Y/N?".

you laughed and got closer to Dustin, "oh Henderson, when I'm tutoring you we are also sharing a room, you know?". Dustin was just sandwiched between the two of you and he chose to just roll his eyes and walk away.

"jeez, does he have a crush on you?" Steve asked looking at your way.

"dunno", you shrugged and let out a small scoff. "we were just teasing him, right Eds?". Eddie nudged and lifted your backpack over his shoulder.

your room had just a king sized bed.

"oh man, that's like an invitation", you scoffed pointing at the bed.

Eddie sat on the bed and you sat on his knee, facing him. "yeah, it's like please we want to know if you two are fucking or not", he said slowly in your ear as he put his hands on your hips. you kissed him and he was starting his way on your boobs, when the door shut open.

"we're going for a swim... oh... sorry to interrupt you, mommy and daddy". Dustin was leaning against the door, covering his eyes with his hands.

Eddie threw a pillow at him. "please Henderson, just knock". you agreed with Eddie, "we know that you know, but please Dustybun, please, just knock". he groaned and sat next to you on the bed.

"you do realize that all the others are just waiting for you to go public, right?".

you nodded, "we know Dustin and I really wanna thank you for being so trustworthy". you smiled at him and ruffled his hair.

"stop that or I'll drown you". Eddie laughed at Dustin's statement and he gently pushed him through the door. "my sweetie pie needs to get changed and I don't want you to lurke, mkay?".

Dustin closed the door while shaking his head no.

you quickly got undressed and looked for your bathing suit. "Eds, need help", you called him, because you needed him to tie up your bikini top. Eddie was checking you out a lot, maybe too much for someone who had already seen you naked many times. "Eds? there's nothing new for you to see here", you chuckled. he hugged you closely and kissed your nose. "you wear this amazing thing, I get a boner in front of all our friends. I'm warning you, Y/N". he got changed and then the two of you left the room.

the afternoon went by and you couldn't remember the last time you had so much fun. you spent time sunbathing and gossipping with Nance and Robin, you took a dip in the lake with Max and Dustin, you all played silly games for hours.

Eddie was sitting next to Steve and he had barely talked to you during the all afternoon.

except for the moment when he asked you to kindly bring him a beer and you kneeled in front of him to put the bottle in his hand. he looked at your boobs in a very obvious way that made you kind of wet. "see something you like here, Munson?", you asked playfully. Steve got up nodding his head no, "you are gross", he yelled.

or except for the moment you needed to put sunscreen lotion on your back and Eddie was so kind to help you. the problem was that he grabbed your hair and held your head up as if you were giving him (another) blowjob.

"Eddie stop that right now", you muffled angrily.

"you just need to put lotion on my back in a not so obvious way, is that too much to ask?".

it was late at night and, after having showered and having eaten dinner, some of you were still laying on the shore. Robin and Steve were sharing a blanket, so were you and Eddie. Dustin and Nancy were sitting with their feet in the water.

apart from Dustin, everyone else was drunk or high. Eddie was both and probably you were too.

Steve called Dustin and Nancy to come closer to all of you, "we're playing truth or dare, won't accept a no as an answer", he stated.

"you know that I'd tell 'em, at this point they are just waiting for us to admit that we're dating", you whispered in Eddie's ear. he scoffed. "babe I want to tease 'em for the last time", he bit your bottom lip. "please babe", he whispered while placing a hand on your boobs. you were wearing a tank top without bra. thank god you were sitting in the dark. "okay Eds, but tomorrow we're telling them". he nodded against your shoulder, "mkay sweetie, they're going to know tonight though, as soon as we go back to the house I'm going to fuck this pretty pussy of yours."

you let out a quiet moan as Eddie ran a finger through your shorts.

"and I want you to be very loud".

he spanked your pussy and you jumped.

"everything alright, Y/N?" Robin turned around to you. "yes Robin, don't worry. I felt something touching my leg".

she chuckled. "it was probably the perv sitting next to you". "hey miss, can you please stop calling me a perv?", chuckled Eddie.

Steve asked all of you to get closer and you couldn't actually wake up because of all the booze and smoke you had. you felt dizzy and clinged to Eddie's arm when you tried to get up. he was struggling to stand as much as you, but he managed to hold you by your hips and help you move. you sat in his lap and he held you tightly with his hands closing on your middle.

"alright, let's get started", Steve placed an empty bottle in the middle of the circle and spinned it.

"Robin, truth or dare?"

"dare", Steve grinned. "I dare you to kiss one of the girls on the lips". you, Robin and Nancy laughed. Robin pulled Nance closer and kissed her fast, then she moved next to you and kissed your lips too. "why choose, Steve?", Robin asked, sipping her beer.

Eddie pulled you closer to him and realized he was growing hard. "did that turn you on?", you whispered. he nodded and rested his face on your shoulder. you chuckled and grinded slowly on his dick.

it was Robin's turn and the bottle stopped in front of you. you rolled your eyes and Steve laughed. "we're going to have so much fun", he said, leaning towards you to shake your shoulder jokingly.

"truth or dare, Y/N?", Robin grinned. "truth, so you'll just stop being so nosey". Eddie laughed and pulled you closer to his chest.

"well, we've got so many questions so I'll just ask them all together", Robin smiled at you and you noticed that the others were moving so that they were closer to you.

you nodded and Eddie lit a cigarette. "okay, we're ready, I feel like not all the questions will just be asked to this pretty little thing", he said while he put the packet away.

"sooo, how long have you two been dating? did you guys have sex already? is he.. big, you know? did you two had a thing for each other even before the whole upside down thing? do you sleep together after Hellfire Club? Dustin told us that Y/N waits for Eddie outside school". Robin's questions were making you giggle and couldn't wonder how many times they had probably asked themselves the same things.

Nancy sipped her beer and asked "how many times have you skipped school saying it was because of your period but you probably were just home, fucking around?", mocking you and you laughed because that had actually happened a lot. Nancy was quite sure that couldn't always be your period the reason you stayed home some days.

"Nance, that's gross", Dustin and Steve complained.

"do you actually know that we've noticed you two were a thing before you both had realized that? Eddie was always touching your shoulder and your nose", Dustin pointed out and looked at you. he let out a chuckle, "oh, he's doing that right now!". indeed, Eddie's arm was placed around your shoulder, pulling you close to his chest and he was touching your nose playfully. you started laughing very loud at that comment and Eddie shrugged his shoulders.

"what can I say, Henderson? she's got the most amazing and perfect nose I've ever seen in my life... and not just her nose". Eddie smirked at you and you placed a kiss on his left cheek.

"that was gross babe, but still cute", you laughed.

"enough with the PDA, we want answers". Nancy was clearly dying to get to know more about the two of you.

Eddie whispered in your ear "babe if you want to tell them it's alright". you turned around to look him. "you've changed your mind Eds?". he nodded and hugged you. "yeah I mean, you're right, we should just tell the truth. It's kinda obvious that you're my girl, isn't it?". you blushed, he was calling you my girl and it didn't happen very often, he preferred calling you babe or sweetie. "yes, my boy", you whispered.

"so", Eddie cleared his voice.

"so", you echoed him. the others fell silent and moved their heads towards you.

"it's been two months, actually. it started after all that happened in the upside down".

"this lady here was the one who got sure I was fully medicated after those son of bitches bit me", added Eddie, referring to the bats. "and then she kept coming to my trailer to see how I was recovering".

"it was actually Y/N AND me", Dustin pointed out. "it's great to see how much you value my presence". you laughed and scooted over to place a hand on Dustin's shoulder. "Henderson you know he loves so much you, I'm kinda jealous", you smiled. Dustin scoffed and offered you his beer. you thanked him and moved to a more comfortable place, between him and Eddie.

Steve laughed at your exchange and looked at you because he wanted to hear more.

"and then you know, one thing led to another, I went to one of his gigs", Eddie turned around to you and laughed, "oh she really went to listen to Corroded Coffin". you blushed thinking how things went after the concert. it was the first time you two had sex in his van.

"she's blushing guys", Robin screamed. "they had sex and if I'm right you owe me 10$", she exclaimed, staring at Nancy.

Eddie grinned and looked slowly at all of them before looking at you. "OF COURSE", he screamed. you laughed at his answer, "of course we had, come on guys! I'm 18, not 80, I wouldn't be surprised by hearing that we have sex". Eddie clawed your jaw and added, "like, a lot".

"Eddie you're gross", Dustin screamed and moved away from the place next to you. the others were laughing and so were you. he decided to scoop you and place your body on his lap.

"Nance, don't make me say this out loud", you begged while Nancy and Steve were chuckling. "you know that sometimes I skip school because my periods hurt, but in the last weeks it was just an excuse". you were blushing and Robin smiled at you. "don't be embarrassed, bestie, that's a way better reason to skip school than your period". Steve nodded and got up, he sat next to Eddie and pushed his shoulder gently. "I swear to god, Munson, if she cries because of you I'll kill you with my own hands, okay?".

"Harrington, your words offend me!", Eddie replicated his tone mockingly. "after all the weed you've smoked, kindly offered by me, you have the audacity to tell me that?". Steve laughed and fixed his hair. "I'm serious Steve, won't hurt her, won't make her cry, she deserves the world and I know that".

you smiled to the both of them and mouthed a thank you to Steve.

Eddie moved his hands over to your hips and you noticed a shit eating grin on his face. "as regards Robin's question...". you were fast enough to understand which one, "NOPE, you're not going to answer that. you'll just be silent". Eddie chuckled in your hear and you were pretty sure he whispered "you are a minx, you know that? tell her I've got the biggest cock you've ever seen".

Robin was laughing loudly at your comeback. you looked at her and just moved your hands to mimick the length, making sure that no one would notice you, apart from her and Nancy.

"are you serious?", Nancy's face was priceless and Robin laughed even louder.

the boys looked over to you with confused looks. Eddie asked Nancy "tell me, I want to know whether the lady here is a liar or not". Nance chuckled again and she shrugged her shoulders before showing Eddie the movement you had made.

"right, that's my girl", he chuckled. "she's absolutely honest".

you smiled and kissed him chastely on his chapped lips.

"guys please you either get a room or stop that", Dustin screamed again.

"Henderson will you please shut up? that's actually nice, kissing him in front of all you and not having to wait for a moment when you're not looking", you chuckled. you moved so that now you were facing your friends again. "and, Henderson, don't be like this", Eddie blinked, "you were the only one to know about us the whole time".

"WHAT?"

"NO!"

"YOU LIAR!"

and other words were screamed at Dustin while you and Eddie were chuckling.

Eddie let his hands rest on your thighs. "I was thinking", he mumbled into your ear, "that we could still sneak out and have sex somewhere here in the woods". you felt the familiar heat knotting in your stomach. "or maybe", you grinned while moving your hand to his dick, "we could fuck in the water".

Eddie got up so fast that you actually fell out from his lap. "shit I'm sorry babe, you okay?", you nodded and he held over a hand to help you.

"we're going to have a night swim in the lake". you got up and grinned again at him.

oh, the things he made you feel.