#The Retaliators – Theme Song

[arcadia-of-pluto]

Twist of Fate; Chapter Fifteen

Pairings; LADS OT4 x reader

Word count; 2.6k

Themes; isekai, eventual smut

Rating; 18+ for swearing and mature content

Notes; Last chapter for the weekend (I say weekend but it's only friday–) I'm really thinking about posting chapter sixteen, but I think I need to put more distance between my chapters I'm posting and what I'm currently working on, since twenty is real close to sixteen. I'll probably be working on chapter twenty this weekend and if I get to twenty-one, I might post sixteen! 🩷

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Masterlist

Melodious music serenades the luxurious banquet hall that’s illuminated by dreamy lighting.

Sylus calmly guides you across the dance floor, swaying to the song’s slow rhythm. He blocks the prying shadows around you both and when you look up, all you see is his face, which is quite infuriating because it’s a good face. It’s distracting.

“Y/n, you need to be smarter if you want to retaliate against me,” Sylus says with a small sigh. “Sorry, I’m not really used to these kinds of social gatherings,” You glance away from him with a small, sheepish smile and clumsily lift your heel off of his foot.

“Did you actually get information on the aether core?”

“You can choose not to believe me,” Sylus muses as you continue your dance. Catching a glimpse of a flashing red dot in the shadows, you use your hand that’s on his shoulder to push him in the opposite direction.

“But they wouldn’t leak such important information. Unless..” You trail off, trying to get him to talk about what you heard over the earpiece earlier, “It’s a trap.” “Exactly.” A smile tugs at the corner of Sylus’ lips, almost as if he’s proud of you for coming to that realization.

You look back up at him, a little concerned. “You’re not going to throw yourself into their trap, are you?” The man shakes his head before speaking with a smile, “Be content with your role. Don’t scare away the fish that already bit the hook.”

You sigh, chewing on your bottom lip for a moment, “There’s…eight evol bombs, fifteen high-frequency guns…They really want you dead. Sylus, you made a lot of enemies.” “This isn’t the first time it’s happened,” He replies nonchalantly as the music reaches a crescendo. The notes from the orchestra are layers on top of one another, like surging tidal waves.

The lights dim to the passionate beats and shadows surround you both on all sides.

“You have something up your sleeve, right? Even if you have a death wish, I don’t intend to die here with you,” You harshly whisper, feeling a panic build up in your chest.

“Don’t worry, you won’t die that easily.” Is all he says. What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Boom

A deafening explosion drowns out the music and ensuing screams. The beautiful hall is instantly reduced to rubble.

Amidst the surging chaos, Sylus tightens his grip on your hand and while your heartbeat thunders in your ears, you can barely make out a scoff coming from him. To your surprise, you see him nonchalantly crush something before throwing it into the debris.

“You…had the detonator this whole time?” You ask, ears slightly ringing from the explosion as you look up at him. He laughs, a smile on his lips, “The vermin were taking their sweet time. I was getting impatient.”

 “The metaflux is quickly increasing and there’s more than one wanderer…be careful.” You look around at the rubble, hand subconsciously squeezing his tighter. Your free hand quickly pulls your gun from your thigh holster to fire several shots at the wanderer that was about to attack Sylus.

“Well, that was close..” You let out a sigh of relief. “How long do you think you’ll last with an outdated weapon like that?” He asks, jerking his chin in the direction of your pistols. “Hey..” You pout, holding your gun close to your chest.

They were like your babies. You couldn’t just get rid of them.

Sylus tosses over another gun and you fumble with it in your full hands. “Don’t waste your efforts.” he says, not elaborating on what he means. You shake your head with a small sigh, re-holstering your other guns to hold the new ones. They were definitely lighter than your old ones and seemed to be better made.

“Did Sherman make you do this? Where’s the aether core? Hey, answer me!” After you had handled the last wanderer, you found a henchman cowering in the corner. You press the muzzle of your gun against the back of his head as you spit-fired questions at him.

“You haven’t won yet! We still have a backup plan…! That thing is terrifying. When it shows up, not even Sylus– agh!” Black-red mist throws the man into a broken stone pillar. With a scream, he falls to the ground like a puppet whose strings were just cut. You jerk your head toward Sylus with a glare. “Violence should be used strategically,” He says with a shrug, calmly wiping the blood off of his face as the mist disappears from his hands.

“I would’ve believed you if your hands were clean,” You grumble with a small sigh, annoyed that you have to fight in heels– which is insane by the way. You’ve almost fallen over so many times.

Despite the venue being cleared, strong energy fluctuations manifest above you both and shake the ground you stand on. “What’s making that noise? Are there still some left?” You rub the back of your neck, before remembering that the henchman was talking about something being their backup plan.

“Let’s go.” Sylus turns to walk away and you throw your hands up in annoyance, “Where are we going?” The older man grabs your wrist and swiftly starts walking. “To the place that has what you want,” He says, his fingers deftly wrapped around your wrist.

The almost transparent elevator quickly ascends and the colourful night-time scenery is obscured by the clouds. The elevator doors creak open on the roof and your eyes widen as you notice the huge wormhole in the sky.

A sense of panic and foreboding claws at your chest from the image of something huge and alien-looking in the sky.

“What is this place..?” You manage to say as you both step out from the elevator and onto the dilapidated roof. Countless pieces of metal are strewn across the spacious rooftop. The area around you was shrouded in mist and in the haze, barely visible, are abandoned collection vessels, transporters, and other devices.

Broken steel bars poke out from the overgrown weeds. Rusty frames are propped up, outlining a bygone era. “It looks like a laboratory for experiments or something..” You murmur, hands gripping your guns tighter.

“It was one many years ago. But they abandoned it a while back,” Sylus finally answers, turning to look at you with his thumbs in his pockets. “They?” You parrot, head cocking to the side. Stepping over broken fragments and glass shards, Sylus’ tone remains aloof, “EVER.”

You pause at that bit of information. The EVER Cooperation? They were the leading force of intelligence in Linkon. Doing all kinds of research and good. Why were they ever in the N109 Zone?

As the most prestigious international business group, it basically supports the whole of Linkon City. So…how could they be involved with the N109 Zone?

“...I heard that before the Chronorift Catastrophe, the N109 Zone was the most prosperous tech hub so I guess it makes sense that EVER used it as a research base.” You say as you nod your head, managing to make sense of it before Sylus tears that thought down, “You really are a naive Linkon citizen.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You raise a brow. Hell, you weren’t even a real Linkon citizen to begin with. You weren’t even from here. You were just going off what you knew from the game itself!

Sylus gives you a look, crossing his arms over his chest, “Many locations were affected by that catastrophe, yet only the N109 Zone turned into a wasteland. Why do you think that is?”

Ohh…You recall some unverified theories, but your mind is a mess right now. You can’t think of anything useful to this situation.

“We’re here.” Sylus stops walking and you almost run into his firm back.

Slow vibrations resembling heartbeats pulsate through the sky and you look up to see the Deepspace Tunnel– at least that’s what you assume it is. You’ve never seen one since being in the game, after all, but it must be that, since you had no other explanation. It was eerily beautiful.

Dense clouds and vortexes churn amidst the darkness and occasionally, a stream of light flashes across the night sky like heat lightning. The silent tunnel is like a telescope peeking into the universe.

“The Deepspace Tunnel…This is the first time I’ve been so close to it,” You murmur, taking a deep breath as tiny beams of light enter your line of sight. You can’t help, but take a step closer– before you notice a stone fixture. “It’s a Flux Nexus. I saw one in the no-hunt zone!” You exclaim, remembering what it looked like from that one mission with Xavier, before you entered the game.

“Then you should know what it contains. These fluctuations aren’t produced by normal protocores,” Sylus says from next to you and you nod your head.

The aether core.

Sylus stands next to you, looking at you with his eyes that have unfathomable depths. “Think about it first. Once you take it out, there’s no going back.” You take a deep breath. You’re already here, why would you give up now?

Gritting your teeth, you put your hand on the Flux Nexus’s intricate patterns. The power of resonance instantly flows through your body and dazzling light seeps out from your palm. A shiny, floating gem appears from the slab. “The aether core..” You reach out to touch it and as soon as your fingers brush against it, the ground starts to shake violently.

A storm appears.

Violent fluctuations lash out from the Deepspace Tunnel’s entrance. A huge shadow emerges from the vortex. It’s getting closer and closer. Its wings blot out all light in the sky.

“Is this…the backup plan they were talking about?!” You quickly turn toward Sylus, worriedly, and he chuckles, “We finally get something presentable.” A huge protofield unfolds before you and then, the ferocious wanderer charges toward you both at breakneck speed.

It’s a large blue-black bird, an Arbiterwings. It might be a bit difficult to take on without resonating with Sylus, so you’d have to try. Its feathers were made of crystalized metaflux, so it seems like that would be the way to take it down, destroy the feathers and the bird will fall.

A blinding light comes from your palm as you press it against Sylus’ shoulder, concentrating on resonating with him as the bird flew about in the dark red protofield. Finally– You break apart from Sylus and hold your guns up. “Ready?” You ask and without waiting for his response, you begin shooting at the bird.

 The first didn’t take too long, maybe four or five minutes at most but, once it was over, you quickly turn to look at Sylus excitedly before you realize you’re not on the roof...

What...

The scenery before you is blurry, but you can make out that it’s a war ravaged, desolate planet.

“Where…am I?” You mumble to yourself as you look around.

All you can see is darkness. The sky is dark with smoke pluming from the burning planet, cracks in the ground reveal bright reddish orange magma.

Your heartbeat stutters in your chest as your gaze slowly moves down to your trembling, bloody hands.

“There’s…so much..blood.” Why were your hands so bloody? What was going on?

“You must press on.” Sylus? You quickly look around, tears pricking your eyes in your terror, desperate to see a familiar face in this hellscape.

But you can barely make out the figure in front of you. His blurry figure seemed to have corroded crystals growing on his shoulders, neck, and lower half. You could see his bare chest with dark blue and purple veins clearly visible. “That’s..” You murmur, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

Was he turning into a wanderer like those people from before?

You felt his thin, spindly hand squeeze yours around the hilt of the sword that was plunged into his chest.

“Because…if you don’t..There’s no going back.”

His voice was coming from this thing?

Your hands shake as you realize you stabbed Sylus and you have no idea why. Seriously— What's going on? 

“Sylus–” An inferno blazes before your eyes, your vision blurring and amidst the blood and fire, the Deepspace Tunnel appears. It shakes violently. “Y/n, you must press on.” You flinch as a red electrical current strikes before your eyes and once your vision clears, you notice Sylus is holding his hand out toward you.

“The life you owe me– now is not the time to repay it.” He says and as you look at the hand reaching out toward you.

You see Sylus’s cold face..there was a hint of worry beneath his usual gaze. But there also seems to be a shadow above him. You can’t help but reach out as well.

Unprecedented power swells between your intertwined fingers and, instantly, you feel a tremor from deep within your heart. Something flows through your veins. The wanderer’s dissipating particles fall like a misty rain, yet a brighter light pierces through the haze.

You lift your free hand up to shield your eyes from the light, your eyes squinting as you tried to make out where the light was coming from. The aether core emits countless rays of golden light that seeps into your chest. The warm, familiar power continues to surge.

You’re not sure how much time has passed when the fluctuations around your body slowly start to subside. The movements within your body cease. It’s as if an ocean’s roaring waves have silently calmed down, turning into ripples on a lake’s surface.

A tiny golden stone hovers in the sky above your head and you reach out for it, holding it between your thumb and index finger.

“So this is the aether core…” It shines for a moment before a crack appears on it. You quickly turn toward Sylus in shock, noticing he’s looking up at the sky. “...Sylus?” You question and he closes his eyes before saying, “Its power belongs to you now. Naturally, the vessel will break as a result.”

“To...me?” You raise a brow as the white haired man looks at you. “Isn’t this what you wanted?” He asks, looking away from you. He turns his back to you to walk away with you being dragged behind him.

“Hey! Where are you taking me?” You say, exasperated. Your feet hurt from wearing your heels all day and fighting in them. “Wait– This is...?” He stops walking as you stare down at your hands with wide eyes. He wasn’t even grabbing your wrist.

He lifts your hands with a small sigh, an invisible force binding them together. He shakes his arm back and forth, your hand being forced to move with him. “Let go already!” You groan, glaring at your arms as you notice they weren’t even that close together. They were a few inches apart, so why were they stuck together?

Then, a deep orange light swirls between your hands. The light circles around both your wrists with a string connecting the circle together like handcuffs. “What…is this thing?” You question, tugging at your hand before looking up at Sylus, who sighs.

He doesn’t respond and the powerful tremor that shook the Deepspace Tunnel ignites a chain reaction within the N109 Zone.

Those shadows, who believed they controlled Onychinus, are eliminated from fate’s tapestry. Unable to see the undercurrents beneath the water’s surface, you can only smell the scent of smoke becoming more poignant as it’s carried by the wind.

Structures crumble and collapse, and Mephisto’s wings pierce through the boundless darkness. He’s accompanied by the distant tolling of a bell. 

It’s almost like an announcement, as if the world is saying…The true leader of Onychinus has returned.

Taglist; @orphicmeliora , @yoongi-tunes, @mitzkooni, @hiqhkey, @tanspostsblog

[uselessmoonlight]

Stranger part 8

Reader is Telemachus' friend, and when he leaves for his "diplomatic mission" he asks her to watch over his mother.

Later, once the king has returned, she stumbles upon an injured Poseidon.

Previous / series masterlist / next

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Content specs: she/her pronouns used, afab reader, Platonic! Telemachus x reader, Epic!Poseidon x reader, possible OOC!Poseidon, Polites’ daughter! Reader, unrequited love, blood, fighting, nudity, illusion, possibly more?, trying to avoid using y/n, slowburn, suggestive themes, but no smut, English is not my first language, sorry if it's too much exposition, it's my first fic.

Ónoma literally means name in Greek, at least according to google translate. View this as the y/n of this fic.

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A/N: I'm thinking of opening up requests, is that something you'd be interested in?

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Hermes had not expected the girl to get this emotional from his message, though he supposed human emotions were a fickle thing. They worried about silly things all the time. Aside from being caught of guard, he was way out of his depth in trying to comfort the distraught woman. “There there, sorrows, prayers.” Was his futile attempt.

“Please just leave me alone.” It was the first time the girl had spoken in his company, and he’d decided he quite liked the sound of her voice. Even if he’d like it better if it was a bit more upbeat.

“I don’t offer mortals this often, but perhaps I can relay a message for you.” It was also the first time he’d shown himself in her presence, rather than just remaining invisible. He thought it necessary, given the circumstances, he could’ve told her the news with a bit more grace.

Through teary eyes Ónoma looked up at the winged man. If she wasn’t so distraught, she would’ve been mesmerized at the sight of the feathers. “You would do that?”

“No, I just said I would, I didn’t actually mean it.” The God deadpanned. “Yes, I’ll deliver a message, voluntarily. I only delivered your brothers message because he was so persistent.”

“You mentioned he reunited with father, but what of my other brother, or my mother?”

“He’s with your mother as well, as for your other brother… It seems Apollo’s wrath will not allow him to rest amongst his family, he’s a bit of a wondering spirit?”

“You don’t know where he is, do you.”

“Exactly darling, are you sure you’re not one of Athena’s?”

She rolled her eyes, but she could not deny that her spirits were somewhat lifted. “That was not something particularly difficult to grasp, but I’ll take the compliment. As for the message, could you tell them that I’m alright? And tell my father that king Odysseus has returned.”

“I will, now, I’ve gotta run, but don’t think this is the last you’ll see of me.” He gave her a lopsided smirk, then took off like lightning.

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Peach was till sat at the shore, once again mindlessly playing the lyre. She played a haunting melody, singing along softly. The sun was scorching, it had reached high noon, but she’d yet to move. Frozen and overwhelmed with grief. Unbeknownst to her Telemachus had looked for her when he woke up, when he could not find her in the palace he went to her home. He’d knocked, but had gotten no answer, but through the window he’d seen someone laid in bed.

He'd thought it to be his friend at first, but then he heard the music. The heartbreaking song she was playing clued him in that something was definitely wrong. He was incredibly curious about who was laid in his best friends bed, but if she didn’t bring it up, he would not ask. For now.

Wordlessly he walked to where she was sat, took of his sandals, and settles next to her. The fact that she didn’t immediately notice his presence worried him. Ónoma was the most observant person he knew, always on guard as if someone would come and strike her down at any moment. He supposed her worries were not misplaced. She’d lost everyone she loved and had definitely made some enemies through her line of work, not that they’d retaliate anytime soon, if they were good, god-fearing Greeks.

Her quiet demeanour could be a bit unsettling, and it definitely gave her a hard time when making friends, but whenever the opportunity presented itself she’d greeted it with open arms. At least, she used to. She’d been acting different since he’d returned, perhaps it was because of the suitors, perhaps it was because of whoever was laid in her bed, or maybe it was something different. Whatever it was, he hoped she’d get back to her usual self soon, but until then, he’d be a shoulder for her to lean on. The conversation he was aching to have would have to wait a bit longer, his friendship was more important.

Maybe he hadn’t given his friend enough credit, she’d definitely noticed his presence, as she had placed her head on his shoulder, but continued playing and singing. She was basking in the calm he radiated, as she felt anything but. As she finished her song a comfortable silence settled. She wanted to tell her friend everything, but didn’t know where to start, so she started with what was at the forefront of her mind.

“Hermes came to me.” She started then paused. Telemachus raised an eyebrow; it was rare for a God to show up.

“I take it he did not have good news, then?”

“Cosmas has passed.” Telemachus remained silent, he had fond memories with the older boy, but he’d not had the same love for him as he did for the man’s sister. He’d taught him a lot but had not had long to do so. It’d been five years since the two of the had seen Cosmas, but his loss still stung. For her more so than for Telemachus. She’d officially lost all of her family.

They’d sat in silence for what could have been hours before she spoke up again. “There’s a man in my house.” She’d taken her head off his shoulder when his head whipped around to face her. So, she had chosen to tell him of the person he’d seen. He’d not expected the person to be a man, however. A nauseating feeling churned in his chest.

“I know nothing but his name. I found him, injured along this very shore. I couldn’t just leave him, but he’d rather annoying, and brash, and ugh. I want him gone, but I could not possibly kick him out. I haven’t had the best of luck when it comes to Gods, and I do not want to piss them off. But there’s no place for me to sleep with him here, and it’s just-” She stopped abruptly, sighed, and once more laid her head on Telemachus’ shoulder.

“How’s it been, having your father back?” The change in topic made Telemachus’ head spin, but he’d go with whatever topic Peach  wanted to talk about.

“It’s been good, but tense. It’s like walking on eggshells, while also being coddled? It’d like he’s yet to process that I am no longer the infant he left when he went to war, and the outbursts are, a lot. Anything can set him off, I’m sorry you had to go through that by the way, must not have been a great first impression.”

“It was not. My first impression of him, I mean. The first time I met the man he was covered in the blood of more than 70 men.”

“Right.” He chuckled.

“How are you, by the way? You almost died and I didn’t even ask. I’m such a bad friend.”

“I’m fine, though I did get freaked out when I got twisted in my blankets and couldn’t get out. It took mom an hour to calm me down.” He said, awkwardly blushing from head to toe. “Can’t wear anything too tight, either, feels like I’m in the hands of the suitors again.”

“I started with an act of mercy and was met with an attack, it was foolish of me to offer it. I just wish the world was, I don’t know, kinder?”

“It wasn’t foolish, Tele. Kindness is brave, you’re better than I ever will be.” She said softly, but firmly. “I was confronted with something recently and it got me thinking. Tell me, would you protect someone innocent, if in turn, your life would be ruined and possibly end? Because I’m not sure if I would. Is that selfish of me?”

next

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A/N: I definitely did not get caught up staring at my ceiling while writing this. I was gifted one of those aurora borealis lamps recently and I’ve just been staring at the lights. ADHD go brrrr, pic below.

Hermes is not romantically interested in the reader, more lik how Zeus loved to give Odysseus moral dilemma's, he finds her intriguing.

Also, one of the fics I’m reading got updated, which I had to read of course. If you’re looking for recs I’ll list them here, but if you’ve found this fic, you’ll likely have already found these.

Aphrodite’s gamble

Warrior

Cycles of you, Cycles of me

Godly things

Catch me if you can

Warrior of the sun and moon

Blessed by a Trickster

Taglist:

@apollos-dodgeball-target

@barrythestrawberry041

@doodle-with-rhy

@isla-finke-blog

@suckerforblondies

@trashcannotbealive

[fawnim]

i started making my own playlists for the husbands recently

i even made one titled 'group of the two of us' but i barely started on that yet

and i think, looking at the songs i had added to aziraphale's playlist and then at the songs i added to crowley's, ppl would get confused on why it is the way it is. (if anyone's even listening to them?? no matter, i really just wanted to write this down hehe)

but here are my rationale(?) for:

- Burdened by both his love and his job, and yet he still did not want to leave. I think most people forget that though Aziraphale knows that Heaven is bad, he does not want to severe his ties with God. He is perfectly fine and happy(!!) with this fine line he's toeing—he does good, and does gray stuff in the name of Good, and God leaves her alone. (remember in gomens, there's thematic difference between good and Good)

A lot of the songs I included have themes of "longing to stay, but pulled away" and/or "i'm still here/there" because i want to also remind ppl that Aziraphale does not like to run away. He tends to dive deep into the things she's set her mind to. The investigation, the love between Nina and Maggie, Armageddon—their life with Crowley!! She did not want to run away, and especially they did not wish for Crowley to turn away from them. She was extending a hand because she's willing to do so, and because she's ready to dive into whatever shit awaits them.

So in that moment, it's not because Aziraphale wants Heaven, or Aziraphale yearns for Heaven—Aziraphale wants to continue their present into the future, whatever that should've been at that time.

There's a subtheme of being wrecked, and being burned out from giving your all, and just wanting to be loved for what one thinks is left of them.

The both of them is burdened by their love, because their separate sides does not condone such relations and all that. but the thing with crowley is that he's also burdened by choice. this might be subtle, but in terms of their relationship, crowley is the one to make choices. but not because he's the one in charge, he's more like the one that stirs the ship in order to match the waves' (aziraphale's) pace and direction.

Aziraphale, more often than not, gives Crowley the decision on what to do. People might misinterpret this and retaliate with "no, Aziraphale is the one that determined how fast they were to go and what their boundaries are," but Crowley is still the one burdened by the choice to follow through with them IN ORDER FOR THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO STILL CONTINUE BEING. is this making sense.

for crowley's playlist, there's the theme of loving too much and giving too much. again, based on the title of the playlist, this is crowley's POV. separate from aziraphale's, and certainly does not paint their entire relationship. i wanted to paint his love as something that he was entirely ready to give to aziraphale, but the main conflict is that there's no where to put it yet. not with crowley—he's about to burst containing all this love; not with aziraphale—he's already filled to the brim and mix of all sorts of things. so there's this feeling that his love is too much (overwhelming, a waste, fizzling out, dripping down the drain—) and he does not know what to do with it.

—

slight disclaimer: these are all *my* interpretations of the characters. do i care if its accurate? a little bit HWHAHSHA most of this is up for poetic interprations anyways so 🤷 i did not twist their main characteristics and thats all that matters : )

++ a lot of songs actually overlap/repeat between the playlists—happens when the characters are too compatible and are the two sides of the same coin, u understand 🫶

[nubian-queen22]

The Archer's Song- Chp.1

Chapter 1- The Siren's Call

The backstage monitors glowed faintly in the darkened room, broadcasting the chaos and intensity of the arena just outside. Damian Priest leaned casually against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, his eyes glued to the screen. The faint roar of the crowd echoed through the halls, but Damian’s focus was entirely on the woman in the ring. Syrin.

He had seen countless debuts, but something about this one felt different. Syrin wasn’t just entering the match—she was making a statement.

The arena was alive with energy as Syrin stepped onto the stage, her haunting theme music sending chills through the crowd. The Wyatt 6ix were scattered at ringside, a menacing presence in their own right. But Syrin’s focus was razor-sharp, her dark eyes locked on the ring where Ivy Nile waited.

Ivy, the powerhouse of American Made, paced like a caged lion, her muscles taut with anticipation. She sneered at Syrin, motioning for her to get in the ring.

Syrin obliged, her movements slow and deliberate as she ascended the steps. She slipped through the ropes with feline grace, her expression unreadable. She was calm, composed—an eerie contrast to Ivy’s fiery demeanor.

Backstage, Damian smirked. “She’s not even breaking a sweat,” he muttered to himself, watching as Syrin stared Ivy down.

The bell rang.

Ivy wasted no time, charging at Syrin with a series of quick strikes. Syrin dodged each one with uncanny precision, her movements fluid and effortless. She countered with a spinning back kick that sent Ivy stumbling.

Damian raised an eyebrow, impressed. “She’s got timing,” he murmured, leaning closer to the monitor.

The match progressed in a flurry of near falls and counterattacks. Ivy showcased her raw power, delivering a brutal German suplex that had the crowd gasping. But Syrin’s resilience shone through as she retaliated with a lightning-fast enzuigiri, followed by a perfectly executed Hurricanrana.

The turning point came when Ivy attempted to lock Syrin into The Dragon Sleeper, her signature submission hold. Syrin twisted and writhed, her face contorted in pain as she clawed for the ropes.

“C’mon, Syrin,” Damian muttered under his breath, his usually calm demeanor betraying a hint of tension.

Using her flexibility and quick thinking, Syrin managed to escape the hold, twisting her body in an almost inhuman display of agility. In one swift motion, she transitioned into her own finisher—The Siren’s Snare, a modified dragon sleeper that wrenched Ivy’s neck and back at a vicious angle.

The crowd roared as Ivy fought to break free, but Syrin’s grip was unrelenting. The referee dropped Ivy’s hand once, twice...and then a third time. The bell rang, signaling Syrin’s victory.

Backstage, Damian straightened, a satisfied grin spreading across his face. “She’s better than I thought,” he said, his tone tinged with admiration.

On the screen, Syrin rose to her feet, her hand raised in triumph. She turned her head slightly, glancing toward the commentator table as though she knew exactly who was watching. Her smirk was subtle but deliberately on Liv Morgan , making Damian chuckle slightly.

“Not bad at all.”

He pushed off the wall and walked away, leaving the monitor behind. If Syrin kept this up, her path to the Crown Jewel Title—and the chaos that would inevitably follow—was going to be one hell of a ride.

Unbeknownst to Syrin—or so it seemed—Liv had whispered plans to Raquel Rodriguez earlier in the night. As Syrin made her way up the ramp, her back turned to the ring, Raquel emerged from the crowd, climbing over the barricade with a steel chair in hand. Liv stood, feigning innocence as the audience booed.

Raquel lunged toward Syrin, swinging the chair with full force. But Syrin stopped abruptly, as if sensing the attack. She ducked the blow and spun, delivering a roundhouse kick that sent the chair flying out of Raquel’s hands.

The crowd erupted as Syrin took a step back, motioning for Raquel to try again. Enraged, Raquel charged forward, only for Syrin to sidestep and send her crashing into the steel steps.

Liv, seeing her plan unravel, ran toward Syrin, aiming to blindside her. But Syrin caught her wrist mid-swing, twisting it with just enough force to bring Liv to her knees. Syrin leaned in close, whispering something that sent a chill through Liv’s spine.

Releasing Liv with a shove, Syrin backed up the ramp, her smirk intact as the Wyatt 6ix stepped in to flank her. The crowd roared in approval, and Syrin raised her hand, signaling her dominance.

Backstage

Damian waited in the shadows as Syrin walked backstage, her presence commanding even after the grueling match and thwarted ambush. He straightened as she approached, his smirk matching hers.

“You knew they were coming,” he said.

Syrin shrugged. “Of course I did. Liv’s predictable.”

Damian chuckled. “That’s why you’ll be holding her title soon.”

She didn’t respond, her smirk saying everything. Syrin walked past him, leaving Damian to follow, the tension between them crackling in the air.

[starlit1daydream]

decided to play retris' theme in a vc chat to expose my friends to sovstuck against their will - then sent the retris ass panel to the vc chat.

the moment the song hits the drop my friend retaliates with an edit of his ass made like two times bigger

how the fuck do i respond to this

[periracha]

Waiting

 ☾ pairing: Dad!Chan x Mom!Reader  ☾ wc: 2k  ☾  genre: fluff, boring domesticity (gasp)  ☾ cw: Christmas themes, kids, suggestive jokes, me trying to be funny idk, language, chan being chan ☾ summary: the bangs get in the holiday spirit!   ☾ a/n: wanted to get a whole aesthetic and masterlist up for this blog before i posted anything but this little idea had my brain in a chokehold all day so,,,,enjoy ! also, let me know if I should continue writing this family so i can give them names, etc.  yes this piece is fluff but this blog is 18+, MDNI

Ripples start to splash against the inside of your mug as you set it down on the coffee table that has been pushed aside for the evening to allow enough room for you and your husband. 

“Clearing the living room floor the second both kids are down and out?” Chan asks with a wiggle of his eyebrow. 

“Bit risky but I can work with this” he says while straining his neck and pulling his left arm across his chest in a stretch in preparation. 

You look up at him when a scoff falls from your lips, “ha yeah you wish. Now get the wrapping paper from the closet” 

“Please” you add with a sarcastic smile and sweet like honey tone. 

He blinked at you silently for a split second before he huffed out a big sigh, “Oh thank god. I don’t think my back could handle these hardwood floors like it used to” he finishes as he makes his way to the hallway closet. 

“Mmm unfortunately the only action these floors have been getting lately is spilled juice and probably some dusty cheetos the kids kicked under the couch” you joke as Chan meets you on the floor with wrapping supplies and gifts. 

A quiet laugh in agreement leaves his lips. 

“She’s gonna love this” Chan says with a grin so wide it meets his eyes. 

He’s holding up a Bluey plushie that plays a few catchphrases from the show when its paw is squeezed. 

“She better…. I’m running out of reasons why she can’t buy it every time we go to the store” you say as you cut wrapping paper big enough to wrap the doll and hand it to him. 

Your daughter had wanted this little plushie for months now, always asking to stop by the toy section whenever you visit your local department store. You quickly learned that simply telling her the store didn’t have anymore wasn’t gonna fly with her. She always found a way to swindle you into the toy aisles, finding the plushie every time. Distracting her with books or other small toys could only get you so far; luckily Christmas was only a few days away and you both would soon see the joy on her face when she opened her gift. 

“How do you even wrap these things??” Chan huffed out with a bewildered look on his face; his brows drawn tight and his eyes wide open. The piece of wrapping paper you had given him was creased all over, and covered in way too many pieces of tape that didn’t actually do anything to keep the paper together. 

A giggle started in your chest but you choked it down with a fake cough. Chan was used to being good at almost anything he put his mind to. 

Dancing? Easy.

Singing? No Problem. 

Writing thousands of unique songs that differed in their own ways? Piece of cake. 

Sports? Absolutely. 

Wrapping a small gift for his three year old daughter? Not so much. 

Carefully, you took the small doll from his hand and replaced it with a box of bath toys for your son. 

“Here, let me handle this…and you wrap these” you said nonchalantly as soon as you made the switch; immediately working on your new task at hand. 

Chan gawked at you with a goofy smile on his face, “You don’t think I can do it?...you’re demoting me to only wrapping boxes?” he laughed while feigning offense. 

“No no no!”, you waved off, “you’re just soooo good! Better than me! The best actually!” you rushed out while trying to contain your laughter but ultimately failing. 

Chan looked at you with pointed eyes, but had a wide smile plastered on his face the entire time. He looked like he was going to say something in retaliation but decided against it, letting out a small chuckle and shaking his head instead while he got to work on the box. 

Many presents later you were both feeling the ache deep in your lower back from hunching over on the floor. 

“Okay that's enough for me, I’m tapping out,” Chan said stretching his back with a yawn. 

You yawned and simply shook your head up and down in agreement, thinking about how you were too tired to even keep your eyes open. 

You got up and gathered all your wrapping supplies to store away. 

“Oh! Can you take all those and put them under the tree?” you asked him while pointing to the group of gifts. 

He hummed a quick mhm and started gathering them in his arms. 

“Make sure to put Bluey on top of the one of the taller presents so they can’t get to it” you called out as you made your way to your room. 

“Yep, got it” Chan quickly responded before placing all the presents down and making his way to follow you to your bedroom. 

~

The next day went blissfully as usual; waking up way too early to cries before the sun is even fully out, only to finally get your son back down and you barely back in bed before your daughter barges in demanding French toast stat. 

Did you even have all the ingredients for french toast? 

You already got one kid handled, Chan could handle this one.

You lightly kicked him in the leg as he laid beside you to wake him up before you made yourself comfortable to fall back asleep. 

When you did wake up, you grabbed your son and met your husband and daughter in the living room, setting him down to crawl around the rug.

“Good morning love”, Chan greeted you with a kiss to your cheek and sliding his arms around your waist in a loose hug. 

You hummed a good morning back before resting your head against his chest. 

“My turn! My turn!” your daughter yelled entirely too close to your eardrum as she stood on the couch in an attempt to be as eye level as she could with you. 

“Coffee?” Chan asked with a smirk as he let you go and made his way to the kitchen. 

“Ohhh yeah” you answered before turning your attention fully on your daughter. 

She puckered her lips and stood on her tiptoes in an attempt to copy her dad’s previous actions. You bent down and she kissed your cheek, “Good morning, mommy!”, she giggled before flopping down on the couch. 

“Oh it is a good morning!” you smiled back to her before tickling her to get some hugs in. 

Chan met you back in the living room with your fresh cup of coffee as you both sat on the couch, watching your children play together in the early morning hours. 

Your son crawled towards the christmas tree and before you could get up to grab him he had already bumped into a few presents, causing one of them to go off. 

“Hello! Hehehe”  

The noise immediately caught your daughter's attention and her head snapped towards the tree before her eyes widened. You could see the wheels starting to turn in her head to try and make sense of what just happened when you looked over at Chan who was sporting a mortified look. Jaw hung open and downward, eyes widening and moving around the room at everyone’s faces. 

The damn Bluey doll had gone off and one of her most wanted presents was most likely spoiled now. 

“WHAT WAS THAT?” she rushed out, walking closer to the tree.

“Your brother!” Chan blurted out way too quickly before tightening his lip into a flat line, realizing what he just did. 

Your daughter stopped dead in her tracks and looked at the both of you. 

“What???” she asked again, her eyes darting between yours and Chan’s a few times. 

“He can talk??, “ she screamed, bewildered at the new information being thrown at her all too quickly, pointing at him and eyes wide as saucers.

You let out a huff of air and forced yourself to take a sip of your coffee, hoping to buy you some time, waiting for your brain to kick on. It was too early for this.

Chan looked at you waiting for you to come in and save the conversation but you had nothing. How were you supposed to convince a 3 year old that her 8 month old brother could now speak when he’s never done that before. 

You’re on your own here. You thought to yourself as your eyes met Chan’s again. His face still stuck in the same shocked expression. 

“Uhh…yeah..yeah…?” Chan tried to get out nonchalantly but it ended up coming out more like a question and high pitched tone, before clearing his throat. 

Your son had now crawled toward your daughter and started grabbing at her legs to get her attention. 

You needed a moment to think but your daughter would absolutely follow you wherever you went to…. Unless…?

You coughed into your arm dramatically, “ooooh mommy needs medicine, I will be right back” you said before quickly standing up and making your way to the hallway cabinets before she could stop you.

Even the possibility of being around cough medicine, seeing it with her own eyes, was enough to keep your daughter from following you. She was not about to risk having to take that, yucky grape stuff, as she likes to call it. 

Chan followed after you, staying in the open area to keep an eye on the two kids. 

“So our 8 month old is saying full words now is he?” you asked, raising your eyebrows when he got closer to you. 

“I panicked okay!”, he screamed in a hushed tone. 

“So you blame it on the baby?!” you asked in disbelief, a laugh starting in the bottom of your throat. You tightened your lips in an effort to stop the smile you knew was coming. 

“What else was I supposed to say it came from?” Chan asked with a strained laugh, “you were no help!” he accused, pointing his finger and narrowing his gaze. 

“I don’t know Chan! The TV? Your phone?” you huffed out off the top of your head and throwing your hands in the air.

“Hm. yeah that would’ve been good”, he said staring at the floor, realizing just how easy those would’ve been to explain away to a child. 

He stepped back from you to get a better look at your kids a few steps away. His brow furrowed so you stepped forward to see what he was looking at. 

Your daughter was sitting directly across from your son with a serious expression on her face, no more playing going on in sight. 

“What..what are you guys doing?” Chan asked loud enough for your kids to hear. 

Your daughter looked back at him, “Waiting,” she said matter of factly before refocusing her attention back on her brother. 

“Waiting foorrr?” Chan asked, raising his eyebrows as you both took a step toward them. 

“Him to talk again” she answered without bothering to even look at Chan this time, her serious gaze never leaving her brother's face. He was babbling and drooling while playing with the legs of her pajama pants. 

You both couldn’t contain the laughs that came from your mouths. Today was going to be a long day. 

You couldn’t wipe the smile from your face as you thought about your family’s antics. Never a boring day in the Bang household, but you wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“Hey Chan, what did you do with the matching talking Bingo we wrapped last night?” 

“Shit” 

©periracha, 2023.

[sugarpasteltmnt]

Happy Halloween!

I once was listening to random songs to add to my playlists on spotify and one of them had the lines

"Trick or Treat,

What's it gonna be?"

And I was thinking about TNV at the time and my mind just exploded with the similarities.

The entire fic has Halloween themes if you think about it. First of all the obvious horror aspect for everyone besides Leo - there is this random super powerful guy that just appeared out of nowhere and is looking for a key that may or may not be The Key that leads to the Prison Dimention. And for Leo - he's constantly being haunted by ghost-like hallucinations, memories and what not, as well as the paracite slowly turning him into a monster. Very Halloween-esque. Also, Leo's dressed up in a costume looking for The Key and if he doesn't get anything he retaliates, like with Big Mama right at the start. This is really similar to the tradition of trick-or-treating if you look at The Key as the treat. Also, if the finale of the fic happened on Thanks Giving, which happens in November, then if Leo was back on Earth for at least multiple weeks, then it is very likely that he was on Earth as Neon Void during Halloween.

Anyway, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk, have a good day.

ohohohohohoho

you're so right there might have been a good chance Leo was around during Halloween hehehe i love that notion

[horseshoegirl]

Damn Those Dog Tags: Part 22 - JUMP

📜 Second last one till the finish! 😭But we get Jake and Sadie's reunion in this one, and some more smut between Jake and Liz! This is also what I'd classify as Sadie's song amongst the bunch.

❗️+18, strong language, godmother reader/original female character, an original child character, reunions, sexual themes (I mean smut, so get out of here if you ain't +18, I mean it!!! Also wrap it before you tap it! minors DNI.), and fluff.

#8k words

Part 21 | Masterlist | Part 23

"You missed a spot."

You eyed Jake standing in the doorway to Sadie's room, bare-chested, from your spot on the ladder with a paintbrush in hand.

"Did I now?" you quipped back, your eyes narrowing playfully as you tried to find this alleged missed spot on the wall. Jake sauntered closer, a teasing glint in his eyes.

"You did, right here," he pointed vaguely towards the wall. You followed his finger towards the piece of crown moulding you had touched up white, but nothing was amiss.

"You're trying to mess with me, aren't you?"

He shrugged, the corners of his lips turning up into a smirk. "Maybe. Or maybe I just wanted to see you stretch a bit more, get a better view."

Rolling your eyes, you dipped the paintbrush into the tray, contemplating whether to flick a bit of paint at him. "You're impossible," you said with mock exasperation.

"That's why you love me."

Shaking your head, you resumed your painting but couldn't help the smile that crept onto your face.

It had been a few days since Jake's return. With each day that had passed, Jake's back was slowly healing. You'd account it him being as fit as he was, but after the first few, he no longer limped around the house.

You had gone back to his apartment with him to gather some of his things. If it wasn't the urge to take care of him and have him as close as possible after what happened, it was the fact you finally got a glimpse of what his life was like when he was alone.

As he gathered his things, you sat in his stark grey kitchen, frowning at the lack of warmth. It was stereotypical of someone who had a military career. Besides a few picture frames and a framed Long Horns jersey, the place lacked signs of life, all sharp edges and bare surfaces.

You rushed him out of there the second you could. Jake deserved to have a life filled with life, memories and bright colours. One full of love. 

You were putting the last finishing touches on the walls of her room, and Jake was assembling her new desk chair and bed frame out in the hall.

The two of you had stayed up last night to get her desk built, the thing probably missing one too many bolts and screws, considering how many you had left over. It was tucked neatly into the corner of her room, out of the way of any wet paint.

If all went to plan, her room would be ready in time for when you went to pick her up the day after tomorrow.

Jake circled around your ladder, coming closer and eyeing the paint tray on the top step.

"Don't even think about it," you warned, holding your brush out in some type of threat to get him to stop.

He grinned mischievously, dipping his finger into the tray and flicking a droplet of paint directly onto your arm. "Oops," he said, feigning innocence.

"Jake!" you exclaimed, feigning horror at the small speck of paint on your skin, missing the splatter on your overalls. Without warning, you retaliated, swinging your paintbrush toward him and slapping a generous amount of paint to his cheek.

You tried to stop your laugh.

His eyes widened in mock surprise, and he touched his cheek, smearing the paint a bit more. "Oh, you're asking for it now," he threatened playfully, eyeing you.

You let out a challenging laugh. "You started it, Hangman."

Trying to reach for more paint, Jake's arms were suddenly around you, lifting you off the ladder and settling you down to the ground. Your shouts of protests of 'watch your back' fell on his deaf ears as he spun you to face him, pressing his paint-battered cheek up against yours. You squealed, yelping out his name as he ran his hands up and down the length of your body, smearing the remains of white paint across the denim.

"This is counterproductive. We will never finish her room in time."

"Ah, the wall can wait." he grinned, leaning back to take in his handiwork. For a moment, the two of you just stood there, you wiping, trying to pick away at a dried spec of paint under his eye, and Jake, trying to separate a few strains of your hair from your face.

You smiled up at him, lifting up on the balls of your feet to press your lips to his. It was meant to be a quick kiss, one full of affection and giddiness. But Jake tightened his grip on your waist, tugging you closer and taking what was a movement for you to take a breath, to part your lips in a savage kiss. 

His skin was warm under your wandering hands, his lips soft and aggressive against yours. Till Jake slid his hand up into the roots of your hair, firmly pulling your head back to expose your neck, his lips tracking the ridges of your trachea. 

"Fuck, Jake," you gasped, nails biting into his skin. His hand groped the meaty part of your ass, spreading your cheek and heat pooled in the pit of your stomach. 

"Fuck, I need you so goddamn bad," he gruffed out.  

In the span of seconds, Jake had unclipped the two clasps holding the straps of your overalls together, pushing them over your shoulders and reaching for the hem of your shirt, pulling it over your head. You pulled him down by the back of his neck, kissing him hard and gasping for breath, scraping your nails down the ridges of his chest.

 He spun you, guiding you a few steps to the corner of the room, bending you slightly over the newly built desk with a hand pressed between your shoulder blades.

"Jake, we can't. Not on Sadie's desk."

"Don't you think we should test it?" he panted out next to your ear, hand sliding down the front of your stomach under your bunched overalls and underwear to cup your cunt, fingers spreading your folds. "Make sure it's secure?"

You whimpered at his touch, your knees on the verge of giving out were it not for your grip on the desk. Jake groaned, curling a finger into your spot. "Ugh, you're so wet for me. Only for me."

Your knees wobbled as he thumbed your clit, and you fell forward, only for Jake to quickly slide his hand at your hip, possessively up your stomach to the center of your chest. With his arm bracketed around your body, you were pulled upright, trapped between him and the desk.

You could do nothing but tilt your head back against his shoulder, leaving your neck exposed, as Jake simultaneously squeezed your breast and pinched your nipple, working his hand into your spot. His mouth was just as bad, going for all the spots he had a chance to study in greater detail that he knew would make you crumble.

"Please, Liz, let me have you again," he groaned desperately into the side of your neck. Turning your head, you met his lips in a desperate kiss, his lips muffling your confirmation before he popped the button on your hip and shoved your overalls down.

You had gone so long without intimacy in your life that you found yourself surprised at how easily you gave in to Jake.

After that first time, the two of you had a long discussion about what the two of you were okay with. Jake ashamedly admitted it was a conversation the two of you should have had after the fair, before the night in his truck, maybe even before the two of you even started dating. But you had assured him he had done nothing so far that you weren't comfortable with, and he had pretty much asked for your consent each time.

And it became clear to you soon after that Jake clearly loved sex.

Reaching for the buckle, Jake's belt clinked as he quickly unworked the strap, the leather hitting the back of your thigh, making you whine. You could even feel the back of his hand as he unzipped his fly and shoved his jeans down, cock jutting out to rub against your folds.

His breath was haggard as he stepped out of them and knocked your leg to the side, grabbing his length only to rub the head teasing against your entrance. You mewled, curling around his arm against your chest.  

"Stop teasing me, Jake," you panted, tilting your hips so that you might thrust yourself back to catch him mid-tease.

"Tell me to do it," he uttered throatily into your ear, having caught on to your attempt, rubbing the head against your clit. "Tell me how good I make you feel." 

But you're not weak, and your resolve is strong. What does your smart mouth reply with, "I have nothing else to compare you to." 

Dropping his forehead to your shoulder, he growls, positioning himself at your entrance. "It's only me. It will only ever be me, making you feel like this, giving you this pleasure, only me fucking you. Loving you. No one else." 

You smirk, knowing you've caught him. "Prove it." 

Jake slid home in one stroke, burying himself in you with a groan, hands grabbing both your hips. 

There were only two other times Jake and you did this. Once after dinner one night during a movie on the couch, and the other in your kitchen while you made coffee. That's not to say other things didn't happen, but with each time you took him, the stretch became easier to handle.

"So tight, darlin'. Ugh, look at you gripping my cock." 

Jake set a harsh pace, a steady claiming rhythm that has you falling to the desk, crying louder and louder each time he hits deep. He's rambling about how pretty you look from his angle, mixing in various swear words while pressing bruises the shape of his fingertips to your hips. He makes a strangled noise, one that has him doubling down and reaching for your shoulder.  

"Tell me where, darlin. Where?!" 

You wanted to feel it again.

"Inside. Please, Jake."

He fell against your back, pinning you to the surface as his hips clashed with yours with newfound vigour. "Yeah? You want me to fill you?"

You whimpered. You knew that tone.

He was going to make you beg for it.

"I said, do you want me to fill you?!" he demanded on a particularly hard thrust. 

You were too far gone to care how you sounded now. 

"Yes, Yes, Yes, please, Jake. Please, cum in me." 

Cold shock surrounds you as Jake pulls his cock from your cunt, causing you to cry out against the surface of the desk at the sudden loss. Then suddenly, you're being pulled up, a duel grip on the bends of your elbows against his chest, stumbling as he guides you away from Sadie's desk.

On weak legs and in supportive arms, you tumble to the ground, letting Jake manhandle you until you are on your back and your legs are wrapped around his waist, him on his knees with his cock, red, angry, poised at your entrance.

Panting, you cock an eyebrow at him in question, but Jake, ruggedly pants out, "I need to see your face," before he presses back in with a rough whine.

"Fuck, Elizabeth. I'm never going to get enough of you."

"Jake," you cry out, gripping the old sheet you used to cover Sadie's bedroom floor above your head.

His eyes darken as he starts his pace again, quickly amounting to rapid punches that have you biting into your bicep. Your screams are muffled, sounding out each time he hits the back of your cervix. It scares you a little bit, this level of desperation, to be wanted on his level by someone. But you knew, above all else, you were the safest when you were with Jake, even now.

Suddenly, Jake's mouth is wrapped around the bend of your jaw, you taking it as a sign he wants you to give him your mouth. You do, curving your spine upward as he takes both of your wrists stretched above your head into the grip of a single hand. He pins you down, taking each desperate cry, every wanton moan, into his mouth as his hips meet yours again and again and again, working to build that release once more.

Then, somewhere in the back of your mind, you register yourself saying you're close, urging him not to stop, never to stop, to keep driving into you, for him to give you everything.

It makes him thrust harder. Makes him take his hand, not holding on to you, and hike your thigh higher on his waist. It makes him gasp into your open mouth, "Always such a good girl, always letting me know what she likes. What she wants. How she takes my cock... How she wants to feel me cum inside her. Oh, fuck, Liz, I'm going to cum."

You scream from his words alone.

Jake sets his teeth into your shoulder, pulling you tight as he finds his release with a needy growl. You whine into his shoulder, a cry following close behind as your muscles pull taunt, and your stomach burns as you clench around him. He slows his thrusts, letting you milk him for all he's worth, until he stills, sagging his entire weight into you and in no rush to leave your warmth.

You can feel rough, harsh pants against your chest that match your own as Jake draws his head down to rest between your breasts, finding a moment's peace as he regains his strength.

Sadie would definitely kill the two of you if she ever found out when she got older.

"Ugh, I'd quit Penny's too if I only had to experience that once in my life."

Jake snickered against your chest, rubbing the outside of your thigh gently. "I'm curious. Where did you hear that story anyway?"

You lifted your head off the ground, staring at him funny.

"Wait, what? It was the reason Penny hired me back? She was short-staffed because there was this pilot," you said, poking him in the shoulder trying to play along, "who was scaring them off after having one-night stands with them."

A faint chuckle slipped from Jake's lips. It was subtle, a mere puff of breath between your breasts. But then it grew, his shoulders starting to shake, and with each second that passed, his voice grew louder and louder.

"What?" you asked him, a smile on your face. Your question only made him laugh harder, making him growl into the side of your breast. "Jake! What's going on?"

You lightly slapped him on his shoulder, prompting him to hum, "I never slept with any of them."

You widened your eyes, shocked, pulling yourself up onto your elbows to look down at him kissing your breasts.

"You're lying."

Jake shook his head, never lifting it once. "I would never lie to you."

"But the sign in the girl's bathroom? That.. I was throwing that at you almost constantly. You never said anything."

"One was having trouble with her... ex, I guess that's what he was?" he started, mouthing the top of your breast. "He slashed her tires during her shift, and I gave her a lift home a couple of times. She said she didn't feel safe with him lurking about and was debating quitting anyway."

You raised your eyebrows, slowly lowering yourself back down to the floor.

"One was trying to get her girlfriend to come to her senses after a fight. She had been offered a publishing job requiring her to move." He gently slid his nose up the length of your clavicle, snuggling his face into your neck and holding you close. "I was just playing a role, pretending to flirt with her. Last I heard, they got married and bought a house together somewhere in Seattle."

Your mouth dropped open.

"The last one was just a troublemaker, running her mouth about sleeping with all the new recruits. She managed to get her nails into Rooster and then saw me as her next victim. I might have had a rep, but I wasn't going to cross Rooster like that. Even back then. She left shortly after."

"Penny didn't know about any of this?"

Jake shook his head. "All of it happened around the time Penny and Mav went on a vacation. The one with the girlfriend wasn't out to anyone yet, and the girl with the ex... well, I'd rather her ex focus on me than her. The tramp just fit the rep I had, so denying anything would have been a waste. I mean, I wasn't a saint, but I hadn't been looking for something like that for a while."

"Jake..."

"It's okay," he sighed affectionately, breath hot against your neck. "It got me to you in the end."

You racked your mind for any explanation or memory that would have counteracted what he just said. But Penny had been short on the details when she asked you to come back. And Jake might have come on a little strong, but you had acted on the assumption he was really trying to get you into his bed.

For all you could have known, it could have been just some harmless flirting, something you've always been awkward at. As you thought about it, he never fully confirmed the story, either. When he kissed you for the first time, and you brought it up, he had said the bartenders had quit for other reasons.

You had also let everyone else form your first impression of him. Because it was that day at Sadie's Soccer game, they told you Jake had a thing for Bartenders.

Well, one person did.

"Fucking hell, Rooster!" you tried to shoot up off Sadie's bedroom floor, angry and feeling like you had been duped. "Bradley Bradshit Fucking Bradshaw, oh, I'm going to fucking murder you!"

Jake pushed you back down to the floor, laughing at your reaction.

"You fucking meathead, you were the one sleeping with people, weren't you?! Your name was on that list, too!"

"It's done and over with, Liz," he snorted. "We just got him on the same page about us. We don't need to jeopardize it."

But you shook your head back and forth against the floor, and Jake couldn't figure out if you were angry or laughing at the idiotic nature that was the overgrown chicken.

"Liz?"

"I really am Elizabeth Bennet!" you whined out. Jake sputtered out a laugh, moving so he was resting completely on top of you, arms looped under your shoulders.

"I really am!" you cried out. "And Ridley's having the last laugh 'cause she freaking named me after her."

Jake stroked your hair back at the side of your temples. "I think that's the first time you've told me about her without being sad."

His words sobered you, making you swallow harshly. "She left me a letter. And called me out on some stuff. Rightly so. I think the worst part for me was not knowing what she was thinking. The most horrible thing I could have done to myself was not read her letter when I should have."

He pressed his forehead to yours, trying to bring you some level of comfort.

"I wish I could have met her."

The other letter you stashed up on top of the refrigerator stood out like a solid picture in your mind.

Maybe you still can.

"I wish you could have too."

Jake trailed his nose along yours, gently kissing your lips, his thumbs sliding across your cheekbones. It has you sliding your hands up the length of his chest, one finding a home on the back of his neck.

When he pulls back, his face has a tender look as he gazes down at you. It fills you with warmth, so much so that you blurt out, "Move in with us."

His smile drops. "What?"

"Move in with us," you replied softly.

Jake blinked, clearly caught off guard, and studied your face for a long moment. You felt vulnerable under his gaze, worried about how he'd respond.

"We've done so much of this backwards, Jake. I don't think any of us had any plans to follow the rules," you admitted, chuckling nervously.

He quirked his lips upward. "Rules? What rules?"

You find solace in his reply, your nerves settling in the pit of your stomach when you return his smile.

"I meant what I said in my letter. I'm in, Jake, whatever comes our way. If it's marriage, kids, or none of those things, I just want you in Sadie and our lives. I don't want to waste time not being with you when you could be swept away from us any time you're called out."

You glide your fingers through his hair, stroking the tuffs back just above his ear. "I want to make memories with you, wake up next to you. I want hikes with you and Sadie and Saturday nights with family, ending with us doing the dishes. I want the two of us to continue being the reason you come home so you never have to know a life that's not full of love."

You felt it before you saw it, a drop of water hitting your cheek, and you realized Jake was fighting to stop tears from pooling in his eyes.

"Are you sure?" he asked, his voice choked with emotion.

You nodded. "I might have taken the longest, most backward route to deal with my grief, and God knows I give Bradley one too many chances when I probably shouldn't," You paused, a smirk playing on your lips as you looked into Jake's eyes. "But I love you, and I've never been more sure of anything in my life than this."

Jake took a moment, a whirlwind of emotions playing across his face, till he finally settled on a broad smile. "Let's wait till we get the bug from Camp to decide that?"

You frowned at him, but Jake only shook his head.

"She needs to know what she's getting herself into, yes?" he growled, rolling you on top of him.

------

The morning you were going to pick up Sadie from Camp, Jake was up and out of bed before you. Before you had even opened your eyes, you had reached out for him, only to be met by an empty space.

You got up, reaching for your robe to cover your naked body, hoping Jake hadn't gone out for a run. He was chomping at the bit to get back into exercising, and you didn't blame him. The doctor on base hadn't cleared him yet, and you were doing everything possible to ensure he didn't break that rule and set himself back.

Even the sex had you worried.

You found him sitting at your kitchen table with Sadie's Polaroid in hand and a cup of coffee next to him, gentle swirls of steam catching the light from your window. He was hunched over in thought, absent-mindedly working his hand across his mouth, staring down at her image.

You approached him quietly, placing a gentle hand on his back before wrapping your arm around the front of his chest, resting your chin on his shoulder.

Jake reached up, squeezing your wrist.

"Is that her cockpit photo?"

You remember this one, the F-18 and museum trip, and you understood why Sadie had wanted to include it with the others from the day of the hike.

Jake nodded. "The very one."

He reached over into the small pile, spreading the images out before sliding one of you in front of him. You weren't surprised the risky one was missing, Jake probably having stashed it somewhere safe out of your reach after he found out you wanted to burn it.

He never let you hear the end of that one... and then some. Only Jake could turn your anxious thoughts into something sexual. Though, that was a story for another day.

"This one is yours."

You lifted your head from Jake's shoulder to step next to him and lift the photo off the table.

It wasn't the prettiest photo. Clearly, Sadie had been messing with her camera when she accidentally snapped it. But you looked happy, smiling at Jake out of the frame. It was probably the first time you had truly smiled at something, and you knew then and there that Sadie only included it because all three of you knew who made you smile like that.

Yet, when you turned to Jake, he couldn't take his eyes off hers.

"She's going to prove you wrong, Jake."

He didn't give you a reply, his face etched in worry.

You gently grabbed his arm, pulling it out of the way so you could slide yourself in between him and the table. You popped yourself down, sitting sideways across his lap, wrapping your arm around the back of his neck.

"Can I tell you something, and you promise not to judge me for it?"

Jake shot you a look that made you smile, placing your head between his collar and jaw.

"The night I opened her box, it was a week after you left, and I broke down," you felt Jake's arms tighten around your body. "I was so upset, I ripped these from my neck and threw them across the room."

You held Jake's tags out in front of you, thumbing the rubber casing around one of them.

"Sadie found me. I don't know if she was scared of the thunderstorm or heard me scream, but she got them and returned them to me."

"I didn't give them to you to cause you pain..."

You were quick to reassure him, placing a hand on his cheek and letting the tag fall back to your chest. "No, they didn't. They just... helped me see what I was doing to myself. And I missed you. So much."

Jake pressed a kiss to your forehead, stroking your bare leg.

"She wouldn't have given them back to me if she didn't want you in our lives, Jake," you continued. "All along, that's what she's been doing. Showing you she cares. Since you helped her with her math homework."

You cupped his face gently, ensuring he was focusing entirely on you. "She doesn't, Jake. She misses you. She cares for you. She loves you so much."

He chuckled softly, "I swear she knew half the answers after that first day but just wanted to spend time together."

"She's more astute than we give her credit for," You said with a grin, nuzzling closer to him.

"She's just.." he trailed off. "She's one hell of a kid."

You smiled softly. "She is," you agreed.

The two of you sat like that for a few more minutes, Jake holding you, letting his coffee cool. The two of you didn't say anything, nor you didn't need to. Both of you were simply content to be holding one another.

"Come on," you said, getting up and holding out your hand. He took it, bringing himself to a stand. "We should get ready before Nat arrives."

Jake wiggled his eyebrows, following you down the hall.

"You think we could manage a quickie?"

"Jacob Seresin, you are a horny beast!"

"Takes one to know one, Darlin'."

------

When you and Nat dropped Sadie off at camp the week prior, she promised she'd come with you to pick her up. However, when she arrived at your house an hour later, a stowaway was with her - which was ironic when you thought about it. Nearly a year ago, Jake had been in Rooster's shoes, standing apprehensively in front of your porch step.

You had never seen him look more out of his element than he did when you opened the door.

You had instantly shot her a look.

"It slipped out," Nat held her hands up in defence. You placed your hands on your hips, cocking your eyebrow. "Really? It slipped out?"

There was no malice behind your words. If Bradley wanted to come with you guys to pick up Sadie, you weren't going to stop him. You smiled at Bradley, nodding at him that it was okay that he was here. He relaxed, returning your smile.

Jake pressed a kiss to your temple before walking out to your porch and down the steps to join Bradley. Nat and you walked over to the railing, somewhat away from the two, watching them have their moment.

 She knocked your hip once, leaning over towards you to ask, "So I guess it was a good week."

"Why wouldn't it be?" you asked her confused.

"Cause you're walking funny and have a hickey twice as large as the first one you got. You did a shit job at covering up," she laughed.

You blushed, blubbering out, "Nat.. that's not.. I mean... What the hell do you mean I did a shit job?!"

She only continued to laugh, knocking your hip once again. "I guess you don't mind the anagram on his helmet now."

You sputtered, your mouth opening and closing like a fish, and Nat only relished in the innocent look on your face, trying to stop herself from drawing attention to the two of you.

Jake and Bradley, however, didn't hear the two of you. Bradley was too caught up in his head, trying to figure out what to say to him, and Jake was trying to come up with the words to properly thank him for saving his life.

"Bradshaw." 

Bradley looked him up and down, a smirk on his face. "You look good, Hangman. You know, despite the..." Bradley pointed to the healing bruise on the side of his face. It wasn't as nasty as before, but still an ugly yellow-brown shade.

"Yeah, well.." Jake remarked, taking his eyes off Bradley for a second before looking back. "For all I know, I have you to blame for that."

Bradley let out a small chuckle. "Yeah..."

A silence befell over the two, and Jake mulled over the right thing to say that would express his gratitude to Rooster, that he wouldn't take the wrong way.

"Thank you for bringing me back to her," his voice carrying sincerity unknown and rare to Bradley. "To them. For saving my life."

"You two okay?" Bradley asked, tilting his head towards you.

Jake glanced over to you and Nat, sharing a laugh over something, and Bradley caught the loving look as Jake settled his eyes on you. "Yeah, we are. More than okay."

Bradley looked away, the weight of everything he had done heavy in the air.

"I need to apologize to you, Jake."

Bradley's use of Jake's name, not this call sign, made him turn back, slightly shocked.

"I've given you, given the both of you a hard time. I... just wanted to protect them, you know? They've been through so much, and Sadie..." he stopped, struggling to find the words. Jake crossed his arms, staring pointedly at Rooster as he rambled.

"I was in Sadie's shoes at one point in my life. And I think from what I know about you now, you'd do anything not to have someone else go through what we've gone through to get here in our lives."

Jake nodded in agreement. "Can I ask you what made you change your mind?"

Bradley didn't look at him when a soft smile came over his face, and he remarked, "When I saved your life."

Jake barked out a laugh, shaking his head. Bradley joined him, soft chuckles escaping his chest.

"I never thought I'd be sitting by your bedside while waiting for an airlift, begging you not to die," he admitted, scratching the back of his head.

"Would have solved all your problems if I did, right?" 

Bradley shook his head. "No, it wouldn't. I wasn't about to let Sadie or Liz experience the death of another person they loved.

"And?" Jake prompted, letting his voice drawl on.

"And I realized I was creating problems where there was none," he exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "And projecting some shit onto you two."

Bradley wasn't about to admit to Jake his entire back story. That he was going to therapy, too, but something told him even if Jake knew, he wouldn't hold it against him.

He was seeing you, after all.

"You have every right to be in their lives. I'm sorry I assumed differently. If you make Liz and Sadie happy, I'm not going to stay in the way of that."

Jake scrunched up his nose, acting like he was contemplating his apology, before holding out his hand. It was not too unfamiliar from when he offered it after saving his and Maverick's life two years ago.

"Clean slate?"

Bradley cocked his eyebrow. "Really? A clean slate?"

"Just like that."

Rooster glanced at Jake's outstretched hand for a moment before taking it, gripping it tight and shaking it once. He went to let go, but Jake only tugged, making Bradley take a clumsy step forward, his shoulder almost meeting Jake's chest. He leaned over as if to pat him on the back, but instead, he tilted his head to say something into Bradley's ear.

"Just don't use me as a scapegoat this time to cover up the fact you're getting some."

Jake slapped him on the back hard, then stepped back as Bradley sputtered out a cough.

"Come on, boys!" Nat called out, having seen the interaction.

They turned back as you finished her shout, yelling out affectionately, "We have a Bug to go catch!"

------

Nobody protested when you asked if the four of you could stop by the thrift shop on the way to pick Sadie up. You had mentioned it had something to do with her birthday present, and nobody seemed to argue. Jake had only smiled, and Bradley and Nat instantly agreed, all too eager to see the famous store you and Ridley had found.

When the four of you entered the shop, Rooster, as you expected, practically ran to the vinyl section, Nat close on his heels to make sure he didn't break anything in his excitement.

Jake followed you to the counter, where you had to wait in line to see Mr. Murray. You honestly stupidly thought he would have gone off on his own, not follow you to the line. He couldn't see what you were doing; as much as this was a surprise for Sadie, this was a surprise for him too.

You had to think of something to get him to go away, and you had to do it fast.

Jake's hand was resting low on your hip when you turned and pressed your hands flat to his chest. Pulling yourself up, you lifted one of your hands to trace the outline of his lips with your fingers before you kissed him, slow and purposely. Lowering yourself back down, Jake's eyes remained closed until his brain caught up with him, and he found himself staring down at your lips.

"Shoo," you cooed at him with a grin. Jake raised his eyebrows. "Shoo? You want me to shoo?"

You nodded, pecking his lips again quickly in a bid to get him to leave you alone.

"Why? It's just Sadie's birthday present."

You bit your lip. There was no real reason he couldn't be there with you, and you didn't have a reply that wouldn't have given away her gift.

Deciding to take one out of Sadie's book instead, you slowly slid your hands down his back, cupping his ass, and squeezing hard once, leaning up to whisper into his ear, "No questions asked?"

Jake's groan vibrated in your ear. "I know what you're doing. And I know I'm at fault for it."

"Is it working?" you teased, sneakily taking his ear lobe between your teeth and letting go just as quickly. To any on-looker, it appeared as if you were simply whispering something in his ear.

"Still doesn't change the fact you're trying to get rid of me."

You slowly slid your mouth down, nipping the skin of his neck in a quick motion that made him hiss. You pulled back to take in the tiny mark, slightly proud of yourself.

"You're defiling government property, darlin'."

"You're not on duty, are you? That makes you mine."

"Oh, you're going to pay for that later."

"Am I?" you said, making sure your lips were just over his, just barely, enough so he might feel your breath but not your touch.

You weren't sure who this person was that Jake had awoken, but every time you found yourself in a position to tease Jake about something, you felt like those social media videos Sadie liked to watch with you, the ones where someone faked an "achievement unlocked" status above their head. Jake had no idea the power he had suddenly shown you.

He went to kiss you, but you dodged his attempt, pressing a finger to his lips.

"Go make sure Rooster doesn't break something. I'm sure that 45' Jerry Lee Lewis record is still there. He already plays Great Balls of Fire enough."

Jake grimaced. "Yup, no, thank you."

You patted him on his chest. Jake winked at you, turning on his heel, not before catching you mid-spin with a light slap to the meaty part of your ass. You yipped, jumping from where you stood, a hand covering the sting. Jake was already walking away with a shit-eating grin on his face, calling out, "Rooster! Hands off the classics!"

Looking up, you came face to face with Mr.Murray, his eyebrows raised. Heat flooded your cheeks more than it already had, and you felt like a kid getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Glad to see that one's safe and sound."

You blushed. "That was.. ah.. That was me..."

Mr. Murray shook his head, reassuring you. "My wife and I were like that at one point. Could barely keep our hands off each other. Still do to some extent."

"Mr. Murray," you blushed, stepping forward.

Reaching into your bag, you pulled out the patches ripped from Jake's ruined flight suit, secretly sliding them across the counter. Jake had saved what he could and asked you to throw out the rest. Little did he know you had other plans.

"Do you think you could fix them up? Do the thing we talked about?"

Mr. Murray looked down at the patches in your hand, taking them and smiling.

"For Sadie? Anything."

-------------

You knew there would be more moments in your life where you would feel immense pride for Sadie, each one topping the last. But watching her row her boat down that river, similar to how you and Ridley had done it as kids, would be something you'd never forget.

Her wanting to go to camp came from one of the polaroids Ridley left behind. You weren't sure who had managed to catch it, and the years had not been kind to the image, but Sadie wanted to know all the memories associated with that photo as you were pulling them out, deciding to preserve them in a scrapbook. You weren't shy about telling her. It was easier, having since opened her box, for you to talk about Ridley without clamming up.

In the end, she asked if she could go to camp like you and her mom did—specifically one where she could row her own boat down a river like that one.

The sunlight glinted off the water, shimmering as you leaned forward, a pair of binoculars held up to your face. Jake's knee bounced anxiously next to you, his eyes darting back and forth between the group and the river bend as Nat and Bradley carried on a separate conversation, waiting for Sadie's boat to come into view.

As you arrived, you had told the group that Sadie was taking part in this race before they could see her. Nat already knew, having made a poster with "Go Sadie Bug!" written across it in big colourful letters and splattered with ladybugs. It sat between the two of you, ready the second she appeared.

It was but a few more seconds before the boats made it around the corner, and you spied her and her teammate rapidly gaining on third place.

"There!" You cried out, letting the binoculars fall to your lap as you pointed. "In the red!"

Jake scanned the water, his heart thumping in his chest as the crowd started to pick up that the kids were nearing the end. His world momentarily narrowed to a mere pinpoint as he searched for one particular kid. A flash of red stood out from the rest, and Jake homed in on her small frame, leaning into every paddle stroke, fierce and determined.

All the uncertainty, the worry about whether she still resented him, evaporated. At that moment, Jake was filled with pride, seeing her giving her all out there on the water.

You were already on your feet by the time Jake stood, watching as Sadie and her teammate paddled vigorously, tied neck to neck with the team currently in third. Bradley leaned forward from his spot on the bleacher, muttering with confidence over and over, "She's got this. She's got this."

Beside him, Nat was unrolling her poster, the rubber band snapping in her excitement and eagerness, as she stood, throwing the piece of Bristol board over her head, letting out a shout.

Jake couldn't help but shout out his encouragement, even if she couldn't hear him from this distance or amongst the shouts of other parents. 

"Come on, Bug! Give them hell!"

The distance between the two canoes started to close, and with each powerful stroke, Sadie and her teammate pushed into third, leaving the other canoe in the wake of their water trail. And then, inch by inch, the two of them rapidly approached the other two canoes, currently tied neck and neck for first place.

Bradley's voice joined the others as he shot up and out of his seat. " That's it! Come on, Sadie! Come on!"

But you... you were suddenly overwhelmed, tears streaming down your face as your heart pounded away inside your chest because it wasn't Sadie you were seeing, but your sister, shouting back over her shoulder to encourage what appeared to be you, trying just as hard to see the two of you through to the finish line.

It was such a vivid memory, and you could almost hear her voice, her laughter, as she yelled for the two of you to keep paddling, as she now yelled for Sadie to keep paddling. You didn't shove it down as you might have done once before.

You embraced it.

You instinctively looked over to Jake, who was too focused on watching Sadie to see your eyes on him. His face was lit up with fierce pride and love, and seeing Jake's unwavering support, despite questioning if Sadie really cared for him or not, in your heart, you knew the two of you would always be safe with him.

Sadie was undeterred by the task in front of her. It was clear. The finish line was drawing close, and you couldn't help but reach out to grasp Jake and Nat's forearms.

Nat yelled, "She can do it! She's our bug!"

With a surge of energy, Sadie and her teammate closed the gap, drawing level with the leading canoe. Her face was lit up in sheer determination as she shouted out, using every ounce of energy she had left to push themselves forward, crossing the finish line a mere few seconds before the previous leaders.

You let out a cry, screaming for joy as Jake went for your waist, lifting you up towards the sky in celebration as he celebrated, letting out a shout. Nat was hugging Bradley as he let out a loud whistle in appreciation.

Even if he thought she hated him, Jake still lowered you to the ground and pulled you into his arms, giving you an overly excited kiss and exclaiming how proud he was of her.

After everything she had been through, after everything she had to face this past year, you were proud of her, too.

The four of you escaped the bleachers, making your way down to the docks where you were meant to pick her up. Jake held your hand, eyes nervously scanning the crowd of kids staring to find their parents.

His Adam's apple bobbed, and you squeezed his hand once, swinging it back and forth. "You okay?"

Jake opened his mouth, ready to answer you, before Nat suddenly jumped and squealed, "There she is!" pointing to Sadie on the boardwalk below.

The four of you watched as she made her way up the dock, a red ribbon in hand, as she laughed and celebrated with her friend. You smiled, letting go of Jake's hand to step forward and join Nat at the peek of the hill so she would find you easily.

Rooster stepped forward to get a better view, but he still stayed behind with Jake, who remained where he was, currently clenching and unclenching his fists.

He didn't know if he was ready for this.

Sadie was saying goodbye to her friend when she realized you and Nat would have been in the crowd with everyone else. She thought she had seen someone holding a poster with Lady Bugs on it, but she had only gotten a quick peek before she had to concentrate on the finish line.

She leaned up on the edges of her shoes, scanning the crowd with a hopeful gaze. She knew you'd be here. You promised you would, and you never broke a promise.

A big smile appeared across her face when she finally found you and Nat waving at her on top of the hill. She picked herself up into a run, giggling like anything and everything.

You dropped to your knees, prepared to catch her in one of her overly dramatic hugs that would have you failing to the ground if you weren't ready. But then she stopped dead in her tracks, a gasp escaping her lips. Her face started to red, blue eyes wide and watering, and her bottom lip was begging to tremble as she looked past you.

Concerned, you followed her gaze, realizing she had caught sight of Jake and Bradley standing behind you.

"Oh, Bug," Nat cooed next to you. But you knew, right away, who warranted that reaction.

Jake caught sight of her, a hopeful yet apprehensive look on his face. His heart thudded heavily in his chest, awaiting what he thought to be the ultimate reprimand and lowest point in his life. Because everything was waiting on this moment, despite his apology, despite working his way back to the two of you, if Sadie didn't want him here, if she didn't want him in her life, he would walk away.

It was the longstanding promise to put her first. Her feelings mattered above all else.

But the ribbon she had won slipped from her hand at her side, falling to the ground, forgotten. She stumbled backwards a few steps as her mind caught up with the sight. Sadie couldn't believe it. Because everyone she had ever cared about, one way or another, had been taken away from her beyond anyone's control.

Uncle Jake was here.

He came back.

He was alive.

He was home.

"Uncle Jake!" She cried out, finally propelling herself into a run, going straight past Nat, you, and forgoing Bradley entirely to beeline it to him. The tension released from Jake's shoulders as he dropped to his knees into the dirt, holding out his arms to take the crying girl into his arms.

Sadie couldn't help but throw herself at him, launching her tiny body and wrapping her arms and legs around him only to borrow her head into his neck.

Jake's vision blurred, tears starting to form as he dropped his chin to her shoulder. He cradled her close, letting out a shaky exhale, his grip matching Sadie's tight. The two of them were terrified either one might vanish if they let go. The weight of everything he'd faced, the danger, the near-death, it all paled in comparison to this moment of pure joy and absolute relief.

Sadie did want him in your lives after all.

You could faintly make out the words from him as he cooed over her sobs, "I'm here, Bug. I'm here."

You stood, walking over and kneeling down next to them. You placed a hand on Jake's back and rested the other on Sadie's. Jake lifted his head to look at you, and you were surprised to see his eyes watering. The sight of him holding Sadie, moved by her missing him, brought tears to your eyes.

"Why are you crying, Bug?" You soothed, trying to stop your own voice from breaking.

She pulled back from Jake's neck to look at you. Despite her blotched face and tears, a smile was etched across her face as she blubbered out, "He came home."

Her statement wasn't lost on you. Ridley never made it home to her that night. The family you guys had found was made up of people who flirted with death daily. For as long as they flew, there would always be the chance one of them would never make it home.

"Of course, I made it home, Bug," Jake said, pressing a soft kiss into her hair. "I had to make it home to both of my girls."

Sadie buried her face into the fabric of his shirt, weeping, and you watched as he fought with himself not to cry.

Then she started to giggle through her sniffles, happiness starting to replace her sadness. She curled her head to the side against his chest, gripping his shirt tight between her tiny fingers and taking a few deep breaths.

She didn't want to let him go.

"I love you, Uncle Jake."

You had to wipe your eyes, knowing exactly where that came from.

Jake slammed his eyes shut. "I love you too, Bug."

He was in it for the long run. There was no question about it.

Sadie sharply lifted her head, looking at you, then at Jake, back and forth several times, her mouth hanging loosely open.

"Wait..are you two back together now?"

You nodded. "Are you okay with that?"

It was redundant to ask, but you still needed to anyway.

You could see the gears grinding in her head, working up a quick-witted response only she could come up with. Then you noticed the second the idea popped into her head, fighting to prevent the corners of her mouth from turning upward.

She tried to relax her face, but she was failing miserably. Jake caught on when she tried to become stoic, and his cheeky grin widened with each second that passed. She had done this to him once before, and he wasn't about to be caught in her trap for a second time.

Then a grin stretched across her face, reminding you so much of Ridley.

"Finally. My job here is over."

Little matchmaker, indeed.

You gasped affectionately, playing along as if you didn't know she had been trying to get the two of you together. "Why, you little..."

You attacked her with your fingers, tickling her stomach. Jake tried to contain his laughter as she started to squirm in his arms, shouting out, "Save me, Uncle Jake! Save me!"

Jake tried to lean back to keep her out of your path, but despite his reassurance, his back hadn't returned to being almost 100 percent. It spasmed, causing him to lose his balance off his knees. Sadie screamed, reaching for the only thing she could, which happened to be you, tugging on the front of your shirt.

Your breath caught in your throat as you fell with them, Jake securely tightening his arm around Sadie's back as she fell onto his chest while reaching out for you. He took the brunt of your fall, you landing on the opposite side of his chest, and Jake groaned, tilting his head back against the ground to the sky, laughing.

Nat gathered Sadie's ribbon off the ground, coming to stand next to Bradley, who was watching the three of you with an affectionate smile.

"Damn it, Rooster," Nat teased, knocking his side with hers. "It looks like you've been replaced."

Bradley shook his head.

When Sadie first came to live with you, each of the Daggers had found something to share with her. Nat and her loved sports, and Bob listened to her gush about bugs. Maverick did anything and everything fun and semi-dangerous with her. Fanboy and Payback loved playing games with her, and Coyote was simply there when she needed him. For Bradley, it had been sharing their grief at losing a parent.

But Jake... It wasn't Jake offering Sadie anything. It was Sadie who held out her hand and took him under her tiny arm. Sadie, who offered him her love with no questions asked.

He was never at risk of being replaced, never at risk of losing her love or her playing favourites. Sadie simply cared for everyone and everything thing.

It's just who she was.

"You know what, Nat, I don't mind," He replied, fondly looking at Jake, Sadie and you, now sharing a hug.

"As much as he needs Liz, he needs Sadie too."

I'm crying. There's only one more left 😭💛

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Part 23 - Sleep Deprivation, the final part, coming soon 😭

Wickett

[galactic-glamour-girl-posts]

Some Highlights from the Animaniacs Series Bible

Click here to read the whole thing!

So apparently Yakko was originally gonna have a habit of repeating himself. He doesn't do this in the actual show but I think it's very childlike and cute.

Obviously these did make it to the show. Not much to talk about here but I wanted to show them anyway because they're so cute!

OK so this one is interesting because the original show straight up scrapped this idea, which makes sense. It'd be a little redundant to have both this and the gag bag be a recurring bit. However, Dot does actually do something similar to this in the reboot, she turns her bow (and her tail) into a chainsaw!

This one is interesting for the same reason as before, it's never mentioned in the original show, but it IS referenced in the reboot (in "That's Not The Issue", Wakko claims he wants "more meatballs in pisgheti!") Once is a probably a coincidence, but twice just leads me to believe they were both intentional references.

I wonder if this was meant to indicate Wakko and Dot's respect for their elder sibling or if he was literally originally meant to be able to control them with the snap of his fingers.

Yeah this didn't really make it to the show. I can't recall many times Dot gave the "special friend" the benefit of the doubt sooner than her brothers. I'm glad this aspect was changed; the one girl in the group being the most rational or sensible is overdone.

No prizes for guessing why the second version was scrapped. Although it's interesting that Dot was originally just going to refer to herself as a Warner Brother sometimes.

This would've been a really fun recurring gag, sad that they scrapped it.

Now this one's interesting because Wakko's temper DID make it to the show, it's just downplayed.

His reaction to getting an F in "Chalkboard Bungle" is probably the only leftover of the idea of him having a REALLY explosive temper.

These basically summarize why I like the Warners' segments so much; at their core they're about three inseparable young goofballs refusing to conform or just sit there and take it, and instead embracing what makes them different to make things better (or worse, for those who had it coming).

I know they're funny talking animals who do things like sleep in ball pits and burp classical songs and keep freaky monsters as pets, but their segments legitimately have meaningful themes; such as embracing individuality, karma, retaliation, childhood and how we treat children throughout it...you know just basic, silly stuff like that...

I'm not looking too deeply into it, I swear 🙃

[goosefries]

Cracks knuckles. Hello goosefries i am going to gush about your animatic

The typography and is so fucking and your designs for all the sticks are iconic to me, i love the shape language with them and the correlation of the hollowheads with eachother and their themes FIT PERFECTLY.

IM SO HAPPY YOU MANAGED TO SHOW HOW ALL THE HOLLOWHEADS INTERCONNECT WITH EACHOTHER, THAT BIT IS ONE OF THE MAIN THINGS I CHEW ON WITH THIS SERIES. YOU PORTRAYED IT SO WELL. THE SWITCHY SWITCHY SEQUENCES AT THE END???? Muah chefs kiss effervescent

It might be the song choice and the typography making it so but its so reminiscent of those old lyricstuck videos and i ADORE IT i really wish modern fandoms did those more often or atleast sensationalize them more!! Its so nice to see bits of old fandom culture that i enjoyed in recent ones

And gosh the song is making me Think Thoughts (thank you for the song rec btw thats going into my playlists too) "the game plays us for fools" the way that these guys' existence and suffering center around the person who made them and the only reason theyre fighting like this is because of That, they dont know any better, theyre all victims (haha) of circumstance and all following the chain/loop of violence that they are hardly aware theyre in "youll never get to find out anyway" NONE of them KNOW why they have to suffer at the hands of eachother, theyre all just hurt and hurting people in retaliation and its all bc of this One Guy, one being that is almost beyond their comprehension, they cant understand why it (the animator) does this to them

Anyways im gonna be gnawing on this animatic forever now have a LOVELY day or else ❤️

I KNEW YOUD LOVE THE PARTS WHERE I CONNECT ALL THEIR STORIES AND THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE STUFF. I SAW UR HURT PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE ARTWORK WHILE I WAS ALREADY MAKING IT AND WENT "oh... oh no......" i cant believe i found a song so fitting for AvA i'm still reeling over it. ONE MAN FALLS ANOTHER TAKES HIS PLACE?? pack it up. go home as for the lyricstuck vibe yeah. yeah homestuck had an effect on how i make fandom content,,, glad that came across in an interesting way HAHAH

also. typography is my fav thing to do in animatics. i'm obsessed with it. so glad you liked everything

[dumbass-duo-showdown]

Propaganda masterpost for desertduo

They are two idiots thinking eachother's udeas are good and then somehow winning

They are two idiots thinking eachother's udeas are good and then somehow winning

They don’t have a single brain cell between them. They poked the goat to “see what would happen” and ended up getting their bases covered in duped ender dragon eggs.

Particularly in Hermitcraft, they are the most chaotic together. Chaotic in the most stupid of ways. Example: they blew up an intricate machine from one of the most "threatening" people on the server, stopped posting for a while, tried fixing it and failed, and tried apologizing with diamonds (Grian), theme park gifts (Scar), and by calling the victim "handsome" and "smart" and everything they could think of. And THEN, when Doc (the victim) retaliated with very intricate pranks that take a lot of skill and knowledge, they teamed up, went to the perimeter they were banned from as their alter egos as a loophole, and FILLED the ENTIRE PLACE (and it's a ginormous hole down to bedrock, many chunks wide) with CHICKENS. Just. A lot of chickens. Chickens everywhere. Oh my god. And another thing. Grian loves pressing buttons, like ADORES it (that's how the machine broke in the first place) and Scar... well. He gets confused easily and also breaks a lot of machines. So when people in the server build stuff, they have to both Grian-proof it (make sure an overexcited person who loves pressing buttons won't break the system) and Scar-safe it (make sure it's easily understandable and won't be broken like that). But now they also have to GRIAN-AND-SCAR-PROOF their stuff, because i swear, they multiply each other's dumbassery like by 100. And all that is just from the current arc of Hermitcraft season NINE. If we go back to season eight for a second, Grian decided to fake being AFK in all his friends' bases, and when he got to Scar's, Scar built him a ROLLERCOASTER RIDE to the BOAT TOTEM (boatem) HOLE THAT GOES BEYOND BEDROCK. People constantly fell there in the season and it was hell gearing themselves back up. But Scar was sure they were gonna land on the boatem and thought Grian was asleep because of time differences. But he failed and both died either way. And good fucking thing Grian was watching it all happen. Scar was SINGING him a SONG. You could even HEAR HIM COMING UP WITH IT BEFORE THE ACTUAL RIDE. Scar by FAR had the BEST reaction to the AFK experiment. And GODDD they're such idiots together. Unless they're in it for survival (aka the Life series) in which case Grian basically becomes his nanny let's be real. Scar is way too prone to die. He dies literally all the time and someone's gotta have him on a leash.

grian thinks that hes the responsible one in the dynamic but really hes just as much a chaos gremlin as scar is

they enable each other constantly. fellow builders to friends to enemies to friends to enemies to f

they share two braincells with each other and they do not work half the time. The number of things they fucked up is not even countable. One of them will be like "I'll save you!" and then both of them need someone to come and save them. They also are connected at the hip and love to annoy each other and other people so so much. they need help

They are so. so. Pesky british bird who loves explosions and has an attention span of 2 + catboy scammer who likes to lick magic and die badly. They are perfect for each other and their friendship is so precious to me. They are canonically soulmates. Currently theyre camping out on the edge of their enemy's giant hole because they accidentally exploded his machine together while Grian was procrastinating. The situation escalated because Grian likes war and Scar likes chaos so now theyre sitting directly in the path of their enemy's giant TNT-pooping goat mecha. Their plan? Build a buttercup-themed mecha to fight it because buttercups are poisonous to goats

They have caused a lot of chaos and destruction due to their lack of braincells /pos

Scar dragged Grian to the desert on a llama to monopolize on its sand, they blew up their friend’s tunnel bore, and rode a roller coaster together. They just bounce a braincell back and forth basically.

They ping pong a brian cell between each other and the few times it produces a thought the idea is always a bad one

they have two brain cells between them and they are not sure where they left them, they actively search for trouble and act sincerely shocked when it bites them on the ass, very orange cat coded if you ask me

Things only work out for them by pure luck. They both think they have the braincell and will be the one to pull each other through but they are both wrong. Tripping over their own feet and stumbling so hard and yet still coming out on top just because the others fall over harder

They get in a room together and its like all braincells disappear. They blew up their neighbors redstone, they filled his base with thousands of chickens, they die nonstop, they bully the other (in a friendly way) constantly and then do the exact same thing, theyre dunbasses ur honor

Theyre literally, just an echochamber of dumb. They actively lose braincells when around eachother. Grian seems smart and calculated but he can never get anything to work properly and scar is just an absolute hazard to himself and grian tries to keep him safe. They both die in minecraft so much. Grian also just has a habit of pressing every button lever or chest he ever sees. Even if its an obvious trap. He breaks stuff so easily. Grian WILL press the big button on top of the tnt block thats in plain sight. Especially right after scar says "i wonder what that does". Theyre duo can be summed up to trickster dumbass and dumbass with a heart of gold. They literally started a prank war by accidentally blowing up someones redstone. They are the unattended children on every server theyre in.

long live the science bros.

One owed the other a life debt for killing them with a creeper (it was just a prank, bro) and so they spent the season trying to monopolize all of the sand in a desert, and that's jusr scraping the surface of how stupid they are.

[spearxwind]

yo alex!! do you have any songs about like revenge/vegeance, that kind of thing :000

Yes I do!! I'm preddy sure I have a good few let's see. A fair amount of these are about revenge but specifically about murder

wanted - heather sommer (on the chill side but its abt chasing/stalking someone down for their crimes) chain reaction - nine shrines (you hurt me and now im gonna fucking murder you) unmask the enemy - seraphim (you hurt people and now you're onto a cataclysmic demise) your turn - memphis may fire (you hurt me and im gonna fucking murder you AGAIN) hell's comin' with me - poor man's poison (literally abt a revenge story) fight fire with gasoline - self deception (they just have fun songs man) body bag - I prevail (this ones about murder too) judgement day - I prevail (everybody's sorry on judgement day <3) bow down - I prevail (i prevail just has some dope as fuck songs fr) 21 bullets (retaliators main theme. by... every metalcore band under the sun apparently) (from a movie apparently about revenge. i mean its called retaliators) monster - starset (obligatory starset rec. will not apologize) the reckoning - within temptation (we'll make you pay for whaatever you did) cause of death - motionless in white (song about... having a rival... maybe something more? flushed emoji)

[plumsaffron]

Scapegoating Lila and referring to Astruc haters as Lila grudge holders. LOL.

Thing is... Lila’s and their ways aren’t not the same. Sucks I’ll have to speak of Lila Rossi again of the difference of circumstances.

Ah it’s been established, the misuse of miraculous can lead to huge problems. This has been shown enough times. Heck that’s how Santa Claws happened. Back to Lila thing again.

Ladybug used her ultimate power to embarrass Lila due to her instability or rather Lila’s existence made Marinette the hero feel absolute inferiority and ensured to take her soon to be Perfect Alliance away from her. Tikki was asking if she was jealous earlier. Gets more jealous. Marinette got a special book and could have left and completed something more of priority. Instead she decides to be a clown. Even Adrien was like what’s wrong with you and concerned. Lie hater lies of an excuse to why she was foul to Lila and swings away from him because she knew that she was clearly wrong. It was really so Lila would go away or disappear. Disappear is fulfilled after Confrontation. Funny this her frolicking upon Lila and wasting her time instead of getting the book and leave for the time being indirectly helped cause the collector incident. Oof Adrien returning back to square 1 again. And the funny is Marinette in the end doing the very thing she despises or wants to despise of Lila doing when returning what she stole to Gabriel. Ironic. Choose when game eh?

Lila has to see what she wished, ripped away. Opportunities taken away later too. And the smile of the one who did this to her’s face, plaster everywhere. The hero that ruined your first day. Having to remember that awful experience for a long time. Hawk Moth and soon Nathalie orchestrate the anniversary of Lila mockery. The whole town celebrating your humiliator and allies of such. A peer in your class for some weird reason, wanting to be like Ladybug for some strange reason. You later have to later hear the theme song of who ruined you and see much merchandise. A powerful figure, Gabriel Agreste, insulting you, personally, purposely. When the day ends, it’s the same.

The next day you return to school is the first day you died. That person who went out their way against you like earlier is a class rep. The class representative is being very dirty towards Lila because Adrien. She tried to convince Alya and Nino there’s fault in her and offness. And when she realized that she screwed up and had no grounds to hold onto, that class rep went her way to try to expose her and raged cause it backfired. Literally proved that Marinette is desperate against Lila. So the rager once again proving her hatred isn’t because of what she does. It’s really cause she disrupts the destiny she wishes for Adrien. Lila is better than Marinette in her mind since her arrival and Marinette is being a flaw finder like she did in Volpina. Any means to find wrong with her so it’s ensured she can never be with Adrien.

And after Lila retaliated and left, Adrien reminded her of her first day after the anniversary of her humiliation (or whatever day. But it doesn’t matter due to Heroes Day is rather recent). Both of them are unfortunately reminding her of Ladybug. Ladybug tricks her into kissing seafood and mocks the muttering seafood and she gets split but Sarah and then Ladybug. So split into two and two. Just to be revived and Ladybug deciding to lecture her again and project.

Then the classed wanted to sit in their original seating so Lila is left to sit in the back. And everything works out for the rep who antagonized her. And then Marinette takes her threat as a joke.

Later in time, Marinette for some reason, decides to do the very thing Nino and Alya told her that wasn’t cool of her that she confessed of doing upon Lila. Because again, she sought for and desires to see something off with Lila (even though the reason she went away was because she ruined her first day). She also proves that she doesn’t trust Adrien as earlier in time he was warning her not to make things worse with Lila (and anyone in general. Like don’t give reason).

It’s almost like Marinette disregards the idea of Chloe ever bothering her or the classmates when Lila exists. It’s like she just wants to cause problems on purpose. And she tells Tikki, after taking Juleka’s bike, that she basically doesn’t trust Adrien or her friends while chasing after the vehicle with Lila, him and his bodyguard, Placide I.T.. Again, it’s not because of her friends. She uses friends will harmed by Lila as mask for her Adrien must remain pure and not corrupted (Even though Adrien knows what she knows already). She stopped badgering Lila because she discovered a flaw in Lila that ensured to her that Adrien could never want to be with Lila or any like her.

Wanna know the sugar on the cream? Lila being preyed on by a so called hero and one that shouldn’t be making Gabriel’s terrorist playground prosper. And yet… Ladybug finds it to make it about herself. And to ensure that a lot watchers are unable to see this because they purposely distract themselves with anything Lila does and wishes to make a big deal of what’s really moot and ignorable. And thus, hype it up higher than anyone else that’s shown doing similar, same, and or worse.

To the point they forget the history or discard of other characters and the environment. Too busy proxying Lila and isolating her as the exception above all. Honestly it’s actually the watcher for mastering the art of being a bigger fool than the protagonist actually. Unable to see what’s in their face all the time. That’s a good one actually. Brimmed and Scald over Lila doing something. Unable to see what’s other characters do that’s shown in their faces more frequently.

What’s really funny is the immense difficultly of realizing Lila is prompted reasons. Congrats to Sabrina and Marinette for strengthening her reasons further. How is a watcher gonna say Lila Rossi should let go when Marinette proves she can’t let go of Lila. In other words, it’s basically I want Lila’s end and I don’t care if Hawk Moth wins as a result. Lila once again became more important thing to target than the mastermind of genocide and victor of omnicide and ruination of Marinette and other characters having futures. And that’s why many watchers should hold hands around a virtual Marinette.

Wanna recall another obvious in the face ignored thing? Marinette made Kagami her Lila 2. Only problem was, not only she feels inferior like the former, she couldn’t find any means as an excuse to blast her. Even joined Chloe to try to humiliate Kagami. She even had to realize that she was in the wrong with Kagami. Sucks that she failed to try with Lila after the new insight with Kagami. Then episodes after Ikari Gozen, she reeled Kagami away from Adrien because Kagami’s existence around Adrien disrupted her. And so in feeling instead of the battle, she indirectly caused Miracle Queen.

Funny thing is the treatment of Lila 2 pretty much vanished at the end of Mr Pigeon 72. Kagami aligned to many of the viewers interests which unfortunately losers eat up. Then they get upset at her next season despite now knowing the truth of Marinette and Ladybug (and Marinette making things of herself again and Marinette almost realizing she should listen more or trust her friends). They call her the traitor cause whatever Pretension or Representation. Even though she and Felix ultimately benefitted Marinette’s interests and to end the Monarch reign once and for all which is kind of interesting.

Like do you understand the damage Marinette has done to her and seeing the failed past of her with Adrien as seeing them together now? Lila being right about what she said of Adrien and Marinette together are destroying her and Adrien really wrapped in Mari’s nette. Adrien speaking high appraisal of Marinette pretty much in her face, probably higher than he ever did with her. The two making her feel that Marinette knows best and is truly to be dependent upon. Similarly that’s pretty what happened with Felix. Convincing him that Marinette and Ladybug are more significant than themselves so Ladybug must end things and yet people get heartbroken that Kagami told Felix who Marinette is above all else. And may convince themselves she’s the traitor. Kagami is like the Lila that Adrien but mostly Marinette saved (if you know of Miraculous Secrets Lila lol).

But like for realsies. Kagami and Luka staying aligned with Marinette creed after knowing why of everything done upon them and their friends or others due to knowing who ladybug is, is quite a miraculous oof. Could be worse. They could really put everything together of what happened and why.

In short. Those Lilas can’t be Lila grudge holders because they viewers aren’t being badgered and harassed by people with the power to play with their lives and humiliate them and have to experience the harassers being seen as people with prestige and glory to want to be like and celebrate and have some fans of them going out their way to spread the propaganda against Lilas you refer to as being Lila holding a grudge on pieces of trash who could have trusted her friends and left her be.

This is also as embarrassing as when people say they met a Lila in real life. Or Haze Barfe saying Kagami bullied Marinette and projecting of her stupid childhood and disregarding what Marinette does to Kagami. Let’s add Juleka as well. How about Max? But it’s okay because Barfe thinks Lila being petty is wrong because it’s not relatable to her levels of petty. Oh how much of an oxymoron that stupid human is.

I will say, Barfe is truly an Master Andre Manipulator.

Or Pathological Marinette

Barfe and losers should be grateful they never met a so called real Marinette in their pitoful lives. Oops

Do tell me Glaze Barfe? Why does Recreation hurt you but Kagami personally hurt you the most? Is Kagami your real struggle in life?

[celestiall0tus]

Even if you didn't intend negative implications, they are still there and may hurt real people.

The "future vs past" motivation behind distribution of Syren's Song characters seems a bit far-fetched to me. Kagami and Sabine are supposed to be connected to their traditional cultures. Marinette and Nino (and Sabine) aren't connected to futuristic themes in any way. And lot of characters on the hero list aren't known for a connection with the past.

On the mental health thing with Bloody Bug, I am not saying mental health topics should not be explored, but when all characters of colour who have mental health issues just so happen to have them of a dangerous to others and "scary" kinds - violence and obsession - and the only white character with mental health issues, Luka, has social anxiety, which is harmless for people around and is perceived by society as an "endearing" trait, a "gentle lamb" as opposed to being seen as a "monster", it kind of doesn't look well.

The problem wouldn't stand this much if you gave any white character non-pretty issues to deal with. There's Chloe who in your story doesn't even feel much conflict between her former cruel self and her current heroic self or any relapses (bad habits die hard) but is just magically a good person now, there's Sabrina who has been traumatized by Chloe earlier and also did messed-up things that also were forgotten by everyone including herself next moment, there's Adrien who had a lot of non-pretty issues in canon that could be explored, there's Felix who even if he's better than his canon self, still isn't a sweet kid but is moved offstage by the narrative. Exploring at least one or better several of these could balance the scales.

And while you have the right to have topics you react painfully to, so do other people. And negative racial stereotypes are real and harm people. Including portraying Middle Eastern people as violent. Including portraying Asian girls as obsessive. Including applying blatantly different standards to wrongs done by people of different origin. And that IS a bothering thing. And I am being serious. I am asking you not to argue with me and defend yourself but think of the effect your stories can have. Think of people who get treated as "unstable" in Western countries due to their origins, who experienced being condemned for things while other people's faults get glossed over, and need encouragement and support from stories, not further condemnation. Please don't make it about your hurt dignity instead, or about how I'm too ignorant to understand complexity of your stories. Because it isn't about me either.

Nope. Nope. Nope! Fuck you. Fuck me. Fuck everything and everyone. You hit every button to trigger everything and now I'm retaliating. Now I'm lashing out.

First of all, Siren's Song is full fucking AU, bitch. I can write the characters how I fucking please. I don't have to stay to fucking canon if I don't fucking want to. Do you think Nathalie is a pscyopathic killer bent on suicide? Do you see Marinette suffer from severe depression after being in a car crash that took everything except her life? Do you see Adrien making a deal with a kwami to live at least one more year before he dies? No? Then why the fuck bring canon into a completely different AU that you know absolutely nothing about? Especially when there has only been two AUs of mine that pull from canon and even then, those are divergences.

Speaking of, let's cover that Bloody Bug again. Second, how fucking dare you. Social anxiety is harmless? Who the fuck do you think you are? Do you have any idea how damning that is to people? I may not suffer from it, but I have friends and family that do. I've had to watch and still watch that anxiety keep them interacting with people "normally" and see them question what is wrong with them when they hit that low point. It's not fun to watch and is damning. I don't fucking care what your society, yes your society, sees it as. Social anxiety is a massive fucking bitch. Not to mention "normal" people questioning what is wrong with them like they're a problem.

Third, I understand the harm things can cause PoC, but canon is no better. I had a friend warn me about making Nathaniel the goat like he is in canon because of the negative connection between Jewish individuals and goats. It was then that I learned that Nathaniel was Jewish and saw it on the Wiki. Fuck's sake, I wouldn't have known Alix was Arab unless I looked on the wiki and saw it. Until Bloody Bug, I thought she was just a French girl. I even had friends that were surprised to hear she's Arab-French. Furthermore, Alix is shown multiple times to be afraid of her anger and that violence that is a trigger of anger. She is seen fighting it until she hits her low when she gives into it, as is usually the case for anyone. If I was just depicting her as angry and violent with no real reason, I'd consider your words, but I'm not. There is reason to her anger and violence for the first two seasons. However, season 3, it's not there. Why? Character growth and development. Alix has gone through that big arc and can now focus on being a better person.

Four, Marinette is just as obsessive as in canon. The only difference is I am taking it seriously as a disorder that is being taken advantage of by a manipulative person, causing it to fester rather than a haha look how silly she is. You want to talk harming, lump canon in with my stuff because that's where it all comes from. This has already been implied with the reveal in the prior chapter of Bloody Bug that Mayura likely has her hooks in Marinette. As I said before, Marinette won't be able to get better until the end of season 3 when she is freed of Mayura's clutches. But that doesn't matter so long as it's displayed once, right? Who cares about the character's journey to be more than what they were, right?

Fifth, Chloe and Sabrina aren't the same as they are in canon. Chloe had her cruel moments, but wasn't as bad as she was in canon. Sabrina may have been misused from time to time by Chloe, but they were ultimately friends. Yes, the spider thing still happened, but kids are naturally cruel, so I kept that. Adrien's issues all revolved around his unrequited love for Ladybug and neglect as a hero. Take away those issues, you lose a lot of what he was. That's why here he's more of a cinnamon roll than in canon. Felix is still an ass, but he isn't actively destroyed Adrien's life like he was in earlier seasons. You'll be seeing more of him soon, but he's still an ass.

Sixth, this is close 3rd person for the second time. A lot of things are going to happen in the background because they aren't important to ADRIEN AND ALIX and their stories. I'm not going to sit there and share every little detail that happens behind the scenes like canon does. I'm following Adrien and Alix and when they learn of something, it's like first, but using third person language.

Seventh, Everyone has their own problems in Bloody Bug. However, this isn't Miraculous AU, Paradise, Absolution, Salvation, or any other of my work. I'm not going to sit here and go through all the issues that people have and their journey to recovery. I did that with Miraculous AU because it was integral to the story, but it's not for Bloody Bug. They are there to flesh out the background characters and add pieces where canon would have just left it as a one off line. The only people who really matter are Adrien and Alix. And Alix had her arc, now it's Adrien's turn.

Eighth, fuck you. You are parading around issues that are non-issues. You are bringing attention to shit that you long since missed your opportunity on. This is far from the first Alix that has been portrayed as violent and angry. There have been others and I'll share for the class and you:

Oh look! Four other Alix that are just as angry, violent, and rebellious. At least Bloody Bug Alix feared her anger. These ones embrace it and let it fuel their rebellious spirit.

Ninth, you know what? If you want to condemn Bloody Bug for my misrepresentation, why don't we touch on all my other works, shall we? I mean, I have all day, and I'm sure you do too at this rate. I am also incredibly petty little fucking bitch that long let go of parttaking in a society that long deemed them broken and wrong, so I have no issue rising to a challenge that doesn't need to be challenged. So, why don't we? How about Miraculous AU where everyone's issues are solved so much faster because of miracle powers? What about Paradise that brings in religious and cult like idealogies and mentalities? Oh, and Paradise with the white woman wanting to purge the world all to save her dying son and all manner of people flocking to her for salvation? Or the heavy ideology that the villains in Paradise are the angels and the demons that want to keep things as they are being the heroes?

Tenth, take your canon and shove it. Unless we want to go back and forth about all my works plus canon and how they misrepresent PoC or religious groups, then you can shove off.

Eleventh, and final, I will always write for the character first. I will keep in mind the background of the character and try to represent them more than canon did, however, I will also consider the story. Is it important? Does it need to be said? How far is too far? I have considered these questions, especially for my novel, where I'm still going back and forth, but ultimately am willing to risk the plunge for the character themselves. Just as I am with Bloody Bug, Siren's Song, and every single AU I've made so far. If you don't like it, disrespectfully, block me and fuck off. Anything else you say at this point will be duly ignored and deleted.

[epic-the-musical-confessions]

I see so many people criticizing Epic about "adding" an SA plot in Hold Them Down, when, arguably, the addition (if it is one) fits with the overall themes in Greek myths and the original Homeric poem, given that SA is likely how they would have convinced Penelope to choose one of them (after killing Telemachus, because of rules of retaliation/vengeance at the time).

What doesn't fit (and should have more outrage) is Thunder Bringer - which is the largest change, given that Zeus was barely ever in the Odyssey, barely (if at all) ever spoke to Odysseus, and the song doesn't fit with the original Homeric poem - it doesn't even fit in with Jorge's adaptation of the story!

For the record, I enjoy both of these songs, but I also feel like Hold Them Down fit with the original Odyssey and other Greek Myths better than Thunder Bringer (and the musical itself probably should have just been a different story inspired by the Odyssey)

.

[nellie-elizabeth]

Epic: The Musical (Full Speed Ahead) [3]

I had WAY more to say about this one than I was expecting!

Okay, so, Epic is very much a "no skips" concept album for me in that there are no songs I want to skip over when I'm listening through to a full saga or a whole chunk of the album in order. But, inevitably, there are the songs that I find myself reaching for to listen to in isolation, and the songs that I really only want to hear in their context. Like, let's take Hamilton as an example: I never find myself going "you know what song I'm really craving right now? 'Aaron Burr, Sir.'" But if I'm listening to the opening of the musical and then it goes into track 2, I'm not reaching for the skip button either. I like it as a connecting piece, I like it in its larger context. That's how I feel about "Full Speed Ahead." I don't ever find myself reaching for this song in isolation, but it's very much a part of the fabric of the early show that I wouldn't want to do without!

Honestly, that's the big thing I want to say about this song: it is ESSENTIAL to the fabric of the entire musical; it is setting up such a large list of elements that recur as we continue on; it's foreshadowing stuff and establishing character in a big way. The first two songs of the musical almost feel, in a way, like a prologue because they're back in Troy at the end of the war. This is the first song where we're off on the journey home proper, which gives it a very crucial place in building the musical and story themes that we're going to be hanging out with for the next 37 songs!

Right off the bat, obviously "Six hundred men / six hundred men under my command" is going to be coming up throughout the musical in the most devastating way; I'm thinking of Poseidon's "forty-three left under your command" (Ruthlessness) and "five hundred fifty-eight men who died under your command" (Underworld). But my favorite echo of this is probably the direct reprise of this opening at the start of "Dangerous" when Odysseus sings "Six hundred men / Six hundred deaths under my command / 'Cause I had one goal in mind" and then the music just cuts entirely for the absence of the soldier's response that happens here in "Full Speed Ahead" -- "Make it back alive to our homeland". Because not one of them did! They're not there! It's very sad to have Ody return back to this melody as a bookend to his journey only now he has nobody backing him up. It's also what makes it so cool during "Six Hundred Strike" when the chanting of "600 men" repeats over and over again during that power-up moment where Ody's retaliating against Poseidon. He was alone, but now he has them with him, at least in that pivotal moment.

And then of course the line "full speed ahead" itself gets repeated a lot; this is one of the more utilitarian leitmotifs in the show, and by that I mean that I don't think there's a ton of hidden meaning here, it's not necessarily nuanced, it's simply the sound we hear that means "the men are in the boats and they're traveling with intention towards something or away from something." So we hear it in "Underworld" and "Scylla" and we hear it with Ody screaming "faster!" at the end of "Mutiny."

One that I was embarrassed to miss until I'd listened to the songs a lot was that Telemachus reprises the melody of "Ithaca's waiting / my kingdom is waiting / Penelope's waiting for me" during "Legendary" when he sings "I'm stuck with your stories / But no clue who you are" etc. I think this is such a cool detail because Telemachus borrowing music elements from his absent father reinforces this idea that even though they haven't gotten to spend these twenty years together, they are connected. Odysseus sets up a jaunty little melody here at the start of the show when he's still a relatively positive person, and then Telemachus all the way in song 26 is unknowingly demonstrating a real connection with the father he's never known, even though he's singing the words "no clue who you are." Some part of him does know!

We also establish the leitmotifs for "Eurylochus" and "Polites", names that are always sung in the same way, like "Penelope" and "Telemachus". I find it so telling that Eurylochus's name theme is established by the soldiers and Ody together, and Polites's name theme is established by Odysseus alone. It immediately, and subtly establishes this stronger connection between Ody and Polites, and also establishes that Eurylochus has the backing of the crew from the beginning, in a foreshadowing sort of way.

To get into that a little deeper, we know that characters in Epic have signature instruments - Eurylochus's signature instrument is actually the crew's vocals. They're down in an lower register than most of what Odysseus sings, and they spend time in this song echoing Odysseus's words and Eurylochus's. Ody is their captain and they depend on them, but they're also already following Eurylochus. Eurylochus is the one who introduces the "We're up, we're off, and away we go" bit, and the crew follows his lead in singing that, which I think shows that he a) represents the perspective and feelings of the crew at large and that b) he has influence over the crew. As a contrast, Polites's voice is up high with Odysseus's, which perhaps shows an affinity between the two of them that's out of step with the rest of the crew. I feel like just from the way Odysseus speaks to the two men you get the sense of a greater personal intimacy with Polites, and more of a structured leader / second-in-command relationship with Eurylochus.

Also just literally in the story, we're setting up the beginnings of the tension between Ody and Eruylochus. This song is his first entrance into the musical and the first thing he does is to bring up a problem (we've run out of supplies to eat), depend on Odysseus to have a solution (captain, what's the plan?), suggest a course of action (I say we strike first), get contradicted by Ody (No / Polites gear up), and then try and push back against Ody (We don't know what's ahead). It puts Odysseus in the position of requesting Eurylochus's trust, when he says "Give me 'til sunrise". He's almost waiting for Eurylochus to give him the permission to go with his own plan, which is fascinating to me. Eurylochus having this instinct to be more ruthless from the first moment of his character's introduction is VERY pivotal to my understanding of the themes of this show, and I'm excited to track it further.

I want to keep looking at the call and response moments in the show; here we have Odysseus setting up themes that are repeated & echoed by his crew. They fill in the gaps in the first verse, then they copy him on "Ithaca's waiting (Ithaca's waiting) / "My kingdom is waiting (the kingdom is waiting)". But then the second verse they do the same thing for Eurylochus, filling in the gaps and then copying him on "Captain, what's the plan?" etc. And then back to copying Odysseus on "watch where the birds fly" etc. It's almost like the crew's loyalty is to both men, and that might cause issues as we continue on... And then Eurylochus starts the "we're up, we're off" part, as I mentioned - the crew echoes him, and then later Odysseus picks up that theme and sings it second. This is another early example of Odysseus mirroring someone as part of a persuasion/manipulation technique, I think, he picks up what Eurylochus is putting down, even though he's just gone against what Eurylochus wanted in this moment.

I've spent so much time just talking about the thematic stuff but I also just want to say that the song is a genuine bop in a lot of ways, I love the clear and bright hopefulness of the verses, especially Jorge's vocals on "Penelope's waiting for me," he just sounds so confident and excited and it's heartbreaking when you know how this is going to go for him.... this is also a rare instance where we hear the word "waiting" but it's not being sung on the "waiting" theme that we'll get later on. The desolation of that long wait hasn't really sunk in for our characters yet. They think they're weeks away from being back home!

Also all the high notes on "full speed ahead" over the final bit... the harmony with the crew... it's very vocally tasty to listen to.

The very last thing we hear in the track is the sound of the waves, which is only appropriate, but also feels sinister since the ocean itself is going to be come one of the show's primary adversaries! Speaking of sinister, it's kind of hard to hear but I do think there's a danger motif happening under "something feels off here" and that whole section where they're discussing strategy and the percussion has cut out...

Anyway. For a song I don't think of as being one of the particularly memorable ones, it's insane how much establishing is happening here! I feel like it sets up so much of what's to come, and it makes it a better song in retrospect because of what a crucial piece of the puzzle it is.