#also allys hair??? and the entire fucking look ugh

[nightyoorb]

emo murph has unlocked something in me

[zutraeumen]

The First Course

Adele stared at the small plate before her while the others dug in, she expected a serving of salad, and not this... this, what was that again? Something with cucumber?

Ah well, she wasn't supposed to be here for the food anyways but a small bite did seem tantalizing. It wasn't every day that you'd end up at a super-exclusive island restaurant where one evening cost about as much as a Rolex.

The sheer ridiculousness of the price!

Grabbing a fork, she carefully picked at her food, the heavy curtain of her raven hair falling in around her head, perhaps Madam Elsa would stop pinning her with icy stares for once in a while and focus on the other guests. If her hearing didn't fail her with old age, then somebody was snapping photos.

Bet you a hundred bucks it was Tyler.

Guess what, she was on point, and oh, the withering gaze Madam Elsa silently sent his way was delicious as it deserved to be. That kid should really have some basic understanding of respect for a chef's work.

The Sommelier was also someone she needed to be on the lookout for, constantly prowling behind the guests' backs to refill their wine, his smile was as fake as the candy man from her hometown neighbourhood. 

Nevertheless, she averted her attention from those two and tuned in to the conversations going on around her. 

The food critic Lillian Bloom and her editor Ted were already busy nitpicking every goddamn thing without having gotten through the very first thing on the plate! It was a different kind of torture hearing him agree to her every opinion, stupid pick-me boy. 

The movie star George and his assistant Felicity were going through a divorce here of all places, nice of them to discuss it so openly. 

The finance bros were the worst though, talking about their relationships outside of work and how they failed because they couldn't just give a flying fuck about anything else than making money. They even made a toast on it!

The Liebrandt couple was pleasantly quiet in comparison, but she guessed Tyler made up for that. Speaking of him, he seemed to be going through some spiritual journey from tasting alone.

The fiery redhead, bless that woman, seemed to be the only one not swallowing all that bullshit. If things went sour, she would be Adele's first choice of ally. The Chef seemed to also have a merit of interest for her, so she could use that to her advantage.   

Ugh, somebody shoot her out of this place.

A clap made her jerk in her seat, sounding thunderous against the soft chatter of the room that immediately got everyone's attention. Adele turned slowly to witness what was about to happen.

"Good evening." 

The Chef greeted them with a tight upturn of lips, swerving his gaze at his customers with unexpressive eyes.

"Welcome to Hawthorne. I am Julian Slowik and tonight will be our pleasure to feed you."

The diners applauded. Adele scrunched her face and played along. Lillian and Ted exchanged proud, possessive looks. 

His voice was rich and his ramrod-straight posture commanding, demanding absolute silence from the audience that were his customers, "For the next few hours you will ingest fat, salt, sugar, protein, bacteria, fungi, various plants and animals and at times entire ecosystems but... I have to beg of you one thing, it's just one... do not eat."

"Is he serious?" 

Adele scowled at George for interrupting, but the chef merely continued with a pointed raise of his brow that silenced the actor promptly. 

Smoothly, her eyes glided over to her client who held quite the unusual expression of reserved surprise on her face as if it was the first time the Chef had given such a... encapsulating speech. Her husband was very much the same, cross-armed with one good eye suspiciously narrowed at the Chef.

Something was different this time, if the regulars were raising eyebrows, or maybe she was just reading too much into it. 

"Taste. Savour. Relish. Consider every morsel that you place inside your mouth. Be mindful, but do not eat. Our menu is too precious for that. And look around you, here we are, on this island. Accept... accept all of it and... forgive... and on that note: FOOD!"

With a large smile that the assassin was supposed to be friendly enough to fool most, the Chef took a step back to allow his sous-chefs to march onwards in perfect formation, once again in pairs. This was either very well choreographed or...

Adele used the commotion to observe the Chef in the meantime as he assumed a neutral position. The customers were excited but Adele remained very much on edge. It would be impertinent not to forget that there had been an attempt at her life just about, let's check the watch, roughly two hours ago. 

The man in question was about the same height as Adele, mind you for a woman, the assassin was among the very few unconventionally tall, standing at around 5'10". He oozed the confidence and authority of a chef who would not be questioned in his own kitchen regardless of the person who asked, and possessed a gathering of incredibly loyal people. Not much could be read from his visage alone, even though his way of speaking was full of small gesticulations, but from experience, Adele knew there was something dark underneath his eloquent words and polite smiles.

A wolf that entertained the sheep before the slaughter. 

Humans were known for having a sixth sense when it came to being stared at, and it was proven to Adele when he suddenly, for the first time, locked eyes with her and the question of her killer was answered - it was him; he wanted her dead by nightfall.

"Our first course is called 'The Island'. On your plate are plants around the island placed on rocks from the shore, covered in barely frozen filtered seawater, which will flavour the dish as it melts."

Her plate arrived just in time for her to have a reason to look away in a gorgeous, slow-motion CU product shot. Perfectly curated bits of flora and jewels of scallop meat rest artfully atop a smooth, icy rock.

Adele was as thankful as a beggar until she realized there were more rocks on that plate than edible food.

Ah, the unnecessary intricacies of fine dining: ridiculous preparations with ridiculous intellectual speeches times evil chef equalled no food.

Well, the math was clear, there would be no proper food for her at this esteemed establishment. At least none that would be enough to satisfy her hunger. And she was a relatively unfussy eater. You could throw basically anything down her throat if it wasn't anything too spicy, or had olives, or mushrooms...

Tyler in the meantime, held his phone just so and snapped a shot of his plate. Elsa clocked it. Simmering with rage. Someone get the lady butler a shot of vodka before she gutted that inconsiderate boy.

O-oh, the food critic put on some glasses, did she think it would make all the bullshit from her mouth sound more reasonable? George was spectacularly failing at grasping the basic vocabulary to describe taste and she couldn't begrudge Felicity for deciding to leave him, how did this man become a movie star was simply beyond her. It must be quite frustrating to work with such an unoriginal person.

The finance bros were so openly discussing how they showed no real interest in Slowik's food that Adele could see a small vein pop out on Madam Elsa's forehead if one looked closer, knowing that she was also listening to these kids disrespecting their Chef at his own restaurant, eating his own food - unbelievable.

The Liebrandts were discussing something but she couldn't properly hear it because she sat at the opposite side of the room, though it seemed to hardly matter as they didn't meet the eyes of the other, talk about a lovely evening. 

Tyler was blissfully silent but it did help her put things into perspective. 

Each of these guests was not here to eat the food exclusively prepared for them, but for the sole purpose of furthering their own agendas. 

Lillian and Ted were here to suck the pleasure out of cooking by using it to advance their careers. Hunting for the next scoop by inventing new words, finding minor faults and reading into everything the Chef did. 

George and Felicity used this experience to help the movie star transition to a new phase in his career as a TV presenter of a washed-up cooking show.

The finance trio were there simply for the prestige of having been there as if it would bring them extra points to their status. Embezzling money into their own pockets instead of supporting Slowik and his staff - the ones who were actually producing value.

The Liebrandts were here because they could, not eat the food. Probably to maintain their status as elites.

And Tyler, well, he might just be the Chef's biggest fanboy in the whole world. And not the healthy kind. It bordered on fanatical obsession. Using Slowik's fame to uphold his identity as a man of wealth and taste who supposedly knew everything about fine dining.

Man, to be honest, the food sucked up until now... but the customers sucked as well.

And with the Chef looking at Margot's untouched plate the Chef strode to the back of the kitchen, "I want plating in five!"

Nobody expected the collective 'Yes, Chef!' from the staff as they prepared the next course.

[coll2mitts]

#28 Hairspray (2007)

Welcome to Hairspray, where a well-intentioned, woke, white teenage girl singlehandedly ends segregation in 1960s Baltimore.

Y’know, after watching Cry-Baby, I wasn’t super keen on revisiting Hairspray, but I figured it deserved a fair shot.  I hadn’t seen the original since I was in high school, so I booted up HBO Max and settled in for a long night of old-timey dance moves and racial inequality.  Guys... the 1988 version of Hairspray is flippin’ great.

The cast is just to die for.  Ricki Lake, who I only knew as a talk show host in my childhood, is a great Tracy Turnblad.  My favorite devious sea witch Divine is her mother, and Jerry Stiller is her father.  Goddamn Debbie Harry and Sunny Bono are her rival’s parents, and Amber Von Tussle is motherfucking Colleen Fitzpatrick.  As someone who has a vested interest in all famous Colleens, I was stoked to see that Hairspray was Vitamin C’s first acting gig.

FUN FACT: According to Wikipedia (which is never wrong), Graduation (Friends Forever) charts on iTunes at the end of every school year.  Colleen is also the VP of music at Nickelodeon, so she’s doing just fine.

Anyway, the original Hairspray is campy, edgy and hilarious.  If I were Miss Soft Crab 1945, I too would bring it up every chance I got.  The story really boils down to two horny teenage girls trying to claw their way to the top, but the charm of Tracy is she’s trying to pull everyone else up with her.  The way they handle segregation and racial inequality is over-the-top ridiculous, but somehow more realistic than its updated counterpart (put a pin in this).  I mean, a racist white woman shoved a bomb in her hair to own the libs and it gloriously explodes on her head.  I haven’t seen the musical adaptation of Hairspray, so my opinions of how true it is to its source material won’t be explored here, but the 2007 movie adaptation, to me, left a lot to be desired.

Hairspray might be the most popular in a recent trend of non-musical movies being adapted for Broadway.  I remember back in the 90s when Beauty and the Beast hit the stage - it was so successful Disney now has the movie-to-Broadway pipeline on speed dial.  But now we’re getting a shitload of movies with no musical elements being fast tracked to Broadway, like Kinky Boots, Bend it Like Beckham, Mean Girls, Beetlejuice, Heathers, Waitress, Legally Blonde, fucking Groundhog Day with music written by Tim Minchin, just, so goddamn many of them.  I love musicals, but to say I didn’t want to see The Heathers threaten Veronica in 3-part harmony would be an understatement, so I’m immediately skeptical to the quality of this content and hesitant to consume it.  Unfortunately for me, Hairspray is one of the few who had their *corny* musical adaptation also committed to film, and it is a neutered, earnest, high school choir translation of the original and it made my teeth hurt.

The two positives I’ll give the remake are the sets/costumes are great, and the cast serve their roles well, although I will never be OK with someone wearing a fat suit as a costume.  The songs are... fine.  Again, this era of music is not my favorite, so I’m never going to get excited over “It Takes Two” or “I Can Hear the Bells”.  It’s just the tone is so different from the original, and by the end of the movie I was exhausted and very glad it was over.  Writing about it now has required several breaks and side-tangents and I can’t even get to the fucking synopsis of the movie... ugh let’s just do this.

Tracy Turnblad is a “pleasantly plump” teenage girl living in 1960s Baltimore whose sunny disposition makes her oblivious to the reality of murky situation she is living in.  We’re quickly introduced to her obsession, “The Corny Collins Show”, which features a number of far-out teens that love to dance, including multi-year winner of Miss Teenage Hairspray and miss Pitch Perfect herself Amber Von Tussel.  Her mother, Velma, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, is the station manager at WYZT, and uses her power to keep Amber featured front and center.  

After a girl on the show gets knocked up, an audition is held to replace her.  While Tracy’s mother Edna, regrettably played by John Travolta in a fat suit, is afraid that Tracy’s weight will prevent her from landing the gig, her father, puzzlingly played by like a 60-something Christopher Walken, is generally supportive.  True to Edna’s feeling, Tracy is fat shamed by Amber and Velma and doesn’t make the cut.

After getting detention for skipping class for an audition that didn’t pan out, Tracy makes friends with a bunch of black students who are all excellent dancers.  Turns out her new friend Seaweed is the son of Motormouth Maybelle, the sometimes-host of "The Corny Collins Show”, played by Queen Latifah.  Velma, in addition to being a massive bitch, also segregates the station’s black talent from the main show, only to be featured one night a month on “Negro Day”.  While Tracy is boogying down, Link, Amber’s boyfriend and one of the stars of TCCS, peeps at her ass and tells her if she shook her rump in front of Corny at the Hop, he’d have no choice but to put her on the show.

In the original movie, Tracy Turnblad fucks.  She moves in on Link and devours him whole, with no mind given to her size.  She is a kind of bratty, confident young teenager that isn’t afraid to reach out and grab what she wants.  Tracy in the 2007 version is the most innocent cinnamon roll that has ever been baked.  Link gives her one compliment and she drifts into fantasies of marrying him.  Part of me is annoyed by this, but the other part of me appreciates misguided optimism played as humor.

At the Corny Collins hop, Tracy steals borrows Seaweed’s dance move and lands a place on TCCS council.  After declaring she wants every day to be Negro Day, the head of the station declares he wants that “chubby communist girl” off the show.  Corny, played by a dreamy James Marsden, sticks his neck out for Tracy and furthermore, says the show should be integrated.  As Tracy’s popularity skyrockets, the station shows more leeway to her size and her look, but to maintain some semblance of control, Velma works to completely edge out Negro Day.

Meanwhile, Link is clued into how fun it is in detention, and him, Tracy, and Penny all dance their way to Motormouth Maybelle’s record store for a potluck.  When Seaweed introduces his new white friends to his mother, Penny delivers my favorite line of the whole movie, “I’m very pleased and scared to be here.”  Amber rats out Tracy’s activities to her mother, and Edna arrives to Motormouth’s with the intention of dragging Tracy home until she realizes that black people are OK because they eat brisket.

After Edna shoves a bunch of food in her face, the gang finds out that Negro Day on “The Corny Collins Show” has been cancelled.  Tracy has the great idea to protest the television station, and all the black people are like, “Why didn’t we think of that?”  Link decides to bow out of the march because there’ll be talent agents at the Miss Hairspray Pageant, and he doesn’t want to give up his big shot at fame and glory to fight for a entire race of people’s basic rights.

The next day, Tracy and her mom are the only white people in a sea of black people to march to the station.  Queen Latifah sings a very earnest song about the resilience of her community, because this is the Serious Portion TM of the musical.  Tracy assaults a police officer without giving any mind to what it would do for all the black people she’s marching with, and runs away to let them handle the consequences.  The movie doesn’t show any police brutality because Reasons, and a bunch of protestors are arrested and immediately bailed out by Tracy’s Dad.  Tracy eventually ends up back at Motormouth Maybelle’s record shop so she can hide there without considering how dangerous it would be for Motormouth to harbor a fugitive of the law.  

The next day is the Miss Teen Hairspray competition broadcast at WYZT, and with Tracy being wanted by the police, they have to sneak her into the station.  She bum-rushes the set to sing a song with a now-enlightened Link about not stopping progress, while also inviting Motormouth Maybelle’s daughter, Little Inez, on stage to dance.  Everybody calls-in to vote for her because the only racist people in Baltimore run the television station, and Little Inez is crowned Miss Teen Hairspray.  Amber is like fine with it even though her mom isn’t, and everyone dances and sings to celebrate that “The Corny Collins” show is now integrated!  Meanwhile, I’m left wondering why Amanda Bynes was forced to wear a dress that she can’t move her legs in, even though they knew she would participate in the show’s closing dance number.  The end.

Oh, and there’s also a whole B plot where Velma tries to fuck Tracy’s dad and Tracy’s mom finds out and gets upset for like 30 seconds.  This is immediately resolved by a song and dance number among a bunch of laundry.

This movie is fine and competent or whatever, but for some reason it just rubs me the entirely wrong way.  Tracy constantly says that the 1960s are changing for people who are different, implying that an overweight white teen also knows what it’s like to be discriminated against in the same way black people are.  The movie does roll its eyes at some of her most tone-deaf “I’m an overenthusiastic ally” moments, like “I wish every day was Negro Day!” and “This is afro-tastic!”, but it also goes out of its way to talk about how much Tracy has helped the black community.  Like, by doing what?  Being fat and on TV?  That being said, she does use her privilege to feature black dancers on a major television broadcast, so by the end of the movie she becomes the person everyone says she is.  Also, I’m a dumb, overweight, white, middle-aged woman, so I’m not the right person to get all indignant about a well-intentioned feel-good Broadway musical.

Final thoughts: If you love bright colors, cheese, and sincere, glossy reflections of the 1960s civil rights movement written by a bunch of white dudes, this movie is for you.

[maximum118]

Sitcom

Me- I decided to post in school

Heisu- WOMAN WHY.

Me- Heisu. Hush

Zen- leans in* Sooo I found a locked door...

Me- snaps head to her* did you open it?

Zen- Maybe...*Glances to the destruction behind her* 

Me- YOU DID!? WHY?!

Zen- It said “Do open!”

Me- IT SAID “DO /N O T/ OPEN!!!” 

Zen- Oh...heheh...whoops...

Me- GET HER BACK IN THE ROOM DAMMIT!!

Zen- But she-

Me- ZEN!!!

Zen- OK DAMN!! 

Episode 2- New Beginnings pt. 2

Episode 1 / Episode 2 (You here) / Chapter 4

           2 hours had passed when Kouten left the nest of the emochickens. He was just jumping on the rooftops trying to find minor heroes to rid of in the new area. If his younger set of twin siblings don't get in the way, that is. 

           Kouten looks behind him where Zen, also known as Retribution, was following him. He sighs. "Retribution. Why are you here?" he asks. Retribution pouts. "Can't a sister who is worried for elder brother follow him around?" she asks. 

           "No, she cannot because she might kill someone who isn't a hero and then land both of them in jail." He says lightly, pushing her away. 

           Archangel lands next to Retribution. "Then maybe the elder brother should not be a villain." He says—retribution snickers. Kouten pulls out a water bottle and aims it at Retribution. "Don't make me use this." He says. 

           Retribution hisses and hides behind Archangel. Kouten facepalms and smells a faint odor of a dead body. 

           "What the…" mumbles Kouten as he peeks over the building. He notices a dead body, "Uh. Archangel, You're a vigilante, right…?".

           Archangel arches his eyebrow and checks, almost retching, "OH, THAT'S DISGUSTING." He shouts. Retribution leans over. "Ooo, dead body. Let's burn it!" says Retribution taking some fire from her wings. 

           "Retribution, Kou no." 

           "Retribution, Kou yes." 

           "No."

           "Yes."

           "No. Can we not do this, you two?" asks Archangel as he looks at his twin and elder brother. 

           "But cremation…." Says Retribution as she puts her wings out. 

           "Actually, I'm in with cremation. I gotta satisfy my bloodlust." Says Kouten, Archangel facepalms. Peaking through the gaps in his fingers, Archangel recognized something in the dark. A light, moving towards the body. 

           The trio quietly looks from above. A black hooded person with a lantern tail stood over the body. 

           "Are they a hero?" whispers Zen to her brothers. Kouten looks at Archangel.

           "Not all heroes know vigilantes Kouten." Whispers Archangel. 

           Kouten shifts his gaze over to the person. The person kneels and opens the lantern top. Allowing something to light up the inside of the lantern. After the person closed the top, Kouten jumps down to the person. 

           The person turns to Kouten, briefly showing ginger hair and a mask. Kouten walks up to them. "Listen, Hero. I'll give you 5 seconds to run before scorch ya." He says. 

           The person tilts their head, gazing at Kouten. "Hero…? I am not a hero…" he says softly. 

           "Wait…you aren't a hero? Then are you a villain? If that's the case, Scat!" 

           "I am neither a villain. I am my own thing. I will not leave just so another can kill more."

           Kouten stares dumbfounded at the person. "So you are a hero?" he asks. 

           "…I am a person with morals and a person who senses you've been through something…years ago…" 

           "What..?? No, I haven't!" 

           The person walks closer to him, pointing to the scar on Kouten's cheek. 

           "that wound isn't from birth. Something truly happened to you."

           Kouten doesn't say anything as he looks down. From what he can see, the person was up to Kouten's chest. Kouten also noticed ginger hair with dyed black ends.

           "I also sense…you did have a heart of a hero once…" 

           Kouten stumbles back. "What are you…" he says, looking at them.

           "I am a human with a lantern tail and some skills." The person answers. 

           "…You don't sound human… you're reading my past like… it's nothing…" 

           The person giggles as they did some parkour-up metal balconies. Landing on the opposite building of where Retribution and Archangel were. The person stares down at Kouten. "Oh, I suggest leaving before the police come, villain." They say as they run on the rooftops away. 

           Kouten hears sirens and quickly gets up to his siblings. He looks to Archangel. "Better act that you came here." He says as he and Retribution leave the scene.

           Retribution looks at Kouten "what were you and the person talking about?" She asks. 

           "…they were able to read my past. Also, know I was a hero once." He answers, looking away.

           "Are we going to run into them more often?" 

           "For all of us? Rarely. For just me? Probably…" 

           "What do you mean?"

           "They seemed interested in me when they warned me to leave quickly before the police get there." 

           "So they might be following you after tonight?" 

           "Possibly. No one else told any villains before to leave the scene. They did. Either they're interested in me, they don't have a side, or they have a villainous family." 

           "Speaking of sides…did you find out if they're an ally? Or an enemy?"

           "They answered that they're a person of morals."

           Retribution stops flying and lands. "So…hero?" she asks.

           Kouten stops running and shakes his head. "Some villains have morals too. I think they're…neutral…" he answers. 

           "I'll trust your choice. For now, I found some minor heroes." Says Retribution smirking, Kouten smirks with her 

"about. Fuckin. Time."

           ~Next morning ~

           Kouten, Zen, and Hato came home at 3 am and passed the fuck out. That is until...

           Haruki bursts into Kouten's room at 6:30 am. "WAKKKKEEE UPPPP BREAKFAST TIME BROTHA!" he shouts, jumping on Kouten. 

           "OWWWW!!!!" Shouts kouten, looking at his adorable brother. 

           "Haruki! Go wake up, Sai!" says Kouten. Haruki Innocently smiles. 

           "but Sai told me to wake up you, Z, and Hato!" 

           ". . .SAIIII! SCREW YOU!" 

           Sai walks past Kouten's room door. "Told you not to stay up too late." He says, entering Hato's room. 

           "hato. Wake up. Hei can't wake Zen up." He says, shaking Hato. 

           Hato groans and grabs his phone, and plays an American song called "Worth it" by Fifth harmony. 

           Sai raises an eyebrow in confusion and then hears shouting from Zen's room-

           "GIVE IT TO MEH I'M WORTH IT. BABY, I'M WORTH IT! UH-HUH, I'M WORTH IT. GIMMIE, GIMMIE I'M WORTH IT!" 

           Sai blinks at the shouting then looks to Hato, who is currently half asleep. 

           "How in the world-"

           "Don't question it." Says Hato going into his mini-fridge. Pulling out two pinkie mice and placing them in his snake's tank. 

           "You just have frozen mice in your mini-fridge?" 

           "The snake gotta eat something, or it's eating Z. Toasted chicken." 

           Zen leans in "wait. You would feed me to your snake?" she asks.

           "If I run out of mice, yes. Either you, Kou or Satori. Peace and quiet then." 

           Zen gasps, "DAMN YOU! YOU TRAITOR!" She shouts. Hato gives her a look. 

           "you said yourself when you had scorpions, if you didn't have any food, you'll poison one of us. Guess who then squashed them..his name starts with a D." 

           Zen looks down "hey, Kouten, and you shouldn't have snitched!" She says. Sai looks at Zen. 

           "YOU HAD PET SCORPIONS!?" he shouts. Zen looks at him.

           "Currently, I have two female long-tailed chinchillas, both babies. One's name is Lechuza. She is more mischievous. The other, Adelita, is quieter and shyer." 

           Hato gets an idea and smirks. "Chinchillas?" he asks. Zen panics and runs to her room screaming, "DON'T TOUCH MY BABIES!!"

           Back with Kouten, who grabbing food for Haruki and gets ready for his day. Brushing his untamed hair, he looks out the bathroom where Sai is dragging Hato and somehow Zen to the kitchen. 

           "Hey, did the moving truck bring my bike here yet?" Asks Kouten. Sai looks over to Kouten. "Should be in the garage. You got to get going?" asks Sai. 

           Kouten shows a message from his modeling agency "Yup. A new designer wants me to model. I won't be in the office today anyways." Explains Kouten. Sai nods, gently pushing the 23 yr old twin set in the kitchen.

           "Alright, be safe. No killing either. Remember L is lobby! G is garage!" Says Sai as he gives Kouten a look. Going to Riku's and Satori's room to wake them up.

           Kouten rolls his eyes and grabs his keys and helmet. "See ya, Kou!" says Haruki as Kouten smiles leaving the penthouse to the elevator, pressing G to head to the garage. After stopping a few floors where people enter the elevator recognizing him from his TV appearances and modeling. Some asking for autographs, others pictures, and some with questions like "Are you with someone?", "How is your life with the former number 2 hero, Hawks?" or something else entirely strange. 

           Kouten looks around. When his eyes land on a red and black bike. 

           "Ah, hello, baby. Good to see you have no scratches." He says, wiping it down. "No dust either…" he mumbles. Getting on the bike placing his helmet on, he gets moving.

           ~Later at a cafe~ 

           Kouten removes his helmet and begins fixing his hair. "Ugh…stupid dad genes." Mumbles Kouten.

           He enters the cozy café in front of him. He was in the center of the city, a lively place where many shops were around. Upon entering, he got a text from his manager saying he's running late. Kouten sighs and thinks about getting a coffee.

           Looking at the menu, he waits in line. Once it was his turn, he ordered a coffee and waited at the end of the counter. After waiting a few minutes, the barista seeming bored and pushed two drinks, not even saying the names. 

           Kouten rolls his eyes fine bitch, so I won't fight you mainly for plot convince thinks Kouten and goes to grab one when he touched another's. Startled, he quickly retracted his hand and looks at the person next to him.

           "I am sorry-"Kouten cuts himself off. Staring at what he believes is male. The man had semi-tanned skin and lavender eyes. Along with that, he had a yellow crescent moon shape with two navy stars shapes near the moon on his left cheek. What Kouten noticed was the ginger hair with black dyed ends. Then the lantern tail, Remembering from the person last night.

           Kouten was breathless. He looks away, grabbing the other drink. A faint blush on his cheeks. "Sorry…I didn't know you also ordered coffee." Says Kouten. 

           "I didn't…I ordered hot tea…" says the male. Kouten looks at the cup he's currently holding and noticing the characters "Ei" (Crystal) and "ta" (gentle can be mean big/blessed. I prefer Gentle/blessed) and the characters spelling out Inoue. Kouten becomes embarrassed "here. This is yours then." He says, handing the cup to the male, Inoue Eita.

           Eita blushes and takes the cup. He then pushes the 1st  cup to Kouten. Quickly leaving to meet a black-haired purple-eyed male. Kouten watches as the two walk-offs from the café. After the duo wasn't in view, Kouten sits down and thinks I should've invited him to chat with me. He thinks. 

           Meanwhile, with Eita, the male next to Eita, smiling, looks to him. "So you met a celebrity?" he asks.

           "He was a celebrity?" Asks Eita glancing at the man.

           The male sweatdrops, "You, sir, are going to get killed one day." He says.

           "I'm surprised you haven't tried to kill me, Hotaru..." 

           The male, Hotaru, smiles more "It's Hiroshi in the daytime. Plus, you're useful to me. I got to have a proper fortune to see if I can get away with murder."  

           Eita looks down and looks to his tail, glowing faintly …Did he not see who I am? Or did he notice and not say? A chuckle escapes his throat Todoroki Kouten…you…interest me…He thinks. He looks to Hotaru as he chats up random people. Potential victims to kill, more lives needlessly killed.

           Eita thinks about 3 months ahead of now, a circus with some old friends is coming to the city. Eita looks at the sky. It'll be nice to see them again…Thinks Eita with a smile.

           Back with Kouten, he continues to wait for his manager. As another bright day is full of unexpected things begins in this world of new beginnings. 

           The barista, leaving for the day with her friend. The friend looks at her. "You are literally planning soft angst?" They say.

           The barista snickers, "I might. Truthfully the readers get a slow burn romance/slice of life for this." 

           "So maybe. You are evil." 

           "Am not. I just wanna play around with a crack head family and hopefully play with people's emotions expecting two of the main characters to kiss."

           "Fucker." 

           "oh, hush. The main couple wouldn't have met if I didn't help." 

           "Damn. Your right. Also, fuck you. Go update RTS and SFU." 

           "I WILL. Damn! When I feel like it."

"MAXI!" 

"OH, FINE I 

WILL DAMMIT."

Saisho/Sai belongs to  @ulti-mal

Kouten belongs to @hairuko

Hato belongs to @juniperarts

Satori belongs to @fioresacros

Haruki belongs to @/_falyy on twitter

Riku & Hotaru to @diizaren

[roronoa-swords]

Cop and Thief

Smoker x Portgas D. Ace

Fandom: One Piece

Genre: Smut with a lil angst

Timeline: Modern AU!

Pairing: Smoker x Ace

Request: For Op-Law from wattpad. You can also find this story there under the name Da3Stuges. I share an account with two other amazing authors💚

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

"This is the second time Portgas. When are you going to learn that doing arson is illegal?" A white haired male snarled with an irritated look on his face.

"C'mon Smokey, when are you gonna lighten up a bit? It's the 21st century, stop being so...old." The man named 'Portgas' said as he laid his head on the table.

Smoker let out a deep sigh before he uncuffed the man. "Just-...." The older man breathed. "Just get outta my sight Portgas. If I see you in here again, you're gonna regret it."

"Oh I'm soooo scared!" He mocks. "See you later old man!" The ravenette said as he ran out of the police station. Smoker's assistant, Tashigi only stood in pure, agitated disbelief.

"Why do you keep letting him go Sergeant Smoker? He's only gonna cause more trouble, not only for you, but for the entire GPD! We have to go get him!" The navy haired woman with red glasses perched on top of her head complained.

Smoker sighed. He was asked -and told- the same thing every single time. Smoker waved her off.

"Stand down Tashigi. Portgas acts like any other old reckless youngster, there is no need to get rash." Sergeant Smoker seriously needed a break. He already gained a headache trying to apprehend Portgas. He didn't need this extra addition. But, it seems Tashigi didn't get the memo.

"But sir! Portgas D. Ace is the eldest of the infamous ASL brothers! Those three terrorize any store they find! And just for food?!?! He's also allies with Whitebeard and Roger! He needs to be apprehended immediately before his entire posse raid this whole town!" The woman screeched as she tried to get her point across.

"I said stand down cadet!" He barked. "I am aware of Portgas' affiliations, I am aware of his younger brothers, and I am very much aware of the consequences of him continuing to run free." It's like the people in this damned department didn't understand.

"Please stop rambling nonsense around my head and move on from this subject. To be quite frank, I'm done with Portgas and his case. So if you want to capture him so bad, why don't you go and do it?" Smoker sneered as he has gotten fed up with Tashigi and her screeching.

"But Sergeant Smoker-.." She tried to reason but never got to finish her sentence. Smoker upped and left the room.

"Damned people. I don't know how many times they want me to repeat the same words over and over again." He grumbled as he stomped his way to his office.

"That damn brat is growing on me. Without him, these calls won't be challenging at all."

He sighed, entering his office. Sitting down on the slightly worn out chair, he gazed upon his achievements that were mounted on the wall.

'Soon, I won't have a job if I keep this up.' He thought with a sigh. This whole situation was troublesome.

Suddenly, a knock was heard.

"Enter." The tired male spoke. He waited to see who would be on the other side of his door. Surprisingly, it was Monkey D. Garp, the retired chief of police. Smoker stood up, as a sign of respect.

"G-Garp-San," He hesitated. "To what do I owe this visit? More so, why have you came to visit me?" Smoker was puzzled. Why was the greatest chief of police that ever resided in this town, here in his office?

Garp stood as strong as ever. Dressed down in his white button up and some white dress pants.

"Well, Sergeant," Garp began. " a little birdy...more-so...your assistant Tashigi, seemed to be in distress. I asked her, and she told me that you keep letting a certain freckled faced fellow go." Smoker kept his composure, but inwardly groaned. That woman could never keep her mouth shut.

"Mind explaining why you are releasing my grandson only to capture him again later on?" Garp questioned as he looked at Smoker with curious amusement.

Smoker stayed silent. It wasn't that he didn't know how to answer the question, it was more of him in denial.

"To be honest with you Chief...I'm not sure why I do that." He said scratching the back of his neck. A sign that Garp picked up from past visits, indicating he was nervous.

"Portgas brings...life to the chases we do-" Smoker paused. "him and his brothers." He continues. "So taking them in would diminish all the fun." Garp stared at him for a minute before answering.

"But you do know that even if they do rob stores for food, they have very strong and dangerous allies." He stated. "Ace with Whitebeard and Roger, Sabo with Dragon, and Luffy with Shanks. Not to mention they have their own crews. For example, Luffy and his Straw hat brats." Garp concluded as fixed Smoker with a stare.

"Though I am assuming- and hoping that this isn't the case-" Garp straightens to his full height. "Could it be that you are starting to harbor feelings for the brat?" Garp asked.

The male in question thought about the elders statement. 'Do I like Portgas? No....no I can't do that. There's no way. Unless...?' Smoker thought as he racked through his brain for answers.

Garp sighed. "Well, I've got to go. Even though they are criminals, they're still my grandkids. However, they are gonna get a rude awakening when I return back home from the holidays." He said with a menacing smile as he cracked his knuckles. He looked at Smoker then smirked at him before exited out of his office.

'That was weird.' The white haired male said as he lit up a cigar. He sat down and took a puff. He sighed out a breath as he wondered.

'What am I going to do?'

(Ace's POV)

"LUFFY! ACE! LET'S GO!" Sabo shouted. We just raided one of our favorite restaurants. We dodged a couple of frying pans, cutting boards, and a few stray eating utensils along the way. We finally arrive to our usual little hiding spot. We're here just until things die down, then we normally make our way home. Fuck I'm tired. I focus on catching my breath as Luffy starts laughing.

"Shishishi~ I got all the meat!" My idiot of a little brother exclaims.

"Lies! I got some meat too- and I aint sharing so don't give me that face." I said as my straw hat wearing brother pouts.

"You idiots argue for the most simplest things," Sabo rolled his eyes. "it's unbelievable sometimes." He sighed as he looked down in embarrassment.

"WHO YOU CALLING AN IDIOT, BARBIE DOLL?!?" I snap.

"EH!? YOU WANNA FIGHT?!" Sabo shouts back. Oh ho hooo I am not backing down bitch.

"BRING IT ON YOU SMURF!"

Sabo and I were head to head and I could see the electricity between us. "Shishishi~ usually it's me and Ace or Ace and Smokey." Luffy said as he munched on a bag of chips.

"Speaking of Smokey, he always catches you and then lets you go 5 hours later. Wanna explain?" Sabo said as he looked at me with a smirk on his face. I felt my cheeks heat up as I look the other way.

"There's nothing to explain. He catches me, we talk, then he lets me go. Nothing else." I mumbled, hoping Sabo wouldn't press into the situation more.

"Judging by your face I think you have some attraction for him." Apparently, he didn't get the hint or he got it and just didn't care.

"Ugh just drop it Sabo. Even if I DID like him there is absolutely NO POSSIBLE WAY Oyaji or that old bastard would approve." I sulk.

Sabo walks up to me and grabs my shoulders. "Wouldn't approve of what? You being gay?"

"Hmm? Oh, No, I told them my preference before and they didn't have a problem. I think they wouldn't approve because of who I chose to like. Remember," I sigh. "He's a cop. I'm a thief. Not to mention my stupid old man. It isn't gonna work."

I turn away from him as my shoulders droop. 'Besides..I think he likes that little assistant of his...despite how annoying she is.' I thought as a I succumb to my inner thoughts.

"Eh, Ace, I know you're worried about their opinion, but, if you really like him, you gotta face your fears and tell him. Rejection is always better than regret." Luffy said with a serious expression.

Sabo and I looked at him shocked. He tilts his head in confusion. 'Luffy....has a brain?' I stare at him.

"What? Is there something on my face?" He picks his nose.

'Well nevermind he's back to being an idiot.' I sweatdrop.

"Well, we should get going. Thatch needs to cook the food." Sabo said and as soon as he did, Luffy and I race back to the house.

"Hey! Wait for me! Guys!" I hear Sabo shout.

~timeskip brought to you by Marco chasing Ace around in a pineapple tank top~

"Why...did you guys..run of like that?" Sabo panted as he finally caught up with us.

"You've gotten slow Sabo..need to fix that." I say as I smirk mischievously at him. He pales at my sentence and begins to mumble something before Luffy's voice is heard, shouting so the whole block hears him. "WE'RE HOME!"

He then turns towards us, "Let's go, I want FOOODD!" and dashes inside.

Sabo and I stare at him for a second before his words fully register in my mind. "DON'T EAT ALL THE MEAT LUFFY!" I shout. I dash inside, leaving Sabo in the dust.

"Thatch! Marco! Oyaji! How are you guys?" I ask as we all sit at the table. Well Oyaji stood, but that doesn't make much of a difference.

"We're fine." Thatch hummed, "-but mind telling why you got captured today?" he questions as he glances behind him, amused.

"Oh, um...how'd you know about that?" I laugh nervously with an uneasy feeling in my chest.

"Gurararara~ We know everything around here, brat. Did you forget already?" Oyaji says, with his signature laugh.

I facepalm because of my stupidity. 'Of course Oyaji would know the smoking Sargeant.'

"Shishishi~ Ace got captured by Smokey! But their fight was..weird." Luffy's shine like literal stars as Thatch sets a plate full of meat in front of him. "Weird like how yoi?" Marco spoke, leaning on the table with a lazy smirk.

"They were saying weird stuff to each other. Like when Ace said that if Smokey has this much energy fighting, how much energy would he have in-" Luffy didn't get to finish before I shoved a piece of meat in his mouth. "OKAYY," I chuckle nervously, "we don't need to hear anymore a that, right Sabo?" I force a smile, praying that Sabo would be on my side.

Sabo looks at me before smirking. 'Oh no'

"I don't know, Ace...you were kinda..touchy with him today." He teased. "Any reason why?" I look at him with the most hateful gaze ever, but he just brushes it off. 'Damnit Sabo! You're gonna make Oyaji kill him you overgrown barbie doll!'

Everyone at the table looked at me with a face of interest. Even Izo, Vista and Haruta.

'When the hell did they get here?'

The only one who didn't had a readable expression was Oyaji. 'Fuck...he's gonna kill me'

"Were you flirting- with Sergeant Smoker, Ace?" Izo questioned me with a large smirk on his rose colored lips. Before I even had the chance to answer, the overgrown, knock-off barbie doll on the right of me spoke up.

"Flirting? It was like watching sex happen in front of my eyes-" He didn't get to finish as I slammed my fist on top of his head.

"Damnit Sabo! Are you trying to get me killed?!" I yelled as I stood up from my seat, meat on my plate forgotten.

"I mean you needed a push and I'm there to help." He winced as he rubbed the top of his head. Before I said anything, I was cut of again.

'Why the fuck do I keep getting interrupted!? I'm running out of patience.'

"Ace.." Oyaji started as he looked at me with a glare, some haki leaking through. "Are you interested in this...Sergeant?" He finished. The whole table went down in silence and Sabo looks away from me, I don't have to look at him to know he feels full of guilt.

"No Oyaji.....what gave you that idea?" I say, not looking at Oyaji in the eye.

"Ace..you know that relationship will not work. He's a Sergeant, a cop," He emphasizes. "...and you. You're a thief." He says firmly, staring into my being.

"Your relationship is gonna end up in two ways. One, he continues to set you free after every chase and loses his rank- or worse, his job-"

'I don't want to be the reason he loses his job.' I clench my fist.

"Or two, you get caught and thrown in jail." Oyaji speaks. I know what he's saying. I know what he's trying to get into my head.

"Either he's gone or your life is over."

'I know the risks....I know I don't have a chance. But why does it hurt so much hearing it from you, Oyaji?'

I thought as I bit my bottom lip.

"Honestly," He grunts. "I don't care who you date. Your father, however, is the problem." I tch. That stupid old man.

"You know he has issues trusting the police. Ever since the incident with your mother." He continued. "Of course she's alive and well, but he almost lost her, Ace. He almost lost you.

I put my head down in shame.

'I knew it. They wouldn't approve. They wouldn't accept it. Damn it.'

"I know that Oyaji..that's why I said I don't like him you know." I bark a laugh. It sounded so mechanic that Luffy had stopped eating.

"...Sabo and Luffy were just messing with me." I say flashing a pained smile, a vain attempt to seem unfazed.

"Ace.." Thatch calls. I don't answer.

"Well, that settles that. I'm going to be in my room. I'm not hungry." I slide the plate over in between Sabo and Luffy, signaling that they can have my share.

I walk out of the dining room and head to my room. 'Nothing is ever fair anymore.'

I open the door to my room and slam it closed, locking it behind me. I huff. For fuck's sake.

'I need to cool down...I don't need another lecture from Marco about burning holes into my bedroom walls again.'

Shuffling around in my room, trying to calm down- though I'm unsuccessful-, something clicks.

What if....?

I rush and throw on a shirt. I don't bother to button it up cause why not. Opening my window and climbing out, I breathe in slight anticipation.

'Maybe he's on duty tonight...'

(Sabo's POV)

I watch Ace leave the dining room with a hurt look in his eyes. 'I over did it.' I can't help but think. Pops sighs before he took a sip of his sake.

"I know the brat likes that Sergeant and frankly, I would like to see them together, but Roger wouldn't allow it."

Ah, speaking of the devil. Said man enters the house with Aunt Rouge and Uncle Rayleigh following behind him.

'Just how many people live here?' I sweatdropped.

"Ahaaa Newgate! Pass over the sake you old geezer!" Roger exclaimed, dismissing the tense atmosphere in the room. 'He either doesn't notice it, or he notices and doesn't care. Probably the latter.'

"Gurararara~ Go get your own, this one's mine." Pops said as he hogged up the rest of the sake on the table.

"Aww cmon, you drinked the rest of the booze ya old bastard." Roger complained as he took a seat next to Pops.

"For an old man he really asks like a kid yoi." Marco mumbles. "Tell me about it, and I'm married to him." Aunt Rouge added as she put two fingers on the bridge of her nose.

"Oiii!" Roger exclaimed with a pout. 'He really is a man baby'

"Roger.. Rouge.. there is something we need to...discuss." Pops says as his smile drops.

Sensing the tension in the room, Roger stopped smiling and gave a blank stare. "About what Newgate?" He questioned. "It's about Ace." Pops said.

As if the room dropped below freezing point, Roger gave Pops a ice cold stare as his haki started to leak out.

"What happened to my son?" He asked as he stood up. Marco and Thatch stood next to Pops just in case something happens.

'Now I see why Ace doesn't tell you things, Roger. You're overprotective.' I thought as I made my way over to Luffy.

"Nothing happened to him Roger..." Oyaji paused. "He's just.....experiencing feelings for someone, is all." Pops concluded.

Roger visibly relaxed and smiled "Then what's the problem? You got me all tense for nothing!" He exclaimed as he laugh, but Pops only chuckled. "Ah but wait, he's interested in an officer. Down at the GPD, there's a smokey Sergeant that's caught Ace's attention." Pops said

Roger's smile disappeared and was replaced with an angry scowl almost immediately.

"Absolutely not. There's NO WAY I'm letting my only son date an officer. After what they did to us?! No way." He said as he threw his hands up. Roger only looked away in anger and slight disbelief.

"If I may ask...what happened exactly yoi?" Marco questioned. Though, this is the first time I've seen Marco flinch when someone answered his questions.

'Now I reallyyyy understand why Ace don't tell him anything.'

"When Rouge was pregnant with Ace, I was on the run from the government. I was caught and my execution was planned, but they didn't go through with it." He started. "Because it was unsafe, Rouge was forced to hold Ace for 20 months. Thus causing his birth to be heavily delayed. When it was time for Rouge to give birth, I broke out of the prison they kept me in."

As Roger talked, I could feel the raw hatred, and bits of Haki begin to pour out into the room. ~To be continued~

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #303

“if i can’t be loved, then i’ll be hated”

What color are your glasses, if applicable? Black. Candy corn or conversation hearts? They're both gross, don't make me pick between garbage. Do you own a lot of earrings? Not really after I weeded them out before moving. What did your backpack in high school look like? I dare say I had the dopest backpack of them all. It looked like a massive Ouija board, and the zipper was the planchet (sp?). Have you ever been to a rave? Nah. What is your favorite art medium? I have a particular fondness of oil paintings. They tend to look so smooth, and you can achieve incredible realism with them. How far away is the nearest hospital from you? Not even five minutes, I think. Who was the last person you visited in a hospital? My mom. What is your favorite car color? Pink, duh. How did you learn to type? We actually had a class specifically for typing in middle school. What style of wedding dress do you want? I don't have that set in stone yet, but I really do love ballgown dresses with long trains as well as a-lines with a moderate train. I love a lot, except really for mermaid dresses. Do you fit into any stereotype, or are you non-stereotypical? I don't know if I fit perfectly into any and really don't care. Would you want your first child to have your hair color? ???? I don't care about their hair lol?????? It would depend on the hypothetical father, in which case I'd probably find it cute, but this is so, so unimportant. Do you enjoy writing in cursive? Yeah, it just feels good and flowy to me. What is your favorite hair color? Natural? Probably blonde with natural darker undertones throughout. I like blonde hair because it's far easier to dye, haha. Now, if we're including DYED hair, rose gold or pastel pink is *chefs kiss* What is your favorite eye color? Sapphire blue, probz. Would you put your birthday on a different day if you could? Nah, it's fine where it is. What holiday is your birthday closest to? Valentine's. Do you vent on social media a lot? NOOOOOOOO. I barely post ANYTHING about myself on social media because I feel like I'm being annoying, self-absorbed, find anything I do actually interesting, or don't want people to think I'm a whiner. All I ever really do on social media is share or reblog funny shit, things I love, stuff I find relatable or inspirational, educational, important for whatever reason, etc... Do you have abusive parents? I am very thankful to say no. Is your house haunted? Doesn't seem like it. What's your favorite thing to watch on YouTube? I'm in a real WoW-related phase lately... Watching my favorite streamers, gold farming guides, and other various aspects of the game. What are five health problems that you have? I talk about the mental issues enough, so I guess I'll talk about physical stuff here. Uhhh I have very low blood pressure (it's a med side effect), I have extremely weak legs following muscle atrophy, I have bad tremors, especially in my hands (amplified by medication once again), maybe TMI but we're adults here and it's a legit issue that I have chronic and severe conspitation, aaaand then of course I have hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) to a fucking outrageous and also humiliating degree. Ooooonce again as a prescription side effect. This answer made meds sound kinda bad, I know, but really, I'd rather have the will to live and just have to deal with these than want to die everyday and not. Do you have surgery coming up? No, let's keep it that way until I lose enough weight and when I am 110% getting loose skin removal. Which family member(s) do you look the most like? My sisters, ig. People say my mom also, but I honestly don't see it. Have you ever cried while watching a YouTube video? Yeah, usually just in let's plays, but it's happened for other reasons. Are you missing a website that just shut down? Nah, none that I know of. NO. FUCKING WAIT. So, when my laptop was fixed, a LOT of shit was wiped from it, and that included all of my goddamn Lightroom editing presets. The site they were from no longer exists, so I had to use a different, pretty sub-par one to install at least a few because it helps me get a start on editing the photograph and leaning towards the "vibe" I want before spending like 15+ minutes tuning it myself. Would you be a barefoot bride? No. Which would you rather name your daughter: Eliana, Echo, Emerald, or Ellery? Ohhh, I like these. I think I prefer "Eliana," but "Echo" is a close second. "Ellery" is nice, but it sounds too much like "celery" to name my kid that lmao. Which would you rather name your son: Maverick, Matthew, or Moses? Ugh, none, honestly. But "Matthew" wins. When was the last time you gave a speech? Like a *legit" speech? Probably not since uhhh... I guess when I argued my disability case at court? Does that even count? Have you ever been in a stampede? Well, never seen this'n in a survey before, so good job, lol. No. If you were a fairy, what color would you like your wings to be? It would depend on what I wore, really. And my hair. But probably light pink. Would you rather name your son Storm, Skylar, Sorin, or Solomon? "Sorin." "Skylar" is SO Southern, and "Solomon" sounds like the creepy kid all his classmates avoid and I ain't putting my kid through that. Did you read a devotional this morning? Not my jam. Would you rather be named Arizona, Alaska, Cali, or Georgia? Hm... "Alaska" is actually kinda cool???? And I'm white as fuck so lol????? I wouldn't mind to nickname of "Ally," anyway. Are you repulsed by ugly reptiles? lololol bro get out Did all your friends know about your first crush or was it a secret? I was definitely secretive and shy about it when I first started getting crushes. Do you ever feel insecure about going out without makeup? I feel insecure either way, so... How many different natural hair colors are there in your immediate family? So, this is a hard question to answer. My mom was born with brown hair, but it darkened to almost black; only her daughter Katie inherited that. By some genetic magic, Dad had blond hair as a kid, but it also turned black. Like... how?????? I was born with dirty blonde hair like him, and mine turned an average brown with age. My immediate sisters have always had brown hair. What is your favorite online game? World of Warcraft is ballin'. Would you ever want to be famous and sign autographs? Ha, the idea of signing autographs is awful... I can't physically write very long without my carpal tunnel flaring up. Do you like your shirt to be loose or tight? LOOSE. Especially as a bigger person, tight shirts are just really uncomfortable. What is your favorite Spanish name? I don't know nearly enough to answer this. Would you rather visit Asia or Europe? I think Asia is, in general, more interesting and prettier as a whole, but I guess I'm drawn to European culture being more like my own and there are specific locations I'm interested in, like Germany or Scotland. So to answer the question, I guess Europe wins. Are there any Asians in your family? I don't believe so. Have you ever had colored braces? Haha yeah, I did that when I had them. Do you take birth control pills? Yes, just for period cramps. Without them, they can be immobilizing for me. If you live in the USA: do you feel free and safe? Ha, no. Well, not *entirely*. Have you ever been sick on your birthday? I was recovering from the stomach virus, if that counts. As in I still got sick the day before and felt iffy on my actual bday. 17th, I think? Is talking about your past painful for you? Yes. Are you a member of any support groups online? I'm a member of The Mighty site, if that counts. When I'm feeling very, very sound of mind and helpful without all the negativity being a detriment to myself, I do like going on there and trying to help or comfort people. Have you ever called a suicide hotline? Yes, and the line was busy, and that's when I decided I was a goner. Do you ever fantasize about revenge? I uhhhhh... sometimes. What's a movie you would recommend to someone who never watches movies? Ohhh, that's hard. I don't really watch movies either, and I'm trying to think of one that essentially anyone would like, so hm. Oh, Coco is absolutely a possibility. That movie touched me so, so deeply and is high on my favorites list. It's impossible to not feel the emotions. Do you want to have grandkids? Hell, I don't want kids. Do you want to be an aunt or uncle? I already am one, and I love being an aunt. Who was your favorite Spice Girl? I don't remember their names or characters in general. Did you make a lot of home videos growing up? I mean *I* didn't, but Mom filmed quite a few. Do you enjoy babysitting? NO. What's an unpopular opinion that you have? Avoiding some political ones, uhhhh. OH. HERE'S ONE. THE SCENE AESTHETIC IS FUCKING CUTE AND NOT CRINGEY AND YOU CAN FIGHT ME ABOUT IT. Are you attracted to the opposite gender, same gender, or both? Both are A+. Was your first crush on someone of the same gender or opposite? Opposite. As a kid, I didn't even fathom the concept that women could date women. What is something you'll never eat again? Why? Brussel sprouts. Fucking disgusting. What is currently happening that is scaring you? Besides the very obvious answer of "Covid," I worry about my mom a lot. She's so weakened after all the chemo and meds and can do literally less than I can without heavily breathing and sweating. I just worry a lot that cancer will return sooner than we hope; I don't want it to EVER come back, but doctors say it is very, very likely at one point or another because she was so very close to Stage 4. What would be your personal hell? Being completely and entirely isolated forever while somewhere hot and humid, lol. And play one of my trigger songs on repeat eternally. What made the "weird kid" at your school weird? There was this poor guy named Alfred that was VERY clearly depressed out of his mind, and I heard him speak maybe once through all of high school, and the entire class couldn't believe it. He always sat way in the back and never smiled. I wonder how he is nowadays. What is a word you personally find offensive? "Retarded" personally offends me the most when misused and spoken as an insult. What instantly puts you to sleep? Now that is HARD to do; I have a ridiculously hard time going to sleep. The easiest way though would probably be me being drained from an emotional breakdown. That is so exhausting that I'm capable of crashing pretty fast and hard. What song is in a language you don't speak, but you love it anyway? I adore Rammstein, so there's plenty. I'll probably say "Donaukinder" is their best. What is something you would like to do if you weren’t judged for doing it? I keep that I RP a complete secret in my "real" life for this reason unless it's like, pried out of me. What's a movie you think everyone should watch? Why that one? Johnny Got His Gun. See how goddamn disgusting war is. What was the most unexpected good thing that's ever happened to you? Ha, realizing I was bisexual after once being homophobic. What is the funniest fact you know? Oh man, I know a lot of random trivia shit, really, so it's hard to say. Maybe that quokkas throw their offspring at predators to distract and escape from them... As awful as that is, c'mon, you gotta admit it's funny and shocking with just how adorable they are. What was your 'mic drop' moment? Oh, I don't know. Possibly when I publicly came out as bi on Facebook and made it abundantly clear that I gave no shits about some homophobic friends and family & I was beyond willing to let anyone's ass go over it. What's the kindest way a stranger has treated you? I remember as a kid at McDonald's, the woman in front of our car paid for our food; apparently seeing a mom, dad, and three kids in a van was enough that she wanted to just be kind and give us a smile. We have no idea who she was, never saw her face or anything, she was just a sweet woman. What is the biggest design flaw of your body? Okay, I'm going to let go of all hatred for my body weight-wise and just think of this as from a strictly natural design perspective, in which case I'd say my toes are too small. What age are you afraid of turning and why? 30, because I'm terrified of getting there and seeing I've possibly gone nowhere. What is the strangest thing you have ever felt? I'm keeping this question in just because I think there could be some interesting answers for others, but I'm witholding my answer because nobody wants or needs to know lmao. What makes someone immediately unlikable? Acting better than others and belittling. Who's a villain you sympathize with and why? D A R K I P L I E R because of his origins and overall purpose and just simply existing. What is something you regret to NOT have done? I have this oddly weird regret of not going like, all-all the way with He Who Shall Not Be Named????? Idk why though????? Considering I loved him way too much and I was a reckless and impulsive person who probably at some point would have wound up accidentally pregs????? What a fuckin trip that woulda been. What movie changed your life for the better? None have really "changed my life." What book you think should be directed as a film? Oh, idk. Most I can think of have been. Of all the decades you've lived in, which one have you liked best? The 2000s, probably. A carefree kid. How are you doing today? I'm exhausted. While out with Mom and my sisters yesterday, we got behind a van whose driver was obviously drunk or high off his goddamn ass, and he was swerving EVERYWHERE, nearly shoving so many cars off the road. Mom called 911 to get in contact with highway patrol to report his dumb fucking ass in. I was having an absolute panic attack and cried quietly like the entire 45 or so minute drive home. I was just so, so upset because this is why I don't fucking drive, and I felt like I'd made my sister (who was driving) mad because she had to firmly tell me I had to calm down (I was hyperventilating and talking to myself to try to calm down) if she was going to focus and keep us safe. She later ensured me she wasn't mad, but I still wasn't the same the entire rest of the day. Anyway, I slept hard last night but had two nightmares, so I'm still really tired today. I'm trying to keep myself really distracted. What's something your relatives don't know about you? A whole lot really, considering beyond my very immediate family, I see almost nobody because they live many states away. What's something your parents did, which you have sworn never to do? Mom would spank us or slap an arm pretty hard if my sisters or I misbehaved or "disrespected" her by "talking back." I'm not having kids, but I would never, ever, ever, put my hands on them in any way that isn't loving. You do not teach children via inflicting fear. I also have this probably overly strong aversion to beer because that's what Dad always drank as an alcoholic. I'll probably never try it, not that I really want to because it smells awful. What's the most annoying thing your pet does? I feel like "annoying" is the wrong word for this, but Roman (my cat) can be incredibly demanding of attention and to lie on me when I'm on the laptop in bed, and sometimes I just want space and be able to clearly see the screen, haha. He will legit meow like a baby and gently swat my arm sometimes if I try to keep him back. Heeee usually gets his way. As for Venus (snek), she does nothing "annoying" either, but rather a bit concerning to a snake mom: she is usually very slow to find and strike her food. I feed her frozen/thawed mice, and she will first slither around her entire cage, tongue flicking and clearly looking for her food, even though I always place it atop the same spot on her hide, and she can have her head RIGHT beside it and still do nothing. She ultimately generally eats (as a ball python though, she's a picky eater and will occasionally reject a meal), but I of course wonder why she's odd about dinnertime... As a champagne, she does have the notorious "spider gene" in her, which can cause neurological issues, but idk if something like this could be related.

[dontcallmecarrie]

Old And New Faces

I mistakenly assumed Thanksgiving was supposed to the the peak time for Family Drama. Due to Reasons, here, have more of By Dawn’s Early Light, feat. Comic Book Amnesia [not sure if it actually fits with the main storyline, might be an AU of an AU]:

Behind his mask, Tony grinned and resisted the urge to rub his hands. 

Bruce was right there, and sure he’d asked JARVIS to keep tabs on the guy but it was still an incredible test of self-control to not break character and just saunter up to him and ask what he was up to these days. 

“Iron Man, don’t.” Uncle James muttered over his headset, as if they weren’t less than three feet from each other, but...right. Back to the subject, “it’s the endtimes, join our team, yadda yadda yadda” he’d tuned out about five minutes in.

Ugh. SHIELD was the worst at this schtick.  

.

James didn’t move only because between his time as the Winter Soldier, and even then it came pretty damn close when the agent’s voice took on an especially droning tone. 

Just— after the heart attack they’d gotten with that little recruitment pitch, he had expected these guys to run a tighter ship, honestly. 

Maybe he’d spent too much time around Tony and Maria. Maybe he was just desensitized to the type of efficiency that came part and parcel with the kid who regularly raided thrift stores’ electronic sections and cannibalized them for his robots, and the woman who could get her hands on international flight paths with only a few phone calls. 

Either way, James was distinctly unimpressed with the little show this agent was trying to put on. 

Okay, they’d been tapped because apparently SHIELD wanted them. Okay, the situation was looking pretty complicated, but what was the point these guys were trying to make? 

And this talk about a team— what even? 

If they’d done their research it should’ve been obvious that Iron Man and Renegade were independent contractors at best— and even that was a stretch. [None of these guys knew who they were referring to when they said Mission Control, which was a mistake he wanted to see carried out if only for the sheer entertainment value when Maria’d snap and raise hell. Again.] 

Oh, sure he recognized a few faces. 

Natasha Romanov [little girls and red hair, ballet music and the sound of bones breaking—] had been one hell of a surprise, but he could roll with it. It was a good thing Renegade had a reputation for silence, though: for some reason, he found himself mentally calling her Natalia. [Eh. Something to chew on later.] 

As it was, he wasn’t entirely sure the flicker of recognition in her eyes was faked or not— especially since he had yet to remove his mask and the new body armor Tony’d painstakingly made him. Either way, his guard was up.

Even more so because also at the table was Dr. Bruce Banner, who’d been working on something that Tony had been fascinated with— and that was before the Green Incident on campus. He could not afford to talk around him, because Bruce absolutely would recognize his voice and for all Tony liked him, the guy was a terrible actor. 

Other than that, though, James found himself distinctly unimpressed. 

This Clint guy who was rolling an honest-to-goodness arrow between his fingers? Sure he was a decent enough sniper, James could personally attest to that. Also a complete stranger otherwise and someone he wasn’t interested in teaming up with, next. 

Thor, the alien god. That goddamn hammer had blown their cover and the ensuing kerfuffle had gotten him captured by HYDRA and stuck in cryo. Yes, he had a grudge against a hammer, so what? Oh, and apparently aliens were a thing so now he’d undoubtedly have to drag Tony from plans to raid Area 51 and hack NASA on top of everything else. 

...and then Captain America walked in, and James felt his brain stutter for a moment before internal alarms started blaring “ABORT MISSION ABORT ABORT BAD IDEA” and a flood of memories he’d forgotten he even had rushed in.

. 

Tony didn’t know what triggered Uncle James’ silent freakout, but it didn’t matter. Heads would roll regardless— especially since he had a look in his eyes that Tony hadn’t seen in years. 

Right, okay. 

Fuck this.

“My sensors say we have a situation.” Tony announced to the room as he abruptly stood up, hauling his only ally in the room by the arm as he did so. 

“Wh—” Agent started, but Tony didn’t bother to hear him out. Or any of them, really. 

“Apologies, gotta go.” He lied baldly as he all but sprinted out the room of potential hostiles, Uncle James in tow.

He only stumbled a little, which was good. Tony was fully capable of carrying him out, but it wouldn’t do Renegade’s reputation any favors if photos of him being hauled around in a fireman’s [or princess, for that matter] carry started floating around. 

“How’re you feeling?” He asked quietly, and when he didn’t get a reply, continued making fast tracks to the landing dock using the emptiest corridors JARVIS could direct them through while trying to push down the feeling of unease that came with every minute of silence that followed. 

.

James snapped out of the fog with a sharp gasp and staggered against the nearest surface, pressing a hand against his mask as he struggled to get control over himself again. 

Geez. That was the worst episode he’d had in years, what the—

Oh.

“You okay?” Iron Man’s voice filter did a good job hiding Tony’s concern, but he knew him well enough to know it was there. “Breathe.”

Right, he had to do that. 

Shit, what the hell had happened? 

“You had an episode in the middle of that half-assed briefing thing that agent was trying to do.” Tony filled in helpfully, somehow reading the question off his face in a way Jame— Bucky— 

“I remembered.” He somehow managed to get out, in between ragged breaths as his lungs struggled to remember how to work. 

“Remembered? But I thought—”

“Yeah, I thought so too.” He barked out a laugh that wasn’t, as names and faces flitted in and out of focus in his mind’s eye, as if to mock him for ever having forgotten them. 

He’d forgotten them. HYDRA had wiped his memories and he’d— he’d—

[He’d had Brooklyn and dingy alleyways and Stevie, had a mom and a little sister, had a mangy alley cat that’d rubbed up against him when he came in late, had—]

He’d had a life before the Winter Soldier.

[He had a life now, decades after almost everyone else he’d known was dead. Becca would’ve liked Maria, would’ve cooed over Tony and— wait. Oh shit. Steve—]

.

“You okay?” Tony asked carefully as he watched Uncle James lapse into silence yet again, and he jolted.

“Yeah, I’m— I’ll be fine. Been better, but I...I remember now.”

“Do we need to leave?”

“Oh, no. That was...that was the worst of it.”

“You’re sure you’re okay.” Tony didn’t let himself sound dubious, but...the image of Uncle James in the middle of a full-blown flashback not ten minutes ago was hard to shake. 

“...yeah, I am.” Then, with a strange face, Uncle James continued. “You know what, though? One of those guys, he knew me. Knows, whatever.”

Tony blinked behind his mask. “Wait, what?”

“Think we can head back? I want to get to the bottom of this. Oh, and one more thing— call me Bucky?”

“You still okay with Renegade for...” 

“Oh, sure.” He waved Tony off, and his new ease is what finally had him relaxing. “But...just as a trial run thing. I think I went by that, before.”

“Bucky.” Tony rolled the name around in his mouth for a moment, and nodded. “Okay. You ready to head back then?”

“Yep.”

[hallie-fics]

author spotlight - still_i_fall

He wants to forget how it felt to be hers for just one second.

- remember it’s all pretend @in-my-head-i-do-everything-right

one of the most prolific writers in the hallie fandom, @in-my-head-i-do-everything-right (still_i_fall) has graced us with classic after classic. i had an absolute blast talking with her, and hope you all enjoy the interview!

q&a

Hey! Thanks again for including me in this! Very excited to answer the questions. I love talking about myself. 

Favorite of your stories (and why)

I almost got stuck on this question. I really want to say remember it’s all pretend because I am so incredibly proud of that one. It was the first multi chapter fic that I ever properly finished and I feel like that really means something to me. I also really love that concept, and how it was able to fit in slowburn and enemies to friends to lovers and mutual pining plus a million other little tropes. And, most of all, it was really fun to write. It happened really easily. It’s something I’ll go back to sometimes if I’m ever in the mood to reread my own work. 

But I also love this new thing that I just wrote called i just wanna dance with you. I think if I can pull it off, it could be something really amazing. I was able to write the first chapter in about a week and had a ton of fun doing it. And I really love writing Harry’s pov and just switching things up a little. Ugh, I really love the idea of hallie meeting/knowing each other as little kids and I think that’s pretty apparent in these two fics. 

Easiest story to write

I’ll stop the world (and melt with you) happened really quickly which I guess qualifies it as easy to write. I thought it’d be more difficult just because so much of it is dependent on canon which is something I’m not entirely used to, but it ended up going to fast. I think somewhere I still have a page of notes on that Prom episode and everything that happens to Allie and Harry. I really wanted to include pieces of dialogue from the show. 

I also think it was because I used to do this thing when I was bored where I’d think about who I’d want to be trapped in a Groundhog day like loop with and what’d I’d do. It was just this recurring thought/ daydream I had when I was younger so it’s definitely a situation that I’ve thought through a little. 

Hardest story to write

The taste, the touch, the way we love has been a pain in the ass to write right from the start. Sometimes it’s really fun, but I think I’ve been sticking way too close to the outline I drew at the very start and have been avoiding writing it for too long. Sometimes I absolutely love to write it and have the time of my life, and other times I hate it. There’s not much of an in between. Still definitely want to finish it. Just waiting on that final bit of inspiration. 

Pre-writing process

I’m all about doing a full outline. Usually. With most longer fics (anything I think will be over 6,000 words), I do a full outline where I plan out the progression of the fic and specific scenes and pieces of dialogue. Usually, the plot hits me all at once and is usually the easiest part of the writing process for me. From that original outline, I usually have at least a few specific scenes fully planned out with pieces of dialogue and/or exposition. For example, for i’ll stop the world I started out the planning process with the introduction piece of the fic. That first paragraph is straight out of the note apps on my phone. A lot of the time it’ll end up being a bullet point list of main bits. I’ll use parentheses to specify the tone of a scene or little details and then use brackets for things that I want verbatim in the fic. 

But sometimes I end up with very little pre-planning. The skating au is kinda the only good example of this. I only had the roughest of outlines for that one (how i wanted the first chapter to start and end) and everything else just came together as I tried to get from point A to point B. 

What drew you to Hallie

The potential. They could have a really great story and I think that’s fun. There’s a lot of chemistry there and their dynamic is fun and, yeah, I think I’m a little too far in to get out now.

Favorite line (or lines)/ section you’re proud of

God, I have so many. Hope you don’t mind me going through them. It’s incredibly self indulgent but also gives me an excuse to go through my old works.

From the very first hallie fic I ever wrote, how you wish it would be all the time:

“And Harry's not perfect. He's not what she wanted before this all started or even really after, but everything's different now.”

Sometimes I forget about this fic, but I really shouldn’t cause there is a solid chance that this was my peak. And this line is really fun. 

From we kiss and we keep busy:

“The stars may have moved a little bit, but they’re still there, and they still look the same, and that’s good enough for her.”

I promise I’m not going through every hallie fic I’ve ever written but god I love this line. 

From i saved a picture where your hair was braided:

“It’s late nights and long talks and video games and cookie dough. It’s almost kisses, then definite kisses, and then not wanting to wake up anywhere but his bed. That’s how she starts to fall in love with Harry Bingham.”

Just that last part. That last line. The rest is just there for some fun context. Fun fact: this entire little mini fic was a desperate attempt to stave off writer's block and is based entirely around that single line in the song Donna by the lumineers. Still had a lot of fun with it, though.

From remember it’s all pretend:

“He wonders when she’ll realise that this hasn’t been pretend for him in years.    Probably never.    (He’d still run away with her.)”

“In the back of her mind, Allie wonders why she didn’t try harder to stay with Harry, why now she can only seem to fall in love in front of a camera where there’s the promise of pretend.”

“She likes to think that they’re still friends, that they’re just friends who don’t talk anymore, two people who drifted because one couldn’t handle the idea of change.”

This fic has a million little bits that I love. I could literally go on forever. It’s just full of that mutual pining angst that I live for. 

From but i close my eyes and i’m somewhere else:

“She did not mention this earlier because she was trying desperately hard to ignore it, but fuck, she’s really missed him calling her Pressman.”

“She wonders if Cassandra has any travel sized neck pillows.”

This fic is surprisingly good seeing as I don’t remember writing it at all. I was very much high on some sort of flu medication while writing this and I think that explains a lot about this fic. It’s fun, though. I really love the tone.

From the taste, the touch, the way we love:

“She starts to feel like she couldn’t avoid Harry if she wanted to (and somehow, as the days turn into weeks, she finds herself not wanting to more and more).”

“There’s saltwater in her eyes, hair, and mouth. Harry’s leaning back in it, floating. She is too. The water is blue, and warm, and the sky is clear. Sometimes his hand will grab hers just to pull her closer. When she thinks of calm, of happiness, and vacation, she’ll think of this moment.”

“They’re quiet for a moment. Maggie Rogers can be heard in the background, faded and slow. Harry’s tapping his fingers along to it on the wheel, eyes staring straight ahead. The road is lined with trees, and it all feels like home.”

“For a half a second, she thinks she loves him. She pushes that away and watches him throw wrapping paper behind him dramatically. She pushes it away and she smiles and she laughs and she tries not to think too hard about what all of this means.”

This fic definitely has its moments. I’m really excited to get the last part done and out, though. I just feel like I’ve spent too long on this fic. I want it done.

From i just wanna dance with you:

“Allie met Harry the same day Cassandra did. It was early in the morning and she was four and now, when she looks back, all she can remember from the moment is the vague outline of wild hair and a smile so bright and wide and carefree that it really can’t be anyone else’s.”

“She tries to remember that she likes skating with Will, that there’s no point in wondering what it’d be like if things were just a little bit different.”

“She lied earlier; gold, silver, bronze, doesn’t matter. Harry always looks good.”

“The first time he ever placed first in a competition, she was skating with him. He wonders how long he’ll associate the feeling of a gold medal around his neck with her hand in his. He hopes it’s not long. “

I’m so excited to finish this fic like you guys don’t even understand. It’s really fun and it feels easy to write (so far; knock on wood) and I love the concept. 

What type of Hallie stories do you like to write/read?

I only write au’s just because I think the rules are little different, everything’s just a little bit more relaxed. You’re allowed so much freedom when it’s a completely different universe and I really love that. I went through a phase recently where I was obsessed with canon divergence and this whole idea of a history of contingency. Just there being these points or moments where if one thing was just a little different, everything would’ve changed. I love that and I think that’s really apparent in my drafts/ unreleased wips. 

I’ll read anything, though. Especially with the Hallie ao3 page being so small. I do definitely have a preference still towards au’s, though.

How long have you been writing

For forever. As a kid, I’d fill up entire notebooks with story ideas. It was my favorite thing to do. When I was twelve, a teacher complimented my writing, and I think that really stuck with me. It’s just something I’ve always enjoyed doing. 

Do you ever worry about how your stories are received

Not really. A little bit with multi chapter stories just because I really want every chapter to be better than the last. I just really don’t want to disappoint anyone. 

What’s the hardest part of writing for you

The middle bits. I usually have a very clear idea of the beginning and end so it’s everything in between that I have trouble with. I think that’s why I’m so big on outlining.

Do you ever get writer's block and how do you deal with it

Oh my god all the fucking time! Right now, for example. Usually, I just try to work through it, especially if I have a project in progress. I also do a lot of reading to try to force some sort of inspiration. A lot of what I write is based on what I’m reading. I’ll also listen to music. And, recently, I’ve been making mood boards for my fics which has been so much fun. I really like looking at pretty pictures.

Biggest risk you’ve taken as a writer

Lol I don’t really take risks. I think the riskiest thing I do is post the first chapter of a story with none of the second chapter started. I do that a lot. 

Favorite Hallie trope

Reluctant friends to very good friends to lovers. Also, living together without establishing a clear relationship. I write that a lot. Mutual pining is always fun too. 

Favorite Hallie headcanon

That Harry calls Allie ‘Pressman’ which forces Allie to call him ‘Bingham’. I just think there’s something so fun about calling someone by their last name. Plus, then you get that moment when the first name is used and that gets to be significant. Oh, also that they both swear like sailors, but that’s mostly self-insert on my part.

This felt very self indulgent, but I hope it was at least somewhat enjoyable for someone. 

I am forever waiting to read whatever @in-my-head-i-do-everything-right writes next. It was great to see some of the behind the scenes and I would definitely recommend her latest release cities you’ll never see on screen.

[addytheheartbreaker]

Yandere! Joen x Addy x Overprotective! Nicol (part 3)

(Warning: this story you are going to read will contains trigger and 16+ that involves angsty theme, mental issues, adult vice theme, mild swearing, violence, gore blood and death of the following story. Please respect and advice not to read it if you are uncomfortable of these topics)

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

Joen's pov

Leaving my dear precious doll peacefully at her bed is such a grace to watch, it makes me feel happy on her safe state. Dying to be on my arms at my home, I started going back to the past where they are still alive.

Father is a great man with a huge popularity of his amusement park, "Great Roger's Madness Play". His reputation is so popular, everyone knows his name and his signature friendliness and kind heart he possessed. He is formally a boy band in his youthful days until She come to his life.

Mother is a famous singer and song writer in any ways. Her beauty stands out every man on their knees and woman and young girls inspired by her feminism and encouraged of young girls to chased their dreams. She work in many business with her family along with her sister who had a son to carry the legacy. Dad slowly fell in love with mom with a reason.

The letter he wrote for me and my brothers to read.

The Roger family has been passing its genes for generations with a twist of truths and secrets of our ancestors. Now that I understand why father loves mother, I guess I'm just like dad with my hair slick back, the perfect arch white rabbit and well.... The reason of loving a mate.

I'm so excited to mark my beloved as mine and mine alone. Well, besides my favorite bunny brother Leon who is the first one to finally mark his lover and soon to be brother in law in the future. Oh~ I wonder what she would look like when we were at the same age as my parents were? Or what dress she would dressed to my imaginable insane wedding that I've dreamed when I was a bunny. Alright I think I would be more then intrigued on what kind of girl if I finally see the true beauty behind all that elegant décor everyday? My guardian angel will take me to heaven to touch her, to feel her, to taste her-

To see how much she loves this Rabbit giving it to me~

Ugh, I losts control now. I needed her, I fucking need to confess my heart out and heal my beloved broken doll to a woman I ever gunna dreamed of. However, I need to be patient once she give in and open her heart for me, patient enough to let me get closer to her. Mother once told me that since she has a strong relationship with father with such love. Addy would be the most happiest girl to finally release those burden chains behind her back and healed all her broken crack porcelain that my pretty little doll possessed.

Now all I needed to do is to get rid of Nicol. I don't care of the peace contract we both had along time ago that I am about to break!

Anything to claim the Doll as my mate! That's what father told me. Finding the right mate to loved would do anything to claim it as mine. I made up my fucking mind to win this. Similar to how my brother Leon would back when we were still at the asylum. I also need to talk to my black rabbit brother for advice before I could finally kick the dog's ass. I'll do it tomorrow to prepared the plan. Nicol the Doberman Dog, our peace allies between our families is off.

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

Nicol's pov

I heard that Joen left the dog mansion quickly. Why though? I went to check on dollface if she is alright and safe. I think she is now safe.... For now....

You may be wondering why I wanted to protect her at all cost even protecting her from her mission, preventing her from activating her DEaF power eyes she had explained to my training with her, people who dare tried and harm a single hair from her and death multiple times is because of a many reasons;

She and I are no different then everyone else.... We both experience it in a horrible way....

*flashback, Nicol's traumas and Wilderness era*

The Dog brothers are not entirely as brothers who are related honestly. We were all born at the adoption withe and my little brother together until I have a strong friendship with the 4 pups. We were always together as a group because of our connection we are having and how much we grew up together inseparably. My brother will always be beside me and followed me anywhere until we all started performing and show off our created talent. We became young celebrities together until at age 11. Me, my little brother, my soon to be step brothers and my brother's siblings are all adopted by a man.

The man is my new owner, my master, the one who would take care the whole family despite we are not sure why he adopted us? Learning that the man had knew the 5 of us that we are popular of our talent and give us something that we now soon as celebrities as I formed a group of boys as the Dog Brothers. We are so happy to finally made it.... That's is what I thought of.... Right?

"Bad environment, a horrible influence of a owner, a home filled with vices and master showed me and my brothers the most wicked crime that all of us lost our innocence".

I grew aggressive and wild on these stuff. I'm so uncomfortable at first for introduced me such illegal stuff in such a young age myself. I was just 13 years old when master showed me these things. I grew slowly addicted, it is so wrong yet felt high I'm started to get used to master's drugs and alcohol

Age 14 is my start on partying my favorite clubs. My brothers are also got used to these vices as they do the same wilderness and hunting more and more. I like to fight people and greedy on devouring liquor and drugs everyday on clubs, I've earned myself a nickname as the "Wild Dog".

That is until.... The sudden arresting for illegal crimes had made us realized our whole family are in deep cursed. Realizing that we had changed to the worse which we immediately almost broke our strongest relationship that we, the Dog Brothers we once have togehter. We started arguing and fighting out of no where and I blindedly harmed my own little brother multiple times in a heated tension that I gradually said the words that I broke our relationship with my brother for eternity.

"You Bastard! How dare you offended me and my families name! YOUR A DISGRACE TO MY FAMILY!!! I'M NOT A DISGRACE TO MY FAMILY, I NEVER BETRAYED IT BROTHER!!!"

Those words are all a lie, I did betrayed them being blinded with addictions and obsessions which controlled my whole body like I'm a puppet. Crimes that added on my list while the Dog brothers are all working as celebrities as we secretly hidden our vices from public. The family doesn't want the publics eye to know these secrets which would one day torn us completely with shame

Been arrested then releasing again and again as I reached age 17.

*Imprisonment era*

"Here comes the Wild Dog! A Beast! Ooo so scary *mockingly laughs*, the lil old crazy bitch who do drugs and shit. I heard he killed a man before. He is the guy that we heard from those rumors outside, stay away from him. Such a psychopath, no loved for you and more fuck torture for you to performed. Disgusting disgrace of a family. Are the rumors are true? These rumors are for real!"

Enough! Just fucking stop! Please that wasn't me, that wasn't us!!! I wasn't myself, WE AREN'T OURSELVES!!! Curse you master!!! for making me and my whole family for losing our own innocence and our humanity to this hellhole! Go to hell you asshole!

I'm so broken right now.... I can't take this anymore with the addicting drugs and alcohol, adding crimes is one thing and yet I have almost betrayed the Dog brothers. The public has spreading rumors and news of our crime which shamed our fame and money.

At the end.... We started trying to fix ourselves and our problems to solve as we are officially released after 4 year ago of the Darkest era of celebrity, I'm 18 years old that I have already forgotten who I really am and who my friends are. I have lost my own innocence and humanity on society. Its is time for the Mcgilles Family to rehabilitated our fame, not wanting our fans disappointed and go down on us. They still loved us despite we are in deep burden from the dark time.

*flashback ended, present day. Midnight*

"Nic? Nicol? Nicolas, wake up."

I've suddenly woke up laying on the floor. Was I asleep? And I felt something wet soaking on my cheeks. I look up to see my favorite older brother, Alejandro the Jindo Dog.

"Nic, your crying. And its midnight already. Why aren't you on your bedroom?"

Ah... I think I'm still inside Addy's bedroom floor crying at my sleep as I stand up with the help of Ale.

"Sorry. I'm must have doze off when I got here."

Looking back on Dollface peaceful sleep, still in the same straight sleeping body and her stuffed bunny has dropped beside me when I first fallen asleep beside her bed. I picked up the stuffed bunny with my own hands, looking down to its innocent eyes I cried. I could feel my own body shacking as Alejandro sympathies how broken I am.

"She too innocent back when we were met.... She didn't deserve it brother.... She is as broken as I am, you and our family too."

"I know brother, I know...."

Putting back beside the owner of this stuffed white bunny to the sleeping doll as I gave a one last longing look of pity to the girl then left. I felt tired with my eyes almost shut, unfortunately.... Something tighten my chest that danger is going near. This is a bad sign.

[honeybee-babe]

Sharing is Caring (Except When You’re Sick) Chapter 10 Sick!Luther + Sick!Klaus

Chapter 10 of my collab with @hargreevesstyles, can also be read on her blog!!

When Klaus woke up, three hours had gone by, and his siblings were nowhere in sight. Not even Ben had stuck around.

He stumbled through the entire first story of the house, looking for a companion. And maybe someone to make him some food. He was starving.

“Diego?” he called. “Vanya? Luther? Anyone?” No response. “Well, if no one’s here, I’m gonna eat all the ice cream, and no one can stop me!”

When he went to open the fridge, a little note on the door stopped him.

“Going to rehearsal. Diego = shift, Luther+5=out. Allison back around 5.”

<3 V”

Klaus looked at the wall clock; it was 5:03 pm. 

As if on cue, he heard the front door open. And then Allison was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, arms filled with grocery bags.

“Klaus!” she greeted with a warm smile as she set them down on the counter. She rushed over to feel his forehead. Then she hugged him. “How are you feeling?”

Klaus returned the smile and the hug. “A lot better. Still kinda sneezy, but even that’s dying down now. At least, compared to yesterday…”

Allison pulled away at that and immediately started sorting through the grocery bags. Klaus bit down on his lip.

“Allie, it’s okay, I didn’t mean to-- here, let me help you.” 

They chatted idly as they put the groceries away, Klaus’ nose becoming more and more itchy by the second, until he had to turn away from the cabbage in his hands.

“Hhhih’etshyuU! Ikt’shiuu-nxgtchiuu!” he sneezed freely to the side.

“Yup, that’s getting washed again,” Allison joked, grabbing the cabbage out of his hands and rinsing it in the sink.

“Sorry.” Klaus smiled sheepishly, rubbing his nose on his sleeve. Another one of Diego’s hoodies, soiled. “Ugh, I hate wearing these stupid clothes.”

He pushed the sleeves up to his elbows, pulling his sweatpants up from where they threatened to slide further down his hips. 

“Diego wouldn’t like to hear you call his clothing stupid. Besides, you need to keep warm. And comfortable, you don’t exactly own loungewear.”

“He doesn’t care about clothes,” Klaus whined, pulling his arms around his waist. “I don’t know… I just feel like, not me when I’m not in my clothes. Y’know?”

Allison came up behind him and rubbed his arm, kissing him on the cheek.

“I know.” She ruffled his hair before returning her focus to rinsing off vegetables. “Remember when dad made me straighten my hair that one time?”

Klaus cringed. “Oh god, you looked so bad. You looked like-”

“Like not me. I rumored him not to make me do it ever again.”

“You did?” Klaus giggled. “That’s so -hih’extshiew!- that’s so badass.”

He sorted through some more groceries, stopping when he came across a box of PopTarts, obviously bought with Five in mind. His stomach growled. 

“Hey, can I have one of these? Diego made me eat soup for lunch again and I’m fucking starving.”

Allison flashed him a sad little smile and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Klaus. You need to get your eating schedule back on track. And besides, those are for Five.”

Klaus groaned. “What’s stopping me from grabbing one right now?”

He opened the box and tried to take one out. Allison grabbed the box from his hand.

“Come on!” He tried to grab the box from her, but she wouldn’t let up. And she was pretty strong, even without Klaus’ illness working to her advantage.

“Klaus, I can’t let you eat that right now. Just be patient and wait until dinner, okay?”

He pulled the box back from her. “I’m a grown-ass man, I can eat what I want!”

Their game of tug-of-war was cut short by a flash of blue light, which sent Allison shrieking and “dropping” the box, accidentally conceding it to Klaus, who stumbled backwards with it, yet clutched it for dear life.

“Thanks, Allie!” He went to open one.

“Hey!” Five grabbed the box from him with his left hand. “Don’t touch my food.”

“Is your name on them?” Klaus hissed, though the effect was more or less ruined by the hoarseness of his voice. His eyes zeroed in on the drink tray full of four Griddy’s to-go cups in Five’s right hand. “Hey, did you get me a coffee?” he asked, suddenly nice again. He could really go for some caffeine right now.

“No. I got everyone else coffees.” Five set the PopTarts and the drink tray on the counter, and handed one of the to-go cups to Klaus. “You get tea.”

Klaus huffed but nonetheless took the cup. He wasn’t gonna whine about it, it was nice enough for Five to get him anything.

“Hixt’shuu!” Klaus rubbed his nose, before sipping at his tea. "Who goes to Griddy's and doesn't get donuts? That should be illegal."

Five set his coffee down and grinned. “Who said we didn’t get-”

"Surprise!"

Klaus nearly spilled his tea. He turned around to see Luther standing behind him, holding up a Griddy’s box like it was a birthday cake. He set it down on the counter and opened it, proudly displaying a half-dozen donuts. Each of the (living) siblings' favorites.

Klaus’ stomach grumbled.

"Are you guys trying to torture me?" he whined. He looked at Allison with pleading eyes. "Can I have one, please? Please?"

Allison smiled at him. "Why do you think I told you not to eat the PopTart, dummy?"

Klaus grinned; yet another oscar-worthy performance from Allison.

Luther passed Klaus his signature donut: frosted and absolutely drenched in rainbow sprinkles. "We knew you'd be starving. After what Diego made you eat for lunch.”

Klaus looked down at his donut like it was the long lost love of his life. "Thanks, guys." He raised it to his lips, but hesitated once it was there. "Won't he be mad?"

Allison licked her lips and smiled. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him." She booped Klaus on the nose.

In response, Klaus wriggled his nose and took a bite out of his donut. His eyelashes fluttered and Allison watched as Klaus hurried to chew and swallow his food. He was pressing his wrist up to his nostrils hard. 

He finally finished swallowing. “hhh’hHHHRENXGHT! Oh, man-ihhhitschiew! kng’t!” He shook his head, as if that proved an effective way to dislodge the tickle. 

“Bless you.” 

Klaus grabbed a napkin out of the box and used it to blow his nose. He then disposed of it, washed his hands, and continued eating his donut. At least his taste-buds were working again.

He had just barely finished it when they heard Diego come in through the front doors. He was followed by a much quieter Vanya. 

“You got donuts? You didn’t let Klaus have one did you?” Diego asked. 

Allison shook her head, “We know what he needs right now, Diego. Not this junk.”

Klaus had to hold back a snicker. Diego gave him an odd look that Klaus played off as him having to sneeze. 

“Okay. Vanya and I are gonna head out to do some errands in a few minutes. Do you losers think you can hold down the fort until I’m back?”

Five rolled his eyes. “The fort has been fine all day and the only person home was Klaus.”

“I want to come,” Klaus said. No one spoke. “On the errands. Really. I’m feeling better.” Diego didn’t looked convinced. “Also...I think I’m close to needing a refill for my inhaler so…”

At the mention of his inhaler, Diego grabbed for the keys. Klaus grinned and told Diego to wait a moment while he fetched his inhaler and put on some new old clothes of Diego’s.

He was wearing thin sweatpants and a crew neck sweatshirt. The sweatpants were grey and the sweatshirt was teal. Klaus liked it. He had felt so colorless lately. 

He whipped his inhaler out of his pocket and tossed it to Diego who was going to be responsible for remembering to get it filled. 

Diego checked the side of it. “This is nowhere near needing a refill.” Nonetheless, he pocketed it. “Better to be safe than sorry, though.”

[moon-mynxie]

i’ve reached 200 followers! yay! have some kakasaku fluff to celebrate!

Strawberries and Wildflowers

Rated T

2.7k of tooth-rotting fluff. Enjoy!

Kakashi had barely taken a step past the village gates before he realized something wasn't quite right. The guards on duty had hunched their shoulders and looked away as soon as he'd arrived, and the few people that walked the streets seemed to dive into the shadows when they saw him approaching. For how they were acting, he may as well have come back to an empty village.

Strange.

Normally, it was impossible for him to avoid the close attentions of the villagers, but now, it was like he didn't even exist. It was a turn of events that usually wouldn't have bothered him were it not for the sinking feeling in his gut.

What exactly was going on?

Picking up the pace, Kakashi headed home as quickly as possible to find the answers for himself. However, when he arrived at the complex he shared with his wife, he was surprised to find it dark and empty. Instantly, his stomach twisted with concern. This wasn't normal.

Where could she be?

It was past midnight, so most of Konoha's businesses were closed. There wasn't really anywhere to go.

Unless…

Turning on his heels, he charged down the stone path in the front yard and stepped back out onto the street. An eerie silence had fallen over the town like a heavy drape, making him more aware of his own beating heart.

If she were in the hospital, someone would have sent a message to inform him, right?

But instead, he was faced with silence.

Something was definitely wrong.

Just as he rounded a corner, Kakashi felt a familiar chakra signature and stopped. Moments later, a dark fuzzy shape materialized before him.

“Pakkun,” he snapped. “What's going on?”

The dog tilted his head slightly, and in the semi-darkness, Kakashi could see a somewhat frantic look on his face.

“I didn’t think you would be back so soon, boss.”

“That's beside the point. Just tell me what's wrong. Why is everyone hiding from me?”

A pause.

“Well…it's Sakura,” the dog murmured. “She's at the hospital and—well, she's—”

Kakashi didn't wait for him to finish.

Hastily, he formed a hand sign for a transportation jutsu and, in a puff of smoke, materialized inside the waiting room of the hospital. His heart was already beating so hard he was sure it would burst right out of his chest, and he could feel small beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

Is it really happening? Right now?

They had planned so diligently for this moment. The restricted eating plans. The breathing exercises. The bizarre yoga poses. He had been right beside her through all of it. And yet he could barely calm himself enough to make his way to the maternity ward. It was as if some invisible force had pinned him to the floor.

But then he heard it, a shriek—very much Sakura's—and his feet were moving all on their own.

Pushing past a group of panicked-looking medics in the hallway, he flew toward the sound, adrenaline pumping wildly through his veins. He had been through rigorous ANBU training and two brutal wars, yet he couldn't recall a moment in his life when he had felt more terrified. This made everything else seem like child's play.

“Sakura!” he called over the piercing sound of her voice. She didn't seem to hear him.

As he came closer to the noise, he could pick out the sounds of objects being thrown across a room, followed by Sakura's words: “I don't understand why everyone in this hospital is so fucking incompetent!”

He slowed a little. She was in her office.

What was she doing there?

After flash-stepping into the room, Kakashi stopped in his tracks.

Sakura was there shuffling about the space, her round belly framed by the thick fabric of her white medic coat, cheeks flushed with anger. There was a group of nurses around her, bowing and nodding fervently as she spoke while also seeming to try to calm her down.  

“Seriously, how can I trust anyone to run this hospital without me?” Sakura growled, shuffling madly through a filing cabinet in the corner of the room. “I'm gone for a few months and all of a sudden you people think you can just rearrange my entire office?”

“But Sakura-sama, the resident chief medic wanted to—”

“I don't care what he wanted!” Sakura snapped as she whipped around to face the group. “This is my office!”

Given the size of her stomach, her vigorous actions would have appeared comical if Kakashi weren't so concerned for her.

What in the world was she doing at work in her state? Especially in the middle of the night?

Instantly, his protective instincts kicked in and he rushed to grab Sakura by the shoulders as she turned back to the filing cabinet.

“Sakura, what the hell are you doing?”

She didn't even turn around to look at him. Instead, she shoved his hands away and continued to rummage through the files. “You better not touch me, old man! What the hell are you doing here, anyway? I thought you had that important conference to attend.”

“Sakura.”

Sensing the tension in the air, the nurses offered stunted farewells and scurried out the door, leaving the couple alone.

Sakura continued to angrily shuffle through the papers, huffing and mumbling (seemingly to herself) about how neglectful and cruel her husband was. Feeling like a helpless child, Kakashi could only reach out for her again. She didn't shove him away this time, but he could feel the anger radiating off her in waves as he gripped her ample waist and turned her around to face him.

“Sakura, I told you I would make it back in time for the delivery, and I did. Why are you so mad?”

“Because you left me during the most stressful time of my pregnancy, Kakashi!” she bit back, jade eyes glistening fiercely.

“Hey, I tried everything in my power to get out of it. Trust me. But I'm the Hokage, sweetheart. If there's conflict in allied countries, I have to be there. I can't help that.” He paused to brush a strand of frazzled hair behind her ear. “Besides, I fought tooth and nail to come back this early. Aren't you happy to see me?”

Sakura clenched her jaw. “I am.”

“Doesn't seem like it.”

“Because I'm mad at you!”

“Well, don't be. Please.” Feeling her chakra flare again, Kakashi cupped her face in his hands in an attempt to soothe her. She glared back at him. “It's not healthy for you to get this worked up.”

“Well, you should have thought of that before you left.”

Wrenching herself away, Sakura started to waddle about the room again, shoving papers into stacks as she grumbled to herself. Kakashi flash-stepped to intercept her, pulling the files out of her hands and setting them on her desk.

“Kakashi, you bastard! Let me get my office back in order! I swear, why can't you just—”

“Why are you here, Sakura?” he demanded. “I know this isn't just about your office. Did the contractions start?”

“No.” She puffed hair out of her face and crossed her arms. “I went into false labor and now they're holding me prisoner.”

Kakashi scrunched his eyebrows. “For how long?”

“Just for tonight. They're putting me on bed rest, too,” she pouted.

“Sakura, if you're supposed to be on bed rest, you shouldn't be storming around like a bull in a china shop.”

“Oh, so now you think I look like a bull?”

“No, no, no. It's just an expression,” he corrected before she had a chance to punch him through the wall. “Just calm down, okay?”

“Or what? Are you gonna make me?”

“If I have to.”

She scoffed. “I'd like to see you try.”

“Okay then.”

“Hey!”

In one swift movement, Kakashi swept his very pregnant wife into his arms and vanished in a puff of smoke. Moments later, they appeared in one of the rooms of the maternity ward. Luckily, the space wasn't already occupied, so he carried the blustering woman toward the hospital bed.

“Ugh, put me down!” Sakura barked, wriggling against his hold.

“I will once you calm down.”

At that, Sakura reluctantly relaxed, but her eyes continued to stab like knives into his very soul. He knew she was incredibly hormonal, but he had to admit her animosity toward him was understandable. He had gone away to that stupid conference in Amegakure while Sakura had been only a couple of weeks from her due date. Granted, every moment apart from her and their unborn child had been hell for him; he had wanted nothing more than to speed up time to the point where they would finally be together again. It was like a piece of him had been missing, and although these weren't the best circumstances, he was suddenly overwhelmed with affection for the fiery woman in his arms.

Gods, he had missed her.

“What's that look about, old man?” Sakura bit out as he gently lowered her onto the bed. She sat stiffly while he fluffed the pillows, but after he removed his Hokage clothes and settled into place beside her, he felt her slacken some.

“I missed you,” Kakashi sighed against her skin. “A lot.”

She made a small sound of contempt as she reclined against his chest and allowed him to cradle her. He glanced down at the smooth curve of her belly and felt a swell of pride at the thought that his child was growing inside her. Quietly, he placed his hands on the soft globe of her stomach and smiled.

“I missed the baby, too.”

“Yeah, right.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I know why you really left, Kakashi.”

A pause.

“Oh? Enlighten me.”

She turned slightly to give him a sharp, accusative look—which would have worried him if she hadn't looked so damn sexy. He knew those eyes of hers would be the death of him one day.

“You've got a mistress, don't you?”

Kakashi's thoughts came to a screeching halt as he stared at his wife. It was as if she had taken a bag of bricks and hit him over the head with it. “What?”

“You changed your mind about having the baby and you wanted to get away from me cause I'm fat and ugly now, right?” Her voice wavered as she looked away, and then her shoulders were shaking in a stifled sob. “And you're annoyed by me constantly crying and yelling, right?”

“Sakura, what the hell are you going on about?”

Anger pierced at Kakashi's chest as he bundled his wife in his arms. When she didn't respond, he pulled her chin toward him with his thumb and forefinger. “Look at me, Sakura.”

His heart throbbed at the flood of tears in her eyes. There was nothing in the world that got him more worked up than seeing Sakura cry. It meant he hadn't done his job in keeping her happy. It meant he had failed her. And that thought was just too much to bear.

Brushing her hair out of her face, he kissed her and then pulled back to give her a hard look.

“No offense, baby, but that is the stupidest fucking thing that has ever come out of your mouth.”

Sakura's lips twisted into a frown. “‘Kashi, you ass.”

He sighed and kissed her again, relishing the way her body softened against him. Her warmth, her scent—everything about her was a permanent part of him now, and he couldn't get enough of it. She was indisputably his. And he was hers. The more she understood that, the happier they would both be.

Shifting his lips to her cheek, and then slowly down her neck, he spoke to her between kisses.

“Sakura, there isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about how drop-dead gorgeous you are,” he murmured. “You're an amazing woman and you're going to be an amazing mother to our child. You're everything to me, and you always will be.”

Slowly, she placed one of her hands over his and let out a sigh. “I'm sorry.”

He planted one more kiss against her neck as he ran his hands over her swollen belly, savoring the heat of her body against his. She was so goddamn perfect; he still couldn't even fathom how lucky he was to find solace in someone as brilliant as her, and he made sure to thank the gods everyday for it. There was no debate that he was the most fortunate man alive.

“It's okay.”

“No, it's not. I've been really rude to you for no reason at all. You've been nothing but supportive and—”

Kakashi placed a palm over her mouth to cut her off, his lips softly grazing against her ear. She smelled like strawberries and wildflowers—a scent that was now seared into his memory even more than his favorite Icha Icha scenes. He could spend all night laying there, simply soaking her in like the sun. He needed her more than she could ever fathom.

“Sakura, it's fine,” he insisted. “You're carrying my child. You could punch me in the face and I'd still be totally amazed by you. Please don't feel guilty about anything.”

A beat.

“Okay.”

Nuzzling her hair, he inhaled the flowery scent of her shampoo as he continued to rub her belly. Gradually, he could feel her sink into his embrace until he was sure she was close to falling asleep. He watched her chest rise and fall with steady, deep breaths and smiled.

Good.

This was how she should be. Relaxed and calm as she allowed him to take care of her. Not only did she deserve it, but it helped to put his own mind at ease. For the past nine months, he had been worrying nonstop about her. Of course, Sakura's independent nature had reared up when he tried too hard to coddle her—but he knew he wouldn't be able to rest until she was perfectly safe and happy. For that reason, the past few weeks had been torture for him. Not knowing how his wife was doing or how she was feeling had taken a toll on him, but now that she was here in his arms, he couldn't find a complaint in the world. Everything was perfect.

“Sakura, you've gotta promise me you won't get worked up like that again,” he whispered into her ear. “It worries me.”

He half expected a sharp retort from her, but instead, she merely bobbed her head in a sleepy nod and nestled her face in the crook of his neck.

Rumbling with amusement, Kakashi pressed his lips against the top of her head. ���Don't worry,” he murmured. “After the baby's born, you can go back to being my naughty little girl.”

“‘Kashi, you pervert,” she snorted.

He smirked and gently squeezed her, glad to lure some form of a laugh out of her. She had been far too serious lately and he had missed seeing her smile; her happiness was infectious, after all.

“I love you, Sakura.”

She let out a small hum and twisted her head to look at him. By now, all the fire was gone from her eyes and was instead replaced by a soft, glowing warmth.

“I love you too, Kakashi.”

With that, he tightened his embrace, pleased that for once he had managed to tame the wild tigress inside her—and it was only a matter of time before he, too, relaxed into the cozy lull of sleep. His trip had been a long one, but he had been so preoccupied with thoughts of Sakura that any form of rest had evaded him. However, now that they had reunited, even the strongest opiate couldn't have competed with the comfort of her presence. It was like a soft blanket that swaddled him in warmth and affection. Sinking further into the feeling, he was met by dreamy visions of his wife with their beautiful child, and even in his half-conscious state, he felt a stir of excitement as he watched her relish the squirming bundle of joy in her arms.

Soon, that dream would become reality, and he was more than ready to share it with the most amazing woman in the world.

[uswntpoet]

Love on the brain (Part 2)

This one is a bit longer. Don’t worry, I still got a lot coming. Thanks for the positive feedback, enjoy guys :)

Like Alex promised Kelley got warmed up again. Indeed, for the rest of the night it got rather hot than warm, so hot that Kelley doesn’t even remember ever feeling cold in her entire life. After a, what both would call, pretty perfect and long night, waking up early is the least thing Kelley wants to do.

“Good morning beautiful, time to get up.” Alex breathes, kissing her way up Kelley’s neck, where she left some tiny marks the night before.

“Ugh, no. Please, just 5 more minutes.” Kelley mumbles, her eyes still closed. Alex continues kissing Kelley’s throat, to wake her up. Just when she thinks Kelley has fallen asleep again, Alex bites down on her neck. This startles Kelley, but instead of getting up, Kelley grabs Alex by the neck and rolls her over, getting on top of her. Alex, who squeals in surprise, knows she is now trapped beneath Kelley and can’t go anywhere. Even though Kelley is a little bit smaller than Alex, she is really strong.

“You are a very naughty girl.” the now very awake Kelley says, pinning Alex’s arms down to the bed, looking directly in her eyes.

Alex swallows hard. Without breaking eye contact and without letting go of Alex’s hands, Kelley moves down her still bare body. She leaves light kisses from her throat, down to her stomach. Alex finds it harder and harder to breath with every kiss and just when Kelley is about to move to the point, she wants her to reach, the phone rings. Both Alex and Kelley groan out in frustration. Alex reaches for her phone, while Kelley lays face down on Alex stomach, sulking over the lost moment.

“Yes?” Alex answers breathlessly, reaching down to stroke Kelley’s hair.

“Am I interrupting something?” Allie asks suspiciously.

“No!” Alex says firmly, while Kelley yells a loud “YES!”, which gains her a light pull of hair.

“Oh, I see. So it seems you two made up again.” Allie says knowingly.

“Yeah, we did.” Alex answers, while Kelley now kisses her belly lovingly.

“Thank god. Al, I’m really sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to let you know that my flight is right on time, if not 10 minutes early.”

“Okay thanks for letting me know, I will send Kel to pick you up then.”

“Tell her to lighten up until then, or I will make her day even worse.” Allie says amused.

“No chance.” Alex laughs, looking down at her very annoyed girlfriend, who is pouting.

“Ugh, see you later!” Allie groans.

“Bye, Allie!”

Alex puts down the phone and watches Kelley amused.

“Of course. Only Allie could ruin a moment like this.” Kelley rolls her eyes.

“Come on get up.” Alex says encouragingly.

“I don’t wanna get up– you’re comfy.” Kelley says hugging Alex’s torso tightly, while nuzzling her face against her stomach.

“She may be 10 minutes early.” Alex urges.

“So? If she would have been 10 minutes later with her call, I still would have been 10 minutes early at the airport and all of us were happy.”

“10 minutes? Really, Kel?!” Alex deadpans.

“I got skills. Don’t think you would have lasted any longer, princess.” Kelley says mischievously, giving Alex a peck on the lips and jumping up as fast as she can, because now she is in trouble.

“Ugh, I hate you sometimes.” Alex yells after her.

“You love me!” Kelley yells back, making her way to the shower.

“More than anything.” Alex sighs to herself, as she hears Kelley first turn on her shower playlist and then the shower itself. Alex thinks about the discussion they had last night and makes a mental note to talk to her manager, when Allie leaves in a few days. She gets up and changes into her training outfit. She and Dave arranged an extra session on finishing for today, so she will meet up with Allie and her girlfriend after. Before she leaves she makes a stop in the bathroom, where she brushes her teeth.

“I texted you the details of Allie’s flight.” Alex says after rinsing.

“Thanks!” Kelley calls over the loud sound of the music playing and the running shower.

“See you later.” Alex says walking toward the shower door, which opens immediately and Kelley’s head pops out.

“Later, baby.” Kelley says leaning in for a kiss, which deepens for a moment.

“Mhhmm.” Alex hums into the kiss. When they part Alex bites her lip, while Kelley eyes Alex’s outfit.

“What? Stop it, you fool.” Alex says, turning red.

“You look beautiful.” Kelley says softly. Alex knows she means it, even though she is wearing no make-up, hasn’t showered yet and wears running tights combined with her USWNT warm up tee.

“As you do.” she answers smiling sweetly. They kiss one more time and after that Kelley’s head disappears in the shower again, so Alex leaves for training.

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“Heartbreaker.” Allie nods towards Kelley as she approaches her at the arrival hall.

“Cockblocker.” Kelley acknowledges moody.

They look at each other seriously for a few seconds, until they can’t hide their smiles anymore and they hug each other tightly.

“I’ve missed you, my Wormy.” Allie says squeezing Kelley’s shoulder, not letting her go.

“I’ve missed you too, Worms.” Kelley says, lightly patting Allie’s back.

“Are you up for breakfast?” Kelley asks, letting go of Allie to help her with her luggage.

“Am I ever not up for breakfast?” Allie jokes, as they walk towards Kelley’s car.

“True.”  Kelley says as she opens the trunk of her white BMW X5.

“So how is your ankle?” Allie asks as they are on the road.

“Getting there. Had my first few sessions with the ball two weeks ago and now the fine tuning begins.”

“Yaaay, sounds like everything is going according to plan, Worms.” Allie smiles.

On their way to pick Alex up, they talk about all sorts of things and fight about where to go for breakfast. Kelley wants to go to a place that has the best coffee in town, while Allie thinks every coffee is good, as long as she gets something to eat. When Kelley pulls up in front of the training soccer hall, Allie is out of the car before she even has stopped the vehicle and the only thing that can be heard are loud squeals escaping Alex and Allie. A few minutes later, the squealing and laughing has ended and they both reenter the car where Kelley, who is greeted with a kiss to the cheek, is waiting patiently.

“Have you guys figured out where we are going?” Alex asks putting on her seatbelt, while Kelley starts to drive towards the coffee shop.

“Since Kelley apparently has become the self-declared coffee guru, we’ll go to some hipster coffee shop.” Allie answers rolling her eyes. Alex laughs loudly and takes Kelley’s hand that is laying on the center console, stroking her thumb across her hand.

“So much for making my day worse.” Kelley says side-eying Allie through the rear mirror, who just sticks out her tongue at her. For the next 10 minutes they are catching up on everything that has happened since they’ve last seen each other.

“Also, Alex this sucker really must be in love with you. I mean I love you too, but it definitely is annoying how much she talks about you. Alex here, Alex there and I only landed 30 minutes ago.” Allie provokes. As a response Kelley lets go of Alex’s hand and reaches back to try to hit Allie, who is ducking from Kelley’s punches. Alex puts her face in her hands and lets out a deep breath.

“Am I surrounded by children?!” she says to herself.

“Worms, you’re gonna get us killed!” Allie screams.

“Wrong, I’m just gonna kill you!” Kelley says as she switches between looking for the red light to turn green and throwing punches at Allie. As Kelley finally lands a hard hit, Allie whines like a 4 year old and Kelley is grinning proudly, satisfied with the outcome.      

When they arrive at the coffee shop, Kelley lets Allie out to save a table for the three of them, while they park the car. As they walk towards the coffee shop, Alex intertwines their hands.

“Babe, you do know that she is just trying to drive you up the wall for fun, right?” Alex says grinning at her girlfriend.

“Of course I know that and she’s going to pay for it.” Kelley laughs. They stop right in front of the coffee shop. Kelley leans in for a sweet kiss, however is interrupted by the sight of Allie sitting at a table, looking out of the coffee shop window and pretending to gag. So instead of proceeding to kiss Alex, Kelley pulls her closer to whisper in her ear.

“Let’s put on a show for that nag.”

That’s just one of the million things Kelley loves about Alex, she is always in for a little bit of fun. Hence, just like Kelley suspected, she plays along. Kelley grabs Alex’s face and takes her in for a very passionate kiss. It is the kind of kiss you spare for the bedroom. Alex’s lips part, as Kelley tries to deepen the kiss by licking along the line where Alex’s lips meet. As soon as the kiss is getting rather wild, Alex’s hands move to rest in the back pockets of Kelley’s jeans. She squeezes tightly, while Kelley lightly dips Alex down as if they were in a romantic movie. It takes Alex by surprise, how the kiss is getting more and more intense every second, which causes her to moan into Kelley’s mouth. Kelley’s tongue snakes over Alex’s skillfully, gaining total dominance over the kiss. She slowly lets go of Alex’s face with one of her hands to flip Allie off, who is rolling her eyes so hard, they might as well fall out. After a long minute the kiss comes to an end and Kelley pulls Alex’s bottom lip between her teeth, biting it playfully. As they pull away, both of their pupils are dilated, their lips are swollen and their breathing is heavy.

“That was fucking hot.” Alex says out of breath, not shifting her gaze from Kelley’s. She is feeling a whole lot of muzzy and most of all pretty turned on.

“Well, I just can’t control myself when I’m around you.” Kelley answers smoothly, hiding the fact that she is definitely feeling hot and bothered, too. She shakes her head to break out of the trance and takes Alex’s hand into her own again, pulling her inside the coffee shop.

“Did you have to do that? Now half of the coffee shop is horny and the other half has thrown up their breakfast.” Allie says disgusted.

“And where do you consider yourself on the spectrum?” Alex says messing with Allie.

“Ouch! That’s my girl!” Kelley says proudly, grinning like a child on Christmas Day and holding her hand up to high five Alex.

“First of all, ew! Second of all, if I would have eaten by now, I would be puking my gut out.” Allie says annoyed.

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After they had breakfast, they move on to do some Christmas shopping. At one point, Alex remembers that she wanted to buy her mom a bag at Macy’s, which they had seen together last weekend, when her parents visited Kelley and her in New York. Since the store is really full around Christmas, Alex suggests that she just quickly buys the bag, while Kelley and Allie wait outside, which they happily accept.

“What are you getting Alex for Christmas?” Allie asks curiously.

“Do you remember the watch Alex talks about since years?”

“The one she saw at Tiffany’s and that wasn’t available, because it was only made once?” Allie asks puzzled. Kelley nods.

“Kel…you did not…” Allie says slowly.

“Yeah, actually I did.”

“Kel, that watch costs a fortune! No fucking way, how?” Allie says bewildered.

“Well, I was looking for engagement rings and when I contacted the staff at Tiffa–“ Kelley starts, but gets interrupted by Allie’s fist grabbing her by the collar of her shirt, pushing her up against the wall.

“YOU DID WHAT?” Allie yells, causing some pedestrians to halt, who Kelley just nervously smiles at and signs that everything is fine.

“Kelley Maureen O’- fucking-Hara!!”

“A–A–Allie I can’t br–eath.” Kelley rasps, gripping Allie’s hand to try to loosen it a little bit, but Allie has a death grip on her.

“Are you serious?!” Allie screams at her disbelievingly. Kelley just nods at her, sweat forming on her forehead.

“That’s not how this goes, you dumbass! All casual and cool. ‘Oh, by the way Allie I’m proposing to your best friend, but let me talk about my Christmas gift instead.’” Allie says aggravated, mocking Kelley with a dumb voice.

Kelley winces and swallows hard, while Allie still holds her up against the wall. Actually, she starts to wonder where all of this strength is coming from, since Allie lets Bati carry her bag after 15 minutes of holding it, because it is “too heavy”.

“No I–I wasn’t planning on doing that anymore. Eh I–I mean I want to, b–but not right now, not after yesterday. I’m not what she deserves…" Kelley lets her head hang, frustrated with herself.

“Listen up, you stupid bastard! You two are perfect for each other! You’ve always been. There is no one for Alex except you and I know that all you see is her, too.” Allie yells at her, shaking her a bit.

“How can you beat yourself up that much after one stupid discussion?! You love each other. Usually, you’re not like that. What is going on?” Allie asks getting softer spoken with every sentence, letting Kelley down slowly, who gasps for air.

“I–I don’t know Allie… I just–yesterday she was ready to give up everything for me and I know that’s not what makes her happy in the long run. I don’t want to chain her to me. She deserves so much more and I couldn’t stand to take all that away from her. I can’t stand in the way of that. It would all be so much easier, if we at least would live together, but that’s not possible.”

“Kelley, just what you said now shows exactly why you are the only one who is right for Alex. And don’t tell me you think she is going to be any happier without you. How about you forget what you think she needs and actually ask her what she wants?” Allie urges.

“Allie, I know what she wants, she is happy in Orlando. The club is treating her right and it reminds her of home. It always was her dream to play at a surrounding that is a tiny bit like California since she already misses it so much. I’m just her girlfriend and this can’t happen just because of me.” Kelley says hopelessly.

“Kelley, trust me, I think you two should really talk about what you want and maybe she doesn’t feel this way about Orlando anymore…” Allie suggests urgently.

“Do you know something I don’t?” Kelley asks confused.

“Maybe…” Allie says nervously, looking behind her. Kelley narrows her eyes at Allie.

“Okay, I see what you are doing here. Stop distracting from the fact that you fucking shopped for engagement rings.” Allie says getting angry again, poking Kelley in the chest. “You should ask her! I mean it! And don’t you dare suggest for someone else to be the maid of honor than me! So stop sulking in self-pity and grow some balls! And Kelley?” Allie says warningly.

“Y–yeah?” Kelley answers intimidated.

“If you mess this up one more time I will rip out your throat and eat–“ Allie says angrily, pushing Kelley up against the wall one more time, as Alex suddenly stands behind them.

“ – it” Allie finishes, losing her grip and dropping a disheveled looking Kelley back onto her own feet. They both stare at Alex with wide eyes.

“What the fuck are you guys doing?” Alex asks angrily. Her eyes dart back and forth between the both of them. When she looks at Kelley her gaze looks worried, which switches into anger when she looks at Allie. At this point Kelley jumps in, while straightening her shirt.

“Nothing babe! We were just talking, right Allie?” Kelley says nervously.

Allie nods quickly and steps in to help Kelley.

“Yeah, eh – actually we were just making fun of your stupid fight yesterday and I – I showed Kelley how I would have reacted, if she wouldn’t already have been on her way back to you when I called her last night, correct Kel?” Allie stammers.

“Exactly!” Kelley says as quickly as the words can leave her mouth. Alex musters them closely, looking at them as if they were completely insane, which isn’t far from how the both of them are feeling right now.

“You’re acting really weird…” Alex says slowly.

“Babe, did you tell Allie about how I surprised you two weeks ago?” Kelley asks and she feels as if she had a supernatural epiphany. Her flash of genius is rewarded with silent cheers and a fist pump dance by Allie. The both of them know that when Alex is really proud of something and especially if it is something Kelley did, she will happily talk about it for hours. A trait, which Kelley usually finds really endearing, but right now she takes advantage of it like Allie takes advantage of an All-you-can-eat when she’s hungry.

“Aww, babe! Oh my god, Allie I wish you would have been there. Actually, Kelley is just the sweetest person ever. I didn’t know she would already be in New York and then she stood there at the airport and when I saw her…” Alex starts and after that everything in front of Kelley turns into a silent movie. Kelley puts her arm around Alex’s shoulder, who instantly reaches up to intertwine their hands. As Alex keeps on talking, she plays with Kelley’s fingers. Kelley’s attention is drawn towards Alex’s ring finger, which is still bare. As Kelley looks up again, Alex wears the most gorgeous smile she has ever seen, her beautiful eyes sparkling. Ranting on about how much she loves Kelley and her ability to surprise her like that, she looks at Kelley repeatedly with a look that displays nothing but pure love and adoration. This whole moment makes Kelley come to a realization. They start walking back to their apartment and Kelley thanks god that Allie and her got out of that number.

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After Kelley and Alex helped Allie getting settled in their guest room, Kelley announces that she has to solve some scheduling problems with her manager and excuses herself to do some “boring paperwork”, which leaves Alex and Allie on their own. They decide to get their nails done in the salon down the street and start to coordinate their plans for the evening. On their way home they buy some groceries for dinner. Waiting at the cash register, Alex turns to look at Allie uneasily.

“What?” Allie asks alarmed.

“What was going on between you and Kel outside of Macy’s?” Alex interrogates.

“Eh–“ Allie nervously looks around, searching for any kind of distraction.

“Allie!” Alex calls sternly, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Is she breaking up with me?” Alex asks with a small voice and in a tone that sounds heartbreaking to Allie.

“WHAT? NO, Al! Why would you think that?” Allie asks shocked, uncrossing Alex’s arms to hold her hands.

“Because first of all, you were about to kill her when I got outside. Second of all, I don’t know what’s going on anymore. Since yesterday I have this feeling that I don’t really know everything I thought I did. How could I not have seen that she suffers that much?” Alex says bewildered.

“Alex, come on you can’t see everything.”

“Yeah, but usually I do. How could I let this slip, out of all things?”

“Al, you are thousands of miles away, you-“

“Since months Allie! This must be going on since fucking months!!!” Alex interrupts Allie aggravated.

“Don’t act like you don’t know that Kelley always tries to put your well-being over everything. She would lose a leg for you. Which is probably why, she did everything in her power to hide that she is suffering this much. Ever thought about that?” Allie reasons.

“But exactly this scares me Allie. Yesterday when she left she said that she needs me to be happy and can’t stand in the way of that. I swear the way she said it, it sounded like she broke up with me.”

“Do you love her?” Allie asks seriously.

“What? Are you joking? Of course I love her! More than anything.” Alex says offended and irritated by the question.

“Do you love her more than your career?” Allie goes on carefully. Alex looks at Allie confused, but as the seconds go by realization dawns on her.

“I do…” Alex says quietly, shocked by the new won insight. Alex always thought her career was the most important factor in her life, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t at all and to be honest she had realized it a long time before, but saying it out loud changed everything.  

“Then maybe you should tell her that.” Allie says quietly, watching Alex’s emotions going from shock to realization.  

“Al, I really love you, but with all due to respect, is this club really the only club exhausting your potential as much as you need it to be? What does Orlando really mean to you? Isn’t there a possibility that another club will make you just as happy, if not even happier? Kelley thinks she is standing in your way, because she knows what your career means to you. She thinks it’s either her or your career and dreams, which is why she walked out on you last night.” Allie says honestly. Alex looks at Allie speechlessly, paralyzed by the conversation.

“Sorry, I…that wasn’t my place to say th–“Allie starts, but gets interrupted by a bone crushing hug.

“I love you Allie, you’re the best friend anyone could ask for.” Alex says a tear rolling down her face.

“I love you, too. I hope you do realize that I’m the perfect and only candidate for the maid of honor, should you ever get married.”

“Without a doubt, but don’t you dare kill my wife before that day.” Alex laughs.

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Back in the apartment Alex and Allie cook lunch for the three of them. A few minutes before the food is ready, Alex heads for Kelley’s home office, where she is standing over her table reading some kind of paper, talking to someone on the phone. Her tone is very serious and her body language shows that she is in control of the conversation, which Alex finds extremely sexy. Everything about Kelley screams power in that moment and Alex loves it. She approaches Kelley and sneaks her arms around her, hugging her from behind and brushing her lips along her neck, inhaling her scent. Kelley, who hadn’t realized they were home again, tenses up, startled by someone being home, but relaxes right away when she realizes that it is Alex.

“Yes, sir. Thank you for your time. I will discuss the issue as soon as possible. If everything is working out, I will send you the contract and talk to the department again for the documents.” Kelley says eloquently, kissing Alex’s temple as she switches her phone form one ear to the other. There is a deep voice on the other side of the phone call, but Alex can’t make out what they are saying.

“No really, it is my pleasure. Thank you, have a nice day.” Kelley ends the call, putting her phone in her back pocket. Just for a few seconds they stay put, until Kelley takes one of Alex’s hands and kisses her knuckles, while turning around and pulling her closer, so there is no space between them. Alex’s arms now rest on Kelley’s shoulders, her hands dangling in the air behind her head, while Kelley grips her by the waist, brushing her thumps up and down her rib cage.

“Do you have to work much longer?” Alex whispers, staring deep into Kelley’s eyes.

“How am I supposed to work when such a breathtakingly beautiful woman is distracting me?” Kelley whispers back.

“What were you working on anyway?” Alex says leaning in for a kiss, which Kelley happily accepts.

“Just some paperwork for a commercial and stuff.” Kelley responds turning around to put away the documents laying on her desk.

“You talked about a contract?”                                        

“You, my lady, are much too curious.” Kelley says turning towards Alex giving her multiple quick kisses. Kelley goes silent for a moment, looking at Alex as if she was trying to ask her a question. Alex encourages her by giving her a look that says, ‘you can tell me everything’.

“Al, I have to ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“What do you want?” she blurts out, immediately shaking her head. Alex looks at her questioningly.

“Eh- I mean- okay let me rephrase this. What about the future? Where do you see yourself? Eh- I’m not really good at that.” Kelley says unsure of herself, looking anywhere but Alex’s eyes.

“Listen Kelley, I want to be with you. No matter where this is.”

“But, you love Orlando.”

“I do. But Orlando is not the only place in the world with a good team. There are so many opportunities and so many great clubs, you know that yourself.”

“Still, a club has to be able to enhance your game. It has to bring out the best in you.”

“We still have a choice. We are in control of that and maybe there will be an opportunity, where our clubs are only 1-2 hours away and everything will be easier. Also, this is not about me. This is about us. You love Utah as well.”

“I do. But I have to know if you are sure of that. I don’t think I could stand seeing you unhappy, just because of me.”

“I know I always said I wanted to be at my best, and I also know that I thought the club had a huge roll in that.”

“It has.”

“Yes, it has, but so have I. And to be totally honest, I came to the realization that I’m only at my best when I’m with you. That’s the only thing I’m sure of and it is never going to change. Are you sure as well?”

“I am.” Kelley says confidently.

“Okay.” Alex says softly, a smile on her face.

“Okay.” Kelley says smiling at her brightly.

“Why did you come in again?” Kelley asks.

“Lunch’s ready in 5.”

“Mhm, I already have plans for lunch.” Kelley says picking Alex up and throwing her over her shoulder, which causes Alex to scream.

“Let me down you maniac!” Alex laughs loudly. Kelley walks out of the office, a giggling Alex in tow. Alex hits Kelley’s butt, but she isn’t bothered by it.

“Help! Allie! Help me!” Alex shrieks loudly.

“Not my problem.” Allie sing songs, stirring the chicken. Arriving in the kitchen, Kelley puts Alex down, who leans in for a kiss once again.

“I could kiss you all day long.” Alex mumbles, her eyes closed.

“You two are disgusting.” Allie groans focusing on the frying pan, meanwhile Alex gives Kelley a look and signals towards Allie. They come up on either side of her and give her a kiss on either cheek, which makes Allie jump in surprise.

“I hate you guys.” Allie says defeated.

“You love us.” Kelley says smugly, grinning at her.

“To be honest I love Alex, but I hate you Worms.” Allie corrects her.

“Whatever floats your boat, Long.” Kelley says winking at her.  

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After lunch Kelley and Allie went to an indoor soccer pitch to train for a bit. Meanwhile, Alex had a meeting with a sponsor and after that went to watch the rest of the match they arranged with some other guys playing there for fun.

“What did you guys agree on for tonight?” Kelley asks stretching her sore muscles, her hair still wet from showering. Alex is already waiting for them, when they are coming out of the locker room.

“Do you know someone who throws a party tonight?” Allie asks excitedly. Everybody in the US Women’s National Team knows, if you want to be invited to a good party, you just need to know Kelley. Even though there is a huge discussion going on, if Kelley herself is the key to a good party, or if she just knows the right people. However, there is a reason her former team mates started to call her frat daddy.

“Do I know someone who throws a party? Allie, is that even a question?” Kelley laughs ironically.

“I was hoping for that answer.” Allie cheers.                    

“So you’re in babe?” Alex asks Kelley expectantly.

“Why is everybody doubting me today? I’m always in for a party.” Kelley comments, pretending to be offended.

[i-see-thevision]

Familiar Faces

• Prologue •

Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3

Genre: Mafia!AU

Pairing: Wonwoo x reader (ft. the rest of Seventeen)

Word Count: 2.1k

Summary: When you make a wrong turn on your way to visit family, you end up meeting some familiar faces and unintentionally get sucked down memory lane. Now, you’re reliving the past along with your former best friend. The only thing is... he’s much more dangerous now than he was before.

• • •

“Recalculating.” The automated voice said for the fifteenth time on this stupid trip.

Your GPS was working like shit in this dead zone. 

“You know what? Shut the fuck up.” You spat, turning the GPS off with a huff. You turned to look back out towards the road, noticing all the slightly familiar surroundings. 

“I’ll just figure out how to get their myself.” You declared, beginning to navigate your way to your parent’s house in your head. You debated just going back home. You didn't even want to visit your parents, they never gave a shit about you. Yet here you were, still reaching out. 

You were doing fine while on the highway. That was until you forgot which exit you were supposed to be taking. You hummed as you tried to remember. You passed exit 16, then 17, then 18. 

“Ugh I don't know.” You scolded yourself, saying ‘screw it’ in your head before taking exit 19.

When you got off the exit, you merged into the right lane. You took a look around and recognized absolutely nothing. You sighed, knowing you were definitely lost. You decided that it would probably be a good idea to ask for directions at this point. So you looked for a place to stop. Which wasn't difficult because this was a pretty big city. Convenient.

You pulled into a hotel, because they meet people from everywhere, someone there must know their way around. You locked your car door and walked through the parking lot to get to the entrance of the hotel.

But your attention was caught by the distant sound of a gun shot. Distant, but not too distant. You guesstimated the shooter to be approximately 60 feet away. Memories from the past flooded your head. The alarming sound put you into an entirely different mindset, one that was ready for whatever was coming. 

You see, your brother Changkyun used to be in this gang, before he was killed because of said gang. You were not a member of it, however you did work with them on occasion. You were an extremely skilled hacker. Technology was your language and his gang needed help sometimes. And unfortunately, you could never say no to your brother. You never fought though, you barely even knew how to hold a gun. However, working closely with a gang meant you witnessed a whole lot of death.

And that included the death of your best friend, Wonwoo. Whom you were actually in love with at the time. He didn't know the people you were involved with. He didn't deserve what happened to him. And you struggle with not blaming yourself for his death. 

A rival gang, Seventeen, wanted you dead. Because as a hacker, you had every means of blackmail on them as possible. But the leader of the rival gang, S.Coups (who you knew extremely well because you had been kidnapped by him before) knew he couldn't kill you because Changkyun would kill him. So he did the next best thing.

He kidnapped your best friend.

You’re not even sure how he figured out the people you were close to. You were very discreet about your social life for that very reason. But none the less, they kidnapped Wonwoo and killed him. And that broke you.

That is actually what prompted you to finally leave that life behind and start a new one. You were now a Software Development Engineer, making a little over six figures a year. You had a great apartment overlooking the Seoul. You had some friends but no one super close, you couldn't bring yourself to try and replace Wonwoo. 

A second gunshot brought you out of your thoughts.

You knew it was probably a bad idea, but you walked towards the direction of the gunshots. Your previous life bringing back memories just kinda drew you towards the sound. 

You kept walking until you reached a sort of ally way. Yeah there was no way you were going down there. Not a chance. You decided to just drop it and go back to the hotel, so you turned around to head back.

That was your first mistake.

Before you could take another step, what seemed like a pillowcase was pulled over your head. And before you could scream, a cloth was pressed against your nose and mouth. You knew exactly what this was, chloroform. And the next thing you knew, you were unconscious. 

You don’t know how long you were unconscious for, but you knew how bad this situation was. A million possible reasons went through your head, but only one stuck. S.Coups had finally found you and now that your brother was gone, he would kill you. You tried to pull your arms from your restraints, but no use. You were tightly tied to a chair. You sighed in exasperation and prepared for the worse.

You didn’t know exactly what would happen, but you certainly didn’t think what did happen would.

You heard a door open, and foot steps walk towards you. Then suddenly the bag that was over your head was pulled off abruptly, you hair flying in all directions. You blew the hair out of your face and shook your head a bit. You then looked up at the person who had taken off the bag.

He was quite cute, and looked a little younger than you. You felt a pang in your chest at the thought of someone so young being caught up in this life. But your first priority was getting out of here, and you knew exactly where you were. You had been tied to this exact chair in this exact room too many times before. You also knew that the only way to get out of this was by talking to S.Coups himself.

“I see S.Coups has been recruiting.” You said calmly. You were getting out of this alive, and the only way to do that was to not be intimidated.

Clearly he didn’t expect you to know his gang, most definitely not his leader. He didn’t say anything. He just looked at you with a surprised expression. He looked so innocent, but unfortunately you knew the horrors he has seen. You knew his innocence had been ripped from him.

“Look, I’ve been down this road too many times before. I’ve been tied to this chair too many times before. Just let me talk to S.Coups, please.” You said, clearly tired of this situation.

“They didn’t tell me you knew us?” He said, his voice deeper than you thought it would be. He seemed like a good kid, so you decided to indulge in this conversation.

“It’s been a little while but I used to be very familiar with the members of this gang. Especially your leader.” You say, sighing from the pain you were beginning to feel in your wrists due to your restraints. The boy noticed.

“Were you like... affiliated with us?” He asks cautiously, not wanting to overstep boundaries.

“Oh no, I used to sort of work with Monsta X. I’m sure you’re aware of who they are. But I have not been affiliated with anyone for over a year now. So I really don’t know what S.Coups is up to.” You admitted honestly. The boy looked at you like he wanted to help you. But you both knew he couldn’t.

“Out of curiosity, how old are you?” You then added. He looked a bit hesitant to answer. But it seems like he might have a bit of trust towards you now.

“I’m 20.” He says, and you almost flip out.

“Hold up what? S.Coups is recruiting kids now? Look kid I know you don’t know me but you gotta get out of this life. And believe me, I’m telling you this from experience.” You jumble out, completely baffled and quite frankly concerned for this kid.

“Hey I’m not even the youngest! Dino’s the youngest!” He defends, you understand. No one in this line of work likes being called a kid. But then the thought of someone being younger than him in this gang concerned you even more.

“Excuse me there’s someone younger than 20 in this gang are you kidding me? Where’s S.Coups I need to have a chat with him right now.” You say fidgeting to get out of your restraints. The legs of the chair scuffing along the floor at your movements.

And as if on cue, S.Coups opens the door and walks in. A few others behind him. All of which you recognize. Jeonghan, his right hand. Hoshi, the one that makes the drugs. And Woozi, the torture expert. You and Woozi have met under the most unfortunate and unforgettable of circumstances.

“Ah, there she is.” S.Coups smiles while clasping his hands together. You roll your eyes at his playful antics. You would probably be friends with S.Coups if he didn't kill your best friend. Murder kinda puts a damper on a relationship.

“Okay so you have a lot of explaining to do. But first off, why the hell have you recruited a 20 year old and apparently someone younger than that? Are you insane? They’re kids!” You burst, already wanting these ropes untied so you can hit him.

“They aren't kids anymore y/n. And they don't have anywhere to go. I’ve given them a family, you of all people should know that.” He explains, remaining calm and collected. 

“Oh I of all people should now that, huh? Where’s my family, S.Coups? Where’s the only person I had that wasn't corrupted by a gang? Why don’t you tell me where he is? Or right, you killed him! My Wonwoo, you fucking killed him!” You spat, tears beginning to well in your eyes. But you held them back, there was no way you were going to cry in front of him. The other four in the room perked up for some reason, all looking at each other and exchanging similar looks. S.coups even seemed alarmed for a minute, before giving the four a look. 

“Look, y/n. I didn’t bring you here to kill you. I brought you here because as much as I don’t want to say this... I need your help.” S.Coups then says, catching you off guard. 

“You need my help? Need my help with what?” You ask, incredulously. Never in your life did you think S.Coups would ever come to you for help. 

“There’s been a breech in our system. All our hideout locations are out there for everyone to see and we don’t know who did it. All we know is that it’s someone from another gang threatening us.” He explains, his seriousness coming back. 

“And you want me to secure the breech?” You finish, already knowing what he wants you to do. He nods.

“You’re the best hacker I know, none of my guys have been able to do it.” He then says, earning an annoyed look from the 20 year old kid who’s name you still don’t know. 

“I’m guessing you’re one of the hackers here.” You say, nodding towards the kid. He nods and looks down. 

“Hey, this profession takes years master, you have time.” You assure, not wanting the kid to beat himself up. He perked up at that. And you turned your attention back to S.Coups. 

“Alright, I’ll help you. But what do I get out of this?” You accept, but not without getting something in return. He looked pleased with himself, a smug look on his face. It made you feel uneasy.

“You get to join Seventeen.” He states, you’re eyes almost popped out of your head. 

“What are you talking about? Why would I do that? Why would you want that?” You fired question after question, not understanding what was going on through his head. He looked at you with a different expression, a softer expression.

“Y/n, I’m sorry for trying to kill you. I’m sorry for what happened to your brother. And I’m sorry for Wonwoo. I let hatred for your brother alter my opinion of you, and that’s not right. It wasn't your fault he was in Monsta X. And I’m sorry for that. But you have skills. And more importantly, you have morals. You would be a fine asset for this gang. And we would protect you like family.” He suddenly said, all at once. That was a lot to take in. But for some reason you found his offer quite appealing. You had to admit you missed the action, missed the feeling of doing something important and useful. Missed a family...

You guess that’s what prompted you to agree to this. And S.Coups then ordered the young kid to untie your wrists. And as soon as the were off, you stood up and hesitated before walking closer to S.Coups. 

“I forgive you. And I’m sorry for trying to blackmail you guys.” You said holding out your hand for him to shake. He did and chuckled, a genuine smile gracing his lips. All the animosity left you two in that moment. 

“Welcome to Seventeen, y/n.”

• • •

A/N: OKAY SO PROLOGUE. Thank you for reading my lovelies <3

[drivingsideways]

Episode 17 & 18

EPISODE 17 IS A BAD EPISODE WORST EPISODE BECAUSE THEY KILL ZHU YIN FOR LITERALLY NO REASON. 

*angry noises *

ok *deep breath *

-Such an A+ conversation between XZ and Ning Yi, where Ning Yi is totally focused on rescuing Feng Zhiwei while  XZ is completely focused on how they can bring down Ning Chuan, now that they know the Blood Pagoda faction was hiding in Qingming Academy (which, btw, WHAT THE FUCK Ziyan??? They were there 18 years!!! Of course, in his defense, we don’t know when XZ became head of Qingming, it may have been in the last 5-10 years. STILL.)

Anyways, that’s when we get that great line”Are you going to let one single pawn destroy your Go board” 

OOOOPS. 

- Honestly, there was no need for Zhu Yin’s death- just convenient for manpain purposes- UGH. Also, XZ’s reaction- which is to immediately ask “why??” instead of being like distressed about her death is nicely consistent with his persona. How many people does XZ actually care for? Fewer than Ning Yi, apparently. 

Also, I 100% believe that XZ doesn’t try very hard to find Feng Zhiwei and rescue her, because he’s hoping that Bloody Pagoda and the Crown Prince will solve that problem for him, without him having to do anything about it- if he did something himself, it is clear that the Prince of Chu will break with him, and he can’t afford that.

-Ning Yi actually yelling at his men to go get Feng Zhiwei- an excellent touch- we never actually see him behave with anything less than courtesy, and usually with a lot more friendliness with his subordinates, so when he yells, they’re like WOW SERIOUS BUSINESS. 

-Ning Yi’s handling of Official Wu’s spying- again, nice touch. He’s able to read people as well as be compassionate about them, especially if they are in subordinate positions, which is, in general, a talent the other brothers absolutely lack. 

-Feng Zhiwei’s willingness to take responsibility for the stableboy’s death- her honour code is SO STRONG. Again, as I said, the writers’ end decision re: her fate is making more sense to me now, as one possible ending for that character even though it actually breaks my heart. Because, I’ll say it again, with that kind of character, what should have happened is that after her family’s unjust death, she should have become the leader of a rebellion against Tiansheng- not just for personal revenge, but for bringing down an unjust and cruel empire. And really, they had entirely set up the background for that- Feng Zhiwei’s acquiring of friends/allies, her demonstrated capability in administration and military, her strong moral code- all of this set was RIGHT THERE, and they didn’t go for it, for reasons that idk, may have to do with budget or network or something- I just don’t get it. :/ 

-”Little cat” has nine lives- WHY CAN’T THIS BE THE FORESHADOWING SHOW. SHE BARELY USED UP- WELL, MAYBE FIVE- BUT STILL SHE HAD PLENTY LEFT FOR THAT LAST ONE TO BE COMPLETELY FAKE. 

also oh no, Ning Yi taking the hair ornament which he thinks is the only thing he has left of her- nicely ties in with the hair ornament he makes for her later, in Minhai. GODDAMMIT SHOW, WELL PLAYED. 

THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES ARE JUST PURE PAIN AND SHIP JOY/PAIN

“They died because of me”

“But you’re still alive”

And that argument is repeated at least two times. 

like, Ning Yi feels guilt over their deaths, especially Zhu Yin’s, but right now the one thing that he most cares about is that she’s alive

and honestly, that, right there is the fundamental disconnect between their world views, I think? Like Ning Yi is a royal, and one result of that upbringing is to fundamentally see the world in a hierarchy, and themselves as the top of that. e He is this person who puts all his love and devotion on specific people who are worthy of that love- his mother, Ning Qiao and now Feng Zhiwei.  And if they are necessary to him, then by extension they are necessary in the world. And of course, the traumatized child in him knows only too well how they can be snatched away from him, hence his desperation, when Feng Zhiwei is taken from him. Of course he would, then, do anything to keep her with him. 

But Feng Zhiwei who’s been brought up as a commoner-  or perhaps as a result of her training with Master Zong, and her experiences as the “unwanted relative”- for her, her individual life has no greater value than anyone else’s life. She has very fundamentally egalitarian views of the world, which Ning Yi doesn’t. Oh, he wants to improve the system from within- but at no point does he want to overthrow the entire structure. And yet, I do think, if Feng Zhiwei had been given the means that Ning Yi has, she would have. 

-Listen the whole drama around the “Ultimate Scholar” was OTT, but forever let us remember Ning Yi crying about Feng Zhiwei hitting it out of the park

LOOK  AT THIS FACE IT’S LIKE HE CAN’T HIDE HOW MUCH HE ADORES HER FOR EVERYTHING SHE IS HE IS LITERALLY IN TEARS

AND DO YOU BLAME HIM

GET YOU A GIRL WHO LOOKS LIKE A GODDESS WHILE SCHOOLING AN EMPEROR ABOUT GOVERNANCE

*chinhands *

[shtish]

Just do the whole 1 through 35 of the dnd asks, you know you want to

@alextblue​ said: “For the DnD ask: 1, 2, 31, 32, 33″

So you’re both getting what you want, let’s get into this thing! I’ll put it under a readmore, because holy shit will this thing get long.

1. A favorite character you have playedIf I really have to choose… I loved playing Thora Snowfoot, my 11ft tall, draft horse-based centaur. Started out as a life cleric, but in the end killed her goddess and became one herself. (Long story short, the original goddess was basically lying to part of her worshippers and also causing the world to die, so Thora and the rest of her party decided to put a stop to it, and succeeded!) Although I’ve also recently enjoyed playing Bottle-O-Wine, a grumpy Kobold who has a drinking problem and a giant rivalry with another party member. Also Margret, the escaped biological experiment (dragonborn but reflavored) and a bardlock whose idea of being smooth when teleporting into a room she shouldn’t be in is saying “I was looking for the toilet?” before teleporting out again.

2. Your favorite character that someone else has playedEmmmmm… I think Tizen would be my favorite. Also from the Thora campaign (which was called Sever btw), but he was a very edgy warlock, whose patron was Thora’s goddess in her not-lying form. We called his race Fiends, basically a fancy way of saying “satyr” (minus the horny connotations… Well technically he had horns BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN)

3. Your favorite side questOkay, so this wasn’t technically a side quest in the traditional sense, but it was one of the most emotional moments from the Sever campaign to me. You need to know a bit of background about Thora for this: Thora became a cleric of Epona because of her mentor Rotlaus, an elderly centaur who saved her after she pissed off a moose. The animal broke her hind leg, and if it hadn’t been for Rotlaus stepping in and scaring it off she would have died. He then introduced her to Epona, and she learned pretty much everything from him. This was all fine and dandy, until the mindflayer invasion happened, and we all needed to storm a castle to get to the next barrier. We made the mistake of storming the wrong one, and Rotlaus died a horrible death while our party was teleported to safety. But what we did not know, was that the Stillborn God (god of death) gave Rotlaus the choice to return as a revenant, and to go around the country killing people to create a mindless undead army. Thora learned about someone killing entire villages, and heard murmurs of this killer being Rotlaus. She tried to contact him through Sending, which worked, but not well enough to actually have a long conversation. So she went to him on her own, to understand what had happened. It was at this point she learned he was a revenant, and she could not get him to stop murdering whoever was around to create this army. She left very distressed and feeling super guilty, and Rotlaus took his army to the city of Aesengaard. Thora swore to herself that come what may, she would find the way to fix this, asking her goddess for help. Epona went “No can do, he’s the Stillborn God’s property now”, and Thora got more determined to Fix This Shit.Fast forward to a few months later, when she learns that Epona is also Shub Niggorath, who used to be a powehungry Alhun named Glyoc. Thora gets very fucked up about this because she’s spent almost all of her life serving a lie, loses most of her magical power, and has to realize that she is her own power. Goddess or no goddess, Thora is the one that protected her friends, not Epona. She undergoes a ritual with the help of her friends (fucking emotional moment as well, as they have to give their favorite memories of Thora to help her stay grounded and herself and UGH MY HEART), which ends in her ascending to fucking godhood on her own.-This is where the favorite side quest comes in. Because Thora goes back to Aesengaard. Back to the army of shadows, back to her revenant mentor, and stands before them all. And she offers them a choice. Because they were murdered where they stood, and raised again to become an army to fight an enemy without getting a chance to say no. Because Rotlaus was given a choice with strings attached that he did not fully understand. Because he would never have gone around murdering people if he had had a proper choice. Because it was not fair. She could now offer them the choice. No strings attached. If they wanted to continue and fight, they could. If they wanted to go home, they could. No conditions. No fine print. “Under whose authority?” asks her mentor.”Mine.” Thora lifts her staff, and brings it down on the ground. A wave of energy comes off of her, weaving through the crowd of silent shadows, rippling outward through the ruins of Aesengaard.Nothing stirs. Until something does. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a shimmer of color come back into the form of a shade. And slowly, flesh starts to knit together. Some figures hesitate, but then they too begin to materialize. Clothes are torn, but visible. Hair flutters in the soft breeze, and feet shuffle on the floor. She is surrounded by a crowd of breathing, living people. There is no divine presence here. It’s just her, and them. An army of former shadows. Who have a choice now. And then someone collapses. And another. And another. They stop breathing and close their eyes, and simply fall to the ground. Her heart stops in her chest as she looks at what is happening around her. Has she done something wrong? Is Shub behind this? Did she make a mistake?And then she looks at their faces. They are peaceful. And as Rotlaus sinks to the ground, he looks up and smiles at her. His old smile. The one she hasn’t seen in a long time.”Thank you…”-Thora Snowfoot lifts her staff and brings it down on the ground again, harder. The earth begins to rumble as the buildings of the abandoned city begin to collapse into fissures that pull apart all around her. The bodies fall too. A perfect 200 foot circle of rubble forms around her, finally bringing the dead to rest. She lifts her head, smiles, and sends a message to her home.There is peace in Aesengaard.

4. Your current campaignThe newest one we’re playing and planning on keeping going long term is called Four Color Engine, but we’re also playing one called Happy Trails (which is underwater, pirate-ish, and definitely dark in many places). Another friend of mine is also running one placed in the MtG universe, which is also great fun.

5. Favorite NPCI think that spot goes to Tezzeret in the Kaladesh campaign (the MtG one). In that campaign, we had a joke session where we would NOT deal with the boss, due to some of our players being out. So the rest of us decided we’d use magic to pretend to send him a letter from Tezzeret’s future self, so he would allow our super powerful allies to join us in a dinner at his place. He gets the letter, kiiind of believes it due to our swashbuckler’s mad forgery skills, and casts commune with planes… And promptly loses his entire memory because the spell misfires. We took him in, then some random vampire ripped his arm off, and my first character gets to the scene first and frantically tries to stop the bleeding. Later that evening, she brings him a cup of tea and they have a long talk about how you can change for the better, even if you have done terrible things. This later turned into her becoming his secretary, them fleeing from the cops, and eventually settling in a cottage with goats on another plane… Only to promptly get targeted by an assassin and having to find Tezzeret new legs due to assassin-removal. /The shenanigans of Suki and Tezzeret caused him to shift from evil to neutral, and I really love that development. He’s great in our campaign.

6. Favorite death (monster, player character, NPC, etc)The best death was Shub Niggorath’s (lying goddess from Sever). Bitch cast invulnerability on herself when she was almost down, but Thora ripped it away with a dispel magic. AND THEN WE MURDERED HER WITH THE HELP OF THE COMPUTER PROGRAM RUNNING THE WORLD!!! Very satisfying to finally murder that one and save the entire world to boot.

7. Your favorite downtime activityGetting to know my party members and the NPCs around us is definitely my favorite thing to do. ^^

8. Your favorite fight/encounterHmmmmm… We had a very funny one with a wizard called Tavorlin the Passable, who was a fan of our party and gave us all nicknames. That was a fun one. I also really like ones where I can work around the encounter and turn it into not-a-fight. The one with the monster that Giggle and Bubbles had would qualify as well. We chose to talk to it instead, and Giggle even wrestled it for fun.

9. Your favorite thing about D&DI think my all time favorite thing is exploring the relationships between characters, and seeing them grow and overcome obstacles.

10. Your favorite enemy and the enemy you hate the mostMy most hated enemy… Anything that can kill me or my party with no save. My favorite ones would probably be the ones that I don’t need to kill to win.

11. How often do you play and how often would you ideally like to play?Depends on the campaign. We’ve got one currently going once every week, and a bunch of others that happen whenever there is time. I’d love to play twice a week though, or even more often, but alas. University is a thing.

12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came fromThere’s a bunch of them, but the one that was written on my door due to poor timing is the following:Tezzeret: -struggles to put coat on due to having lost an arm-Suki: “Do you need a hand- I mean help?” There’s also the “[X] happens. “Tizen squints”My friend who plays Tizen tends to squint suspiciously a lot. So now when someone squints at something that happens, we say “Tizen stop possessing them”.

13. Introduce your current partyLet’s introduce the Happy Trails one, since that’s what I’m playing every week!1. Jack. The Pirate captain of the ship we all sail on. 16 years old, somehow the owner of a ship, dumbass who finds everything cool and does not take the responsibility as captain very seriously. He’s damn good at stabbing shit though, and tends to find everything his crew does just fine. Very chaotic neutral.2. N’chastacha Atsee (me). A piebald Yuan Ti Fighter/Pugilist, who takes pride in her position as Quartermaster. Speaks with long “s”, uses the rigging to grapple and throw her enemies overboard, and defends the NPC crew fiercely (although she might hang people from the rigging for a night if they offend her, so it’s best to tread cautiously). Probably one of the more responsible people on the ship, and does not seem to have a whole bunch of humor. Used to date a princess, but only learned about her ex’s identity recently. Probably lawful neutral in alignment.3. Paranoia (played by @creepygoblin). A Tiefling Rogue with tight leather pants and a very heavy French accent. Most likely to use weird ritualistic sacrifice or sell people into slavery with Jack, and has given the captain drugs and too much alcohol on multiple occasions. But hey, she’s very good at what she does. Alignment wise she’s some sort of evil, but I can’t quite remember what. 4. Theo. Our Triton Ranger, who used to be a whaler. He’s a bit racist towards Knotsmen, but otherwise one of the more stable people on the ship. He is up for adventure, as long as he does not need to leave his best mate Otto behind. Very good at shooting harpoons and setting chocolate factories on fire. No clue what his alignment is, but I think Neutral.5. Otto Kuchenheim. The ship’s cook, human Emergent/Physician, and with a very boisterous laugh that is used about every other sentence. Also the host to a weird creature that telepathically yells “REAP BREAK SOW” every time it gets out and rips our enemies apart. Which happens when Otto gets too fearful, generally. It’s a bit touch and go with him, but hey, he’s part of the crew now, and the thing hasn’t taken an arm from anyone of the crew… yet. Some sort of Neutral as well I think.

14. Introduce any other parties you have played in or DM-edThat will take forever tbh… I’ll introduce the Sever one, since that is over now and probably the most fun. 1. Thora Snowfoot, Clan of Blacksock (me). Life Cleric Goddess, originally worshipping the Goddess of Life, Epona, before learning she and Shub Niggorath were the same and deciding to become her own god. Snowfoot centaur, a bit on the serious side, but fiercely loyal and protective over those she considers close. She spent most of her life with her family, but had to leave them on their treks due to a bad hind leg. This is when she got roped into trying to stop first a Mindflayer invasion, and then a Beholder invasion, and then ultimately saving the world from Shub Niggorath. She spent that time keeping the group together, making sure her friends survived the fights with her healing, and make sure to not give up on the world. It was never an option to flee and leave it to die.2. Aelin Naïlo Xylia and Fayre. Played by @alextblue. Aelin was a Hideling (homebrew race) Ranger/Druid, with Fayre the white panther as her beast companion. Aelin lost her family when she was very young to a big abberation they tried to slay, and spent most of her life around the small village of Sigrholm in Sever, borrowing books from the library and carrying out some hunting for the villagers on occasion. Arguably the most “childlike” in her enthusiasm about many things, but also the one that ended up imprisoning Cthulhu in a vault that she controls. She also managed to get her feet turned into hands over the course of the campaign. In the end, took the role of goddess of nature, and started a giantass wildlife sanctuary.3. Rin Velvetmane. Rogue Trickster Cleric Falabella-based centaur. She got kicked out of the community that she lived in under the mountains, and found her way to the surface very angry, distrustful, and only moments away from stabbing people’s kneecaps. A pro at hiding for at least 33, and later learned she used to be a mountain elemental who joined a pact to reincarnate continuously to attempt to save the world from the corruption Shub Niggorath brought to it. This also led to us discovering that Rin used to be Aelin’s mother, a plot point that we then all refused to further investigate because it was Hella Weird. Rin ended up usurping the god of death by forcing him to take on her form through evoking duplicity on him, and basically turning him into herself permanently. She still visits her parents, and actually told them (almost) all about what happened. They’re supportive of her, but she has left out that she now rules death itself.4. Tizen. The vampire goatman of Eldritch Warlock-ness. He’s part of the Fiend race (homebrew), which was cursed by Shub Niggorath to have infertile females, and males that could only mate with humans. The race is bound to her so tightly, that there is an entire organization of warlocks that have her as their patron, called the Favored. Tizen is part of this group, however unwillingly, and is highly suspicious of many things. He is sarcastic, a touch arrogant, but also came to care for the world throughout the whole “saving it” business. When Thora died, he chose to take curses upon himself to save her, and had to be turned into a vampire in order to not lose his mind and become a monster. In the end, he killed the creature who had ruined the lives of many Fiends, took her realm for his own, and became the shadow ruler of the city of Kvidbelgr. What kind of a god he is is unknown, though we all refer to him as the god of sass.

15. Do you have snacks during game times? Fuck yeah, snacks are the best. We have all kinds, although we do try to make sure there are low-sugar options since one of us has to watch that. Hummus and carrots are usually there, along with chips and chocolate.

16. Do you play online or in person? Which do you prefer?In person all the way. Although since we all go to an international university, and some have graduated/dropped out, and the rest is graduating in a few weeks, it’s highly likely we’ll have to move to online. But in person is the best, there are so many ques that you miss when you play online. I have a character called Ink-And-Blade and he communicates through message and not much else. We have a list of the words he spoke out loud. It’s 22 over 3 multiple hour sessions. Ink is impossible to translate satisfactory to online, because so much of his communication is non-verbal.

17. What are some house rules that your group has?Ummmm… The rule of cool is one we employ every now and then. I don’t think we have strict ones, we tend to go with the very Barbossa attitude of “The PB and DMG are more like guidelines anyway”, plus our DM is always homebrewing things and changing the rules around. So I suppose our house rule is that if you can justify it, you can try.

18. Does your party keep any pets?Hmm… Familiars I guess. And we recently picked up a Cambriman who doesn’t really do too much. He’s kinda sentient, but not the brightest. He keeps calling everyone his “prisoner”, even though he’s tiny and made of soft flubbery goop. He’s cute.

19. Do you or your party have any dice superstitions?Oh hell yes. Some of us are worse then others, but I’ve had dice roll consistently below 10 and switched over for the session. A friend of mine has a dice jail that she puts bad rollers into (for the duration of a session). We all tend to switch dice around if they keep rolling low.

20. How did you get into D&D? How long have you been playing?I wanted to play DnD for a long time, but I did not have the right people around me so my first exposure to it was through podcasts. The first one was something called TableTop RPG, though I can’t currently find it. After that I got roped into actual DnD at my university, about 2.5 years ago, when the gaming society held an introductory event. I played for a bit with a very old school DM in 3.5, which was hard and confusing, and then fell into Sever with my friends, which was a 5e game. So I’ve been playing for 2.5 years, and I will not stop any time soon.

21. Have you ever regretted something your character has done?Oof… Well, yes, I very much regret taking the luck feat after I forced a boss to reroll a nat 20, which rolled up as another nat 20, and then attempted to reroll a nat 1, which came up as ANOTHER nat 1. I regretted that a lot. Other than that… Hmmm… In character, I think Margret really regrets teleporting into a dragon’s room. OH, WAITSo Bottle-O-Wine the kobold was very angry at a party member, and threw him into the harbor. Then, as he was running away, he accidentally set the crowd on the rest of the party. He didn’t realize the crowd became a mob of racists who wanted to murder them all. The party got away luckily, and Bottle has since apologized. For the first time in his life. So yeah, that was regrettable, if very fun for us all OoC.

22. What color was your first dragon?I think the first ones I ever had to deal with were two green and red hatchlings, who were playing with coins. My character spoke draconic at the time, so it did not end in bloodshed but instead with me polishing the coins and being led to their parents, who were metallic dragons. Because adoption.

23. Do you use premade modules or original campaigns? I mean, most of what I’ve played has been homebrew, although I am attempting to run the Tomb of Annihilation, and we played a bit of Curse of Strahd. But I think I love homebrew the most.

24. How much planning/preparation do you do for a game?Depends. I do think out my character’s backstory and develop it further between sessions, but sometimes I do small RPs with my DM pre-session to get a feel for my character a bit more.

For DMs

25. What have your players done that you never could have planned for?My players decided to go shopping when I had not prepared any type of store due to it being a small oneshot. They then decided to try and steal a dress, which the shopkeep nat20 noticed, the tried to flirt her way out of it only to learn the shopkeep was a gay elf who had the hots for the dragonborn fighter. They got the dress by paying him “in natura” with the Dragonborn taking his shirt off and playing a little tune on his lute. He got pulled into the backroom and had a lovely few hours, came out with a sparkly costume, and it had the table in stitches. Me included.

26. What was your favorite scene to write and show your charactersI haven’t written that many scenes myself yet, but I had great fun portraying an Eyewitness who had been locked up for 100 years, and who just couldn’t wait to get out. She was slightly… well, she talked to floating lights and really really REALLY wanted to go see the world. She made a deal with the adventurers that if they could wait a day, she would let them take the treasure she was watching over for free, since her contract would be over at that point. I pretended my hands were eyestalks for that one and portrayed her body with my head. That was a good time.Another good one was when I had Gnoll NPCs who attacked the party with wild laughter, acting out the motions while screeching at the top of my lungs was fun. Freaked my table out pretty well too. :P

27. Do you allow homebrew content?Hell yeah, I love homebrew. I try to keep it balanced though, but I am all for coming up with your own stuff.

28. How often do you use NPCs in a party?Not that often? I started it up in the ToA, but I haven’t gotten to actively use the guide yet.

29. Do you prefer RP heavy sessions or combat sessions? RP heavy sessions definitely. Combat can be fun to run, but I much prefer atmosphere over crunching numbers. Although describing finishing moves is really good.

30. Are your players diplomatic or murder hobos?Most of mine are diplomatic, I think the closest I got to a murder hobo was the flirting bard who tried to undress everyone. So actually, all of them prefer not to fight.

For Players

31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race?I honestly loooooove the beast races. All of them. Class-wise I love me a caster, although monks are also good. I haven’t played every single class yet, so I’m still seeing whether there is one I truly dislike.

32. What role do you like to play the most? (Tank/healer/etc?)Healer. But tank is also fun.

33. How do you write your backstory, or do you even write a backstory?I write backstories for every character I’ve got. How they come about varies, sometimes it’s the idea that comes first and then build a character around it, and sometimes it’s “I want to play this” and I continue from there. I generally come up with it myself, but I have rolled up a backstory with Xanathar’s guide as well. The importance of the backstory depends on what kind of campaign I’m playing though. One of my DMs is really fucking good at making backstory matter in-game, whereas others I’ve played with didn’t work it in that well.

34. Do you tend pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor?A mix of both. Margret used to chase a thief around, so her pre-party spells are very much useful for this purpose, but fit in with her backstory as well. Thora has all her spells, but she picked whatever was most useful for the situations they were going to be in.

35. How much roleplay do you like to do?ALL. OF. IT.

[moczothe1st]

Let’s Play Fire Emblem IV: Genealogy of the Holy War. Part 5: Last Ride of the Douche Brigade

Part 4

Welcome back to Genealogy, broseph. There’s more to the title, but I’m not gonna use it, because I’m not a conformist.

When we left off, the kingdom of Verdane had been laid low, deceived by a subtle manipulator who none of them ever suspected might be working against them.

It’s possible they brought this one on themselves.

Anyhow, let’s go on to chapter two and see which of our allies decides to be an ass this time. 

Sigurd governs the region from Evans Castle, with his newly-wed wife Deirdre ever at his side.

(These two scare me.)

However, Grannvale’s actions in Verdane are ill received by neighboring Agustria.  The lords of Agustria lead a storm of heated rhetoric denouncing Grannvale. To make matters worse, the renowned pacifist Agustrian ruler, King Imca, has been slain by an unknown hand.

(Does the unknown hand’s name rhyme with ‘Vanfroy’?)

(WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIS FACE)

Even as the Agustrian crisis unfolds, the bulk of Grannvale’s army remains in Isaach.

(Guess which one of these lords isn’t totally evil. Go on. Guess. I’m sure you can get this one.)  

As the sole defender of Grannvale’s front, Sigurd once again finds himself in battle…

We start off zooming in once more on Nordion, where Eldigan and Lachesis are-

… Where Eldigan and LACHESIS are having a fight.  This is where we learn that Eldigan might have gotten the hair genes, but Lachesis clearly got the brains.

Lachesis: You’ll only be endangering yourself for a lost cause. He won’t listen to you!

Eldigan: You mustn’t say such things about your king! I, too, have heard the rumors of King Chagall’s involvement, but they are just that: rumors.

(Spoiler Alert: They are not rumors.)

Eldigan: There remains no evidence against him. Surely, His Majesty will see reason in this matter, if I simply persuade him.

Lachesis: But-

Eldigan: Enough! I’ll leave three of my finest knights here to defend Nordion, should the worst come to pass.

(Three. Three. Eldigan, you suck.)

Eldigan: Lachesis, you needn’t look so sad. I will be back. I promise. I’m not about to abandon you in death.

Lachesis: Eldie…

(Turn back, you fool! That’s one of the evil castles!)

(WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIS FACE)

Eldigan: Your father before you worked so hard to build an era of peace with Grannvale. A war will only bring ruin to our people, bringing disgrace upon your good name for generations to come. I implore you: Do not start a war!

Chagall: So it’s you… Eldigan of Nordion. You dastard… my father adored you, and you used his trust to undercut me at every turn. But now my father is no more… long live the king of all Agustria! For years you’ve made me play the fool, and now, I will reward you in kind. Guards! Throw this man in the dungeon!

Eldigan: W-wait! Your Majesty, please-

Chagall: Feh, good riddance, the eyesore. Send my orders to Bordeaux at Heirhein: Seize Nordion Castle! Once that nuisance is dealt with, we’re clear to throw all we’ve got at Grannvale!

Chagall: … There is no turning back now. Even so, I still don’t know if we stand a chance.

(Protip: The moment you’re describing yourself and Manfroy as ‘we,’ you’re already fucked.)

Manfroy: Remember, Grannvale still adheres to that tawdry old peace treaty with you, and their entire army is distracted in Isaach. Strike now, and you could not possibly fail.

Chagall: You’re right. The downfall of Grannvale will mark the rise of Agustria as Jugdral’s new leading power! “Chagall, Emperor of the World”… I like the sound of that.

Manfroy: Hmhmhm… we can only hope your ambition will be rewarded.

Man-boy: That isn’t our only problem, milady. With Lord Eldigan gone, we need to be aware of Heirhein’s movements.  Knowing his lordship’s absence, a strike from them is inevitable.

(“And for some reason he told everyone but me and two other guys to take a vacation.”)

Boy-man: After the Verdane incident, they’re most likely out for revenge on us. Especially lord Elliot.

Lachesis: Ugh, that Elliot… I can’t believe how many times I’ve had to tell him I’m not interested in him. Smug, self-absorbed swing like him are the absolute worst! If only more men were cut from the same cloth as Eldie… it’s too bad they aren’t, else perhaps someone would stand a chance to marry me. Perhaps.

(You keep telling yourself that brother complex will last forever, sweetie. I’m auditioning husbands for you as we speak. Fire Emblem!)

Rightfully Confused: Er… be that as it may, Lord Eldigan’s Cross Knights are still dispatched to the north at Fort Silvail, well away from here. We three are all who remain. Nordion is vulnerable, and they know it. Rest assured, my brothers and I will do all we can to defend the castle, but the odds are against us. I’m sorry, milady.

Lachesis: Very well. Thank you, Yves. But please, look after yourselves. Don’t waste your lives for me. Be sure to tell Eva and Alva that I’m sorry for this.

Yves: We are not worthy of such kind words, milady. Even so, Lord Eldigan handpicked us to defend you. Our lord gave us a task, and we will see it through. As paladins of Nordion, our lives are yours no matter what. To our dying breaths, we live to defend you!

Lord Bordeaux of Doucheheim: Ahahahaha, that’s perfect! Elliot, lay siege to Nordion at once! Let’s see some tears roll down Eldigan’s cheeks!

Elliot of Doucheheim: With pleasure, father!

Oifey: I bear a message from Lady Lachesis, pleading for aid.

Sigurd: They’ve taken Eldigan?! Why… why in the world would they treat a man so esteemed this way? Inform everybody to make ready. We ride for Nordion at once! No matter the cost, Lachesis needs us. He might never admit it, but Lachesis has always been dear to Eldigan. The loss of Lachesis would gravely wound him…

(Oh, bro, the problem is she’s too dear to him. And he’s WAY too dear to her. If you get my meaning.)

Deirdre: Milord… you’re preparing for another battle, aren’t you?

Sigurd: I’m sorry, Deirdre. I owe so much to Eldigan. I could never abandon his sister in a time like this.

Deirdre, Slayer of Men: I thought as much. I’m not about to stop you. No… I will accompany you.

Sigurd: What?! No, I can’t allow that! I refuse to endanger you like this.

Deirdre, Breaker of Souls: Milord, do you not remember our vows? You swore to never leave my side, and I… I am uneasy. I have a feeling that if you and I were to part, we would never find each other again. Please, grant me this. Let me stay by your side…

Sigurd: I’m sorry… you’re right. I did promise. Very well! Let us ride together. But you mustn’t leave my side.

Deirdre the World-ender: I won’t.

And there’s our set-up. Eldigan’s sister is in trouble and we must rush to protect her, because her brother decided to leave three dudes in case of invasion. Better than Aideen’s father leaving just Midir, I guess, but still. Now, since time is of the essence, let’s go shopping and do the Arena for a few hours.  

The armory has a Thunder tome for sale, so I have Azel buy it. It’s lighter than his Fire tome by a good margin, and that should really help his combat effectiveness until we can get him a Wind tome to round out his collection.  I also buy have him sell the Skill Ring since he doesn’t really need it, and give it to Lex to help out his accuracy a bit. Round things out by buying a Steel Lance for Finn and a Steel Bow for Midir.

Now then. Arena Time!

Sigurd: 7 wins, Gained two levels; +3 HP, +2 Skill, +1 Strength, +1 Speed, +2 Defense

Deirdre: 3 wins, Gained one level; +1HP, +1 Magic, +1 Resistance. The order of the universe is restored.

Quan: 7 wins, Gained three levels; +4 HP, +2 Strength, +2 Speed, +1 Luck, +2 Defense, +1 Resistance. Praise Quan. All hail to Quan.

Ethlyn: Two wins, Gained one level. +1HP, +1 Speed, +1 Resistance

Arden: Four wins, gained one level; +1HP, +1 Strength, +1 Magic(?), +1 Defense

Noish: Two wins, gained one level; +1 Skill, +1 Luck.

Alec: Three wins, Gained one level; +1HP, +1 Skill, +1 Strength, +1 Speed

Finn: Five wins, gained two levels; +2 HP, +2 Skill, +1 Strength, +1 Speed, +1 Defense

Azel: Five wins, gained two levels; +1HP, +1 Skill +2 Speed, +1 Magic, +1 Luck, +1 Defense, +1 Resistance

Lex: Five wins, gained two levels; +2HP, +1 Speed, +2 Defense

Midir: Three wins, gained one level: +1 Skill, +1 Strength, +1 Speed

Ayra: Seven wins, gained two levels; +3HP, +3 Skill, +2 Strength, +3 Speed, +1 luck

Jamke: Seven wins, gained three levels; +2 HP, +1 Strength,  +1 Speed, +2 Luck, +1 Resistance

Dew: Two wins; Gained one level; +1 HP, +1 Speed, +1 Defense

But wait. There’s more. See, on this chapter only, the first person to get to Rank 7 (In this case it’s Ayra because she’s perfect) gets to run into a Myrmidon named Holyn. And after you beat him…

Holyn: The way you fought. You were brimming with spirit! Hm, I’d wager there’s something you’re here to fight for, right? All I’ve done is chase the money for all these years… but I look at you, and suddenly it all feels so meaningless. Hey, I don’t suppose you’re recruiting? Maybe using my blade for something real and grander than myself is just what I need.

So here’s Holyn! He’s quite a badass; like a slightly slower but slightly more bulky Ayra, basically. And like her, he comes with both Pursuit and his own personal special sword skill; in his case Luna, which gives him a chance to randomly lower the enemy’s defense to zero before he attacks.  He also has Minor Odo blood, which means he actually is related to her, albeit distantly.  Probably a third cousin or something crazy like that.  And of course, he can do the Arena himself, so… yeah, gonna be here for awhile longer…

Holyn: Six wins, gained two levels; +1 HP, +1 Skill, +1 Defense

All right! This run’s Noish now has the dubious honor of being the first unit abandoned forever. Sorry, Noish, but it’s just that I am pretty sure you haven’t gotten one good level this entire run.  As opposed to Midir, who has gained nothing but amazing levels and yet still can’t beat the arena. I don’t know what’s going on with him.  

*deep breath* Let’s go save Lachesis!  

Here’s the chapter map. Evans is in the bottom right corner, and just like in the last chapter Nordion is just to the west of it, with Heirhein to the west of that. There are three other enemy castles, all of which need to be taken, and a large cluster of villages in the very center, scattered among forests. Most of them have just money, but a few have very excellent items and it’s… it’s not easy to get them all. I’ll try, but don’t hold your breath.  

Sob.

To start, we have to reach Nordion and fight off the Douche Brigade before they are able to kill Lachesis and take the castle. Let’s look in at her situation.

Eh, We’ve seen worse. The first few turns are going to just be having our units run their butts off to try and reach her before her three idiots friends get slaughtered.  To start, have all your horse units move as close to Nordion as they can, with one exception: Ethlyn should move just one space more than Deirdre can.  Because…

SISTER IN LAW SLUMBER PARTY FUN TIMES!        

Deirdre: Everything will be all right, I can feel it. So long as I’m at Sigurd’s side, our happiness will see us through.

Ethlyn: I don’t think I’ve ever seen Sigurd as happy as he’s been since he met you. He’s practically a changed man!

Deirdre: Ethlyn…here. I’d like you to have this. I’ve been meaning to give it to you for a while.

Ethlyn: Oh? … Is… is this a light brand?! Wow, these are so rare and hard to come by! Are you sure you want to give me this?

Deirdre: Of course. I know that it will serve you well.

Ethlyn: I can’t thank you enough, Deirdre! I’ll always treasure it.

The Light Brand is a pretty cool sword; it can attack from either one to two spaces away, like a mage or a throwing weapon, but the difference is that while it acts like a normal sword at close range, it casts a spell if used from two spaces away.  A great tool for sword units who have better magic than strength like Ethlyn…

… Should.  End turn.

Lord Doucheiott of Doucheheim: She’s been playing cruel games with my heart for years… but look how the tables have turned! I’ve an entire army behind me, against her insignificant guard. What could she possibly do? She’s powerless to resist coming back to Heirhein with me! And who knows… Perhaps one day she’ll admit she wants it.

God dammit, another rapist. We should start mounting their heads on our pikes to try and discourage future ones.

Naturally, the Douche Brigade takes this turn to move closer to Nordion, just as we did. Behind them, a general and the armor knights wait in a defensive line between us and the cast-

DUDE I WAS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF SAYING THAT.

Scrooge McDuck: Under the old king, you couldn’t even dare to meddle in any of his property… yet it is the easiest thing to cheat Chagall! Strip everything of worth you find and bring it back here. Leave no stone unturned!

Now these four little fucks go right for the villages in the center of the map, and start burning them. And as you see, they’re Neutral units to start with; even if we reach them, we can’t kill them until after a story event turns the Anphony faction hostile to us. And that happens when you, you guessed it: Take Heirhein. From here, the game becomes a race to destroy Heirhein’s army and take the castle ASAP in the hope of getting someone to the villages fast enough to save them; I have personally never managed to save them all, though getting the majority is pretty doable. I’ll give it the old college try on this run, but it’s stupid hard and even one unexpected wound on a unit you were planning to help can fuck the whole thing up.

Pray to Quan, he who giveth his shining heir Finn to the world.

Switzerland: Let’s wait and see how this unfolds. Instruct the men to remain where they are until the dust settles.

Hey, that’s two Agustrian lords who aren’t total douches, him and Eldigan. I mean, he’s not a great guy on account of anyone with a brain could tell that Herhein is as evil as a barrel of Nazis, but at least he isn’t trying to rob his own people and/or rape a young woman.

Once again, nothing to be done but move closer on our turn. Everyone goes as far as they can, and end the turn.

On Heirhein’s turn, they reach the castle and start their attack. And now the second annoying part of the map starts. See, Yves, Eva, and Alva give you a very neat item if you can manage to get them out of the mission alive. But while they are stronger than most of the enemy units; they are also massively outnumbered and, to put it mildly, total fucking morons. So even if you save them from Heirhein, which is not guaranteed by any means, they will run right up to pick fights with any enemy unit that comes remotely near them, even if it leaves them surrounded and chipped to death from all sides.  The only way to reliably do it is to make sure that after you kill all the Heirhein Douche Brigade, you leave Lachesis right here by herself, thus gimping her experience gain for the entire map. And Lachesis is a fuckin’ good investment, to put it mildly.  

There really isn’t a good option here, is my point.  I may make this a short update and leave it to a vote after I take Heirhein, that part is fairly simple to keep them alive through.

When we actually reach the battle, you guys are in for such a pinch.  

The Heirhein phase goes about as well as can be expected; the enemy divides its attention among all three knights rather than focusing on and killing one. All three of them take some damage, but they’ll live until we can reach them. Now, it’s finally time to rock.

Looka that! Even Alec got a kill, like a real boy.  I have Sigurd run in and talk to Lachesis, recruiting her.

Lachesis: Yes, he’s still in Agusty. It’s as if all the lords have turned on us… Please, Sir Sigurd… lend us your might. No matter what it takes, my brother must be saved.

Sigurd: Of course. I’ve no fondness for bringing war to foreign lands, but in this case we’ve little choice. His Majesty, King Azmur, is aware of King Imca’s assassination, and of Chagall’s hand in it. He’s received word of Chagall’s ambitiions to invade Grannvale itself, and has already approved military action. His Majesty also believes Eldigan’s rescue to be vital if we’re to put an end to hostilities. Rest assured, Lachesis. I swear that I’ll save Eldigan…

Careful, Siggy. Deirdre will get jealous. Now, before we end the turn, let’s take a look at Lachesis.

So here’s the new girl. She starts out underleveled and with base stats that aren’t particularly great other than Speed, which honestly should be a flag screaming LEVEL HER UP. Fortunately it isn’t super hard to do that because she’s a great support unit already: Like Ethlyn, she can use both swords and staves, and comes with a unique weapon called the Miracle Sword that is on a tier just above Steel and just below Silver, which can only be used by female characters. Further, she comes with the ability Charm, which gives allies near her a 10% boost to both accuracy and evasion.  For Holy Blood, she’s got Minor Hezul; +20% to HP growth and +30% to Strength, which is the sort of thing I wish Dew had.      

On the Nordion phase, the Three Stooges choose to go on the offensive rather than hide behind Lachesis where they FUCKING BELONG, but they do kill one enemy and weaken another. My hope now is that Elliot will choose to go for one of my units rather than them.  Come on, douche, Midir is in your range! Parked on a tree!

Good man.

Now it’s time to wipe him out. The first thing to note is that Elliot himself has a droppable Silver Lance, which means we want the kill to go to Quan, for preference. To start, I have a few other folks team up to remove his bodyguards…

Solid. For Elliot himself, I think Lex should be able to soften him up without killing him, so I have him engage with his pretty new toy, putting it to good use for once…

And then send Quan in to finish up.  

Oh, that was pretty much perfect. Wonderful, you guys, wonderful.  Everyone also makes a straight run to Heirhein after their attacks, because the enemy has officially been wiped out now.  Time to start crashing against their defense line! It’s all fairly standard stuff, with only two things worth nothing. First: the general leading them has a droppable item, the Return Band. It lets the unit holding it warp back to your home base whenever they want. That’s not terribly useful, so I’m taking it as a ‘whoever kills him gets it as their bonus.’ And then there’s this:

There are two ballistae in this group. They’re not a huge danger to land units; they aren’t very accurate and they aren’t very strong. But they have a huge range and they can totally annihilate any flying units they target, so it’s a good idea to start training yourself to spot and track them now, for when we actually have some of those. For now, though we just have to end the turn.  We have one more turn before the first bandits reach the villages; this is gonna be close either way.  

Lachesis can start off her tenure in our forces by healing her own idiots back up to full. With luck she’ll gain her first level in doing so.   The rest of the team rushes forward again, and now we’re in range of the Douche Brigade Part 2.  If I have this done properly, the horses will be able to do a solid start on them and then rush past to start going for the castle itself, and then the infantry can mop up.

I probably don’t have it right.  

End turn!

… That’s it? One guy takes one shot at Quan and you end your turn? Bastards. And now the bandits are in the villages, so the time limit has gone down sharply. Come on, my turn!

Some, you know, thank-yous to go around here. I’d like to thank Sigurd for missing and throwing off the rhythm when he was supposed to kill that guy, and I’d like to thank Finn for disappointing me with a level for the first time. Also, after all that boondoggle about getting Quan a Silver Lance, I forgot to have him equip it, so thanks to my stupidity.  

Still, probably it will go okay. Alec might not die. End turn!

… Well, I was right about Alec, anyway. I forgot how hard that general hits, dammit.  Okay, reset. Let’s try and go after him first, taking away his leadership stars from his army. Maybe we’ll take fewer hits that way, too.  

WHY WON”T YOU DIE?

FUCK OFF.

*deep breath*

Okay. Well. Um. End the turn. This is gonna be ugly.  

WHOO!  Oh, jeez, we came… really close there. That was bad.  But in the end we pull through without losses.  A lot of very hurt people, though.

Buuuuut guess who is close enough to start heeeeeelping…

Welcome to the fight, slowpokes.

Now, with the cavalry beat up pretty bad, I have an issue.  Lex, Finn, and Midir really need healed. But I also need to keep pushing forward. So I have Quan and Alec rush out to kill one of the ballistas;

And let Lex tag the other, then run down to the west. This puts him out of the range of anyone; he can’t get healed, but nothing can attack him this turn. For the rest, I have Sigurd take out a lance dude and run up toward Heirheim, with Ethlyn behind him in case he gets a boo-boo.  Finn, now the only person left in this mess, runs for his damn life, stopping only to Javelin a dude.

Well-javelined, bro.  The enemy is now three attack units and a priest, and everyone they can attack is in reasonable health. Including Jamke, who is high priority target because he can’t fight at melee, and yet he’s durable enough to last and dodges like a cat. I hope they go for him. End turn!

… Shit, got to close to the Cross Knights. Well. Even they can’t die to this few enemies. They are going to steal a kill, though. Fuckers.

On the Heirhein phase, the two remaining armors decide to bully the Cross Knights, and you know what? I don’t even care. They don’t steal any more kills, they don’t die, I’ll take it. And on my turn…

The enemy is taught the error of their ways. Sigurd, Quan, Ethlyn, and… Alec, of all people, reach the outskirts of Heirhein and can attack next turn.  Let’s end-

… I forgot he has a bow and parked Sigurd in his range. Oops. Well, he doesn’t do too much damage. And at close range he uses a sword, so the best choice to take him on is actually Quan; I send Sigurd and Alec to clear the way…

(And I think Alec absorbed Noish’s very little usefulness to become some kind of Alec-Noish fusion with the combined power of both. Which is actually only average power.)  

… And with the way clear, I ignore the mooks and send Quan right at the boss.

Praise Quan! Okay. Okay. Ethlyn has a 100% chance to hit.  Unless I’m reading the math wrong, she can do this, and then I can take the castle next turn. Everyone else can just start moving up north toward Anphony and the villages. I might pull this off. Ethlyn, don’t disappoint me!

…………………. Ethlyn, why is every good thing you do also tainted by the miserable stench of failure this run? Is it Finn? Did Finn steal your talent? At least you’re super fast.

I move everyone up toward the next objective except Quan, Sigurd, and Alec. On Heirheim’s turn the two remaining mooks take shots at them, no biggie, both miss… except one also blocks Sigurd’s path to conquer the castle!

Dick! We could have gotten through this without additional bloodshed, but you had to make it personal.

And with that, Heirhein falls. When you take a castle all the units ‘tied’ to it immediately die, so the last mook just vanishes.  

Sigurd: Nordion should be safe, but Eldigan is still being held in the capital. Furthermore…

Oifey: Yes?

Sigurd: I’m hearing that the frontier towns in the central forests as grappling with bandit raids. We can’t afford to leave them be.

Oifey: Agreed. It is crucial that we help the locals, that we might convince them we aren’t their enemy. In that case, we must ride for the north at once. There’s no time to waste. Let’s go!

Thanks, Oifey.  Because I wasn’t already feeling rushed.

(DAMMIT CHAGALL DON’T PUT YOUR CREEPY OLD-MAN FACE ON SCREEN WITHOUT WARNING ME)

Chagall: There had better be a good explanation for your behavior, Macbeth!

Scrooge Macbeth: Er, um… my humblest apologies, your majesty! Forgive me, I beg of you! I’ve already sent the order for Waltz’s sellsword unit to move in at once!

(“And behind him, Tango and Cha-cha’s units are ready to make war upon your command!”)

Waltz: Bet he’s gonna send us in, then ‘ave his men turn tail right when we need ‘em. I’m stayin’ put till I see how this all plays out. Oi, Beowulf, how about you?

Beowulf: Yeah, I ain’t up for this at all, Waltz. That Macbeth swine really rubs me the wrong way. I’m this close to just walkin’ off the job.

Waltz: You’re a free man, Beowulf. If a job isn’t right for you, you’re free to quit it.  That’s the funny thing about mercenaries, innit? Today’s pals are tomorrow’s foes.

Beowulf: Amen to that. Hopefully we’re not gonna end up enemies someday. Wouldn’t have a hope in hell against you, would I?

(FORESHADOWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING)

Waltz: Heh… ain’t met anybody in the whole world who can take me!

*cracks knuckles* Sounds like a challenge to me, bro.

And now, to close things out, let’s start our turn, and meet the one shot we have at saving those villages…

Mystery Bard: Bandits? Isn’t the Agustrian army doing something about them?  

Villager: The army? Hah! That’s rich, boy! The army’s too busy with their little civil war to deal with our problems. Clearly that’s more important than our safety. Actually, that’s not all… rumor is, the Lord of Anphony himself is pulling the bandit’s strings here.

Bard: Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding. That’s it. That guy’s gotta go. I’ll go sort out the bandits, okay? Now, how big a reward’ll be waiting here for me when I get back?

Villager: Still full of hot air, are ya? Just get outta here, wise guy. Nobody here’s got the time to listen to you blowing your own horn.  

Lewyn: Sylvia?! Damn! Er…I mean… you found me!

Sylvia: Yeah, I found ya! You had your fun with me, so you’re just dumpin’ me without so much as a goodbye?!

Lewyn: Hey, mind that tongue of yours! We barely just met here a week ago! We’ve only been out for dinner… what, two or three times? You’re a dancer, I’m a bard… there’s not much else to it.

Sylvia: But… but you called me adorable! That… that really meant a lot to me…

Lewyn: Er… sometimes I just say things and odn’t really mean them…

(Smooth, brah.)

Lewyn: Oh, come on! Enough with the tears! Things’ll probably get rough out there, though.  Think you’ll be okay?

Sylvia: Yeah! I like it rough!

(She’s fourteen, by the way.)

Lewyn: Jeez, she was crying her eyes out just a few seconds ago. It’s like she never really grew up.

(See above.)

Sylvia: Huh?

Lewyn: Er, nothing! Let’s get going.

Hilarious! Hahahahaha! Yeah, she really is fourteen. Didn’t make that up. Fourteen years old. And yes, she can marry someone.

I said I was going to marry off every possible girl. Because of story reasons. Damn my soul. 

I’m going to go take a long, hot shower and try to scrub off this feeling of shame. The rest of you, see you back here next week when we try to forget everything we just saw, and start our counter-attack on those village robbing fiends!

… Fourteen.

Total Resets: 4.  Finn, why. 

Part 6