#also i gotta let some random enemies kill me more often if i see a gate so maybe i can get that other blessing idk.....

[lixbf]

ive been playing so much hades 2 atp i feel like the first Big early access patch is gonna legit change my life....

[sparkliingcrown]

— my worst nightmare.

Summary: You know the saying that goes 'Keep your friends close but your enemies closer?' How much closer can you get to your enemy than being roommates?

Request: Brownies + Dark Irish Coffee 

Genre: Roommates AU, College AU, Enemies to Lovers

Words: 6.1k

Warnings: Lots of swearing. I didn’t hold back in that aspect. Uhm, mentions of drinking, yn kinda panics at one point... I think that should be all! If not, pls notify me ^^

Note: An Eishi Café special. Yes, this is because it was last minute requests and it took too long for me to get to and open up the café again. ALSO TO THE ANON THAT REQUESTED THIS, I’M SORRY I MISREAD THE ORDER AND WROTE IT AS A LIGHT REQUEST! I hope you still like it nonetheless... Sorry it took so long T^T Also, this is my first time writing something like this so I really hope that it fits.

You were hauling your bags and boxes up to your new dorm room by yourself. That wasn’t exactly the greatest way to start the day, considering you had to stay up packing the last of your stuff, rushing to the nearest train station, riding the train, and then driving all the way to your new dorm room for college yesterday. You didn’t even get to sleep a wink on the train and you sure as hell can’t sleep while on the road. So, in short, you were tired, hungry, and really fucking pissed.

You mocked your naive and excited self, making faces as you tugged your bags closer to your body, pulling the strap of your backpack higher up your shoulder to keep it from falling on the floor. Go to college, they said. You'll have the time of your life, they said. Who's they? The many, many movies you watched growing up. And where exactly were you now?

"Can you at least try to help me move my stuff inside?" You drop your bags at the door, stretching your arms out.

"Lemme think about it." He closes his eyes for a second, letting out a deep breath. "No."

That's right. You were stuck with him. Choi Seungcheol. The bane of your existence.

That motherfucker.

His majesty was sitting comfortably on the couch, a cup of boba in his hand. Oh, how you wish you could just reach out there and squeeze it to make it explode in his face. Instead, you huff. You turned away and stomped your way down to the elevator to get the rest of your luggage. Muttering to yourself, you hauled the last of your luggage in, just wanting to collapse onto your bed for the day having barely gotten any rest the previous day.

You were expecting your best friend, Jiwoo, to greet you at the door. You were expecting her to greet you with that enthusiastic squeal when she sees you. You were expecting her to give you a warm hug that would last probably longer than 5 minutes. Alas, the universe decided to be rude to you and give you your worst nightmare.

Seungcheol stares as you drag your bags and feet to the nearest room, raising an eyebrow when he thinks he heard you utter his name. He did not help whatsoever. Asshole. Once you get to your room, you don't even bother cleaning up and unpacking. You sank to the floor with a loud whine, not caring at all if Seungcheol could hear you from outside.

You were so excited to live out your college dream. Going to the library, going to parties you know Jiwoo would drag you to, midnight talks with your roommate, binging series you’ve been eyeing for a while. The universe just really had to ruin it for you by placing him as your roommate. You didn’t even know he was enrolled in Hybe University. It seemed like he didn’t know either. You recall the shocked look on his face when he opened the door.

“You’re my roommate?!” You both exclaim in unison.

You feel your lifespan shorten by 30 years when it fully sinks in that you’re stuck with him for a full school year. If it wasn’t enough that the bags you carried were heavy, the ones under your eyes felt even heavier. Seungcheol frowns.

“You look like shit,” he states, taking a long sip out of his cup.

You manage to send your iciest glare at him, chucking the heavy luggage inside to make him  move. “No shit, Sherlock-”

“The name’s Seungcheol.”

You ignore him. “I just drove a fucking half hour just to get here.”

You kick the bag, moving it to a corner then go to get a smaller one waiting by the door. Seungcheol moves out of your way, walking back to the couch. “Don’t fucking test me, Choi.”

He puts one of his hands up in a surrendering gesture. You sigh, closing the door behind you to get the rest of your things.

You let out a groan, deciding to unpack your things a little later. Eyeing your bed, you get up to move to your bed. You easily drift off into sleep. You would’ve loved to say it was dreamless but you actually quite enjoyed the chaos of it all. You awoke at 2 in the morning, lost and confused. You frown at your waste of half the day yesterday, smacking random items in your room to figure out where you had placed your phone.

Once you located it, the screen lit up your face - blinding you a little in the process. Jiwoo had excitedly messaged you. Well, excited was an understatement when she sent you 102 messages in the span of one hour and 17 missed calls for the rest of the time you were unconscious on your bed.

Your stomach growls, shocking you. “Yeah, I should get some food then start unpacking. Probably message her back as well…” you mutter to the air, dusting off your jeans as you finish up the process of fully moving into your new home for the next school year.

You sigh, “Fuck, this is going to be a long year.”

You bury your head in the reference book that you picked out to help with your assignment. It wasn’t doing it’s job of helping. You shifted in your seat. With a groan, you lean back in your seat, not understanding any of the material so far. Jiwoo pats your back encouragingly, nuzzling her cheek on your shoulder.

"There, there," she says, running a hand through your hair. "Hold on, I'll just return this book because it didn't have what I was looking for."

With a solemn nod, Jiwoo rises from her seat. She skips away with the book in your hands leaving you suffering all alone. You mentally slap yourself for sulking when it's literally only the second month of college. Living in the dorms has not been any easier ever since you arrived. Seungcheol took any opportunity to get a rise out of you and you would bite back with just as much sass.

It was like a competition between you both. Over what exactly? No one could really tell. Jiwoo came over often so she's very much used to seeing the two of you bicker like little children out of the smallest things. This was the reason as to why she dragged you out of the dorm.

"Come on, ever since you've arrived, you're either staying in your room or going to that boba place!" Jiwoo was tugging you by your wrist while you used your other hand to cling onto your bedpost. "You need to live! To breathe!"

"I do that just fine over here!" you complain.

Then, it was just a competition of whining. Jiwoo won that one easily. Her bright, sparkling puppy eyes were too much to resist. You sighed. You were too soft for Jiwoo sometimes. You mumble, cursing the professors for giving a bunch of work already. It was to the point that you could barely keep track of any of your subjects anymore.

You stare at your laptop screen, a half blank essay staring back at you with a menacing aura. You turn your head. An open textbook sat atop several other books of the same subject stared at you too. You could hear it calling for you, yelling at you to study for the test next week. With a silent cry, you drop your head down onto the table. You hear a snicker from behind you. One that you've heard way too many times that you didn't even need to turn around to see who it was.

"Hello to you too, Choi." You let out a tired sigh, head rising from the table.

"You look pitiful like that," he comments, eyeing the multitude of books surrounding your laptop. "You need any help?"

You raise an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Do you need help?"

"The Choi Seungcheol is offering me help?"

"Ah, good, so your ears can work," he gives you that shit eating grin that you just want to punch off his face. You can already feel the fire burning inside just ready to burst. You feel like a boiling kettle to say the least. It's his turn to raise an eyebrow now.

"Well?"

"No way," you huff like a child, turning your back on him.

He sat across from you. It really just had to be the only fucking unoccupied seat left. You mentally cursed all the students who came to the library. Then you felt bad and instead cursed Seungcheol who just had to come to the library when you were at the peak of the stress rollercoaster, just ready to dive into the depths of despair and bad grades.

Your eyes flutter back and forth between the laptop, the books and Seungcheol himself. With a defeated sigh, you turn the laptop so the screen could face him. "Please."

That same grin never left his face, he tauntingly cups a hand around his ear. "What's that? I can't hear you."

"Old man," you retort with a snicker. Just as he was going to open his mouth to protest, you repeat yourself a little louder. "Please help me with this damn assignment so I can finish it already."

"That's more like it." He pulls out the chair next to you, pushing away the books to help you.

You would never admit it out loud but you were actually grateful that Seungcheol had offered his help. With every small pointer he gave you, you were able to fly through all of your workload like a breeze. He even lent you his notes for that test you were so worried about. You leaned back, tipping your head back as the most relieved sigh anyone could muster slipped past your lips.

“What? No ‘Thank you’?” he asked, a small pout on his lips.

“I didn’t kill you. Is that enough?” He rolls his eyes at you, returning to his own seat. Guilt started to take form in the pit of your stomach. You sighed. “I gotta go. Thanks. I’ll see you at the dorm.”

You didn’t see it. He didn’t want you to see it. He didn’t even want to acknowledge it; the heat rising up and painting his cheeks pink from when you sent him that small smile before leaving. Seungcheol mentally slapped himself, shaking his head and trying to focus on his own essay he put off while helping you. Safe to say, he never really did finish that stupid essay.

"Joo, do I have to go?" you complained, tugging your shirt downwards. It's a little too much for your taste.

"You deserve it, babe," Jiwoo replied. "You got good grades after studying for so long! Loosen up a little! Please?"

You give her a skeptical look.

"Just this once?" She gives you her best puppy dog eyes that shimmered under the light of her dorm room. She puts up a finger and juts out her bottom lip in a pout, ultimately stealing your heart with how cute she is. "For me?"

"Ugh, fine. You're too cute not to."

"Yay!" she wraps her arms around you and gives you a light kiss on your cheek, dragging you out of her dorm and to her car.

She drove you to the party, that sweet smile never leaving her face. She talked about a blend of many topics she was interested in. You heard her mention something about talking to that girl in her class. You only stared out the window, humming in response as you dreaded arriving at the party.

Alcohol. It reeked of alcohol. You just arrived but there were already so many people that just smelled like sweat and whatever was served in the kitchen. Jiwoo took you to the dance floor, which was clearly just the living room of the house with the couches pushed to the side so there's space. She introduced you to a couple of her friends. You give them a small wave. It probably wasn't the best idea to try and have a conversation this close to the speakers.

After just a few minutes of walking in, you already lost Jiwoo. She was probably just with one of her friends. Come to think of it, she was clinging on to one of them really tightly and just being very clingy. But she was almost always like that with anyone. You brush it off your mind, heading to the kitchen to get something to drink.

"They look pretty," Seokmin stated, sipping from his cup and making a slight face at the bitterness. "Wait... Is that Y/n?"

Seungcheol's ears seem to perk up at the mention of your name. He turns to the direction his friend was staring at, seeing you hover over the kitchen island with a drink in your hand. You looked bored. A little lonely too. He deduced that your friend had left you to fend for yourself. He snickers to himself.

"Oh yeah, I think that is," Jeonghan was suddenly by his side, eyeing Seungcheol for his reaction. Seungcheol pulls a face.

"What are you looking at?" he sneers.

"Don't you think they're pretty, Cheollie?" Jeonghan giggled, obviously already a little tipsy. Seungcheol scowls. An old conversation flashed by his eyes.

"Where are you going?"

You raise an eyebrow. "And why do you care about where I'm going?"

"Because I'm your roommate? What if something happens to you?"

"Awh, does Seungcheollie actually care about me?" You jut your lip out in an exaggerated pout.

"No, I- Wait..." He takes in the outfit you decided to wear, and breathes in the scent of that perfume you always wear on special occasions. "Don't tell me... You're going out with that guy again, aren't you?"

You roll your eyes, adjusting the straps of your shoes with a groan. "So?"

"Are you that blind that I have to fucking tell you? He's not good for you!"

"Why do you give a damn about who I go out with? Why would I give a damn about who you think I should go out with?"

"That's not the point- Stop going out with him!"

"What are you? My dad? Fuck off, Cheol."

"That guy is not good for you." He crosses his arms against his chest. "Hell, even I would be better for you and I'm your enemy."

“Yeah, you’re my enemy. That doesn’t explain why you’re butting into my love life like this. Literally, just fuck off!” you exclaim, losing your cool with a stomp of your foot.

You fall silent. He falls silent. Seungcheol is worried for that second that passes. He didn’t know why. The silence was uncomfortable. It was like the chill of realizing there’s a spider in the shower with you. He felt chills run down his spine. He didn’t even know why.

You say nothing more, picking up your purse. The silence was odd. It was new. Especially to the both of you. Seungcheol was just about to speak up again, voicing his opposition to you going out with the sketchy guy you met when you walked out and slammed the door on him.

His mouth hung ajar, disbelief spread all over his features. He scoffs, “Ugh, whatever.”

He turns to look at you again. You were by the dance floor now, the neon lights surrounding you. He always thought you were pretty whenever you two wouldn't be bickering until the day's end. Seeing you next to the lights, seeing you like this, it made his heart race a little. He blames it on the alcohol.

Seungcheol ignores the way the rest of his friends start teasing him. It was mostly Joshua and Jeonghan ganging up on him but it was teasing nonetheless. He rolled his eyes, shoving them off him when Jeonghan started giggling a little too close to his face. Sure, he thinks you look pretty, and sure, he doesn't deny that he did find you attractive when he first met you after the summer. That doesn't matter, though, right? Right?

So, what was this feeling festering in his heart when he saw another guy walk up to you and ask you for a dance?

Seungcheol watches as the anonymous guy takes your hand and graciously leads you to the dance floor. His friends would be dramatic and say that he glared daggers at the dude. To be fair, he was. Seungcheol wasn't going to admit to that, however. He crushes his cup in his hand, startling the rest of his group but leading to only more teasing from all of them. With a roll of his eyes, he decides to shift his attention elsewhere.

Your weight shifts from one foot to the other. Maybe situating yourself near the dance floor wasn't the best idea you ever got but you needed to search for Jiwoo in the sea of sweaty, horny, drunk people. What better option than to sit right next to the speaker? You mentally facepalm yourself when the neon lights blinded you from identifying anyone. You blink once. Twice.

Who is this stranger in front of you?

Alarms blare in your head, telling you to get away. Your grip tightens on your cup, anxiety filling your stomach. He notices your worried expression and immediately flashes a smile. "You don't come here often, do you? I'm Eungwang."

He extends a hand out to you, asking you to join him on the dance floor. You shyly follow him, his hand never leaving yours. He twirls you around, telling you to smile a little bit and relax. You could feel all eyes on you, the blinding neon lights and booming music slowly becoming unbearable with each passing second.

"You okay?" You nearly didn't hear Eungwang calling out your name. "You look stressed. Are you okay?" You did your best to shake your head no, breath stuck in your throat.

A worried look passes his eyes, the corners of his lips turning downwards. It was becoming too much. You knew you shouldn't have come to this party. Jiwoo just had to bring you along. Jiwoo... You still haven't found her. The pounding in your heart and ears were getting worse, getting louder. You twist your head, trying your best to scan the crowd for a glimpse of your best friend.

"Get your hands off of her," a more familiar voice speaks up. With wide eyes, you see Seungcheol with his hand on Eungwang's shoulder.

Without an answer, Seungcheol rips him away from you and grabs your wrist to pull you into a more open space. It was weird. You always thought Seungcheol's hands would be rough, yet his touch felt so light. It felt like feathers. It was almost as if he was afraid to break you in your state. If you weren't too occupied with panicking, maybe you would've been trying to fight your way out of his grip.

You hadn't even noticed. Within minutes, the two of you were seated in the front lawn. The cool air brushed your cheeks, slowly pulling you out of your trance. Seungcheol tosses you a water bottle which you catch with trembling fingers. You take a sip and let out a breath. With pursed lips, you turn to look at him.

"Sorry.”

"What for?"

"I probably ruined the mood, right?"

He rolls his eyes, tucking his hands in his jacket pocket. "Whatever. The party was shit anyway. We should get you back to the dorm."

"But Jiwoo--"

"Your friend will be fine." He tosses his jacket to you. "Wear that. It's cold."

"I will not."

"Suits you." He snatches it out of your hands almost immediately. "Don't come crying to me when you get a cold."

Like a child, you stuck out your tongue.

You're sick.

You don't know if it's fate trying to trick you or something. Whatever it was, it definitely isn't funny. Thank goodness, it was still the weekend. You definitely would have lost it if you got sick in the middle of the week. Good news was Jiwoo got back to her own dorm safely because her roommates dragged her back. That made you feel a little better.

Swaddled in your blanket, you begin your travel to the faraway land of the living room where you met your roommate looking at you amusedly. You sent him the best glare you could muster with a bit of snot dripping down your face. He only snickered.

"I told you, you should've worn-"

"Shut it. I'd rather be sick than wear that sweaty jacket of yours."

"Oi!" He stands up, pointing at you who was rummaging through the fridge. "I'll have you know my jacket isn't at all sweaty and gross! I wash it often!"

You let out a snicker, taking some leftovers out of the fridge and shutting it close with your hips. Seungcheol drops his plate in the sink. He stares at you for a fleeting moment; your hair was a mess and there was a bit of snot running down your nose. Nonetheless, you were wrapped up tightly in your blanket that reached the floor. You peek your head to see what's playing on the TV when you see a familiar character.

"You watch...Link Clink?" You sniffle slightly, bringing your blanket back up to rest on your shoulders.

"Oh? You know this show?" Cute. He shakes the thought out of his head immediately.

"Yeah...It was on my watch list." You didn't think that he'd watch something like that. "Not like you need to know."

He rolls his eyes at you, ignoring your last comment. "You wanna watch it together sometime?"

What in the fuck? You don't know if it was your cold, if it was just the air conditioning or literal chills went down your spine at his offer. Maybe it was just the first option. Caught off guard, you stare at him. His eyebrow was raised at you while waiting for your response.

"Uhm...yeah, sure... why not?"

"Oh, yeah." He opens up a cabinet, your curious eyes following his form as he searches through the cupboard. He pulls out a green plastic and hands it over to you. "I figured you would get sick, so I bought some stuff this morning that could probably help."

"Oh, uh, thanks..."

"Don't mention it." You weren't too sure but you thought you saw him blush a little. Perhaps it was your brain playing tricks on you. Nonetheless, despite being your enemy, he was nice enough to buy you something. Though, it really was just a small cold.

He clears his throat, snapping you out of your trance. "Get some rest. Jiwoo will probably drop by here later."

"Yeah, okay."

“You’re telling me he took care of you while you were sick?”

“And you’re telling me you didn’t threaten him at all to take care of me while I was sick?”

Jiwoo takes a long sip of her bubble tea, taking her time to chew the pearls while you wait for an answer. She simply shakes her head no. You sigh.

“It’s not like he, like, took care of me. It was more of, like, he just made living together less of a living hell, I guess,” you state, taking your own sip of your tea.

“Less? What do you mean?”

“I mean, he still teased and taunted me. Like, he kept bringing his friends over. You know how loud all of them could get. Finished a bunch of my snacks even though they had my name on it. He broke my third favorite mug, too. One time, he placed my shit on top of the cabinet when he knew I couldn’t really reach it.”

You almost let out a laugh when you remember it.

“Awh, you need me in your life after all."

"Shut up, I can replace you with a step ladder."

"Too bad you won't. You love me too much."

You hadn’t even noticed the rosy pink that started to bloom on your cheeks and creep up to your ears. Jiwoo did, however, and would not let you live. Her eyes grew wide, dramatically placing her cup down. She shook you. A big grin was plastered on her face once you turned to look at her.

“Oh my goodness, it all makes sense now,” she cheered, enthusiastically shaking you around like a maraca. “You guys have been talking a lot lately… When I visited there was no sign of chaos anywhere.... And you were just giggling!”

“Giggling?”

“Giggling, Y/n, giggling! You!” she squeals. “Oh my god, you’re blushing! They’re blushing! Don’t tell me… you actually like him, do you?”

You let out a snort. “Me? Like him? Jiwoo, love, he makes my college life a lot less bearable. My petty ass won’t even let that go by, either. There’s no way I like that asshole.”

Okay, maybe you liked him a little bit.

It would be hard not to like a guy who stops in the middle of a walk just to pet some dogs he saw on the way. It would be hard to ignore the way he smiles whenever you see him with his friends. It was most definitely hard to pretend like your heart wasn’t racing at all when your drunk roommate, also known as your enemy, snuggled closer to you on your way to the couch.

“Seungcheol.” A groan. Try again.

“Seungcheol.” Same response. What is this bitch on?

“Choi Seungcheol.” A loud whine escapes his lips. “How much did you drink? You reek.”

“Just a lil’ bit,” he hiccuped, swaying back and forth on his feet. “We were having so much fun I didn’t even notice the time!”

You softly threw him onto the couch as he started to flail his arms. You rush to the kitchen to get him a glass of water. He throws his arms around the pillows and tightly squeezes them as he starts babbling nonsense you couldn’t quite make out. You hear something along the lines of peaches, weird foods they tried, and someone jumping into the pool. You smiled. They always were such a rowdy bunch. All 13 of them. You would know. They trashed your room once and ate your leftover ice cream.

“You look pretty.” You snorted, covering your mouth with your free hand. “You look just like my roomie, you know. They’re like-” A hiccup interrupts him. “They’re the prettiest person I’ve ever seen,” he slurred.

“Oh? Is that so?” You make him sit up properly and hand the cup over to him. “Here, drink some of this.”

He gulps down the water. “You're really kind, too! Ah, just like Y/n~ But they have a little- no, no- a huge temper.” Oh, wow. The audacity. He giggles and you suppress the urge to smile. Failing, you laugh along with him, shaking your head.

“Come on, let’s get you to your room, you ass,” you say, slinging an arm around him to try and get him up. “Why are you so damn heavy?”

“Because of my love~ for Y/n~!”

“Why are you cheesy when you’re drunk-”

You finally arrive at his room, which took a lot longer than expected because of dragging a very intoxicated Seungcheol around who would not stop trying to cuddle you. You struggle to open his door, ignoring the loud beating of your heart. Wanting to go back to sleep as quickly as possible, you let him crawl onto his own bed, turning around to leave.”

“Get some sleep.”

A hand wraps around your wrist, preventing you from leaving. He pulls you closer. You lose your balance. Oh look, now you're on top of him. You hold your breath. You try to push yourself away from him but to no avail. You were trapped.

“Where’s my goodnight kiss?” He croaked out, quickly leaning up to peck you on the lips.

“You kissed?!”

“Shh! Joo, not so loud!” Your eyes darted around the area, several heads turned to look your and Jiwoo’s way. “Everyone’s looking at us. I don’t even know what to say, Joo. I haven’t seen him at all for the past few days.” “You haven’t seen him or you’re avoiding him?” She raised a skeptical brow at you, popping some food in her mouth. She points one of her chopsticks at you with a big grin that makes you want to hide in a hole and never come out. “I think… you’re just avoiding him.”

“Well, what are you supposed to do when-” you lower your volume, casting your eyes to the ground. “I’m not finishing that sentence. Argh!” You hide your face in your hands, Jiwoo’s thrilled laughter coming from beside you.

You spent the following week trying to evade Seungcheol’s presence. You’ve been getting out of the dorm far earlier than you used to and he could never catch you anywhere. He seemed more than eager to talk to you nowadays, usually looking for you in the hallways or trying to spot a glimpse of you in your favorite spots. The library, the boba place, outside your classes. Nothing. It always seemed like you were one step faster than he was, one second too late for him.

He went around the campus grounds one last time. He even asked his friends if he’s seen you to which they replied with skeptical looks for fair reasons. He even tried to ask your friend, Jiwoo, to no avail. He retreats back to the dorm in defeat. His shoulders slumped over as he fished the keys out of his pocket. The door clicks and he becomes visibly confused. He still has his keys in his hand. The door opens wide and Seungcheol yelps, faced with none other than the roommate he was looking for.

Without thinking, he grabs a hold of your wrist as you go to shut the door on him. You snap yourself out of your thoughts from that night. "You're coming with me."

"What the fuck?" You tug your wrist back. His grip only tightens. "Yah! What the hell do you think you're doing?! I'm going to miss the next episode of-"

"Mmm, don't really care."

"Tch." You look down, suddenly ashamed of your get-up. He opens his car door for you. "Did Jiwoo put you up to this?"

Seungcheol smiles. Your heart... Did it skip a beat? Woah. Maybe he actually doesn't look too bad when he's not being a dick to you. Maybe he actually, dare you say it, looks cute when the two of you aren't at each other's throats every 5 seconds. You reluctantly get in, buckling your seatbelt while you wait for him to start up the car.

You look out the window, appreciating the beauty of the night. It's serene. It was still pretty bright with all the lights and buildings yet it looked beautiful. You opted not to speak to Seungcheol for the rest of the drive. You still didn't even know why he dragged you out of your room. You don't even know why you actually got in his car.

Realization hits you.

You're in his car. Seungcheol's car. You willingly got into Seungcheol's car. A small gasp leaves your lips, calling his attention.

"Is something wrong?"

You look at him. "Uh, no... No, I'm fine." The car suddenly holts, snapping you out of your daze. 7/11. Your eyebrows furrow. What?

"You dragged me out of my room... to go to 7/11? This late at night?" you asked, disbelief laced in your tone. He only chuckles at you, getting out of the car while leaving you bewildered and still strapped to your seat.

"Technically, it's like morning but sure." You unbuckle the seatbelt and step out, the cold breeze hitting your skin. Right, you still looked like a mess in the middle of a crisis. "I owe you ice cream since Soonyoung couldn't control himself the other day."

You narrow your eyes at him, suspicious of why he decided to be nice to you today. Before you could open your mouth to speak, he interrupts you, "This is just so you won't bitch about your lost ice cream."

"Hey!" you huff, crossing your arms over your chest. He picks up a few items and checks them out, you follow behind him like a lost puppy. "I thought we were just getting ice cream... why are you-"

"Can you just enjoy this quiet we have right now?" That made you shut up for the rest of the night. Not really. You started complaining about the cold a few minutes later while he laughed at your misery.

"Your fault for not bringing a coat, idiot."

"You fuckin- You dragged me out here!" you exclaimed, exasperated. "The audacity of this bitch, I swear."

Now sitting outside the 7/11, you rub your arms in a feeble attempt to warm yourself up. Not much luck. He slams a cup of instant ramen in front of you. You jumped slightly at the noise and he sent you a sheepish grin. "Enjoy, loser." You stick your tongue out at him yet pick up the cup nonetheless.

A sizzle breaks the silence between the both of you. He has a cheeky grin plastered all over his face as he teases you with the sight of the can of beer. He tosses one in your direction. You caught it, thankfully. You take a sip after opening it, letting out a content sigh. You searched your brain for something to say to fill the silence. It wasn't exactly everyday you get to sit quietly under the night sky on a school night with your worst enemy.

“I...uh... also wanted to apologize if I weirded you out while I was shit-faced drunk that one time. I didn’t- the words… they just slipped out,” he says.

“That’s it?” you ask. “You don’t remember anything else?”

Seungcheol shakes his head. “I don’t remember anything other than babbling nonsense. Why? Did I do something?” Your cheeks flare up, memories flooding back in that you’ve tried so hard to avoid. He stops and looks at you, noticing how you wouldn’t look him in the eye. Your eyes were trained on something else, your cheeks burning crimson. He blinks once, twice, trying to recollect the events of that night. All he remembers was you pissed and greeting him at the door, muttering some embarrassing shit, and being dropped onto his bed. Everything else was a blur.

“We should… Let’s get going. It’s getting really late,” you say, turning your head so you’d stop staring. The two of you finish up your ramen and drinks, heading back to Seungcheol’s car after discarding the trash.

On the way home, he recalls a few memories. The day you first met, the time you embarrassed him in front of the whole 8th grade, the time he gave you an oreo cookie filled with toothpaste. A good trip down memory lane later, the two of you were laughing obnoxiously in the wee hours of the morning. The laughter dies down as Seungcheol unlocks your dorm door.

“Come to think of it, why are we enemies again? We didn’t really do too much to hate each other,” you say, removing your shoes by the door.

“Do we hate each other?” You shrug. He laughs. “Why don’t we start over then? We’re not too different, apparently.”

“Yeah. Sure, why not?”

He sticks out his hand. “Hi, I’m Seungcheol.”

You gaze lingers on it for a few seconds. You never thought you’d be doing this ever. You look up at him and back at his hand. There’s a chance you’ll regret your next move but you doubt you will.

With a simple, soft kiss, everything felt like it changed yet stayed the same. The feeling of his lips on yours felt like a simple gift from the universe as a sorry for everything the two of you went through together. Seungcheol was frozen in his spot, eyes fluttering shut as he slowly pulled you closer. His memories start getting clearer. He slowly pieces together what happened that night. You pull away with a grin, completely red in the face.

“Hi, I’m Y/n. Seungcheol’s worst nightmare.”

“Is that what I get for making you suffer in silence when I couldn’t remember anything?”

“Oh, so you remember now? Damn, you really are old.”

“We’re the same age!”

“To answer your question, yes. Yes, it is.”

For the second time that night, you kissed.

[remakethestars]

RAVENCLAW 💙🦅🤎

Headcanons.

❝Even in the blackness, light can be found. My enemy can be outsmarted.❞

— Alex Hirsch, Journal 3

This is my house, y'all; buckle up!

Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, & Slytherin. Headcanon masterlist.

The door'll let you in for witty responses.

We prop it open during exam season, when everyone's coming back from dinner, on party nights, & when no one can solve the riddle.

Questions become more difficult to answer after curfew.

Everyone waits outside & pretends not to know first night until the first-years figure it out.

Today's riddle & answer posted on the back of the door every morning; check before you leave just in case.

Sometimes you find the prefects debating over what the answer is; no one leaves the common room until someone's figured it out, so sometimes, the entirety of Ravenclaw is late to breakfast.

Again, if we absolutely can’t, we’ll prop it open.

If the door’s propped open and you remove the prop, we’ll use the guillotine on you.

Everyone has at least one hill to die on.

There's a podium by the fireplace with a record book on it of all the books in Ravenclaw's library that you can ask for help finding books from (pages flip in their own). 

If you’re in a reading slump, describe what you're looking for; we've probably got it!

If you don't like writing & highlighting in the books, it'll disappear while you have it, but everyone's free to mark in them. 

So good at reading their own messy notes and the notes their friends wrote they can read a doctor's handwriting.

And there are notes everywhere. As organized as some Raveclaws wish they could be, you can't make notebooks & journals as organized as Google Doc & Word documents. Unless, ya know … someone made a spell for that — hold on, I gotta write that down!

Professors find notes — ideas for spells & potions — on the back of homework & tests. More knowledgeable teachers will add their ideas or advice before handing it back.

Everyone leaves a copy of their favorite book with annotations before they leave seventh year. 

There's a coffee/tea cart in the common room. 

Hallways to the dorms are covered in graffiti from students long passed.

Dorms branch off based on your year. 

Girls can walk into the boy's dorms & vice versa. 

All rooms are extended for more space.

Beds are built into the wall like window seats & have bookshelves where the head and footboards should be. 

Dark blue curtains can be drawn shut if you're feeling introverted. 

Trunks go under the bed, so they're kinda high off the ground.

Cast an extension charm if you’re claustrophobic.

At the end of every year, everyone congregates in the common room, someone casts glisseo on the stairs to Ravenclaw tower, & everyone slides their trunks down (it's called "the trunk shoving").

No one gives a single sh¡t about house points.

Ravenclaw’s are always blowing something up & losing points.

Dramatic about stubbing their toe, but super casual about ending up in the hospital wing because they "wanted to test a hypothesis."

If you have a question or don't understand something, ask it loudly in the common room; someone will undoubtedly answer or direct you to another who can.

Just don't use bad grammar, or sixteen people will correct you in unison. 😅

Learn (a) new language(s) in the common room 20:00–21:00 Mon.–Fri.

Tutoring sessions are in the common room at 21:00–22:00 Mon.–Fri. Or ask for private lessons to work around your schedule.

If a particular teacher's sh¡t, we host a class in the common room after dinner.

Also, there're just classes for random stuff: art, budgeting, codes & code-breaking, cooking, dancing, darning, fencing, ice skating (in the winter months), knot tying, lock picking, makeup, Morse code, muggle martial arts, sewing…

First years are all offered a class on note taking.

A lot of us do our homework on Friday night so we don't have to worry about it all weekend, so there're no party activities tonight, but you can play a muggle board game if you want.

Karaoke on Saturday nights.

Dungeons & Dragons on Sunday nights.

D&D’s swapped out for a play once a month; screw the theater ban! (For an explanation of Hogwarts’s theater ban, see Albus Dumbledore’s notes on “The Fountain of Fair Fortune” in The Tales of Beedle the Bard.)

Morning yoga in the common room — feel free to join; we'll teach you some poses.

Ask around; whatever you're looking for — info, candy, contraband — someone probably hands it out, sells it, can get it for you, and/or can tell you where to find it.

Pass around a spell that allows them to clean themselves. Who has time for showering?

And a potion that gives them the same feeling & energy as if they slept. Who has time for sleeping?

Yes, we're building a guillotine in the common room.

Please don't utilize it in the decapitation of any living person or thing (unless it's the Snape or Umbridge)!

Our next project is a carousel. With working lights & everything.

Yes, we're building a house of cards in the common room; please don't blow on it.

Be quiet until noon on the weekends or get hexed.

Thank Merlin they teach sign language in the common room every year & everyone knows enough to get by.

Parties are highly regulated.

People volunteer to walk people back to their dorms & put up protection charms so you don't get assaulted. Those people are vetted with Veritaserum first to confirm the authenticity of their intentions.

People often get into academic debates, which can get a bit loud; just silencio them & move on.

The entrances to the dorms are hidden behind moving bookshelves.

The Ravenclaw copy of Hogwarts: A History will tell you more than you realized you needed to know; there're enough notes in the margins to make a second book, including how to enter the kitchens, how to sneak out if the castle, how to find the Room of Requirement…

They've located more secret passages & rooms in Hogwarts using spells they created than the Marauders were aware of.

First-years are told how to put extension charms on their backpacks so they're not heavy — that's a crap-ton of stairs.

There's an incredibly thick book by a armchair near the fireplace that's full of testaments of Ravenclaw's alumni. "What's one thing you wish you'd known when you started Hogwarts?" First-years are encouraged to flip through it.

And taught a low-concentration spell for levitating books while laying down so your arms don't get tired (flick wand to turn page).

Common room's extended to fit all kinds of activities (and the bookshelves).

Some third-years built an aquaponic system on top of one of the window seats; take a cucumber, if you want, or stop to look at the fish.

Again, explosions are not uncommon. (Please don’t drop any explosives in the fish tank. As water isn’t as compressible as air, this will kill the fish.)

Everyone just kinda glances over to make sure you’re okay before going back to what they were doing.

There's always a record playing.

They host a hike through the Forbidden Forest once a week, because what even are rules?

If you hear an intelligent conversation taking place, feel free to sit down & listen or jump in!

The wind whistles against the windows all year round, but they've been charmed to keep water out.

Played The Floor is Lava before it was a meme.

There's a two-way mirror on the wall above the fireplace. There's a muggle television on the other side. No one's sure whose T.V. it is, but a lady comes in in the mornings in hair curlers & watches the news.

She puts in V.H.S. tapes of Disney movies at the start of term. Hypothesis says it's for the first years & this person's a half-blood or a muggle-born.

Sometimes, people work together to solve the Friday crossword in The Daily Prophet. It's the hardest all week.

Look at each other like they're the camera in The Office when someone says something stupid.

Oh, boy, if someone's found a really good mystery book… That sh¡t’s getting magically copied & passed around. We discuss theories at meals, pass notes in class, & set up a murder board in the common room.

Actually, Ravenclaw house has solved a number of murders in its free time.

Visit my Ravenclaw YouTube playlist & Pinterest board.

DISCLAIMER ━━━ These headcanons are what I consider to be canon in my fanfictions. They may be others’s headcanons I’ve subconsciously filed away in my noggin. If one’s yours and you want it removed or credited, please send me your post and let me know.

[riofann]

Rio Random 4

Things got a lot better after that, to your surprise. But you had both decided that you were basically going to do a redo and actively  work on your relationship. It was a bit difficult at first. But you felt better when you saw Mick removing drugs from your house. He also got you a security system that you could look at from your phone to see who has been in and around the house. You didn’t smell Beth around your house as often either. You actually didn't hear much about Beth, as far as you were concerned things were being dealt with.   

Rio would stop by two times a week at least on top of dates breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner, or dessert. He was a romantic at heart actually, you would find flowers at home or at work sitting on your desk. He often used to look at you and smile which made you blush. You also met Marcus and Rhea one night at a state fair. Rhea was like Rio, hard to read you could see why the two ended up together. All together your relationship was far from perfect but you could honestly say you were happy. 

One late afternoon you rushed home from work. Rio had sent you a text saying he had left a present for you. He often did this when he found lingerie that he liked and wanted you to wear it. Some dates he had dressed you from head to toe, others he provided the undergarments. Not that your taste was bad but he enjoyed doing this. 

When you open the door to your home you hear voices coming from the bottom of your house before you could turn around and walk away you come face to face with a strange woman. 

“Uh hi” Ruby greets uneasily 

“Who are you?” You ask 

“Uh Krystal”

Quickly Beth comes around the corner “Oh Y/N I was just ummm....”

You close your door now pissed, what are you doing in my house. Mick had moved all the drugs from your home, Rio had promised you nothing was left in your house. You looked around to see your house in disarray before turning your attention back to Beth  and these other women.

“Oh well Rio wanted me to drop off something”

“Did he? Inside my house? He doesn’t even have a key, so how’d you get in?” 

“Well Mick helped with that” “Okay what are you dropping off” 

“Uh,” “Right let me just give him a call I’m sure he would love to hear about this”

“NO! Let's not bother him you know he is busy right Be... be be because he wouldn't like that right Krys?” Annie interjects

“Or should I call the police?”

Without warning Beth pulled out her gun and pointed it at you

“What are you doing?” Ruby asked in horror 

“Alright Sit” she says motioning with the gun 

“Are you gonna tell me what you're doing here in my house Elizabeth?”

Instinctively the two women looked at her as she looked shocked as well “How did you?” 

“Elizabeth Boland, you have  5 children with your ex husband Dean right? Used to be a stay at home wife? Did I get that right?” 

“SIT!” she demands “No, what are you gonna do? shoot me?”

“SIT!” she turns to look at Annie and Ruby before turning her attention back to you “Who told you?” 

“Oh uh Mrs. Doubtfire...  Yea i was stopping by to give you that book i borrowed and she said there was no such thing as Krystal had no idea what i was talking about then she told me everything”

“That damn woman” 

“SIT!” 

“NO!  If you're gonna point a gun at me then I expect you to shoot.” 

Ruby tugs at her arm “Beth lets just go” “NO ITS HERE” she yells while yanking her arm back  “you think you are so special, that's what he does you know. Make you feel special then he just dumps you like you're nothing!”

“But I’m not you Beth, and i'm not Rio, so whatever you're looking for its not here and whatever beef you have take it up with him”

“I SAID SIT!” 

“I'm not deaf i don't know why you're yelling” 

“Beth” Annie tries to calm the situation Beth with a bewildered look turns to look at Annie “NO!”

“This is bad” Ruby comments 

“You can't just threaten her life because of some guy....Beth” Annie states  

“I am not all I need her to do is sit Annie!....I know that it’s here it just has to be...” 

As they argued within themselves you felt like it was the perfect opportunity to sneak away as you got close to the door. You turned abruptly to open it when you heard commotion followed by  sharp pain on your side, you looked down to see blood seeping through your clothes. You slowly fall to the floor back resting against the wall. 

“OH MY GOD BETH!” “SHE WAS GETTING AWAY” she defends “HE IS GOING TO KILL US” Annie states looking at her sister like she had 5 heads “I’M SO SORRY Y/N” she says rushing towards you 

“YOU BITCH” You kick her in the chest causing her to fall back, you groan and hold onto your side 

“This isn't good please don't kick me none of this was supposed to happen” Ruby says slowly crouching down next to you

“Put pressure on it” Annie instructs

“I need towels!” 

“It's gonna be okay” Ruby tries her best to sooth you “I can't believe you” 

“I didn't” Beth says while holding onto your wound

Annie rushed back with towels in hand

“Uh guys we have to take her to the hospital” You don’t know when it happens but you start to fade away “Y/N! Can you stand?” “Y/N!” Annie calls your name “she's not... Y/N stay awake 

“What's wrong with you?” Ruby scolds

“What? Ruby..” 

“Why are you trigger happy”

“It was an accident, help me get her in the car!” 

“Well we can't go out the front door”

“Then help me get her through the fucking back door Annie”

“Oh my god” Annie says throwing her hands up 

When 30 minutes pass Rio is beyond infuriated with you. You were not picking up his calls or answering his texts and from what he knew you were at home.He doesn’t  know why you flaked on him, he thinks you were in a drunken slumber wondering how you got back into it, you had shown signs of improvement. 

When he gets to your house however he opens the door, he hears Coconut’s barking and he immediately spots the pool of blood by the door

“Go find her is all he needs to say to Mick”  

He walks through your home, there were multiple holes cut in your walls, holes in the cushion seat on the couch, furniture overturned. When he walks into the bedroom everything is in disarray just like the living area. Carefully he walks down the steps and spots your bag. He thinks you were ambushed. His mind goes into overdrive and is thinking of who would have the gull to do such a thing as far as he was concerned everyone knew enemy wise especially in this line of business that children and wives/girlfriends were out of the question. So whoever had the gull to do such a thing was bold and he’s wondering who it could be. He makes a few calls before he’s sitting in front of your laptop trying to log in. another phone call and he’s given the password. When he looks through the security footage nothing but rage takes over. 

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

After pacing the floor in silence Ruby explodes with emotion “He is going to kill us!” 

“He doesn't know where we are” Beth counters

“I have a child Beth and I need to call Stan and let him know what’s going on!” 

“So do I Ruby, I have 5 to be exact,  he wont do anything she's just a placeholder anyway”

Ruby looks at her in disbelief “Are you kidding me he broke up with YOU to be with HER she is no placeholder”

“She's not special he can find another woman  like her anytime soon” Beth states dismissively 

“Beth i don't like this you need to call him and tell him it was a  mistake” Annie jumps into the conversation 

“Relax he doesn't know where we are he’s not stupid plus Dean will throw his ass in jail”

Putting her hands up Ruby states “I can’t believe you” before she walks away A brief moment of silence before Beth’s phone starts ringing

When they all look at the phone only unknown flashes through the screen after the 5th time the screen is black for good

“Elizabeth please for our sake just tell him” Ruby pleads “we can’t be hidden forever” 

“NO! Now shut up and let me think!” 

“Or what you're gonna shoot me” Ruby expresses frustrated 

“It was an accident!” 

Ruby scoffs, “Like shooting him too? I'm starting to think you’re trigger happy”

“Don't start accusing me you shot someone in the foot!” 

“That was an accident! We all know it was, but you just can't let this life go huh. You can't let this power go so whoever stands in your way you're gonna get rid of them” 

Beth walked up to Ruby looking at her right in the eye “You're right so move out of my way” she didn't have time to be arguing with her so if that meant intimidating her she would. 

Annie quickly got between the two and separated them. “Guys i cant right now please not now, i can't deal with this, we just need to stick together” 

Beth was right Rio couldn't locate them at first but he had found you. You were in the surgical icu stabilizing after your surgery. Because you were considered a Jane Doe no one was really allowed to see you, but Rio had his connections and he walked in to see you fast asleep before walking out. He says nothing as Mick drives him over to Beth’s house. Nothing was out of the ordinary except Beth was missing. He also had other cars posted outside of Ruby’s house and Annie's. 

“Aii bet” he hangs up the phone irritated that no one could locate Beth, she had become a protégé, so good at hiding things from him now. 

"You gon’ have to get rid of her” Mick states before looking at Rio,  “She shot you, planned your assassination," he scoffs "stolen, sabotaged, lied, how much more you gon let her get away with"

“I cant get rid of her, if i do i gotta deal with the other 2, not to mention the stupid ass husbands that's almost 10 kids in foster care, too much heat its bad for business now anyway, plus I'm still under the microscope cuz of Turner” 

“Both can’t co exist  though, so you either with Beth or you with Y/N.”

“Fuck me”

“Gotta make a move boss”

“Ima figure something out” 

It takes 2 days but he finally locates them. Abruptly woken from their sleep and thrown in a van they find themselves in an unknown place, kneeling in front of him, with plastic bags underneath them. 

“Please i have children” Beth tries to plead her case 

Rio’s shoulders roll back before he speaks “Nah see you can’t keep doing that mama, you can't keep provoking me and asking for mercy cuz you got kids.”

“I'm a mother, they need their mother!”

“Please Rio” Ruby interjects 

“See that's the problem, I hoped you being a mother, you would actually be more careful but I get it now. You just wanna be reckless and use me as your cover. Shoot me 3 times it's my fault. Steal my fault, lie my fault, plot to kill me my fault" his shoulders roll "what was Y/N’s fault why you shoot her?" Already knowing the answer he wanted to see what she would  say 

"She knows my name I know you told her"

"She's my girl"

"Right just like I was but unlike her you can't replace me you need me!” 

"Humor me Beth, are you jealous?" 

Beth scoffs “of what?"  

"Y/N"

She scoffs again "you wish! You probably get off knowing 2 women want you" 

He licks his bottom lip and smiles. It takes a minute before he speaks “So what should i do with you, all of you? I know I’m tired of this game, we’ve been playing it for too long. Aint y’all tired of wondering if im gon kill you?” He asks addressing Annie and Ruby

“Please I promise to walk away” Annie offers 

“Annie shut up!” Beth scolds 

“NO! YOU SHUT UP BETH GOD YOU ARE SELFISH! ALWAYS HAVE BEEN!” 

“Annie I’m trying to....” Before she can finish she stops after she hears her phone ringing  

Rio looks down at the phone “Talk it out I gotta take this call” he says before walking away 

The girls don’t say anything but look at each other. When they see him return Beth comments “I got this let me speak.” waiting for him to sit down before she begins “You can’t kill us and you know it. So you can run back to your little girlfriend and kiss her wound and tell her she's special and I'll go back to doing my thing” she says snidely Both Annie and Ruby looked at her shocked.

“She is, it could have been you but the 3 bullets kinda changed my mind”

“OH MY GOD! Can you let that go!”

“I did then I found out you hired a hitman and some kid to shoot me. Things change all the time between us,  you know this”

“So what are you gonna do? Because we have work to do”

“I know.” He nods at the men behind them. The zip ties are cut before he walks away “I’ll see you around yea?”

When he leaves they all look at each other shocked that he even let them walk away. They remain in that position until all the men leave. 

“See I told you!”

“I can’t do this Beth you need some serious help and I’m not willing to wager my family as collateral for it”  Ruby states “It worked” “For you! Not for us, you think it's just a one woman show where you do everything? Like your actions don’t have any effect on our lives'' “Ruby it worked I don’t know why you’re being such a baby about it” “Yea well better that than you” 

Annie interjects once again  before things get heated “Guys can we just figure out how to get home”

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

“So what now?” Mick asks frustrated with the whole thing. “She still working for you?”  he knew the pattern all too well Beth would do something to get back at Rio 

“Nah we moving, leaving Michigan, getting new headquarters. She wanna run the business? Cool, but no protection, no muscle, no supply of weapons, no connections, yea she can print money but she can’t operate or deal, not without me. Make sure everyone knows if they entertain her they are dead. I don’t care what it is if I find out I’m putting a bounty on your head. She right though I can’t kill her but i can kill her business” 

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

It took a few days but when you regain consciousness in the hospital you see one of Rio’s men at least you’re assuming he is sitting by you. You two don’t speak and you go back to sleep. The next day police stop by to question you about your shooting, you tell them the story Rio’s guy told you, a home invasion gone wrong. They leave satisfied with the explanation. Rio comes to visit a few days after  you have been moved to a step down unit that was more private.

The door opens and you watch as he walks in “Rio”

Hey mama he approaches you with hands behind his back and as he gets closer a cute teddy bear that has ‘get well soon on it’ 

“How you feeling?”  he asks taking a seat next to you on the bed 

“I got shot” you state factually

“You got shot” he says moving the hair from your face 

“Where have you been? The cops came to see me”

“I know they stopped by, I was handling something. Did you tell them what Honcho told you to say?”

“Yes” 

He smiles and looks at you with a face you can’t quite read

“So where is she?” 

You were hoping he would say dead in a ditch somewhere or something along the lines of ‘you never have to worry about her’ but what he said made you more angry

“At home”

“She's alive?”

“Yea” 

You roll your eyes, was she gonna be thorn on your side for the rest of your life with Rio? “But she won’t bother you” “Yea said that last time and now i have a bullet hole on my side that says otherwise” “Nah she won’t be able to reach you this time cuz we leaving, after you get discharged” 

“What? You want me to move?” 

“Yea,we can...”  You interrupt "There's no we anymore, you're like a bad omen. In less than a year since  i met you I get shot and now i have a bullet wound because of your unhinged ex that you couldn't keep in check and you still think there's a 'we' " 

“I told you,” he runs his hand down his chin “i asked you to be patient” he speaks softly 

“Be patient, meant with you! So you could change not ‘be patient, my crazy ex who i can't control will shoot you months from now but i still need you to understand” you say sarcasm laced in your tone 

“Y/N” “You told me to treat you like any other guy on the street, so I am. We are done!” 

“You can't stay here” he stresses “Why not?” “Beth isn’t my only enemy, and once she finds out my plans she will go to them for revenge” 

“So where are we going? I have a career here! Aunt Brenda and Mia, my parents, I visit their graves often”  

“They can come visit you, You can always get another job, it’s not safe for you here Y/N”

“Was it ever safe? Didn’t you have enemies before? Was I not in danger then” 

“This is different, Beth is vengeful I can’t risk it” 

“Where are we going?” 

“I can't tell you, not now I’m still figuring that out” 

“Typical” “Listen i'm packing up your house I’m gonna get you a new place in a new city you'll get a job” 

“Rio are you kidding me you want me to just up and leave?” “Yea,” he stands up and looks down at you  “it’s non negotiable, i gotta protect you, after you get discharged we leaving” 

“Protect me? From who? The only person I need protection from is you. Rein que le diable (nothing but the devil)” 

He stares at you for a moment  “get some rest” he says before kissing your forehead. He didn’t care about how you felt in the moment protecting you, Marcus, and Rhea were his top priority and he knew that always came with push back no matter who he was talking to.

A/N: as always tell me what you think. Not really a fan of this chapter didn’t know how to go around it. 

[akaiamedama]

Of crocodiles and rings and a possible connection to a teased weakness

Crocodile is a guy that is real extra and dresses sharp and loves his bling bling, right? He’s a man of high standards, so of course, he’s gotta wear bling to show that. Other bling loving characters are Capone Bege and Blackbeard for example. All three of them like to show off that bling. Now why do I mention the other two? Coz look at these three bling loving gentlemen, wearing rings on every finger and tell me where the difference lies. I’ll wait.

Exactly!

As opposed to Bege and Blackbeard, Crocodile doesn’t wear a ring on every finger. Obviously he cannot wear 10 rings coz he only got one hand with 5 fingers but he also never wears 5 rings. No, no. This guy, ladies and gentlemen, kinda makes it a point to always leave out one finger and that’s the ring finger. Ha- interesting.

Now, of course this could be mere coincidence. But let’s be realistic here, it’s Oda. He clearly has a reason for it as he’s been true to this detail ever since Crocodile was introduced over a decade ago and the only real question is ‘why’?

Why would Crocodile do that? He clearly loves wearing rings so why not wear them on every finger? Why leave out the ring finger for crying out loud? If one wanted to leave a finger without a ring, one would probably leave out the pinky or the thumb but who puts rings on every finger and leaves out the ring finger? I tell you who.

Crocodile. That’s who.

If you’re one who believes in symbolism and all that stuff, then you’d probably find it interesting that the ring finger symbolises releationships with others especially romantical ones as it is seen closest to the heart and therefore or because of it is the finger a wedding ring is worn on. In most cultures the engagement ring is worn on the right hand and the wedding ring on the left as the right hand is often the ‘physical’ one and has a greater visibility. It’s probably interesting to note that the left hand is considered to represent your character and beliefs. Ha. Interesting that Crocodile is missing that one, huh? Anyhow, in Crocodile’s case left or right hand doesn’t really matter as he only has one left (duh) so an argument can be made that sides don’t matter and the importance lies on the finger itself.

The way it looks right now is that he’s making a statement leaving out the ring finger and there are a few possibilites here. Of course it could be a family ring and he could be from an important family but really, not only would that be a bit to similar to Doflamingo, it would also not make sense to not just replace the family ring on the occations he’s not wearing it. But he never wears a ring on that finger so one can only come to the conclusion that there’s some sentimental thought behind that.

The most logical would be that there is a ring he believes should be on that finger. Either he’s keeping it free for a future event coz he doesn’t have the ring yet (which I doubt) or he’s keeping it free coz technically there already is a ring for the finger. This could be a ring he doesn’t have anymore and regrets it (like he lost it with his left hand or threw it away) or a ring he does have but decides not to wear for his own reasons. Whichever it is, it clearly has such an important value that he doesn’t just covers it up or replaces it. 

Now, given the ring finger and it’s symbolism the thought of a wedding ring isn’t too far fetched. We don’t know enough about his past to say that he could never have been married so I think it’s worth looking into.

Let’s just imagine for a second, that the ring missing is indeed a wedding ring, what could that mean?

He could have had a wife but she died and even though he’d technically not be married anymore, people who lost their partner almost always keep their wedding ring as a memento. If they move on, they don’t wear it anymore but they often keep it. This could give another perspective to the ‘wounds’ Daz was referring to after Marineford as he was clearly not talking about Luffy’s physical wounds but about the emotional wounds that came with losing a loved one.

Crocodile could have had a wife but she betrayed him and he took the ring off as to break the relationship and connection. Then the choice to not wear a ring on that finger in the future could serve as a reminder to himself not to trust people, not even those close to you. This could possibly explain his huge trust issues.

However, these two scenarios, while possible, don’t strike me as the most likely simply due to the two following scenes:

“If you want to protect something, do it right!!” 

This could be totally random and only refer to the moment at hand but it could also indicate that he knows a thing or two about how to successfully protect someone. Which leads us to the infamous

“I know one of his weaknesses ...!! But if he cooperates with us ... then I won’t say anything about it!!”

Think about it, the biggest weakness ANY pirate of Crocodiles caliber could have is a loved one or people they care about and their identity and location to be known by the public or enemies (marines, pirates etc.) because no matter how powerful a pirate you are, if information like that was to spread and reach the wrong ears, this could have catastrophic consequences for you and the people you care about. It’s used over and over in OP stories like when the marines hunted down Gol D. Rogers offspring and slaughtered all newborn who could potentially have been Roger’s child or when the marines swore to kill Luffy for being Dragon’s son or when Zeff was used as leverage to force Sanji to comply. I doubt anyone knows Usopp is Yasopp’s son or that he had a woman and child in Syrup village otherwise someone would have probably attacked them to get back at Yasopp. Maybe that’s one of the reasons he left them. As to protect them.

Ivankov and Croc met years ago when Croc was still considered a rookie, so in his early/mid twenties. If there is indeed a ring to that finger and the person is still alive, Ivankov could know her identity or location and this could totally be the weakness Ivankov was refering to. Of course this only works if the person is still alive. 

Now I know, you’re probably scratching your head, thinking I might be a bit nuts going this direction considering it’s Crocodile we’re talking about but really, think about it. His choice of jewelry is mega weird so what could be the reaaon for it? Also it’s hardly the weirdest theory out there (looking at you femCroc theorists).

This would also tie in neatly with why he decided to have his Baroque agents working in teams of two with male/female. I mean, unlike other characters, he clearly doesn't seem to see women as the weaker sex and him having his agents work in pairs has to be grounded somewhere. Maybe he was raised like that and his parents where a good example of how well men and women complement each other or maybe he made the experience himself. If so, I tend to think that he wasn't betrayed by the woman... or maybe he was and that's one of the reasons why he was so paranoid and basically expected Robin to betray him. All possible, really.

It’s also apparent that Oda incorporates marriages a lot more often nowadays than he did in the early years of One Piece. Mr 9 and Mrs Mondey got married on a cover page and have a baby, Capone got married and his henchman Gotty married too, Sai and Baby 5 married, Sanji and Pudding were meant to marry and let’s not forget poor Senior Pink’s backstory. 

Last but not least, I’d like to point out a seemingly random fan question Oda answered in an SBS which seems just kinda odd once you consider everything I said above.

Now the question focuses on “they never had a child” and “I wonder what faces their children would have”, yet Oda starts with “They’ve been to weddings before ...” ... WOW. Really? Why would he say that? XD No one even asked about weddings. Funny. So they’ve been to weddings, huh? As what? Guests? Grooms? You know? It doesn’t seem to mean anything but if you consider Crocodile’s rings and such imo it’s just a weird thing to say. Then the mysterious “I wouldn’t say whether they had children or not ...” ..... 

Note: Especially during Alabasta Oda often forgets to draw Croc’s rings at all or accidentally leaves out the wrong finger but he is consistent with the rings since Impel Down. He still forgets them from time to time but he doesn’t switch the fingers anymore so one could reason that he had a vague idea of Crocodile’s reasons behind the rings when he introduced him but only solidified it or gave it more details once Croc showed back up. The anime and games however often just leave out the wrong ring probably thinking that it doesn’t matter.

[desertofsnowflakes]

Incorrect Order Chapter 4 (Nessian AU)

A/N: I know I haven't been able to update as fast as you'd want me to but I'll try to fix that. Your comments and feedbacks are very much appreciated. Do inform me if you wanna be added/removed from the taglist! If you happen to find my storyline similar to another fic or one of yours, I'm extremely sorry, I might've just not known. All characters belong to the author Sarah J. Mass. Enjoy!

Summary: Don't first impressions always affect the way you see someone? Well, what more with the Nesta Archeron? Nesta meets Cassian at few unexpected places and to say it didn't go well was a major understatement. Certain circumstances make them become enemies to tolerable company to friends to lovers.

Trigger Warnings: None really

1652words | Incorrect Order Masterlist | Read on AO3

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The best way to keep whatever problems one has out of their mind was to do something they liked. That was the only way Cassian kept from spiraling. Since sending the woman to her own house, Cassian had more than a few moments when he wanted to repeatedly slam his head against a wall. That’s why he spent most of his time sparring with Azriel. He won’t admit he was simping for that woman in his free time too. Or maybe that was always.

Now, sprawled on a couch in front of the TV, with nothing to do but stare at a blank screen, Cassian led his thoughts to the box he kept all unwanted thoughts locked in. He thought about Tomas, her ex-boyfriend. Funny, he thought. I know her ex's name but not hers.

It took him a little too long the other day to realise they didn't exchange names. Again. He once thought that maybe she was purposely not giving him her name. That maybe, for her, he was just a random stranger who happened to save her life. He snorted. Surely anyone would know the name of the person they saved or was saved by— stranger or not. He supposed he'll have to make do with pronouns for now.

After she left his home, it took every scrap of self-restraint not to beat this Tomas dude to pulp and let him rot in the same alley he had the misfortune of meeting him in. He may or may not have been the cause for some extra injuries. Cassian appreciated the woman’s attempt at mercy. He, however, didn’t trust Tomas at all. He was dubious about just handing him over to the police. Who’s to know he won’t frame him and the woman for absurd things? Anyway, he left a note in Tomas’s house saying something like “Step out of line, lose your favourite part of anatomy. Name it and have it for your meal.” He made sure he printed so that no one would recognise his writing. Yet, all this didn’t calm his nerves one bit. He presumed he’ll have to stay on guard for some time now.

Now, back to the girl. He sighed. He didn’t dare change the sheets in his guest bedroom. He didn’t even let Mor use the room when she came over last weekend— which he could bet created suspicion. No, that room was only open when he craved her scent. He even realised one of his shirts was missing. He shrugged it off thinking he would've left it somewhere and just couldn't find it. Once she came to his house, he was constantly thinking about her. So much that now he started pinching himself often. It was the only way he could stop thinking about her— by creating physical pain.

Cassian glanced at the clock on the wall. 2.30 in the afternoon. He walked to the refrigerator and checked his freezer compartment. Huh. No ice-cream. He sighed, grabbed his jacket and keys and headed to the mall to get an ice-cream with a pout. He’ll have to leave for Rhys and Feyre’s first anniversary only around 5.30 to prepare everything. He has enough time to get an ice-cream and probably hang out for some time. Good enough to stop thinking about her. Or so he thought.

***

Nesta wasn’t sore anymore. Her headache was gone almost a week after the incident. Her nose didn’t hurt anymore. Okay, maybe a little bit. It didn’t hurt unless she bumped her nose against something. Today, her nose was dully throbbing because she hit her nose against a pillow yesterday. A very, very soft pillow and yet it hurt this much.

The man’s first-aid and medicines were really helpful.

It really wasn’t fair that he excelled at basic first aid too. It wasn’t fair that he looked so good. With black tattoos swirling over generously muscled arms and shoulder-length dark hair curling at the edges and gloriously tanned skin and hazel eyes with minute flecks of green and brown when taken a closer look at and dimples and—

A quiet “Who is it?” snapped Nesta out of her moping. She looked up to see Gwyn walking to her.

“Who is what?” she asked, feigning nonchalance. Gwyn's pursed lips and glare conveyed that her act wasn't enough.

“Who are you thinking about?” Gwyn clarified.

“What makes you think I'm thinking about someone?” Nesta retorted.

Gwyn sat on the chair next to her and started assisting with classifying the unceremonious heap of books on the table to be kept back in its correct positions on its own rack.

“Nesta,” Gwyn sighed, “Clotho assigned you this stack almost an hour ago. And you've barely finished a third of the stack. Normally, you'd finish stacks bigger than this in an hour. So there's clearly something.”

“It wasn't anyone,” Nesta mumbled.

As usual, Gwyn saw through her lie. “You were twirling your hair,” she said flatly.

Heat inched up her neck. “I was not!”

Gwyn murmured a “uh-huh” and they lapsed into an easy silence till they were almost over.

Gwyn's eyes lit up as it normally did whenever she got an idea. “Is it him? The guy you came with that day?”

Nesta scowled, “How do you know…” she broke off when she realised which 'that day' Gwyn was talking about. Nesta fought back a blush. “No, no, this isn't about him. We don't know each other. Much. Like, we've seen each other a number of times? That's it. Nothing else.” Cauldron, the first part was a complete lie. But at least the rest are true. Will Gwyn happen to know his name? Maybe I ought to ask her. Or maybe I shouldn't.

She should, she decided. She cleared her throat. “Uh, Gwyn? Do you happen to know his name?”

Gwyn frowned and asked, “He hasn't told you yet?”

Nesta shook her head and answered, “No, we, uh, forgot. I guess. We haven't really exchanged names.”

Gwyn nodded and smiled. “Well, he is—”

“Gwyn!” a voice called. “You can't expect me to come over to you and beg for you to help me. Help me only if you want to or don't work under me.”

Gwyn’s eyes widened. She abruptly stood up and mouthed, “Merrill. I gotta go. I’m so sorry.” She all but ran to Merrill, the very strict librarian Gwyn was working under.

Nesta sighed and continued her work. There wasn’t much left so she was able to finish fast. She picked her things and left the library with a word to Clotho, heading to the mall.

***

The best way to keep whatever problems one has out of their mind was to also eat something they liked. So, ice-cream it was. After having his ice-cream, Cassian was aimlessly walking around the mall. Here, not more than a month ago, he met her for the first time. Almost a month ago. He huffed out a breath. The fact that he was pining for her this long blew his mind off. He—

“This is your fault— not mine. I’m not taking the blame for this,” he told her. They bumped into each other. Again.

Her lips quirked up. “It is kind of my fault. But blame this—,” she poked his chest, “— for making my nose hurt again.”

Just like that, his mood sobered. “How are you?” he asked.

She pointed at the cafe to her left. “Coffee?”

He nodded. Who was he to say no to her?

So they ordered coffee and talked about everything and nothing. He grinned and she laughed. He laughed and she smirked. He wouldn’t say he knew her well but he’d never seen her so carefree. Her laugh was like nectar for a starving man. Her eyes bright and welling up with tears from laughing.

“I don’t think I’ve laughed this much,” she said.

Cassian put a hand on his heart dramatically and said, “I know, I know. I’m very funny.”

Her lips kicked up a notch. She straightened as if she just realised something. He was about to ask when she drawled, “So I just realised that we still haven’t exchanged names.”

Oh. Right. Of course. “Yeah,” he nodded. “Usually, when people meet, they start with introductions but in our case we’ve literally bumped into each other three times and still we don’t know each other.” He shook his head and extended his hand. “Well, hello there. I’m—”

His phone rang in his pocket. Fuck. He was going to kill whoever was calling him now. He was so close to knowing her name. He pulled out his phone to see an incoming call from Azriel. He apologetically looked up at her and said, “I’m sorry. I wish I could choose not to take this call and instead kill this idiot but I can’t. Just give me a moment, okay?”

She nodded and he picked up his call.

“What do you want?” he hissed.

“It’s 5.30 already, you idiot. We’ve got to get the things ready for the party. Mor already went to get the cake and you’re not even at home. Where on all earth and hell are you?” came Az’s faint voice.

“15 minutes only? Mother above, I’m coming.” he said.

Az’s “make it fast” was the last thing he heard before hanging up. “I wish we could stay here and talk forever,” he said to her, “but I have something up in a short while and I totally didn’t realise time was passing this fast. I’m so sorry. It was nice talking to you. Really. And I wish we could meet again. Though without the bumping part.”

He grinned when she smiled and said, “Bye. Have a nice day.”

“You too,” he called back. He didn’t want to think he imagined the subtle look of disappointment on her face because hell, he was a walking epitome of disappointment right now.

taglist:

@shadowsinger07 @im-someone-i-guess @saltyfortunes @cressjacquine @julian-blackthorn-supremacy @champanheandluxxury @zemiraa @ladygabrielli1997 @nehemikkele @heartless--aromantic @sv0430 @ddsworldofbooks @irenethaleia @sjm-things @dontgetsalmonella

[horansqueen]

Stuck With You - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Some Say

🡪chapter 1  🡪chapter 2  🡪chapter 3  🡪chapter 4  🡪chapter 5  🡪chapter 6   🡪chapter 7  🡪chapter 8  🡪chapter 9  🡪chapter 10  🡪chapter 11 🡪chapter 12 🡪chapter 13 🡪chapter 14

College Enemies To Lovers AU

characters // masterlist // instagrams // mood board

I will find the time, we will find the timing 'Cause you are on my mind, I hope that you don't mind it

And I know it might sound stupid but for me, yeah yeah I just gotta keep believing and I've heard

Some say you will love me one day And I will wait, I will wait to get your loving one day Just say you will love me one day And I will wait, I will wait to get your loving one day

click here to be on the update list

                                                I felt my heart threaten to jump out of my chest as we both stood motionless. Niall's eyes met mine and I shook my head slightly.

"No..." I whispered, suddenly finding back the use of my legs and taking the few steps separating me from the buttons. "Fuck, no."

I started hitting all the buttons as my heart was racing until I felt Niall's presence next to me. He put his hands over mine to stop me and grabbed my fingers, pulling gently on them to make me turn around.

"Devon.."

I looked up in his eyes and for a reason I ignored, it calmed me immediately. I blinked a few times, barely believing that once again, I was stuck somewhere with Niall, and I was starting to wonder if it wasn't a joke from fate. Someone out there was probably having a laugh from locking us together and I just closed my eyes and sighed.

I was trying to sober up but it wasn't easy, and when I opened my eyes again, I could swear I saw anxiety the way Niall was looking at me. He gripped my fingers tighter and all the anger I felt towards him faltered, almost disappearing.

"Okay, I'll call Lewis."

He let go of my hands, making my arms fall on each sides of my body as I watched him. Quickly, he grabbed his phone from his pocket, almost drpping it, and composed a number after putting his phone on speaker. It took half a minute for Lewis to answer, and I was feeling more and more nervous with every ring.

"Maaate, where are you? It's complete darkness here! Even the lights outside are off."

Niall glanced up at me before looking back down at his phone and licked his lips. I didn't know if it was the alcohol running in my veins but I ended up staring at his mouth for way too long and took a step closer.

"Okay you need to call your landlord, I'm literally stuck in the elevator." Niall quickly explained, ignoring everything his friend told him.

"You are?" Lewis asked before bursting into laughter. "What were you even doing there?"

This time, Niall looked up in my eyes and his lips parted. "I'm.. I'm here with Devon."

"Wait wait, you're stuck in the elevator with Devon?"

Once again, he started laughing so loud I actually moved my upper body slightly back, as if it would change anything. Niall just rolled his eyes and sighed, waiting for him to stop laughing.

"Come on, just call your landlord will you?"

"Everyone here started doing nasty things everywhere in the dark." Lewis added with a chuckle. "And Mandy is looking for you."

My heart dropped in my chest and Niall's gaze moved away from mine, avoiding it. "Lewis, you know I can't stay here okay, call someone. I don't care if it's the fucking police okay? You get someone to make that fuckin' elevator work again!"

Once again, his words hurt me more than they were supposed to. Was being locked with me that bad that he couldn't handle it even just a few minutes? Or was he just too impatient to go find Mandy?

"Yea yea, no worries, i'm on it. I'll text you about it." Lewis replied as I took a few steps back slowly and leaned again the wall. He started laughing again and I heard Niall sigh for a second time. "I can't believe you're stuck there with Devon! This is the most hilarious shit that happened tonight!"

I didn't understand why it was so funny but perhaps Lewis was just too drunk to be coherent, or I was too drunk to get the joke.

"Yea. Hilarious." Niall let out sarcastically.

"Oh hey mate while you're there, maybe you could tell Devon about-"

I held my breath when Niall took off the speakers and brought his phone to his ear before turning his back to me. It made me frown, wondering what Lewis was about to say that was so bad that Niall didn't want me to hear. Was he asking Niall to tell me how much I annoyed him? If that was the case, it was clearly not necessary. I knew I had been annoying Niall since day 1 and I probably always would. It was true, he has actually been kind with me in the past 24 hours and I was still not sure why, but he had been rude and mean to me way more often than not. Of course, he had kissed me twice also, and those were moves I still didn't really understand.

"Shut up and get us out of here!"

He hung up quickly and turned back to me, his eyes now roaming on me as I leaned my head against the wall. "What was so funny?"

"Nothing. He's just pissed."

"Are you impatient to get out of here so you can go back to her and let her literally sex-kiss you in front of everyone?"

His lips curled slightly on the right in an amused smile. "Sex-kiss me?" he repeated, raising his eyebrows.

"Yea. Pushing her tongue so deep on your mouth and making sex sounds."

"Is that what she did back there?" he asked, his smirk growing as he took a step closer.

"You should know it. She's probably not the first or last girl you'll be having sex with." I pointed out rudely, making him lose his smile and frown.

"Okay, what does that mean exactly?" he asked cautiously as I nodded. "Are you slut-shaming me?"

His expression surprised me but I just shrugged. "Tell me I'm wrong."

He scoffed and shook his head, placing himself in front of me, forcing me to raise my chin up to look in his eyes. "So basically you think I sleep with every single girl I meet? That I just see a pretty girl and kiss her or bring her to my bed to shag her? You don't know shit about me but you just judge me and decide what kind of person I am by just looking at me?"

"She doesn't even have to be pretty." I pointed out, feeling my heart jump at my confession.

It took him a few seconds to understand and his face changed. His shoulders moved down and he seemed to relax slightly, closing his eyes for a few seconds and sighing again. When his eyes met mine, I could tell he knew I was talking about myself. I could read it in the way he was looking at me.

"For your information, Mandy is the only girl I slept with since... well, she's the only girl I slept with in over a year. Happy?"

No, I was not happy. The fact that he literally only had sex with her made everything even worse. It was impossible to shag someone for so long without developing some sort of feelings for them.

"Why did Lewis say you'd kill him if he accepted that I moved in with him?"

Niall turned around and grabbed his phone, checking to see if he got a text message. "Because Lewis is an idiot, that's why." he looked up and stared at me for a while. I could feel he was a bit angry at me and I was not sure why but I probably deserved it. "Why were you leaving?"

"Because." I just replied in a low tone, looking away.

I wrapped my arms around myself like this move could shield me from his words, from his questions, and from his eyes.

"Because what?" he insisted a bit louder. "I answer your questions now it's your turn!"

"Because you.. you kiss me! And you.. you press your body on me and, and and your cock is pressing on my thigh! And you pull away and leave like it didn't matter! Like you do that to random girls all the fucking time! And you like my instagram posts in less than a minute like you actually turned the fucking notifications on! And then you invite me here like we're friends or some bullshit like that! But this girl is all over you and she literally makes out with you in front of everyone!"

I felt my heart beat so hard in my chest that it throbbed all over my body. Normally, I'd be ashamed of all the things I had just thrown at him but at the moment, stuck in an elevator and totally drunk, I really didn't care. In fact, it made me feel better than I thought it would.

"You know you're making no sense right now."

"Oh shut up!"

We remained motionless and silent for a few minutes and he finally moved back to lean on the other wall, his arms crossed on his chest. I finally let myself slide down against the wall until my butt touched the floor and sighed loud.

"I don't do that all the time, okay." he finally talked. "It just... It just happened!"

"Twice?"

"Yes ok? It just happened twice!" I didn't answer but simply rolled my eyes and he continued. "And about instagram, well I just happened to be scrolling through it."

"Right."

I sighed low and closed my eyes, trying to empty my mind from all of this, but after a few minutes, I heard him curse low. I opened my eyes and he was crouching down, his face looking at the floor, and it made me frown.

"Niall?" I moved my head, trying to see him better. "Are you alright?"

I watched as he gripped the back of his head with his hands and let out a short groan as I felt my heart skip a beat. I crawled to him on my knees slowly and finally sat on my legs, tilting my upper body a bit. It was making me nervous and the fact that I was so drunk that everything seemed to be slightly moving around me didn't help.

"Seriously, Niall, what's wrong?"

"Lewis texted me and said that we may be stuck here for a while and I just..." he seemed panicked and held my breath. "I'm.. I'm claustrophobic okay?"

Out of anything he could have told me, that was one thing I didn't expect at all. I put my back straight again and my lips parted. I shook my head a bit and licked my lips before looking at his hands as they gripped his own hair.

"But we've been stuck together in places before..."

"The basement of the library was big, and there was a window in the bathroom." he pointed out very quickly.

So the reason he wanted to be out of here as soon as possible was not because he couldn't stand to be with me, or because he wanted to see Mandy. I felt extra guilty for thinking about that at that exact moment and shook my head, trying to get rid of that thought.

"What am I... what should I do? How can I help?"

He didn't answer, he just let himself fall on his butt, his legs spread, and leaned his head against the wall, his eyes shut. I placed my hand gently on his shoulder and his eyes fluttered open. He seemed so fucked I thought he could pass out.

"Hey, look at me, okay?" I whispered, raising my eyebrows. "We can breathe together. Okay?"

He blinked a few times and nodded. I searched for his fingers and grabbed them, licking my lips. I was getting nervous too, and I honestly had no idea what to do to help him.

"Nothing's gonna happen to us, okay? So when I squeeze your fingers, we slowly breathe in, and when I stop we breathe out."

"Okay."

"Okay."

We did this for a few minutes but stress was slowly invading me and after a while, he finally closed his eyes again.

"Help me change my mind, Devie, I need to think about something else than the fact that we're stuck here." he let out a bit louder.

"I don't... I don't know what to do." I admitted, feeling myself tear up at how powerless I was.

"Anything, just, do something!" he insisted, making my heartbeats accelerate suddenly.

That's when it happened. I just crashed my mouth against his. My lips pressed on his but after a few seconds, my body relaxed a bit and so did my lips. I closed my eyes and pulled away slowly, feeling extremely stupid.

"Why did you do that?" he asked as I opened my eyes again. My gaze softened despite myself when it met his and he shook his head a bit.

"I don't know." I admitted in a whisper. "It's the first thing that came to my mind."

"Do it again."

"What?" I breathed out, my eyes getting bigger.

"Do it again." he repeated just as low. "Please."

My lips parted and I started panting as my heart thumped hard in my chest, so hard that I felt like it wanted to escape. I moved closer again, tilting my head slightly and brushing my lips against his. Every single time I felt Niall's lips against mine, it was driving me insane, and now that we were both not only drunk but also in a crisis situation, I felt every single pore of my skin shaking. His lips were warm and wet and I kissed him a bit harder. I don't know what suddenly got into me but quickly, my lips parted his and I made the kiss grow deeper. I thought it would surprise him as much as it surprised me but it took only half a second for his arms to wrap around me before he pulled me closer. I moved my knees on each side of him as I felt his fingers sink in the skin of my back through my clothes. He tasted amazing and I let a whimper escape my lips without shame as I sat on him, grinding down against him. It made me feel so dizzy I started seeing yellow spots behind my eyelids and I knew it was not the alcohol this time. It was him. It was always him.

I slid my fingers in his hair just as one of his hands reached for the bottom of my shirt, slipping under it and reaching for my breast. My lips parted again and I whispered a low 'Oh my god' as I pressed my legs more on the sides of his thighs. His fingers grabbed one cup of my bra and pulled it down a bit. I felt his knuckles rub against my nipple and I kissed him again hard, shutting my eyes tight and barely controlling my own body anymore. I could feel my inner thighs throb even harder and I pressed myself on him again, feeling his cock swell between my legs.

That was not what I had expected at all but I didn't want to stop. It's only when I heard him whisper my name as his free hand traveled down my back to reach my ass that I snapped out of it. I moved away slowly, my lips still parted as i panted, and waited for him to open his eyes. We stared at each other and I finally licked my lips as he leaned his head back on the wall, his eyes never leaving mine.

"I'm sorry." I murmured. "It probably didn't help you much."

He chuckled and his lips curled enough to show me his teeth as he shook his head slightly. "Actually, it did."

"Really?"

"Devie, it's hard to think about being locked in a confined place when your dick is hard."

I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh too, and his hand slipped out of my shirt to fall on my thigh. That position, I had dreamed of it since the first day I met Niall, and I didn't want to move away. He let his fingers trace a few shapes on my jeans and my eyes fluttered at how soft he was being with me. He brought his free hand and moved a lock of my hair behind my ear before letting one of his fingertips brush against my jaw and down my neck before sliding between my breasts. His hand finally reached for my other thigh and he squeezed both at the same time.

I couldn't pretend my inner thighs weren't throbbing anymore, but somehow, it was for an other reason. I had never been excited like that by someone being so soft and gentle with me but it made me want to kiss him again.

"Thank you." he whispered as one of his hands left my thigh to move behind my head.

He pushed me gently to him and I let him. There was nothing I wanted more than to kiss him again and when my face got close enough to his, he kissed me softly and slowly a few times. I tried to remain motionless and eyes closed, focusing on the way his warm lips peppered tender kisses on my mouth as his fingers played in my hair. It was an incredible contrast with the last kiss we just had but I enjoyed it just as much.

"Niall, why do you-"

I was cut by the sound of his phone and he sighed as I moved back to give him space. He grabbed his phone on the floor and checked the message he had just received before looked back in my eyes.

"They'll put back the power any minute now."

As if on cue, the lights changed and the power came back. I remained sitting on him as the elevator brought us to the main floor and felt my heart sink in my chest. The moment was almost over and all that would be left of it would be the memory playing over and over in my head probably forever.

"Come on, Devie." he said in a low tone. "Let's get some fresh air okay? I really need it."

I nodded and got up in silence, holding out my hand to him to help him up too. He rubbed his sweaty hands on his jeans and we got out. It was still warm outside despite that time of the year and we started walking in silence. I kept glancing at him as we wandered around the streets and he was focusing on his feet, his hands in his pockets.

"Are you ever gonna share your story with me?"

Hearing his voice again made my heart jump in my chest. "My story?"

"Yes, You know about the girl who broke my heart, partly because of Louis." he explained, turning to look at me for a few seconds. "But you never told me who broke your heart."

I brought my arms around myself as a shiver crossed my back. I hadn't shared that with anyone but somehow, I wanted to share it with Niall. It's not that I felt like I owed him, it's just that if anyone could understand what it felt to be betrayed, it was him.

"When I started my second year at my old college, I met this guy... he was my professor and he was everything anyone could wish for. He was hot, smart and funny. Everyone was in love with him and I was head over heels." I scoffed and rolled my eyes at the thought. "He showed interest in me and I.. I couldn't  believe it, you know? With all the gorgeous, perfectly-shaped and sexy girls in that school, he still had picked me."

I could feel Niall's eyes on me and he started walking slower. I followed his pace and breathed in before sighing.

"So we started seeing each other in secret. I was.. in heaven. I thought it was real, you know? I thought we had something great, something epic. And someone caught us. So he denied me. He denied our story, and he broke my heart. I changed school because everyone knew, everyone talked behind my back, everyone pointed their fingers at me and whispered when I walked by. The person who caught us literally told everyone."

"That's shitty of them."

"It was my best friend." I admitted, raising my eyebrows and sighing.

"Ouch."

"Mmhm."

"So you really loved him? Your teacher?" Niall asked after he stopped walking and turned to face me.

I realized we were back in front of Lewis' apartment building and I swallowed hard. "Yes. But I was just one of the girls he slept with. Found out the hard way."

Niall took a step closer and I tilted my chin up to keep my eyes locked with his. Once again, he moved a lock of my hair behind my ear as one of his fell on his forehead. "He didn't deserve you."

"Just like your ex girlfriend didn't deserve you."

His lips curled slightly on the right in a mix of melancholy and softness and he finally sighed.

"Come on, Devie, let's go get a rest. We're both too drunk to drive and I'm exhausted."

[feralnumberfive]

TUA Season 3 Wishlist

Hello everyone! Since Season 3 was announced to start filming in February of 2021, I thought that it would be fun to make a wishlist of songs that anyone would like to see in the new season. I'm quite passionate about music and often think of songs that I personally believe would fit the show well. I know a lot of others do this too and thought that it would be fun to share our beloved songs with the fandom!

Guidelines/Information

You may submit as many songs as you want!

You may submit them to my ask box or send me a message (I don’t bite!)

You may request not to have your username by your song(s) but if not I your username will be attached to your song(s).  | Ex. “Help!” by The Beatles @feralnumberfive   OR   “Help!” by The Beatles “Anonymous” 

The songs don’t have to be by the original artist. If you’re submitting a special version or cover of the song, please specify that

Feel free to attach scenarios for your song(s)! They can be as brief or as detailed as you want them to be, but please try to keep it to one paragraph or less for your explanation | Ex. “Teenagers” by My Chemical Romance ((Scenario: Five killing tons of enemies. He’s gone mad with anger and glee. The horror of those being slaughtered, seemingly by a teenager)) |

Some lyrics really hit hard, y’know? Similar to the scenario guideline, feel free to submit a song and lyrics from that song that you think would match a character/specific scenario | Ex. “Evil Woman” by Electric Light Orchestra (I think the lyrics, Evil woman how you done me wrong, but now you’re tryin’ to wail a different song, would match Diego’s mixed feelings on Lila if she returns in S3)

It’s not required that you have a scenario/lyrics with your submitted song(s), so no pressure! Some songs just give off good vibes that fit with the atmosphere of the show. You can even submit songs and simply say (This gives off “Character name” vibes)

You can even just name a band! Some bands have tons of bangers that just match the vibes of TUA or of a TUA character

The scenarios don’t have to be serious, they can be odd or fun!

If a song is requested more than once, I will add the amount of times it was requested in parenthesis next to it 

If you see a song on the list that you really like, you can send (+1 for “insert song title here”) and I will add a tally to it

If you see a song on here that does or does not have scenario/lyric(s) and you think “Oh yeah I can imagine a scenario/lyric(s) for this!” go ahead and speak up! If requested, I will add your username to the scenario you created. If you’re not comfortable with having your username next to your scenario, I will simply put you as “Anonymous.” Same thing with the username and “Anonymous” if you want to tack on that a song gives “Character name” vibes | Ex. Song by Artist “username of person who submitted it” (Scenario: blah blah blah) || (Scenario: blah blah blah) by “username” || (Scenario: blah blah blah) by “Anonymous” || (Lyrics: blah blah blah) by “Anonymous” || (This song gives of “Character name” vibes) by “username” |

This will be open until the Season 3 Soundtrack is released (It will be fun to see if any of the songs in this wishlist are actually on the official S3 soundtrack!) 

The guidelines will be updated as the wishlist progresses. Most of the time I won’t reply to the song requests sent through my ask box, but I certainly will add your requested song(s) to the list. If you see that I haven’t added your song(s) after updating the wishlist, please reach out to me. Don’t be afraid to ask me any questions! 

Here’s the Playlist created from the Wishlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6QRajb4Nap3hjjs2KcWQYc

Wishlist

Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie! by ABBA @feralnumberfive ((Scenario: Five rescuing his siblings))

Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles @feralnumberfive ((This song gives off Vanya vibes)) 

Rich Kids by New Medicine @feralnumberfive ((Scenario: The Hargreeves arrive in 2019 to find that they have been replaced. The Sparrow Academy quickly springs into action and attacks The Umbrella Academy)) 

Lonely by Palaye Royale @feralnumberfive ((Lyrics: | So sick and tired of being alone, so long, farewell, I’m on my own | I feel like these lyrics represent Klaus feeling alone due to his siblings ignoring him and him being a living person haunted by ghosts)) by @feralnumberfive 

Toxic by Britney Spears “Anonymous” ((Scenario: When they are all talking about Reggie))

girls by girl in red “Anonymous” ((Scenario: When Vanya is talking/thinking about Sissy))

WAP by Cardi B “Anonymous” 

Manic Monday by The Bangles “Anonymous” ((Because 4/1/2019 and 11/25/1963 were both Mondays, so the s3 apocalypse should be too))

Just the Two of Us by Grover Washington Jr. @feralnumberfive

Teenagers by My Chemical Romance @feralnumberfive | but really everyone in the UA fandom wants this | ((Scenario: Any fight scene with Five going ham))

Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Tears For Fears @feralnumberfive ((Scenario: Something sad))

Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees @feralnumberfive ((Scenario: The siblings get into deepshit™ and have to fight their way out of it))

Dear Wormwood by The Oh Hellos @feralnumberfive ((Scenario: Evil/Sparrow Five returns back to his family or Five struggles with his killer urges and impulses from his killer DNA))

Bit by Bit by Mother Mother @feralnumberfive

Lay Me Down by The Oh Hellos “Anonymous” ((Lyrics perfectly fit Five: “Fire and brimstone fell upon my ears, as their throats of open graves recited fear, like the bullets of a gun they drove my tears, and my feet to run the hell out of here”//“I was born a restless wayward child”//“I owe it to my brothers to carry them home”))

Vampire Money by My Chemical Romance "Anonymous" ((Gives off Klaus vibes))

Arms Tonite by Mother Mother @burnyouwithacigarettelighter ((Lyrics: | I died in your arms tonight, I slipped through into the afterlife, | Would totally fit anything to do with Ben’s death))

Oh Ana by Mother Mother @burnyouwithacigarettelighter ((Scenario: Any scene with Five just generally being a badass and/or the rest of the siblings!!))

Black Sheep by Metric  “Anonymous” ((Lyrics | Our common goal was waiting for the world to end, now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend you crack the whip, shapeshift and trick, the past again, | Which is SO five and anything about the commission or the apocalypse OR | I’ll send you my love on the wire, lift you up every time, everyone pulls away, from you,” | For luther/the siblings perspective on him.))

Everybody’s Gotta Live by Love @feralnumberfive​ ((Gives off Five vibes and also a bit of the siblings in general))

I’m Gonna Win by Rob Cantor @feralnumberfive ((All of the lyrics match Five so well))

Running In The 90's by Max Coveri/Maurizio De Jorio @latinofireball ((Scenario: For an Umbrella and/or Sparrow family dance))

The Sharpest Lives by My Chemical Romance @fandoms-or-life ((Scenario: Group fight))

Hayloft by Mother Mother @bi-ginny-weasley ((Gives off Five vibes and would be great in a fight sequence)) 

bad idea! by girl in red @pr-ingles 

Silver Lake Queen by Diplomacy @purplegrapefruit ((Scenario: Any woman-being-badass moment, bonus if it's all the girls and Klaus))

Blackbird by The Beatles (accidentally replied without getting your name, sorry about that feel free to reach out to me again :[ ) ((Scenario: I am really intrigued by the Sparrow in the comics who could turn into a flock of crows. I think Blackbird could be a good song for her. Especially since its about the yearning to be free which I think will come to pass with at least some of the Sparrow Academy members. It could be played in a moment when she is considering how trapped she and her team/siblings are under Reginald))

Cold Cold Cold by Cage The Elephant “Anonymous” ((Scenario: Maybe for a fight scene or the end of an episode when everything has gone tits up))

Daddy Issues by The Neighbourhood @b99detectivealpaca ((Scenario: Anything related to Reginald)) 

Footloose by Kenny Loggins “Anonymous” ((Scenario: Dance scene that will inevitably happen))

Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne “Anonymous” ((Scenario: Also for the dance scene that will inevitably happen))

Rät by Penelope Scott @sukker-sugar ((Scenario: Sth related to reggie, and specifically with the lyrics | Experiments and sacrilege in the name of public good | They taught me everything just like a daddy should |))

Time Warp (Cover from CAOS Soundtrack) by Ross Lynch, Jaz Sinclair, Lachlan Watson, and Jonathan Whitesell @theladyfae ((Scenario: A random scene in a club where everyone's dancing to it but then it cuts to the siblings fighting against multiple enemies))

Waiting For The World To End by Mother Mother @feralnumberfive ((Gives off Five vibes and the lyrics match him so well))

1983 by Neon Trees "Anonymous" ((Just gives off Season 3 vibes))

Skyfall by Adele @fudgemutt ((Scenario: For when the whole Umbrella family comes together and works as one, and specifically the lyrics | Let the sky fall, When it crumbles, We will stand tall, Face it all together, At Skyfall | ))

Dirty by Grandson @fudgemutt ((Scenario: An epic Five fight scene, and specifically the lyrics | Do you have enough love in your heart, to go and get your hands dirty? | ))

The Day Before You Came by ABBA "Anonymous"

Tiger by Abba @notmireelname

Tropical Loveland by ABBA @notmireelname

Twisted by Missio @feralnumberfive ((Scenario: Give loses his goddamn mind))

Heart Of Glass (Cover by Miley Cyrus) originally by Blondie @feralnumberfive ((Scenario: Five losing his mind and thinking about his family or something to do with Klaus cause it gives off Klaus vibes)) 

Without Me by Alec Chambers “Anonymous” ((Scenario: Five finally snaps at his family after they continuously blame him for their problems))

Something’s Gotta Give by All Time Low @enjoltairesimp ((Scenario: A badass fight scene, preferably one that includes Diego))

Any songs created by Mother Mother (not a song, just a statement) @enjoltairesimp because it would be amazing 

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds by The Beatles @enjoltairesimp ((Scenario: A reunion scene with Klaus and Dave)) 

Music Of The Night by Andrew Lloyd Webber (either version from the Musical or Movie) @feralnumberfive ((Scenario: Five either turning to the dark side or being convinced to do something "bad"))

A Good Song Never Dies by Saint Motel @life-needs-abit-of-madness ((Vibe of the song is so good)) 

Hotel California by Eagles Everyone in the UA fandom ((What else do we need to say? S3 will match Vol. 3 Hotel Oblivion of the comics. It's an absolute killer bop that needs to be in S3))

Cold Cold Man by Saint Motel @life-needs-abit-of-madness

La Jolla by Wilbur Soot @sukker-sugar ((Scenario: Either someone dies (but like klaus in s1, they get resurrected) and we see this in the background while they talk to god, or we see the siblings lounging around and talking about what they'd do after the shenanigans™ are over with that in the background ))

When I'm Sixty Four by The Beatles @feralnumberfive ((Something with Five))

Just A Girl by No Doubt @feralnumberfive ((A badass scene of any girl character fighting//bonus if it's Allison or Vanya since they're the only two girls in the Umbrellas))

You're The Devil In Disguise by Elvis Presley @life-needs-abit-of-madness ((Scenario: A fight scene))

You Don't Own Me by SAYGRACE @give-the-boy-a-hug ((Scenario: Someone's walking away after a fight))

Ballroom Blitz by Sweet @feralnumberfive ((This would be soooo good for a fight scene with dancing or a fight scene in general))

Hand Me My Shovel, I'm Going In! By Will Wood and the Tapeworms @feralnumberfive ((Would be awesome for a fight scene))

My Generation by The Who @feralnumberfive ((Another fun song for a fight scene))

Hopelessly Devoted To You by Olivia Newton-John @feralnumberfive ((Either the siblings' or just Luther's feelings towards Reginald))

You’re The Best by Joe Esposito @feralnumberfive ((Scenario: Either Luther, Diego, or even the whole family having some sort of montage of overcoming their issues))

Rumor Has It - Adele @alex-mercerss ((because what better song for Allison to have playing for it, plus I’ve seen it mentioned a few times somewhere))

Show Me How to Move - The Elwins @alex-mercerss ((this is such a fight scene song no matter where you put it))

Really anything off of Let Live and Let Ghosts by Jukebox the Ghost @alex-mercerss​ ((half of this album was literally written about the apocalypse))

2econd 2ight 2eer by Will Wood and the Tapeworms @feralnumberfive ((Could absolutely imagine Five losing control and killing to this song))

As the World Caves In by Matt Maltese “Anonymous” (( I think it would be good where five is having a flash back to the apocalypse or he sees his family die but he cant do anything bc the cube is making his fear come out therefore it is just a hallucination))

I Heard A Rumor by Bananarama @uuhhhhwhat ((Scenario: A scene where Allison is sad and thinking about Ray and/or Claire))

There's a Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought of It Yet by Panic! At The Disco "Anonymous" ((Scenario: A Five fight scene))

Are You Satisfied by MARINA "Anonymous" ((could work for anything Luther related because the lyrics describe him so well))

[maxwell-grant]

If they put the Shadow into Street Fighter, how would you make him feel like the shadow while still working as a character in a fighting game?

I’ve been waiting for this question for a while now and I think I may even turn it into a series, where I talk about turning pulp heroes into fighting game characters. See if I can merge my two interests together and make something out of it. I may expand these into actual movesets later. 

Okay so, I’m not into the idea of The Shadow in Street Fighter, specifically. At all. I don’t want Street Fighter to have guest characters outside of Final Fight, I already think a lot of the SF newcomers don’t fit with it’s design, and the last thing I want is a gun-toting vigilante who is way too much out of place. You’d have to rework so much of his skillset and design to make him work in SF specifically that you’d be essentially creating a new character. And putting him in Marvel vs Capcom, while better, would necessarily mean that either Capcom or Disney acquired the license, and either possibility fills me with dread.

But if we were to put him in, say, Mortal Kombat? Now we’re talking. MK’s got a lot of guest characters from all over the place, and it’s worldbuilding is such a mess, and has always been such a random hodgepodge, that The Shadow wouldn’t be out of place. And there’s no restraints on violence either, which is definitely a plus if you’re playing around with pulp heroes on your property. Considering fighting games and pulp heroes are two of my biggest passions I absolutely have some rather extensive thoughts on combining the two, but of course that would also require reworking several characters or picking choices very selectively so the roster doesn’t just largely comprise of dudes with guns and fistcuffs. Fighting games live and die on catchy character design. So let’s start talking about design:

Design-wise, I think you need to go with something like Matt Wagner’s much more streamlined and action-ready design, rather than something like Michael Kaluta’s cloaked Shadow or some of the more trenchcoat or robe-wearing Shadows. He needs to be able to move around, punch and kick and jump, and for us to clearly see his actions. The red of the cape and scarf need to pop visually to make his movements flow, especially considering that The Shadow’s already going to be using his cape for a lot of tricks. Maybe, to take a page from Riley Rossmo’s depiction of him in Batman x Shadow, his scarf and cape could shapeshift in size depending on certain actions he takes, as if you’re fighting an illusion. 

In terms of his fighting style, I don’t want him to fight with guns perpetually glued to his fists. There are plenty of examples of gun-toting fighting characters we can use for inspiration, such as Hol Horse (JoJo), Jill (MvC2), Chris Redfield (MvC3) and Erron Black (MKX), and obviously The Shadow’s gotta have his guns as part of the moveset, but I don’t think they should, or even need to, comprise the majority of his moveset, especially when other characters are going to have them. Fighting The Shadow should be like fighting The Twilight Zone, except it’s got guns and knives and bombs and assistants and any number of ways to put you down or get you to jump to the jaws of death.

Instead, I think the focus of The Shadow’s moveset should be built around three things: his ability to manipulate people into their own destruction, his crimefighting magician skillsets and tools, and psychic murder antics. Normally I’d be against relying on them but, for the context of a fighting game, I’d say go full in, and even amplify them. He should be a Glass Cannon who is fast, able to deal great damage and control the match through oppressive tools and psychological pressure, with the downsides that he can’t take much damage or pressure, has weak defensive options, and some of his options require set-ups to work. 

Gameplay Inspirations would include: Mewtwo (Smash Bros), Akuma & Seth (Street Fighter), Dr Doom & Dormammu (MvC3), Diavolo (JoJo ASB), The_None’s Giygas (MUGEN). Additional fighting game bosses and baddies could be appropriate here, since it’s The Shadow we’re talking about.

Some ideas for his moveset

Main attacks often include pistol-whipping, elbow strikes, open palm blows, choke holds and knife-hand blows at pressure points. Grabs include strangling and judo throws.

A dashing elbow strike, taken from the unreleased videogame as seen in the screencap above. Mainly used to extend combos. 

A counter move where he’s able to counter attacks and projectiles by going into his hit animation as if he took damage, only for his silhouette to fade as he instantly teleports behind the opponent with an elbow to the ribs. 

An attack where he points the Girasol at the enemy, and if he lands it, they get a red aura around their head and he becomes able to either denotate it for damage, like M.Bison’s Psycho Nightmare, or override their controls to force them to perform one move, opening them for attack, and it lasts until he gets hit back. 

A teleport move where he dissappears into his cape and reappears somewhere else. 

A standard gun fire move. Spending an extra bar may either upgrade his gun to a tommy gun, or allow an agent to come to his aid and fire alongside him. 

A move where he spends a bar to perform attacks while invisible Reptile-style, maybe more to gain additional intangibility

Tear bombs that produce smoke on screen that gradually chips away at health

Moves where he can summon mobsters trying to kill him to either shoot the opponent or act as meat shields, although they can hurt you back if you’re not careful

A move where he shoots glass above you and has it rain as a trap, very much like Hol Horse’s glass move in Heritage. 

A super move where he uses The Devil’s Whisper. 

A super move where he puts on his cloak and hat on the foe and dissappears, as a squad of mobsters shows up to gun them down while he laughs in the background. 

A special attack that takes a couple of bars to perform, but allows him to effectively break combos after three hits by making the screen flash as both and his opponent’s positions are reset, and it’s revealed the opponent landed three hits of damage on themselves. 

A super move where he uses The Black Hush to completely blanket the screen in darkness, with only the opponent being visible. The opponent is unable to even see their own projectiles. 

A super move / Fatality where he grabs the opponent and does a Penance Stare using the Girasol.

A super move / Fatality where he tricks the opponent into jumping in front of a train.

Additionally, if we were to make a fighting game with pulp heroes as it’s roster, while The Shadow would obviously have to be front and center, I’m thinking maybe he shouldn’t be a starter character. He should have the same kind of unlockable status as characters like Akuma. Not the Final Boss, but the Secret Boss, the kind of character you have to actively put in the effort to even earn the right to go up against. It’s only fitting that even here The Shadow would be hidden in mystery and puzzles. 

What better way to prove yourself than by conquering The Master of Darkness?

[tintinwrites]

the arena | Poe Dameron x Reader

A/N: I have no idea what I wrote.

Rating: T

Warning: Naughty language. Canon-typical violence.

Word count: 1,751, apparently!!

Summary: You and Poe are captured by stormtroopers, but they have a peculiar plan for you.

Poe had been keeping his shoulder pressed against yours ever since the troopers put the stun cuffs on you, a way to let you know that he was there and he wouldn't let anything happen to you without saying it to you.

He realized he should keep his mouth shut when the hilt of a blaster would ram into his ribs every time he spoke.

But he was definitely making sassy remarks in his head.

You were pretty silent, occasionally giving him a fearful look that absolutely broke his heart.

Leia noticed you two worked well together and finally started putting you together on missions which Poe definitely didn't mind.

Not when you were an amazing pilot and he maybe had a slight crush on you.

This was probably your fourth mission with him and you would probably never go with him again knowing how often his dumb ass had to trick its way out of the enemy's clutches.

He never saw a more bewildered look than when you asked him if he had a plan to attack over a dozen stormtroopers and he said most of his plans were made up along the way.

Until the stormtroopers saw you both and easily overpowered you, and you glared at his plan-lacking self with almost disdain.

Disdain turned to fear when you were held in a cell overnight with no promise of escaping.

He slept since it's not like we'll figure our way out of this any quicker if we're exhausted and woke up at some point to you curled up in his lap; that was when he swore to himself that he'd get you out of there.

But a plan wasn't any closer by afternoon the next day, and a couple of troopers were leading you through a series of tunnels until you came to a barred door.

"All the memories we've made and all I get is a lousy execution on a random planet?" It was Poe's first sassy comment that day and he reared back as one of the stormtroopers held a blaster in his face.

"Poe, don't," though you were also wondering why they captured two fairly prominent members of the Resistance only to kill them without Kylo Ren or General Hux there to watch with enthusiasm.

The two of you shared a confused look when his stun cuffs were removed and then yours.

It wasn't like you needed your hands to stand in front of a firing squad, right?

"You're going to let us try to stop blaster bolts with our hands?"

"This is to give you a chance, rebel scum. It makes it more fun for us."

Cuffs were yanked off and you were shoved out of the tunnel through the now open door into what looked to be an arena of some sort.

You were standing in a large muddy patch that was enclosed by a circle of seats, filled with local beings and stormtroopers who all booed at the sight of you and Poe.

Even though you were an important presence in the Resistance, you'd never actually really been captured by the First Order and this was all very new to you; thankfully the man next to you didn't seem disgruntled by the way you pressed into his side.

He was looking around in awe himself, both of you looking over your shoulders when the bars shut behind you and no stormtroopers followed you out.

Poe's gaze stayed on the audience as he leaned down to mutter to you, "What kind of execution is this?"

You shrugged and flinched when a voice started to boom through the arena.

"Ladies and gentleman, for your entertainment! The infamous Poe Dameron and what seems to be his pet. The rebel scum will have a choice...die fighting the beast or die rolling over in fear of it. And if we know the Resistance, they'll die rolling over."

"We have to fight a beast?!" You tried to run back to the door and Poe grabbed onto your arm to pull you back to him.

"Hey, no! Look, I know you're mad at me for the fact that I make plans up on the fly, but there's no way out of here and that's what we gotta do right now. It's two against one. We're gonna fight our way out of this."

"I...okay..."

Poe had been speaking quick and low for only you to hear, and you could barely register what he said in your fear, but he was all you had right now which meant you were going to listen to him.

He'd been captured more than you, though not necessarily forced to fight something that was apparently terrifying enough to be called 'the beast'.

You might have been willing to listen to Poe's instructions, but you were mostly going to stay by his side.

That's what you were gripping onto when the bars on the other side of the muddy field slid open.

"Two against one, sweetheart." Poe might've been entirely calm on the outside, but you could feel his heart pounding where your head pressed against his chest.

"I know."

Of course, two fairly average people against the seven-foot-tall, horned piece of pure muscle that stomped into the mud wasn't exactly a fair fight.

You stared and Poe whispered a worried, 'fuck'.

That was enough movement for the beast to look at you and roar, bolting in your direction.

Poe pushed you further behind him, backing up as quickly as he could.

"New plan: you stay away from that thing!"

"I like that plan!"

It had to be even taller than seven feet with the two long horns on its head. It had dark eyes and a wide snout, a defined torso and muscled limbs.

Hands, yes, but hooves for feet that made it stomping towards you menacing.

Neither of you were faster than it and there wasn't anywhere for you to run, and it lowered its head to grab Poe between its horns and easily fling him to the side.

You seemed to be trapped in its gaze and it wrapped a hand around your throat, quickly lifting you into the air.

Maybe you wouldn't have even known it had thrown you if you hadn't slammed to the ground halfway across the arena.

The mud cushioned your fall a bit, but you were pretty sure at least one of your ribs was broken.

"Y/N! Damn!" Poe managed to dodge the beast when it charged at him, skidding through the mud and falling to his knees next to you.

"My side hurts, but I'm fine."

He started to say something else and then his eyes widened. "Oh, shi—"

His exclamation was from the creature grabbing onto his ankle and dragging him back as he clawed at the mud in a pitiful attempt to stop it.

It turned Poe over and grabbed onto the front of his shirt, lifting him up slightly and then slamming him back down.

You ignored the pain in your side and stood up, gathering up a ball of mud and pelting it at the thing.

Some of it hit its nose and splattered into its eyes, and it stumbled away from Poe with another loud roar.

You ran to him, falling to your knees to check on him and it was much easier to kneel than it was to stand with your throbbing ribs.

He pushed himself off the ground, sliding next to you. "That's gonna hurt like a bitch later."

Too thankful that he didn't have a broken back or anything to yell at him, you leaned your head against his shoulder for a moment and that was when you noticed something important about this said beast.

"Look between his legs."

"The idea that I'm willing to sleep with anything is a rumor—"

You put one hand under his chin and the other on his hair, turning his head to look where you told him to.

There was rope beneath the creature's waist, tightened on certain parts.

"I'd probably kill anything I see too."

"New plan: distract him."

You moved to your feet again and walked to the wall where you wouldn't be seen as easily, gesturing for Poe to do as you said when he stared at you.

He looked pretty doubtful, but stood to look at the beast that had wiped the mud out of its eyes and was now angrier than probably ever.

It was walking slow, preparing to kill the much shorter pilot at any moment as he started to ramble on about talking about things instead of fighting each other.

That was enough for it to not see you hugging against the wall, creeping up behind it. You dove for it the moment you were slightly within reach and the moment it moved to attack Poe, grabbing onto its legs and holding on tight as it immediately tried to kick you off.

Your ribs were definitely broken now if they hadn't been already, but you had enough adrenaline to ignore it, reaching with one hand to try and loosen the rope.

It was yelling, the audience was yelling, Poe was yelling, and it was very possible that you were also yelling.

But then the rope slid down the beast's thighs and everything went completely still.

And you, slick with wet mud, plopped tiredly down to the ground.

"They did all this to you, buddy. Go show 'em what you think of that," Poe said gently.

"Please do."

The beast didn't hesitate to run for the shocked audience, sending them scattering to find the exit as the stormtroopers fired blaster bolts that did nothing to it.

Alarms went off and doors slid open all over the place for a quick escape, which prompted a muddy Poe to help you to your feet.

You slipped and he opted for picking you up instead; the stormtroopers were bound to remember that they wanted you dead and Poe didn't want to hang around.

He was panting by the time you made it away from the arena and to a place that was momentarily safe, where he gently set you down.

"You're never going on a mission with me ever again, are you?"

"Are you kidding me? I obviously have to help you out."

"You're probably the coolest person ever."

"I know."

You sat on the ground together to gather your bearings and then you could go find your ships.

You looked at Poe.

"Let's go home?"

"I love that plan."

[transfemininomenon]

short answer: its a bad game

long answer: okay sit down i have so much to say about this game and full disclosure inevitably a lot of this is going to come to My Personal Opinion and ALSO full disclosure that i have not ever actually Finished dark souls 2 because ive on two separate occasions gotten half-way through and then given up because i just was NOT having fun FUCK shrine of amana piece of shit awful god damn fucking area what the FUCK were you thinking with that area with its heat seeking magic missiles and water and random holes in the world and millions of enemies an 

its basically divided up into a few different sections - presentation & theming, quantity vs quality, how difficulty is handled in the game, and the gameplay itself, and how they all kind of go hand in hand with each other 

on the subject of presentation & theming, THE big thing when it came to dark souls 1 is that the world is oppressive, dark, and Difficult. the difficulty of the game is put right into the theming of the game in that its a hard game while the WORLD is a shitty and difficult place in the story. but on the back of that is another theme which is that of yes the world is oppressive and bleak and feels hopeless - but you keep going Anyway and no matter how insurmountable something might feel you can and WILL defeat it

this is further built into the game through the covenant system as well as summonable npcs for boss fights. the game not only says that its okay to ask for help if need be, it actively encourages & rewards people for helping others with the covenant system. its not just a game that is Hard - its a game that’s scary and difficult and dark but also actively encourages you to seek help and to also BE the person helping others survive in a seemingly hopeless world. and that triumph of finally getting past something you were stuck on for so long feels SO good and becomes worth all the trouble

dark souls 2, meanwhile, buys right into the “dark souls is HARD casuals get OUT” mentality. literally the intro cutscene to the game is like “man youre gonna DIE youre gonna DIE so MUCH and youre gonna lose all your SOULS and youre gonna be so MAD”. in contrast with the original dark souls’ opening cutscene which establishes the base lore/story of the game while introducing different characters & future boss fights, the opening cutscene of dark souls 2 does nothing beyond “haha ur gonna be so MAD” 

and it just really kills the vibe Immediately for me. it no longer feels like a really interesting story about overcoming adversity through determination and struggle. it just feels like well i gotta prove im Good and Kill The Boss 

then there’s the issue of quantity vs quality. when it comes to both zones & boss fights, dark souls 2 by far went for quantity when it came to them and the actual quality of both suffered a Lot as a result. like, there’s a LOT of zones and boss fights in dark souls 2. a LOT. and yet i genuinely currently can, off the top of my head, remember around 5 by name, and none for any Good reason. a lot of the zones just end up blending together because there’s SO little actually memorable things about them 

and the exact same is true with the bosses. many are reskins of bosses from 1, very few actually have much in the way of interesting mechanics or good design, and a lot of them are just so Easy. without even really trying when i was doing my attempts at the game id end up defeating some bosses in something like 10 hits without ever taking much damage. much like the zones there’s very few bosses i can even actively remember because they’re just SO unmemorable and boring. the bosses that i DO remember are only because they end up just getting reused as normal enemies, sometimes as quickly as the VERY next zone

which this ties into another one of my big issues which is how the game handles difficulty. when it comes to others games in the series the difficulty comes in ways that, while they may be frustrating sometimes, almost always at least seem Fair. if i die its PROBABLY because i fucked up, whether it be mistiming an attack, anticipating the wrong enemy move, or rushing into a situation im not prepared for. most of the time i die and i go yeah, okay, i see where i messed up, and that lets me bounce back in and do it better

the difficulty in 2, on the other hand, more often than not comes very cheaply. a big issue i have long complained about in terms of area design is there’s SO many random holes in the world for you to suddenly fall into, including a number of bosses where this is the case. then rather than having enemies actually have interesting or different moves to them the game tends to either send swarms of enemies at you or have them appear out of hiding and ambush you. very little when i die in that game do i ever feel like it was because i actually did something wrong and it always just feels cheap & unsatisfying 

this is then weirdly paired up with bosses being so lackluster where most of them are just SO easy and require such little thought that even defeating those doesnt even give a big sense of accomplishment. there’s just so little Satisfaction to be gained from the game and SO much frustration 

THE big thing with all of this is that all of those above three things i could forgive if the game itself was at least Fun but it just........... isnt to me. the game itself constantly feels SO clunky and slow, even compared to earlier titles - like demon’s souls of all games feels Better to play than dark souls 2 does. i never feel like i have the level of control with my character that i do with the other games and combat feels awkward and just in general not very fun 

enemies tend to have really weird timing with their attacks, rolling feels weird, and it could just be the weapons ive tried in the game but none really ever feel Good. i tend to in soulsborne games go for Big Sword (except in bloodborne where i tend to move more toward dex builds on account if it being the one games where i actually Get parrying) and not even the act of swinging a Giant Sword around could ever make me happy in that game

exploration isnt fun because the areas arent interesting and the bosses suck................ it isnt fun to fight things because the game doesnt feel good and the difficulty always feels cheap.............. the theming isnt interesting and there’s nothing about it that draws me in or inspires me like various themes in the other games.................... its just overall nothing i really am interested in or want in a souls game and when the OTHER ones give me that in their own different ways there just really isnt any reason for me to want to play that game 

this all isnt to say there arent aspects of dark souls 2 that i DO like - majula is a VERY good hub area and only beaten by the nexus on my list, and Lucatiel is my favorite character & storyline out of anything else in the whole series. she’s such an interesting and tragic character and her storyline better showcases the undead curse and the reality of how Terrifying and sad it is than any other storylines in the other games and its VERY good 

those arent enough to make up for the issues i have with the game though so im going to long say that dark souls 2? sucks 

[neverlearnedtoread]

Shadow of the Fox

⭐⭐⭐⭐: anime but in book form, so you can feel morally superior to dumb weeaboos who only read subtitles (it’s me. im a dumb weeaboo)

Oh?? 👌😉😏

diversity!!!! vibrantly described japanese-fantasy setting. imo that should almost always be a selling point. sure it’s ‘bare minimum’, but its nice to see authors not go with the default

reads like an anime! *ben wyatt voice* it’s all about converting your enemies into friends along the way so you can fight a big monster when you arrive at your destination!

yumeko took a while for me to warm up to but was a great example of a female character who didn’t need physical prowess to be a leader; she was intuitive, quick-witted, and got people to trust her by being nice (and lying through her teeth. gotta respect the hustle)

the ending - what can i say? i like cliffhangers. besides this trilogy is gonna have Asian dragons show up at some point so there’s no way im letting go now

No.. ❌🤢🤮

lots of jumping around different povs- there’s yumeko and tatsumi and random third-person chapters with hidden players we don’t know anything about yet, so its hard to stay totally invested the whole time

reads like an anime - depending on who you are and what you like, this can be a good or bad thing (see selling point #2). if you’re not into anime or manga, and aren’t familiar with their tropes, this story could feel really disjointed - why team up with a guy who was trying to kill you a second ago? why trust a dude that shady? who is that mysterious guy, and why is he allergic to answering questions directly?

meandering plot - if you don’t like tropes such as ‘characters you meet along the way will join your party for fun’ and ‘random stuff happens on the road’, this book may not gel with your interests

Summary: Every thousand years, some asshole has bullied an all-powerful dragon into doing him a solid - and this millennium’s Dragon Bullying Season is coming up. Everyone is on the prowl for three pieces of an ancient scroll - the dragon’s calling card - hidden in temples across the world. Enter Yumeko - a half-kitsune, half-human who grew up in one such secret scroll-hiding temple; when her home is attacked, she escapes with the prize, hoping to stash it in one of the other temples - and crosses paths with a samurai looking for the very scroll she’s meant to be protecting. In a surprisingly baller move, Yumeko tricks him into escorting her safely to the other temple instead.

Concept: 💭💭💭

I’ll be honest, I read the words ‘fox’ and ‘kitsune’ and added this to my ‘to-read’ list, no questions asked. I love fox-spirits! They’re so pretty and sneaky. A few of the reviews I read of this book were pretty low, and the excerpt at the beginning didn’t fill me with a need to know what happened next, but I thought about the fox-mask on the cover and went ‘it has foxes; it’ll be fine’ and didn’t look back.

Some spoilers under the cut!

Execution: 💥💥💥💥

The beginning was kind of a drag, but once the two main protagonists came together, they countered each other’s more annoying traits - Yumeko’s naivete through Tatsumi’s eyes felt like a novelty, while Tatsumi the ‘No Emotions Allowed Train’ was a little more #mysteriousallure in Yumeko’s POV. I also loved the surprisingly nuanced perspectives on yokai - in Yumeko’s view, they were easy to understand, if overly wary of outsiders - but in Tatsumi’s eyes they had a ‘hidden, shadowy dangers’ vibe, which informed the way he acted around them.

Personal Enjoyment: ❤❤❤❤

Once I shifted into the mindset of anime-typical tropes, I thoroughly enjoyed the characters interacting with whatever crossed their path and learning more about them through quick-throwaway scenes, instead of big, backstory-revealing moments. Yumeko hiding things from everybody she meets and gradually tallying up a bunch of different lies was also fun - she’s not the most experienced at this sort of thing, but you can tell she has a knack for it (it’s barefaced confidence, and also knowing what people want to believe). I liked seeing a character that dealt in trickery and manipulation, but never out of malice - more often than not she did it for someone else’s benefit, and not only her own.

Fave Moment: Yumeko being like ‘i can sense an intruder in your very home!!’ and conjuring a rabbit to stun the emperor’s court into believing she has prophetic powers. live that hustle babe. we stan

Fave Character: Yumeko - but more specifically I liked Tatsumi’s POV of Yumeko. She’s quick-thinking and brash, with a great poker face, and it shows itself in its best light from an outside perspective. We can tell Yumeko’s winging it, but Tatsumi very earnestly thinking ‘how did she know?? that would work?? she’s incredible’ while battling his ~feelings~ was great fun for me to read about, like calm down bro, she’s cute and she got lucky it aint that deep

[365days365movies]

January 11, 2021: Come Drink with Me (1966)

Wuxia.

Wuxia in an of itself is a form of fiction, highlighting martial arts. You always know a wuxia film when you see it. Like your more traditional kung fu/martial arts film, it usually focuses on one or a few protagonists facing enemies using the martial arts skills. However, wuxia is...different.

First of all, most wuxia take place in ancient China, or during periods of high conflict. Second of all, wuxia heroes are usually independent agents, not working for anyone in particular, but still with a personal code of honor. And thirdly, at least when talking about film...it’s kind of hard to explain. It’s more of a visual thing. See, look:

And yeah, I put Kung Fu Panda 2 in there, SUE ME IT’SWUXIAINSPIRED!!!!

Ahem.

To be fair, wuxia’s been a little Flanderized over the years, with the slow-motion, bold color palettes, and non-existent physics eventually taking over as genre-staples. If you’d like some proof of that, have no fear. That’s the point of today’s movie, King Hu’s 1966 classic Come Drink with Me.

Fun fact, by the way, if you search “wuxia” in the Tumblr gifs engine, this is the first one that comes up! Fitting, since this is considered one of the greatest Hong Kong movies of all time, was nominated for a Foreign Language Film Oscar. Additionally, it’s often considered the seminal wuxia film by many. Which is why I’m watching it! And yeah, there are other wuxia films on my list this month, but I really wanted to see this one first.

OK, let’s do it! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

Two prisoners are being escorted through a field by a large party of soldiers, when a man, Jade-Faced Tiger (Chan Hung-lit), blocks the path. He gives a letter to the warden in charge, and the soldiers attack the man in white and his cohorts. They quickly lose, and a battle ensues. And for a movie in the ‘60s, it’s surprisingly brutal and bloody. The group of bandits kidnaps the warden, Master Chang.

They torture the warden to discover where their leader’ll be taken. Chang is the governor’s son, making him a valuable hostage to exchange for their leader. They have nothing to fear...except for Golden Swallow, whomever that is.

We cut to a village, where a young woman is seated at a table in an inn. She works for the Governor, and is seeking information on Chang. She speaks with one of the bandit leaders, and reveals that Chang is her brother. It also turns out that this is Golden Swallow (Cheng Pei-pei), and the bandits decide that it’s time to kill her.

And it is at this point, where the English dub REALLY got to me. It’s uh...it’s bad, you guys. IT IS SO BAD. And, yeah, it’s probably because I’m not used to dubs, but I needed the subbed version SO MUCH. So, I searched far and wide, and finally found the subbed version in Mandarin. Man, it is SO much better, Jesus.

Oof. Anyway, even the bad dub can’t distract me from the coolness of this scene, as Golden Swallow takes on this bar of bandits, led by Smiling Tiger (Lee Wan-chung). After defeating them handily in an cool fight, Smiling Tiger leaves, stating that they will kill the hostage in 5 days if their leader isn’t returned.

Meanwhile, the bandits are staying at a Shaolin temple, where they KILL A CHILD. No joke, a kid dies in this scene, and the bandits laugh about it.

Meanwhile, a drunk beggar from earlier barges into Golden Swallow’s quarters as she retires for the night, asking to stay with her. I should mention, by the way, that she’s been referred to by male pronouns for the entire movie at this point, even though she’s clearly female. I’m assuming that’s an honorific thing that I’m unfamiliar with, but I figured I’d mention it. MOVING ON.

She chases the beggar away in a neat little chase sequence, then goes back to her quarters. Turns out that the beggar interrupting her was a good thing, as she was about to be ambushed in her sleep, and she takes on her would-be attackers. Morning comes, and the Beggar’s singing to the patrons of the inn about his lifestyle.

Golden Swallow attempts to thank the beggar, who introduces himself as Drunken Cat (Yueh Hua). He mostly ignores her thanks, then asks for money in exchange for another song. He sings another song, in which he sings...about the bandits. Sending a message directly to Swallow. Realizing Cat’s usefulness, Swallow tries to confide in him and ask for help. However, the Cat doesn’t even seem truly aware of his own usefulness, and brushes Swallow off. However, in one last song, he sings about a Chinese character, which means temple. Yeah. He tells Swallow the location of the bandits THROUGH THE SONG. That’s pretty goddamn cool.

Which is why it’s AMAZING that the English dub I was originally listening to DOESN’T TRANSLATE OR DUB THE SONGS. DO. NOT. WATCH. THE ENGLISH DUB. I CANNOT stress this enough.

Swallow makes her way to the temple, and...is referred to as a woman by the bandits when they confront her. Wait...It’s not an honorific thing? Do the Beggar and Bandits think that Golden Swallow is actually a man? DESPITE ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY? Huh. Sexism in action, I guess.

Anyway, the bandits all gather together in the temple to fight her, and it’s awesome. She goes up against Jade-Faced Tiger directly, as well as a few more, yeah, GODDAMN is it cool.

Should be noted, by the way, that this is before a lot of widespread wire-work and some of the more sensational wuxia trends that you see in more modern films. Still, this is pretty great, and actually...this is what I wanted from live-action Mulan. Real talk. If we got more like this movie in last year’s travesty, I’d be all in for it.

One-on-one against Jade-faced Tiger in the courtyard of the temple! Blood’s shed, hair is cut, and Cat returns as a mysterious benefactor for Swallow, tossing a sword back to her and throwing off the archers. But at the end, Jade hits her with a poisoned dart as she escapes.

She doesn’t make it far, and faints in the forest When she comes to, she’s in the care of Drunken Cat. She blames him for setting a trap, but he blames her for rushing in too early, eager to show off her prowess. There’s more to Cat than meets the eye, it would seem.

Still not doing great, Swallow remains in the care of Cat, who eventually reveals that he’s a master of kung fu, not just a random singing drunk. He easily and immediately takes down some intruders, LIKE THAT.

Cat disguises himself as a drunk beggar, and delivers the bodies to the temple, claiming that Swallow herself took them down. But this ruse fails when Abbot Liao Kung (Yeung Chi-hung) from Cat’s temple appears, confirming that he’s the kung fu master that killed these men. He also reveals that his true name is Fan Da-Pei, the Drunken Hero. He stole the bamboo pole of the original leader of his temple, and is considered a traitor by the abbot.

As they go to kill Cat (yeah, still calling him Cat), he’s already escaped his guard. We see him back at the temple, where he does this:

He’s an Earthbender.

After doing more cool kung fu tricks (MOOOOORE), he reveals that the Abbot is evil, and that he killed their old teacher for the bamboo staff that Cat stole. Additionally, he’s much stronger than him, AND once did Cat a huge favor. This makes Cat feel both inferior and indebted to him, complicating things.

Despite this, Cat agrees to help negotiate for Chang’s release, in exchange for the release of their leader. He also encounters the Abbot, and the two set up a time for them to settle their score.

Prisoner exchange time! Ah, but it’s rigged in the Governor’s favor, as Cat betrays the bandits to keep their leader imprisoned, while getting Chang back. Which, obviously, the bandits are pissed about. They ambush Swallow and the governor’s procession by firing arrows and CRUSHING THEM WITH ROCKS.

Also, just want to note that the guard around the bandit leader is primarily female. Alongside the female protagonist, I’m surprised that Tumblr’s slept so hard on this movie! Seriously, the women kick ass here.

Golden Swallow outdoes them all, though, and absolutely wrecks the Tigers and the rest of the head bandits. Just as he’s about to finish Jade-Faced Tiger, the Abbot heads her off, and is...stab-proof? Kung fu, man. He outclasses her, but our man Cat shows up in the nick of time!

Surprisingly, though, the Abbot’s defeated pretty quickly. Cat spared his life, then returns to his home. BUT THE ABBOT WAS FAKING! He comes back for revenge, and the two have a quick airbending sesh.

They destroy Cat’s home in the woods (which was very cute, by the way), and after a much longer and bloodier fight, Cat kills the Abbot. And man, lemme tell you, that’s a fight to watch too.

Golden Swallow leaves with her female warriors, and Cat and his kids watch them ride off.

And that’s Come Drink With Me! Awesome. Definitely more understated than many of the movies I’ve seen this month, but also a great classic film! We gotta bring more attention to this one, Tumblr. If was HAAAAAAARD to find GIFs for this one. Thanks, @martialartsactionclub​, you bodied this one.

[westanabadguy]

Ranking The Akatsuki's compatibility with each other

I'm going to be sharing my opinions on how compatible each Akatsuki member is with eachother. This is 100% going off their more canon personalities, and it’s not really what I personally ship if we’re being honest.

This is gonna be hella long, so strap in buckaroos.

I didn’t do Pein, Konan, Zetsu, or Obito, because I don’t really see them being available to most of the Akatsuki? Don’t date your bosses, folks. Well, I mean, I guess you shouldn’t date serial killers and criminals either but uh.

Kisame

Most compatible with: Itachi

Do I even need to explain this one? This is by far the easiest pick of em all. They worked together for years. You CANNOT look me in the eyes and tell me they didn’t bang a single time. They’re on the road all the time, fighting for their lives as missing nins, it’s a pretty lonely life. You think the fact they they were really the only ones they could trust + the fact that the battled together all the time + the fact that they probably didn’t get to interact with a whole lot of other people didn’t result in at least some attachment? Nah fam.

Least compatible with: Sasori

I struggled with this one, tbh. However, if I had to choose it’d probably be Sasori. I don’t know if Kisame would be too big on Sasori as a whole. He likes long, bloody battles. He likes getting in there and actually using his fists and swords. Very much a brawn guy. Sasori is the exact opposite. He’s cold, intelligent, and calculating. He’s impatient and probably one of the more insane of the Akatsuki. I don’t see them as having anything really in common.

Kinda Compatible with:

I think Kisame would be pretty compatible with the rest of the Akatsuki. Maybe not as life partners, but as fuck buddies? Definitely. He’s a pretty passive guy, doesn’t strike me as the type to really make a bunch of enemies of his colleagues.

Itachi

Most Compatible with: Kisame

Do I really gotta repeat myself?

Least Compatible with: The rest of the Akatsuki

No, for real. I mean, Itachi hates unnecessary cruelty. He’s a pacifist. I really don’t see him wanting to even touch the rest of the Akatsuki. If I had to pick the absolute least compatible it’d have to be Hidan, but again, I really don’t see him with any of the other Akatsuki. They go against his entire belief system. 

Hidan

Most compatible with: Deidara

Deidara is as loud and brash as Hidan is, and they’re relatively in the same age range. I feel like Hidan would appreciate the immense destruction of Deidara’s attacks. They also both left their villages because their beliefs didn’t line up with the village anymore, so I’m sure they could relate on that level as well. Deidara is pretty young and impressionable, so who knows, he could be a potential Jashinism candidate?

Least Compatible with: Kakuzu, Sasori, Itachi

Kakuzu goes against everything Hidan believes in. It’d be like mixing oil and water. Sasori barely puts up with Deidara’s shit, and he’s 1000x more impatient than Kakuzu is, you think he’d put up with the constant long sacrifices and blabbering? Itachi hates needless violence, as said above. Can’t see him just putting up with Hidan’s rampant sadism.

Kinda Compatible with: 

I feel like he’d be decently open to messing around with most of the rest of the Akatsuki. Nothing serious, tho. I’m sure he’d be very picky with who he seriously lets into his life. Jashin is supposed to be his ultimate, so he’d have to pick a lover he thought wouldn’t insult Jashin too much, and since there’s no other Jashinists in the Akatsuki... chances are very slim. Just doesn’t strike me as the guy to settle down for any period of time.

Kakuzu

Most compatible with: Sasori, Kisame

In all honesty, I really don’t see Kakuzu being interested in really anyone. He’s too old and tired for a relationship. If I had to pick, tho, it’d probably be either Kisame or Sasori. He has history with Sasori, they’re some of the oldest Akatsuki members, and they’re both weathered old men. At the very least, they could bitch about their younger partners all day lol. There might be some tension in the fact that immortality is so important to Sasori, while Kakuzu doesn’t believe it truly exists. But at the same time, I really think that Sasori likes having someone around to challenge his beliefs. I feel like Kakuzu respects strength, and both him and Kisame have been through a lot of similar shit if you think about it. The most important thing about these two: They can survive Kakuzu’s random bursts of anger. Both of them have enough life experience to give Kakuzu a run for his money, and that’s pretty important when you’re tangoing with someone like Kakuzu.

Least Compatible with: Pretty much everyone tbh

Again, I really don’t think Kakuzu would be particularly interested in anyone. He especially wouldn’t be interested in Deidara and Hidan. I figured he’d be slightly more tolerant of Deidara, solely because he’s slightly more respectful than Hidan, but still, don’t really see that happening. 

Sasori

Most compatible with: Kakuzu, Deidara

They’re both old and grumpy. And immortal. Probably wanna be immortal if you’re in a relationship with one. Especially one that will attempt to kill you occasionally. But for real, they’re both mature, and more importantly respectful and quiet. I don’t see them really grinding on eachother’s nerves very often. It’d be a very quiet, lowkey relationship. There’s something in the fact that Deidara isn’t dead yet that speaks volumes. I do really believe Sasori cares about Deidara to some degree, he’d be dead otherwise.

Least compatible with: Hidan, Itachi, Kisame

Not gonna put up with Hidan’s long ass rituals, Itachi won’t be chill with the whole human puppet thing imo, and he’s a bit too much for Kisame.

Deidara

Most compatible with: Hidan, Sasori

Deidara’s the last of the 6, so I’ve pretty much talked about him already but uh. Hidan and him have big disaster gay energy. Sasori and him have a long history, and the fact that he hasn’t been decimated speaks volumes.

Least compatible with: Kakuzu, Itachi

Kakuzu would kill him in like 2 seconds. He canonically despises Itachi, so I don’t think they’d get along to well lmao.

Kinda compatible with:

He’d be pretty chill with pretty much everyone imo. I don’t think he’d be particularly closed off to anyone? He’s a very live fast, die hard type of guy so.

[osseincactus]

Fallout Oc Companion Meme

I got tagged by @satanasss666 to do this! This is a “Lynn never became courier 6 so she never got shot in the head and instead was just the weird part-time mailman, rich ncr girl au” 

This ended up being way longer than I intended so I’m putting it under a read more. Hopefully it’s easy to read ;; I don’t write all this for nothing. 

You have a chance to find Lynn at any ncr camps, although you will always have a higher chance of finding her at Camp McCarran. If you don’t have her recruited as a companion and she’s wandering a camp the npcs around may have special dialogue the mentions her being there. If you have high enough speech or barter you can convince Colonel Hsu at McCarran to call Lynn to the camp. It’ll take a day for her to get there however. She will not be recruitable if the player has positive reputation with the powder gangers. 

 Name: Lynn Elizabeth Chelsea 

Weapons: Sweetie (her gold club, it has a unique texture covered in stickers with chipped pink paint and a bow tied to the handle), power fists, and a plasma defender. 

Companion perk: Keeping the Peace: ncr will never be hostile regardless of the players reputation. Player will gain almost double the reputation with the ncr each time rep is gained. 

Dialogue: 

I think we should travel together: “Oh thank god, I thought you’d never ask! {whispered} Just between you and me, I’d rather be anywhere but here.” / “I knew ya wouldn’t survive being away much longer” 

Use Melee: “{chuckles} Yeah, just my speed.” / “{squeals} Oh fun! Ya won’t regret this!”

Use Ranged: “Uhh you sure ya wanna do that?” / “{groans} Ugh do I have to? Can’t you do it?” 

Open Inventory: “Having fun digging through my pockets huh?” / “Probably for the best I carry it yeah?” / (If you take any of the stuffed animals) “HEY! Don’t touch those they’re...{quietly} just don’t touch them okay?” 

Stay Close: “Don’t even have to ask doll.” / “You don’t have to beat around the bush ya know? I’ve seen the way you look at me {chuckles}”

Keep Distance: “Aww what, ya don’t like me anymore?” / “That’s good too! Ya know the view from here is great. {laughs}”  

Stealth: “Was that a joke? That’s not funny ya know.” / “Ah yeah, that’s code for “fail miserably and die” right?” 

Back up: “Agk sorry!” 

Be Passive: “You sound like dad ya know that?” / “{chuckles} ya gotta be soft like a lamb right” 

Be Aggressive: “Oh you’ve made me the happiest girl in the world!” / “Well dont tell Hsu or we’ll both be in trouble.” 

Use Stimpaks: “Oh you’re the doctor now?” / “{grumbles} If I need one I think I could decide for myself don’t ya think?”

Wait Here: “I’ll try.. not promising anything.” / “oh... yeah... okay...” 

Follow me: “YOU CAME BACK!!! I mean uhh...yeah lets go!” / “Ah you’re back, thank god!” 

Send to the Lucky 38: “{Gasps then squeals} Really? Like really really? Can I sleep on your bed? Are there holotapes there? I’m gonna steal your food is that okay with you? Ca-” (Player cuts her off) “Oh.. sorry.. imma go there now.. bye!” 

Send Home: “Really? Are you sure? ...Yeah I guess I have missed dad a bit...” / “You’re gonna come get me again right?” 

Combat: “Sweetie it’s fighting time!” / “Finally some action!” / “Oh boy... We got friends here!” (if enemies are raiders) “Don’t kill them. I wanna deal with it..” / “Not so fun now is it?” 

Death: “...cold... so.. cold..” / “That’s... not good...” / “In my bag... quick... I-...”

Lynn has a few special dialogue moments at certain locations. 

If the player shoots when there are no enemies around she will say, “GAck jesus watch out, don’t you think I have enough scars?”  

When travelling to any ranger station she’ll say “Oh dad used to bring me here... not very often, but sometimes! ...Not like there’s much to see here.” 

When traveling to Camp Golf she’ll mention that “It used to be like the others... ya know the big military camps that “get stuff done”... but now it’s just full of kids that I don’t think wanna be here.”

Lynn will comment on McCarran saying “Dad comes here a lot! So watch out... he might kill you with hugs if he catches us...” but she will only comment if you did not recruit her in McCarran. 

She will also comment on the dam warning you to “watch out for Moore.. she’s got claws..” 

Lynn will also give you one warning before she leaves you’re party permanently. 

If you gain high reputation with the powder gangers while she is recruited she will pull you aside and tell you “Listen, I’m not trying to tell ya how to live your life, but if this is gonna be the way you’re acting then I don’t think I want anything to do with you...” The player will need to pass a small speech check to promise her you wont continue helping them. 

If you continue to gain reputation, help the Khans get drugs to the fiends, or attack Camp McCarran Lynn will once again initiate a conversation “YOU BASTARD! You promised me you would stop, why would you help them? Do you like to see me hurt is that it? This whole time I trusted you just for you to turn around and do this? I... I think I should leave...” After this the conversation will end and the player will get a message saying Lynn has gone back to Camp McCarran. The player will also lose major reputation with the ncr and no longer be able to recruit Lynn as a companion as well as random npcs around the mojave will start to mention you hurting Lynn. If you attack McCarran before the first warning Lynn will leave without any dialogue.

Aggression: Aggressive 

Confidence: Foolhardy

Assistance: Helps friends and allies

Various people around the mojave will comment on Lynn:

Ncr soldiers will say “Is that August’s kid? I thought she hated coming outside?” / “Lynn? How’d you get her out?” or “Uhh does your dad know who you’re traveling with Lynn?”

Freeside residents will say “Hey Lynn! Y’all running jobs for your dad?” / “When you go back home could you tell Gus I need some help?” and “You’re in good company there!” 

While Freeside drunks will ask Lynn for some caps saying “This is the last time I promise.” 

The Followers of the Apocalypse say “Lynn! Is that a new recruit?” / “Julie is upstairs if you’re looking for her!” and “Y’all looking for Arcade? He’s in one of theses tents... probably..” 

AAAA this ended up being way too long but it was fun! I hope the read more i put works... imma post it here and come back later to add her companion quest once i figure that out!

I don’t know who all has done this so if you wanna do it just say I tagged you!

[crystalelemental]

While I’m busy annoying fans of Genealogy with my general disinterest in its cast, here are some other characters I have strong opinions about:

Sigurd’s not nearly as interesting as people make him out to be.  The main action leading to him being branded a traitor was super avoidable and his squire even points out that he’s making a mistake.  His “romance” with Deirdre is one of the most shallow things the series has produced, and literally none of the awful events of Act 2 would’ve happened if he had just kept it in his pants.  His actions during the war are made with good intentions that often lead to further conflict, but most of the critical actions that cause disaster were super avoidable and complete his fault.  Good job, moron.

Arvis is also a putz.  Look, I get it.  His entire point is that he’s trying to build the world for the better, but is highly questionable in his means.  Cool concept!  Problem is we spend like no time with him, and the only indications of this are his discussions with Manfroy, where he talks about how he’s not going to persecute them like in ages past, but he’s also definitely not going to let them revive the baby eating god they worship.  Okay, solid.  The issue is, he knows full well he carries Loptyr blood, and that’s why Manfroy is sticking around.  And suddenly, Manfroy appears with some lady with amnesia, and is oddly insistent on you fucking this woman and having kids.  Did...did you never think about who this woman was, or why Manfroy’s so invested in her sex life?  This is not a difficult conclusion to reach, buddy.

I mentioned Eldigan, but it bears repeating: I hate the Camus archetype, and he’s one of the most annoying.  “I am honor-bound to follow my lord’s every command, I cannot join you and must instead try to get them to see reason.”  Yeah, and you know who else had this exact dilemma like two chapters ago?  Jamke.  Guess who’s on our side now, after realizing how fucked up his king was?  Jamke.  There’s no reason you couldn’t do this too.  Honestly, every time the Camus archetype shows up for a leader who is a complete buffoon, I always think of Wallace’s supports with Kent in FE7.  How his king ordered him to capture his daughter and bring her back from the plains, no matter what.  But when Wallace saw the love she shared with the man from the plains, he let her go, because he knew his king would never forgive himself if he tore Lyn’s parents apart.  Wallace put what was best for his king ahead of the order, and the entire moral is that, even if you’re punished for it, your duty is not to the title, but to the person, and you must act in the best interests of the people you serve, not blindly follow a command that would cause everyone harm.  So yeah, I don’t care to hear about the honor-bound idiots who are given plenty of chances to do the right thing but insist on staying with a sinking ship that’s also on fire.

Deirdre is a non-entity, so there’s really no point in talking about her.  Seriously, she exists almost entirely to produce the children that will be plot-critical in Act 2, but otherwise has effectively zero agency.  She shows up and immediately wants to fuck Sigurd, spends one chapter helping, and is immediately kidnapped afterward to be brainwashed and become Arvis’ wife.  Then she dies off-screen before the events of Act 2.  But she and Sigurd just loved each other so much!  They just saw each other and had such an overwhelming desire to fuck, it must have been love!  At least Deirdre’s excuse is being secluded away from men all her life and not knowing how to handle these feelings; what’s Sigurd’s excuse?

Quan and Ethlyn are actually wonderful.  No complaints.  But I do have another for Sigurd.  Hey, remember when they died?  Remember when Sigurd is told that people were ambushed in the desert and everyone’s dead, and he pieces together that it was his sister and his best friend?  Remember how that comment is all we get for his reaction to their loss, how it’s never brought up a single time ever again, and how Sigurd shows absolutely nothing about the devastation of this loss?  Yeah, but hey, it’s fine, you don’t need more dialogue to make a compelling story.  It just would’ve been nice for Genealogy to be a compelling story by having characters actually matter more than they apparently do.

Ayra’s cool, but her brother’s an idiot.  In her conversation with Quan, she mentioned that Quan’s suspicion is correct, and that the king was not responsible for the deaths of those from Grannvale.  A random lord took action without consent, so the king had that lord executed, and went to make peace with Grannvale, only to be assassinated along the way.  So what does her brother do?  “We gotta go to war.”  Uh...you know you’ll be slaughtered, right?  “Yeah, but my honor, though.”  Gen 1 was mostly a bunch of morons given political power and asked to play intelligently.  They all fucked up.

Lewyn...okay, I don’t like Lewyn.  I get his whole thing is running from responsibility, and being tired of the in-fighting over the crown, but his solution of just leaving is petty and childish.  It’s not that there isn’t some level of understanding there.  He’s just not doing it for me.  I do, however, appreciate how self-loathing he is in Gen 2.

No one else in Gen 1 really matters at all to anything substantial, so boy, it’d have been nice to have support conversations to flesh out everyone else a bit more.  But hey, maybe the sequel, right?

Seliph is pretty cool.  I don’t have a ton to say, but his story kinda allows him to take an easier route to power, with a more clear antagonist and the world at large being more united in his cause of overthrowing the empire.  Not particularly compelling, but not doing anything stupid or uninteresting.

Leif inherits being awesome from both of his parents, who were also awesome.  His sister, Altena, is also really cool.  Altena in particular actually gets a lot.  Having been taken in by the man who killed her parents, she’s grown up thinking that he is her true father.  Her character is in a position to act more as a bridge between two smaller nations that have constantly been at war, having the bloodline connection to Leif and to Leonster, while having her upbringing in Thracia and feeling a family connection to Arion, the true son of Travant.  She’s one of the better characters in this game, I think.

Ares is actually one of my favorites in this entire game.  He and Lene have great supports, but more importantly, you know what sets Ares apart?  Having a brain cell.  As soon as he realizes the corrupt lord he works for sent him out to the front lines and has likely taken Lene captive, he immediately turns coat, intent on killing everyone in his way to save her.  Thank you, Ares.  Thank you for being better than your father, who would’ve meekly decided he can’t disobey orders because he’s totally too honorable and not a fucking coward for letting his sister almost get killed.

Julia...oh my god, I have so much to say on Julia.  Has anyone following me noticed I kinda like the Eirika archetypes?  The female characters that are mostly really collected and quiet, occasionally have a showing of fire, and are ultimately either heavily under-utilized and ignored by the plot or given a story that’s really not very good despite how strong their character could’ve been if the story weren’t...the way that it is?  That’s Julia.  I adore Julia.  She spends most of the game not doing much, mostly being silent and also an amnesiac.  She gets like two conversations with Seliph, and they’re...they’re okay.  Nothing exceptional, just...okay.  But hysterically, once she’s kidnapped, she starts to show the makings of a really great character.  She’s compassionate and understanding to her father, who’s realized what a dingus he was, but pushes back against Julius/Loptyr and is pretty up-front about how willing she is now to kill her brother if it means stopping evil from being unleashed in the world.  She refuses to go quietly, and claims she’ll fight them to the end.  And, you know...is promptly brainwashed and spends the entire chapter as an enemy until Seliph kills Manfroy and lets her snap out of it.  Not even just talks to her, that won’t work unless Manfroy’s dead.  She doesn’t even get enough agency to break free of control under her own will.  This is the issue with Julia.  She should be fantastic.  She’s a character who carries the blood of both Naga and Loptyr, the greatest good and the greatest evil of this world.  Within her is a very concrete expression of the good/evil dichotomy that all humans face, and through her actions she chooses to do good for the world, yet acknowledges the potential for evil within her and struggles against it.  That’s super compelling!  Hell, that’s the most compelling character narrative in this entire game!  And what does it amount to?  Jack fucking shit, because her declaration of intent is immediately sidelined for her to be controlled by another for the entire chapter and made to do evil, until the male hero breaks the spell for her.  Only then is she allowed to confront her brother and actually show agency.  Her character arc should’ve been the diamond in the rough, and all the agency and development she brings to the table is immediately undermined.  Julia, sweetie, you deserved so much better than this.

Ugh, that one hurt to complain about.  But since we’re on the topic, Julius.  We’re supposed to be sad about how he’s completely taken over by Loptyr and needs to be stopped.  But...we never really know anything about Julius.  At all.  Julia talks a bit about how he used to be kind, but that’s...that’s it.  There’s no effort to have her and Arvis share stories about what the family used to be like, or give any indication of how close they were aside from saying it was the case once or twice.  So the plight of Julius, the boy who’s possessed, is completely lost on us, and as a result, Julia’s decision to fight against and kill her brother if that’s what it takes, feels a little less impactful, because you just...don’t have any emotional attachment to what’s being lost.

Ishtar is another Camus archetype, but a rare one where I kinda like her?  Kinda.  She’s come far enough to recognize that Julius is killing people and it’s a problem, and does her utmost to circumvent his violent tendencies and save people.  So why doesn’t she just leave?  Well even that’s pretty taken care of.  She was the betrothed of Julius.  She loved him.  Which means she’s another character who could’ve had meaningful dialogue about who he used to be to build up tension, but we’re not talking about that now.  She stays in part because of that love, but also because he’s violent, and seems to have his eye on her at all times.  She’s effectively stuck in an abusive relationship, unable to make a move for fear of what retaliation he might exact on her or the people she’s trying to keep safe.  That’s a way more compelling reason for a character to stick with an awful ruler.  It sucks, but at least it’s ultimately understandable, unlike Eldigan over here.

Oifey and Shanan I feel like should be more interesting characters, but they don’t really get enough time to be much else.  And if those two, who are meant to be prominent, got very little, you can kinda guess that the rest of the cast has basically nothing going for them.

Honestly, a lot of the events of Genealogy at large feel super avoidable, and largely created by idiots being allowed to make decisions.  But on the smaller level, and especially within Gen 2, I feel like all the game needs is support conversations and maybe more dialogue that didn’t focus so heavily on bloodlines.  The history is interesting, but it comes at the expense of most character development, and that’s really not a good trade.  I know people hate when I bring it up, but maybe if the maps were actually chunked and made into several smaller chapters, we could use wind-up and conclusion to castles being taken as a means to fill in more character moments, instead of just having quick exposition dumps and moving on.