#an enemy of was just unnecessary and not smart tactically

[cassianandfenrysaremyboyos]

I'm sorry but this just pisses me off (Not Hunt obviously, but Bryce)

Bryce rant incoming which you can just ignore and I'll probably delete later

But Bryce just puts all the blame on the Asteri. And yes ultimately they are to blame in the larger sense of things. But Bryce plays a direct role in leading them down the path that results in Hunt, Ruhn and Baxian being caught. It was her need to find out Danika's secrets with no thought to the consequences, her idea to go to the Eternal City. And she takes NO personal responsibility for it at all!

Hunt is blaming himself for everything that's happened. Even when it's not his fault at all. When we're in his pov he's constantly drowning in guilt, thinking about how he should of done more, he should of tried harder, he should of been better, how it's all his fault this happened and that his friends suffered.

And then Bryce does none of that. When we're in her pov she doesn't really show any major guilt. I can't think of any times when she blames herself like Hunt does. And I'm not saying she should be wracked with guilt. But a normal person, a good person, will usually feel bad and will feel guilty and blame themselves to some degree when something bad happens and people they care about are hurt, regardless of how big or small they're involvement is, or even if they're not at fault at all, case in point Hunt being wracked with guilt even when it's not his fault.

And to make it worse she acknowledges that Hunt warned them, warned her. But that she disregarded it and would of done it no matter what.

And then she has the audicity to say she doesn't regret it. And she thought they were on the same page. ON THE SAME PAGE!!?? Hunt made it clear in hosab that he didn't want to go down this road again, that he didn't want to get involved. YOU just didn't listen Bryce. And yeah Hunt's an adult, he can make his own decisions and he could of said no and not gone. But of course, OF COURSE!! he wasn't going to let Bryce go down that road alone, because he loves her, and doesn't want anything to happen to her, and wants to protect, so of course he would never desert her. But that doesn't mean he wanted to do it!

For Bryce to be that unaware of Hunt's feelings, when he explicitly stated them. For her to be that disconnected from her mate's feelings that she's surprised that he wasn't really on board is kinda unfathomable to me. Just that complete lack of awareness really does make her look quite selfish/self centered.

Anyway sorry, this post is a mess but I just had to vent

And then when Hunt mentions the consequences he and his friends faced, Bryce makes it about her pain. She's hurt that Hunt mentioned that they suffered. And the worst part is, Hunt then regret's it, he regrets saying something that hurts Bryce, because he cares about her and feelings. And she does not consider his feelings to the same degree

It just pisses me off

[my-pjo-stuff]

Luke Castellan is one of the (if not THE) best characters Rick has ever written. I will genuinely die on this hill, quote me on this. And the reason why I think that is because he as a character and his actions as a whole are just so incredibly realistic. Luke was a deeply traumatized child who never had a proper adult figure to take care of him, thrown into a system where he never got proper support or got his mental health looked after. There is no way that ANYONE in Luke's situation could have turned out a healthy, well-adjusted person. We have an irl pattern of the most evil, unstable humans we know coming from bad parental backgrounds and neglect. Now imagine how someone who not only had bad parents, but no parents at all would turn out? And on top of that add the trauma of living on the streets, having to watch your best friend die, and then basically having to take care of multiple kids. Luke was bitter, hurt, angry, and incredibly easy to manipulate and radicalize. Like he any real person would have ended up with his background! Characters like Percy and Annabeth, who despite everything still turn out to be relatively well-adjusted and happy are just that. Characters. It's fictional- which is totally fine, they are fiction after all. But Luke stands out in the way that his reactions are not fiction, but instead realistic.

These themes continue with his revolution. Luke does bad stuff for his goal. He hurts people and accepts the deaths of his own aswell as his enemy's. Luke expects and accepts losses and casualties.

Which is what IRL revolutionaries do! Revolts, coups, conflict- any form of such radical change is bound to get messy! It's realistic. Do you people have any idea how messy and bloody the French Revolution was? You know, the most famous revolution generally considered just and righteous in the Western World? Are the people who started that revolution suddenly evil because they "send others to die"? I don't think so! And as bad as it may sound- Luke allying himself with Kronos to garner support and strength is logical too! The fact is that there is no way that demigods alone could overthrow the gods- the power difference is simply too big. So what does Luke do? He employs the good old "The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend" and goes with Kronos. His seeking the help of Kronos was a tactically smart move for Luke at the time as bad as it may sound. It gained him support from the monster army and leverage to get minor gods to join him. And all that is ignoring the fact that he was probably manipulated by Kronos since he was 17. Are you REALLY expecting a 17 y/o to resist the guy KNOWN for his manipulation skills? Someone whom not even Ares, a GOD, could resist? We can also see Luke doing genuine diplomacy, plotting, organization, recruiting and everything else a revolution and war would need! All those "Dark Percy Jackson" AUs where he overthrows the gods completely ignore the true reality of the demigod situation. They have Percy be this valiant hero who manages to defeat all the gods while never truly compromising his core values. All the while never causing the death of too important characters or unnecessary destruction.

Which is, frankly said, unrealistic. It's fictional- which (as mentioned before) is fine! Do whatever makes you happy- just along as you remember the inherently unrealistic nature of it. Luke is ugly and does bad things because that's what is means to lead a revolution! It's the hard truth, sometimes shitty things have to be done to achieve a good goal. And Luke shows those shitty things. He's the realism in a world of fiction and thus looks much worse in comparison. That realism is also part of why I like him so much.

[jesawyer]

Hi Josh, you answered a question about TTRPG combat design previously which I appreciate a lot, was just wondering if you could give pointers on another thing.

How do you do enemy targeting in a combat encounter? Say you've got a squishy mage next to a big high damage monster, I always feel tempted to avoid attacking them because I don't like trying to kill PCs - will do so if they're being dumb but otherwise I feel like a dick.

Is it a case of desinging encounters so this kind of thing doesn't happen, just going off what makes the most sense in context or is there another way to think about it?

I run fights with the enemies being as ruthless as their intelligence will allow. It encourages the players to be equally ruthless and to keep their guard up.

I don't sucker punch PCs but if the party doesn't protect vulnerable allies, they'll suffer for it.

Also if the party ignores warnings about the difficulty of an unnecessary fight, I'll just tear them up. In one of my previous Pillars tabletop games, the party decided to hunt down a known Very Tough Guy and ambush him and his guards. In the first round, the Very Tough Guy used Flames of Devotion with a multi-crit dual-wielded flail attack on the party paladin. The paladin died immediately and the rest of the party scattered.

PCs don't die as often as it might seem given what I'm saying. Part of the reason is that, IMO, PCs don't die purely based on bad luck or me being malicious. They usually die because they made a bad tactical decision or took a risk that didn't pan out.

In my last Pillars tabletop campaign, the party druid did die in the climactic fight. He had already been badly wounded and wound up flanked by the antagonist, who had Sneak Attack and scored an exceptional crit. Luck did play a part on the total damage dealt, but he was just in a vulnerable position. He was also clearly the greatest threat to the antagonist at the time, so her choice to sneak attack him was the smart thing to do.

RIP, Chung.

[kariachi]

Who wants more villain4villain Levinstar fic? This time the Tennysons pov on the whole team-up.

~~

The Tennyson cousins were learning quickly that by far the worst combo to deal with was Kevin and Darkstar.

They hoped, at first, that like most of the other team-ups their enemies had this would be a one and done deal. Charmcaster and Hex hardly ever showed up together anymore. The Negative Ten, never again. Kevin and Vilgax’s partnership, though terrifying, had been brief. So as much as having an ambush by Kevin suddenly take a turn when Darkstar showed up to drag away Gwen’s attention- leaving both Tennysons more vulnerable, it had been luck more than anything they’d managed to drive them off- there’d been no reason to believe it would happen again. They’d been beaten, Darkstar was proud and not known to work with others before then, and Kevin was short-tempered and considered unlikely to give to give somebody a second chance. Of course, as with so many others, it would only take the one defeat to split them apart. The cousins would be able to breathe easy.

At least until they arrived at a robbery to find Darkstar there and been blindsided partway through the fight by Kevin putting Ben through a wall. It was an unprecedented event, for a team-up to continue like this without a prior history- and god had they searched for any hints of a prior history in hopes of finding some sort of leg up- and they’d been completely unprepared. They were thankfully quick learners, and had realized by the third encounter that if they just saw one they should be prepared for the other. Unfortunately, their enemy was also too fucking smart and too fucking stubborn and as soon as they realized they’d figured out the game they didn’t give up like the heroes were used to. No, they changed tactics.

They would gang up on one when they were alone. They would each target their own Tennyson in separate locations at the same time. They would target each other’s targets at the same time (and that had been a shocker). Traps were laid. Fake-outs were used to make them paranoid- which the bastards openly found hilarious. Sometimes they would take a few days to lick their wounds, sometimes it would be weeks on end. And each time the Tennysons would win, but only just.

The problem was that Kevin was incredibly dangerous- he was smarter than he seemed, too powerful and versatile, and he didn’t let up- and Darkstar wasn’t that much better- smart, powerful, and able to feed off them at range if he got any opening. Alone they had been enough to give the Tennysons their fair share of trouble, but together? And when they only got better at fighting side-by-side?

Worse still, while initial attempts at getting them fighting each other had worked like a charm- not driven them apart, because the universe hated the cousins apparently, but cost the pair fights- it had stopped working after a point. The sniping back and forth had just become part of their banter, because the two had needed banter apparently, and after a point the Tennyson had been hit with the realization that things had developed there. Unfortunate, unholy things. Probably they should’ve guessed around the time the two started defending each other’s honor, but no, it had been after an unfortunate and unnecessary encounter that had left them swearing not to barge in anywhere ever again, no matter what they thought the fuckers inside might be up to. Some things you didn’t need to see.

So not only were they dealing with a persistent threat that was more than happy to play mind games as well and cause massive destruction, but they were also being dealt constant psychological damage by the knowledge of just how unlikely it was looking they would be able to get things back to normal without serious fallout. Nobody on the planet wanted to see what a Kevin scorned looked like.

Was it any wonder then that Gwen decided to go remote and wait until she and her cousin could rent a place together, rather than go off to college on her own?

[rocketspinsblog]

Game Like a Pro: Strategies for Higher Wins

Achieving higher wins in online gaming like on Casino Rocket Spin requires more than just luck; it demands skill, strategy, and a focused mindset. Whether you're aiming for better performance in competitive games or maximizing your winnings in skill-based games, applying pro-level strategies can give you a significant edge over the competition. Here are key strategies that will help you game like a pro and secure more wins.

1. Focus on Mastery, Not Multitasking

One of the biggest mistakes many gamers make is trying to master multiple games at once. To consistently secure higher wins, it’s better to focus on mastering one game at a time.

Why It’s Important: By focusing on one game, you can learn its mechanics, meta, and strategies deeply, allowing you to outplay opponents who spread their time across multiple games.

Tip: Choose a game that you genuinely enjoy and dedicate time to mastering it. Work on improving specific aspects of your gameplay—such as aiming, positioning, or strategy—until you’re consistently winning.

2. Understand the Game’s Meta

In competitive online games, the meta (the most effective tactics available) is constantly evolving. To increase your chances of winning, it’s essential to stay up-to-date with the latest meta and adjust your playstyle accordingly.

Why It’s Important: Sticking to outdated strategies can put you at a disadvantage, especially against opponents who are using the most effective tactics. Staying current with the meta allows you to compete at the highest level.

Tip: Follow patch notes and community forums to track changes to the game. Watch professional players and streamers to see how they adjust to the latest meta, and experiment with new tactics yourself.

3. Focus on Consistent Wins Over Big Plays

While flashy plays and high-risk maneuvers may be tempting, consistency is what truly leads to long-term success. Pro players prioritize smart, calculated moves over risky plays to ensure consistent wins.

Why It’s Important: Taking unnecessary risks can result in costly losses, while playing consistently gives you more control over the outcome. Pros focus on steady performance rather than going for highlight-reel moments.

Tip: Stay patient and stick to proven strategies. Focus on building small advantages over time, such as securing objectives or controlling the map, rather than trying to make a single, game-changing play.

4. Improve Your Game Sense and Awareness

Game sense refers to your ability to read the game and make smart decisions based on what’s happening around you. This includes positioning, anticipating enemy movements, and understanding the flow of the match.

Why It’s Important: Having strong game sense allows you to avoid mistakes, capitalize on opportunities, and stay one step ahead of your opponents. It’s a key factor that separates pros from average players.

Tip: Keep an eye on the mini map, watch for audio cues, and pay attention to enemy patterns. Over time, you’ll develop the ability to predict enemy actions and respond appropriately, giving you a strategic advantage.

5. Master Communication and Team Coordination

In team-based games, communication and teamwork are essential for winning. Pro players excel at coordinating with their teammates to execute strategies, secure objectives, and outmaneuver opponents.

Why It’s Important: Even the most skilled individual player can’t win without good teamwork in team-based games. Clear communication helps teams work together effectively and avoid costly mistakes.

Tip: Use voice chat or in-game communication tools to relay critical information to your teammates. Be concise and constructive in your communication, and focus on coordinating strategies that will benefit the entire team.

6. Track Your Performance and Analyze Mistakes

Improving your performance requires more than just playing the game—it also involves analyzing your gameplay to identify mistakes and areas for improvement.

Why It’s Important: Reviewing your gameplay allows you to see where you went wrong and what you could have done differently. Pro players are constantly looking for ways to refine their tactics and strategies.

Tip: Record your matches or use built-in replay tools to review your gameplay. Focus on specific moments where you lost control of the game or missed an opportunity to win, and work on improving those areas in future matches.

7. Optimize Your Settings for Maximum Performance

Professional gamers understand the importance of having an optimized setup. From graphics settings to control layouts, fine-tuning your settings can improve your reaction time and overall performance.

Why It’s Important: Suboptimal settings can slow you down or make it harder to react in high-pressure situations. Optimizing your setup ensures smoother gameplay and faster response times.

Tip: Lower your graphics settings to prioritize frame rates if necessary. Adjust mouse sensitivity and key bindings to suit your playstyle, ensuring you have maximum control and precision during gameplay.

8. Stay Calm and Maintain Focus

Gaming under pressure can lead to mistakes, especially if you let emotions get in the way. Pro players know how to stay calm and composed, even in high-stakes situations.

Why It’s Important: Staying calm allows you to think clearly and make better decisions, while getting frustrated or "tilting" often leads to poor choices and unnecessary losses.

Tip: If you find yourself getting frustrated, take a break to reset mentally. Practice mindfulness techniques, such as deep breathing or short walks, to help you stay focused and composed during intense matches.

9. Learn from the Pros

One of the fastest ways to improve is by studying how professional players approach the game. Watching pro-level gameplay can give you insights into advanced strategies, positioning, and decision-making.

Why It’s Important: Pros have spent thousands of hours perfecting their gameplay, and learning from their tactics can accelerate your own improvement. By observing their movements, strategies, and reactions, you can adopt similar techniques.

Tip: Watch streams, tournaments, or tutorial videos from top players in your game. Pay attention to how they handle various situations and try to incorporate their strategies into your own play.

10. Adapt to Your Opponents

No two games are the same, and part of winning consistently is knowing how to adapt to your opponents' playstyles. Pro players are skilled at adjusting their tactics based on how their opponents are playing.

Why It’s Important: Sticking to one strategy in every match can make you predictable and easy to counter. Learning to adapt to different opponents keeps you versatile and harder to beat.

Tip: Pay attention to how your opponents play during the match. Are they aggressive or defensive? Do they favor certain strategies or characters? Adjust your tactics based on these observations to exploit their weaknesses.

11. Capitalize on Small Advantages

Pro players know that games are often won by capitalizing on small advantages. Whether it’s controlling the map, securing resources, or pressuring your opponents, building small leads can eventually lead to victory.

Why It’s Important: Small advantages, when accumulated over time, can snowball into game-winning leads. Pro players focus on making incremental gains throughout the game, rather than relying on big plays to win.

Tip: Look for ways to create small advantages, such as controlling key areas, denying resources to your opponents, or playing strategically around objectives. Over time, these small victories will add up.

12. Maintain a Balanced Mindset

While it’s important to aim for wins, maintaining a balanced mindset and staying motivated through losses is crucial for long-term improvement. Pro players focus on the learning process rather than getting discouraged by defeats.

Why It’s Important: Gaming at a high level can be mentally taxing, and if you let losses affect your confidence, it can negatively impact your performance. Focusing on progress, rather than short-term results, helps you stay motivated and resilient.

Tip: Celebrate small improvements in your gameplay, even if you lose a match. Each defeat is an opportunity to learn, so embrace the process of getting better rather than focusing solely on the outcome.

Conclusion

To game like a pro and achieve higher wins, you need to focus on strategy, consistency, and adaptability. From understanding the meta to refining your game sense and maintaining effective communication with teammates, the path to success is about more than just mechanics. By implementing these expert strategies, you’ll improve your performance, outsmart your opponents, and secure more victories in your online gaming journey.

[curiouslavellan]

going back to origins always makes me a little disappointed with the darkspawn in the later games because they're so legitimately frightening in origins

[moonchildsaurora]

Running in Circles

✤ guard captain!Mingi x thief!reader  ✤ genre: Guard AU // smidge of fluff, (semi)enemies-to-friends. (feat. Yunho) ✤ t/w: sfw, none - except very brief mentions of some fighting, rated PG ✤ count: 3k ✤ [ part 3 ] of Lacuna miniseries

a/n - huge apologies for keeping Captain Song in for a so long but alas, he’s finally freeeeee. I really need to pick up the pace with continuing on with this mini series 😅 this idea sorta played out better in my head than out in words - I’m not 100% happy with this, it’s defs not my best but I shall practise writing more Mingi fics in the future! This is also probably the tamest of the lot in terms of cry-level. Just preparing you guys with an easy read before the shitstorm that awaits in the next member on the list one shot hahahahahahaha. @hereisleo​ & @barsformars​ hope you both enjoy this for ya man 😉 I couldn’t bring myself to hurt this giant teddybear too much in writing. Also everyone, let’s welcome back a familiar face within this one shot :P

In all of his years of being a royal palace guard of Aethevintis, nothing would cause his body to seize up with tension instantly and hasten the greys that threaten to come through his still youthful auburn tresses than when he was requested at the interrogation chamber.

Heavy steps echoed off the dark granite stone floors, the sharp clinking from an array of medals that hung proudly to signify his prestige were in sync with his tense pace. Song Mingi had no problem exercising command and authority when it was needed, in fact, he prided himself in doing so.

He was good at his job, and he knew that.

Otherwise the title of Captain wouldn’t had been bestowed upon him that four winters ago. The real struggle was when his confidence in being assertive was mistaken for the ability to intimidate, broad body physique to further fuel that common misconception. And so Mingi often found himself sat in that bleak chamber with some poor unfortunate soul, who had been frightened into admitting nothing more than petty crimes.

He’d argue such tactics were unnecessary. Running his hand frustratingly through his hair for the umpteenth time, Mingi mentally braced himself for whatever...or rather whoever awaited for his arrival.

Rounding the corner, his brows arched up with surprise upon seeing the King standing in front of the chamber doors. The troubled look that replaced the King’s usual ebullient features prompted Mingi to straighten his posture immediately; this was sure to be a serious matter.  “Good afternoon Sire…”

Yunho turned towards the rich baritone voice of the Guard Captain and rigid shoulders relaxed ever so slightly at the sight of one of his most trusted.    

“Captain Song,” Yunho nodded in acknowledgement, “Although I’m not sure if it’s entirely good at all.”

Mingi’s forehead creased but remained silent to allow the King to further elaborate about his plight.

“The Queen’s aquamarine diamond parure has been stolen, and I suspect a selection of other jewels too. Those I care not for as much as the diamond parure…it’s got high sentimental value as it was passed down within the family from my great-great-grandmother.”

“That certainly isn’t good at all. Has the perpetrator been caught yet, Sire?”

“As luck would have it, yes actually. And I’ve been told that you would be the perfect person to know how to handle this….situation,” at saying this Yunho fully turned to face Mingi. The falchion in his belt’s scabbard felt heavy and a million and one thoughts were running through his mind at once.

“Mingi…”  

Mingi could see the sincerity in Yunho’s eyes and the hesitation in spilling out the words that needed to be said.

“I hope you know that in any other circumstances, I would not be requesting you to deal with such matters that you have immense dislike for. I apologise for putting you in such a position. This…certain individual has crossed paths with you before and I’m hoping with that familiarity you may be able to coax them to reveal where the diamond parrure is. How you do so, I’ll leave that up to your discretion.”

Oh.

Well that wasn’t what Mingi was expecting to hear. A certain individual he’s familiar with?

He straightened his back and gave a determined nod of his head, “I shall do my best Sire. That room may be the bane of my existence but this matter is clearly of importance to you, let us hope the thief can be convinced to comply.”

“You have my utmost gratitude Mingi,” Yunho said, reaching his hand up to give Mingi’s shoulder a comforting squeeze before making his way out of the grim dungeon hallway.

Mingi waited till the King was out of sight before turning to face the chamber. Taking a deep breath, he steeled his heart and pushed open the doors with slight force.  

“Well, well if it isn’t my favourite Captain of the guards. Come to keep me company for the evening?”

If he wasn’t already sweating before, he sure was now. That oh-so coquettish voice he’s grown to recognise almost immediately, fell on his ears.

You sent a cheshire grin to the tall figure, legs propped up on the worn-out wooden table and hands idly fiddling with the heavy brass shackles around your wrists. This certainly wasn’t the first time your paths had crossed but it was the first for you both to meet in a more dire setting.

Mingi feared for the implications of your capture.

Not just a mere thief of the streets but being the leader of Dusk Talons, the Royal Crown surely won’t pass up a chance to make an example of a core individual from the renowned thief guild.    

“You ought to close your mouth, otherwise the flies will get in.”

One of the guards closer to you brought his fist down on the table, a mere tactic meant to frighten you. However, all it got out of you was the bored glance you sent to the guard who started berating you for talking back to Captain Song.

Mingi let out a sigh, “That’s enough. I can take it from here, you all are dismissed.” The command was given to the other guards in the room as he settled into the chair across from you. They left without a fuss and silence encompassed the room, though not for long.

“Would you please be a dear and help with this?” you asked, chains jangling as you held out your cuffed wrists towards Mingi.

“It would seem that’s not needed at all,” a ghost of a smile gracing his lips, “your handy work got the job done for you.”

“You’re no fun.”

Not admitting out loud, you were slightly impressed that the guard captain didn’t let your lock-picking slip by him. The shackles dropped on to the table and you made a show of stretching your arms out, body arching lithely off the chair. Your loose tunic rode up just shy of showing skin, causing Mingi to avert his eyes out of respect.

That widened your grin.

Mingi let out an awkward cough, any pre-planned script he had for questioning was abandoned. You weren’t entirely a stranger to him nor were you an acquaintance – if the laws even allowed for that. But Mingi didn’t feel right about making you go through the same interrogation protocol as previous criminals had to. You weren’t like them.  

“I can’t tell if you thrive off the riskiest raids or that you don’t fear anything nor anyone. Going after Her Majesty’s diamond parure? Of all things!”

An airy chuckle left you, “If I didn’t know better…you sound awfully worried for me, Captain.”

“Shouldn’t you be at least more careful? What would become of your family if something were to really happen to you?”

The grin on your face disappeared immediately.

Mingi continued when he didn’t hear a response, “I’ve seen you…giving food and gold back to those in the Lower Wrean. I know some of the funds for the city’s orphanages are provided by your guild. And that one time…the only reason why you led the attack on our eastern outpost was to rescue a few of your own and relocate some of the nomad camps away from potential crossfire. You don’t abandon family, right?”

These were the things that convinced Mingi, you weren’t really all bad. Questionable choices? Sure. Morals? A little grey. Although underneath the layers, your intentions have always stemmed from a compassionate heart.  

“What’s to the rich if they lose a few here and there? They have far more than enough, so to us, they’re top of the list of contributors.”

Mingi remembered you telling him that when he had first caught you escaping from one of the noble’s house. Your guild only ever stole from the rich and it was a bonus if the corrupted was targeted too. Mingi, who then was still under the command of the previous captain, hesitated to pursue. For his moral compass went spiralling. Being bound to carry out his royal duty or close a blind eye because he empathised with what you stood for.  

Empathy.

Nothing more than a weak link, according to his captain. There was little room for that, just as grey had no place among Aethevintis’ black-or-white justice system.

Hence, a thief was still a thief at the end of the day. Even for a good cause, by definition you were on the opposing side.

You continued to observe Mingi in silence, with a neutral expression, as you let his words sink in. Captain Song was much different than his predecessors. An unspoken level of mutual respect had developed between you both somewhere along the way of your encounters. The way he led with his heart rather than blind authority was admirable.

“We do what we must to get by. My family…as you so kindly put it…are capable of adapting to whatever circumstances are thrown their way. Risk is an inevitable norm for us.”

At least, you could appreciate Mingi looking at you without that faux sympathy.

“And I’ve lived doing what I do best…that is to survive. Being careful only gets you so far but being smart, well, you could go just about anywhere with that.”  

With a rather loud yawn you broke the tension in the dim room. The grin reappeared back on your face and you slinked backwards on the chair. Mingi was contemplating on whether switching back to the original subject of this…talk…would be a good idea or not. He needed a starting basis, a hint of sorts from you in order to give direction where he’d be searching for the missing parure.  

Betting on the fact that you don’t wholly despise him, Mingi tried his luck. “Now I do have a job to complete, and I’m sure we both would rather spend our time elsewhere other than down here…”  

“Aww, I thought we were having a good time getting to know each other better. Don’t get to do that as much on the streets now, do we?”

“What have you done with Her Majesty’s parure?” asked Mingi, keeping his tone levelled.

“You sure are set on that huh? What’s in it for you if you successfully retrieve the jewels?”

Tilting your head, eyes sparking a challenge. Only to be met with determination glinting off Mingi’s own pair of dark chocolate brown orbs.

“Nothing more than the satisfaction of returning a precious family heirloom back to my King. It’s of great importance and sentiment to him.”

You wished you could find fault in his resolution. Yet again, Mingi was nothing but honest in answering you.  

Surely, you could play a little nicer this time, right?

“Hmm, I’ll think about it. I’m feeling rather parched as well…any chance I could get some fresh water?”

Sensing you weren’t going to give in anytime soon, Mingi drew in a deep breath and exhaled. Standing up he offered, “And I’m guessing you haven’t had anything to eat?”

“You’re offering?”

“This is an interrogation chamber, not a torture one.”

Mingi left to gather the necessities. Head filled with too many conflicting thoughts, that he missed the growing grin on your lips and the space where the dungeon keys previously sat on his belt.  

“THE PRISONER HAS ESCAPED!”

“FIRE IN THE COURTYARD!”

It was havoc.  

The thunderous sound of fireworks broke through the tranquil evening. Catching everyone by surprise and confusion arose as to why bursts of colourful sparks were going off within the palace grounds. When some of the flag banners and trees caught fire from the stray sparks, it caused a flurry of panic.

And to make matters worse – the guards had lost you.

Mingi finished over-seeing the last batch of palace staff into the safe area. “All palace guards are to stay by the doors to the throne room and west wing! No one is to leave or enter until my unit and I have done a final sweep of the grounds, “ he ordered.

Part of the team was put in charge of getting the fires under control. He deduced the fireworks were set off as an intended distraction and, a successful one at that too. Mingi’s priority was now to prevent you from escaping.

He heard the commotion and shouting before, “CAPTAIN! THE SOUTHWEST WALLS!”

You held your own and by the time Mingi had reached your location, the guards who were stationed there were knocked out cold on the ground. A minor cut bled slightly from your left cheek and you looked a little more roughed up than when Mingi had last seen you.

“Here I was thinking this would be a clean goodbye…” you said, securing the rope around your waist that Mingi noticed was tied to the stone merlons. He also saw a couple of dark-coloured pouches with you that weren’t present on your attire during the interrogation.

Three guesses as to what filled those pouches.

You followed his eyes to where they were fixated on, “Ah yes, amongst thieves it’s the number one rule to not hide our spoils on ourselves…lest we get caught.”

A series of sharp whistles was heard. The signal that your guild had completed their tasks and was awaiting to reunite with their leader down below at the meeting point. You blew three consecutive similar whistles back in response.

“Wait!”

You paused with one foot up on the stone edge. Turning back to look, you saw Mingi’s hand hover slightly over his falchion.

“Are you going to try and stop me?”

‘No. But I will ask once more, where is the diamond parure? I know the cold season approaches and you’ll need all the resources you can get. Those gold and other jewels you’ve got there should be sufficient enough. So please….”

Having already made your decision the moment you slammed the doors to the chamber out, simultaneously breaking the noses of the unsuspecting guards, you knew what you had to do. But that didn’t prevent you from adding a little dramatic flair.

After all, you want to stay memorable in Captain Song’s books.

“You just don’t know when to give up, do you?”

Your voice dripping with light sweetness, eyes locked on his as you made your way right up to him. Your hand darted out to grab his falchion and on reflex, Mingi intercepted – large calloused warm hand latching around your wrist.

“But maybe that’s what makes so different from the others…” You flipped his hand so it faced palm up, and placed a familiar cobalt blue pouch on it. “You’re a good man, Captain Song. Thinking with your heart doesn’t make you weak…this world needs more of that, more of people like you.”

You watched his shoulders fall with relief and the look he had in his eyes change into something you couldn’t quite discern. Mingi nestled the pouch carefully towards his body, the delicate clinking confirmed its fragile contents within. And he didn’t feel the need to look inside for confirmation; he trusted you.

“If we were to meet in another lifetime, I hope we’d be on better terms then. Preferably one leaning closer to friends.”

A genuine smile crept up from the corners of your lips upon hearing Mingi’s words.

“That sounds rather nice, actually.”

You could definitely use a friend like Mingi in your second lifetime, should fate ever be so kind to give you another shot.

“CAPTAIN!”  

The clamouring of guards and blades being drawn drew closer and you could hear the running of feet up the stairs.

“Well, that’s my cue to leave. And I am so sorry for doing this but…”

And you physically winced when you sent a knee to his gut, causing Mingi to collapse and gasp for air.

“…Captain Song wouldn’t go down without a fight and this makes it look less like you just let a scummy thief off the hook.”

Mingi waved his other gloved hand, “I…understand – you ought to hurry…” he managed to cough out the words.

“Don’t be a stranger.”

With that, Mingi watched you leap over the wall’s edge just as back-up from his unit arrived. Not only did you leave him with the Queen’s jewels and potentially a bruise or two, you also left him with a new sense of comfort.

Two worlds apart. Two unlikely individuals who were both willing to cross the bridge that’s been built to fill the gap, to meet in the middle.

Yeah, this was a change he could get used to.

“Thank you Captain Song!” cheered the orphans, watching with admiration at how effortlessly Mingi climbed the tree to recover their kite that got stuck in the tall branches.

He soon found his legs to be attacked with hugs from several pairs of petite arms.  

Mingi returned the affections with gentle head pats and a, “Be careful not to run too fast and watch where you’re going!”  

The townspeople greeted him as he patrolled his rounds. Even scoring a ruby red freshly-picked apple from one of the vendors. Today would be a breeze. Golden rays of the sun shone down warmly and the morning air was still crisp. Mingi was already planning to finish his shift early and go see if he could convince Yunho to sneak away from royal duties for a round of archery out by the fields.

“STOP! THIEF!”

Just like that, his trail of thoughts were cut short. Mingi snapped his attention towards the direction where the yelling came from. Jogging over to where the crowd had gathered, he was nearly bowled over by a fleeting figure.  

Upon making eye contact for that split second, he could recognise your mirthful eyes from anywhere.

Your eyes crinkled with delight and being bold as to send a wink his way. But your feet never stopped sprinting and within seconds, Mingi had lost you among the sea of townspeople who still went about their business on the street.    

“THEY WENT THAT WAY!”

Mingi looked back to see some of his unit tailing after a few hooded figures who disappeared into the maze of alleyways. Your guild sure knew the layout of the town inside out.

A sigh escaped him. So much for finishing up early for the day.

But if it was a chase you wanted, then it would be a chase you’ll get. Being the respectful gentleman that he was, he’d let you have a head start of course.

Maybe one day, when he’s old and cranky, worn out to his bones – he’d stop running in circles after you.

Luckily for you both, today wasn’t that day.

[ozzdog12]

2020 Top 7 (and 1)

2020 am I right? We saw an insane amount of games come out and 2 brand new consoles. What a wild and weird year for gaming, and life in general. In case you are relatively new here, and to be honest that would be completely fair considering I don't post very often on Tumblr anymore, every year going on the last 4 years (on here) I have done a Top 7 (& 1) for my favorite videogames of the year. Check out 2019, 2018, & 2017. What’s wild, as I look back on my list of games that I’ve completed and played, only maybe 10 came out this year. 2020 was a huge backlog year. 

Lets get on with the ‘And 1!”

Favorite Game that Didn’t Come out in 2020: Control (PS4)

Control may very well have been my 2019 Game of the Year, had I played it in 2019. I LOVED Control. I wanted to play it in 2019, but initial reports that it was a little rough on base consoles put me off until it was fixed. And Holy smokes what an insanely fun and trippy game once I finally started it. I knew within the first 20 minutes this was going to be the shit when I went down a hall, walked into a room and talked to the “janitor” left out a door behind him and the entire building had shifted. I’ve always liked Remedy games, but from a distance. Max Payne 1&2 and Alan Wake all oozed with weirdness and intrigue, but never enough for me to finish them. I missed out on Quantum Break. The story is Control is just the right amount of mind f*!$ for me and builds a universe I didn’t know I needed. It take some time to piece everything together, then everything just clicks. The game does have a weird difficulty spike when fighting bosses and the checkpoints were too far apart at times, but those were later patched. I spent an insane amount of time within the Federal Bureau of Control building and even more time after that with the Foundation and AWE DLC and it STILL wasn’t enough. I wanted more. Outside of Prey, I can’t think of another game that stuck in my brain more after I’d finished it. Control is absolutely a MUST PLAY title. In a world where everything sort’ve feels similar, Control stands out of the crowd.

Number 7: Astro’s Playroom (PS5)

I never thought in my wildest dreams that a game I had almost zero interest in playing would end up on my list of favorite games this year. Astro’s Playroom is being labeled as a ‘Tech demo’ but that feels like an insult to what it is. It’s a full fledged game and its free! I’ve paid more for less. A charming little platformer that lives and breathes the history of the Playstation. So many cool Easter eggs and references. It certainly centers its gameplay around the DualSense controller and everything it can do, but at its core, its a completely approachable and forgiving 3D platformer. I played it just to see what it was about, next thing i knew I had completed all the levels and wanted to further explore all the nooks and crannies within the game. I wanted to see everything the game had to offer and I had an absolute blast doing so. Makes me kinda wish I’d played the previous game on PSVR (I’d have to have a PSVR too)

Number 6: Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5)

Another quality title, albeit a spin-off, from Insomniac to add to their Spider Man universe. Gameplay felt obviously like Spider-Man, but Miles has unique abilities that made the game feel different enough, especially the cloak and stealth. I enjoyed the fact that it was short and concise. The issue with most ‘open-world’ games is that they are entirely too bloated with unnecessary filler content (I’ll get to that in a later game), something I felt the first game suffered from, but I also understand why they are there. However I could’ve use one or two more story missions to help flesh out some characters, but it wasn’t required and didn’t change my opinion one way or the other. My one BIG gripe was with Miles himself. He is an extremely smart young kid, but so incredibly naïve. Peter Parker tells him the one thing he SHOULD NOT do is tell people he is Spider-Man. I get it, that’s part of his growth, but Miles thinks he can just solve his problems by revealing his identity and it almost certainly never works out. 

Number 5: The Last of Us: Part 2 (PS4)

The Last of Us Part 2 may be the most polarizing game in the history of the medium, but for the absolute wrong reasons. I’m in the minority that I very much enjoyed my experience with TLOU2, quite a bit actually. Its better in every single way over its predecessor, except the overall story. There are plenty of fair criticisms to be had about the story and various things within the game itself, but I thought the gameplay was so tight and crunchy. There were genuine moments of suspense and terror that I felt that no other game has ever given me. The entire hospital section (2nd time) was so susensful, I had to put my controller down to gther myself. Some of my favorite moments in the series I experienced with a character I wasn’t overly fond of. How many games can do that? The Last of Us Part 2 was meant to invoke emotion, not necessarily joy. I think that's what people lost along the way. Say what you will about the direction Naughty Dog has taken over the years, but you would be hard pressed to find a studio that makes games graphically better than they do. Yes, I know about their crunch culture, but this is not a place for that. I will say, the game was a tad bit too long, which is not something it typically say for a single player, narrative driven game. The pacing and the way the story was told wasn’t my favorite, but I respect what it was trying to do, even if it failed in some aspect of that, I finished the game within the week it was released. Something I RARELY ever do. I’m a father and I related with Joel a lot in TLOU, but I also recognized how wrong he was. There is a lesson to be learned. Your actions always have consequences and while he was doing what he thought was the right thing, it wasn’t his choice to make, and in doing so set up a series of events that were entirely avoidable, but again, that’s the point isn’t it?

Number 4: Grindstone (Switch)

I’m counting this as a 2020 game since it just came to the Switch this year ( less than a month ago) but its not the first time I’ve played it. Grindstone was the only reason I kept my Apple Arcade subscription and when I let it lapse, there was a void I just couldn’t fill. I bought Puzzle Quest on Switch but it just wasn't the same. Its THE perfect game for bite sized play, even though in its addictive nature, you’ll clear a few levels and an hour has passed before you know it. It has the perfect amount of depth that most ‘match’ games don't. You have different weapons, items, and outfits w/perks to use and experiment with to keep it fresh. I went months without playing my Switch and when this was announced in August, I couldn’t wait! Sadly, I had to wait 3 months, but since then I have spent so much time on the Switch. It gave me a reason to play it again. The art style and humour is great. The variety of enemies and challenge is just right. I can’t recommend it enough. Seriously, check this game out!

Number 3: Doom Eternal (Xbox One)

I will be the first to tell you, I did not like Doom (2016). I found it extremely boring and trite. I understood what Doom(2016) was doing and it succeeded, maybe too much. Nostalgia is a helluva thing. So in saying that, I was mildly interested in Doom Eternal. Doom Eternal is nothing like 2016 outside of it being a Doom game that connects to the rest of them (& also being a sequel to 2016). The mechanics are drastically different with more platforming (for better or worse). Eternal is challenging, at times very hard, especially early on. Eternal has no respect for its players, in a weirdly good way. It laughs at how you’ve played FPS before this one and WILL MAKE you play it its way, not your way. Yes, you point and shoot, but ammo is scare and you MUST use everything in your arsenal. No more using just 2 guns for the whole game. The enemies are relentless. Sometimes you have to pause and take a breath after a battle because you go a 100 mph for the whole fight. You have to continuously move or you die. There is an enticing rhythm to it. I categorize Eternal as ‘Blood Ballet’. Its a game where when your feeling it, much like a rhythm game, you get in the zone and there is no stopping demons from getting slayed. Surprisingly, unlike most games in the genre, it seemed to get easier (sans one extremely frustrating platforming section late in the game) the longer you played it. Was that a testament that I ‘learned’ the Eternal way or it truly did get easier? I don’t know, but the final Boss(es) were....easy.. I had more problems and deaths within the first 4 hours than I did the final 8-9 hours. The multiplayer was also surprisingly fun. The older I get, the less interested I am in multiplayer, but I found myself coming back for more for a good month or so. 

Number 2: Gears Tactics (Xbox One)

As 2020 comes to a close, I came to a stunning realization. I might be a bigger Gears of War fan than I had previously thought. Don’t get me wrong. I love Gears, but I seem to love Gears more than I thought. I'm way more invested into the lore than I recall. Anyways, Gears Tactics is everything XCOM 2 SHOULD’VE been. Not only does Gears Tactics utilize the Overwatch action, its makes it EXTREMELY important. The story revolves around the father of Kait Diaz, Gabe and a ragtag group of mostly random soldiers to take down Ukkon. Anyone who is remotely interested in the Gears universe will love the story and references. The gameplay is just so damn satisfying. The bosses are very challenging and different. I actually had to change my strategy to finish the final boss. I experimented with a totally different style of class and was rewarded for it. The post game stuff is also aplenty. This game scratched a VERY specific itch for me and I’m itchy to jump back in. I’m glad this came to Xbox One because I’m current computer could not run it.

Number 1: Ghost of Tsushima (PS4)

I have a very odd relationship with massive open world games. I love them, but I get very burnt out on them. They all have a relatively same-y formula and are often populated with bloat. GoT does have some of that but to its advantage, its not very populated, in a good way. One of the things that I really appreciated about GoT and its side quest is most of them felt meaningful. The thing that really stood out to me about GoT is the absolutely satisfying combat. It just feels SO GOOD. It requires timing and patience. There are different fighting styles for different enemies and even the armor you wear is more than just cosmetic. The combat is so fun and satisfying that I was immediately excited when they announced Legends, a multiplayer add on, for free. Its so much fun and is a blast to play with a group of friends. I’m sporadically still playing the Legends mode. I initially wanted to play the game in ‘Kurosawa’ mode but I am glad I didn’t because the game, even on the PS4 is stunning, and on the upgrade on PS5 is jaw-droppingly smooth. I did play the entire game in Japanese with English subtitles. I still don't know what Jin’s English voice sounds like. GoT does a good job a drip feeding you new abilities and things to keep things fresh. I love stealth and once I unlocked it, I spent the majority of every battle taking out as many enemies as I could while in stealth mode. Ghost of Tsushima does a lot of things very well, that the few things it doesn’t can be easily overlooked.

[mycptsdstory]

You know my family would use fancy big long words into their vocabulary to make themselves smart. But when I looked into the words in the dictionary, on what they are actually trying to say and it doesn’t make any sense. I get confused and I ask them, but all I get is gaslighted and being told off. Not my fault I know what the words mean.

It’s like they use their big long fancy words to make them feel smart and sophisticated. But they are doing it all wrong. Why would you put fancy big long words without knowing what the word actually means? Most words have 2-3 meanings and those 2-3 meanings are all different. Like “magazine”, that word is also meaning for media consumption but in paper form and the word also means for a gun to hold bullets in. So using those big fancy long words, they gonna have to know what the 2-3 meanings of it.

When people (and I used to know some personal ex friends who did this tactic) don’t use this, it honestly makes them sound dumb and fucking arrogant af. It’s not smart, it’s not clever, it’s fucking dumb af.

People say I’m smart because I turn something really complicated and simplifying it. Even my teachers said I’m very bright and I pick up things very quickly. Why? Famous people said this;

Einstein said “Genuis is making complex ideas simple, not making simple ideas complex”.

Hans Hoffman said “The ability to simplify means to emilimate this unnecessary, so that the necessary will speak”.

Richard Branson said “Complex your enemy. Any fool can make something complicated. It is hard to make something simple”.

Charles Magnus said “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple. That’s creativity”.

They are so many many more examples, but you see my point. Anyone and I mean anyone can make anything complicated and put fancy big long words to make them look smart. But can they make it simple so the average person will understand?

Abusers and toxic people use this tactic all the time. I call it “the gaslight dumb logic” where it makes sense to them, but trying to get them explain on what they are ‘trying’ to say, they just throw a 5 year old tantrum. Fucking lol. Not my fault I understand the big long fancy words and all the 2-3 meanings of the word.

If you didn’t know, I make something complicated and simplifying it in my blogs. Especially when I talk about psychology, I know not everyone can understand science like I can. Or read a psychology degree book and understand it, so I simplify it to make my readers understand. You see, that’s smart.

[iraacundus]

Butterfly Lies - Four

chapter four ✭  masterlist ✭ previous ✭ next ✭

mafialeader kun x reader

words: 3.8k

genre: smut, angst, fluff

warnings: smut (degredation, dom!kun, sub! reader); mentions of torture death and violence

money makes people do strange things, is what people would say, it can even motivate them to murder. kun didn’t have people killed for the money, he had them killed for the power, he was a monster among men, is what people would say. in reality kun had only ever been motivated by one thing, his love for you

✭  ✭  ✭  ✭  ✭

When you were actual allowed to start your real job at Qian Industries, it was weirdly fun. You spent all of your mornings with Ten, explaining to him why his ideas were wildly unrealistic and crazy and providing him with more sensible ones.

“Why would the office need to be near an ice cream place, I like ice cream as much as the next person Ten but I just don’t think that is essential,” you explained, “plus that would make the office very close to a G7 territory, they aren’t on the list of enemies and I guess we don’t want to add them to that list, it would probably involve unnecessary death.”

You put a big read x over the address Ten had proposed.

“I question your priorities there but okay…” Ten said. He was questioning your priorities? Maybe Kun had assigned you this job and ordered Ten to annoy you out of the company. Somehow you knew that wasn’t true, Ten was just Ten.

“If you don’t shut your ass up, I’m going to start leaving random fruits on your desk you idiot.” It was the one thing Kun had told you that would give you leverage over Ten – his fear of fruits.

Ten huffed, throwing his pen down at the map dramatically.

“Then where do you suggest?” he asked.

You picked up a black marker and drew a circle round two different locations,

“Both of these work, one is better for efficiency but the other is slightly closer to the NCT office which could be useful for collaboration. It would be better to be further away from them though so that we cover more area combined, but I’m not against that location so you can pick between the two,” you explained.

Ten looked vaguely impressed. He picked up the red marker and drew an X over the closer location.

“We go for efficiency then.”  

You held your hand up, giving Ten a high five.

“The best team that V has,” you said. Ten raised an eyebrow.

“WayV, is the name of the gang you know?” he said, “or clearly you don’t know, people just graffiti the V because that’s easier.”

That made more sense, a single letter wasn’t a great name for any brand.

“But yes, we do make a good team,” he relented, “in that you’re smart and I’m stunningly good-looking.”

You let him have that one.

The day didn’t slow down from there, next you were expected to go and learn some skills with Lucas. You were marginally apprehensive about what skills entailed but trusted Kun knew what he was doing.

Lucas was staring out of the office window when you walked in, so he didn’t notice you.

“Hello?” you said, making him aware of your presence.

“Sorry there was a cute puppy on the street,” he said turning around to grin at you. Your first question was how he saw the puppy from the street when you were on the sixteenth floor. Your second question came after his second statement.

“So, have you ever stabbed someone before?” You decided he was dangerously nonchalant in asking you that question.

You stared at him for a second trying to figure out just quite how sarcastically to answer.

“Yeh, I stabbed a guy just last week for jumping the queue, he had a right smirk on his face. No of course I have never stabbed someone you idiot, like most people have never done that, like a high percentage.”

Lucas shrugged.

“Just would have made my job easier if you had but its chill,” he replied.

He then proceeded to hand you a knife and get you to practise stabbing a dummy he had set out, showing you different tactics for self-defence. He also showed you how to disarm and attacker or just fight someone without a weapon.

He wanted to show you how to fire a gun, but you refused to learn, you didn’t think it was necessary. You also didn’t want to contribute to the number of guns in the city or gun violence.

“We can’t go to the hospital, so you have to learn how to deal with stab wounds, how to slow the bleeding and how to do stiches also,’ Lucas explained. You were weirdly excited at the prospect of this.

It was exactly the kind of area you felt you could be additionally useful without having to resort to mindless violence. You would just help with the aftermath of mindless violence instead.

As you stitched the fake arm you struggled to understand how Kun was calm enough to have done this to himself. He was truly his own brand of strangely impressive but also maybe insane.

You had actually planned to meet him later on for dinner. You were slightly stressed about it because you really didn’t want to have to talk about the whole, ‘kiss’ situation, you reckoned it wouldn’t be beneficial for your friendship to linger on the reasons you refused to commit to Kun.

You also knew it wasn’t beneficially for our friendship to ignore him, thus you agreed to go. You thanked Lucas for helping you and walked into the elevator, planning to stop by and ask Kun what kind of restaurant it was so you knew what to wear before you went home.

You arrived outside his office where the door was open, and no one was inside. You didn’t think anything of it, he was probably just busy elsewhere.

At the same time, you got a text from Johnny, one of the guys who worked out in Korea about the office location. You had a bit of free time, so you decided to go look for Ten and tell him what Johnny had said.

You decided to go to random floors and explore a bit. You had only been to a few parts of the building. You looked at the options on the lift and were surprised to find the building had multiple basement levels.

You guessed it might be carpark and thought it would be fun to see what kind of cars they drove to work out if any of Kun’s guys were just as rich as him. You pressed B1 and the lift went down.

It was a carpark, but it was empty, so you decided to go down the steps to the next level.

B2 was decidedly not a basement. The door to it was locked by a pass that said top level security clearance only. You held your pass up and it opened the door, it beeped green and opened. You were surprised Kun had given you that level of access, you had expected the door to not let you in.

There was a big sign inside the basement entrance with another reception desk. Yet this time the reception desk said WayV above it in big letters. Not Kun industries.

You had stumbled across where the real action occurred. You felt a lump rise in your throat, you were terrified yet so intrigued that you couldn’t walk away.

Yangyang was sitting at the desk with his feet up and jumped when he saw you.

“y/n!” he said, “how did you get in here?”

“With my pass,” you said wiggling it, smile on your face, hoping if you faked like you were meant to be there enough, he wouldn’t question it.

“I thought you were working with Lucas and then you were done, what brings you here?” he looked slightly nervous.

“I know what’s happening in there,” you said, hoping that he inferred something from your statement that would stop his questioning.

“Uh, okay then go on ahead,” he said, sitting back down. You felt bad, knowing that he would probably get in trouble again for this, he clearly had been demoted a lot if he was on desk duty.

You pushed open a door on your right and entered a badly lit corridor. There were a few doors, but you heard voices coming from further on down, so you walked towards that. The door was left open slightly and so you stood next to it, you could see but you could here.

You heard someone get hit, groaning in pain, causing you to flinch.

“Tell me where he fucking gave you this letter or I will rip your fingernails out one by one until you change your mind,” you heard Xiaojun’s voice. There was something so terrifying about how such a seemingly nice guy could be here, doing this.

“No fucking time Jun, either he tells us, or we shoot his buddy here,” this time it was Kun’s voice which was so much worse.

“Fuck you!” came an angry reply immediately followed by a gunshot.

“Now your friend is dead, tsk, tsk, tsk,” Kun said his voice unlike anything you had ever heard before.

“And so is your leverage,” the man replied. Kun laughed. He laughed, you were so shocked, his laugh was so like him yet so not.

“You have other friends, other partners, no?” Kun began, “You are not the only two we have or the only two we can get. Lucas here will get your other buddies from next door, one by one. I will shoot them one by one. When we run out, he will capture more, I will kill more. That is unless you fucking tell us, how you got the piece of paper.”

“Just kill me… please,” the man begged.

“But that would be so easy wouldn’t it, where’s your flair for the dramatique? Get the next one in,” Kun said.

You panicked; you knew you should leave before someone saw you, but your legs wouldn’t move.

Lucas opened the door and stepped out, face to face with your tear-filled eyes.

“Shit,” was all he said. He grabbed your arm and pulled you a few steps along so everyone in the room could see.

“We have a visitor,” Lucas said, “Yangyang still can’t do his job it seems.

You saw Kun’s face turn from a sick smile, to something unreadable. You saw the blood spatters on his hands, a dead body being rolled into a tarpaulin on the floor by Hendery and Sicheng and you saw a man tied up in the middle of the room.

The time it took for your brain to recognise the situation was enough time for your brain to finally send signals to your legs.

You dodged round Lucas and ran for the door. You ran back out of the hallway past the desk where Yangyang saw you running and now looked worried and up the stairs. You skipped the lift and continued up the stairs to the main entrance before running out the front door.

You stopped a taxi in the street and asked it to drive you home. Your only real thought was that you didn’t want to think.

You pulled out your phone. You knew Kun wouldn’t try to contact you. He was nice like that, he wouldn’t impose. He also murdered people for information. He was evil like that.

You texted Yuyan.

Need to go clubbing tonight, can you meet me at the snake house at seven?

The snake house was your favourite bar, it was right near a good club and you couldn’t wait until the club opened to drown out your memories with vodka.

You stopped at home briefly to throw on some new makeup and a dress, they wouldn’t let you into the club otherwise before walking to the bar.

Yuyan was waiting outside.

“Not to be mean y/n,” she said, ‘but you look rough, did you fall down the stairs? Your face is a weird colour, are you sick?”

“Not sick, emotionally traumatised, shall we drink,” you said dragging her through the door of the snake house. Yuyan just laughed, she thought you were joking or exaggerating, probably assumed the mental trauma was just an awkward meeting or something similar.

You stood at the bar.

“Can I get a rum and coke?” Yuyan said to the barman, who nodded.

“I’m going to level with you, can you just give me that bottle of tequila and a straw please,” you asked.

“So, a real bad day then?” Yuyan said raising her eyebrows.

“The worst.”

You sipped your tequila with a straw, it wasn’t super pleasant to drink this way, but it did have the effect you had hoped for, it made you drunk very fast.

You had practically passed out in the bar seat by eight-thirty.

“How are we meant to get into the club when you can’t even stand?” Yuyan chastised, pulling the bottle out of your hands.

“If I stop drinking now, I should sober up slightly by ten,” you said and Yuyan couldn’t argue with that.

By ten you were in fact able to stand and just about managed to get into the club, the bouncer did give you a look but Yuyan was looking pretty so he let you in anyway. A fucked-up system but it worked in your favour.

Inside the club you were still drunk, but slightly more in control, you found a random guy on the dancefloor and started making out with him. Trying to push the resurfacing memories of Kun out of your mind.

It didn’t really work. You were sobering up by the minute and so left the random guy you had found to go back over to the bar. You downed three shots and could almost hear your liver complaining before getting back to the dancefloor.

It still didn’t help but your drunk confidence was back, you found Yuyan again and explained your alcohol fuelled plan.

“I’m going to call him, I’m going to tell him to stop being bad, how dare he be like this, he is meant to be a good guy.”

You had never told Yuyan about Kun, so she had no idea what you were talking about,

“Are you sure this is a good idea, drunk calling a guy rarely is,” she advised, “but that clearly won’t stop you,” she said laughing as you walked towards the door. It was fine to leave her because a few of your other friends had shown up by this point.

You rang Kun, standing inside by the entrance to the club.

“I need to talk to youuuu!” you shouted down the phone when he answered, “I need to talk to bad Kun because he’s making my heart sad.”

Kun sighed down the end of the phone.

“Where are you at, I will come pick you up,” he said.

“The club next to snake house,” you said, hanging up the phone and wandering outside. There were still people queuing to get in on the street. It was only just before midnight. The cold air sobered you up slightly and you were already regretting your phone call decision.

Minutes later, Kun’s SUV pulled up and he opened the door from the inside so you could get in. You pulled your heels off and climbed into the front seat.

“I hate you sometimes Kun,” you said.

“I’m sorry,” he replied. Like ever he really did sound sorry. You didn’t know what to say now he was here.

“I wish I had no feelings for you at all,” you iterated, “it would make things so much easier.”

Kun’s apartment wasn’t far from the bar. He stopped the car and got out, you followed silently until you reached the inside. Kun shut his door behind you both carefully.

“Do you want me to explain?” Kun asked, his face looked so sad, you knew how much your words hurt him, but you also knew how important is was to tell him the truth.

“Let’s have sex,” you said to which Kun almost fell over.  

“Your drunk and well, given the situation I don’t think that is the best choice, we need to talk about this.”

“I’m not that drunk anymore.” You replied, “and talking hasn’t gotten us anywhere.”

“Are we gonna fuck because you love me or because you hate me?” he asked.

“Does it matter?” you countered. Kun answered by bringing his lips to yours, pushing you up against his wall, biting your lip softly as your hands gripped his hair.

“We’re only in this situation because you’re a bad girl who can’t do what she’s told,” he whispered in your ear, undoing the buttons of his shirt, “I gave you a job, I take you to dinner, I do everything for you and yet you still can’t behave for me.”

His words were turning you on, so you tried to kiss him again, but he pushed you back against the wall.

“Not yet baby, bad girls have to wait,” he said, still unbuttoning his shirt, painfully slowly before throwing it on the floor. Your eyes blazed at the sight of his chest, Kun really was the perfect man, excluding his violent activities.

Kun stepped forward again until your bodies were millimetres apart. He pushed your dress up slightly, his hand pressing against your bum, pulling you towards him across the final short distance.

He stared down into your eyes, you had no way of discerning what his thoughts were, his face was blank.

“Are you sure this is what you want? Will you be a good girl for me?” he asked, his hand playing with the zip of your dress, teasing you with the opportunity to back out, knowing that you wouldn’t.

You nodded. He immediately pulled the zip down, your dress falling to the floor moments later. You hadn’t worn a bra, but you were too tipsy to be self-conscious. You wouldn’t have needed to be anyway.

“You are so beautiful,” Kun said, his normal softness fleeting over his face for a second before it was gone again. He brought his lips back to yours, kissing you more aggressively this time, his fingertips brushing over your nipple lightly in comparison.

His fingertips traced down your stomach lightly, stopping just above the waistband of your panties.

“Cute,” he said, referencing your underwear with pink bunnies on, you hadn’t prepared for the current situation. You made a face at him, but he just chuckled, “I mean it, you’re cute,” he said, before pulling them down your legs.

The dichotomy was almost too much for you to handle. His hand brushed between your legs,

“I knew you could never resist me, I’m too handsome,” he said, licking the glistening moisture off of his fingers.

Your legs weakened even with that small touch, a problem that worsened when Kun began to rub gentle circles into your clit. You groaned slightly, desperate for more, but Kun was unwilling to give it to you yet.

“Such a slut, don’t think I didn’t notice that your lipstick was smudged when you got into the car.” He said, finally pushing two fingers inside of you as he trailed kissed down your neck, your arms wrapped around him.

“But now you’re my slut,” he said, his fingers moving at a painfully slow speed.

“Faster,” you begged, your breath raspy. Kun ignored you, continuing to do things his way, clearly enjoying it from the grin on his face.

You thought about ways to get what you want, and it didn’t take you long. You had never guessed Kun would be so into sex like this, but now you did you could use it against him.

“Please,” you said, “I’ll do anything you want; I’ll be a good girl.” Kun raised his eyebrows slightly before grinning again.

“As tempting as that is, you will do what I want anyway like a good little slut.”

Well your plan failed but when he added another finger you forgot all about that. You started to whine slightly, feeling your orgasm rise within you but just before you could cum, Kun moved his hand away, leaving you empty.

Kun walked away to sit on the sofa, his eyes still locked on yours. You could see the growing bulge in his sweats. The thought of sucking him off almost turned you on enough to dissipate your annoyance at his previous actions.

You followed him over and knelt down on the floor between his legs, undoing his jeans and pulling his waistband down, letting his cock spring free. It was thicker than you had anticipated as you wrapped your hand around the tip, moving your hand down slowly.

At first you planned to give him the same treatment he gave you but when you began to suck, Kun’s hands tangled in your hair, pushing your head down faster and deeper, you could feel his cock hitting the back of your throat, causing Kun to moan.

“Look at me,” Kun said, your eyes moving to stare up at him, as he continued to fuck your face on his cock. The look of pleasure on his face making you wet all over again.

Staring into your eyes as you sucked his dick was clearly too much for Kun as he came in your mouth seconds later, grinning when you swallowed it all.

“Fuck you’re brilliant,” he said, “the best whore for me.”

“Please Kun, will you fuck me now, I’m being a good slut, just for you,” you said, still staring up at him, feeling his dick harden beneath your fingers at your words.

He nodded, you climbed onto the sofa, kissing him softly before getting onto your hands and knees.

“Look at you just ready to be fucked, you really are a fucking whore for me,” Kun said, slapping your ass, the sting only making you more desperate to feel him inside of you.

“Are you taking the pill?” Kun asked, you nodded.

That was the final thing he needed to hear. He slammed his dick into you, setting a merciless pace from the start, his cock filling you up entirely.

Kun spanked you again before he placed his hand over your mouth as you screamed out in pleasure.

“Jesus the neighbours will all know whose dick gets you wet at that volume,” he said. You moaned into his hand as he continued to fuck you, his own low groans only adding to your pleasure.

You could feel his dick beginning to throb inside of you.

“Fuck you’re going to take my load like the dirty whore you are,” Kun said, removing his hand from your mouth, instead pulling your hair as his dick slammed deeper into you.

“Yes,” you whined,

“I want to hear you say it,” Kun demanded.

“I’m a dirty whore who is going to be filled up with your cum,” you whined, feeling your walls contracting around his pulsing dick.

He final came inside of you, the feeling of his cum filling you up as he fucked it deeper into you causing your own high as you called out his name.

Kun pulled out and sat down onto the sofa, pulling you down next to him.

“Can we just sit here for a second?” he asked, his normal kind tone returning. You kissed his lips softly.

“I don’t see why not.”

[sinnbaddie]

Batboy rant with Jason Todd and Dick Grayson ~

A common misconception with the two oldest siblings of the batboys is that, Fanon Jason Todd is quick tempered and unemotional, while Fanon Dick Grayson is hard to anger and is only kind.

It’s completely the opposite.

Dick is very easy to make mad, it takes a lot to piss of Jason.

The fandom makes it seem like Dick Grayson is a saint and a sweetheart 25/8 and doesn’t get angry. For the longest time I believed this because nobody really talks about Dick’s flaws. But Dick has a temper. He gets angry present, and regrets later. Not only does he get angry in the now, he’s easy to anger. He’s not just some guy who’s good with advice, a leader, a good brother, and a good person. He has outbursts, he has an attitude. He’s not perfect. By nature he’s sweet, and kindhearted, but by growing up with emotional trauma from his parents death, then growing up with Bruce and being fired from being Robin, something he enjoyed doing and loved doing, he’s gonna have anger issues.

Dick doesn’t have his emotions fully under control. That’s why he can never have a good romantic relationship. He’s dated lots of people because as soon as he feels a spark with someone, it dies down just as quick. He was the first one to deal with Bruce Wayne, and y’all already know Bruce Wayne is not the one you want to go to to figure out what you’re feeling. Dick never had an outlet to help him get his emotions under control, that’s why he jumps right into things, that’s why he gets angry cuz he didn’t think through the situation fully, he expects something specific and gets upset when it’s slightly different. He’s a fantastic character but he’s not just the therapist, kind older brother, good leader, and an empathetic person. He’s emotional and that’s all emotions, not just one.

While on the other hand, the Fandom is practically opposite to this with Jason Todd. They write/headcanon him as someone who’s angered easily, rude to a fault, having no morals or sympathy, and being emotionally distant. Jason grew up in the streets with his mother being an addict and a shithead of a father. Then when he was adopted by Bruce Wayne, found out his drug addict mother wasn’t his blood mother. He found out where his blood mother was, then she used him to help the joker, and the joker beat him with a crowbar and blew him up.

He grew up with people who treated him like shit and broke his trust. He has trust issues and that’s why he’s “emotionally distant” and “lacks sympathy.” That’s why he’s passive aggressive and hard to anger. He’s been through it, he knows how people try to break someone down, people have tried to break him down his whole life. And that’s exactly why he’s hard to anger. Because He expects it. He knows exactly what manipulation is and uses it when someone tries to use it against him or tries to help him. He’s not afraid to push people away. The first thing his birth mother did to him when he met her was lie and betray him. Jason isn’t afraid to be an asshole if it means he won’t get hurt again.

People need to understand that the root of his anger and rudeness is fear. He’s afraid of losing people. He’s afraid of people using him for their benefit. He’s afraid of getting hurt over and over. He’s done with it. And that’s why he’s passive aggressive. Enemies and “allies” alike try to hurt him in the present, Jason is going to hurt you in the long run because you’re gone feel it more. It’s not gonna happen once and it be over, no Jason is going to hurt you and make sure you hurt for a long time. Not just in the moment. He uses this tactic because it’s been used on him. He’s not just some dense, mean, asshole, person who’s angered easily. He’s smart, he’s loving, and he hurts and he’s afraid.

Dick Grayson and Jason Todd are both extremely emotional people. The difference is that Dick shows it externally, while Jason harbors it internally. They’re not one dimensional, they have so many dimensions and characteristics to them and people overlook their flaws and or don’t fully take a look at why this character is feeling what they’re feeling.

Ok I need to stop ranting, maybe I’ll make a post later as to why people “hate” Jason Todd idk yet. Or maybe I should analyze Tim Drake and Damian Wayne? I’ve seen some hate on both of them which to a certain extent is understandable but most things are unnecessary and rude. Well, I’ll write it later.

Thank you for reading and add what you think of these characters too. I want to know how you depict them 💙

[wafflewarriors]

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Possible trigger? Ish?

Note: I mostly wrote this because I've been feeling sore as hell from sports and I wanted to see if I could replicate that feeling here in an angsty way.

Basically she misinterprets the Winchesters hesitation for her not being good enough to hunt, rather than their worry and fear after having lost so much family. And she resorts to unhealthy means of weightloss and exercise. There's nothing graphic though.

///

Hunting has never, in the history of ever, been a skill that came along easy. To anyone. The unforgiving profession took years of work, practice, and patience to master it. Not only that, but it took research and last minute problem solving. Every hunter needed to be downright perfect if they ever expected to make it in this life.

So when you told the boys you were going to become a hunter, you didn't understand why they hesitated. Dean outright scoffed, as if the notion was ridiculous; you'd be lying if you had said that didn't hurt. Sam was a little less blunt about his reaction, but the way he bit his lip told you he was dubious. Did they have that little faith in you? You really didn't see the problem. You had worked with them for years as the research girl, gathering information and piecing each case together when the Winchesters didn't have the time to. It only made sense that you would qualify as hunter material. People, ordinary people, became hunters all the time! What made you so unqualified?

Somewhere in the cavities of your mind, a small voice whispered because the hunters that rose from nothing often had nothing to lose, and they couldn't care less if they died on their first hunt or if they succeeded in their endless quest for revenge. That's why you were different; you have a family, and it would kill them if you left them. They've already lost so much.

Sam approached you, hesitant still, as if he wasn't sure what to say quite yet. He took a breath, took a moment to gage your expression, and then sighed. "You're sure? Absolutely sure you want this?"

"I'm sure."

The Winchesters respected you. You weren't a child; if you told them you wanted something, you reserved the right to have it. However, that didn't make this less excruciating for them. In their eyes, they were letting you put a target on your back.

They didn't object to your proposal though. Instead of talking you down from your idea, they worked with you. The bunker had a gym, complete with a target range and a ranging supply of equipment. They certainly didn't sugar coat it for you. Sam told you about crushed dreams, and Dean told spoke of old friends and their partings. They made clear that you understood that this job would literally haunt you for the rest of your life. As you sweat, they reminded you that you were preparing for the lifetime of war and pain that would soon be your own. It was a heavy weight to carry, and an even bigger commitment.

From this, you imagined they were trying to scare you. Of course, they weren't lying about anything, but in the way that they said it to you, like they were stuffing your mind of ideas like newspaper to a kindling, made you think they were convincing you to give it up. They were trying their best to protect you with fear, to have you become a scared little girl who is afraid of the monster under her bed so they could fight it for you like they always have.

But you didn't scare easily.

The workout was intense. There were very few pauses or breaks, because on a hunt there was no such thing. Once you had completed a set of workouts, they had you do another. They did it alongside you, letting you see how much you had to catch up with. Sam and Dean were both six feet of toned muscle and calluses. 

After three hours, you had completed all the workouts thrown at you. You were drenched in sweat, and every muscle you had was aching and smarting. You finally stood, expecting this to be the end.

Dean nodded to you. "Go get a drink. We're going to spar next."

You stared at him a little, processing this. Sparring. That meant hand-to-hand tactics and conditioning. That meant wrestling. That implied more hours before this was over. You wanted to protest, but you held your tongue. It was never over; that was the lesson they were giving you, and you could either complain about it or suck it up, because this was your choice.

You pushed down your growing disappointment and masked it with an indifferent one. You were certain it didn't fool the boys, though.

You were careful not to drink too much, but enough so your lips weren't as dry and your aching throat was soothed. And then you returned, Dean was wrapping bandages around his knuckles, and motioned for you to do likewise.

You weren't going to lie, that scared you a little. Dean was a strong guy, and you weren't sure how rusty you were. Or how good you could duck.

But the hunter seemed to know what you were thinking. Your eyes met, he analyzed them, and he chuckled. "Don't worry, these aren't for you. We're using the punching bags first to get you warmed up."

You held back your retort, which was just a smart comment about being 'warmed up'. You were practically on fire. But it wouldn't get you anywhere complaining. You took the bandages, observed Dean's fluid wrapping motions, and mirrored them in silence.

You were exhausted, but you still followed Dean to the punching back with your head held high, feeling stubborn. Your muscles were starting to retaliate, begging for the work to end, but you pushed on, ignoring the shakiness in your legs as you followed Dean and the ache in your shoulders as you raised your fists to the red enemy—the punching bag. You pummeled it with all your lasting might, determined to show Dean you would not be deterred by a little sweat.

His hands reached to guide your motions, coming behind you to correct what he felt was unnecessary in your throws. "You like to drop your right hand during the left hook. Keep it lifted, or you'll leave yourself exposed." He showed you an example, and you just marveled at how he was still at his prime.

Punching the bag required coordination that you lacked. You could punch fine, but your muscles were protesting and twitching when you pulled back. You were slow, and Dean made sure to tell you. You knew he was trying to discourage you, to get you to quit on your own. But you were a stubborn one, as they liked to say.

Once Dean seemed satisfied by your form, you both went to the mat, which was clearly set up for a spar. It was unfair—Dean was hardly breaking a sweat, and you felt ready to break apart. Another lesson, you realized. Hunting wasn't fair.

You narrowed your eyes, bracing yourself to fight. Your heart was thrumming, and every limb was shaky in pain and adrenaline. But your eyes were strong, and you made sure that Dean knew it.

You weren't great, by any means. Dean was a professional, and you were no match against him like this. However, you managed to hold some ground, and retain what they had taught you, regardless of how sloppy it may be.

After who knows how long, Dean finally called it quits. You were panting with adrenaline and feeling rather lightheaded. And you both needed to eat and shower. 

"Good job, kid," Dean made sure to say to you.

You smiled. Dean was impressed.

You both cooled down a bit, then exited the room that would likely rule your dreams for a while. Every muscle was sore; even your eyelids were heavy.

When you reached your room, you allowed yourself the slump your shoulders some. You honestly felt terrible and tired. Everything hurt. You sucked in a breath as your calves painfully tightened into a knot. You were temporarily paralyzed, grabbing your leg and gritting your teeth. This was going to suck.

You limped to your bed with a gasp, and let out a muffled cry into your pillow. The bed was cold against your nearly feverish self, and you soaked it in. You were acutely aware that it was only somewhere around six o'clock (as that was the only digit you had registered), and that the Winchesters would probably search for you to eat dinner with them, but you were already falling into a deep sleep.

///

The morning was worse.

Every movement was slow and painful. It took roughly twenty minutes of pained whines and sobs just to sit up, and you still couldn't convince yourself to stand. Because standing meant walking, and you didn't think you could handle that just yet.

You, with another moan of agony, turned to the clock, letting out a strangled exhale when you saw that it was eight thirty-five. You supposed, fortunately, you had been so exhausted you had slept through most of the pain in the night. The Winchesters had left you alone, and you were at least grateful for that.

Finally, you gained enough courage to stand. And as painful as it was, you were a hunter now. The Winchesters had to toughen up all the time. They had died before, the least you could do was hide some grimaces. You slapped on your poker face and walked as straight as you possibly could to the kitchen, albeit it wavered here and there.

Dean was making french toast for two, while Sam made himself a smoothie. You thought on this. Maybe, to better help your workout routine, you should cut back on the food. It wouldn't kill you to go on a diet and lose a little weight. So instead of Dean's offered french toast, you made a beeline for the fridge, where you grabbed a honey crisp apple.

Dean looked rather offended. "You don't want my french toast?"

You forced your face to be calm as your calf twitched and seized. "Oh, sorry, no. I actually ate a few hours ago. I went to bed at five, remember? I didn't sleep for fourteen hours," you said naturally. Oh, yes you did. You definitely did that.

That little nagging voice curiously asked you why you lied to them. Why couldn't you just tell the truth? What was with the white lies and deceit? Perhaps, you told yourself, you knew that it wasn't your best decision. You knew the Winchesters would not approve of it. You knew it was wrong.

And you figured when you had gambled with one white lie, how could another few hurt any?

So when you knew the Winchesters weren't watching, you would limp, biting back groans as your limbs struggled to cooperate with you. During your workouts, no matter that Dean would tell you to tell him when it was too much, you always bit your tongue, knowing the best workouts came from 'too much', and that you would live.

Your scale was your friend: you became more encouraged of your progress as your weight dropped.

You knew they were just trying to get you to admit defeat—that if you couldn't handle the intense workouts, then a monster would inevitably overpower you.

In this, you began to wonder of the importance of being a hunter. Did you really want this? It had become less about training and more about proving yourself to Dean that you were ready. However, you were glad they'd given up trying to sway your decision. You had shown to Dean clearly that you wanted in, and you had won them over. Once they built you up, you would finally be a hunter.

That's what kept you going.

And the workouts continued, and you felt yourself deteriorating by the thirteenth day. Standing too fast suddenly had you seeing stars, and it took several seconds to recover.

And by that thirteenth terrible day, your knees buckled, and of course, Dean was there to catch you by your armpit.

Your sweaty armpit. That had to be disgusting.

However, if Dean thought it was gross, he wasn't showing it. In fact, he seemed concerned. "You good?"

You nodded, but your breath betrayed you, hitching a little. "Just a leg cramp." Just then, your vision blurred and you leaned back into him at the wave of nausea that followed.

He turned you to face him. "Hey, what's up?"

"Just…" You felt sick. "Just a bit… dizzy. Can I sit down?" You used him as a crutch, lowering yourself until you were leaning up against the wall. Your vision was telling you you were on a carousel, and you shut your eyes tight. Your breathing was irregular as you fought the rising nausea.

"How much water have you had?"

You shrugged, and then regretted it. Your shoulders were on fire. "Some," you croaked.

"Some?" He asked, incredulous. He rubbed his face in frustration. "We've been doing this for hours. You should be drinking more than 'some'. The hell?" He looked down at you angrily from where he was crouched. "Christ. Alright, let's get you somewhere else." He pinched his nose and shouted down the hall, "Sam?!"

Sam had already seen though from where he stood in the gym. He was making his way over to the both of you.

"She's dehydrated," Dean told him. "Can you go get some water?"

"Sure," Sam said, heading to the kitchen and leaving Dean with you again.

Dean reached down and scooped you up. He had his bicep under your knees, one under your back, and his abs against your hip. He was carrying you bridal style.

And with what little consciousness you had left, the sudden motion almost made you pass out.

It also made you nervous. A nervousness that made stars break behind your eyelids. Look at you, swooning over some boys. Hell no! Shame on you. They spend half their hunts reeling over other women, it's not like they like you like that.

You wiggled, panicking a little on the inside. You threw out your hands. "Dean!" You yelped, trying to control the shakiness of your voice. "I might be tired, but this is unnecessary."

"Enjoy it," Sam called from down the hall, as if he knew exactly why you were trying to escape. He probably did. Frick Sam and his way of reading people so well. You were twenty feet away from him and he just knew.

Sam made his way back with the promised glass of cold water.

Dean said, "Next time, don't skimp on the water, okay? There's a reason we take water breaks." He took the glass from Sam just to hand it to you. "Just take some sips, alright? We don't need you getting sick on top of this."

As Dean watched you drink, his heel bounced from where he was crouching. "How much have you eaten today? No, no wait. Scratch that. What have you eaten today?"

You froze, trying to visualize the fridge space and what was in it. But lately, you would just grab some fruit and leave. You didn't really know what to tell him. "I… had some oatmeal." You recalled that being on the shelf a week ago.

Dean's frown impossibly fell further. He looked devastated. "I told you she was lying, Sam. I told you."

Sam sighed then, and his sad eyes flicked about the hallway.

"Wh…" you started to say, internally panicking. "What do you mean?"

Sam's stiff shoulders dropped. "We finished off the oatmeal a few days ago. It's even on the grocery list."

Dean sent him a look. "You make grocery lists?"

"Yes, Dean," Sam says. "Otherwise you would just get jerky, beer, and pie. That's not exactly a square meal."

Dean shrugged, but then shook his head, realizing his distraction. He turns back to you. "Wait, have you eaten anything? At all? When's the last time you actually had a meal?"

You wanted to say something, you did. But you were about as calm as a deer in the headlights.

Dean stood, throwing his hands in the air. "The hell?!" he exclaimed, and then to Sam, "What the actual hell?!" 

Sam couldn't really believe it either. The younger Winchester gathered himself. "Have you really been starving yourself?" At your lack of response, he blinked. "You're… c'mon, you're smarter than this. I know you are. What even compelled you to hurt yourself like this?"

You scoffed and denied it. You weren't hurting yourself.

"Look, I know you think this isn't doing anything, but you're wrong. You do know that to build muscle, you also have to eat protein, right? It doesn't come from nowhere. I see where your mind is going and I've seen how far you've been pushing yourself lately, but I also thought you were eating. That's a vital part of working out. Of course, you have to do it right, but it's vital. Muscles don't come from nothing," Sam told you.

You shifted, embarrassed. You were being scolded like a child.

Dean was glaring at a wall and cursing. "Sammy's got a frigging point. Also, you literally pushed yourself until you collapsed. If I hadn't caught you, you would've fallen flat on your face. And you can't even tell me that I'm wrong." He took a breath. "You were going to break yourself. Sure, you were kicking ass, too. I was impressed. And I'm—I'm still impressed, don't get me wrong. I'm impressed that you can push yourself that hard. That's good for a hunt. But kid, you couldn't tell me when you wanted a break?"

You offered a small, timid shrug and broke your gaze with him. You felt awful.

Dean looked so crushed. "God, do you really think that's what we wanted from you? To starve yourself? Kid, you got it backwards. All we want is for you to be stronger when you go out there. This? This isn't strong." Dean was quietly seething, but his anger wasn't entirely toward you. Perhaps he blamed himself, that he didn't notice sooner. "This is… this…"

You looked away, rubbing at the tears that you couldn't stop from rolling down your cheeks. You couldn't look at them or they'd see it. You couldn't face them until you were fine again. As steady as you could, you whispered, "Sam… Dean… I didn't… I am so sorry. I just wanted to be strong. I wanted to be like you."

Dean snatched your shoulder, pulling you to face him. And when you finally saw the heartbroken look in his eyes, your mouth wavered as a sob escaped you. Dean pulled you into a hug, his hands fisting your shirt and clutching you tight. You let yourself go, unable to contain your sobbing in his embrace. You just ugly cried into his shoulder, having your own pity party about how stupid you had been.

"Well," Dean said, his eyes alight with unshed tears. He didn't even bother to wipe them as they trailed. "You got that part mixed up, okay? We're not asking you to starve. We're just scared for you, alright? We want to make sure you're prepared. We can't lose anyone else. Hell, I still don't want you out there." He was torn.

Sam cut in. "But you're an adult, so it's your call. But this? If there is anything we're going to stop, it's going to be this." 

Dean began to lead you by the arm to the kitchen, careful that you were steady on your feet before moving. "Think you can stomach some of Sam's rabbit food?" Dean motioned for Sam to help and squeezed your shoulder to comfort you.

Sam nodded, opening the fridge. "I'm sure a light salad and a hard boiled egg will be okay."

You leaned into Dean's touch, knowing that they would always be there when you slipped up. When you fell to your lowest. When you did something you knew was stupid.

Because that was family.

[isleepundertherain]

Brightly Guardian (Murphy McNully x OC)

*Patronus summoning for HPHM character, this is not canon.*

Julia knew very much to herself that staying outside the Common Room premises is prohibited in Hogwarts to avoid any mischief that will happen to the other Common Rooms. Staying in the Quidditch Stands in the middle of the night as a way for her to find peace and tranquillity to herself is particularly odd, especially on how much she got interested in the game itself. It’s just like yesterday when she starts watching her very first Friendly with Penny Haywood as a way to pass time after her adventures in the Cursed Vaults with Rowan and Ben. Then suddenly she decide to participate in the game after a fated Bludger with no knowledge about Quidditch other than competitive board games, ball games, and disassembling electrical components for fun. She met Skye for physical training, then Murphy for strategic training, then there is Orion’s trust training... everyone has their ideas to win and it can end wonderfully. But from her Quidditch journey, Murphy manage to influence much to her victories thanks to his valuable strategies and his cheeky commentary that he always kept poking around Julia’s actions through the pitch. His plans gave her the Quidditch Cup especially the time when she tried to find Rath’s Blindspot, she still winced at the memory.

Murphy’s commentary can be quite, cute... and also unnecessary since that he kept commentating on her very moves that can give an advantage to the enemy players who were also listening to him. Can be creepy as well since she is the almost the only player that he kept commentating through the game which Professor McGonagall found it bothersome especially during the Hufflepuff vs Gryffindor game, Julia shivered at the memory like how Charlie Weasley continue to stare at her in confusion when Julia is being mentioned a lot of times by the blonde haired lad and she just give an unsure shrugged at him in response. The night gave her a cold breeze which she sighed in content, she remembered how she smiled through their first House Match victory and the time as the Beater. Even if Skye is slowly having... a sour relationship to her, she hope that their relationship can still be fruitful and good.

She is a fourth year, and Murphy is a fifth year... and she hoped that their friendship still continue through the years and wished that he will reach his dreams as a professional Quidditch commentator. Lying down the wooden seats with her hands supporting behind her head she slowly stare off the star-sprinkled sky and smile under the peaceful night. It is quiet and she grew quite bored, Julia then swish out her wand twirling around playfully and casting Lumos and Nox as if casting battle spells to imaginary enemies. Spell casting makes her have a peace in mind in all things, it helped her a lot throughout when she had conflicting and frustrating thoughts. While twirling her wand she then pursed her lips in thought. “It would not hurt to try, right?”she whispered to herself. With a flick of her wand she cast out a muttered incantation of Expecto Patronum. A faint jet stream of light flew out from the tip of her wand and slowly forming into a Unicorn, it raised its forelegs and neighed loudly. The unicorn then galloped around her as he continue to lying down, Julia just playfully waving her wand to follow the moving Patronus. As it continue galloping around freely in the air Julia then heard the faint sound of wood creaking, she flicked her wand which suddenly make her Patronus disintegrate through the air.

Julia swore that she heard weight shifting on wood even at the loud gust of air in the Quidditch Stands, she immediately sat up and set her feet on the floor ready to run. Suddenly she heard something creaking towards her, she decide not to check it out and run away to the opposite side of the noise in case if it is Filch and his beloved cat. Her heart increase in beat when she heard the creaking following her behind, it doesn’t sound footsteps... which is a hundred times worse if she can imagine on who is pursuing her. She went to another section of the stand which heads to the Gryffindor box, she went inside and closed the door behind her. Her heart beating loudly inside her and with a smart move she began morphing in her animagus animal, a crow. Julia flew to a wooden stair and hid in a corner, thanks to her black feathers... the dark stairs of the Box can be difficult for her pursuer to find her... especially that she is in her animagus form. The crow animagus just ducked down, wings ready to spread in case the situation gets worse, until suddenly the door slowly open as if it comes from a horror movie.

A tip of a wand seem to peek out from the gap of the door and with a soft male voice cast Lumos. Light shone dimly from the tip of the wand in the stairway of the Gryffindor Box, Julia cornered herself on the corner and stare with her beady dark brown eyes as Murphy entered the darkened stairwell with his wand out, casting light through the dark. His silvery blue eyes glance around the scene in caution, confusion, and befuddlement then fell on to the staring crow who is just cornered to the stairs in surprise. If Julia turn back to human she would scold him, but for the mean time she decide to do nothing until Murphy sighed. “Are you lost buddy?” Murphy asked to the crow who he had no idea is actually Julia in her form. She squawked lightly at him, he gestured his other free hand for her to perch which she hop on to his strong fingers while avoiding her talons piercing his skin. He brings the crow closer to his face and give off a small warm smile. “The box is not a nesting place fella, let’s head out of here before Filch would hurt you by sending Mrs. Norris to eat you.” He sets the crow on his shoulder and rolled out the area with his wheelchair and head out to the open Quidditch stands. The wheels and his weight on the wooden floor is what makes the creaking sound. “I swear I thought I saw Julia back here.” He commented as he stare at her last resting spot, the crow just squawked at him which made the Commentator chuckled. “Aren’t you a noisy fella? Say...” He sets his gaze up to the Commentator’s Box then back at the attentive crow animagus. “You want to spend time in my spot before heading out to the wild?” He offered.

Of course, being a polite person she squawked positively at him in response. “Great, I guess you won’t mind me talking about new Quidditch strategy, eh?” He rolled his wheelchair to his beloved spot.

Maybe being TOO polite is a bad thing.

Julia perched on to the railing as Murphy continue to blabber at her his ideas of strategy, she would squawked loudly when he said some useful tactics and remain silent with a tilt of her head when he suggest some not-so-good strategies. The dark night is nothing for him when he kept casting Lumos with his wand while waving it around his playbooks with his eyes scanning every image and statistics with voracious appetite. After finishing almost three of his thick play books Murphy then gestured his hand, beckoning her to perch on his fingers. Julia just flew on him and perch on his fingers while carefully placing her talons to avoid piercing him. He petted her head and Julia felt the soothing sensation with his fingers brushing her small crow head, if Murphy found out that it’s just Julia in an animagus... he would flip. “You know... for a crow, you seem to be very interested in Quidditch. Have you been watching our Friendlies and the House Match?” Julia squawked in reply. “I guess you like Quidditch indeed eh, do you prefer Rath and the Ravenclaws? But you are a crow... not a raven though...” Julia remained silent. “Gryffindor?” Silence. “Slytherin?” Silence. “Hufflepuff?” “Squawk!” He smiled goofily. “What a traitor to bird kind with Ravenclaw eh?” He chuckled. “For real though... you are pretty smart for a wild crow.” He stated then continue petting her head. If she is in her human form she would glare at him and grit her teeth in anger.

“Say... do you want to hear a secret?” Secret? Julia thought to herself as Murphy smiled to himself. “If you mind though... I know that crows can be loud and so, but somehow I felt so... warm and happy when I’m with you. Like you are a very trusty crow friend.” He said then she just squawked, interested in his secret. “Alright then, so...” He sets her down on his lap. “I liked this girl very much-“ Well, ain’t this juicy? Julia thought and if she is in her human form she would smirk. “I know she may not like me... but I really do fancy her, maybe too much. She is the first person who made me so happy when I talked about Quidditch.” Julia turn her head to a side in further interest. He sighed at the thought and smiled at the black feathered friend. “It’s been quite a while though, lately after having a Butterbeer with her after a Friendly with some friends she always have that shy smile on her lips. It suits her a lot.” He stated then lean back on his backrest. “We’ve been playing a lot of Wizard’s Chess back at the Great Hall, she is the only player that I met who is resilient in trying to beat me although she got bored from it.” Julia then thought to herself who this lucky lass. But somehow she noticed how familiar it is when he said it. “But then one day, she beat me with her Queen.” He stated, keeping up his smile and stop petting her head which he place one hand on to the wheel of his wheelchair while the other hand holding his wand that still cast Lumos. “I can’t forget her proud call of checkmate.” He said then he gasp. “Oh, little crow. I forgot to show you something!” He then began to fish through his pockets and bring out a small sachet bag that Julia is familiar with. “She gave me her lucky charm which I guess as a prize for winning in a game of Go when she grew bored back at Wizard’s Chess in her 2nd year.” He smiled while fondling the little bag. Julia set her eyes on it and widen them in surprise. It’s her lucky Go bag that she gave to Murphy. So what he mean-

“I always bring this bag wherever I go. I manage to have some good memories with it. I got some high grades in Potions which I often lack, Binns being asleep during History of Magic where I can read some of my playbooks in silence, and then winning against Orion in a bet at a Slytherin Friendly.” He then keeps the little bag back at his pocket. “It is almost like Felix Felicis, but in stone form.... but I do say... I’m happy that she gave her trust in me despite on this situation I am.” He stated as he look on to his immobilized legs. “I fancy her but I believe that she won’t fancy back, I mean... look at me. She can soar through the skies with her Cursed Vault friends and solve mysteries and adventures and... EVERYTHING.” He slowly frowned, losing hope. “And here I am, just sitting on a chair and commentating every move she done in every Friendly she participated.” He sighed loudly waving his wand frantically at every word he spewed out from his lips. “I wanted to help her in her search, with Orion and Skye of course... but apparently... I felt this invisible force that prevents me in helping her through her adventures. Maybe it’s my fear.” He said as Julia can see the faint evidence of tears forming on the edges of his eyes.

“I fear that I would be a burden to her when I decide to help her.” Julia then squawked, trying to disagree him. He seem to notice then smiled at the little crow on his lap. “Ah, trying to comfort me little guy? Thanks!” He ruffled her feathers affectionately then stop as a though came in his mind. “I want to ask her out before it’s too late.” He stated then let out a toothy grin to the crow. “Well yeah, if you think. I fancied Julia Dela Rosa, that’s why I’m chasing her through the stands when I saw her casting a bright spell and then found you. I guess she flee TOO quickly when she thought that I must be Filch or something, I don’t blame her though... I would do the same in her shoes.” He then gestured a hand to perch her on. “I guess I must stop my rambling, I should have let you go to your merry way in the wild... you must be sleepy.” He then raised his arm, trying to send her off but the crow remained on his fingers. He chuckled lightly. “You really want to stay?”

Julia just got nervous, it must be now or never. She also feel this weird feelings dancing around her heart when he said that he fancied her... she never felt so... flustered. VERY flustered. She is not really good in these feelings at all! It won’t hurt when she will try to confront him about it. Julia will just... try to talk him out. Did she admire him? Yes. Like him? Maybe... but fancy? She is never so sure to herself and she is very confused about it. She just want to settle this, it manage to distract her... a ton. Julia then starts flapping her wings and perch on one of the wooden seats while staring at him. Murphy raised a brow and suddenly Julia morph back into her human form, hair disheveled after him petting her head and the Commentator stare at her in utter shock. She immediately raised up her hands in front of him, trying to assess the situation. “Murphy, let me explain.” She said as a very dark blush growing on her cheeks in somehow of embarrassment and he as well. She began scratching the back of her head and proceed to sit cross legged on the seats. “I uhm... sorry that I played you like that. Being a crow animagus and all... hehe.” She then looked back at him with his wand up, the light began to grow brighter and closer to her as if he can’t believe in what he is seeing right in front of him. “I’m really sorry.” She stated, Murphy gulped loudly then rolled his chair closer to her. Just beyond touch’s reach, he slowly reached her hand and held her fingers. “Julia... I-“ “I know, I should’ve left and all and... ugh. I really am sorry!” She exclaimed and bolted up on her legs, before she would transform back in her crow form she felt a soft tug from her pant leg. She looked back and stare at the desperate gaze of the Commentator as he grasp tightly on her, begging her to stay. “Julia please stay!” He gasped out his words, Julia froze a bit then slowly turn around to face him properly. “Hey...” she muttered.

He let out a cheeky smile, but Julia knew deep well to herself that he is forcing out that smile because on how much he try to sink in this interaction they are having. The light that has been casted on to his wand gave a sparkle on to his tears. “I’m...” “If you are going to say sorry again I will seriously in a 93.01% chance of deciding in stopping you so I can speak first.” Julia giggled then sat down on the seats which he allow to let her go. He began fiddling his fingers unsurely. “So... you are an animagus?”

“Yep.”

“How?”

“Talbott helped me back in Year 3.” She answered and smiled. “Done a lot of quirky things as a crow.” Murphy frowned when he heard another male friend slipped out her tongue. “I didn’t mean to scare you or something, I just... want some peace here.” He raised a brow then smiled. “Really? I went here to find some peace as well!” Murphy stated then stare back at her, Julia just looks away with her blush evident on her cheeks. She heard him sighed. “I guess I already spoke out too soon eh?” He then started trailing his free hand on top of her hand. Julia’s blush deepens and this made the Quidditch strategist chuckled, she didn’t even try to shake his hand off but he can feel her shivering. Murphy should’ve bring his jacket with him especially that winter is coming to Hogwarts. He tapped his fingers playfully on Julia’s hand and she just hummed in response. “Julia... I’m a 100.99% sure that I fancy you.” Julia scoffed but decide to not look back at him and only gazing out of the Commentator’s Box. Murphy noticed her expression began to frown. “Murphy, I just...” She then moved her head to face him, she look absolutely flustered.

“I...” She seem to trail off. “I want to say how much I admire you ever since you decide to dump your playbooks on me to read.” Her other free hand starts caressing his hand which he start to held on her softly. “I’m very happy how much you decide to help me for winning the Quidditch Cup, with your strategies and knowledge about the game. I really am at your debt.” Murphy continue to stay silent as he stare longingly to the raven-haired girl who kept looking away in flustered gazes. “I maybe like you, my feelings are fully flustered right now to know whether I fancy you or not. I just hoped that you will hear my thoughts out.” He smiled slowly and carry one hand closer to him. He made her caress his face with outmost softness, she can feel a little spark emanating on her fingertips as she felt his warm cheeks under her touch. His brows creased in relaxation and sighed in content. The moonlight haze and the Lumos light gave the Strategist a beautiful complexion with his silvery blue eyes and blonde disheveled hair, he continue to hold on to her hand and brought it closer to his lips. He shyly began lightly kissing her finger tips, unsure what is happening to himself. The action made Julia flustered more. “I’m 92% sure that I’m alright even if it is just your mere presence beside me. All of those Friendlies and matches... watching you on your spectacular broomwork were suffice for me, even if you don’t fancy me.” He breathed out then remove her hand from his face.

“I’m alright with everything that you had done Julia, I was trying my best to give out a 100% of my feelings out so I will not succumb in the 83.41% probability of losing my mind by bottling my feelings to avoid bad judgement when about myself...” He then sheepishly scratch the back of his head. “You know... talking my feelings to your crow form is comfortable even if you know what I mean in my words.” Julia just smiled and her eyes gaze away. She decide to scoot closer to him and their shoulders meet in touch’s reach. “Why do you think that I will look at you as a burden because of your disability?” She asked which she then stare back at him, her brows creased in confusion. “Did I belittle you when you first went up to me and throw your playbooks on me? Did I ignore you when you give strategic advices? Bloody hell Murphy! We did have an adventure together, is our search for the missing Comet 260 not enough? Do you think that I saw you as a burden especially when we try to make the Golden Finch as a Broom? I found it amusing, and even destructive... which is almost like my times in the Cursed Vaults when we experiment things!” She puffed her chest a bit in what Murphy seem to be her anger. “You done quite a lot despite that you can’t move, Murphy! Maybe too much for Hufflepuff! Which is why I am really at your debt.” She exclaimed and then start pinching his cheeks for fun.

“Ack! Dela Rosa!” He laughed while she continue to grab his cheeks playfully. Laughter erupt from the two students and while minutes pass after their laughter silence fell between them. Murphy continue to stare at her in wonder as Julia, with her hands still on his face, blushed uncontrollably. “Can you... close your eyes... McNully?” She asked which he widen his eyes in surprise. Hearing his last name with her voice felt so... breath taking. He wanted to hear his name from her lips, again. “No.” He smiled. “If you call me by my last name again, maybe.” Julia pouted her lips which Murphy found it cute. “Alright, please McNully?” The Quidditch Commentator felt so bliss when hearing it, closed his eyes and waited for her what to do. Julia bit her bottom lip and mustered up the courage to lean closer to his forehead and place a soft kiss on it. Murphy hummed at the contact and she retreated back, still holding his face. “I... don’t know what my feelings are doing with me, McNully. I never felt so flustered with my whole life. Especially when you... said that you fancy me.” He leaned closer and felt his forehead touch hers with intimate connection. “Maybe it’s time that you need to settle your thoughts,” he chuckled and held her two hands, cherishing her soft warm touches. “With the Cursed Vaults and all, you need a time for yourself and stop over thinking.”

Julia scoffed at him. “That’s the problem, I always over think.” He pursed his lips and remove her hands from his face, he looks at her with serious eyes. “Then I will-“ Julia then smacked his head lightly causing the blonde man to wince. “Ow, What was that for?!” “I don’t need much of your help in this night Murphy, you done a lot.” But she placed a finger on her chin, deep in thought. “But if you are really thinking of helping me, spell casting is my only go-to whenever I have conflicting thoughts.” Murphy raised a brow. “Like fighting dummies and such?” She just shrugged. “The normal Lumos and Nox can be enough. But my favorite to cast that made my mind in peace is the Patronus charm.” When Murphy heard the spell he gasped in shock. Eyes widen in sudden surprise at the idea of a 4th year casting the most difficult spell of all wizard kind. “The Patronus?! How?!”

The raven haired girl just sheepishly chuckle at him, eyes looking away in embarrassment. Murphy knew that she often do this as a way to show humility in her work. “Let’s say that a certain friend help me.” Murphy tilted his head to the side in interest. “Let me guess... it’s this Talbott guy?” She shake her head and swish out her wand that is hiding in her sleeve. “Nope, it’s Tonks.” She began waving her wand with a small incantation under her breath and suddenly streams of light sprout out from the tip of her wand and began forming of what Murphy knew as a Unicorn. It neighed then galloped around them playfully until it took notice to the Strategist where it decide to approach towards Murphy with interest. With an awed look on his face, he raised his arms to reach the equine creature and began feeling a brush of warm light on his finger tips. The wand that is casting Lumos began to dim when he lose focus as he continue to stare at the beautiful Patronus. Julia giggled when Murphy tried to pet the Patronus but the Unicorn would shake its head when Murphy is stroking its snout. He chuckled until the Unicorn faded away with a flick of her wand. “I can’t believe that Tonks manage to help you conjure your own Patronus! I thought she is only good at making pranks and such.” Julia just shrugged and flicked her wand that manage to summon her Unicorn once again. “Some people hold amazing talents you know...”

He continue to stare in wonder at the galloping Unicorn, then suddenly an idea came up to her head. “You know... as a payment after all of the strategies that you gave out to us. I will decide to teach you the Patronus Charm.” He then look back at her in surprise, mouth agape. “W-What?” “You heard me right Mr. McNully the soon-to-be professional Quidditch commentator, I will help you conjure a Patronus Charm of your own.” She the flicked her wand to vanish her Unicorn. “Let’s start by focusing your thoughts... specially... your most happiest thoughts. The happiest memory you have in your life.” She stated then began twirling her wand on her fingers and mutter a faint incantation that made the tip of her wand to create light. “Tell me, what is your happiest memory?” She asked then he immediately replied without a second thought. “The time you do the Thimblerig Shuffle.” She raised a brow, waving her wand closely to him but not too much that can harm his eyes. “I’m quite surprised, I thought it will be your mother or Kneil.” He shook his head, “Trust me when I said that I have the happiest memory when you decide the Thimblerig Shuffle to our First House Match.”

“Ever since I began to read I start learning various playbooks of Quidditch results throughout the years. Then I start creating tactics that were useful for Quidditch matches, Kneil is the perfect Kneazle in allowing me to talk about my ideas. I like every Quidditch team, they are the perfect candidates in learning more about their maneuvers especially the Montrose Magpies!” He then shifted a bit on his wheelchair. “By the way, I didn’t even know your favorite Quidditch team.” Julia just giggled. “They are not from Europe though.” This piqued his interest. “Oh really? Who are they?” He asked. “The Toyohashi Tengus are the BEST Quidditch players that I ever watched. Especially their Chasers, it’s like they dance through the air with their Mizuchi Brooms and their intimidating Tengu masks that they wore in every match.” The commentator thought to himself. The Toyohashi Tengus are beasts in the Quidditch world, with the penchant of throwing their brooms to the fire when they lose or keeping them when they won. He remember seeing one of their pictures in a newspaper once in the Quidditch section, their rugged and tired faces filled with intense expressions of pride when beating against a friendly match with Ireland. Words sprouted that they are the absolute monsters to mess with in the pitch, knowing how to bend the rules as they know it. Murphy noticed how she talked about the team with burning passion, her dreamy eyes gazing out the box with a cheerful smile on her lips. “If you get the chance of meeting them, will you take it?” “A 100% yes! Their honor and hardwork is the most admirable thing that they had done in their matches, how they deal with their pride is amazing!” He nodded in understanding and then return back on track.

“So yeah, Thimblerig Shuffle has been born when I tricked Kneil in hiding a treat from him with the use of three wooden cups hiding it from sight. I began imagining the cups as Chasers and the treat as the Quaffle... and the rest goes through history as you introduced it to our First House Match. I’m very happy, like I reached to the heavens when you done it. Now the world will know its name!” He continued. Julia then nodded and placed a finger beneath her chin in thought. “If that is what you prefer as your happy memory, let me ask you one question.” She then look back at him with a serious look on her face. “What is your purpose in this world?” He raised a brow. “Really with that question?” She remain silent at him and he just sighed. “I thought you already know?” She chuckled and shake her head. “I want to hear it again from you.” Murphy just chuckled to himself and smiled. “Just like the time that I use my own ploy against you to make you do the Thimblerig Shuffle. I want to make sure to show everyone in the whole Wizarding and Quidditch world about my abilities. Even despite with my disability, I will make a difference with my intelligence and strategies by creating outstanding maneuvers and ploys. People always look at me with what is shown outside, this wheelchair is what they see and know whenever they hear my name. I want to show them what I’m capable of and make a change.” Silence fell on them as he finished his speech. Julia just smiled at him through the light of her wand, and placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. “You will be a fine strategist indeed. And a Commentator as well.” He held on to the hand that rests on his shoulder, squeezing it lightly then letting it go a little.

“Alright then, let’s start with your Patronus Charm. Raise your wand like this-“ Julia gestured her wand that is still casted Lumos. Murphy followed her and waited for another call. “Then wave it like this-“ She then pointed her wand in a thrust, he followed as well. “Remember to say the incantation, Expecto Patronum.” Murphy nodded. “But...” She stopped Murphy. “Remember my question about your happiest memory? I want it to be the clear and visible focus in your mind right now.” She mentioned. “There are the unfortunate people who were trying to cast the Patronus but failed, which is not a bad thing. I just want to teach you this spell as a way to pay my debt to the things that you had done for me, Orion, and Skye.” She smiled. “Remember, focus on that single memory.” “But what if I can’t?”

Julia crossed her arms and raised a brow. “That doesn’t sound like you at all Murphy.” She stated. “You didn’t even try it then you start to ask negatively? Magic is not just revolving around waving wands and shouting incantations... as like Orion said to me... we need focus.” She stated then Murphy sighed and nod. He look ahead of him and closed his eyes, trying to clear his thoughts. Breath in, breath out. He can feel his heart hammering inside his chest and start clearing his mind. He saw through his closed lids the sight of the first House Match of Hufflepuff against Slytherin; Julia, Orion, and Skye were trying to shake off Slytherin chasers behind their tail. He commented as one of the Slytherin Chasers went up to Julia to snatch the Quaffle but she immediately drop it to Orion who is watching beneath her, he noticed that she made a gesture of her finger that made a swirling motion. It’s a call to do the Thimblerig Shuffle. He watched in memory on how they dance through the air on their brooms, changing positions and tossing the Quaffle around them to distract and head towards the Slytherin keeper. One of the Slytherin Chasers try to bump past Orion to get the Quaffle from the Hufflepuff captain who just dodge the incoming Chaser effortlessly, he then pass it back to Skye. They kept doing the shuffle until the final maneuver of twirling around quickly in a circular motion and pass the Quaffle to Julia who immediately place it in front of her chest. The Slytherin Chasers then reach to Skye who seem to slow down as a bait and were surprised to find her that she didn’t hold the Quaffle, Parkin just smirked at them. Orion and Julia head towards the Slytherin Keeper who were guarding the goal posts, he shifted his eyes to the two incoming Hufflepuff Chasers who were looking back to each other then nodded. Julia passed the Quaffle to Amari where the Slytherin Keeper followed suite then the Quaffle was quickly passed back to Julia who threw it to one of the lower goal posts that were unguarded by the Keeper. Murphy cheered through his microphone. “Well isn’t that amazing everyone?! Dela Rosa, Parkin, and Amari have manage to dance through the air while shuffling the Quaffle around! I will call that a Thimblerig Shuffle! Never forget that everyone, that maneuver is made by a Quidditch genius! 10 points to Hufflepuff!” He can feel his happiness and excitement coursing through his veins, tears of joy seem to well up from the corner of his eyes but he remain composed for the match. He saw Julia who is still on her broom looking at him with a cheeky smile on her face, she gave him a quick salute and flew off to snatch the Quaffle from the enemy Chasers. He never stop smiling ever since and it still smiles him until this day.

“Expecto Patronum!” He swished his wand and suddenly a small burst of light sprouted out from the tip of his wand. Julia gasped in awe at the sight, the light is slowly trying to create a form but it began to vanish instantly. “You are doing it McNully! Do it again, never lose focus!” Murphy can feel his excitement in the pit of his stomach. He swished his wand again, the memory still dancing around in his mind. “Expecto Patronum!” Light burst out from wand and suddenly he can hear... chirping. It vanished before he can create a form. Again, he swished his wand to the air and the light begin to grow brighter. “Expecto Patronum!!!!” The wand spew out large rays of light, slowly becoming to strips and wisps until the chirping sounds seem to grow. Suddenly the light manifested itself into a very adorable bird, a blue jay flew around with the beat of its wings that has a trail of light behind it and swoop down towards Murphy. He laughed a joyous laugh as he watch his Patronus gliding around him playfully, it then start to perch on his lap staring up at him with its glowing beady eyes.

The girl beside him giggled. “Congratulations. You got a blue jay, such a beautiful bird indeed.” The blue jay then flap its wings towards Julia and began dancing around her, she scoffed and wave her hand lightly to shoo the bird but it remain resilient in noticing her. She gestured her hand to call upon the bird and Murphy’s Patronus perch on it with no hesitation. “Do you know what they symbolize?” She just smiled. “From what I read, blue jays are very sassy birds. But they symbolize a person’s talkativeness, intelligence, and communication.” Murphy hummed to himself. “That is 97.06% similar to me, but I really do hope that I have a Kneazle so I can have Kneil a playmate!” He flick his wand that manage to vanish his blue jay. He swish it again to summon the Patronus which it flew out from his wand with vigor. “Are you going to show it to Orion and the others?” She asked and he just shake his head in response. “I’m a 100% sure that I won’t show this spell to others. Because in the same percentage as I said a couple of seconds ago, people would bug me out to teach them the Charm just to test their might and fun. I can teach them but... teaching a lot of people can take a toll on me.” She nodded in understand. “I can see that.” She stated then stood up from her seat, stretching out her arms and yawn which cause the strategist to look back at her with his Blue Jay beside him.

“Are you heading back?” She asked and he shake his head. “Don’t want to.” He said and open his palm to make his Patronus perch on it. “Julia...” the girl hummed as she reach towards the railing, ready to take flight with her animagus form. “Is it okay for a hug?” He asked and Julia look back at him with a raised brow. “Please?” She rolled her eyes but smiled at him, she approach and leaned closer to the blonde man who then vanish his Patronus so he can open his arms to accept her hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck and place her chin on his shoulder, he wrapped his strong large arms around her petite waist. They remain like that for a few minutes and she heard him sigh as he inhale the sweet scent of her hair. “I’m a 100% sure that I want to stay like this... through the night.” She hummed at him and nuzzle his neck. “I’m sleepy.” She commented which cause the Quidditch commentator to chuckle, she can feel the rumbling of his chest on hers and she blushed madly at the feeling. He doesn’t want to let her go but he slowly decides to remove his around so that she can return and rest for the night. She leaned back after the hug and let out a meek smile. “I have to go now. Take care.” She said then morph herself into her crow animagus and took flight away from the Commentator’s Box, Murphy then rolled his wheelchair forward and held his hand on to the railing. He raised his hand and wave a slow goodbye to the raven-haired girl.

She didn’t even asked him why is he at the Quidditch Pitch in the middle of the night without people noticing him head out the castle all by himself with wheelchair and all.

Murphy rolled his way out from his Care for Magical Creatures class and head towards the Quidditch Stadium in his uniform robes. He rolled slowly, the memory of the night still linger in his head, causing his heart to skip a beat. The Commentator sighed dreamily, other Hufflepuff classmates stroll off without him paying mind until he saw Julia who just trotted off with a book and parchment in hand, heading back in the castle. He raised his hand and call her name. “Dela Rosa!” Julia just stopped on her tracks and look back to see the beaming face of a sleep deprived Murphy. She widen her eyes at his appearance and approach him with a concern look on her eyes. “Murphy! Your eyes!” He just sheepishly let out a laugh and scratch the back of his head, the sleeve of his robes moving back past his elbow which shows his white sleeve of his button up shirt covering his whole arm. “I... heh.” He muttered to himself and Julia just rolled a piece of her parchment that is pinned in her book, rolled it into a scroll, and use it to smack him on the shoulder. “You should’ve leave that place! Now how can you commentate for the Gryffindor Friendly?!” He winced a bit but he just laugh it off. “Sorry, I just kept... to myself through the night.” He said then let out a big yawn. She let out an exasperated sigh. “You should rest in your box for a whil-“ She got herself cutoff when Orion pass by in his uniform robes. “Ah Julia, greetings.” She look back at her enigmatic captain then respond him with a nod and a good morning. He sets his brown eyes to the sleepy Commentator, “McNully, I suggest that you need to rest. Our next subject is upon us.” Murphy just nodded and smiled. Orion then looked back to Julia with a smirk, Julia then raised a brow at him.

“A little loud cockatoo told me a rumor that you have a night with McNully which made him to have no rest back at his quarters.” Orion stated which made both McNully and Dela Rosa blush madly. “Wait... what?!” She grasp her book closer to her chest. “But-“ McNully cut off when Orion continued. “The rumor goes into a certain discord I have to say. But worry not, I explained the situation to our Head of House.” Julia cocked her head to the side. “Situation?” Orion gestured his hand towards McNully who just kept blushing madly between them as he gave a somewhat glare towards the enigmatic captain. “Well our beloved Commentator here arrived back our Common Room around four in the morning with nothing but his playbooks and himself.” He said while placing a finger beneath his chin in thought. “He spoke a lot about your encounter, with you being a crow animagus and all... he is quite flustered when he speak about his lo-“ “Aw would you look at the time?!” Murphy said as he look at his wrist where there is no watch present. He look back at the flustered Julia who just stood there awkwardly and smiled unsurely. “Me and Orion have to go to the History of Magic Class. We have a probability of 89.93% of being late!” “But I didn’t fini-“ “GOODBYE DELA ROSA!” Murphy yelled and with his strong arms pull Orion on to his lap which manage to surprise the self-align man. One arm around the neck wrapping his friend in a headlock and the other hand on his wheel where he roll off with such a weight towards the castle in quick speed. The sight made Julia and some bystanders stunned, a Hufflepuff lad approach Julia who still stare off the direction where the two men left. “Hey, what happened the two of them?” Julia just shrugged her shoulders in response. “I don’t even know to be honest. First we are talking then suddenly they just left in a hurry.” Suddenly a familiar face approach her from behind. “Hey Julia!” She look and face the Face Paint Kid.

“Oh! It’s you! It’s been a long time pal.” Some Hufflepuff students approach their beloved Quidditch player in awe who were following Face Paint Kid. Then she heard the rumors that Orion talked about. “Is it true that you fancy Murphy McNully?!” “I heard you two keep meeting in the night!” “How does it feel being with Murphy?! He is such a smooth talker!” “You two are really cute together! Isn’t he a charming lad?!” Julia is very overwhelmed at the rumors that Face Paint Kid notice. “Everyone please stop!” He yelled to the swarm of Hufflepuff students who were bickering to Julia about Murphy. “She is getting uncomfortable, can’t you see?” Julia gulped loudly and sigh, she slowly face to the large swarm of people and smiled shyly. “Murphy is a friend of mine... nothing more.” Her heart is beating so fast that can’t comprehend what is happening. Why does she felt so bad when she said that? She is trying to not let this rumor go crazy until Dumbledore would be involved. “If you hear things about us doing something... forbidden... I’m just helping him for his upcoming O.W.L.S.” She said with a serious look on her face that manage to buy her word. The Hufflepuff students were surprised and look down in shame. “Oh is that so? I’m terribly sorry.” One student said with guilt and she just smiled at them. “It’s alright, I understand your excitement. But please do not spread false rumors that can degrade, hurt, or make embarrassment to the person.” Julia sermon them for a bit and continue. “Words are the most lethal weapon a person have other than a wand.” Julia finished and swayed her body for a bit playfully. “Please guys, return back to your class. I don’t like seeing all of you get late especially to those who were suppose to go to their Potions class.” “Uh... Julia?” She hummed in response. “Is there anyway that we can say sorry? You still look a bit angry.” A Hufflepuff lad asked. “I just want the rumors to end... that is all I want.”

“So how did it go?” Orion asked after he thrashed his way out from Murphy’s grip. To be fair on his behalf, Murphy can be very strong thanks to his physique and his arms... but fate seem to be too cruel sometimes for the blonde man since he can be a Beater only if he can walk. Orion stretched his arms while they head towards the History of Magic, Murphy continue blushing as they entered the classroom only to find out that they were the only people inside the room. Orion took this opportunity to corner up Murphy, he crossed his arms and raised a brow. “Come on, speak up McNully. There is more to it than you spending time with her in your box and back at the Common Room.” Said the captain as Murphy fidgeted his fingers and the wand that is used to be hiding behind his back. “Alright, alright. I will only say this once.” Murphy stated and give a warning gaze to the brunet man. “She played Go with me back at the Common Room as a way for me to make her feel comfortable after beating her a lot in Wizard’s Chess. It is a long game.” He told him while twirling his wand around his fingers. “In the box though... she helped me in thinking about the strategies and showing off that she is actually a crow animagus.” Orion raised a brow in disbelief causing the Strategist to sigh, he knew that the Hufflepuff captain see through his facade with one simple look and observation. Murphy clicked his tongue and he had no choice to lie right in front of him. He swished his wand and chanted out an incantation when suddenly a stream of white blue light flow out from the tip of his wand. A blue jay manifested itself in the light and flew around the empty classroom, Orion just stared and smiled with glee as the bird beat its wings playfully.

With a flick, Murphy’s Patronus disintegrate in the wind. Leaving nothing but fading wisps of light behind. “So she taught you the Patronus Charm?” He gave the blonde lad a mischievous grin causing Murphy to gulp and move his wheelchair to roll back. But Orion shifted his foot to wedge it on his wheel causing it to stop. “I’m just going to say that you are quite strong... all in body, mind, and soul.” Orion complimented as Murphy just rolled his eyes and lean down to remove Orion’s foot that is wedged in his wheel. “Thanks, I guess.” He said then roll down the desks to head to the very front row of the room, once he found his favorite spot he scooted closer to the seat and transfer himself with ease. Orion followed him and sat beside him quickly, he lightly nudge the strategist on his side and smirked. “You should told me all about that Charm last night.” He whispered when suddenly bursts of students entered the classroom with gloomy looks on their faces as they head towards their seats. Murphy rests his chin on his hand while his elbow rests on his desk. As the students gathered, Orion bolt up from his seat when a Slytherin lad came up to him because he is sitting his spot. Before he left, Orion gave Murphy a wink and his lips whispering ‘Let’s meet back at the Common Room’ until he left for good. Professor Binns entered the classroom through the blackboard and Murphy took this as a sign to open his book and sets his page on the Goblin Rebellion.

The droning voice of their ghostly teacher echoed through the room causing some students to lose focus and instead sleep. Murphy let out a sigh, well at least he can take off some things that is running around his mind. But the warm embrace of Julia remain in his touch causing him to blush madly and hid his face by placing an open book in front of him.

[aweseeds]

The Smart Thinker in the North

How is it that Ned Stark has been ridiculed since the first season/book as "dumb" for (some say) a lack of intelligence in recognizing his true enemies & not using all practical means to defeat them; of sticking to his Northern style of politics instead of adapting to the new situation in King's Landing & a wholly different kind of enemy in the Lannisters & Littlefinger than he was used to - yet we now have his son/nephew Jon Snow being ridiculed because he HAS:

1) recognized the truly dangerous enemy,

2) identified said enemy's weaknesses & took actions to maximize exploiting those weaknesses (hello fire breathing dragons and a mountain of dragonglass),

3) made an alliance with the strongest leader in Westeros,

4) made a successful alliance with the North's traditional enemies for a thousand years (notice those Wildings now defending the Wall?)

5) did everything possible to convince other factions to join the alliance, even if it was only temporary,

6) accepted alliances with people he didn't like, such as Littlefinger, but didn't trust that fucker an inch,

7) not left his family unnecessarily exposed to harm,

8) and not been distracted by petty things like his own ego & didn't even take time out for romance (he just learned to multitask, didn't even delay the trip North by an hour for sex, he knocked on her door once the travel was underway, damn he's good).

He managed all that while still sticking to his code of ethics of being honest even when people didn't like the truth and protecting the realms of men. He did it all without becoming a deceitful, despicable character like Littlefinger or Cersei or using their tactics. You know the kind of tactics that Ned Stark abhorred.

So basically Jon is doing everything people wished Ned or Robb had done without sacrificing his moral code, yet he is faced with complaints & mockery for not being miserable all the time because a Fantasy Hero Doing The Right Thing Means He Must Be Miserable?

It's laudable to whine about Jon not clinging to a Northern independence political idea in the face of the apocalypse, where such politics have no meaning? It's okay to bitch Jon out for gaining the North a massive army, special weapons, and a good, just, & experiences ruler who is actually interested in having the job, unlike him? It's smart commendable to be so nearsighted to complain about Jon losing one title when he gains another, retains leadership of the North, has earned himself a place as one of the Queen's advisors (a position Ned Stark didn't have for 17 years), and gives advice the queen ACTUALLY listens to on major issues (Ned couldn't even get Robert to cancel or reduce spending on a tournament that was in Ned's name).

If Ned or Robb had Jon's clear thinking and practical decision-making, the Lannisters would have been soundly defeated seasons ago, there would be thousands more Northern soldiers alive, & the Night King would be facing a tremendously stronger force defensing humanity. Hell, there'd even be more Starks alive.

Jon held onto Northern independence until he determined it was in the North's best interests to bend the knee, that independence was unnecessary to ensure the North had a good, brave, & just ruler. The best leaders do not simply follow public opinion. Real leaders make decisions based on what is best for their people, even if popular opinion disagrees. Jon is a real leader and he gets shit done.

Anyway, the last time the North was independent it didn't last a generation & it ended in disaster, with the slaughter of their king, queen, his mother, and thousands of his bannerman; the North once again under the control of the Lannisters; the Starks lost Winterfell, their lands, & any political power in the North to Robb's murderer; and the North gained a new vicious Warden of the North who didn't hesitate to flay Northerners.

The North is no longer independent, but this time: it was an action taken voluntarily by the King in the North; no Northerner was killed or maimed; the North continues to be free of Lannister rule; the new ruler is coming to defend the North against its enemies: both Night King & Cersei when the North is incapable of defending itself against either enemy; the Starks fully retain control of Winterfell, their lands, & their rank as Lord or Lady, the new Warden of the North is a man chosen by the North to lead them & descended from centuries of Stark Wardens; and the North has re-established a connection to the southern kingdoms who have traditionally sent food and resources in winter that prevented Northerners from starving to death.

Jon has ensured the North is doing far better than it was before he bent the knee. If some Northerners and any of his siblings can't grasp that basic fact, then their losing yet another war and becoming ice zombies looks inevitable.

The fact that Jon fell in love and is getting spectacularly laid is merely the universe finally rewarding him for all his efforts. How about a noble hero get to enjoy some happiness before the very end of the damn story?

Besides I don't recall anybody claiming that Ned was thinking with any body part other than his brain when he bent the knee to his childhood best friend, even though said best friend would have murdered his nephew, and eventually enjoyed a loving marriage & healthy sex life instead of declaring the North an independent kingdom after Robert's Rebellion.

Wow, Jon's dick is smarter than all the Stark family. It currently appears to be the smartest appendage in all Westeros.

[sparda3g]

Attack on Titan Chapter 113 Review

The last chapter left us with one hell of a cliffhanger. It told us that the downhill spiral of a character begins now. This chapter clarified that statement, but not the one you most likely expected. While that itself went differently, the action however was intense as expected. Nevertheless, this chapter as a whole was exciting, satisfying, frustrating for the right intention, and enthralling with its setup and potentially segue to a backstory.

The roar cry from Zeke may have converted the troops at the forest into titans, but those from afar can feel the uncomfortable tingle. It’s a way to narrow down the victims that has drank the wine with Zeke’s spinal fluid. Unfortunately, there are so many to count. Pixis is sadly among the victim list as well as Nile, though it was expected. It’s also a way to confirm Falco’s fate and sadly, he too is doomed to transform. No amount of rinsing will remove the fluid. Moral of the story: drink responsibly. While that’s bad news to all, it at least signal them that Zeke is on the move.

Speaking of him, he reveals his most likely only plan to outpace Levi. When you think about it, what other tactic can he use against him? There’s really no other option and turning into Beast Titan would result to a defeat if you recall the last time. It becomes clear later on with his reactions, but we’ll get to that later. The plan is to force Levi to go against his comrades, who are now his enemies as titans. More importantly, it’s to bring Levi into emotional turmoil. That’s pretty low, but you got to do what you got to do.

It’s actually amazing how we are far into the series and now Isayama is playing the card of “can I kill my friend?” This is not a jab at the writing; quite the opposite. It’s been a while since Levi and others fought a titan. Yes, they have exterminated them for a long time, but they didn’t know who they were. When they learned they were people, it changed their view greatly. Levi has bonded with the recruits for a while, so when they become titans, it hits him that he’s fighting his former allies. It’s equivalent to zombies; when they become one, how would you respond to it.

The flashback gives you an immediate reason why Levi is struggling to fight them. The recruits wanted to drink the wine, but he thought it was nonsense during the mission. He eventually gave in and allowed them to drink. That was a mistake that could have been avoided and that’s rather heartbreaking. It also filled in why Levi didn’t change as he resorted to drinking black tea. Stay classy. Still, it’s sad how it could have been prevented.

As you recalled in the last chapter, it wasn’t told to Levi that wine is the source for spinal fluid insertion, so he has to recollect the memory and draw his own theory, which is practically correct. Smart man. That said he can’t conclude whether Zeke lied about the process of transformation or not, since they did change immediately. It’s good that he mentioned this because I was perplexed as well.

Zeke’s plan seems to be working as Levi is struggling to fight them due to emotional conflict. Obviously, he could easily kill them, but it’s the connection that strikes him down. Like with zombies, that thing was once alive and your comrade. Can you really kill it off? Can you believe that thing was once someone you know? His expression is upsetting. Now he knows about the titan, he can’t fight with ease. Or so I thought.

Zeke’s “farewell” to Levi is interesting. First of all, it becomes apparent that this was his last resort. Levi was killing too much time and wasn’t going to come to an agreement with him. Their trust level barely existed, if not never. His expressions and body language never come across as the brilliant mastermind villain. He speaks more of another man that wants to achieve his goal by any means necessary. Hell, he didn’t want to do it, but he was left with no choice. It’s why he ran in a hurry like a man believing he can outrun a cheetah.

The next part is the reason why he had to “abandon” Levi. He knows the time of World War is upon them, but Paradis Island don’t understand. They believe they have the power, the options, and the time, but it’s not as simple as it sounded. To him, that’s their miscalculation. Lastly, the interesting bit that caught my attention was the mention of his true intention. It appears only him and Eren know and understand; just like real siblings. It’s something Levi and others won’t get. That got me really curious. What is there that is hard to explain? Clearly, it changed Eren. Perhaps we will learn soon enough once Zeke meets with Eren. Or so I thought.

From behind of Zeke, a Shinigami reemerge from his slumber. His name is Levi. That shot of him all bloody-up got me goosebumps. Holy crap. That screams “game over” for Zeke. He knows it because he reacts like his death bed is here; sheer horrified. I was sheer hyped; it turns into a gripping action. It’s not because Levi is about to demolish the hell out of him, well actually that’s one of the reasons, but it’s the intensity of these two at a tensed emotional scale. Zeke is scared shitless and Levi is pissed as hell.

Levi easily kill an approaching titan like nothing, which leaves Zeke no other choice but to fight. That look on his face before transforming says it all; desperation at its best. I thought that gruesome as hell when Beast Titan freaking rip off a head of a titan and squashes it to form “bullets.” My God, that’s crazy. He shoots them like rocks, only well, yeah. I wonder if the anime will slow it down and show those flesh. Ugh, that’s nasty. Another desperate attempt from him is guilt trip Levi for killing his precious comrades. Sadly for him, he has come around to accept the fate and take it on someone.

Levi killed them off based on experience. He has killed many before, so this is practically his second nature. If it wasn’t for the earlier scene, this would have come off illustrating him as a cold-hearted bastard. In context, he has seen enough awfulness to be distracted. It’s like zombies, once you killed one, you will slowly grow accustomed to it. I know I reference zombies many times here, but it is similar in many ways. Case in point, you can say he kills them to end their misery. We know how Ymir felt like during her nightmare.

Levi shoots those thunder spears right at the nape and blast the hell out of Zeke. All it was missing was those weird sound effect words that Dragon Ball did. Regardless, it was so satisfying. That bastard ran off, so he asked for this; all of this. Levi drags his decayed body, insinuating the true monster of the two. After that battle, it’s easy to tell. He won’t kill him, not yet at least. I would prefer death if dealing with him.

The segment at Shiganshina District is frustrating, but it is intentional. I thought it’s neat to see that crater still exist from Bertolt’s action. It looks like a good place for a swimming pool. Joking aside, the scene takes place with Instructor Shadis instructing the new cadets to prepare for titans. It’s like we went back in time when they posed a threat. Actually, that’s the idea with some guys actually thought it’s unnecessary. It’s almost like seeing kids of today would think not going outside is a bliss, but removing their phone is a punishment of hell. They believe the code of the Yeager Faction: down with the people outside the walls.

Some guys think Shadis is useless. Man, the guy can’t catch a break, can he? I can’t help but feel pretty bad for him. Look at his sad face in that one panel; he doesn’t deserve this. Speaking of undeserving, he has special guest coming through, and poor timing, because it so happened to be Yeager Faction with Hange as their prisoner. That’s one image enough to motivate the cadets to join the cause. Now, here comes the frustrating part.

Floch is such a dislikeable character. While I understood his point of view before this new uprising, he was designed to become the cancer of the corps. Now, he has become that and you can tell the power has gotten through his head big time. He acts like he’s in charge or someone who can say, “I am Eren my lord’s second right-hand man.” He is so high and mighty, he believes he’s the true freedom fighter. Sure, he tries to shoot Shadis in the leg to make him talk faster, but it’s all right. It’s just an old man that past his prime. What a dick. Sadly, it works to the cadets and everyone slowly steps forward. Why I get the feeling Isayama is influenced by today’s America…

Fine, Floch can recruit them; I get that new generation don’t know any better of the past. But what irritated me the most is his demand for them to show their resolve, and the only way is to beat up Shadis. Why? Apparently, Shadis is the embodiment of all bad habits and they should weed them out. If they refuse, they will go to jail. Please Isayama. Kill him in the most satisfying way. To give them a credit, they thought that’s maddening since they hesitate to hurt him. The one who deserved the most credit is Shadis. He purposely provoke them to hit him, so they can escape from jail. That’s a man we need to keep the generation strong. Sad that he got pummeled badly.

I seriously hope Isayama has a plan to axe Floch off hardcore. I really hope Hange gets a swing or so at him when the time comes. It’s upsetting how much she has to witness the change for the worst. All of her hard work and sacrifices of her comrades are being wasted. Armin and others are in jail while Eren looks outside. I seriously wonder how he’s really feeling about everything. Perhaps the whole true intention reveal would shed the light on his action. I really hope so.

The last segment is interesting in many ways. For starters, Levi is traveling with Zeke on a cart to somewhere. My guess would be where Historia is at. It makes sense after he told the recruits the new plan, so he might as well follow up on it. It does beg the question; how would Eren know if Zeke is in danger? Should we expect Levi versus Eren? That would be insane. The next part is how Zeke is being held prisoner.

His neck is tied to a wire that connects to the thunder spear. If he move recklessly, it will detonate it and split him into two pieces. Good lord. That’s one way to intimidate a titan shifter; really shouldn’t screw with Levi. Speaking of him, that old grudge doesn’t die away easily, because he still has a lot of anger to take on him. What’s painful is his way to maintain Zeke as his prisoner by not only strap him, but cut his legs off. It’s his way to make sure he doesn’t titan shift. Moral of the story: don’t mess with Levi. Ever.

I may have my joy from earlier with Zeke getting demolished, but I’ll be lying if I say I have no pity. It’s those expressions he makes when being tormented that made his suffering believable. It’s not to say Levi is the villain; it’s just humanity. I thought it was sad that despite his torment, he worries about his glasses, only to get a response, “Who the hell knows.” Levi doesn’t care one bit; Zeke cares like a precious treasure.

The ending ends on a possible sign of Zeke’s backstory being the next chapter’s focus. Some would think, “Of course. Why else show the flashback,” but sometimes they only show it and wait for another time. With that said I do believe this is the best time to reveal his backstory after selling out his parents. I believe that man from the flashback was there during the arrest. I wonder if he meant anything to Zeke and where did his “mission” truly begin.

This was a great chapter. While it’s not on the same level as the last chapter when it comes to the emotional ride, it left me amazed with the character’s reaction. The action was pretty solid with raw emotions of anger and fear. The art is really good with tensed expressions that had me jarring and pitying. Floch continued to piss me off, but if the endgame is to have him slaughtered to death slowly, then it’s all rewarding. The ending left me feeling mixed of pity and curious. I do hope the next chapter is Zeke’s backstory. I don’t mind taking a break from the present time. This could be the beginning to his backstory, but also the beginning to his end.

[wazafam]

Generally speaking, superheroes are smart people. They have to be otherwise they wouldn't survive doing what they do for long. Oliver Queen and his friends and allies have been through many challenges and they managed to defeat most of them.

RELATED: Black Lightning: The Characters' 10 Most Impractical Outfit Choices, Ranked

That doesn't mean they always make the right choices. Quite the opposite, in fact. as the characters evolved over the course of Arrow, they became more careful. Even then, though, they kept making mistakes. Not just in their personal and work life, but also when it came to choosing their outfits. It might not seem like a big deal but some Arrow outfits were truly impractical and endangered those who wore them.

10 Oliver Queen's Initial Outfit On Lian Yu

These clothes were just all wrong. To be fair to Oliver, it wasn't his fault - he simply wore this when the ship crashed. However, he made zero effort to mask himself in any way.

The white shirt he wore on Lian Yu shone like a beacon among the greenery of the island, which meant Oliver drew a lot of attention to himself. And considering how dangerous Lian Yu is, that could have easily proved fatal for Oliver. Luckily, he later switched these clothes for some tactical gear.

9 Oliver's First Arrow Suit

Speaking of Oliver and Lian Yu, there's also his first prototype of the Green Arrow costume he wore when he crashed on the island.

It looked like a mixture of two different outfits and it had none of the useful traits or resilience of his subsequent suits. At least it seemed it allowed Oliver to move freely, but that's about it.

8 Leather Jackets Everywhere

Maybe it's because of budgetary issues, but a lot of Arrowverse heroes wear leather jackets as the base of their costumes. Leather jackets do look good but they, once again, provide very little protection against harm.

Also, depending on the exact material used for the jacket, leather can restrict movement, which is something superheroes can't be grateful for in combat.

7 Thea Queen's Training Outfit

In the third season, Thea lives with her father Malcolm, who teaches her how to fight. In one of the scenes, Thea wears a helmet typical for the martial art Kendo.

RELATED: The Vampire Diaries: The Characters' 10 Most Impractical Outfit Choices, Ranked

Except she doesn't have it properly tied, since she easily takes it off her head once she stops fighting. In real life, if she fought in this helmet and wouldn't tie it, it wouldn't hold the position on her head and make fighting very difficult, if not impossible.

6 Rene Ramirez's Upgraded Suit

Rene Ramirez AKA the Wild Dog has an iconic look in the comics, topped by his hockey mask. He sported this look on the show as well - until the creators decided to replace it with an upgrade that, frankly, didn't make much sense.

Rene's whole spiel is that he's a street hero who moves around fast. The clunky upgraded suit looked like it would considerably slow him down, which is the last thing Rene needs. So it was a good thing Arrow eventually returned back to Rene's old suit.

5 John Diggle's Mask

When John Diggle finally got a mask that would protect his identity... it was a disappointment. Not only does it look weirdly reminiscent of Magneto's helmet, but it also doesn't really hide John's face features that well.

Plus, it looks like it would be heavy and uncomfortable to wear on the head for a prolonged period of time. What's more, it significantly limits John's field of vision, which is a dangerous thing for any fighter.

4 Ragman's Rags (Without Its Power)

At one point, Rory Reagan's Ragman costume lost its power. It no longer shielded him from harm or helped him bring down his opponents.

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When Rory realized this, he temporarily left the team since, without its power, his Ragman costume was... well, rags. Luckily, the costume later regained its power and Rory helped the team out in the future.

3 Open Arms Costume

Oliver sported many different suits on Arrow. One of the less practical ones had him show part of his arms. That might not seem like such a big deal at first, but by uncovering a significant part of his arms, Oliver also opens up himself more to possible injury.

There's nothing - no cloth, no obstacle - protecting his arms, which makes it that much easier for his opponents to slash at him, cut him, or hurt his arms in a different way.

2 No Mask For The Hero

It's true that even masks sometimes don't cover enough of the face to make a difference. But Oliver took this one step further and he put himself at unnecessary risk.

In the initial seasons of Arrow, he wore no mask at all. Instead, he used a bit of green paint that he smeared around his eyes. If somebody managed to snap a photo of him or got a good look at his face, no amount of green paint would help Oliver to protect his identity.

1 Every Outfit With A Hood

This concerns not only Green Arrow himself but also other superheroes, such as Arsenal or Speedy. Anybody who has ever worn a hood will attest that it significantly limits what the person sees. That can be dangerous, especially if the hero is outnumbered and surrounded from all sides by their enemies.

In other words, hoods are helpful for concealing the hero's identity but they can also endanger them.

NEXT: Game Of Thrones: The Characters' 10 Most Impractical Outfit Choices, Ranked

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