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edgeray · 5 months ago

Note

Hi Ray! 🍅 Anon here~

Have fun on your holiday and enjoy it to the best you can! Be sure to stay hydrated, the weather is really mental these days.

Just wanted to share a bit of brainrot I had regarding soft Arle, whether or not you choose to make it into a fic is up to you!

Arle with her frame and demeanor is most definitely the Top + Dom in the relationship with reader, but how about when she’s insecure? Seeing reader take care of the children and feeling as though she doesn’t deserve to be as loved as said children, then reader after putting the kids to bed embraces Arle and puts her head against their chest so Arle can hear their heartbeat more clearly while patting Arle and assuring her that they love her for her and that she DEFINITELY deserves to be spoilt… (reader knows Arle too well to not pick up on her tells and knows that Arle’s being harsh on herself)

Or maybe reader writing in to the Tsaritsa (without Arle knowing) to ask if Arle can take a 2 week break just to take care of the children and spend time as a couple (What if!! Tsaritsa was the one who wed them!!! And just closes both eyes and approves time off). Then reader proceeds to spoil Arle in every way possible - breakfast in bed, a warm bath after sparring with the children (no, not that kind of bath, but a fluffy one where Arle gets a shoulder massage and scrubbed clean and gets lots of loving kisses everywhere she’s insecure of), a feast of sashimi and steak tartare for dinner and a soft bed and loving wife in the night. I wanna spoil Arle like that but 😭

Oh! And since Harbingers are like celebrities in Snezhnaya, do you think Arle would have a fanclub there? Think about it! She’s young, has a boatload of money (you CANNOT convince me #4 doesn’t have money when #11 has an unimaginable sum at the bank), can handle kids well (she runs the HotH), and as a Harbinger who fights she probably is ripped (RIP her actual body proportions, they’re limited by Hoyo’s models, nobody is convincing me her body type isn’t like Lady Maria’s from Bloodborne, with abs, guns and muscular. Thighs.)

0 chance that she doesn’t have a line of sapphics lining up for her in Snezhnaya, even with the rumors of her being ruthless and cruel (I mean. If the rumors worked in making people back off. Arle simps like us wouldn’t exist to begin with lmao)… Imagine Arle trying to placate Jealous!Teasing!Reader!! Like Arle coming home on Valentine’s day a bit late to find reader teasing her about having a new lover meanwhile Arle was actually out buying a new dagger for reader to protect themselves with… reader being melodramatic because she knows and trusts Arle enough that Arle would never do anything like that (and Arle knows but plays along)

R: “Oh, woe is me! My wife came home late on Valentine’s with a dagger to end our relationship, whatever should I do?”

Arle: “My love…”

And if the children are around? They’d be busy either pretending they didn’t see anything or resisting the urge to claw their eyes out or handing each other eye bleach. Sending condolences to Lyney when one of the younger children ask something along the lines of

“Brother Lyney, do you think we’ll have another sibling soon if Father and Mother are this loving with each other”

(I headcanon that Arle does teach them sexuality education but not until they’re 10 and before that the older children tell their younger siblings that children pop into existence when Papa and Mama love each other lots)

I’m so sorry this is getting really out of hand but Arle has me in a brainrot when I should be focusing elsewhere 💀

Rest Your Worries, Lax Your Heart

(Arlecchino x GN! Reader)

A/N - Thank you, I did have a fun vacation :). Wow that is a lot and I love every single bit of this ask 🍅 anon. It'd be unfair if I just wrote one part and not all of them, so what did I do? Combined all of them as best as I can, but of course some details had to be omitted/changed because of that–hopefully you don't mind. I'm a fucking genius. Also considering that Arle has an anime, but never got a beach episode, this is said beach episode. This took so long because this turned out to be pretty self-indulgent (I'm sure you know which scene it was). This is a long boi, way over what the request range is supposed to be, but hope this is worth it? Somehow, my brain was able to focus for at least like… 4 hours. Started this at 23:00 something, and it's nearly 04:00. 🍅 anon, I enjoy your asks, so I hope you personally enjoy this one :) Content warnings / info - a bit of suggestiveness, reader is referred to as ‘Mother’ but is otherwise gn!, 3.2k words

It took a lot of back and forth over the span of four months, writing to the Tsaritsa, but you had finally been able to arrange this without the knowledge of your husband. The Archon, generous as she is, approved of your proposal for a two week long break without much pushback or questioning, saying that loyalty was rewarded and as one of her more productive Harbingers, Arlecchino’s efforts warrant her a break. All the Tsaritsa asked for was the general details of the vacation: when, where, and the activities you would be doing, which was easy enough to answer to. Surprisingly, she bought an entire section of the Sumeru coast along with a sizable cabin for the two of you and the children for the duration of your respite when you told where you plan on the location being. You're not one to turn down such a gracious offer so you accepted it. As a Pyro user, she would surely enjoy somewhere as warm as Sumeru.

Currently, you're holding the letter from the Tsaritsa, which contains a direct order from the Archon addressed to Arlecchino to stay at Sumeru. No matter how much you plead for her to rest, your husband only says that she can keep working and for you to not worry. Tracing the envelope stamp, you breathe in deeply before knocking on the door.

“Yes?” Called from beyond the door.

“Can I come in, Arle?”

“Yes, my love,” she says with a lilt.

You come in, striding towards her, holding up the back of the envelope while trying to suppress your smile. “This was addressed for you.”

Arlecchino takes it with a bit of suspicion at the crack in your facial expression. Turning it over, she notices the stamp, which is the mark of the word of the Archon. She narrows her brows and takes out a letter opener, taking out the letter with a bit more urgency. You watch her expression morph from confusion to mild shock to indifference again.

“What does it say?” You inquire her, biting your lip to hide the smile.

“It says that I'm going to Sumeru in three days. For a respite.” She eyes you carefully, her eyes glinting red. “But you seem to know that already.”

You nod, a smile forming . “I thought… you were working so hard, and you deserve a break. I asked the Tsaritsa if it was possible and she agreed to it, even paying for our stay there.”

Arlecchino's face flicks to something indecipherable, like there was a hesitation, but it quickly disappears before you can think too much on it. She gets up from her desk chair, strutting to you before wrapping her arms around your midsection, pulling you into an embrace. She presses a tender kiss against your forehead. “Thank you, my dear, for your thinking of me. I'm sure the children would appreciate being out of the House. I'll tell the children about this, and we should begin packing.”

But does she appreciate it? It's for her, after all. You chew on the inside of your cheek but your smile remains in place.

You tilt your head up to kiss her cheek. “I already packed for us. And I told the kids, already.”

“Hm, that's why they seem so antsy lately. Thank you,” Arlecchino hums. “You picked for us already?”

“Yes. Including your clothes,” you chuckle, deviously imagining her in the attires you picked out for her. At that, she raises her eyebrows.

“Oh? What are you planning, my love?” She teases, seizing your chin in her hands and tilting your head up to lock her eyes with yours. You can't stop the giggle that bubbles out.

“Nothing too… scandalous…” you answer back. “Don't worry, it's nothing too bad. This is all for you to relax, remember? You've been working so hard, been such a good husband, so…”

You lean forward to kiss her on the mouth. Whispering against her lips, you say, “As your partner, it's my duty to make sure you're happy. Isn't that right?”

If she physically could at that moment, Arlecchino would melt underneath your words.

—

Upon your arrival at Sumeru, you were glad you picked the outfits that you did. Travel with around twenty kids was difficult, but luckily the older kids, the twins and Freminet especially, helped a lot. Everyone was practically vibrating in excitement, with the exception of Arlecchino, though you knew it was mostly because of how inexpressive she usually was.

Right?

Currently, the two of you lay on the sand by the crystal clear waters, enjoying the sight of the children playing. The little ones are playing in the sand, presumably sculpting a castle, and the older ones are either engaging in a heated battle involving smacking a ball around or with Freminent in the ocean. Here, you forget that they’re a part of the Fatui, child soldiers for the Tsaritsa; here, they look like normal children and it makes your heart swell.

Unfortunately, you're stuck in a dilemma–observe your children and take in their contagious laughter, or ogle your husband who is in the most delicious and mouth-watering attire possible. Underneath her short gray collarless jacket, was a cropped, sleeveless turtleneck that exposed her lower half of her toned stomach, including her v-line. Below are tight, black leggings which do little in hiding her muscular thighs. Everytime you look at her, a flush runs to your cheeks and you find yourself too flustered for your stare to linger because of the growing amount of indecent thoughts. You breathe deeply in an attempt to calm the raging storms of desire in your stomach, distracting yourself by observing the waves and digging your feet in the sand. For the sake of your children, you'd like for your mind to be as pure as possible.

Blackened arms wrap around your waist, pulling you into a lap. You squeal at the sudden contact. Your husband's mouth hovers beside your ear, hot breath brushing against the shell of your ear.

“Something interesting?” Arlecchino huskily whispers, making you shudder. One hand strokes over your stomach, invoking shivers from you. You inhale sharply before glancing at Arlecchino's face.

“Just… watching the waves. It's calming,” you lie quickly, wondering if your racing heartbeat can be felt underneath her fingertips.

“Your heart says otherwise,” she chuckles, turning your head over your shoulder so she can kiss you.

After a few moments, you pull away from the kiss, and your eyes flick over to the children in the sand, still tossing around that ball over a net. “Why don't you join them? I'm sure they would love it if their Father joined their game.”

“My dear, I would destroy them,” Arlecchino bluntly remarks, and you chuckle.

“Fair enough, I suppose.”

The two of you watch them in silence until Arlecchino breaks the silence.

“I like what you picked for me.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Your reaction is adorable.”

Something white-hot pricks the back of your neck. “I-I'm glad you like it. I like it too,” you stammer out, your abashment evident in your voice.

“I can tell. Perhaps… you'd like to help me put on sun protection?” Arlecchino teases with a small smirk, removing her jacket off to reveal her lean biceps. “Over the pants, if that's alright.”

This handsome–sexy–woman is going to be the death of you, you’re sure of it. Your heart is going into overdrive, and you would be terrified of going into a stroke if you aren't more focused on your husband's physique. If it's not your heart that's going to kill you, it's the pending combustion inside of you. You squeeze your thighs against one another, pooling heat forming between your legs.

“Y-yeah, sure,” you manage in between your laboring breathing, getting off of her lap to face her. Spreading the paste in your hand, you first venture over her neck, tenderly rubbing over her throat and then her nape, down to her sides. Her skin is hot to the touch, as expected of a Pyro user, but it somehow retains softness and flawlessness despite all the combat and harshness your husband deals with as a Fatui Harbinger. Still, unlike her composed facial features, you can feel that her pulse is as frenzied as yours–it gives you comfort that you’re not the only one feeling this. Your husband hums with contentment, watching you carefully.

Next, you slide your hands over to her broad shoulders before feeling down her upper arm, deliberate attention to her biceps. A shuddering breath comes from you as she shifts, extending her arms more out towards you. You trace down the markings of her arm before caressing her inky elbow and forearms. Finally, you get to her wrists. An idea pops in your head as you bring her hands to your lips, kissing her knuckles and rings, giving special focus onto her engagement ring. An amused huff escapes from her, and you glance back at her. Her eyes gleam with such a rare fondness, reserved only for you.

You glance down at the only part of her that's yet been touched, your stomach churning in itself when you're able to get a closer, longer look. You gulp considerably, your hands shaking slightly as they hover over it.

A charcoal hand wraps around your wrist, gently guiding your palm to her until it's flushed against her skin. “Don't be shy now, love.” She smirks wickedly and you have the sense to kiss that smile off her face.

“Shut up,” you murmur meekly, but place both hands on her stomach, your fingertips traversing over every dips created by her well-muscles stomach. It feels like your body will implode at any second now, as her body heat infects your fingers and spreads to the rest of your body. You coat her waist before your touch lingers lower, just above the waistband of her pants. You trace the indent of her v-line, your fingers nearly dip underneath her leggings. Before it can, she stops you, grasping both of your wrists with one hand as she leans in to whisper hotly near your ear.

“Let's save that for later, hm?”

—

“Lyney, what are they doing?” One of the children inquires, as they point at Mother and Father still by the water. Father remains on top of Mother, seemingly applying sun protection, though Lyney isn't quite sure if their position is truly that… innocent.

“Oh… Father is just helping Mother, like how I helped with the sun protection on your back,” Lyney quickly comes up with an explanation, looking away from them.

The child remains silent, observing the older male's expression, before looking back at them once more. “Lyney, you said that when a mother and father love each other a lot, a new child comes right?”

Lyney isn't sure if he was going to enjoy what comes next, though he has an inkling that he won't. “Yes…”

“Does that mean Mother and Father will bring us a new sibling soon?”

Lyney sputters, looking to Lynette for assistance.

—

After a nice day at the beach, Arlecchino takes you and the children to a local restaurant. Luckily, she was able to find one that was relatively empty, so there was no problem with fitting you and your twenty children inside. You find that the two of you rather enjoy Sumeru dishes; while you enjoy the variety of flavors, Arlecchino rather indulges in the spiciness of them. Your favorite is between the tandoori roast chicken and the lambad fish roll. Though, something bothers you during your time at the restaurant.

Arlecchino is an attractive woman; that much is undeniable, and you're well aware of the fact that she's pleasing to both men's and women's eyes. It is a common occurrence for her to attract the sights of those around her, for whatever the reason, though among the women, it is typically out of admiration. Here, this is the case as well, wandering eyes from other customers, and subtle flirting from the audacious waitress.

After finishing your dinner, you excuse yourself to the bathroom, only to return to the two of them chatting up, although in reality it’s more like a one-sided conversation and Arlecchino is ignoring her– you're well aware of this, but you find the waitress’ presence pervasive. You approach your table quickly, kissing your husband on the cheek before glancing at the waitress.

“My husband and I would like to order dessert. Can you fetch us a menu, please?” You ask, disguising your ire with a practiced smile. Instantly, the waitress's flirtation dies and she walks away.

You huff at the sight of the woman. “How could you, Arlecchino? After all we've been through? Talking so casually with her when I'm gone?” You jest with a gasp, faux jealousy in your tone once you notice the relieved sigh from her. Her claws release its hold on the tablecloth, leaving behind tattered sheets.

“Oh, how I've been caught,” Arlecchino responds monotonously, playing along. “My affair with an unnamed, rather plain-featured woman has been discovered.”

You giggle as her hand finds yours, interlocking with your fingers. “I'm in disbelief, betrayed by who I thought was my true love.”

“Oh hush now, love. Will Baklava buy your silence and heart again?”

“Perhaps.”

The House of the Hearth children gag as Mother and Father conciliate.

—

“Mother, can't we stay up any longer? We're on vacation. Pleaseeeeee,” one of the children pleads as you usher them to bed, pulling the covers over them.

“It's not healthy for you to stay up. Besides, you have plenty of time tomorrow and the rest of the two weeks to have fun. Your Father and I can't keep watch over you during the night,” you respond with, kissing them on the forehead.

“What if Lyney or Lynette watches us?”

“Lyney and Lynette are probably just as tired. When you wake up, we can go to the beach again, does that sound okay?”

“Okay… good night Mother.”

You hum in delight, caressing their head. “Good night. Sweet dreams.”

You silently walk towards the door. Arlecchino leans against the doorframe, observing you wordlessly–again, that unreadable expression appears over her, but this time it lingers. You shut the door as quietly as you can, before turning to your husband.

“Is there something you need, Arle?” You inquire.

She shakes her head. You don't quite believe her, but you don't address it. “I'm going to go take a bath. Get all this sand off of me. Would you like to join me?”

Arlecchino nods, and soon the two of you are in the bathroom. You let the faucet run, filling the bathtub with water as Arlecchino removes her clothing. It only takes a few moments before the two of you are seated in the bathtub, but it's a change of position this time. Arlecchino sits in between your legs, facing away from you.

“It's been a while since we've bathed like this, right?” You question softly, lightly carding your fingers through her untied hair.

“It has been,” she merely replies, her voice almost far-away; like there’s something else on her mind. Even though you only face her back, you can tell from her lack of movement that she’s in deep contemplation.

“What are you thinking about, Arle?” Your husband bristles a bit at the question. Even after being married to you for a couple years, she's still unaccustomed to how you can read her so easily, especially when she prides herself in being incomprehensible to others, even her children.

“Do you… not enjoy this?” You ask hesitantly with a lump in your throat. You know that she knows what you meant by ‘this’– the vacation; the entire notion of taking a break is foreign to Arlecchino, but you hope that she was able to find this beneficial. If she hates this and this vacation is supposed to be two weeks long… you don't want to say you'd be disappointed but you'd hope she'd at least be able to relax from her Harbinger duties.

Arlecchino is silent for a few moments. “I admit… I am uneased by this, to be so vulnerable and open to assaults now that we're not in the House of the Hearth. I feel unproductive and restless without my usual work. However, at the same time, I can see how beneficial this is to the children, and it is a nice change for once to see them like this. Being able to spend time with you like this is also rather indulgent, but I cannot complain about it.”

You smile, a weight lifted off your chest as you lean forward to press a kiss against her nape. “I’m glad. This was for you after all.”

“Although I am gratified that the children are able to experience this as well … I cannot see why you would put this much effort for me. After all, I am…” Arlecchino pauses, raising her blackened hands to her view. She doesn’t finish her sentence, but you're able to get a sense of what she’s trying to say, and another weight is placed heavy on your heart. For as confident and assured that Arlecchino likes to present herself, when it is just the two of you, she reveals a rawer, more unguarded side to her. Often, she confides in you how she grapples with why you can so fondly view her, and every time, your heart sinks. How could your husband think this way?

Laying your chin over her shoulder, you gingerly place both of your hands underneath hers, stroking the inside of her palm with your thumb. “I know where your thoughts are leading to, Arlecchino, and they're wrong. I love you, Arlecchino. You deserve this. You deserve this treatment, you deserve a break, you deserve to be loved. Your curse, your past… it doesn't matter. These hands…”

You continue caressing her hand with your fingers. “...They are not cursed. These hands are not unloveable. These are the same hands that protect and care for our children. The same hands that hold me. The same hands that please me. They are a part of you, and they aren't evidence that you are a monster. If you are, you wouldn't have me, and you wouldn't have the children.”

You kiss down along her bare back, gaining shivers from the woman. “Enjoy this, my love, for me at the very least. You are my husband, so let me do my part in loving you. You've done an innumerable amount of things for me and the children, so consider this to be our repayment for you.”

“That is why I am doing this for you, do you understand?” You whisper against her skin.

Arlecchino nods, a shaky breath escaping from her. You finish your treatment around her shoulderblades and gesture for her to turn around. When she does, the first thing that you do is kiss her hands, peppering them with as much devotion as you can give them. To you, nothing is more beautiful.

“You deserve everything and more. Don't forget that, Arlecchino. So let me do this for you.” It isn't an ask. It is a demand from the one person whose authority is higher than the Tsaritsa: you.

Arlecchino closes her eyes, and lets herself melt into you.

#arlecchino x reader #arlecchino x you #arlecchino #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact x you #genshin x reader #genshin x you #genshin impact fics #genshin impact fic #genshin impact fanfics #genshin fics #genshin fanfic #edgeray.requests #edgeray.writes #edgeray.🍅anon

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akirathedramaqueen · 5 months ago

Text

No, I am not done with Western Energy yet, and I am not sorry

I. Just. Can't. With those parallels.

Just look at that! I am sure bunch of people already pointed that, but Hell knows it makes me think a lot about this shift.

Murder Family

[Blitzø]: Stolas, this is really a bad time!

[Stolas]: Mm, when isn't it a bad time, Blitzy?

Stolas *knows* Blitzø is in danger. There could've been a room for speculation, if it wasn't for the next exchange:

[Blitzø]: What is it?!

[Stolas]: I've been meaning to follow-up on our last little conversation regarding my grimoire.

[Blitzø]: What did you just call me?!

[Stolas]: My book, Blitzy. The book I was given to do my job. That I've allowed you to use to do yours.

*gunshot*

[Blitzø]: Shit!

[Stolas]: Anyhoo, I have been thinking... You know I've been permitting you to access the mortal realm less than legally for some time now? But I do need it back to fulfill my duties. I was thinking; what if we worked out some kind of an exchange? Favors for favors... Doesn't that sound...

*gunshot*

[Stolas]: ...enticing?

[Blitzø]: You gotta stop using your fancy-ass rich people talk, okay? I am trying to concentrate to not getting FUCKED IN MY A *gunshot*

I will omit the rest, as it won't add much to the point (if you've seen the show, you know the conversation doesn't stop here), but you can draw some conclusions from the dynamic:

Stolas sees Blitzø in projection. Gunshots do not give any chance for the wrong interpretation. He knows imp is getting chased.

Stolas takes his time to get to the point, speaks slowly, as if playing with Blitzø, with his life even, and he enjoys that. He knows Blitzø can't turn him down as imp is on a hook.

Blitzø is clear that he would like to pass on the call for the better time, but Stolas keeps him on the line. Blitzø is clear that Stolas needs to get to the point because he is about to get killed, and Stolas, although does that, is still slow in speech, playful, and demeaning towards him.

Overall, Stolas does not care about Blitzø being safe at the beginning of the series. You can also get from that convo that he crosses boundaries without guilt, and if he was able to jeopardise life of his potential lover, it's not surprise at all that he is demeaning, creepy with overly sexual talks at inappropriate times, and does not take Blitzø's offence as something to care about (I don't think Blitzø was called by his name properly at least once in the 1st season, but I have to check), as shown in later episodes. Stolas is abusing power and knows he will get away with it, because Blitzø has nowhere to go and has to put with it.

Western Energy

[Blitzø]: It's really not a good time, buddy...

[Stolas]: I'm sorry it's a bad time yet again, Blitzy, but, um...

[Stolas]: I seem to have found myself in a bit of a sitch.

You see the parallel, right? Right?!

I'm sorry it's a bad time yet again, Blitzy.

The first time we heard that, he wasn't sorry. He was dismissive.

Mm, when isn't it a bad time, Blitzy?

And the situation... Stolas is literally getting kidnapped, and finds time to ask an apology for calling at wrong time. *Again*.

Let's look at another piece of conversation:

[Moxxie]: That's Striker, sir!

[Blitzø]: Oh, for fuck's sake! Can't you just get away? Aren't you powerful?

[Stolas]: I believe he has me bound with blessed rope, which limits my ability to free myself I'm afraid. So I think you should come save me.

[Blitzø]: Oh, shit, Stolas, I can't today, alright? I'm sorry. I-I'm literally on my way to take Loona in for her very important Hellbies S.H.O.T. It takes years to book an appointment at that place, it took me five to get this one... and she's doing a lot of field work, so you know, she needs it...

[Stolas]: Oh, ha-ha, well, I do agree that is very important... but I-

We know the rest. The phone is taken away by Striker, and the conversation is interruped. We also know that Stolas gets a sudden realisation that he is in danger, which gives a hint that before he didn't recognise the situation quite as serious.

You see the shift that happened?

Stolas apologises for taking Blitzø's time, despite being in imminent danger. He went from total dismissive to total apologetic and even evasive.

Stolas takes into account Blitzø's reasons, and admits their importance.

This time Blitzø is the one who talks more, but he is on point the whole time and generally sounds uneasy, understanding that this time this is, despite being the bad time, very important. As we know, after the conversation he rushes in, before agreeing with Moxxie and Millie for them to go instead.

And why is so?

I find it very interesting that the similar phrase was used in so different contexts. In the comparison, the power dynamic simply has flipped.

Stolas was the one who needed attention, and Blitzø was the one who was asked for help.

The first time around, Stolas needed attention as well, but his matter was so diminutive and Blitzø's problems at the moment were so serious, it was simply disrecpectful, to say the least.

The second time, his request is to literally save his life, and he apologises, puts Blitzø's interest higher than his. He now feels like he is a burden, a nuisance in Blitzø's life, not wanting to disturb him at all. The connection that holds them became so fragile, because Stolas realises he has nothing to offer besides power, and from that sole conversation it becomes clear that he now avoids using it against imp even on the verge of being hurt.

Stolas's attitude shifted from dominant to apologetic, he went from assertive to frightened, and, as Blitzø's importance in his life grew, so grew Stolas, giving us hope for his redemption, but also showing how insecure he really was all the time.

So much for the regal title and eldritch powers, if you can't hold onto a meaningful relationship with the one you care for.

#I need to learn how to make gifs lol #stolitz #stolas goetia #blitzø #helluva boss #stolas x blitz

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barefoothighlander · 2 years ago

Text

absolution - sunlight

-simon 'ghost' riley x wife!reader

-warnings: canon typical violence, mdni (18+), receiving (f+m), mentions of kidnapping, some fluff, a smidge of jealous!ghost, praise, me not knowing military lingo, very bad scottish accent writing

-word count: 3.5k

-summary: you wake the morning before deployment, savouring the last moments you and simon get to be husband and wife before briefly meeting the 141 and shipping off.

prev chapter fic masterlist next chapter

a/n: alright, first attempt at writing smut, we'll get into some action and angst soon but I wanted to set a background. Also, Soap feature cause he's pookie, I don't know a lot about military positions or stuff like that so apologies if anything is wrong, anyways just wanted to get through some boring stuff before all the action cause I love some good angst. This isn't proofread so sorry for any grammatical errors. :)

The morning air was cool, a stark contrast to the excessive warmth omitted from Simon sleeping next to you, it was rare, you waking up before him, you could count on one hand the number of times it had happened during your relationship. You savoured the fleeting moment, allowing yourself to see him in the new light, Simon always nagged you about leaving the windows open all night as it could be dangerous, but you loved the sound of the birds in the morning, the smell of the dewy spring air as a light layer of mist settled over the streets of Manchester. You loved the flat you and Simon shared, it was small but comfortable. You had taken it upon yourself to decorate it considering if you let Simon do it, the space would be fairly empty aside from a few scattered novels and various militia-inspired decor.

Softly rousing from his sleep, Simon peered over at you with heavy eyelids and tugged you firmly into him, relishing in the way your light breaths felt against his bare neck. Pulling one arm to hold your back while the other caressed gently at your scalp.

“mornin'” he grumbled, as you felt the deep rumble from his voice resonating in your own chest.

“Good morning love” you responded while pecking light kisses over his chest.

Simon responds to your actions with a deep sigh, immediately feeling his shoulders loosen, readjusting himself to grant you more access to his body.

You push yourself up more to plant a kiss on his lips, “haven’t brushed by teeth yet hun” he says as his hand comes up to cup your jaw. “Don’t care” you say as a smirk creeps up on your lips.

Running your hands down his chest, you paw and press against the bare skin you haven’t been able to touch for months. Giving him one last deep kiss before pressing his raised shoulder into the mattress and lowering yourself down his body.

You leave a trail of light kisses over his abdomen, down to his navel and around his hips, feeling Simon's hand fall to the back of your head as he relaxes into the pillows behind him.

“Missed you” you whisper as you glance at him through your lashes, in return, he grants you a satisfied hum. You begin to pull his sweatpants from his hips, eyes never leaving his, as you continue to pepper kisses down his thighs, stopping only to lightly bite at the skin, feeling him grow harder from your efforts.

You passed over his cock, ghosting over it with your warm breath. “Stop teasing”.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you say with a glance up “Just taking my time is all”. He gives you a light hmp, and you reach your hand to palm over his hardening length, loving the way his body responds to even the lightest of your touches.

Simon would never tell you, but he secretly loved when you toyed with him, and took your time. Sure he enjoyed a quickie from time to time, but given the line of work you two were in it was rare to have extended moments of tenderness, and most of the time when one of you came home you couldn’t wait to rip each others clothes off, but he loved watching you, feeling you, being able to savour your touch and the way you smell. Mostly he loved how must you enjoyed touching him.

Flattening your tongue, licking a strip from the base of his cock to the tip you felt him shudder, bringing your thumb to rest against the head of his length, collecting the precum that had formed and smearing it over his tip, before gazing up at him and gently sucking the fluid from your thumb.

“Such a minx” as his hand came to cup your cheek, leaning into his touch to grasp his length in your hand, watching as his head fell back against the pillows. Feeling satisfied with the granted reaction from just the smallest of movements, you pull your neck down and pop his tip into your mouth, fisting at his length. You start slow, teasing your tongue around the head before hollowing your cheeks and slowly taking in more.

Simon was by no means small, his length well-exceeding anyone you had been with before, but it was a welcome discomfort as you pushed yourself further down his length using your hand to cover what you couldn’t fit. Peering down at you, you lock eyes with him and start bobbing up and down as saliva begins to pool at the sides of your mouth, dripping down his length into your hand, allowing you more lubrication as you pump your fist up and down his cock.

A string of curse words akin to fuck - shit - doing so good - fuck leave his mouth as you quicken your pace, stopping briefly to pull one of his balls into your mouth while your hand continues fisting up and down his cock. Pulling back up to wrap your lips around his length, you look up at him and slightly nod your head, giving him the okay to move his hips as he pleased. His hand grew tighter in your hair and he began helping you bob up and down on his length, grabbing a fistful of it to push you further onto his cock, feeling his pubic hair graze the tip of your nose and he buried his length down your throat, holding you there.

“Fuck - you feel so good lovie”

The praise was all you needed to keep going, trying to remember to breathe through your nose. He pulls you off him with a pop and brings his other hand to grasp at his length, tapping it and running it over your spit-soaked lips, you open your mouth to take him in once again and start sucking, and pumping your fist faster, feeling his lower muscles constrict as you brought him closer to the edge. Bringing your free hand up to feel over his chest, raking patterns with your nails over the firm muscles.

You move to suck firmly at his tip and feel his hand come to grasp at the back of your head, pushing you down his length, as you oblige you feel his cock begin to pulse as he buries the tip of it in the back of your throat and begins shooting hot ropes of cum down it, gladly swallowing every drop he gave you. Feeling him empty you slowly remove yourself with a light lick up his length, settling yourself back against his frame as he tugs you closer.

“Missed you too pet” is all he says as he feels his breathing level out, leaning down to press a firm kiss to your lips. He shifts down to grab at your curves, molding your body into his as he pushes his tongue past your lips. You try to find the strength to release yourself from him as he continues grabbing handfuls of your ass.

You shake your head “not me, just wanted to make you feel good” you say as you move your head back. He groans silently begging you to let him taste you, but you stand firm. As much as you loved the idea of seeing your husband between your thighs, chin glistening with your slick, you had to pack and get ready to meet on base. With a final kiss you pull yourself up from the bed, struggling against the iron grip Simon had on your waist.

Laying defeated in the bed, Simon couldn’t help but smile as he watched the way your body moved across the room, eyeing your bare legs up to your shoulders where his shirt hung loosely over your breasts, god he loved it when you wore his clothes. As you make your way into the bathroom to start the shower, you start to feel a sense of anxiety, nervousness. It had been years since you and Simon had worked together in the field, and months since your last deployment, you had stayed in relatively good shape, but you feared that your skills may not be to the same standard that they were when you were on active duty.

Pushing the anxiety aside, you stepped into the shower, allowing the warm water to wash away any tenseness in your muscles, trying to clear your mind and prepare for whatever may come. Turning your body you see Simon, leaned against the doorway, staring.

“See something you like?” you ask with a raise of your eyebrow.

Within seconds Simons grin had turned into a devlisish smirk, crossing the space and stepping in next to you in the shower. “Why have you always got this thing on scorching temperatures” he asked as he let the water wash over his broad chest, facing you.

“It is not that hot, you’re just being a baby” you respond, splashing him.

Simon clicks his tongue, “one day i’ll have to punish you for calling me names” he says as he leans down to place a kiss to your lips, travelling down to your neck and collarbones.

“Mm maybe i’d like that” you say between shallow gasps.

Sucking a bruise at the top of your breast, you feel him travel lower, placing a kiss wherever his lips can reach. You trail your hands through his hair as he grabs at one of hips to steady you, lifting your leg and draping it over his shoulder.

“This got long” you try to say whilst playing with his hair, but it comes out as almost a whisper. He simply hums in agreement, placing a soft kiss to the top of your clit, as you elicite a moan. Moving further down he licks a firm strip from the bottom of your cunt to the top, sucking firmly at your sensative clit. You feel you head fall back, making contact with the tile wall as he continues to suck and lick at your cunt.

Relishing in the soft moans and sighs that fall from your lips, he brings his finger up and slowly begins pumping it in and out of you, bending to hit just the right angle that has you seeing stars. Feeling your legs get weaker, his hand on your hip grasps more firmly, holding you upright for him. He continues his assault, inserting a second finger and you forget how to form words.

“Taste so good lovie, fuck - been thinking about this cunt everyday i’ve been gone”

You moan in response to him, feeling that familiar ball begin to form in your lower stomach, he continues pumping his fingers into you, grazing that spot that has you inching closer and closer to the edge, while he positions himself to suck on your clit, teasing it with his tongue.

“Fuck si - so good - gonna cum”

You manage in between moans.

“ s’alright baby, cum on my fingers - that’s it - such a good girl”

His praise was all it took to send you over the edge, clamping down on his fingers while he continued to finger you through your high, whispering praises of how good you looked and how perfect you are. Finally coming down from your high Simon releases you from your grip, keeping his hand on your waist to keep you upright, placing a kiss to your lips, you taste the remnants of your orgasm before the shower washes it away, as Simon grabs the shampoo bottle, dispensing some of the liquid into his hands and begins to work it through your hair.

Turning the shower off and stepping out into a towel, you begin collecting the necessary toiletries needed for your deployment, nothing too large, only the necessities that could fit into the small bathrooms given to lieutenents .

Moving about the flat as usual, packing your bags, it had become second nature for you at some point. Simon never fully unpacked, he kept clothes in his bag, keeping his weapons locked away for safety, but keeping a glock beside the bed in case of emergency. After the two of you had eaten and cleaned up breakfast, you quickly gathered your bags, tidying up the flat so it was at least clean when you eventually came back. You packed into your separate cars, giving each other one final kiss as husband and wife, knowing that once you left the security of your apartment, your relationship was not to be flaunted, it was no longer Simon and you, it was the Ghost and Strider.

Arriving at base was strange, you rarely worked outside the walls of the gym, and your office, for Simon, it was like a second home, spending more time there preparing for ops than he spent at your actual home. He arrived first, walking in to one of the meeting rooms to join the rest of the 141. Sitting down alongside Soap and Gaz, while the others scattered throughout the room, and Price sat at the head of the table. You found your place a few minutes later, quietly entering and propping yourself up against a far wall.

“Gentlemen” Price addressed the team, “the enemy has taken a government operative hostage in an attempt to create a ceasefire within the confines of the country. We know they have nuclear weapons, and we have been issued execute authority for anyone who stands in the way. I can’t tell you much about the target other than they will be referred to by the codename Excalibur. In efforts to make a peaceful reclaiming of the hostage without the detonation of enemy weapons, I’ve asked the Sargeant to join us.”

“Code name Strider, a sniper for the SAS and reconnaissance specialist, also one of the few of you that can actually speak the language of the enemy”

The men all turn to you, previously ignorant of your presence. Returning back to share glances and think to themselves.

“That’s all I can tell you for now, location is Panama, we deploy at 0600 hours. Get some rest and ready yourselves. Dismissed” Price finishes, and the men gather their filed from the table and begin to exit the room.

Soap watches as you leave, turning his attention quickly to the masked figure passing his side.

“Hey LT, whaddua think?”

“About what Sargeant”

“The lass, I reckon she’ll bring some good morale” Soap says with a wink.

Ghost stops in his tracks, forcing Soap to backpeddle a little. “Shes not here for you to get your rocks off Johnny, she’s just here to help that’s all you git” Ghost tries his best to hide his anger, thanking whatever Gods that Soap couldn’t see how red his face had gotten under the mask.

“Alright, alright, plenty of other options LT” Soap says and turns on his heel to leave.

Ghost quietly makes his way to your quarters, knocking once before entering.

“You shouldn’t be here” You say

“Why?”

“Because we’ve been here what? An hour? People are going to get suspicious if the elusive Ghost suddenly appears in the new members quarters”

“Everyones rooms are on the other side of base, they won’t know anything. - Johnny’s sweet on you” Ghost says through clenched teeth.

“Who Soap? He was just asking watching, plain curiosity.”

“He wants to fuck you” He says as he rests against the desk in your room, arms folded over his chest.

You cross the room, abandoning you task of organising your equipment. “You’re jealous, they’re just being guys, most of them probably haven’t seen a women in months.”

“Doesn’t matter”

“Si-” you whisper as you move your hands to place them under the hem of his balaclava, only pulling it up to reveal his lips and chin. “Just because we can’t openly be with eachother doesn’t mean anyone is going to get close to me like that”

He reaches to pull you closer, locking his hands around your waist.

“Just.. don’t play into his delusions, please. I don’t want to do the paperwork that comes with breaking a team members nose”

“S’that all you’d break? Im surprised”

“I’d start with the nose, see what else happens”

You giggle and push yourself up on to your toes, placing a kiss to his lips. “We’ll be okay Si, I can handle the guys, you don’t have to worry.”

“You’re all mine?” He asks chasing your lips for a kiss.

“All yours” you say pulling him in for a final deep kiss.

You spent the rest of the evening moving around your room and the base, becoming familiar with your new gear, and grabbing dinner from the mess hall. By seven, most of the team were back in their rooms, getting prepared and resting before the op. At 7:08 you stepped out of the shower to the sight of Simon sitting in your bed.

“Seriously, you’re going to get us caught” you say as you make your way to grab clothes to sleep in.

“Everyones in their rooms, no ones going to knock on your door, and everyones too afraid to knock on mine. We can stay the night together at least”

You pretend to reason with him in your mind, but you knew this may be the last time you slept next to your husband for months, so you decide to give in, struggling to fit yourself next to his massive frame in the tiny standard issue bed. He made as much room as he can, eventually you two settle on spooning, one arm tucked under your head, the other resting over your stomach as he draws lazy patterns onto your skin. You reach up and take his hand in yours, kissing the back of it before tucking it under your chin.

“I’m gonna miss sleeping next to you”

“Never get a good sleep when you aren’t there” he says, you can feel his warm breath ghost over the nape of your neck. As you smile to yourself, suddenly all the excitement of the day catching up to you, as you quickly doze off to sleep, entrapped by Simons arms.

Your alarm goes off at 5:15 am, blinking yourself awake, the room was dark but the beginnings of the sun drenched the room in a soft blue light, looking over Simon was already awake.

You smile as you place a tender kiss to his lips, “when did you wake up?”

“Didn’t sleep” he says as his hand falls to rub his thumb over your bare thigh.

“Aren’t you gonna be tired later?” you knew the answer, rarely did Simon ever truly tire, and even more rarely did he sleep. You swore the man could go a week straight without a wink of sleep and still function better than anyone you knew.

“I’ll live” is all he says sitting up to stretch his back and envelop you into a tight hug, pressing his chin into the curve of your shoulder.

“You should probably sneak back to your room, might get suspicious if someone sees us both leave here” your hands move up and down his back softly pressing into the skin.

“In a minute”

He kept you in his grip for another 5 minutes, refusing to move, praying to all the Gods everywhere that this mission would go well, you two would be home soon, laying in bed together, unharmed. Simon finally moved off the bed and you immediately felt the loss of warmth. Watching him as he moved to the table where he left his mask, pulling it over his head alongside his clothes, granting you one last look at him before he left and the Ghost took over. Your door shut and you heard his footsteps grow quieter, willing yourself up to tame your hair in a way that would keep it out of your face, pulling on your gear and fixing your vest. With one last look in the mirror, you remembered the dog tags. Simon had given you an old pair of dog tags months ago, just to have. You grabbed one of the tags and fixed it to a separate chain on your neck, alongside your wedding band, tucking both into your shirt, out of sight, you left the room and made your way to the helicopter, eager to leave, but nervous to face what awaited you on the mission.

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pikmininaplane · 1 year ago

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Ok so I waited before posting this because I was hoping for Antoine to write more but it's like 5:30am here and he and Pomme have been losing their minds on his shit towers' roof for the past 2 hours so uh. I don't think he will write anything else today

BUT

Antoine has been getting more into the lore and, following others' footsteps before him, has made a secret room underneath his towers for him to write recaps about the lore and other people in !

It looks like this, and so far the only people in it are Maximus, Baghera, Forever, BBH, Etoiles, Foolish, Aypierre and Mike (the latter two are on the walls to his left and right), but he thinks he'll add some more people once he's gotten to know them

Though the hidden hallway leading to the room could theoretically be accessed by anyone who finds it, the room itself is fully reinforced and the only people that can access it are Pomme and himself ! He doesn't even trust the other French with it and its content, and even left the room when he got raided by Etoiles, but he did make it somewhat visible to outsiders, y'know, to add to the drama.

Also he's begun writing Forever's book !

[FOREVER

Probably the one person on the island that’s most interested in becoming president. Really invested in the island’s lore, though he doesn’t say everything and omits some information. Close to BBH and Baghera. All three of them]

[were acting very weird, though it’s been fading since the beginning of the elections (keeping information, secret meetings). He seems to stray from BBH and Baghera’s line of thought. Wants to be president, but is one of the people who claim they’re « not really interested]

[ in being elected ». His relationship with Cellbit is kind of weird and nebulous. Is building a « safe space » near the favelas, I think it’s mostly in his own interest. People can meet up anywhere, why would they only do it in a place prepared by Forever himself ?]

+ he began writing a fourth page but he's been interrupted in the middle of it

So uh. Congrats on your QSMP fever Antoine, hope you enjoy your stay ✨

#really interested in what he's going to write about Maximus tbh #especially since he's been claiming he fully trusts him and he's the only person in the room who's not a candidate in the elections #qsmp #qsmp antoine #antoine daniel #q!antoine #qsmp forever #foreverplayer #q!forever #qsmp lore #lb originals

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scarareg · 4 months ago

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Ok I forgot all about the canon sapphic characters they're erasing to make Rhaenyra cool who are they and why am I not kissing them as we speak

Of course Anon, thanks for asking! Here are who they took from us:

-Laena Velaryon

After Viserys decided to marry Alicent over her, her parents were angry but Laena could not care less , and it is said that "Her ladyship shows far more interest in flying than in boys".

People also noted that Rhaenyra and Laena became fond and "more than fond" of each other, and because Dragonstone and Driftmark were so close, Laena and Daemon visited Rhae often, and Rhae did the same and they flew together. They are the ones who decided the engagements of Jace and Baela and Luke and Rhaena; and when Laena was going to give birth to her new baby, Rhae was there during the birth that ended in tragedy.

-Alysanne Blackwood ,aka Black Aly, the myth, the legend, was a badass hunter and archer.

In the Battle of the Burning Mill, Ser Amos Bracken killed Lord Samwell Blackwood (her brother), so she took action and immediately slayed Ser Amos with a weirwood arrow. This should have happened in HOTD S2 Episode 3, but they didn't adapt it for some reason

She is Benjicot Blackwood's aunt and was his advisor. She also commanded 300 archers.

She shared tend with Sabitha Frey, and rumors say they were dating

-Sabitha Frey, Lady of the Twins, widow of Lord Forrest Frey, the head of House Frey, and mother of his child, but it is said that she always preferred women over men. Mushroom described her as a: "sharp-featured, sharp-tongued harridan of House Vypren, who would sooner ride than dance, wore mail instead of silk, and was fond of killing men and kissing women"

-Jeyne Arryn

Lady of the Eyrie, head of House Arryn.

Her cousin Ser Arnold Arryn tried to take her position twice because he claimed women were too soft to rule. He failed and she imprisoned him and disinherited him and his family line.

After Daemon killed his first wife, Rhea Royce, he wanted to claim Runestone for himself. Lady Jeyne passed it to Lady Rhea's nephew. Daemon went to her to complain, but Lady Jeyne put him in his place, told him he was unwelcomed in the Vale, and told him to leave at once.

When she joined Rhaenyra side, she said the quote: "In this world of men, we women must band together". This should have happened at the beginning of S2, when Jace should have gone to her to ask for her alliance, before going to the North with the Starks. Obviously all of this was omitted in the show.

It is said Jessamyn Redfort and her were dating

-Jessamyn Redfort stayed by Lady Jeyne's side throughout her life. She is said to have been Lady Jeyne's "great companion". It's giving "Historians will say they were good friends"

#Anon Ask #House Of The Dragon #HOTD #Laena Velaryon #Alysanne Blackwood #Sabitha Frey #Jeyne Arryn #Jessamyn Redfort #House Blackwood #HOTD Critical #HOTD S2 #HOTD Season 2

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soullessdianthus · 1 year ago

Text

𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐘

Summary: Reader's everyday life had been turned upside down since she had been recruited to Ghost's team. As a young, but prominent soldier she had to face many obstacles, but there was one in particular that made her blood boil ━ Commander Phillip Graves of Shadow Company. Little did she knew, that the blonde man with angelic was face going to make her suffer and bleed, wishing for the embrace of Death to swallow her whole. Y/C ━ your callsign Also posted on my ao3 ⟶ 𝕏

A/N: Basically, a whump where Graves is torturing the Reader after trying to frame her for a federal crime. Then Ghost finds out. Dark themes ahead.

Warnings: graves, canon typical violence (blood, guns, implied sexual harrasment), gore (desc. of tortures), angst, some sprinkles of comfort at the end

Word count: 7.6k

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐄

For as long as you could remember, the commander of Shadow Company made you feel uneasy. At first, you couldn’t precisely determine what was wrong – with him or you. There was this strange feeling, an odd hunch regarding Phillip Graves. Thank God, you didn’t work for him.

The whole collaboration thing that General Shepherd had with them was bizarre. A private military company? As far as you knew, they were called mercenaries, not some elitist soldier group. Their commander was oddly loyal to the general, it almost seemed like their bonds were far more complicated than a paycheck.

Soon enough you realized he was his executioner, a war criminal literally.

But your colleagues kept chastising you for making such hideous assumptions about higher ranks. You rather quickly learned not to share too much of your personal opinion with the other cadets.

Thereby, your voice of reason and concerns were sealed within your own mind, left to take roots. Particularly when you sat on your own on the side of the training grounds just after lunch break. Your gaze was focused on the fellow soldiers battling with the obstacle course, although your thoughts kept spinning in a never ending cycle – analyzing the latest mission, what happened step by step, what went wrong, what you had done poorly.

That was your key to survival – repeating the excellently executed tasks and never letting yourself slip up. Because there won’t be a second chance.

Some may say that you were an overthinker. That such shredding of each event into smaller pieces might mess up with your brain or worse �� sanity.

But who the fuck cared about your sanity in a military? All of them had their hands tainted with blood, all of you had done some things that a perfectly ordinary person would find atrocious.

And sometimes you were ashamed of that. There was a time, at the beginning of your service where you couldn’t face your God at all. The evening prayers ceased, as the shame pooling in you forbade you from reciting the lines.

In spite of that, what wise people used to say that “time heals wounds” became your truth. You reconciled that death would be following you no matter where you would go. And each day, over and over you tried to omit feeding her greedy pit of a stomach.

Until you met Graves – in many ways he resembled your friend reaper. But he was far from being a friend. Mowing the fields of living, leaving corpses behind – “claw one’s way” was his motto. But there was a charming shell of a man that many seemed to fall for.

A soft, rounded face covered with shallow frowns and not so many scars. Short, yellow hair kept impeccably brushed to the side, beard usually trimmed or shaved. And those piercing eyes of his. Phillip’s glance balanced on the edge of calmness and hatred. Only thanks to his brows could you tell the difference.

Some of your colleagues from the cadet group stalked behind you into the shower room as soon as you returned from the latest mission, still drenched in sweat and the scent of war. Pestering, but not about you of course.

Since you passed all of the tests, you were amongst the few lucky ones that got introduced to the lieutenant's team. It wasn’t just any ordinary lieutenant, it was Ghost. Infamous man who wore a skull mask. Belonging to his division felt like joining some exclusive special forces. Which, in a way, was true.

But at the end of the day, you were just a private. You have heard from your current superiors that you might have the potential to make it to sergeant in the next few years. Only if you stay alive, that is. So therefore it became your priority.

Another week began, but you stopped counting days in the calendar. Every morning when you woke up, you checked the temperature and the schedule for the day. The decision of not tracing the days of the week seemed more… soothing. You were not counting the days until your demise, so what was the point of knowing if it was the third or fourth of the month?

Within the short period of time you have spent in the army you learned that time is the most precious thing in the world. The minutes, the seconds of you breathing in and out, devouring the essence of living.

Time was fleeting and you were ready to do everything, not to let it slip away.

𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐈

As the new week started, a new mission was approaching. All you knew was where to report, in what type of gear with what kind of weapon. You were just a private after all. So when you happened to find yourself, sitting on the bench amongst the fellow soldiers, his raspy voice echoed like war drums. The thuds of Ghost’s steps synchronized with the beating of your heart and the loud sways of helo’s propellers.

There it was – the adrenaline. The sweet hormone that kept you going.

Tonight’s objective was crystal clear – ambush, then break in the building and search through it, looking for a man called Barnet. He was a federal agent, yet allegedly he was involved with illegal weapons dealing in and beyond the country’s borders. Now, he hired some mercenaries to protect his ass. Your group, with the help of Shadows, was supposed to capture that man alive for further investigation.

After another happy landing, you abandoned the helo and walked toward the gathering point where some Shadows were already standing. To your misfortune, Phillip was standing beside them.

And until your last step, you tried to manifest that he wouldn’t notice you this time. Well, the universe wasn’t too indulgent for you lately.

━ There she is!

“Oh, fuck me, everything but not him again”, you thought to yourself, making your way to the rest of the group. Your fingers clenched tightly over the M4 rifle you were carrying.

━ Commander.

You tried to keep a professional facade, referring to him with his rank. There was no time for a small talk as the clock was ticking.

━ It have been a while, wasn’t it? ━ Graves turned his body towards you, causing a dozen of eyes landing over your frame. Somehow, the tactical vest and your equipment began weighing on under their curious looks. The lieutenant’s was the heaviest of them. ━ Let me tell you something, doll. I’ve never thought I’d meet someone colder than Ghost here. Are you always like this, huh?

━ I’m not cold. Just focused on my job, sir.

He kept drilling a hole into your soul by looking a little too long to your liking with his blue eyes. They were the color of the ocean, of the sea you missed so much. God, how long was it since you last let the waves splash over your ankles?

━ That’s appreciated, soldier.

Only then he returned to evaluating the situation with Ghost. In a matter of seconds you were supposed to enter the battlefield. Therefore you had to get your act together.

Breath in and breathe out. Try to focus on the commands, but count the prime numbers in your head at the same time. The simple mathematics helped you in distress. At least the technique helped with your panic attacks through the years prior.

Within the next twenty minutes you found yourself with one of your teammates, callsign Omen, on their way, clearing out the second floor, left wing of the building. Since he was physically bigger than his partner, it was you who was going first. In case of need, you would quickly disappear behind the corner – you weren’t as easy to spot as he was.

The building itself seemed to resemble a school or some sort of city council – the countless hallways and rooms made it an ideal layout for a shoutout with the enemy. Apparently, from what the two of you heard through the radio, Ghost was right after the target. It meant the mission was about to end.

Mrs. Laswell was right, calling it an “in and out” type of operation. All that was left to do was to keep your position until your lieutenant captured the objective.

Because there was no sign of the opponent’s forces nearby, you and Omen split to sweep through the rooms departing from the long hallway. Perhaps, hiding some mercenaries?

You found yourself standing in front of the locked doors. Your heart slowed down by now, your body wanting to refuse to stay in combat mode. With a few firm kicks, you broke down the blocked doors to find yourself facing… an office or an archive.

The room had no windows and it was almost dark inside, the light from the hallway illuminating the interior. An uneasy sensation creeping up your spine. Plans and stacks of files laying on the table’s surface, pulling you closer. Hanging board, closed laptop still plugged in and a pot of recently brewed coffee.

In that moment, as you stepped inside the room, you sealed your fate. Your curiosity became your doom, but you didn’t know that yet.

As your gaze wandered through some handwritten notes on the board, you heard a clunking sound of a metal bin rolling next to you on the ground. For some time you couldn’t register what exactly happened.

Suddenly you began to run through the hallway, before “the bin” exploded. The recoil of the grenade made you stumble forward until your knees and fists hit the concrete ground.

For a moment there was silence. Blissful silence.

Then the muffled thuds of someone’s steps blended with the squeaking noise ringing in your both ears. The fear pooled in your stomach, causing you to gasp for fresh air. You only noticed their presence as you saw the tip of their shoes right in your face.

The vision in front of your eyes was blurry, the image shaking uncontrollably. It felt almost like you were drunk, but you were clearly not. You were very much sober.

The tight straps of your helmet dug into your head and temple like they were squeezing your brain out. The helmet weighed down on your poor head, so you tried to take it off – fingers awkwardly struggling with the straps.

The person standing in front of you grabbed you by your arm and helped you get on your feet. Then another set of arms wrapped around your back, but this touch was different – you knew this one belonged to Omen. A colleague, a friend.

Your heart was swaddled with warmth for a minute, until the other person decided to open their big mouth.

━ Come on, doll, we’re leaving. ━ A familiar, southern accent almost made your blood boil.

If God was real, he was clearly turning your life into a comedic spectacle of misery. Of all the possibilities it had to be him.

━ Can you walk? ━ Omen asked and it was the first thing you registered correctly. The buzzing noise finally freed your eardrums, now leaking with blood. You nodded, but his hand was still belaying behind you. ━ What was that?

━ Some pre-installed grenade, I think.

“Or someone rolled it beneath my feet”, you thought about that being a possibility too. You always considered other scenarios. It wasn’t your first encounter with an explosive, you knew the pre-installed ones usually weren’t rolling down the ground and you hadn’t nudged any cord.

Besides, how come the Shadows and Graves suddenly happened to be there?

Maybe your friends were right and you have already lost your sanity. Perhaps you went absolutely crazy, but that madness made you want to place together the sequence of events. You needed to understand what happened, because something was off.

And there he was, walking on your right – Commander Graves, the reaper. It seemed that him and his Shadows were escorting the two of you to the gathering point as you were still numb after the explosion. He walked with his chin high, eyes sparkling with confidence after a successful mission. The aura that surrounded him made you feel like a prisoner of a warhound.

Why?

Everything following “your salvation” blended together into one mush. Omen was a good friend of yours and he made sure you were not seriously injured. Only when the two of you sat on the bench inside the helo, you told him the whole truth.

━ There was something in that room. Something important. Papers.

━ And they secured the evidence by destroying it with that grenade? ━ He was quick to follow your pattern of thinking, but it still wasn’t enough. You had a feeling it wasn’t as simple as it seemed.

At the end of the day, Barnet got arrested and by this time he should be escorted by the Shadow Company to the FBI associated facility, meanwhile Ghost’s team was on their way back to the base. Everything from now on should have felt steady.

But it didn’t.

━ Wounded? ━ Lieutenant interrupted the conversations that were being held between the teammates.

━ Survivor of grenade here, sir. ━ Omen pointed at your bloodied earlobes, the dried liquid staining your neck. As the tall Britishman approached, you sent your colleague a death stare – you didn’t need his attention like this. You were alive, therefore no one should worry.

━ Can you hear? ━ Ghost leaned over his knees to reach your level, his dark irises looking over you to search for far more serious wounds. You nodded after making sure your hearing was intact. ━ Then you’ll be fine, Y/C.

He patted your shoulder before turning around to take his own seat. How lovely of him, a very worried superior he was.

During your way back to the base, you tried to calm your own thoughts. There was a need to stop them from crushing over you, your head still hurt like hell. For the first time in a good while, the thoughts felt overwhelming rather than helpful. You tried to brush them off, but it was unsuccessful.

You really needed to lay down and rest. A cup of tea would be lovely.

When the helo landed on the grounds of the British Army’s facilities and everyone slowly was walking away to take a shower and rest, you stayed behind going at your own pace.

And so did Ghost. A lone wolf.

━ Sir? ━ The masked man hummed, joining you on a walk to the barracks. ━ Would you find some time for me tomorrow? I really need to talk to you about the operation and the explosion.

━ It’s related?

━ I think so, yes, sir.

━ You think? Are you sure, you’re not wastin’ my time, Y/C?

It took a moment for you to reply, but now you were entirely sure. Your gut feeling never failed you before.

━ I would never waste time of a lieutenant, sir. I’m sure about that. ━ You tried to conceal the smirk twisting corners of your lips, but it became almost impossible with Ghost’s stupid questions. So you played along.

━ Alright, we’ll figure somethin’ out. Now, take a good rest and watch that head of yours, private. Don’t lose it.

Ghost could be funny sometimes, if you got to know him a little better. And of course, if he didn’t eat you earlier on – he could be an incarnation of a Behemoth himself sometimes. Even you were afraid of him at first, but that fear grew into a familiarity.

Little did you know that you were being watched by a shadow as you spoke with your superior. The all-seeing gaze already began consuming your poor, oblivious soul. You already were a victim of his mischievous plan.

Yet, you still had a chance for an absolution.

𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐈𝐈

A warm shower, good sleep and a few pills of paracetamol was all you needed to regain most of your strength after the latest mission. Despite a new day beginning, sun hovering over the horizon, your head or rather thoughts were coming back to the events of last night. Nervously picking up the cuticles and pinching your own skin, trying to let go of that obsession.

Yes, obsession. It became pathetically weird at this point, you had no physical evidence to show your superior. Perhaps, you were just overreacting or your mind got to the breaking point?

None of that. You shook your head to the sides, brushing the fragility and doubts away.

You were not weak, if you happened to be in his team. Ghost’s team. You were observant, noticing the smallest details – the superiors commented, after the successful recruitment to special forces.

A voice of reason led you to the women’s bathroom and straight to the sinks. At this time of the day, the facility was empty, so you enjoyed the silence and loneliness. You turned on the tap, before splashing your face with cold water.

“Breathe in and out, soldier”, you instructed yourself.

As you calmed down a little, you dried off your face with paper towels. Soon after, you found yourself on the way to Ghost’s office. While you were walking down the hallway, you noticed the presence of Shadows. They were still sticking around. Just, you didn’t know why and probably won’t even know – you were only a private after all.

So to ease your curiosity, you decided to believe they were here for another collaboration. You shouldn’t be so nosy – that’s what your mother used to tell you, when she caught you eavesdropping on a conversation you were not supposed to hear.

━ Good morning, sunshine!

Graves suddenly placed his palm onto your shoulder, causing you to flinch. Fuck, you almost never flinched. Its weight felt abnormally heavy on your body, just like he was pulling you down hills with him – back to the gates of hell.

━ Jesus Christ ━ you murmured quietly, barely audible. Your eyes shooting up to him, smiling like an idiot ━ are you scaring everyone like this?

━ Not particularly, no ━ Phillip grinned, exposing his pearly white teeth. ━ Would you mind going for a walk with me, soldier? There is… a matter we have to discuss.

━ To be honest, I was on the way to my lieutenant’s office.

━ Why?

When he asked you this simple, one-worded question, you knew Graves was playing a sort of game with you – trying to squeeze as much information out of you, before you realized. But you were far from naive, you were an equal player in the game of shadows.

There were no obligations towards the commander, he wasn’t a part of the army. So therefore, you decided to bluntly lie.

━ I don’t know, he called me in this morning.

━ Bet he can wait a lil’ longer. Come on, I’ll take the blame, sugar.

For a couple of seconds you stayed behind, rethinking the decision you've already made. But then your legs aligned with the pace of his steps. The bold curiosity drove your actions. You decided to follow him outside of the building for a walk.

It was quite a nice day outside. Clouds covered the blue sky, but it didn’t seem to be raining until the evening. It was pleasantly warm, a little too dry to your liking as the dust floating off the ground dirtied your trousers.

The two of you followed the path near the fence between the storage buildings – armory, garages. Captain Price liked to call it a dumpster and he was right about that.

The silence that fell between you two wasn’t uncomfortable. It was the pure anticipation of the other person’s next move – will he start a small talk? Because you wouldn’t. Or maybe Phillip would be straightforward with you? But about what exactly?

━ So ━ you finally spoke out, letting your hands collapse at your sides ━ what was so important that had my superior to wait?

Your gaze landed on his face, searching for any tiny spasms of facial muscles. You needed something to work with. To figure him out.

━ I could have asked you the same question.

━ I already told you, sir – I don’t know why the lieutenant called me in.

━ No? ━ Graves suddenly stopped and turned his whole body towards you. A truly natural response was to face him too. ━ Weren’t you two talking in private yesterday? Following the return to the base, no?

━ Ghost was worried about my ears, I was bleeding after the explosion. You saw it yourself, sir. Why does it matter anyway?

He had the audacity to speak freely, to admit, that he had kept an eye on you yesterday. The arising question on your mind was: why? Why was he monitoring you?

━ You two seem to be quite close. ━ Graves continued poking the hornet’s nest.

━ He’s my lieutenant.

It took every inch of your willpower to withhold the fastened beating of your heart. You couldn’t be delusional, not right now. Ghost was just your superior.

━ Is he though? You make me wonder ━ he turned his head to the right, before clicking with his tongue. On purpose Phillip was keeping you on edge, waiting before you finally snap ━ if he plays a part of this venture. Is Ghost also involved?

━ What the fuck are you talking about?

You finally raised your voice at Graves, annoyance flooding your veins. Nothing coming out of his mouth made sense, he was wasting your time here.

━ I’m afraid you’ve been caught red-handed, sugar. Trying to destroy the evidence of your contribution to illegal weapon trafficking. Some money on the side, huh?

You snorted, amused by this sickening accusation. And until now, you thought your deductions were childish and foolish. Until Commander Graves opened his mouth, spilling more nonsense.

━ You think I planted the grenade? That’s bullshit, Graves. You ━ you took a step forward and your pointing finger dug into the material of his tactical vest, just above the dip between the collarbones ━ were there. You saw everything.

The last sentence came out more of a whisper, carefully threatening him that you knew he was fucking around with you. But he had orders to complete. The commander of Shadow Company would do everything for the sake of good fucking show.

━ ‘m afraid I have to take you for further interrogation, soldier.

Graves suddenly grabbed your forearm with a force you would never expect he would bare. At that moment you were confused, standing between a rock and a hard place – should you obediently follow him for “a talk” or should you resist his actions? Phillip was not your boss, he wasn’t in place of authority.

But, there was a hesitation if you should punch him or not.

━ You can’t do that without my superior presence. ━ You struggled against his grip, looking around and searching for any witnesses. To your misfortune, again, there was none. The training grounds were empty.

━ See ━ he managed to pull you with him, while he made his way to the magazine nearby ━ this is a military rule, princess. It has nothing to do with me.

Graves was playing dirty, when he finally dragged you inside the empty hall. You clung to the both sides of his vest, before smashing your forehead against his face. The blonde man stumbled backwards, cursing loudly, calling you all sorts of names. It had to hurt like a bitch, if all might Phillip Graves was whining like a little boy kicked in the balls.

━ You little– Fuck!

You tried to pass by him, before one of his Shadows revealed his presence, standing between you and the doors. Then another man emerged from the darkness, until you counted three of them in total.

“Great”, you thought.

A deep breath of not so fresh air filled your lungs. A hint of moisture hit your nostrils, while your sight was still getting accustomed to the dim lighting of the hall. Slowly you began to worry as you happened to be cornered by the Shadows with no one by your side. It made you vulnerable – like a wounded animal to a vulture.

━ What is this really about? ━ A simple question was asked, when you carefully tried to back out as far from the reach of his loyal soldiers. The situation was getting far more intense than you thought.

━ You’re related to Barnet’s scandal or at least you're messing up the evidence, all I have to hear is a confirmation.

Commander, whose hands were dirtier than anyone you knew, wanted you to confess. Ironic, wasn’t it?

━ Don’t make this harder than it has to be, doll ━ Graves wiped his bloody nose with a material of his sleeve, slowly walking in circle around you, a lamb to the slaughter ━ just face the consequences of your own actions.

━ You know it’s not true. I have nothing to confirm, sir.

If you were the same person you were years ago, you would fidget with your silver medallion. Praying for courage in a situation like this, facing the personification of evil. But that necklace was laying forgotten in the abyss of your drawer.

The painful truth was, you were left all alone in an uneven fight.

━ I was afraid you would say so.

With the slightest nod of his head you noticed the change in soldiers’ stance. They were about to charge at you and that familiar, eerie feeling in your bones. So you did all that you could to prepare for the upcoming attack.

When the first soldier swung with his clenched fist towards your face, you swiftly managed to avoid it. Then, you succeed another time. But by omitting the hits you wouldn’t last long, so the next strike had to be blocked.

Your forearm acted as a shield, when you tried to charge forward the Shadow. The second soldier joined the brawl, kicking you in the back of your knee. The punch in the joint made you stumble.

You decided to push away the first opponent and then with all your body mass, pin the second Shadow to the ground. Your arms wrapped around his thighs and you fell onto the soldier with a thud, punching his jaw with your clenched fist.

The adrenaline made your nervous system numb to the pain you inflicted upon yourself. If not for the blood staining his jawline, you wouldn’t notice when your knuckles began to bleed.

As soon as the pinned Shadow’s hands gripped your waist tightly, trying to push you off, you knew the outcome of the fight. Even if you had an upper hand for a split moment. There was no magical foreseeing – a simple conclusion told you, that you against the three of them was an already sealed result.

But you had to put up a fight – you wouldn’t allow yourself to cross the gates of heaven or any other sort of afterlife if you hadn’t tried.

A sudden yank on your hair, made you cry out and fall off the soldier laying on the ground. Before you managed to get up, the third Shadow, until now standing still and watching, kicked you in your ribs. And then another time.

And another.

You stumbled to the side of your thigh, gripping the aching side of your bones and flesh, blood spilling beneath the surface of your smooth skin. Breathing, such a fundamental ability to live, became harder with each passing second.

Your mouth fell agape, greedily trying to swallow some air, searching for a boost of energy.

The three demons abused your position on the ground as they began kicking you around – aiming for your stomach, ribs, arms. It almost felt like you were their soccer ball.

Graves stood tall near the raging chaos with his arms crossed over the tactical vest. Only when one of his puppets smacked you across the face, causing you to fall onto your stomach, he intervened.

━ Not in the face, idiot! She’s quite pretty, isn’t she? Would be such a waste to permanently mutilate such a face.

The blonde man crouched down and gripped your jaw, taking a closer look at the red mark pulsating on your cheek. It seemed that he was savoring the hurt look on his victim. The commander smirked, finally acknowledging the fear in your eyes.

The taste of copper spreaded over your tongue, it felt disgusting and made you lightheaded. Only then the pain they inflicted on you began to sink in, causing all of your limbs to become extremely warm. Almost like the tongues of flames were dancing over your skin.

If the Shadows kill you that night, will you become a martyr? Or would you be remembered as a traitor as Graves wanted to?

They swept you off the floor, upholding your fragile body by hooking under your armpits. Your head craved to hang low, but your consciousness needed to follow their movements, trying to predict what they would do to you next.

━ I don’t like repeating myself, soldier, but I’ll give you another chance ━ Graves leaned in front of you, his hands resting upon his thighs. He became irritated that you hadn’t broken already ━ were you involved with Barnet or his partners in smuggling the federal weapons?

━ I’m just a private, you fucking fuck! ━ You spat out the truth, brows narrowing close to your eyelashes. ━ I. Did. Not.

His blue gaze wandered somewhere behind your back. Graves nodded and a sudden wave of stabbing pain spreaded around your kidneys. You cried out, spine arching, pathetically trying to escape the ache.

Then they would give you a few seconds of break, you trying to breathe through the pain. But the cycle would continue as the Shadow behind your back kept electrocuting you over and over and over.

The motherfuckers tased you. And they would not stop until you were a panting mess, limp within their hold. Poor mind of yours fried, barely holding onto the debrises of sanity.

When your body reached some sort of limit and your vision became blurry, you really began to think you were to die tonight. In a matter of hours, you would have to face your friend – death and let her mock you for such an early encounter.

But at least, you would not die untruthful to yourself.

Within the next couple hours, when your consciousness was wandering between the limbo of the Sandman’s realm and the reality, you gradually managed to understand the truth.

That night during the operation Barnet, you saw something you never should have. The office and the crumbles of it. There was something inside so fragile and precious that made a person in a position of power command Graves to frame and torture you. As you were the only witness of it.

And for whom Shadow Company worked for?

The picture became crystal clear and you laughed like a madman. A trickle of blood dripped down the corner of your mouth, when they kept inflicting pain onto the poor soul of yours. And your young body too, staining it forever.

General Shepherd’s hands were not as clean as everyone thought so. He had to have something in common with those weapons being smuggled to the terrorists. Shepherd might have been afraid that you knew that, so therefore he needed you dead. Even though you hadn’t managed to read any of the notes before their destruction.

He wanted you buried six feet under the ground with no gravestone. No monument.

And you know what they say – if you don't know what it is about, it’s probably about the money.

𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐈𝐈𝐈

Although the pieces of puzzles fit together perfectly, their borders clinging tightly to each other, you hadn’t experienced satisfaction at all.

The exhaustion became helpful at some point, separating your body from all the pain you’ve endured during the last couple of hours. The blood on your cuts dried up, but the smell of it made your stomach turn.

You couldn’t believe that the scent and sight of blood would make you lightheaded, ever in your lifetime. Not as a woman of course, they see much more blood than the average man.

But all of the beatings that those demons inflicted upon you was bearable. Painful obviously, but bearable. If your assessment was correct, they hadn’t broken any bones till now. The split skin on your collar bones, separated with the sharp blade of the knife could be stitched up. With good care the scars would eventually fade.

If you survive this interrogation.

Your grunts and whines filled Phillip’s ears, yet he still craved more than this. He hadn’t heard you scream and he would extort those sounds from you pretty soon.

The Shadows dragged you to sit at the wooden chair near the old table, your shoulders slowly sinking to the furniture’s backrest. They gave you a break as their knuckles were bloodied and scratched. Perhaps, they were thinking of another way to push you into the Behemoth’s maw.

The time between your interactions passed quickly. Your eyelids closed loosely, but you heard the surroundings very well – the gravel crunching beneath the soles of their shoes, the way they shifted their weight. You noticed that, all of it. Your mind was alerted and aware.

━ Have to give that to Ghost, he trained you well ━ Graves dragged another chair near yours and sat comfortably in it. Too close to your liking though. ━ But you must be tired, don’t you?

━ I’m fine.

A whisper hummed in the storage hall, filling the silence between your breaths. Those which might be your last ones.

━ You look shit to be honest ━ the commander put his hands in the air, just like he didn’t want it to sound like an insult. ━ It didn’t have to come to this, doll. You wouldn’t have suffered if you just confessed when I asked you to.

You scoffed, raising your head to face him with a look full of disgust.

━ That false confession is a death sentence.

Graves shifted in his seat, getting closer to you as he leaned to your ear. One of his hands pushed the loose strands of hair behind your cartilage, while the other rested on your thigh.

Your whole body tensed, when his palm squeezed the soft flesh of your inner thigh. It wandered far too close to the crotch, even through the material of clothes.

When your hands shoot to grab his, the Shadow standing beside grabbed your left arm and pinned it to the table’s surface. Your other hand’s fingers were entangled around Graves’ wrist, trying to stop him from moving any further.

You had heard that he was wicked and unpredictable, but not to this extent.

━ Listen up ━ he said so quietly it might have eluded from you, if you didn’t pay enough attention ━ I’m being generous here and giving you one, last chance, princess. Confess and you’ll be under my arrest. No further harm will happen to you, if you behave, that is.

The audacity of this sickening man never stopped surprising you. You knew perfectly well what he meant by being under his arrest, what it meant to be Phillip Graves’ prisoner. It was a fate far worse than death.

Your eyes were locked on his mischievous smile, twisting soft cheeks and underlining the wrinkles on his forehead. He was abusing his power and was perfectly aware of that. It was you against the devil.

━ Come on, be a good girl. ━ He tried to persuade you with the sweet words and empty promises. It was kind of insulting, Graves thought he would convince you to change your mind. ━ Just say it was you, hm?

But little did he know, your pride and stubbornness was far greater than his.

You hung your head low again, before chuckling softly, shoulders trembling. It caught him off guard, you noticed. Graves probably thought you’ve gone far from sanity.

Naturally you were weary of the pain, of the constant soreness in your muscles, the painful stretch of dried up blood. Yes, you were scared of upcoming tortures, you already admitted to that before yourself. But you would never forgive yourself if you weren’t true to the beliefs that got you here in the first place. You couldn’t let them frame you.

Not this motherfucker in particular.

━ Go fuck yourself.

Then it was you who spilled out some words coated in pure hatred, almost an exorcism to make him go away. Your faith in your truth was strong. Graves’ hand released your thigh with a disappointed look on his angelic face, instead forcing your right forearm into his chest. He was keeping your limb too tight, while the other one was still pinned to the table.

Another Shadow appeared in the corner of your eye, slowly making his way towards your splayed out hand on the flat surface. Only then you noticed the thing he was holding.

“Fuck.”

━ Alright, the hard way it is. ━ Phillip said, savoring the building fear in your eyes as your shrinking pupils were following the outline of the drill. A simple machine you would put your furniture together.

But in the right hands it would be a torture device.

━ You can’t be serious. You c-can’t– Y-You–

He shushed you, cradling your right arm within his hold. One of the Shadows stood on the other side of you, squeezing the elbow and your wrist so roughly, it almost made the bones pop out of the joint.

Your instinct was to try and wiggle away, but the two men held you steadily. The third one flicked the power button and you looked at the small, but pointy drill turning with a mechanic sound.

━ No, no, no, no, don’t, DON’T!

The panic and fear overtook your stoic strategy. Only then you began being truly scared of their sinister games. You pleaded, you fought back, you begged until you screamed so loudly, there had to be someone hearing you from the outside. The pain of your flesh getting twisted and ripped off, made you want to vomit, if not the screaming tightening your throat muscles.

Then the drill stopped. You estimated it hadn’t even reached your bone, yet. But the crimson, syrupy liquid climbed up the length of the metal part and trickled to the sides of your assaulted forearm.

You were breathing loudly, gasping for air. A droplet of sweat rolled down your temple. Every single finger of yours was trembling, muscles spasming from the pain.

Graves reached one of his hands and forcefully squeezed your jaw and cheeks. He forced your pretty face to stare directly at him. Then, when he noticed how salty tears were overflowing your waterline, he grinned.

━ Look at me, soldier ━ Graves gave an order, but you were not his subordinate. He had to yank your head and dig his digits into your flesh again. ━ Look. At. Me!

The Shadow continued the assault, turning the power back on. This time, he expected resistance from the hard tissues so he pushed harder.

Your shrieks filled his ears like cathedral music, a gospel of his liking. The tears streaming down your face finally reached his palm that was squeezing your face. Graves wanted to have a good look at all the scowls of ache.

You swore you had heard the bone cracking, a muscle perforated already. White, blunt pain blinded your senses, only the warm embrace of the commander sitting across you kept you aware that you were still in the land of living.

Your stomach was hurting – God, you were going to puke.

━ What’s the meanin’ ‘f this?!

The voice of your savior, echoed somewhere in the back of your consciousness. The mechanical drill stopped its work and you actually felt it when it was ripped off your forearm. You whined, letting your eyelids shut. Blood splashed across the table.

The two Shadows remained by your side, meanwhile Graves stood up from his seat and took a walk towards the intruders.

You felt the familiar smell of tobacco, a very specific species of tobacco used only for cigars.

━ Captain, I can assure–

━ Assure what? ━ John Price said, venom and hatred rolling down his tongue. He was pissed and dear God, you don’t want to anger this man. ━ That you mutilated one of my soldiers? Who gave you the order?

Graves pressed his lips into a thin line.

━ General himself.

━ Why? ━ Ghost raspy voice sounded next to your limp form and it made you feel protected.

When you opened your eyes, you saw him towering over you even when he slouched to reach your level. You forced yourself to form a subtle smile, because somehow, the fight was over. You were being taken away from the monster that Graves was.

━ She destroyed the only fucking evidence, trying to cover her own ass.

The lieutenant took a quick look over your body, you felt his gaze roaming on yourself. He was looking for serious wounds, but the one on your forearm seemed to be the nastiest one.

Ghost helped you rise up from the chair, securing you in the straight line by holding onto your shoulders. Before he did that, he seemed to ask nonverbally with his dark eyes if you could walk. You nodded weakly.

━ She’s a private under my command ━ Captain Price kept lecturing the blonde man, standing still like a tree. ━ If she had been accused, I’m the one to take her for questioning, not you. This is my team, my base and you will follow my rules, is that clear?

You couldn’t exactly point to the moment where you walked past Price and Graves. Your eyes were so heavy and the main focus was to keep walking forward. If not Ghost upholding your posture straight by holding onto your arms, you wouldn’t be able to stand by your own strength.

Despite the stories you had heard about him being rough, he wasn’t with you, at all. His grip was firm, but no digit of his calloused fingers dug into the beaten flesh of yours. Should a soldier ever feel comfort rather than dread in the presence of their superior? Was this normal? Were you?

━ I had my own orders, the intel pointed out she was a suspect. Apparently ━ he took a deep breath in, keeping his anger on a leash ━ there was a misunderstanding. I apologize for any… inconveniences.

━ I’ll talk to Shepherd about this one, you stay out of it ━ Price stated, before turning around on his heel. He was walking behind the two of you. ━ Oh, and you owe this lady an apology. Better be a good one, boy.

No.

You wanted to scream that word over and over. If Graves ever bothered you again, you would gouge his blue eyes out – gladly looking at the soft tissues getting stuck under your nails, Phillip’s blood staining your hands. Ghost felt when your body tensed under his grip as he led you out of the storage hall. Of all people, he could sympathize with you the most.

You walked in silence, only the echo of the gravel mixed with sand echoed in your ears. The chilly, evening breeze awoke your senses, although it didn’t give you more strength. Your hand clutched to Ghost’s, when you felt your stomach shrinking.

━ God ━ you leaned over your own knees, gasping for air ━ I think, I’m gonna… ‘m gonna puke.

He followed your poor soul to the side of the road. Before you could deny his help, Ghost was collecting your loose strands of hair and holding it firmly behind your neck.

━ That’s alright. Take your time.

He wasn’t angry or disappointed with you. Ghost wasn’t rushing you as you tried to catch your uneven breath. The lieutenant just stood there, holding the hair out of your face in case you would vomit.

But you hadn’t thrown up at all. You just crouched there gasping for air, pressing your wounded forearm to your chest, blood staining the military shirt. Your limbs began to shiver, but not from the low temperature. Only then you allowed yourself for a display of any weaknesses, for a way to express your pain and exhaustion.

━ I d-didn’t do any-anything. I promise.

Your tone sounded broken and he couldn’t bear it. His stone cold heart couldn’t withstand the look in front of him. Ghost pulled you up from the crouching position, before pressing your forehead into his chest. He could still hear your quiet sobs, your blood surely staining his clothes too. But he didn’t care about some piece of cloth.

━ I know.

Ghost was already soaked with blood of all the lives he ended miserably, but to be stained with something that belonged to you? That was something different. To him your blood could be the red wine that turns into the blood of Christ during each mass.

The lieutenant wrapped his arms around your back and kept one palm on the back of your head. Ghost caught the glimpse of your tired eyes and all he could see was himself. A reflection of sort, only a shard perhaps. When everything he had held dear to him – the dignity and humanity of Simon Riley, was taken away from him all those years ago, all he needed was a solace.

The man didn’t have to say much, you weren’t entirely sure if you wanted to hear him pity you. But Ghost’s presence was enough, his warm and gentle touch made you feel somehow protected.

Perhaps it was the exhaustion causing you to melt into his embrace, because how could you feel any special, different from your teammates in his beautiful, dark eyes? He was your lieutenant for God’s sake.

Would he console the others if needed? Or maybe he sees you as weak? A fragile package that needs to be handled with care? Why was he so sympathetic with you of all the people?

You stopped thinking and sank into the feeling of his soft and clean shirt that covered the man’s sternum and chest. You brushed the idiotic thoughts away, because you deserved that kind of affection.

You deserved to be held close and to feel safe.

And in his arms it all became very real.

Even for a moment.

━ Come on, moppets ━ Price’s now calm voice, broke the heated thoughts and raging emotions as he got closer to them. ━ She needs to see a doctor.

A/N: The end of this fanfic has an open sort of ending so therefore I can write more comfort with Reader/Ghost in the bonus chapter if you would like to. ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა

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lopposting · 1 year ago

Text

On the "original" korean script

its pretty certain that LoP has been a smash hit, i really hope they go back and do a korean dub

I REALLY WANT TO SHARE THIS. i fell down the translation rabbit hole after looking for a specific translated version of pinocchio

so, Carlo is way franker in the original korean version.

taking this really important line in the game. In english, the line was translated to

"I don't care if an old man like that kicks the bucket!"

I feel like it's way harsher in the korean version. in korean it was

"그깟 늙은이, 죽어도 상관 안 해"

which to me is more like "That old geezer, he can die for all I care." (literal translation would be like.. "That oldie, don't care even if he dies") In korean it's not so much a one to one translation as it is different conjugations and grammar depending on respect and the speaker. he doesn't literally call him an "old shit" but "그깟 늙은이" is let's say, carlo being very flippant

(if there are any korean speakers, yall are probably better than me, if you can refute or confirm this plz lmk)!!

ALSO: I went and I checked the Riddler's phone calls and they do also rhyme in korean!!? imagine adapting all that!! That is such the translation feat!!

more translation notes:

Geppetto: In my own way, I grew to love you. After all, you're the puppet that would bring my son back to life.

The line in korean strikes me as more tragic.

"하지만 알아 다오, 나는 너도 사랑했단다. 내 아들 카를로를 되살려줄 인형으로"

eng (interpretation mine +google translate):

"But know this, I loved you too. You're the doll that would bring my son Carlo back to life."

(or save my son Carlo) confirming that geppetto did love Pino. just not enough.

그래도 부모는 자식을 기다려 주게 마련이지. 너같이 매를들어야 할 말썽꾸러기라도 말이다.

"Still, parents are bound to wait for their children. Even if it’s a troublemaker like you who deserves a beating."

in the english version, it was:

"Still, a father always looks after his children. Even naughty ones like you who deserve to be punished."

I think the english localization team took their own interpretation to adapt the story which is really cool to see. Like Geppetto keeps calling us his "good boy", there's no real equivalent to that in korean perhaps, but it's infantilizing and uncomfortable to an english audience (Pino may be young, but he's still a far cry from what we would call a "child"). plus there's that added BioShock inference for good measure

네 자유는 널 위한 게 아니다, 인형! Your freedom is not for you, puppet! (no mention of carlo)

in the english release, it was

Your freedom is not for you, but for Carlo!

interestingly, there is no mention of carlo in the korean version at some points where the english version mentions him, and sometimes Carlo is mentioned in the korean lines when the english version omits this. [edit note: it may have been because of test players comprehension of who exactly carlo was at this point in this story]

also, there is no difference between "doll" and "puppet" in korean as it is in english (as far as I know), and they use the word 인형 in the game where it was translated to "puppet" (when it would be generally translated to "doll"). In english, a "doll" indicates a toy generally for young children, while a puppet denotes a figure or figurine that is manipulated by a puppeteer. I really like that, it makes the setting even more story-book like

another note, carlo calling geppetto "old-ass" suggests that geppetto had him in his old age. In english "old man" is often an affectionate term for your father, so there's a difference there. in korean, i think carlo is simply insulting him LOL

[last of all, this is all just assuming that the script was originally in korean to begin with. ]

#lies of p #liesofp #lop #spoilers #lies of p spoilers #korean #theory #“but know this I loved you too” is destroying me #pinocchio #lies of p carlo

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thunderclangens · 2 months ago

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hii i'm mod velvet

they/them, adult

I used CatGen to create custom moooostly canon accurate ThunderClan in ClanGen. This ClanGen takes place right after the battle with BloodClan, the moon Squirrelkit and Leafkit are born. Old faces like Firestar and Cinderpelt are back with their clanmates, along with Ravenpaw, Barley, Princess and Smudge outside the clans (and some StarClan and Dark Forest Spirits!) . There's a lot of canon divergence, including cats that were omitted entirely and some timeline tweaks, which are detailed below cut. Some cats I added for funsies; this ThunderClan includes a spared Scourge grappling with his actions, Swiftpaw, and Snowkit!

Allegiances Save File Editing Guide

Omitted Cats:

General Note: A lot of cats who were dead before the events of The Prophecies Begin are not here. I'd honestly love to add more guys into StarClan and probably will, but the absurd amount of Unsavory Relationships created by the gnarled family trees of early Warrior Cats would literally make the game less fun. So a lot of cats like Redtail and Spottedleaf or Lionheart do not have parents coded into the game, and minus Thunderstar and Jake, no cats from before TPB are in StarClan. Maybe one day I'll make a living document custom ThunderClanGen, but this is just for fun, and so I'd like to steer away from that. The other clans are present, as in RiverClan, ShadowClan, and WindClan Exist in the Game, but since ClanGen only allows you to toggle the allegiances for one clan plus cats outside the clans, their warriors aren't coded into the game. This (unfortunately) includes Tawnypaw.

This is an entirely self indulgent AU and so a few cats who I just straight up don't like aren't here. Some cats didn't make it because I wanted to keep the roster small. The following list of cats are cats who were alive during the time this is occurring, but were omitted from ThunderClan:

Bramblepaw, Ashpaw, Dustpelt, One-Eye, Dappletail

"Revived" Characters: (canon names are italicized)

Swiftstride (Swiftpaw), Snowpaw (Snowkit), Frostpaw (Scourge)

Timeline Changes:

Longtail was blinded in the battle against BloodClan. This is so I don't have to go in and mess with code moons into the Gen and possibly mess things up/corrupt the entire file. I also didn't want to create a situation where he never goes blind - he is a canonically disabled character and I'm not going to leave it up to a coinflip/rng to honor that.

Sandstorm is deputy of ThunderClan, chosen after Whitestorm's death in the BloodClan Battle. Greystripe never occupies the position.

Snowpaw (Snowkit) is training to be a warrior. He is apprenticed to Sandstorm.

Swiftstride (Swiftpaw) survived the dog attack, sustaining many severe wounds including a lost leg.

Cultural/Canon Changes:

Cats who are disabled can decide on their role in the clan. Longtail remains a warrior after being blinded. Snowpaw eagerly pursues the path of a warrior. Cinderpelt isn't forced to become a medic. Her chronic pain and injury makes warriorhood difficult to pursue, and her time spent recovering in the medic's den with Yellowfang foster a love for healing. Both of these things inform her own choice to be a medic. As a person who has recently had to scale back on or entirely quit major passions of mine because of my own chronic pain, this story line means a lot to me. Sometimes our disabilities do keep us from walking the path in life we want, and that's okay - we can still find happiness and fulfillment just like Cinderpelt.

Queens can become deputies/leaders and leaders/deputies can have kits without being expected to give up their positions.

#intro #clangen #warrior cats #wc

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piratefern · 2 months ago

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that's was Long and great explanation you can actually wrote a wattpad book of it! And I actually like the storyline it's really great and really felt bad for scp 049 :( honestly it was too much for poor birdie TvT

And yea why bother! I will like to read scp 035 one too ☆(≧∀≦*)ﾉ Thanks for taking my questions ( ˘ ³˘)♥

YIIPPEEEEE, thankyou so much :’D

alright with dyo, we’ll need some context too, in the sense that you will need to be aware of the original lore for Alagadda so id recommend reading the wiki if you haven’t already)

(Another note is that my version of Alagadda’s time doesn’t work linearly, so in this sense, it is entirely possible to enter alagadda during any time it exists, and exit to earth in a different era than when you left. It explains how the culture is affected by different eras in time, and this will be also important narratively!)

(He is originally from Alagadda as per the usual lore, except in my au he wasn’t banished to earth, and instead took refuge there, fleeing execution from the ambassador and other lords.)

In my au, dyo has a toxic sibling relationship with the other lords, ontop of this he’s also the shortest and the runtiest of the few and so was picked on, which lines him up to becoming the hanged king’s favourite as he was the easiest to manipulate.

Originally working as the jester for his king he is killed by a peasant uprising (as per the original lore) and is brought back to life three days later, offering his king a cup filled with the blood of his enemies gifted by the brothers death.

The lore follows the original story line from here in which he invites a bird like doctor to the palace to cure him of his influence of the hanged king (remember how time in alagadda isn’t linear? Yep, thats hasel! He finds a broken passage to alagadda after the point in which he has left dyo and just before the foundation finds him. He researches it and fixes it, hoping to find the “cure” for the vine on the other side)

Hasel doesn’t recognise dyo’s old form as the black lord and dyo at this point is yet to even meet hasel, and so neither of the two realise that they were intwined from the beginning.

after being cured by hasel and attempting to fight the influence of the hanged king, his execution is plotted against him by the other lords and the ambassador, and so, he escapes to earth.

yet, in my au the lords and the ambassador are still after dyo, but are unaware of his ware-abouts, Dyo destroys the portal which in turn wipes his entire memory, hoping that it will never be rebuilt again.

But didn’t hasel rebuild the portal? Uh oh! He did! Meaning he had unintentionally both freed and doomed his lover. Not only that, but the foundation had been tracking the signal that the portal had been omitting, causing the capture of both the portal and hasel! And, of course, the foundation would absolutely never destroy it!

On another note, sometimes memories of Alagadda will seep through the cracks, instances from the past that dyo forged reflect memories from his childhood and experiences in Alagadda.

Dyo landed in ancient Greece, and genuinely believes he is from there. He believes that he was a balatro (roman jester) for the king, and was fused to his mask by the ancient Greek gods as a punishment for stealing the golden wreath from the king of Rome.

However, it is evident that this story isn’t true, at the time Rome had a consul system not a king, and despite the fact Rome had capitulated Greece they didn’t share the same gods despite their similarities.

He makes his way through life, but aware of his immortality he drowns himself in alcohol and lavish parties. He doesn’t get close to anyone as he knows that they will one day die and that he will not, causing him to build bad behaviours, appear overtly cocky and confident, a tendency to avoid rejection as a side effect and a need to convince himself that everything is alright.

So! Imagine dyo, an immortal being, avoiding close relationships with anyone he meets and putting up a persona to avoid anyone liking him, finding another immortal being!I

He grows incredibly attached to hasel, for the first time in almost two millennia he doesn’t have to be alone anymore, he can finally learn how to open himself up and build on his issues and break down his persona.

But this causes abandonment and attachment issues, so you can imagine how he must have reacted when hasel leaves!

He can’t handle this, and embarks on a journey to find him again, this journey spanning over a century from WW1 to present day, in which he is also captured by the foundation and placed in the same facility as hasel… and the portal!

They are given their numbered codes 035 and 049, but with dyo being so close to the fixed portal he gradually begins to remember his past…

So yeah thats all im up to so far :3

i haven’t written anything past the foundation and the portal plot, but technically in the original draft i made with my partner a couple years back they escape with the help of Laurence (106). They learn to mend their broken relationship and also learn how to get along with laurence despite his creepiness, but that part is all old stuff so i might rewrite it. But the fact hasel leaves at WW1 was important, as this is around the time Laurence becomes anomalous, so it ties their stories in too :3

#scp #scp art #scp 035 #scp 049 #035 #049 #scp fanart #scp 035 x scp 049 #035 x 049 #scp 106 #plaguemask au

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viofitz · 29 days ago

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Review: Hasbro Marvel Legends Wolverine and Marvel's Logan

Introduction:

Hasbro, Inc. or originally named as Hassenfeld Brothers, is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herman Hassenfeld and is incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Marvel Legends is one of Hasbro's action figure line based on the characters of Marvel Comics, initially produced by Toy Biz since 2002, then by Hasbro in the beginning of January 1 2007. In this review, I feature you on Deadpool & Wolverine line which there're 3 variant figures that is; Deadpool, Wolverine and Headpool with Marvel's Logan but... I will only review Wolverine and Marvel's Logan. Both figure is packed with black colored boxart in overall with window box that reveals the whole contents packed inside the blisters, then below the window there's a large printed logo of "Marvel Studios" "Deadpool & Wolverine" movie with Hasbro and 14+ logo on the bottom, while the upper left corner got "Marvel Legends" logo, left is warning sign and the character's names on the right side which printed in red with white frame. The rear part is showing black colored box with the respective character's artworks, figure informations, and Indonesian's safety info sticker and importer. In Logan's case, the box was meant to feature Headpool as the top billed figure and Logan as his bonus accessories which, kinda awkward to actually treat the whole figure as accessories but... I'm not even going to review headpool himself, since I will only focus on Logan accessories lol. Okay, going to unbox this two!

Contents:

Both Wolverine and Logan comes with their main figure, they're included with 2 pair of hands in total. Wolverine also comes with with 1 interchangeable head sculpt. Although for Logan, his figure was supposed to be the accessories but, I omitted the Headpool figure.

Character introduction:

James "Logan" Howlett, also known as Wolverine, is a Canadian class 3 mutant. His mutation granted him a number of animalistic attributes including three retractable razor sharp claws on each hand, and heightened senses, which allowed him to track people through scent and sound. He also has superhuman strength, reflexes, stamina and highly developed accelerated healing abilities, allowing him to heal injuries almost instantly, while also rendering him agelessly immortal. He is usually depicted being a tall angry fellow with contentious hair and muscular proportions, in his movie incarnation he has always been played by Hugh Jackman. The actor also played several Wolverine variants as well. In this variant, he's known as the worst wolverine due to his neglections of not being wanted to be part of the X-Men and instead chose to drink alcohol in bars. One night, while he was out getting drunk, the "humans" attacked the X-Mansion and killed the mutants, including the X-Men. Consumed by his rage and grief, Logan went on a killing spree, turning everyone against the X-Men and earning him this epitaph. Well, this was meant to be a reversed achievements of this Wolverine since he let down his entire world instead of being a hero in the past but, after meeting Deadpool from Earth-10005, things changed drastically as he finally earned being the best Wolverine instead. Although imo, all Wolverine variants are the best, including the short king and the crucified one.

Wolverine:

In this figure, Logan The Wolverine is donning his trademark comic book yellow spandex. Which took 24 years for Hugh Jackman to finally wear this. For a glimpse it looks really classic and very homage to his comic version but, stylized to make the suit more modern like every movie adaptations. You can see there's many crafted clothing details on his suit which made the suit looking armoric and a bit distant to be called spandex, his suit consists of full yellow suit with some blue and black colors, black and yellow hooded mask, blue colored shoulder pads with black and yellow trim, black and blue colored gauntlets with yellow trim, yellow belt with some black and red colored X-Men logo with black border on the buckles and blue colored boots with black trim. He also got his adamantium retractable claws colored in gray instead of shiny silver. His claws were made to be slightly different, which the claws have sculpted garment holes from his gloves, these holes allows him to retract his claws out of without tearing them apart and reducing the pain of retracting from the skin. However, despite looking great there's always inconsistencies in this figure as in the movie Logan never wear his hoodie mask until the last fight with hundreds of deadpools, and by that time his suit was already torned badly after his two fights with deadpool. While this figure is showing his suit in clean and perfect condition, I know this was inaccurate but, I think this figure was based on either concept art or something from other promotional merchandises. I don't really mind on this, I'll take it like this is how he fully armed with his yellow spandex which it's still cool for me but, if hasbro include him with alternate sleeveless arms that would be great but, it'd probably increasing the price for standard hasbro figure like this.

Logan:

This one is his casual wear version, where he wears rather odd and bland colored getup such as solid bright gray jacket, dark gray checkered dirty white colored shirt with gray tanktop underneath the shirt, light brown belt, cream colored rugged pants and his wolverine black and blue boots as his shoes. One of his jacket pocket got partial exposed blue colored wolverine gloves, meaning that this Logan actually brought his yellow spandex for him to wear. The figure reused several body parts from his leather jacket version such as his underneath shirt with tanktop, his rugged pants but, the belt was altered with simple looking buckles instead of native indian chief head belt like in the past releases. And lastly, his flesh hands with claws. The only thing new in this figure is his head, jacket and shoes, this version of Logan only appeared very briefly, thus made him less memorable nor iconic in the movie. They could have instead make someone else but, probably it's just for a simple recycle cash grab for promoting the movie. However, I can tell this version of Logan won't sell as much as his yellow spandex one.

Articulations, materials and accessories:

Both figure articulation points consisted movable head, ab-crunch torso, arms, double jointed elbow, wrists, legs with thigh, double jointed knee and ankles. His yellow belt is a separate part which you can hardly rotate it due to being tight fit. His shoulder pads are not movable at all since they're glued with large bump on his shoulders. His gauntlets however is separate pieces but, they're glued to his arms so, they're not rotatable nor removable. However, you can probably remove them by using heat or hot water, with this you can probably attach the bare arms from his tanktop version. Both figures were made from hard and durable plastics and rubbery plastics for some parts like shoulder pads, X-men belt, jacket and his claws. So you got nothing to worry about this figure if they fall. Most of Wolverine and Logan's accessories are their alternate pair of hands, both of them comes with a pair of hands that has no retractable claws. Wolverine is given with right fist hand and left with slightly open splayed hand, while Logan is all fistful hands. Also, sorry for the pathetic pose on Logan figure because I cannot think of a perfect epic pose for him since in the movie itself, this Logan appeared to be a heavy drinker so I used another hands for him to recreate that drinking poses.

Head Sculpt (HS):

Wolverine comes with his hooded masked on HS, which the black pointy ears is shaped like a bat ears, this black cowl part dominates mostly his front face, while the overall upper and rear head that connects to his suit is yellow. His front mask was made from soft rubber material and has exposed mouth part which painted flesh with slight beards and his eyes are painted white. However, I find it funny to see his side jaws being cleaner than his unmasked nor his casual wear HS, his masked face is like a stunt double face instead of Hugh Jackman's face. His alternate head is Hugh Jackman Logan's head in his neutral expression, his head is shown he has spiky messy hair that slightly pointy on both sides and... pompadour like bangs. When I looked his head on the side, I cannot unsee him as Suneo like hairstyle. The same goes for his casual wear HS but, his face is shown to be more rugged and angrier than the alternate yellow spandex one. Which is better suited for his unmasked version of yellow spandex since he looks spot on to one of Hugh Jackman's photo as Wolverine. Both HS were made from hard plastics material while his hair was made from rubber plastics material. With his unmasked head however, his neck was supposed to be slightly exposed rather than fully covered but, I think that's kinda unnecessary since people won't even bother with it. Since the casual wear used his leather jacket torso so, his neck appeared to be bigger than the yellow spandex one.

Body comparisons:

Comparing both figures, the casual version appeared to be chunky due to his thick wear. Whereas the yellow spandex looks sleeker despite their armoric feel. Their heights are the same however, depends on what head you used. With the casual wear HS he appeared to be tiny bit taller due to his head sit a bit taller than his unmasked head. One thing that bothers me is the casual wear despite being thicker on his getup but, even part of his exposed body is chunkier compared to his yellow spandex body. Notable part is his exposed neck like I mentioned earlier and his hands which appeared to be buffed as well than the gloved hands. Their shoes/boots are the same but, oddly painted differently. The yellow spandex boots straps are black colored and his soles are blue with black borders. While the casual wear, some straps are left unpainted but, their soles are fully black.

HS comparisons:

Comparing to past releases Logan HS, they're all spot on to Hugh Jackman's likeness. Except the yellow spandex HS is a bit oval compared to the rests while the casual wear version, his front nose seems a little shorter than the others. However, it surprised me to see side by side both HS (unmasked & casual) colors are very identical, including his hair. I saw in several reviews the casual wear one appeared to have more darker hair color and another thing is I also saw someone put casual wear HS into yellow spandex appeared to have loose ball joint which the head spins instead of being fit. I guess I was lucky enough to get them in perfect color and fitting joints. It is interesting that, despite being a neutral expressions they got their own uniqueness so, they're not just simple face reuse since there's a little expressions shown on them. The Amazon one is completely neutral expression, the jacket one is shown to have a little smirk, the unmasked yellow spandex is serious but, with sadder looking eyes and his casual wear looks angrier which more fitting for his unmasked body. The 2 new hs were made to have more fleshy skin tone compared to the past releases, which appeared to be slight pale. I did not include the old man Logan in here since his hs are entirely different due to be made older version.

Swaps:

All head swaps are surprisingly perfect for this 2 new hs despite their slight different skin tone. However, the past releases hs somehow looks a little off with yellow spandex body but, on the contrary they looked much better with the new casual wear body.

Thoughts:

I never been a Marvel Comics fan in my life but this one is an exception for me. The movie did real justice on this Logan, despite the inconsistency of this figure I'm very happy with how he turned out to be great. This Wolverine became one of my favorite figure of this year but to be frank, these 2 HS of Hugh Jackman is the only reason why I bought both figures. I usually prefered Bandai S.H.Figuarts better over Marvel Legends and I know Bandai also made their own Wolverine figure but, without unmasked head is instant no for me. My only complaint is the yellow spandex figure's paintapp suffers easy paint chip which in some certain pose, I noticed there're paint chipping on the blue part of the arms so, watch your six if you're planning to make something like crossed arms pose. Other than that, he looks pretty clean although he appeared to be a bit too bright since the movie suit got their own finishing effects even in the very first scene of the yellow spandex. But, you get what you paid for unless you want a perfection.

Thank youu for reading!😁🙏🏻

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fatecolossal · 1 year ago

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TWIN PEAKS (2017) Part 18 x Part 1 --- The sinister Experiment figure first materializes when Tracey is positioned at Sam's left ear in a manner that mirrors the pose of Laura's iconic whisper to Cooper. This seems intentional; in fact, Tracey even whispers in Sam's ear...

While Laura's whisper is inaudible, we can hear Tracey's whisper: she says, "What is it?" (Note: the OG subtitles, which Lynch/Frost have nothing to do with, incorrectly only say "What?"—so I correct them here.)

Now, of what significance is this seemingly innocuous question? First, note that the question, "What is it?", is identical to the very next full line of dialogue in the show...

...and is also repeated later in Part 1 as well. While it's a common enough phrase, the fact that it is repeated literally back-to-back here is seemingly no accident.

The phrase also is almost identical to the line that immediately precedes Laura's whisper near the beginning of Part 18: the Evolution of the Arm's question, "Is it?"

Each of these questions centers the definite pronoun "it," echoing the indefinite usage of "it" in the second (new) line of TWIN PEAKS (2017)...

...the Fireman's mysterious statement to Cooper at the beginning of Part 1, "It is in our house now."

Interestingly, much of Sam's dialogue with Tracey, who we are told has brought "it" with her, centers around whether she can come "in"...

...and it thus parallels the subject of the Fireman's line.

After Tracey whispers her question, "What is it?", Sam does provide a response, twice shushing her:

"Shh!"

Again, while this response may seem trivial, it is worthwhile to consider how it parallels the Fireman's other indefinite usage of "it"—"It all cannot be said aloud now"—as well as the theme of quietude surrounding "Judy" (and the very concept of a whisper).

This theme is further drawn out earlier in the scene, when Sam, echoing Jeffries' instructions about Judy, tells Tracey that they're "not supposed to say anything about this place."

Getting back to Tracey's whisper pose (and whisper itself): note that like Laura's TP:TR Red Room whisper, it's sandwiched between a kiss and a scream.

And very curiously, the way the Experiment's attack on Tracey and Sam is depicted—a close-up of frenetic shaking—closely mirrors the depiction of Laura's panicked scream and forceful exit from the Red Room. (Sadly, I can't post the video comparison here... See x.com/fatecolossal... )

In each, a gaping mouth—in one, Laura's, in the other, the Experiment's (just a gaping black hole)—is centered.

While that concludes the main portion of this post, there is one more minor (more tenuous?) parallel between the Glass Box Room and the Red Room that might be mentioned (see my earlier post from last week for many more! https://www.tumblr.com/fatecolossal/732266163941343232/twin-peaks-the-red-room-x-the-glass-box-room).

The Glass Box's lighting fixtures have red, striated backs that look familiar.

Okay, that's it! Thanks! (It's difficult to wade into pretty complicated discussions here given space & other limitations—some things def have to be omitted—so I realize the above may be inadequate by itself to be fully convincing of the intentionality behind some of the points...)

#twin peaks #david lynch #mark frost #laura palmer #whispers

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sparklypepper · 11 months ago

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@hungarianmudkip69 recently asked @vaspider about the spread of HIV. The excellent discussion there focused largely on qualitative aspects, notably what was going on socially in the 1970s and 80s, HIV's subtlety and long incubation periods, and exponential growth (along with a great refutation of accidental needle sticks as a dominant vector).

I've got a math and physics background - I have some extremely relevant intuition, but I still prefer being able to find real-world numbers to confirm that I haven't misapplied it. I encourage checking out all the links in this post; there's a lot of great information!

We can't literally go back in time and test everyone for HIV, but it is possible to model and estimate, e.g. this 2021 report from the CDC (US-only).

The second graph of figure #2 is very close to what we discussed:

(MMSC is male-to-male sexual contact and IDU is injection drug use; see the article for other details.)

Again, these are estimates, so we can't take the exact numbers as fact, but let's look at the big picture. HIV likely first arrived in the US around 1970; it first gained public attention in 1981, when the CDC reported cases of what we now call AIDS. At that point, the estimate is an order of magnitude of tens of thousands of HIV infections.

The original asker was interested in the behavior of a "patient zero" (see also "Debunking the Myth of Patient Zero", an excellent video linked in that thread). These numbers help us see how little effect one hypothetical person's behavior could have had on the end result. As long as the virus was transmitted at all, it was going to reach the highest-risk populations eventually, and spread once there, whether it took one hop or ten. It was also essentially impossible to notice the pattern and infer the existence of HIV/AIDS in the US until multiple people in the same community developed AIDS and contracted unusual infections - which most likely means that it's reached that high-risk population, and ten years have passed.

Tens of thousands of infections is simply the result of exponential growth during those ten years; stopping it from becoming an epidemic would've required everyone's behavior to have changed. Different behavior, different transmission, different number of hops early on would more likely have changed how long it took to spread widely enough to become noticeable, not whether it did. (An unfortunately familiar concept, in the year 2023.)

The authors also mention that "trend data comparing subpopulations is likely to be robust for each period examined", so let's look back at those individual lines. Injection drug use (IDU) actually was a fairly significant means of transmission by the 1980s, and by the mid-80s, the spread among gay/bi men (MMSC) was beginning to decline. At the end of the decade, IDU may even have passed MMSC. Simultaneously, transmission was still rising among straight people. It shouldn't be too surprising that straight sex became significant; there are rather a lot of straight people!

The CDC also has us covered for a more current picture, as of 2017-2021 in the US:

This does vary greatly by country. Notably, as of 2022 in England, 49% of new diagnoses were among heterosexuals, compared to 45% among gay/bi men. (Do keep in mind that there are far more straight people, so still, a far higher fraction of gay/bi men were diagnosed.)

I personally find that I get the best understanding when I'm able to combine some direct evidence/data with an understanding of the history and social forces; hopefully this piece helps at least one person out in that way!

[Finally, as a footnote: trans women also exist (hi I'm one) and have historically been at high risk. I am unsure to what extent trans women are omitted versus misgendered in the above data. I wanted to focus on historical estimates over time here, and unfortunately wasn't able to find that for trans women, but this review article links to and summarizes some data from two meta-analyses.]

#hiv #aids #exponential growth #epidemics

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primusfortuna · 2 months ago

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Major Update

Yumekuro will be ending service on November 19, 2024 at 12:00 JST.

Below is some information on Yumekuro Offline, a version of the game that can be accessed even after the servers close. Please let me know if I missed anything important.

Yumekuro Offline

Yumekuro Offline is a static copy of your user data. You will be able to preserve and view all progress you personally have made in the game, but you cannot build your account or obtain new cards.

To download your data, click this button in the lower right of your home screen. The file size will depend on how much content is in your account.

The download option is available from now until November 19, 2024.

After completing the download, if you obtain any new data (ie. new cards or story chapters), they will not carry over to your version of Yumekuro Offline by default. You must redownload your data to preserve any new content you acquire. You can redownload as many times as needed.

IMPORTANT: You will not be able to regain access if you delete or try to reinstall the app after November 19. Some devices have a setting that automatically offloads apps or puts them into "deep sleep" mode. Please make sure to turn this setting off if you're worried about losing access.

What Carries Over to Yumekuro Offline?

Many features will be disabled in Yumekuro Offline. Below is a list of what you can still access.

▪ Home Screen Remains mostly unchanged. You can still set characters, backgrounds, and time-specific voice lines. You can now view player's birthday messages from your owned characters any day of the year.

▪ Stories The following will be made fully accessible, even if you haven't unlocked them yourself:

Main story*

All event stories (including collabs)

Misc stories (ie. login stories, Black Summer, Grand Finale)

*The current Prologue & Chapter 0 of Main Story will be slightly rewritten to omit the battle and gacha features.

All other stories will only be available if you've already unlocked them. This includes:

Meister and fairy cards

Affection stories

Voice dramas

"His perspective" stories

Past stories

Guild stories

Other stories (past exploration, hunting, stadium, fairy events)

EXCEPTION: These card stories will be available to read even if you don't have them unlocked: ・ Crow, Itsuki, Grandflair (Beginning of a Dream) ・ Evan, Navi, Himmel (Beginning of a Bond)

This only includes the card chapters, not their affection stories or outing lines.

Keep in mind that you cannot upgrade cards in Yumekuro Offline, so you MUST unlock all the chapters you want to preserve before completing your data download.

▪ Guild Life All Guild Home features remain intact, limited to the cards you own. You can now view player and meisters' birthday dialogues regardless of the day. Keeper's Board messages will still be available, but you can't obtain new ones.

▪ Library All information in here will remain viewable. The glossary can still be updated if you unlock new terms.

▪ Collection You can view badges and boards you already own.

▪ Alarm You can still use the alarm function.

▪ Player Profile Able to edit your profile like before.

New Additions

Some new features will be exclusive to Yumekuro Offline. As usual, access to these features is limited to the cards you own.

You'll now be able to access meisters' outing invites and thank-you messages under the "Memories" (思い出) section of the Keeper's Board.

A LOT of voice lines will be added to the Library:

Outings - Max skinship

Outings - Give a present

Shop lines

Past exploration - Start exploration

Past exploration - During exploration

Past exploration - End exploration

Outings - Max presents

Various battle lines

★ Some unreleased voice lines will also be available:

Seasonal voice lines - Date on a cold day (all meisters)

Seasonal voice lines - Things to do at the harvest fair (all fairies)

Meister birthday lines for years 2-3

Player birthday lines for years 2-3 (from meisters & fairies)

Disabled Features

All quests/battles

Building characters/cards

Campaigns

Data restoration

Data transfer

Events

Event reruns

Friend feature

Gacha

Guild orders

Hunting

Increasing affection level

Increasing guild level

Increasing player level

Meister birthdays (you can still access the voice lines in the Library)

Minigames

Missions

Obtaining and using items

Outings

Past exploration

Presents

Push notifications

Set support characters

Shop

Stadium

#yumekuro #ymkr

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tobiasdrake · 5 months ago

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Digimon Adventure 01 - Adrift? The Island of Adventure! / And So It Begins....

Right off the bat, we can feel the tonal difference between how the two shows want to present themselves. The Japanese version opens with narration provided to us by a grim and stone-faced narrator, while in the English version, Tai delivers the exposition himself in a light-hearted and goofy tone.

The Japanese narrator explains to us in a bit more detail precisely what is happening throughout the world. Drought has struck the paddy fields of southeast Asia, heavy rains are flooding the Middle East, and the U.S. is suffering from freezing temperatures.

Tai has similar dreary info to drop on us. He tries to keep it light because that's the tone the dub is going for, but his version's... a little different. In fact, hilariously, Tai's version is much worse.

The way he tells it, the whole rainforest has dried up and oceans have risen to flood "other areas like chocolate sauce". The freezing also is no longer in the U.S.; It's "cities which are normally blazing hot", not contained to any specific region. Holy shit.

So, yeah. Either way, the world's being fucked sideways right now by climate catastrophe, but it's ironically being fucked harder in the lighter and goofier English dub.

With that out of the way, we met our cast of kids - With the English Tai getting in a funny joke, claiming to be "working on my multiplication tables" while we clearly see him snoozing in a tree.

Each character comes with their own special introduction slide to give us some basic information on them. For the Japanese version, the narrator coldly lists them off by name, while their information blurb tells us what grade they're in.

This gives us a general understanding of how old each kid is, relative to one another, which is kind of important for understanding their group dynamic down the road.

6th Grade: Jou 5th Grade: Taichi, Sora, and Yamato 4th Grade: Koushiro and Mimi 2nd Grade: Takeru

The dub omits that particular information and instead gives us some basic information on what Tai thinks of each character.

Sora: "She's okay, for a girl!" Matt: "Too cool; Just look at that haircut!" Izzy: "He should have gone to computer camp." Mimi: "I'll bet you can guess her favorite color on the first try." T.K.: "Matt's dopey little brother." Joe: "Don't ever scare him; He'd probably wet his pants."

For most of the character names, it's pretty obvious which name connects to which. Izzy's the odd man out, as it's an abbreviation for Koushiro's family name Izumi.

The omission of the characters' ages from the dub is something that I think hurts it; It's not super clear, watching the show in English, that Joe's supposed to be the oldest kid by a year or two, or that Mimi's one of the youngest in the cast. However, this is important context for driving some of the plot points that the show has in store for them.

As the kids are struck by a freak blizzard, neither version really stops to explain this but the kids who will be our protagonists get separated from the rest of the campers. In both versions, we just see a group of counselors ushering kids into tents, and then Taichi opens this door once it stops.

I think the Japanese version was trusting its audience to understand from context where they are. Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Jou, Koushiro, Mimi, and Takeru have all taken shelter from the blizzard inside a nearby Shinto shrine.

This is why, when the aurora suddenly arrives and transports them across worlds, no other campers are taken with them. They're in an isolated location away from the rest of the group.

Jou even has a line expressing that he wants to return to the others, to clarify that these seven children are presently alone.

The English version offers no less information than the Japanese. Well, it offers a little less; That one context-clarifying line from Jou is replaced by Joe saying "I was worried I'd catch a summer cold but this is even worse!"

However, more importantly, we don't have Shinto shrines here. So the context isn't quite as evident to a kid watching on TV in the 90's. I always thought they were just in some kind of cabin at camp.

As the kids stare in awe at the sudden arrival of an aurora that's about to ruin the next several months of their lives, Jou again urges everyone to return to adult supervision pronto. This time Yamato agrees with him, pointing out that they could get sick if they stay out here.

Joe and Matt, on the other hand, have different concerns. In the dub, it's Joe that worries they're all going to get sick if they stay out here. This time, Matt disagrees, insisting that they can't miss a sight like this. That they are all alone in the wilderness with no adult supervision is not a concern for Joe at all, apparently.

Koushiro also points out that auroras aren't supposed to happen in Japan, so this is weird. The dub is trying to localize for an American audience, so Izzy's a bit more descriptive here. He calls this out as the Aurora Borealis specifically but says that's supposed to happen in Alaska. "We're way too far south."

Then the Aurora strikes, delivering their Digivices and whisking the kids away on a magical adventure of violence, terror, and coming to terms with the reality of death. YAAAAAAAAAY

So it begins! Taichi is the first we see meet his Digimon partner. This is Koromon. English Koromon explains that his name means "Brave Little Warrior". This is a bald-faced lie.

Like many Baby and Child stage Digimon, his name is based on an onomatopoeia; Specifically, Koromon is named for the sound of a round object rolling around. "Korokorokorokoro". I think the dub version of the character was embarrassed to admit that. :P

Koushiro's partner Mochimon is next. The subtitle here says Motimon but you can clearly hear Mochimon. His name is based on the sound of a spongey goop extending and retracting. Mochimochimochi.

Once these two are introduced, the dub goes in on trying to deliver information to the audience. This place is called the Digi-World, and Izzy speculates that the Digimon are the Digivices themselves, transformed into physical lifeforms.

None of this is in the original; This is a quiet moment as Taichi takes in the magnitude of their isolating predicament. The only information offered is that this is a place called File Island; the word "File" is said in English.

That they've Isekai'd into another world entirely is not something they know as of yet. At this point in time, the possibility exists that maybe we got washed out to sea somehow but we're still somewhere near Japan.

When Taichi tries to scout out what's around them, our central antagonist for this episode arrives: Kuwagamon, an Adult-stage Digimon named for a particular species of stag beetle: Nokogiri-kuwagata.

The first altercation with Kuwagamon goes terribly, forcing Taichi and Koushiro to take cover inside a special program. As Mochimon explains, they're inside a hologram of a tree which will conceal them from Kuwagamon.

The English Motimon offers the less helpful explanation, "It's a Hiding Tree, silly!" That'll do it. All I need to know, thanks.

Once Kuwagamon's gone, we meet up with Sora and our next Partner Digimon.

Pyocomon, named for the sound of bouncing. Pyocopyocopyoco! The dub cuts off the P and calls her Yokomon.

Immediately followed by Takeru's partner Tokomon, named for the sound of trotting around. Tokotokotokotoko.

And Yamato's partner Tsunomon. This one isn't an onomatopoeia; Rather, "tsuno" is the Japanese word for "horn". He's Hornmon. You can probably guess why.

Following that, we have Pukamon, named for the sound of floating or hovering. "Pukapukapuka", though the dub calls him Bukamon with a hard B sound.

We cut to commercial break and then come back to a completely redundant second introduction. Each Digimon takes turns going around and saying their names, and then Tai introduces each of the human characters and tells us which grade they're in; The same information from those slides earlier.

I think the localizers realized how unnecessary this is because they use this time to waffle instead. Rather than intros, the Digimon just say things like "We're super cute!" "And loyal!" Tai, however, once again misses an opportunity to establish the relative ages of the characters and just reintroduces all of the humans by name.

Wait, but aren't we missing someone? As if on cue, Mimi comes screaming out of the woods with her Partner Digimon at her side.

Tanemon, which translates in English to "Seedmon". However, like Tsunomon, her name remains Tanemon in the dub. Mimi isn't screaming because of Tanemon, however; She's being hunted by Kuwagamon.

I should note that the dub characters are extremely rude about Mimi's absence. Sora calls her "the girl with the funny hat" to which Tai replies, in the most eye-rolling and disdainful voice possible, "Now now, her name is Mimi." You can hear him sneering.

Then Izzy chimes in and, in a weirdly bitter tone, suggest she's "picking flowers" or "going on a nature hike". The fuck crawled up y'all's butts and died? This girl has done nothing.

The dub, however, does get in a fantastic line when Kuwagamon attacks again.

As the kids cower in a clearing from Kuwagamon's renewed assault, Joe cries out, "My mom is going to want a complete and total refund!" XD I love that. It manages to land a joke without killing the tension in the process.

Cornered on the edge of a cliff, the partners are forced to fight Kuwagamon.

It does not go well. Real quick, who do you think wins in a fight: An experienced lumberjack vs. several toddlers?

What a lovely start to an adventure. We have no idea where we are or why, and the strange magical creatures who showed up to protect us have all been beaten within an inch of their life by what, for all intents and purposes at this time, just appears to be Random Encounter wildlife.

We're gonna die out here.

With their backs against the wall, Kuwagamon renews the assault once more and the Baby Digimon are forced to break free from their worried kids and fight once more.

The dub tries really hard to downplay the peril these kids are in right now. For instance, when Taichi asks Koromon why he attacked Kuwagamon so recklessly, Koromon uses what little strength he has to state that he needs to protect Taichi. Dub Koromon just says he wanted to show off and look cool.

Similarly, as Kuwagamon comes tromping out of the woods, Taichi expresses hopeless fear, and Koromon then insists that that Digimon must fight. Dub Tai instead says, "Get ready to run!" only for Koromon to argue that he wants to fight instead. Like. They're standing on the edge of a cliff. There is nowhere to run to. The dub's manufacturing retreat options to make fighting a personal choice rather than a survival necessity.

But now the bonds they've formed with their kids are strong enough for the first in what's going to become a major metaphysic for this series: Evolution.

The dub calls it Digivolution, possibly to distinguish it from evolution in Pokemon which was airing alongside this show, but in Japanese it's just "shinka" meaning evolution. As each Digimon evolves, there's a stock quote format that they express in both versions.

In English, it's "Koromon, digivolve to: Agumon!"

In Japanese, it's "Koromon SHINKAAAAAAAA!!! Agumon!"

I admit, ever since the first time I watched this in subs, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the bloodcurdling battle roar of "SHINKAAAAAAA!!!" every time they evolve in Japanese.

While Kuwagamon gets dogpiled by Child-stage Digimon as the Digimon theme song blazes in the background, let's take a moment to go over each of their new names.

Agumon: "Aguaguagu". The sound of biting. Gabumon: A type of puppet used in Kabuki theater. Piyomon: "Piyopiyopiyopiyo". The sound of tweeting. Tentomon: Tentoumushi, a type of ladybug. Gomamon: Gomafu azarashi, a type of seal. Palmon: A play on "palm", a kind of tree. Patamon: "Patapatapatapata", the sound of flapping wings.

The English version replaces the roaring Digimon theme song with some generic fight music.

With Kuwagamon successfully fended off, the vibe of this scene is pure tension-relieving jubilation. The dub slides in Izzy saying, "They made vaporware out of him," and goddammit, that got me. XD The important thing is that Kuwagamon is gone and everyone is safe forev--

Oh, never mind. Everyone fucks off a cliff and probably dies and that's where we leave off episode 1. This sequence features possibly the funniest "Easing Up on the Peril" edit in this entire episode. As Kuwagamon slams his pincers into the edge of the cliff side to send them hurtling to their doom, the English version splices in random still frames of the kids looking tough to show this is no big deal and they can handle themselves in this mess!

Izzy standing there like "GRRR I'm a big strong American boy and they build us TOUGH over here! Me and mah gun can TAKE gravity!"

Before ending on the exact same shot of everyone falling to their doom anyway.

Either way, this is where the episode leaves off. The kids have been transported to this mysterious location. They have no idea where they are, how they got here, or why. They were terrorized around the forest, and now they're all falling to their doom.

This sets the stage for what this adventure is going to be like. This is not a magical journey of whimsey and effortless victories. These children are in extreme peril and nobody is coming to save them.

Man, File Island sucks. I'm with English Joe. If I was one of these kids' parents, I'd be demanding a refund too. Worst camping trip ever.

#digimon adventure #digimon #revisiting digimon #revisiting digimon adventure

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