#and every other one of those looked lame in comparison

[tarn-ati0n]

Ok fine I'm not gonna buy a new collar

[angelfleurry]

Can I request Ryoma with a insecure!reader who used to be bullied on her looks and feels not pretty enough for him?

Ryoma X Insecure! Fem! Reader Who Used to Be Bullied on Her Looks:

Hello, lovey! Thank you for requesting. This is the first Ryoma request I’ve had on this blog, so I’m super excited!! I used to write for him every once in a while back when I was Wattpad based, and this was years ago! I’m hoping I’m not too rusty but I think he may be slightly out of character. Sorry it's short, I was worried I was going to make him too out of character. Also, I’ve used fem! pronouns because in your request, while you didn’t specify, you used them. If you would rather gender neutral, feel free to ask and I’ll be more than happy to edit it for you! <3

I feel for this request, honestly. I’ve had comments made about me before, one time even message after message, a few times relayed to me by people who were told it when I wasn’t around. There were other things but, regardless, I’m happy with how I look now. I’ve grown into my face and while I still have days where the mirror is my worst enemy, I generally feel so much prettier. But having those comments made when you were a young teenager can really do a number on you.

Although, one time I found out one of my old friends had said something and confronted him and the way he scrambled to apologise made me laugh honestly. I just think people need to learn to take a chill pill. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there are people who will find you beautiful, but it’s more important that you learn to find yourself beautiful. Easier said than done but not impossible.

TL;DR - its so lame to bully people for how they look.

~~

♡ You are constantly hyperaware of how you look to people, and it’s so hard for you to stay relaxed because of it.

♡ If there’s anything with a reflective surface, you have to look into it.

♡ You could be passing by a car window, a shop window, a mirror, or sometimes you’d even just pull up your phone camera.

♡ It didn’t matter what it was, you couldn’t help but check.

♡ To the average observer, you probably looked rather self-absorbed.

♡ When, in reality, you were filled with dread the second you looked.

♡ Going out in public wasn’t something you couldn’t do, but it certainly made you anxious.

♡ Every now and again, during your outings, you’d suddenly become very aware of the fact you had a face.

♡ Now, everyone’s aware they’ve got a face, but I’m talking a deeper level of awareness.

♡ You could only imagine what people were seeing when they looked at you.

♡ Talking or eating around people was even worse.

♡ You wondered how your face rested when you weren’t relying on perfecting it in the mirror, how your lips curled and flattened as you spoke, how you looked under lightning.

♡ You just wanted to feel pretty, but nothing was working.

♡ None of this was a result of your own vanity, but rather a distressing consequence.

♡ You had been subjected to cruel treatment regarding your appearance in the past, having been faced with nasty comparisons, comments, and sometimes even physical aggression.

♡ Bullying, that’s what it was.

♡ You didn’t understand it. You were just existing, and yet that alone had bothered so many people.

♡ Why…?

♡ It did not matter that it was now the future, and that these people may or may not be gone from your life; you still hurt.

♡ Sometimes you wondered what Ryoma saw in you.

♡ He had been your boyfriend for a good few months now but, while you knew he cared about you, you still couldn’t feel fully confident.

♡ You didn’t feel good enough for him.

♡ You didn’t feel pretty enough for him.

♡ Why you? Was he not embarrassed?

♡ There were so many other girls around, so many that you believed were prettier than you, and yet he was with you?

♡ You didn’t get it, you couldn’t get it.

♡ Sometimes, you’d look at these other girls, or stare at yourself in the mirror, and wonder why on Earth he was sticking around.

♡ Was he not disgusted? Were you even pretty enough for him?

♡ Why did he love you?

♡ You knew there was more to it than looks, but the idea of you being unbearable to look at had crossed your mind every now and then.

♡ After all, people had said it you before, it’s not like it couldn’t happen again.

♡ Eye contact was hard for you to maintain sometimes. If you felt that, if you were looking for too long, Ryoma would start to see your flaws.

♡ He had come to know about your history, of course.

♡ The issue at hand was this:

♡ To Ryoma, though he would never properly admit it due to the utter softness of it, he could never find disgust for your appearance.

♡ But you could and he couldn’t fix that, he was more than aware.

♡ The damage had been done, and he was no miracle maker.

♡ But, he’d be damned if he were to just enable these feelings.

♡ “You need to stop abiding to the standards of others.” he’d told you a few times, deep voice gruff with pure honesty every time, “Cos that doesn’t help anybody.”

♡ “Those people had different standards, most likely extremely unreachable ones,” he’d said another time you’d brought it up, “Regardless, you cannot let these people define the rest of your life.”

♡ “Your face is the face you’ve got, and you will have to look at it throughout your life,” he continued, sitting next to you now, “You need to learn to value who you are despite these experiences.”

♡ You frowned a little, feeling slightly attacked. You knew this was just how he was, but it felt so raw it honestly startled you.

♡ “I suppose,” you nodded, “But, it’s so hard.”

♡ “And I understand that,” he told you calmly, “I’m not exactly the most conventional standard, am I?”

♡ You sighed, “Maybe not for some, but for me you’re perfect.”

♡ He smiled slightly at this, very very faintly.

♡ “Well, there you go.” was all he said on this, slightly nodding.

♡ Even if his direct responses in the moment aren’t always the most comforting, he will take it into account.

♡ He tends to demonstrate his reassurance through other means, such as petnames.

♡ Has adopted the term “dollface” or “doll” for you, and he says it every now and again.

♡ Not all the time, because then it takes away the meaning, but he says it.

♡ He makes a point to make eye contact with you, even if you can’t do the same.

♡ “You’re fine.” he tells you, watching as you get absorbed into your head.

�� And then he gives you this soft smile, nodding proudly as you refocus, and it makes you feel a little bit better.

♡ If he catches you glancing into a reflective surface with a little too much concern or for a little too long, he’s quick to bring you out of it.

♡ “You look lovely,” he’ll tell you gently, “Don’t let them get to you.”

♡ And then, there’s moments where he looks at you, or moments where it’s too quiet, and he can’t help but say exactly what he feels.

♡ “You are more than enough,” and his voice is always so casually soft as he says it.

♡ “You will never know how much you mean to me, Y/N.”

♡ “I wish you could see yourself the way I do,” he would continue, slightly slower as he shook away the awkwardness, because while it felt silly, he really did mean it, every word, “You are beautiful, even if you don’t believe that.”

♡ “I love you.”

[givethemsmut]

The Pack | Chapter Four

Characters: Dylan O’Brien, fem!reader

Pairing: Dylan O’Brien, Dylan x You

D Y L A N ‘ S P O V

It was hours later and I still hadn’t come out of my room until it was time to eat again or all the deliver pizza was gone. I headed to the kitchen and ran into Posey with Alex, the new blonde, hanging on his every word and muscle.

I was still pissed at him and purposely let my disgust show at their flirting in front of me. “Hey man. Sorry about earlier but you had to hear it.”

I slammed down my water down and turned to him, “Take your own advice. You don’t know her but it’s okay she’s over and you’re screwing? Whoa slow down, killer.” I turned to Alex, “You’re like the fifth girl this month. Makes you wonder if he cleans his sheets, huh?”

I took my keys off the counter and headed towards my car. I needed a break from my best friend. I just started driving with no destination until I texted her.

ME: Let’s meet up. I’ll come to you.

She was reluctant. She said she was busy but we both knew it was a lie. I had to settle for texts.

ME: Sorry about Tyler. Ignore him. You aren’t some rebound okay? As soon as I bumped into you I knew I wanted to know you.

HER: Six years is a long time. You must be heartbroken. You have to heal.

ME: I’m bummed but I’m not devastated. I’ve seen you more in two days than I’ve seen her in months, okay? We were trying to hard to make it work.

HER: What do you mean?

ME: All we were good at was having sex. We didn’t talk anymore. We didn’t wanna see each other. We weren’t being there for each other anymore.

HER: Still…

ME: Still nothing. So what we got wasted and fucked. We made it right - we hung out, talked. We didn’t bail and call it a regret.

Y O U R P O V

I didn’t text him back at all. I had class to focus on and avoiding Brody who was waiting across the street to make sure I wasn’t being held hostage by a stranger. I pretended not to see him in the meantime.

Making a violent work place for my Dad wasn’t an option so forgetting Dylan ever happened was my only option left.

I loved Brody and that hurt enough being rejected for something so lame. I can’t imagine Dylan’s heart being rejected after six years worth of memories. For the next two weeks I kept to myself, Alex, school, and Starbucks. Those were my GPS markers and I realized how lame I was but it kept the organ in my heart from breaking.

My dad was actually home one Tuesday night which was odd considering he had a lot of night shoots lately. I was heating up some soup when he sat down at the island inquiring about Dylan.

“So what’s going on with Dylan?”

I raised an eyebrow confused, “Well that was weeks ago. Thanks for asking.”

I sat down with my soup and a water across from him at the same kitchen island as him. “No, seriously. He’s been a raging teenager on set.”

“He’s young enough. He also plays a teenager. Method acting?”

“Him and Tyler are normally full of laughs, energy. Did you guys fight? Break up? Was it the sex part…? Not everyone will be Brody.”

“Dad! God! You can reserve this conversation with Dylan on set. I’m not talking about this with you.” I stood up completely overwhelmed and pushing my soup aside.

His eyes withered down to pure sympathy, “I don’t know a lot but I know Brody pressured you… if Dylan is pressuring you…”

I let my eyes fix on him while I spoke, “You can’t have issues with sex when you have no comparison. And we didn’t break up because we never dated. Look, I don’t know what his tantrum is about. I haven’t spoke to him in weeks.”

Abandoning my dinner entirely, I tossed my MacBook on my bed and closed my bedroom door behind me. The chirp immediately jolted my head towards the open computer showing Alex was trying to FaceTime me. Once I hit accept, I saw Tyler next to her once I was paying attention.

“Girl! Where have you been?!”

“School, Starbucks, home. Repeat. I see you’re chilling with Tyler still…” Maybe giving Alex a GPS marker was to just make myself feel better.

She must have been on her phone because he fell out of frame and was moving, “You probably don’t wanna hear this but it’s like going really well. He’s so sweet. Let’s be real… a total babe too. He’s been staying with me. He has to escape Dylan for while.”

“Why is everyone concerned with Dylan? And telling me?” I groaned between my words, sighing too heavily after.

“Girl. You happened. You left him without any word or explanation.”

I shrugged, “Talk to your new man. He’s the one who pulled Dylan from his room to tell him I was a bad idea. I just agreed.”

“Well he’s been acting crazy. Being a diva on set, giving Tyler attitude, booking up with random girls and drinking. It’s crazy! Completely downhill as far as Tyler has told me.”

“Well he can’t act like a child because one girl blew him off. He’ll survive. Girl, I gotta write a paper. I’ll text you tomorrow.” I closed my computer so fast I felt the fire ride up my neck into my cheeks. I was embarrassed and a little in love with being his downfall.

Brody pressured me to give him every ounce of me but not having me didn’t ruin him either.

The next morning I stopped at Starbucks for a venti iced coffee before class. I could feel my eyes burning and watering at the exposure of the LA sun from not sleeping. All I did was turn and turn, physically wrestling my decision to not even give Dylan w chance.

My only morning class was a lecture too as if I wasn’t already struggling. Sitting in the back I hid in plain sight when about 30 minuets after a packed class was losing focus the old, heavy, door sounded. I couldn’t see without glasses but I heard his voice and instantly slipped deeper in my seat.

Shit. Dylan.

He interrupted the teacher, “Hey, um sorry sir it’s an emergency. Life and death.” He raced up the stairs to me after scanning the room and I hoped my blending in skills finally worked.

I could hear the entire class was whispering, clamoring, trying to place his familiar face.

Am I literally the last person alive to not watch Teen Wolf? Really?

He kneeled down whispering, “Hey. Can you come with me? I pulled a lot of Teen Wolf strings to find your classroom.”

I closed my MacBook quietly before swallowing my pride, “Dylan. I’m in class.”

He grabbed my bag, “And? I just got you a hall pass.”

I didn’t move so he turned to the class, addressing them like he was about to make a speak. “Hey guys. I’m Dylan. I play Stiles on Teen Wolf on –“

I grabbed his arm urging him to stop. “Fine. You win,” as I got up leading him outside. Soon as we were safely in the hallway I asked him, “Mind telling me what this about?”

He shrugged, “I wanted to see you. My car is over there, blue Jeep, hop in.”

I sat in the bucket seats of his car, climbing inside the same car I parked next to the day I ran into him. “Heard you’re being awful to everyone.”

He played shocked well, mouth open and almost laughing because he knew it was true. He said, “Me? Nah. I’m always a peach.” He smiled big and started his electric blue colored Jeep. After driving 10 minuets in silence he said, “Okay. Caught me. I was a dick to everyone… I didn’t wanna stop knowing you okay? I don’t like being the guy who fucks for the sake of getting off.”

I was shocked he felt that way. He must of saw how shocked I was because he continue, “Okay, calm down. You don’t have to be so shocked. Your dad is our produce, he doesn’t tell you things?”

“Not about the cast and sex…”

Dylan pulled into a small local shop, “I refused to do a sex scene in Teen Wolf. They added it for ratings. Not for the character development.”

I was now even more shocked. His job is to act, really anything, and he refused because of personal morales. We both got out and I asked him, “If we weren’t wasted would you still have had sex with me?”

He opened the door to the shop for me, “Kissed you sure but not sex. Welcome to my favorite restaurant. We’re going on a real date so you can reject me like a normal person.”

I couldn’t help but smile some, he was smooth and he view on sex was genuine. Similar to mine instead making myself fit into someone’s box. We found a small table in the corner with a large window and he started ordering everything when half way through he turned to me, “Can I order for you? Do you want anything or just me…?”

I laughed knowing he was anyways. “So Alex and Tyler…?”

Dylan laughed, “This month. I mean no offense. Girls like the abs and the wolf status then get bored and leave. But yeah she’s been around. She was on set the other day too.”

“Two divas on set, wow. My dad was complaining and trying to blame me for your behavior. Somehow our not existent relationship is effecting you. He even asked if we had an argument.”

Pushing himself closer to me, “I may have lost it a minuet. He’s a hypocrite! She’s on set, new, they don’t know each other and fucking like bunnies. I actually like you and he tells me it’s a problem? Fuck off, bro. We have bad timing, isn’t that every romantic comedy?” I laughed seeing him fired up was funny as anything. “Least your dad thinks I’m boyfriend material.”

I laughed again the food arrived my mouth salivated at how perfect a meal this was. Our conversation felt endless. Everything from his sister’s journey on coming out, his parents, worrying about the future.

After we made it back to the car it was hours later. Both of us settling in the car he turned to me, his hand reaching out to touch my leg. “So I shouldn’t be asking you this but how’s adjusting to life post virgin?”

I nearly hugged myself feeling very vulnerable at the time, “It’s different… before I could focus but now I’m like distracted constantly. It’s like an itch you can’t scratch. Anything can distract me and I’m all of a sudden I’m… you know.”

He jumped in and finished my sentence, “Horny?” Putting his hand on my thigh and gently squeezing, “You gotta get it out of your system. Your body knows it’s new.”

I got excited just from his hand so much I quivered inside against the butterflies. “So I’m just suppose to sleep with anyone until I’m use to it and it’s not distracting anymore?”

I was being sarcastic but he turned to me even more, “No. Just with me. My place or yours? Let’s avoid our best friends judging us.”

[firekitten830]

Some thoughts about Miguel, the comics, and what it could mean for Beyond the Spiderverse

This post has spoilers in it! It also contains mentions of suicide. And it's also VERY long. Consider yourself warned.

Comic vs Movie Comparison

Going to be starting this off with comparing movie Miguel and comic Miguel. And to clarify before we get into it, I don’t think deviation from the comics is a bad thing, and I love both versions. Also worth mentioning that at the time of writing this I've only read the original series from 1992, Dark Genesis, and a couple of the temporal crossover stories (which I'm considering non-canon for the sake of this discussion). I might make another post like this once I've finished all of them.

Starting off with story deviation there's... not a lot for me to really say here, since we don’t know much about movie Miguel’s backstory aside from the part where he accidentally caused a universe to collapse, so there’s not a lot to point out in terms of story deviation yet. However his personality and behavior is a little bit different. He’s more serious in the movie. Now Miguel has always been more serious than most other versions of Spiderman, but in the comics he’s still humorous. His humor just tends to be more sarcastic and cynical (think a bit like Deadpool) rather than the quips and wisecracks you usually get with Spiderman. He’s pessimistic and actually pretty mean, especially when not in his Spiderman alter ego. I'll admit I do miss his sarcasm in retrospect, but at the same time it wouldn't really suit the role the movie has set him up to play. Plus his characterization in the movie is still super good, and I like it a lot.

Miguel in the comics does tend to be a lot less bouncy and acrobatic than most other spidermen, and that definitely shows in the movie too. But the movie did something I personally love, and pushed that aspect further, and made him almost animalistic rather than just a Spiderman that fights a bit more close quarters. He’s intimidating, he’s brutal, every move has weight and power that you can feel through the animation. They kept the inertia of his movements in mind, something they do for all of the characters but is especially noticeable and fun with characters like Miguel who have a lot of force behind their movements (This is also why I love how The Prowler is animated so much). One of my highest praises for these movies is that every character has their own unique style, and Miguel’s fits him very well and stays true to the comics.

And the last point I'm going to talk about before jumping in to speculation is the powers. There's not a lot for me to say here either in regards to comparison, since we've not really gotten a chance to see how movie Miguel's powers work, but I still do want to address it because if it's the same as in the comics, then he's actually pretty unique! Makes sense, considering he didn't get them from the standard radioactive spider-bite (more on that later). I am sorry to say but he is (probably) not a vampire (I say probably because it's entirely possible he is in the movie. But assuming it's the same as the comics, he isn't actually a vampire, just looks like one, since judging by the fact that Blade is... around... vampires are real in his world). Do keep drawing him as a vampire tho its hot.

Anyway. He does have those fangs in the comics! He also has venom! As in the paralytic toxin spiders use to catch prey, not the character. Another thing that sets him apart is that he... doesn't seem to have a spider-sense? At all? He has super enhanced normal senses, but not that sort of extra sense that pretty much every other spiderman seems to have. I don't know if this is true in the movie but it would be sort of neat. He also isn't sticky! Instead he has those talons to hook onto surfaces, those are a part of him, not the suit. Unless they changed it in the movie which is the one and only change i think would be super lame. But since they gave him the fangs I doubt it. There is one noteworthy difference between his powers in the comic and the movie, and it's that in the movie his webs seem to be technology based, maybe some form of energy or hard light technology, while in the comics he has spinnerets in his arms. It could also be a mix of both, or that could just be how his natural webs look. Either way I'm curious why that change was made, even if it was as simple as just to fit the futuristic aesthetic.

Miguel's Backstory

Onto the next section! I'm going to do my best to give a brief recap of Miguel's backstory, for anyone who doesn't know it. For the sake of simplicity I'm going to assume that his backstory in the movie is more or less the same as in the original comics, up to the part where he goes to another universe.

In the year 2099, most major cities are controlled by the interests of oppressive mega-corporations. Nueva York, controlled by Alchemax and their corporate police, is literally divided between the Uptown and the Downtown, the uptown being the shining, sparkling futuristic city where all of the rich and important people live, while the downtown is the crumbling remains of New York that have been built over, where all of those deemed worthless by Alchemax are confined to.

Miguel O'Hara is the head of the genetics project in Alchemax's R&D branch, leading their efforts regarding gene splicing and genetic manipulation. Miguel is a snarky, standoffish man, who’s just generally a jerk to pretty much everyone. He has a soft spot for Dana, his fiance, Lyla, his apartment's AI companion, and Gabriel, his younger brother, and... that's about it. Despite his rather high position in the company, Miguel has a strong distaste for Alchemax and its unethical scientific practices, and is determined to delay human genetics testing until he's sure it's 100% safe. After his reservations are ignored by the higher ups, and hasty human testing leads to the death of a man under Miguel's unwilling hand, he decides to quit working for the company. However, he's a valuable asset. Tyler Stone, the head of Alchemax, laces a drink for Miguel with Rapture, a hallucinogenic drug that alters genetic structure to cause almost guaranteed addiction and withdrawal so severe it can be deadly. Coincidentally, Rapture is only legally produced and distributed by Alchemax.

Rather than let himself be manipulated, Miguel decided to use his own genetic modification equipment to attempt to reverse the alterations made by Rapture. During the procedure, Miguel's supervisor, resentful of Miguel's fast rise through the ranks and his constant disrespect for his superiors, sabotaged the process in an attempt to kill him. Instead he ended up activating the gene splicing program, and spliced Miguel and a spider together. Why was a spider present at all, you may ask? The final result of this genetic manipulation project was super-soldiers, and Miguel had decided to take inspiration from a certain hero back in the Heroic Age. Spider based enhancements seemed to work pretty well back then, why not give it another go?

After emerging from the process very much not dead, but no longer human, Miguel has to navigate new powers, and the new dangers that come with the mantle he's accidentally taken. It's around this point when Miguel starts to have thoughts of taking his own life, and pretty consistently continues to throughout the story.

I'm not giving a full recap, this story is already long and I don't remember specifics for most things. Miguel faces a myriad of villains, future versions of classic spiderman villains and new foes as well. He also takes over Alchemax after usurping Tyler Stone, which I'll touch on again later. But throughout all of it a consistent theme for him is loss. Over the course of the original comics, he loses almost everyone he has any kind of connection with, in one way or another.

He has a falling out with his fiance, Dana, and before he can try to reconnect, she gets caught in the crossfire during a fight with Venom and dies in his arms. He finally starts to repair his broken relationship with his mother, only for her to be shot during a raid on Alchemax after she started working as a secretary. Gabriel eventually becomes so overcome with resentment for Miguel that he takes up the mantle of Green Goblin, and attempts to ruin his life and also kill him. Xina, an old flame he was rekindling his relationship with, left him again without so much as a goodbye. The only one he has left to turn to for any sort of familiarity or comfort is Lyla, and even she tried to kill him once. He cuts himself off from everyone who tries to make a connection with him again, because he's convinced that being close to him leads to people hating him, dying, or both. Assuming Miguel's backstory is the same up to this point, he's already at the lowest he's ever been. And probably stays there until he and Lyla develop the technology to travel between universes. Here's where the speculation kicks in.

Miguel finds another universe like his own. Another universe with another Miguel O'hara, except this one never became Spider-man. And this one never lost all of the same people that the other did. He and Dana got married, they have a daughter. They're happy. Not only does he have proof that it isn't just being close to him that gets people hurt, he has an opportunity. Because this other Miguel is dead, and this other Miguel isn't Spider-man. He could take his place and be free of his own unhappiness, his own burdens, and save the inhabitants of this parallel world the pain of losing him. And for a brief time he's happy, he doesn't have to be Spider-man, he has a family and a life that isn't full of danger and loss. And then he loses it all again, and is left once again with nothing but the feeling that it is his fault.

Further speculation, I think that's probably why he's so caught up with "canon"; it means that the losses he faced were inevitable. It makes him feel just a little bit better, a little less guilty. Yes, he's trying to protect other universes from possibly meeting the same fate as the one he caused to collapse, but he's also trying to make himself feel better in the process, even if he doesn't realize it.

Theories

This bit is going to be mostly unstructured, since I don't have any huge theories, just certain smaller points or plot elements I think are going to happen.

Miguel’s ties to Alchemax are going to come up, and they’re going to be important.

Alchemax is a company that originated in the 2099 comics. There has to be a reason they chose it for the company in Into the Spiderverse, because there’s dozens of other evil companies they could’ve chosen. But they chose Alchemax, the company Miguel has ties to, and then they set him up as an antagonist. It's going to be brought up, and it's going to be important.

Miguel and Miles will relate to each other

I say this because they're both very much outliers. They aren't their world's original Spider-man, they both have different powers and backstories than the other Spider-men. I feel like this is going to be called out, both as a way to call out Miguel's hypocrisy, and as a way for Miles to relate to him and find common ground.

Miguel was injecting himself with a gene stabilizer, or with something Rapture related

I know I'm not the first person to suggest the first part of this point. It makes sense--we know that the mutations from the spider DNA didn't all happen immediately. I also can't imagine that having your genome that dramatically altered is very good for you. I haven't seen anyone suggest the second part, but I think that's probably because it's not seeming very likely at this point. I don't want to rule out the possibility, though.

Peter B is going to be important to resolving the storyline with Miguel/Have a heart to heart with him

During the movie I got the sense that Peter B is trying to befriend Miguel, or at least to get him to open up a bit more. I think this is because he sees himself in Miguel. Yes, they're very different, but they're similar in ways that matter. Peter B looks at Miguel and he sees someone who's given up; on his principles, on his role, on his own life. Peter B has never been openly suicidal like Miguel, but before he met Miles he was still very much in the same spot. He had still given up on his ideals, on being Spider-man, and he made the choice to stay and destroy the collider not for a noble reason, but because he didn't care if he died. I think that Peter has recognized that same mentality in Miguel, and is trying to reach out to pull him back from that edge, like Miles did for him. I think the two of them have a lot of potential for some heartfelt interaction, and I hope I'm picking up on something that's actually there and intentional.

So that's pretty much it! This post is a lot more ramble-y and unstructured than I wanted it to be, but it was really just a way for me to get my thoughts out.

[wooawi]

Thinking back to it, I actually really wanted Chloe to leave Paris… but back in Malediktator rather than end of season 5.

Let’s be real, she was annoying in the story and her “character arc” wasn’t actually going anywhere. She was only relevant to the plot after that for Miracle Queen, and not by much. Marinette becoming guardian could’ve happened without her.

It would’ve been much nicer to have her realise that no one likes her, and that she’s much more of a nuisance than anything, and then leave to work on herself (or start over in New York). But rather, they told us that she knew all that, and then nothing happened. She continued being an asshole, kept bullying others, acted like an entitled brat regarding the Bee Miraculous, and then worked hand in hand with Hawkmoth. And then worked with him again. And then again. And– see where I’m going with this?

Her character fell flat after Malediktator, not because she had any significant depth before that, but because there was an attempt at such. She went from background character #2 to a character with a backstory, motivations, a goal, etc for a solid episode and a half. And then… nothing. It’s like, you have a food you’ve been eating all your life. Then someone cooks it a different way once that’s really good. Unfortunately, that same dish you’ve been used to now falls flat in comparison to The Upgrade.

I loved her character from the start because she was a welcome change from those who loved Marinette. She was interesting, she was wacky, and she was absolutely stupid with her bad girl antics. She was a fangirl of the only person in Paris she absolutely despised. She was fun. Eventually, she got some character development and got so much better for some time. Then, she became a plot device for giving Marinette level ups, and isn’t that what every other character essentially is?

I see where they were going with all this, yes. They didn’t actually care about her. Then maybe one person saw potential and wrote out an episode, but no one ever touched on that ever again. So she’s back to original Chloe but worse because now she doesn’t do anything like before. She’s just bad getting progressively worse so the audience stops looking for anything good in her rather than to be funny/interesting/a contrast to everyone else.

Either she should’ve been written out by sending her to New York then or she should’ve actually done better like she promised Ladybug. Hell, I would’ve loved to see her try to be better in Paris, albeit with some backsliding, to show that she for real meant what she said. But. Yeah.

Keeping her going the exact same way for 3 more seasons before having her be run out of Paris for checks notes working with Hawkmoth (sigh), is so… anticlimactic? It’s a lame ending for something that was drawn out for so long lmao.

[breezeinmonochromenight]

Where are you in SH2R??? And are your favorite and least favorite things about it?

I’m closing in on the end of the game, in/under the Historical Society.

Favorites

Maria/Her voice actor. I would literally listen to Maria’s new VA read a phone book. She does so much lifting to actually make Maria enticing and attractive while retaining her mysteriousness. I always found the original Maria mysterious but incredibly off-putting to the point that I’d speed run it to hospital.

Bloober’s insertion of “their own personal stories” in the form of flourishes on the world/new puzzles/changes to some old puzzles/new mini-areas/new notes. I’m actually not joking. They’re miraculously interesting and pretty well done/feel natural to the game. A good example is the jukebox puzzle near the start of the game. It ultimately triggers James’ memory of spending the day with Mary at the park, and that’s how he decides that’s their special place and why he should go there. You also get a little snippet of Mary standing in the spot where you find Maria later. I honestly like that better than OG James just kind of making the executive decision for the player with very little context.

THEY TOOK THE LETTER READING OUT OF THE MARIA ENDING THANK FUCK. It never made any sense to me that they’d have Mary read her letter in the ending where her sexed up doppelgänger who is totally healthy and will never* get sick. Maria just gives him the letter in this version, he tucks it in his jacket, and they go to leave.

All six OG endings are back and there are two new endings. One basically extends the original In Water ending and plays into the the “Mary was in the back of the car the whole time” thing the OG devs have talked about and the other is sort of an… equal but opposite version of the Maria Ending.

Most of the wonky looking and/or lame looking shit from the trailer got fixed, including some face models/James expressions/etc.

Dislikes:

The Mary’s Letter reading and her final hallway monologue are super fucking weak. For everything the Mary/Maria VA gave to Maria, Mary lost. Neither of those moments feel very raw or real in the Remake, and they don’t hit nearly as hard. It also doesn’t help that everyone has had a more “traditional” voice acting job — all of the dialogue for everyone except Mary being weird/dreamy/unhinged only enhanced a really good performance.

Eddie’s character model looks like he has been outed as The Thing and is starting to transform into the head spider monster, but got a cramp early on and said fuck it. Just an absolute fucking mutant that doesn’t look human in comparison to the rest of the cast. Genuinely hard to look at.

Angela got an epi-pen, but her story and VA’s performance is a fucking mess. Every time her VA starts building some emotion or has a really good line read, it is immediately ruined by the next line being delivered atrociously. They also changed some of her dialogue/interactions with James and it makes her backstory so much harder to follow — some of it starts feeling like a word salad. The original game said everything you needed to hear without ever actually saying it.

The Abstract Daddy fight/section is also really watered down and not nearly as visually interesting.

There’s a much more elaborate labyrinth/below the Historical Society area in the Remake, and while there’s some neat design ideas, it largely fucking sucks.

The over-the-shoulder camera feels weird and way too intimate for a protagonist that feels suspicious/untrustworthy and has a questionable grip on reality from jump street.

[livvyofthelake]

please talk about your fuckass book you just finished <3

ok yay :) i literally neeeeeed to talk about it in relation to other books i’ve read recently so that’s what i’m gonna do here i heart making every book a conversation with each other… so you’ll all have to forgive me for comparing call me by your name to the dream thieves of raven cycle fame but i need to. its a comparison that literally begs to be spoken about. to me. i also need to compare it to the secret history and the sun and the star and most importantly. well we all saw the timeless video. we need to get into that as well!!

obviously what sets it apart from all of my genre bullshit is that it is NOT genre bullshit, like it's just set in italy 1983 in the normal universe. which made it one of the most unique books i've read this year to be honest and real.... i have NOT been reading normal ass books... earlier i compared elio's narration to the great gatsby but i literally have just only read very few real world narrative novels i've got gatsby, richard, and this i guess. i'm working on it though!

anyway it was veryyy richard core in the sense that it's being narrated from some point in the future where elio is reflecting on that summer and oliver and what it meant to his life at large, where richard does the same thing with narrating his time at college with his greek class and bunny's murder. reflecting on two very different things unless you wanna look at it with the keen eye of a total nutcase and then i could say that they're both simply reflecting on what it was like to be seen and known by someone who turned out to not be what you hoped and you didn't end up with him despite it all. richard papen you would have loveddd call me by your name... wow. elio pearlman you would have loved the secret history...

it was ALSO very the dream thieves core in the sense that um. well me when i'm gay and having kind of a hard time working with that and there's a guy who's just like me in a bad way who wants to fuck me so bad we both look stupid as hell... but through it all there is the through line of intimacy that comes from being Recognized… rip joseph kavinsky you would have LOVED call me by your name!!!!!!!!!!! (would ronan lynch love cmbyn? well no!)

i ALSO only wanted to talk about it in relation to the sun and the star because they’re both like. ok Gay Representation is not a genre but they’re both books about gay people that i read recently so like. yeah. it’s crazy how glaring the difference between those two books is for things that both get tagged “lgbtq+” on storygraph or however many of those letters that website uses idk. like one of them is clearly written so some dude could pat himself on the back for giving the kiddos Representation in his stupid ass franchise and the other is just some fuckass book written by a totalllll freak that happens to be about gay people. in essence one made me so mad to read and the other was fine. i would never go so far as to describe a man’s work as great though. chappell roan voice i don’t think men make good art. !!! and i really believe that sorry. when a man impresses me i will let you all know but it is very rare…

which brings us to the timeless video. for everyone who somehow missed that that means (you’re fake btw 🙄) the timeless video is an amv i made last summer when i wanted to make an amv for my guys from my books but obviously they’re from books. so what i did instead was gather a bunch of characters from movies and shows that reminded me of MY guys and edit them to taylor swift’s timeless. because it’s like. other lives and i see them in everything. anyway so elio and oliver made it into the timeless video despite all the sort of mean stuff i’ve said about oliver lately (not even my fault he fuckin sucks btw) and the fact that their relationship is not like. Endgame. BECAUSE of my favorite scene. from the movie not the book. this scene was lame as hell in the book it’s the part that made me go wow i think perhaps the film is much better!! the “is it better to speak or to die” scene… i talked about it earlier but genuinely that happened to my buddy kit herondale…. and then he said something and it didn’t go very well!!!!

anyway. yay i <3 blogging on my break at work!

[richardsphere]

Leverage Redemption Log: The Big Rig Job

Easter Weekend is over, time for myself lets continue. Big rig is US slang for one of those long-distance deliverytrucks right? --- Christmas tune on a truckstop. Its a christmass special i guess. (and here i was hoping for a break from the horrors of Christianity) Girlboss Tiktok Influencer... Ravi is fired. --- Yup, fuck the US Trucking industry, (i saw a John Oliver piece, this is all realistic, or at least it will be until the 3rd act twist that actually, the company is using the trucks to smuggle drugs/art/stolen goods)

huh, little note of implication that Parker has been visiting Hardisons family for christmass during the timeskip. (makes sense, but makes me worried about the whole "archie acknowledging Parker to his bio-daughter" thing in the last season of the OG series and how that ended up long-term)

Scrooge comparison. New Rule: When you are a long-running TV show, you are only allowed to use a given Christmass Special Reference once. You are allowed to repeat it over the course of the given episode but when you've made it you've burned it. I am sick of having every other season make a Grinch reference as a cheap "its christmass" indication. (Note: References to Scrooge are considered seperate from actual parodies of A Christmass Caroll for this rule, making a cheap reference in season 1 does not cost you the right to do a parody episode in season 5.) I will include into this a rule that your counters are all reset if you produce a single non-christian, Non-halloween special.

Sophie, we all know you are not going on holiday. Let Harry be realistic and pragmatic and return the darn board. (if a miracle happens and he gets to go anyway, the skiclub probably has a rental shack)

Huh, Elliot has been attending Nana's parties as well, thats nice. (If the prospect of Nana's family dinner becomes a running gag, i hope we hear just 1 reference to Mason settling into said fosterfamily)

Cheap gag that Parker doesnt know how to de-stilt herself. (come on, dont make us laugh. this is not a problem for her) --- Its Three Days Till Crimesmash, and we're getting jobs at the truck loading center. Luke has bodyguards, Paige has a floor safe. (not a clue yet as to what might be in there.) Correction: Paige is not an influencer, she's a wannabe.

The office has a coded lock on it. Sophie has to learn actual radio operator stuff.

Paige is drop-shipping a bunch of handbags. "i have worked verry hard to make us look good on paper", they're comitting fraud, and they're selling the place. (which would be good news, except that the company they're selling to is one of those Vulture Companies) This also means we now know whats in the floorsafe: The real non-forged documentation. (serious question btw, if you're engaging in fraud, why keep the legitimate documents? What is the point of forging a will if you dont throw the real one in the fireplace) --- Parker's tree has harnessed the power of the sun. Harry has limited good news: There is grounds for a class action suit. (bad news: They'll have sold by then). Goal: Get YDN to not buy then sue.

Harry has done some digging: The trucks are paid off in full. Ravi does legally own his truck. --- One botnet and one Sophie later and we've got permission to bring cameras to the active crimescene. Because Paige is an idiot. (on a related note, Sophie's colleague is observant and verry worried about what might happen if Sophie slacks off. This seems like the third act twist isnt "we're smuggling weapons" but Sophie leaves post and a trucker almost dies.) Meanwhile its time for Breanna and Elliot to have some fun, (by which i mean vandalism)

Im Jamie, this is Jamie, we've heard all the jokes. (great, both as a joke and to sell the "we're real people who have lives outside of you" by pre-empting the opening you deliberately made)

Breanna clones the Ipad and we're off to the races.

"he always wanted to do lame things, like deliver toys to orphans"... And we've kidnapped Paige. --- Screwdriver, oilslick. Elliot is playing this like a Hitman Level. Breanna just smugly whiping the "89 days since an accident" sign.

Turns out, Elliot (or at least his alter ego) is not forklift certified (someone call Your Fave Is Forklift Certified) Unfortunately, Elliot and Breanna are too good at making Luke look bad and this destroys Parkers safecracking window.

--- Parker manages to steal the safe just in time before the inspector comes into the office. YDN is out (also it seems that their father was such a good person even the vultures respected him)

And as we leave we have succesfully divided. (and unfortunately not conquered, there is always another vulture and also we're like 20 minutes into the episode) Luke is faced by his two thugs. "Big Jim" is not gonna be happy (they're in deep to the mob?) --- One Day Till Christmass, Sophie is still in denial. (also i was right they are smuggling.)

Breanna suspects the thugs might be involved.

Jamie and Jamie are back and putting the camera in Thug and Thugly's faces (Which means Breanna is probably running face ID) Reframing their deliberately engineered humiliation as the start of a Rags To Riches fantasy. Good one.

And Elliot is planting the seeds of paranoia (honestly strange Elliot didnt get fired by Luke yesterday) The farm upstate, its always the farm upstate. --- Janice has abandoned Sophie to check out a christmass present in the loading docks.

Good news: Sophie has found a potential new person to be "in charge" after they oust Luke and Paige. Bad news: They left dispatch unatended and I wouldnt be suprised to find out a truck just crashed. Ah right, the dads name is Nick, like Santa. How could i take this long to notice. (In hindsight Elliot said as much, but i thought he was just making fun of the beard) --- We're back with Harry and Parker, and Paige's open willingness to confess to her crimes on camera to what she believes to be a nationwide audience.

Luke has a gambling problem (he loves the horses about as much as Paige loves the bags). Im almost a bit sorry for Paige. Guns are in the crate that the toys are in.

Elliot gives a goon a crowbar just so he can make the goon hit himself with the crowbar.

guns are in the toytruck (I dont really care? He's not delivering the guns he's moving them away from the cameras. These guns are not gonna be used and while toys for orphans are good they're a cherry on the cake)

Breanna is in the truck (ok i care about that) --- Turns out he is delivering the guns. Sophie tells Janice whats been happening (wait, why are you English? 8.75/10)

Oh she's using the handbags to smuggle the guns? Clever girl. --- Paige threatens to tattle on the thugs (and it seems to work)

I'll be honest, this jump seems more like a Parker thing then an Elliot thing. But i think its just a case that Parker could not believably fail this jump (jumping off stuff is sort of her specialty) so she's been chained to a driverseat to make an excuse for the scene to have some tension.

Two guns in a luxury sedan vs Elliot in a big rig truck. This is just not a fair fight. Wait elliots truck has SPIKES ON THE WHEELS? WHY DOES THE CHRISMTAS TRUCKS HAVE SPIKES ON THE WHEELS? --- Back from commercials, Elliot puts a half-unconcious Luke in the driver seat and calls the cops Meanwhile Breanna finds a childrens chemistry set in the christmas presents (like stealing candy from a gun-smuggling baby) Paige doesnt even get to be present for the big bust (turns out, using a Personal Brand to smuggle guns is kind of incriminating) --- Final Denoement ensues, handing presents out of of the back of the truck. (but seriously, why does the truck have wheelspikes? They didnt even matter to the chasescene choreography but it had WHEELSPIKES? Why does the Santamobile have James Bond Villain-car features?)

[everydaydg]

46. Radirgy De Gojaru! (3DS, 2014)

Well well... this is a wierd one

Radirgy De Gojaru is a pretty good example of not judging a book by its cover.

It all takes place in one screen, not the scrolling backgrounds from previous entries, you have infinite HP, the framerate fucking dies often.

It sounds like a bit of a lame schmup doesnt it... it kind of is honestly... and that what makes it good imo...

RDG doesnt try to surpass its previous entries, instead trying something new and simple for the handheld, this simple aproach makes it in my opinion the best handheld RS34 schmup on the 3DS

Beating that of Karous The Beast of Re:Eden and Illmatic Envelope Dillinjah, as those two shot for something more complicated that didnt really work because of the 3DS's power.

Ooookay so this video game.

Radirgy de Gojaru is a schmup tower defence game... yup

This are all the options you have in the title screen, nothin more, nothin less.

Alright, let's get straight to it!

As described previously, RDG takes place in one area, above Tadayo Aita's garage.

You protect the garage using a modified machine with endless HP and a super big bomb.

Your main objetive in game is to not let any bullets or ships travel to the bottom of the top screen.

For every ship and bullet that passes, 1% of the total HP of the garage is lowered (your HP is shown by the block thats over the X shot icon)

and thats the basic gist of it, its quite simple but eh it works well enough.

So you have four weapons and a bomb (that big circle thing in the second screenshot)

So you have a wide shot, a X shot, a side shot and a upgraded sword.

You can use the sword while using any other shot but its particularly strong when using the sword option.

When you deal damage to enemies you regain Battery which lets you use the bomb more often.

You can stack the bomb up to 3-4 times, at max level it covers most of the screen and takes every bullet on its range. Keeping the shield up is the most important part of the game.

On the bottom screen you have a few things,

From top row to bottom row left to right:

Total signal, Instant Death (Quit button), Timer of the current run and battery %

Total score, the HP % of the garage, Time at full signal (you reach full signal by propperly using the shield at max power), a button to talk to Tadayo as shown bellow.

sadly I dont understand japanese so im missing out on the flavor text...

and on the last row: manual weapon switching if you dont want to use the weapon change button (the weapon switch just uses the next weapon to the right, no way to pick the last selected weapon, so that kinda justifies the use of the touch screen... in a way)

Its neat. Having all the important hud info on the bottom screen makes the top screen less cluttered (Kinda like how Resident Evil Revelations handles it... odd comparison I know lmao)

You shoot things, you gain meter, you use meter to get meter.

The gameplay is simple but it works.

So what about that presentation... I mean for a one screen game it actually it has quite the decent presentation

Models are nice, prolly ripped straight from the original radirgy

It does suffer from alot of jaged edges and the cel shaded style doesnt really look the best which does hurt it a bit but despite all that it captures the essence of the series.

Even if the game does look quite alright... It doesnt help that the game never runs at full speed at later parts of runs, the slowdown is SUPER heavy but thats kind of a good thing.

Theres alot of stuff to keep track off so the slowdown helps catch some enemies going to the bottom screen.

One area where I have no complains, where they absolutely nailed it was the 2D elements.

The menus are super nice!

There is alot of selectable bottom screen art that is really nice!

Not a good screenshot, I was trying to just take a screenshot of the bottom screen art alone (and failed) but there is alot of stuff to select and unlock!

The game hits the series style on the 3D visuals and 2D visuals.

also in the topic of presentation, the audio.

The sound effects can be a bit much at times. you will hear the shot sound... often, same with the sword SFX and its a bit annoying. You grow used to it and you can turn off sound effects but its not the best... but what saves all this... is the music.

The music is so good! Daisuke Nagata and Ko Hayashi, composers of the original Radirgy, came back to create a great 13 track long soundtrack!

It even got a CD soundtrack release! (RSCD-001)

Take a listen!

Fantastic stuff for a 800 yen game.

Radirgy de Gojaru is not the greatest schmup out there, its not even the best one on the 3DS. Games like Kokuga and even Metal Torrent on the DSi have it beat easly.

But that doesnt stop it from being a fun time at a cheap price.

Keeping the spirit of the series in a simple format.

I am not sure if I should give this a score at all. giving it a high score is giving it too much credit but giving it a low score is discrediting everything it does right...

Eh I guess its a 4.5/10 game that I like so much I give a 6.5/10

To cap everything off. heres the trailer from RS34's official YT channel.

My apologies for the more scattershot review this time arround.

[the-firebird69]

It looks like the max plan to kill you and they sit here everyday saying I might or might not get money the apartment might burn down you dumb m************ might break in and ruin it every single f****** day until your death I'm going to have to listen a stupid s*** out of you John remoulard that's been years of the stupid crap from the max through you stupid s*** is you're so f****** lame and dumb imagine everything is hingy on a certain item and you don't think so she go ahead and f*** it up and well that's it and this guy this is unimaginable it has nothing to do with my people the failures of these gifted people as you call them astronomical they go from 800 mph to zero in like 2 seconds can you read that it's way out of proportion there's no comparison proportionally it does not match up error you can make them as big as you freaking want 300% of the population they're still dumber than a wet sock. This guy next door this loser Joel Watts has lost so much money and stuff the people who are poor should have money from him you can break open one of his bank accounts and feed everybody for a year did this poor I'm sick of looking at his face and having the same done things he's a very very wealthy person he's just extremely stupid I I can't believe I can't explain this correctly your little boy here had enough wealth to control the planet and chose not to because he's a fucking huge asshole.

Zues Hera I hate him too a lot but really what he says it he's saying you had him do it but he's really stupid and blew it and he blew like everything out the door just like he hates it and stuck to him it's really gross he stores all the stuff I've loses it and just sits there she has to go after him you find out it's just dumb now he's got other hate his things but really nothing justifies the stupid crap here

..

They're absolutely right this guy so far out there and he's a nut and he's insane he's clearly insane Howard Stern said it the guys just nuts he's a retard who's also insane and Insanity happens all the time the zombies are insane and TBI victims and he happens to be both of those as well. And really that kind of spent so someone thinks is good is probably foreigners who have a fight each other I tell you I don't think he's ever going to get it and we're talking to nobody and is regurgitating stuff. But you sure you're right about something he has so much money it's such a wasted place to have money if a friend here had money he'd be doing things to at least help society it'll be covered that this guy does his dog s*** he's Biff from back to the Future and he was Beth and super 8 and gets his face bit off and there's some symbolism there but they take the face and tell you what they've done comparisons to his voice and the laugh of the creature it sounds like him it says it shouldn't really sound like me because it's a creature and we say this that's actually true and they've been dumping it in and little garth is starting to blab and what a weirdo you should hear what these kids sound like. They are horrible.

They are delusional as hell and they demand that he believes stuff. I almost reached in there and pulled this idiot's head off and it's guarth. So it happens every day now I mean like it's a Lucky strike it's in there going no you have to try and fool me a little retards. And we're getting mad cuz it's real.

Macs

I can see it now they separated in their cities and the threatening everyone that they blow everything up the max are going to be sitting here saying we don't have these chips and they don't they're not ready yet and they're just investigating these other ones I mean this is a disaster these people are way out of line and it needs to go into a council meeting and we have one and we should have to bring it up and are my grandson says we have clout and we just don't believe it and we need to do something we need action that Grandpa's in trouble again and he got hurt by these fools and they don't know how they're doing and my grandson says it looks like I'm doing it but there's only one of me and you're always trying to harm me so we have to go after them and very hard this is a pile of s*** here

Bill

Olympus

[absolutepokemontrash]

Hi! So, I absolutely love your series where the MC is the kid of Lucifer, and I was wondering if I could request that with Diavolo and Barbatos? •v•

:0 you definitely can! Right now I’m just doing Diavolo, but Barb’s will be up sometime soon!

MC is Half Demon and Oh Shit They’re Diavolo’s Kid-

Diavolo wasn’t exactly what one would expect of the prince of Hell, I mean, he was suppressing the urge to bounce in his seat from pure excitement. I mean, his exchange program was starting! Humans, demons, and angels, all together, his dream was coming true.

All that was left was for the student to arrive, the portal opened, and the human fell flat on their back. Oof, maybe Diavolo should have set up some kind of landing zone filled with pillows. No matter! The human was-

…

What peculiar eyes this human had…

Oh… oh dear…

Dad-volo

The MC was his child, no question about it. This was… very unexpected. Well, the entire assembly hall was completely quiet, and the kid looked like they were getting impatient.

“HEY! Mind telling me what the hell is going on?!”

After that, Diavolo launches into his explanation, also the explanation that he’s definitely this kid’s dad. Kid was not impressed, they tried to square up with Diavolo and Lucifer had never been more confused as to what to do.

Well, the moment MC sprouted wings and launched themselves at Diavolo, Dia caught them with one hand and continued speaking like nothing happened.

MC, please calm down… Diavolo didn’t know they existed, let him make it up to them! They’re going to stay at the Demon Lord’s Castle! Dia’s going to be a good dad!

“This feels like the plot to the world’s most messed up fairytale.” MC jammed their hands into their pockets and grumbled. “I get sucked into hell and find out I’m royalty there. Great.”

Diavolo managed to smile and awkwardly reach out to give them a pat on the head, then retracted his hand after the kid shot him a glare. “Well, it’s not a very traditional fairytale, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy your time here.”

“Mm, sure.” MC mumbled.

Okay, so his child wasn’t that enthusiastic about the exchange program, but Diavolo was sure they’d come around.

Dia tried everything he could possibly think of to get his kid to both like him and enjoy their time as an exchange student. A lot of things had… mixed results.

Also, legally recognizing MC as his child and legitimizing them caused a big stink amongst the nobles who were opposed to the exchange program to begin with. So MC then had to deal with a few assassins. Wonderful. Fantastic. Show stopping. Dia, be a good dad and comfort your angsty murder target- I MEAN preteen.

They do manage to build a good relationship fairly quickly despite their less than stellar first impressions, and Diavolo made them a promise that he knew he wouldn’t ever break: he would let them live as normal a childhood as possible.

This means that MC gets to do all the normal kid stuff that Diavolo wasn’t allowed to do. It honestly works out great for everyone. MC gets to live their life, Diavolo gets the satisfaction of knowing that his kid’s having fun, and Barbatos doesn’t need to worry about MC causing chaos in the castle.

Man… does this kid’s magic potential scare the shit out of everyone though…

Tired Uncle Lucifer

No. This has to be a violation of his worker rights. It cannot be legal for him to be this stressed.

He knew this exchange program was a bad idea. LUCIFER FUCKING KNEW IT. This kid was judging him. Why did he suddenly feel self conscious about every single one of his features? This child was picking him apart and they hadn’t even said anything!

He confiscated Asmo’s phone immediately, this was a matter of national security! Satan’s too! Beel as- oh shit Lucifer may have to give Beel the heimlich maneuver, then take his phone.

When all the brothers eventually got back to the HOL, they were greeted with Mammon getting shaken down by Levi.

“Lucifer! Ya won’t believe this! Levi- what’s wrong with you?” “The exchange student is Diavolo’s child.” “What..?” “*pops the cork off a bottle of Demonus* the exchange student’s Diavolo’s child.”

The worst part about this kid was that they took to the privileges of being royalty like a fish to water. MC went out and did whatever the fuck they wanted, and Lucifer needed to make sure a state of national emergency wasn’t called just because MC picked a fight at RAD.

It didn’t help that MC was just so unimpressed with Lucifer. Anytime Lucifer would tell them not to do something they would just raise their eyebrows and challenge his authority without saying a word.

What the fuck.jpg

The things he does for his prince boyfriend…

Cool Uncle Mammon

Huh, so this little pipsqueak is Lord Diavolo‘s kid? Hm, do ya think they’d let him into the royal treasury? No? Okay… lame.

Mammon then decides this kid would be just perfect for scamming people! Who is going to say no to the Crown Prince’s kid? A suicidal person, that’s who!

And the kid is… up for it? Wow, Mammon didn’t even have to grovel! Awesome!

It’s such a shame that Lucifer came in and promptly removed MC from Mammon’s presence. Tsk, killjoy…

Mammon and MC do get along swimmingly after MC stops angsting. Whenever they hang out it’s pure chaos.

And they would have gotten away with it too- wait, they do get away with it. Because who’s going to question the Crown Prince’s kid? >:)

Reclusive Uncle Leviathan

Levi was in the middle of throttling Mammon for his money back when Lucifer burst through the door looking like he had spent over 1000 Grimm on a gacha game only to not get the card he wanted.

And where was that human he said would be staying with them? Huh? The human’s HUH????!!!!

… wack. Maybe he shouldn’t have skipped out on that Student Council Meeting…

Either way, ew, new person he needed to talk to. NO THANKS. Well, no thanks until MC started to visit the HOL to hang out with Mammon. Of course those two normies decided to bug him. OF COURSE.

Levi finally snapped when MC loudly proclaimed that they could totally beat Levi in Mario Kart. Haha, NO. Levi challenged the little runt to a 1 v 1 race on Rainbow Road.

Kid lost. Obviously. Rainbow Road is rigged.

Honestly, kid’s alright. Still a total normie, but not completely terrible.

Cat Uncle Satan

Huh, a half human child of the soon to be demon king, how very interesting.

Oh, and just look at Lucifer’s face. :D priceless. Satan wished he was fast enough to get his DDD out to snap a picture, but he wasn’t able to…

But back to MC, oh how very intriguing. How much power do they have in comparison to Diavolo? Will using that power rip their fragile little body apart? Would they learn to control it? Satan was just dying to find out.

His feelings on the child themselves were mixed at best. They were clearly unhappy with the situation and Satan could sympathize, being thrust into a completely new world and then being told you can’t leave and are also royalty? That has to be hard. But this kid was still being an unreasonable little shit.

Satan continued to try and study MC from afar until the kid themselves walked right up to him and half demanded half pleaded for his help in studying for a test.

Not being one to avoid an opportunity to flex how smart he is, Satan agreed to help out. (Nerrrrd)

And honestly, it went well. When the kid wasn’t being a little shit, they were actually quite pleasant to be around.

Overly Affectionate Uncle Asmo

…wut

Listen, when Asmo asked Lucifer to pick a cute human, he didn’t mean cute as in CHILD.

This kid was DIAVOLO’S?! What lucky human had gotten to have the experience of [Jesus Fucking Christ, Asmo I’m not writing what he said for the sake of the nation]

Anyhoo~ little MC just made his heart go “SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SO CUTE!” They were so cute Asmo could just eat them up!

But they were so mean! That scowl they always had on was going to give them wrinkles and ruin their perfectly cute face!

Sigh, oh well. He can’t manually rearrange people’s expressions. What he can do is take this child shopping. Poor Diavolo was constantly in his RAD uniform, this poor innocent baby shouldn’t have to suffer the same fate.

The kid continued to scowl at everything, but at the same time, their little quips were very entertaining. This little kid spitting verbal venom at anyone who displeased them reminded Asmo of someone… he just couldn’t place who, but they definitely had amazing hair and a cute face :3

Hungry Uncle Beel

Where’s the takeout- I mean human? What’s happening? …are all humans this small? Dang, that’s barely enough for a snack.

So the human’s not going to live with us because they’re not fully human and Diavolo’s kid? Huh. Wild. Anyway, what’s for dinner?

Beel’s not too invested in this drama, he misses Belphie too much to be that interested…

The kid’s weirdly interested in how cool and strong Beel is though. MC tails him to the gym pretty often.

Diavolo and Beel already being gym buddies send tweet-

Since this benevolent little shit likes Beel so much, they decided to take it upon themselves to help with the family drama.

Beel finds that very sweet 🥺

Murder sleepy Uncle Belphie

Oh man… if you thought Belphie was being unfair to L!MC due to their parentage… hoo boy…

When this kid waltzed up the attic steps like they ran the place, Belphie needed to hold himself back from trying to break down the door and throttle this kid.

Pff, of course Diavolo would have a half human kid. Of course.

…kid beat the shit out of him when he tried to kill them. We stan this MC.

After all is said and done, Belphie still isn’t overly fond of MC. They’re brash and rude and only funny 40% of the time. They don’t even like napping 😒

But Beel likes the little runt, so Belphie and MC put up with each other.

Bonus! Your Angelic Uncle Simeon’s Chihuahua

:0 friend!

MC: *speaks*

>:0 not friend! Begone! *throws crucifix*

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What if Twilight's vampires and werewolves worked like the classic Hollywood cliche versions of their myths, rather than the idealized sexier version we get in the books? Is Bella still as enamored, and does she still try to become a vampire despite the downsides?

The Obligatory Rant

...

Anon.

Have you seen Hollywood vampires and werewolves?

First, it's really quite across the board, there are a lot of different interpretations of vampires and werewolves in Hollywood alone. You have An American Werewolf in London, Let the Right One In (American Adaptation), Dracula, that shitty Van Helsing movie from 2004, and so many others I'm not even going to list them. Some of them are markedly different.

Second.

Vampires are all about sex.

Werewolves can go either way, depends how frisky the director is feeling, but vampires are nearly always about sex. There are examples where they're not, but I could probably list them on one hand. Meyer, I'd say actually, has some of the least sexy vampires I've ever seen in that they're not ripping the bodices off maidens. The original famous Dracula story centers around Dracula's pursuit of multiple women to turn into brides. Now, that one was a bit less erotic about it, but watch most Hollywood movies of vampires and the blood drinking is a very erotic act.

If there's a vampire then there's usually a Draculina hanging about.

It's why people generally pick the vampire in whatever story they're doing: it's the sexy bodice ripper evil.

Twilight is strange in that our narrator Bella is the only person on the planet in her universe who thinks that a) vampires drinking her blood is an intensely romantic action and b) that vampires are sexy. Oh, vampires are certainly pretty, but remember that canonically (as in this is explicitly canon) to every other human character but Bella, they also look like walking crystalline statues with lizard eye colors who look dangerous. They scream predator, through a normal narrator, they're the stars of the horror film.

As it is Bella's more... romantic about it than sexual. Oh, she wants to do the deed, but that's in comparison to Edward who doesn't want to have sex at all. As it is, we never get the bodice ripping, erotic blood drinking, sexy vampire times that you get in nearly every other vampire media.

As for the shapeshifters, being a shapeshifter doesn't make them sexy, they look decidedly normal and human. They just get uncomfortably swol. (Doubly so as I try not to picture who is supposed to still be baby faced but with the body of a 26-year-old man).

Come On, Muffin, On with It?

Which cliches?

If we're going with most of what I've seen from Hollywood, then Bella may still go with it. The vampires are still sexy (dare I say sexier as Edward would easily consent to have sex with her to make her a bride of Dracula and wouldn't crush her with his ungodly vampire strength).

Now, they may turn into hideous gargoyles upon revealing their true form. But Bella wouldn't find this out until far too late as Edward would be seducing her as a true manifestation of sexy evil. (The true vampire way). Or else his much more human looking good-looking face is his true form and we're in one of those series.

The key is that it has to offer her a means of changing herself entirely into something she wishes to be. In the Cullens' case it was young, rich, beautiful, graceful, and perfect in every way. Bella doesn't want to be Bella Swan, that's the key.

Now, if Edward's kind of a lame vampire who doesn't look much better than anyone else, if Bella wouldn't fundamentally change to become what she perceives as a better version of herself then she's not going to go for it.

Edward has to be special.

[artyphex]

Amazon is apparently making a show based on the Norse God of War games and I have some MIXED feelings on this

On one hand as far as video game adaptations go you could make a REALLY good show out of them. They’re linear narrative games so it doesn’t have any of the problems some video games would have in making a show out of them. I do not think this would exist if the Last of Us show wasn’t about to come out and from the trailers looks INCREDIBLE so. I do think it’s possible to make a good video game adaptation (though maybe I’ll eat those words in a couple weeks)

On the other hand. This is a dark fantasy series and dark fantasy TV shows and have been consistently Not Great. I’m concerned they’re going to try and turn it into a Norse-flavored Game of Thrones clone like they’ve done with literally EVERY single dark fantasy TV show that has come out since the death of Game of Thrones.

They’re going to add to the “grittiness” by taming or completely taking away the super fantastical elements such as magic, some creatures, etc, to make the story seem more “serious” in comparison. When the games, while serious, are aware some of the concepts they’re using are very silly and know when to have fun. Fantasy shows nowadays want to be taken seriously so badly they seem TERRIFIED to add any “high fantasy” elements lest they become lame fantasy for nerds rather than hard gritty fantasy for MEN

Also. I am so worried they’re gonna try and sex-up the show when these are very unsexy games. I mean that as a neutral statement by the way, they just are not sexy games. There are no sexual elements in these games. We get a few mildly suggestive jokes but that’s it, the only explicitly romance in the games is between Atreus and Angrboda and it’s extremely sweet and innocent which makes sense seeing as the characters involved are FOURTEEN. Since Game of Thrones, adult fantasy seems to think it NEEDS some sort of sexual element to be taken seriously. I don’t think it would be between Atreus and Angrboda, thank god, I DO think it’ll be with Freya and Kratos most likely. Seeing as lots of people (myself included) got some romantic vibes from them in the second game, I could see the show dialing that up to eleven and sexualizing the living shit out of Freya which I would be :) less than pleased about :)

But I may just be being cynical, all we have for this show is the knowledge that somewhere it vaguely exists, I don’t think it’s even been cast yet, just greenlit. Who knows if it’ll even come out, but I wanted to get my concerns down somewhere

[weakforarwen]

Lancelot was truly Merlin's biggest ally. It's amazing how every single one of Merlin's friends treated him better than Arthur. In The Moment of Truth, Merlin's relationship with Will contrasted his relationship with Arthur in a negative way - Will knew and accepted Merlin, Arthur didn't; in Gwaine, it was Gwaine who protected and stood up for Merlin and treated him better than Arthur did; in The Darkest Hour, while Arthur had Merlin stay up all night to write his speech, Lancelot tried to protect Merlin because his magic didn't work against the dorocha. Gwen overall also treated Merlin better than Arthur and stood up for Merlin sometimes.

The entire show revolved around Arthur and Merlin's friendship, but Arthur's treatment of Merlin was the worst. Underneath it all, we're supposed to know Arthur cared for Merlin the most, but that was only because the writers didn't want to explore Merlin's other friendships - they made Arthur and Merlin's look worse in comparison. This is one of the reasons why Lancelot had to die. Arthur and Merlin didn't even seem as close in this episode because it was clear that, unlike Arthur, Lancelot put Merlin first and accepted him for who he was. When you see Lancelot with Merlin, it makes Merlin look like Arthur's over-indulgent wife or mom, and I don't mean that in a #married way. For all that Merlin disobeyed Arthur, he also let him get away with a lot.

I truly adored Merlin and Lancelot's friendship. He may not have loved Merlin the most, but that was because they didn't have a lot of time together; he treated Merlin better than anyone else did, including Gaius and Gwen. Both Gwen and Gwaine were close to Merlin once, before those friendships were pushed aside for Arwen and Merthur, respectively. Too bad, because these were my favorite friendships in the show: Merlin and Lancelot, Merlin and Gwen, Merlin and Gwaine.

Arthur thought he would die closing the veil, yet he didn't even say a proper goodbye to Gwen. He had a moment with his father (in which he told Uther he hoped to make him proud; doubtful, since Uther would've told Arthur not to die for Camelot when he had knights to do it for him). But all that Gwen got was a hug and cute chin boop. Don't get me wrong, that scene was adorable, but if he thought he was going to die, shouldn't he have told her he loved her and made sure she was looked after? Was he going to leave her penniless? Arthur always told Merlin to look after Gwen, but what Merlin and Gwen both needed was for the rich Prince to leave them a nice sum of money. But, I guess, the closer you are to someone, the harder the goodbye? His father hadn't been truly aware of Arthur, but Gwen would've worried even more. Still, it was a shitty goodbye. Arthur wasn't going to die so the writers didn't even bother... Typical.

Gaius and Merlin's goodbye was lame too. Just a hug, really? Gaius let Merlin go like that? Didn't even ask him to stay? At least Gwen took precautions to protect Arthur. She asked Lancelot, the noblest of knights who had a soft spot for her, to keep Arthur safe... Desperate times and all. Gwen wouldn't have asked that of Lancelot otherwise. It was a bit cruel, and Gwen is not cruel. But, like Merlin, she'd literally do anything to keep Arthur safe (including using a young girl's execution to get to her father).

Unsurprisingly, Merthur had a longer goodbye than Arwen, and while it felt like an actual goodbye, it wasn't particularly touching. As usual, Arthur called Merlin a coward in the beginning of the episode, but, when faced with death, admitted that Merlin wasn't a coward at all, and that, under different circumstances, they would've been good friends (like they weren't already?), etc. etc.... I swear they had that conversation more times than I can count. They're cute but also... exhausting.

Lastly, on Gwen... She didn't go to the banquet to look after Uther, the man who killed her father and nearly killed her more than once? I hope Arthur thanked her for all she did. I hope he appreciated her sacrifice, but I doubt he was even aware of it. He had short-term memory when it came to his father. Nothing Uther did changed Arthur's opinion of him. It was one of the most frustrating aspects of the series, and why Arthur was always regressing as a character.

Anyway, this was only part 1 of The Darkest Hour. I'll rewatch part 2 later.

Wait! I almost forgot to mention that when Merlin fainted, Lancelot was the only one who went to him. Arthur literally rolled his eyes, like, oh, there goes Merlin again, fainting for no reason... Like, what???

[insomniasymphony]

Can't get away [Obsessive Pariston Hill x Female Reader]

Constellation: Obsessive Pariston Hill x Female Reader Words I got: → alcohol → Idol → corruption Rating: Teen and up Adience

    ►► He gets everything he wants.     Don't ask to be spared.◄◄

.

The stuffy air inside is no comparison to the good mood that fills the room. Lights twinkle in the background, reflected in glasses and panes. You can hear the music vibrating in the background, the heavy bass joining your voice and those of the other girls.

The three of you are unbeatable. The most popular idol squad in town.

After all these months, you still haven't been able to get used to the fact that your face adorns most of the house fronts because the posters have to hang on every corner. Yet you are proud of it. Life in this community is hard, your muscles sometimes feel sluggish and lame, and the training is painfully hard. But all these things bring a certain pride. Because idols are what you look up to. They are the detached pillars of society who aren't addicted to alcohol or drugs - not even love.

They are perfect.

The gleam in the eyes of some spectators who come from all over make your heart beat faster. Businessmen loosen their ties and clap, rich women look at you with slight envy and the people of the taverns and everyday professions cheer you on with glow sticks.

Even hunters are present. You believe you recognise them by their physique, by the aura that sets them a little apart from the rest. There is something about them that attracts other people. Even you are fascinated by their adventures.

The final movements of your choreography sit perfectly on the beat of the music and the cheering that follows leaves no room for silence, making the room shake. A brief glance at your manager earns you a quick thumbs up. It's less than usual, but the fact that he's in conversation with another man makes you sympathise.

In return, this stranger captures your curiosity a moment longer, making you look at the expensive, visibly tailored suit that doesn't quite fit in with the others in its white and silver stripes. The pink shirt clashes with the red tie and his blond hair doesn't quite match.

Everything about him seems perfectly coordinated, neat, and yet a tiny bit off-putting.

As the applause ends, a few steps take you off the stage - away from the stares that would notice any mistake. Hidden behind the burgundy curtains is a door that takes you and your comrades into an adjoining hallway where you have each been given a room to change and prepare.

Your goodbyes to your team members are brief, no more than a casual wave as exhaustion hangs in each of you. Immediately afterwards you disappear behind one of the doors.

Colourful dresses and large mirrors greet you, beckoning like an invitation to look at yourself. But you avert your eyes. After all the work, you only want to be human and not a perfect being that doesn't seem to be from this earth.

Tired, you sit down on a chair, stretch out your legs and let your arms hang. The heavy dress on your body makes relaxing a little more difficult, makes you groan because the tight corsage prevents you from breathing properly.

So you bend forward, grab the hooks that hold the dress together at the back, but don't get to undo them before there is a knock at your door. All that remains is for you to leave it and take up an upright position before inviting your visitor in.

It doesn't take a breath before the door opens and your manager enters, followed by that strange man he had spoken to earlier.

“Good work,” is the first thing your manager says to you before gesturing a hand in the stranger's direction. “I wanted to introduce you to someone. This man here is Pariston Hill. Mister Hill has decided to financially support your group so that you can become even more famous.”

Instantly, you jump up to bow. “Good evening, Mister Hill.”

“Ah, Pariston will do.” He waves you off, followed by a smile that makes his brown eyes startlingly opaque. You can't read this man.

“Of course, Mister Hill had a few requests before he agreed to contribute. But I'm sure he can explain that to you himself.” Without further ado, your manager takes a step back. “Please be on time for dinner.” Then he disappears, just leaving you alone with this man who doesn't fit in this room.

The door slams shut with a click and Pariston takes the opportunity to take a few steps towards you. “Looks like a lot of work to me.”

“What were your requests regarding support?” You don't even answer him. Instead you observe his every move, watching as he leans against the low dressing table and fixes you with those dull brown eyes.

“A direct woman. Makes it easier.” Averting his eyes, he continues to look around until he spots one of the unused microphones and picks it up for fun. Like a toast, he holds it in front of his mouth before pointing at you. “I bought you.”

For a moment your mouth drops open, only to close again. The words in your head seem scattered and it takes far too long for you to bring a puzzled “what?” to your lips.

He gallantly pushes himself off the table and comes closer, making you take a few steps back, undecided. But there isn't much room. Your hip bumps against a table on the wall and Pariston has reached you before you can take another path.

A hand settles at your side, making you shudder and look at him in disgust. A reaction that only spurs his smile.

“You're mine,” he declares.

“No way,” you return, bracing both hands against his chest, but you are much weaker than he is. You are only left with words. “I'm an idol, not a prostitute. I can't be bought!”

“And yet I just bought you off your manager.”

“You're lying.” Furious, you push aside the kindness. “We're singers from an excellent agency that certainly doesn't depend on the money of a random man.”

“First and foremost, you are a vocalist for an agency that has bought its money and reputation by selling idols like you to men like me.” His face comes a little closer to yours.

“That's against the rules. An idol isn't to be tainted,” you whisper in disbelief. “Selling an idol to gain the favour of others ... I don't know which side to call corrupt.”

“You could call anyone that. We all like to turn a blind eye for the right amount of money.” His nose touches yours and you can't help but hold your breath.

Then you close your eyes.

You can feel his breath on your lips. Feel the hunger behind it. His body is so close to yours that you can feel the warmth of his skin move under your dress. He is far too close to you and although you should probably scream to save face, you can't help but wait.

But nothing happens.

So you open one of your eyes again and at the same moment you notice how Pariston breathes a kiss into your neck. The goosebumps rise even further and although the knot in your stomach inevitably sends in a protest, you can't move.

Pariston, meanwhile, takes some distance. This time you can read him. The mischievousness in his eyes is unmistakable and you realise that you are nothing more than a fun pastime for him. Something that entertains him better than most of the things he takes to heart. You are sure: he wants you and at the same time he doesn't.

But there seems to be something more as he hands you the microphone and lets the scene sink in for a moment.

“Sing for me,” he demands shortly afterwards. “From today, just for me. I won't let anyone else hear your voice anymore.”

A simple request that couldn't be more reprehensible and yet you can't refuse as you take the microphone and brush his hand. The unease under your skin is treacherous.

Forbidden.

Interesting.

Captivating enough to just look at him and swallow the anger. You're left with only one song for him.

One that he will hopefully remember.

.

[Check out my Hunter x Hunter one shot collection here!] Picture is from a card collection game.

[windyblight]

“You’re okay,” You whisper while your face is buried on the nape of his neck.

The weight of those two words struck Nanami’s mind. He had tried to not admit it. Try to not let his throat tighten at the sight of graying hair on the strands of your hair. Nor let his heart be shaken at the wrinkles evident between the crease of your brows. A reminder of the little time you have compared to his. Mortality. A divine difference between the two of you.

pairing: nanami kento x gn!reader

tags: soulmate, yearning, reunion, hurt and comfort, light angst, fallen angel au (but more like Devil Number 4), super fluff

author's note: welcome to self-indulgent fic 101, presented by yours truly. ash. i was listening to fox rain by lee sunhee then recalling the plot to devil number 4 (the webtoon) and started bawling. so yeah,,

it's on ao3 as well!

Nanami Kento firmly believes in abiding by the rules. Not because he believes that it will prove to have its merits. No. Simply, it's because a lawless world would ultimately lead to incomprehensible chaos. Such chaos would not find a place in his life. He had made sure of it.

A lawless world invites greed, encourages wrongdoings, and stirred the hearts away from any sense of clarity. Such a thing which became the fate that befallen humanity at the beginning of time, after all. The desire for more that they couldn't handle.

Heavenly beings, such as angels, are able to exist because of rules. Even demons have their own set of rules, though he admits they're much more cathartic and slightly grim in comparison.

An angel’s duty is ultimately to guide over the greater good of humanity until the very end of their mortality. An angel mustn’t show favoritism, nor exhibit emotions. Traits that are deemed human-like. It prevents them from ever seeing things with pure clarity.

To see through the soul at its core without clouding the self with personal feelings.

And yet,

“You’ve come again, my angel?”

The fond nickname slips effortlessly from your lips, like a gentle breeze that sways against the firm branches of a tree. A smile stretches across your face. One that always greets him whenever he makes an appearance. He only sighs.

“Enough with the embarrassing nickname.”

“Eh? Why? I thought you liked it!”

He does, but he won’t admit it to you. Though, nothing fools you. You, an enigma of a being. Your demeanor that resembles the sun. And with each touch, he fears he’d burn. But, your smile alone is enough to ease the thunderous storm in his heart and mind. You are only human yet to him, not a single being in heaven would compare to your glow.

“If you’re going to greet me like that when I come home, make it less embarrassing.”

“Hmmm,” You squint your eyes. “Try to fool me all you want, Kento. But I can see through you. You like it. You’ve got that look in your eyes!”

“This is the look of a man who needs a shower.”

You laugh. The kind of laugh that never fails to get his heart pound against his chest. A soft laugh that could tame even the thunderous storms. He’s not one for jokes, but if every lame one could bring that out of you, he’d do it time and time again.

“Guess I’ll just have to start making dinner for my shower-deprived spouse, hm?” You beam at him, tugging at the grocery bag hanging in his hand. He leans close, pressing his lips against your forehead. You hum gently at the kiss. Your hands had its grip on his shirt. Tightening themselves, trembling.

“You’re okay,” You whisper while your face is buried on the nape of his neck.

The weight of those two words struck Nanami’s mind. He had tried to not admit it. Try to not let his throat tighten at the sight of graying hair on the strands of your hair. Nor let his heart be shaken at the wrinkles evident across your face. A reminder of the little time you have compared to his. Mortality. A divine difference between the two of you.

“I'm okay,” He echoes your words. Hoping it would give even the slightest reassurance to your trembling body wrapped between his arms. “And I won’t go anywhere. Not again.”

The realm was not very forgiving. For he, an angel, to have given in to personal feelings for a single human. The punishment was severe. He’d been deprived of his immortality, left to have every sense of what makes him divine plundered by creatures in the depths. That, in a matter of days. But time works differently in the heavenly realm compared to the mortal realm.

He was mortified at the realization. The time he has suffered through that equates to nearly two decades in the mortal realm.

Nanami Kento firmly believed in abiding by the heavenly rules. But those very rules almost cost you, your life. You, a person driven by their kindness and understanding. You, a person almost driven to the end of your mortal life due to others' insecurity. Even so, you live through your days still with the same kindness in your heart.

For you, rules by those in power meant nothing to him. This was no justice. There's no fairness in that.

His fingers run themselves through your hair. Letting it tangle through some of the greying strands as he basks himself in you. It You being in his arms, at long last. Your eyes glisten at the sight of him, tearful. He must not have the similar radiance as he did when you first met. A defeated soul, bruised shell of a being yet with every ounce of his being, he’d find himself back to you.

“Now, let me take care of you.” You echo the same words he told you all those times ago. The words that would lead to his ruin as once a divine being. Yet, the same words that would be the light that peaks through the darkness of his vigorous, steady world.