#and he’s kind of scary because he’s big and strong and somewhat stoic

[honeydjarin]

I have such a dumb idea for a college au din fic and I really shouldn’t write it but I am so so so tempted

[breakyeol]

— SQUIRM, BABY.

You don’t like Doh Kyungsoo. Especially not when he’s got his fingers buried knuckle deep inside of you and your seeing stars —goddamn stars!— but can’t make a sound unless you want the entire library to know exactly what he’s doing to you under the table.

┗ Pairing: Tutor!Kyungsoo x Reader

Genre: college au, tutor au, enemies w benefits au, smut

Words: 4.7k 

Rating: 18+

Warnings: strong language, sexual acts in a public setting, fingering

A/N; tomorrow is going to be my 1 year anniversary as an EXO-L!! oh my goodness that feels so crazy, time really flies. so here is a little present from me to you, enjoy lovelies!!

“These are all wrong,” Kyungsoo mutters blankly, “start over.”

A loud groan is ripped from your throat, the sound earning you more than a few sideways glares from the surrounding tables but you can’t really bring yourself to care. You’ve been here for two hours, studying one of the most intolerable subjects in the world: Calculus. The mere mention of its name made you shiver in disgust.

To be blunt, you’d always been shit at math. Numbers and equations were never your strong suit, not in high school and definitely not now with the added complexities of derivatives and differential equations (neither of which made even the slightest bit of sense to you). You much preferred the gentleness of literature and history to the strict logic and rules of mathematics and science. Unfortunately for you, the latter subjects were just as vital a part of your education, and opting out of them was not an option.

“Can’t we take a break?” You almost whine the question, pressing your fingers into your throbbing temples. “My brain feels like it’s going to explode.”

“No.”

You scowl at the bluntness of his rejection. “I’m paying you.” You point out, stabbing a finger into his bicep for emphasis. “Shouldn’t I have a say in when we take a break?”

He rolls his eyes, swatting your hand away and shoving the paper back in your direction. “I’m giving you your money’s worth. Do it again.”

You let out a noisy huff of air, slouching over dramatically in the stiff plastic chair until your chin is pressed against the cold table. “I hope you know I am deeply regretting some of my life decisions right about now.” You grumble, shooting him an icy glare that you hope conveys the absolute loathing you feel for both him and the set of problems laid before you.

“I thought that was a daily thing for you.”

Scoffing, you bury your mouth in the thick sleeve of your hoodie. “Your face is a daily thing for me.”

He doesn’t even bother to look at you, though you could almost feel the intensity of his deadpan. “I think that was the shittiest comeback I’ve ever heard.”

“Your face is the shittiest comeback I’ve ever heard.”

“You do realize that that makes absolutely no sense.”

“Your fa—”

“Shut up and do your work.”

He either doesn’t hear or consciously chooses to ignore the colorful array of curses you grumble spitefully in his direction, though simultaneously resigning yourself to the fact that you won’t be able to put off your work inevitably. Kyungsoo was a stickler for proper time management. If he had an agenda set in place for your tutoring session (which he always did), then you better believe he’d be checking off each item within its designated time frame. And if you don’t cooperate— well then, your best bet is to pray that there isn’t a mechanical pencil within his reach.

He might not always be able to reach the top shelf, but Kyungsoo had ways of getting what he wanted. Usually, that chilling glare was enough to get those around him to bend to his will. He could be a scary little shit when he wanted to be. You’ll admit, even you had been the tiniest bit intimidated when you first met him. He was quiet, reserved, strict in manner, but also the dangerous unpredictable type, you gathered that much quickly enough. Maybe that’s why the two of you didn’t get on too well.

Where he was cool and standoffish, “a man of few words” some might say, you were more vocal about your opinions, social by nature, always eager to meet new people and make new connections. You had a tendency to speak loudly when excited and talk with your hands when passionate about a subject. That was something most people learned about you very quickly. Unfortunately, upon your first official meeting at a party in your freshman year with your mutual friends, Kyungsoo had no idea just how emphatic you could be until you’d knocked his drink clean out of his hand and spilled it down the front of his brand new shirt.

It was an accident, of course. You’d apologized profusely and he’d accepted it (albeit somewhat begrudgingly), but that was probably the first of many missteps in your... unique relationship.

With such conflicting personalities, it was understandable that you got into frequent arguments about one thing or another. Petty disagreements would often grow into something larger than they really needed to be. Mostly because despite having such contrasting personalities, you shared the trait of innate stubbornness, neither of you willing to admit when you were wrong. It was easy to argue with him, and you liked when you proved him wrong. You liked the way his brows furrowed and his cheeks flushed. You liked the way he glared, the way his lips pouted. You like the challenge he presented you with every time he opened his mouth. Above, you loved to win. Especially when it was against him.

So you pushed, and he pushed right back. And before you knew it, you found yourself a proper ‘frenemy’, though you aren’t sure that that’s quite the right word to describe whatever it was you two were.

But that’s just how the two of you are, how you’d always been. If you were being honest, riling him, seeing that usually so stoic, so controlled expression crack when you pushed just the right buttons— it was fun. You thoroughly enjoyed fucking with him, discovering new and creative ways to get under his skin. And you knew he got just as much satisfaction from doing the same to you, rendering you speechless with witty comebacks, flustering you with his sharp tongue and impressive rebukes.

So really, was it such a terrible thing?

Not to mention, a number of not-so-terrible things occurred as a result of one of your many arguments, such as hiring him as your calculus tutor. One that started out with you claiming he would probably be the shittiest teacher to ever exist (which seemed a valid argument at the time considering how short tempered and impatient he could be *cough* with you *cough*) to which he rebutted with the claim that he could “teach a goldfish advanced calculus” if he set his mind to it, and considering that you “had an IQ equivalent to one”, he could without a doubt teach you. His words, obviously.

It just so happened that you had a calculus exam coming up that next week, so to prove his point, he tutored you for the three days preceding said test. Even though you loathe being proven wrong, you ended up getting one of the highest scores you’d ever gotten on a math test in your entire academic career.

Putting your pride aside, you made the suggestion that he continue to tutor you. He only agreed when you offered him green in exchange for his troubles and admitted that he was right (it took a few extra hours to convince yourself that your grades should be held above your ego before you could bring yourself to verbally admit defeat).

And now here you are, not flunking out of calculus. You’d consider that worthy of the bruise to your pride, even if only by a small margin.

“Kyungsoo, why’d you mark this one wrong?” You frown at the large red X marking problem two as incorrect. You’d been glaring at your scribbled work for almost two minutes, running over the problem in your head, but you couldn’t seem to figure out where he thought you’d gone wrong. It looks right enough to you.

Kyungsoo shifts over to get a better look, his arms pressing against yours in the process and you are briefly stunned by the sudden, unexpected closeness, wholly unable to stop yourself from noticing the faint, woody scent of his aftershave that caresses your senses. Fuck. You can’t tell if you hate or love the fact that he smelled so good. Partly love it because good hygiene is always something to admire in a man (even if that man was Doh Kyungsoo), partly hate it because dammit it’s Doh Kyungsoo and you loathe finding anything that has to do with him attractive. Plus, it’s distracting. You’re here trying to learn and he has the audacity to go around smelling like pine trees and fresh moss after a rainfall. Unfair.

“Right here.”

The scowl you don’t realize you’re wearing immediately drops away as the low baritone of his voice thrums through the cavity of your ribcage and you lean forward to see exactly what he’s pointing at.

“You multiplied straight through instead of distributing.” He explains further upon seeing the uncertainty on your face. A few seconds of further inspection and you finally see what he’s talking about.

“Fuck,” you hiss, “I’m so stupid.”

“It’s an easy mistake to make.” He reassures.

“Yeah, but I should know that by now, I should’ve—” you turn your head, only to nearly choke on air as you discover that any space that once existed between the two of you has virtually disappeared, “... seen it.”

He’s close, so close that you can feel the cool rush of his breath against your skin as he exhales, goosebumps bristling across your arms in response. He’s close. Too close. You can’t think straight, can’t even breathe. The moment that surrounds you feels fragile, like even the slightest disruption would rupture it completely.

Frozen, you can only swallow around the sudden dryness of your mouth as your treacherous eyes drop to trace the plush line of his lips. Who even has lips like that? They’re just so big and so pink, that dark, kissable kind of pink that every girl just wishes her lips could be. You, included. They look soft, and you can’t help but to wonder if they’d still taste like the strawberry bubblegum he’d been chewing on at the beginning of your tutoring session.

“Careful, ___.” The sound of Kyungsoo’s voice, raspier than you recall it being before and laced in a faintly taunting pitch, is enough to break you from your trance and, once freed, you whip your head around fast enough to give yourself whiplash.

“Fuck off.” You cough, jaw clenching as you attempt to drag your mind out from the gutter and back onto the calculus problems you have yet to correct. But for whatever reason your brain refuses to cooperate, instead filling your head with images of his pretty mouth and everything it could be doing instead of rambling on about something as uninteresting as calculus. Damnit.

No doubt seeing the distress written clearly across your face, Kyungsoo chuckles, the sound low and smooth where it drips from his lips, and a familiar heat blossoms in the pit of your stomach.

You can feel his eyes on you now, every cell of your being suddenly hyperaware of his presence beside you. The pressure of his knee where it nudges against yours, the teasing curl of his lips as he watches you struggle to focus, the warmth of his palm caressing up your thigh, the— wait what?

Your gaze whips down, breath hitching at the sight of Kyungsoo’s hand gently gripping the lagging clad flesh just above your knee. It’s another few seconds before you’re able to find your voice again.

“W– What’re you—?”

“Focus.” He cuts you off smoothly, fingers soothing over the inside of your leg, squeezing gently. When you don’t look away from him, he smirks, jerking his chin forward in a manner you can only interpret as challenging. There’s a familiar glint in his eye, a dangerous glint that doesn’t fail to provoke your competitive side. You know that look well. He’s challenging you.

And you don’t back down from a challenge.

Especially not from Doh Kyungsoo.

Determination flairs up inside of you, your jaw clenching as you strike him with a single, heated glare that read plain and simple ‘you. are. on.’ before honing all your attention onto the worksheet in front of you. It’s not too difficult to focus at first, to disregard the tingles that erupt across your skin where his hot touch sears into it. You manage to find and correct your error in one of the problems (impressive for you even if Kyungsoo wasn’t feeling your leg up under the table).

But whatever pride you find in doing so is quickly quelled when his hand suddenly shifts higher, and you feel the faintest pressure against your heat. It’s a sensation that robs you of your ability to breathe entirely for a handful of seconds, and you can’t stop the shiver that ripples down your spine.

This, you see, is one of the more recent developments in your oh-so complicated relationship with Doh Kyungsoo. Yet another that began with a disagreement at a party, over something you can’t even remember anymore thanks to the haze of alcohol that clouded both your minds at the time, that spiraled way out of proportion. You remember yelling at him, insulting him, stabbing your finger into his chest, feeling the sting of his lethal glare. God, he’d looked so pissed off, and you just fed off of it, fed off the rage and the frustration that festered like lava in those dark brown eyes. The angrier he got, the harder you pushed, until he finally snapped.

You’re still not sure what you expected to happen. What you expected him to do. But you sure as hell hadn’t anticipated him grabbing you by the throat and pulling you into one of the hottest, most mind numbing kisses you’d ever experienced.

Next thing you remember is being in a bed. Whose bed it was, isn’t important. What is important, however, is the fact that that night you had the best sex of your entire life with the man you thought you couldn’t stand.

Hate sex with Doh Kyungsoo opened your eyes to a whole new world of mind boggling pleasure that you’d never experienced before. Pleasure that no other person had ever been able to give you. God, the things he did to you. No one had ever touched you like that before. It was like he knew all the places on your body that made you unravel. He honestly ruined all other men for you that night because none have even come close to comparing. Which was beyond frustrating especially considering that, at the time, you thought it was a one time thing.

The morning after you both pretended that nothing happened. In the two weeks following as well, neither one of you mentioned it. You tried to erase the memory from your brain, tried to go back to normal, but it was hard considering every time you needed some sexual release (which was more often than you care to admit), it was his hands, his mouth, his cock that you imagined while you touched yourself. You replayed his moans in your head, his deep, rasping voice growling your name, and fuck, you never came harder.

But it was still nothing compared to the real thing.

As time passed you only grew more and more frustrated. Worst of all, you could tell he was feeling it too. It was obvious in the way he looked at you, with fire burning in eyes, in the way he spoke to you, with a pitch of something hot and wanting in his voice, in the way he lost his cool far quicker and far more often than he had in the past, your arguments fiercer and more frequent than they’d ever been. The tension between the two of you was palpable, thick enough to be cut with a knife. It got to the point where even your most oblivious of friends started noticing it as well, though they knew better than to voice their curiosity.

The second time it happened, you were both sober and, somehow, it was even better than you remembered. The pleasure was more intense, more overwhelming, a feeling you can’t even put into words. Then it kept happening. Late at night when he’d show up unannounced at your door. Early in the morning when you had an important exam later in the day and you needed some pre-test de-stressing. Between classes in the back seat of his car just because you could. At parties when your friends were too shit faced to notice the two of you slipping into an unoccupied bedroom.

Just sex. That’s what you both agreed to when it became blatantly obvious that your little ‘arrangement’ wouldn’t be coming to an end any time soon. No strings. Just sex. Just really, really good sex.

And that was perfectly fine by you.

Exhaling shakily through your nose, you try to block out the feeling of his thumb as it begins to caress gently up and down your clothed core, suddenly very grateful for the layers of fabric that separate you from his intoxicating touch. But it’s a gratitude that’s short lived. Just as you manage to adjust and scribble down a correction, he cups his hand over your mound and squeezes. A gasp escapes you, and you try to cover up the sound with a series of short coughs, the sting embarrassment intertwining with the warmth of pleasure as a few eyes briefly glance in your direction.

“You’re such an asshole.” You hiss under your breath, thighs tightening around his hand, locking it in place.

He throws you a lopsided grin, brows lifting and you don’t miss the glimmer of amusement in his eyes. “I’ve been called worse.” What he means is you’ve called him worse.

Your lips part, but any intelligible words die on the tip of your tongue as he grinds the heel of his palm down, directly against your clit. Your head drops, eyes squeezing shut, teeth locking down firmly on your lower lip in order to silence the soft moan that threatens to break free.

“F- fuck.”

You hear him coo tauntingly beside you at your slip, the tips of his skilled fingers easily locating your entrance and prodding experimentally. At this point, you don’t doubt he can feel the fabric of your leggings growing hot and wet with your arousal.

Despite being used to the quick effect he had on your body, you can help but to feel the slightest twinge of shame at how he was able to rile you up this much with little more than a few well-placed strokes of his fingers. But fuck, it felt so good. You’d already been feeling somewhat deprived since you’d both been so busy this past week with exams and projects and what not. This is the first time you’re spending time with him since almost a week ago.

And you are in need of a fix.

“You look like you’re having a bit of trouble on that problem. Do you need my help?” Kyungsoo leans into you, his face right up next to yours, and you have to resist the sudden urge to kiss him right then in there in front of everyone in the stupid library.

Instead, you grit out an unconvincing, “I’m fine,” and force yourself to stay focused on the dizzying mess of numbers and letters on the worksheet in front of you and not on the delicious warmth of his hand where it is applying just the right amount of pressure to keep you teetering between pleasure and the insatiable need for more.

“You sure?” There’s a certain lightness to his voice that tells you he is thoroughly enjoying watching you struggle. Sadistic bastard.

“Positive.”

And just like that, he’s gone. You almost gasp as a rush of cold air fills the places he had been, and you can’t help the frown that tugs at the corners of your lips, disappointment and irritation coloring your features before you can reel them in. From the corner of your eye, you chance a glance in his direction. The smug, knowing little smirk staining his lips sends a wave of heat pulsing into your cheeks, and you grit your teeth in frustration.

“So what, you’re just going to stop?” You whisper sharply, not making any attempt whatsoever to hide your annoyance.

A look of feigned innocence overcomes his features. “You said you didn’t need my help.”

You grit your teeth, glaring at him as hard as you can manage with how incredibly turned on you are. But he remains unfazed.

“If you want my help,” he continues, voice dropping an entire octave, “you’re going to have to ask for it... nicely.”

Nice wasn’t a word in your vocabulary when Kyungsoo was involved.

Seeing the resistance you are still putting up, he feathers his fingers over your thigh, tracing slow designs across the thin, black fabric. You swallow, unable to look away as they trail dangerously higher, teasing closer to where you both knew you wanted them most.

“You do want it, don’t you?”

Fuck, you want it so bad.

You know that he knows you want it. It’s just the getting yourself to actually say it out loud part that proves to be a challenge. But that’s exactly what he wants you to do, he wants to hear you say it, wants to see you cast aside your stubborn pride and beg for it. Beg for him.

Lifting your eyes, you glance unsurely around the library. It isn’t overly crowded anymore since most of the other students have begun to trickle out as late afternoon approaches. Plus, the table you were seated at was tucked into the far back corner of the room, secluded and out of the way. But still, your nerves buzzed at the thought of someone seeing. Though maybe — just maybe — there was a buzz of something else as well. Excitement, perhaps?

Grip tightening around your pencil, you chewed on the corner of your lip, refusing to meet Kyungsoo’s penetrating gaze as you let out a soft murmur. “...ease.”

He leans closer, mirth shimmering in his eyes. “What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you.”

Groaning, you shoot him a scowl, shoulders slumping in defeat. “Please help me, asshole.”

Laughter bubbles at his lips, the genuine kind that makes his cheeks lift and his nose wrinkle. You like it when he laughs like that. Makes him look a lot less like a serial killer.

Sinking his teeth into the pillowy flesh of his lower lip to stifle his laughter, he shoots you a lazy grin, “that’s all you had to say.”

Next thing you know, his hand is slipping beneath the elastic of your leggings and into the soft cotton confines of your underwear. Your mouth fell open, a sharp inhale filling your lungs with cold air as his fingers slid through your slick folds.

“I knew you were wet but shit.” He hisses, thick brows furrowing at the feeling of your heavy arousal coating the length of his digits. “I must say, I’m flattered.”

“Don’t be,” you breathe, eyes fluttering, “even Chanyeol can get me this— ngh!”

Without warning, he plunges his middle finger inside of you, and the remainder of your sentence pitches into a strangled moan. One look at his face, jaw clenched, nostrils flared, lips down turned, tells you he isn’t all too pleased at the mention of another man’s name, especially when he’s the one buried knuckle deep in your greedy cunt.

A hazy smirk curls onto your lips and you let out a low hum of pleasure, walls squeezing around him. “You’re sexy when you’re mad.”

“Is that why you enjoy pissing me off so much?” He questions, tone biting and low, and you shutter involuntarily as he rolls the pad of his thumb harshly over your aching clit.

“Partly.” You admit, somewhat breathless. “But you’re also just a really fun person to piss off.”

He chuckles dryly in response, though the sound lacks any genuine amusement. “You are such a brat, you know that?” He emphasizes the word by stretching you around a second finger, and you have to drop your pencil in favor of clasping your hand over your mouth, unable to swallow down the soft whimpers that tremble up your throat.

“You love it.” You manage to get out before you’re forced to bite into the tender flesh of your palm to muffle a desperate cry when the slow thrusts of his digits suddenly picks up speed. Your thighs squeeze around his hand, hips jerking up to grind your throbbing clit against the heel of his palm. Electricity ricochets through your veins, and you feel that distinctive tightening in the pit of your stomach. Kyungsoo also feels the way you throb and clench around him, and makes sure to grind down hard against your swollen clit.

Heat immediately spreads through your core, the intensity of the pleasure becoming more than you can handle. “Oh god, Kyungsoo.” Your voice comes out louder than you intended, and you quickly duck your head, doing your best to make it seem like you’re focusing on your work and not the fingers drilling relentlessly into your g-spot, praying to god that no one had seen the blissed out expression on your face. Still, you can’t help the quiet whine that escapes you when his ministrations slow.

“Are you trying to get us caught?” He asks in less than a whisper, breath hot against the shell of your ear. “Ever hear of subtlety?”

“Ever hear of suck my dick?” You snap back without missing a beat, only to jolt as his fingers curl inside of you, pressing directly against that sensitive bundle of nerves. Every muscle in your body tenses, and fuck you’re so close you can almost taste it. Frantically, you thrust your hips, desperately trying to fuck yourself down on his digits.

“Sit still.” He growls, and you quiver when he sinks his teeth into the lobe of your ear, obeying only because you really don’t want to get banned from the campus library if someone happened to catch on.

“Soo— fuck,” the force with which you bite into your lip is nearly about to break the skin, but you can’t be bothered by the pain, not with how quickly your orgasm was approaching. Sensing as much, Kyungsoo goes the extra mile of drawing hard, fast figure eights over your clit with his thumb while simultaneously thrusting his fingers into you so fast that you swear you can almost hear it.

All at once fire roars through your veins, euphoria consuming you as your high crashes over you. Your walls spasm around his digits, painting them with your release.

He doesn’t withdraw from you until you go slack, thighs spreading, body slumping back in your chair, eyes fluttering as a hazy, blissed out smile touches your lips. You can only watch through hooded lids as he brings his glistening fingers to his mouth, sighing in amazement as he sucks them clean. There’s a twinge of arousal in your core as he moans softly at the taste of you on his tongue, a downright lethal sound that somehow manages to rouse your positively spent pussy.

This man is going to be the absolute death of you one of these days.

“Fuck.” You chuckle airily, heady gaze flickered over him lazily, only to do a double take when you notice something standing upright beneath the zipper of his jeans. The corners of your lips twirled into a mirthful grin, eyebrows raising slowly.

“Need some help with that?”

“Yes.” He answers shamelessly and without hesitation, grunting softly as he adjusts himself in the tight confines of his jeans to make the raging hard-on he’s sporting somewhat less obvious. “But not here.”

“I figured. So... your car or mine?”

“Didn’t you just get a new one with reclining seats?” He questions, running the tip of his tongue over the seam of his lip at the mere implication.

You strike him with a wicked grin, already beginning to shove your things into your bag. “I did indeed.”

“Then what are we— wait.”

“What?”

“You didn’t finish correcting the worksheet yet.” He points out, drumming his fingers across the paper that had completely slipped your mind.

You pull a face, pausing in the act of gathering your belongings long enough to cross your arms pointedly over your chest. “No offense, Kyungsoo, sweetheart, but I’d much rather suck your dick than do one more of those stupid fucking calc problems.”

His brows leap to his hairline, and he offers a single nod of acceptance, in no position to argue with such a valid point.

“Noted.”

[helaintoloki]

Queen of Disaster

pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader who is both wholesome and a disaster child

warnings: Bucky is grumpy but not necessarily mean, some stray swear words, allusions to angst, reader is a little chaotic but in a wholesome way. reader is of age but still younger than Bucky (bc the dude is like 100)

notes: this is inspired partly by my own personality and partly by the Lana del Rey song with the same title). I might make this a mini series of one shots and pieces that build onto this relationship but we shall see

summary: the youngest after Peter and the newest member of the team, y/n is still learning to hold her own amongst her fellow teammates. While the Avengers are patient and understanding of the lovable though somewhat disorderly girl, Bucky Barnes is not so easily convinced

    Bucky Barnes does not like you.

   You’re immature, irresponsible, unreliable, and the youngest member on the team after the bug kid. You can’t take anything seriously because serious matters make you uncomfortable, and you’re timing is so awful that every quip and one liner makes his skin crawl with discomfort. But hey, despite all of your defects you get the job done and, to Bucky’s dismay, get to keep your position on the team.

   Maybe if you weren’t so goddamn smiley all the time and could take things seriously just once instead of immediately retreating to the rainbow colored, glitter filled, lollipop scented safety of that thing you call a brain inside your head he could possibly entertain the idea of at least being acquaintances. Instead he often feels like your babysitter, somehow always having you forced on him during missions and in turn having to clean up the chaos you leave behind in your wake. Always eager to please- the equivalent of a teacher’s pet if your teacher was Steve Rogers or Tony Stark- you will stand over the body of the newly deceased Hydra soldier and turn to Bucky with a smile on your face and two thumbs up held in his direction. His stoic gaze shows that he could care less about your latest endeavor, and your smile earns a moment’s falter when his broad shoulder harshly knocks against your own as he moves on to the next room. You’ll get him some other time.

    If you had only been a friend of Peter’s or another one of Stark’s young prodigies, maybe Bucky would have been able to at least tolerate you and your childish behavior. After all, Bucky dealt with big babies- and little ones - around the tower all the time. Tony Stark, Thor Odinson, Sam Wilson, Peter Parker, hell, even Steve at times. Bucky Barnes could handle man babies. It was girl babies that set him off.

   In the 40’s women had either been quiet and reserved or loud and lively, and James Buchanan Barnes had never minded either. As the Winter Soldier he had learned that women could be cold and calloused, unfeeling and inhumane. As an Avenger, Bucky had learned that women could be both strong and caring, gallant and graceful, smart and calculating. But with you...

   With you Bucky learned that it was possible for a woman to down a whole tub of ice cream by herself without sharing. He learned that the modern day woman did not give two shits about what men thought of the opposite gender. He learned that a knife plunged deep into your thigh only earned your attacker an offended gasp, but the breaking of a freshly done nail could bring you straight to tears if the elements were aligned just right. He observed how one minute you could be as agile as a cat on the field one moment only to trip over your own two feet the next. He learned you did not do well under pressure; when running out of bullets to attack your enemies, rather than simply reload your gun your first instinct told you to chuck the weapon as hard as you could at your attacker, which somehow succeeded in knocking the man out cold. Beginner’s luck, Bucky had thought begrudgingly the moment he saw it happen.

   You were a beautiful swan one moment and a bumbling baby the next, and Bucky, too damn tired and old, could never keep up with you. So he gave up trying and instead did his best to keep as far away from you as possible, which, much to your credit, was a lot harder than it should have been. Example number one: your presence right now at two in the morning when your ass should be in bed sleeping instead of disturbing his peaceful binge of I Love Lucy over his bowl of ice cream.

  “Hi Barnes,” you chirp, oblivious to just how much you irk the man before you as you rummage through the cabinets for your hidden stash of hot Cheetos.

   “Hmph,” he grunts in response and shoves a spoonful of cookie dough ice cream into his mouth.

   “Ooo, I love this show!” You exclaim, plopping down right next to the super soldier and obnoxiously opening your chips. The harsh crinkling of the bag has Bucky’s shoulders rising all the way to his ears and he feels compelled to shush you before you wake the whole compound with your unpalatable snacking.

   “How do you know about I Love Lucy? Aren’t you like twelve?” Bucky retorts in a crotchety tone.

   “First of all, rude,” you counter. “Second of all, I used to watch reruns of this on channel seven all the time with my mom when I was a kid.” Then, to validate your 50’s sitcom knowledge, you inhale deeply before loudly shouting along with Ricky Ricardo, “‘Lucy, you’ve got some ‘splainin to do!’”

   Bucky jolts at the volume of your voice, spoon clattering harshly against his bowl at the disturbance. “Jesus Christ! Do you have an off button or something?”

   “Only on Tuesday’s,” you reply nonchalantly, and Bucky, too exhausted to ask, only rolls his eyes and wishes for the light fixture hanging above him to come down on his noggin.

   It takes five minutes for you to fall asleep, and Bucky only notices because of the sea of droll that dribbles down the corner of your lips and onto his shirt. He shudders in disgust. Baby droll from the team baby. How you have the whole team wrapped around your cheeto dust stained finger, he will never know.

   He could just leave you there with the tv on and let you waddle yourself back to your own room when your body’s clock decides it’s time to retreat to your hole. But the gentleman inside of Bucky is about ready to smack him upside the head for his bad manners, so the soldier begrudgingly scoops your sleeping form into his arm and marches towards your bedroom.

   “You’re insufferable,” Bucky grumbles, almost droping you when you have the audacity to nuzzle closer to his chest in your sleep. You really are a big baby.

   As expected, your room is a disaster. Stray clothes, shoes, and mundane objects litter the floor and getting to your bed is like tip toeing through a booby trapped Hydra base. One wrong move and Bucky will trip over the stray bra on the ground and eat shit. How can anyone live like this? He assumes this is probably what your brain looks like on the inside too.

   “There you go brat,” Bucky grumbles as he not only lies you in bed but tucks you in, going as far as to tuck the blankets tightly around you and rest the raggedy teddy bear at the foot of your bed next to you instead, unknowingly falling into your unintentional trap of slowly but surely beginning to wrap around your finger.

   He has to admit, you’re much nicer when you’re still and quiet, calmed by the melatonin coursing naturally through your system. You’re kind of pretty too, if he stares long enough at your face and looks at you as if you were a stranger. Your eyelashes flutter as you dream, hair falling around your head like a little halo, parted lips- Bucky recoils, forcing himself to stop over analyzing your facial features while you sleep because that’s weird and you’re like, ten.

   Bucky Barnes does not like you.

   But as he flicks on the Iron Man nightlight by your bedside (installed by Tony himself because he too knows just how scary the dark can be once you become an Avenger) and tip toes out of your room, Bucky realizes he doesn’t completely dislike you.

    And that is enough for him.

[curewhimsy]

Shiro-Sora chapter 3 outline

The theatre club- Taya- Very shy, but his big dream is to perform a play with everyone. Uta- Has little interest, but joined to assist Taya. Develops interest eventually. Gumi- Another somewhat shy newcomer. Likes writing and design. Lapis- Eccentric and excitable. Merli’s cute sister. Loves fantasy. Merli- Dramatic, perfectionist, and a bit brooding. Secretly wants to be cute. Nigaito- Innocent and cheerful. Loves fairy tales. Kyo- An eccentric wild guy, loves being loud. Loves action! Qingxian- A little bit vain and self absorbed. She’s just... tsundere. Dex- Emo furry theater kid 1. Loves deeply romantic plays. Daina- Emo furry theater kid 2. Loves deeply dramatic plays. Bruno- A little quiet, friendly, likes conveying stories in more ways than writing. Ruby- Cheerful, full of energy, and highly motivated.

—

The next day, Taya feels better enough to attend classes. Afterwards, he and Uta make their way to the theatre club room after school.

They are immediately greeted by an awkward scene.

The entire club is collectively singing a competitive version of “Everything you can do, I can do better.”

If this fanfic were instead an animated musical, this would be a part where a song and dance would play.

Uta and Taya stand there and wait for them to finish so they can talk to the leader of the club...

At one point, the theatre club has a contest of who can enact the most dramatic and stirring death scene. This scares Taya.

Taya’s reaction summed up is basically, “Wah! Uta, theatre kids ARE scary!”

Taya’s shrieking distracts the rest of the club members from their stirring death enactments. They finally notice Uta and Taya.

“Oh, hello!” Lapis gives them a warm welcome. “Might you be here to join our humble little group?”

Uta thinks to herself about how “humble” would be the wrong description for their group. She nudges Taya to prompt him to do the talking. He shyly responds to Lapis.

“Ah... y-yes. Um, my name is... Taya Soune, and I... I would... I would really like to j-join your theatre club, please!”

Taya bows, the way he tends to do.

“Hm...” Lapis says, scratching her chin. “That bow you just did...”

Lapis pauses. Suddenly she bounces back up.

“You definitely have a flair for the dramatic, Taya!”

Lapis takes Taya’s hand.

“I can definitely see you as a drama KING!”

“...Does she mean that as a compliment?” Uta thinks, inside her head.

“And you!” Lapis suddenly points to Uta.

“That stoic coolness... that refreshing lack of expression! You’d make the perfect strong and silent type!”

———

Eventually, the group begins to talk about the plays they want to do. The theatre club is tight knit already, and everyone is already wrapped up in their own ideas. Nobody is paying attention to the newcomer, Taya, and especially not Uta.

Given Taya’s shy nature, he doesn’t exactly speak up.

After the club meeting ends, Uta talks to Taya. Uta senses that Taya still didn’t accomplish or say everything he wanted or felt he needed to that day.

“Hey, Taya?” Uta talks to him as they walk back to their dorms that evening. They are almost at the scenic hill they past by every day.

“Ah, yes?” Taya answers.

“Something tells me that you didn’t speak up as much as you wanted today.” Uta says. “So tell me. About this play you wanted to perform with everyone. I remember you telling me about a play you wanted to perform.”

“Oh... that.” Taya said. “Well... It... might not be to everyone’s tastes, exactly...”

“So, what’s it about?” Uta asks again.

“I... um... it’s a... a kind of sad, yet magical and bittersweet story... and I um... I wrote it myself...”

“Oh. You... did?” Uta asks.

“Yes...” Taya says. “It’s my dream... to bring this story to life with everyone. I’m lonely a lot. So I hope this story I wrote could help bring me and my schoolmates closer together. It’s what I’ve wished for a long time.”

“I see.” Uta doesn’t know how to respond. Taya is pouring his heart out to her. Uta admires his sincerity and the simplicity of his wish. Uta had lost the ability to dream a long time ago. The fact that Taya still has such pure dreams makes Uta want to help him.

“Well, I think that maybe next time you should speak up and tell everyone your dream.” Uta says. “And... If you need so, I’ll help you, okay? I’ll help you the best I can, alright? Because... dreams are important.”

“Uta, thank you.” Taya said. “How can I ever repay you?”

“There you go, talking about repaying me again.” Uta says. “You don’t need to, okay? We’re friends. Just being there for each other will be enough.”

“Okay...” Taya says, smiling.

[the-static-silence-of-pastels]

Persephone and Hades AU

All I can say is...I was really bored and it was like 3am. Sue me.

Hades - Roman: Roman has a big dog he named Spot and loves dearly. He’s characterised as being a very angry person, but in truth, he’s just upset he doesn’t get to leave the Underworld much. He throws a lot of parties for the denizens of the Underworld and often finds himself bored stupid by them. He just wants to find love, live his life out with his three-headed dog, and not be so bored all the time.

Persephone - Logan: he wanted to be like Athena but was cast into the role as a minor deity of grain and vegetation. He’s so salty about it, but even more so knowing it was his father’s idea he takes up the mantle of being the god of such things. He doesn’t hate Patton for making him a minor deity, but he wishes he were meant for something greater than grain. 

Demeter - Patton: the god of the harvest, sacred law and the cycle of life and death. He had a large fight with Roman many years ago and doesn’t really speak about him all that much. Very protective of Logan because he’s the only son Patton has ever had and he had to steal him away when his one night stand with the all-powerful Joan — god-x of thunder and the two major celestial bodies, and high ruler of all gods, goddesses, god-xs — ended with the next in line — god-x Talyn, second most high ruler and controller of lightning and the stars — found out, impeaching on their right as next in line to rule. (They were really not happy, but Patton hid Logan away and gave him a very non-threatening deific power, so now Talyn doesn’t think Logan is a threat anymore.)

Thanatos - Virgil: He hates his job, so much. He has to listen to Roman whine about not seeing the sun and the plants and other people, and he has to actually work. People hate him, which gives him a lot of anxiety over other people and his own qualifications, but Roman’s pretty cool when he’s not whining and lets Virgil play with his three-headed puppy. 

This is the 3am summary, and the part below is a better summary where I wasn’t so sleep deprived.

So; Roman is finally able to sneak away for a day and sees Logan, just working with some flowers. He’s like “ey, yo, what up cute as heck peasant mortal bitch”, and Logan’s like da fuq, and walks away so Roman gives chase and tries to woo him with flowers but they all die in his hands, so Logan revives them and Roman’s all like “wait, what?”, and Logan’s like “you know who I am right?”, and Roman’s like “no, who?”, and Logan’s like “god of the harvest, pretty minor and all”, and Roman’s stoked because he’s not mortal and he can come back to the underworld with him. Long story short Roman takes Logan, they get acquainted, they comes back, everything is dying because Patton’s worried about his son, Virgil’s like “dude told you so”, and then Logan marries Roman because that’s how things go.

Okay, better story now I’m free: 

Roman, being Roman, is not totally a fan of being the god of the Underworld. Call him picky or a brat, but after a thousand years of trying to find some enjoyment in the task he’s got little to nothing to show for it except for a rocky friendship/rivalship with the god of death, Virgil. 

After witnessing a few couples, one too many family reunions, and a multitude of other cutesy-lovey-dovey moments, Roman takes a break and heads to earth for a little RnR away from the Underworld, Virgil agreeing to keep an eye on his kingdom so long as Roman gives him the same amount of time off later on. So Roman heads to earth and as soon as his miasmic cloud pools up from the ground and he takes a look around he sees beauty. 

The world is full of flowers as far as the eye can see, tiny pink buds and large yellow buds, all flowering under a gorgeous blue sky with barely any clouds. It’s nothing short of stunning, even if his miasmic clouds are killing off the flowers under his feet. So he walks on and after making his way over a hill he sees a man, sitting on the ground and picking up flowers to work with something in his lap. From the back, the man is just as stunning as his surroundings, but that gets Roman thinking about his mortality. If he brought the man back to the Underworld he’d die without ambrosia, and Roman isn’t the one with ready access to the stuff, unlike Joan and their many friends on the Mountain. 

But that’s a risk he’s willing to take, so he approaches, pushing his miasma away and straightening the crown of thorns and bones on his head whilst patting down his clothes to appear more appealing. Then he coughs, speaks up in a way he hopes the mortals speak, and is floored when the man turns his head and the sun catches his eyes. His hand is still up a little, body draped in somewhat dark clothing, eyes covered by what appears to be two small pieces of the ocean — clear as crystal and water but not moving — and held in place by what looks like golden thread. His hands are holding a crown made up of flowers, perfectly woven together in an intricate braid that makes Roman want to learn about it even more. 

The man stands up and, boy, he’s just a hand shy of Roman’s height which endears him even more to the god of the underworld. And Roman’s a big gay mess because this guy is just so cute with his crown of flowers and perfectly fitted chiton that’s maybe a touch too big in all the right places and dwarfs him just a little. So he asks for a name and gets Logan in return, before declaring himself Roman. Logan just blinks, says okay and starts walking away from Roman who quickly follows after him, trying to regain his attention. He trips and this is when Logan finally notices him, going to take his hand to help him up even though he can plainly see the way the flowers and grass have wilted under his touch. Roman freezes for a second, not sure how to handle this before he feels warmth around his hand and Logan is pulling him up. 

At first, Roman thinks Logan might just be a strong mortal, maybe descended from a demi-god or finally someone who Roman’s powers refuse to work on. So he’s in near tears with joy because this guy is cute, doesn’t care about his status as a god of the Underworld, isn’t scared of him, and can touch him without being drained of his life-force, a really sweet all in one package that — if Roman weren’t a god — Roman would have been certain were made just for him by the gods. Then he takes Logan’s other hand and notices that the flowers of his crown are wilting quickly so he pulls away and apologises rapidly before Logan hushes him and waves a hand over the crown, the flowers pulling up and becoming life filled once more. Now Roman is intrigued, far more than a simple mortal human then, so a demi-god maybe with those powers. So he asks and Logan answers back that he isn’t a demigod just a minor deity with powers similar to his parent's powers. So Roman asks who his parents are and Logan responds that he’s the spawn of Joan — almighty deity that they are — and Patton — god of the harvest, the cycle of life and death, and the fertility of the earth — and yeah Roman is kinda floored because he never even knew Patton had a son. 

So they slowly bond a little, Roman telling Logan about his role as the god of the underworld as Logan adorns himself with the crown he’s made and don’t they look a couple — a crown of thorns and bones next to one of fresh flowers - magical. And eventually it comes down to them finally resolving to tell Logan’s father about them, and Patton takes it as well as an overprotective father can take anything. 

Roman rescues Logan from the Mountain and they run away back to the underworld to talk things out and come to the decision that if Logan eats something of the dead he becomes a thing of the dead — Roman isn’t too into it since it’s permanently altering Logan and he doesn’t want to hurt his sweet summer boy, but Logan’s all for it and so, after asking Virgil many times, Virgil caves and hands over a pomegranate for Logan to eat, warning them of the effects it could have. 

Logan eats it, becomes ill, and Roman takes him back to Patton to plead for Patton to help them. Patton agrees upon the condition that Roman treat his son well and resurrects Logan. From then on Logan is the co-king of the Underworld and takes a break off for six months every year to see Patton and keep the seasons in a steady, mellow warm state before returning and sending the world into winter and autumn. And maybe Roman spices up the decor a little to keep Logan happy. Adding flowers and lilies around his kingdom and domain for Logan to preen over and dote on — as stoic as he is with other people and gods he does treasure plant life. 

Then the other gods find out, and both Talyn and Joan and nothing short of enraged. Yes they both like Roman, at least a little, but Logan and Roman being together is too much for them so they send Thomas — the god of the roads, travellers, trickery, commerce, sports, trade, and heraldry (among other things) — to tell Roman and Logan they’d better split up and that Logan is hereby ordered to return to earth. It doesn’t work, they go to war with Virgil, Roman, Logan and Patton over it and finally Roman almost dies but Logan uses the life forces of some of his flowers to keep Roman from dying at the cost of his own life force being drained away a little to keep the flowers alive — so basically he gives his life force to Roman but a lot less than he would have if he hadn’t used the flowers kind of like a coin going into a bank and gaining interest over time before being taken out. 

Roman exchanges the dark and dreary vibes for something a little lighter, Logan decides to keep up with his usual vibes, Virgil complains that the Underworld should be dark and scary, and Patton just keeps putting plants all over the place to drive Virgil insane (not really, he thinks he’s too cute to actually drive the god of death insane, but it’s funny to see him so up in arms about the Underworld turning into earth with all the new additions)

Roman, Patton and Virgil’s entire deal with Logan pretty much boils down to “touch my sweet spring husband/child/boss and you die”, Logan’s his own fair share of protective but to less of an extent with the others around, alone he cracking knuckles over anyone who so much as says Roman is a terrible god or Virgil is scary or Patton’s too emotional for his own good, he takes no shit from no one and that includes Joan and Talyn — they are scared, help them.

[trulycertain]

I LOVE your post about each TF29 members and I couldn't agree more with your description for each of them. I wish they were developed more in the game, alas there's a hope Adam will be able to raid everyone's houses in the sequel and thus learn more of their eccentricities haha. Speaking of, do you have any headcanons about them?

This is an awesome question! Thank you. And you will regret asking it. Oh dear. I have Thoughts. I think this is over 1k, so I’ll put some of it under a cut.

Mac’s used to multinational teams, but he still sometimes gains some sardonic amusement from being the only Brit in most rooms. Someone made a tea joke once, but he pointedly drinks black coffee strong enough to stand a spoon in. While not saying anything. Oh, and he wore a kilt a couple of times years ago, for family weddings. Chang found this out while doing background research. Do not ask for the photographic evidence. There will be murder.

Mac and Miller are professionals and good at putting it aside for chain of command, but they are genuine friends. Mac is quite probably the only person who knows about Miller’s divorce, and can read between the lines well enough to know how badly Miller’s dealing. They don’t tend to talk about it in the office, but the rare occasions when they’re both free and can get to the pub are another matter. Likewise, Miller is one of the few people who can get past Mac’s abrasiveness, and sticks up for him.

Smiley has some wide-eyed fear/hero worship going on for Jensen. How much it tips to one side or the other depends on how many people end up getting injured or killed when Jensen… Jensens his way through a zone. Oh, and Smiley’s love life is… I would say a disaster zone, but that would require it existing. Which it doesn’t. Every attempt at dating, usually online dating, has been… not-good.

Miller really does worry about his people. It’s one of the reasons he was well-liked in TAG. Watching them head into danger is part of the job, and he’s professional about it, but he tries to equip them as well as possible before they head into the field. That’s a big part of the reason for the psych assessments. He’s a big hypocrite on that one, by the way: he keeps a mental insistence that he doesn’t drag personal stuff into the professional, and uses that as a mantra/excuse to get out of it every time Auzenne tries to drag him into her office.

Chikane really did mean what he said about the Task Force being family. He hates that the Illuminati have got leverage on him, and he hates what he’s having to do. They’re good people. Hell, he’s even warmed to Jensen, though he still spends a lot of the time wanting to punch the guy. And he meant what he said: he really doesn’t have anything in particular against augs other than the obvious, even if he’s somewhat justifiably wary. It’s a shit way out of a shit situation, he reasons.

Auzenne’s awkward quips are genuine, but the faux pas…es make her more accessible and less threatening, and make the others not think about the fact she has blackmail material on all of them, and plenty of it. She does genuinely like many of the members of TF29. That should make the job of spying on them harder, but it makes it easier. She knows how to talk to them, and she respects their strengths even as she catalogs their weaknesses.

At first Jensen thought Chang was Pritchard, the Redux. Then he realised that Chang’s paranoia and lack of social skills made Pritchard look like small fry. There was a lot of internal sighing. Oh, and Chang thinks someone tried to hack into the TF29 computers early on. He’s right; it was Jensen, who cleared up his tracks just well enough. It’s still left Chang even twitchier than usual. And “usual” is pretty damn twitchy, for Chang. Chang realised pretty fast, despite Jensen’s stoicness, that Jensen was a massive nerd and far, far more knowledgeable about tech than he pretends. This galls Jensen slightly. It also galls Chang, who’s kind of allergic to cops after… some parts of his past.

As said, Aria thinks Jensen is pretty attractive, in a tall-dark-and-scary way, now she’s got past the front. She likes the decent, snarky bloke she’s starting to see. It’s not a big deal and she’s got no intention of acting on it, but it’s there. They did get talking and become friends after a while, though, and he’s quietly supported her every step of the way while she’s been trying to get back into the field. Likewise, she’s one of the few people in TF29, other than his boss and Mac - who thinks he’s a bit of a loose cannon - who worries about him. She makes Jensen laugh with her quips when he’s on the range, and he likes her, as much as he likes anyone when he’s putting barriers between him and everyone else. She reminds him of a gentler-round-the-edges Malik, in some ways.

Mac likes Aria as a person, even though he pretends not to like anyone. She’s too bloody pathologically nice not to. He just views the whole aug thing as a bloody unfortunate fly in the ointment. He’s seen footage of what she could do pre-shiny metal arm, and will easily admit that she can outshoot him. In fact, the best shot in TF29 is either Aria or Miller, and most people really want to see that competition. He’s also well aware that Miller got Jensen to report over his head, directly to him, due to thinking that Mac couldn’t be subjective about an aug and would try to sabotage Jensen. Worse, Miller’s right. Mac knows it, and though he’d never admit it, he’s trying to work through the (in his opinion, at least partially justified) anti-aug prejudices in the privacy of his own head. Aria’s helping. It’s the bloody niceness. Oh, also: Auzenne joked about Jensen basically being exposure therapy personified, and Mac muttered grumpy agreement.

Much to everyone’s surprise, a lot of the team end up getting drinks after London, and Jensen actually turns up. (Chang, less surprisingly, couldn’t be extracted from his lab.) He wanders in like a quiet, awkward shadow, and drinks neat scotch. Mac actually, only slightly reluctantly, buys him a drink. It’s not quite  a truce, but it’s something close.

Oh, and after Aria gets accepted to Mac’s team, Adam buys her a drink to celebrate. He didn’t put any words in for her because he knew Mac would take it as some weird aug-solidarity thing and dig his heels in more, but he’s really glad it’s happened for her. There’s a lot of fond mutual snark.

[inkuisitivskins]

As if I Deserve You

Fanfic prompts

2. “You love me as if I deserve you.”

@gardengeisha

Ok so I’ll admit it took a little plotting out to get a good idea for this one! I had never read or written any fic about this ship (though I do like it!) and I also haven’t ever written Riza save for tiny cameos in things, so I’m still a little nervous about if I got her in-character enough. Like, I love Riza, but there’s a reason I’ve only written Livmiles? If I was going to write something with her, it would be Royai, but even then, the fact still remains that I feel like I don’t know her as well as I should xD It’s kind of pitiful and funny at the same time that I’m worried about her being in character rather than Liv considering Liv is the one with less screen time and character development lmao. Still, if I didn’t and Riza’s ooc at all, I really apologize ;;;;

I was super excited for this ask though, because I’ve been wanting to try new ships like this :D So thank you so much for the ask and I hope you like it! I just decided on the idea of them falling in love rather than them already being together at the beginning of the fic, because I wanted to explore how their relationship would have started. It’s canon that Olivier likes Riza (and Havoc, for some reason haha) when she mentions that she doesn’t care about what happens to Roy, so I decided to use that. Also, enjoy Roy being annoying haha

As if I Deserve You on Ao3

She watched the general from her bench in silence. While joint training sessions had been held between the Eastern Command and Briggs troops before, this was the first that she had been present for. In times past, the colonel would have her stay in the office with him, and they would work on paperwork-- however, Roy had requested to participate in the training exercises this year, and naturally, he brought his adjutant with him.

Riza sipped her water as she awaited Roy’s call to fall in beside him. The East soldiers milled about around her, resting for a few minutes before the exercise would begin. Some talked amongst themselves, while others did the same as her; watching the Briggs men in silent awe. The Briggs general gave her soldiers only a few brief moments of rest between drills. The actual joint exercises had not even started yet, Riza noted; she was making her soldiers practice even before then. She didn’t even let them sit down during their short rests; she’d keep them in formation, at ease, allowing them to get a drink only if they requested permission prior. Even then, she would timethem as they ran off, quenched their thirst, and ran back to her, before saluting and requesting to rejoin the platoon. The Eastern Command soldiers around her would mutter to themselves about how iron-hard of a fist the female general ruled with, how scary she was-- Riza even heard one man say under his breath that he was glad he wasn’t under her command, calling her a derogatory name in addition. The first lieutenant shot him a nasty look, causing him to shut up, warning him about the need to respect higher-up officers. Though, in the moment, she couldn’t help the way her own thoughts contradicted those of her peers-- she wasn’t sure what they had been watching, but what she had seen was an excellent display of one of the highest forms of military prowess. Not one Briggs soldier rolled their eyes, sighed, or pulled a face when their leader would shout an order. They moved as one body, their form impeccable, and intimidating. Just through their actions, she could tell how deeply their respect for their commander was. It was admirable, and Riza could not take her eyes off of the impressive display. Not only from the Briggs soldiers, but, primarily, their general. Looking the whole part of a high-up military commander, one step below a potential spot in the Fuhrer’s cabinet, the highest-ranked woman in the military-- she was obviously very stoic, and fearsome, and regal .   The Eastern soldier was so distracted, she didn’t even notice her commanding officer step up beside the bench she was sitting on. “Lieutenant, are you about ready to start?” Roy asked, slightly startling her. Inwardly, she cursed herself for dropping her guard; something she always prided herself in holding strong. She looked up at him, “I’m sorry, sir, what was that?” “I’m just going to do a quick inspection before we join our platoons, since the actual competitive drills are later, if you wanted to go ahead and join me. Armstrong wanted us to do a few combined ones before then, and I don’t want us to get embarrassed if our men are looking shabby compared to hers,” He smiled amusedly to himself. “Though, I don’t think there's’ any topping that form of theirs, huh?” “No, sir,” Riza replied simply, stealing one last glance at the general as she yelled at her men, as authoritative commanding as a superior officer could seemingly get.   Roy followed her gaze, a small smile creeping up onto his features, “You haven’t been properly introduced yet. Let’s go say hello.” “That won’t be necessary, Colonel,” the blonde said, a little too quickly; solidifying Roy’s hypothesis. “I insist, Lieutenant. She’s a peach,” he spoke, his inflection sarcastic and playful as he started towards the Briggs soldiers. Hesitantly, yet over-obedient, Riza stood, following her commanding officer. “Olivier,” the colonel greeted once within earshot. The general, from behind, seemed to flinch at the sound of his voice, slowly turning to glance at him with one of the most sour expressions that Riza had ever seen; one to rival her own, in fact. He saluted her once she turned, Riza reflecting his gesture out of protocol and respect to a higher officer. “What do you want?” Olivier scowled back at him. “I’m busy.” “Just wanted to introduce you to my adjutant, General,” he smiled, lowering his salute. “We three will be working closely with one another, I thought it best to go ahead and have our introductions.” Olivier’s gaze flicked over to Riza, and the lieutenant immediately knew where she got her infamous name-- the Ice Queen. Her blue eyes were cold; the color a frozen-over lake, the ice thin, revealing the hue beneath. “This is First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, sharpest shooter you’ll ever find,” his dark eyes darted between the two blonde women. “Lieutenant, Major General Olivier Armstrong.” “It’s nice to finally meet you, ma’am,” She greeted the general, retaining her typical stoicism. Olivier gave her a small nod in greeting, Riza noticing her anger dissipate for a moment, before shortly returning upon her looking back unto Roy. “I don’t ever want my first name to come out of your filthy mouth again, Mustang. Now, you had better rally up your men, or mine are starting without yours,” she scowled, spinning back around and calling an order, slightly more forceful than she had been before. Roy spun as well, heading back over to the East soldiers, Riza in tow, unaware of his smirk. “If I didn’t know any better, sir, I’d say you knew the general beyond simply being officer comrades,” She offered carefully, walking slightly behind him, to his right, attempting to read his expression from the back of his head. “Chris has known the Armstrong family for longer than I’ve been alive,” Roy responded without turning back to her as he referenced his aunt. “I mean, she knows everyone , so that’s not too big of a surprise, but the general and I have at least been acquainted for quite some time.” He stopped, allowing Riza a moment to take her place beside him, “It doesn’t seem like she likes you at all, sir.” “She doesn’t,” he chuckled nervously, before smiling gently to himself. “Seems like she likes you, though.” “Excuse me?” “She hardly lets anyone call her ‘ma’am’.” Riza blinked, brown eyes widening slightly, “Was I not supposed to?” Ignoring her, Roy called the East soldiers to fall in in front of him, beginning their inspection, leading into their training.

It was later on, during their lunch break, when Riza finally got a moment to speak with the general. They sat at their own table, away from the other officers; and, miraculously, it had been Olivier who approached her , asking if she could sit with her. The lieutenant was unsure about if it was because she had been alone at her own table, Roy having a conversation with someone else back in the mess line, or what. Frankly, she was appreciative of the company, even if Olivier had remained silent, eyes downturned to her food, for the first ten minutes of them sitting together. It was the first lieutenant who struck up a conversation, complementing the major general on how well-behaved her soldiers were. Olivier’s response was short, and polite, but very obviously guarded. Wanting her to feel more comfortable, Riza continued talking with her, and while the conversation was rather one-sided at the start, the Briggs soldier gradually opened up somewhat, the Eastern sniper noticed. She knew the general wasn’t quiet out of shyness; she was typically an excellent judge in character, and she could tell that the other blonde was just calm, and calculating. Before she knew it, their break was over, and their conversation had to stop. However, that was not the end.

Over the course of the East-Briggs joint training session, they timidly grew closer. Riza noticed that her and Olivier could relate on many occasions; probably something the general had never found in someone else before, she guessed. While Riza had experienced discrimination in the military, once she got to know the other woman, she learned how much she had also endured. Olivier, on the other hand, was in Ishval before the Civil War began, only sent to police the area during initial conflicts, but before the fatal shooting of the Ishvalan child, so she was not in the active, brutal combat-- while Riza, however, was in the thick of it. Now matter how much she wished to forget about it, that fact always returned to her. However, having someone else who understood hardship throughout multiple complex layers of her career, Riza was comforted somewhat. The admiration she watched the general with soon evolved into something more than career-oriented respect. It was a sinking pit in her chest, the stray flutter of a heartbeat; unexplained. This was foreign to her; she’d like to consider her a friend, though none of her other female friends ever evoked such feelings within her. She didn’t know what was wrong. The sinking feeling only grew worse once Olivier had to leave, bringing her men back up to their snowy fortress to further defend their northern border. Their farewell short, Olivier having been rather rancorous due to Roy being present during their goodbyes, which resulted in Riza being unable to say something about it. That, plus she was afraid. Above all else, she respected Olivier, and did wish to harm the initially unsteady friendship that had developed between them. Not to mention, the latter was her superior officer-- not directly, of course, but she was still Olivier’s subordinate in a sense. It was illegal. Still, a few months after Olivier’s departure, Riza found it in herself to send a letter, trying to drop hints. She was not expecting anything to come of it but her own closure for getting her feelings off her chest in the most subtle way and wording she thought possible. If anything, she wanted to keep their friendship alive. What she did not expect was the eagerness on the general’s part to continue their correspondence. Also a very subtle show emotion, of course, for they were similar in that way. She knew the fact that Olivier returned her letters at all already showed that she very much cared to remain friends. And Riza would gladly take that.

Several months into their letter exchange, Roy’s team was transferred to Central. Being adaptable, the change was rather easy on Riza, yet their was a hiccup in their conversations due to the address change. Though she knew it wasn’t either of their faults, the doubt slowly began to creep in; a new letter should be here by now, perhaps Olivier did not wish to speak with her any longer. Had the first lieutenant changed for the worse? She was getting more engrossed in her work, and the distance between her and her friend was a difficult burden to bear, after having grown so close to her just through written correspondence alone. However, just as she had always told herself, she would respect Olivier’s boundaries, if that were the case. As her hopes slowly faded, she finally received a letter to her new address; Olivier confiding in her the fact that she was soon being forced to travel to Central for a meeting. Riza couldn’t help but feel a rare pang of delight in her stomach as her brown eyes scanned the beautiful calligraphy of the northern general.

During Olivier’s visit to Riza’s apartment, she had to hold back her excitement. The Briggs soldier sat down on her couch, glancing curiously around the lieutenant’s living area, “Simple, I like it.” “Thank you,” Riza smiled gently, skillfully stomaching her nervousness. “I’m so glad you’re here, it’s great to see you again.” For the first time she had seen, Olivier returned the smile. It was a very small expression, but present nonetheless, “I’m happy to see you, too. Sure beats having to wait for the post to get letters back and forth.” Nodding gently, Riza offered her a drink, to which Olivier happily agreed to. As she began making the general’s coffee, she continued, “How are things at Briggs?” Olivier’s sigh granted her a glance from the other woman, “Fine. The weather hasn’t been in pleasant, so the mail is only just now fixing itself. I’m glad you got my most recent letter, but I’m sorry you missed some of the others.” “Not your fault,” Riza mustered up a pleasant tone. “Did I miss anything important?” Olivier shook her head, though Riza had her back turned as she prepared her drink, “Nothing, just checking in. I wanted to make sure you were settling in alright, but I suppose the weather plus the whole moving situation didn’t really mix well. I hope the move wasn’t hard on you, and everything went smoothly.” This brought a gentle smile to Riza’s lips, “I’m very thankful I have a friend like you, Olivier.” She avoided telling her how kind she was, just to avoid the unavoidable contradiction from her. She knew Olivier had a heart beneath the ice, thought that ice was what kept her and her men safe and strong up in one of Amestris’s most dangerous and dangerously unpredictable regions. “Don’t mention it,” Olivier shrugged lightheartedly. “No, really,” Riza turned back to her, the mug held delicately in her hands as she carefully made her way to the couch. Olivier reached out to take the coffee, gingerly taking it from the lieutenant, their fingers lightly brushing against one another. Upon noticing that the other woman had paused, staring at her, Olivier looked back up into Riza’s brown eyes, her own gaze inquisitive and questioning. 

Riza breathed in deeply, fully unaware of what she was about to say. She wanted the other woman to know how much she had grown to care about her, and how much she appreciated her friendship-- a side she knew was seldom witnessed among the Briggs soldiers. “You’ve been so kind to me, and I feel like you shouldn’t. You love me as if I deserve you.” In an attempt to soothe the general’s somewhat surprised expression, Riza gave a lighthearted laugh, trying to ease the seriousness of what she just said. That probaby wasn't the best word choice she could've used, and all at once, she feared that she had given away her feelings. “What makes you say that?” The question caused Riza to falter. She did love Olivier, and while she didn’t believe she reciprocated, she had meant platonic love, in this specific instance. “I just… Sometimes, I don’t feel like I deserve to have friends. I’ve done so many horrible things, so I suppose whenever something good comes into my life, I latch onto it,” Brown eyes turned to the carpet in embarrassment. “I’m sorry. Is the coffee okay?” Though she tried to change the subject, Olivier continued looking up at her for a moment, before carefully setting the mug down in front of her, “You don’t think I’ve done horrible things, too?” Riza was silent. " You’ve been the closest friend I’ve had in a very long time, Riza,” it was her turn to glance away. “My whole life, I’ve been used to maintaining these walls I’ve set up around me. We’ve both done many things we aren’t proud of, but we’ll pay for them in due time, when the opportunities present themselves. You may think you’re not deserving of me, but I feel the same way.” She stood, the two women now eye-to-eye, thanks to their similar height. “We both deserve to be happy in the moment. I tend to pride myself in the fact that I read people rather well, Riza, and forgive me if I’m somehow mistaken in thinking you’d agree, but,” her eyes searched hers, and while her voice was level and calm, Riza detected a flash of nervousness in her gaze. “I’d like to be more than friends. I feel comfortable around you, and you’re one of the few people who actually make me happy. When I read your letters, even though you weren’t at Briggs with me, I felt like I wasn’t alone. My men respect me, yes, but we’re still fundamentally different than one another. I never fit in with the crowd, but you make me feel as if I’m not an outlier or some sort of black sheep.” The Eastern soldier stood in stunned silence for a moment, causing the general to continue, her tone wavering with uncertainty, “If not, I understand.” A wave of relief washed over Riza all at once, and she involuntarily let out a sigh, wholly surprised. She honestly hadn’t expected this, “I can’t believe you feel the same way.” Olivier offered her a small comforting smile, Riza unable to read the other blonde’s own hidden surprise. The Briggs officer tensed nervously the moment the lieutenant gently wrapped her arms around her in a hug. “Thank you, Olivier,” she spoke softly. Olivier returned her embrace, the gesture somewhat awkward since the general wasn’t a very touchy person, though Riza was aware, so didn’t mind in the slightest, “For what?” “Everything,” Riza smiled to herself. “I’m just so happy, I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. I’ve felt this way for so long, but I was so afraid…” “I understand,” The other woman replied. “I’m sorry if I worried you.” Riza shook her head as she held her, a soft laugh coming forth, “I had no idea you felt this way. I was always so nervous about giving myself away somehow.” “That’s just after a lifetime’s worth of practice in hiding,” Olivier smiled to herself. “Though you’re very good at it, too. I had a feeling in the back of my mind for so long, but I never wanted to bring it up, just in case I was wrong. I didn’t want to drive you away.” The Eastern soldier’s head shook gently again. She embraced her a little tighter, wanting to be affectionate due to her overwhelming relief-borne happiness, though all while respecting Olivier’s uneasy space. Finally, she spoke once more;

“All that matters now is that we’re together. You were worth the wait.”

Once again, I hope you enjoyed! I really like seeing Olivier in all sorts of different ships, so this was really interesting for me to try :D

[fawninthewinter]

Disney Direct to Video Sequels: Bambi ll

It’s been a good week or two since I posted my last Disney direct to video films review, so let’s jump back into it. There’s only a few movies left now so I should be able to get them done by the end of the summer. It’s time for another midquel. A midquel to one of my and a lot of other people’s favorite Disney Films. Bambi ll.

This is actually one I only saw once or twice as a kid. I remember my mother renting it for me when it was recently released on DVD back in 2006. I remember it keeping my attention for some time before I turned it off midway through the movie. I can’t exactly remember why. My guess is that I either grew bored of it or something more fun to do came up or maybe the laptop my mother put it in for me ran out of energy half way through. Reason I bring this up is because I really didn’t have much of an opinion on this movie as a kid. I know I saw a lot of trailers for it as they were advertising the heck out of it like most direct to video Disney sequels. Seeing as how this is actually considered one of the better sequels by many fans, am I in for a treat here?

There’s not a whole lot of story to this one such as there is moments. Kind of like the first one. There isn’t quite as much going on here as there was in the first one, but for the most part it has the same general feeling. Well, the same general feeling as their was during the first half before a certain tragedy happens. This midquel is going back to Bambi’s childhood, picking up right after the sad death of his mother (yeah, I really don’t think I’m spoiling anything when I say that). The great prince of the forest tells him the life changing news and orders Bambi to follow him where he takes his son to his den. He and friend owl agree that he will look after Bambi until spring while friend owl finds a suitable doe to raise him. And the rest of the movie is more or less just Bambi coming to terms with his mother’s death, the great even showing moments of grief as well, father and son bonding, some pretty intense and somewhat scary/creepy scenes, Bambi and his friends hanging out and being cute, and Bambi learning to overcome his fears and be brave with the help of Thumper. Sort of a slice of childhood life film. For the most part it works really well.

First of all, I really love how the movie touches upon something that the first one didn’t. Two things actually. Bambi grieving over his mother and coming to terms with her death, and what his relationship to his father was. Where as the first time half of the first one focused on the strong connection between him and his mother, this one goes in another route with a father son relationship. It’s logical. It works. It’s sweet. It does a really good job at portraying Bambi as a young kid who recently lost a parent still getting over their loss. He’s constantly being reminded of his mother and while he knows she’s gone, he does show that he of course still misses her more than ever and like anyone who’s lost someone they love, will never fully get over her death. I especially like how Bambi’s father plays a big role in his life here and gets a lot of focus. He’s even the second main character. I love what they do with his character here. He’s portrayed as a stoic and wise prince who refuses to discuss anything about Bambi’s mother with him or at first show affection towards his son. He has strict teachings about what a prince does and does not do, and remains noble and serious, having no nonsense. But underneath all that is a character going through a great deal of pain as well with the loss of his mate, and stepping into new territory having to raise his son and teach himself the ways of being what he considers a good prince. So this is a huge new thing for both him and Bambi. The reason he doesn’t want to discuss anything regarding Bambi’s mother with him is not out of concern for Bambi, but to spare himself a huge amount of pain. He is also portrayed here as a flawed character which I really liked. Throughout the movie he keeps telling Bambi “ a prince does not such and such” and without giving too much a way, after a climactic scene at the end, there’s an emotional moment and while the audience knows nothing bad has happened, it’s sad because of the emotion the prince himself shows after stopping midway through his final “a prince does not”. He finally breaks down, and realizes how worthless this attitude is.

I like the prince and Bambi’s relationship as well. They start off distant, the prince having not been prominent in Bambi’s life up until this point (as I suppose most bucks aren’t in their fawn’s lives) and knowing nothing about parenting, thus being less focused on it and more on mentoring, but slowly and sweetly come to know and learn from one another, first developing somewhat of a teacher student relationship, and finally a loving father son one. The prince opens up to his son, finally realizing he does truly love him, and in a final scene, is finally willing to talk to Bambi about his mother. It’s a fairly realistic showing of a bond between a parent and child who don’t know each other all that well due to the parents absence in their child’s life forming. And like I said, I really like how it adds to the prince’s character and Bambi’s as well, while delving into them both grieving over the loss of Bambi’s mother in a different way. Something the first one didn’t touch upon. So this midqeul really does something new and great. It’s interesting to see Bambi cope with the loss of his mother and form a strong connection to his father, and it was interesting to see the two interact more.

It is nice to see Bambi hang out with Thumper and Flower like the best friends they are of course. And him act all shy and flustered around Feline. Sure, it gets overly cutesy at times, but it’s sweet. And it’s not like the first one was without its really cutesy wutesy moments. I’ll talk about this in a little bit.

For now let’s talk about the animation and the backgrounds because they are fantastic. Holy hell is this beautiful animation. And coming from a direct to DVD films, this is stunning. It’s obvious this film had a much bigger budget than a lot of the other sequels. And the animators put their damnest into both the backgrounds and character animation. The animals are expressive, the lines are smooth, the colours are gorgeous, and the lighting and shading are done so well, contrasting perfectly with one another. It’s just so refreshing when such good animation like this surprises you. I of course don’t expect this kind of stuff from direct to DVD animated films as they are almost always given a much smaller budget. Understandable, I mean it’s direct to video entertainment. You sort of get what you’re given. And while I do like when direct to video films end up looking so nice, this was one of the few that blew me away with just how nice it looked. Though I will say, while he backgrounds are really really nice and look like paintings, they are trying to recreate those of the first film, and it’s next to impossible to replicate the artistic style of the first as it’s a film that just makes you feel like you’re in nature, doing so perfectly. and that’s not easy to pull off. I didn’t get that same sense of being in the forest here as I did in the first film. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a Direct to DVD midqeul. Of course they could never perfectly replicate the style of the first one. The first one had such a unique way of depicting nature. For what these backgrounds are, they’re incredible. And for what the animation does, it’s also incredible.

The voice talent is great too. They got Patrick Stewart as the great prince of the forest and he does a fantastic job. Bringing out his stoic personality yet also showing his softer side. Young Alexander Gould voiced Bambi who you might remember as the little boy who voiced Nemo in Finding Nemo. He does a really good job at cat pruning Bambi’s innocence and curiosity. The rest of the child actors including Andrea Bowen as Feline do a good job voicing Bambi’s young friends as well, showcasing playful youth in the characters.

I’ve said there’s some pretty intense scenes in this movie adding to the tone of the first one. And they did a good job at keeping me invested and dare I say creeped out. There’s a particular scene where Bambi thinks he hears his mother calling after having a dream about her and the way the voice is beckoning him to come as he walks into the open meadow is quite chilling. The voice itself is haunting, almost like that of a phantoms. I remember thinking to myself “geez, is this supposed to creep the audience out? Because it’s working”. I’m not even sure if it’s supposed to be mysterious or creepy but I got chills watching it. If that wasn’t enough, out of nowhere a pack of hunting dogs runs out of the trees towards Bambi who can only freeze in shock. If I’m remembering correctly, I think I actually got scared by this scene when I first watched this movie as a kid. And I was confused back then as to why Bambi wasn’t running away. I remember wanting to scream at the screen for him to run.

The climax is engaging too. Not as much as the first one I mean there’s no forest fire or anything, but it does feature Bambi facing off against the hunting dogs. To add to the mood, the colour palette is now darker and it’s night time. There’s some decent action with Bambi fighting the dogs, him facing off against a bully before all this happens, and of course Thumper and Flower get a moment to be heroes as well.

My only minor nitpicks go back to what I mentioned earlier. Some of the scenes getting a bit too over the top cutesy. Like I said, the original had some cutesy moments as well, but I think it was made up for more there with the harder stuff in the second half. There’s hard stuff here but it’s never quite at the level of the first one. The cutesy stuff in the first one is used more to its advantage. Plus, the animals were a lot more like actual animals in the first one. That’s another aspect I really liked about Bambi. Here the animals have a bit more humanized personalities and characteristics. Half if not the majority of this movie is Bambi hanging out with his friends, and them acting like cute kids hanging out at recess on the school playground. Cute animals being cute. There’s a lot more dialogue here too where there wasn’t too much in the first film (if I’m not mistaken it’s the film part of the animated Disney canon with the least amount of dialogue). And some of it does get juvenile at times. Where as the first one was a coming of age story made up of moments, this one is made up of moments as well, but it’s much more about childhood and the bond between a father and son. There’s nothing wrong with that- I mean that’s what this movie is supposed to be and it’s done well- but it may turn some people who can’t sit through too many cutesy scenes or scenes involving kids being kids for lengthy periods of time.

There’s also the fact that maybe some of these scenes are just a bit too silly. Including some with the great prince. Like some of the scenes where he’s playing with Bambi seem too I dunno… I guess cutesy is also the word but I’m also going with sappy. I liked how in the first one the prince had this mysterious presence and Bambi seemed almost afraid of him. We didn’t know a whole lot about him but that was the point- he was just this respected character who the audience actually sort of respects as well and maybe a few audience members were even intimidated by. While I really like how we learn more about him here, and he does have this magnificent presence as well, there are a few scenes with him that are a bit too awkward when you use think back to how he was like in the first one. There’s a scene where Bambi’s hungry and he’s looking around for something for his son to eat so he settles for a twig popping out of the ground. Or where he blows a raspberry on Bambi’s tummy when the two are play fighting. These scenes are really silly and don’t really fit with the father character of the first one. These are kind of minor nitpicks as there aren’t too many of them and they don’t completely ruin the nature of the prince as his stoic character is still down here and he still gives off the big presence he did in the first one. I guess it’s just cause he has a lot more screen time here than he did in the first film that he doesn’t quite get the same reaction from me as he did there. He’ less… mysterious.

Another problem is a bit more of a bigger one. Nothing too major jut it does bug me quite a bit. There’s a bully fawn who’s a little older than Bambi Called Ronno. There building him up to be the buck from the first one Bambi fought who tried to assault Feline. He even warns Bambi “We will meet again one day” and there’s a scene during the climax before the dogs come where they face of which heavily parallels the first film’s fight. There’s no way this is just some random obnoxious fawn. I really don’t think that was necessary. I think they could of just kept him as an obnoxious little twat who’s just a childhood bully to Bambi. I dunno why they chose to go this route with Ronno, but I don’t think it adds much to him as an antagonist. It’s just sort of an unnecessary “oh look. Remember the asshole buck from the first one? Here’s him as a kid.” I him you can probably guess after I called him a “twat” that his obnoxious behavior here is really annoying. Credit where credits due, he’s supposed to be an obnoxious shit. There’s nothing all that horrible about making this kid the same buck from the first one that Bambi fought and I guess the parallel fight was kind of cool, I just think it was really unnecessary.

A couple of the songs are really nice. I could listen to “There is Life” over. “Through Your Eyes” is a good one as well. “First Sign of Spring” is cute, but maybe a little too singy songy. The score is nice to listen too as well. While I like these songs, they kind have kind of pop song feel to them that I’m not sure entirely fits with a Bambi movie. There are times when you want to look at the beautiful portrayals of nature and the great artistry like you did in the first one, but the sings are kind of distracting. They’re still soothing to listen too, I just think they might of worked better if they were a bit less teeny boppy. There’s inly two of them though so not too big a problem. I’m also more forgiving because “There is Life” is a really good sing. Actually, it’s less teeny boppy than “First Sign of Spring” which is just cute.

The first Bambi is actually a movie I didn’t fully appreciate until I was older. I liked it fine as a kid sure, but it’s one I like a whole lot more as an adult. This one is definitely more on the kid friendly side, but it’s not to the point where it becomes unbearable to watch or sit through. For the most part depending on whether you’re that big into cutesiness or not. Refer back to that paragraph.

I really liked this one and would absolutely recommend it to those who want to see a movie that tackles the relationship between Bambi and his father with some gorgeous animation, some good talent, and some engaging and a creepy scenes sprinkled in here and there. The first one was made up of moments, and you were watching Bambi live his life. This one is similar in that regard. It’s a film made up of moments and you’re watching a part of Bambi’s life going back to parts of his childhood. It’s what one might call a slice of life movie. It also does quore a lot of what the first one did. Mixing bright, cute, and colourful with dark, intimidating, and sadness. Kids will definitely like it, some people might be bored by some parts of it, but invested by others, and fans of the first will probably get a lot out of this. I certainly did. If you’re looking for a sweet, pretty film with a young Bambi bonding with his father and living part of his life, with a few dark, sometimes heavy scenes in regards to Bambi’s mother and the friends him and his father are going through, or are even interested in knowing what happened after Bambi’s mother was killed and how he was raised by his father, this is one to check out. It’s one of the better sequels for a reason.