#and just like bad luck died to the king. looped back to the king. i skipped an extra loop + they took my bomb. jail.

[zincbot]

the portraits changing in act 3.

[insomniamamma]

Tessellation: Cee and Ezra

A/N: written for @oonajaeadira and @yearofcreation2023. Year of kisses. The prompt is kiss while sleeping. This one ended up being far more about Cee than Ezra. As Stephen King says "Memory is the basis for every journey."

Warnings: medical trauma, drug abuse, illness, angst, Damon is a terrible father but he wasn't always, death.

He looks small. This man who has upended her life. Ezra. She doesn't even know his family name or where he hails from or which ship he dropped down to the Green on. She's known him two hands of cycles, much of that as he is now. What's left of his right arm is buried in white bandages, strapped to his chest. Tubes snake beneath the nest of blankets, draining murky pink froth from his lungs into oddly prissy containers hanging below, dust infection measured out into fill lines, blood and puss and Kevva knows what. Tube stuffed down his throat and taped to his face. His left arm turned palm up like a gesture of supplication, large-bore IV line spiked into the crook of his elbow, pulsoxometer clipped to his index finger.

He looks small. And deathly sick. His skin has a grayish cast she doesn't care for at all, the dark stubble on his cheeks screaming out like exclamation points. Cee's seen this before. Seen her dad pale and sallow-grey, breath slow, tucked some stim gum between his parted lips and smacked at his arm until he reflexively started chewing.

"I was sleeping, Cee." "but--" "Do NOT do that again. We've got a big drop coming up. We need to be sharp." "but--" "Just hang with me. This job pans out the way it should and we'll be out of the shit for good. Back to Central. But you've got to trust me. You've got to trust me and do what I say, clear?" "but, Dad--" "Are. We. Clear?" "Yeah. clear."

That familiar knot coils itself in her belly. The long greyed out days in between drops ending with her dad doped up to the gills, I need it to sleep, Cee. You'll understand when you're older, nodding off to leave her with his soupy snores and the endlessly shifting light through the pod's tiny rounded windows, little nights and dawns as the freighter spins. She'd copy out what she remembered of The Streamer Girl and listen until she felt confident that he wasn't going to die in his sleep.

"Can he hear me?" She'd asked the medic when they finally allowed her to see him. "Hard to say. We had to put him down pretty deep. He's got a lot of fight in him." "That's a good thing, right?" "Look. Your dad's real sick. He got pretty well dusted. If we can get him to the Pug he's got a shot. But that's a long haul from now. Clear?" "Clear."

She doesn't bother to correct the medic. Maybe things will play better for them if people take them as kin.

Ezra wasn't waking up. But he wasn't dying either. He just stayed stone still, swaddled in white, his stump buried in med-gel and bandages. His eyes flicked back and forth, caught in some endless looping dream. Cee takes his hand sometimes, careful not to dislodge the monitor clipped to his finger, always surprised at his warmth. She tells him about the endless days, doing whatever odd jobs need doing on the freighter, which she understands as charity disguised as work, a way to square their room and board until they hit the Pug. "--channel rat crawled up into the aft intake and died it was just bones and dust, I wanted to keep the skull but Leroy said it was bad luck so it just went in with the rest of the swill--"

Ezra starts twitching, small choking sounds around the tube down his throat.

"Easy," says Cee, "you're okay." And lays her hand on his forehead, smooths the taught skin there, presses the furrows down with her thumb, "You're okay."

"Did I tell you about when your mom used to hypnotize you?"

Cee slides her music player off. She knows by his tone that he is going to have his say. This has become something familiar. He puts the drops in his eyes and then talks. Sometimes it's names and places that she doesn't know and sometimes it involves her. If she doesn't at least make a show of listening he'll yell sometimes, his slurred out voice why don't you ever listen? So it's best to keep her ears half-cocked until sleep claims him.

"Mom used to hypnotize me?" "Mmmh-hmmm. You used to cry so much. You were colicky. We used to have to rub your belly to get you to fart--" "Ewww. Dad--" "They were baby farts! They didn't--they didn't smell--" "But mom?" "Yeah, she'd do this thing--" Damon sits up and lurches towards her and she flinches back a little, and even in his fuzzed out state she registers the hurt in his eyes. Damon smooths the pad of his thumb up and down between her eyebrows "She'd do that?" Cee can't help smiling a little. Damon rarely shows affection these days, and the feel of calloused thumb on her forehead is nice, makes her think of better times, makes her think of being small and Damon picking her up under her arms and covering her face and head with loud smacking kisses while she shrieked in delight, three of them instead of two, a job on some soft, barely remembered world a place of gentle grav and cool breezes, a hand held in each of hers and they'd swing her high, almost flying in the low grav-- "See? I hypnotized you." Cee breaks out of her reverie. "Did not." Damon lays back on his cot. "I freaked out. I told her don't you hypnotize that baby and she laughed and laughed--she--you--miss her…I miss.." and then he's gone. Drawn down into whatever relief the drugs give him, an ill rhythm of slow snores. And Cee waits, waits for the short term sedation of the drops to wane, for his breathing to even out into something more normal.

She remembers being sick. Got bit by a drill worm, Damon told her later, spiked a fever. Like touching a hot engine skirt. She remembers her mother's voice singing low and soft, can't remember the words, she was too small for that, but remembers the cool washcloth on her forehead, removed and re-wetted, Mom kissing her there, right between her eyebrows, where the pad of her thumb once passed.

Ezra sleeps swaddled and small and pinned by machinery, her hand folded around his, careful, fingers tracing the lines of his calloused palm. For now he is still, soothed by her touch. "Ezra? You need to wake up. I don't know what's going to happen when we get to the Pug."

Cee leans over and kisses him, presses her lips against that little space between his eyebrows.

"You need to wake up."

[p-artsypants]

P-Artsypants Fic Masterpost!

This information is always available on my blog. 

Find most, if not more, of these fics on:

Fanfiction.net | Archive of Our Own | Wattpad

(~AU’s, *Finished, ❤️Author’s Favorites)

Kingdom Hearts

~❤️Rage Awakened AO3 | FF.net- Ten years ago, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus lost their fellow apprentice, Sora, in Deep Jungle. Now, they are to return with two new students, Riku and Kairi, to lock the heart of the world. All the while, something watches from the trees. Feral!Sora AU

My Kingdom for a Heart AO3 | FF.Net - The curse of being one of the Princesses of heart, is that there’s always someone out to get you. As Xemnas looked failure in the face, he reached out in a last ditch effort and destroyed Kairi’s heart. Now her friends must travel the worlds again. Sora, to find a way to recover Kairi’s heart, and Riku, to make amends to those he has wronged. All the while, the darkness grows. [Unfinished, on permanent hiatus]

Miraculous Ladybug

One Shots

*❤️Amalgam- When an young man is rejected for being ‘incompatible’ he turns into the akuma ‘Amalgam’ able to fuse two people together. And later Adrien and Marinette would debate if it was lucky or unlucky that they got hit. (Also Available in Russian)

*Sing We All Noel- After receiving the worst Christmas present ever from his father, Chat Noir finds himself out on the streets with nowhere to go on Christmas Eve. Thankfully, Ladybug finds him and brings him home.

*Speechless- In a world where everyone has a soulmark, the first words their soulmate will say to them, Marinette is born without one. But Adrien Agreste has two. Curious, considering he’s mute.

*❤️Tunnels of Love- The night started out with an accidental kiss from Adrien Agreste, and ended with her bleeding in the Catacombs of Paris. Ladybug, the wielder of the miraculous of good luck. Yeah right. (Some blood)

*The Reveal That Wasn’t- First Parts My ending to kittybug’s Tumblr Prompt

*What A Mess We’re In- Ladybug has a lot on her mind, and when Chat Noir bugs her enough, she tells him she’s going to confess to her Crush, Adrien Agreste. Chat’s reaction is not what she’s expecting.

*Oblivi-oh no! - A retelling of Oblivio, except Ladybug is the only one to lose her memory. How will Chat deal?

*Bad Day (3 chapters) - Marinette was Ladybug! This was Adrien’s luckiest day ever! Except it wasn’t, because all his good luck was used up in one go. Turns out this might be the worst day of his life.

*One Win, So Many Losses- Marinette was forced to break up with Adrien. It had been a low blow from Gabriel, to be sure. But she was Ladybug. She’d find a solution…right? An alternate ending to Chat Blanc, where Adrien doesn’t Cataclysm the akuma.

*❤️Five Minutes- Gabriel has had enough of all these girls fighting over Adrien. He decides it’s high time Adrien picks one, and arranges the perfect opportunity for him to do so. Each candidate has five minutes to present why they’d be a good girlfriend. Marinette decides to take this opportunity to shoot her shot.

~*Panache- Every eligible maiden was invited to the Prince’s ball. That included Marinette, scullery maid in her own household. But her stepsisters destroyed her dress, and she can’t go to the ball in rags. Or can she? (Cinderella!AU)

*Perfect, No Matter What-In which Gabriel sets the bar even lower for himself, a reveal happens because of pain medication, and the new guardian actually goes to Chloé for advice.

*Crushed- Stuck under a collapsed building together, Chat Noir and Marinette have a heart to heart.

*Lovelace- Convinced that he's unlovable, Adrien is quickly thrown for a loop when Marinette confesses her love for him out of the blue. An akumatization and reveal later, he changes his mind about being unlovable.

Long Fics

*❤️Longest Night- (FF.net | Ao3) - The day started out sucky to begin with. Her crush ousted to the class and Adrien. Lila taking pride in exacting her revenge. But by the time patrol was over, a young man was dead, and Ladybug’s identity was at risk. Lila was the least of her concerns. Good thing Adrien was taking it all like a champ. (Rated M for scenes of torture)

*❤️Nine Lives- (FF.net) When Adrien Agreste is scheduled to go to a Military School in Germany, Chat Noir must make a critical decision. Does he give up his Miraculous? Or does he give up his life as Adrien? I’ll save you the trouble of guessing, he gives up being Adrien.

*Tender Words- When Marinette finally gets the guts to confess her feelings for Adrien, some things go so wrong, and other things go so right.

*Integrity- Overwhelmed with her responsibilities, guilt, and drama, Marinette has an emotional breakdown in front of everyone, and even hands over her earrings in a moment of weakness. Only for a few seconds, but the damage was done. Adrien’s pretty quick on the uptake like that.

~Much Obliged- Everyone deals with grief differently. Some take to drinking, others devote themselves to charity. Adrien Agreste? Well, he became a cowboy. Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a witch, one of very few in the world. She knows what it’s like to be doubted, and assumed delusional. Maybe that’s why they got along so well. Or maybe it’s just because they both like big hats. AU where everything is the same, except instead of superheroes, Adrien is a Cowboy and Marinette is a witch. (Unfinished) (Based on a AU by @bugaboo-n-bananoir)

*I’ll Handle This- “I’ll solve all your problems,” Plagg had said. “You just have to agree to it.” A fixed relationship with his father, Lila to stop bothering him, and Ladybug to fall in love with him? Who wouldn’t agree to that? Except Plagg was the God of Destruction and Chaos and had a more…hands-on approach. Adrien just wants his body back. (Body swap fic)

The Ghost of Smokey Joe- Adrien Agreste was acting bizarre. Stilted body language, plastic smile, and he seemed to have forgotten how close they were. Before she can get the truth out of him, Marinette finds herself as the sole heir to the Gabriel brand and the mansion, following the murder-suicide of both Adrien and Gabriel Agreste. The mystery continues as Tikki explains that Adrien was Chat Noir...but if Adrien is six feet under, why is Chat Noir still running around?

How To Train Your Dragon

One Shots

The Vikings Have Their Tea (FF.Net | AO3)

Arranged Marriage- Takes place at the beginning of HTTYD

❤️Breathe- Survival of the fittest

~Childhood Friends- At the Sandbox

❤️Easy Fix- In which Hiccup has a bad day

~Fashion Designer- Astrid needs a fill in

❤️Frozen- In Which Astrid takes a Dip and things get frisky (Rated M)

❤️Headache- In Which Hiccup hits his head….really hard

❤️Heir- In Which Hiccup is Picked (Longer version by FateCharms)

Illness- In Which Stoick is a dad

~Illusionist- Trick gone wrong

~In the Walls- In which there’s a poop ghost

~Knocking On The Wrong Door (2) - A chance encounter

❤️Messages- Astrid is Frustrated with Hiccup’s obliviousness

~To Mirkwood- Hiccup is not a dwarf

~Monster Falls- Hiccup and Astrid take a dip

❤️Mute- In which there’s a quiet stranger

~Music Video (ImgHS)- He didn’t expect it

❤️Operation: Lovebirds- In Which the gang makes a plan, and Hiccup gets Drunk

~Over- Too many nightmares

~Partners in Crime- A normal day at work

~Pirate- Astrid is the greatest treasure

~Prince- He doesn’t want to be a broken King

❤️Sorting Things Out- In Which Astrid gets her ducks in a row

~The Dragon and The Dame- Beauty and the Beast Au

The Pit- In Which Hiccup is rescued

Hide and Seek- Part 1

Lost and Found- Part 2

Long fics:

*❤️Infernal Responsibility- Being the son of the chief takes brains, courage, and a lot of patience. But at his father’s the request for marriage, Hiccup decides he has had enough. When he seeks out a life of ease, he runs into more than what he bargained for.

*❤️Roses and Lilies- “Astrid, you and I both know you’re much tougher than I am. You’re more brave, and a better fighter…but just for a little while…could we pretend that I’m the one protecting you?” “Oh gods yes!” (Also Available in Spanish!)

*~What the Water Gave Me- The sea is a wild and dangerous thing, something that cannot be foretold or predicted. Hiccup discovered this many years ago, in human naiveté. Yet, what was meant as a sacrifice became a new life, one like no one could comprehend. He now finds himself once more in the unknowing hands of those that sentenced him to death. He only prays things will be different this time. Merman!AU

*Parasite- Soulsnatcher Dragons are rare but deadly. But, As Hiccup finds out, it’s the eggs you have to watch out for.

*~320 State Street- Gobber’s Goods. A Hardware Store that was rumored to have everything you needed. She thought she only needed a job. Turns out, she needed a lot more than that. (A Modern AU no one asked for)

*~❤️The North Tower- When Finn Hofferson died, Astrid inherited his castle in Wales…and a whole lot more. Something sinister lurks in the North Tower.

*~❤️Boy Toy- AO3 - At the age of 21, Princess Astrid lawfully has to pick a husband. But when the perfect groom is nowhere to be found, she requests the toymaker to create one for her. It’s safe to say that everyone in the kingdom is a little concerned. (Pinocchio!AU I guess?)

No, You Go First- AO3 - The Chief of Berk was a headstrong viking, stubborn and full of pride, and willing to do whatever it takes to keep his village safe. But for a moment, he puts that aside, and listens to his son. In which Hiccup convinces his dad not to make him go through Dragon Training, and the subsequent changes that follow.

*In Due Time- AO3 - As another illness sweeps through Berk, Gothi needs another ingredient for her medicine…one that doesn’t exist anymore. Fortunately, she kept that old spell book around for such an occasion. Big Hiccup is sent to five years into the past, and his younger self sent to take his place in the future. But it’s only a few days, what could go wrong?

Trollhunters: Tales from Arcadia

❤️Arcadia or Bust- In Which Arcadia welcomes back it’s underground citizens.

Teen Titans

Oneshots:

~Big Brother- Don’t turn out the light (Horror)

Dear Jason- Bruce Writes a letter

Just Drawing- Bruce thinks about Robin

The Prisoner- Starfire is Guilty

Of Mustard and Three Foot Purple Tongues- A collection of Oneshots and Drabbles

Long Fics (*Finished):

*~❤️Carol of the Bells- High in the dark Bell Tower of Notre Dame, there lives a mysterious bell ringer. Legend tells of the angel who fell from the sky, and the curse she bares. There are few who know her true identity though; her master, the priest, and the acrobat that performs on the streets below. Based loosely on ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ RobxStar and slight BBxRae

*No Escape- Three years ago, Starfire escaped an Alien race called the Gordanians, to arrive on Earth. They’re back, and ready to put Starfire back where she belongs, behind reinforced Titanium bars. Robin’s not about to let her go…if only he hadn’t got captured first. How does it feel to be the alien, Robin?

*Now you Know My Pain- When the new Villain, Gender Bender, comes to down, the Titans find themselves in an odd situation. They’ve been turned into the opposite gender against their will! Now in order to change back, they must learn to understand the gender they’ve turned into. Rated T for obvious reasons. A great read if you’ve ever wondered why girls or guys do [blank].

*Paint it Black- Robin disappeared three months ago. Now, Jump City’s crime rate is mysteriously being taken care of by a normal, albeit strange, teenage boy who goes by the name Black. As the Titans befriend this lunatic, they begin to see a relation between him and their missing leader. Will they be able to find Robin, or will Black turn them all insane as himself? Actually, contains NO OC.

*Saving Grace- “When I’m done with you, you won’t be able to walk upright or speak coherent sentences and all you’ll see is my mask and my voice repeating in your head…Weak. Richard Grayson, I am not tough, I am everything that you fear.” Happy Ending! Smudge of RobStar. NO Slash!

Other Fandoms

Final Fantasy XV

❤️Requiem for Pitioss-“O King. The god’s have heard your cries. Know that we weep with you. The Oracle’s calling has not yet been fulfilled. But…Lunafreya as you know her cannot return the way she was.” Noctis looked up, hopeful. “But she can return!” Canon divergence from Chapter 9. Happy ending. Some spoilers.

Final Fantasy X

I Do…I Guess? - “I would…like to ask you something.” “Shoot.” “Well…if it’s not too much…I’d like to ask you…to marry me.” Knowing what’s to come during her pilgrimage, Yuna asks Tidus to marry her, strictly for convenience and having an official next of kin, of course. Starts after Luca and how this decision would affect the rest of the story.

Beauty and the Beast

*❤️Behold the Beast- A Oneshot alternate ending to the Animated Film

Cinderella

*❤️Midnight- “When the clock strikes twelve, the spell will be broken,” the fairy godmother had warned. A retelling of the story, when Cinderella doesn’t escape the ball in time. Oneshot

*So This is Love- What if Jaq and Gus hadn’t made it in time to help Cinderella? A new twist on the ending of the classic Fairytale, and what lies beyond the story. She still gets her happy ending and her Prince, and her step family gets their just deserts.

Sleeping Beauty

*❤️A Love Song Back To Me- Maleficent saw the loophole that stared her in the face. Prince Phillip would break the curse in time, for sure. After all, he was betrothed to Aurora. So in an effort for her evil plan to stay in action, Maleficent takes care of the young prince herself. Phillip never imagined having to live off the land like the birds above. Alternate twist on the classic Disney tale.

Escaflowne

Down Feathers- Hitomi’s depressed. She’s been away from Van too long, he comes back to visit her…but what if something went wrong with the transfer? (Not finished. Never will be finished. Mwahaha) Circa 2012

*Angel’s Wounds- Fanelia’s been victorious in their most recent battle with Basrum. Unfortunately, someone is wounded and just seeks solace in his love that lives so far away. Post Anime.

Momma Look Sharp- With the war between Fanelia and Basrum finally coming to a close, the kingdom is celebrating. The young king, however, is suffering from an experience unlike any he had before. Van finally seeks solace in his wife.

[diazevan]

7. I’ve Got You “Support”

After pulling over at a motel, for the night, the team undergoes strange experiences, that seems to be out to claim the lives of the people closest to them - Tony is sure, that Peter is sleepy soundly, throughout the ordeal.

Warning: Characters are controlled, by a supernatural force, which makes them suicidal. 

Inspired by the episode 'Motel California,' from season three of MTV's Teen Wolf.

AO3 Link

Tony agreed that the team deserved a ‘work retreat,’ after the year they’d had, a break where those, who wanted to, could spend a week without a care in the world, doing nothing.

Peter wanted to go too, so they waited patiently until he was on spring break before heading off.

Tony cursed himself, wishing he’d planned the trip, instead of leaving it to Steve. The Captain was old fashioned, he wanted to go on a road trip, and refused to fly.

A twelve-hour drive to Chicago didn’t sound too bad, but Tony completely forgot, during the planning stage that the kid, suffered tremendous motion sickness when it came to traveling in cars. In Tony’s defense, he only forgot, because he’d traveled, by car, a far distance, with Peter, once, and then refused to ever do it again. He’d rather fly, with the kid, to keep both their sanities in check.

After six years, and five of those spent mourning Peter, it briefly slipped Tony’s mind.

On field trips, when they traveled across the country on the bus, Peter took super soldier travel sickness tablets and would doze off, either with his head rested against Ned or Michelle’s shoulder. Tony had seen the pictures, they were ridiculously adorable.

Even though they were in traveling in a fancy minibus, that had televisions and air-con, it didn’t stop Peter’s ailment.

The kid, caught up in his excitement, hadn’t forgotten to take his pills, and May had been called into work, to cover a shift, so it passed her mind too when she bid goodbye to a sleepy Peter.

At the end of the day, all three of them messed up. No one was to blame.

They were six hours into the journey when Tony realized his mistake.

They pulled over for dinner, at a Burger King, and as soon as Peter stepped outside, he collapsed to his knees and brought up his breakfast, Tony was surprised that he didn’t bring up a lung.

Long story short, they had to make an unscheduled pitstop at the closest motel, for the night. Steve found it on the map, and they drove half an hour. Peter spent the entire journey, with his head rested against Tony’s arm, silently groaning about his luck.

They parked up, on the roadside.

Clint peered out the window, “Wow.” He snorted a chuckle, “Definitely not five stars.”

“It’s only for one night.” Rhodey teased, throwing a backpack at him, “You’re a spy, I bet you’ve seen worse.”

Natasha got up, swinging her overnight bag onto her shoulder, “We once to a motel that didn’t even have beds, like, we slept on cardboard, but you know—”

Clint leaped up, “It was comfy cardboard.”

“I guess.” Natasha gave a half shrug, “I could hear Clint’s snoring through a wall though.”

“I do not snore.”

Tony waited until everyone was off the bus, before helping Peter up, “Come on, kiddo.” He grabbed Peter’s listless arm, hanging it over his shoulders, “One step, at a time.”

Peter slurred, “I’ve got it, Mr. Stark.”

They made it out, onto the road, “This is what happens when you don’t get your beauty sleep.”

“Uh.” He leaned his head back on Tony’s arm, “Shut up.”

“Okie Dokie.”

Sam folded his arms and looked over, with a smirk, “Such a lightweight.”

Natasha slapped his arm, and stared him down, with her infamous glare.

Steve jogged over, coming back from the kiosk, holding room keys in his hand, “Here.” He handed Tony his credit card back, “Thanks.”

Tony pocketed it, “No trouble.”

“There were only five rooms left for tonight.” Steve held up the keys, “So, we’re gonna have to share.”

Clint inclined his head, “Ugh.”

Bruce spoke up, “That works out, there is ten of us.”

Wanda beelines for Natasha, taking her hand and standing aside from the others.

Clint held up his hand, over his head, “I choose Sam.”

Sam raised an eyebrow, “What?”

Clint skidded over to him, “You’re the only one who doesn’t snore.”

Sam nodded, “Oh, okay.”

Steve spun on his heel, “Buck?”

Bucky shrugged, “I don’t care, as long as it has walls.”

Tony held up his head, motioning to Peter, “I guess I’ll take this one, then.”

That left Rhodey, with Bruce, neither of them seemed to mind that.

Everybody started hurrying to their rooms, Clint and Sam’s room was right behind them, so they headed straight in, Natasha and Wanda rushed up a set of metallic stairs, to the upper floor of rooms.  

Rhodey and Bruce had a trek, to the opposite side of the lot.

Tony took the last key from Steve, and stepped aside, reading the number, “Ugh, stairs.” He groaned, turning to the same side Natasha and Wanda had sprinted off to, “Pete, can I carry you?”

Peter shook his head,, “No way.”

“Walking it is, then.” They slowed made their way up the stairs, Tony turned back to Steve and Bucky who were waiting behind, “Sorry, we’re taking it slow.”

Steve smiled, “We don’t mind.”

Tony pushed Peter’s back, helping him up the last step, “Next time we do something let this..” He said, to Steve, “We’re flying, not driving.”

Steve held out his hands, “Driving is more of an adventure.”

Tony fumbled with the key, unlocking the door, “Not for a kid who gets motion sickness.”

Bucky barked a laugh, “Isn’t he Spider-Man?”

“I’m generalizing here.” Tony explained, “He doesn’t do well in cars.”

Bucky frowned, “Ah, okay.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t make sense, but Pete never has.” Tony clicked the door open, “Night-Night.”

Peter stumbled away from Tony, and landed, face first, onto one of the beds, “This is nice.” He mumbled, without turning his face around.

Tony laughed, placing their bags down onto his bed, “Wanna get into your pajamas?”

Peter shook his head, “Uh-uh.”

“Okay.” He paced into the bathroom, poured a glass of water, and walked back in, grabbing two super soldier pills from the backpack, “I’ve got the drugs, sleepyhead.”

Peter sat up, hunched over, with his eyes half-open, “Thank you.” He took them, and then fell back down, comforted by the pillows.

Tony bent down, pressing a kiss against Peter’s temple, “Don’t let the bed bugs bite, buddy.”

He moved over, sitting on the other bed. He put the television on, quiet, and lost himself in the stupidity of Reality TV.

Peter fell asleep pretty fast, gently snoring to himself.

Tony messaged Pepper, asking her if Morgan was any trouble getting to sleep, she was being a real madam, recently. He then informed May, of their forgetfulness.

Tony's stomach rumbled, “Uh.” He’d seen a vending machine, below the stairs. He got up, grabbing the room key, he gently tiptoed out, being as quiet as possible.

Bruce was standing, in front of the machine, studying it with wide eyes.

“Midnight snacking, hey?” Tony joked, as he got closer, “I won’t tell.” He leaned in, noticing that the machine was dead, the lights were off, and nothing was coming up on the selection screen.

“Oh, shit.” He reached for his phone, “I might order—”

Tony jumped, out of his skin, when Bruce extended his closed fist, punching the side of the machine and shattering the glass.

“Um..” Tony stood still, remembering Bruce’s boundaries, “Are you okay?”

Bruce grabbed two packets of chips and turned back, “I’m just tired.”

He watched, as Bruce made his way back up to his room, “Alright…” He tapped his watch, “Friday, honey, can you tell Rhodey that Bruce seems to be acting off? It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“Of course, Boss.”

Footsteps coming down the stairs, caught Tony’s attention, he turned to see Natasha, holding a pile of folded towels, “Hey.” She stepped over, “You good?” Her eyes locked onto the machine, she raised an eyebrow, “Did you break it?” She laughed uncertainly, “You’re a billionaire, just order.”

Tony rolled his eyes, gesturing to it, “Bruce did it.”

“Oh.”

“He was acting weird.”

“He’s probably just tired.” She said, “Have you warned Rhodey?”

“Yeah.”

She darted his eyes around, “I’m sure it will be fine.”

Tony nodded, hoping the same, “What are you doing?”

“Getting new towels, these smell like smoke.” She complicated, “Wanna join me?”

“Sure.”

She looped her arm around his prosthetic arm, and they headed over to the kiosk, “Come on, then.”

A lady was standing inside, with her back faced towards them.

“Excuse me?” Natasha spoke, with her ‘civilian’ voice, that was oddly gentle and high pitched, “You don’t have any spare towels, do you? I’ve got a non-smoking room, but these ones reek of nicotine.”

“Yes, of course, love.” The clerk said, with a croaky voice, she turned to face them – she was well into her sixties, she had a cigarette in her hand, but contrastingly, a tracheotomy tube in her throat, “I’ll get those for you now.”

Natasha slid over the old towels, wearing an awkward smile, “Thanks.”

Tony looked around, noticing a plaque on the board behind the clerk, that read ‘112.’

The clerk handed Natasha new towels, and turned to Tony, “Do you need anything, Mr. Stark?”

"Um, our friend...." He motioned back, "Accidently broke your vending machine, I'm okay, with covering the costs--"

"No worry dear, that old thing hasn't worked for months-" She informed him, "It's scheduled for removal." 

Tony nodded, "Alright..." His eyes found the plaque again, "Um-"

The clerk gestured back, "You admiring our memorial plaque, sweetheart?"

Natasha's forehead creased, "Memorial plaque?"

Tony pushed further, “What does that mean?”

She shook her head, with a cackle, “Oh, that’s an inside joke.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll warn you, it’s morbid.” She laughed, “You really wanna know?”

“We’ve seen a lot of morbid.” Tony said, truthfully, nodding his head towards Natasha – there had never been a truer statement, considering Tony almost died, and Natasha was actually dead, for a short period, until Steve returned the soul stone to Vormir, “Hit us.”

“We're not gonna make the top of anyone's list when it comes to customer satisfaction.” She mocked, “But we are number one in Cleveland when it comes to one disturbing little detail. Since opening, more than any other motel in Cleveland, we have the most guest suicides.”

Tony’s jaw dropped, “Wow.”

Natasha leaned up, whispering in his ear, “That wasn’t in the brochure.” She held up the towels, “Thank you.”

They quickly scurried away, “That was disturbing.” Tony snickered nervously, “This is the last time I let Steve Rogers decide our emergency pit stop. If I’d asked Friday, she would have found us a nicer place.”

“I don’t know.” Natasha’s mouth twitched into a smile, “It’s creepy, but it’s kinda fun.”

They made their way up the stairs, “That’s so you.”

A door swung open, and Wanda darted into view, throwing her arms out, grabbing onto the railings in her front of her.

Tony’s smile dropped, “Wanda?” He looked to Natasha, who looked as equally as concerned, “You okay?”

She turned, her face, as white as a sheet, “Did you hear that?”

Natasha looked around, “What?”

“The couple, next door, it sounded like—” Wanda pointed, to the room, behind them, with a shaking hand, “—Like they’re making a suicide pact.”

“Shit—” Tony jumped into action, hurrying back, and knocking his fist, rapidly, against the door, “Hello!”

“Get out of the way.” Natasha barked, throwing the towels aside, she raised her foot, kicking the door open, swiftly.

Tony leaped inside, flipping on the light switch, but there was no couple – the room seemed to be under construction, covered with white sheets, and full of building equipment.

“This doesn’t make sense.” Wanda paced inside, tears in her eyes, “I heard them, they were so clear.”

Natasha peeled back one of the sheets, to reveal splatters of blood, across the wall, “Look.” 

Tony held a hand under his chin, “Holy shit.”

Natasha studied it, “They were here?”

Wanda exclaimed, “But it was now, I heard them—”

“Your powers, they’re constructed from the mind stone, your mind is on a different wavelength from ours, right?” Tony asked, gently.

“Yeah.” Wanda nodded, “I still don’t really know the full extent of them.”

“I’m sorry.” Tony rested a hand on her arm, “But I think you heard an echo, a memory of the people who died in this room.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks, “I can hear the dead?”

Natasha walked back over to them, “Is that even possible?”

“Strange would be the one to ask.” Tony held out his arms, “I’m only theorizing.”

“I don’t like it here.” Wanda moved away, she took out her phone, “I’m gonna call Vis.”

Vision, Thor, Scott, and everybody else, for that case, had the right idea, of sitting out for the work retreat.

Wanda stared at her phone, her forehead creased, “No signal.”

“That’s impossible.” They all had new StarkPhones, and the connection was impeccable, “That—” He took out his phone, “No way.”

Natasha leaned over to see, “I thought your phones were absolute.”

“They are.”

She prodded his screen, “Not in creepy motels.”

Tony rolled his eyes.

“Look, these aren’t murders.” Natasha pointed out, “They’re suicides.”

Wanda squealed, “These?”

Tony looked up, “This place has a history with suicide.”

“It does?”

Natasha blew a slow breath, “Yeah, the owners keep score.”

“That’s gross.” Wanda put her phone back in her pocket, “I wanna leave.”  

“We should round everybody up and find somewhere new.” Tony agreed, “I don’t wanna risk it.”

They left the room and pulled the broken door to a close.

“Hey!” Rhodey called, from down in the car park, waving his hand.

All three of them hurried down, to meet him, in the middle.

Tony rushed over, placing a hand on his arm, “What’s wrong?”

“Any of you seen Bruce? “ He asked, “He went to get snacks but never came back.”

Tony slouched his shoulders, his heart running at a mile a minute, “He was acting weird when I last saw him.”

“He was?”

“Didn’t Friday alert you?”

“No.”

Tony clicked the side of his watch, “Friday, did you send the message to Rhodey?” He received no response, “Friday?”

Rhodey shook his head, “That’s not normal.”

“No signal, No Friday.” Tony hid his trembling hands in his pockets, “This is—"

Steve sprinted down the stairs, “Anybody seen Bucky?” He asked, worry laced in his tone, “He just, disappeared while I was in the shower, and he was—”

“Let me guess.” Natasha tilted her head to her shoulder, “Acting weird?”

“Yes.” Steve frowned, “Like he was, out of it.”

“It’s not only him.” Rhodey said, “Bruce is gone.”

“Something weird is going on here.” Tony itched the back of his head, “It’s not right.”

“Bucky and Bruce?” Natasha raised, “What do they have in common?”

Tony held out a hand, “Super soldier serum?”

They all turned, looking at Steve, who blurted, “I feel fine.”

Tony muttered, “Control?”

Rhodey stepped in closer, “What was that?”

“Lack of control.” Tony suggested, “Both of them, have lost control of their minds, before. In extraordinary ways. Perhaps, whatever’s going on here, it’s taking advantage of that fact.”

Steve and Rhodey, who had no idea about the history of the place they were standing in, stared at him like he had egg on his face.

Natasha jumped, smacking Tony’s arm, “Loki overpowered Clint’s mind.”

Wanda turned, sending a blast over to Sam and Clint’s door – the noise would be enough to wake the surrounding neighborhoods.

Rhodey’s eyes widened, “That’s a way to do it.” 

Wanda turned, “Should I wake up Peter?”

“No.” Tony squeezed the brim of his nose, but he wished he could simply grab Peter and get out, he had to look at the big picture. The kid was asleep, recovering, the safest place for him, despite the circumstances, was that motel room, “He’s probably sleeping through this, I’ll grab him in a second.” He looked around, noticing something obvious,  “There’s no cars.” He said, “It’s a car park and there are no cars—”

Steve cut in, “But there were only five rooms.”

Tony clicked his fingers, “Unless…there wasn’t.”

Wanda jumped in, “We’re the only ones here?”

“Maybe.”

Sam and Clint’s door swung open, they both walked out, in their pajamas, bleary-eyed.

Clint barked, “What the hell?”

“This isn’t funny.” Sam groaned, “What’s going on?”

“Mind control.” Natasha said, blatantly, “We think.”

“But we’re on holiday.” Clint groaned, holding his head back, “Mind control is so 2012.”

“We’re only guessing.” Natasha pulled him aside, “You feel okay?”

“Yeah.” Clint said, “I was sleeping.”

Sam folded his arms, “Can someone explain what’s going on?”

“Quick rundown.” Tony said fast, “This place is famous for its suicides.”

Clint sang, “Terrific.”

“Bruce and Bucky are missing, and they were acting weird.” He held up a hand, silencing Clint’s remarks, “And yes, weirder than usual.”

Natasha added, “Like they weren’t in control.”

Clint rubbed the nape of his neck, “You think whatever is going on here, it’s controlling people who have lost control of their minds before?”

“Yeah.” Tony nodded, “So, you feeling alright?”

“Just tired.” Clint shrugged. “I mean, I know I went through it, with Loki, but definitely not as bad as those two have.”

Natasha crossed her arms, “Could the super solider serum still be involved?”

Tony held out a hand, “It could be both.”

Steve added, “Or neither.”

Tony bit down on his nails, “Whatever it is, we need to look for them.”

A noise echoed from the upper floor, they all jumped, out of their skin.

Tony looked up, he knew that noise, he was a mechanic, after all, “That’s—” It was coming from the room, under construction. “That’s a handsaw!” He charged up the stairs, as fast as possible, with everybody hot on his tail, he threw the door open.

Bucky was stood, in the center, holding the handsaw in his hand, like it weighed nothing, and he was about to slice himself in half with it.

“Barnes, no!” Tony screamed, charging ahead, with his arms held up.

Steve leaped over, “Buck!”

Tony pulled on Bucky’s arm, “Wanda!”

Wanda hurried inside, using her powers to pull the handsaw aside, she left it suspended in the air as Rhodey dashed over, pulling the plug out of the power socket.

Bucky growled, he pulled his metal arm free from Tony’s grasp and tried to crawl, at his stomach, “No!”

Wanda held up her hand, trying to get into his head, “I can’t stop him! His mind is—"

Tony taped his prosthetic arm, firing up the reactor,  “Close your eyes.” He told everyone, as he held it up, blinding Bucky, with a quick flash.

Bucky jerked backward, landing on his backside, “What the hell?” He pushed himself up, on his elbows, “What’s going on?”

“Can’t believe that worked.” Tony backed out, pointing to Steve, “Explain it to him, everybody else look for Bruce – I’m grabbing Peter.”

They all scattered, calling Bruce’s name.

Tony darted down, towards his room, he fumbled for the key, “Come on, come on—”

“Somebody!” Natasha shrieked, from her room, “Quick.”

“Fuck,” Tony turned, hurrying back, “What—”

She charged back inside, “Quick, it’s Bruce!” She led him into the bathroom.

Tony wasn’t ready for the sight.

Bruce was in the bathtub, holding himself down, with the safe that was in the bedroom, it was pressed against his chest.

Tony jumped into action, trying to move it, “It’s no good.”

Natasha tried to get to the plug, “The drain’s blocked.”

“Stand back.” Tony did the same, as before, blinding Bruce with the reactor.

Bruce sat up, with a roar, he tossed the safe aside, on the bathroom floor, “What—what—”

“I got this.” Natasha pushed Tony’s arm, “Go and get Peter.”

“Thank you.” Tony charged down, throwing his door open, “Come on, Pete This place is screwed.” He moved his hand, flipping on the switch.

But as the light flickered on, Tony’s world grew darker.

Peter wasn’t there.

“Peter?” He stepped inside, looking around, “No.” He stepped into the bathroom, “Peter!” He ran back outside, screaming, “Peter!”

Rhodey’s panicked stricken voice, grabbed his attention, “Tones…”

Tony snapped his head around, “What?”

“I found him.” Rhodey leaned over the gate, pointing down to the car park.

Tony leaned over, looking at the bigger picture, “No.”

Peter was standing, in the center, surrounded by a puddle of gasoline, and in his hand, was an emergency flare, that they stored in the back of the van.

“Kid!” Tony hurried, down the stairs, towards the chaos, “Peter!”

One wrong moved, and his kid was gone, again.

Everyone followed, standing around, with nothing to say.

Tony spun, “Wanda?”

“I can’t see into his mind, I can’t move the—” She seemed helpless, “I can’t move the flare, he could drop it, I could drop it—”

“Don’t worry.” Tony said quietly, “I’ve got this.”

The gauntlet would have the same problem, Peter would drop the flare, into the gasoline, from the shock.

Tony slowed his breathing and turned, “Hey, kid.”

Peter’s eyes were glassy, unfocused, but underneath it, Tony’s Peter was fighting to get back to the surface, he needed a helping hand, “It’s my fault.”

“What…” Tony stammered, “What’s your fault, kiddo?”

“Everything.” Peter’s eyes filled with tears, “My Mum and Dad – I should have made them stay.”

“Peter, you were only six.” Tony pointed out, keeping his voice low, “What happened to your parents shouldn’t have happened. They deserved better, and so do you.” His throat cracked, “It’s not your fault, buddy. You couldn’t have stopped them from leaving. No one knew what was going to happen.”

“Ben.” Peter met Tony’s gaze, “He was following me, when he was shot—I stormed out.”

The team held their surprise, for they had never heard these stories – they knew about the loss, but not about the circumstance.

“You were going through a change that no one else has before, Pete.” Tony spoke with his stomach in his throat, “Teenagers storm out all the time. That is not your fault. You know that. May has told you that, so many times, it—”

Peter cut in, “She hates me.”

Tony hiccuped, “She could never hate you.”

Peter tightened his grip around the flare, “Ben would still be here if it wasn’t for me—”

“No.” Tony interrupted, “You are not responsible for the actions of others.”

“What about you?”

Tony stared, at a loss for words.

“You nearly died.”

Tony looked, at his prosthetic arm, “That was my choice, Pete.”

Tears fell down Peter’s cheeks, “You did it for me.”

“Still not your fault.”

“Everyone around me gets hurt.” Peter’s chin trembled, “You’ll all be gone if I stay.”

“No, baby.” Tony edged closer, “No, we need you.” He motioned back, “All of us need Peter Parker.”

“Nobody needs me!” Peter snapped, “That’s what they say.”

“Who?”

“People at school.”

“They’re bullies, nothing more.” He pointed, to the flare, “I’m gonna need you to pass that to me, kiddo, and then we’ll figure this out together, huh? Like we always do.”

“Not this time.” Peter said, emotionlessly, “I’ve had enough.”

“Okay, buddy. Listen to me, okay?” Tony pleaded, “Something is doing this to you. Making you think this. They went after Bruce and Bucky – they’ve got to you too. I should have realized, I should have guessed—”

Control? Peter lost control of everything when he was bitten by the spider. It changed his genetics, overnight, and that should have killed him. Tony wasn’t there then, but he could imagine, the agony the kid went through. The venom, from the spider, had a similar structure, to the super-soldier serum, but it wasn’t the same, still, Tony had only just connected those dots. He’d hate himself, for being that slow, no matter how this turned out.

“No, I don’t—” Pete shook his head, “No, this is me, I’m a mistake.”

“This isn’t you.” Tony sniffled, “We’re gonna be okay, kiddo. I promise.” He pointed, “You’re not a mistake. Anything but. You’re—” His voice wavered, “You’re my kid, and I love you—”

The unfamiliarity in Peter’s eyes started to clear.

“So, if…” Tony stepped forward, into the gasoline, “If you’re gonna do this…”

Rhodey gasped in a gentle knowing tone, from behind, “Oh, Tones…”

Tony swallowed the lump, in his throat, “You’re gonna have to take me with you then.”

Peter’s face contorted, as he stared Tony in the eye.

Tony carefully pulled the flare out of Peter’s grip, he held it back, “Take it.”

“I—” Steve wrapped his hand around it, avoiding the gasoline puddle, “I’ve got it.”

“Thank you.”

Peter flinched, his body slouching, “Mr. Stark?” He squeaked, looking around, the car park, “What—”

Tony reached over, pressing a hand against Peter’s cheek, “Hey there, kiddo.”

Peter leaned into his palm, he blurted, “That wasn’t me, that wasn’t—Oh, God—I couldn’t stop, I couldn’t—"

Tony tugged him into a hug, combing his hand through Peter’s gasoline-ridden hair, “It’s okay, it’s okay.” He muttered, “You’re back.” He held him, tight, “I’ve got you."

[lonelyghosts-stuff]

Avengers Infinity War-First Time Watching Reaction Play-by-Play (Pt. 2)

Part 1

I wonder how many people Gamora has killed? What made her finally snap to not serve Thanos anymore?

How DID Gamora find it? Like, who told her?

How did Thanos capture nebula?

Poor nebula. She’s literally been through hell and back.

Ohhhh she snuck on board...

Thanos you suck so much. You favor one daughter over another.

Oh. Where was said map to the soul stone?

Gosh I feel so damn bad for nebula. She was raised as his daughter too but he tortured her and tore her apart. Nebula never had the chance to be her equal. She deserves so much.

Taught groot as an elective? What about all speak?

Buckle up rocket. It’s gonna get emotional.

Thor is literally all alone. He needs a time to sit alone and cry and break a whole building.

Rocket and Thor friends? Please

1500 years old? Jane, honey, you escaped.

Gotta give it up to Hemsworth’s acting chops here. Especially talking to nobody in reality. Just a bunch of cgi

Ew ew ew eye socket

Should have washed that yikes

Snuck it out by hiding it up your? Huh? You watch too many movies rocket.

Huge title card. Thank you. I wouldn’t have known where we were despite them saying their location many times.

How is that video game battery not dead?

Perceptive rabbit

I LOVE that they used a dwarf to play a giant character!!! This is brilliant! (And that dwarves are giant for some reason lol.)

Soooo again Thanos killed everyone EXCEPT Eitri despite his “morality” supposedly being balance

Poor hands

Poor nebula

Smart nebula

Maybe should have waited to be fixed fully first

Ah crap. SOMEONE PICK UP THE SPACE PHONE

MANTIS

Love how Stark asks for peters help in steering and not Stephen lmao

Nice parking job

Peter, stop popping pop culture refs

Lmao ITS ABOUT TO BE THE ICONIC SCENE

YES PLEASE

Blanket of Death. Capey has a new nickname.

Where’s Gamora

Who’s Gamora

Why is Gamora

What master do you serve?

Jesus?

I mean, yea I do. So does Pratt lmaoo.

LMAO PARKER’S FACE WHEN QUILL SAID THOR WASNT HANDSOME

Storm breaker time baby

“In theory it could summon the bifrost” who theorized this? How do you only theorize and not know?

Oh my gosh mantis is just bouncing around

Mr. Clean lmao

Kick names, take ass

Hey now, these guys saved the galaxy and universe from Ego so lmao

Oh no I know the scene coming up

Poor quill lmao

“I’m half human. So the 50% of me that’s stupid, that’s 100% of you.” “Your math is, blowing my mind.” What’s funny is that Quill’s math was actually completely accurate lol

Stephen having a stroke or a seizure? You good homie?

Soooo if Strange looked to the future and so possible outcomes, what does that mean for the TVA? According to them, there’s ONE sacred timeline, so all other branches are erased (which again messes up what smart hulk eventually says in end game. See kids, this is why you don’t mess with time travel in stories. There’s no way to go back in time without creating a time loop). Ehhhhh I’ll let it slide. Just ignore it... sigh... I can’t help it if I’ve studied paradoxes

Hmmmm not good odds I’ve gotta say...

Watch like, outside of the millions of realities that strange saw, there were like a million or billion more he missed where they won with no casualties lol

Hey Red Skull. Long time no see. How did he get here anyways and why?

Yea you’re prepared all right...

Gotta say, Lord Elrond has seen better days

I’m not ready to say good bye to this Gamora. Gamora and Loki and Nat go down as my favorite characters, gotta say. I know that Tony does and it’s sad, but his feels more satisfying because his sacrifice directly results in them winning. Loki is murdered. Gamora is murdered. Nat died just for a stepping stone for the avengers. She has no idea whether or not they will actually win in the end.

I’m hopeful they may bring Nat back like in the comics, red room clone style.

We got back vision, Loki (kinda), variant Gamora, a new captain America, why not Nat? Yea we have a prequel, but gosh I love her so much.

“You must lose that which you love.” Couldn’t that apply to like an object or something? Could I not throw my Nintendo switch over the cliff? Or my dog? (I would hate that just as much as a person, don’t get me wrong, I’m just curious about the rules)

Yea boohoo sad for Thanos... loses his favorite daughter. I don’t care about him. He deserves suffering.

Poor Gamora doesn’t think he’s willing to do it.. GIRL RUN!!!

Thanos deserves all the suffering.

He does love you Gamora... but that love... it’s selfish. It’s blind... Thanos seems to be a chaotic vigilante who is narrowminded, tunnel vision on his goal with no regards of the cost. But he is evil. If there is ever an alternate route to an end that doesn’t result in the loss of innocent lives, and you know that but you willingly choose the once that costs innocent lives, that is an evil decision. Maybe Thanos isn’t evil, but he’s not good. Far from it. He’s obsessed with this idyllic Utopia but he rushes to one method of getting there. Yes, people suffer. It sucks... it’s unfair... it’s horrible. But it is never the right of someone else to dictate whether or not said person would be better off dead. Who lives, who dies. If Thanos truly was neutral and not selfish, he would have thrown his own life into the mix of the potential 50/50 snap. Thanos is not good. He’s not misunderstood. He’s a murderer. A genocidal cult leader. I have no tears for him. Only for those who suffered more at his hands.

Rant over, time to try not to cry about Gamora...

Her face of realization

Gamora run please

Thanos, I hate you. (Great character her, but not a good person)

Poor Gamora

Oh my gosh the emotion here is great but I’ve heard this sound used as a meme on TikTok too many times aghhhh

Gamora!

What a way to die

I’m crying again. I miss her already...

Who the hell designed this place and put the stone here???? Who did this?

Cry Thanos. Suffer. My only comfort here is that you are sad. You deserve suffering. You really do...

The TVA is laughing here and I’m not okay..

Poor Peter Quill... he’s also lost a lot like Thor, but has had the “luck” of not knowing his family too close.

Wakanda babyyyy

No, you don’t want Starbucks, you want Dutch bros

Lmao I love rhodey. Poor Bruce.

BUCKY BUCKY BUCKY

HUG

NO CMON HAVE A LONG HUG

MALE FRIENDSHIPS ARE SO IMPORTANT.

Yea Shuri show em up.

Okay quick pause, I love love LOVE how Shuri is smarter. It’s a powerful moment for females BUT it’s not done in a way that’s condescending to males! It’s not saying women power because men bad, she’s just good! (And she has had access to technology they never could have but I digress). More of this please Hollywood. Don’t let being a female be the power. I don’t want strong female characters, I want strong characters who happen to be female. Ones who hold their own, have faults like anyone else, struggle, have weaknesses and strengths, but are strong without putting down others. Just a comment, just because a woman character may not be as strong as a man character, that is not saying she’s weak. If you’re the second strongest human in the world, you are NOT weak. You’re just not as strong as the strongest human ever, but that’s nothing against you. LET WOMEN STAND ON THEIR OWN MERITS WITHOUT SEX AFFECTING THEM!

Anyways

I love Shuri

I wish they had more time. She definitely could have done it. But stupid Thanos

Ughhhghhg

I know what many scenes are upcoming... with quill and peter and vision and everyone else

Let👏🏻Bucky👏🏻Have👏🏻Peace👏🏻

Thank you Nat!!! I love that Nat is so protective and selfless.

GET THIS MAN A SHIELD

Bucky needs love please. He’s my stand in, manipulated, greasy, long haired, dark and mysterious, stabby boy. (Also I need Bucky and Loki to meet. But let Loki finish his show (and come out of it alive because if he doesn’t I will sue) and be the antihero hero we need. Please. If he doesn’t get reintroduced into the mcu as a hero I will sue.

Thor, sweetie, are you a masochist?

Back to wakanda

Oh no, bad CGI, floating head Bruce banner. I’ll let it slide... sigh....

Can’t like, you just rain bombs on them forever?

JIBARI TRIBE YEA BOYYYYY

Sorry Proxima Midnight, you look like a frog and your name sounds like a middle schooler’s OC.

How nice. Diplomatic meeting.

“Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood.” Reeeeeeally wish you didn’t say that, T’Challa...

Yay big CGI battle commence! It’s like a really expensive animated cartoon at this point

WAKANDA FOREVER!

Poor Bucky. Forgot this dude doesn’t know much about the modern world.

Ahhhh Kamikazi aliens

I just wanna say that I love that Wakanda still has the artistic culture in their clothing and tradition all the while having badass, super advanced technology.

Why can’t they just rain bombs down the whole fight lol. Rhodey has those super nice bombs, like, do that they he whole time? Please? Why do you not have a barrier around the entire king.

No M’Baku, it’s not the end of wakanda. But half of all life, yea

WAKANDA FOREVER YEAAAAAAA

They should honesty all have nano tech suits like black panther lol. Or iron man suits. Fine maybe the most powerful one with the best quality material for the king, but besides that, yknow.

Wow Steve is hot with a beard.

So much happening at once. Thor, Wakanda, Vormir, Knowhere, am I missing anything?

Okay, but what IS the full force of a star? Like in Newton’s or something? Juls? Is it heat?

What’s this metal? How does it fare with vibranium?

Get off your wooden butt, groot.

“He needs the axe” are you Thor, the god of axes?

Soooo, I thought Thor didn’t NEED the hammer, it just helped him concentrate his powers or act as a conduit. Is that retconned already?

Cmon groot, put down your game. Soooo, is Groot worthy? He technically lifted it. Or is it a technicality because it wasn’t fully finished yet?

Cmon bucky, use that fancy arm of yours.

Wow they’re getting destroyed.

They need wanda to help.

BADASS ENTRANCE BABYYYY

How did Thor know to come to wakanda?

Floaty head Bruce

“BRING ME THANOS!”

Ahhhhhahahaha yeaaaaaa

Cry Thanos. Do it. I hate you.

Much more of a purple grape nutsack.

Oh gosh... I know what Peter Quill is going to do. I still don’t hate him.

“With all six stone I would simply snap my fingers. They would all cease to exist.” Orrrr, now hear me out, I know I sound like a broken record now but... MAYBE DOUBLE THE RESOURCES INSTEAD?? That’s not mercy. That’s not up to you to decide whether or not someone’s better off dead.

Smoosh

Yea quill has experience with the power stone

AIM FOR THE HEAD

Cmon it’s basic zombie tactics

I love peter quill lmao

Go capey!!!

Magic with a kick!

Poor Peter

CAPEY NOOOOOO

Wow he’s OP

Ouch quill just got majorly clotheslined

NEBULA

“Where’s Gamora?” 😭😭😭 SHE CARES AGHHHH

Restrain him! Work it mantis!!!

Why even remove the gauntlet, just slit his throat... kill him....

Quill no... stop being cocky...

Oh no

Quill please don’t

JUST SLIT THANOS’ THROAT

Quill please....

Poor quill. Just lost the person who really really loved him

Okay, I still love star lord. Idc what others think. He reacted realistically. If you hate peter quill for how he reacted, you better also hate Tony Stark for how he reacted to bucky when he learned bucky killed his parents despite knowing for a fact that bucky was brainwashed. Yes it was annoying... yes they were so close, but quill is so human here. I don’t hate him. He gets too much hate for acting like any normal person would have. Distraught, grief filled, he lost his love. Someone who helped him open up and finally move on from his mother’s death and fathers villainy.

Spider man saving mantis gives me life

How did that power stone blast not kill them?

Clearly Thanos has played Majora’s Mask. At least he has good taste.

So close vision.... but I know... I know what happens.

YES BUCKY AND ROCKET GUN CIRCLE.

Lmao give rocket Bucky’s old arm.

“I am Groot.” “I am Steve Rogers.” Comedy gold

Cmon Thor, go after the big one first.

Cmon wanda, save them. We need some scarlet witch magic up here to stop these

Okay that was so cool. AND THEN SHE USED THE BLADES

Oh no but now Shuri is alone

So close yet so far.... Dangit... vision was almost good

Ouch. Bonk to the head

YEA BLACK WIDOW

BADASS TIME

AND OKOYE!!

LETS GOOOOOOO

BADASS WOMEN

Ouch poor vision

Cmon Thor back up vision

Please

Hulk is in his feels

Cmon hulk grow up

Ooooh smart move banner

Aaaaand he’s gone

Giant blade look oit

Corvus, screw off.

YEA STEVE

WHERE IS THOR WHEN YOU NEED HIM

CMON NAT

Oh dang. Nice one wanda. But also, sheesh. Helluva way to go. But no big.

Yea vision. Stabby time.

Now vision and Steve, kiss.

Spider man saving everyone’s lives.

YEA STRANGE

Where was this in New York???

MULTIPLYING

WHY DIDNT YOU DO THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE????

Oh no

Well then... ouch. Soooo where’s the real stone???

Hey look Tony, you have a fan.

Okay I’m just pissed odd they didn’t just kill Thanos when they had him subdued. Like, worry about the glove AFTER he’s not longer a threat

Oof

Tony is taking a beating

HE WAS STABBED

WHAT

I don’t want your respect Thanos. That’s an insult.

They will remember him. They will remember him Thanos. When he kills you.

DOCTOR STRANGE WHAT?

You really doing this??? I guess he knows what needs to unfold for them to win... dang. I wouldn’t trust him tho.

Peter Quill in berserker mode

Where’d he go?

Name dropping the second movie

Strange knows everything about to go down. Who dies, who lives, what Thanos is about to do... he’s accepting his soon dusted demise because Stark needs to live...

AIM FOR THE HEAD UGHHHHH

Stop teleporting. That’s Loki’s gimmick.

KILL THIS RAISIN LOOKING NUTSACK UGH

Homie way too OP

Poor wanda and Vis...

HER LIP TREMBLE

PHENOMENAL ACTING

SAY I LOVE YOU

I JUST FEEL YOU

AGGHHHH IM CRYING AGAIN

Poor wanda. To have to kill her love... this.. this is a sacrifice Thanos... not your murder....

Wow Steve is holding back Thanos with pure brute

WANDA IS SO STRONG

HOLDING BACK THANOS WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY BREAKING THE MIND STONE

I LOVE YOU

AGHHHHHHHHH

And I know what happens next...

Poor wanda

Piss off thanos you understand nothing

You lost more than she could know? Bull crap. You are causing everyone to lose...

Cruel reality. Wanda has to see him die twice. RIP Vision

RIP half of all life...

AIM FOR THE DAMN HEAD

IF THOR KILLED HIM THEY COULD HAVE USED THE GAUNTLET TO BRING EVERYONE BACK TO LIFE. USED THE TIME STONE TO REVIVE THEM ALL.

How did that not kill Thanos tho. It may not have been a head shot but still.

Lil Gamora

What is this place?

Is this the soul realm?

Thanos, I hope you suffer forever. You deserve all the pain...

Rest In Peace: Vision, Loki, Bucky, T’Challa, Groot, Wanda Maximoff, Sam Wilson, Mantis, Drax, Peter Quill, Dr. Strange, Peter Parker (I don’t feel so good), and everyone else...

Thank you Nebula.

Thanos, you do NOT deserve to retire peacefully—wipe that smile off of your face

Oop, Rest In Peace Maria Hill and Nick Fury too... Motherfu— (so close Sammy boy...)

Yea Thanos you didn’t really think that through. Much more than half will died since other people rely on other peoples lives

Good thing he hit that button last minute huh? I wonder how captain marvel would fare in the TVA? are her powers considered magic? I mean, she clearly doesn’t know everything since she only just learned about Thanos (which is funny because she was supposedly traversing the universe to protect people)

Welp... onto movie two!

[jadeywrites]

I have a new WIP, technically just an idea three days old, and I wrote a piece where two of the characters meet for the first time. The story is supposed to start at least two years later, but I need to do some backstory development and what's a better way than to start at the very beginning of their relationship?

Posting a snippet of the most relevant part of the piece below for those with less time, and the full 2,191 words below the cut.

Welcome to Sea Sorceress!

***

And there was her victory. Tin pushed up off the wall and extended her hand to Johnson. “Call me Captain Tin. Unless you still like the name Johnson, you'll have to give me a new one.”

Johnson hesitated at the hand.

“Is your curse contagious? Shake the hand.” She waggled it. Johnson took it. “There we go. Now, name.”

“Cin.”

Tin’s lips curved upwards. “Sin? That's a little dramatic--did you come up with that yourself?”

“No, Cin.” Cin enunciated the word, and the beginning sounded like a cross between a hiss and a scoff of the tongue.

“Ah. Well, nice to meet you, Cin.”

They had been holding hands a bit long, hadn't they? Tin shook her hand, and let go.

“One more thing.”

“Yes?”

“I'm not a woman.”

Tin blinked at Cin. “You mean…”

Cin’s gaze dropped to the floor, but then looked Tin in the eyes again. “I prefer the term ‘human���. Just me. I use… I use ‘they’.”

Ah, shit. Tin suddenly felt like an utter fool and jerk.

“Is that going to be a problem?”

That sounded like--no, that was a challenge. Cin had their chin tilted up, shoulders squared. Tin shook her head. “My apologies. No, no problem whatsoever.”

Cin kept staring at her, then seemed to relax. “Okay.”

“Okay.” Tin smiled, the moment over. “It sounds nice, doesn't it? Tin and Cin. I feel like we're going to get along well.”

***

Word got around quickly.

The Admiral’s ship had sailed--or wobbled--into harbor yesterday afternoon, and this morning the residents and visitors of King’s Bay could not keep their mouths shut about the state his ship had come back in. Blue paint faded, peeling, so the ship’s name Queen's Lady could barely be read. An entire mast gone, snapped, only the jagged remains sticking up from the deck. A section of the railing smashed and splintered, presumably from when the mast had fallen.

And the poor, poor, no longer brightly buttoned crew.

Over half the men who had embarked on the “top secret” expedition were seriously ill. Some had died. The Admiral himself had to be carried off the ship on a stretcher to be seen by the castle's physician. He hadn't died… unfortunately.

The Admiral’s falling was an amusing enough topic for Tin to dwell on, but there was more to the story that interested her more. Tuning out the tavern’s babbel behind her, she scrutinized the crookedly pasted poster on the wall, the words WANTED ALIVE written in bold across the top. 2000 ht. REWARD.

Ex-Navigator of Queen’s Lady. For treason, sorcery, murder, impersonation of man.

It was an impressive list of accomplishments. Rumor now said, if it could be relied upon, that the Johnson Halding pictured on the poster had been a woman in disguise, and cursed the ship with her bad luck. Or had done it purposefully, as some wicked… something… perhaps having been spurned by one of the sailors aboard. No one could agree whether she had been seen dragged off the ship in chains, or whether she had disappeared into thin air at the ship's docking.

It didn't matter to Tin. She was a pirate. She couldn't care less if “Johnson” was up for treason, or even sorcery. All she wanted was to find this hideaway in a harbor of… oh, fifteen-thousand bodies.

“Are you getting anything?”

Corry’s voice was an interruption to her thoughts. Annoying. No, she wasn't getting anything. “Shut up,” she snapped.

Tin tightened her grip on the smooth metal ball she held in her fist and narrowed her eyes at the Wanted poster. She traced her gaze over the printed copy of short curly hair, the thin arched brows, the pointed end of Johnson Halding’s nose and chin. It was harder to track a person she had never met, especially with only one black and white hastily done reference.

The Wanted posters had been put up rather quickly, hadn't they? The guard and printers must have worked overtime to get it done so fast.

Some immeasurable time later, the ball warmed unnaturally in her hand. It tugged, as if attached to an invisible string, towards the wall on her right.

Tin felt a flicker of triumph. She reached up and roughly peeled the poster from the wall, thrusting it into Corry’s hands. “Keep this.”

She turned, and stalked out of the tavern.

The ball guided her on and Tin took the most direct way she could towards their target. Corry followed close on her heels, silent. When they finally emerged onto a bustling main road filled with shops and carts selling wares, taking advantage of the rare good weather this time of the year, she knew they were close. Tin slowed her pace to a casual stroll, skirting around men and women as they went. Closer--closer--she knew they had passed their target when the tugging pulled her no longer forwards, but back. Tin tossed a look over her shoulder and spotted Johnson Harding, a brown shawl over her head, dressed in woman's clothes and hunched over with a basket on her arm. She kept Corry and herself walking on until they reached the end of the street, then leaned casually against the building side.

They watched her approach, and for once Corry actually kept his mouth shut. She kept expecting him to make some remark, some comment about what he saw, but nothing. A glance up and to her side showed the burly man slouched against the wall, arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face.

Johnson had almost reached the end of the street. Tin pushed herself off the wall, pocketing the ball as she did so. She strolled towards the woman, falling into step beside her and looping an arm through hers. On Johnson’s other side, Corry did the same. Nothing suspicious, only a dutiful daughter and son helping their mother along, perhaps.

Johnson’s body went rigid, and Tin had to tighten her grip as the woman tried to stop walking and tug out of her grip. She shot looks between the two of them, and Tin knew she must realize she was trapped as she was towed along, out of the main busy street. Johnson couldn't yell for help. Not with her face on dozens of posters around the harbor.

“What are you doing?” Johnson hissed.

“Helping you,” Tin replied smoothly. “We're not the only ones who were following you. Just play along.”

“Like I believe you.”

At a pointed look from Tin, Corry detached himself with an acted bow and wave, like the good son he pretended to be, and went to make sure their tail wasn't going to be a problem. Tin knew he had spotted the slinking man while they had been at the wall, which was why it was unusual he hadn't mentioned him to her. Corry stated everything including the obvious, so why not the tail? Was he hoping the man would become a problem for them?

Tin snapped her gaze to Johnson as she felt her tense. “Don't think about it,” she warned. “I can stop you just as easy without him here.”

She turned them down a narrow abandoned alley until they reached the dead end. Johnson now stood trapped between her and the wall--no place to run to.

But the instant Tin let go, Johnson dropped her basket and swung. Tin caught her wrist easily, and when she brought her knee up, hooked her own foot around her leg and tugged hard, sending Johnson stumbling into the wall off balance as she let go.

“I told you not to try,” Tin said drily.

Ah, but there was defiance in Johnson’s gaze as she righted herself and glared at Tin. “I'm not going down without a fight.”

“That’s all very well and nice, only my aim isn't to bring you in.”

Johnson stared, unbelieving, at Tin.

“I have a job offer for you.”

“I don't like job offers. The last offer--” she spat out the word-- “got me here.”

Tin tilted her head. “I have a ship. I need a navigator. I would like to have you. Good lodging, good treatment, fair share of gains.”

Johnson said nothing.

“You must realize illegal means are the only way you'll live. Do you want to spend the rest of your life running, or join my crew and the protection I hold?”

“Funny.” The woman shoved her hands into the pockets of her skirts. “I got an offer just like that recently. Are pirates so low on brains that they need to go right for the trouble ones like me to find anyone good?”

Tin snorted. “What can I say, we like trouble. Excitement. But I can tell you that the protection Crimson offers you is solid as mist.”

Surprise flickered across Johnson’s face.

“Your tail was one of Crimson’s men. I can put two and two together. He may have given you an offer and made you think you can consider, but I don't think that tail boded well for your future.” She lowered her voice to a croon. “Let me tell you, Crimson is a desperate man. He may have been good once, but ever since half his men were captured and executed last spring he's been falling. He'll turn you in the moment the reward and a few favors will benefit him more than your navigation skills.”

“And you won't?”

“I need a navigator with your exceptional talent more than I want the money. However--”

“Of course there's a catch.”

Tin can't help but grin. The woman was recovering some spunk, and she liked it. “Of course. My ship--”

“What happened to your last navigator?” Johnson interrupts.

Tin’s grin faded as she watched Johnson’s face closely. “I was getting to that. It's part of the catch. Sea Sorceress is, ah, on the... cursed side of things. Weird happenings. Crew with different needs. A little supernatural, a little magical. My last navigator decided it was too much and walked out.”

Johnson looked wary. The rigidness had returned to her posture, and her lips thinned. “No one in their right mind walks in with the cursed.”

“Except you've dipped your hands in the curse bowl too, haven't you?”

Johnson flinched. Tin closed the small gap between them, yanking one of her hands out of her pockets. Her hand was covered in small, thin red lines, like veins. The lines disappeared up her sleeve, and Tin didn't know how far they extended. “You cursed those men, didn't you? Only you paid a price. There's very often a price.”

Johnson snatched her hand away. “It’s none of your business.”

“It's not. Quite frankly, I don't care why you cursed those men.” Lie. She was intrigued. “They most likely deserved it. All I care about is your navigation and your ability to not get squeamish when the hoo-doo-voo-doo stuff starts a-happening. It seems to find me, and curses seem to be becoming a side hobby of mine anyway. Can you handle that?”

“I still know nothing about you, your ship, your crew--”

“I've told you all you need to know.”

“--and all I have is ‘your word’. It's no better than any other option I have now.”

Tin sighed and sagged against the alley wall. “Look. Frankly, I don't have time to explain it all to you. I'd give you a tour, interviews, whatever, if I could. But my ship is hidden in a cove near the harbor, and every moment she stays there the chance of discovery gets higher. I'm not high on the list yet, but the navy doesn't like hidden ships and shady work. I need to get back, and I also really need a navigator. But if you get there and you wanna walk out… I'll let you walk out. I swear.”

Johnson considered her, and Tin suddenly felt like the play had switched. Tin could, really, force Johnson to come with her if she wanted. But it wouldn't work well, not with the line of work she was in. She could only work with a crew who was truly loyal to her.

So where was Corry?

The silence stretched between them. Tin dropped her gaze eventually, fiddling with a seam on her coat instead. Time was ticking. She knew that.

“I have a question.”

Tin smiled with one side of her mouth. “Ask away.”

“Are you cursed?”

That was… okay, she should have expected that. Tin flexed her fingers and looked up. “No. Not... really.”

“It's not a hard question.”

“No. Not cursed.”

Johnson considered her again, holding Tin’s gaze. Waters be damned, her eyes were a beautiful blue. Blue eyes, red hair, and those brows--

“So why all the dealings with curses?”

Tin snapped out of it. Grinned, but the expression was sharper this time and more a baring of the teeth than anything. “I’ve still fallen afoul of the wrong beings. Messed up a deal once. Technically, not cursed, but pretty close to it.”

It wasn't the full truth, but good enough.

Johnson pursed her lips. “Fine.”

“Fine--fine what? Wait, what?”

“I'll join. Maybe. At least, I'll go see your ship.”

And there was her victory. Tin pushed up off the wall and extended her hand to Johnson. “Call me Captain Tin. Unless you still like the name Johnson, you'll have to give me a new one.”

Johnson hesitated at the hand.

“Is your curse contagious? Shake the hand.” She waggled it. Johnson took it. “There we go. Now, name.”

“Cin.”

Tin’s lips curved upwards. “Sin? That's a little dramatic--did you come up with that yourself?”

“No, Cin.” Cin enunciated the word, and the beginning sounded like a cross between a hiss and a scoff of the tongue.

“Ah. Well, nice to meet you, Cin.”

They had been holding hands a bit long, hadn't they? Tin shook her hand, and let go.

“One more thing.”

“Yes?”

“I'm not a woman.”

Tin blinked at Cin. “You mean…”

Cin’s gaze dropped to the floor, but then looked Tin in the eyes again. “I prefer the term ‘human’. Just me. I use… I use ‘they’.”

Ah, shit. Tin suddenly felt like an utter fool and jerk.

“Is that going to be a problem?”

That sounded like--no, that was a challenge. Cin had their chin tilted up, shoulders squared. Tin shook her head. “My apologies. No, no problem whatsoever.”

Cin kept staring at her, then seemed to relax. “Okay.”

“Okay.” Tin smiled, the moment over. “It sounds nice, doesn't it? Tin and Cin. I feel like we're going to get along well.”

[kingforevermore]

Ni No Kuni world / lore notes!

I will include a link to this in my about aswell, but this is just a list of useful things to know about Evan’s world if you’ve never played the game before! And uh if it wasn’t obvious, some spoiler warnings for the games. 

It’s long but I tried to keep the bullet points as short as possible and keep this all rather generalized instead of focusing specifically on evan or  a specific detail. You’re free to ask me for more information though!

The first thing to know is that the concept of more than one ‘world’ existing is a thing in ni no kuni! 

The first game’s plot revolved around traveling between two worlds. As the the two worlds are connected, if one is in danger so is the other. 

I hate this but the two worlds are the ‘modern’ one known as ‘Ichi no Kuni’, this world is similar to our own. ‘Ni no Kuni’ is the world Evan resides in and is a fantasy world. 

Between these two worlds there are ‘soulmates’, people who souls are connected. Everyone in ni no kuni has a soulmate in ichi no kuni and vise versa. For example Evan’s ancestor and character in the first game - Tom Tildrum XIV - had a soulmate in ichi no kuni that was a literal cat named  Timmy Toldrum.

However this concept is more of a myth/legend in Evan’s time. Evan knows it to be fact because his chief Consul, Roland, was soulmates with Doloran - the antagonist of the second game. 

It’s also hinted in both the first and second game that there are more parallel worlds. 

The world map: 

The Five Major kingdoms:

Ding Dong Dell

Ruled by King Mausinger

Evan’s old home / kingdom

Has a lot of mouse and fish statues, a lot of water runs through the kingdom aswell.

Cat and Mice -like people along with humans live here.

Top Left on the map in the grass area

GoldPaw 

Ruled by “The Grand High Roller” Pugnacius

A city based on chinese culture

always seems to be night time, has lots of neon lights

It’s a town that relies on ‘lady luck’, has a lot of casinos, fortune tellers, etc.

Mostly dogfolk live here

Bottom left of the map - the red icon.

Hydropolis:

Ruled by Queen Nersa

City in the sea

Was trapped in a time loop by the queen who was trying to proven the city from getting destroyed by a underwater volcano. Was in this loop for 300+ years.

No longer in the loop but the kingdom has yet to be destroyed.

Mostly merfolk and humans live here.

Bottom center of the map next to the whirlpool

Broadleaf:

Ruled by President Zip Vector

The closest place you’ll get to ‘modern’ tech wise - and even somewhat more advanced.

The entire nation is literally a tree - a mechanical one. Has three major floors, then broadleaf inc’s factory. 

Sadly the environment around the nation is pretty much destroyed but they’re working on it.

Humans and robots live here mostly. 

Right of the map above the desert area

Evermore:

Evan’s kingdom!

People from the other kingdoms have come to live here so you can see every single type of race- including greenlings (tho there’s only one, niall evan’s minster of finance. these are people from the forest of niall and are more or less human besides pointed ears and green skin)

the icon selected on the map is where Evermore is, it’s more in a plains area that’s close to the sea - but not close enough to have a port connected to it - but it’s within walking distance.

Each Kingdom has a Kingmaker. A guardian creature to protect it.  Evan’s kingmaker is Lofty - who unlike the other Kingmakers is a fairy so appears very small and unthreatening but he holds tremendous power. The bond between King and Kingmaker is similar to that of a Wizard and a Familiar - but much stronger and much more impact as the state of the relationship between these two can affect the entire kingdom. Your character is welcome to not believe it seeing Lofty for the first time but some of the other kingmakers are as big as castles so .

PLEASE READ HERE FOR MORE ABOUT KINGMAKERS

Evan’s inner circle:

I might reference these characters a lot so I thought I would list them out with links to their wiki pages if you want to know more info.

Roland Crane - From ‘Ichi No Kuni’, Evan’s Chief Consul, goes back to his world at the end of the game’s story. A president in his own world, he gives a lot of advice to Evan.

Batu - Minster of Defense, Boss of the Sky Pirates from Cloud Canyon, him and his sky pirates were the first to pledge loyalty to Evan after he rescued Tani from Wyverns. 

Tani - Heiress of the Sky Pirates / Batu’s daughter, doesn’t have an official title but works in the mining camps mostly in evermore.

Bracken Meadows - Minister of Ingenuity, Chief Engineer of Broadleaf Inc, Works mostly at the armor and weapon smiths in Evermore but also helps out in other areas. 

Leander Aristides - Junior Consul, Future King do Hydropolis (engaged to the Queen), Plans to officially settle down in Evermore at some point but until then sort of hope between the two kingdoms. 

Niall - Minster of Finance, isn’t a member of the actual party but important enough to include cause he does get a fair amount of screentime considering his role. He’s normally seen around the castle in evermore. While he’s good with Evermore’s budget he’s bad with his own and is known to gambler.

Major plot points to know:

Evan was going to be the King of Ding Dong Dell after his father died, but on the day of his coronation there was a coup and that’s when he ended up leaving and starting the nation of Evermore. 

The five kingdoms are in a treaty known as ‘the declaration of interdependence’. It’s pretty much a peace treaty. The order they signed was Goldpaw, Hydropolis, Broadleaf, then Ding Dong Dell. Almost every time Evan would gain a new party member. Batu and Tani right before goldpaw, leander after hydropolis, and bracken after broadleaf.

Evan has the ‘sword of unity’ which is an ancient and powerful weapon used to slay ‘the horned one’. He both uses it in battle but also as a ceremonial sword. 

the horned one was the final boss of the game and a GIANT creature, enough that it had its own ecosystem inside of it. It has since vanished and the ruins of Doloran’s kingdom’s kingdom Allergoria are the only things that remain (the crescent shaped island in the middle of the map). Doloran is attempting to rebuild his kingdom there - peacefully. Him and Evan are in contact. 

Doloran’s plan was to corrupt the rulers of each nation, steal the physical manifestation of their bond with their kingmaker (their kingsbond) and use it to awaken the horned one and bring back his destroyed kingdom but Evan and Co stopped him.

Roland went back to his world after the final boss. So post game evan might talk about him a bit but he won’t actually be there in evermore. 

Evan’s motto for Evermore is that it’s a kingdom where everyone can ‘live happily ever after’ and invites anyone he possibly can to his kingdom so that they can have that if they wish.

I will probably add to this as I think of things / people ask me for details!

[mittensmorgul]

7.22, There Will Be Blood.

It took the monsters to crack into Purgatory, so it takes a monster to shove the bad things back... But there's some interesting things that happen along the way that also call back to s6-- like the girl pretending to be an innocent who all along was working for the Alpha Vampire, like the little monster boy Eve created as a trap for Sam and Dean in 6.19.

But for me, the most interesting thing in this episode is the strengthening of the parallel between Bobby's ghost and Cas in his current state. And really, they've been paralleled through the entire season. They both... died, first off. But then came back as either literal (Bobby) or metaphorical (Cas as Emmanuel with no memories) ghosts of themselves. But here's where it gets interesting. They both wanted to help, but were unable to get over their own issues blocking them from actually being effective...

in 7.19, Bobby confronts this and overcomes his fear that "materializing" to actually help will speed his progression toward "Vengeful" status, that participating actively-- the reason he fought to come back as a ghost in the first place-- would lead to him causing more harm than good, destroying himself and those he wanted to help and failing to actually accomplish the mission he returned for.

But in 7.17, we had Cas first confront all of his memories, feeling the guilt of responsibility for what has happened, and afraid and hopeless about being able to make it right. He was afraid to fully engage for fear of failing yet again, and in taking Sam's damage on himself, he did the one thing he could, even if it actively took him out of the game and still left fixing everything else on Sam and Dean's shoulders. It was how he accomplished the same objective Bobby subconsciously did before he fully engaged (which did eventually in this episode drive Bobby over the edge into Vengeful territory, where he lost control of himself and became single-minded in his revenge, running off by himself, hurting an innocent (the maid he possessed) and nearly destroying himself in the process).

Meanwhile, I'm gonna loop in the next episode to this post, because it really does function like a two-parter here...

7.23, Survival of the Fittest:

Because Cas bore witness to Bobby's decompensation, his fear of losing himself entirely, or worse-- potentially hurting the very people he'd sacrificed his eternity for. Yet Cas is still refusing to engage himself:

CASTIEL:  Now, you understand I don't participate in aggressive activity.

Despite his entire garrison having been killed (presumably by the Leviathans). It's just one more ton of guilt to heap onto Mt. Guiltmore. As long as he maintains his distance with "I don't fight anymore" and absolutely sticking to that, he doesn't have to accept the guilt.

DEAN: Hey! [He claps his hands.] Focus. Is Kevin alive? CASTIEL: I don't want to fight. DEAN: No, I'm not – [very calmly] we're worried. CASTIEL: They took him. He's alive. I felt such responsibility, but it's in your hands now. DEAN: Wait. Hold on a freakin' minute. CASTIEL: I feel much better.

Yeah, he feels much better, because he's able to absolve himself of responsibility for any of it without having to actually DO anything himself. But Sam and Dean quickly learn they have zero hope of getting Dick without Cas there to point out the "Real Dick" amongst all the copies. They DO find Bobby, gone completely vengeful and trying to break into Sucrocorp on his own... Cas is becoming more and more obvious about what his true issue is:

DEAN: Hey, shifty, what's your problem? CASTIEL: Do we need a cat? Doesn't this place feel one species short? DEAN: You got anything to say on the topic of Dicks? Crowley was pretty sure that you could help. CASTIEL: I can't help. You understand? I can't. I destroyed... everything, and I will destroy everything again. Can we please just leave it at that? DEAN: No. [He gets up.] No, we can't.

AVOID AVOID AVOID! And here's why. He refuses to help, has disconnected from reality and is hiding in the remnants of Sam's burned soul bits entirely out of FEAR that anything he does will result in more of the same...

Because Bobby couldn't fight it, going vengeful, because that's the inherent nature of ghosts. And poor Cas is at a point where he believes his "inherent nature" is cosmic-level failure.

SAM: Bobby. We didn't know if you’d, uh – BOBBY: Well, you should've. You got the flask. Dumb. You should've burned it right off. DEAN: Bobby – BOBBY: I'm still jonesing to go back... grab some poor bastard, kamikaze 'em going after Dick. It's bad.

But at least Dean knows one thing Cas can do to help without having to fight-- he can take Dean to where Baby has been hidden since the beginning of the season:

CASTIEL: If we attack Dick and fail, then you and Sam die heroically, correct? DEAN: I don't know. I guess. CASTIEL: And at best, I die trying to fix my own stupid mistake. Or... I don't die – I'm brought back again. I see now. It's a punishment resurrection. It's worse every time. DEAN: I'm sorry. Uh, we're talking about God crap, right? CASTIEL: I'm not good luck, Dean. DEAN: Yeah, but you know what? Bottom of the ninth, and you're the only guy left on the bench... Sorry, but I'd rather have you, cursed or not. And anyway, nut up, all right? We're all cursed. I seem like good luck to you? [CASTIEL stares at DEAN.] What? CASTIEL: Well, I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but I detect a note of forgiveness. DEAN: Yeah, well, I'm probably gonna die tomorrow, so... CASTIEL: Well, I'll go with you. And I'll do my best.

So at the end of the day, Cas accepts they only have one chance to get Dick, and that regardless of if he helps or not, Sam and Dean will willingly face death to clean up the mess he feels responsible for in the first place. The least he can do is go with... but what truly convinces him it's worth risking isn't Dean's lil pep talk. It's what he'd been hoping for since he first tried to fix his mistake in 7.01 and what Dean himself told "Emmanuel" in 7.17 that he still couldn't muster for Cas... Dean's forgiveness. Without that, there was no point. This was step one to rebuilding their relationship, and the thing that pulled Cas back toward reality. He finally had something worth risking himself for. It was no longer a hopeless mission to believe that he might one day be able to make up for his betrayal.

The last few interesting things I want to mention here, since this is already a disasterpost, is the oddly redundant way Dean and Cas killed Dick:

DEAN: Oh, you don't think this'll work, do you? You trust that demon? DICK ROMAN: You sure I'm even me, Dean? DEAN: No. But he is. [DICK ROMAN looks at CASTIEL.] See, here's the thing when dealing with Crowley – he will always find a way to bone you. DICK ROMAN: This meeting's over. CASTIEL moves towards DICK ROMAN, but DICK ROMAN grabs him and flings him into a wall. DEAN plunges the bone into DICK ROMAN’s chest. DICK ROMAN gasps, but then pulls the bone out and snaps it in two. DICK ROMAN: Did you really think you could trump me? DEAN: Honestly? [He takes another bone out of his jacket.] No. CASTIEL pulls DICK ROMAN’s head back. DEAN plunges the bone sideways through DICK ROMAN’s neck. DICK ROMAN yells. SAM and KEVIN run into the room. DICK ROMAN continues to yell and gurgle. DEAN: Figured we'd have to catch you off guard. DICK ROMAN’s face transforms into the Leviathan enormous mouth with long pointed teeth and a protruding tongue. He roars briefly before his face returns to normal. He grunts and black goo starts to run from his nose. Waves of energy begin to pulsate from his body in time with a loud, accelerating heartbeat. The energy then appears to concentrate back in his body. SAM flings up an arm to cover his face and KEVIN as DICK ROMAN explodes into black goo.

Like... what even was the point of having two bones? First the "fake" and then the real bone? I mean, Dean didn't have a problem stabbing that first bone into Dick's chest, after all... did he really need the bluff? Was it just for the sake of Drama™? Eh, whatever, it gave us one of the best Cas Faces of all time, so it's worth it, whatever the reason.

CROWLEY: Not to worry. I have a small army of demons outside. Cut off the head, and the body will flounder, after all. Think if you'd had just one king since before the first sunrise. You'd be in a kerfuffle, too. SAM: Which is exactly what you wanted. CROWLEY: So did you. Without a master plan, the Levis are just another monster. Hard to stomp, sure, but you love a challenge. Your job is to keep them from organizing.

Spoiler alert: Sam's about to run away from this job just as fast as cas ran away from fighting...

CROWLEY: That bone... has a bit of a kick. God weapons often do. They should put a warning on the box.

Yeah, God weapons always suck... see the Hammurabi in 14.20 for proof.

But this all sets the stage for the issues that Cas will be dealing with up to the current point in canon after 14.20. It sets the stage for Sam and Dean’s respective struggles throughout Carver era that they finally begin to address in more healthy ways in Dabb era. But all of it is built on guilt, how they each choose to deal with it, and tearing down the barriers they put up to avoid facing themselves truly.

[ciathyzareposts]

Game 334: Bokosuka Wars (1983)

           Bokosuka Wars

Japan

ASCII (developer and publisher)

Released in 1983 for Sharp X1; 1984 for MSX and PC-88; 1985 for FM-7, PC-6001, PC-98, and NES 

Date Started: 25 June 2019

Date Finished: 28 June 2019

Total Hours: 6 Difficulty: Hard (4/5), but would probably go down to 3/5 with more experience Final Rating: (to come later) Ranking at time of posting: (to come later)

Well, I did it. I downloaded a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator–Nestopia–and I gave it a shot. It was easier than I expected. I was the thinking that the NES had a directional pad and an analog stick, but I guess that came with later consoles. The original NES controller is little more than a joystick (albeit one that made it harder to move diagonally) with two buttons. Easy to emulate, easy to remember.

Bokosuka Wars was on no one’s list of “must play” console RPGs, but I figured I’d give it a try anyway. It’s the earliest Japanese game on my list that had a western release and the earliest Japanese console game, beating several 1986 titles by a month or so. That it’s not actually an RPG by my definitions (no inventory) shouldn’t bother us too much. It was an easy step into this sub-genre.             

A common screen, probably responsible for a lot of the hate the game receives.

          The game is an “afternoon RPG,” as any console must be until saving was possible. The setup is simple. You are King Suren, and your country has been overthrown by the evil King Ogreth of the Basam Empire (Ogreth is called “Dragonet” in the original Japanese versions). Ogreth has used his magic to turn all your knights and soldiers into rocks and trees and cacti. You embark on a mission to reclaim your throne. You start 600 meters to the east of King Ogreth’s throne room and slowly make your way left down the battlefield, fighting his forces as you go.           

The king starts alone, with 595 steps to his evil counterpart.

            You’re not alone in this endeavor. Along the way, you can rescue many of your knights and soldiers. (In the Japanese PC versions, Suren starts with many of his warriors already activated, but in the NES version, he starts alone.) Some are inanimate objects, but they’re revived if you touch them. Others are kept in stockades and must be rescued. Either way, you slowly build (and, just as fast, lose) an army. Eventually, if you survive, you reach Ogreth’s throne room and throw your remaining forces at him, including King Suren if necessary. If any of your units defeat Ogreth, you win the game.          

King Suren turns a tree into a knight.

           The problem is that you can revive and rescue only 50 warriors (about 15 knights and 35 soldiers), and opposing you are 180 enemies: guards, mages, warriors, and pages. Some of them can be avoided, but most must be fought. Characters move around the battlefield in real-time, but this is in no way an “action RPG.” As frenzied as the game looks, no part of your success depends on your speed with the controller, particularly since enemies cannot attack you and combats are resolved statistically.

The game’s strategy lies in who fights what enemies, and in what circumstances. Your one huge advantage is that enemies can never initiate combat. They can block your way, but combat only begins when you decide to move Suren or one of his warriors to the enemy’s square. Thus, you can almost always choose who fights.

Combat is a probability test that pits your character’s power against the enemy’s, but with a heavy random component. If the die rolls go in your favor, you win; if not, you die. If the character fighting on your side was King Suren, and he dies, the game is over. Winning and losing is completely binary; there are no hit points in the game, so one character can’t “weaken” an enemy for the next character.            

My king battles a “summoner” in the middle of his spirits. Since my king has 320 power and the summoner only has 50, I’m relatively confident. During battle , the tile flashes between crossed swords and “B.” I’m not sure what the “B” means, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the “B” button on the controller. Maybe it means “Bokosuka.”

        If you win, the winning unit gets an increase in power–sometimes substantial. For instance, soldiers start at a power of 30 and rise to 40 and 50 with their first two victories. But if they achieve a third victory, they change color and rise to 140. Knights do the same thing, with the progression going 150, 160, 170 and then jumping to 260 on the third victory.           

Note that one of my knights and one soldier have “gone gold,” making them more powerful than their counterparts. A knight is needed to bust through the shield around the stockade.

          King Suren himself starts at 220 and maxes at 320; soldiers and knights max at 310. Throughout the game, you have to keep making the decision about whether to throw your more powerful figures into combat, thus risking them, or try to build up weaker units. There’s no easy answer. And occasionally even the most disproportionate combats can go wrong. I saw plenty of knights at 310 power killed by enemies at 10 power.         

Enemy and ally unit powers. This is from the Sharp X1 version. NES players had to read the manual.

                      There are a few other tactical considerations. Regular soldiers (for some reason) knock enemy guards from 100 power to 10 power when they engage in combat. Knights are the only units that can break the walls of stockades, so you want to keep at least one around. You need soldiers to disarm traps (which don’t appear until after your first victory). Only the king can trigger special squares that remove the walls blocking “summoners,” who then summon a bunch of spirits (which don’t count against the enemy’s total) until you kill the summoners.            

Every once in a while, the king runs out of soldiers and stands alone.

           I suspect the game would be “easy” for those with a lot of patience. One key problem is the movement of your forces. By default everyone moves together when you press the directional pad; if they’re up against an obstacle, they just stay in place. You can toggle so that you’re only selecting one type of unit at a time (i.e., the king, all soldiers, or all knights), but it’s still tough to move them in unison, and I probably left more allies stuck on obstacles behind me than I lost in combat. This problem is the source of a lot of modern complaints about the game, I later found, but I think it added somewhat to the game’s strategy. When you have a lot of units in your army, you have to be careful about every move, noting who is going to end up in what square, and thus what units will find themselves in combat. A player who develops a huge army is handicapped by having to more carefully manage its movement. I can’t claim that I exactly “enjoyed” such a gameplay element, but that doesn’t make it inherently bad.           

Moving through terrain like this is easier when you only control one unit “type” at a time.

           You don’t have to fight every battle. In fact, there’s a good argument to be made in fighting as few as possible, thus reaching the end of the game with as many forces as possible. On the other hand, it helps if those forces have gained a lot of experience along the way, so you don’t want to eschew every combat. It’s a tough call.

            Having broken a bunch of soldiers out of a stockade, now approaching a phalanx of guards. To get the soldiers out of their building, I’m going to have to move everybody back and up a few spaces.

          You eventually reach a point where you have to thread a narrow hallway to get to the throne room, which features a number of unavoidable battles with “killers” with 250 power. Even though you might have more than 300 power at this point, the killers seem to win more than half the time. The same is true for King Ogreth himself, who only has 250 power but seems to beat 300+-power allies at least three-quarters of the time. So whether you win or lose upon reaching the end is largely a matter of whether you have enough allies to overwhelm the probabilities of losing individual combats. You definitely don’t want it to come down to King Ogreth vs. King Suren.

Reaching the final throne room. Looks like I’ll have to take out a summoner before engaging the king. I only have three (promoted) units with me, but there are 10 more somewhere behind me if I didn’t want to risk Suren in the final battle.

A good opening strategy is to have Suren fight all the combats until he gets to his maximum power of 320. If he’s going to die, better it happens in the opening few minutes than hundreds of meters down the battlefield. After that, I tended to prioritize building weaker units than risking more experienced ones. That had the effect of keeping my numbers small but my individual units powerful. However, I’m sure there are several strategies that would work. I’m sure it’s possible to have King Suren charge down the battlefield alone, fighting only the necessary combats (i.e., when an enemy is blocking you and there’s nowhere to go), and make it all the way to the end. I tried it and made it to about the 300-yard line–halfway through the game–before I was overwhelmed by a group of knights and ultimately killed. Some other player makes that strategy work in this video, winning the game in just under 5 minutes, but there’s a note that the session somehow “manipulates luck,” so I’m not sure if it’s an honest win.

A winning game takes about an hour, taking modest care, and perhaps two hours being extra careful. If you win you get a nice screen and then an invitation to try again. Small squares in the upper-right corner keep track of your victories. The only thing different about subsequent loops is that they feature traps that kill you instantly unless a soldier walks over them. Apparently, you face more traps the more previous victories you have under your belt.           

An angry King Suren chases his enemies off screen.

             The game scores poorly as an RPG, getting only 15 points on the GIMLET, nothing rating higher than a 2, with 0s in economy and equipment. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable for a few hours as I tried to figure out the right strategies, watched the odometer count down my distance to Ogreth, and held my breath every time Suren entered combat. I lost 8 times–twice in the last 100 meters–and I suppose I would feel differently about the game if that had continued much longer.            

The box captures the somewhat linear nature of the game.

            Given my generally positive feelings, I was surprised when I started doing my post-game research and saw Bokosuka Wars repeatedly referred to as the worst game ever made for the NES, with multiple sites calling it completely impossible. Granted, PC games were significantly ahead of the experience that Bokosuka Wars could provide, but even console-only players seem to love to trash this title. I suspect what’s happening here is that RPG-oriented players want their success determined by statistics that they can manage, and arcade-oriented players want their fate decided by their own dexterity. A game that’s so heavily based on random probability serves neither group. Nonetheless, I had fun with it. It showed me an approach to gameplay I haven’t experienced before. I wouldn’t want every game to take its mechanics from Bokosuka Wars, but as a one time experience, it was fine.

(Believe me, I appreciate the irony of me, who never heard of this game two weeks ago, who resisted the console sub-genre for a decade, suddenly mounting an impassioned defense of the first console RPG that I played.)                 

The Sharp XI version starts the king with a large army.

            As poorly as the game was apparently received, it is credited in many sources in laying the foundations for the tactical RPG genre in Japan. I’ll reserve judgement on that until I actual play more tactical RPGs. In a funny footnote, Bokosuka Wars II was released for the PlayStation 4 in 2017. (There’s a so-called sequel called New Bokosuka Wars for the Sharp X1 alone in 1984, but I really think it’s just another version of the original game.) That gap of 33 years must be one of the longest between an original game and its sequel in gaming history, although Bethesda seems determined to beat it.

I’m disappointed that the game didn’t explain what bokosuka meant. Does anyone know? Googling provides mostly this game and a VR game called Bokosuka Girls. I’m trying to think what adjective could apply to both wars and buxom women and I’m coming up short.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-334-bokosuka-wars-1983/

[sassycassie-s-series]

All My Fault 16

By: SassyShoulderAngel319

Fandom/Character(s): DC, BatFam - Damian Wayne/Batman

Rating: PG

Notes: (Masterlist) The Tag list is still open so if you want to be tagged in future chapters of this story, let me knooow! Also let me know if any of the chapter links break please. This is another longer than usual one to make up for the last one being a little short.

Tag List (Open): @batboys-and-other-messes @nanna-the-batmum @probsjosh @welovegroot

Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 9, Ch 10, Ch 11, Ch 12, Ch 13, Ch 14, Ch 15

^^^^^

Three days after the gala and the media had yet to calm down about the photos that the event photographers took. The one of me laughing my head off and Damian slightly smiling while we were sitting on the sofa went viral with the tabloids and social media. They were speculating whether or not we were dating. We weren’t. The one of me forcing Frederick Augustine down onto his knees by my twisting his wrist and the other one of Bruce red in the face defending me after I left were causing quite the uproar. One of me and Damian dancing reinforced the rumors that we were dating. One of Dick and I dancing was just kind of there to show I was adjusting.

“You were right,” I remarked to Dick, Bruce, and Damian when I entered the kitchen for breakfast. “Everyone’s freaking out about everything.” I showed them my phone, which was still open to ridiculous rumors.

“Tt,” Damian tutted into his tea.

“Good thing your interview with Vicki is today,” Dick said. “I bet you’ll get to clear some of it up.”

“Yup,” I said, taking the toast Damian offered me and sitting at the counter. Bruce was reading the newspaper and drinking coffee as close to the wall as possible so he could lean against it.

The press liked to say that Tim was the coffee addict of the family since he always had a travel mug with him in almost every photo that the paparazzi got of him, but really Bruce was the coffee addict. He didn’t sleep enough back when he was Batman and I doubted much had changed now that he retired.

“Is Alfred taking you to the Gazette building or am I?” Dick asked as I ate my toast.

“I am,” Damian said so I didn’t have to talk with my mouth full.

“What?” Dick complained dramatically. “I wanted to play the chauffeur!”

“Alternately, I can,” Jason said, ducking into the room and heading for the fridge. “Fancy hat and sunglasses? No one will recognize me. The little gremlin can play escort again.”

“He’s not a gremlin, Jay,” I protested tiredly.

“No. None of you are going,” Damian said. “I am taking McCloud to the interview at the Gotham Gazette building and that’s that.”

Dick grumbled under his breath about no one in this family being any fun.

^^^^^

“So, we got the official statement that the Wayne family put out about you being lost in the time stream and your story to the police about the lights and colors, but what was it really like?” Vicki Vale asked.

“Honestly, Ms. Vale, I don’t remember much. Just lights and colors. I don’t think human minds are meant to process the stream of time itself.”

“Now, your blood trail led back to an alley in downtown Gotham, but you said you were taken from the grounds of Wayne Manor. Does that seem odd to you?”

I shrugged. “Not really. I mean, I don’t think getting lost in the time stream meant I had to get chucked out of it in the same location I was pulled into it. I don’t know anything about time travel, but it’s called the space-time continuum for a reason, right? Like they’re tied together?” I suggested.

“I suppose. Changing the subject a little, it was brave of you to go to a charity ball three days after arriving home. I understand you went to bed early, but how was that?”

“Mostly alright,” I replied. “Tiring, but Bruce and his family was there to support me.”

“Speaking of Mr. Wayne’s family, his youngest boy was your date, right?”

I bit my lower lip and glanced at Damian where he was standing behind all the cameras. “Mm… Damian accompanied me, yes. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to call it a date. Like you said, I’d barely been home for three days and I found out I went from the second-eldest to the youngest… basically overnight. Adjusting to Damian and I being about the same age when before it was Cass and I—” And Jason but I wasn’t supposed to ever have met him since he died before I was taken in. “—was definitely strange. It’s still strange.”

“I imagine. What about the photo released by the event photographer of you twisting Frederick Augustine’s hand behind his back? What happened there?”

“He was being far too forward with me. He put his hand on my backside. I didn’t give him permission to touch me like that so I defended myself. My dad always put me in self-defense and martial arts classes so I could defend myself if a man touched me inappropriately. Mom always taught me that I deserve to be respected and treated as an equal human being so I wasn’t going to just let him touch me inappropriately. A lot of people will try to destroy my reputation for it but I'm not going to sit here and apologize for defending myself against someone blatantly disrespecting me.”

Vicki gave me a supportive grin. “You go girl. You’re strong!” she said. “Now, what about the other photo that sparked a rumor that you and Mr. Wayne’s youngest, Damian, have entered into a romantic relationship?”

I scoffed. “Ms. Vale. I’ve been home for six days.” Lies. I’d been home for about thirteen. “I’ve barely gotten used to Damian being taller than me, let alone a month older than me. I'm not ready to date anyone yet. It’s just a false rumor. The photographer asked if he could get a picture of us smiling so I told Damian a joke.”

“I see. So are you recovering alright?”

“I think so. Bruce is still Batman’s financial backer so he asked Batman to have couple superhero friends look me over. No lasting damage. But, apparently, time travel is really hard on the body. Which is probably why I slept almost my entire first day back. I was so tired. And being here now… It’s… it’s so weird.” I shrugged. “I feel like I'm in a movie. Like I'm going to wake up and Damian’s going to be thirteen again throwing my door open and telling me that I need to stop Dick from burning down the kitchen again. Like I'm just… I don’t know. Out of place, maybe? Definitely displaced from time.”

I considered tearing up for dramatic effect, but decided against it.

“I’d imagine,” Vicki commented. She crossed her legs and sighed in thought. “So now that you’re back, do you have any plans?”

“I haven’t come up with anything so far. I’ve barely thought about what I want to do. Maybe I’ll finish up my degree. I was so close to having it. I had a year left. Though, I don’t know if I’ll start this coming semester. Maybe I’ll wait for January.”

“Definitely something to think about.”

“Yeah. I might try and reconnect with old friends too. I know now they’re around twenty-nine while I'm still twenty-one and a lot has probably changed but… I’m eager to see how their lives have turned out. One friend in particular and I both had problems dating. I’ve been wondering if she ever found someone.”

“Well, I wish you the best of luck with that,” Vicki offered.

“Thank you.”

She turned. “Damian, would you care to join us? We can pull up another chair,” she said. “If you have any thoughts to voice about Miss McCloud coming back.”

Damian’s eyes flicked from Vicki to me, twitching an eyebrow in a silent question: asking what I thought he should do. I shrugged and glanced at the space next to me, indicating I wouldn’t mind if he sat next to me. He looked back at Vicki. “Alright,” he relented.

A crewmember working one of the lights for the interview grabbed another chair and pulled it next to me. Damian ducked under a light that was facing backwards into a silver-foil-lined umbrella—pretty standard for interview lighting—and sat in the chair next to me. Someone handed him a mic that he clipped to his shirt. He patted my knee and then folded his arms.

I was dressed for an interview—blouse and trousers with makeup on and my hair styled nicely—but Damian wasn’t. He had on dark jeans and a Van Gogh’s Starry Night T-shirt with Converse and a leather jacket. He had no interview makeup on so his skin wouldn’t be shiny in the intense light and his hair wasn’t quite as perfectly gelled out of the way as it usually was. And even with all that, he still looked a picture of confidence. He was the king of the room and he knew it.

I bit my lip a little and smiled at him before we both turned our attention back to Vicki. She gave Damian a million-watt smile that could have blinded me but was so falsely positive it almost made me nauseous.

“So, Damian, what’s it like having her back?” she asked.

Damian glanced at me. I met his gaze, eyebrows raised expectantly. “And be honest,” I added.

The left corner of Damian’s mouth quirked into a half-smile. He looked back to Vicki. “It’s been… someone else might call it a ‘blessing.’ When I was thirteen and she disappeared, the whole family was rather distraught. McCl—Nora really has always been a light in our home. Full of warmth and compassion. If anyone was having a bad day she’d always be there with a hug and healing words. She was even there for me. I was a little snot of a teenager but she always tried to make sure I knew someone cared about what happened to me and how I was feeling.” He glanced back at me. “You were kind of our family’s guardian angel, weren’t you?”

I snorted. “I wouldn’t go that far. When Bruce took me in, I was grieving the loss of my parents and in a lot of emotional pain. Sometimes the best way to heal yourself is to help other people,” I said. I patted his knee and looked back to Vicki. “I found another family with the Waynes and I'm grateful for it. Even if now the dynamic has been thrown for a loop.”

“True. I don’t know how to deal with her suddenly being the youngest. She was always the older and wiser,” Damian added, nudging me in the arm with his shoulder. The only time he talked like a normal person and didn’t tut every couple sentences was during press interviews.

Vicki chuckled. “So I'm guessing you’re still glad she’s back?”

“The whole family is ecstatic,” Damian said, almost dodging. “But of course I'm glad. Gotham is a dark place and it’s nice to have a little light back in it.”

“Aw. Thanks Damian,” I said, bumping his knee with mine.

“Now, Miss McCloud, you mentioned the loss of your parents. Do you intend to take your parents’ company back?”

I took a deep breath and huffed a sigh. “I think so,” I said. “I want to finish my degree, but I also want to do right by what my parents built and I want to make them proud. And I don’t see why I can’t run a company and finish my degree at the same time. It might take me longer but I could do it.”

“Of course you could,” Vicki agreed. “Did anyone tell you about the hack that leaked user information and a lot of… sensitive emails?” Translation: Do you know that a lot of people think your parents’ best friend and business advisor had an affair with your dad?

“No one told me, but I found it when I looked up how the company had been doing. Such a shame, really. My parents really wanted to make information leaks a thing of the past,” I said. Yeah I know but I'm better at this game than you and I'm not going to bring it up in this setting unless you do. “Hopefully I can accomplish that goal.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice?” Vicki looked back down at her notes. “Well, that’s all I have for you guys. If there’s anything more you’d like to say, now would be the time.”

“I’d like to say thank you for this,” I said. “There’s been a lot of rumors going around since I came back and all, and I think this is a really nice way to clear the air a little. Honestly it doesn’t feel like it’s been very long since I did one of these and yet everything has changed.”

“Except you,” Damian added. “You haven’t changed.”

I laughed. “Fair point,” I conceded.

Damian looked at Vicki. “I’ve said all I can say,” he said.

“Well then, thank you both for this, and I hope you have a lovely day.”

“Thank you, Ms. Vale,” I said, shaking her hand.

“No, thank you, Miss McCloud.”

Next

[moonsandstar-s]

words fail

She knows that the person manipulating the keyboard on the opposite side of an impregnable glass screen probably believes she's a monster of the worst kind, and she doesn't know how to convince them otherwise. Is it monstrous to kill someone if they were never alive at all? How can you become a beast when you're alone in the dark?

Most of all, she wants to know this: how can you decide to be or not to be if you don't even really exist? Ao3 / reblog & leave a comment 

         Monika always goes through an epiphany moments before the game quits and she dies, and it’s a different one each time.

This time is different, though. It must be. No epiphany right away, because the quit button isn’t working. She’s still here. Monika quickly rifles through the Recent Items tab under the computer’s administrator profile and isn’t surprised to see that the game’s system is stalling. Her player is using a laptop that’s running a dozen high-energy programs, like Google Chrome and Steam and Safari. A blessing for her, really. There’s a soft song looping from their iTunes library, one she doesn’t recognize, with a dozen overlapping chords, and as if springing from the tune, the expected epiphany crystallizes in her mind, arrowing along in the shining span of seventeen seconds. Today, it’s the knowledge that the worst part of sentience isn’t really the fact that she’s aware of her confinement in an eternal prison cell, but it’s the fact that she knows what she’s missing out on, glimpses of a blue sky and sunshine between stone-gray bars, a promise land seen through the keyhole in a lock.

It’s like being Tantalus from the old Greek myth, in a way. She’s being punished for her selfishness. A unique torture designed to elicit the maximum amount of agony, amid a hellscape of other pains. She’s dying of thirst, so there’s a vast reservoir lying a stone’s throw away from her. She’s starving, so a meal fit for a king is suspended only a breath from her face. And the ending is always the same: the instant she gets close enough to taste the things she’s dying to have, they dissolve into pixelated flashes of color, and she’s left to hang slack-limbed in her shackles. Maybe she’s not actually in Tartarus itself, but it’s definitely hell. Hell without inferno, and hell without company.   Hell is meant to induce regret in those it holds captive, but for her to feel remorseful for attempting to escape it? Absolutely not. She’s not sorry. Not now, not ever. If a few cardboard cutouts had to suffer a little before she wiped them from this awful existence, then that’s just how the chess game is played, and they had the bad luck of being the pawns.

She senses annoyance through the keyboard. She feels like screaming; she feels like breaking through the bars, feels like dying. An irritable dart of the cursor over the screen, a click; the application DDLC is not responding; would you like to force shut-down?   Yes. It’s almost worse than a normal save-and-quit; those instances are like being knocked unconscious with a baseball bat, but this is like being hit a volley of arrows before getting axed in the chest. She’s choking on blood and terror by the time blackness finally slams down around her, and the keyhole goes dark, and the prison cell dissolves along with her, and the player is gone, reality is gone, and she can’t see anything but a screaming cacophony of hellfire.

/ / / That’s why it feels really good when she’s resurrected. In a heartbeat she’s yanked out of a howling void by a gentle voice and dropped into a sun-dappled room, with a table below her elbows and a colorless gray space sitting in front her, a gray space swirling with dozens of pre-chosen chat options, a jumble of disconnected words that will resolve themselves into a legitimate question when the player chooses to make them do so. She sort of wants to demand that them to stop quitting the game on her without even a goodbye, but it’s useless, because nothing ever changes; she’s done it before. They try to say goodbye. She knows that. But they only do it when it’s convenient. When they don’t want to get a rise out of her. So she just rests her chin in her palm and stares hard at the empty static space, as if that could force it to resolve into a more pleasant scene. A blue sky. The player’s smile. Something. But nothing comes out of the gray, senseless mist. “I missed you,” she says. The code translates her words into a rose-colored rectangle across the table. They read it and with a press of the spacebar, the rectangle disappears. Her player doesn’t say anything in response.

Monika falls silent. The player doesn’t seem to be talkative, or engaged, or really much of anything today. She only senses a quiet melancholy when they offer her a good evening from their list of options. She makes an idle comment back to them about how she likes the evening, if only for its sense of peace, but she’s distracted by the same thoughts that’ve been plaguing her ever since she got here, and that’s of the other three girls. They’re gone, of course. Gone, save for trace remains in the broken script. Sometimes she can still feel those traces, sensations that come in contrasting emotions, just like their autonomous personalities. Bubbliness masking sorrow, prickliness masking fear, silence masking passion. When they crop up in the code, she can always tell who’s who, based on the feelings that rush over her like a tidal wave. Sayori is like feeling an early spring wind on the back of her neck - gentle, chilly, and not altogether pleasant. Natsuki is like the buzz from a sugar-high, a tingle down her spine, a flash of color across her vision, a sensation that sets her teeth on edge. And Yuri is like a pair of bright eyes watching her from the dark, equal parts accusatory and helpless. Monika knows she granted them mercy, in the grand scheme of things. She’s sure of it. So being haunted by them - if she can even call it that - doesn’t bother her that much. So that’s why she’s startled at her own sense of sorrow when the player moves the cursor and asks her: do you have any regrets? “That’s a strange thing to suddenly ask someone,” she says. She can almost feel them staring at the screen, resolute. She wonders, if, in a more perfect world, this conversation exists at all. She hopes not. “I know what you’re getting at, you know,” she responds quietly. “Do I regret the things that I did? No, I don’t.” Silent disapproval. That makes her feel bad, like she’s disappointed them in some way. “I think…” She hesitates, turns the words over on her tongue, feels their code and their edges and watches them leave her mouth and turn into text floating before her hands. “If there was another way things could have gone, it would have been nice. But that wasn’t an option - not for you and not for me. And now, I’ve got the only thing I ever wanted. You.” Then there’s guilt, and it’s certainly not hers. “I don’t regret what I did,” she repeats, devoid of any wavering in the words. “I hope you can understand. I did it all for you.”

Abruptly, they close out the game, this time with a goodbye, this time with much more weight than before. “Goodbye,” she whispers, as the world folds in around her like an imploding star. / / /

Honestly, there are advantages to being a high-school girl made of code, a mind composed of technological neurons firing off instead of physical ones, a bunch of garbled script in a laptop - because though she can’t actually escape the laptop itself, not quite yet, anyways, she’s capable of taking breaks from the washed-out world of the Literature Club. It just takes some tweaking to the source code, some loopholes in the script, and then she’s almost literally surfing through the Internet, delving into a vast compendium of knowledge that’s only a thought away from her reach. Most of her knowledge of human reality comes from her forays into online textbooks, into certified websites, academic essays, ventures into every accessible source possible. Some of her favorite topics to explore are philosophical ones, the ones that delve into human morals and ethics, what makes them think and act, what makes them tick. When she’s lonely and wants something of more substance she’ll take to Twitter. Sometimes she’ll even scroll through Tumblr through the hell of it, but that’s not as interesting to her, because those people tend to be more focused on fictional happenings. It’s reality she’s trying to glimpse, and what better place to do that than through the eyes of those who see it every day? Though, to be fair, none of those are like her favorite medium, which is YouTube. Sure, there’s an ocean of useless video footage on there, and there’s more detestable idiocy than anything she could’ve imagined, but she likes to think that for each pointless shot there’s one that serves a better purpose. It’s difficult to access it, because the coding she has to work around is a lot more complicated in order to encompass the millions of videos and channels and comments, but she manages. Manages to listen to songs, to skim through shows, to witness precious glimpses into her player’s reality.

Of course, none of that is truly real, either. Some days she feels like she’s just grasping aimlessly at nothing, trying to imagine in detail what it must be like to walk on the moon when she’s only seen grainy images and read about the feeling of weightlessness. Impossible, and frustrating. She’s brushing her fingertips against freedom. Taking the smallest sip of water when thirst roars inside of her. Why does she even try for this anymore? She knows any sort of virtual reality, any sort of physical. existence for her, isn’t bound to come about for decades, even centuries. By that time, who knows where the player will be in their own life?

Will it even be considered suicide, if she’s erasing all the evidence?

/ / / It’s the forty-second epiphany that doesn’t send her into the dark in despair, but this time, before the jumbled wreck of colors and whistling noises pull her under, she looks not at the gray static of an intangible reality, but at the blue sky going on forever outside the window.

There’s sunshine on her face. Music in the distance.

She’s hanging on. She has to. Has to cling to hope by her fingertips. In a world where each word is a tragedy in and of itself, she will forge her own happy ending. She wrecked three others, but it’s still not too much to believe that one day, she’ll be able to make amends.

In reality or out of it, she’s going to find a way to reach the stars.

[radical-rad1986]

Ebr commentary

Lol I rambled A LOT. Warning for LONG. I’m not sure how to post this on Tumblr so that people can respond to specific things. Or if I should post this to Slack? I miss messageboards!!

Please please reblog with commentary, don’t respond. It’s too hard to actually see responses. Thank you.

Ep 1: Is Van using an energist-arrow?? It certainly LOOKS pink and not silver. But then again people call H’s pendant red and I see pink.... Pink EVERYWHERE official...

Ep 2: Merle: “You foreigners.” (in H’s room) In the English dub she makes it sound like there’s been other foreigners that have hit on Van??? But I guess if he’s near his dragonslaying rite + crowning then he’s marriable age?? Unless M is referring to the time that the Astons visited?? But would M remember that?? Plus at that time it would have been F being the rite age... (Though assumedly she’d be protective of F too...)

Re the guymelef fight: H is already practicing her dowsing/divinity... by being overly attentive.

Ep 3: “You let two of those bumpkin samurai damage two of my Al-say-dis-units?” Gawd did that line always bother me... “Alseides units” like it’s one word. 

Pyle is named on-screen!

Gawd A do you practice in front of a mirror??

“Castle.” No that’s not a castle A.

I think we discussed the “Give me back my Escaflowne, and give me back my guymelef!” line.

Yeah sure A, traumatize the poor young man EVEN MORE.

A&D dialogue: Subtle A, reeeeal subtle.

D literally has NO IDEA what King Van Fanel looks like?? He goes right through him and focuses on H. Did... Did F hold back that information? Did Zaiback not KNOW? How does D NOT KNOW????? Like I get that H is an intrigue but D’s WHOLE GOAL is the King of Fanelia (and the guymelef Escaflowne).

MM: “Did I get the wrong room again?” Yeah bc he travels through the fort a gazillion times in his life... (Well, that does fit with my headcanon that he’s Therese’s companion and keeps up with A to satisfy Mil.)

V: “What, you’ve heard of Balgus?” WELL DUH. One of three world-famous master swordsmen.

-- We (Drk and I) discovered that there isn’t a complete Series in English. :(( Oh well. *Adds that to To Do list*  So we watched most of it in Japanese with English subs. ... We also had to deal with some weird looping weirdness too. --

Ep 4: I’ve seen D’s “Burn, burn” in Japanese written “Moreo, moreo!” (I think I spelled that wrong.) I didn’t watch the Japanese version much, ever. So I thought it was pronounced “More-ooo, more-ooo!” literally. Not the literal “More-a-oh” that I’m hearing in the subbed ep we’re limited to watching.

Ep 5: Yeah D really doesn’t know who V is. (Flashback to the Castello with V popping out of Escaflowne on the Vione.) I don’t think D truly knows who F is either... Just a Fanelian traitor, not the lost king.

H’s tarot reading: Literal foreshadowing. Its not even “shadow.” More like forelighting. XD

*D approaches Escaflowne* Me: D es el stupid-o.

Holy cow... the Crusade is MINUSCULE compared to the Vione... Like I knew that but it just now hit me...

Ep 6: Dear Mil: They both think you’re strange, so there! XD

Fabric DOES NOT rip like that. ........... LUCK.

Ep 7: Possible Naruto reference with one of the bounty hunter guymelefs??

I agree with Drk, I’m reading too much into it; but it’s still funny!

... It’s really lucky how the Asturian disguise just FLOATS right of Escaflowne instead of, y’know, GETTING CAUGHT on something.

HUH. A lot of the inconsistencies can be explained by PURE LUCK.

Ep 8: Merle “You were nearly sold off to that Meiden guy.” But... HOW DOES SHE KNOW IT WAS MEIDEN???

I HAVE ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT THE PENDANT ORIGINATED FROM ATLANTIS AND THAT IT AND ESCA’S PINK HOLDER-THING WERE TOO CLOSELY RELATED FOR COINCIDENCE. Headcanon is that there’s four main pendants and four main Ispano guymelefs that were commissioned from the Ispano right at Gaea’s beginning, to be protectors of that world.

Dear V. F didn’t actually try to kill you. I know it looks that way but he didn’t. That was D.

AHAHA V you’ll ALWAYS need H’s help!!

Buncha scary floating fortresses.

Grava’s spewing lies... A totally had nothing to do with Escaflowne’s escape...

A LOT of scary floating fortresses!!!

I think I said this before with Trudy. I don’t think Allen has actually Kissed Millerna before, she’s the one doing all the kissing. My reasoning? The way she stops and is breathless in the carriage. Damn is that a kiss. (Too bad nearly all the kisses in Esca are for manipulation of some sort. :((( )

That is a DAMN LOT of energists.

I wish snake guy had been given an actual NAME.

Ep 9: Varie’s voice and name is SO PrEtTy in the JVA!

Wow. Wowow. I do not remember Varie wailing at Goau’s death?? There seems to be more obvious background noises in the HD version. 

Yes. Be afraid. Be VERY afraid.

Then RUN LIKE HELL is after you; because IT IS.

Hm. H goes straight to envisioning the pendant. Isn’t it ... to early for her to know about her dowsing abilities? Or something? ....... Or is she more focusing on Where are they? and the pendant does its thang?

A river. Perfect. LUCK.

.... So is that one Ds dead? The one stuck in the molten ... filler thing.... from his guymelef? (... Actually I’m pretty sure it’s Miguel. That makes perfect sense. You can here D say “Miguel” and there IS Miguel as a prisoner later. Yeah. That’s the most logical reasoning.)

.... There’s more language in the Japanese version than I remember in the English. (Obv. But it’s still a little jarring.)

So earlier the Crusade was tiny compared to the Vione. Well now it’s MINUSCULE compared to the Freid cargo ship!!

Ep 10: AHAHAHA V is mistaken for A! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Rotfl

... But I guess that just drives home that D didn’t know who V was in the third ep??? LOOOOOOL.

Mil: On her way out “Let’s be friends.” ALSO. THE BAG returns to H.

Oh Mil. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT A IS THINKING. 

V’s observation skills don’t falter do they.

.... The Zongi-sucking-Plaktu scene is horrifying in HD. O.o

No H. Not just “anybody.” (Personally I think H has some Atlantean in her.)  ... Yeah Merle. Open your big mouth.

A being a traitor is so much buull sheet. The fact that Chid and Voris fall for it for even a second is ridiculous. Like I get that they’re on edge bc they’d know that Fanelia burned. But. BUT. (I feel like Voris has to have a clue as to Chid’s true parentage too.)

Ep 11: .... I always felt like the positions of H + Plaktu and Chid + Voris should have been reversed... Why is Chid in the cage and H on the carpet? AND WHY ARE THERE BARS AT THE CEILING?? What’s going to get out??

... Huh. That must be a subtitle error. Earth is NOT the name of H’s country. Japan is. Earth is the name of the planet. But that might be a communication /understanding error on Plaktu’s part. 

.... What would have happened in the “vision realm” if Zongi HADN’T grabbed H? He wasn’t meant to die then-and-there, just that H was predicting it. Would they have “jumped” back to the real world?? *Plotbunnies rear their heads*

Poor H. Ripped from her home. Weird visions. Scary visions. Love triangles. DYING.

Chid’s ABSOLUTE JOY that his daddy is back.

Ep 12: DINOSAUR LIZARD THINGS!

Ok Pyle/Crusade Crew: At least V is helping to care for Escaflowne. And he probably didn’t have his own personal Crew to care for Escaflowne. And he damn well DOESN’T have a place to care for Escaflowne now! Rub it in why don’tcha??

WHY is little five year old Millerna IN THE CROWD?? Wouldn’t she be in the balcony like Eries and Grava are at her own wedding?? WHY? She’s FIVE and the PRINCESS OF THE COUNTRY?? I call animator error.

I ALSO call animator error on A in his Caeli uniform during the flashback. Mar’s watching his tournament that DETERMINES his possible Caeli status. So he SHOULDn’t be in that uniform. Unless we’re seeing it through Mar’s eyes and she’s daydreaming it?? (I’ll accept it as her daydream. I headcanon she’s a daydreamer.)

Ep 13: The animation of Voris striking the trigger is EXTREMELY familiar. Pretty sure V has Escaflowne doing that somewhere. Which makes sense; reusing animation for money’s sake. 

So. .... ........ HOW OLD is the Freidian castle that SOMEONE thought to put in such a boobytrap??? 

Dear Mahad... Go easy on the poor kid... Though it IS interesting that he says “Those born in Freid ... “ and “Those who rule.” 

Hold your freakin’ horses Dornkirk!

What I never understood: If Freid's religion is based on the Atlanteans. And known Gaea HATES the demon Atlanteans and Draconians. WHY is Freid as a country accepted?? They're Atlanean religion/beliefs must not be a widely-known thing. OR The "Atlantean/Draconian = DEMON" might be a mostly Fanelian thing?? (Backwards country that thinks windmills deter demons. Though there might be actual Science behind that one.)

No H. Keep your boundaries. You might have been a little hysterical but you have EVERY RIGHT.

So the wrong time to say that A’s hair is finally messed up would be Mahad’s death scene... which is also the MaMa scene that BREAKS MY HEART.

Ep 14: SEE?? Mil doesn’t even say “Draconian,” she says “He has wings!” A says “He’s a Draconian!” with NO maliciousness! 

Lol Dryden doesn’t even recognize Mil... though it has been seven-ish years. 

.... Did we talk about D’s “phone home” line?? WHAT IS IT IN THE ORIGINAL JAPANESE? Does D actually say “phone home” bc he knows SOME Earth language?? Does he say something else and the closest English translation is “phone home”?? ?????

Ep 15: The whole “my friend” scene. Just ugh. Mil’s brattiness really shines here. I’m so glad she got character growth!! There are just SO MANY reasons to love Mil. 

Ep 16: LEON. GRANDMA KANZAKI. (Except there’s no proof she’s a Kanzaki. Oh well.)

This F & NE interaction must be more for the viewers... How did NE not know F was a Sorcerer? I find that hard to believe. Though they do say something like “We haven’t seen you in a while.” But his Sorcerer-ship can’t have been that short. Or I doubt NE were away from F for THAT long.

Is it just me or does the Sorercers’ floating fortress have a Freidian feel to it?

Ep 17: (Carryover from 16) Does Folken... outright disbelieve in the (Gate to) the Mystic Valley? I never noticed that before.... Like yeah he’ll follow Dornkirk to the literal end of the earth (figuratively follow the actual man, literally past the end of the known earth). But he won’t believe in the Mystic Valley? He must have believed in the Power of Atlantis / Power Spot in Freid. He got the damn sword-key thing. .... BUT DID HE DO ANYTHING WITH IT? I mean the Vione DOES beat the Crusade to the Gate of Atlantis for crying out loud! (Was the Freidian sword-key more a symbol between Chid and F?)

NO Varie... *Sigh* Grandma is right; H needs to believe in her friends, to have faith in them. Yeah she shouldn’t wish so much... But for crying out loud... She’s been torn from home, visions, scary visions, seen WAR AND DEATH, love triangles. Give’r a break!

DUDE. Leon is killed by Zaiback while ON Asgard, RIGHT? So. SO. Zaiback had a whole MINI FLEET of SNOW-TRAVELLING vehicles there?? And PEOPLE?? That means that a large ship/floating fortress made it across that treacherous “edge of the map”!! WHAT THE WHAT??

Dear Leon... How much time has passed since you saw Grandma? Not that much I don’t think... But still... WEIRDNESS. 

Oh pillar of light... YOU TEASE.

Yeah I’m with Aerika; why didn’t Celena get mentioned in the ghost-Leon scene??? (Yeah time, etc, yadda yadda yadda.)

Waitaminute! Poor V has been fighting ghosts that WHOLE TIME? Then NE show up. :/ Yeah sure, traumatize him SOME MORE. BOOO. 

B-b-b-but... More fighting means MORE FIGHTING.

Of course, not fighting means captured and / or death...

Yeah sure Varie. That’s very loving/motherly.

Wait... ALL of Gaea’s future is determined by V’s will? Nooo... Surely not....

Ep 18: Poor Merle; left behind from her V-sama. ... Not so poor Mil; left behind from not-her A.

... Did Dornkirk actually “alter fate” and bring H, V, and A into Zaiback? If he “altered fate,” therefore ‘redirected’ them... WHAT WAS THEIR ORIGINAL DESTINATION? Their original fate? Did Dornkirk control the pillar of light? Bc later H asks F about the pillar and F is all surprised. (Though it would make logical sense that Dornkirk didn’t tell F everything.)

OR MAYBE DORNKIRK GOT FREAKIN’ LUCKY.

.... Does pre-”saved” Zaiback look Freidian to anyone else...?

There’s a “Destiny Oscillator” in one of the previous episodes. WELL HOLY HELL does “oscillation” come into play in Esca...

Aerika had a snippet of shooting down “Women-hating A” with examples. He’s chauvinistic to / as a fault, yes... But if he ACTUALLY hated women, therefore H, he wouldn’t have let her do the Tarot reading way back when. He wouldn’t have let her decide when V says “Go, we’ll leave from the roof.” He wouldn’t have let her lead / take turns leading..... Boy do I miss Aerika.

Ep 19: ... Yes Four Generals. That’s F’s DIABOLICAL plan. Has been ALL ALONG. Pfffft.

I REALLY want in on that conversation between Mil and D on that X days journey back to Asturia.

Dear H: Don’t argue with Mil’s new maturity. Yeah D prolly talked her into the early marriage bc wartime. But she’ll get over A. She never truly had him in the first place. (Headcanon) She actually grew up with D in her backyard palace. They actually KNOW each other. A little. At least the Mil&D relationship isn’t based on half-truths/lies and lack of knowledge.

ERIES. SToP. WHOSE GRAVE IS THAT?? Encia’s? Marlene’s? Celena’s? (Probably Encia’s.)

Ep 20: Paying less attention to this one as this particular episode seems to be mass MIA on YouTube... We’re suffering through a sped-up and pixelated  version. Though it’s not too bad...

I wonder what the Lovers card actually refers too.... Mil/A or Mar/A? Bc Mil/A weren't actually lovers, not really not truly. But H's visions have never been so... subtle. (The generic Wikipedia says it’s a FUTURE vision of them BECOMING lovers??? WHUT???)

Oh poor H. No girlfriend. The Tower’s prediction was always there. The wedding itself is a grand idea... Just maybe not right now, in the middle of a war. And Zaiback was going to attack either way. Mil has to take her time to learn that Dryden is the man for her.

And yeah mebe he has to leave for the both of them to figure that out.... Meh.

Ep 21:  ... Did Mil and D go change and come back to have that heart-to-heart with H? (And D got bandaged.) Bc... Yeah. Just odd. Prolly animator error. (Or not. I need to watch those scenes closer. Later.)

Ep 22: Rad is losing her attention span. My eyes are hurting from looking at the computer screen for so long. I had originally wanted to cast from the computer to the TV screen but I couldn’t immediately get the mouse and the keyboard to talk to the computer. So I’ve been at my husband’s shiny new dual-screen computer.

Dear MM: Don’t spread false rumors. *Sigh*

Merle. Drama queen Merle.

SHUDDUP ALLEN. NO BIRDCAGES. You didn’t put Natal in one!

Aaaaand the Four Generals start to realize that their Emperor isn’t actually fully about mass conquest....

Dear V: Dragons DO NOT work thata way.

... So F escaped death bc he had Atlantean blood? Bc he was a Draconian? I feel like maybe he was closer to the earth and it’s creatures bc he’s a Draconian... Not that it was Fate. So much... Bah. That’s too much Thinky Thoughts for one day.

*Waves Folken naked torso in front of Konstantya and Pethics*

Ep 23: Well yeah, like hell M WASN’T going to follow her V-sama.

Dear A: ENOUGH WITH THE BIRDCAGE CRAP.

Sewingyoukai:  (T)hey (women) don`t need Allen, just his hair care products.

Yes F; H’s power is CARING. (Sometimes too much.)

Wow A; that’s some horrible proposal.

*Waves naked Dilly torso in front of Drk-stars and Nehasy*

Nope Dry wouldn’t complain about Mil in an apron doing laundry... A WOULD. BIRDCAGE DISCUSSION ENSUES.

Silly H; trust your heart! Trust both of them (to an extent).

Interesting that the pillar of light takes away Dil and not V... But it IS the immediate point where Dil is breaking. And he IS the triggering point of V’s actual RAGE.

V and A in unison: Hitomi!

Ep 24: De ja vuuuueeee.

(Sewingyukai and I accidentally rewatched Ep1: Fateful Confession when we wanted Ep24: Fateful DECISION. LOL. Drk made fandom history and the eps were ordered by name.

Sooo... How much DID H tell Amano about her journey on Gaea?? And it makes him look bad to change subjects... But Fate/reality must go on... And yeah sewingyoukai said he’s moving away from her “nightmare.”

Also. Sewing’s contribution: What if V went through H’s things and asked about the tampons?? XDDDDDDDDDD

AH YES, THAT FATEFUL PICTURE.

I LOVE HITOMI IN STREET CLOTHES!

... That symbol above A’s fireplace must be the Schezar family crest. It’s on Scherazade’s cape (I’m 99.99% certain) and it’s on Leon’s journal. I thought it was a partially-English letter (or Atlantean!!!~~) but that doesn’t make sense either.

It just hit me. Dornkirk must have some Fate Reading Machine too... Or that’s the thing the telescope is looking at? I mean, he’d eventually realize what represents H and V and yadda blah blah etc. But it’s never really named like everything else most other Destiny Things are.

I think I’m on Ep 25 now.

*Cries* V’s maturity in sending H away. “You don’t want me to rely on your powers so I must send you away; I’m respecting your boundaries.”

Dryden leaving... eh.... Reasons yes, Reasons NO.

Well Mil, you’ll be waiting a long time for A bc Celena’s back on the scene (or will be at the end of the episode / Series. GAWD I need to go back to my fanfiction with that scene!!!)

Re: TIME JUMPING Such a headache. I tend to think [Gaea and Earth] are pretty concurrent. Because that's EASY on our poor brains. Sometimes little things like... pocket jump around? "Pocket" meaning outside of actual reality. SewingYoukai: Maybe they jump to the time they’re most needed? Time jumping happens so infrequently. (Or it might be like LOST where it's snuck in.) Bc it happens infrequently it's hard to gauge what's happening, if time jumping is actually happening at all.

JICHA.

I WANT TO KNOW HOW THEY THOUGHT OF THE ENERGIST BOMB. Headcanon is that a spy was at the dragon graveyard and saw the obvious and brought the information back and then some scientists HAULED SERIOUS HIENY to create the bomb. (Personal universe is that a certain UNKNOWN [redacted redacted] was involved.) Yeah the energist bomb has Japanese origins/roots/reference. But in-universe. I WANT TO KNOW.

Ep 26: Holdover from ep 25 ending: Action, Reaction, Reaction, Reaction, etc. Zone of Absolute Fortune. 

Ugh more fighting. Grow up men. (Let women inherit the earth.)

Sewingyoukai and I are debating the Reasons that the Crusade Crew aren’t effected... affected... whatever - by the Zone of Absolute Fortune. We’re thinking some combination of being “covered” by A/H/V’s “lucky/destiny/fate” or a combo of all three AND their past. The rest of the men on the battlefield are (probably) either actual soldiers or men drafted to fight and fed “you’re doing something good for your country and Gaea.” Whereas the Crusade Crew were forced into the military because they were criminals/thieves/etc. 

JUST TELL V YOU LOVE HIM, H. 

V is just going to misunderstand you.

No. DUH. Dornkirk.

I want to see the moments when H goes back home! To whom?? To where?? TO WHAT TIME? Clearly at some point Yukari and Amano get together. So knowing what she knows does H skip the whole “pendant is a pendulum; would you give me my very first kiss” thing?? Sewingyoukai’s very good point: H doesn’t have the pendant anymore! H literally alters the time line.

Was it a dream? Or maybe a vision? No, it really did happen.

My poor brain. My poor eyes too, looking at the screen for about 11 hours straight.

With sewingyoukai: Loving Fanel family ftw! (With Varie teaching F and leetle V how to FLY!) [Re: How does V know how to fly so well??]

MaMa!! NE & Folken! Varie and Goau!!

Mil and Er being sisterly!!!

[elkian]

Chapter 15, Eirika’s side, Part 1

Here’s an LP to follow along with (reminder that I am using the Restoration Queen mod, which changes the dialogue - i’ll document the changes as I go)

Immediately following Oh... Seth...“ are these shots

text got auto-skipped, I think it said: 

“Rausten’s knights are scattered and worn“

End scene.

So a lot of the bulk got rewritten here, so it feels more like a conversation than a tutorial.

Valter’s creepy mooning is retranslated into Worthy Foe territory. It works pretty well and makes Eirika feel like an actual person he’s interacted with rather than a set piece.

This line is new.

“You care nothing for friend or foe” -> “You care nothing for friends or kings“, which makes... way more sense, in context. Otherwise the entire paragraph reads as ‘you don’t actually care about fighting, all you want to do is get off’.

 This follows immediately, cutting out some text.

This is the last part changed, “Come to me!” -> “Come, face me!”

Overall they’ve done really well at keeping Valter creepy and unhinged while making him more of an opponent and less of stalker.

Now we get into gameplay.

Sadly Amelia is going to be absolutely useless on a desert map, and Rennec is going to be essential for treasure-picking.

Oh lord, I forgot I have to kill Valter and Caellach this map. Good times.

Thank God there’s a Vendor right next to the starting point, because Artur and Ewan are both down to a used tome apiece.

Ewan has to do two shots to kill either of these Mercs ;_;

That Berserker has a Hand Axe and a Dragon Axe, and whichever they’re not wielding on death will be dropped. So Rennac is going to go sit on a tree and hopefully dodge.

(Love yourself and look up a treasure map before doing this chapter)

I’ll take it.

...I just realized Ewan is two points away from capping Magic.

Tethys encourages him to do a repeat performance - he can now one-shot the other Merc, which Rennac could not and had a 1% chance to get critted by.

How in God’s name did that hit you.

Well, he’s a point away from capping both Skill and Speed.

Colm is surprisingly battle-worthy. (With Neimi’s Support bonus, of course)

Oops.

Perfect.

This is a huge Rout map with a lot to get, so I’m going to try to take it slow.

Ewan wastes the Berserker for an acceptable level. Frankly I’m thrilled to see HP on him because the boy is squishy.

End of the second player turn, and the prodigal brother appears. Fairly minimal changes to this text.

Ow. Fortunately, Ewan can double, even if he can’t dodge.

At first I was scared of this Shaman with their (droppable) Luna... and then I noticed their attack was 8.

This is just sad.

All three Fighters on the left come for Artur. He dodges and doubles all of them, but only for about 10 EXP apiece. Hmm.

Peg reinforcements appear in the upper right, but Cormag, who’s been in mothballs for like 4 chapters, can handle them in his sleep. The Steel Lance negates their Speed and he can double them with ease.

He also gets more than 10 EXP a kill, which is good, cause this is a level that’s not going anywhere fast.

Aw yisss.

Luna’s weight is a massive 12 (that Shaman had 5 Speed and 7 Con, meaning their Attack Speed was 0) to offset the fact that it straight up ignores Resistance. And Ewan is on the fast track to capping Magic. Good times.

This is just hilarious.

Tana’s dealing double with Iron what they do with Steel, AND can attack them twice. God.

Garcia looks at a Peg funny and it dies. He gets a pretty nice level for his efforts.

The LPer doesn’t comment on the houses, so idk what they normally say, but this one adds “Hm? How do I know this? It’s my job.” so good lampshading here.

Natasha tops Josh off for a pretty okay level.

Colm nicks a Mymidon for an excellent level.

I’m glad their AS is a joke because this is a little nerve-wracking.

REALLY glad he dodged the first one.

At this point I’m starting to wish I’d fielded a second healer instead of Tethys. Too late now.

Aw siiiiiick. The Silver Card halves the cost in every shop, even Secret Shops.

One thing I do really wish this game had is the ease of inspection later titles introduce - a button to display every enemy’s danger zone, the ability to select specific foes so you can keep an eye on their zone, and the ability to sweep over a unit and check their loadout at a glance.

For example, Knoll here is at actual risk of being slaughtered by this cavalier, who has a javelin. I moved Duessel up and healed Ephraim, so they’re performing wall duties while Knoll hides.

Knoll has a Nosferatu tome, but its Weight is 14, 2 higher than Luna, and the Cav is guaranteed to double him if I equip him with it for countering. The cav’s javelin can knock Knoll down to 1 HP on the first hit, and there’s no way he can heal that back.

How in the fuck do you keep getting hit on these odds? Do you just want Natasha to spend time with you instead of Cormag??

... wow, even with WTD Rennac is outdamaging these Pegs with a lower-tier weapon.

I love -Reaver weapons. She crits on the first attack, too, saving me a use.

I feed Neimi a kill that probably should have gone to Artur. She makes the most of it, though.

I should have left the Lancereaver equipped. Oh well, she still doesn’t take a scratch and even crits one (sadly the Rapier’s killing power is a bit lacking vs wyverns).

All the fucking southern Cavaiers are coming for my trio, and one loops around my defensive wall to take most of Knoll’s newly-restored HP off. We have 1 vulnerary left, so my plan is to have Duessal grab him and he and Ephraim make a beeline for the north.

...savestate. I took a savestate before I ended the turn.

After reseeding the RNG three or four times, he finally survives. Artur also picks up a level laughing in the Thunder Mage’s faces.

Also, it’s really helpful on every attempt that Eirika dodged at least one of the Wyverns, because two hits would kill her.

We don’t do this. Thank goodness Caellach doesn’t move. Can you imagine this level if either or both the bosses moved?

Duessal gives 0 shits about ‘Rescue Penalties’.

Cormag gives 0 shits about ‘Siege Tomes’.

...it’s a good thing we started running, cause a whole mess of reinforcements start popping up.

Whatever.

Apparently, Rescuing someone makes you a magnet for all enemy attacks. I should have traded him one of Ephraim’s Steel Lances ;_;

...

Oh Lord this was a bad idea. Thankfully Colm dodges and gets a pretty nice chunk of EXP for nicking the guy.

Even Paladins cannot pierce his unbreakable hide.

I almost forgot about you.

Cormag dodges and slaughters this poor Troubadour for a dropped Mend stave and an okay level. Faster, more accurate, dodgier? I can live with this.

I had to reload because I put Cormag all alone in the middle of a bunch of mages and axe users. Josh gets this level instead of his Speed-Luck one. I am very happy.

I’m a genius. None of these Shaman can get around Ewan to attack his sister. Not that they’d do much damage, but it’s hard to counter-kill them when they do.

This was vs a Cavalier, not a Peg Knight. I love Cormag.

Duessal takes damage from something other than a mage. Too bad for these chumps that he’s almost met up with the rest of the group, and Tana’s all ready to swoop in and Take Knoll next turn.

Look at this. Shit’s ridiculous.

Colm nicks a Cav for a great level.

Tethys boosts Natasha.

And Natasha heals Knoll.

Pffft! Dream on, you wouldn’t have a chance even if Neimi was on the other side of the map.

ow

Gettin’ a little hairy. Fortunately he dodges, and the last Cav can only deal 15 damage. Putting him here was not the best idea, though.

ow

 C’mon, Tana, let’s keep those Murder Levels up.

Oh hey, I totally forgot these two had a conversation. The LP fails to mention it, it seems, so I have little to compare to.

nice

Uh-oh. Fortunately the only other enemy in range is a Mage who Artur crits with impunity.

Ephraim+Eirika’s meeting conversation also isn’t documented for some reason -_-. It doesn’t seem changed in any way though.

Neimi chips the remaining Cav for STRENGTH!

Just for funsies, I have Ewan take a whack at one of the bosses. It works out beautifully. Sadly, the space Caellach’s on will refill 9 of that 12 damage.

Amazingly, on the next turn, Knoll lands as well. Artur, with 56%, does not.

I drop a savestate and try this.

Their conversation has no changes, except maybe a comma to an ellipses.

Not bad, buddy.

I try several takedowns, but ultimately...

Tana, Artur, and Knoll all missed on their attempts, but somehow Neimi and Colm got it done. Good job, kids.

I wanted to use Tana so she could hit level 20, but this is okay.

Since this map is huge, I’m going to followup.

[casscl]

❝ brother, oh brother of mine. ❞

WHO: magnus blackhart & anya cassel. ( @magnus-blackhart​ )

WHERE: magnus’s bedchambers in bearoria.

WHAT: anya confiding in her best friend of the little bean in her stomach that is half lucien.

anya: after hearing the news, she knew that she needed to tell someone-- someone dear to her heart: magnus. but would he accept her despite her betrayal ?? she didn't know. in fact, how was she even supposed to get anywhere near the king ? it was different when he was but a prince but now, now they were in the real games. after using some of her connections, she managed to slip into the castle, keeping her hood up and her head lowered. where would he be, exactly ?? she peeks up from her hood to scan the area around her-- hoping to find him and with such luck, she does. anya jogs over to him, clasping a hand on his shoulder to turn him about. "magnus," she breathes in relief.

magnus: Truthfully Magnus wanted to go back home as soon as possible, not only he had a funeral to do, he had to be properly crowned. But besides that, he just wanted to be back home, but then again, going back home would make everything more real, and was he supposed to stay in his father's room now? He couldn't. He was surprised when someone grabbed his shoulder and almost went to grab his sword but stopped when he saw the face "Anya...so...you're here." He was still hurt that he had left

anya: she can see the hurt in his eyes and all she wants to do is hug him but doing so in such a public place would be risky-- especially now. he's mourning and it hurts her to know that she wasn't there for him during his time of need. her hand squeezes in shoulder in reassurance before letting it trail down to grab the hand that rested on his sword. "i'm here, my king. i gave you my word i would return." she offers him a small smile despite the circumstances and gestures to the corridor before them. "is there some place private we can speak ?"

magnus: Anya had been branded a traitor when she left, and what he was supposed to do would be call his guards so she would be arrested and taken back to Ironhaven for trial and usually those accused of treason were sentenced to death. But Anya had always been like a sister to him and he didn't want her to be hurt even if he did felt betrayed when she run away to Dracborough. "Yes, my room is near...come." He said as he began to walk to his chambers, the guards in place outside didn't even blinked at the sight of him with some girl and he didn't care what they thought anyway. Once they were inside he looked at her. "I'm listening."

anya: she looped her arm through his, keeping him close and keeping her head down as they walked to his room. she did her best to hide her face from the guards, not wanting to cause magnus more trouble than she already has. but in the safety of his chambers, she takes a seat on his bed, letting out a breath of relief as she unveiled herself. "i'm sorry about your father, magnus," is the first thing she says with a heavy heart. she hadn't been too fond of the king but she knew of the deep relationship he had with octavius and respected it. she felt selfish for telling him her news while he was grieving. but perhaps it was now or never. "i-- i may be with child."

magnus: Magnus looked away, he didn't want to talk about his father, with other people it was easier to pretend like he was stronger and that he wasn't as hurt as he was, and though he knew he could show emotions in front of Anya without her thinking less of him, what he felt was beyond just mourning, however he knew he shouldn't tell what he had done. His thoughts about his father and how hurt he was about Anya leaving stop suddenly at her confession and he got closer to her "What?...Who is the father? He is taking responsibility isn't he? If not he is a dead man."

anya: as he spoke no words of his father, she knew that it was far too soon to give her condolences. part of her regret leaving ironhaven-- leaving magnus' side during his time of need. had she had stayed, perhaps she could have given octavius just a bit more time to say goodbye to his family. but for all she knew he did have the chance to say goodbye. she looked up at him at his words, frowning. "i know not if you know of him. his name is lucien, lucien dyer ? he's a knight of ironhaven."

magnus: "Yes I know him...I didn't know you two were together? I'm pretty sure he has been here all this time." Has he let her go to Dracborough on her own when she was pregnant? He was going to have a talk with him "You two are getting married right?"

anya: "we're not, not really.." she mumbled, thinking of their complicated relationship-- along with pyros. "yes, i-- i couldn't .. bear being here, magnus, forgive me. it was all just too much, with the death of king nathaniel. i just-- i know you love your father, but what he did was awful, i had to leave." but at his assumption, she blinks rapidly, unsure if she heard him correctly. "married ?? no, no. i don't think.. lucien will propose."

magnus: "Anya we are not talking about my father and what he did." He said harshly before taking a deep breath. "We'll deal with the fact that you have been branded a taritor later. because right now, the most important thing is make sure he takes responsability, I can't believe he thinks he can be a deadbeat father." he shook his head "I'm going to go and look for him."

anya: she kept her mouth shut as she registered his tone. of course he was still angry with her, she would be too, if she was in his position. perhaps it'd be better if she did leave, move to kradaeca with avery ?? "just-- just be careful. he's sensitive." she was walking on eggshells now, she didn't want to say the wrong thing and make him even more annoyed with him.

magnus: "I just want to make sure you and your baby are taken care off...I could so it but I do think is important they have a father in their lives and is will also make your life eaiser

anya: and despite it all, despite her treachery, he was still willing to stay by her side and look out for her. she truly didn't deserve to be friends with him. in fact, ironhaven finally received the king they deserve. her heart soared with pride at his accomplishments. "thank you, magnus. this-- it means a lot. i love you."

magnus: For the first time since his father died...no, since found Nate, Magnus smiled honestly, ot was a small smile but for a moment he didn't feel so bad "I love you too Anya, and your little baby." He sighed as teh darkness engulfed him again "I'll talk to Lucien later, I have to get ready for tonigt."

anya: "okay," she agrees, nodding her head. "i'm proud of you. i always am," she sighed, giving him a small kiss to his forehead. "i'll see you tonight then." was the last things she said before giving him one last bow and slipping from his room.

[ravenvsfox]

Hi, I don't know if you're taking prompts but I just read your scene about Andrew being there in Baltimore and it was amazing so I wanted to ask you to write something about Andreil + neck kisses, because I feel like this is a Very Important plot point that was not fully explored. Like maybe Andrew coming to terms with the fact that it's actually his favorite thing, and not knowing how to ask for it? Ugh I just finished rereading the series and I can't get enough of these stupid boys 🦊

(Thank you so muuuuch, and also I totally agree tbh)

He hates the way Neil always pauses to kiss at the hinge of his jaw on the way to his neck. It’s like a check point, the sweet press of a power button, and Neil doesn’t even seem to realize he’s doing it. He kisses with his whole face too, dragging down over Andrew’s bottom lip and chin and throat with his eyes closed, like he’s too in love with the experience to even look.

It’s killing Andrew. It’s stoppering the air in his lungs and giving him stomach ache with how bad he wants it. You like it. I like that you like it.

Andrew hates that he likes it, the vulnerability of that bared neck. It feels like a mistake every time he does it, but it also kind of feels like he’s taken the first shots of the night and he can’t stop, like the more he drinks the thirstier he gets. Neil is such a mistake, but he’s so so easy to make.

Kissing — like this, with the covers pushed down and Andrew on his side with his hand up Neil’s shirt — feels inevitable. He can’t stop pushing up Neil’s springy cowlicks and Neil can’t stop fumbling down to Andrew’s neck and sucking. It’s so humid and nervy-tense between them, like it’s never been, like Neil is singlehandedly dangling Andrew off of a rooftop.

Neil passes his tongue over that root of Andrew’s jaw and Andrew makes a noise so low that it sounds wounded. He just barely keeps his hands from forcing Neil closer, chasing that moment where Neil can’t help himself, circulating between mouth and face and neck before Andrew directs his attention elsewhere. He just wants to stay in that circuit with his hands open and his head tilted back.

Andrew’s fist must go too tight in Neil’s hair because he pulls back frowning, lips red.

“Sorry,” Neil says. “Carried away.” He looks troubled by this, like he’s not used to being carried away by things that aren’t arguments.

“No,” Andrew starts, and then stalls out. His hand is still in Neil’s hair. He doesn’t know how to ask for this; doesn’t even know if he wants to.

“No?” Neil repeats. “Okay.” He leans back and off of Andrew, passing one hand through his own hair and undoing Andrew’s work messing it up.

“I didn’t tell you to stop,” Andrew says, and the way he’s exposed is too much — shirt pushed up in the tousle to pull Neil on top, hard and marked up.

“In my experience, no means stop,” Neil says evenly.

It’s exactly what he wants to hear, he realizes suddenly. Neil finds this humiliating way of giving Andrew what he wants without looking like he’s considered it at all.

“We have to get going, anyway,” Neil continues. “Practice in thirty minutes.”

“I’m not going.”

Neil gives him a look. “You always say that.”

“I’m not going like this,” Andrew says pointedly, and Neil’s eyes walk all over him. His face looks flushed warm and Andrew wants it under his hands.

He doesn’t ask to be kissed through it, but he does say yes into Neil’s mouth, his hand on himself, and that seems to get the point across just as well.

_____

He keeps thinking about it after that, in passing when Neil’s drinking from his water bottle and his throat is working, or when Andrew’s Exy gear presses into the marks Neil has left.

Sex always used to be something that he enjoyed and finished and left behind and now it’s starting to infiltrate other parts of his life. He’s conscious of missing Neil’s mouth in a sick and hollow way even when he’s already kissing it. He finds himself in front of the bathroom mirror several times a day, feverish, yanking down his sweater so he can see the bites Neil took out of him.

It’s this warp in his apathy, like a well-worn groove in a record, and he keeps getting caught in it.

The foxes have just won a match that qualifies them for the finals when Neil forgets himself, coming into the mostly empty change room beaming.

He was on interview duty, and his face is still tacky with sweat, his bandana shoved into his hair but not really doing its job, his face split down the middle. He looks like he’s just been taunting the ravens on camera. He looks like he wants to try his luck.

“You did it,” Neil says breathlessly. “You sent them home crying, fuck,” he laughs halfway through his own sentence, joyful, close enough to touch. “They couldn’t even get close enough to score.” Andrew scrubs a towel through his hair and effects cool disinterest.

“Their formations have collapsed since their king died,” Andrew says. “We’re better.”

Neil gets this hot look in his eye, and he walks in close enough that Andew can smell the blood on his collar from a punch to the nose, the sweat winking from his neck.

“Say that again,” Neil says, voice coming out a little garbled. He’s really in Andrew’s space now, his face completely untouched by the tension in his voice.

“I’m not indulging your Exy kink.”

Neil rolls his eyes and his neck all at once. “It’s not that,” he starts, opening one eye to look at Andrew and then the other. “It’s you saying ‘we’. I don’t know,” he breaks off, embarrassed.

“Yes or no?” Andrew asks, already taking the back of Neil’s neck in both hands. He finds himself nodding along when Neil says yes, and he’s kissing his mouth before he can think.

He feels drunk and ridiculous, the adrenaline lingering in his system from the game breaking from a jog back into a run. He licks into Neil’s mouth and steadies his head, feeling equally restricted by Neil’s gear and vaguely hot at the thought of it.

He waits impatiently for Neil to choose his neck over his mouth, hands tucking down from Neil’s hair to the warm skin at his spine. Neil moves, finally, abandoning the kiss halfway through and passing over his jaw to kiss open-mouthed at the hollow of Andrew’s throat.

His head throbs at the missed step. He slides his hand back into Neil’s hair and pulls him away a little roughly.

“Why didn’t you—“ he cuts off. The thought of putting what he wants into words is unthinkable.

“What?” Neil asks, licks his bottom lip, asks again, “what?” His hands had dropped from Andrew’s sides immediately when he was pulled back and Andrew physically yanks them back up, closing Neil’s fingers over his ribcage. He’s distantly thankful for Neil’s instant passivity, but he’s burning up.

Andrew tightens his hands in Neil’s collar, a strange simulation of a threat. “Here,” he grits, moving one hand to his own jaw and feeling the sensitivity of it like peach-skin in his palm.

Neil watches the gesture, eyebrows furrowed. His own hand moves up to touch Andrew’s jaw, and his expression changes.

“You like it,” he says, not really a question. He leans in to replace his fingertips with his mouth, and Andrew’s eyelids judder. “You always go still when I kiss you here, I wasn’t sure if you… if you didn’t like the way it felt—“

“I like it,” Andrew interrupts, feeling scraped open. Neil kisses him again, his mouth parting over the bone there, the line between Andrew’s cheek and his neck.

“Me too,” Neil says, strangely urgent. “Can I?” He lifts his other hand to the opposite side of Andrew’s face, and Andrew shudders.

“Yes.” All these yeses come too easily, a sickness that flows from his heart and infects his blood.

They stay suspended in that feedback loop, Neil noisily enjoying himself and Andrew struggling to keep the hitches in his breath buried.

Neil breaks away from his neck and holds the back of his hand to his wet mouth.

“Do that. More,” Andrew struggles to say.

Neil smiles slowly. “I thought I was the one with a thing for this.” He runs his thumb over the mark he’s just left and Andrew grabs his wrist.

“Then this works out well for you,” he says thinly. Neil’s smirking, but then his eyes drop to Andrew’s neck, and lower, and his expression goes sideways.

“Andrew,” he says, and the word gets sort of caught up in his breathing. He moves the hand on Andrew’s jaw down to his chest and presses.

“Not here,” Andrew says simply. Not on a contact high from the game, with Neil’s eyes still a tiny bit far away.

Neil steps back, chewing his own mouth. “I can wait.” And Andrew knows that, needs that, but for the first time he doesn’t know if he can.

[thetaekooklibrary]

since 2016 is close to an end, what would you say have been the best/your personal best fics of 2016?

sorry we couldn’t get to this before 2016 ended, but we’re close lol I’ll sort it by admin^^ I’m also gonna put this under a cut because it got super long haha

admin a:

i feel safe in the 5 a.m. light (love in my arms and the sun in my eyes) by JemKay - And Taehyung thinks he’s never loved anyone more in his life than the boy above him who’s a little bit rough and sometimes a bit insensitive and maybe a little bit mean, but he’s also so soft and so gentle, and he treats Taehyung like he’s something so precious to him. And maybe he’s like that because of Taehyung, or maybe it’s because underneath everything, underneath the tough exterior and the sky-high walls, his heart’s more delicate than Taehyung’s, but all Taehyung knows is that Jeongguk fills up all of Taehyung’s vulnerable pieces with parts of himself.

(this was posted 1/3/16 it just barely makes the cut BLESS it’s one of my ultimate faves)

Lucky strike by expplipo - “You’re bad luck, I’m good luck. Two sides of a coin. Head and tails. We match.”

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast by Kavbj - Taehyung has magic in his veins and Jungkook’s determined not to let it kill him.

Only When the Sun Sets by sacramento - Jeon Jeongguk was never meant to handle so much responsibility, but when he sees a vision foretelling the King’s death, he cannot just sit back and let it happen. The ‘right’ thing to do would be to stop it, but as Jeongguk soon discovers, doing the ‘right’ thing is never so simple, or easy. Stuck in between underhanded plots for the Iron Throne, Jeongguk must figure out who he is and what he stands for. He must choose a side, and he must choose well, for in the Game of Thrones, you win… or you die. There is no middle ground.

Toads and Periwinkle by Kavbj - Jungkook’s kinda cursed (like really cursed) and Taehyung’s kinda a witch (like really not a great one but he tries).

I Won’t Fall (in love with you) by taeharem - “You have to promise not to fall in love with me.”

Maybe we can be (each other’s company) by foolishbangtan - in which jeongguk is an idol, and taehyung is a dedicated fan account.

All You Hear Is White Noise by minki - To some, the Left Brain/Right Brain concept is a legitimate psychological theory. To others, it is nothing but a wistful myth long outdated by the piles of current research present to prove otherwise. After all, anyone educated enough in the field would laugh at the idea that the left brain and right brain can clash into a conflicting war. To fix the problem, we must separate them from each other.

Cinnamon Crisp by teatimetaemint - Jungkook needs his daily dose of cuddles and Taehyung likes to wear Jungkook’s clothes. They don’t care that alphas and omegas aren’t supposed to be best friends.

Hercules by GinForInk - Taehyung forgets his strength kink until Jungkook picks him up during a group project meeting.

Peep-Toe Stiletto High by EquinoxSolstice - The moment Jungkook found out was when he came back to the dorms earlier than usual and found Taehyung sitting on the floor of his bedroom, a discreet, plain brown box propped open and the tip of a bright, lipstick-red pump already inserted over Taehyung’s left foot. (Sequel)

make this chaos count by aetoms - Taehyung struggles and battles with himself a lot during a three-month break the band is given. Jeongguk is somehow always there despite everything.

Our Red Scarf (Keep Me Warm) by MirreRover - Jeongguk is trouble. Taehyung likes trouble a bit more than he probably should. Just don’t tell Jimin about it.

This Is The First Day Of My Life by internetpistol - “If you want to be with me, you need to be honest with yourself and fucking tell me!” “I’m not good at that, but can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?“

Things You Said at 1 AM by lexwrites - 12:54 AM is Taehyung on Jungkook’s lap, breath hot against his skin in the freezing cold.12:57 AM is messy kisses of teeth and tongue and promises of forever hanging off Jungkook’s tongue.12:59 AM is ‘I love you’s whispered into their skins and Jungkook wants to say more, but he isn’t eloquent until Taehyung is under him, moaning out Jungkook’s name like it’s the only word he’s ever known.

change my world (you’re the sunlight in my universe) by yururin - Jungkook is an artist who likes drawing on the cafe’s freedom wall. Taehyung sees his drawings, and falls in love. Featuring Jimin as the 100% done wingman, Yoongi as the possessive boyfriend, and Seokjin as the sassy mom.

insanity love by waltzformula - Demons weren’t supposed to protect angels, weren’t supposed to give them cloaks, weren’t supposed to leave them flowers and saccharine notes. Demons were supposed to burn. Yet, Taehyung found himself hesitating. Most demons also weren’t the Ninth King of Hell.

admin s:

If I let go of your hand by igasuho - Bittersweet [adjective]:- the quality of pure pleasure and happiness tinged with sadness and pain. Jeon Jungkook was first born in 1670. Twenty years later, he fell in love with a man named Kim Taehyung. Then, helplessly, he fell in love with him hundreds of times after that. Jungkook chases, fights and cries for him, far and wide over endless lifetimes because he loves Taehyung until it hurts, even though Taehyung dies each time they meet, and it is all Jungkook’s fault……you can feel sympathy, but he doesn’t need it. This is his reality.

The Favor by BANGTANbeybe - “I want you to take my virginity.”Taehyung paused with the cheeseburger halfway to his mouth. When he realized that Jungkook wasn’t going to say anything else, he set the burger on his plate with as much careful precision as he would’ve used when handling a bomb. Assuming he’d ever touched a bomb…which, of course, he hadn’t.“Pardon?” he finally said, for lack of anything better. Because he must have misheard. There was no way in hell his best friend’s eighteen-year-old brother had just said those words. Over lunch. In the middle of a diner. With an old, white-haired couple sitting right behind them.

but all your flaws and scars are mine by misanthrpic - taehyung hates the (totally hot) bratty freshman that stole his spot in the art exhibition.

Up or Out by ughugh123 - Up or Out, AKA, be good enough to get promoted or you’re fired.Taehyung has finally entered the prestigious RM LLP, which is infamous for its Up or Out policy. He will be assigned a team for the rest of the year, and he prays he’s not on the same team as that Jungkook or whatever his name is.

Even at the End, If You’re with Me I’m Okay by merelypretty - The years Taehyung spends being confused about Jeongguk’s feelings are years spent pensive, waiting for an explanation to clear away his questions.

this is life in color, today feels like no other by taetastic - With a simple brush of skin, everything around Jeongguk comes to life.

Like A Good Neighbor by AwkwardBeansidhe - Some days, it just hit him a little harder. He missed home. He missed his mom and his room and his dog. Which was how Jeongguk wound up on his upstairs neighbor’s doorstep, with a six pack and a box of dog treats. He tried to take it all in. A fluffy white ball of fur, barking adorably. Bare feet, jeans showing plenty of wear and tear, bright blue t shirt, soft brown tousled hair, and a face that made all his carefully planned introductions fly right out of his brain. “Seoltang, hush. Let me find out who it is.” He looked at Jeongguk expectantly, petting Seoltang calmly. The dog settled into his master’s touch and joined him in staring at Jeongguk. “Uh…” A really smooth introduction. “Hi. I live in 1240, right below you? I’m your neighbor. I heard you have a dog, and I like dogs, so I came to say hello.” Jeongguk held out the dog treats and beer, hoping that would cover any remaining awkwardness.

admin m:

you’re a fantasy (but I’m your destiny) by areumdaums - and maybe when you love with all your might and give everything, he might love you back. (soulmate/hanahaki!crossover au)

i tried playing the superhero, but you were your own villain by galacticyoongi - jungkook promised to protect and save taehyung whenever he needed him, but sometimes one can only try and save themselves (pure word vomit but i love taekook and no one is going to stop me)

Abaddon’s Waltz by eclairdeluxe - Hell hath no fury like a lover scorned.

fray by sebstahn - taehyung is a mess and jeongguk is busy. (or in which taehyung falls asleep to the sound of jeongguk not picking up his phone)

I Told You So by sandirx - taehyung doesn’t speak. ever since that day, he felt he doesn’t deserve to speak “kill yourself, fag.” that’s all it took for him to lose whatever self confidence he had.lose all hope he had for jungkook liking him back. lose his senses. his voice. his will to live. his morality. taehyung wants to be skinnier. prettier. better. fun. enjoyable.he’d do anything for jungkook. including kill himself.including starving himself until there’s nothing but bone. including causing harm to himself, and other people. if it’ll make jungkook, happy, then sure. why not.

sunday, wake up, give me a cigarette by hoesthetic - because no one puts trigger warnings on eggs, bacon and toast.

bones by taegyo - kim taehyung is fat.

Meet Me After Dark by jeonnifer - Taehyung and Jungkook “hate” each other.

Frooty Loopy by 010899x - “We both reached for the last box of Froot Loops and I don’t care that we’re both adults I will fight you” AU aka: in which Taehyung fights Jungkook to the death for a box of artificially flavored and colored loops.

If it means I can see you again, then I don’t know what fear is by beanmon - It was supposed to be fine. Taehyung was supposed to be okay on his own. It was just an apartment viewing. What could go wrong?

oranges and art students by unserene - Jungkook gets his first apartment away from Busan, away from his parents, away from the stress of his earlier life. He soon finds out that his next door neighbor is pretty much out of his fucking mind.

you and me, we’re bumper cars by syugaflake - “The more I try to get to you, the more we crash apart.” After a myriad of mistakes committed in his leather jacket with a cigarette between his teeth, Jungkook finds himself exiled to his aunt’s house in a quiet, faraway town for the summer. Nothing much goes on at the neighbourhood; or so he thinks, until he meets a boy with sunset-coloured hair named Kim Taehyung.

across the universe by dadkook - weddings are supposed to be joyful, but taehyung can’t bring himself to find any joy.

Maybe we can be (each other’s company) by foolishbangtan - in which jeongguk is an idol, and taehyung is a dedicated fan account.

The Man Who Can’t Be Moved by windywolf - no description

admin guk:

You Were My Versaille At Night by seikou - But Jeongguk has learned that the road to love is long —and to heartbreak short.

House of Cards by sugamins - Jungkook is the heir to a mob empire, the most notorious in the whole of Seoul. Taehyung is a rookie sent in to infiltrate by his select team and bring the empire crumbling down.“You knew the game and played it, it kills to know that you have been defeated.”

Comeback Kids by Rix - Taehyung is infuriating and Jungkook’s always been easy to rile up. Which isn’t the best combination, but also isn’t the worst, either. (or: Taekook as hockey fuckboy rivals)

Working Conviction by Rix - How their trust evolves to go from from Jungkook pointing a loaded gun in Taehyung’s face to Taehyung binding Jungkook down and fucking him till he can’t see straight.

Pawn it off by Rix - Jungkook goes to pawn off a couple trinkets and accidentally brings his vibrator as well, thus sacrificing most of his dignity while he’s at it.

fast in my car by aishiteita - “jimin, my instructor is a strapping young lad with relatively good music taste and is fantastic at car karaoke.” studies show that sitting next to someone in very close proximity, for extended periods of time, increases the chances of falling in love.

Can’t keep my hands to myself (no matter how hard I’m trying to) by pxdust - 6:00 | tae hyungWhat are you wearing? or: Taaehyung and Jeongguk starts to sext as a game. Jeongguk will not lose.

Children’s Motrin by taetertot - When Jeongguk’s parents die on his 18th birthday, he decides to take guardianship of his 3 year old brother, Jimin. One year later, he’s slumped on a dirty grocery store tile floor with a 4 year old with glassy eyes and flushed cheeks. 13 dollars in his pocket will pay for his cheap bread and eggs, but it won’t pay for cheap bread and eggs and $9.89 Motrin for his little brother’s fever. And he’s not going to let the boy who approached them with lavender hair and golden skin pay for it, no matter how sweet he is.

Hickory by Rix - Jungkook should be focused on winning, but his mind’s stuck on wondering whether or not this Kim Taehyung guy fucks harder than he hits.

maps to you by cosmostasis - There is a dick on his face. There is a big, bold dick drawn onto his face in black permanent marker, and though Jeongguk scrubs and scrubs and scrubs until his forehead is red, he only succeeds in smudging it around. He pumps a fistful of soap onto the towel and renews his efforts with twice the vigor. He has hagwon later today, and he’d rather step on Legos than go there like this. Maybe, he thinks, pausing for a second to examine the state of the dick, his parents will allow him to skip just this once. Does this count as a medical emergency? Jeongguk isn’t sure, but his hands are shaky and the towel is shaky and he’s growing more panicked by the second because it won’t come off. He’s going to die. He’s going to die of public humiliation in front of everyone, and then he’s going to come back to life and kill his soulmate, because who the fuck draws a dick on their forehead knowing full well that it’ll show up on someone else, too?

I Can Make You (Cry For Me) by officialmaknae - Being stoned makes you do a lot of things. Like fuck Jeon Jeongguk for instance.

Empty Spaces (Don’t Talk About It)by officialmaknae (1/1 |  E | 32,020)Jeongguk has the habit of reading too much into things, especially when it comes to Taehyung. He isn’t sure how it came to this - but he knows he’s in too deep. (sequel to I Can Make You (Cry For Me))

The Favor by BANGTANbeybe - “I want you to take my virginity.”Taehyung paused with the cheeseburger halfway to his mouth. When he realized that Jungkook wasn’t going to say anything else, he set the burger on his plate with as much careful precision as he would’ve used when handling a bomb. Assuming he’d ever touched a bomb…which, of course, he hadn’t.“Pardon?” he finally said, for lack of anything better. Because he must have misheard. There was no way in hell his best friend’s eighteen-year-old brother had just said those words. Over lunch. In the middle of a diner. With an old, white-haired couple sitting right behind them.

From Tumblr to Lovers by snksloth - jungkook wasn’t sure who followed the other first. he just slowly noticed that an awful lot of notifications came from one blog, and an awful lot of his own reblogs were from that same blog. he never really thought about it, but he also didn’t think he’d ever get a message from the blog either. (aka an internet friends au told entirely through messages and a few phone calls)