#and shes cool. and cool people get married

[marisainchina]

It's me... I am part of the problem.

I have read so many posts from people who are very negative about Chenford this season, and I won't pretend that I have been 100% happy. It has been weird that there haven't been clear "small doses". But I enjoyed them trying to work together and try to be professional when that has never really been a strong suit for them.

But yesterday, I read someone's post where they wrote that anyone who wants Chenford to get back together or hook up in the 7x06 episode is the FUCKING PROBLEM. So, guys, I am so the fucking problem. I don't want them to get all the way back together- that would feel rushed and be a disservice to us for not getting more to soothe our little broken hearts.

Episode 6x06 took my breath away, and I couldn't rewatch it for months. That is saying something because I am super busy with full time work and graduate school, I pretty much just repeatedly rewatch different episodes. It helps me feel less anxious. If you know, you know.

But I am so so so down for messy Chenford! They have fantastic chemistry and clearly had a great sex life. It would not be crazy to me if they were to "back-slide" and hook up. Is that the logical and best choice? Of course not. But I am not watching a drama show for everyone to be on their best behavior and making logical choices all the time. Bring on the mess.

I also haven't understood all of the hate I have read about the fact that Lucy and Tim did have a good sex life. I have read people say that their relationship was only focused on Tim being sexually gratified. Ummm, hello, he took a desk job before they ever slept together. He was already all the way in.

I am not sure how much I liked the "gratitude was repaid while dating" if it was meant to refer to sex. I don't think that is what Lucy meant, but I am okay with it if it is. Tim is hot, Lucy is hot they both enjoyed their physical relationship. When I was married (I'm a widow), my husband struggled with ED, so I basically had a sexless marriage. I will never, never do that again! I need a relationship that has physical intimacy as much as any man does, so go on, Lucy, get yours, too!

This is all my opinion, so feel free to think/feel differently. I read all of these opinions, so I also wanted to share mine. To me, it is not misogynistic for them to flirt and banter with implied references to their sex life. I would rather see a woman owning and being empowered in her sexuality rather than to just assume that she is fulfilling the needs of her man.

Bring on the messy! - My wish for 7x06 is based on the synopsis, promo, and episode stills that Tim and Lucy have that assignment together. Something happens to bring feelings up, which is why I think Lucy wears his necklace. Tim and Genny talk before or after this, and he invites her to go with him; I pray she questions his thinking and pushes him to start making better choices. Tim and Lucy end up in that room together (Is it a hotel? Or is it Tim's new house?) Then, I would love to see some of their chemistry explode on them. I'm cool with kissing or a full hook-up either way. Then they can have to deal with the aftermath in the other 11 episodes left in the season.

[schrijverr]

I Didn’t Mean to Say I Do, but I Do. I Do. 46

Chapter 46 out of 50

Secret marriage of convenience buddie slow burn AU, where Buck and Eddie have been married for years so Buck could adopt Chris and no one at the 118 knows.

In this chapter, as they hear more tidbits about where Buck might be and what state he is in, worry creeps in, but Bosko’s injury and LAFD protocol is stopping Eddie from finding Buck. Is this how Buck will slip through his fingers?

On AO3.

Ships: Buddie

Warnings: injury

~~~

Chapter 46: Following Orders

As Eddie processes Bobby’s words, he can suddenly understand Bosko’s aggression from earlier and the need to cuss him out extensively. “What the fuck do you mean, I’m off the field? That’s bullshit,” he demands much like Bosko had.

“Eddie,” Bobby levels him with a look, “the two of you are family. You’re partners on and off the field. You’re not going to be able to make rational decisions and it’s going to put people in danger. I can’t have that.”

“I’m not compromised,” Eddie seethes. “In fact, we had a whole internal investigation to see if me and Buck could work together. And guess what? We can. So, you can’t do shit right now, Cap.”

Bobby takes a calming breath, obviously trying not to lose his cool. “Yes, I can. You’re not acting rational right now, just like Bosko isn’t about her Captain. I can make judgment calls in the field and I’m making this one.”

“Like hell you are,” Eddie yells. “You’re not making me sit out when my husband is out there!”

“You have your son to worry about,” Bobby roars back, losing the fight against his temper.

“My son needs both his fathers,” Eddie shouts, not afraid of Bobby’s temper and more than ready to fight back.

“And he’s going to have none of his fathers if you don’t listen to me, Firefighter Diaz,” Bobby says forcefully, jabbing Eddie in the chest with his finger. “You’re gonna get yourself killed with the head space you’re in, then where will Chris be, huh?”

At that Chris bursts out in tears again, all the yelling and mentions of people dying getting to him as he sobs: “I don- I don- I don’t wan’ you or papi to die.”

“Look what you did,” Eddie glares at Bobby, before turning to Chris and rocking him gently as he shushes: “No one is going to die, mijo. We’ll find papi, yeah? We’ll find him.”

“Pinky promise?” Chris asks, holding up his pinky after he wiped at his face to clear the tears from it.

“Yeah, pinky promise,” Eddie says, intending to keep it. He sends Bobby a meaningful look, as if to say ‘see, I pinky promised my kid, you can’t take me off the field now.’

Bobby sighs and goes for a reasonable voice when says: “Eddie, I’ll make sure everyone knows Buck is missing. The whole LAFD will be looking for him. We will find him. You just need to focus on Chris. Take these people and Bosko to the VA hospital and when we find Buck, you’ll be the first one to know.”

Eddie is gearing up to argue again, but Bosko is quicker. “You’re totally right, sir. We’ll do that.” It seems like Bobby finds her change of tune just as weird as Eddie, because he sends her a look. She elaborates: “Seeing Diaz, makes me realize how stupid I was.”

“What!” Eddie exclaims at her hypocrisy, but before he can go on, she elbows him in the side, shutting him up.

Bobby gives them a suspicious look and Bosko puts on an innocent expression he has never seen on her and never thought she’d be capable off. “I’m serious, Captain Nash. The adrenaline is wearing off and my ribs are hurting like a mother-” she glances to Chris “-uh, like a lot,” she corrects.

Chris has definitely heard fucker multiple times, in fact Eddie can still clearly recall him repeating a variation of the word with much gusto when Eddie first met Buck. The memory sends a stab through him and holds Chris a little tighter as he waits, curious to see what will happen now.

“And I can trust you to keep Eddie on track?” Bobby asks, clearly not buying it.

“Yeah, course, don’t worry,” Bosko assures him. “I got a lot of practice in Diaz wrangling when he was serving in my house. I can keep him out of trouble and get him to Sawtelle.”

“I wasn’t that bad,” Eddie says darkly. “And I don’t want to go to the VA hospital.”

“Eddie, shut up,” Bosko hisses. She almost never calls him Eddie. He’s pretty sure she has something planned, so he shuts up.

Bobby looks between them and quirks his brow. He sighs deeply and shakes his head, before giving Bosko a look. She nods back almost imperceptibly.

Then Bobby says: “Alright. I trust you two to escort these people to the VA hospital safely. I’m ordering you two to take them there, then stay there. If I find out that you two have disobeyed, I’ll have to take disciplinary action. Am I understood?”

There is something weird about his inflection, but Eddie can’t place his finger on it. However, Bosko is saying: “Understood, sir.” So he copies her, albeit a little more moodily. “Yeah, okay, Bobby.”

“Good,” Bobby gives them both a nod. “I’ll rendezvous with Chimney and Hen and leave you two in charge here. Don’t do anything stupid.”

With that he walks off. Eddie watches him go, before turning to the group of people in front of them, for whom they are now responsible. He doesn’t really know what to do. He knows he can’t just abandon these people to their fate, but he doesn’t want to let Chris go to help them, nor does he want to lead them to the VA hospital instead of spending that time looking for Buck.

“Is anyone too injured to walk?” Bosko calls out to the crowd. There is a negative response and she nods, before yelling: “Alright. Follow me.”

“What are you doing?” Eddie hisses. “You really agree with Bobby?”

“Of course not,” Bosko rolls her eyes. “I had to give him a reason to leave so we could go rogue and find Ronnie and Buck. He knows we’re not going to listen to him. Didn’t you hear how he said that?”

“No?” Eddie replies, confused.

“He has to take disciplinary action, if he finds out we disobeyed. If he doesn’t know, he doesn’t have to do anything, so he gave us a task away from him to a place he’s probably not going to be much today,” Bosko lays it out for him. “We bring these people to Sawtelle, then we come back out here to look.”

“Oh,” Eddie says, kinda dumbly, before grinning. “You’re a genius.”

“I keep trying to convince you, but you never listen, do you, Diaz?” Bosko grins back.

“Excuse me,” Marissa interrupts them. “The hospital is on Sawtelle?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“I know the way, I can take everyone, so you two can start looking,” she says. “I mean, I don’t know Ronnie, but Buck – if I heard the name right – saved us. If my husband was out here, I’d want to go look too. I’m sure everyone here will be more than fine to let you two go.”

The kindness of the offer overtakes Eddie, especially when more and more people start nodding, assuring the two of them that they can make it just fine. To go.

“What do you think, Superman?” Eddie asks Chris, bouncing him lightly. “Want to go look for papi together?”

“I do!” Chris cheers.

“Alright,” Eddie smiles.

Behind him, he hears Bosko say: “I think I can flag down some transport for you guys. Are you sure you’re going to be okay? Because we can go with you, before starting our search.”

“No, no, you go,” the other woman, who’d spoken earlier says.

“Yeah, Buck made sure we were okay, now we’d like to help him,” the man says.

“Thank you so much,” Eddie tells the group sincerely.

Marissa shakes her head: “No, thank you. And thank your husband from us when you find him.”

“I will,” Eddie promises, before it registers that they all think Buck is his husband-husband. It’s the first time someone assumed that since Eddie found peace with himself. It feels weirdly nice. Yet it saddens him deeply too.

Eddie holds so much love for Buck that even strangers can see it. However, he’s been leaving Buck behind, because he’s too scared for him to find out. It feels unfair, though he can’t pinpoint why.

He shakes his head. He doesn’t have time for this, for existentialism. They check the group over and take care the worst injuries, before they wave the group of people goodbye

Once they’re leaving, he turns to Chris, asking: “Can you tell me what clothes papi put on this morning? So I know what to look for?”

“Uh, he’s wearing pants and a white shirt with the red-pink shirt over it,” Chris answers.

It says a lot about how well Eddie knows Buck that he immediately knows what outfit Chris is talking about. “Good job, well done, thank you,” he praises Chris. “And the two of you went to the pier, before the water was gone, then to the fire engine, right?”

Chris nods. “Papi saved me. The water took me and I couldn’t hold onto the street light anymore, but he caught me and got me onto the fire engine. Then he saved everyone else. He said I helped, we’re a good team.”

At the recount, a wave of affection and love for Buck washes over Eddie. Even in the middle of a disaster, he’s still the best dad their kid could have wished for. He couldn’t have asked for a better partner.

However, right now he’s trying to retrace their steps, so they can figure out where Buck might have gone. So, he asks: “And what happened then?”

“The water started moving again and everything was shaking. Papi told me to hold on, because there were people in the water that needed saving, but then it shook really hard and I fell off. And I couldn’t see papi anywhere. I held onto the building there,” Chris points. “Then the water went down and I found you.”

Eddie looks in the direction Chris is pointing at. It’s a very generic direction downstream, but it’s a place to start. He nods: “Alright, then we’ll go look there first.”

“Lead the way,” Bosko speaks up, reminding him of her presence.

Surprised he looks over. He half expected her to already be gone. “You’re coming with us? What about Ronnie?”

“My plan had been to tag along with you and Bobby while looking for him as we went. Now it’s you and Chris, but the plan is the same,” Bosko shrugs. “Besides, I wasn’t lying when I said you looked stupid. Someone here has to make sure you don’t do anything too idiotic. I practically half promised your Captain too.”

“Can you believe that, mijo? Bosko thinks daddy needs supervision,” Eddie says mock indignantly, directing himself to Chris in the hope to cheer him up a bit.

Thankfully it has the intended effect, because Chris giggles at that. “But, daddy, you do need supervision.”

“Oh, really? And who told you that, huh?” Eddie asks, playing up his offense even more.

“Well, papi, Abuela, tía Pepa, Hen,” Chris lists.

“Okay, okay, I get it, I get it, you little rascal,” Eddie laughs, before swinging Chris onto his back so he’s easier to carry.

Without his crutches and with all this water, Chris is in no state to walk, but Eddie has no problem carrying him for as long as necessary. He’s not letting Chris out of his sight, not until their family is safely back together on dry land.

It’s slow going, however. Bosko’s broken rib makes wading through high water even more difficult than it already is, and despite the fact that they’re defecting, they are still firefighters in uniform, so people do ask them for help.

Since they are carrying Chris and seem to be going somewhere, they look busy enough that most people let them pass without comment. However, it does happen that Eddie needs to put Chris down for a moment – getting Bosko to hold his hand to prevent him from getting lost, since she can’t hold him with her broken rib – so he can help where necessary.

When Eddie picks Chris up after the third time they’ve stopped, he realizes Chris is shaking. It’s not a surprise, he’s absolutely soaked and has taken multiple dips in the cold sea water. He looks at Bosko and says: “We need to get him a blanket.”

Bosko nods, lips pursed. They have seen as much from Ronnie as from Buck. They’re both keeping their eye out for any sign of a uniform or pink shirt, but no luck yet.

She’s probably feeling about as disheartened as he does right now, so maybe the break from searching to find a blanket will help reset their mindset. They’ve already heard of some places handing out supplies from the few encounters they’ve had, so they change course to swing by the closest one.

It’s clearly a small place, set up by people from the area who’d been hit themselves, but are trying to do what they can. They look confused for a second when Bosko and Eddie arrive, since they likely assume firefighters would have supplies from outside the disaster zone. Eddie turns sideways, so they can see Chris, who is clinging to his back. “He needs something to warm him up,” Eddie explains.

Understanding dawns on the woman’s face, before she smiles gently and goes to reach for a blanket, while Eddie puts Chris down again, so he can take it and start figuring out how to organize it all.

When she turns back to them to hand them the blanket, she does a double take, before calling out to a man, who is sitting on a plastic chair a further down the wall: “Hey, Earl, wasn’t there that young lad looking for a boy in that outfit a while ago?”

Earl looks like he gets startled awake by the sudden shout, but looks over to the little crew of three, before his eyes fall on Chris. “The tall fella? Yeah, he looks pretty similar.”

“You saw Buck?” Eddie asks eagerly. This is the closest they’ve gotten in forever now.

“Well, I don’t know his name, but if he’s a tall man with the mark on his face looking for a little boy wearing that outfit with CP, yeah,” the woman says.

Eddie nearly drops his phone with how quick he gets it out, showing her the same picture he showed the other woman earlier. “Is this him?”

“Yeah, that’s him. Came to see if that boy had been here, but it was the wrong kid,” the woman says. “You missed him by an hour and a half. He went that way. You know him?”

“He’s my husband, this is our son,” Eddie explains, before confirming. “You said he went that way?”

The woman nods: “He did. The poor dear looked horrible. I says to Earl it’s a miracle that boy’s still walking, I did. Didn’t I, Earl?” Earl makes a vaguely agreeable sound. “He your husband? A mighty coincidence you finding your son out here, or were you together when it hit?”

“No, I came in later,” Eddie says, bypassing her coincidence comment. He would have believed it was coincidence on any other day, but now it feels like a sign; he has to find his husband. He has to bring their family back together. “Thank you so much for the blanket and the information.”

“Of course, of course, I hope you find him, he was a nice, polite young man,” the woman tells him.

“Me too,” Eddie says, before turning to Chris and saying: “Hear that, Superman. Papi was here. Come, I’ll wrap you up and we’ll go after him.”

“Yay,” Chris says half-muttering. His eyes are struggling to stay open, but he’s fighting the exhaustion with shivering.

Eddie bundles Chris in the blanket, fashioning it into a sized up sling, baby carrier thing, so he can carry Chris on his back without having to hold up his legs with his arms. While he does that, Bosko tries to see if they happened to see Ronnie too. That answer tragically remains no.

They thank the couple profusely, before setting on the path Buck followed an hour and a half ago, hoping they can catch up with him.

The further they go, the closer they seem to get and the more worried Eddie becomes. They encounter more and more people, who have seen Buck pass, most of them commenting on his help and the state of him, which had been horrid. All of them recognize Buck from the picture and they all correct their course, so they hone in on him more accurately.

He can’t imagine what kind of head space he must be in for him to go on with the way he’s looking to people. Eddie already knows he’s overexerting his leg, because most people noted him limping on his weak side. However, he also seemed exhausted to everyone, maybe even concussed. Why he’s not heading to a hospital, Eddie wouldn’t have understood, were it not for the fact that every single person tells them he’d been looking for Chris.

God, Eddie can’t imagine being in this mess and not knowing how Chris is or where he is, just that he’s somewhere out there.

Buck must be out of his mind with worry and pushing aside any sort of pain to focus on finding Chris. It only makes Eddie love him more, but he also feel so goddamn guilty. Chris said they’d been out here because Eddie hadn’t been home. Buck is out there, because Eddie wasn’t home. If he’d just been home, Buck would be okay right now. Chris would be okay, instead of sleeping off the exhaustion in the sling.

It’s his fault they were out here and it’s his fault that Buck is still out there. Maybe he couldn’t have asked for help, because most people broke their phone, but there are first responders all over. He could have asked them to radio Eddie, he knows he’s working today.

But Eddie’s radio hasn’t gone. Buck hasn’t called. He hasn’t called, because Eddie made him feel like he couldn’t. Like he had to do this alone. Eddie abandoned him and now Buck is hurting himself for their son.

He doesn’t know how much Eddie loves him, how much he trusts him, how much Buck means to him, even apart for all he’s done for Chris.

Fucking dammit, Eddie loves Buck for being Buck! And here the idiot is, trying to find Chris by himself instead of calling Eddie for help. They’re supposed to be a team, Eddie is supposed to have his back, but he hasn’t been.

Eddie needs to tell Buck that he can always count on him, that Eddie is still here for him, that he’s not going anywhere, no matter what happens. That Buck is important to him. That Buck is important, not just his co-parent, his partner at work and at home, but Buck. Buck his best friend, Buck the love of his life.

Without meaning to, he speeds up, determination washing over him to find Buck, before he works himself into an early grave.

“Wait up, Diaz,” Bosko gasps, clutching her side.

She’d been lagging and he’d been slowing down imperceptibly to accommodate without pointing it out. He knows Bobby had been right and that she shouldn’t have been out there, but he understands that she wants to be and he’s not going to be the one to send her away. Not when it still seems like they’re gaining ground on Buck.

However, with the setting sun, she’d been flagging more and more. There hasn’t been a sign of Ronnie anywhere and her breathing sounds very wrong now.

“You need to get to a hospital,” Eddie says, worried crease between his brows.

“No, I- I’m fine,” Bosko insists haltingly.

“Bosko, Lena, don’t-” Eddie doesn’t know how to go on, but he’s trying.

“I know, okay. I know,” Bosko says, returning his look with one of her own. “But I can’t just leave him out here.”

“If you keep going, it’s going to be the two of you out here,” Eddie points out to her, the words hurting him too, but he tries to give it a positive spin. “We’ve been out of contact with everyone for hours now. Maybe he’s been found. You can check the patient records while you’re there. I promise I’ll keep looking for him.”

Bosko looks torn, her side must hurt like a bitch, even worse than when she’d first admitted to having the injury. All the movement has been making it worse and she knows that as well as Eddie does.

“Come on, we’re so close, it’s in the same direction Buck went. I’ll take you there and if we hear news on the way, I won’t make you go,” Eddie sweetens the deal.

“Fine.” It sounds like it physically pains her to say that, but she’s reached the end of her rope. She can’t keep looking, no matter how badly she wants to.

“Thank you,” he says, because he knows what a sacrifice it is for her. She’s pushed through so much pain already, to give up now must sting.

“You too,” she shoots back with an exhausted smile.

They start walking again. It’s painfully slow, but Eddie isn’t about to leave a man behind, no matter how badly he wants to run, to catch up with Buck. He knows he needs his energy too. He has no clue what state Buck will be in when they find him. If he has to drag him to a hospital, he’ll need the energy. No use sprinting in a marathon.

To lighten the mood a little, he says: “Ironic, but I think the hospital we’re close to is the VA one on Sawtelle. Looks like we’re listening to Bobby’s orders after all.”

Bosko snorts, before groaning: “Ugh, don’t make me laugh, Diaz. That shit hurts.”

“Don’t swear in front of Chris,” Eddie scolds without really meaning it.

“I’ve heard you swear in front of Chris. Today even.” She gives him a look. “Besides, I’m pretty sure that the little guy is out like a light.”

Eddie can feel the consistent puffs of air against the back of his neck. It has been a great comfort all throughout the track, along with the fact that Chris is no longer shivering and starts to feel warm against his back. “It’s about the principle of the thing,” he sniffs anyway, just to play his bit.

“You’re a dick,” Bosko informs him.

“So you’ve said before,” Eddie grins, before letting a companionable silence fall. She looks more lively than a few minutes ago, which was the goal anyway.

Together, they make their way through the wet streets towards the VA hospital. They can spot it a few blocks away, since it’s the only place covered in lights, both brights and emergency ones. It looks like a haven.

Eddie hopes the haven won’t try to keep them for too long. He’s not going to make Bosko walk in there alone, but he still needs to find Buck. The last people they encountered that saw him were already quite some time away.

The longer he waits, the colder the trail will get. A reality where he won’t find Buck, is not one he wants to consider. The only reason he’s still somewhat sane, is that Buck is confirmed to be alive by eyewitness accounts.

He greets a nurse with a clipboard who is clearly part of the organization – trying not to immediately think of how gleeful Buck gets when he is handed a clipboard – with a: “Hey, my friend, she has a broken rib and she’s showing signs-”

“Can I get your names for the list, please?” the nurse asks.

“They have a list,” Bosko says excitedly. “Give me the list.”

“Excuse me!” the nurse frowns as Bosko tries to take the list from her.

Eddie stops her, saying: “That’s Lena, Lena Bosko. I’m Eddie Diaz, this is Christopher Diaz. Have you seen a Ronnie?”

“Ronnie Cooper,” Bosko adds. “Fire Captain, station 136?”

The nurse has to break the bad news, pulling a sympathetic face. “I haven’t. Head on inside and someone will be with you.”

Bosko nods, defeated and Eddie squeezes her shoulder reassuringly. They both turn to go their own way, when the nurse frowns: “Where are you going?” Both Bosko and Eddie pause in surprise at the question.

“Oh, I’m still looking for someone. Evan Buckley, he’s not on the list, right?” Eddie asks. Knowing Buck, he probably isn’t. That idiot won’t sign himself in when he hasn’t found Chris yet… though maybe he’s checking to see if someone brought Chris here. It’s not outlandish and suddenly he’s pretty interested in the answer.

“No, no Evan Buckley,” the nurse shakes her head. “But I can’t let you go either. First responders are collecting people at points like these so they can be evacuated. We don’t want people wandering out there, especially not in the dark.”

“I am first responders,” Eddie says, taken aback. He points to his uniform.

“What unit?”

“Uh, the 118, but we got separated.”

“Then you can wait until they come back, so you can rejoin. No going solo,” the nurse informs him.

“And you can leave the kid to be checked out. You can’t take him back out there.”

“Like hell I can’t! That’s my kid and it’s my husband. You can’t keep me here when he’s out there and injured,” Eddie frowns angrily.

The nurse crosses her arms: “And this is a natural disaster, Mr. Diaz. Everyone has people out there, but we’re working with a protocol to keep people safe. I can and will ask LAPD to restrain you, if you do not listen.”

Eddie looks back to who she’s indicating. Behind him, Athena is arriving from the darkness with a stretcher. The nurse seems smug, but Eddie just feels relief. “Athena!” he yells, just as Bosko exclaims: “Ronnie?”

~~

A/N:

Idk why I’m explaining myself, bc this is an AU, but I’m not following canon exactly, but I am keeping elements :D

Also sorry I haven’t been responding to comments as timely as I used to, but I got my thesis grade back and I passed!!! Like with a really good grade and I’m now set to graduate cum laude, so yay me. However, that also means I am now looking for a job, which is time consuming, so thanks for understanding <3

[unpersoniverse]

Skén:nen sá:sewh

as promised, here's Precious boy™ getting kissed by Precious wife™ because he deserves all the love in the world :cc

translation: Get home safe

[cookinguptales]

I love how ConcernedApe was like "no, you may not have children with your adorable monster roommate" and instead of making me less feral, that just encouraged me to marry villagers, divorce them, take full custody, then introduce our children to their new monster daddy.

You made me worse, ConcernedApe.

[pwurrz]

every time i think about how triggering and traumatic yakumo’s last event must have been for him (involved with weird cult shit again, kidnapped and put in a room exactly like the one him, eiden and olivine were put in at the academy, forced to witness the brutal genocide of yokai, attacked and nearly killed for openly looking like a yokai/using his yokai powers, watched as the last remaining yokai of the island was forced to sacrifice himself to protect an island inhabited by people who couldn’t care less if he lived or died, etc), i shake just the slightest bit more with rage.

only a little bit more at a time, and yet, somehow i’m already vibrating with enough energy to produce a level of heat that rivals the sun.

[cadere-art]

Sébastie Jayde is the foundator of Pigeon Aéropostale, an upstart entreprise trying to establish the first postal airlines.

Sébastie is the mixed-race, illegitimate daughter of the pulp and paper baron Josse Quesqueraux, born of his affair with Adénie Jayde, his secretary. When it became obvious that Adénie was pregnant, Josse, unwilling to end the affair, moved her to the office of one of his mills in Urterre, where Sébastie was born. By Iscean law, when the genitor of the child can be found the putative father of an illegitimate child must provide support for that child. Initially, Josse did only that which he must do, but as Sébastie grew and Josse got to know her on his visite to Urterre, he became increasingly attached to his natural child. Eventually, he had Adénie and Sébastie moved back to Saint-Loegaire, where he enlisted Sébastie in the kind of private school where nobles and bourgeois who are not very rich send their children, and very rich ones send their bastards.

Sébastie grew with the benefits of a full education and her father's name as a boon and a burden, never fully part of the society in which she moved. As she grew older, she became increasingly interested in machinery: the great static ones like the ones at the mill where she grew up, but moreso the moving ones: the steamboats, the trains, these new motorized carts... The first time Sébastie saw a airplane, an ugly lumbering prototype at a technology fair to which her father had brought her, was a revelation of almost divine proportions.

With Judoc's financial support, Sébastie founded a workshop where she began to build her own stuttering, lumbering flying machines, amassing expertise and experience where she could find it. She would eventually earn her name when she became the first pilot to fly an aircraft across the straight seperating Iscea and Urterre. For her, this was the beginning of aeronautics as more than a hobby, and soon after, Pigeon Aéropostale was born.

[worstloki]

sigyn that married loki like ages ago so when it comes out he's jotun she's like. 'well it's a bit late to do anything about that'

[bitegore]

ok this isnt meant to be a dig or anything but it's always really funny to me when people like just cracking 30 are like "omg you're in your early twenties, you're a babyyyyyy"

babe you're like barely 30, you're a baby too. You're a blink and a half older than me. I spend too much time around people over 50, the difference between 23 and 33 is a few years at a job and a little more distance from living in your parents' house but it's like, nothing. the gap closes every time you breathe and every time i move. the difference between you and me is like one-fifteenth the difference between you and my dad's friend Joe or whatever. don't worry you'll get to live more life too, but don't kid yourself.

and this is doubled when it's coming from a 25-year-old currently experiencing a crisis of age because they're soooo old, they're 25, the horror! You are twenty-five. We have an age difference of three years. Your concern over this is embarrassing for you and highly entertaining for me. But like don't kid yourself here. You are 25. You are a like a fucking baby to me.

[p2iimon]

idk if theres anything in fnaf that implies that william was a shitty abusive husband besides that if youre a shitty abusive father (and a murder) youre probably a shitty abusive husband. but i like to imagine he and his wife just have like a good normal relationship at least for a while. its kinda funny

[randomnameless]

Drankengard done (land 2!)

A lot of nice things in this part, so far it feels like the most FE-like land, and some characters from this land are really interesting!

l firstly love how the plot starts with "we have to rescue this midget prince from 100k soldiers" in one of the few defend maps of this game with various catapults and other engines to attack/defend against a cluster of loldiers coming at you - that was nice compared to the nigh useless ballistas and other engines in FE.

Granted, Gilbert's defining moment after being revealed is basically protecting his vassal from a gotoh-like character who's twice his size and more or less recruiting her for the defend map -

(localisation thingie : no "kisama" for eng/fr script Gilbert, sure it's kind of complicated to put it in words - like an agressive "you" - and yet it gives some nice characterisation, after Amalia rekts Leah and while Gilbert is standing seconds before being surrounded by 100k peons in front of someone who's basically stronger than anyone else around, he is still angry and pissed for his friend's sake) -

Just before being upset at asking our party - aka a foreign nation who was at war with his for the last few decades and revealing that his dad only granted asylum to the princess of said foreign nation to marry her to his heir to conquer it later on - for help.

Hopefully for him his game is no Triangle Strategy, so no one will actually tell him to eat shit because he wasn't the one who liberated the land even if he participed to instead worship the "foreign" person who led the liberation army.

Hell, idk what kind of PR campaign Gilbert and his few loyal soldiers pulled out, but some NPCs are really acting as if he liberated his kingdom single handedly lol

His relationship with his elder brother was sort of developed in the main plot - but more in the equivalent of the support convos - but as I said in another post, I really loved that part where he feels like he's still a second prince, and if his older brother returns, older brother should get the crown even if older brother feels like dirt for failing his country and his father, and became a wandering... mercenary who's busy saving priestresses from jails (and leaving them in the middle of battlefields).

Ultimately, they reunite and more or less solve their issues, and Ludwig manages to tell him that he wouldn't be half the king Gilbert is, because Gilbert is the one who led a rebellion and ultimately led Drakengard free, is loved by this people etc etc.

TBH, while it was short, this was a nice character arc -

(complete with the support/rapport convo just after the final map I unlocked where Gilbert, wanting to know how the common people live in his kingdom, gets plastered with the a random worthless bandit/merc who's freaking out from the entire situation lol)

The other major character from Drakengard is Virginia, the MC's older cousin!

We first see her being kind of pushy and overbearing, sometimes taking the initiative to do rather extreme stuff (wanting to fetch her axe instead of recruiting the earlier worthless bandit/merc), but she's still deferring to the MC, save for a certain mission - because, and kuddos to the game for going there, while Virginia's story is basically a tragic Marth's, aka, when her kingdom was invaded she had to run away to a foreign state for asylum but without any Jeigan, she believed for 10 years and never stopped believing that she was the only one who survived, and thus it was her role and duty to restore the Cornian line on the throne and take back the country from the evil Empire.

And... MC pops up, as the rightful - aka the son of the late queen as opposed to her mere niece - heir thus Virginia's hopes of becoming the Queen and the one to restore her nation vanish.

So kuddos for the game to basically have Virginia tell her cousin that while she was happy to see him and learn he was alive after all those years... she also felt jealous, because the 10 last years she spent having this dream and hope to be the one to restore the country... vanished in 10 minutes lol.

She's not going to challenge Alain's claim to the throne and instead will support him.

Granted, this moment becomes ten times more interesting if you do her own mission before - aka the one where she zerg rushes against the dude who slaughtered her retinue against the advice of Jeigan Joseph and becomes a dreaded green unit (who loses her promotion somehow???), running in a battlefield full of catapults to have her vengeance.

Remember when I said one of her first defining moments is when she asks to be handed her axe to get rid of a worthless merc instead of recruiting him? Well, her words back then were something like "your men died for you, so you can't beg for your life" or something like that, we learn in her own mission that she was basically talking about herself.

Basically, kid!Virginia was supposed to have her Jeigans and Cain/Abel/Draugs and they were supposed to escape and run away together to Drakengard... but they were slaughtered by some general of the evil empire who thought bringing her head would make a good offering to the evil emperor, so the Jeigans, Cains, Abel, Draugs etc etc laid down their lives to allow her to escape - we have a voiced FB with a few images and a battle cinematic, where the knights basically say they will die to make sure she'll be able to escape, and will slow down the evil general with their corpses if needed.

The entire platoon of knights died, and Virginia has been carrying this trauma for ten years, dreaming of having her revenge but never once confiding in anyone from Drakengard about it - not even in her (Gilbert's) vassal Leah who she seemed to be close too earlier.

Short story, the general holds a fort and is supposed to be called back to the evil empire's capital for some reason, and instead of waiting for his departure to recapture the fort, Virginia storms at the general to have her revenge (accompanied by the knights who were just squires when she had to leave, and thus couldn't be there when their senior knights were slaughtered and want revenge as much as she does!).

You have to send Joseph to talk to her to have her turn blue again (and promoted again thank gods) and the re-recruitment scene is cool for 2 things :

1/it's Joseph, not Alain who talks to her because her beef and the one who talked to her and the one whose plan is ignored is Joseph - I love it when the MC isn't at the center of everyone's universe

2/Virginia during this convo notices her friends/knights are injured (they have the injured sprite) and realises she was going to send to their death the last remaining members of that platoon, chastises herself and her next battle lines are something like "I won't let them die/bleed anymore" or something and it's fucking powerful because hey, besides some "vengeance is empty" that she will get later on herself, part of what makes her see reason is the realisation that her allies are injured and were going to die in her quest, and she can't have that anymore (nice ludonarration moment here, Virginia is a tank, if her allies are injured, it's because she wasn't tanking well enough!).

"Vengeance is empty" moment : the evil general who slaughtered her former knights doesn't even remember the people he slaughtered, or the mission where he hunted her, aka, she's been obsessing for 10 years over something her so called "nemesis" forgot.

End of the map, the realisation that her vengeance was nothing + she put her close allies' lives in danger (+ the little bit of salt when she mentions that Alain is the Cornian Royal people should follow because he is royalty) make her want to leave the army as fitting punishment - which, you know, coming from a series where some lord basically goes 1VS1 against the guy who killed his dad and who was followed by his kid sister who put herself in mortal danger but only receives a scold from his not-mom and slap on the wrist just makes me side-eye FE Tellius' writing even more.

Anyways, while I read on redshit that some people were pissed because "wah wah Virginia is a character who does foolish things and there are consequences about it she should be exiled forever or something", she obviously doesn't leave the army because, all of her close allies ask her to stay. Hell, Alain only gives one or two sentences that are dispassionate compared to the other 4 - again to show that MC privileges aren't everything at least plot wise - but the main voice is Leah's - aka her (well) Drakengard retainer!

When earlier Virginia told her that this story and her choice had nothing to do with Drakengard - because it's about Cornian knights who died during her flight from Cornia - Leah now reminds her that she became someone important for Drakengard too, and you know, the 10 years she spent here ? It's not just only background to give some fluff for a teatime line, no, it has more implication, if not only to have this moment where Leah says that Virginia's pride, bravery and hope to restore her country also influenced and inspired people (Gilbert, the second son who had to assume the role of the King when no one else was left!) around her and made the people of Drakengard also hope to liberate their country - if she leaves now, the named character from Cornia will miss her, but also "Drakengard" in general.

To cement her words, after this map we can talk to some Drakengard NPC who's all "wow Princess Virginia is so cool she defeated the bastard in charge of this fortress!" and while idk if Leah's speech + that NPC were added to make the ending where she becomes the queen of Drakengard (save for Alain marrying his cousin) more plausible, but it was a really nice addition.

Adding to that the fact that Virginia is the one who's basically telling Alain (and informing the player) about various map hazards like geysers around the land, giving some backstory about the desert along with Leah and also the one who tells the party about a sort of shortcut/secret passage and yes, we get it that she lived for 10 years in that land and knows it enough to act as a guide, but also that the people around know her.

I mean compare with a game where some dude apparently went to a school in a foreign capital but when he marches on said foreign capital or talks to people who also attended that school he never mentions it - it's like night and day.

Final "daw" moment that is both tied to her character but also, another example that Alain isn't the center of the universe... Virgnia is the one who tells Alain to talk to Aramis (the eldest prince who became a merc!) and ask him to talk to Gilbert to put his worries aside about the throne and the succession and ust, to reunite with his younger brother.

The characters concerned (Gilbert and Aramis) thank Alain for giving them the occasion and push to talk to each other - not knowing this was something Virginia planned, because while hers and Gilbert's issues are sort of similar (the not "legitimate" heir who took the mantle of restoring their country to glory and believed it so for the last decade, only for the legitimate one to return), she has a good enough read on Gilbert to know that he needs to talk to his brother to put his doubts and questions about his legitimacy aside and accept that he is the King.

Coming from a series with "avatar scissors", the bonds and links between the characters was really something I enjoyed, Alain will not pop up and tell Gilbert that he is a good king and should get over/or deal with his doubts about his brother, Alain isn't the one who gives the most meaningful speech about why Virginia is important to Drakengard and hell, we don't even see the exchange we know he had with Aramis to convince him to talk to Gilbert, because the most important scene here isn't the Alain-Aramis dialogue, but the Aramis-Gilbert one. Gilbert doesn't want to free his Kingdom because he envies Alain or Alain told him to do so, it's something he wants to do being inspired by Virginia.

In a nutshell, Drakengard's major characters were a good surprise and their stories and quests were cool.

More minor character wise...

We get the Drakengard version of the same plague we saw in Cornia, but instead of having "clerics" perform experiments on infected people to find a cure, the accent here is put on a wyvern knight who was to enforce a lockdown, to prevent the plague from spreading and well... no fines in this setting, instead she runs them through with her spear.

IDK how that game would have been received just after Covid lol

All jokes asides, just like the Cornian version of this plot heavily suggested, the plague was devised by the evil empire to cut down the forces of the rebellion and make sure this land would be able to be conquered easily.

Why are the imperials killing people? Well, it might have to do something with the fact that the totes-not-gharnef old sorcerer guy is a necromancer...

Leah's quest explored a little more the background info that "Drakengard and Cornia used to be at war" thingie, with random green units also mounting a liberation army but refusing our help, and we know how this ends with green units, we basically have to save them.

Map ends with some Drakengardians - who swore allegeance to the evil Empire? - still willing to fight us, and Alain asking Leah to please ask them, as a Drakengardian (?) to surrender because if someone from Cornia asks them they will refuse.

Also it's a bit of a character exploration, for once the usually demure + always in the back behind Virginia asks the Liberation Army to do something and insists even if people refuse, straight up saying that in that case (if they refuse) she's going to help the green NPCs herself since she's strong enough to do so and it's cool because I think at one moment Virginia sighs/laughs, but not in a derogatory way, but more in some "damn she's becoming like me" way - which is alluded to in ther rapport conversation, Leah seeks to emulate her bold and fearless (being a green unit) behaviour.

I haven't seen a lot of convos with the desert people we recruit - thank goodness we're far from Hyzante's clichés even if the "people in the desert are bandits and former prisoners" trope is still here, but given how the ones who attack us were brainwashed by the evil Empire, it's not as aggravating as, well, Nopes or Hyzante.

Gameplay wise :

Damn if promoting your units cost medals, but it's so worth it to have more than one action (at least) per turn ! It also means we can use entire new strategies because now the turns are at least longer than one round each!

Drakengard fills the Jugdral quota with the group of units coming all at once at you sometimes lol, but I loved the aesthetic difference that ultimately became gameplay difference between this area and Cornia, basically we have more mountains to less space to manoeuver the non flying units, the enemies use AoE engines to ruin you or at times, AoE map abilities from their own units to deal some annoying amount of damage.

The cities are larger so instead of fighting in a meadow with one or two small buildings here and there, at times the fight takes place in an entire city, so again, it means reduced mobility and of course, desert sucks because, just like FE, you can't move well in the sand.

Lolcalisation wise :

Virginia "I have never been fond of court formalities" says a desert full of bandit isn't a place for "royalty like us"? When the "us" is both her and her cousin reknown for their martial abilities?

What the fuck does it mean ?

At least in FR it's "a lot of people avoid this place" and not just "royalty like us" - which doubles as ridiculous because in the "people avoid this place" it's again the trend of Virginia being a tour guide of Drankengard, telling Alain that people from Drakengard think about the desert, eluding this part is also, in part, eluding part of the knowledge Virginia has about Drakengard.

I think the localisation took the "royal pride" that defines her and exaggerated it to "royal arrogance".

IDK if the meaning is the same in english, cretin is an insult like in french, but damn if you say to someone the are a "crétin" they will feel offended and insulted because that's way more rude than calling someone an idiot!

:/

And I also have a bone against whoever thought it was a good idea to throw "pseudo elvish" words in the localised script (sadly we followed this :'() when the japanese audio doesn't use them at all, was it to pretend the evles from Fevrith have a different language because Tolkien shall be universal, or what?

Elf land doesn't see that interesting plot wise compared to Drakengard, and I'm not saying this because of my Alcina bias lol but I'll just have to wait and see!

(poor hodrick is being slaughtered by those pesky pointy ears and their hybrid attacks, tfw armor not withstanding magic is universal, I'll have to promote Miriam asap to protect him or just bench him :/)

[marsixm]

i also think the fact that i had such a stunted and isolated upbringing and now that im an adult all my friends are on atypical life paths (and honestly even my friends as a kid were like this too) means i find things that are usually very common life stages really interesting. like knowing someone who has a house and a wife and 2 kids (with that wife) and a job with a salary feels like meeting fucking paul bunyun to me. or hearing the kids i work with talk about graduating high school and going to college and being on a real path with that stuff is neat? or even sometimes knowing cis/het people who are like going thru that coming of age stuff that i never really experienced the way you see it in the movies bc of transness/queerness/neurodivergence. its like woah they said the name of the thing in the thing. do u know what i mean???

[deus-ex-mona]

no one:

absolutely no one:

jptwt reactions to the hiyomv:

[anto-pops]

So I've just had a thought. Humor me if you would. I want to know what you'd think about this.

As we all know, in muggle world, the men are, in General, stronger and bigger than women and thus always used their biological advantages over women to control them, right.

But in the wizarding world, witches have the same magic capabilities as the men, hindering them from strong-arming women into being subservient. With magic being like an equalizer, dont you think females in the wizarding world are more liberated than muggle women? I mean obviously it's still not perfect, with arranged marriages and other such issues, but the men are victims of that too in the wizarding world.

This is a super interesting concept to consider ! I agree, I think women and men in the wizarding world are fairly equal in terms of abilities and all that, but I can imagine that time period offered its own trials and tribulations for witches and wizards alike. It was probably a bit restrictive for everyone involved— especially women— but muggle women undoubtedly would have it rough.

There was a feminist movement that took place in the 1850s that focused on equality in education/work/electoral rights and all that, but Queen Victoria actually didn’t support it in any way. Her official take on the whole thing was to call feminism a ‘wicked folly’ and she claimed that ‘men and women were created differently— so they should remain each in their own position’. I’m sure muggle women struggled to get a leg up in society as a result, whereas (from what we’ve seen in game) witches in the wizarding world were able to work, own their own businesses, and a slew of other things that probably don’t fit our idea of what was considered ‘normal’ during that time.

So tldr; yeah, I think women in the wizarding world had a degree more freedom than muggle ladies. They certainly had their own struggles and hurdles to overcome, but I don’t think it was anything like what non-magical women had to deal with

[obstreperous-orbisian]

I've decided i officially don't give a fuck what vocabulary a given minority uses to describe their experiences, their oppression, themselves, whatever. Trans men are completely allowed to talk about the oppression they face that is unique to their communities using whatever goddamn words they want and if you're getting your panties in a twist about it you've lost the plot.

I'm ace and was on this stupid fucking site when denying my place in the queer community was so fucking cool and let me tell you I'm sick of bullshit. Listen to people when they talk about their experiences, trust that they're being honest about it, and aim your actions at things that tangibly fucking matter.

[oozeandgoo-art]

everyone is sooo in love with vakori on account of le is so cool and smart and deeply pragmatic and is also completely batshit insane

[bmpmp3]

ive mentioned before how ive always thought it was a little bizarre that so many white people's first assumption when they see a white-looking person with a culturally unexpected surname is "oh they're adopted" despite how much more common a person being multiracial is compared to being the white adopted child of non-white parents - although of course it does happen, its just yknow. the people saying this are usually not thinking about the racial dynamics in the adoption industry so much as they are just assuming mixed race people don't exist LOL

but on that end, in my own mixed race bias I usually assume multiracialness first so i did completely forget about another decently common situation where a white-looking adult (often a woman) might have a last name from a non-white culture: i forgot that um. sometimes people (particularly women) change their last names when they get married? neither my mom nor any of my aunties did so you have to forgive me orz