#and then goes on this super dangerous mission to right his wrongs

[executiveibex]

finished part 1 of 3 of “The Miracle of the Mirage” and

ONE. “Is Grand Magnificent my darling? Or is my, like, obsession with tragedy my darling?” oh okay my attachment to Art’s characters makes complete sense now because we approach our TTRPG character narratives the same way

TWO. glad i’m making a slight detour to this week’s Road to PALISADE before finishing this arc! because even though i know from checking the wiki to set up the tag list for this blog that nobody’s (probably) dying in this season until the very end, those last fifteen minutes were still really fucking tense

[galactic-magick]

Less Talking, More Kissing: Miguel O’Hara x Reader

Summary: You tell Miguel that every time he gets mad at something he has to take you aside and make out with you.

Words: 1.0k+

Warnings: slightly suggestive

Author’s Notes: 100% convinced that if Miguel just got a kiss kiss he wouldn’t be such a dick.

-

-

-

It’s no secret to anyone in the Spider Society that Miguel is an angry man. Understandably so, considering what he’s been through. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect the entire team negatively. His anger often clouds his judgment and his ability to sympathize with others, and you know he’s aware of it. People don’t listen to him when he gets irrational and dramatic, and quite frankly he’s sick of not being taken seriously.

You know it’s partially a side-effect of his mutated DNA, giving him a bit of a feral, animalistic side that’s difficult to fully turn off, but when he comes to you feeling hopeless, you’re more than happy to do what you can. You’ve been together for a long time now, and you’re the one person he fully trusts.

“You’re the only person who can actually keep me grounded, you know,” he mumbles into your neck, cuddling you close on the couch. “How do you do it?”

“Nothing special,” you giggle as his fangs slightly tickle your skin. “I just love you as much as I can,”

“Even when I’m a jerk?”

“Especially when you’re a jerk.”

He groans, adjusting position so he’s propped up above you, “I wish I could just make out with you whenever I get like that. You’re the only one who can calm me down,”

You smirk, “Who says you can’t?”

“You...you want me to do that?”

“Why not?” you shrug. “If I have the power to turn you into a nicer guy, even if it’s temporary, why not let you do what you want with me?”

“Don’t tempt me, love,” he growls, leaning down to kiss you.

“I’m serious!” you push him away playfully. “Just try it tomorrow, okay? See if it works,”

“You’re too good to me,” he grins, leaning back down to capture your lips.

-

It’s not long into the next day before he needs you. He’s alone, glaring at his monitors and getting increasingly frustrated at all the issues rising across the universe. He tells Lyla to send you in, and before you can get a word out to ask what’s wrong, he grabs you and slams you against the panels, kissing you passionately until he gets all the irritation out of his system.

This continues to happen several more times over the next few weeks. At first it’s limited to only times when he’s alone, but eventually it bleeds into times others are around as well. Anytime he starts to get heated in some sort of mission briefing or meeting with people from the Spider Society, he’ll step out to call you and get his fix. People start to wonder why Miguel keeps randomly leaving meetings for 10-20 minutes and then returning completely composed, but none of them are about to complain that he’s gotten nicer recently. He’s been yelling a lot less and is overall a less negative person now, and people are a lot more chill around him now. They don’t feel scared to talk to him, and they’re finally listening to him as much as he wanted.

The day he hears about the newest anomaly on Earth-1610, though, is when his coping mechanism is really put to the test.

You haven’t seen him this angry in quite a long time, as he goes on and on about something involving a spider biting a kid in the wrong universe, and that kid’s actions causing the creation of a dangerous super villain. He tells the newest recruit, Gwen Stacy, to go to that universe and check it out, but to avoid Miles at all costs. She retaliates, due to Miles being a close old friend of hers, but Miguel doesn’t back down. He reminds her once again of what’s at stake and how important it is to maintain canon events, refusing to listen to her point of view.

“Miguel.” you take his hand and pull him aside, waving to the others. “We’ll be right back. Just need to take care of something,”

You take him out of the room and push him into the wall, wrapping your arms around his neck to pull him down to you and kiss him ferociously.

“Mmph-” he grunts. “They just-they just don’t understand…”

“I know sweetheart, I know,” you sigh as he kisses down your neck, lightly biting the skin. “But you really were being a jerk in there,”

“I could’ve been worse. I was holding back,” his hands graze and squeeze down the sides of your body, making your squeak at his strength.

“She’s just a kid, Miguel,”

“A kid who doesn’t know what she’s talking about-”

“Alright,” you cut him off. “Less talking, more kissing,”

He does as he’s told, continuing to kiss every piece of skin exposed. His hands move from your hair to your waist to your legs, and he lifts you up from under them. He turns you around and slams you against the wall, pressing into you while your hands cling to his giant shoulders.

“I need you,” he growls.

“You still have to go back in there eventually, you know,”

“But I haven’t gotten all my anger out yet,” he smirks against your lips.

“How much more do you have?”

“Enough to last all night, sweetheart,”

Your stomach flutters, and you slither your fingers into his hair. You’ve created a monster.

“Hey man,” you hear a voice several feet away. “Can we go home now or what?”

Miguel drops you down and you turn to see Hobie, Gwen, as multiple Peters from the mission briefing staring at you. You both feel your faces grow hot.

“Lyla will finish giving you all the details of the mission and then you can go your separate ways, yes,” Miguel speaks up.

They nod and awkwardly walk away, and Miguel grabs your hand and starts storming down the hall.

“Now they’re never going to take me seriously,”

“You don’t know that. Sometimes showing people you have a soft side actually makes them respect you more,”

“Hmmph,” he grunts, pulling you inside your shared room at the end of the hall.

You laugh, “Still need to get that anger out?”

“You have no idea.”

[gojoshooter]

A to Z — with Gojo Satoru

Pairing : Gojo Satoru x reader (any gender)

Genre : sfw, fluff and loads of fluff, gets a bit steamy but still sfw

A/N : lots of gojo headcanons <33 this is my second work so im still learning. reblog if u like? ♡

WARNING : non-graphical description of make-out sessions, mention of blood, injury, arguments, spoilers

A = Affection (are they affectionate with you?)

He doesn't get to spend a lot of time but this boy loves you so much

Bringing souvenirs is his love language, god he spoils you

A hard day makes him super touchy so he either spoons you to sleep & gives unhealthy amounts of kisses or just drapes himself on you if he's feeling extra lazy

Sweetheart over babygirl

B = Babies (how many kids does he want?)

He doesn't really mind, hasn't though about it much

He'd let you decide whatever you want tbh

Lowkey would like three to four kids, either all daughters or all sons to make a cult gang of his own

You both are like mom & dad to Megumi so he's fine either way

C = Comfort (how do they comfort you?)

When you start ranting about another mean customer and how hard the day has been, he let's you take your time and reminds to take long breaths in between, lacing your fingers together with his mild warm ones

He'd usually get quite when you're crying, holding you in his folded lap but takes it into his own hands and cracks silly jokes when your crying becomes uncontrollable

You'd crack up most of time and relax, explain him what's going on with you, but if it goes any further and your state is worse than he expected, he'd be dangerous to deal with

Now better expect the person who hurt you dead

D = Date (how was your first date? what are dates with him like?)

He would usually get overboard with dates, getting you high-end expensive branded clothes to a dinner in one of the best restaurants in japan

Don't get him wrong though, he does this not to be pompous of his richness but because he gets so little time to spent with you

E = Emotion (is it easy for them to express his emotions in front of you?)

If there is anyone he can let himself be him around, it's no one but you

Since the day he executed his best friend, you're the only person left to hold him when he falls

He barely cries, (except that one time he killed geto) just becomes quite and you know something is not right

He never reaches out first so you sometimes end up over thinking about his health

F = Feelings (when did they know they were in love with you?)

He can't pinpoint a specific time when he started to fall for you

But maybe it started when you both were given a mission together and you planned and executed the whole thing with so much brains and courage, all you left him to do was to rescue you after you, a semi first grade sorcerer finished off the special grade curse all by yourself

He was so impressed, almost called himself a simp if he didn't know the fact you were all the same head over heels for him too

G = Gym (do they go to the gym? how built are they?)

His busy life as a 'shaman who protects people' takes credit for those guns

He has applied for a gym session but that's just for the talk

Is actually quite buffed up

Can do more than a hundred push ups

Just the perfect amount of muscles to make him an eye candy

H = Hands (how do they like to hold hands?)

When holding hands he swings your arms back and forth like a little kid

He does it so absent-mindedly you find him adorable

Doesn't let go of your hands if you both are making out

He does that because you shy away and he enjoys how helpless you look flushed bright red under him

Plays with your fingers when nervous

I = “I love you” (who said it first? and how?)

It was obvious to almost everyone who knew you two about your mutual pinning each other

But you keep chickening out and so did he

One day when you were badly injured due to an exceptionally hard mission with him he loses his cool and composure because it was you and in the heat of the moment he tightly hugs you making you promise to not let go and inevitably yelling the three words

For the sake of being a bitch and getting it back on him for every mean thing he did to you, you say, holding his face in your equally injured bloody hands, "I'm alive, honey"

You cackle as he picks you up for treatment at Shoko's clearly fake-pissed off

Ultimately you kiss his cheeks confessing back in the moment

J = Jealousy (do they get jealous? how do they act when they’re jealous?)

Gojo can get jealous really easily so you don't need to try

And when he is, he would act like a child

If he could just throw you over his shoulder while saying “mine” he would

But he settles for coming from behind you, relaxed smile on his lips, he asks what you guys are talking about in an innocent tone

K = Kiss (how do they kiss?)

It is usually short and quick ones when he kisses you bye for his solo missions or somewhere out with his students

To compensate he'd kiss you really deep and long during make out sessions knowing the fact you don't have musk ox of a lung like him

It's either quick or deep ones, no in between

Forehead kisses are his favorite

L = Love language (how do they show you that they love you? what is their love language?)

KING OF GIFT GIVING BYE

He'd pick flowers if there are any around, and braid/tuck them into your hair

Lightly scratching behind your neck and ears then smothering them and asking you to do the same

Gojo would bite your cheeks in the most random moment

Buy sour patches and gummy bears to eat with you

M = Memory (what is their favorite memory with you?)

Drunk karaoke

Neither of you could sing but it didn't matter and you couldn't stop laughing about how terrible you sounded together

Nanami came to the rescue and booked a cab

You recorded the whole thing and couldn't stop watching it when you got home

N = Night (how are nights spent with him?)

Falling asleep against his shoulder after a late night movie marathon

Sometimes he'd insist to cook the dinner by himself

And it's a new recipe of Kikufuku

You'd try to act mad but can't put it up for long not when he holds a spoonful with big eyes of the sweet desert he made

Loves to cuddle you specially on winter nights

O = On cloud nine (how do they act when falling in love with you?)

Becomes a lot more thoughtful on the next thing he gifts you and a bit more excited about giving them

Might be a bit more flirty without really realizing

Gojo also notices a lot of things about you that he begins to like more than usual

Starts acting more silly and childish (which you love)

P = Pet names (what pet names do they use?)

He's a tease, so he comes up with new odd but funny nicknames like 'nugget' and calls you that before switching to something new after almost a week

Lots of pet names when he'd comfort you, usually cute ones like 'love bug', 'bambi' or 'pup' which are your favorites

Gojo often calls you by your name followed by a '-chan' or '-kun' if he refers to you in front of anyone

Q = Quizzes (how much do they remember and know about you?)

He's a busy man, so you wouldn't mind if he forgets your birthday

But the thing is he doesn't

Keeping small things about you in mind that are important to him, like whether you're depressed or anxious

Making playlists that match both of your tastes and sending them to you late at night when he's abroad on a mission missing you

R = Rage (what do they do if they're mad at you?)

Literally almost none of your actions can make him angry

Oh but one thing

Gojo was really mad that one time you put yourself to such a diet it started to effect your body mentally and physically

Never raises his voice though, you got a day of cold shoulder untill you gave up on the diet

S = Sugar or Spice (what do they prefer?)

He has a big sweet tooth

Eating almost half of the desserts that you bring in a day

You wish his teeth rot but he's god's favourite

Can not handle spice much as you can

Probably the only thing Gojo Satoru isn't good at

T = Twitter (are they on twitter? if yes, what do they do there?)

He made a private twitter account few weeks after in a romantic relationship with you

Only lets few closest of his friends and students in

The username is 'y/nlovebot'

Isn't very active but tweet at a random hour asking the weirdest question about love advice

Megumi blocks him

U = UwU (would he ever act cute for you?)

Do you think he needs to act?

He's a jerk but he can do that to make up and you'll always fall

He'd look cute even with his small smile playing on his slightly pink glossy lips

Prolly his copping mechanism

V = Vip (how important are you to them?)

If he could choose, he'd choose you over being the strongest sorcerer in the world

You're his top priority

If not one of the top, besides Geto

You're afraid to test where he might draw the line but you believe in him, he'll never let you down

You're his 'special little pup' and very much vip

W = Waking up (what are they like when they wake up next to you?)

It's not rare that you're up before him

Waking up, you open your eyes to see his broad bare shoulders & his light hair slightly across his face

Or sometimes you wake up tangled somehow, arms and legs are often intertwined, and you're lying on his chest

He won't wake up untill his morning kisses are given

X = X-ray (how does the relationship look from an outside perspective compared to how it really is?)

Your relationship seems the cute and stable type

If there are any arguments, Gojo and you would work it out the smart ways

He knows how to handle your bad mood the best, giving you space and preparing a warm drink to make you relax

There's never a time he makes you feel things wouldn't be okay

He's not the type to baby sit you and you know that because he lets you do your part of the mission

He fell for what a rebel of a person you are, come on

Y = Yes (do they think of getting married/proposing?)

It would start off as a joke between the two of you on a late evening, in between the laughs and the light breeze coming from outside the Jujutsu tech

Gojo would find the idea of marrying you very appealing, suddenly not laughing anymore

There would be a high chance that he would promise on holiday or something to make it a special time

On the day of proposal night, that happens to be your birthday, he'd definitely do something silly like wrap a bit of tissue around your finger as a fake ring until he got one

Z = Zzz (how do they sleep with you?)

Finds it easier to sleep while hugging you to his chest

Often tangles his legs around yours out of habit when he spoons you

He's not a heavy sleeper thanks to his sharpened senses

You like to stroke his hair and he would smile at you but wakes up with you sprawled all over him lol

A/N : AND THAT'S ALL. i hope this put a smile on your face somewhere along the lines lol. Untill next time!

Tags : @luckimoon ♡

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x43 - A Dangerous Game! Pinocchimon / Playing Games

Previously on Digimon Adventure: After an arduous battle, WarGreymon finally defeated MetalSeadramon. Whamon only scored an Assist despite doing a ridiculous amount of work to make that happen, which really goes to show how unfairly competitive PVP games incentivize toxic play over support and teamwork.

Due to the staggering of episode breaks, the original picks up fresh where we left off while the dub keeps on going 'cause we're two minutes into the new one. The children watch the ocean ribbon around Spiral Mountain withdraw back into the world below.

Takeru: Spiral Mountain's ocean is returning to normal! Hikari: Why? Gomamon: It must be because we defeated its ruler MetalSeadramon! Koushiro: So the dark powers controlling it disappeared! Taichi: Our win cleaned out some of the darkness in this world! Jou: Let's keep this pace up and defeat the rest of the Dark Masters! Tailmon: And then peace will return to Earth! Taichi: YES!!! LET'S GO!!! Jou, Tailmon, & Piyomon: YEAH!!!

MetalSeadramon ate shit and now we're 1/4 of the way to purifying the two worlds. The kids share a moment of excitement and jubilation.

...I mean, Yamato seems to be much more interested in whatever Mimi's doing than in this conversation but you can barely notice them; I'm sure it's not important.

The reversion of MetalSeadramon's domain is a fascinating plot point because it speaks to how corrupt and artificial Spiral Mountain truly is. They didn't just change the landscape, like building an artificial island out of dirt in a bay; The powers of darkness are actively forcing reality to be like this, against its nature. The Digital World is straining to return to its natural state, and will do so as soon as the obstruction is removed.

Like two north ends of a magnet being forced to touch each other by a Dark Master holding them together.

In the dub:

T.K.: Spiral Mountain's ocean is almost completely gone! Kari: But why? Gomamon: Maybe because we kicked its Dark Master's butt! Izzy: Quite interesting, but does this affect us? Tai: Absolutely! It changes everything; If we're going to get any surfing in, we'd better hurry! Joe: Those wimpy Dark Masters are no threat to Super Joe! Gatomon: That's the digi-tude I like to hear from you humans! Tai: ALRIGHT, LET'S GO!!! Joe, Gatomon, & Biyomon: YEAH!!!

The dub follows the script up through Gomamon's line, then decides that's all the exposition we really need to understand what the rules are and what our plan needs to be from here.

To be fair, they're not wrong. The original dialogue is a bit dry and over-explains things. "We defeated the Dark Master so his domain was purified," doesn't actually need three lines to comprehend.

Though it's amazing how erroneously unimpressed Izzy is. "Okay but does this really affect us?" asks the dub's pseudo-intellectual version of the character who routinely uses big words to explain the lore incorrectly, about a cornerstone victory in our mission.

Rallied up and ready to go fight the other Dark Masters, the kids--

Mimi: Wait!

Taichi: What are you doing? Yamato: Can't you tell? They're making graves. Taichi: Huh? Graves? Mimi: (points to far right grave) That's Whamon's grave. (Next to it) That one's Piccolomon's. (far left) That one's Chuumon's. (lays hands on the one she's building) And this one is for Wizarmon. Sora: (solemnly) All of them were destroyed while trying to help us. Tailmon: They all died. You could say they were sacrifices to our cause. Taichi: Then we need to ganbaru for their sakes too!

Taichi tries to use ganbaru, the Japanese cultural value of perseverance through great hardship via hard work and diligence, to revive the gung-ho atmosphere he'd had going a moment ago. But his eagerness to rally the troops causes Mimi's boiling emotions to escalate.

Taichi: We must completely and utterly destroy our enemy! Mimi: I won't. Taichi: (surprised) What did you say? Mimi: I WON'T DO THIS ANYMORE!!! WHY DO WE HAVE TO KEEP FIGHTING!?!? Taichi: What are you talking about!? We have to avenge their deaths! Mimi: STOP IT!!!

Mimi has never wanted to be part of this. She's never been comfortable with the lengths they've had to go to for survival, and she's never liked all the violence. From the beginning of them being "chosen", all she's ever wanted was to go home.

Now, in the middle of grieving for their dead, Taichi starts talking about how we need to kick in the door and go shoot up our enemies, damn the consequences, and Mimi breaks completely.

The dub can't exactly disguise what Mimi's doing. It's pretty obvious what she's making. There's no talking around that.

Mimi: Wait! We're not through here yet. Tai: Mimi? What are you doing? Matt: In case you haven't noticed, some of our friends are gone. Tai: Oh. ...sorry. Mimi: (points to far right grave) That one is to remember Wizardmon. (Next to it) The one next to it is for Piximon. (far left) That one's Chuumon. (lays hands on the one she's building) And this one here is for Whamon. Sora: Mimi, they're not dead. It's more like they've been downloaded to a different computer. Gatomon: That's right. We're digital. Our information just gets reconfigured.

They can, however, deny that the character deaths are in any way meaningful and browbeat Mimi for overreacting. Thanks, I hate it.

Interesting choice to swap Whamon and WIzardmon's graves, though. They probably wanted Whamon's to be the one closest to Mimi, that she rests her hands on and later cries over, given how fresh that wound is. I agree with that change.

Tai: What better reason do we need to get the Dark Masters? Payback for making our friends leave! Mimi: I'm not going! Tai: Huh!? What did you say!? Mimi: I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!! EVERY TIME WE FIGHT, WE WIND UP LOSING ANOTHER FRIEND!!! Tai: This is war, Mimi, and sometimes people we like get hurt, so DEAL WITH IT!!! Mimi: STOP IT, TAI!!!

:-O

Gonna be honest, based on how previous episodes have handled Taichi's flaws, I fully expected them to dial back Tai's unhelpful aggressiveness here. Nope! He legit tells Mimi "People die in war; Fucking deal with it!" Holy shit. Holy shit.

While Mimi's breaking down, Yamato cuts in on her behalf.

Yamato: TAICHI!!! Try to consider other people's feelings for a change! Taichi: Huh? What do you mean? Yamato: What you said is right, I'll give you that. Taichi: ... (confused) Yamato: But just because it's right, that doesn't mean we can all shove our feelings down and just do it! Taichi: (small gasp) ... Takeru: Onii-chan! Yamato: We all know that we need to keep moving forward! (Voice breaks, getting emotional) But there are times when you have to stop and remember what we've lost, aren't there?

We cut to a wide shot of the group, with Mimi both visibly and audibly crying for the entire rest of this conversation.

Mimi: (crying) Taichi: If we're always stopping to do that then we won't have time to save the world! Yamato: WE KNOW THAT!!! But... Sora: Hey, can we stop this? Everybody's upset. Palmon: (hugs Mimi) Don't cry, Mimi. Jou: We're too exposed out here. Let's move somewhere safer.

Sora steps in to be the peacemaker as usual, and bottle back up the boiling tensions that have been growing between Taichi and Yamato for months. Then Jou steps up to be the senpai and get everyone moving out of the open, and all of this hostility and intense emotion is pushed aside.

For now.

In the dub:

Matt: Enough! Why don't you stop and think about other people's feelings for a change! Tai: Huh!? What are you talking about!? Matt: We all know you're right, Tai, but just give us a little space! Tai: Huh? Matt: We miss our friends who fought alongside of us! Not everyone has ice running through their veins like you do! Tai: Wha--? T.K.: Calm down! Matt: You're so busy looking forward that you never take time to look back! We've lost some good friends here, Tai, and it's nice to remember them once in a while! Tai: If we always stop to do that, we'll never have enough time to save the world! Matt: You still don't get it! I know you hear me, but you're not listening! Mimi: (starts crying) Sora: STOP IT!!! You're making everyone upset! You two are supposed to be friends! Palmon: Don't cry, Mimi! Joe: We're sitting ducks out here. Let's find someplace a little less out in the open.

A while back, I talked about how Japanese aggressive language tends to attack someone's actions or words while English prefers to attack the person directly. We see a good example of that here.

Yamato: "Your words are correct but are spoken without consideration for others' feelings!" Matt: "You have ice in your veins!"

These are the same sentiment but expressed differently. Yamato attacks the thoughtless words that Taichi's been speaking while Matt attacks Tai personally.

In any case, I do think Yamato's in the right here. Taichi is correct in the big picture that defeating the remaining Dark Masters must be the goal. However, the kids are not mindless soldier drones; They're real people, children even, with real feelings that they need time to process. They have to be able to stop for a moment to breathe, and to mourn their fallen.

Also, Taichi made my kid cry so off the cliff he goes. Koushiro can relate.

The dub's take on this argument is... complicated. On the one hand, they made a point that nobody died and Mimi's overreacting, which weakens Matt's position. But the subtext is nonetheless clear, and Tai yelled at Mimi to suck it up and deal with wartime casualties so his thoughtlessness is still on full display.

The kids make their way into what is clearly Vamdemon's woods, or was once upon a time before Spiral Mountain.

They walk in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

Taichi: (thinking) Could I have been wrong? Yamato: (thinking) Do we really have no choice but to keep moving like this? Without ever stopping to rest? Takeru: (thinking) Onii-chan, why are you acting like this? Koushiro: (thinking) If this keeps up, our loyalty to each other will break down. I have to do something. Jou: (thinking) I need to find a place where we can stop and take a break. Sora: (thinking) Everybody's tired. Hikari: Onii-chan? Taichi: ...

Even when Hikari speaks up, calling out to Taichi, he walks on in silence and ignores her. This team is at its breaking point.

Mimi doesn't share any thoughts, but group shots show her walking with a hand over her eye. We can't hear her anymore, but she still seems to be crying.

In the dub:

Tai: (thinking) I'm not as cold as Matt thinks, am I? Matt: (thinking) Maybe I was a little too rough on Tai, but he's gotta respect our feelings! T.K.: (thinking) I've never seen Matt so upset before. Izzy: (thinking) This is terrible. We should be concentrating on fighting our enemies, not each other. Joe: (thinking) I just know they're all thinking about me! That's why no one's talking! Sora: (thinking) Everyone's so tired and cranky. Hikari: You okay? Tai: ....

Matt softens up a bit in the dub, though he still doubles down on his position like Yamato does all the same.

Jou, meanwhile, has another senpai moment turn into a laugh line about what a tool Joe is. Joe, what possible reason could you have for thinking that any of this is about you? You had one line in the argument and it was "We should get moving."

Suddenly, Hikari notices something. She stops walking, looking around the twisted woods around them.

Hikari: ... (Hikari hangs back) Tailmon: What's wrong, Hikari? Hikari: Did you hear something just now? Tailmon: Like what? Hikari: You didn't hear something like a voice? Tailmon: Like a voice? No, I didn't. Hikari: Oh.... Tailmon: We should catch up before we lose sight of the others! Hikari: Okay!

We're given no audio cues of any kind to indicate what Hikari heard. There is a sound, but it's a sharp SUSPENSE tone that plays when something startling or unexpected occurs.

We hear nothing in the dub either, though she has a bigger reaction to it. They replace the suspense tone with Kari herself making startled mouth noises.

Kari: Whuh!? (Kari hangs back) Gatomon: Why'd you stop, Kari? Kari: Did you hear a noise just now? Gatomon: What kind of noise? Kari: You mean you didn't hear someone speaking just a second ago? Gatomon: You mean a voice? No, I didn't hear anything at all. Kari: Weird. Gatomon: Come on, let's get back to the others. There's safety in numbers. Kari: (affirmative) Hm.

All in all, a pretty faithful translation.

Hikari hurries to catch up but, unbeknownst to the group, they're being monitored.

Taichi: (angry) Where did you go!? Hikari: I thought I heard something, but it was just my imagination. Taichi: It's dangerous, so don't wander off on your own! Hikari: Mm, okay.

While Taichi's scolding Hikari, we pan out to see that they're being monitored on a security screen.

Pinocchimon: They need to hurry up and get here! I'm getting tired of waiting for them.... Kiwimon: Well, they are human children. Pinocchimon: Ugh, honestly, they're so slow!

Pinocchimon presses a button on a remote in his hand, causing a conveyor belt beneath the children's feet to activate. It rushes them on ahead, startling everyone.

Taichi: Huh? What the...? Hikari: The scenery's rushing past us. Kids: EHHHHH!?!? Jou: WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?!? Koushiro: The ground we're standing on is moving forward! Pinochimon: (in his room) There! I'm such a good host!

Nothing suspicious or dangerous about this whatsoever!

...maybe we could have stood to take our rest back at the graves.

In the dub:

Tai: (angry) Where were you two!? Kari: I thought I heard something but it was just my imagination. Tai: It's dangerous out here, so stay with the group. Kari: Okay, I'm sorry. (Pan out through security monitor into Puppetmon's place) Puppetmon: If these kids take any longer to get here, I will develop wood rot! Kiwimon: Have patience; Rome wasn't built in a day. Puppetmon: Yeah, but I was, and I'm tired of waiting! (Remote beep; Ground starts moving for the kids) Tai: Huh!? What's this!? Kari: Why are the trees running so fast!? Kids: AHHHHHHHHH!!! Joe: WHAT IS GOING ONE!?!? Izzy: THINGS AREN'T MOVING FASTER; WE ARE!!! THE GROUND WE'RE STANDING ON IS ACCELERATING!!! Puppetmon: This is more fun than the time I was fumigated for termites!

The dub's having a lot of fun making wood jokes with Puppetmon. Though the second one doesn't really make sense in context; Puppetmon was not built in a day. He's a Mega Digimon; It took a long time and a lot of hard work to become a Puppetmon.

Kiwimon's original voice performance is young and boyish, similar to Pinocchimon's. Dub Kiwimon is a stuffy old English butler, like Puppetmon's very own Alfred.

Now that the Chosen Children are on their way at turbo speed, it's time to figure out what sort of games Pinocchimon's going to play with them.

Pinocchimon: When those kids get here, what should we play with? Let's see....

Pinocchimon digs through his toy box before pulling out a revolver.

Pinocchimon: Aha! Check this out! A .44 Magnum. It's really destructive! (holds up a bullet) And this is a dumdum bullet! (loads it) When you shoot someone with this, you can see right through their stomach!

Demonstrating zero muzzle discipline whatsoever, Pinocchimon levels the gun straight at Kiwimon with his finger on the trigger.

"Dumdum bullet" is a way of saying it's an expanding bullet; One that's designed to expand on impact and create a much larger wound than a normal bullet would. Hollow points are a well-known type of dumdum bullet.

In the dub:

Puppetmon: (digging through toy box) Now, where did I put those dolls? I haven't seen some of these toys since I was a sapling!

That's it. That's all you're getting. He makes another wood joke and then we cut the fuck out of there before he finds what he's looking for. You can feel the censors screaming "ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!"

I have no doubts that this episode made at least a couple people on the dub team cry.

Incidentally, as a Wind Guardian, Puppetmon's "In-Training" form would have been a Yokomon. So he was, indeed, a sapling at one point. That joke checks out.

Meanwhile, the children try jumping off the track they're on to avoid whatever's waiting up ahead.

Taichi: Jump off to the side!

They jump off into the grass to their side, but then that grass starts moving instead of the conveyor. There's no getting out of this.

Koushiro: NOW THIS ONE'S MOVING!!! Sora: Hey, where do you think this is taking us? Yamato: Where else? The enemy must be waiting up ahead! Takeru: Oh no! Jou: We can't just let ourselves fall into the enemy's hands! Taichi: You're right....

Meanwhile, Pinocchimon's still digging through his toy chest. He takes out a long-range grabbing toy.

Pinocchimon: They still aren't here yet!?

Pinocchimon extends the toy, grabbing Kiwimon's head. Kiwimon pays it no mind.

Kiwimon: Pinocchimon-sama, there's no sign of the children anywhere. Pinocchimon: WHAT DID YOU SAY!?!?

Pinocchimon yanks Kiwimon offscreen, with comical crashing sound effect, then rushes over to see the monitor himself. Sure enough, the children are gone.

Pinocchimon: HUH!?!? W-WHY!?!?

Panicking Pinocchimon pulls out his remote and flips frantically through surveillance feeds, but can't find the children on any of them. We don't see for ourselves but, from audio, it seems that at some point he starts swapping through actual Japanese television channels rather than his security feeds.

Cutting back to the Children, we see they're actually still where we left them, right next to the edge where the currently moving grass chunk connects to the conveyor walkway. But they've climbed the trees and gotten out of sight.

Sora: I wonder if one of the Dark Masters is here. Koushiro: That seems likely. Jou: We were walking straight towards the enemy this whole time! Taichi: But we have to face them at some point anyway. It's the same result either way! Yamato: (angry) We all know that! You didn't have to say it, you know! Takeru: Onii-chan! Don't start fighting! Yamato: (softens) Takeru....

We may have had a momentary ceasefire, but things still aren't settled between Taichi and Yamato.

In the dub:

Tai: We've gotta jump off! (The kids jump, only for that chunk to start moving) Izzy: Now this part's moving! Sora: Obviously, someone's trying to get us somewhere and in a big hurry. Matt: I bet you're right. Why do I get the feeling that someone's not too friendly? T.K.: Oh no! Joe: This is the first time I've ever been carsick without a car! Tai: I've got a plan!

Joe's participation in this conversation is reduced to him whining about his poor constitution again, and the dub credits Tai for single-handedly coming up with the tree-climb escape.

Puppetmon: This one's always good for a few laughs. (Puppetmon long-range grabs Kiwimon) Kiwimon: Master!? Yes, that's very entertaining, Lord Puppetmon, but there's no sign of the children. (Puppetmon yanks Kiwimon offscreen and replaces him) Puppetmon: WHAT!?!? They were here a second ago! Where are they!? (beep) Not here... (beep) Not here! I need a new cable company!

Despite "I need a new cable company" being a perfect setup for the TV channel gag, it doesn't happen in this version. All we hear is the beeps from his remote while he flicks through the feeds.

Sora: I have a hunch that one of the Dark Masters is behind all this. Izzy: I bet you're right. Joe: We have to do something! I say we either keep going or we build a nest! Tai: Well, I say we have to fight whoever it is sooner or later, so let's get to it! Matt: Oh, come on! Again with the fighting? Why don't you just go to a neutral corner or something! T.K.: Come on, Matt; Please stop fighting. Matt: You keep out of this!

Yamato's problem is that Taichi's vocal eagerness to fight is insensitive to everybody else's feelings. He doesn't disagree that we do have to fight them but he doesn't like the blunt way Taichi expresses it; He doesn't like that Taichi seems almost excited to be walking into a trap, seeing it not as any kind of danger but as an opportunity to throw hands with the next Dark Master.

Taichi's position right now is basically Guardians 3 Star-Lord. "It's not a trap if you know the trapper's trying to trap you; Then it's a face off!"

Matt in this scene seems to be disagreeing with even fighting the Dark Masters at all? That's a sentiment Mimi expressed when she was breaking down, but that's not Yamato's position. Also, he snaps at T.K. to shut up, which is a pretty significant dialogue change to make him look even worse than his altered argument does.

Yamato backs off at Takeru's behest, but Taichi keeps pushing.

Taichi: If we stay in hiding, we'll end up getting slaughtered. We should go straight to where the enemy is! Yamato: Hold on a second! Takeru: Onii-chan!

Suddenly, Taichi flickers out of existence, as if teleported.

Yamato: Taichi disappeared! Hikari: Onii-chan! Koromon: TAICHI!!! Jou: Where did he go!? (vanishing sound effect; pan over to the others) Sora: Mimi-chan disappeared too! Palmon: Mimi, where are you!? (Sora and Koushiro disappear) Piyomon: Sora!? Tentomon: Ah, Koushiro-han is gone too! (Jou and Hikari vanish) Gomamon: Jou!? Tailmon: Hikari! Takeru: Everyone disappeared!

Suddenly and without warning, Takeru and Yamato are the only ones left in the tree. Well, them and all of the Digimon.

In the dub:

Tai: Alright, Matt, let's try it your way. We'll stay up here and wait for the enemy to get us! Matt: That's not what I meant! T.K.: Stop it, Matt! (Tai vanishes) Matt: Where'd Tai go!? He disappeared! Kari: Did he fall!? Koromon: Oh no! Joe: He vanished into thin air! (vanishing sound effect; pan over to the others) Sora: Look! Now Mimi's gone! Palmon: Mimi, come back! (Sora and Izzy disappear) Piyomon: Sora!? Tentomon: Maybe their screensavers are on sleep! (Joe and Kari vanish) Gomamon: Joe! Tailmon: Kari! T.K.: Everybody's disappeared but us!

Not sure what Tentomon's joke here is supposed to mean, but otherwise pretty faithful.

The kids re-emerge in pairs throughout the forest, in the order they disappeared.

Taichi and Mimi appear together.

Taichi: What the--!? Mimi: EHHH!?!?

Sora and Koushiro appear together, with Koushiro standing on a log.

Sora: W-What just happened? Koushiro: The enemy must be behind this.

Jou and Hikari appear together, with Jou appearing in a pool of mud which splashes all over him. Because fate is unkind to our poor put-upon senpai.

Jou: WAAAUGH!!! It's cold.... Hikari: ...Tailmon?

While Yamato and Takeru remain in the tree, untransported.

Yamato: They're gone! Takeru: Why? How did this happen? Yamato: I don't know. The enemy must have done something to them.

In the dub:

(Tai and Mimi appear) Tai: Ah! What's going on!? Mimi: OH!?!? (Sora and Izzy appear) Sora: Huh!? How'd we get over here!? Izzy: We've been transported! (Joe and Kari appear) Joe: WAAAUGH!!! I hate mud. Kari: GATOMON!!! (Matt and T.K. remain) Matt: I think it's over! T.K.: But now we're separated from everyone else! Matt: Don't worry; We'll be alright without the others. Especially Tai!

Two separate characters speculating that the Dark Masters are doing this have their lines changed. This hits Matt the hardest, as his replacement line is incredibly spiteful.

Unsure of what's going on, Yamato turns his attention to what matters most to him.

Yamato: Takeru. Takeru: What? Yamato: I'll do whatever it takes to protect you, so stay close to me. Takeru: Onii-chan, we only made it this far by working as a team. So why do you keep giving me special treatment? Yamato: ...Takeru...? Takeru: (hurt) I've been fighting right there beside the rest of you this whole time! Haven't I? Am I just a burden to you? Onii-chan, are you saying you'll protect me because you see me as unreliable? Yamato: Takeru, that's not what I meant... I... What I wanted to say was.... Takeru: What? Yamato: (thinking) I... I....

This has been a long-time coming, since all the way back on File Island. It has its roots all the way back in the Seadramon episode, when Yamato wanted to remove the bones from Takeru's fish but Taichi taught Takeru to do it himself. Takeru feels infantilized by Yamato's treatment, and is finally confronting Yamato about it.

In the dub, this comes on the heels of Matt saying they're better off on their own and to screw the others, so the vibe is different.

Matt: T.K.? T.K.: Yeah? Matt: Just stick close to me and I'll protect you no matter what happens! T.K.: Listen, Matt. The only reason we got this far is because we worked as a team. Each one of us has played a part along the way in keeping us together, including Tai! Matt: But I...! T.K.: (angry) And I don't need you to protect me all the time, neither! If you haven't noticed, I've grown up a lot! I've fought alongside you guys since the beginning and I've always held my own! Matt: T.K., that's not what I meant. What I... What I wanted to say was.... T.K.: What? Matt: (thinking) I'm pushing everyone away!

This is meant to be a close, personal moment about the long-running wedge that's been growing between the brothers. The dub makes it about Matt failing to appreciate the contributions of Tai and the rest of their group, including T.K.'s.

It still makes time for T.K. to bring up Matt's behavior, but that's not the focus of the scene. And T.K. furiously yells at Matt about it, rather than the more sensitive and wounded tone he takes during the original confrontation.

Cut to Pinocchimon in his room. He's laid out a crudely drawn forest map, using dolls of the kids for the teleportation trick. Those are the dolls he was looking for in the dub, before they cut the parts with the gun.

Pinocchimon: (singing) One, two, and three have disappeared~! Pinocchimon: Hey, Kiwimon! This is taking too long. I should just kill them all. Kiwimon: Then you won't have anyone left to play with. Pinocchimon: I guess you're right.

Taking aim with his slingshot, Pinocchimon shoots Jou's doll in the stomach, knocking it over. The real Jou grabs his stomach and screams in agony, falling into the mud from the force of Pinocchimon's shot.

Hikari: JOU-SAN!!! Pinocchimon: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Watching through the monitor, Pinocchimon cracks up laughing at Jou's agony.

Hikari: Jou-san, are you okay? Jou: My stomach suddenly.... Hikari: Does your stomach hurt? Jou: I've been shot in the stomach! Hikari: EHHH!?!?

The dub changes up Puppetmon's sing-song to something that will better rhyme in English.

Puppetmon: (singing) One, two, three, you're still in the tree~! Puppetmon: ...y'know, Kiwimon, this isn't as much fun as I thought it would be. I should just destroy them all. Kiwimon: Then you won't have anyone left to play with. Puppetmon: Good point! (Puppetmon shoots Joe, who falls down screaming) Kari: JOE!!! Puppetmon: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Kari: Joe, are you alright!? Joe: My stomach...! Kari: What's wrong? Does it hurt? Joe: No! I'm just doing this 'cause it's fun! Kari: JOE!!!

Even with a slingshot, they seem reluctant to let Joe state he's been shot. Joe sarcastically quips instead. Solid sarcastic quip, though. Perfectly suits the tone.

Pinocchimon has some more ideas to play around with the children.

Pinocchimon: I think I'll try this next... Take this... And this... And do this!

Pinocchimon swaps Taichi and Jou's dolls, causing them to teleport into each other's places.

Hikari: (Taichi appears) Onii-chan! Mimi: (Jou appears) What's going on!? Pinocchimon: Then I do this.... (Pinocchimon swaps Hikari for Sora) Taichi: Hikari! Again!? Koushiro: (sees Hikari appear) Hikari-san! Hikari: Koushiro-san! Where am I? Pinocchimon: And when I do this....

Pinocchimon turns Taichi's doll upside-down and bops his head on the ground. The same happens to Taichi.

Sora: T-Taichi!? Taichi: AUGH!!!

He swaps Yamato in the tree for Koushiro, then swaps Takeru for Mimi.

Koushiro: Mimi-san!

Then he picks up Takeru's doll and tickles him in the belly.

Pinocchimon: TICKLE TICKLE TICKLE TICKLE TICKLE!!! Takeru: (laughing hysterically and flailing in midair) (Takeru's set back down on the ground) Jou: Are you okay, Takeru-ku--WAUGH!!! (Jou vanishes, replaced by Yamato) Takeru: Onii-chan! Yamato: Takeru! (hug)

In the dub:

Puppetmon: I've got a new game I want to play! Come here! You too! (Puppetmon swaps Tai and Joe) Kari: (Tai appears; sarcastic) Oh, brother. Mimi: (Joe appears) AHH!!! STOP MOVING!!! Puppetmon: This is like playing chess with the DigiDestined! Tai: Kari! Kari: HELP!!! (vanishes, replaced by Sora) Izzy: (Kari appears) Fascinating! Kari: Maybe for you! Where are we? Puppetmon: We've reached the turning point! (turns Tai upside-down and bops him) Sora: Impossible! Tai: Ugh! (Matt and T.K. exchanged for Izzy and Mimi) Izzy: (Mimi appears) Welcome back! Puppetmon: (tickles T.K.) Coochie-coochie-coo! T.K.: (laughing hysterically and flailing in midair) (T.K.'s set back down on the ground) Joe: I don't know what's so funny but this is no laughing ma-- (Joe vanishes, replaced by Matt) T.K.: Matt, you're back! Matt: T.K.! (hug)

Most of this scene is the kids flailing and yelling each other's names so it'd be hard to get wrong. The dub has some good bits in it. I like Izzy's "Fascinating...." when he sees Kari pop up, and having Joe cut off mid-complaint was also pretty fun.

While the children are being teleported around left and right, the Digimon remain up in the tree.

Piyomon: Where did everybody go? Tailmon: We're no help up here. Let's go search for them! Patamon: Got it! I'll go find Takeru! Mimi: (quietly) ...I'm going to wait here.... Koromon: Koushiro! You stay here with Mimi! Koushiro: Understood. Please find everyone else. Digimon: ON IT!!!

The Digimon leap down from the tree, heading into the forest to find their Partners.

Meanwhile, in Pinocchimon's room, he's making choices. On the surveillance monitor, he's zoomed in on Takeru.

Pinocchimon: I think I'll play with this one first. He looks fun to pick on! Kiwimon: Shall I retrieve him? Pinocchimon: Nah. I'll go get him myself.

Pinocchimon slides down the fireman's pole in his room to the ground floor, then sprints out the front door, eager to acquire his new toy.

In the dub:

Biyomon: You know, I'm getting tired of doing nothing. Gatomon: I won't be some cat stuck in a tree! Let's go look for them. Patamon: Good idea. I'll start by looking for T.K.! Mimi: Oh, this is awful! Koromon: You said it! How could it get any worse? (Cracking sound) Izzy: I'll tell you how! The branches are starting to crack! Digimon: AHHHHH!!! (leap down from the tree) Patamon: They should learn to fly.

A small change: Tailmon takes charge of the Digimon in this scene, demonstrating her maturity and headstrong confidence. The dub lets Biyomon be the one to broach the topic of taking action, though Gatomon's still the one who cements it into a plan.

The more glaring change is Mimi and Koushiro. Mimi refuses to leave the tree, finally delivering the first significant line she's had since she broke down crying at the graves of Whamon and the others. It's a reminder that she is, at this point, utterly traumatized into inaction.

Which the Digimon accept without question, charging Koushiro to watch over her while they go into the fray.

The dub swaps that out for a more generic "This is awful", offering no reason why Mimi and Izzy would remain in the tree - especially after adding in that the branches are all about to break? Weird-ass choice.

Puppetmon: I think I found a new toy to play with. He looks very easy to scare. Kiwimon: You want me to get him for you? Puppetmon: No! I'll get this one myself!

That part's pretty faithful.

We go to a commercial break from here and come back to Yamato checking on Takeru.

Yamato: Takeru, are you okay? Takeru: Uh, I think so, but I suddenly felt something tickling me and I couldn't stop laughing. Maybe something's wrong with me. Yamato: Are you sure you're not hurt? Takeru: Hey, stop worrying about me so much! I can take care of myself now! Yamato: Takeru.... Pinocchimon: (singing in the distance) Let's play~!

Yamato stands up quickly. He and Takeru frantically scan the woods around them.

Takeru: Who's that? Pinocchimon: (slightly closer) Let's play~! Yamato: Takeru, be careful! Pinocchimon: (very close) Let's play~! Takeru: (thinking) The voice is getting closer....

Suddenly, Pinocchimon claps his hands over Takeru's eyes from behind. Takeru reacts quickly, grabbing the hands and shoving them away, then sprinting forward and whipping around as soon as he's free from Pinocchimon's grasp.

Pinocchimon backflips away from Takeru, landing a short distance away and raising his hands.

Pinocchimon: Let's play! Takeru: You're....

Before Takeru can finish that thought, Yamato steps between them.

Yamato: Just try and lay a finger on Takeru again! I'll make you regret it!

In the dub:

Matt: T.K., are you alright? T.K.: I guess so! But I felt like something was tickling me and I couldn't stop laughing! I wonder if there's something wrong with me? Matt: Are you sure you're not hurt? T.K.: Hey! Stop being so worried about me! I told you before that I know how to take care of myself! Matt: (startled) Okay! Puppetmon: (singing in the distance) Hey T.K.! (slightly closer) Whaddya sa~ay! Matt: T.K., stay close. Puppetmon: (Very close) Time to pla~ay? T.K.: (thinking) Sounds like the voice is getting closer! (Puppetmon puts his hands over T.K.'s eyes; T.K. forces him off) Puppetmon: TIME TO PLAY!!! T.K.: It's you! Matt: (steps between) Keep your hands off my brother, Puppetmon, or I'll chop you into firewood!

I like Puppetmon's sing-song here. Good creepy rhyming scheme. Pinocchimon's steady repetition of the same singsong notes getting closer and closer also works for creepiness factor. They both handled that well.

Matt's "chop you into firewood" crack is my favorite of the wood jokes thus far.

Despite Yamato's attempt to intervene, Pinocchimon isn't interested in him. He continues to address Takeru directly.

Pinocchimon: So your name is Takeru. Hey, join me in a game of war. Takeru: A game? Like... just pretend? Pinocchimon: That's right. Here, I'll let you use this.

Pinocchimon holds up an uzi, then tosses it over to Takeru. Takeru catches it with both hands.

Takeru: I-It's heavy....

He drops the gun causing it to misfire and let off a few rounds. Takeru screams, flailing to stay out of its firing line until it stops.

Takeru: TH-THIS IS A REAL GUN!!! I'D DIE IF I PLAYED WITH THIS THING!!! Pinocchimon: OF COURSE!!! Dying for real is what makes the game fun! But don't worry, I won't let you die that easily. It'd be pretty boring if you died right away.

Natsuko has educated her son well about the dangers of being reckless around firearms.

Fucking viruses, y'all.

In the dub, Puppetmon talks to Matt instead of ignoring him and addressing T.K. directly.

Puppetmon: Aww, come on. All I wanted to do was play a little game of War with T.K.! T.K.: Oh? Play? You mean, like, pretend?

Then they cut the entire bit with the uzi and skip to Pinocchimon's response to Takeru's outrage.

Puppetmon: BUT OF COURSE!!! At least, in the beginning, it will be make-believe anyway! But then it's BYE-BYE!!! And it will be time to destroy you for real. If I got rid of you now, I'd have no fun!

So, obviously, the key difference between versions here is that Takeru did not accidentally misfire a machine gun.

As a small characterization note, Puppetmon doesn't quite grasp the idea that playing and killing are the same; He draws a clear line between the two.

Obviously, Yamato has some concerns about all of this.

Yamato: Takeru! Don't listen to him! Pinocchimon: YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!!!

Pinocchimon throws a red ball at Yamato, which explodes into ribbons to bind him.

Yamato: This...! Takeru: ONII-CHAN!!!

He tries to remain on his feet, but topples over after a second and falls forward into the dirt.

Takeru: ONII-CHAAAAN!!! Pinocchimon: Now, let's get going! Takeru: NO!!! Pinocchimon: You refuse? Hmm... It won't be any fun if you won't come, so... (points at Yamato) Maybe I'll just kill him instead. Takeru: Ah! Pinocchimon: Well...? Takeru: You can't! Pinocchimon: Then you're coming? Yamato: TAKERU!!! DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!!! Pinocchimon: Shut up!!!

Pinocchimon summons some extra ribbons to bind Yamato's mouth, so he can no longer participate in this conversation he wasn't invited to.

Pinocchimon: So, what do you say?

Takeru kneels down and picks up the discarded uzi from the ground.

Takeru: I'll go. I just have to come with you, right? Pinocchimon: That's what I wanted to hear!

Pinocchimon leads the way, while Yamato strains against his bonds and tries to talk through the muffling ribbons.

In the dub:

Matt: T.K., he's just trying to scare you! Don't listen to him! Puppetmon: DON'T LIE TO HIM OR YOUR NOSE WILL GROW!!! (Puppetmon ties Matt up in ribbons) Matt: I CAN'T MOVE NOW!!! T.K.: Are you okay!? (Matt falls down) T.K.: MATT!!! Puppetmon: Now, shall we get going? T.K.: Forget it! Puppetmon: You don't want to? Hmm... Well, if you don't come with me, it's no fun! (points at Matt) Maybe instead I'll destroooooy... your brother! Whaddya say? T.K.: Okay, I'll come! Puppetmon: That's a good boy! Matt: T.K., it's a trap! Run away now while you still can! Puppetmon: Shut up! (Puppetmon gags Matt) Puppetmon: So, is it a deal?

Unsurprisingly, they cut the shot of Takeru picking up the uzi and have Puppetmon keep speaking.

Puppetmon: We'll have lots of fun! Hehehehehe.... (walks off)

"Don't lie or your nose will grow" is a solid reference to Puppetmon's inspiration. I like that line.

Though the original "Stay out of this!" bit speaks to the core of this scene; Emphasizing that this is strictly between Takeru and Pinocchimon, and that Yamato's participation is unwelcome. This plays to the conflict between Yamato and Takeru.

Super weird delivery on "I'll destroy your brother," as sometimes happens when English lines have to shore up to lip flaps that were originally delivering Japanese dialogue.

Matt yelling "It's a trap" is hilarious. OH REALLY? Evil Pinocchio saying "Come play a game with me and I'll kill you when it's done" is a trap? You think so? I dunno. I like the cut of his jib.

Matt is yelling the blindingly obvious, but that works for me because it conveys his lack of trust in T.K. Pinocchimon's standing there with a neon sign that says "COME ENJOY MY TRAP" and Matt doesn't think T.K. can tell that the trap is, in fact, a trap.

Takeru follows Pinocchimon to his mansion, and playtime begins.

In a clear reference to the James Bond franchise, we look down the barrel of Pinocchimon's revolver while he sweeps it around the room, passing Takeru first but then going back for him. Takeru sets the uzi down helplessly on the ground when he realizes he's been made.

Pinocchimon: There you are! BANG!!!

Takeru flinches as if he'd been shot.

Pinocchimon: Hurry up and run; This is getting boring. Takeru: O-Okay!

Leaving the uzi behind, Takeru runs off deeper into the house.

Most of this does not make it into the dub. We hear Puppetmon's voice overlaid against an exterior shot of his house.

Puppetmon: Now you hide and I'll seek and destroy!

Followed by T.K. running for his life down the hallway. They also cut a shot from later of T.K. running up the stairs back in the foyer, with some direct editing done to paint over the revolver in Puppetmon's hand.

Puppetmon: That's good! Keep running! You make the game interesting!

Sprinting down the hall of Pinocchimon's mansion, Takeru looks for a place to hide.

Inside the room down the hall, Mushroomon and Blossomon can hear Takeru's footsteps.

Blossomon: Someone's coming. Mushroomon: Wonder who it is? Blossomon: Must be Pinocchimon-sama's new toy.

Takeru throws open the door and hides inside the room with them. Seeing the two Digimon inside, he doesn't really know what to say.

Takeru: U-Um....

He ignores them and then races around behind a shelf before peeking out.

Takeru: H-Hey, don't tell anyone I'm hiding here, okay?

Before the pair can even say anything, the door opens again. Pinocchimon enters the room.

Pinocchimon: Hey, did Takeru come in here? Blossomon: Takeru? Oh, if you mean that human boy, he's hiding behind the shelves. Pinocchimon: Really? Great!

Pinocchimon runs around to the shelves, then levels his gun at the gap, but Takeru is nowhere to be found.

Pinocchimon: Hands up! ...huh? He's not here? Mushroomon: WHAT!? THAT CAN'T BE!!! WE JUST SAW HIM!!!

Mushroomon and Blossomon run forward to see for themselves. Behind them, in the background, Takeru can be seen creeping around the wall to take cover behind the door.

Pinocchimon: LIARS!!!

Pinocchimon furiously lets out two shots, executing them both. Mushroomon and Blossomon disintegrate into pixels.

(Blossomon was a Perfect so, y'know, holy shit. Hollow-point ammunition is no joke.)

Pinocchimon: They make me so mad! (Takeru suddenly sprints out the door) Pinocchimon: Ah! There you are!

Then we get the shot the dub already used, of Takeru running up the stairs from the foyer.

Pinocchimon: (pursuing) Heading upstairs?

Takeru demonstrating how capable he is in this scene. Not only evading Pinocchimon in this closed room, but even outwitting two henchmon that would have spoiled his escape.

In the dub:

Blossomon: Hey, someone's coming! Mushroomon: Who could it be? Blossomon: Sounds to me like Lord Puppetmon has found a new play toy! (T.K. enters the room) T.K.: Oh, hi there! ...bye! (T.K. hides behind the shelf) T.K.: By the way, I'm hiding back here so don't say anything, 'kay? Mushroomon: No problem. (Puppetmon enters with his gun painted over) Puppetmon: Hey, you guys; You didn't happen to see a little kid run back here, did ya? He's got a green hat and a backpack. Blossomon: No, we didn't see anything like that, boss. Mushroomon: All we saw was a kid wearing a backpack and a green hat. He's hiding over there. Puppetmon: LOSERS!!!

They cut up the footage on Mushroomon and Blossomon's lines, so they can show as little of Puppetmon holding gun-shaped air as possible. They splice in close-ups of Mushroomon and Blossomon's faces for their lines.

Then, on "LOSERS", a super close-up of Puppetmon running through the hall edited to only show him from shoulders up replaces the actual footage of him jogging across the room and trying to ambush Takeru.

We rejoin the real footage at the shot of the empty space behind the shelves, since Pinocchimon's facing away for that and the gun is out-of-frame.

Puppetmon: Come out, come out wherever you are! Especially if you're behind the door. (Takeru runs out the door) Puppetmon: Aha!

Once he finds the space behind the shelf empty, the rest of this scene is cut. Blossomon and Mushroomon simply cease existing between shots and we go straight to Takeru running out the door.

Out in the woods, Patamon discovers Pinocchimon's mansion.

Patamon: What's a building doing out here? Maybe Takeru is in there!

Patamon goes in to investigate.

Inside the house, Takeru slips into Pinocchimon's playroom, looking for a place to hide. He unknowingly steps on Pinocchimon's remote, turning on the moving walkways and bringing all the children outside to a centralized location; Even the tree Mimi and Koushiro are in.

Jou: What's going on here!?

The Digimon cheerfully run up, joining the group.

Digimon/Piyomon: (miscellaneous vocalizing of cheers) / Sora! Gabumon: (alarmed) Yamato!

Gabumon slashes open Yamato's bindings with his claws.

Yamato: Takeru! Pinocchimon got Takeru! Taichi: What!? Hikari: That's terrible! Sora: We have to save him! Taichi: Where did Pinocchimon take Takeru? Yamato: (voice breaks, grabs his head despondently) I don't know.... Taichi: PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, YAMATO!!! Koushiro: I'm sure the moving walkway we were on before must lead to Pinocchimon. Jou: Yeah, that's right! Koromon: LET'S GO LOOK FOR THAT WALKWAY!!! Taichi: Yes! Let's go, everyone!

Back at the graves was not the time for Taichi. But now is the time for Taichi. Bold and immediate action is demanded of this situation.

In the dub:

Patamon: Hey, look! A house in the middle of the forest! I wonder if anyone inside has seen T.K.? (T.K. accidentally brings everyone together outside) Joe: What's going on around here!? Digimon: (run up) YAY!!! Gabumon: (alarmed) Matt! (Gabumon cuts Matt loose) Matt: T.K.! T.K. was taken prisoner by Puppetmon! Tai: Puppetmon!? Kari: Oh no! Sora: We have to help him! Tai: Where'd that creepy little toothpick take T.K.!? Matt: (voice breaks, grabs his head despondently) I don't know...! Tai: GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF, MATT!!! Izzy: It shouldn't be that difficult to find them. I'm sure that first road we were on leads directly to Puppetmon. Joe: Then we'll all be trapped! Koromon: It's worth it to save T.K.! Tai: I agree! Let's go get 'em!

Joe's last line is changed to make him look cowardly and reluctant, when he was agreeing with this plan in the original.

"Creepy little toothpick". They are not letting up with the wood jokes but, again, that's a good one. Nicely personalized insult for Evil Pinocchio.

I like it when writers come up with inhuman insults for inhuman characters.

With a plan made, Taichi and Koromon rally the team. But before they can set out, they're interrupted by a new contestant.

Taichi: What the--? Kiwimon: Pinocchimon-sama is enjoying his playtime. Please do not interfere.

Kiwimon is an Adult-stage Data-type Ancient Bird Digimon from the Wind Guardians lineup, evolved from a Floramon that's been well-cared for but poorly trained.

I. Um. I need us all to try and be very mature (snerk) about their special attack name. Okay? Can we be grown-ups about this? (haha)

Narrator: Kiwimon. An ancient Digimon who was once believed to be extinct. Despite being a bird-type Digimon, their wings have degenerated so they cannot fly. Their special attack is Little Pecker. Kiwimon: LITTLE PECKER!!!

Look, when they were giving the move its fancy exotic English Words name, they probably didn't know. It makes sense in context. But holy shit, that is not making it across the pond intact. XD

Little Pecker is one of those attacks that spawn mini-me's, like Dokugumon's itty-bitty mini-Dokugumon drones. Kiwimon spits a gatling gun of chibi Kiwimon bullets.

In the dub:

Tai: Who are you!? Kiwimon: No one may interfere with Master Puppetmon's playtime. You're all staying right here. Tentomon: (rundown) OH NO, IT'S KIWIMON!!! An ancient Digimon that was said to be extinct! Although he's a bird-type Digimon, his wings have degenerated so he can't fly! Kiwimon: PUMMEL PECK!!!

Between Bullet Hammer/Puppet Pummel and Little Pecker/Pummel Peck, "pummel" is becoming the go-to word for sweeping uncomfortable attack names under the rug.

Tentomon does a fantastic job with the diegetic rundown. Covers everything.

Koromon evolves to Agumon and the Digimon take turns firing off their attacks; Each shot destroying one of Kiwimon's Little Peckers. Meanwhile, Patamon enters Pinocchimon's estate through the window, entering his playroom.

Patamon: What's this? (picks up Pinocchimon's remote) What are these dolls for?

Patamon prods Jou's doll, causing it to fall over. Then he hears a loud yelp from the monitor displaying the Chosen Children.

Jou: WAUGH-OW!!! Gomamon: What's wrong, Jou? Jou: Someone pushed me out of nowhere! Hikari: (gasp) Are you okay, Jou-san!? Patamon: This is... Then this would be....

Patamon starts pushing buttons on Pinocchimon's remote, watching the walkways move on the screen.

Patamon: Ah! I have to tell Takeru about this!

In the dub, Patamon says nothing when he picks up the remote; His lip flaps simply move in silence. Then he moves on to the dolls.

Patamon: I wonder what these dolls are for? (Patamon pokes Joe) Patamon: This one looks like Joe.

Joe's offscreen reaction when Patamon pokes the doll is weirdly reserved and quiet.

Joe: Agh. Oof. Gomamon: Joe, what happened!? Joe: Why does this stuff always happen to me? Gomamon: What!? Kari: Weird. I didn't see anyone push you. Patamon: Joe's on TV!? Let's see what else is one. (pokes buttons) (The walkways start moving in response to Patamon) Patamon: Ohhh! Hm... Now that's what I call a remote control!

An invisible force suddenly shoves Joe to the ground and his in-the-moment kneejerk reaction is "Yeah, I guess this might as well happen." Poor Joe. What have we done to this boy's self-confidence?

Elsewhere in the mansion, Hide and Go Shoot is not going well for Takeru.

Takeru runs for a staircase to take him downstairs, but Pinocchimon cuts him off, coming up those same stairs.

Pinocchimon: Found you!

Pinocchimon starts shooting, each bullet striking the floor by Takeru's feet and forcing him to jump until finally he loses his balance and falls on his butt.

Pinocchimon: Hehe! I think I'll start with your legs. Revolver: Click. Pinocchimon: ...h-huh? Revolver: Click. Click. Pinocchimon: I'm out of bullets. Got to put in some new ones.

Calling a timeout on Takeru's impending torturous execution, Pinocchimon rifles through his pockets. Then, one by one, he slowly pulls each bullet out individually and loads it into the revolver's chamber.

Pinocchimon's glacially slow reloading buys Takeru an opportunity to think things through and try to figure out a game plan.

Takeru: (thinking) At this rate, he's going to kill me. I have to do something. Something....

The dub edits the gun out of Puppetmon's hand as he comes up the stairs, but they missed a frame. For one single frame you can see the gun flicker in and out of existence. It's super subtle and flashes by quick, though, so it can easily be mistaken for one of Puppetmon's miscellaneous doodads moving around as he's running.

Pretty much all of this scene is cut after he reaches the top. They splice in footage from the next scene, where Puppetmon and Takeru are standing and talking with his gun safely hanging by his side off-camera.

The only part they keep is Pinocchimon rifling through his pocket for bullets, which gets recontextualized.

Puppetmon: There you are! I found you! The game's over! T.K.: Ohhh. Puppetmon: (rifling) I'm gonna destroy you in a minute, but first I have to scratch my legs! T.K.: Hmm. Puppetmon: I guess that's what I get for having a leg made of poison oak! T.K.: (thinking) I can outsmart him!

They stand there and chat, and then T.K. realizes, "Oh, he's dumb. Neat." Moving along.

Thinking about everything he's learned about Pinocchimon, Takeru executes his master plan before Pinocchimon can finish reloading.

Takeru: (whining) Awww... This isn't any fun at all.

Pinocchimon stops reloading, letting out a surprised and self-conscious gasp. Rook takes bishop.

Pinocchimon: What was that!? Takeru: I'm sick of doing the same thing over and over. I wasn't expecting you to be such a boring person. Pinocchimon: No one's ever said that to me before! Takeru: Really? That's probably because you don't have any friends, huh?

Direct hit. Pinocchimon flinches as if struck, then sheepishly looks off to the side.

Pinocchimon: ...I-I have friends.... Takeru: Then why haven't I met any of them? Pinocchimon: ...I'll introduce you at some point-- Takeru: (jogs over to Pinocchimon) Not "at some point". Do it now! Pinocchimon: Now... isn't a good time.... Takeru: Ehh? (leans in) Sounds like you don't have any real friends at all! Pinocchimon: I do too! I'll go get one right now, so wait here!

Desperate to prove himself, Pinocchimon completely forgets that he was about to execute Takeru and sprints downstairs to find a friend he can show off.

As soon as he's gone, Patamon flies up with the remote in hand.

Patamon: Takeru! Takeru: Patamon!

Someone's not going to have to look far to find a friend.

The dub picks up from T.K. casually deciding he can outsmart Puppetmon. They have to do a lot of painting over in this scene to erase the gun from wide shots as well as the bullet holes in the floor. Though they also try to minimize how many shots they use that require that.

T.K.: How boring! I'm not having any fun at all! Puppetmon: Whaaaat!? I'm the life of the party! I put the fun in fungus! T.K.: Ha! You just play the same game over and over again! Boring! Puppetmon: (flinches, sheepish) ...I'm not boring.... T.K.: Well, if that's true, how come you don't have any real friends?

They play that shot of a skeptical bean-mouthed Takeru pressing the advantage twice, so they can use the second one to replace a wide shot of him crossing the hall and closing distance with Puppetmon.

So he bean-mouths a second time, then offscreen teleports to lean in close to Puppetmon.

Puppetmon: I-I've got friends.... Takeru: (leans in) Yeah? Then how come I haven't met these so-called friends of yours? Puppetmon: Alright! Then I'll get them and introduce you right now! (Puppetmon runs off; Patamon approaches) Patamon: T.K.! T.K.: Patamon!

Honestly, the game has been pretty boring in the dub. Because the majority of what they're actually doing had to be cut, Puppetmon and T.K. run around the house playing an ordinary game of hide and go seek.

And since they're still needing to cut footage to hurry us along past the gun as fast as possible, Puppetmon caves to less pressure than it took to get Pinocchimon to fuck off too. Takeru had to work harder to walk Pinocchimon into that emotional mousetrap than T.K. did.

SuckerPinocchimon goes downstairs to a storage closet, picking out parts. He selects a football.

Pinocchimon: This will work....

Unbeknownst to him, Patamon and Takeru are in his playroom going to work.

Takeru rips up the map Pinocchimon was using for his teleport shenanigans. Then he takes a hammer and smashes Pinocchimon's remote to pieces.

Meanwhile, out in the woods, the children are still dealing with Kiwimon. With their numeric advantage, they easily shoot Kiwimon's Little Peckers out of the air.

Yamato: Hey! Where's Takeru? Kiwimon: Hnhnhnhnnn.... Yamato: ANSWER ME!!! Taichi: Yamato! Let's just focus on destroying them. Yamato: (angry) Like you understand how I feel! Taichi: If we don't destroy them, we won't be able to go rescue Takeru! Yamato: No! We should find out where Takeru is before we destroy them! GABUMON!!! Gabumon: Got it. Gabumon, WARP-SHINKAAAAAA!!!

Gabumon says the words, but nothing occurs. Yamato's Digivice and Crest are still and silent.

Yamato: (lightly shaking, shocked) ...It won't glow.... Gabumon: What's wrong, Yamato? I can't evolve. Kiwimon: LITTLE PECKER!!!

YOU and your inappropriately named attack stay out of this! We are having a moment here!

They're both kinda right here. Kiwimon can't tell us anything when they're pixel dust. We do need to go through Kiwimon to get to where we think Takeru is but we're only assuming we know where Pinocchimon took him.

Taichi wants to blow through Kiwimon and go straight for where we think Pinocchimon's lair is, while Yamato wants to stop and interrogate Kiwimon which takes time we might not have. Both of these positions have their pros and cons.

But Yamato is also so emotionally compromised by Takeru being in peril that he tried to burn an Ultimate evolution against an Adult-stage Digimon. That's overkill of the highest order. He is not thinking straight.

He straight up says to Taichi's face that Taichi can't understand what he's going through. We just had an entire arc about Taichi's little sister being hunted for assassination, so that's an unfair accusation to make.

Yamato is doing what he correctly accused Taichi of before. Neither Taichi nor Yamato is wrong, but they are both being unfair and refusing to take other people's feelings into account.

In the dub:

Puppetmon: I like to make friends! (T.K. destroys Puppetmon's stuff and we cut to the woods) Matt: Hey! Where are you keeping T.K.!? Kiwimon: Ohohohohohohohoho.... Matt: ANSWER ME!!! Tai: I know how you feel, Matt, but first we have to destroy Kiwimon! Matt: How can you understand how I feel!? Tai: I understand that if we don't beat him first, we won't be able to find T.K.! Matt: NO!!! FIRST, WE'LL FIND T.K., THEN WE'LL FIGHT YOUR WAR!!! Gabumon: Right, Matt! Gabumon, Warp-Digivolve to.... Huh? (Digivice and Crest make weird out-of-service beeping noises) Matt: (lightly shaking, shocked) It won't glow! Gabumon: What's going on here, Matt!? How come I can't Digivolve? Kiwimon: PUMMEL PECK!!!

"First we'll find T.K., then we'll fight your war" goes hard and I love it. They're still treating Matt's position as if he's against fighting the Dark Masters at all, but as a single verbal slap in the face, it still works as an assessment of Taichi's attitude towards fighting.

I don't like that they have the Digivice start beeping like haywire. Beeping like haywire is what it does when it's working; The point here is that it's not doing anything. The silence of the original is far more effective at conveying the idea that the Digivice won't activate.

Back at the mansion, Pinocchimon finishes construction on his new bestie.

Pinocchimon: All done! No matter how you look at this thing, it's a friend!

Takeru finishes destroying everything in the playroom and sprints downstairs from the top floor, as Pinocchimon comes up the opposite staircase.

Pinocchimon: I brought my friend! Look! Nobody: ... Pinocchimon: (kinda hurt) ...huh?

Takeru doesn't stop running. With Patamon flying beside him, He sprints out the front door and races off into the woods, leaving this wretched mansion behind. He doesn't notice Floramon and Delumon as he passes.

Floramon: It's Pinocchimon-sama's new toy.... Delumon: We shouldn't get involved in this. Floramon: Let's pretend we didn't see him. Delumon: Good idea.

The pair turn around and go back to... being hedges, I guess?

(Probably a good idea not to get involved. Look what happened to Blossomon and Mushroomon.)

In the dub:

Puppetmon: There! Done! I said I like to make friends, and I made one! (T.K. leaves the top floor right as Puppetmon arrives) Puppetmon: I brought my friend! Look! Huh? Nobody: ... Puppetmon: (kinda hurt) T.K....? (T.K. escapes out the front door) Floramon: It's Lord Puppetmon's new toy! Deramon: Where's he goin'? We're going to play charades. Floramon: Maybe he doesn't know how to play. Deramon: Yeah, that's it.

The dub does the "make friends" pun again. In case you didn't catch it the first time, I guess.

Floramon and Deramon don't seem as passively afraid of Puppetmon as their Japanese counterparts.

Puppetmon, however, still has that edge of bewildered sadness in his voice when he realizes he's been played. Good job there.

Back in the woods, while the kids are still discussing what to do with Kiwimon, Kiwimon's Little Peckers go for Sora.

Terrible mistake. Kiwimon was harmless enough that we could tolerate standing around and talking about this. But as soon as they go for Sora, Birdramon evolves and shuts that shit right down.

Blocking the Little Peckers with her wing, Birdramon counters with a Meteor Wing that vaporizes Kiwimon. Kiwimon lets out a high-pitched death cry, then they're gone.

Sora: Thank you, Birdramon! Piyomon: (evolves back) Sora! Sora: Piyomon!

In the dub, Kiwimon lets out this posh upper-class noble giggle when he's killed. His chortle then takes on an echoing ghostly quality and fades as the smoke clears to reveal he's gone. An odd choice for a death cry.

(Might be trying to imply that he ran off in the smoke or something? I don't know. It's weird.)

Sora: Birdramon! Thanks a lot! Biyomon: (evolves back) You're welcome. Sora: Biyomon!

Unfortunately, one person is not very happy with Sora's win.

Yamato: Takeru... What about Takeru!? (Yamato gets up in Sora's face) Yamato: You destroyed them!? NOW WE CAN'T FIND OUT WHERE TAKERU IS!!!

Taichi runs over, grabbing Yamato's arm and pulling him back from Sora.

Taichi: Hey! Watch it, Yamato! Takeru: (distant) HEY!!! Sora: (gasp) Takeru-kun!

The whole group turns to see Takeru running across the grass to rejoin them.

Takeru: HEY GUYS!!! Yamato: (relieved) Takeru!

I've made enough "Sora will remember this" cracks about Taichi being shitty to her and Yamato being more mature that I'd be remiss not to point out what a dick Yamato's being right now. Understandably so, he's having an emotional breakdown about Takeru, but still.

In the dub:

Matt: Biyomon, what did you do!? (Matt gets up in Sora's face) Matt: Look what your Digimon did! Without Kiwimon, we'll never find T.K.! (Tai grabs Matt's arm and pulls him back) Tai: Calm down, Matt! T.K.: (distant) HEY!!! Sora: It's T.K.! (T.K. approaches) T.K.: Hey everybody! Hi! I'm back! Matt: (relieved) T.K.!!!

The team meets Takeru, eager to hear what happened.

Takeru: I was able to protect myself all on my own this time! Hikari: That's incredible! Taichi: That's awesome, Takeru! Congrats! Yamato: (face falls) Mimi: We were so worried about you! Jou: You sure have grown up, without any of us realizing.

Though initially relieved, Yamato's face darkens the more they praise Takeru. Jou's line is his breaking point. He turns and walks away from the group.

Takeru: Hehehehe, stop it! You're embarrasing me! Gabumon: Yamato! (follows) Jou: (turns) Oh?

Gabumon follows Yamato. Jou notices them go, but doesn't say anything.

In the dub:

T.K.: See, everybody! I told you I could do it! I can take care of myself just fine! Kari: You're the man! Tai: Nice going, T.K.! Great job, buddy! Matt: (face falls) Mimi: We were worried about you! Joe: Boy, for a little kid, that was a pretty big escape. (Matt turns and leaves) T.K.: Ahahaha, stop it, guys! You're embarrassing me! Gabumon: What's wrong, Matt? (follows) Joe: (turns) Huh?

Mostly faithful but I have issues with Joe's line. Jou's remark that Takeru grew up without anyone noticing is a significant point for Yamato and Takeru's arc.

Again, this goes all the way back to Yamato wanting to debone Takeru's fish for him and Taichi teaching Takeru to do it himself. Being chased down by a mad puppet with a revolver is a pretty extreme situation for it, but the point nonetheless is that Takeru doesn't need to rely on Yamato to do everything for him.

The fantasy elements are fantasy elements but the point is that Takeru is getting older and becoming more self-sufficient. He's not dependent on Yamato anymore. Yamato isn't ready to confront a reality where his little brother doesn't need him to debone his fish.

The new line for Joe congratulates T.K. for the win, but still keeps him firmly within the boundaries of "little kid". Joe calls this out as an exceptional outlier and not a product of T.K.'s growth and maturity, which is a problem when that's the thing Matt's supposed to be upset about.

Oblivious to Yamato's departure, Takeru continues.

Takeru: I smashed up the weird gadgets that were making the ground move too! Jou: Really? That's amazing! Takeru: Everything's going to be okay. Pinocchimon was manipulating us with these dolls.

He sets down his backpack, showing off the dolls he looted while he was wrecking the playroom.

The kids all pick up their dolls out of the bag, checking them out.

Taichi: (cheerful) This is supposed to be me? I don't look anything like it! Sora: Mimi-chan's looks pretty cute. Mimi: Liar! I am not this ugly! ...but I'll keep it as a souvenir anyway. Sora: Ha! (The girls giggle cheerfully) Piyomon & Palmon: (grabby hands) Show me! Show me! Takeru: Hey, where's Onii-chan? Jou: I just saw Yamato head off over... There.... Huh?

Jou points in the direction Yamato went, but there's only dark and twisted woods over there. No sign of Yamato or Gabumon.

That's not a question that will be answered this episode. For our final scene, we cut back to Pinocchimon briefly, looking around his destroyed playroom. He sadly picks up the smashed remote and stares at it for a few seconds.

Pinocchimon: So he doesn't like playing with me, huh? Alright. I get it.

We leave off there, with that ambiguous yet ominous sentiment.

In the dub:

T.K.: I also smashed the remote control that was making the ground move underneath us! Joe: That's terrific, T.K.! Izzy: Prodigious! T.K.: Everything's gonna be alright now! Puppetmon was using these dolls to control us! That's why all those weird things were happening! (T.K. sets down his backpack and everyone grabs their doll) Tai: (cheerful) Is this me!? I don't look anything like this! Ha! Sora: Wow, Mimi, your doll is really pretty! Mimi: What? No way! I would never wear rags like this! ...oh! I could take her to the mall for some new clothes! (The girls giggle cheerfully) Biyomon & Palmon: (grabby hands) Alright! You go!

In one last bit of slicing and dicing footage, the dub moves Pinocchimon's lament here, interrupting the kids.

Puppetmon: So he didn't want to play with me, huh? T.K.... You'll pay for this....

While the original leaves what Pinocchimon's feeling ambiguous and ominous, Puppetmon directly swears revenge.

Then we cut back to the woods to finish up the other scene.

T.K.: Anybody see where Matt went? Joe: He's right over there. T.K.: Huh? (Joe points to the dark and twisted woods) Kids: HUH!?!? Joe: I don't get it! He and Gabumon were there a second ago! They vanished! Here we go again! Narrator: Will Puppetmon take revenge on T.K.? Is he behind Matt's disappearance? Find out on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters.

They moved the scenes so they could imply that Puppetmon kidnapped Matt for that spicy cliffhanger. Find out the answer to these questions... RIGHT NOW.

Uh. No. That's not anywhere close to what happened here. Pinocchimon is distraught in his playroom and has no time or emotional space to go gallivanting around the woods right now.

...

DUN DUNNNNNN.

Assessment: Holy shit, can you imagine what it must have been like to be working on the dub and have this episode cross your desk? Guns! Actual guns! Guns everywhere! Children playing with guns! Evil Pinocchio kills Digimon with guns!

Pokemon had an episode where Suddenly Guns too but that was a one-off episodic adventure where Ash goes to Safari Zone and gets to see a Dratini. He did catch a herd of Tauros there that goes without explanation in the American version, but nonetheless, it's not super important. They were able to deal with the guns there by carving the episode out of the lineup and simply never broadcasting it.

But you can't do that here because Digimon is a serialized adventure. This episode is kind of fucking important, like most episodes are, and can't simply be deleted from the lineup. So we. Just. Have to deal with the guns. Somehow.

We were tooling along with a cartoon adventure about fighting monsters and then suddenly there were guns and Little Peckers all over the place.

This is the episode that made the censors cry, and it shows in the absolute butchery they had to make of it in order to get it onto television.

(But they also managed to screw up important characterization scenes too while they were at it.)

[icycoldninja]

I really like your DMC headcanons

Can you perhaps write a headcanon of the DMC men with a reader who is the granddaughter of Van Helsing (the 2004 version starring Hugh Jackman). She specializes in hunting Supernatural creatures, especially Vampires due to their destructive nature. She took pride of her profession due to it being a sort of family legacy but it brought lots of tragedies to her bloodline (it can be due to her loved one’s passing, etc..) so she felt somewhat conflicted with it as well

In the 2004 film version of Van Helsing, he turned into a Werewolf/Lycanthrope. Imagine how they’d react, seeing their beloved girlfriend, whom they thought was a normal human woman who happens to be a supernatural hunter, turns out to also be a Werewolf, a fearless yet ferocious and aggressive creature by night, craving for violence against those that wronged her

Thanks! Here you go.

Sparda Boys + V x Granddaughter of Van Helsing!Reader headcannons

¤ Dante ¤

-So, you're the relative of a monstrous legend too? Welcome to the club, you'll fit right in with Dante Sparda.

-You being a supernatural hunter fits well with him--now you two can go on missions together!

-He thinks it's super cool you can turn into a werewolf and really admires that aggressive side of you.

-Your ferociousness gets him thinking all kinds of thoughts, even dirty ones.

-He will gladly follow you anywhere and help you defeat anything. Dante's not scared of no werewolf.

-If you need to be controlled, however, Dante will be there. He'll use his DT to hold you down or drag you off somewhere where you won't hurt others.

■ Vergil ■

-Vergil is also intrigued by your profession since it's so similar to his and looks forward to when you and him go on missions together.

-When he saw your werewolf form for the first time, he was shocked for a moment, but otherwise was unfazed. In fact, he's rather fond of this side of you.

-Your ferocity is MOTIVATING and inspires him to be MOTIVATED as well.

-He encourages you to take revenge for those that hurt you and even goes with you so he can see you in action.

-Is very curious to know if silver does actually harm werewolves. If so, he will inspect and put away any dangerous cutlery.

-Really wants to cuddle you when you're in werewolf form. He likes to imagine your fur is soft and fluffy.

□ Nero □

-Respects what you do and is glad you're taking part in your family "business", as he is too.

-Won't interfere with your work, though; he figures you don't need any help.

-Neither does he expect you to help him with his work--he's a grown man, he can manage things on his own.

-When he saw your werewolf form, he was shocked. His girlfriend was a werewolf. Holy fucking shit. Would you eat him?

-When you didn't eat him, however, and ran off to exact vengeance upon old foes, Nero was left standing there, confused.

-He shouldn't let you go and kill people, regardless of your reasoning, but...should he really mess with werewolf business?

● V ●

-V found your lineage to be quite interesting indeed. You, the granddaughter of a vampire hunting legend? Remarkable.

-He would love it if you accompanied him on devil hunting missions because he doesn't trust his own body and could easily collapse in the middle of nowhere with no one to help him.

-The night he discovered your werewolf form was a terrifying night indeed. All this time, he thought you were an ordinary human, when in reality, you were a werewolf?!

-He was apalled when he learned you run off to kill old enemies, but dared not stop you because he was to do so was folly--he was not strong enough.

-Still, he worries about you and what you do, making sure to bring these concerns to your attention when you're back to normal, even though there is little either of you can do about it.

-Best way to control your violent tendencies is to have V tie you down with nylon cord in a basement or other room lined with steel, lock and barricade the door, and have his familiars stand guard.

[starlazergazer]

No Where Else to Go

Pairing: Anakin x Reader

Summary: You and Anakin never got along super well, most interactions ending up in some sort of fight about the smallest things. Though when your first solo mission goes wrong you take it hard, thoughts spiraling into dangerous territory you end up on the doorstep of the only man you could think to go to looking for someone to lean on: Anakin Skywalker

Warnings: Hella angst and some swearing

Word count: 4.5k

A/N: Just wrote it on a whim cause I thought it could be cute let me know what you think and feel free to send me any requests you guys have!

You shut down the screen before you, head falling forward into your hands as you rubbed at your aching eyes. You were exhausted, your body was exhausted, your mind was exhausted, your eyes were exhausted, you were more than ready to leave the library and go crash in your room. Despite everything, however, a note of pride still rang through you at having finished.

You did it this time, you genuinely put in the work like your master was always nagging you about, you spent more hours in the library researching the planet your next mission was on than you had ever before, reading every article, text, map, etc. available to you until your eyes were ready to roll out of their sockets.

And maybe your master had a point because more than anything you felt prepared, like you could do this, your first solo mission and already you felt set for success.

As you stood your hand went out to the table where you had placed your lightsaber, not liking the way it dragged down your belt while you sat, but found nothing but empty table.

You scrunched your brows in confusion, ducking down to check the floor because you were sure that was where you had put it, that was where you always put it, right within reach.

The panic was starting to set in as the floor seemed empty too, your master was going to kill you if you showed up without a lightsaber again. Dropping to your knees quickly, your hands reached out blindly, desperately hoping they somehow hit the saber your eyes couldn’t see.

Anakin watched you crawl on the floor beneath your table with a small smirk, hiding behind a nearby shelf. His eyes cutting to the top shelf where your saber was precariously balanced just out of your reach.

He told himself that it was for your own good, that you needed to learn to keep better track of your saber, to take better note of your surroundings.

You’d been in the library since this morning, Anakin had taken the saber an hour after you arrived, and it was now well into the night and you were just now noticing it was gone.

And though a part of him said he should just give it back, another part relished at the idea of little miss perfect showing up to the next council meeting without her lightsaber.

You’d no doubt get a slap on the wrist, the masters may trip over each other as they tried to drown you with replacements.

If he’d shown up without it? Well that’d be a completely different story. Just further proof the Skywalker boy wasn’t to be trusted.

He ducked further behind the shelf as you came up to your feet, eyes desperately scanning the library, and though he registered the look of sheer panic on your face at missing it a large part of him didn’t care. You sailed through Jedi training like it was nothing, you could handle the minor inconvenience of losing your lightsaber for a bit.

With a small huff he turned and made his way towards the library door, only at the last second reaching out with the force just enough to tip your saber off the shelf, sending it clattering to the floor.

Maybe it wasn’t such a large part of him afterall.

-

You looked proudly on at the holodisplay before you, an up to date projection of the facilities layout displayed on it. Cobbled together from three different sources found in the library with a single line running through it to display your path.

You let the projection do the talking for you at first, letting the jedi around it survey the area for a bit before laying out your plan, a plan days in the making, a plan so foolproof your first solo mission had no choice but to go off without a hitch. At least until Anakin Skywalker got his hands on it.

“So you can see here there’s a series of old tunnels running beneath the building” you’d barely begun before Anakin started talking, not even acknowledging that you had been speaking as he cut you off.

“What’s this over here?”

You fought down your anger as you followed his gesture, you were not going to blow up in front of the jedi council not even if Anakin deserved it “Guarded door into the facility overlooking a 100 foot cliff” you answered quickly, refusing to give into his musings more than you had to.

“But as you can see over here” you were already trying to pivot, hand extended to point towards your point of entry before Anakin was speaking again.

“Why don’t you enter here it’s a straight path to the cells where he would be held” He asked the question as if this were the obvious solution, as if you hadn’t spent hours pouring over the building’s layout and he mere minutes.

“Because that would involve free climbing a 100 foot cliff right beneath guard’s noses” you answered simply, trying to keep as much venom from your voice as possible.

“If you don’t think you can handle it my men and I-“

This time you weren’t afraid to cut him off, to snap back. How dare he come and try and take over your mission in front of the council like this. How dare he imply you were incapable of free climbing when it was easily the dumbest way to sneak in. How dare he try and steam roll his way over your days of preparations with a plan he devised in two minutes flat

“Why risk a free climb like that when the tunnel system runs right to the cells as well. Do you just enjoy putting your men at risk padawan Skywalker” you put as much emphasis on the “padawan” as possible, enjoying the glare he sent your way from across the projection.

“This door is a straight shot you could be in and out in a matter of minutes” he shot back, leaning forward with both hands resting on the edges of the display “not having to deal with the mess that is tunnel system navigation”

If you didn’t know any better you’d say he was enjoying this. You mirrored his position, “Why risk the lives of more men when you could take a few extra minutes to take a more stealthy approach” you shot back with a raised brow.

You barely registered the hand at your back, having almost forgotten about the rest of the people in the room as you fought with Anakin. Your body, however, acted on instinct, posture snapping back to an upright position, your hands coming to clasp behind your back just as you had been taught, your eyes snaking briefly up to your master’s as he gave you an approving nod at your correction.

You were going to pay for that outburst later.

“This is padawan L/N’s mission” Master Windu’s voice broke your gaze from your master, your eyes snapping to him as you hid your victorious grin behind a mask “If she wants to take a more strategic stealth approach than so be it”

You just couldn’t help yourself, your eyes snapped back to Anakin’s to see him already looking at you, eyes roaming up and down as if to measure you up and you felt a certain victory in that. That’s right Skywalker you just lost.

“Of the plan we approve” Master Yoda spoke up drawing your attention back to the masters “Leave tomorrow you shall”

As trained to do you bowed at his words, making sure to make eye contact as you came back up, keeping a serious expression “thank you masters”

You followed the sound of fluttering robes out the council chambers, ignoring the feeling of Anakin’s gaze on you as you left, fixing your own on the back of your master’s head as you followed him out of the door

-

The ship was quiet, much too quiet.

The ride there had been joyous, rowdy, excited, bouts of congratulations and good lucks as you were about to lead them on your first solo mission, but now?

You looked around the ship, troopers silently sitting with heads in hands, staring off into the distance, looking down at seats unoccupied, seats that shouldn’t be unoccupied.

The ship landed without a hitch and the troopers wordlessly filled out, most avoiding eye contact as they passed, you never leaving your seat.

“Hey” the sound of your clone commander’s voice caught you off guard, making you jump slightly as your head snapped up to meet Alex’s gaze from above you “it’s not your fault kid”

Your gaze dropped immediately, as you refused to even acknowledge the words, refused to let them enter your mind, refused to accept the lie.

“Look” you heard Alex sigh and despite everything a part of you wanted to scream, wanted to order him to just leave, wanted to be left alone “get some sleep, we’ll talk about it in the morning”

But Alex had had a hard night too, they were his friends you had lost, the last thing he needed was you yelling at him “yeah alright”

But still you didn’t move, didn’t look up till you felt his hand clasp on your shoulder, giving you a nod towards the exit, showing you he wasn’t leaving without you.

And again you wanted to argue but it was late, you were tired, maybe he was right.

Slowly you pushed yourself to your feet and walked off the ship, breaking towards your room quickly without a word, ready to put as much distance between you and any reminder of tonight as possible.

But as soon as you got to your door you paused, finding yourself unable to go in, unable to just give up and forget. Men had died tonight under your command, didn’t they deserve better than to just be forgotten like that?

You turned slowly and started aimlessly off down the hall, no destination in mind though your brain was too occupied to have directed you towards one anyway.

Every mistake you had made played over in your mind, every negative comment handed down from your master echoed in it, you were smarter than this, you should’ve been smarter than this.

You didn’t even know their names.

That’s what really hit you. You’d been working to remember them all but there were so many and you had been too caught up in your plan they never stuck. Men had followed you into the unknown, obeyed your every command and died in its service, and you couldn’t even think of their names.

It was like every negative thought you had ever thought about yourself was coming true in one night, you weren’t a good jedi, you couldn’t be trusted on your own, you really can’t think for yourself.

And before you knew it there was a painful lump in the middle of your throat, inching its way up. There was a slight water to your eyes, your nose threatened to drip.

All at once the world seemed to be crashing down around you and there was nothing you could do to try and balance it.

You could feel your breathing change as you tried to swallow the lump, tried to push down your emotions.

Your first instinct was to meditate, that seemed to be the jedi catch all answer to emotions, but hours spent alone with your thoughts right now did not sound like a good idea.

A part of you recognized that what you needed to do was talk to someone, get every thought off your chest and out into the open, someone to tell you how to fix it.

Your master was out of the question immediately, knowing he would be nothing more than another voice confirming every worst thought you had about yourself, confirming your every mistake, making sure to punish you for each.

But if not your master than who? You didn’t have anyone else having spent your entire time as a jedi training to be the best you could possibly be. And look where that got you, a screw up jedi with no friends.

You could feel the thoughts start to spiral again and it made you want to scream at how helpless you felt, a slave to your own emotions.

And then you were at his door before you could even justify your own thought process to yourself, a hand raised to knock before you could stop it, ready to take back the knock the second after  you did it.

No noise came from the other side of the door and a part of you thought about just walking away, pretending you had never knocked in the first place, let Anakin think he had been pranked.

Then the door slid open.

Before you stood a shirtless Anakin Skywalker, hair tossed in a million different directions, eyes squinted as they fought against the dim light in the hallway. “Y/N?”

His voice was thick and sluggish, eyebrows drawn together in confusion as he looked down at you, using the heel of his palm to rub at his eyes, to rid them of sleep or to check that it was really you standing before him you weren’t sure which.

“I-uh” you stuttered at first, instantly feeling the regret at having woke him “I’m sorry I didn’t-I” you couldn’t get the full sentence out, your mind still swirling, your eyes glued to his face refusing to look any further to his exposed torso.

“Y/N what’s going on?”

And maybe it was because it was the first time he had spoke to you without a hint of malice but you froze at the question. Every thought immediately leaving your brain as you looked up at him. The lump in your throat practically at the back of your mouth as you fought to keep any tears at bay. “I didn’t know where else to go”

And you know you looked pathetic, coming to his door in the middle of the night, eyes full of tears that had yet to spill, admitting to him you had no one to go to in a voice smaller and more fragile than you had ever heard it before, and a part of you mentally prepared for mocking.

Instead his expression practically melted off his face, eyebrows now scrunched together in concern as his eyes darted up and down the hallway as if to see what had brought you to him.

And yet still he placed a soft hand on your shoulder and stepped aside, offering no more than a soft “come in”

-

You should have known what to expect from Anakin’s room, that it would be identical to yours, afterall its hard to have any clutter when the only possessions you were allowed was the clothes on your back and a lightsaber. Still to see the mirror image of your own room caught you off guard.

“Give me one second” he said softly as he slipped around you into another room.

And though a part of you felt awkward being alone in the room for the first time a bigger part of you was tired. Tired of standing, tired of thinking, tired of everything. So you slowly made your way to the nearest wall and slid down it, your head going to your knees as you leaned back against it.

Anakin to his credit said nothing about where you chose to sit when he returned, fully clothed this time, with a glass of water in hand.

Wordlessly he held it out to you, giving you a small nod as you thanked him before sitting down against the wall next to you, letting the silence hang in the air for a moment, probably curious to see if you wanted to be the first to break it.

“You had a mission tonight right?” he asked almost hesitantly “your first solo”

You sighed deeply, pulling your knees tighter into your chest as you leaned your head back against the wall, knowing you came here to have this conversation but still somewhat hoping to avoid it “yeah”

“I’m guessing it went well then”

And despite everything you heard yourself chuckle at that. “you could say that”

And again silence fell, Anakin not wanting to push the subject too far, you not wanting to be the first to broach it.

“Your plan was good though” He spoke up again surprising you “go in through the tunnels, I liked that”

“No you didn’t?” A laugh bubbled in your chest as you countered with a raised brow “you fought hard for the free climb in meeting with the council”

“I just wanted to know that you had considered other options” he shrugged nonchalantly as if it were obvious, peeking through the corner of his eyes to catch your confused expression “You tend to get fixated on a solution you know? Even if it is a good plan you get so fixated on making it perfect sometimes you never consider anything else which can be limiting”

At some point in his rambles you had turned your head more fully to look at him, eyebrows drawn in confusion as he started to speak faster and faster, words all but spilling out of him almost awkwardly, the most un-Anakin like thing you had ever seen him do.

“How do you-“

He cut off your question with a shrug, for the first time turning his head to meet your gaze, speaking lowly and softly “I pay attention”

You felt yourself grow almost embarrassed under his gaze, watching as his eyes skimmed briefly over your features, a weird level of intimacy you had never received from him before.

“Well for the record it worked” you tried to break the tension, breaking eye contact to look back out at the room “that door ended up being our exit strategy when things went bad”

“See, should listen to me more often” he joked with a smug smile, turning his gaze to match yours, feeling his shoulder softly brush against yours as he resituated.

A chuckle more resembling a few quick breaths escaped you as the corners of your mouth tipped up as you felt yourself relax a little further, leaning further back against the wall. “If it was all to help me then why were you like that in the meeting?” you asked him, voice growing quiet once again, looking at him through the side of your eyes.

At this Anakin let out a sigh, a hand coming up to run anxiously through his hair. “I do that a lot don’t I?”

“I just don’t get it” you shook your head in response “did I do something?”

“No” Anakin was quick to assure you in an almost sad voice “No you didn’t do anything, least not intentionally”

You let the silence after his answer hang in the air, waiting for him to continue, giving him a second to collect his thoughts.

“You know the jedi council didn’t want to train me when I first came to the temple?” Everyone of course knew this but it was a rhetorical question anyways, he wasn’t expecting an answer “Qui-gon had to argue with them, promise to take me in himself before they allowed it.” He paused for a second, you could hear a shaky breath being drawn before he continued “since then it’s felt like I have this intense amount of pressure on me to live up to being the chosen one, to bring balance to the force, and yet the jedi council, the very people I’m supposed to look up to, never seemed to trust that I could do it, no matter what I did. Then I met you” a humorless chuckle escaped him at those last words with a small shake of his head “and it was like you were everything I wanted to be effortlessly”

Your eyebrows were drawn together again at his words, unable to fathom how anyone could think anything you did was effortless, anything you did was good.

“You had the praise of every teacher, the jedi council practically eating out of your hand so excited to see where you would go” he trailed off, eyes scanning the room rapidly as if physically looking for his next words “I was jealous”

And at his words you couldn’t help but let your own humorless chuckle escape, Anakin’s head snapping in your direction at the sound, eyes slightly narrowed trying to see if you were making fun of him or not.

“You know what realization I came to tonight” you asked him, refusing to make eye contact as you spoke almost bitterly “I realized that you are my closest friend. Ever since I met you we have done nothing but fight with one another when forced to interact and yet when I needed someone to be there for me tonight you were the only name I could think of”

Anakin didn’t comment, leaning softly into your side instead as if to say that despite everything he was there for you, you gave him a playful small bump with your own arm in response before continuing.

“I’ve spent every second of my life here doing everything I could to be a good jedi. Training, studying, meditating, I’ve completely isolated myself and for what? A half dead clone army under my command?” You shook your head with a sigh, your head lightly bumping against the wall as you leaned back against it “In my head I was always jealous of you. You were the chosen one, you had the councils undivided attention, and everyone knew you were going to go on to do big things regardless of how hard you tried. It felt like I was playing catchup to what you came by naturally”

“Believe me it’s not their attention you want when they’re all convinced you’re going to turn to the dark side at any minute” he responded sadly making you shake your head slowly.

“It’s not just that” you sighed with a small chuckle “You’re respected almost universally ya know? It’s not just that the whole room pauses when you walk in its that the meeting doesn’t even start until you do. You pitch an idea and the whole room quiets to listen. You say you’re just going to wing it instead of coming up with a plan and there isn’t a single objection. Whether or not anyone thinks you could turn to the dark side one day I can tell you right now you’ve earned the Jedi order’s respect”

He was silent for a moment, turning your words over in his head, before speaking “Looks like someone else pays attention” and you could hear the smile in his voice.

Your own grew on your face as you felt your cheeks heat slightly, rolling your eyes dramatically though you knew he wasn’t looking to see it “I can at least say this, despite your best efforts you have my respect”

“You know” you could hear the smile in his voice again, a small chuckle rumbling in his chest as he spoke “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me”

Without even thinking you swung your arm around to hit him in the bicep, no where near hard enough to hurt though he still jumped back with a laugh “shut up and take the compliment Skywalker.”

He rubbed his arm dramatically as his laughter started to die down, the dark room once again falling into silence though this one was significantly more comfortable than before.

“Whole point of what I’m trying to say though is that I think you’re an amazing Jedi” he continued softly, leaning back again with the side of his arm completely flush with your own “and eventhough I don’t know what happened with your mission tonight I know it wasn’t your fault”

You felt the lump grow in your throat again at the reminder, a soft shake of your head all you could do to try and keep it under control “but how could you know that?”

“I saw your plan” he shrugged casually “it was rock solid, but mostly because I know you. I know you spent 10 hours yesterday in the library researching. I know that even if you can get fixated on your own plan you’re good at thinking on your feet when things go wrong. And I know if anyone’s life around you is in danger you’re fighting like hell to protect him”

And despite everything that you had running through your head tonight you found yourself nodding along. Because even though a part of you was still sure there was more you could’ve done realistically you knew you had done all you could under the circumstances. That sometimes things happen that are out of your control, but you still managed to keep most of them alive, that had to count for something. “Thanks Anakin. I think I really needed to hear that”

“I meant every word” he assured you with a soft smile and a small affectionate nudge “And for the record f I were ever captured and held hostage I would say I want you to come rescue me but I’m worried Obi-wan would get jealous”

And at that you laughed loudly, letting your head fall back naturally, feeling lighter than you had all night “Nah I understand, we got to make sure he still feels important in his old age”

He chuckled back with a nod “exactly you get it”

Slowly you released your knees from your chest, letting them lengthen out in front of you no longer feeling the need to ball up and make yourself small, giving Anakin’s room one final look before swearing softly under your breath “shit it’s super late isn’t it I’m sorry for keeping you up”

Anakin quickly shook his head and waved you off with a small smile “no don’t worry about it, I’m glad we could talk. Do you want to stay here? You could have the bed and I could sleep out here”

You smiled but returned with a similar shake of your head, pushing yourself off the ground up to your feet “no that’s okay I’ll go back to my own room”

Anakin stood up and followed you to the door, pausing within the doorway as you exited out into the hallway “Well if you ever need to talk or anything, or just want to hang out…” he let the end of his sentence hang in the air, not quite sure how to finish it though that was hardly important, you were already nodding appreciatively.

“Same goes for you, talk or need to hide from the council let me know”

He chuckled back, leaning casually against the door frame as you started off down the hallway calling out after you before you got too far “goodnight Y/N”

You spun around to face him as you continued to walk, giving him a small wave “goodnight Ani”

[sonicasura]

Kaiju Cores and Relics

I decided to expand more on the Knack x Kaiju No.8 concept from my asks. I'm including some things from Knack 2 alongside a few Species Swap shenanigans. The latter can be found at the bottom! Let's get started!

A good chunk of Knack's new moveset like the Sunstone Shield stems from experimenting with Kafka. Both want to get a better handle on their powers so don't be surprised at the sometimes whacky shit they get into. Lucas and Reno may had to melt Kafka out of a ice block once.

Knack is the first 'kaiju' to be marked for alive capture by the Defense Force. It's pretty clear that someone had created the golem and the higher ups want to know who. Knack barely escaped Vice Captain Soshiro multiple times thanks to his size manipulation alongside usage of the environment.

Lucas often sends letters to Charlotte, Ryder and the Doctor. He does mention his new friends in them but nothing about Kafka's unique condition. Ryder finds out when an group camping trip goes wrong.

Kafka once terrorized a horde of goblins. He gotten separated during a trip in the woods and the goblinfolk thought he would be an easy target. Rumors of a skull faced demon disguising as a human quickly spreads afterwards.

Knack wears a cat costume to walk around in public. Thanks to his small size, people think he's an eccentric mute little kid. Kafka definitely lied that Knack was his son and Lucas being his nephew so the two could get visitor passes for 3rd Division base.

Story time goes a bit wrong when small golem mentions the times he got blown up or poisoned on his first big adventure. Kafka and Reno were definitely sweating to hear Knack had been on the end of a giant teleporting mech. Nevermind the massive doomsday prophecy almost wrought by a billionaire's greed.

Kaiju No.10 vs Vice Captain Soshiro and Knack. Also the time Lucas brought a mech suit to aid the 3rd Division after convincing Charlotte. The officers absolutely didn't expect some peculiar help but takes it.

"How To Keep Your Dad Friend From Killing An Idiotic Man" Or Knack tries to stop Riot No.8 before he kills Isao. High enough friendship with both sides of Kafka, sunstone barriers and the new Relic Stockpiler are his best tools here.

Kaiju No.8 terrorizes High Goblin City. Or how Kafka officially made himself Enemy #2 to Gundahar in a short amount of time. You can't exactly trap his friends in a super hostile environment and expect him to not bust down the gate.

Lucas' gadgets become very invaluable to Kafka's friend group. Especially when Reno and Iharu get attacked by Kaiju No. 9 during their first mission. Or how the Time Dilator plus Freeze Rounds are a perfect match to stall dangerous threats.

Kafka has a built in cult radar and it immediately goes off upon meeting Xander. His golems also seem to agitate Ai so that's another red flag right there. Kafka secretly requests Charlotte to do some spying just in case.

(Special Species Swap: Golem)

Kafka's Golem form is around 2'6 at his smallest size and 34'8 at his largest. Black relics serve as his hair/fur/scales with a teal claw shaped jewel on his chest orb. When increasing in size, Kafka's visage looks similar to his kaiju form but if it had a tail.

Himbo accidentally discovers an unknown artifact and is turned into a Relic Golem. Kafka freaks out for a good five minutes before running over to Lucas. Thankfully the transformation is more controllable like an Off/On Switch and doesn't have an alternate personality to it.

Guaranteed mirror moment between two golems. Knack feels less lonely despite his concern about Kafka dealing with new side effects. The image of his older friend sneezing and falling into relics pieces is the golem's most haunting thought.

Guaranteed freakout when Kafka accidentally combines with Knack. (Think Co-OP mode in Knack 2.) It was definitely weird since both can hear each other's thoughts amongst other things. Kafka and Knack tend to combine if the situation calls for it.

Apparently Ai can also control their new golem form. It definitely feels weirder than manipulating Kafka's human body but not by much. Should Ai be in control then the gem on his chest orb will glow green to signify the swap.

Kafka uses this new form to avoid Vice Captain Hoshina and defend himself against General Isao. The Defense Force definitely mistakes him for being Knack's creator after the former incident as he swaps before Soshiro finds him. Sunstone Barriers still sit at the top of Kafka's favorite list.

Element Powers Up go a bit awry. Or Kafka almost becomes a walking forest fire when he tries to do a Relic Tornado with Wood armor. Apparently relics are good firestarters than just sticks and friction.

That's all I have for now. Until next time folks, I'll see you later!

[onceuponastory]

dangerous.

Plot: Alone and on her first proper mission with Bucky, Y/N tries to ignore the uneasy feeling in her gut. Because she's perfectly safe. Bucky is perfectly safe. ...Isn't he? Warnings: 18+ only please! No minors. This is a dark!Bucky fic. Mentions of death/murder, weapons (mainly guns), shooting, blood, injury and violence. Also Bucky Barnes because he's a warning in this. Notes: This is my piece for @pupandkisasaesthetics challenge, hosted by @sgt-seabass and @rookthorne. I got the pic of the forest I used in this moodboard as my inspo, but I'll also attach it at the end.

Not beta'd, so any mistakes are my own.

Walking through the forest, Y/N looks around, checking for anything that seems wrong or out of place. The air is fresh, with a chill breeze blowing. And everything is silent, there’s not even a bird singing. Y/N shivers, wrapping her jacket closer around her. Honestly, it's pretty uneasy. She advances further into the undergrowth, keeping her wits about her as she hunts for the target that she and Bucky are tracking. Her steps are as quiet as possible, and calculated. Even though this is her first proper mission, and she’s feeling incredibly out of her depth, she knows Bucky trusts her to do a good job. After all, it’s why he chose her for this mission.

Although… being here with Bucky still feels crazy. Or at least, there's something odd about it, a feeling deep in her gut that she can’t shift, no matter how much she tries to reassure herself that everything is fine. Because she just can’t understand why Bucky, of all people, wants her here. Usually, he barely says a word to her. In fact, she can count the number of missions she’s been with him for on one hand. Or rather, one finger. And that was with the others, part of an enormous group. She’s never spent any one on one time with Bucky before today. But this time, he insisted that she accompany him on the mission, over more experienced people like Steve, Sam, and Natasha. Somehow, he wants her. And she doesn’t know why.

Yet, she won’t deny herself time spent with the handsome super soldier. She’s wanted to get to know him for a while, and although tracking a criminal is a pretty unorthodox way to get closer to one another, at least now she has a chance. That is, if she can find him again. He told her they should split up and reconvene, and although she would rather not be alone whilst tracking an incredibly dangerous criminal, Bucky has years more experience than she does, so what he says goes.

But even then, she can’t deny how uneasy she feels about this whole situation. She tries to bury the feeling, putting it down to first time nerves. She’s safe, she knows she is. She’s an Avenger for god’s sake, and she’s out here with one of the most experienced ones on the team. She’s perfectly safe. But even then, the feeling still won’t go away.

Y/N moves further into the woods, keeping an ear out for anybody or anything around her. The forest surrounding her is silent, but she knows the enemy could be hiding everywhere. Step. Another step. All she can register is the increase in her heartbeat. 

Suddenly, a twig snaps from behind her, the sound almost making her jump. Quickly, she scrambles to her side, trying to grab her weapon. But before she can, something strikes her in the leg. Crying out in pain, she falls to the ground. As footsteps approach, she turns, kicking her good leg out wildly to strike her assailant. When another cry of pain fills the air, rather than relief, Y/N’s blood chills. Because she immediately recognises who it belongs to.

“Bucky?” He stares down at her, his gun pointed right at her forehead. 

“Funny how we should end up like this, huh?” He smirks.

“What the hell are you doing?” She pants. “We’re supposed to be looking for the enemy!” But Bucky doesn’t move, or react to the blood beginning to flow from her leg. Her mind races, adrenaline pulsing through her. “Did he shoot me? No… he couldn’t have. He wouldn’t.”

“You still don’t get it, do you? There is no enemy, doll. It’s just us out here.” Her brow furrows, and her mouth drops open in confusion.

“What are you talking about? Steve said there was someone hiding out here, remember?” She tries to scramble up, but the pain in her leg stops her. She bites down hard on her tongue, crying out as the white hot pain sears through her. She expects Bucky to help her up, or to at least call for a medic. But he just stands there, watching her. The uneasy feeling in her gut returns, this time stronger than ever. So intense it could consume her. Every fibre of her being, every piece of training she had, is telling her that this situation isn’t safe, that Bucky isn’t safe, and to get away as quickly as she can. But she still can’t will herself to move, or believe that the man in front of her is anything but safe. 

Even when he’s pointing a gun at her.

“Steve? Oh, that geriatric idiot would believe anything I told him, especially when I said I needed you to come with me.” He scoffs, and she laughs in disbelief, thinking this is some kind of sick joke. When Bucky still doesn’t move, her survival instinct kicks in. Get away. Fight him. She tries to move, but he lifts his foot, pressing his boot down on her injured leg. She cries out in pain, but he presses down harder, only intensifying her screams. “Shut up.” He hisses.

“Get off of me!” She orders, trying to kick him again, using every inch of her training. But he only presses down even more. “Bucky, stop it, please.” She begs, tears streaming down her cheeks as she racks her brain for something, anything she could’ve done to justify this, being shot by her partner on a mission. “Whatever I did or m-may have done, I’m sorry, okay!” 

“I said, shut up.” Thankfully, he lifts his foot slightly, and Y/N pants, feeling her leg burning. She grasps at her leg, trying to stem the blood in any way she can and save herself. “That’s not going to help you, Y/N. I told you, there is nobody else out here.” He repeats. “Just me and you.”

Back when she was first in training to become an Avenger, Y/N was taught how to defend herself, and reminded how much danger she was putting herself in, and how common death is in this line of work. It was probably supposed to scare her away, but instead she saw it as a challenge, spurring her on to save the world. But she always thought it would be supervillains and megalomaniacs she’d face. She never thought she’d die like this, at the hands of a fellow Avenger, by Bucky Barnes of all people.

“Why are you doing this to me?!” she whimpers. Bucky shrugs, keeping the gun pointed right at her. “A-Are you….”

“The Winter Soldier? No.” He smirks. “I haven’t been that for a long time. But, when you go through something like that, and are around death for so long… it stays with you, you know?” He muses, looking down at the weapon in his hands. “They’ve tried to take it out of me, their programming… but it didn’t work. And after a while, I thought, why try and hide it, or be ashamed? Why not embrace it? Be the monster they trained me to be. So here we are.” He chuckles. “Just us, all alone. And what a perfect sacrificial lamb you are.” He grins, a sick grin that strikes fear into her heart. He planned this whole thing. She had hoped he wanted to be her friend, but he just brought her out here to die.

“Bucky, please.” She begs, her body trembling. Whether with fear or because of the gaping wound in her leg, she doesn’t know. But she does know this is her last chance for survival. “I promise you I won’t say anything to anyone. I'll just say I got shot by the enemy. Just let me go, please.” But he still stands there, staring at her. 

“Oh, I'll tell them you got shot by the enemy, alright." He smirks, the casual nature of his tone when discussing her impending murder frightening her even more. "But I’m sorry, doll, I just can’t take the risk of letting you go.” 

“Please Bucky. I don’t want to die.” She continues to beg, screaming and crying out for her life, for a chance to make things right. But Bucky ignores her, and he aims the gun at her once more. 

“Don’t worry. I’ll tell them you went out heroically, and you put up a good fight, but it just wasn’t enough. Sadly, there really was nothing I could do.”

And then, he pulls the trigger, and a shot rings out in the air. And silence falls once more.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

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[childotkw]

(omg sorry for the long post!!)

I have this fanfic idea in my head for years now and it is one of them i often fantasize about (yea i have many different ones. i just let them play in my head like a movie while staring into space or while listening to music) but anyway, sometimes harry is a boy but most time hes a girl version. He/she has this mad talent about getting in and out of any situation or place she needs to. He/she has this shady business where she steals for clients in exchange for money, or sometimes for pleasure because hes a bloody magpie and likes shiny things. The harder the mission the more she likes it (danger junky). I even imagined his/her apartments/hide-out place in great details (and the booby traps). Anyway, the ministry is under Voldemorts control, under guise as Minister Riddle. He gets involved in trying to trap her/him after she manages to sneak into his mansion (and skillfully avoids all the detection tools) and she robs his ring, escapes right under his nose too... (She has no clue that she robbed from a dark lord yet, that wasnt in her extensive research). That moment is when his obsession starts. She is already wanted by the ministry but he now gets involved. I have this scene where he lays a trap and she is in his grasp however she uses the ring as a bartering chip for her freedom (she thought she might have to use it when she realised a dark lord was after her). She placed it in a dangerous place surrounded by enemies, a place only she can sneak into but something goes wrong cos theres a rat in voldemorts inner circle and she gets caught. Before getting caught she manages to send the ring to him but he still decides to get her out of there and gets into full murder/war scene (he wanted to get rid of this group of enemies anyway). Shes pissed of. She could have gotten herself out even after the torture sessions, thank you very much. 😂 Anyway a fic full of (sexual or other) tension between the two, trying to get one over the other. A lot of wump, vulnerability, power play, childhood trauma, inner demons ect.. Theres so much more but ye, sorry, just felt like sharing and see where u go off on this haha, cos ur brain is super interesting and i never had the skill to write something even if i have so many ideas. Mind you, i tried starting on my own novel but im just not a writer, if something could just take it straight from my brain to paper, that would be awesome 😂😂😂 (futur AI?? Haha) xxx

(Imma borrow a concept from American Gods for this because it's too good not to!)

When Harry is four she finds a coin on the ground. It's gold, and shiny and to a little girl it's the prettiest thing she’s ever seen. So she picks it up and puts it in her pocket - and it's the best decision she ever made.

Because her pretty little trinket is, not that she knows it at that point, a leprechaun's coin. Imbued with pure luck, this little coin changes her life, and brings with it certain traits.

A need for mischief, the ability to come out of any situation on top, a love for all things shiny. And that combination, introduced to someone so young, well...it's only natural that Harry would grow a taste for thievery.

Years fly by and Harry, with her lucky coin held close, begins to gain a reputation as someone who can get in and out of impossible situations, in and out of impenetrable places, and collect valuable items. She can't help herself - it's almost an addiction, and no one is better than her.

Her current wanted poster - no image, because she's too lucky for that - is framed on the wall of her hideout.

Harry never turns down an interesting job, so when someone asks her to break into Minister Riddle's house and steal some documents, she agrees because why wouldn't she? Riddle's a dick of a politician, and Harry might not be heavily involved in the politics of her country but she gets a special kind of joy from fucking over assholes.

She breaks into his house, grabs the documents, and on her way out she sees a ring. It's gaudy, truly a hideous thing, but Harry wants it.

So she takes it.

How was she to know that that ring would be the thing that brings down the full attention of the Minister on her? How was she to know that her dickhead of a Minister was actually a fucking Dark Lord and petty as shit.

Harry likes a challenge but she likes living more - and something tells her that even with her lucky coin, she wouldn't come out of that fight unscathed.

And so begins their dance. Harry on the run, Riddle at her heels, back and forth, up and down, the two of them circling each other like cats.

Riddle's growing obsession with the person clever and quick enough to outmanoeuvre him.

Harry's addiction to adrenaline making her take more risks.

This is the most fun either of them have had in years.

[angelique-of-the-volturi-guard]

You guys I had an idea and yes I’m making the fic for it (Which will probably be posted when I finish it because I’m in two long fics deep right now) but here goes:

Loid losing his memory of being a spy and believing that he’s only Loid Forger. He wakes up in the hospital with a head injury and a bullet to his thigh after a stray bullet from a shooting in the workplace caused a light to fall on his head. He has no memory of being a spy, and thinks he’s just a regular husband and father. Anya is the only one who notices something is up, and she tries to devise a plan to get Papa the help he needs. Her time comes when Franky comes to visit and she asks him to play with her in her room, shutting the door before she asks him for his help with something really important, and makes him promise not to tell Mama and Papa. Franky can tell she’s being serious and reluctantly agrees. She asks him if he knows the “red haired boss lady” that helped them get Bond, and when he says yes, she says she has to meet and talk with her, but won’t tell him why, only that she thinks the lady can help her with something really important. She practically begs him to take her and tell Mama and Papa they were going someplace else, and he eventually agrees as long as she tells him what’s wrong later.

Franky gets her a meeting with Sylvia Sherwood who is initially super pissed at Franky for bringing her but when Anya tells her that her Papa’s in trouble and she’s the only one who can help, that gets her attention, and she and Anya sit down. Anya tells her about the hospital shooting (that she was aware of), but tells her that her Papa isn’t himself anymore. Sylvia asks what she means, and Anya makes her promise to wait until she’s all done talking before she says anything. Sylvia agrees, curious. Anya makes the difficult decision to reveal her powers to Sylvia, even proving it to her by reading her thoughts, and tells her that she knows Papa’s a spy and has been helping him with his mission to get close to Donovan Desmond without him knowing. Sylvia is stunned, for once.

She asks how long Anya knew about her father being a spy and she says ever since she got home from the orphanage, and that she never told anybody because she knew what it was like to have secret powers you can’t share. She then tells her that Her papa doesn’t remember being a spy and she knows that’s dangerous for him, and asks for her help to keep him safe, offering to help keep the mission going on her own and using her powers to help Franky and pass along anything useful for WISE. Sylvia is impressed by her initiative but tells her that this is a dangerous mission and she needs to understand what she’s getting herself into. Anya then proceeds to tell her about times she’s helped Loid without him knowing, and tells her that she knows it’s dangerous, but she wants to help make her Papa’s dream come true of making a world where kids don’t cry. And Sylvia agrees to her plan for now but asks why she told her as opposed to anyone else. She says it’s because she knew Papa trusted her, so that meant it was safe for her to. Anya asks one other thing, and it’s that if she helps them, will they take her on as a spy and make Papa her handler like she’s his so they can be together forever and she promises to see what she can do, and realizes that her powers would be an excellent asset.

Anya continues trying to earn Stella and to get Damian to ask her over. Sylvia informs Franky of the developments and he comes over every day to see how Loid is doing and Anya sneaks him information. Loid is frustrated over his lack of autonomy, because it means Yor has to pick up the slack, but her caring for him really starts making him fall in love with her, and she him. They start to become more couple like, and Sylvia is very worried about the developments, but can’t interfere until Loid’s memory is back. When his thigh is healed, he takes Yor on a date and they dance in the park. Franky is out with Anya and they see them together, kissing. Anya runs to them, and Loid dances with her too, with her standing on his shoes, before he dances with the three of them together (He calls them his girls and that little detail WRECKED me), before there’s an explosion near the park, and it trigger’s Twilight’s memory of meeting Yor, and it all comes flooding back. He tells Yor to get Anya out of there and says he’s going to see if there are any survivors he can take to the hospital. Yor takes Anya home, and she is relieved that her Papa is finally back. She tells Franky the next day to give Sylvia something and hands him a piece of paper. He does, and she opens it to a drawing from Anya of her family with a sloppily written thank you underneath. Sylvia frames it, and Anya is put under WISE’s protection while continuing to help Franky, and Loid and Yor really do become a couple.

I just have a lot of feelings about this okay? 😭

[harmonyckrs]

Act 4, Scene 4 of Twisted Veronaville: The Disappearance of Mercutio Monty

THE LAST PAGE

Tank: Ripp.

Ripp: Oh, you again. What are you going to do now, huh?

Tank: I just wanted to congratulate you. You've won.

Ripp: What, is Tybalt awake?

Tank: No. The Knights of Order don't even care anymore. Sana and Hamza keep going off with their girlfriends and Zoya left town to save one of her friends.

Ripp: That just means they gave up.

Tank: I guess so...but I think I understand where you're coming from now.

Ripp: (This was a weird conversation, but at least we won't have to worry about the Knights of Order anymore.)

Aktu: Oh, wow!

Aktu: Kent wrote me a love poem! That's so sweet of him!

Tank: ...The more I think about it, how did anyone fall for the "the people living with you are your aunt and uncle" thing? Neither of the two look anything like either of us.

Ripp: I'm assuming they thought I was adopted. After all, Puck is, too. It's not news to them.

Tank: Who's Puck?

Ripp: The redhead with the face paint?...he's pretty hard to miss. Have you not talked to anyone here?

Tank: No? What's the point? They're all going to die anyway.

Ripp: No wonder you failed your mission...come on. I'm introducing you to hi-

Ripp: (Oh, it's Kent! I haven't seen him since we stole Tybalt's body from the crypt. I wonder if we should tell him...)

Kent: Hey, Aktu? Are you busy?

Aktu: Nope! Just woke up, actually. Why?

Kent: I want to talk to you about something, in private.

Ripp: (Shoot! This isn't about Tybalt, is it?)

Aktu: Yeah, sure! Let's go inside.

Ripp: (Kent hasn't noticed me yet. I should probably go before he notices me and starts asking questions. I'll let Aktu deal with this himself.)

Ripp: Come on, Tank, let's go. We're going to go meet Puck.

Puck: (The tension at home is almost as bad as the tension at school. I wonder how Tybalt would feel, seeing all of this-)

*DING DONG*

Bottom: I'll get it!...Puck! It's your new emo friend! And there's like some guy with green slop on his face!

Tank: It's face paint!

Bottom: That's some really garbage face paint, then!

Puck: Bottom, don't say that!...and hi, Ripp. Who's the other guy?

Ripp: This is my brother. He's living with my...other aunt. Wanted to introduce him to everyone.

Puck: (Weird time for an introduction). Well, hi! It's nice to meet you.

Tank: Why are your ears shaped like that?

Puck: Excuse me? What's wrong with my ears?

Tank: They're pointy? You're not secretly an alien or anything, right?

Puck: Why don't we just...go inside?

(one long and slightly racist monologue about aliens later)

Tank: ...aliens have the ability to mind control other people and impregnate men, so we have to make sure they get eliminated as soon as possible.

Puck: That's great, um...what was your name?

Tank: Tank.

Puck: Right. Well, my godfather got abducted a while ago, and his boyfriend also got abducted and had kids over it. Both of them were fine, from what I heard.

Tank: You don't think they could've been switched out?

Puck: I mean...now that you think about it-

Ripp: Puck, don't believe a word he says. I've literally met actual aliens and they were super chill. He's just racist.

Tank: I'm not! You don't realize exactly how much danger you've been putting yourself in! They were probably just waiting for the perfect time to strike.

Puck: I can see why you two live in different houses...

While Tank and Ripp were with the Summerdreams, Romeo paid me a visit at the silo near Monty Ranch.

Romeo: Viola.

Viola: Hm? How exactly did you find me here?

Romeo: Well, the silo is a quiet place that nobody ever goes to, and I know you're not reckless enough to stay in the area where the Capps are.

Viola: Fair point. So, what's going on?

Romeo: Mercutio sort of, um, disappeared...

Viola: (HE RAN AWAY?) Why are you saying that like you were responsible?

Romeo: I guess I kind of feel like I am? He's only acting like this because I dated Juliette, which somehow lead to him getting it on with Tybalt for some reason.

Viola: You're not that powerful. It's not like you brought them

Romeo: But...there was someone who did.

Viola: What are you implying here?

Romeo: That new kid, Ripp! He's the one who's responsible for Mercutio's disappearance, with those parties and group hangouts that he never invited me too!

Viola: No, I don't think that's right eith-

Romeo: I'LL END HIM! AND AVENGE MERCUTIO!

Viola: (goddammit.)

THE NEXT PAGE

[tloubraininfection]

Ever since we got those mixed messages from Neil and Craig about what the second season is going to be I was thinking about all the changes theyve already made to the story in the show and how they actually make the second game make less sense not more? And how it’s gonna be so much harder to adapt it now. Like:

1.Tommy is about to become a father (or he already is one, not sure how much time has passed). I can`t imagine him abandoning his wife and child do go on a suicide revenge quest. Especially not the way he`s characterized in the series. He was super reluctant to go with Ellie to deliver her the Fireflies and that was a far less dangerous mission and his baby was still not there yet so imagine him in few years’ time.

2.The world of tlou in the series is a far more dangerous place than it was in the game. The infected are so much stronger and they have the hivemind thing and on top of that it has been established that if you run into a bloater you are as good as dead. The same goes for people, they are all ruthless and will try to kill you and they are really good at it. So I just cant imagine Ellie and Dina just waltzing into Seattle and murdering WLF soldiers left and right. The whole thing requires game logic and game suspension of disbelief that is just impossible in the tv show.

3. Again, Ellie alone taking out the whole of Santa Barbara? Is she getting Iron Man suit for that part?

4. In spite of the fact that the creators go on and on about how Ellie likes violence they`ve shown exactly the opposite in the show. The violence she`s experienced is deeply traumatizing to her, she takes no pleasure from killing, she has no secret penchant for torture. How are they going to jump from this to all the f-ed up things Ellie does in tlou2? I mean, sure they can, but like make it make sense.

5. The fact that we got it confirmed in the last episode that Joel had attempted suicide and that Ellie is struggling with suicidal ideation is just all kinds of wrong in the context of the second game. I cant even begin to explain how much it bothers me and why. Luckily I don’t have to, there are people who`ve done it already and far better than I ever could so I`ll just refer you to them:

6. Also just for science, if the world of tlou was every bit as hateful and revenge driven as Neil seems to think how fast would they run out of people, do you think? Like, there`s no way there are still any people alive after 20 years, right? Everyone is someone`s something. The whole thing is just… eh.

All this is my way to convince myself that it cant be that bad, right? Right? I just so want to watch the next season and so not want to relive the trauma of tlou2. But Neil is still holding the steering wheel so all this is useless anyways. But then again, why are they making things harder for themselves? I just want the second season to not be the second game, ok? Just make it anything else, just not that!

[thestobingirlie]

Hello!! Just wanted to say thank you for your absolutely refreshing takes. It makes me feel like I'm not the only one which is so nice. I love checking your blog and reading through your responses, they're always so insightful!! Especially about Steve, Robin and Nancy

One thing ive been thinking about lately  that ive been wondering if you have thoughts on (but no pressure if you dont!) - is Nancy's plan to take down Vecna in s4. She saw the vision , she's ambitious and determined to take Vecna down, but she's also unempathetic, doesn't think about consequences and always needs to be right. She bulldozes over everyone and a part of me wonders how differently it could have gone if they didn't follow her plan. Or adjusted it. I mean, Steve has severe road rash up his whole back and arms, has been bitten, strangled, and is breathing in the toxic Upside Down air - and she still wants to go back into the Upside down relying on him. She dismisses his concerns about the bats and then the bats kill Eddie. A lot of this is probably just the Duffers writing decisions but get this boy some medical attention please oh my god take his injuries seriously. Nancy gets herself another gun even though they don't work on Upside Down creatures.

Sorry this isn't more coherent! Nancy is just so complicated and fucked up and interesting to think about!

thank you so much! i love compliments <3

thanks for calling my responses insightful! i try not to get too lost in what i want for characters and my interpretations and stick to what canon presents us with. obviously my opinions will always seep through, but i’m glad you like them!

i think the thing with nancy’s plan is that the duffers don’t want to make nancy look like an idiot, but her plan was designed to fail.

so everything that goes wrong is kind of outside of her control. there’s an earthquake, and they get caught by vines. eddie chooses to run back into the horde of bats. jason shows up and breaks max’s walkman.

the duffers didn’t want the audience to look at the plan and blame nancy for how it went wrong, because she’s their girlboss.

the thing is, when you look deeper into the plan, it’s just kinda stupid. she has someone majorly injured on the main vecna hunting team (and god someone please help this boy, he’s bled through his bandages nearly the second they’re on), she’s using a gun against an upside down creature when she’s never seen that work (steve has an axe that he just doesn’t use against vecna?), eddie and dustin aren’t given any kind of firepower to defend themselves, and everyone completely forgot that jason was after them.

i think if we’re going within the realm of canon, no plan they came up with was ever going to work because the vecna defeat has to wait for s5.

but within fanon, i do think if they’d waited a little more, if nancy had been a little more willing to listen to the others, planned a little better, this much shit wouldn’t have gone wrong. nancy finds it difficult to consider other people, she can’t always see the big picture when she’s focused on saving people, she’s not super emotionally in tune with others, and as a result the boy that’s seen two people get horrifically killed in the last few days gets put on the suicide mission.

though we also have to remember nancy is traumatised by what vecna showed her, so i don’t know if she ever would’ve been able to think clearly. she’s feeling guilty, and desperate, and so she reasons out max putting herself in danger as for the greater good.

sorry this didn’t end up being more about nancy! nancy is very fun to dive into, and her role in the plan is super interesting, especially because i don’t think she’s a particularly good leader figure, but i think the plan sucked because the duffers needed it to suck. and if the duffers wanted vecna defeated in s4, her plan would’ve worked, and nancy wouldn’t have girlbossed her way too close to the sun.

[ronearoundblindly]

Autumn Is Healing (Oct 30th)

Flufftober Day Thirty--Dear Diary

drabble for steve rogers x super soldier!reader (see previous or series)

Humor/Angst/Fluff about sorting through your feelings for Steve. For this, remember that when Autumn was a Soldier, Hydra labeled Steve a target for her but also called him "the prize."

Warnings for language and confused self-deprecation. WC ~800

Dear Diary,

Still getting muddled sometimes. Feel bad for the people around me the most because I can’t tell what’s going on. I hear my handlers and all these languages, and then I just panic. The nightmares aren’t always memories, I think. At least one is just a horrible dream where I’ve gotten the prize, where I complete my mission, and then I wake up and Steve is right there.

I don’t understand how he can’t see it. I’m dangerous. Specifically, I’m a danger to him because I don’t always know what’s happening, or worse, if it already happened.

He pities me. I can see it all over his face. He’s always around though, and I like it. I like that but I don’t trust myself. How can he trust me? How can he not sleep with one eye open? How can he not be waiting for me to flip like a switch and try to kill him? That’s what one of the things I was created for. 

And yet, that idiot stays around.

I know what Barnes told me. I know Steve’s a guy too good for his own good, but maybe I don’t want to tell him to go away. Shouldn’t that guy just be smart enough to stay away? I’ve tried to kill him before. How is he—

Bucky told me about that, too. He warned me it would be this hard, this confusing, but it’s worse when I…I don’t…see, the thing is, I don’t actually want Steve to go away. I look at him, and yes, I am so terrified of what I might do, what he might think of me if he knew everything, but I don’t want to stop looking at him. I want to feel like that utterly glowing guy can really see me and that I’m actually worth that smile. I want to feel that tingle when our skin touches. I want that heat to be for me.

I don’t want it on a lie. I’m afraid. I’m afraid if he knows me then it will go away. I’m afraid of what I am without him because somehow he has faith in me when I have none in myself—which is also something Bucky warned me about. I could tell when he said that that sometimes he doesn’t trust Steve’s judgment. Bit of an idiot, bit of a brawler, he said. In their youth at least. It felt like Bucky doubts Steve, but he doesn't doubt Steve...if that makes sense. Which it doesn't but that's how it seemed.

I know what it is. I know this feeling from way back, but I can’t. I shouldn’t feel like this when there is so much—It’s wrong. He doesn’t mean to be anything but nice, I swear, but I’m over here like a love-sick puppy hoping he’ll smile at me just one more time. And Bucky always brings him around, I think trying to get him used to me not trying to kill him, but Steve just…

He’s really fucking perfect, okay. And it’s not fair and it makes me feel worse, but I don’t want him to stop being around and I don’t want to not see his smile anymore and—fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I remember what it is to like someone, but I don’t remember what to do. My brain is so scrambled, I’m not sure I ever will know, or trust it, so I just hope

I want

I just need him to stay. I need him to stick around because I need him to be around while I figure out how to be me again.

I want to hold his hand under the stars, and I want to feel his hands on me when we dance, and I want to kiss his cheek just a second longer than everyone else. I want him to notice that I’m trying for him. Which is ridiculous but there it is. It’s stupid because he’s my prize…again…sort of, and the prize is if Steve can love me, maybe I’m lovable again.

I know I should tell him, but I’m afraid to. What if he—I’ll tell him, I know, I have to. It’s just Maybe I’ll tell him tomorrow and then if it goes badly it was just some silly Halloween joke? That way I’ll know but it’ll be safe to…leave it if he’s offended or something? Okay. It’s settled. I can do that. I can tell him tomorrow and then that’ll be over.

But I swear if Bucky laughs at me, I’m going to punch him in the face. I blame him. This is his fault. Don’t dangle your handsome best friend in front of people and expect them not to have a crush. That’s just such a douche move. Fucking brothers. I mean, seriously?

Maybe they should have just left me on ice.

This is so stupid. I'm being really dumb about this and I know it but I can't stop. My brain just screams at me all the time.

I really hope I’m not wrong, but since this is already such a mess and I know I can’t t Well…we’ll see.

A.R.B.

o.0 Y'all ready for a love confession tomorrow???? So I know this one is very piecey and jumbled, but I used to keep a diary for like 15 years, and I swear this is exactly how it read when I liked someone. Hopefully, it translated pretty well. If you enjoyed this, please consider reblogging and/or leaving a comment. Thank you for reading!

banner and challenge details @flufftober; divider by @silkholland

[Day Twenty-Nine; Day Thirty-One]

[Chronological Next Part]

[Main Masterlist; Ko-Fi]

[giffingthingsss]

This dramatic slut falls in love with every strong female that crosses his path. RIP season five where Shran becomes a regular on the ship. Trip and Tpol are cooling it in the wake of it all. After T’Pol pulls some power move on some mission, Shran falls head over heels and tries to woo her in ever increasingly hilarious ways. 

At first she has no idea what’s going on. He’ll do things like jump to the front of an away mission, do the most dangerous things even more dramatically than usual. Make a show of lifting something super heavy. And she just walks right by because Andorians be ridiculous and dramatic like that and how is she supposed to know these are power displays directed at her. 

This goes on a few episodes, and T’Pol finally has to take him aside and confess that she’s in love with someone else. Shran immediately assumes Archer (because Shran would), cuts her off, nods sagely, and is like, ‘yeah I get it, Archer is *extols virtues here*’ and T’Pol’s like, ‘no, no, it’s commander tucker’ and Shran is like

(I don’t remember if Shran ever knew about them but let’s say he doesn’t.) But after hearing their story he becomes super sympathetic. T'Pol's like, yeah it's super complicated and idk wtf I'm doing and it's pretty much been a disaster from start to finish, and shran is like, 'never fear. Shran is here.'

Meanwhile, over the next ep or so, Trip is watching them actually talk to each other now and spend time together and he’s like, ‘crap.’ He spills his guts to Malcolm. Like, ‘I was giving her space to heal and it looks like that was exactly the wrong move and now it’s all over but it’s fine, I just want her to be happy.’ All martyry. And Malcolm’s like, ‘oh brother wtf is my life. i just wanted to make things go pew pew.’

Meanwhile, Shran is surreptitiously trying to get them get back together. Even tho he just keeps like sideyeing Trip. ‘This puny thing really?’ says the puny blue guy. Because he’s actually such a dramatic romantic bitch. But some of the advice he gives T'Pol is just Andorian enough to make for some hilarious misunderstandings. He’ll say things like, ‘when someone gives someone a chestnut that means you care about them.’ And so T’Pol one day very nervously just hands Tucker a chestnut and leaves the room and he’s just standing there like ?????

I'm thinking Archer finally figures out what's happening and is like, 'let's cut the crap. You're together, that's an order.' Altho I kinda wanna throw Hoshi in there somewhere.

Oh, and there’s a big war brewing. Probably breaks out near the end of the season. Slight footnote.

[starlazergazer]

No Where Else to Go

Pairing: Anakin x Reader

Summary: You and Anakin never got along super well, most interactions ending up in some sort of fight about the smallest things. Though when your first solo mission goes wrong you take it hard, thoughts spiraling into dangerous territory you end up on the doorstep of the only man you could think to go to looking for someone to lean on: Anakin Skywalker

Warnings: Hella angst and some swearing

Word count: 4.5k

A/N: Just wrote it on a whim cause I thought it could be cute let me know what you think and feel free to send me any requests you guys have!

 You shut down the screen before you, head falling forward into your hands as you rubbed at your aching eyes. You were exhausted, your body was exhausted, your mind was exhausted, your eyes were exhausted, you were more than ready to leave the library and go crash in your room. Despite everything, however, a note of pride still rang through you at having finished.

You did it this time, you genuinely put in the work like your master was always nagging you about, you spent more hours in the library researching the planet your next mission was on than you had ever before, reading every article, text, map, etc. available to you until your eyes were ready to roll out of their sockets.

And maybe your master had a point because more than anything you felt prepared, like you could do this, your first solo mission and already you felt set for success.

As you stood your hand went out to the table where you had placed your lightsaber, not liking the way it dragged down your belt while you sat, but found nothing but empty table.

You scrunched your brows in confusion, ducking down to check the floor because you were sure that was where you had put it, that was where you always put it, right within reach.

The panic was starting to set in as the floor seemed empty too, your master was going to kill you if you showed up without a lightsaber again. Dropping to your knees quickly, your hands reached out blindly, desperately hoping they somehow hit the saber your eyes couldn’t see.

Anakin watched you crawl on the floor beneath your table with a small smirk, hiding behind a nearby shelf. His eyes cutting to the top shelf where your saber was precariously balanced just out of your reach.

He told himself that it was for your own good, that you needed to learn to keep better track of your saber, to take better note of your surroundings.

You’d been in the library since this morning, Anakin had taken the saber an hour after you arrived, and it was now well into the night and you were just now noticing it was gone.

And though a part of him said he should just give it back, another part relished at the idea of little miss perfect showing up to the next council meeting without her lightsaber.

You’d no doubt get a slap on the wrist, the masters may trip over each other as they tried to drown you with replacements.

If he’d shown up without it? Well that’d be a completely different story. Just further proof the Skywalker boy wasn’t to be trusted.

He ducked further behind the shelf as you came up to your feet, eyes desperately scanning the library, and though he registered the look of sheer panic on your face at missing it a large part of him didn’t care. You sailed through Jedi training like it was nothing, you could handle the minor inconvenience of losing your lightsaber for a bit.

With a small huff he turned and made his way towards the library door, only at the last second reaching out with the force just enough to tip your saber off the shelf, sending it clattering to the floor.

Maybe it wasn’t such a large part of him afterall.

-

You looked proudly on at the holodisplay before you, an up to date projection of the facilities layout displayed on it. Cobbled together from three different sources found in the library with a single line running through it to display your path.

You let the projection do the talking for you at first, letting the jedi around it survey the area for a bit before laying out your plan, a plan days in the making, a plan so foolproof your first solo mission had no choice but to go off without a hitch. At least until Anakin Skywalker got his hands on it.

“So you can see here there’s a series of old tunnels running beneath the building” you’d barely begun before Anakin started talking, not even acknowledging that you had been speaking as he cut you off.

“What’s this over here?”

You fought down your anger as you followed his gesture, you were not going to blow up in front of the jedi council not even if Anakin deserved it “Guarded door into the facility overlooking a 100 foot cliff” you answered quickly, refusing to give into his musings more than you had to.

“But as you can see over here” you were already trying to pivot, hand extended to point towards your point of entry before Anakin was speaking again.

“Why don’t you enter here it’s a straight path to the cells where he would be held” He asked the question as if this were the obvious solution, as if you hadn’t spent hours pouring over the building’s layout and he mere minutes.

“Because that would involve free climbing a 100 foot cliff right beneath guard’s noses” you answered simply, trying to keep as much venom from your voice as possible.

“If you don’t think you can handle it my men and I-“

This time you weren’t afraid to cut him off, to snap back. How dare he come and try and take over your mission in front of the council like this. How dare he imply you were incapable of free climbing when it was easily the dumbest way to sneak in. How dare he try and steam roll his way over your days of preparations with a plan he devised in two minutes flat

“Why risk a free climb like that when the tunnel system runs right to the cells as well. Do you just enjoy putting your men at risk padawan Skywalker” you put as much emphasis on the “padawan” as possible, enjoying the glare he sent your way from across the projection.

“This door is a straight shot you could be in and out in a matter of minutes” he shot back, leaning forward with both hands resting on the edges of the display “not having to deal with the mess that is tunnel system navigation”

If you didn’t know any better you’d say he was enjoying this. You mirrored his position, “Why risk the lives of more men when you could take a few extra minutes to take a more stealthy approach” you shot back with a raised brow.

You barely registered the hand at your back, having almost forgotten about the rest of the people in the room as you fought with Anakin. Your body, however, acted on instinct, posture snapping back to an upright position, your hands coming to clasp behind your back just as you had been taught, your eyes snaking briefly up to your master’s as he gave you an approving nod at your correction.

You were going to pay for that outburst later.

“This is padawan L/N’s mission” Master Windu’s voice broke your gaze from your master, your eyes snapping to him as you hid your victorious grin behind a mask “If she wants to take a more strategic stealth approach than so be it”

You just couldn’t help yourself, your eyes snapped back to Anakin’s to see him already looking at you, eyes roaming up and down as if to measure you up and you felt a certain victory in that. That’s right Skywalker you just lost.

“Of the plan we approve” Master Yoda spoke up drawing your attention back to the masters “Leave tomorrow you shall”

As trained to do you bowed at his words, making sure to make eye contact as you came back up, keeping a serious expression “thank you masters”

You followed the sound of fluttering robes out the council chambers, ignoring the feeling of Anakin’s gaze on you as you left, fixing your own on the back of your master’s head as you followed him out of the door

-

The ship was quiet, much too quiet.

The ride there had been joyous, rowdy, excited, bouts of congratulations and good lucks as you were about to lead them on your first solo mission, but now?

You looked around the ship, troopers silently sitting with heads in hands, staring off into the distance, looking down at seats unoccupied, seats that shouldn’t be unoccupied.

The ship landed without a hitch and the troopers wordlessly filled out, most avoiding eye contact as they passed, you never leaving your seat.

“Hey” the sound of your clone commander’s voice caught you off guard, making you jump slightly as your head snapped up to meet Alex’s gaze from above you “it’s not your fault kid”

Your gaze dropped immediately, as you refused to even acknowledge the words, refused to let them enter your mind, refused to accept the lie.

“Look” you heard Alex sigh and despite everything a part of you wanted to scream, wanted to order him to just leave, wanted to be left alone “get some sleep, we’ll talk about it in the morning”

But Alex had had a hard night too, they were his friends you had lost, the last thing he needed was you yelling at him “yeah alright”

But still you didn’t move, didn’t look up till you felt his hand clasp on your shoulder, giving you a nod towards the exit, showing you he wasn’t leaving without you.

And again you wanted to argue but it was late, you were tired, maybe he was right.

Slowly you pushed yourself to your feet and walked off the ship, breaking towards your room quickly without a word, ready to put as much distance between you and any reminder of tonight as possible.

But as soon as you got to your door you paused, finding yourself unable to go in, unable to just give up and forget. Men had died tonight under your command, didn’t they deserve better than to just be forgotten like that?

You turned slowly and started aimlessly off down the hall, no destination in mind though your brain was too occupied to have directed you towards one anyway.

Every mistake you had made played over in your mind, every negative comment handed down from your master echoed in it, you were smarter than this, you should’ve been smarter than this.

You didn’t even know their names.

That’s what really hit you. You’d been working to remember them all but there were so many and you had been too caught up in your plan they never stuck. Men had followed you into the unknown, obeyed your every command and died in its service, and you couldn’t even think of their names.

It was like every negative thought you had ever thought about yourself was coming true in one night, you weren’t a good jedi, you couldn’t be trusted on your own, you really can’t think for yourself.

And before you knew it there was a painful lump in the middle of your throat, inching its way up. There was a slight water to your eyes, your nose threatened to drip.

All at once the world seemed to be crashing down around you and there was nothing you could do to try and balance it.

You could feel your breathing change as you tried to swallow the lump, tried to push down your emotions.

Your first instinct was to meditate, that seemed to be the jedi catch all answer to emotions, but hours spent alone with your thoughts right now did not sound like a good idea.

A part of you recognized that what you needed to do was talk to someone, get every thought off your chest and out into the open, someone to tell you how to fix it.

Your master was out of the question immediately, knowing he would be nothing more than another voice confirming every worst thought you had about yourself, confirming your every mistake, making sure to punish you for each.

But if not your master than who? You didn’t have anyone else having spent your entire time as a jedi training to be the best you could possibly be. And look where that got you, a screw up jedi with no friends.

You could feel the thoughts start to spiral again and it made you want to scream at how helpless you felt, a slave to your own emotions.

And then you were at his door before you could even justify your own thought process to yourself, a hand raised to knock before you could stop it, ready to take back the knock the second after  you did it.

No noise came from the other side of the door and a part of you thought about just walking away, pretending you had never knocked in the first place, let Anakin think he had been pranked.

Then the door slid open.

Before you stood a shirtless Anakin Skywalker, hair tossed in a million different directions, eyes squinted as they fought against the dim light in the hallway. “Y/N?”

His voice was thick and sluggish, eyebrows drawn together in confusion as he looked down at you, using the heel of his palm to rub at his eyes, to rid them of sleep or to check that it was really you standing before him you weren’t sure which.

“I-uh” you stuttered at first, instantly feeling the regret at having woke him “I’m sorry I didn’t-I” you couldn’t get the full sentence out, your mind still swirling, your eyes glued to his face refusing to look any further to his exposed torso.

“Y/N what’s going on?”

And maybe it was because it was the first time he had spoke to you without a hint of malice but you froze at the question. Every thought immediately leaving your brain as you looked up at him. The lump in your throat practically at the back of your mouth as you fought to keep any tears at bay. “I didn’t know where else to go”

And you know you looked pathetic, coming to his door in the middle of the night, eyes full of tears that had yet to spill, admitting to him you had no one to go to in a voice smaller and more fragile than you had ever heard it before, and a part of you mentally prepared for mocking.

Instead his expression practically melted off his face, eyebrows now scrunched together in concern as his eyes darted up and down the hallway as if to see what had brought you to him.

And yet still he placed a soft hand on your shoulder and stepped aside, offering no more than a soft “come in”

-

You should have known what to expect from Anakin’s room, that it would be identical to yours, afterall its hard to have any clutter when the only possessions you were allowed was the clothes on your back and a lightsaber. Still to see the mirror image of your own room caught you off guard.

“Give me one second” he said softly as he slipped around you into another room.

And though a part of you felt awkward being alone in the room for the first time a bigger part of you was tired. Tired of standing, tired of thinking, tired of everything. So you slowly made your way to the nearest wall and slid down it, your head going to your knees as you leaned back against it.

Anakin to his credit said nothing about where you chose to sit when he returned, fully clothed this time, with a glass of water in hand.

Wordlessly he held it out to you, giving you a small nod as you thanked him before sitting down against the wall next to you, letting the silence hang in the air for a moment, probably curious to see if you wanted to be the first to break it.

“You had a mission tonight right?” he asked almost hesitantly “your first solo”

You sighed deeply, pulling your knees tighter into your chest as you leaned your head back against the wall, knowing you came here to have this conversation but still somewhat hoping to avoid it “yeah”

“I’m guessing it went well then”

And despite everything you heard yourself chuckle at that. “you could say that”

And again silence fell, Anakin not wanting to push the subject too far, you not wanting to be the first to broach it.

“Your plan was good though” He spoke up again surprising you “go in through the tunnels, I liked that”

“No you didn’t?” A laugh bubbled in your chest as you countered with a raised brow “you fought hard for the free climb in meeting with the council”

“I just wanted to know that you had considered other options” he shrugged nonchalantly as if it were obvious, peeking through the corner of his eyes to catch your confused expression “You tend to get fixated on a solution you know? Even if it is a good plan you get so fixated on making it perfect sometimes you never consider anything else which can be limiting”

At some point in his rambles you had turned your head more fully to look at him, eyebrows drawn in confusion as he started to speak faster and faster, words all but spilling out of him almost awkwardly, the most un-Anakin like thing you had ever seen him do.

“How do you-“

He cut off your question with a shrug, for the first time turning his head to meet your gaze, speaking lowly and softly “I pay attention”

You felt yourself grow almost embarrassed under his gaze, watching as his eyes skimmed briefly over your features, a weird level of intimacy you had never received from him before.

“Well for the record it worked” you tried to break the tension, breaking eye contact to look back out at the room “that door ended up being our exit strategy when things went bad”

“See, should listen to me more often” he joked with a smug smile, turning his gaze to match yours, feeling his shoulder softly brush against yours as he resituated.

A chuckle more resembling a few quick breaths escaped you as the corners of your mouth tipped up as you felt yourself relax a little further, leaning further back against the wall. “If it was all to help me then why were you like that in the meeting?” you asked him, voice growing quiet once again, looking at him through the side of your eyes.

At this Anakin let out a sigh, a hand coming up to run anxiously through his hair. “I do that a lot don’t I?”

“I just don’t get it” you shook your head in response “did I do something?”

“No” Anakin was quick to assure you in an almost sad voice “No you didn’t do anything, least not intentionally”

You let the silence after his answer hang in the air, waiting for him to continue, giving him a second to collect his thoughts.

“You know the jedi council didn’t want to train me when I first came to the temple?” Everyone of course knew this but it was a rhetorical question anyways, he wasn’t expecting an answer “Qui-gon had to argue with them, promise to take me in himself before they allowed it.” He paused for a second, you could hear a shaky breath being drawn before he continued “since then it’s felt like I have this intense amount of pressure on me to live up to being the chosen one, to bring balance to the force, and yet the jedi council, the very people I’m supposed to look up to, never seemed to trust that I could do it, no matter what I did. Then I met you” a humorless chuckle escaped him at those last words with a small shake of his head “and it was like you were everything I wanted to be effortlessly”

Your eyebrows were drawn together again at his words, unable to fathom how anyone could think anything you did was effortless, anything you did was good.

“You had the praise of every teacher, the jedi council practically eating out of your hand so excited to see where you would go” he trailed off, eyes scanning the room rapidly as if physically looking for his next words “I was jealous”

And at his words you couldn’t help but let your own humorless chuckle escape, Anakin’s head snapping in your direction at the sound, eyes slightly narrowed trying to see if you were making fun of him or not.

“You know what realization I came to tonight” you asked him, refusing to make eye contact as you spoke almost bitterly “I realized that you are my closest friend. Ever since I met you we have done nothing but fight with one another when forced to interact and yet when I needed someone to be there for me tonight you were the only name I could think of”

Anakin didn’t comment, leaning softly into your side instead as if to say that despite everything he was there for you, you gave him a playful small bump with your own arm in response before continuing.

“I’ve spent every second of my life here doing everything I could to be a good jedi. Training, studying, meditating, I’ve completely isolated myself and for what? A half dead clone army under my command?” You shook your head with a sigh, your head lightly bumping against the wall as you leaned back against it “In my head I was always jealous of you. You were the chosen one, you had the councils undivided attention, and everyone knew you were going to go on to do big things regardless of how hard you tried. It felt like I was playing catchup to what you came by naturally”

“Believe me it’s not their attention you want when they’re all convinced you’re going to turn to the dark side at any minute” he responded sadly making you shake your head slowly.

“It’s not just that” you sighed with a small chuckle “You’re respected almost universally ya know? It’s not just that the whole room pauses when you walk in its that the meeting doesn’t even start until you do. You pitch an idea and the whole room quiets to listen. You say you’re just going to wing it instead of coming up with a plan and there isn’t a single objection. Whether or not anyone thinks you could turn to the dark side one day I can tell you right now you’ve earned the Jedi order’s respect”

He was silent for a moment, turning your words over in his head, before speaking “Looks like someone else pays attention” and you could hear the smile in his voice.

Your own grew on your face as you felt your cheeks heat slightly, rolling your eyes dramatically though you knew he wasn’t looking to see it “I can at least say this, despite your best efforts you have my respect”

“You know” you could hear the smile in his voice again, a small chuckle rumbling in his chest as he spoke “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me”

Without even thinking you swung your arm around to hit him in the bicep, no where near hard enough to hurt though he still jumped back with a laugh “shut up and take the compliment Skywalker.”

He rubbed his arm dramatically as his laughter started to die down, the dark room once again falling into silence though this one was significantly more comfortable than before.

“Whole point of what I’m trying to say though is that I think you’re an amazing Jedi” he continued softly, leaning back again with the side of his arm completely flush with your own “and eventhough I don’t know what happened with your mission tonight I know it wasn’t your fault”

You felt the lump grow in your throat again at the reminder, a soft shake of your head all you could do to try and keep it under control “but how could you know that?”

“I saw your plan” he shrugged casually “it was rock solid, but mostly because I know you. I know you spent 10 hours yesterday in the library researching. I know that even if you can get fixated on your own plan you’re good at thinking on your feet when things go wrong. And I know if anyone’s life around you is in danger you’re fighting like hell to protect him”

And despite everything that you had running through your head tonight you found yourself nodding along. Because even though a part of you was still sure there was more you could’ve done realistically you knew you had done all you could under the circumstances. That sometimes things happen that are out of your control, but you still managed to keep most of them alive, that had to count for something. “Thanks Anakin. I think I really needed to hear that”

“I meant every word” he assured you with a soft smile and a small affectionate nudge “And for the record f I were ever captured and held hostage I would say I want you to come rescue me but I’m worried Obi-wan would get jealous”

And at that you laughed loudly, letting your head fall back naturally, feeling lighter than you had all night “Nah I understand, we got to make sure he still feels important in his old age”

He chuckled back with a nod “exactly you get it”

Slowly you released your knees from your chest, letting them lengthen out in front of you no longer feeling the need to ball up and make yourself small, giving Anakin’s room one final look before swearing softly under your breath “shit it’s super late isn’t it I’m sorry for keeping you up”

Anakin quickly shook his head and waved you off with a small smile “no don’t worry about it, I’m glad we could talk. Do you want to stay here? You could have the bed and I could sleep out here”

You smiled but returned with a similar shake of your head, pushing yourself off the ground up to your feet “no that’s okay I’ll go back to my own room”

Anakin stood up and followed you to the door, pausing within the doorway as you exited out into the hallway “Well if you ever need to talk or anything, or just want to hang out…” he let the end of his sentence hang in the air, not quite sure how to finish it though that was hardly important, you were already nodding appreciatively.

“Same goes for you, talk or need to hide from the council let me know”

He chuckled back, leaning casually against the door frame as you started off down the hallway calling out after you before you got too far “goodnight Y/N”

You spun around to face him as you continued to walk, giving him a small wave “goodnight Ani”