#archi is quite literally yelling

[exhausted-archivist]

Okay, going to share a little joy as I project hop and play datv, but I'm cataloging all the food (cause it's me) and while I haven't done a pass for duplicates, I cannot stress how floored I am with the amount of food lore.

The entire series prior had a total of:

401 unique ingredients and their variations

321 dishes

155 drinks (liquor and non-alcoholic)

Veilguard has:

220 ingredients and their variations

175 dishes

32 drinks

This is nearly half or over half the amount of food lore as all previous works in the series. All the games, novels, ttrpg, shows, short stories, everything.

Now, I am not finished with the game. I have not heard every line of dialogue. I can say with confidence a lot of the stuff I've written down aren't duplicates because I have a whole scramble and yell to grab my notes to write it down.

For everything in this game, they really fed us good and well in the food lore

Edit: For additional context, this was the breakdown of source percentage of food lore prior to datv.

Podcast: 0.5%

World of Thedas: 8.6%

The Last Court: 7.4%

Short Story: 1%

Cookbook: 17.7%

Art Book (labeled art): 0.2%

Novel (this includes all of them from The Stolen Throne to Tevinter Nights): 14.7%

Blog: 0.2%

DAO: 14.7%

DA2: 6.1%

DAI: 22.9%

TTRPG: 5.4%

Comics: 0.5%

[blizzard202]

Standing Still - Reuploaded to Tumblr: Chapters 5-8

Chapters 1-4

Chapter Five - Archie

Archie is at the dinner table. His parents are there, and so is his brother. Everything’s right. He feels so warm and happy. Everyone besides him is talking, but he can’t understand what exactly they’re saying. Everything becomes a loud burble of banter, or perhaps arguing. Archie’s face falls as he glances around. What’s going on? 

“Guys?” He says quietly, tilting his head. Everyone’s gaze snaps towards him. His mother’s mouth opens, and for a moment he thinks she’ll speak, but nothing comes out. Some sort of inky black liquid begins to ooze from the corners of the small dining room. 

Archie lets out a yell and begins frantically swiveling his head. He can’t leave his chair. He looks back to his family. It takes him a moment to realize their faces are quite literally gone. Where eyes, a mouth, and a nose should be, there is only blank, unblemished skin. He blinks and suddenly the air reeks of death. He becomes aware of the fact that he is now at the side of his parent’s bed. 

Their faces are still gone, and they look like they’re asleep, limp in their bed. 

“Ma, Dad?” He leans forward and shakes both of them. Nothing happens. 

Archie feels so sad, almost like he’s sinking into the ground. Because he is. He slowly falls into the floor, watching his parents lay limp on the bed. Now he can’t feel his legs, he jolts himself as hard as he can, but he won’t budge. Archie is absolutely terrified at this point. There’s no way to get out and nobody is there to help him. 

“MOM? DAD? PLEASE WAKE UP I CAN’T GET OUT! HELP!!! ANYBODY?!? CAN ANYONE HEAR ME? PLEASE, I DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH LONGER UNTIL-” He continues crying for help, but nothing is working. Soon, his parents leave his sight, his head is level with the floor.

Archie reaches upwards, and his grip catches on something. He grabs it and pulls up as hard as he can, until his eyes flutter open. His disoriented gaze lands on a confused, worried Raymond. It takes a few moments for Archie to realize he’d been dreaming.

“Woah uh, ya good?” Raymond asks quietly, concerned. 

Archie blinks away the tears and nods. “Just uh… A nightmare.” He tries to explain it away, but he can tell Raymond is worried. 

“Is there anything I can do? I mean, ya look pretty shaken up.” Raymond puts his arm around his shoulder. 

“No, just, ignore what I did, it was an accident.” 

“No, man. If anything is wrong. Tell me. Please.” Raymond tells him. 

“No, no, it’s alright. It was just a dream.” 

“Ok. Just, don’t spook me like that again. I just feel like… like there’s somethin’ up with you. I know I just met you, but, I- I think you’re… my friend, so please, sleep on it, and if there’s anything for you to tell me tomorrow, do not hesitate. I’m here for you’s.” Raymond is concerned, but Archie likes that he isn’t being interrogated, Raymond knows his boundaries. 

“I’m alright. Thanks for lookin’ out for me, Raymond.” Archie waits for a response, but realizes his new friend has already passed out. Well, we had a long day anyway. I should probably go to sleep too. And this time, he dreams about something that makes him happy. Or more accurately, someone.

Chapter Six - Raymond

3 weeks have passed. Nothing important has happened. The kids at the refuge only get food on Sundays, so that’s the only thing they look forward to every week. Then, something unexpected happens. 

“Didja’ hear about Clippers?” James asks. 

“No, what happened? Did he find a stash’a snacks?” Raymond replies. 

“No, better. He escaped!” 

What? How the heck do you escape this place? He wonders. The two hadn’t made any new friends, at least, not Raymond. Everyone loves Archie, but he isn’t  jealous, it’s nice to see his new friend be recognized. Still, it was kind of saddening to not have Clippers with them. But that night, while settling down, Raymond found a note underneath the sheets:

Hi! Sorry for not telling you I was going, I just didn’t want to take any risks. I promise there are no hard feelings on my end. I just wanted to say, if you do eventually get out, the Newsies are always open to new kids. And you probably could use a haircut from me haha. So, once you get out, if you need a job, you know where to look. Remember, as governor Roosevelt always says, “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.”

Good luck! -Clippers

Raymond wonders why he emphasized “eyes on the stars”. Probably just a mistake. But it seems coincidental that it was an action. Suddenly, his eyes shoot up above his bed. A vent! He quickly rushes over to Archie and brings him into the bathroom. 

“Uh… whatcha doin’?” He asks. 

“Archie, guess what? …I found a way out!” Raymond whispers. 

“What?! How did ya manage-” 

“Shhh! They might hear! So basically, there’s a vent above our bed, and I was thinking, what if I sneak a knife from dinner tonight, and use it on the screws? Then we can just crawl out, and we’ll be gone. For good.”

Chapter Seven - Archie

Tonight is the night, if everything goes to plan. Three weeks was far too long, and if this doesn’t go how the two wanted, Archie doesn’t think he could go any longer. Sure, he’s nervous, but what’s the worst that could happen? So many things. He shakes his head. Raymond knows what he’s doing.

He chews his nails, a rather nasty habit of his, during dinner. He doesn’t notice if Raymond had gotten the knife, which is probably a good sign. Then he remembers the signal to inform him. He glances over to get Raymond’s attention, then taps on the table twice. He taps three times back. Phew. He sighs, relieved.

With step one complete, all they have to do is wait. Wait until midnight. After every half hour, they undo one screw. Two hours later, the cover is off, and they are so close to getting out of the building of which its inmates frequently refer to as a hellhole. James is the only one who knows they are escaping, and he boosts the two up to the vent. 

“You guys betta repay me for this.”

Crawling through the vents quietly was a near impossible task. Archie finds that the best way to crawl is to be as flat as possible and drag yourself along with your arms. The adrenaline is high, and Archie can’t believe they were actually doing this. He isn’t able to help but to feel bad for the others, but he knows the state would shut it down once they find the happenings at that terrible place.

Suddenly, the bottom of the vent below them starts bending and creaking. 

“Go!” Raymond whispers loudly. The two try their hardest to get to the end of the shaft, but it’s no use. The floor gives out under them, and they fall down until landing on the floor of the front office of the Refuge. 

“RUN!” The two dash out the doors, sprinting down the street, until they are cornered. 

“There’s no way out ki-” The officer is cut off with a swift right hook. Woah, that was a super hard punch! I hope he’s ok! Archie thinks. 

“Who are you?” The two ask in unison.

“Nice to meet you two, name’s Racetrack, Clippers told me two kids might escape t’night. Looks like I’m here just in time!”

Chapter Eight - Raymond

“Alright, you two can sleep on these beds. Pick your bunks, goodnight!” Race stumbles back to his bed, crashing down and passing out immediately. The two follow quickly. That night was scary, and it was nice to finally get some rest on a semi-comfortable bed.

The next day, Raymond wakes up at the same time as the Newsies. His work day starts when they do, as most every kid in the city, with the morning bell. He has to get to the tailor’s shop, no breakfast. He’d be late. Archie follows close behind, freezing. Jack, Manhattan’s makeshift leader, insists on sending another boy, ‘Crutchie’, with them. It’s the end of November, and it is starting to get very cold. Crutchie made small talk with the boys as they speedwalked. The three finally arrive at the shop fifteen minutes later.

“Alright, let me just use my key, and we’ll get out of the cold-” The key doesn’t work on the lock. Raymond fiddles around the keyhole, trying to make it fit, but it just wouldn’t go in. He knocks on the door, and his boss, Reginald opens the door.

“What?!” The old man seems irritated, like the three are trespassing.

“Hey Reggie, my key ain’t workin’ on the door, thanks for opening it.” Raymond tells him.

“Oh yeah, I change locks every time I lose an employee.”

“Whaddya mean you lost an employee? Who?”

“You were gone for three weeks, and I found a new cleaner. I’m sorry Raymond.” He slams the door, and the three walk away in defeat. Luckily the newsboys still let them in, just in time, too. There’s a heavy blizzard swarming outside.

“Ay’! Why don’t you join us? We could always use more Newsies!” Crutchie asks them. Archie is still behind Raymond, shivering slightly. Raymond glances at him and nudges him gently. Archie looks up at Raymond, seemingly mulling over the idea.

“We’ll do it.” Raymond replies. “I mean, there’s nothin’ else for us to do. What do you think, Archie?”

“These guys seem nice, sure!” Archie responds.

“Wait! Hold up. You fellas need to get your initiations done!” A random newsboy yells across the room.

“Romeo, what are you talki-” Race is cut off.

“Shh! So, y’know what, I’m gonna be nice, only one of you gotta do it.” The new face named Romeo tells them. 

“Do what?” Raymond asks.

“So, to test your diligence, we’s gonna have you deliver a hundred papes, in the snow, in ONE HOUR.” He shoves an unsold stack of papers into his arms.

“What? No way-” Race gets cut off once again.

“Deal.” Raymond says quickly. The two spit on and shake their hands.

“Eww…” Archie gags.

Only three quarters of an hour later, he returns, drenched in sweat, shivering violently with a bag of quarters and dimes weighing him down. He must have collected twenty dollars in his shoulder bag from people who felt bad about a kid selling papers in the blowing snow.

“Woah kid!” Race exclaims. “You gotta go on a shopping spree!” 

He leads them to a thrift store that sells cheap clothes for the Newsies. Hats, jackets, shirts, and dress pants line the walls. There were so many options, and Raymond has absolutely no idea what to buy. Clothes are sold on an average of twenty cents each. 

Raymond decides to buy two hats, brown and black, two undershirts, blue and white, a black vest, a black polo, and a shoulder bag. He and Archie also get haircuts from Clippers. Raymond’s sides are cut very short, with the top of his head about an inch and a quarter long, and Archie just gets the hair out of his eyes. Raymond also buys him an outfit and bag.

“Alright, well… Do you guys want nicknames or summ’?” Specs, the Newsie with glasses asks.

Archie yelps in excitement. He seems to be super excited to make new friends. Raymond isn’t as social, but still nods in approval. The two converse over what they should call themselves.

Raymond eventually suggests, “How about Pup? I mean, ya’ heart is like a dog’s, and you seem to be everyone’s best friend, whaddya think?”

“I love it! Now… with you. Hm… I mean, it’s not as creative, but what about Blizzard? Y’know, since ya’ sold all the papes in the snow?”

“Heh, you’re already sayin’ papes! I think Blizzard’s a great name, I sure as hell can’t think of anything betta!” Raymond replies.

Race chimes in, “That’s a bit of a coincidence. Two new Newsies named after canines in one month. Pretty funny, huh? But that one’s in the Bronx, so I don’t think it really matters.”

“Who else?” Archie asks out of curiosity.

“They call him Fox. Pretty boring name if you ask me, but I’m pretty sure his real name is uh… Aaron or Asher… wait, no, not Asher…”

 Raymond knew exactly what was coming. Exactly three weeks and one day ago, the rude kid working in the Bronx he ran into, that matched Archie’s exact description of him.

But there's nothing he could do to stop it.

“Ashton.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Original characters and story were created in collaboration with @no-i-wanna-go-down (Owner of Archie and Ashton) Any other characters (Excluding Raymond) are the product of dual creativity between the two authors, which entails equal ownership of the characters.

This doesn't need to be the end of your reading! There are much more chapters than these, but they are being reuploaded for the sake of promotion. If you would like to read on, please keep reading on AO3. There is a LOT more where that came from! (Spoiler alert: It's still really gay)

[k-chips]

I know Team Star isn't an evil team in the traditional sense, but... then again... not many of the recent evil teams have been that way. Heck, the Fortune Sisters aren't even the traditional evil team, but they're the closest thing Legends Arceus had to an evil team (unless you count the Galactic Team but like... you are literally a member of that team, and while I'd be the first to punch both Beni and Kamado in the face... none of them are really evil at all)

My point tho is that Penny called to me as an "evil" team leader because, quite frankly, she was the only one to truly regret it. Oh sure... we've had villain leaders regret it when their teams got disbanded or in the notable case of Ruby and Sapphire when they realized that their actions put the world at risk but... Penny was the first to not only regret her actions but actively take part in the DEFEAT of her team, and her reasoning are entirely genuine!

Pokemon have stopped making "Evil Teams" since Team Skull. They can't be compared to Rocket, Galactic etc because that's not their role in the story and that's not what they're made for

(Yell just straight up sucks, it's useless and just annoying)

They're there and called "Team" because it's something typical for Pokemon games but they're completely different

They're just little secondary antagonists

Also, what Penny did wasn't bad. She never wanted the team to become like the bullies they fought, that's why she wanted to stop it with our help

(For now, the only real evil team leaders that apologize and make amends are Maxie and Archie, yes)

Dunno if I made myself clear, honestly ahah

[onyxolay]

Archie meets Kritten part 4: Nightmares

A few weeks later Kritten was turning and tossing in bed, he was having a nightmare for the third time that week.

In the small piglins dreams he was having a nightmare about being back in the nether, he was in the bastion surrounded by all the other piglins… The great Bungus stomped up to him wielding a large spiky hammer, meanwhile Uggub stood next to him, he held up a barely conscious Archie. “W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING….?!?” Kritten yelled, Both Bungus and Uggub just simply laughed at the weak piglin in front of them… Bungus spoke: “As you can see Kritten, we have your little boyfriend here..hehehe, and we’ve decided that to ensure you stay here and never escape again..that your boyfriend here DIES!” “NO!” “YES! HAHAHA!” Bungus cackled manically, “Just watch…~”. Bungus picked up Kritten and Uggub followed Bungus to a cliffs edge where a massive ocean of lava was visible beneath them… “N-no please…!” Kritten sobbed, he knew what was coming… “Please don’t kill him Bungus..! He’s the only friend I have..! I’ll be good I promise! I-I’ll stay here forever just..PLEASE DONT KILL HIM..!” Kritten was sobbing as he was just laughed at by everyone, they didn’t care at all. And then Archie is thrown into the ocean of Lava… “ARCHIEEEE!!!” Kritten screams, he gets loose of Bungus’s grip and jumps down too. As he falls he grabs Archie, before either of them can get a word in to each other they fall into the lava and Kritten wakes up in a cold sweat…

Kritten jolts up out of bed, he takes a few deep breaths and looks around in a panic. The house is dark and only the moonlight pouring through the window on the door lit anything up… Kritten slips himself into Archie arms and try’s to sleep again, Archie though shifts a little bit and wakes up and sees Kritten crying in his arms. “K-Kritten..? Hey man are you okay..? W..what’s the matter..?” “H-huh-? I’m sorry..I..didn’t mean to wake you up…” Archie hugged the crying piglin and patted his head while sitting up. “Hey there buddy..it’s okay, now tell me what happened?” Kritten looked away for a second, a tad bit embarrassed. “I-I had a nightmare…” Kritten dove under the covers again, afraid that Archie may make fun of him; but to Krittens surprise, Archie smiled sympathetically and hugged him again. “Aw I see…it’s okay buddy, you’re safe now it’s not real! Do you wanna tell me what happened the nightmare?” Kritten wasn’t sure how to explain it, but he tired his best.

“S-So we were in the n-nether and- we was in my old bastion… Bungus and Uggub somehow got a hold of you and said that sense I wouldn’t stay in the nether forever with them that T-they we’re gonna k-kill you..!” Archie was appalled at what he heard, but kept it cool as he didn’t wanna freak Kritten out any more than he already was. As the piglin cried in Archies arms Archie let Kritten cry into his chest and as Kritten did so Archie rubbed his back comfortingly. “Shh…Shh…it’s okay Kritten you’re safe now, we’re alive and safe…” “o-okay…” Archie got took the covers off of him and swung his legs off of the bed. “Hey Kritten,” “yes..?” “We still have some left over beef stew from the other night, would you like me to fix you some of that?” Archie rubbed the back of Krittens head and Kritten blushed. “S-sure, thank you…” “your welcome love!” “Lo- huh?!” Kritten blushed more, thinking it was perhaps just a slip of the tounge…

When the stew got done heating Archie gave the bowl of hot stew to Kritten. “Thank you so much Archie…you are truly gotta be the best person I’ve ever met..hehe!” “You to Kritten! I’ve never met someone who is so quite Literally just like me!” Kritten chuckled, “Well then I guess it was just destiny for us to meet each other Hm?” Archie laughed and hugged him. “Haha! I guess so!” Both boys just sat there and laughed, Both were still tired though. Archie scoots closer to Kritten and Kritten lays their head on Archies shoulder and smiles…

“Hey so are y’all gonna kiss or what?”

“AH!” Kritten jumps and almost spills his stew which causes Archie to jump and almost fall off the bed. They look over next to the fridge where the trap door was and see Ollie peeking through it. Archie asks: “Ollie! What the fuck kid I thought you were asleep!” “Well you see I heard you two talkin and I wanted to see what was goin on, plus I just wake up at these hours anyways. I thought you knew this already!” Archie face palms, “you’re right, you’re right.. I did.. sorry.. anyways, go back to bed!”

“I will!”

“Thank you..”

“Once I figure out what goin on up here!”

Archie face calms and sighs. “Kritten had a really bad nightmare so I heated up the stew and gave him a bowl and now I’m comforting him, now go to bed!!!” “Okay! Goodnight love birds!” Ollie drops down the hole and Archie waves. “Goodnight- wait- IM NOT DATING HIM!!! goodness gracious why does everyone keep saying that..! Anyways, sorry about him pal. Just finish your stew and go back to bed okay? And don’t worry about any morning chores, I’ll take care of then alright?” “B-“ “No buts, finish your food and go to bed.” “O-okay..and thank you.” “Your welcome Krit..”

Kritten had to admit, every time Archie said that they weren’t together they got a sad feeling inside of him; but they brushed their complicated feelings to side and finished their food, getting under the covers once again to sleep…

This time when Kritten fell asleep, Archie had a dream. In this dream, Archie and Kritten were running in a field some where looking for something. They had eyes of Ender so Archie had figured that they were looking for and end portal. For what reason Archie was unsure, that was until Kritten screamed from afar: “ARCHIEEEE!! I FOUND IT!!” Archie laughed and went to the spot and the two started to dig. They dig down for a long time and Archie feels like the ground around them is heating up, “wait what-!” And as the last block of dirt is digged up Archie and Kritten fall into the nether…

Archie now wakes up in cold sweat, he was more confused if anything though. He hears some ruckus outside of their house, but then he goes to see what is happening all he sees is a lot nether portal right in front of their home….

@multifandomidiot01 I’m just gonna start tagging you in these lmao

[bughead]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again , I truly believe Jughead didn’t need to find out about the kiss between Betty and Archie. Archie is the real backstabber in this scenario because he was the selfish one who broke up with veronica to be with his best friends girlfriend :/ :/ :/ only to get back together with her :/ so he ruined everything for no real reason. And I don’t believe he’s sorry now or had ever been sorry.

Like that awful voicemail should have been left for Archie to find not Betty

bro code left the building all together

i stopping watching well before we got to the barcheating so i might have my facts mixed up, but didn’t jughead leave betty the nasty voicemail after she didn’t show up to his book launch?

he might have brought up what happened in high school in that message, but that’s not why he was really upset. i’m sure he still harbored wounds over it, but he was hurt because he had thought she was coming to his event. he missed her and, i believe, still loved her, and when she didn’t come, it broke his heart again, so he lashed out at her using the past to fuel the fire. when you’re feeling vulnerable like that, it’s easier to yell at someone about something they did in the past than admit they’ve hurt you in the present

that said, i think most of us agree that we would have liked to have seen jughead and veronica be more upset with archie and betty respectively. unfortunately the show struggles with the friendships on this show. they don’t get near the screen time or development they deserve

i think betty and archie deserve equal blame, even if betty snapped out of it first. my understanding of the situation is betty and archie turned to each other for comfort because they reminded each other of simpler times. i guess if you think of it in the way that when it happened, they were teenagers that had been through a lot of trauma in a very short amount of time, you can kinda understand why it happened. they reminded each other of childhood when they were more oblivious to the disfunction going on around them. i still think it was quite ooc of both of them, though. betty had long outgrown her idealistic childhood fantasies in favor for truth and realness. not to mention, if you look at archie’s dating history, the only time he ever showed interest in another girl was when he and veronica literally could not be together. unfortunately the writers aren’t as creative as they like to believe they are and couldn’t think of another way to break up the couples heading into the time jump

BUT bringing it back to your first sentence, would you wanna know if your partner had kissed someone else? i sure would. if my boyfriend kissed someone else, regardless if it was a friend of mine or a stranger, i would wanna know. when a betrayal like that happens, even if it was genuinely a laps in judgement and wouldn’t happen again, i think the person that got cheated on deserves to know and decide if they wanna stay in the relationship with that person. i wish that betty had decided to tell jughead on her own instead of her hand being forced (if i remember correctly archie said he was gonna tell jughead if she didn’t??), but it is what it is. i definitely think he deserved to know

[sassyfrassboss]

Observations and Comments

1. Did they shop at the same store before the show? Exact same shirts. Also, did I miss the Invictus Logo? Or was it just not there?

2. Harry moved there a year ago and this is the first time James got together with him?

3. Harry saying “We Royals carry cash.” I thought that was ONLY The Queen. 

4. The fact that Harry lived in London for 35 years and never toured it is asinine. 

5. High Tea REALLY made me crave scones and clotted cream and jam...like bad...

6. High Tea on the 405 with Harry - he seems really excited about that...lol “Get it on Netflix.”

7. I did laugh at the trolley falling over and James yelling at him to clean it up. 

8. The lady who owned the Fresh Prince house was SO excited and Harry telling James to come get him in 5 minutes if he wasn’t out was SO rude. 

9. Of COURSE Meghan was going to have a cameo. She just can’t resist being on camera. This was planned because her hair and makeup were done. Archie’s birthday video she looked like she had just rolled out of bed but a 30 second cameo on James Corden show she is done up. Shocking...plus she kept tilting her head so the her hair was covering her face. That camera was CLOSE as well. 

10. Meghan calls Harry “Haz.” So all the “Hazbeen Harry’s” are hilarious now. 

11. Harry calls Meghan “M” now.

12. Harry knowing Meghan was the “one” on the second date. The fact that he claims dating in the Royal family, that dates are at home dinners in the beginning because of the press, is ridiculous. Kate and William are still known to out on dates. We hear how the go to a local pup and she has a glass of wine and he has a beer. So I don’t buy that. They could have dated but she would have called the Paps...which I think he knows. She literally sought attention on her Instagram to try and hint she was dating him. Plus, wasn’t there something about how they would hang out at friend’s houses because they couldn’t go out in public? Lies again...

13. He plugs Netflix...James led him into that. Netflix is “loosely based on the truth...” Sure Charles LOVED that...Him saying what can come from putting duty above family is portrayed well in Netflix just tells me he sides with Netflix on this. 

14. He really has thought about who he would want to play him in Netflix. He had his answer ready to go! This guy is way too good looking to play Harry. Also, I thought he didn’t want The Crown to go that far? Changing his tune is he?

15. Again...really wanting clotted cream and scones...

16. Interesting how Harry only speaks to his grandmother and grandfather. But he does say “We Zoomed them a few times” which makes me think they don’t zoom as often as they make out in the press. 

17. Love how he mentioned Meghan makes organic waffles...lol how exactly does she do that? All ingredients are organic? Wow...welcome to the majority of the population who only buy organic. We don’t even think about it anymore at the grocery store. We just grab the organic brand. But he has to make a point a pint to mention “Meg” makes organic waffles.

18. Most 18 month old sing and put words together. Archie’s first word being “crocodile” is questionable. Guess Mama and Dada weren’t around enough for those to be his first words like most normal children. 

19. His life always being about public service and Meghan signed up for that life. Yeah so much so that you both quit in less than 2 years of marriage. 

20. The whole “British Press was destroying my mental health” is where my jaw dropped. He can thank his wife and her PR for that! Who does this guy think he is? 

The press writes articles on him justifiably criticizing his and his wife’s hypocrisy and THEY are damaging his mental health. His wife was shoveling out PR articles left and right weekly but the PRESS is to blame. 

Catherine had photos taken of her while she was TOPLESS on a private balcony. On the day they were released she was on Tour and she put a smile on her face and got on with her work. 

Did anything like that happen to Harry & Meghan? Nope...Did the press follow Meghan to the point she couldn’t walk down the street? Nope...

How dare they!? Kate was pursued relentlessly and she kept calm and carried on FOR YEAR! While these two whiners couldn’t have justifiable criticism of their own making for 22 months. 

21. I love it how he gestures with his arm in regards to his family about “Whatever they decide” to his future role as a royal. Like...those people over there...it was slightly condescending in my mind because he was like waving them off like they weren’t important.

22. Get your family out of the UK to come here to the US and give interviews and bus rides and Zoom calls. 

23. I thought this call was supposed to promote Invictus? They did the military exercise but nothing was said or promoted for Invictus. 

24. Harry definitely earned his paycheck for plugging Netflix on this though. Nothing about what he plans to do for his charities other than “continue to serve” but mentions Netflix and how it is loosely based on the truth...Charles must have cut him off...

25. Goodling recipes for scones and ordering clotted cream...

[darkdisrepair]

characterization in the legend of vox machina *could contain spoilers*

after watching the most recent episodes here are some more of my general thoughts, which will not be organized very well at all...

the flaws of vex'ahlia

let me begin this analysis by saying in the campaign, vex was my favorite character hands down. she was smart and sassy and charming and hot- but i'm not going to lie, she's really hard to connect with in tlovm.

before people yell at me, i LOVE laura bailey and vex. i'm not hating on her at all- but i think the problem is that laura is such a professional and so good at her voice acting job that the essence of vex has been lost in the high production quality of tlovm.

i think in an effort to bring her into a prominent leadership position, she comes off as extremely controlling and standoffish, especially since laura's voice sounds EXTREMELY well polished. she sounds pretentious sometimes, especially without being able to see laura's playfulness and facial expressions like you can in campaign 1 watching the table.

part of the problem is that the briarwood arc is so emotionally charged and fast-paced that there have been little to no chances to see the light-hearted side of any characters except the ones dubbed comedic relief (scanlan, grog, keyleth sometimes).

as a result, those characters have really come to life in the show (and i've started to adore them more than when i watched campaign 1) but vex, vax, and pike (who have had little to no "fun" plot points and are mostly serious leaders or struggling with faith) come off as more one-dimensional.

percy, since the story revolves around him, has also received great character development. you really understand his angsty moments and grow to appreciate his moments of levity, too.

and honestly, i'm finding non-main characters like archie, keeper yennen, and the briarwoods to have more development than vex, vax, and pike.

what they're missing are some of the more human moments of these three: vax braiding trinket's hair, them drinking together, etc.

while i get that 20 minutes versus the campaign's 4 hours have forced them to cut out a LOT of material, if i hadn't watched the campaign, i would probably think the twins, vex in particular, were stuck up, pretentious, and bossy and really, really dislike them- especially since we haven't the time to explore their backstory at all.

vax isn't quite as bad as vex, as he has his tender moments with keyleth and prank wars/trolling grog, but vex NEEDS something to make her more approachable, or a way for the audience to understand why she acts the way she does.

i'm looking forward to the ziggurat, if they cover it- i think that will be a wonderful chance for them to develop both of the twins, as well as solidify the vox machina bond.

~

celebrating keyleth

on the other hand, i think keyleth (and marisha by extension) have really shone in the show. i think they did a great job of balancing her awkwardness with her power, and even though they only briefly touched on her trial that moment gave a great insight into her motivations, too.

as a result, she's likeable and you root for her because you know she's wrestling with the burdens of leadership. even when she fails, you want her to do well. you understand why she's so stressed about succeeding- firstly because of the ashari and secondly because pike literally passed the torch of taking care of the group to her.

i also think marisha has done a GREAT job at holding on to keyleth's voice despite the higher recording quality of tlovm. i think laura (who is an AMAZING voice actress) has so much experience and has so much power that she elevates vex to a place that the character hasn't actually gotten to yet. vex at this point in campaign 1 is still terribly insecure, even though she attempts to hide it. but you can TELL that laura is very, very comfortable in the booth, so vex sounds confident, too.

whereas marisha's keyleth has stayed grounded. this isn't saying marisha is inexperienced- but i think she might put less pressure on herself because she hasn't won a billion voice acting awards.

let's be clear- i'm not pitting the two characters or actresses against each other. i think keyleth has been given a LOT more character moments than vex, and i think the story isn't in the place where vex's character opportunities arrive quite yet.

~

also, loving the matt cameos (even though it's starting to feel like whitestone is just full of matt mercer sounding guards hehe)... it's also awkward that a matt mercer steward and matt mercer sylas were in the same scene just seconds apart? that was an interesting choice on their part... even though he sounds a little different i feel like having the two characters back to back could come across as confusing.

mad props to grey griffin for her portrayal of lady briarwood... the sexiest villain to exist. the flashback to her trying to save sylas was almost enough to make me team briarwood not gonna lie, they're both so sexy

i'll close with reiterating that i'm loving the show! it's engaging and interesting- and i'm so excited to see what happens next!

[closedmadness]

𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊

summary: jughead always chose betty over you despite being best friends with you much longer. you made an effort, did everything for him, gave him your everything. but still, it wasn’t enough. you wanted him to choose you, but he never did; your first love ended in a painful heartbreak — and as if the universe is giving you another chance, you met a new boy with raven hair and a serpent tattoo on his neck

pairings: jughead jones x male reader, sweet pea x male reader

warnings → angst・fucking angst・suicide attempt・shitty mother・verbal abuse・self-harm・swearing・alcohol・maybe a little tiniest bit of a fluff (idk there might be none)・sweet pea being a sweetie

a/n: part two is up!!

veronica, kevin and archie looked at you in pity and sadness as you watched betty and jughead chatting together across the room. it was cheryl’s party and each people were spending their night joyful, jamming along the blasting music that played in the background, the only person who didn’t seem to be enjoying this night was you.

you can’t when you’re watching the love of your life gaze lovingly at the love of his life.

the three of your friends were well aware of your feelings for the beanie-wearing boy and always tried to convince you to confess to him, but you always resisted. it was no point in confessing to him when his heart is already taken by the blonde beauty.

“(y/n/n)... don’t stare at them, you’re only going to hurt yourself.” veronica told you softly, placing her hand above yours. “i can’t watch you be so sad over them anymore.” she said with a sad look on her face.

you turned towards her and covered your aching heart. “i’m not sad over them, ronnie. why would i be? jughead is in love with betty and he’s happy being in love.” you smiled, but it came out forced.

veronica sighed, shaking her head. kevin placed his hand on your shoulder, “(y/n), everyone can see the way you look at them. the only people who doesn’t see it are betty and jughead.” you just shrugged at him in return and looked down at the alcohol you were holding.

Betty and Jughead weren’t together, but they were in love with each other. Everyone can see it and even when it was painful for you, you saw it too. Their eyes literally lights up when the others entered the room, they make googly love eyes towards each other, and Jughead literally does everything for Betty.

Meanwhile, everyone sees the way you gaze after him longingly. Veronica, Archie and Kevin were always the witness of you doing everything for Jughead despite being unappreciated. They saw how you helped Jughead dress up for Betty, how you gave him advices to impress her, how you always asked him to hang out with you only to get rejected because he was going to hang out with Betty. They witnessed every moment of your heartbreak; it hurts them how you care selflessly for Jughead but he doesn't see it.

“(Y/n), you gotta stop this.” Archie said softly, trying to talk some sense into you. “You're just killing yourself. You try to impress him, hang out with him, help him with everything, but he doesn't even give you any attention, yet you're still trying.”

“Why do you still try?” Kevin was next to ask, his tone as soft as Archie's.

You sighed, licking your lips and avoiding eye contact with them. “I guess there's just still a part of me that hopes he will notice me someday. That he will choose me. All these efforts, this– this sacrifices? I'm only doing it because I have a hope that he will.” You looked up from the floor to them and was met with three disapproving looks.

“(Y/n/n)...” Veronica starts, her voice soft as well, but had a firm tone in it. “How much do you have to get hurt for you to finally realize that he won't notice you?”

It was harsh, but true. That is the reality and Veronica is just trying to snap you out of your stupidity. But you can't. You loved Jughead too much, it was almost impossible for you to let go of him. You couldn't give up — he was your long time crush, probably since middle school. Everything about him made you love him even more, and even when there wasn't a day he didn't gawk at Betty, you still believe that there's a chance for you.

You were blinded by your love for him. Everyone could tell and they had to witness every time how you destroy yourself by trying to get Jughead to notice you. It was killing them, but they knew it killed you more than it did to them.

“(Y/n), don't you not remember the day he turned you down to hang out with Betty?” Kevin asked.

You approached Jughead who was sitting alone on the corner of the cafeteria, hiding two movie tickets in your pocket, excitement radiating off of you. “Hey, Jug!” You greeted him cheerfully, sitting down beside him and slinging your arm around his shoulder.

“Hey, (Y/n).” He greeted you back, not even glancing up at you as he typed on his laptop about a new novel he was writing.

You brushed it off as a usual thing to happen, since Jughead often ignored people when he was writing his new novel. “So, Jug. I was thinking movie night today. How do you feel about it?” You said with joy.

However, Jughead didn't seem to be interested as he continued to type away on his laptop. “Uh, I can't. I have to finish this.” He rejected, eyes buried on the screen.

You frowned. It's been quite long since you two hang out and Jughead never rejected a offer to watch a movie. “But you can finish it anyday.”

He sighed, shaking his head. “I can't. Sorry.” Clearly, his apology wasn't genuine by the tone in his voice. Your frown deepened, but didn't say anything and just stood up to walk away from him.

Later that night, you asked Kevin to watch a movie with you instead because you didn't want to waste the ticket. It was pretty expensive, considering you wanted to impress Jughead, and the fact that you didn't get to watch it with him made you sulk slightly. Kevin was there to cheer you up, though. The two of you were going to head over at Pop's when Kevin abruptly stopped after seeing something behind the glass windows of the diner.

He caught your arm before you could go close to the diner and pointed at the two people inside. “Isn't that...?” He trailed off and your eyes went to search for what he was talking about, then saw Jughead with Betty on one of the booth, smiling at each other.

You felt your heart ache as soon as they filled your vision. “He- he told me he have to finish his novel today...”

Kevin frowned. “And he went to hang out with Betty? What the hell?”

You took a deep breath after the flashback ended, looking at Kevin slowly. “I remember it, Kev. But still...” You looked down again.

Veronica sighed, “Do you also remember when you had a family problem? And he didn't even want to listen?” A frown appeared on your lips at that.

He didn't want to listen, and he said it was because others have problems too and that he can't help you. But after that, he went on helping Betty with her problems and Veronica had to comfort you the whole night for two reasons; one because of your shitty mother and two because Jughead was being unfair. However, even after that, you went back to doing everything for him being the little love-blind person that you are. That was the exact day when Veronica realized how much you love Jughead, and how much he was wasting you.

You drink the alcohol from the plastic cup, trying hard to erase the memory from your mind.

Everything you did for Jughead was because you love him, and you were starting to wonder why he hasn’t look at you yet. Whenever he needed you, you were there. But when you needed him, he was nowhere to be seen and is hanging out with Betty. In all honesty, it’s getting exhausting — hoping endlessly for him to notice you, doing everything to help him with his problems, giving him your everything, you were willing to give him everything.

Yet here you are, still alone and broken.

He doesn’t even look at you. He’s just too focused on Betty that you were sure he doesn’t care about you anymore. The destiny was being cruel; preventing you from being with the boy you love and instead giving him someone to love, so he wouldn’t dare end up with you.

It hurts. It damn hurts. And you don’t understand why you’re still in love with him and is willing to give him everything despite knowing he wouldn’t give you back what you gave him, specially his heart. He would be giving his heart to Betty and not to you, even after all your efforts and sacrifices.

“I just want him to love me back.” You muttered quietly, watching as Betty and Jughead stared lovingly into each other’s eyes.

It was too quiet, but your three friends managed to hear it. They heard it. Your wish, your desperate wish. And there was nothing they can do but to look down, knowing whatever words they say to comfort you won’t change Jughead’s feelings for Betty.

And deep down, you knew that fact even when it felt like someone stabbed your heart with a knife repeatedly.

“You little shit!” Your mother shouts, hitting you across the face.

Your cheek stings at where she slapped you, but you barely flinched at her sudden outburst and just stood there facing the floor. “This is the only score you’ve got? 92 out of 100? What kind of shit is this!?” She yelled angrily, crumpling your test result. “I’m paying for your education, (Y/n), and this is how you repay me? By getting a half assed score when it could have been a perfect 100!?”

She was totally furious about a fucking test result. Ridiculous, really. This started happening when your father left after he couldn’t deal with your mother’s drug addict behavior. He was a southside serpent and surely he could’ve handled her, but he chose to leave instead. Without even trying to take you with him.

It’s funny how cruel this world can be to you.

“I’m sorry, I will do better next time.” You apologized, still not meeting her gaze. It is easy for you to hit her and fight back, but you didn’t because she’s your mother. You still respected her in any way.

She scoffed, “Next time? I can’t even count how many times you told me you’ll be better next time, but came back with a fucking shitty result.” She spat with distaste in her tone.

You frowned, scrunching your eyebrows together and looked up at her. “Why do you hate me so much? I’m your son.”

“You’re not my son.” She snapped, making you flinch at how harsh her words are. “You were just an accident. You understand that? A fucking accident between me and your father that we never planned to happen. The worst part is, you grew up looking like your father. That face reminds me of him and makes me wish I never had you.” The pure hatred in her face was enough to make you believe her.

You swallowed, feeling tears welling up in your eyes and looked down, trying to hide it from her.

“What, are you gonna cry?” She said mockingly. “Of course. You’re gonna cry like a little cry baby that you always were. A pathetic, weak piece of shit that I’m absolutely ashamed to call my son.” She grabbed the jingle jangle on the table and glared at you like you were the worst thing that ever happened to your life. “I never wanted you, and never will.” With that, she walked out of the house to be a drug addict that she always was.

After she was gone from the house, you broke into tears and finally let them stream down your face, falling on your knees as your face twisted in complete pain and anguish.

Everything hurt; your heart, your chest, your whole body. It’s like the emotional and mental pain shifted into physical pain even when you weren’t being abused physically. The feeling of worthlessness appearing in both your heart and mind, as well as emptiness, sadness, pain and anguish.

Your cries were the cries of help, desperately wanting someone to show up and stop your pain for the better. But life wasn’t that easy. There was no one to stop it; not even Jughead, who used to always be with you and cared for you deeply.

Now, he was gone. He don’t care about you anymore. All he cares about was Betty and Betty only.

Tears continued to run down your cheeks, soaking your shirt as you sobbed violently, unable to contain yourself. “W-why...?” The void question came out from your lips between sobs, asking the universe why they were being cruel to you.

Though, it’s not like the universe or destiny will answer you.

It feels like you were being killed from the inside, like all the pain you experienced in your life are molding together and attacking you all at once. Everything hurt, and you were exhausted mentally, emotionally and spiritually. You just want to be happy and be with the love of your life. That was enough. That is enough. But then, life doesn’t let you be happy even for once.

You stumbled towards the bathroom, feeling the urge to hurt yourself to deal with the emotional pain. Opening the cabinet, you saw few blades laying there and took it out, setting it down on the sink.

You looked at yourself in the mirror and witnessed how much of a mess you are right now. Your eyes red and puffy from crying, tears were still streaming down your cheeks that had a red mark because of your mother’s slap, the look in your face practically screaming exhaustion. Your hair was a mess from you constantly running your hands through them while you were crying in the living room.

Your gaze returned to the blazes above the sink and takes it without even hesitating, moving up the sleeves to reveal your arms that was littered with scars of different sizes. Some were small, some were big, some were deep, some were not, but they were all old scars. Self-harm scars. You brought the blade down to your left wrist, beginning to run the blade slowly, watching as it cut through your skin and causing blood to come out. A relieved sigh leaves your lips — self-harming was never been a healthy way to deal with problems, but it made you relieved every time you do it. You feel like the emotional pain was leaving your body through the cuts that you made. There wasn’t any physical pain, but you were sure it will sting when you take a shower.

By the time you were satisfied, there were many cuts covering both of your wrists. Blood oozed out from the cuts that you found satisfying. If your mother was a drug addict, then maybe you’re a self-harm addict. This was your only way of escaping the pain.

You washed the blood away with water while ignoring the stinging pain it gave you before moving back to the living room and grabbing your phone, immediately entering your room afterwards. The tears already stopped by now thankfully.

You laid on the bed and unlocked your phone, only for it to ring right after. It was Jughead and a dark feeling spreads in your chest when you read his name on your phone screen, almost like something was going to go wrong if you answered it. Nonetheless, you pressed the answer button just in case it was emergency — a decision that you will regret sooner.

“(Y/n)!” Jughead’s excited voice called from the other line, making you smile.

“Hey, Jug.” You cleared your throat to regain control of your voice as it came out hoarse. “What’s up? Why do you sound excited?” You asked curiously.

There was a chuckle of joy before he spoke, “Guess what? I asked Betty if she will be my girlfriend and she said yes!”

You froze. Mind unable to process what he said as you stared at the ceiling blankly. In that moment, you heard your heart shatter in million pieces. The pain wasn’t even an ache anymore; it was more than that. His announcement just destroyed your heart completely.

Why is this happening to me? You thought, feeling the tears well up in your eyes again. It was surprising, really. With the amount of tears you cried earlier, you didn’t know there was still tears left to cry.

“(Y/n)? You there?” Jughead’s worried voice snapped you out of your misery.

You breathe out, “Yeah... yeah, I am. Lucky for you, Jug. Congratulations.” You swallowed as you felt like suffocating. “Uh... I’m sorry, I have to go.” The call ended as soon as you said that, not giving him any time to argue or protest.

Without a second thought, you grabbed your jacket and stormed out of the house, leaving your phone behind.

Maybe you were foolish.

Maybe you were an idiot to believe he would look at you the same way he looked at Betty if you tried enough.

Maybe... you were stupid for giving your everything to him until you were left with none. That’s exactly the reason why you felt empty right now anyway.

It was totally your fault. Veronica, Archie and Kevin warned you, told you to give up, but you didn’t. It was your fault. Everything just hurts and now you were sure Betty is the only one who has Jughead’s heart. There was nothing you can do about it.

Accept it, idiot. You thought to yourself.

Standing above the bridge that divided the Southside and the Northside, you looked at the river below. It was beautiful at night, the sound of water calming you. No one was in sight, which was pretty dangerous in your situation.

I could just jump and never come back. You thought as you looked at the river and leaned on the railings.

It will be easy. You just need to jump and drown. That way, you could finally end your miserable life. This excrusiating pain will stop for the better and you will be free from your drug addict mother. Everything will be okay if you just jumped. Your friends might be sad after your death, but they will get over it quickly. Veronica has Archie, Archie has Veronica, Kevin has Joaquin, Jughead has Betty. They will be okay.

You jumped slightly to sit on the railings and turned to the river, still contemplating your life. Nothing was good in it anyway.

Your mother was a drug addict who didn’t want you in her life, who never wanted you.

Your father left you long ago.

Jughead didn’t care about you but Betty.

Your three friends? They have each other.

Nothing will change even if you jump. There will be nothing to regret. It’s just an easy task.

“What are you doing here?” A deep voice suddenly asked, causing you to jump slightly startled. He chuckled at your reaction.

You glanced at him and turned back to the river, far away look in your eyes. “Contemplating my life.”

Panic flashed in the raven haired boy's expression, “Woah, woah, woah. Get away from there.” He ushered and wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you away from the railings easily before spinning you around to face him. “What the hell are you really doing?”

You looked up, annoyed that he even thought he had the right to stop you, and widened your eyes when you came across a handsome face that you’ve never seen in your neighbourhood. “Oh, uhm...” You struggled to say it out loud, pushing yourself off of him upon noticing the close distance. “I was just admiring the river.”

He raised his brows; even though you were hiding it well, he could still see that you're lying. Definitely wasn't just admiring the river. “Well, you looked like you were about to jump. Is everything good?”

You sighed, going back to lean on the railings again and he quickly went beside you. “Everything is a mess.” You answered, having a far away look once again.

“Care to elaborate?” He asked and stared at your face. It was dark, but he could still make out the shape of your face and notice how good-looking you are.

“Well, a short summary of my life — my mom and dad had sex and accidentally had me. Mom became a drug addict, dad tried to be patient for her but eventually gave up and left. He didn't want to deal with her anymore and instead left me to deal with her.” A bitter chuckle left your lips. “Growing up, mom continued to verbally abuse me because she couldn't stand the thought of dad leaving us. So, I turned to my friends. Then, I fell in love with my best friend since middle school. I was blinded by my love for him and did everything for him when I clearly knew he's in love with a girl, hoping that one day he'll love me back. And an hour ago, he called to tell me he and the love of his life are now together, so there's that.” You shrugged trying to act nonchalant.

His face dropped at your story, almost as if feeling the pain you've gone through everyday. He knew you were trying not to cry by how your shoulders trembled, your lips pursed in a thin line to keep any sound from coming out. “Let it out.” He said, his hand going over to pat your back.

You shook your head, “I- I can't. I don't- I don't want to be weak.”

His brows furrowed. Who the hell teaches their child crying means weak? “Hey, crying doesn't make you weak. It makes you strong. Bottling those things up will only makes things worst, so you have to let it all out to make you feel better. Cry as many times as you want, I don't care.”

Those words were enough for the tears to come out as you let out a sob, breaking down for the second time this day in front of a boy that you don't even know.

However, he don't seem to mind as he patted your back gently and shift his body closer to you to give you comfort. He didn't get too close that you'll feel unconfortable, but maintained a slight distance from you. You cried like that for a while, letting out all your pain.

“Uh, thanks.” You said after your break down finished. “Your presence comforted me a lot.”

He flashed you a smile, “No problem. The name's Sweet Pea.” He said and extended his hand.

You raised your brows, a smirk of amusement appearing on your face. “That's a strangely cute name. I'm (Y/n) (L/n).”

“Yeah, don't mention it.” He says, shaking his head and you chuckled.

“Hey, don't be embarrassed. I like your name.”

“I like your name better.” He smirked. “So, what are you going to do now?”

You sighed heavily. “Nothing. I’m just gonna try to be happy for them. And if you’re asking about my mother, I don’t know. I just don’t want to go home yet.” You said and wrapped your arms around yourself in a comforting manner.

He hummed, “You wanna come to my place? I can let you stay in.”

Your brows raised in surprise as you looked at him, expecting him to be joking. “Are you serious? You shouldn’t be asking a stranger to come to your place. And I’m a northsider.”

He rolled his eyes, “I can’t let you go home when I know you have a shitty mother even when you’re a northsider.”

A smile slowly appeared on your lips and a look of gratitude flashed on your face. “Thank you, Sweet Pea. I appreciate it.” He smirked and nodded his head, before gesturing for you to follow him and you obliged as you didn’t see any reason to reject his offer.

Sweet Pea seems like a tough guy, but he’s a kind person. You knew that the moment he stopped you from jumping that bridge knowing you’re a northsider. A lot of people in the southside didn’t like northsiders, because they’re just a bunch of jocks who judges a person without getting to know them.

Looking at the southside serpents jacket he wore, you strangely felt safer than usual. You didn’t know whether it’s because he’s with you or the fact that you’re in the southside territory. There was something about this place that you couldn’t help but feel like home more than your own house.

The two of you reached a trailer and he twisted the doorknob, already knowing his door is unlocked. “You don’t lock your door?” You asked out of the blue.

He chuckles, “I do. My friends are here.” You just nodded quietly at his response. He opened the door and you could hear his friends laughing from inside the trailer as you both entered, the laughter stopping as soon as they realized you and Sweet Pea were in.

There were two of them — a girl with a pink hair and a boy with a flannel. Curiosity appeared on their faces upon seeing your presence, though they knew you’re not from the southside after seeing the ‘RH’ on your jacket — you weren’t a Bulldog, but you had a jacket that had the Riverdale High patch.

“Was taking a walk and saw him contemplating his life. He’s gonna stay here for tonight.” Sweet Pea informed them casually, going over to the kitchen to get for something to drink.

Their eyes widened as they looked at you, before scrumbling to get up. “You, uh... you okay?” The boy wearing a flannel asked.

You nods, “Yeah, uhm, I’m not really right now. But I think I will be.” You smiled in reassurance.

“Wait, hold on.” The pink haired girl said as she caught the sight of your red cheek. “What happened to your face?” She asked, pointing at it. You winced when her finger touched and she quickly pulled it away.

Sweet Pea came back with a beer and a first aid kit, sitting down on the couch. He noticed the redness of your cheek way back then and knew something probably happened that you didn’t tell him.

“C’mon, Sweets will treat it.” Fangs said, grabbing your wrist in the process and you hissed in pain as his hand gripped where you self-harmed earlier. He let go instantly and looked at you with wide, confused eyes.

You cleared your throat, gently holding your wrist with the other hand. “I’m fine, I’m fine.” You tried brushing it away, but Sweet Pea didn’t let it slip.

He walked towards you and gently grabbed your hand as he looked at you silently asking for permission. You don’t want him to see your scars, but for some reason, you didn’t pry away his hands or shoved him away. You just looked down at the floor, unable to keep your eye contact with him. He took that as a permission to roll up your sleeve and once he did, a gasp came out form Fangs and Toni while Sweet Pea froze in shock seeing the many scars littered on your wrist.

“(Y/n), what the fuck?” He muttered in devastation.

He can’t imagine what you’ve gone through that you got to the point to harming yourself. The scars were new, but there were some that seemed old that made him realize you’ve been suffering for long until now. The fact that no one didn’t even try to help you or notice the state you were in broke his heart. However, he knew you were more broken than he could ever be, so he didn’t dare ask why you did it.

He just pulled you towards the couch as Fangs and Toni guided you by placing one of their hands on your back. You sat on the couch, letting Sweet Pea start with his mission to treat your swollen cheek and the many lines of scars on your wrist.

They don’t know you, nor the life you had in the northside, but they didn’t have to hear your entire life story to know it was an awful one. If it wasn’t awful, you wouldn’t have any self-harm scars or wouldn’t even try to jump from a bridge.

“You don’t really have to do this, Sweet Pea.” You said after a while of silence.

“He has to.” Toni spoke for him as he dabbed the cotton pads on the alcohol.

“Yeah, you might get infection if your wrist isn’t bondaged.” Fangs chimed in.

You shrugged, “I don’t really think so. If I showed up to school with a bondage around my wrist, my friends will think something bad happened.”

Sweet Pea gave you a look, “Might I remind you that something bad was about to happen earlier if I didn’t stop you.” He deadpanned, making you wince. “If you think you don’t deserve being helped, then just think I’m doing this for me.”

“No, seriously — why are you helping a northsider? I thought you guys hated us?” You asked, looking up at Sweet Pea then at Toni and Fangs. Though, a hiss of pain immediately escaped your lips after Sweet Pea proceeded to clean your scars with the cutton pads drenched in alcohol.

Their expression softened. “Well, you obviously need help and we aren’t that heartless to not help anyone who’s in need of.” Toni replied softly.

Your heart warmed up at her words. At least they care about you despite only knowing you few seconds ago. It was still new to you though; you were never cared for, your mother always did drugs, you had your friends but they didn’t care about you as much as you wanted them to, Jughead has forgotten about you ever since he started to hang out with Betty. So everything that’s happening right now was pretty much a new experience. Why Sweet Pea cares was a complete mystery to you. You’re close to strangers after all — you don’t know a single thing about him and he don’t know a single thing about you.

Sweet Pea glanced at you from the scars on your wrist, seeing you deep in thought. He returned his gaze to your wrist as he ask, “What you got in your mind?”

Your eyes glanced at him for a split second. “Just wondering how can you care for me this much. I mean, we’re strangers and there’s nothing much about me that is worth caring for.”

He snapped his gaze to you. It was barely above a whisper, but he heard it clearly. “Why do you even think you’re not worth caring for?” He asked, stopping his movement and meeting your eyes, searching for an answer.

You looked away from him, free hand going down to fiddle with the hem of your shirt. “That’s what my mom think about me.” You muttered.

The three serpents felt their heart shatter. How a parent could be so cruel to teach their child they’re not worth caring for? They could see the way how her words affected you; you think everyone thinks of you that way just because your mother does. And they were certain that your mother taught you so many wrong things, digged so many false and cruel words in your mind that her words are the only things you can believe.

Sweet Pea gripped your hand while Toni and Fangs scooted closer to you, their faces contorted in anger at your mother for being so cruel to you.

“(Y/n), don’t ever believe what your mother says about you. Whatever she says, you’re worth caring for. Everyone is.” Sweet Pea said firmly, gripping your hands and making you look at him. “It doesn’t matter what she says. You shouldn’t believe everything she tells you just because she’s your mother. You understand me? You’re worth caring for.”

You stared into his eyes and nodded, “Maybe... Maybe if I didn’t have a mother like her, I would’ve been happy. Or if I still had my father.”

Curiosity shines in Fangs’s eyes as he tilted his head slightly to look at you. “Do you remember your father’s name? Don’t you wanna know if he’s still alive?” He pushed over.

“Fangs.” Sweet Pea warned, eyes glaring at him.

“What? He could take him back, so his shitty mom couldn’t touch him ever again.” Fangs proves his point and the raven haired boy sighed at his friend, proceeding to treat your scars.

“I still remember his name and face, but I doubt he’ll take me back in.” You shrugged, pursing your lips into a thin line. And then, a realization hit you that you’re in the southside and that the people around you are members of the southside serpents your father was in.

“Well, what’s his name?” Toni asked.

“(F/n) (L/n).”

“What?”

“My father is (F/n) (L/n).” You repeated, looking up at them now.

Sweet Pea abruptly stopped his movement and looked at you with wide eyes as so did Toni and Fangs.

“(Y/n)...” Sweet Pea calls your name after a few moments of silence.

“Yeah?”

“Your dad is our Serpent King.”

© prettymadness — all rights reserved. do not repost or translate without my permission. plagiarism is strictly prohibited.

[cashmeremars]

𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 || 𝐚.𝐚

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: archie andrews x fem!reader

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: reader gets attacked at Fred’s construction site and is severely hurt

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: angst, violence (you literally get jumped so..), fluff, set in season 1

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 2.3k+

𝐚/𝐧: the way this was requested in 2017 oof 

***

The crackling of the fireplace was subtle as the mellow flames dimly lit the room. The stars outside were almost completely visible through the slightly frosted windows of the warm building. Soft music played in the background as the sound of gentle chattering fluttered throughout the room. Off in their own corner of the room was a young couple exchanging whispers and gazes to one another. Anybody could tell they were in love with one another as their hearts melted like chocolate under the sun.

“Hey, thanks for helping out today. It really helped in moving things along. I think my dad likes you more than me now.” Archie laughed softly as he held your hand in his. Archie looked across the small brown table as he stared lovingly into your eyes. Two cups of warm coffee sat between the two as Archie wrapped your fingers around his.

“Thank you, Archie. You know I’d do anything to help you and your family out.” you smiled, steam blowing lightly away from your face as you spoke. You smiled up at Archie when he started to rub your fingers with his.

“I’m just glad it took a lot less time than it usually does. Things have gotten so stressful this year and it’s nice to have another pair of hands helping, especially if it means I get to spend more time with you” Archie spoke with a small smile. You felt your heart flutter lightly at the words. 

“Easy win-win for you then. It’s getting pretty late isn’t it?” You asked as you turned to look at the old clock hanging on the wall

“Yeah. Do you wanna get a ride or something? I can drive you back to my house or you can stay at my place tonight?” Archie spoke

“Archie, I live like 3 seconds away from you, and I have my own car” 

“Sorry, I guess I was being a bit of a clingy boyfriend” Archie nodded his head downwards with an awkward chuckle and what seemed to be a light blush.

“Don’t apologize. It’s cute that you care so much for me” you smiled as you got up and grabbed your things. As you were about to walk away, you felt a slight tug on your arm that forced you to avert your attention towards the boy

“Hey, be safe okay? I’ll see you tomorrow” Archie spoke softly. You turned towards him and gave him a quick peck and two gentle pats on his cheek before turning back towards the door as you gave your goodbyes to everyone else.

***

You shivered as a cold air lingered up your spine, rattling your bones one by one as you took your first step out of the cabin. You wrapped your jacket around yourself tightly as you looked around standing on the porch of the cabin. It was dark, which was expected as it was nearly midnight. The cold air had left signatures of your own breath fluttering around your head. Leaves scattered the ground as autumn was among them, along with something much darker. 

You sighed once more as you made your way down the creaky cabin steps on the way to your car. Just as you were making your way to the parking lot, a twig snapped in the distance. You whipped your head towards the noise, squinting as you looked into the gathering of trees behind the cabin before turning around. You figured it was just another construction worker in the background. You continued to make your way to your car before stopping. It was almost as though an ominous silhouette had been shifting behind you on the path. You shuffled your feet slightly to turn once more before an abrupt rush of pain made its way to your forehead. It was as if 100 baseball bats had been battered against your head. You sharply cried as you fell to the ground. Blood started to rush down your forehead as you clutched your head in pain. Through the gloss of your eyes, you were able to make out multiple feet gathered around your body. A swift kick to your stomach stopped you from yelling for help. Then there was another kick, and then another, until it felt like the kicks would never stop. Your blood mixed with dirt as you could do nothing but cry.

“Help! Someone help me please!” You managed to croak.

“You’re on your own, darling” One of the attackers said before spitting on you and cackling along with the others. 

Fists connected with bones as feet were rammed into flesh. You couldn’t move, and you certainly couldn’t fight back. One final kick to your face had sent you into the depths of unconsciousness, you could faintly hear the cabin door slam open before the voice of your boyfriend was heard. 

It was funny how fast circumstances could change. One second you were surrounded by an atmosphere that screamed love, and safety. A place filled with comfort, a place that was warm, a place that was kind. But it was all just a blanket of security. A blanket that was ripped out from over your body, exposing you to the trouble that lurked just around the corner. Now you were on the ground in a puddle of your own blood. Nothing to protect you, forced to face the harsh realities of life on your own. The harowest of realities. You were in the dark. 

***

Streams of harsh light filtered through your eyelids as you began to regain consciousness. The blood rushing rapidly to your head and the abrasive thumping of your brain had caused you to wince and shut your eyes once more. You let a quiet groan as you felt your eyes welling from the pain once again. The aching and pain prickling at your body had hit you all at once. Every bruise, scratch, and cut could be felt simultaneously, almost knocking the breath out of you. You flinched slightly as your tears slid down over the bruises on your face. 

“Darling?” a soft voice spoke in the corner with a sniffle

“Archie?” you whispered as you attempted to turn your head towards the source of the voice

“Oh my god, you’re awake” Archie sighed as he frantically moved to your bedside, quickly placing your hand in his

“How did I get here?” You ask with a squint. The white lighting in the hospital room was not easing your pounding headache.

“Some guys almost beat you to death when you were walking to your car, when we finally got to you, you were passed out so we drove here as fast as we could”

“Right” you spoke, your eyes welling up with tears as you remembered the utter fear that submerged your body

“It’s my fault” Archie spoke quietly before turning his head away from you

“What are you talking about?” you ask, trying your best to get him to face you once again

“If I hadn’t let you stay with me that late at night, you would’ve been home. Safe. From whoever the hell was trying to hurt you” Archie explained as a tear fell silently from his face and onto the white blanket draped on your body

“Archie-” You whispered

“No. It is my fault. I should’ve walked you to your car, or taken you home myself. But all I did was tell you to be safe, and let you go. Then the exact opposite happened” From the corner of your eye you could see Archie’s fist turning pale as he tightly gripped the side of your hospital bed.

“Archie. Please don’t blame yourself. It really wasn’t your fault. I’m also not in the condition to comfort you anyways” You said as you weakly reached your hand out to him

“Right, sorry” he said before quickly wiping a tear and dragging his chair closer to your bed

“It’s fine” you said as your eyes began to flutter closed again

“Gosh, I just hope we find those assholes that did this to you so they can rot in prison” archie said as he roughly dragged his fingers through his hair

“It just happened so fast, Archie” you said after a beat of silence. The slight waver in your voice caused Archie to glance up at you immediately

“What?” He asked as he leaned in closer to you

“One second I was just walking out of the cabin, and then I got punched in the face. Then beat to the ground. I felt helpless, Arch. I couldn’t do anything, I could barely even yell for help. I’ve never felt so weak and useless in my life, Archie. At that moment, I felt like I was going to die, and I couldn’t do anything about it. I just had to hope that it would be over soon, or that someone would come and rescue me. I hate that I couldn’t defend myself, and I had to wait for someone to find me. What if it happens again, and I’m completely alone? I wouldn’t be able to do anything. Do you know how quickly they could just kill me, Archie? I wouldn’t have a choice but to accept it. I can’t do anything for myself. I’m hopeless.”

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t say that. It’s okay, you’re not weak. Quite frankly, there isn’t much people can do when they’re literally being jumped by several strangers. Don’t feel bad because you couldn’t defend yourself, and please don’t feel bad that you “needed saving”. You’re not going to die, alright? The only thing that matters is that you’re alive, and I will do anything to make sure this doesn’t happen again, to you or anyone.” Archie said before planting a soft kiss on the back of your hand. At this point you were nearly sobbing as you couldn’t stop the tears from falling. You finally got to take a good look at Archie and saw that his eyes were a vicious red, indicating that he had been crying the past few hours. Archie gazed at you softly as tears of his own began to slip down his cheeks.

“Thank you, Archie. I love you” You whispered, continuing to gaze into his eyes.

“I love you too” Archie uttered back as he softly caressed the back of your hand, just as he had earlier today.

The door opened slightly before a concerned head peeked through.

“Is everything okay in here, Archie?” Fred asked before diverting his attention to you,“Oh, you’re awake?” He said before lightly slipping into the hospital room.

“Yeah, I was just asking how she was” Archie explained, looking back at his father quickly before returning his attention to you

“Do you mind if I have a minute with her, Archie?” Fred asked timidly as he shoved his hands into his pockets 

“Yeah, sure” Archie replied hesitantly before getting up to leave.

Fred watched as Archie left the room, only turning his attention to you once the door had shut.

“How are you feeling?” He asked, taking a seat that Archie had just occupied

“Fine” You muttered before pursing your lips together and staring up at the ceiling

“Really?” He asked, raising an eyebrow in concern

“It hurts. A lot. That’s all I can really say about it.” You spoke once more

“Listen, darling, we’re gonna do everything in our power to find whoever did this to you, and make sure that they face the consequences they deserve. There will be no mercy for whoever harmed my future daughter in law” Fred said sternly, contrasting the worried look that engulfed his features.

There was a long pause of silence as you processed what he had just said to you.

“Daughter in law?” You asked meekly, finally turning to face him.

“Oh, right. Too soon?” He asked with a slight chuckle

“Not at all. It has a nice ring to it” You said with a fond smile

“Good. I’ll make sure you stay alive long enough to make it official” He said in an attempt to lighten the mood. You laughed softly before you spoke once again, “Thank you, Mr.Andrews”

“Anything for my future daughter in law” He replied with a wink before heading out of the hospital room.

***

Archie entered the room almost immediately and headed straight towards you. 

“What did he say to you?” He asked as he noticed the warm smile adorning your bruised face

“Oh, uh, nothing” You said, trying and failing to hide your bliss.

“Really? He walked out of here with a weird smile on his face. Seemed a bit smug.” He explained with a brow raised in suspicion.

“It was nothing too important, Archie. At least not yet.” You said before turning your head to the ceiling once again and shutting your eyes.

For as long as you were in the dark, Archie would be the light that would guide you.

***

a/n: sorry if this was weird but i don’t even watch riverdale anymore lmaooo. i might have been a bit detached writing this lol.

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[randomly-a-fan]

Ferris Wheel Nightmare

Sequel to ‘IT’ Needs Advice, Where the ‘Star’ Falls and Friendships’ Strength (Malon and Archie’s Story) 

*A little before the Ferris Wheel incident*

Aquarius and MJ were finished with their conversation and thought of fetching their kids. “Just remember for all the things he does for you…” MJ reminded. Aquarius nodded with a half-smile, while not being sure if Pennywise will forgive her.

Away from the crowd, Pennywise was hiding in the bushes in his Robert Bob Gray form, so no one will recognize him. Pennywise noticed that Jason was chicken-out; he did not like the disguise that Pennywise picked out for him. “Jason come on! You agreed that you support me through this.” Pennywise exclaimed in a loud whisper. “I feel utterly ridiculous!” Jason loudly whispered from his mind. Pennywise chuckled, “you don’t have to whisper in your head, only I can hear your thoughts. Now quit being such a sissy and come out of hiding…” Pennywise encouraged. Jason nervously came out of hiding, wearing a hoodie, which can easily tare if he flexed, and bootie shorts. Pennywise could not help but laugh from his throat; it’s almost as if he made Jason look like that on purpose. “I really hated the outfit you picked; this hoodie is too tight, I’m afraid they’re going to tare off.” Jason complained. “Then don’t flex, besides, this is the twenty-first century, women love big strong hard butted men… I’m trying to make you stand out… in a good way…” Pennywise ‘sort of’ complimented. Jason rolled his eyes before nodding, since he sort of knew he was only trying to ‘help’.

***

When the girls were at the Clown Show, they didn’t see their kids. “I should have known that Archie would wander off; he never likes to stay in the same spot for a long period of time.” Aquarius explained as she knew her son’s ways. “I’m sure we’ll find them, I know your son, he’s a sweetheart and a dear to Malon.” MJ admitted to boost Aquarius’s system. As the girls went out to look for their kids, they’ve heard a loud commotion over by the Ferris Wheel, “What’s going on?” MJ asked. “Looks like there’s been an accident. We got to get the kids out of here, we don’t want them to get traumatized by the sight.” Aquarius thought worriedly. 

Jason was looking around the carnival, he’s never seen a carnival before, since his mom never took him out in public in all his life. “You’ve never been to a carnival, have you?” Pennywise assumed. Jason shook his head ‘no’. But before he could explain, he heard some cries over at the Ferris Wheel. Jason has the ability to see from afar distance since he was used to seeing victims from far distances. He saw that the Ferris Wheel was broken and some people are stuck. But what shocked him the most is when he saw his daughter on the tilted seat, along with Pennywise’s son. “Pennywise, your son is up there with my daughter!” Jason exclaimed in his head. Pennywise looked over towards the Ferris Wheel and saw where he was looking at. Pennywise was going to make his move until Jason moved ahead in a fast pace; since his daughter is in danger, he tends to find the strength to run faster. 

***

At the Ferris Wheel, Malon has been screaming and crying in fear for help. “Malon, calm down, a sudden move might break the box seat!” Archie exclaimed for Malon to hear. Malon clings to Archie while crying. Archie felt very uncomfortable, but he knew he had to try to calm Malon down. The people were waiting behind the caution tape watching in horror. The rescue crew of the fair are willing to save the people on the lower and high box, but they couldn’t help Malon and Archie at the middle high end, since their wires can’t reach that high; so they have to wait for the fire brigade to come rescue the two kids.

Meanwhile, Jason was at the scene under the Ferris Wheel, worrying for his daughter and Pennywise’s son. Pennywise came rushing from behind. “Too bad humans can’t teleport… I would have come in a snap…” Pennywise gasped. They both want to save their own kids, but they need to work as a team. “Can you climb?” Jason asked in his head as he got a plan. Pennywise knew exactly what he was thinking… literally… So they both go on either side and climb the Ferris Wheel.

The people were panicking as they saw the two guys climbing the wheel. When Aquarius and MJ came to the scene; not realizing who the crazy climbers are, they noticed who was up the highest box. “MALON.” “ARCHIE.” The two ladies cried as they saw their children stuck up on the Ferris Wheel. Worse to come is that the box tilted further, which causes Malon’s panda to fall off. “Pandy!” Malon cried as she jolted to try to catch it, “MALON NO!” Archie yelled as he grabbed her hand before she falls to her possible death; now Malon is hanging with Archie trying his hardest to hang on. MJ screamed in panic when she saw Malon dangling up there. “Someone PLEASE… DO SOMETHING!” MJ begged and yelled at the security. “Ma’am, please remain calm, we’re doing everything we can…” “My baby girl is HANGING!” MJ shouted. 

While the security people try to hold the people back, Jason and Pennywise were close to their kids. Malon was crying in fear. “Don’t let me fall Archie!” Malon cried up to Archie. “I will never let go… I’d fall with you if you fall!” Archie responded while sweating. Then he noticed a big hooded man in bootie shorts, Malon couldn’t recognize him at first until a gust of wind blew his hood off. “Daddy?” Then her hand is starting to slip out of Archie’s sweaty hand. Fortunately, Jason grabbed his daughter in time. Malon cling to her daddy with her arms and legs wrapped around him. While Archie sighed in relief, the box creaked more and is about to fall. “Archie… Take my hand, hurry!” Pennywise called over. Archie couldn’t recognize the human man, but he’s not going to think twice. After Pennywise grabbed his son’s arm, the box snapped and fell to the ground; that fall would have killed them if Jason and Pennywise hadn’t come to their rescue. 

Everyone cheered and applauded when they saw that the children are safe. MJ and Aquarius cried and hugged with happy tears before they rushed over to their children. After Jason and Pennywise took their children down, Archie and Malon were still crying as they were traumatized by the event. “It’s okay son… Daddy’s here…” Pennywise said. Archie looked up in confusion, until Pennywise’s face appeared briefly. “Dad!” Archie exclaimed with happy tears. Jason was hugging his daughter while tearing up, Malon was amazed that her dad came out in public… in a very awkward getup. It was all cut short when Aquarius and MJ rushed over to their kids. MJ hugged her daughter while crying, “Malon, I thought I lost you…” MJ cried. “I’m sorry mom.” Malon apologized, even though she didn’t do anything wrong. Aquarius hugged her son tight, then Archie asked his mom a question. “Am I in trouble mommy?” Archie asked. Aquarius shook her head with tears and hugged her son again.

MJ looked up at the muscular man, which turns out to be her lover, Jason. She’s not going to ask questions about his getup, she just clings into her husband and hugged him tight. “My hero…” MJ said in a calm tone before she kissed him passionately. Pennywise nervously walked over to Aquarius while twiddling his thumbs. Aquarius looked up at the human figure which turns out it was IT. “Penny?” Pennywise raised a hand to tell her to let him speak first. “Star my darling…” Then he got down to his knees to Star’s height. “I’ve been a fool for keeping the necklace sensor a secret… You’re right, couples don’t keep secrets from lovers… Yet, I kept that a secret from a woman I loved… I’m not going to make you come back to me… For you, I’m going to let you choose… But I want you to know that I really missed your beautiful laugh and puns… I don’t know how I can continue existing without you in my life… And I’m telling the truth…” Pennywise said as he laid a hand on her shoulder. Aquarius cried before she responded. “Penny… I must admit… I realize that if you haven’t found out that I was in the wrong arms of a clown, I could have been violated… I was just too blinded to see the facts from your point of view… I’m sorry my love.” Aquarius admits. The two lovers stared at each other and hugged each other before they kissed. “Will you have me back?” Aquarius asked as a rhetorical question. “If I must… I think that can be arranged.” Pennywise winked. 

After the family exits for home, Pennywise rushed over to Jason. “Hey Jay! I just wanted to say thank you, and for not killing me with your machete. Thanks to you, I got my family back.” Pennywise thanked. Jason just nods as he didn’t want to wake Malon up who is sleeping in his arms. “I see you want to take your family home… I understand… If you want me to erase Malon’s memory from this terrifying event, I can come by tomorrow to hear your thoughts on your decision.” Pennywise offered. Jason isn’t sure at first, but since his daughter was in a life-threatening situation, she’ll probably be too scared to go out and enjoy life; just like him when he’s too afraid to be near water, he didn’t want her to end up like he did, so he has a lot of thinking to do tonight.  What would you choose?

Ending Coming Soon      

[hollowsart]

Wait how isn't Rose the antagonist of sword and shield?

He isn’t actively trying to destroy the world for any reason that is or could be perceived as truly terrible or awful unlike with the other villains whose goals are either heavily misguided and miscalculated or just doing it for the power. Also he doesn’t have an organization like other villains do that actively cause trouble on purpose with stealing and such. (with the exception of Aether, but that one is its own little bucket of worms...)

He fits a little more with Archie and Maxie in that the initial goal and reasoning is good and well-intentioned, however that’s the only thing he has in common.

Other Villains:

Steal Pokemon and objects

Actively causing harm in some way on purpose

Usually have ulterior motives

Have a full utility of grunts that will kinda do their own thing sometimes

Are kinda rude in some ways??

Have gone MIA when things didn’t go right like they planned and it can be assumed with a good chance of accuracy that they didn’t turn themselves into the authorities for their actions

Pretty much a good portion just have those very sketchy moments when they’re talking to others or the player that just come off really really bad.

Chairman Rose:

Actively helps trainers and their Pokemon and even the region as a whole that he loves so dearly.

Highly disapproves of anything that could hurt the people and Pokemon of his beloved region. He cares so deeply about his region and the inhabitants of it, pretty

He has employees for his grand company that do good work for him and the Pokemon League and the only time they were trying to stop the protagonist was under the orders of Oleana who was a bit misguided.

Doesn’t have any ulterior motives for what he wants and has been pretty dang honest about it the whole time?

Has never once been rude throughout the entire game and when he realized his wrongs he turned himself in and was actively taking responsibility for his own actions rather than running and hiding.

Not once has ever had a moment that seemed rather sketchy in a very dark and sinister way aside from that one little moment with Leon, but it was less “Oh this sounds really really bad in every way” and more like “Hm, something seems off about him.. He isn’t normally like this..”

Sword and Shield quite literally don’t have a true antagonist and is the first game to have that! Even Team Yell is not a true antagonist organization. Team Skull is more that as they steal and cause problems on purpose without caring for other people but themselves. (with that last statement you can also see how Team Yell and Chairman Rose are not the villains.)

[wizardouxie]

In the tags of your Evil Douxie Redemption post, you mentioned that maybe the old lady was an enchantress who wanted to give him back his magic. What’s the test - is it just him growing as a person, or is it something specific? How would he react if that’s the route you’re going with his redemption? Does Archie know what’s happening, or is he just as surprised? What happens afterwards? -Missing Hand Anon (yes this is now my signature lol) (sorry for all the questions skhjf)

I did! It was kind of like a thought thrown in the last moment, but I’m down to talk about it.

Essentially it’s like Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, but reversed. Instead of cursing those who judge her without getting to know her, the lady blesses those who change for the better. 

So let’s assume old lady = enchantress was the route we’re going with.

I would say the test is mainly focused around him on growing as a person, but there would be a pivotal moment which would decide if he has finally passed with flying colors or not. I’d imagine it would occur during Rise of the Titans, where he receives a phone call from Morgana who sounds absolutely distraught. And rightfully so, because Nari’s been captured by the Arcane Order.

And as much as he’s aware how bad that is, is it really his place to help? After all that he has done? He pledged himself to a normal and disciplined life with Archie and made so much progress. He couldn’t throw it all away. Plus there’s the possibility that Bellroc and Skrael would try to turn him on their side again. And if they could take over Claire, they could take over him too.

More personally, who would take care of the old lady? He’s been looking after her for so long and no one knows her the way he does. He couldn’t just leave her. What was he supposed to tell her? 

“Heyyy so I used to be this powerful wizard with an inferiority complex who tried to destroy the world with two other magical nutsos but now I’ve changed and want to redeem myself by throwing myself into danger and in the process leave you behind! Cool? Okay, bye!”

Like he can’t do that.

To clear his mind and find answers he goes to the ruins of Camelot with Archie. There’s barely any memories of the castle he used to live in. Just rubble and some broken turrets. While Archie explores the area, Douxie sits there, gazing at the sun which was beginning to set.

“Your friends need you,” he hears from behind. He looks behind to see the old lady. He shook his head.

“But I’m in no position to help. I’ve already screwed things up enough and if I try to fix my mess, I’ll only make it worse,”

The lady sat by him, stroking his hair. He leaned into her touch, and rested his head on her shoulder.

“Do you know the future?” she asked.

“Well no but--”

“Then you can’t say that. You should know better than to let fear cloud your judgement,”

Douxie sighs. She’s right. The last time he let fear get to him resulted in much pain for both him and others. If he gave into it again, then the world as he knows it would be gone. The normal life that he wishes to lead would be gone. Archie and the lady, gone.

So it was finalized then. He will help Morgana and the others. It didn’t matter if he’s a mortal now, he’d find some way to save the world he knows rather than kill it. When there is a will, there is a way.

Excalibur starts glowing in the distance. Huh that’s weird.

“Have you tried picking it up?” the old lady nudges Douxie. He chuckles. She can’t be serious right? Then again pretty much everyone in Arcadia but him tried to pull Excalibur. 

“Pfft, why should I? I know it won’t work, and it shouldn’t.” She looks at him with pleading eyes and shakes his sleeves.

“Won’t you entertain me? Just this once?” After a few seconds, Douxie gives in. It’s futile to try, but if it makes her happy then why not? 

His hands wrap around the hilt, one foot on the rock. He doesn’t know why but he feels nervous. Something is off, but he can’t quite make out what. He takes a deep breath.

Please don’t work.

He tugs it gently, but soon stumbles on his feet, not expecting the slide to be that smooth and easy. Out comes Excalibur, lighter than any sword he’s ever held. Thunder roars in the sky and a lightning bolt hits the blade. He cries out, pushing against the force of what can technically be considered literally nature and throws the weapon across from him, backing away.

“No, no, no, no, no! I’m not worthy! I don’t deserve it!” he yells, his eyes burning. He killed Merlin, the greatest wizard to ever exist. He still had to atone for his sins. This, this had to be a mistake. He turned around to face the old lady, promptly bursting into tears.

There she was beaming alongside Archie, a magic cuff floating just above her hand. His magic cuff. She couldn’t be doing what he thinks she’s doing. But she is. She waves it forward and it clasps around his forearm, glowing a harsh blue. He feels a new energy travel through his body. It felt familiar and he realizes what has changed within him.

“You are worthy. Of this blade and so much more. Think no more of your troubled past. Rise above it. Hisirdoux Casperan, successor to Merlin, I hereby restore your birthright of magic. Do good with it.”

[END SCENE]

So, to answer your last few questions, the reason why Archie even bothers Douxie to work in the bookstore and cafe is because he recognized the enchantress! He knew she was here for Douxie but wanted to bring Douxie to her rather than the other way around. As for what happens after this scene, well, we’ll find out in 2021 I guess!

[thankskenpenders]

Yeah, this is the big one. Grab your popcorn

Sally finally gets a moment to talk to Sonic after being ignored all day, and tells him what’s up. With her being put in charge, and Sonic being her royal consort (basically, the guy who’s committed to marrying her someday but isn’t quite her fiance yet), Sally wants Sonic to stop going on away missions and lead Knothole by her side

Look. Let’s set aside all of our preconceived notions about what a Sonic comic should or shouldn’t be. Ignore the fact that we obviously want to see Sonic go on adventures. Forget it. Let’s look at it from Sally’s perspective for a second

Yes, this is the post in which I explain that “The Slap” isn’t that bad. It’s certainly not great, but it’s not The Worst Thing Ever like it’s been made out to be. I wish I didn’t have to spend my evening writing this, but 15 years of hyperbolic fan outrage (note: some Wikia rando added that “reception” section this year) have forced my hand

First of all, again, Sonic is formally committed to marrying her and ruling alongside her someday. This was established ten issues ago. He was already committed to this. Then, Sonic went and died. Sally still spent an entire year of her life thinking her basically-fiance was dead, and had to deal with shit in Knothole without him as things continued to get worse and worse. No one can just bounce back from that unscathed. After his return, she WANTED to help Sonic and go be a Freedom Fighter on the last mission, but her parents forbade her and the royal guards kept her in the castle. (That SUCKS, but is a whole ‘nother conversation.) She wants to fight by his side and keep him safe, but her parents are forcing her to stay home and be the princess, which only makes her more distraught. Last issue, she broke down into tears when she saw Sonic get shot by M over Eggman’s video feed, and her mother had to console her and reassure her Sonic wasn’t dead

Sally very clearly has PTSD over Sonic’s “death” a year ago. She doesn’t want to lose him again. She’s outright said as much

And also... when she says Sonic isn’t the only hero around, she’s got a point?Sonic barely did anything in the last arc! Tails was the one who outsmarted ADAM. Shadow dealt with Eggman. Bunnie did most of the damage to M and took out an entire fucking aircraft carrier on her own. Knuckles, the Chaotix, Rouge, and Amy took out the robot horde. All Sonic did was land the final attack on M--which, honestly, someone else could’ve done. And he got his arm injured in the process

Add on to this all of the chaos of the last few days. Sally’s barely had a free moment to see Sonic since she found out he was alive. They nearly got nuked by Eggman. They’re being harangued by the paparazzi. It sucks. And hell, it goes back WAY further than this! She spent years as a kid trying to save her parents, and now all they do is belittle her. She found out she had a secret older brother, and then her parents decided he was the more important child. She went through all sorts of relationship drama. She nearly died a few times herself. And now, her parents have decided to leave her in charge of their whole kingdom at a time of war, while she’s still a mess from the trauma of losing Sonic. The idea Bollers had was apparently that Sally had been bottling up her issues for years (which she totally had been), and this was just the breaking point

I know Sonic’s desire to keep being a hero is understandable. I know he’s right. That’s all he really knows how to do, and he feels useless in times of peace. And obviously, we the readers want to see Sonic go on adventures. But Sally’s concerns are valid. We don’t have to agree with her plan to have Sonic rule by her side for her emotions to be understandable

Sally’s been on the verge of a breakdown for who knows how long. She should be mad at her parents, but they’ve worn her down to the point where she thinks she’s unable to confront them. (It would be very, very easy to make a case arguing that Sally’s parents are emotionally abusive. Max especially.) She thinks that Sonic is the one person who will listen to her and have her back. They’re betrothed, after all. This is literally what he signed up for. After trying to get his attention ALL DAY, she finally gets a chance to talk to him. But he wants other things in life, and refuses. In front of a crowd, no less

So she lashes out at Sonic and slaps him

Then they both start yelling at each other and crying. Sally asks Sonic if she’s more important to him than fighting Eggman, Sonic can’t answer, and Sally runs away in tears. For all intents and purposes, Sonic and Sally are now broken up. (For now.)

Should Sally be lashing out at Sonic? No. Could this scene be done better? Oh, absolutely. This is not the direction I would want Sally to go in as a character, and if you ARE gonna have them fight, this wasn’t written with the care required to make fans sympathize with both parties. The fact that we’ve seen everything from Sonic’s perspective with barely any insight into Sally’s certainly doesn’t help. But as the several lengthy paragraphs above explain, this does not come out of nowhere. It’s easy to find lots of fans online calling Sally all sorts of names (sometimes very misogynistic or ableist ones) because they think she just flipped out on Sonic out of nowhere. But she didn’t. Sally having some sort of breakdown had been foreshadowed for several issues, and the reasons why make sense. No, she shouldn’t have lashed out at Sonic, but this isn’t just her going “Oh no, my period! Let’s nuke England!” as so many have made it out to be. (And hell, the comics already had a lengthy history of treating Sally even worse than this, with Gallagher making her the nagging girlfriend who bickered with Sonic all the time and Penders sympathizing more with her shitty dad.)

Again, this was supposed to be a turning point in which Sally bottling up all this crap and carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders finally leads to her breaking. It’s a dramatic low point to build back up from. The problem is that Bollers left the series only a few issues later, and Penders and “Chacon” never did much with this. So in hindsight, many view this as her randomly snapping “for no reason,” because the followup stories that would have explored how she’d been bottling up her feelings were never actually written. But it’s not hard to figure out what’s supposed to be going on in her head if you actually go back and look at the preceding Sally scenes

For the most part, this is just run of the mill relationship drama for Archie Sonic. You see this kind of shit all the time in serialized media. Characters date, but the writers need to keep things ~spicy~, so they break up, see other people... then inevitably end up back together, and the process repeats ad nauseum. You ever watch Scrubs? You know how JD and Elliot are obviously love interests from episode one, but they had to do that will they/won’t they shit for years and have flings with other characters to keep up ratings? Yeah, it’s just that. For Sonic, there’s also the added pressure from Sega, who never allowed Sonic to be in any stable relationship for very long. Several writers have talked about how this limited what they could do with Sonic and Sally. Do I like that this cycle of drama is the norm? No. But after over 200 of these comics, I’m used to it

(And hell, at this point in the comics, they had literally just broken up Bunnie and Antoine, and Rouge was starting to get in the way of Knuckles and Julie-Su’s relationship. Between Julie-Su and Knuckles’ first kiss and them actually dating, Penders had Julie-Su get mad at Knuckles and go out with some random other guy. They do this shit all the time)

The worst you can really say about this scene is that Jon’s art is a little too goofy and undermines the drama a bit. In his own words from his website’s FAQ: “I’m sorry. Like I said, I was an overeager noob and I drew what I was given.” But really, he had been drawing these sorts of exaggerated, frantic expressions throughout the entire issue. Not just with Sally. Look at all the panels of Sonic wigging out in the previous pages. I still think his work is fantastic. If anything, it was a bad call on Archie’s part to give this somber scene to a brand new artist with a very exaggerated, silly art style. He just drew what was in the script

You know what really blows about this whole thing, though? Jon Gray is still, to this day, over 15 years later, getting harassed for drawing The Slap

That is so utterly ridiculous and shitty. People have made up all sorts of conspiracy theories about the slap, saying that Jon had some sort of “anti-Sally agenda” and that it wasn’t in the script. (This is completely false.) People are so stuck in the past and bent out of shape over this one panel in a pretty run-of-the-mill Archie Sonic issue that Jon has to block people who come into his Twitter mentions accusing him of “sabotaging” the series on a regular basis. Y’all, Jon’s a good guy, and he doesn’t deserve to be treated like that

And lord. There’s so much nastier shit within this series. Penders hooking a 15-year-old Sally up with a dude in his 20s (and later saying that he wanted her to lose his virginity to said dude). Gallagher making Barby Koala have a creepy crush on Tails. Penders rephrasing a poem about the Holocaust to be about hedgehogs. Penders having Sally rationalize her dad’s attempt at genocide. (I could go on and on with Penders, can you tell)

This whole thing is just, so blown out of proportion. It’s not a great scene, but it didn’t “ruin” Sally’s character. Neither Jon nor Bollers had some sort of “anti-Sally agenda.” They weren’t out to ruin your fucking ship. And for god’s sake, quit yelling at them about it. This was 15 years ago and all parties involved have moved on. It’s just more melodrama in a series that’s always 90% melodrama

It’s a single panel in a comic about Sonic the Hedgehog. Can we move on

[wildbootsappeared]

Continental Divides Chapter Discussion #0: Humble Origins/Editing and Rewriting

I recently enjoyed hearing Negrek talk about the behind-the-scenes of the most recent chapter of Salvage and was inspired: I figure some of you might be interested in hearing some of that type of thing for Divides, too. CD touches on some pretty complicated subjects (historical events and politics and glazed-over-science) that are worth teasing apart a little more. So I’m going to start slowly adding in some chapter reflection posts! Keep in mind that these will probably be full of spoilers, and you’ll want to get caught up before you read em. 

If you want to hear me talk about something specific, feel free to shoot me a question.

(By the way, if you’re not reading Salvage yet—fam, get on my level. I’d describe it as a black humor odd-couple tale of … friendship??? Hm, that’s definitely not the right word, is it? Anyway! Featuring: an absolute goblin of a pokemorph, dismemberment, corruption, and Very Good Decisions. And lovely prose, by the way.)

With that, let’s get into it!

(CD spoilers below!)

Art by Giulia Bernardelli 

From Humble Origins

I’ve mentioned before that Mark and Natalie were my first original characters. They were side characters in my first ever fic from … god, 2003 or 2004-ish? So in many ways, they’ve grown up with me.

I learned about fanfic shortly after Ruby and Sapphire came out in the US, so of course baby OSJ had to try her hand at a Hoenn journey fic. I’m really sad that I don’t have a copy of the original text anymore because it was hilariously bad. You see, Brendan and May had to run away from home (instead of just … journeying like every other trainer?) because they were IN LOVE (after, like, a day and a half at most) but their parents WOULDN’T LET THEM BE TOGETHER. The story featured dazzling moments of creative genius like … Brendan and May “sneaking” into Rustboro at the wee hour of 10 am, whereupon May ran into a lamp post somehow. 

Later, Mark and Natalie appear to yell at our poor heroes and then at each other. Lots of yelling. In their first inception, Mark and Nat were basically discount Jesse and James but with less dress-up and queer subtext. Mark had a glorious moment of running while dragging his feet (?). Also, during a double battle against Brendan and May, I forgot about his zubat, so it fainted because “it was tired from flying,” despite having no feet and despite taking zero hits during the fight. Then Mark took shelter from the rain under a tree, where Natalie yelled at him some more and decided for both of them that they had to team up “temporarily” to get the red and blue orbs back from those meddling kids or something. I had grand plans for this whole plot where Natalie would kidnap May to get the orbs, but then May would end up in Magma’s hands (like a human hot potato), and Brendan would have to rescue her??? Something, something, Mark and Natalie see the error of their ways and team up to help Brendan and May … do stuff?

Anyway, I never finished it, and that’s definitely for the best.

I did revisit Mark and Natalie a few years later, though, this time for a story of their own called Out of Hand. I didn’t finish that one either, but I do have the original text this time (plus snarky comments and a “review” from me ten years after the fact). I can’t honestly tell you it was … good. Maybe good-for-a-highschooler. But! When I stumbled upon it again in 2018, there was enough in it that almost worked that I started to think about how I’d handle those themes and characters as an adult.

A lot has changed since then, but that 2010 draft of Out of Hand established some of the skeleton of Continental Divides. For example, that was when Archie became Natalie’s brother to help explain how she got involved in Aqua. I decided to keep that structure because it was a good way to let Natalie start as a neutral party/reader proxy and then quickly become embroiled in the conflict. It was also the first time Mark’s sister appeared, though I don’t think I’d decided what to do with her at the time except to use her as decorations in his angsty dreams, haha. His smoking habit also started in 2010. I, too, thought he’d quit “years ago,” in literal real time. Jokes on me—it turned out to be a useful way to signal the start of him losing control, the negative influence of Cora/Magma in his life, his hypocrisy, and his guilty feelings about things he’s burned. Scarlet appeared for the first time in this draft, too. I think I was equal parts trying to humanize Archie and to write my way through feelings about growing apart from/pining for someone. Her backstory took up a disproportionate number of pages in the old draft, but I liked the idea of keeping her around as a figure who could complicate Natalie’s relationship with Aqua and with Archie. The 2010 has  a couple fights between Mark and Natalie that I respect for bringing real danger to the protagonists ... but also can’t help laughing at. They literally fight until they tumble over a waterfall, like a cartoon. Silly as those scenes are, you can also see how they laid a foundation for scenes like the fight in Chapter 9.

CD is basically me responding to Out of Hand with, “I see you and I raise you.” 

2010-OSJ had some vague feelings about inequality and environmentalism, but none of it was very well thought-out. She mostly wanted to tell an enemies-to-lovers story, in part because she thought she was living in one IRL. Nowadays, I’ve got a lot of feelings about climate change, political divisions, activism and responsibility, corporations, policing, and whether or not violence is a good answer to certain kinds of questions. Hoenn is a safe space to explore those feelings. (It’s got pokemon, so it’s inherently more fun, right???) 

Kyogre and Groudon are such obvious parallels to sea level rise/more intense storms and rising temperatures/wildfires respectively that I couldn’t resist. And in Magma/Aqua I see a lot of parallels to political conflicts happening in the US right now. The far left and the far right don’t share a vision of what a “better world” would look like, but they do share a mutual mistrust of “the swamp” and all the ways the government tag-teams with corporations to dunk on ordinary people. I’d love to believe that someday we could team up across the aisle to fight corruption together. It’s certainly hard to imagine how we could get to a better world with one half of the country pitted against each other … Something has got to give eventually, probably not peacefully. 

My versions of Magma and Aqua aren’t exact parallels to the US political left and right—both are pretty left-leaning, for one—but I still find a lot of hope in the idea of two enemies from rival factions learning to (eventually) care for one another and work together towards common goals. At the very least, it’s something I can manifest and control on the page, and that makes me feel better about all the things I can’t control.

Editing and Rewriting

My first attempt at Continental Divides was inarguably an improvement on earlier versions of Mark and Natalie … but it still took quite a bit of rewriting to get to the draft that’s available to read now. The first draft in 2018 opened with what’s now Chapter 3, the protest in Rustboro. I had the right idea with “starting at the beginning,” but starting with an action scene was the wrong move: we didn’t know enough about Natalie to care when she was in trouble or to understand why she was making any of those choices. Moreover, even though the political content is important, this is ultimately still an enemies-to-lovers story: the beginning needed to center Mark and Natalie’s relationship. You know, to establish some interest before it all implodes. The next attempt ran a little long, though, and the current version condenses their initial meeting and Nat’s backstory much better. Maybe the next time I start a new project I’ll have an easier time knowing what makes a good starting point, but this time there was a lot of swinging back and forth to find a balance.

If you’re interested in seeing how my first chapter changed over time, you can see that here.

I’m really happy to have a first chapter I know is a solid representation of the subject matter, tone, and writing level of the later chapters. Getting stuck in an editing loop is a real danger … but if you’re ever going to edit part of your fic, let it be the first chapter. A good first chapter is critical to keeping potential readers onboard. I can tell from feedback that I’ve stuck the landing now.

Hope you enjoyed this not-so-little reflection on the origins of this story!

Some music (Spotify links):

Night of the Long Knives - Everything Everything

MMMMHMMMMM - Four Fists

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Maou-jou 9 - 12 (FINAL) | Idolish7 s2 10 - 15 (FINAL) | SLS 2

I’ve been holding off new seasonals because of other things, but after I post this I’ll have enough time to get around to them. That’s why I can’t guarantee winter 2021 seasonal tags on this post...maybe the next one will have them...

Maou-jou 9

…it seems shopping channels even are the same in the demon world.

Now even the demons have quests! (The frame is different to the princess’s, though.)

Oh! The quest failed.

Neo Alraune: in flower language, “the 2nd coming of happiness”. The worry from a little while ago was, “I’m worried about my brother.” The worry from recently: “I didn’t think about being happy that the princess didn’t kill my brother.”

The penguin demons are pretty cute!

Don’t you know how parents forbid children from sleeping until they finish all their homework? Must be something like that.

Yoku ganbarimashita! – Syalis worked hard!

LOL, mental age: 3. Poseidon likes cute things…I can’t read a lot of this…the hardsubs cover the JPN text.

They…both succeeded! (…LOL?)

Maou-jou 10

Owarinocity = Endopolis. It’s a good equivalent, if I do say so myself.

…oh yeah. What happened to Alraune? Update: There she is!

Also, that blonde guy in the infomercials doesn’t look too bad…*makes chef’s kiss gesture with one hand* Nice.

I wonder, was Twilight once human…?

LOL, there’s a goat symbol on the cleric’s pyjamas. Also “first time”, LOL.

I think they were playing shiritori at one point.

Hanamaru saikou yoku dekimashita!

Maou-jou 11

…How does one “sleep cheerfully”, anyway?

I think I saw Twilight drop something…some kind of paper…

Aw, Twilight blushing is kinda cute!

LOL, 70s shoujo style. Also, “It cannot be!”

Whoa, she cancelled it?!

I read up on this series on TV Tropes…and apparently the Demon King captured the Princess in her sleep.

Kagemusha? Like a ninja or something?

Apparently the Demon Cleric is much older than he looks.

Ooh! Hypnos is back!

A-whatsit really is abysmal levels of stupid!!! (LOL)

Maou-jou 12 (FINAL)

Who’s that one tiny guy occupying one of the Ten Kings’ seats?

*watching after Christmas, about a week after the anime finished* This is not seasonally appropriate!

…*thinks for a second, then spits* That’s the 2nd Nemu in the fall 2020 season!!!

Ooh, the head paladin doesn’t look that bad, either.

“…is it good to be…”

“…has seized the princess!”

“…that demon king is rather cute.” – See? Someone agrees with me.

Anyways, that was a fun series. See you soon!

Idolish7 s2 10

…Back at it after so long…(I can’t help it though – Crunchyroll, per month, is about double the local Funimation sublicensor’s fees, and for much less content that’s worth my money to boot!)

I’ve always thought Momo was like Sasara (HypMic), so seeing him anguished hurts me in the kokoro too…

I know Banri was involved with Re:vale somehow…this must be it.

…Male idols are also popular among men? Is this why there are 8 (!!!) idol anime in winter 2021 alone…? (Also, that’s why HypMic became popular? Multidemographic appeal crossed over with obvious merchandising opportunities?)

It’s kind of scary how Momo stepped the formality towards Yuki like that (to -san).

I guess in his heart Momo still reveres Yuki, some way or another.

The rakugo curtain really sold the moment that they (current Re:vale) were acting like an old married couple.

Yay! Silver Sky is such a cool song! Of course I recognised the intro when it came on.

…I see. The elder Kujo is entrusting his dream to Tenn, so that’s why he banned Aya from seeing Tamaki. However, it’s hard to know what to feel when Aya speaks in the vaguest terms possible.

I think that was a special ending for only this episode. I don’t know what its name is, but I guess I might recognise it on Spotify one day.

Idolish7 s2 11

LOL, Nagi’s reaction.

Considering the ‘rona is getting worse outside our very windows as we speak (type?), I think it’s correct to be concerned about your future right now.

Looking at these narrow streets reminds me of going to eat hotpot at the end of my Japan trip…only Japanese streets look like that, I think. Hong Kong’s streets are more crowded than that and America likes their suburbia.

Of course, when you say hajimemashite (nice to meet you), someone’s gotta say it back, hence the reply.

Considering there are people all over the world watching the Idolish7 anime, I would say you are telling the world about I7, Riku.

Oh! Restart Pointer! There was an MV for that one…I think it was around the time Idolish7’s MVs started getting better.

So this is the context around the new outfits! Cool!

There have been way too many puns about “idol” being…y’know, “ai (love) doll” and stuff like that…

I have one Twitter person who I follow (DejiNyucu, part of the creative team for Autumn’s Journey) because I don’t get much I7 content and they keep mentioning this “Haruki” person…and suddenly a “Haruki the Betrayer” showed up in the graffiti…they might be the same person, I think. Not Deji, but Haruki. Update: Sakura Haruki, perhaps…?

Sougo’s such a bad liar…

Sometimes, the best way to deal with things is to be direct…(I’m not very good at that, I naturally talk in a very roundabout sort of way.)

Sougo with long hair like Yuki would be really pretty… (<- has an obvious thing for guys with long hair)

Idolish7 s2 12

Nagi’s stupid accent is generally what he’s best remembered for (for me), so seeing him speak normally, and do a press conference on top of that, is…impressive.

A kabedon on top of all this! Whoa!

Shibuya 109 parody…? (I’ve seen that once or twice – parodying that means people know their stuff about Shibuya.)

I think the “it’s overflowing!” is referring to the hype in the “room”.

…this dejected Momo is worrying…(well, he is worrying and I am worrying about him.)

Oh, I see. The person responsible typed the letter so that they couldn’t be traced back. Kind of like those old movies where the culprit would cut letters out of newspapers to make threat mail, but…with even less traces than that, because cutting letters out leaves evidence.

…wow, it took a while for this ep. to have an intro…

…LOL, I just spotted Kenjiro Tsuda cited as the “fake Zero”, meaning the real one might never show up this season.

There’s something really stupid and infectious about these managers’ enthusiasm for drinking energy drinks. It puts a goofy smile on my face.

Is Musubi Tsumugi’s mother…? Update: Yes, she is.

…Wait, so the Chiba Shizuo guy is actually important?!

Idolish7 s2 13

Whenever someone says “by the way”, it means they’re changing the subject. I hate to state to obvious, but Sougo is clearly deflecting the topic of conversation from being about him.

I wonder if this guy (Haw9) is the actual Zero graffiti vandal…?

Hmph, I didn’t realise Tenn doesn’t refer to Kujo-san as his father, but…like that (“Kujo-san”) instead.

Oh hey! These are shots from Vibrato!

Most dramas can be solved with the power of Good Communication. That includes this one.

I feel like “he has a dark side” describes both Tenn and Kujo-san.

“Everyone, remember to wash your hands and gargle thoroughly.” – This is always a good thing to remember in the time of ‘rona. Reminds me of Jakurai’s line in ARB (<- this game started just after the ‘rona came down).

What did Sougo go to uni for (what specialisation)?

Idolish7 s2 14

I just realised Banri calls Momo -kun. Hmm…

Denki = electricity, LOL.

I feel like Tenn is basically Ramuda, give or take actual pink hair…guys in musical groups with pre-existing angst that they become the “centre” of. The fact Fling Posse have Saito Soma and so do Trigger strengthens the connection.

I would watch the heck out of a musical like that! Make it come true, Idolish7! (Also, today is I7 day! I’m not much of an I7 fan outside the anime, but…that’s cool!)

That shot of them jumping! I remember seeing it on the official site before!

Idolish7 s2 15 (FINAL)

There you go! I was wondering where Banri’s injury was – that was the only bit that didn’t add up for him to be Yuki’s old partner.

Hmm…Momo is 4 years younger than Yuki but 2 years younger than Banri…

This episode has a real concert vibe to it, to the point where I got startled by how loud the yell was at one point. (Even if it is mostly stills.)

LOL, lookit Okazaki!

Apparently, if you’re a hako oshi, you like all the members of a group. Someone with a green light and a pink light likes both members of Re:vale.

LOL, Usagi for Asahi beer.

…I forgot Nagi is 19.

…Ooh, I think that’s the kid from ZOOL. No wonder they needed a season 3!

That’s all. See you next time!

SLS 2

“fine and upstanding person” – That’s…hard to believe, Hayato.

I wonder how many bois Toboso designed for SLS…?

…The episode title is actually “Blank”. Not “Break”.

One of the guys’ shirts says moteki on it. That’s a period in one’s life where one enjoys more romantic attention than usual, literally “popularity season”.

The subs missed an I, so initially I knew Kiriyama’s name as “Kiryama”.

There are meant to be 2 wings, right…?

“He who controls information controls everything, right?” – For once, I’m surprised Hayato is right (and not just in that smug way of his).

“…I’m being treated like a manager.” – But Hayato is a manager! (In a sense.)

The plait guy jumps to nicknames really fast…also, why do I get the feeling Maeshima will lose the key?

I hate to say this Maeshima, but I side with your childhood friend (Kiriyama) here. As much as the anime wants me to back you, I’m watching for everyone else at this point.

That blocky building looks pretty cool. I think Zel (Archi-Anime) would like it.

Sasugai’s setup looks pretty cool, including his chair.

…hmm, Maeshima’s like me in a sense. I learn best by copying others, but memory is my best asset. If I don’t regularly train the fundamentals, I suck at everything. That said, I don’t have an eidetic memory. Also, I didn’t quite figure out Ken = Ken(sei Maeshima) until I watched long enough to connect the dots.

LOL, Derry’s. (<- reminded of a word for “butt” <- derriere)

Well, the guy’s (Souta…?) shirt does say moteki…

Kiriyama kinda looks like Jyuto (HypMic), come to think of it…Right down to his angry streak (although Jyuto has a reputation to keep as a “cool dude”, while Kiriyama is more of a Manza (Boueibu HK) and he’s more angry than he looks).

…This ED is nothing special.

…Hmm? Is that a small Terauchi and Maeshima…?

I think I’m sold for now, but I’m rooting for the other team, not Maeshima’s…not yet, anyways.

[let-it-raines]

Catch Me If You Can (26/40)

298 days. That’s how long Killian Jones was away from a baseball field. It’s less than a year, only part of a season for him, but it might as well have lasted a decade as he alternated between physical therapy and spending an excessive amount of time sitting on his couch.

But then he came back and won the World Series.

It’s something no one saw coming, and it’s certainly not something anyone who knows about his arm would predict. Now it’s a new season with new possibilities, and anything could happen. On-field reporter Emma Swan will be there to cover it all even if she is not his biggest fan right now.

Asking her out live on-air will do that.

Rating: Mature

a/n: So you guys had some pretty big feelings about the last chapter. (I love it.) I think you might also have some about the next few. 🙈❤️

AO3: Beginning | Current

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-/-

Liam has been yelling at him for thirty-two minutes and seventeen seconds.

That might be a little off, his timing incorrect since he didn’t start counting until it’d been going on for quite a few minutes, and he’s only been counting with his head. He doesn’t have a watch on, has no idea where his phone currently is except probably in the locker room, and counting in his head is the only way he’s able to keep track.

The clock on Elsa’s wall is dead. That seems apt.

Counting is very literally the only thing that is keeping him sane right now. It’s also distracting him from the throbbing pain that’s emanating from his shoulder every time he so much as flinches or shifts in the wrong direction.

Killian has felt like an idiot more times than he can count – ironic with how much he’s counting right now, he knows – but he thinks that ignoring his shoulder, ignoring the pain, ignoring the signs, and ignoring every other little thing over the past few months has been the dumbest thing he’s ever done.

This could fuck up his entire career, again, and he ignored it for the idiotic hope that things would simply get better on their own.

Things have obviously not gotten better on their own, and he was pretty much carted off of the field and out of the stadium to the hospital so that he could have an MRI and an X-ray done only to find out that he has tendinitis in the rotator cuff that was injured in the boating accident and already had to have surgery to repair it once before.

Liam is currently yelling at him because he made a joke about how at least it was only tendinitis and not another full tear that would require surgery and being out of the game completely for ten months.

Just four to six weeks this time.

That’s nothing, right?

Except the playoffs start in four weeks, and while he can’t remember the rules of eligibility right off the top of his head since this is something he’s never had to deal with before, he thinks that as long as he doesn’t miss the entire post-season, he could still play in the World Series.

If they make it that far.

Shit.

This is not good.

And his hopes for the World Series really shouldn’t be what’s going on in his head right now when he has another arm injury, which is another derailment for his career.

(He’s only twenty-eight years old. It shouldn’t be like this.)

But focusing on this one thing that he wanted, that he wants, for himself and for his team, is inexplicably both driving him into madness and keeping him sane all at once.

“How could you let all of the signs pass you by, Killian?” Liam huffs, his loafers likely going to run a hole in the linoleum floor of the hospital with how much he’s pacing. “Do you not remember what happened the last time you got injured? The lows that you went through? That’s happening again. You finally got to be happy, got to have things going right for you, and you screwed it up because you didn’t want to admit that there is something wrong with you? How fucking dumb can you be?”

“Liam,” Elsa admonishes from her spot in her office where they’ve all gathered now that he’s been released from all of his tests. It’s kind of feeling like a prison in here. “Now is really not the time to yell at him.”

“I think it’s a pretty damn good time.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Killian groans, twisting in Elsa’s office chair to look at his brother. His arm is throbbing, his medicine not quite taking effect yet but the ice pack helping a bit, and that’s all probably not helping with his level of agitation. “I am twenty-eight years old. I do not need you to yell at me like I am one of your children. ObviouslyObviously, I know that I fucked up. The insane amount of ice on my shoulder that’s pretty much going to stay there for the next month as I sit on my ass proves it.”

“All of this could have been solved if you’d come to a doctor. I’m a doctor. Elsa works in a hospital. You have fantastic health insurance. It’s not…the solution was right there. You should have told Archie too!”

“Liam,” Elsa scolds again, and his brother’s head snaps toward his wife.

“What? What could you possibly have to say? He screwed up.”

“No, you screwed up when you started yelling at him like he’s a child. But certainly not your child when there’s no way in hell you would speak to Addison or Lucy this way. Killian gets it. You can see it written over his face, and if you can’t tell that he didn’t say anything because he was scared of finding out something was going to be wrong with him again, I don’t know what to tell you. Is it dumb? Yes. But you see it happen with patients every single day. People get scared, and the confirmation makes injuries and diseases real for them.”

Damn, Elsa Jones.

“Elsa,” Killian sighs, “thank – ”

“No,” she starts, holding up her hand at him, her voice full of emotion. “Just because I understand you and am defending you doesn’t mean I’m not still mad at you. I’m not going to yell at you like your brother, though.”

Elsa wipes at the few tears that have fallen underneath her eyes, and before Killian can even get up to give her a hug and tell her just how much he loves her, Liam is crossing the room and wrapping her up in his embrace so that his frame dwarfs hers for a few seconds while Killian continues to get to sulk and loathe himself for doing this.

It’s all his fault.

There’s no other way around it. That’s the truth, and there’s no changing it.

What the hell is he going to do? And is this going to keep coming back if he continues to pitch? If he does proper treatment, is it something he can monitor? Is his career really about to be cut in half? What is Al going to think when he tells him? What are any of his teammates going to think? Or the owners? All of the managers?

What about Emma?  

If he’d told her all of those times he wanted to tell her, all of those times he’d meant to tell her when she caught him in pain over the past few months, she would know about his past and would most likely have had enough sense to tell him to go see a doctor since she would have a more frequent look at how he was every day than either Liam or Elsa.

But “if” doesn’t exist.

What has happened, happened. There’s no changing that.

But if he could…no, nope. No. He can’t go there. “If” doesn’t exist.

Elsa phone starts ringing on her desk, Emma’s name popping up on the screen, and Killian’s hands fumble for it so quickly that he nearly drops it onto the ground. But he doesn’t, managing to slide his finger across the phone to answer so that he can hold it up to his ear to talk.

“Hello, beautiful,” he greets and both Elsa and Liam turn to stare him down.  

“Killian?” Her voice is frantic, hoarse, and he has absolutely no idea how she managed to keep on working when he’s sure that her mind was running through all of the worst-case scenarios. She’s got to be pissed at him. He deserves it. Why couldn’t he have found the time to text her before he left? Right. He doesn’t know where his phone is. “Is that you?”

“Aye, love. It’s me. I’m answering Elsa’s phone.”

“SoSo, you’re not dead then?” He opens his mouth to respond but is cut off before he even can. “Because I have pretty much convinced myself that you were dead. It doesn’t even make any sense because you obviously didn’t have something, like, dangerous happen to you while you were playing, but all I’ve known for the past threewo hours waswere that you were hurt. And then my producer walks in the booth and tells me that you’re in the hospital but doesn’t say anything else and…you weren’t answering your phone. No one was. I don’t even know which hospital you’re in. I assumed Mt. Sinai because that’s where Liam works, but I don’t – ”

“Swan,” Killian interrupts as Emma keeps babbling. “Hey, hey, Emma, love. It’s okay. I’m fine. I am at Mt. Sinai. I’ve already had some tests done on my shoulder, and I’m sitting in Elsa’s office so it’s not like I’m laid up in a hospital bed. And I don’t have my phone. It’s in the locker room somewhere, probably, so that’s why I haven’t called you. I’m sorry.”

“How long are you going to be there? Can I come see you? Or should I just go home?”

“Where are you, love?”

“Maybe ten minutes away. I don’t – I got on the subway to go to your apartment first, but then I changed my mind and got off at the one hundred and third street station realizing that you were probably not there.”

“I think you’ve got a future career as a detective if this whole broadcasting thing doesn’t work out for you.” He smiles, even though she can’t see it, and he definitely ignores that look on Elsa and Liam’s faces. He’s had enough judgment from them today even if he deserves all of it. “How’d that go, by the way?”

There’s a loud blare through the phone followed by Emma cursing, and he chuckles to himself. “Can I tell you later? People don’t know how to drive, and I’m probably going to get run over even though I have the damn right of way.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll text you directions to her office.”

“Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Killian sighs. “I’ll see you soon.”

The call ends then, and he doesn’t even have time to digest it all before Elsa is speaking again and causing him some serious whiplash.

“What are you going to tell her when she gets here?”

He shrugs, as much as he can at least. “The truth.”

“All of it?”

That familiar sense of guilt settles in him again, pressing down on his shoulders like a ton of bricks, which really isn’t helpful right now when his shoulder is already in so much pain, but this is the situation he’s built for himself.

“What are you guys talking about?” Liam asks, and Killian has to bite his tongue. “Seriously. What?”

“Killian never told Emma about the full extent of the accident,” Elsa explains, rubbing the heels of her hands underneath her eyes. “And I’m guessing he’s been lying to her about how much his shoulder has been hurting too.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck,” Killian groans, leaning forward to press his face into the stack of papers on Elsa’s desk, but that hurts his damn shoulder. “She’s going to be so pissed at me.”

“It’s not like you lied about something that’s fundamental to your relationship, though,” Liam says, obviously missing the point because he doesn’t know Emma like Killian knows Emma. “I think she’ll just be pissed like we are.”

“No, no she won’t.” Killian He rolls back in his chair and adjusts the strap that’s holding his ice pack there. “Emma’s got a pretty shitty history with people lying to her or not trusting her with things, and she’s going to be pissed that I did this. I don’t…there’s no way around that. I love her, and I wasn’t honest about the struggles I was going through.”

“It’s going to be fine, sweetie,” Elsa promises, but his mind is already running through worst case scenarios too.

He’s already lost the game again, temporarily at least, and he’s not sure that he can lose anything else.

For years he thought that losing the game would be the only thing possibley of beating him down and having him lose the spark for life that he has. Now he knows that’s not true.

Losing the game would hurt. Losing Emma would kill him.

Killian doesn’t count the ten minutes that it takes Emma to get to the hospital. He doesn’t need to. He feels every second of them. Before he knows it, there’s a timid knock on the door, and then Emma is walking through, her cheeks red and her hair windblown with her eyes widened. She looks like she just ran here instead of taking the train, and the big exhale that she lets out when she makes eye contact with him has him feeling like maybe he ran a marathon too.

Slowly, he stands up from the chair so as not to jostle his arm, and even though he can tell that Emma is a bit hesitant with Liam and Elsa in the room, she walks toward him and wraps her arms around his stomach so that he can feel her over feeling the throbbing in his arm.

“Hey,” he whispers as he rubs his hand up and down her back while his lips press into her forehead. “I’m okay. It’s all okay, love. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“My brain still has me convinced that you’re dead, so give me a minute.”

Killian chuckles. “Okay, okay, I can do that.”

For someone who is so keen on time today, Killian has no idea how long he stands there with Emma’s face buried in his shoulder and his hand on her back. He has no idea.

It’s not long enough though.

Because then Emma is pulling back, the warmth of her body disappearing, and she’s stepping away to wipe out the wrinkles in her dress skirt before moving to hug Liam and Elsa too., almost like she didn’t even realize they were in the room at first.

“So, what happened?” Emma asks. “You said your shoulder? What’s wrong with your shoulder?”

His eyes dart from the green pair to the two sets of blue, pleading for some kind of help in answering her question.

“Liam,” Elsa starts, grabbing onto her husband’s forearm, “why don’t we let them talk? Let’s go get some coffee.”

“You guys can stay,” Emma offers, a sweet, unknowing smile on her face.

“No, it’s fine, sweetie." Elsa nods her head at him, a soft smile on her face as well. “We’ve spent enough time with Killian. We’ll let you guys have this moment. Use my phone to text Liam when you leave, okay?”

“Yeah, Els. That’s fine. I love you guys.”

“Love you too,” Liam answers for them before they’re taking the few steps to the door and walking out of it, letting the wood frame click behind them.

And then he’s left with Emma.

“So, what’s wrong?” she asks again, sitting down in the chair that Elsa has across from her desk while he takes back his seat behind Elsa’s desk. “Did you throw out your shoulder? I know you’re, like, a whole ten months older than me, but I didn’t think you were that much of an old man.”

His chuckle is weak, but he’s thankful that Emma is at least in a bit of a joking mood. Today has been such a big day for her professionally, and he hates that he’s taken away from it.

“I have tendinitis in my rotator cuff.” He’s about to spew out a hell of a lot of information at her, but he doesn’t know how else to do it. The worry etched across Emma’s face certainly doesn’t help. “It’s not a big deal. I’m going to be out for hopefully no more than six weeks as long as I don’t fuck it up again, so I should be able to come back for the Championship Series, not that it matters. I’m in a lot of pain today, but it’s not always so bad.”

“What do you mean it’s not always so bad? Has this been happening more than just today?”

“For a couple of weeks. Maybe a month of two. I don’t – I’m not sure the exact moment that it happened, but it’s gotten worse recently. That day in Boston where we got blown out of the water and I pissed everyone off by being a jackass? That was probably the worst of it on a game day until today.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Emma sighs, holding her hands up to him as her brows furrow, those little worry lines popping up on her forehead. “You’ve been feeling this for more than today? And you didn’t say anything? Not to me or your family or even Archie? You’re a pitcher, Killian. You’ve been warned about rotator cuff injuries your entire life, and you didn’t think to say something?”

“I was scared.”

“Of what?” she asks before she gets up to pace back and forth in the same path as Liam before her. “All you had to do was say that your shoulder was bothering you, you’re benched for a week or two, and you have time to heal. Then you’re not getting carted off in the middle of games while I’m left sitting in a booth with two assholes who couldn’t care less about you being injured and who made jokes about it while I felt like I could throw up the entire time.”

“Emma – ”

“What?”

“I have something else to tell you.”

Her eyes flicker over him as she crosses her arm over her chest, tugging her dress down and bringing attention to the fact that she’s wearing his mom’s ring around her neck. He’d nearly forgotten about that, only remembered really when his hands absentmindedly reached for it out of habit.

“What do you have to tell me?”

Killian swallows, kind of feeling like he’s going to throw up too. It’s not a big deal. It can’t be. Emma will understand. He’s lying to himself thinking that, but that’s what he has to do.

“When Liam and I were in the boating accident, when I had an open fracture on my arm, I also had a rotator cuff tear. It’s why I didn’t come back at all that season. It’s why I have the small scars on my shoulder.” Emma stops pacing and turns to look at him, worry written all over her face as his own worry constricts his throat. “No one knows about it. Only my family, Archie, and the doctors in Florida who did my surgery. I never told anyone because I didn’t want to be seen as weak. I’d finally gotten myself together, stopping the drinking and the women and every other dumb decision I was making, and there I was having my life torn away from me again. I guess I was so over being pitied and being looked down upon that I rationalized not telling anyone. I thought that if everyone didn’t know, things would be just fine. Life would go on as normal, and that’s all I wanted.”

He takes a breath and tries to figure out what’s going on in Emma’s head, but he can’t tell. There’s no emotion on her face. Absolutely none at all.

“Last season,” Killian continues. “I played with pain. It wasn’t much, and it was really more when I was working my way back than anything. By the time we made it to the Series, I felt fine. This season, not so much. It’s hurt randomly. Sometimes on game days. Sometimes when I’m waking up in the morning or in the middle of the night. Those days I can’t really move it for awhile. I – I know I shouldn’t have ignored the signs, Swan, but I couldn’t have it all taken away from me again. I just couldn’t.”

He’s not even sure if he said everything he needed to say. He’s got no clue. If he had to, he couldn’t even repeat the words that just passed through his lips. But they’re out there, and the bricks on his shoulders don’t feel quite so heavy.

“Every time we’ve talked about the accident,” Emma starts, and he recognizes the change of tone in her voice immediately, “you have never once mentioned that you tore your rotator cuff and that you had to have surgery to repair it. I would get you keeping that from me as a journalist but not as your girlfriend. How many times have we talked about that day, Killian? How often have we discussed it? How often have you sat there and lied to my face about it? And not only it. Every time you’ve been in pain this year, you’ve lied to me. This morning when I asked you what was wrong, you lied to me. In Boston when we were mad at each other, you lied to me. And those are just the times that I know of. I’m sure there are more. I can’t…”

“Swan, I’m sorry, okay?” he pleads. She shakes her head from side to side, and he rises from his the chair to come to the other side of the desk, leaning against the wood so that they’re not separated by it. “I wanted to tell you. I kept telling myself that I would and that maybe I’d work up the courage to say what was going on, but I never could.”

The clench in Emma’s jaw is visible, especially when she turns to the side to look away with another shake of her head. “I am sorry that you have been through so much, that you are still going through so much. I love you. I really do. But it almost makes it worse to me that you’ve known you were keeping something from me and still didn’t tell me. It doesn’t matter what it is. You actively lied to me, and I am not okay with that.”

“I was terrified, Emma. Don’t you get that?”

Her head turns back to him then, green eyes full of tears, and he can barely hear anything over the sound of his heart thumping.

“I think I just…I think I need some time is all.”

“Emma – ”

“No, Killian,” she starts, holding her hand up and stepping backward, “I need time. Because I’ve trusted you with so much of what’s going on in my life, I’ve let myself lean on you and need you more than I have ever let myself need someone else, and you couldn’t bother doing the same. Why couldn’t you bother doing the same? This is the same exact thing that’s happened to me every time I’ve put my heart on the line, and I – I need some time to think.”

“Emma.”

“I’ll call you soon,” she says as she rises from the chair, but he’s not sure that he believes her. “You have Liam and Elsa to take care of you, right?”

“Aye,” he nods, biting his tongue at all of the things he wants to say right now. Emma is fighting between wanting him to be okay and being upset with him. He can tell, and he has to respect her wishes right now. In a few days, it’ll be different. But damn if this doesn’t hurt. “I don’t…I’m sorry. I promise I didn’t mean to hurt you, love. That was not my intention here.”

“I know. That’s what makes this worse.” Emma blinks, her lips pressed together, before silently walking out the door and leaving him sitting there.

Alone.

Fuck.

He knew it was going to happen, and not even that could have prepared him for it.

But all she said was that she needed time, right? She didn’t yell at him saying that they were over, that she was breaking up with him, that she didn’t love him anymore. None of that was mentioned, so there’s hope, right?

There has to be hope.

It doesn’t matter that he didn’t hurt her in the same way that Neal and Walsh hurt her, that he didn’t hurt her the way the foster system did. It doesn’t matter that he didn’t maliciously set out to inflict pain. What matters is that she’s upset with his actions, with his lies, and who is he to try to say what she can be mad about and what she can’t be mad about?

He’s no one.

Only Emma can decide how she feels about things.

He probably deserves all of this for how much of an asshole he is.

“Fuck,” he mutters under his breath as he pinches the bridge of his nose.

And he’s still got to tell his team. And Ariel will have to release a statement and oh shit, Ariel. She’s going to murder him.

She really is.

Killian uses Elsa’s phone to text Liam that he and Emma are finished talking and that he’s going home now. He doesn’t say anything else, doesn’t give any more details. No one needs any. They know where they live, and if all else fails, he will answer their texts from his laptop.

When he gets home fifteen minutes later, though, he sees it sitting on his coffee table and ignores it. He’s really not in the mood to talk to anyone or to do anything. All he wants is to take a shower and wash this damn day away. It’s not like he’s got any deadlines anymore or anything to do.

He can’t even do his job.

And it’s his fault.

How could he have been so stupid?

The moment Killian walks into his bedroom, he sees Emma’s clothes everywhere. She’d brought over a bag of things last night, outfits that she was considering wearing but hadn’t decided on, as well as seemingly everything else she owns. She’s not the neatest person in the world, never has been, but it seems that this morning she was determined to make her mark on every single inch of this room.

She did a damn good job at it.

Killian’s sure that she was planning on cleaning it up when she came back here tonight. They were going to celebrate her tonight. He had a whole dinner prepared that he was going to cook. All of the ingredients are in his fridge as well as Emma’s favorite whiskey and a chocolate and cherry cake that he baked because he knows that she loves those.

They never even got to talk about how it was for her today.

How could he have ruined a day that was so important to her?

And he knows that he’s ruined it. He does. He knows that she’s probably in her apartment right now fielding questions from everyone about what it was like, how she liked it, if she wants to do it again. And she’s fielding questions about how he is and why she’s not with him. He doesn’t know what she’ll say, if she’ll say anything at all, and for as many times as he’s hated himself, he doesn’t think he’s ever hated himself as much as he does right now for upsetting Emma.

This is not how things are supposed to be.

He doesn’t bother picking her clothes up, leaving all of them where they are. That’s something he’ll deal with later. He’s going to take a shower right now, and absolutely nothing is going to stop him.

Except for the yellow and blue sticky notes pressed in a line on his bathroom mirror over where Emma has left her curling iron.

I promise I’m going to clean up my things later. Don’t get all tense about it if you see it all before I do.

Thank you for being such a big supporter of me and “cheering me on.”

We’re both going to kick ass today.

I love you, Killian Jones.

Killian’s stomach twists at the last one, and he carefully pulls it off the mirror so that he can run his fingers over the words there as well as the lipstick mark that she left.

“I love you too, Emma,” he mutters to himself in the silence of the bathroom.