#art block kicking my ass something fierce

[yuckybusiness]

doing an OC Pairing meme w/ the hubby of our beloved boys...Garrett and Mason 🐺🐰

template under the cut

[all-or-nothing-baby]

AND THEY LOVED

LIKE

NOTHING ELSE

Destiel, Horror Finale Fluffy AF Fix-it Drabble, 350ish Words, s15ep19 coda (bc fuck s15ep20 forever), Human!Cas, Bisexual Dean Winchester, Happily Motherfuckingly Ever After, There'll Be Peace When You Are Done, Dean Winchester Loves Castiel, Castiel Loves Dean Winchester, Dean POV.

With Chuck now just a memory fading like a bad-blood taste in their mouths, Jack, the new deity on the block, brought everybody back. All of the Winchester brother's found family—including Cas.

Dean had him immediately pack up and told his brother to do the same. They left for the beach (any beach), Dean driving himself, Cas—who now sat shotgun—and Miracle, and Sam and Eileen, south, the smell of asphalt and gasoline and Cas Cas Cas filling the Impala's interior.

When they arrived some place down in The Keys where it was hot as Hell itself, all were dog-tired and sticky and more alive than they'd ever been. After hoots of Freedom were expelled, boots were kicked off and a few cold beers from the cooler had been clinked, Dean wandered off a little.

Humming a familiar Kansas hit, he went about writing his reciprocation of Cas' love, seeing as he hadn't had the chance to say it. He poured everything he felt about the now ex-angel, sealing it all into each letter he etched into the sand with a stick he'd managed to prize away from Miracle. Wrote it big enough for all to see, even the goddamn Goodyear Blimp, if it happened to pass over them.

Cas eventually padded barefoot over to him, the breeze playing with the tufts of hair that curled up at the ends. Dean pointed to his work with a weird mixture of pride and nerves.

Cas' dry lips twitched a couple times. Then he held out his hand. When the penny dropped and Dean did the same, he put something into Dean's palm. It was Cas' grace—contained inside a vile and attached to a thin strip of black leather. Dean's mouth opened and closed a few times but he couldn't make any of the words come out. Rolling his eyes, Cas simply took the thing back from him, leaned forwards, and put the pendant over Dean's head and arranged it around his neck—where it would now stay.

For good.

Cas was alive. Cas was human. Cas was here, with Dean where he had always belonged.

Dean gingerly said the words, "I, uh, I mean it, man. I love you back."

Cas smiled like the sun and Dean pulled him close and held him fiercely and kissed him gently.

Dean then returned the smile. It felt as if they were a star in perpetual fucking supernova. And it was so much more than awesome.

" Welcome home, Cas."

Dean and Castiel continued to smile that way and held hands for the rest of the day.

...and, give or take the odd spat, pretty much the rest of their long-ass lives.

.

Pure. Unadulterated. Necessary. Fluff.

So the last Destiel artwork I did felt forced because, although I desperately wanted to draw these Adorable Assholes™ as soon as I could breathe again after 15.20, I was in a pretty shitty slump... but I attempted to art anyways—and you can tell I wasn't feeling it, it was stiff af! But after recovering somewhat from all The CW Bullshit, my digital brush flowed like running water with this one; happy as these two are now. Forever and ever... so it goes :)

[hi-i-love-u-bitch]

Azula the good sister AU (AKA the Fire siblings have a healthy relationship AU)

I’ve just finished binge watching Avatar the Last Airbender and I already have an AU ready in my head. Please enjoy my ridiculous rambling!

Azula is still really tough and intense but she isn’t a fucking psychopath like in the series

She’s still a bending prodigy and “daddy’s favorite” but the latter isn’t something she wanted or strived for

She shows affection by teasing people, but she is also fiercely loyal and protective over the people she cares about. Like she’s nice but she’ll still cut a bitch if they hurt her friends and brother.

As most siblings do Azula and Zuko like to playfully argue and insult each other:

Zuko: *having just woken up*

Azula: wow you look like shit

Zuko: big talk coming from a midget with rat nest hair

Azula: at least I only look like this in the morning, you willingly keep that rat tail on top of your head. No wonder you have no friends!

Zuko: oh yeah what’s your excuse then?

They’re the type of siblings that in a modern-day setting would send each other a picture of a toaster saying “I found you a new bath bomb”

She absolutely adores her older brother and Zuko took his role as older sibling in stride even if Azula could practically take care of herself

They’re great training partners

Their favorite memory as children was feeding turtle ducks with their mother, they still do so even now after she’s gone

When she overheard her grandfather ordering her father to kill Zuko she left to tell her mother immediately afterwards she snuck into Zuko’s room to cuddle with him in bed claiming that she’d had a nightmare.

Their mother came in to kiss them goodbye goodnight before disappearing into the night. Zuko had been half asleep so he had no idea what was going on but Azula did and she knew what her mother was about to do. She didn’t know what the outcome would be but she knew that it would be the last time she’d ever see her mother.

Azula never told Zuko what happened only that it was all their father’s fault

It was then they began mutually hating on their father

Of course, they had no choice but to respect him as he was still the Fire Lord and could possibly kill them. But as soon as he was out of ear shot the siblings were like:

Azula: Why the fuck did he think growing out his beard was a good idea???

Zuko: He looks like a goat-pig

Uncle Iroh treats them both as his own children and helps them perfect their fire bending as well as teach them the art of tea brewing. Zuko still thinks it’s stupid but Azula becomes just as much of a tea fanatic as her uncle

Azula has had a giant crush on Ty Lee ever since they were children and everyone, but Ty Lee knows about it. On the flip side Ty Lee also has a giant crush on Azula ever since childhood and everyone but Azula knows about it.

Azula: That's a sharp outfit, Ty Lee. Careful. You could puncture the hull of an empire-class Fire Nation battleship, leaving thousands to drown at sea, because it's so sharp.

Ty Le: *confused but happy that her crush complemented her* Gee thanks Zula.

Azula: *later, screaming into her pillow* I’m such an idiot!

Zuko: *sitting beside her, sipping tea* Yeah, you really are.

The day Zuko was challenged to Agni Kai Azula told him that he was an idiot and that he better kick that loser general’s ass or it would be an embarrassment to both their training. It was her own way of telling him to be careful and that she was rooting for him.

When she found out that it was her father challenging Zuko to Agni Kai she had to be held back by Iroh to keep her from jumping into the arena to help her brother

Azula was determined to join her brother in his banishment but Zuko wouldn’t allow her, saying how it was his fault for speaking out of term and that his sister shouldn’t have to suffer from his mistakes.

They had a big fight after that because the siblings were nothing if not hotheaded and stubborn. Zuko didn’t want his sister to leave all she knew behind just because of him and Azula didn’t want to be stuck doing nothing while her brother suffers alone.

They parted there days later, regretful, angry, and sad. They didn’t necessarily apologies (let’s be honest what kind of siblings apologies to each other) but they did start writing letters to each other, which was their way of saying that they were cool now.

Zuko wrote to her about his journey to find the Avatar as well as Uncle Iroh’s ridiculous jokes and tea ramblings while Azula wrote to him about how things are back home as well as potential places where the Avatar could be located.

Both aren’t sure if the Avatar even exists anymore, but they keep hoping as it means that they will one day be reunited with each other.

The day Zuko found the Avatar he entrusted only his sister with the information as he knew that once word got out that the Avatar was still alive it would be an all-out man hunt.

Everything works out relatively the same as in the series except with Azula helping out her brother in the background. She’d secretly send her brother information about general Zhao’s whereabouts so as to avoid him as well as any resources he needed for his journey.

When Ozai ordered Azula to go retrieve her brother and uncle she was both delighted and terrified; she was happy to see her brother again, but she didn’t want to take him as her prisoner. So of course, she came up with a plan.

The first thing Azula said to her brother after two and a half years apart was: “Wow, you look like shit.”

He replied without missing a beat: “Big talk coming from a midget with rat nest hair.”

They hug for the longest time and in that moment, she quietly resights her plan to him: They had to pretend to escape from her and go into hiding. She’ll pretend to hunt him down and he’ll somehow manage to escape from her clutches every time. All the while they’ll work together in trying to capture the Avatar.

She enlists the help of Mai and Ty Lee telling them the minimal amount of information just in case things go south they can plead manipulation. Of course, Mai and Ty Lee are ready to go down with their captain/friend no matter what, but they don’t mind being out of the loop for the time being. They trust Azula and know that everything she does is to help her brother and uncle.

The events leading up to the battle of Ba Sing Se are pretty similar up until the part where Zuko makes a choice between helping the Avatar or his kingdom. He’s realized the pain and terror his ancestors have installed in the world; tearing away hope for a better future.

Just as Azula was about to strike Aang with a finishing blow Zuko stops her, telling her what they’ve been doing is wrong and if they want the world to prosper, they need to help the Avatar.

Azula was a bit annoyed seeing as she went through the trouble of sneaking into Ba Sing Se and taking over the earth kingdom from the inside out. But then again, her brother was right as she already knew of her father’s end game plan.

Azula: Zuzu, I love you, but couldn’t you have told me we were going to rebel against father sooner so I could have planned accordingly.

Just as there are loyalist to the Fire Lord there are also loyalist to the Princess as they see her as a more fit leader than the current ruler. And thus, that is how team Avatar was able to get a good portion of the fire nation army on their side.

Ba Sing Se has now been established as their main base with the entire city now having chosen the side of the Avatar.

At this point Azula still had Suki and the Kyoshi warriors held prisoner close by so she was able to bring them back without much fuss.

Azula: Er, sorry for imprisoning you and stuff. I just needed to save my stupid brother but we’re on your side now. Cool?

Suki: Only if I get to punch you in the face as hard as I can.

Azula: That seems fair.

Katara does NOT trust Azula and Zuko which is fine because Azula doesn’t trust her either but she knows they need to work together if they want to even have a slim chance of beating her father.

Katara: You might have everyone else here buying your ‘transformation,’ but you and I both know you’ve struggled with doing the right thing in the past. So, let me tell you something right now. You make one step backward, one slipup, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you won’t have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I’ll make sure your destiny ends right then and there. Permanently!

Azula: Right back attcha bitch!

Toph and Azula get along swimmingly which both amuses and terrifies Zuko because one: he’s glad that his sister is finally making somewhat normal friends but two: those two together is just chaos incarnate

Ty Lee also really bonds with the Kyoshi warriors who teach her some of their fighting techniques in exchanged for her teaching them some chi blocking moves.

Suki and Mai start getting cozy with each other with Suki liking Mai’s skills and straightforward attitude and Mai admiring Suki’s confidence and bravery. It’s easy to talk with each other.

Sokka, at one point: Why the hell don’t we just send the girls out to defeat the Fire Nation? We’re all completely useless compared to them.

Also after a few month working together Zuko can now join his sister in her gay screaming

Azula: Did you seriously fall for that Water Tribe boy?

Zuko: You’re one to talk!

Azula: Hey! Ty Lee is an angel and we’re all lucky to have her!

Zuko: She once ate a whole bowl of fire flakes by herself and had to get her stomach pumped.

Azula: Look, what Fire Nation teen hasn’t done that at least once

Zuko: She did it THREE times!

Once the siblings and Co finally bond well enough with team Avatar tension lessens and their attitude go from: “uhg, I guess we have to work together or whatever” to “you are my friend now and I would die for you! I would literally commit murder if you asked me to, no questions asked”

Aang is baby and the Fire squad has now joined in the “Aang protection army” and in a similar fashion team Avatar have also learned that Ty Lee is baby and have now joined the “Ty Lee protection squad”. Even though Aang and Ty Lee are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves one cannot help but want to protect and care for the literal ray of sun shines.

Zuko and Sokka still have their epic rescue adventure to the boiling rock, with the extra help of their team. They sneak into the facility with disguises, Azula and her crew walk in like they own the place (news of her betrayal to the Fire Lord has yet to reach certain places), while the rest of team Avatar keep watch from afar just in case things start going south.

You know that scene where Zuko gets put in the freezer and when Sokka goes to let him out Zuko breathes out a breath of fire with a smirk? It was then and there that Sokka realized that his teeny tiny crush on Zuko might actually be a giant massive crush.

In this AU it is actually Azula that helps Katara track down the man that killed her mother because let’s face it, no matter what universe she’s in Azula will always be down to beat a bitch is ass.

This is the first time Azula has ever witness somebody blood bending and unlike most people that would usually freak out she was actually really impress and kind of turned on.

Azula: You know if I weren’t already madly in love with Ty Lee, I’d ask you to marry me in a heartbeat.

Katara: And I would accept that offer if only for the pleasure of rubbing it in your dad’s face

Azula: Why didn’t we become friends sooner?!?!

It is then the Little Sister alliance was formed in which they teamed up to poke fun at their bumbling brothers who keep awkwardly dancing around each other.

Their friendship can be summed up to: “I will kill you where you stand but also I respect you”

Okay, Imma just say this right now: Sokka is a fucking badass and even after getting taught how to fight by the Kyoshi warriors and the Fire sibling + Co. he reached a whole new level of badassery once he learned the ways of the sword by Master Piandao. Zuko’s little gay heart could only take so much and Sokka being all cool and collected while wielding a sword made the former Fire Prince short-circuit.

Zuko, in his tent, face down screaming into his pillow: Uhg, I can’t with this boy anymore!

Suki, rolling her eyes at her best friend’s melodramatics: Pull yourself together man.

Ty Lee, patting his head reassuringly: Don’t worry, you’ll get through this.

Azula, sipping tea beside him: This wouldn’t be happening if you just asked him out already.

Zuko: Don’t you fucking start with me hypocritical bitch!

Azula: *nervous gay drinking*

The day of the final battle Azula and Katara lead Hakoda’s army plus the Kyoshi Warriors to reclaim the fire nation capital while Aang, Zuko, Sokka, and Toph chased after the Fire Lord and his war ships.

The battle to take back the capital was brutal as there was still an entire army keeping guard with one of the Fire Lord’s generals acting as temporary leader. Unfortunately for them Azula still had a reputation of fear amongst the Fire Nation army and a lot of soldiers surrendered once they realized it was her leading the invasion and not the Avatar. Those that didn’t surrendered were defeated in battle because let’s be honest with a team this fierce there is no way in hell they couldn’t not win.

There’s also a scene where Azula is fighting off the general and a bunch of soldiers and it seems like she’s not gunna make it but she does, bloody and bruised but victorious. I imagen in that moment Ty Lee goes running up to Azula, jumps into her arms, and kisses her right then and there, while they’re still in the middle of battle. It’s super cool and romantic and it seemed to give Azula more energy than Sozin’s comet ever could as she seemed now ready to defeat god.

Azula: Y’all bitches be fucked now! I ain’t afraid to die but now that I gotta girlfriend I’m not going nowhere fuckers!

With Aang and his team it goes about the same as it did in the show; take down the ships, battle the Fire Lord, almost die, etc. That scene where Sokka thinks that Suki died on the aircraft is now replaced with Zuko almost dying then coming back to save their asses at the late minute. They too also kiss once they see that the other is unharmed while Toph rolls her eyes and gags at the sight.

Again, Aang does not kill the Fire Lord and instead takes away his fire bending powers before locking him in prison to rot. The fire siblings come by sometimes to annoy the shit out of him by flicking fire flakes at his head for target practice or psychologically torture him with excruciating detail of how they’ve been thoroughly fucked by their significate others in is bed and on his thrown.

Zuko: How’s it feel knowing that not only are both your kids gay but they’re also bottoms?

Ozai: *screams*

Azula: Ty Lee also fucked me atop your war room table :)

Ozai: *screams intensify*

In the end Zuko really doesn’t want to be Fire Lord so he happily passes that torch on to Azula who only agrees to take the job so long as Zuko becomes her second in command. Everyone is happy and with a lot of hard work throughout the years there is finally peace amongst the four nations.

[emerald-amidst-gold]

Ngl whenever I see OC asks I'm tempted to just ask all of them lmao

Buuut, let's see... from the OC creation asks, maybe 12, 15, 19? And for the other one, 1, 8, 52, 69? For any OC you'd like ~

I’m not shitting you when I say, DO IT. 

It’s my favorite time of the day~! Do you think I’ll ever shut up? Not likely, so let’s gooo! >:D 

***

12. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)? 

You know, I always think about this to be fair because it’s something that can be a bit of a block for me when writing any of my OCs since they’re all really different personality wise. Fane, in particular, is a bit of a challenge. Especially when it’s not his POV. He’s hard to explain at times, and it’s why I take so long to create one shots or chapters because I want to make sure I’ve been as clear as possible with him or how other’s perceive him. I have to think in my head, ‘How would such and such really feel about Fane’s personality? How would they respond to his outbursts or his views on the world?’ It takes a lot of reviewing banter from Inquisition and seeing how characters interact with one another for me to confidently piece together dialogue in regards to Fane, and at times, my mind wanders into non canon territory to where I then have to yank it back. Fane lets my mind explore, but the wanderlust gets to be a bit..much. I think so, at any rate. Lol. 

On a more personal level, Fane is also me, in a way. He’s a persona that allows me to express what I tend to go through mentally at times. While it’s a sort of comfort for me to get things off my chest through him, I also have to take a step back and breathe, especially if my mind that day isn’t in the best of places. I mean, I want to write during those times, but it can be incredibly difficult to formulate words with enough sensitivity so it doesn’t hit too hard for anyone else and come off wrong.

15. What is something about your OC can make you laugh? 

I’m gonna use Estoria for this because one thing I’ve created with her always makes me smile and giggle like a madman. That thing is, is the fact that she’s a flirter, but if it’s directed at her then she’s a bumbling fool. She’s all miss big bad mercenary elf until someone says, “You’re eyes are truly a delight.’ and then she just laughs nervously and nearly crumbles into a ball at their feet. 

And you bet your ass that Solas’s smooth talk kills her to where she actively has Cullen syndrome and runs away--tripping and stumbling over her own feet because she can’t. Then, when she does manage to get away she just sits on the floor and goes with all the enthusiasm of a teenager, “He..he thinks I’m graceful? He thinks I’m graceful!” Then she just rolls around on the floor, kicking her legs like a happy little flower. :3

19. What is your favorite fact about your OC?

That Fane has a sweet tooth. Hands down. Man becomes a literal puppy around cake, cookies, anything sweet. I have it in my fluffy little head that he swipes those things from Skyhold’s kitchen without anyone seeing because he’s embarrassed. He’ll try to be all sneaky and slick, but someone always stumbles upon him stuffing his face and then..well, you know. Fane becomes Aterian and Solas has to be called to tame a dragon before the walls come down. *smiles pleasantly*

1.  What is/are your OC’s nickname(s) and how did it come about?

We’ll go down the line for this one!

Fane is ‘Tempest’ due to his ‘calm before the storm’ demeanor when in battle. Varric gave it to him when he saw how fast Fane could move despite his size, and how hard he could hit once closing in. He’s literally a lightning bolt as he’s never in the same place twice and he does it all without batting an eye like how a real storm can destroy everything in its path, but when the clouds part, it’s calm, controlled without a shred of guilt towards the wreckage.

Estoria is ‘Snapdragon’. He adoptive father gave it to her as a sign of affection and to let her know that she is strong, even if the world believes she’s just a delicate little flower to be set on a window and forgotten. It also came about whenever he saw just how fierce a fighter she could be and how passionate she would get towards specific topics--’snapping’ like a dragon does with their treasure hoard or young. 

Mhairi is ‘Snow bird’ or ‘Fawn’. Courtesy of Varric and Dorian! Snow bird is Dorian’s nickname for her and it’s mainly due to her proclivity towards ice magic. Fawn is Varric’s choice due to how wide eyed and curious Mhairi is, like a newborn fawn discovering the world for the first time.

8. How does your OC talk/what does your OC’s voice sound like?

This is Fane’s. Fane’s, Fane’s. Only because I have so many thoughts about his voice that I have to try to explain it! All right, so his voice is deep, obviously. However, it’s gruff, it’s tired, and it rumbles like the softest of thunder. You can take the man out of the dragon, but you can’t take the dragon out of the man. He always has a slight growl to his voice, even if he’s not irritated. He does have an accent, more or less along the lines of what the game gives us, but it’s deeper, has more timbre and husk to it. It drops dangerously low when he’s furious--almost warbling with the natural growl. It jumps a slight octave when he’s flustered--sometimes cracking on specific syllables. When he speaks Elvhen though..well, let’s just say Solas has an existential crisis to where he blanks for a good twenty seconds because how the words just roll near perfectly from a deep, deep, near criminally seductive grave. It’s a good time. *waggles eyebrows*

52. What are some of your OC’s motivations?

Oh god. Well, it is time to try and explain why Fane does the shit that he does! Namely, why the hell he supports the destruction of the Veil, even if he knows it could kill people he loves.

One: Fane is heavily devoted to Solas. Centuries of bonding and losing each other does that, after all. He strives in every fashion to lessen the burden on Solas’s shoulders because he’s seen it happen before. He’s seen and felt Solas practically scream for an end. So, he refuses to abandon him again to that torture, even if he has to bloody his hands from those he had come to consider friends. It’s a difficult road for both of them, but Fane tries to keep a tiny shred of hope in his heart that everything will be okay in the end--that they’ll be okay. He just wants to protect Solas with everything he has, even if it brands him a monster. So, in a way, Solas’s continued presence motivates Fane to keep pushing, even if it’s indirectly.

Two: Fane is passionate towards his kin. He wants to free them from the world they are forced to endure. Another reason for why he supports Solas beyond their close bond. He knows that dragons are needed for the world to survive. So, the thought of his kin being able to show what they are truly made to do is what guides him to endure a lot of the heart break and a lot of the words that are eventually hurled at him. It doesn’t make fighting them any easier though.

Three: Fane is heavily mired with family or those he considers family. He took Mhairi’s place in his father’s experiments because he wanted to protect her, not himself. He throws himself in front of blades, magic that’ll make him ill, and kin bearing claws just to keep those close to him alive because he can’t stand the thought of their eyes going dead and grey. He doesn’t want to kill; he wants to preserve, even if eventually, he’ll have to turn his back because of necessity.

69. What is your OC’s favorite kind of weather?

Fane likes snowy, cold, frigid weather. He was a snowy dragon. Who lived on mountain. Had ice in his lungs. Boy melts in the desert, trust me. Besides that, he just likes the way the world looks when its blanketed with snow and ice. It’s still and quiet. Those aren’t things he’s used to, so he greedily indulges in them when they’re present.

Estoria is the opposite. She loves the heat, but primarily she loves rain. She’ll stand out and just look up at the sky with a huge smile on her face--completely unconcerned that she could get sick. All because it reminds her that the world is still moving along, even if the people in it believe it’s not. It’s still growing, flourishing, thriving, and that gives her comfort and joy.

***

Wowee! That was a lot, but damn was it fun! Thank you for the ask, as always! I can ramble, ramble, ramble like my life depends on it! XD 

[lynne-monstr]

@thorndykechristopher replied to your post “@afincf-tirwer replied to your post “thorndykechristopher replied...”

So say if 🤔 shaotian didn’t have a personal weapon (stele aside), what if 🤔 he grabs a random sword on display in wenzhou’s home/workplace to fight off an intruder 🤔 . It’s a sword that could easily be imbued with magic 🤔 a weapon both sharp and explosive 🤔 

 Shaotian swings the sword to slice the furniture thrown in his direction and is shocked to see the oakwood table shatter into sharp slivers instead of two halves. There was no time to think about the oddity as his opponent swiftly charges towards him, blocking his sharp claws — and suddenly bearing his dead weight. 

 “What the fuck?” Shaotian grunts as he shoves the body off of him. He readies his grip to hack of the creature’s head if he needs to, but the injuries on the corpse gives him pause: there are oak slivers sticking out of the body and, from the looks of some of the wounds, buried deep into the body too. 

“Huh,” Shaotian says and stares at the sword he grabbed from Wenzhou’s mantelpiece. The blade is emitting an ice-blue sheen as it pulses with what Shaotian knows is Wenzhou’s energy. He bounces a little as he waves it into the air and says with a grin, “I’m definitely telling Wenzhou I’m keeping you, Troubling Rain!”

yu wenzhou freezes when huang shaotian gets to the point in the story about the sword’s kick ass magic. he’s bouncing all over the place, hands waving everywhere as he recounts what happened. his eyes gleam in the dusty beams of sunset filtering in through the window, newly spelled to close the loophole that had allowed this particular intruder to break in while yu wenzhou was oblivious to the world in his workroom. 

he pushes aside the crushing wave of guilt in his part of the day’s proceedings. he’d been so certain his wards were impenetrable that he hadn’t thought twice before requesting to borrow huang shaotian’s seraph blade to study how its properties affected certain experimental magics. 

huang shaotian had trusted him and it nearly got him killed.

the question of how someone had fooled the wards using a vial of huang shaotian’s blood suddenly took a backseat in yu wenzhou’s mind as the details of the story fully registered in his brain.

“may i see the sword?” he asks. 

“it’s not like you have to ask, it’s your sword! of course you can see your sword.” huang shaotian is halfway to the sitting room couch, his words growing louder the further away he gets. he bounds back, unsheathing a blade that makes yu wenzhou’s breath catch.

“what? what’s the matter?” huang shaotian eyes the blade suspiciously but seems hesitant to part with it, even as he asks, “it’s not cursed is it? don’t worry, wenzhou, no cursed blade can defeat me!”

“it’s not cursed.” yu wenzhou smiles the type of fond smile that always seems to slip out when huang shaotian is around. he’s tried to hold it back on more than one occasion but has given it up as a lost cause. he’d prefer not to display his emotions to the world, but the wide, happy grin he so often gets in return is worth the lapse in control. with effort, he wrangles his wandering thoughts back to the issue at hand. “it’s not cursed but it is spelled.”

he holds out his hand, eyes gesturing to the sword. “may i?”

huang shaotian hands it over without protest. 

closing his eyes, yu wenzhou lets his magic sweep over the weapon, confirming his suspicions. the magic on the sword is as strong as the day he cast he spell. he opens them again and blinks away the rush of power that always threatens to overwhelm him if he isn’t careful. “it’s an old piece of magic. this weapon is a powerful artifact, and to keep it from being misused, i created a spell that would repel anyone who tried to use it.”

“but i could use the sword,” huang shaotian muses, more to himself than yu wenzhou. he scrunches his nose in way he does when he concentrates on learning a new martial arts move, and not for the first time, yu wenzhou wonders how someone so cute can be so deadly. he doesn’t have time to think on it very long before huang shaotian snaps out of it and races to his side, eyes wide with fear. “there isn’t something wrong with your magic, is there?”

yu wenzhou shakes his head, quick to reassure him. “not at all. my magic is fine.”

the hand on his shoulder releases its death grip and yu wenzhou hides his wince. sometimes huang shaotian forgets his nephilim strength, but he’s hardly going to reprimand him for being concerned. it’s been a long time since one of his bodyguards showed him such care, not just for his safety but for his magic and his well-being and his happiness. 

not that huang shaotian is a mere bodyguard. yu wenzhou cares for him with a depth that should scare him and send him running, but instead he only wants to keep huang shaotian closer.

“come on, wenzhou, stop all that deep thinking and mystic warlock shit and spit it out. what’s the deal with the sword? I know that look on your face, you can’t hide from me.”

yu wenzhou laughs, not bothering to deny it. he has no desire to hide, not from the man he loves so fiercely. “there’s nothing wrong with my magic, it’s just....” he trails off, unsure how to say it.

“well....” huang shaotian prompts, practically bouncing on his heels in his impatience.

the only way to say it was to just say it, and so he does. “it was the magic itself that let you have the sword, i had nothing to do with it.”

“i didn’t know magic worked that way.”

“it doesn’t.” yu wenzhou runs a finger along the length of the blade, feeling the magic hum in contentment beneath his touch. 

his magic had reached out to huang shaotian completely on its own, had come to his aid when he was in danger and allowed him to save himself. the event is unprecedented but feels right in a way that settles something in yu wenzhou’s chest. his magic chose shaotian, would protect shaotian, even when he himself couldn’t.

on that front, he and his magic are in perfect agreement.

he extends his hand again, this time to return the weapon to its rightful place. “the magic chose you, shaotian. the sword will make you stronger, moreso than you’d be wielding any other weapon. it’s yours now.”

“no way, no way, no way. i have a magic sword.” the words are barely a whispered afterthought as, eyes wide, huang shaotian wraps his hand around the hilt. 

the blade pulses blue with magic, happy to be back where it belongs.

[tentoriwrites]

Learning Curve: Episode Four

The Guard @that-otome-potato

A group of affluent young men form a high school gang. Their goal is to bring peace to all the rival school gangs in their area. When an out of place girl at school threatens the peace and gains their attention, everything changes.

Episode Three

She had long since become accustom to people talking about her. She could even tolerate people talking about some of the Oda gang members. If there was one thing she couldn’t stand it was people talking about her longtime friend Toshiie.

 “Looks like they’ll let anyone in here nowadays.”

“Well it all started with that Maeda kid.”

“What an absolute mongrel. Getting in fights all the time.”

“Seriously! But he always shows up to school and never misses class. What’s the point if you’re just some brute that will only get a job in construction or something menial like that?”

“He’s probably dumb as a box of rocks too. Mitsuhide’s probably the only reason he hasn’t flunked out yet!”

“I’m not sure what that pencil ever did to you, but it’s definitely dead now.” The man himself speaking made her notice the white knuckle grip she had on her pencil. Looking up at his deeply concerned face made all the tension ease from her body. Toshi sat down next to her at the table. “Having the mad, scary face is my thing, ya know. I don’t appreciate you trying to take it.”

“Sorry…” She looked a bit sheepish as she said so and his expression eased a little.

“So what had you looking that way?”

“People talking about you.” She knew well enough that she couldn’t lie to him, he knew her too well.

He glanced over at the other table. “Let them talk. They never did like me from the day I came here.”

“Why did you start going to this school anyways? Your family lives in a different part of the country.” Though she had known him for so long, it had never come up.

“I got kicked out of school for fighting. My family knew the Odas and they pulled some strings for me to come here.” He explained it as if it was nothing.

“Is that why you live alone in that apartment above the restaurant?”

“I don’t live there alone. Hideyoshi moved in at the start of the term.”

“REALLY?! Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

“I thought you knew! Geez no need to get so worked up about it, it’s not a big deal.”

“Oh… well maybe you’re right…”

He drew his hand up into a loose fist before rubbing it vigorously on the top of her head. “You still studying martial arts?”

She half glared, half pouted at him as she fixed her hair. “Yes…”

“Good.” He had a very serious look on his face as he said this. Her expression immediately darkened.

“Inuchiyo?” It had been a long time since she called him that. She tried very hard not to let it slip now that they’d gotten older.

“It’s probably nothing but if you see anyone strange poking around call me.” He tried to smile, but it was obviously forced.

“Is there something going on with you?” She was clearly worried.

“Nah… You can never be too safe though. You know, there’s bound to be people who don’t like what we’re doing trying to end all the fighting. So just stay safe, okay?” With obvious effort, the smile she loved so much returned to his face.

“All right. You stay safe too.”

“Will do, buckaroo.”

 Toshiie’s warning left her feeling very aware of everything going on around her. Maybe that was the point? Whatever the case, she was glad for it now. Just a few blocks from the school, she became keenly aware of someone following her. Discreetly using window shopping as an excuse she realized she didn’t know any of the three people following her. She was almost home when she realized she probably didn’t want them knowing where she lives. She vacillated back and forth because she would be walking into a restaurant. She didn’t have an opportunity to decide though.

“Hey there, pretty thing. Where ya off to in such a hurry?” She stopped walking and looked up at the young man leering at her.

“I have a shift to work at my after-school job.” It wasn’t a lie, but they didn’t need to know anything more than that.

“Where ya work?” One of the boys behind her asked with a tone that gave her pause.

“Pretty far away. So… I really need to be going…” She tried to play off her nervousness as being in a hurry. To that end she started to go by the boy in front on her.

“Going so soon?” He grabbed her by the arm. “I think you need to come with us for a while.”

“Please let go of my arm. I need to go.”

“Not going to happen.” He gave her a tug and she spun around with her back to him. She stomped down on his foot and used the shock and momentum to flip him over on his back.

“I really don’t have time for this right now.” She glared fiercely at the three of them.

“You’re gonna be sorry for that, you little…” One of the boys still standing started to make a move on her.

“If anyone’s going to be sorry around here, it’s you.” A rough voice and a hand on his shoulder caused him to stop.

“Oh, shit. It’s Maeda…” The color immediately drained from their faces.

“Damn right it’s Maeda…” Toshiie growled as the boy he was holding pulled away. “And that’s a member of my family right there. You mess with her you mess with me. She could probably kick your ass without me though.” He gave her a cocky grin. “I did teach her everything I know ‘bout that, after all.”

The three boys looked between them before scampering off down the street.

“That one is limping pretty good. I bet you broke a toe or two!” He brimmed with pride as he closed the distance between them. The joy was short lived as he reached out and touched her face. “Are you ok? Not hurt or anything?”

“Once my heart stops beating so fast I’ll be just fine!” Her posture eased and she let out a long breath. “Thank you for helping me.”

“You could have taken them.” He looked a bit relieved to see her smiling.

“Well thank you for saying so. Are you on your way home?”

“Yeah.” He reached out and took her hand in his before walking away. He responded to her quiet giggle with a huff. “What’s so funny?”

“I was just thinking this reminds me of when we were younger. You always used to hold my hand like this when we walked somewhere.” There was a touch of nostalgia in her voice as she spoke.

“Well putting leashes on little kids is frowned upon. That was the only way to make sure you didn’t wander off after every shiny thing that caught your attention!” His tone was rough and irritated but it didn’t bother her in the least.

“You make me sound like some kind of critter.”

“You were exactly like some kind of critter back then!”

This banter went back and forth until they got to the restaurant. She let go of his hand and was about to go inside when he stopped her.

“This is for you.” He refused to look at her as she took the small, silk, drawstring bag from him.

“A gift?” She grinned like a fool as she tweaked one of the ears on the bag. It was printed and shaped to look like a dog’s head when it was closed, ears and all.

“Open it up already!”

“Fine, fine…” Inside was a beautiful necklace of a dog’s face.

“It’s a safety necklace. If you push the dog’s nose, it will alert local police you’re in trouble and help them find you.” He explained it in a quiet voice, still not looking at her. She was sure it was because he was blushing but didn’t press the issue.

“These are both very thoughtful gifts, thank you.”

“It’s nothing.” There was an awkward silence before he threw the door open and escaped into the restaurant.

Episode Five: Mitsunari

[sighingstarbeam]

Spies and Gods - Chapter 8

Summary: After falling through a peculiar portal, Reader meets an old "acquaintance" of Loki's.

Word Count: 2,476

A/N: Hi guys! Sorry for the long wait. Here's a quick recap of what's been going on in my life; I just got done with classes and I'm only working a few days a week, allowing me time to work on fics. Now that Endgame is out I've been thinking about how I want to end the fic and how the story will go at this point, which is what I've been planning on doing since the beginning of the story, which is why I've also been putting off writing until the movie came out (mostly my busy life and motivation got in the way, but still). I have a few ideas in mind for the ending, which I might post two or three different endings if I can't decide which one I want to use. Thanks again for kind words! <3

Chapter 7 | Chapter 9

Your body felt as if it was floating, nothing above or below you, only the feeling of weightlessness. A profusion of emotions swept through you. You’ve only been falling for a short moment but confusion, fear, and even a glimmer of peace filled you. Reality returned when you felt hands grabbing your shoulders followed by you slamming into something, hard.

You heard two thuds, the first being something you couldn’t identify, the second was your own body crashing not too long after. You groaned as the air in your chest struggled to return after it was knocked out. Everything was disoriented at first, until your vision adjusted to the room. You were in a foyer with dark walls, a large staircase in front of you, and seats against the walls that look rarely used. You didn’t recognize this place, meaning you could only fear for the worst.

Before you could do anything else, you heard a coarse groan from beneath you. Looking down you realized you landed on top of Loki, still a bit dazed from the free-fall. Loki was on his back while you landed chest first on top of him, your faces merely inches away from each other. His head was leaned back exposing his tense neck and defined jawline, his hands holding on to your shoulders in a protective grip. He didn’t shield you from the fall, did he? “Shit, you okay?” You asked, letting your weight off of him.

Loki’s gaze met yours, “You did crash into me,” he let out a single chuckle,  “however, nothing is broken as far as I am aware of.”

“Good, because I need you in one piece for you to explain yourself.” A mysterious voice emerged from the stairway. A tall man in an unusual blue outfit accompanied with a red cape was leaning against the railing, eyes staring directly at Loki. “Loki Laufeyson, brother of Thor.” He let go of the railing and floated down the stairs. Great, he’s one of those people. You and Loki stood up, watching as the man levitated down. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he didn’t bother acknowledging your presence and instead went directly to Loki, “What the hell are you doing back on Earth?”

Loki placed his hands behind his back, “With all of your mystical powers, it took you this long to realize I have returned?” He asked coyly.

“I assume your magic had something to do with it,” the man said, “perhaps some sort of cloaking spell so I couldn’t see you.”

“What a shame, it was working so well up until now.” Loki slyly grinned, almost tauntingly.

“And why is that?” The man asked, “Your spell was up for this long, what caused it to drop all of a sudden?”

Loki’s glare at the man was fierce, he was ready to attack at any moment. You should probably step in before things got out of hand. “Excuse me,” you chimed in, gaining the attention of the man and Loki, “what is it that you want with Loki? He’s under official Avengers supervision. I have to get him back before they send an army to search for him.”

The man’s look was on you, eyes squinted as he finally recognized your presence. “As a protector of this realm, it is my job to keep out anything that is a threat to this Earth. Loki is one of those threats. I have warned him and his brother before that if he were ever to return I would handle it personally.” The man looked at Loki, adjusting his yellow gloves, “It’s time to take you back to Asgard.”

Loki’s posture shifted, his eyes expressed mourning. You remembered what the team told you about what happened to Asgard, Loki and Thor’s home. Loki stood frozen, his fists clenched and slightly shaking.

You raised a pleading hand to the man, “Listen, Mister…?”

“Strange, Doctor Strange.”

You knitted your eyebrows at the sound of his name, “Okay. Doctor Strange, something happened to Asgard. That’s the reason why he’s here.” You stepped closer to Loki, almost guarding him from Strange, “He’s been here for a while and you have to trust me when I say that he has had no intentions of hurting anyone.” Loki raised a brow at your statement. Here you were, standing up for the man who terrorized New York. “The Avengers have been keeping a really close eye on him. I don’t think they’ll be really happy if you take Loki away. Especially his brother.”

Strange furrowed his eyes as he held the bridge of his nose. He thought for what seemed like forever, “Who did you say you were?”

“Y/N L/N.”

“Y/N, you need to understand that Loki isn’t a man who can simply be put under house arrest. You do know what he’s capable of, correct?”

“The question is, do you know what I am truly capable of?” Loki stepped forward, knives appearing in both hands. You sighed in annoyance. Great, everything you just said was just thrown right out of the window. He took a few steps in front of you while Strange took a defensive position.

Before he could do any more damage, you stepped directly in front of Loki, blocking his path. “Loki, don’t.” You pleaded, if he was going to get in trouble, might as well prevent Loki from killing anyone.

“Unless you wish to get yourself hurt, move aside.” Loki sneered.

“Really? You’re gonna threaten me?” At this point you were starting to get pissed. Your muscles ached from the fall, all you wanted to do was go back to HQ and take a long bath. “If you want to resort to violence, be my guest. But if this guy kicks your ass, I’m not going to be the one to drag you back. Just know that I’m the only one here that tried to sincerely defend for you.”

Loki’s eyes softened, but his lips were still pursed. His jaw visibly clenched, and in defeat, he put away his knives.

You turned to Strange, “Can we leave now? We have this taken care of.”

Strange looked at you, then to Loki, then back to you before speaking, “Fine. I’ll let you take him back, on one condition. I will have to visit in person once a week to make sure he isn’t using anymore spells to fool me.”

This didn’t please Loki at all. His mood dropped lower than before, anger rising within him. You felt a small amount of sympathy for him, having to be watched all the time now a magic man has to babysit him. Either way, there was no other answer that Strange would like, “Deal. But I have to run it by the team first.”

“Sounds fair.” Strange swept his cape behind him before he lifted his hands in front of him, “I’ll return you both to where you were-”

“No!” You and Loki yelled simultaneously, neither of you wanted to go through Strange’s weird portal again.

Strange looked at you two questionably, “Oh, it won’t be a problem-”

“Thank you, Doctor Strange,” you interjected, “but I think I’ll just call a ride. I might puke if you do that… whatever, again.”

“Fair enough. Would you like some coffee or tea, Y/N?”

“I would love some. Let me call Stark first.” Tony was the closest you could think of that wasn’t busy on a mission like the others. You could’ve called Thor, but you doubted that he knew how to drive or even had a cell phone.

“Stark? As in Tony Stark?”

You took your phone out of your pocket and dialed Tony’s number in, “Yeah. I’m his kid.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize that he had children.”

You exhaled, “Neither did he.”

Some time later, Loki settled down (to some degree) while you and Strange had coffee. He showed you around and even introduced his cape to you, which was sentient and somehow not the weirdest thing you’ve encountered after your little portal trip. He explained who the Masters of the Mystic Arts are and what they do, how they protect the Earth for possibly thousands of years. It amazed you that a group of magic users hid in plain sight for this long. You knew groups like Hydra tried to hide in plain sight, but they were never known to be subtle.

You all made your way back to the foyer when you heard knocking at the door. Strange used his magic to open the doors by themselves.

Stark entered followed by Thor, but not in a cheery mood. Stark was wearing one of his finer suits that he usually wore at meetings or press conferences. Shit, you completely forgot that he was in a meeting.

“Loki.” Thor said harshly, eyebrows knit. When Loki saw his brother he immediately looked fearful. He knew the difference when Thor was annoyed or genuinely angered. This was one of those angry times. “What is the meaning of this? You told me you already spoke to Doctor Strange and had everything settled between the two of you.”

“Oh, did I?” Loki taunted, “Might have been a lie, dear brother. Do you really think I would come back to this second rate sorcerer and ask to be among Midgardians? It was much more simple to cast a spell that hid us from his forces.”

“Us? You cloaked me as well?”

“Well, not only you.” Thor raised an eyebrow in confusion, “Think about it, an entire cargo ship with hundreds of Asgardians would not go unnoticed.”

Strange turned to Loki, his temper rising, “I’m sorry, an entire cargo ship filled with what ?!”

Thor went stoic, even with one eye his stare bore deep through Loki, “Brother, what did you do?”

All eyes were on Loki now as he tried to play it cool with a coy smile. Unfortunately for him his trickster charms weren’t working. “Remember on Asgard when Heimdall couldn’t see me arrive or leave when I used the secret passages?” Thor continued his stern gaze, waiting for Loki to continue, “I figured I would do something similar with a simple spell not too long before we arrived… on nearly one hundred Asgardians.”

A sharp inhale went out of Thor’s nostrils. He rubbed his forehead in disbelief, “That’s why you have been different lately. This explains the lack of pranks and your use of magic in front of anyone.”

“You focused all of your magical energy to keep your people hidden.” Strange cut in, “Exactly how long did you expect to hold this spell? Surely not the rest of your life as it would drain you from the inside out.”

Loki rolled his eyes, “Of course I wouldn’t go on for that long. For the last month I’ve slowly been letting about a dozen people at a time go from the spell. To anyone like you who can tell the shift in your world, it would merely look like Midgard’s birthrate was slightly higher, but not abnormal.” He looked at Thor, “Did you ever wonder why nobody else has noticed a large ship coming through the atmosphere other than Stark and his little team? And they only knew because we contacted them before entrance.”

The room filled with silence as everyone was trying to process what Loki had done. It didn’t do any harm to the people of Asgard, but to be hidden away and not noticed by the entire world was too far. The Asgardians probably didn’t know Earth didn’t know about them. Here they were, trying to get by with help from only the Avengers when the world could’ve chipped in if they had any idea what was going on. The thought of innocent people under the watch of Earth’s mightiest heroes were struggling to get a hold of their new life when it could easily be fixed bothered you. There are millions of others in the world who need help as well, but this would be a quick start.

“Break the spell now.” You didn’t ask, you demanded. Loki looked at you as if you were some foreign object in the room, “Strange knows. There’s no need for this trick to go on any longer.”

Loki saw the other men silently agree. He knew he didn’t have any say in this. He wanted to say something more, but decided against it. Loki closed his eyes and with a slight clench of his fist, a tiny ripple of gold flowed around his hand. “There. It is done.” He said with a stiff tone.

“Now that that’s taken care of,” Strange pitched in, turning to Tony, “I do trust that the Avengers will keep an extremely close eye on Loki, but I will be making visits to your headquarters every once in a while to make sure he doesn’t have any more tricks up his sleeve.”

Tony was rather annoyed that Strange would show up on his own terms, but reluctantly agreed. Who else would know more about magical fiascos than an actual wizard? “Cool, now we have wizards guarding the castle with the dragon. See you around, Strange. Y/N, Wiseau, car. Now.” Tony spoke to the two of you as if you were children caught breaking a window.

He didn’t look at you as he led everyone outside, revealing a crowd of about a dozen people forming around the highly expensive car. When a few people noticed Tony and Thor, everyone turned and begged for autographs and photos. Tony smiled politely as you all trudged through the crowd, only saying hello and waving to a few people. Thor, on the other hand, took multiple selfies and hugged every other fan like a proper celebrity.

You noticed Loki visibly rolling his eyes at his brother, “Tough being the younger brother?” You asked him.

“Thor’s fame seems to follow him wherever we are.” Loki responded, “The devotees were mild compared to here, but nonetheless the spotlight is brighter in his direction.”

It took longer than intended to reach the car with all these people around. Before entering the car, you heard murmurs coming from the crowd. You made out a few words, which turned to sentences as more and more people talked.

“Who’s that girl?”

“Isn’t that Loki?”

“You don’t think Tony left his fiance for this chick, do you?”

“Maybe she’s Thor’s new girlfriend.”

“No way, Jane was far cooler.”

“Maybe she’s dating Loki.”

“That’s more believable than her and Thor.”

That was enough gossip for one day. You slipped into the back seat of the car, the door muffling the voices of the groupies. Loki sat in the seat next to you, refusing to look anywhere but out the window. Tony and Thor followed soon after, Thor taking the passenger side. Tony slammed the door harshly, then revved the car, speeding away from Bleecker street.

[haruki-ya]

A Place to Crash (And Burn)

Summary:  Kai and Kaneda yell at each other a little bit and cry over cry baby Tetsuo. There’s lots more to it than that, but like kinda a lot....so read on if you truly dare.

A/N: REPOSTING this cause fuck it y not I ain’t ever gonna be fully happy with anything I write and I must come to terms with that by EMBRACING the ART of IMPERFECTION. She a thicc one tbh, close to 7,000 words wow (do u see why i said read on if u dare), but from a new character perspective that I was hesitant to try writing in and have @fridge-04 and @totallylegitakirafic to thank for so hey! thank you ! I think my attempt turned out all right! also totallylegit, can you spy with your little eye the Makiko reference? lol enjoy my LOVES <3

Kai couldn’t really say the loud knocking on his door at one in the morning woke him up because he had already been awake, lying in bed in the dark thinking about things of the past.

It had been a rough week, a sleepless week. One spent mourning a death that others celebrated. One spent missing a friend who others considered an enemy. Kai doesn't think there will be any closure for the surviving townspeople any time soon, even three years after the great fall of Neo Tokyo.

Most of their homes are still in shambles and they like to be angry anyway. Kai will admit it’s a more fulfilling emotion than hopelessness.

Kai waits a minute before rolling out of bed. There are only a handful of people who would come knocking on his door at this hour, but that means they’re familiar enough to know he likes to end his night early to start his day earlier. So whoever this is must not care or must know that he’s not sleeping. Or it’s an important matter, but that’s pretty unlikely.

As Kai stumbles through the dark of his loft towards the door, tripping over stray clothes and a stack of old newspapers, he hears voices from the outside. Kei’s annoyed tone rings out strong.

“...come on, I can’t entertain this behavior tonight. I’ve got to meet up with Chiyoko soon, you know that Kaneda.” There’s a mumbled response that Kai doesn’t catch, probably from Kaneda, as he opens the door to a sight that he isn’t really surprised to see.

Kei is dressed in cool, neutral tones and struggling to hold up the swaying form of Kaneda, who reeks of booze and cigarette smoke under her arm, obviously more fucked up than he’s been in a while. Her face is steely with annoyance under the brim of her cap, but when her eyes meet his there is a poorly concealed concern that makes Kai sigh suddenly and drop his shoulders. There’s also a badly hidden plea for help.

“Hello Kai. I really hate to ask this, but can you look after him for a while?”

“Uh…what?” Is the most eloquent response Kai can manage. Kaneda’s stilted voice cuts in before Kai can properly respond, but to be fair he doesn't even really know what to say.

“M’fine Kei, I don’t needa be babysat by a kid.” And that kinda stings, cause hello to you too asshole, and he’s younger than Kaneda sure, but he usually acts more mature than his childish ass and the digs at his age have been few and far in between since Yamagata passed...since the Capsules fell apart. Kai only manages to be annoyed by the comment.

Kei swats Kaneda over the head and pushes him against the wall next to Kai’s door, anger bursting across her face. Kaneda rubs at his head and tries to straighten to his full height and glare at Kei, but his gaze is unfocused and more squinted in what Kai would assume is pain than anger. Kai narrows his eyes at them and stifles a yawn suddenly behind his hand, unimpressed with their familiar antics. If they came all the way here to bother him, they're off to a good start.

“Cut it out Kaneda! I’ve had it with your bullshit attitude this week. I know things are tough for you right now, but that’s no excuse to treat your friends like garbage just to make yourself feel better!” Kei turns on Kai before Kaneda gears up to answer and ignores whatever he mumbles under his breath. It sounds suspiciously like “bitch” to Kai and now he kinda understands Kei's anger. He’s never stooped so low as to glare so fiercely at her while saying that. Kai is becoming more and more confused.

“I need to meet Chiyoko and the others, an emergency meetings been called. Some cultists have been gathering around the old stadium and rumor has it they’re planning something there during daylight. I can’t be dragging his drunk weight with me, he’ll only slow me down and annoy me to death before we’d arrive.” Kaneda snorts and pushes up from the wall and brushes past Kai into his dark apartment, cursing when he trips over something that clatters loudly. Kei’s eyes don’t leave his face, but the sharpness of her gaze wavers.

This is gonna be fun.

“Uh… so your first thought was to dump him on me? ” Kai's response is more of a statement than a question really. He's still kind of lost to this whole situation. It’s been a while since he’s seen Kaneda or Kei, though they’re practically a package deal now a days, and while he is glad to see them, always, part of him also feels bitter for being left out of their orbit for this long and suddenly be expected to so easily be pulled right back into it.

Ever since the distance started growing between Kai and Kaneda, and subsequently Kei too, he's dedicated more and more of his time to volunteering around the city doing odd jobs for people: moving rubble, cleaning up trash, helping deliver food. He does it in the hopes that maybe his dedicated efforts as one will equal out to the prior three. Kai hangs out at a friend of Joker’s shop in his spare time too and does his best to learn from the mechanic, but much of the slang Joker and his pals use still goes over his head. His habit of journaling and note taking has helped greatly though, a by product of an overactive brain and an inability to keep details oriented. Kaneda could probably benefit from that too.

Kaneda and Kei used to volunteer with him, used to stay over all the time and help at the local shelter down the block from Kai’s apartment, but when the power was restored to all the remaining blacked out city blocks and a semblance of order returned to the city, Kei’s Rebel group was quick to get in touch and reignite their cause. Kei didn’t really ask Kaneda to join her, or become what many call her right hand man, but he rose to the occasion better than anyone could have expected. Kai never got a formal invitation to join their ragtag team of rebels either, but he would have politely declined any how. He’s had enough action for a lifetime thank you very much, and he knows he wouldn't have filled any shoes as well as Kaneda could. No surprise there. He's not really bitter about it.

Kaneda is hard to pin down these days, becoming more of a myth than a real man, but where Kei is he’s not far off. She got him involved with many of the old resistance outposts that double as relief shelters, not quite done with their original purpose. As Kei said, there are still people praying to the dead and gone “Lord Akira”. They’re desperate enough to believe that someone with the power to take so much away, to cause so much devastation, can just as easily bring it all back.

If only it were that easy.

They’re relatively harmless, just a scattered group of vagabonds looking for some kind of purpose in this fucked up place, but sometimes they get a little too close to things they shouldn't. Sometimes they wind up in possession of objects that three years ago were dangerous in the wrong hands, fatal in the right ones. The remaining resistance members, as well as the spirited youth who join the cause daily, have taken it upon themselves to squash any and all attempts to get too close to something that can’t simply be reburied in rubble. The emergency meeting must be important.

Today is the third anniversary of Tetsuo’s death after all and cults tend to believe in the religious power of symbolic resurgence.  

Kei’s face softens as a light pours out suddenly from somewhere behind him, and her eyes follows suit as they both listen to Kaneda rifle around his fridge, probably looking for more booze. His attitude makes sense now that he's put two and two together, and Kai sighs again, sadly this time. He feels bad all of a sudden for being difficult.

“I’m sorry to come here like this Kai, with him, after we haven’t properly visited in a while...but I think it would be good for him to spend some time with an old friend. Maybe talk about whatever is making him want to drink himself unconscious with someone who can...better understand.”

Kai tries for a smile and it sort of works, despite feeling a little stiff on his face. He feel’s like there’s something else Kei isn’t telling him, another shoe that’s waiting to be dropped. There always is with these two.

Kei’s eyes narrow as the light from the fridge slowly shrinks and Kaneda moves onto his cupboards, opening and closing them a little too loudly for the time of night. Good think this floor of the building is mostly abandoned.  

“I don’t trust him alone right now.” She says lowly, and there it is. Kai can’t really blame her and also can't turn either of them away even if he wanted to so he sighs, again, and braces himself against the doorway.

“Yeah, I understand Kei, last year was pretty rough too. We got him through it though, and we, eh...I'll do it again. We always look out for each other after all.” Kei looks relieved by his words but far from consoled. Kaneda trips again in his apartment but looks to have stumbled into a lamp as a minute later light spills out behind him once again. It highlights the conflict on Kei’s face.

“Thank you. I’ll be back sometime in the early afternoon. I owe you one Kai.” He shakes his head at that and sends her a smile.

“No you don’t. He’d do the same for me if he had to. Be safe out there Kei and kick some Akiraist ass for us. ” Kei smiles softly and puts a hand on his shoulder for a moment before turning and walking briskly down the hallway, gone from his sight in just four paces. Leaving him alone with a moody drunk in his apartment.

Right, he should check in on that.

Kai closes the door and takes a moment to brace himself before he turns around into the living room, finds Kaneda sprawled on the futon, one leg hanging off the back, an arm over his eyes. His boots are kicked off haphazardly by the lamp and his jacket a makeshift pillow under his head. His other hand holds a bottle of liquor Kai didn’t even know he had. Leave it to Kaneda to sniff out any hidden spirits.

“Hey. Welcome. Make yourself at home, please I insist.” Kai intones dryly and settles into a sitting position on the floor, back against his makeshift coffee table. Kaneda grunts in reply.

“Long time no see Kaneda. I thought you said you weren’t gonna be a stranger?” Kaneda makes another noncommittal sound before throwing his arm from his face to take a swig of, what is that, aged whiskey? Why does Kai even have that?

“That’s gross, dude. How much have you had to drink today?” Kaneda’s reply is wet and rough.

“Not enough.” And Kai sighs. It had been pretty much the same last year.

The previous anniversary, Kai had met up with Kaneda by chance at some back alley bar downtown. They shared a drink or two (or three) before Kai had managed to coax Kaneda outside for a walk, after letting the numbing buzz of booze kick in of course. While Kai counted that as a win, Kaneda had been plastered at two in the afternoon and adamant against parting with the bottle of brandy he snatched from behind the counter when the barkeep turned his back. 

Unfortunately, he wasn’t so successful in coaxing Kaneda to leave the bottle behind.

Any other day, he wouldn't have minded indulging in their old ways of competitive drinking, but something about the idea left a bad taste in his mouth that day. Whether from the memory of vomit or just the thought of who would always be seated by his side for drinking competitions, Kai can't say.

They exchanged laughs and jokes for a while, aimlessly walked through the poorly reconstructed streets before they wandered along the memorial wall of pictures pinned up in the wake of so many deaths.

An unprecedented amount.

Kai had felt nostalgic all day, a heavy feeling that sat in his gut and curbed his smiles a little, and wasn't really bothered to wind up there. His mother had always taught him to pay his respects to the dead anyhow so Kai once again talked Kaneda into a walk, this time along the memorial wall where there was nothing to look at but smiling faces frozen in happiness, endless notes displaying declarations of love and everlasting peace. Vases of flowers, new and old, lined the base of the wall along with a few stuffed animals and makeshift shrines. He had idly thought about how nice it would be to stumble upon the picture he left of him, Kaneda and Yamagata a year prior. That would be something nice to smile about.

The memorial stretched on for what felt like miles, but Kai walked the whole length of it regardless, nodding respectfully to those who passed him by, not noticing Kaneda’s growing silence or the way he had started to slow down in front of Kai. It was easy to get lost in the sea of faces. He had figured Kaneda was simply being contemplative, and well, Kai wasn't wholly wrong.

He was jolted out of his thoughts when he ran into Kaneda’s back and almost knocked over a vase full of wilted flowers trying to stay balanced.

“Let’s make a toast. To those who aren’t here today to drink with us.” 

Kaneda’s voice had been rough, almost choked, but Kai couldn’t see his face when he laughed a sour note, when he overturned his bottle of brandy carelessly onto the vase Kai almost broke with it’s sad, dying flowers. They still had meaning, a purpose though, something more grand than being doused in shitty booze. 

A significance in their decay.

“A toast to all those sorry bastards who died for nothin’.”

A meaning still in death.

Kai had stood frozen for a moment, not really comprehending what he was seeing, what he was hearing. Looked from the growing puddle of liquor at their feet, to the back of Kaneda’s loud jacket as he suddenly jolted into movement and tucked into an alley off to their left.  Kai didn’t move until the now empty bottle Kaneda had been holding smashed into the alley wall, breaking into shards of glimmering glass that crunched loudly under his feet. Kai startled and felt something unpleasant bubble hot under his skin, coil tight in his gut.

It was rage.

“What the fuck!” Kai had run after Kaneda when the cold disbelief drained from his body and the hot fury replaced it. He noticed, a little too late, the stagger to Kaneda’s step, the sluggishness in his pace. The tell tale signs of someone too far gone to care about their actions.

When Kai reached Kaneda, he had damn near tackled him in the back alley, furious and emboldened by his blatant disrespect, at being ignored, at the pain and anger that had been stewing within Kai for a little bit too long, released by the stupidity of Kaneda’s actions. He had thought that childishness was behind them.

“Kaneda! What the fuck was that? How could you be so disrespectful?” His voice had felt shrill in his ears, anger fueling the boldness in his words. Kaneda staggered under the weight of Kai’s body, but did not tip over. Only turned to glance at Kai over his shoulder before attempting to shrug off his hold and continue on but Kai held tight.

“Hey asshole! Stop ignoring me. What's your problem?” Kaneda’s shoulders had tensed at that and he spun suddenly on his feet, almost making himself and Kai topple over. His face was a mess of emotions and his breath reeked of brandy. Kaneda had always been taller than him, but now he absolutely towered over Kai, who recoiled slightly in disgust, slightly in discomfort.  

“My problem? All those dead people. My problem? Knowing who killed em. My problem? Playin a part in it!” Kai hadn’t seen Kaneda like that in a while, that angry and upset, that ready to pick a fight instead of end one. The snarl on his face was pure malice and his eyes burned with regret, glassy and shining with unshed tears that Kaneda wouldn't let himself cry. Kai was suddenly at a loss for words as Kaneda continued, looking right through him.

“Fuck! All those dead people. All the destruction. All by the hands of a fuckin power crazy kid, God...what’s my problem? Hah, what isn't my problem.” Kaneda’s voice dropped in volume, trailed off into a mumble as he turned and started walking away from Kai, who stood frozen in the middle of the alley. What had that been? Where the hell had that outburst come from?

“Kaneda…” Kai didn’t know what to say, didn’t know where to start dissecting that obvious cry for help. Not even in their first few weeks after the explosion had Kaneda been so volatile and bothered. Not noticeably.

“Kai."

Kaneda’s voice rung out loudly in response a moment later, fell hollow on his ears. Kaneda shoved his hands in his pockets, and paused for one moment longer, before continuing on. “Sorry for scaring ya. Don’t follow me. And don’t worry either. M’gonna be just fine.”

And Kai really didn’t know what else to do but listen and believe as Kaneda disappeared out the mouth of the alley. He wasn’t sure he would want to follow him anyway with the unpredictability of liquor fueled sadness up his sleeve. Kai went back to the memorial after a long moment of consideration and did his best to clean up the puddle of alcohol Kaneda left behind.

It was the least he could do.

The next day, Kaneda hadn’t really acted any differently than normal. Aside from complaining about a headache and sporting some new bruises on his knuckles that Kai didn’t dare to question him about, he was relatively the same happy go lucky, good natured guy he had always been. Kai was relieved, but couldn’t help but think that wouldn’t be the last time he saw that side of Kaneda.

He’s sad to know that he was right.

“I heard from Tanaka that you’ve started your own kiddy care center at the Old Town base camp.” Kai does his best to try and lighten the mood, both for his sake and Kaneda’s. Get their minds off the pressing matter, the elephant in the room. Small talk, he’s relatively good at that.

“I gotta say, I’m not surprised. You always have been the big brother type.” Kaneda snorts a little at that, and glances at him out of the corner of his eye. There’s a faint smile on his dry lips.

“Yeah...m’not always so good at the ‘let’s-get-down-to-business’ and stay on the topic of business thing. Annoys the hell outta Kei as you know, but I help where I can and they’re good kids.” Kai smiles and opens his mouth to make a dig about Kaneda goin' soft on him when he’s cut off as Kaneda keeps talking.

“There’s a kid there that reminds me of Tets...when he was younger. Real shy, real sweet. Got lots of hidden anger. Her mom died in a building collapse a few weeks back and I was the one who found her afterwards...she’s got no one else. She’s all alone now.”

Kai’s words get stuck in his throat, and he swallows hard around the lump they’ve formed there. Kaneda takes another swig of alcohol, and Kai watches as a drop slips out his mouth and through the stubble on his chin, along the column of his throat. It glimmers in the light and catches on his adams apple that bobs with long gulps. Kai's throat burns just watching.

“How long are you going to blame yourself?” The words are out of his mouth before he can stop them, but he doesn’t regret saying them. It’s a question that’s been on Kai’s mind for a while now, one that’s probably lingering somewhere in the back of Kaneda’s own. His mouth barrels on before his mind can stop him.

“It wasn’t your fault. We did all we could for him Kaneda. You know that right?” Kai isn’t really expecting an answer, or if anything a response in the quiet, subdued tone Kaneda uses. His arm is back to shielding his eyes.

“No, I don’t think we did.”

“Well, I think you’re stupid for believing that. And I think it's disrespectful to Tetsuo to say that too.” And maybe he regrets saying that a little bit, but Kai has recently become less and less afraid to say what’s on his mind. Less and less afraid to express himself and assert his opinion. Kaneda doesn’t look impressed though, by the piercing glare he suddenly sends Kai’s way, arm resting on his forehead now.

“And I think you don’t know what the fuck you’re talkin bout Kai. Now shaddup, I came here to crash not to do couch therapy.” Kai usually isn’t so quick to rile, so quick to rise to the bait, but he’s played this game of intimidation one too many times to simply back down. To simply let Kaneda have the last word here. The topic is too important to brush under the rug any longer.

“You didn’t come here to crash, you were brought here before you crashed. Which is what you’re doing! Crashing! And burning too by the looks of it! Kei didn’t trust you enough to leave you alone, and I don’t blame her. You’re acting like a dumb reckless baby.” And that really ruffles Kaneda’s feathers the wrong way. He shoots up like a jackknife, eyes furious and focused.

“What the fuck do you know about anything, huh? What do you know about Tetsuo? You never really liked him anyway, you and Yama always thought he was a lost cause or some shit. Who are you to suddenly tell me what I did and didn’t do for ‘im? Fuck that! Fuck you!” But Kai’s still not backing down. In fact, he stands up so he’s looking down on Kaneda, a position he’s rarely been in even after growing a few inches over the years.

It doesn’t feel as good as he thought it would.

“No Kaneda, fuck you! You can’t keep acting like what happened is your problem and yours alone. Like you’re the only one who has a right to be sad, to mourn. I miss him. I feel bad for him. I feel bad for what happened because of him. And I feel bad about what happened to him, but Kaneda, we did our damn best to help him! To help the whole town! What point is there in wallowing in the past when it’s behind us? You know? What point is there in blaming yourself for his death when it wasn’t your fault!”

Kai pauses for a minute and his chest is heaving. Kaneda is looking at him with wide eyes, clouded with an emotion Kai can’t really decipher. He pushes on and hopes Kaneda will hear him.

“Everything that happened three years ago to the day, Kaneda, it was out of your control. Not your fault. There were bigger forces at work the whole time, strings being pulled and moves being made that we couldn’t even begin to comprehend. Not your fault!  What is your fault is letting your sad, self deprecating emotions turn you bitter and unapproachable to your friends. It’s your fault for letting that anger and pain tear you apart and for letting it tear apart your friends too. I love you Kaneda, you’re my brother, you’re family and it sucks to see you so down right now but look around you man….you’re not the only one in pain. You’re living in a town trapped in anger and sadness, how much more do you want to keep contributing to that?”

After a long moment of silence between them, of intense unbroken eye contact, Kai turns away from Kaneda and heads towards the kitchen. He said his two cents, and if Kaneda is going to stonewall him and ignore what he has to say again, fine. So be it. He's dealt with that before. But Kai, unlike Kaneda, isn’t okay with holding onto those negative emotions until they tear him apart. He learned the consequences of that lesson a long time ago with his mother.

He fills up a cup with tap water and hears Kaneda clear his throat once, twice. “Kai…” Kaneda’s voice calls weakly to him from the living room, sounding worn and older than it is. “Did I ever tell you how I met Tetsuo?” He hasn’t .

“You haven’t.” He takes a big drink and waits a beat before making his way back towards the living room. Kaneda is still sitting up, but his head is cradled in his hands, shoulders slumped in defeat. Kai sits this time with his back against the futon, shoulder flush with Kaneda’s leg. Kai can feel a tremor run under Kaneda’s skin.

“We were kids when we met in some shitty school orphanage. He came a week or so after I did and I guess I didn’t really notice him at first, or care bout him. But one day...I saw some kids giving him a hard time. Pushing him around, laughing at him, calling him names. They stole his only toy and laughed when he cried. Real jerks those kids. The worst part though was how he didn’t even fight back. Just let em knock him around and push his buttons.” Kai listens in silence, gaze fixed on the glass in his hands.

Is it half empty or half full?

“I didn’t understand why he just let it happen until I saw his face, cause I sure as hell wouldn’t have let those jerks have their fun with me when I first showed up but...He looked so hopeless. He was such a sad kid, Kai, like...all his anger and all his pride, swap that with sadness and insecurity. I’m sure you saw it, he was shit at hiding his true feelings despite how tough he always acted...so childish.

“And I don’t know, I just...got so angry, seeing how little he cared to stand up for himself and how the kids just jumped on that weakness like a pack a wild dogs. I kicked their collective asses and got Tetsuo’s toy back for him. Took him under my wing after that and then we were Kaneda and Tetsuo, rulers of the playground…Kaneda and Tetsuo, founders of the Capsules. Kaneda and Tetsuo, brothers till the end...somethin in me just always wanted to protect him, cause he was so bad at doin it himself. I told him as much and he was glad for it at first, started to resent my help as we grew up though. I think he felt I was looking down on him or somethin', but I just...couldn’t help but want to protect that stupid, sad, reckless kid I always saw in him, crying all alone on the playground. Lookin like he needed help but not knowing how to ask.”

Kai still keeps quiet. Some part of him had always thought Kaneda and Tetsuo were actually brothers, or maybe cousins at the least despite not really looking alike. Their kinship and familiarity stemmed into something deeper than just friends, a fierce affection that Kaneda expressed in overzealous jokes and jibes, that Tetsuo showed in tolerant indignation and annoyance. Kai only understands it now, having a similar relationship himself with Kaneda. And he can kind of understand too where Tetsuo’s anger came from.

Kaneda is a great guy. Goofy, sure, carefree, considerably, but he is fiercely loyal and more clever than anyone gives him credit for. A natural born leader with his charisma, he’s always been destined for great things despite preferring to pop pills and joke around.

That’s where some of the anger comes into play.

Someone like Kaneda, someone who naturally exudes confidence and a strong presence, who makes standing up for himself look natural and effortless, he’s the kinda person Kai would be jealous of if he didn’t admire him so much, if he wasn’t lucky enough to call him family. Tetsuo always had a hard time being open, holding connections. Trusting that kindness wasn’t fueled by pity, and jokes weren’t sincere. Kai can imagine very well how hard it might have been feeling perpetually trapped in someone's else’s shadow, especially one as large as Kaneda's.

Kaneda sniffs suddenly and shakes his head within the cradle of his hands, rakes his fingers through his hair a few times before laughing wetly.

“Stupid Tetsuo, always causing me problems. Always leaving me to clean up after him even beyond the grave.” And Kai kinda cracks a smile at that one, glances up at Kaneda and blanches at what he sees. From his spot on the floor, he has a perfect view of Kaneda’s wrecked face.

There’s an impression of a smile on his lips, twisted into more of a grimace than anything. His eyes shine with tears that drip onto the floor like a waterfall, like rain in the desert after years of a brutal drought. He laughs again, or tries to, but it turns into a bitter sob that knocks him back into the futon with a sound of defeat.

Kai would normally jump up to offer comfort and words of reassurance at the sight of a friend in pain, but he’s sensed this coming for a long time now. Kei must have too. While surprising, it’s also completely expected and Kai knows that Kaneda is the type who needs to ride it out, needs to get to the bottom of his well of untapped emotions to move on from them. So he politely looks away as Kaneda proceeds to lose his usually cool composure and sits in silence as his heart aches for his friend.

For his friends.

“Fuck, I hate him Kai. I fuckin hate him. What a piece of work, a dumb fuckin asshole! I hope he’s rolling over in his grave right now, hope he hears me talking shit bout him from the great beyond. Because he's the worst ! A dumb, selfish, egotistical maniac! God, I’ll be living with his reckless messes for the rest of my life and he just got a free pass. Got a goddamn one way ticket far away from this shit circus of a town that he fucked halfway to hell. Left it all behind like it was the easiest thing, like it all meant nothing. What a jerk!” Kaneda is in near hysterics thanks to the combined liquor and outpouring of repressed emotions, caught between a mix of yelling, laughing, and crying. A truly impressive feat, if Kai says so himself.

“All those night we stayed up late talkin’ about how we were gonna change the world, how we were gonna, fuck, fix this broken town not-not break it beyond repair! In the end there wasn’t even a we anymore, not even an us. Just a -just him. Just Tetsuo. All that mattered to him in the end was his stupid, dumb self. Pathetic, he never even liked himself, that’s why I was there!”

Kai hands him his glass of water silently after Kaneda’s rant reaches an intermission and he downs it in three gulps. Takes a minute, thankfully, to dry his eyes and get control over his breathing. Kai just sits next to Kaneda and leans a little more heavily against his leg. Thinks about how weird it is to hear Kaneda sound so torn over someone leaving him behind for once. Kaneda’s scratchy voice speaks softly by his head.

“Fuck that... fuck him. Stupid cry baby bastard, can’t believe I had an ungrateful brat like that as my friend…but fuck, I still miss him sometimes Kai. Sometimes...sometimes I wan’t him back.” Kai sighs for what feels like the millionth time that night, but it’s equal parts sadness and equal parts relief. The air around them feels different suddenly, somber now instead of stifled.

Kai get’s where Kaneda is coming from, maybe not fully but well enough. He didn’t know a lot about Tetsuo before he became a wrecking ball to the town, didn't know much beyond what Kaneda would tell him or what Tetsuo himself would let slip when he was too drunk to know any better. He knows that Tetsuo was never all bad though, never quite the type Yamagata pegged him as either despite the shit he did, even to Yamagata himself.

Tetsuo too was a victim to something greater than himself, to a power larger than the confines of his earthly body. It’s taken a while to forgive his friends indiscretions and while Kai will never forget them, he thinks it’s past time to really start healing from them.

“So do I Kaneda.” Kai whispers the admission softly, almost hesitant to feel the things he does for a friend he too sometimes thinks he failed. “I know we never got along as well as the two of you, but I cared about him all the same and sometimes I wish things had gone differently. But what happened, happened, and I think he’s in a better place now, and us, we’re making the best out of what we’ve got...which, might I remind your stubborn ass, is each other.”

Kai picks himself up off the ground and plops down on the futon next to Kaneda, feeling a fatigue wash over him and settle bone deep. Kaneda radiates heat like a furnace and kinda smells bad, but his eyes are dry now, albeit puffy and red. His gaze is far away, stuck somewhere in the past, but he nods his head idly in response to Kai’s statement because they both know it's true. That sentiment has been the core of the Capsules since day one, ‘look out for our own, take care of our own: we’re all we’ve got’.

Always. No doubt about it.

“You look like you’ve got pink eye.” He says instead of just about anything else he probably should say, once again to lighten the mood, and Kaneda’s lips twitch before blooming into a wry smile.

“Well yea, I did just cry my heart out to you.” Kai can’t fight a smile either.

“Yup, just like a dumb reckless baby. No wonder the two of you got along so well, you weren’t so different after all. ” And Kaneda finally laughs something that doesn’t sound horribly bitter and sad.

They spend most of the night catching up and retelling stories about their childhood days, reveling in the golden light of the past. The usual hesitance to mention Tetsuo’s name is gone from their mouths, and they freely talk about all the stupid shit they did together, all the drunken times they had, all the recklessly childish things they honestly don’t know how they got away with. Kaneda maybe cries again once or twice, but Kai joins in and it’s a free for all of feelings, a cathartic visit for the both of them.

They collapse the futon and fall asleep right around the time the sun rises, and Kai doesn’t wake up on his own for once. The weight of another body settling on the futon jolts him into consciousness and he’s only slightly confused at the shy smile Kei sends him as she slips off her shoes and sets her coat on the floor. It’s a sight that’s very familiar to him despite having spent months alone in this apartment and he automatically scoots over some to make more room for Kei.

“You didn’t answer when I knocked, so I decided to let myself in.” Kai nods at her answer because it sounds plausible enough and he’s had worse people break into his apartment before. She stretches before lying down next to Kai, making him feel like a sardine squeezed in tightly between Kaneda’s back and Kei’s side. Kaneda snores suddenly and mumbles something in his sleep that sounds like “udon” to him and Kei rolls her eyes as Kai stifles a yawn, still closer to being asleep than awake.

“How did the meetin' go?” Kei hums to acknowledge she heard him before closing her eyes and sighing out her nose. She doesn’t respond for a long moment, but he doesn’t press it.

“Let’s talk about it later. Maybe over dinner?” Kai nods slowly. It must be the afternoon already if the light peeking in from the still closed curtains is any indication. Kei did say she would return around mid day. With the way she’s melting into the futon aside him, and Kaneda is snoring lightly on the other side of him, Kai imagines they won’t be moving until dinner time anyway.

“Sounds good....I can make udon ramen.” Kei hums again, and out of his peripheral he can see a slow smile spread on her face.

“Kaneda’s been talking about your ramen for months...I really am sorry we haven't been around lately.” If Kai weren’t so tired he would shrug, but his eyelids are getting heavier by the minute. If Kaneda is like a furnace, Kei is like a burning star, hotter than the sun. He’s starting to feel okay with being a sardine between these two.

“No worries. It was nice to catch up. Think we both needed to get some things off our chests anyway.”  

Kai can hear the smile in Kei’s voice as she says softly, “Thank you, Kai. You’re really an amazing friend.”

Kai smiles back even though she’s probably not looking and responds, “Yeah, I am pretty great aren’t I?”

Kei’s pealing laughter (and Kaneda’s quiet snore of agreement) is the last thing he remembers hearing before falling back asleep.

[stunudo]

Closing Time: A Criminal Minds Fan-fiction AU

Featuring: Emily Prentiss x Female Reader

Warning: Smut

Requested by: Anonymous

“ You don't have to write it but can you write a little au oneshot where Emily is a bartender and she owns the bar but is covering for the bartender who usually is there. And she meets this girl and the girl stays with her until the bar closes and something smutty happens? Thnx.💕”       

Image is from fanpop.com

A/N: I tried limited third person, I usually write second person for insert fiction. Let me know if it makes sense. xoxo Stu

Your name: submit What is this?

It was a Friday night in the middle of August, a night where the humidity radiates from the stonewalls of the old buildings. Through the heavy alley entrance, she slid her key into the lock, grimacing with effort. All of Emily’s thoughts were how she had had enough. She was done with Trish’s excuses, for the way the other bartenders and servers covered for her and her crappy attitude. As owner of Caps & Tabs for three years, Emily had dealt with her fair share of shady employees. But Trish had earned her dismissal like a stretched out sports bra: something that served no purpose besides a reminder of past dedication and support.

Emily stormed into the back office and hung up her coat, locking her purse in the desk. Shady employees were expected, even thieves showed up to their shifts. Emily rolled her shoulders and double checked her make up. If she was going to be pouring tonight, she wanted to make it worth it. Smiling at her self she nodded in agreement, these suckers weren’t ready for the boss or her generous drinks.

Y/N didn’t know why she had gone out in the first place. Her roommates were drunk before they even made it to the bar, plus all they wanted to do was play darts and be obnoxious. She stabbed the ice in her pint glass with her cocktail spear, the fruit already consumed. The music from the live band was making up for the despondent feeling plaguing her.

She hummed along to the familiar covers and swayed as the music and the alcohol washed over her. Sam, her best friend sauntered over smiling.

“Nice to see, somebody is finally relaxing!” He stood next to the stool she sat on, casually nodding at the barkeep, holding up his drink to signal for a second. Or was it his third? The woman’s dark eyes catching everything, her easy smile acknowledging the request.

“This bands good.” Y/N smiled at her old friend. “You going to dance with me?”

“Nah, I’m on the prowl. Don’t want to give off any straight vibes tonight.” Sam smiled, paying for his next round with cash.

“Dancing to oldies doesn’t scream hetero, you know.” Y/N teased, only slightly disappointed.

“True, but the guy across the bar is eying yours truly as we speak.” Sam winked off to the crowd closest to the entrance. “Don’t look, god, Y/N!”

She rolled her eyes, “Whatever, Rico Suave, you go flirt with strangers. I’m good here.”

“Don’t mind if I do. Watch out for Jacki?” He squeezed her shoulder and strolled away. She sat humming again, watching Jacki wipe the floor with the guys near the pool table. Their roommate was gorgeous, tall and toned yet extremely feminine. Y/N admitted to having a small crush on Jacki when she first moved in, but her personality drove those feelings away quickly. Jacki was also as straight as they come, and her fuck boys come and go just as quickly.

Emily knew Fridays were the busiest day of the week, but seeing her staff hustle hour after hour made her appreciate them more. She bantered with the regulars and dismissed the few people looking for Trish. She may not be handing out free drinks, but Emily Prentiss didn’t skimp on the alcohol. The band finished their set just before eleven and the closing DJ was setting up.

With the nightlife crowd trickling in and the happy hour crowd easing out, Emily collected tips and swapped tills. The less money to count at the end of the night, the quicker everyone got home. She carried the drop bags and the used till into the office. She noticed a woman on her phone lingering near the bathrooms, she shrugged and kicked the door closed behind her.

The woman was still there huffing and pacing when Emily left the office, preparing for the insanity that was to come. After deciding against it, Emily turned on her heeled boot and approached the woman. “Everything alright? Do you need a ride?”

The woman didn’t look up at first, but mumbled dejectedly. “Uh, no, I should be fine. Just waiting on my roommates.”

“Well, if you need anything, I’m bar tending all night. Names Emily. I run this place.”

“Oh gosh, no it’s okay. No big deal. But, yeah, thanks.” She was embarrassed, but Emily smiled in relief. “My name’s Y/N, just in case, you wanted to know.” Emily could finally see the moping woman’s features. Her face relaxing to reveal a timeless beauty. She smiled shyly at the bar owner now.

“Nice to meet you, Y/N. I will see you around.” Emily chuckled gently and made a smooth exit. Pretty girls were not something she was planning on distracting her tonight, but what could she do? She liked saving people.

Y/N secluded herself in the hallway between the bathrooms and the backdoor for another few minutes, trying to muster up the courage to talk to the hot woman with the dark hair. Jacki had been texting her on and off to appear aloof to the dude bros she was flirting with all night. She really didn’t want to entertain her tipsy roommate all night, but she was keeping an eye out for Jacki anyway. Friends are underrated creatures.

Y/N straightened her shoulders and marched to the bar, waiting coyly on a stool closer to the back than the dance floor. Y/N smiled at the other employees, reassuring herself that the boss lady had initiated contact. She waited until there was a wide opening for the porcelain woman’s attention.

“Mind if I place an order?” She grinned.

“By all means, Y/N. What can I get you?”

“How about Sex on the Beach?”

“It gets so messy though.” She winked and started pouring.

“I take what I can get.”

Emily tisked at the bit of desperation that trailed into the joke. “I think you deserve the best around,” She handed her a tall glass, “Enjoy.”

“Can you put it on my tab? It’s a Visa.” Y/N dropped a five in the tip jar.

“You’re taken care of tonight.” Emily’s eyes drew Y/N into a whirlwind of daydreams. The fantasies coming with each stolen glance or tossed away smirk. She nursed the cocktail and ignored the buzzing of her phone.

Emily hadn’t used her office for after hours meetings since purchasing the bar from her uncle. In these past few years, she had done a lot of maturing while learning the ins and outs of small business managements. Right now, all she was worrying about was learning the ins and outs of Y/N’s clothes. The bar shut off the lights on the few people still chatting over an hour ago. Her bartenders and servers had cleaned up. Emily had walked Y/N into her office after securing the safe, pouring both of them another cocktail.

The bar owner’s lips were gliding over the young woman’s collarbone, slipping her leather jacket over her bare shoulders. Emily trailed kisses back up her exposed neck, resting her prominent nose before Y/N’s ear. “I could take you right here. But I think we would be much more... comfortable, at my place.”

Y/N had her eyes closed, her head rolled forward to catch Emily’s mouth in a wanton kiss. “Lead the way.” Emily linked her fingers with the no longer shy woman’s and headed out the through the back alley.

Y/N was relieved to find that Emily Prentiss lived one block away from her beloved bar. Her airy apartment was covered in wooden floors, framed band posters and abstract art. Y/N didn’t register any of these details until the following morning. Tonight, she was fiercely kicking off her sandals and groping Emily’s ass. It was a scramble to remove their attire and continue the heavy petting that had sent them stumbling towards the bedroom.

Emily’s bed was covered in a dark duvet that was haphazardly draped over itself. Y/N was impressed with the size of the room and the headboard. Emily’s tiny waist kept drawing Y/N’s grasp. Their mouths left imprints on each other, lipstick, love bites, paths backtracked and followed again. Y/N was savoring Emily’s breasts as they fell onto the generous mattress.

Y/N didn’t have many coherent ideas running through her head besides the sensations and images that were all Emily. One fleeting thought told her that going out tonight was one of the best things that had happened to her in a long time. Emily rolled Y/N on to her back, tracing her body in teasing licks.

Emily’s mouth was flawless and merciless, Y/N was a whimpering heap before long. Emily’s skillful fingers traced the reaches of Y/N’s sex, pulling her orgasm from her core. Her tongue lavished Y/N’s searing arousal. Emily wasn’t done with this gorgeous woman yet. Her firm grip, drew Y/N’s hips to hers. Emily enjoyed grinding as long as she got to set the rhythm. Y/N’s sensitized slit collided with Emily’s and they rocked each other over the next precipice.

Their tongues found each other, dancing and tasting until they became a new flavor together. Y/N’s hands had taken over Emily’s momentum, driving the bar owner to a level of blinding pleasure. The connection was rapturous, these women who met in a set of circumstances between annoyance and devotion. Emily’s breath hitched as she whined Y/N’s name into the sticky night air. The sounds of the city faded from their ears as their bodies melted into a dreamless slumber.

@emilyfuckingprentiss @gubl-oser @reidbyers @dontshootmespence @emilyprentissdaily @treatmelikeadamnprentiss

[kartiavelino]

Fierce Footwear: Action Film Heroines in Heels, Boots and More

Operating, sweating and, typically, ass-kicking…all actions we might most likely do in sneakers, proper? Not all the time in Hollywood. Generally, essentially the most formidable feminine leads are leaping platforms, evading enemies and doing harmful stunts in—let’s be trustworthy—form of impractical footwear. Take for example, the primary installment of Jurassic World, in which Bryce Dallas Howard wore beige heels all through intense chase scenes. It was a alternative Howard was initially happy with, explaining the way it bolstered the story from her character’s perspective. A company supervisor would not deliver flats to work anticipating to outrun a T-Rex, proper? Nonetheless, followers observed, and it was introduced that Bryce would not be sporting heels in the sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Fact is: The historical past of motion heroine footwear runs the gamut, from super-practical sneakers, to modern choices, to ones that will improve a hyper-sexualized character…and the whole lot in between. In additional stylized flicks, the place costuming performs a bigger function for a personality, it could matter extra what heel kind is used to kick in the henchman’s face. In different extra sensible portrayals, a change of shoe could also be written into the script. Let’s study how previous motion stars have navigated this subject.  Black Window in The Avengers collection Scarlett Johansson reprises her function of Black Window in a number of Marvel films, principally sporting some type of boot. Sometimes, there is a quick heel, however extra importantly, most of her footwear is chunky and sturdy in form and materials—maybe to guard her ft in very combat-heavy scenes. May she lose the peak in the heel with out taking something away from her character? Sure, most likely.  Mary in Proud Mary Each motion hero—irrespective of gender—can contemplate themselves fortunate to shoot an motion sequence in sneakers. Action films are usually extra dramatic and based mostly in some incognito world or subculture, which require extra refined costuming. Fortunately, Taraji P. Henson‘s character was stalking her prey, who simply occurred to be happening a run. Typically, the context of the scene dictates the footwear.  Surprise Girl in Surprise Girl Primarily based off mid-century comics, it may be straightforward to over-sexualize such a widely known character. However Gal Gadot’s costume each stays true to its iconic roots and a extra fashionable sensibility. Her boots are simply as bulletproof as the remainder of her modern-day metallic armor.  Evelyn Salt in Salt Now here is an motion film made with sensible particulars. At first of the primary motion sequence, Angelina Jolie‘s character, dressed in a considerably dated CIA skirt swimsuit and heels, takes off her footwear and battles the opposing forces naked ft till she will discover a sturdier possibility at dwelling. The shoe change was written in the script, one thing maybe future filmmakers ought to take notice.  Nakia in Black Panther Now here is a sensible woman. With one hand holding a full-grown man down, Lupita Nyong’o‘s character is fast to take off her heels to a) use it as a weapon and b) transfer round extra freely—all whereas dressed in a floor-length robe. That is a warrior proper there.  Letty in Livid 7 You’ll hardly discover Michelle Rodriguez‘s tomboy character sporting something however smart footwear in the Quick franchise. Nonetheless, at a black-tie social gathering, a woman’s bought to decorate the half. Even the opposing bodyguard, performed by professional wrestler Ronda Rousey, was decked to the nines. To be truthful, a well-tailored, glossy swimsuit or jumpsuit might have been extra true to those characters, however you may’t deny how deadly a pair of stilettos may be, particularly because the heel is used to stab an opponent? Was this maybe an affordable alternative to feminize two robust girls? Or was this a scene to distinction first-class decorum with sheer brute pressure and agility? You determine.  Catwoman in Catwoman Love or hate the 2004 superhero flick, however Halle Berry introduced a memorable spin to the character. The scantily clad, floor-crawling villain-turned-hero unapologetically used her sexuality in her favor. She did not simply run, she cat-walked…in heels, in fact.  Lorraine Broughton in Atomic Blonde The whole lot about this motion flick was stylized, from the credit to the lighting to the euro EDM soundtrack. It will make sense that Charlize Theron‘s spy wardrobe can be simply as cool, refined however below the radar because the movie’s general aesthetic. How does that translate in footwear? The stylish, ubiquitous however not-impractical block-heel boot.  Trinity in The Matrix When each insurgent character is clad in head-to-toe latex or leather-based, this general aesthetic will dictate what’s on the ft. Carrie-Anne Moss would not look proper in something apart from leather-based boots, the shoe du jour for edgy motion heroes which might be considerably fashionable.  Elektra Natchios in Daredevil In was 2003, sq. boots had been in on the time. What else would Jennifer Garner‘s character, an heiress who simply occurs to know martial arts, put on on the time? We will forgive her.  Mallory Kane in Haywire If you’re a covert operative utilized by a authorities to take out targets, solely to be double crossed, you put on whichever footwear that may provide help to run, bounce and kick whomever it’s essential survive. On this case, a pair of utilitarian boots.  Do you suppose footwear in motion films needs to be extra smart or ought to they appear the character’s half? http://www.eonline.com/news/944641/fierce-footwear-action-film-heroines-in-heels-boots-and-more?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-lifestyle&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_lifestyle The post Fierce Footwear: Action Film Heroines in Heels, Boots and More appeared first on My style by Kartia. https://www.kartiavelino.com/2018/06/fierce-footwear-action-film-heroines-in-heels-boots-and-more.html