#as like a way of facilitating that chapter combination thing

[hotcryptidsinyourarea]

Falling for the Frogman of Loveland, Ohio

story synopsis: Molly is a 30-something cookbook editor who has decided to move from New York to Loveland, Ohio after a bad breakup and a desire for a fresh start. She is instantly attracted to her neighbor Jeremiah's midwestern charms, but this local guy is much more than meets the eye...

human (she/her) + interdimensional humanoid frogman (he/him) cw: social anxiety, existential pondering, negative self-talk

Chapter 3

My body and mind are so exhausted, I sleep in an hour later than I usually do. The fact that my new bed is very comfortable also facilitates this late start, but I don’t really have it in me to complain about that. I finally pry myself from between the sheets and get dressed for my first full day in my new home. First thing’s first: coffee. 

I do a quick search for the closest non-chain coffee shop to my place. Part of the appeal of moving to a smaller community is supporting the local business culture. Never again will I spend $10 on a tall, burnt-ass latte from the Bucks. There’s one on Loveland Madeira alongside all the other fast food chains, but I’m going to avoid it like the plague. It’s the weirdest thing in New York: everybody talks about how much they love their neighborhood coffee shops, but no matter when or how you see them in real life, there will always be that ubiquitous siren-logo’d cup planted firmly in hand. It’s like some grand delusion we all pretend we’re not a part of. 

No that I think people in a small town are paragons of virtue or anything. I know there is hypocrisy and assholes everywhere you go. But you spend enough time in one place and eventually you have the right to gripe about it as much as your little black heart desires! Or that’s what I tell myself, I guess. Part of me will always love New York and I truly look forward to going back and visiting. But the agitation I feel at just a passing reminder of the city tells me I made the right move leaving town. I just hope this place ends up being where I’m supposed to be. 

Well, what better way to get a feel for a new town than running a couple of normal, domestic errands? Namely: coffee. Let’s fucking gooooooo!

_____________________________________________________________

I’m loving the decor at the Blue Chip Roasters coffee shop. The amount of hearty wood furnishing and exposed burl fixtures gives it a Twin Peaks vibe without being derivative. It’s warm and homey and the scent of fresh coffee brewing makes my mouth water. There’s a huge wraparound counter that isolates the staff area behind the machines and cash register, which lines up with the doorway so you can walk right up to it. On the other side of the counter are bar stools occupied by various coffee drinkers who are all immersed in their books or laptops. It’s simple but welcoming. A satisfactory first impression, for sure. 

It’s a blessedly simple menu. They only have two types of milk, whole and oat, but I’ve never strayed from the classic whole milk-coffee combination anyways. Full fat means full flavor and that’s what I want. I order a double iced latte and a cinnamon roll for breakfast. As I drop in a dollar for tip, I notice the jar is covered in stickers and such all depicting some artists’ renditions of an anthropomorphic frog. In big block letters it reads: 

>> DON’T FROG-ET TO TIP! - LFM <<

“Who is LFM?” I ask the girl working the register. 

“Oh, it stands for Loveland Frogman. You’ve never heard of it?” 

“I can’t say that I have, but I’m new in town. Like, brand new.” 

“Oh, well it’s just a dumb local legend. Years ago, a couple cops saw a lizard standing on its hind legs and told everyone they saw a Frogman. Locals have kind of taken it on as a mascot of sorts even though it’s fake as fuck.” 

“It’s NOT fake,” says the kid behind the espresso machine pulling shots. “The Frogman is real. That lizard story is a cover-up ordered by the FBI. Ask anyone from around here and they’ll tell you a story about them or someone they know spotting him at some point.” 

“That’s ridiculous,” the cashier rolls her eyes. “The people that claim to see him are just dumbasses lying so they can be the center of attention for a moment. Either that or meth heads.” 

“It wasn’t a frog at all,” says a third worker sweeping something up behind the counter. “It was an alien. A being from another dimension. That’s why the FBI wanted to cover him up. No one cares about some overgrown science project.” 

The local color of it all has me stunned silent. I am not used to talking this much with strangers. Honestly, I felt like I was pushing it by asking the cashier in the first place. I was half expecting a snide fuck-if-I-know dismissal. And now after instigating the conversation, I find myself at a loss for words. Great! I have no idea how to get out of this in the correct, polite way. I’m a decade out of practice. Thankfully, a voice coming from a bar stool in my periphery offers me a blessed interjection to keep me from looking as dumb as I feel.  

“Don’t listen to them. They’re just messing with you because you said you’re new in town. We don’t get a lot of ‘new’ around here often. A lot of the same,” says the guy. I turn to look at him, remembering the most rudimentary of manners, but what I see doesn’t help my muteness because this dude is good looking. 

Very good looking, one might say. 

Ridiculously, if you’re so inclined. 

I get that feeling in my chest that makes me feel like I’m twelve years old again and my friend Jessica’s older brother Adam would walk in the room while we watched TV– like it’s suddenly difficult to to take a full, deep breath and a heat spreads across my shoulders and chest. I can’t remember the last time I felt this way. I am completely flustered. I break eye contact to fumble through my wallet for an extra couple dollars to throw in the tip jar. Fuck! I need to work on my spontaneous conversation skills. I wasn’t expecting to experience culture shock quite to this extent, but I guess even just one state away is a whole other place, isn’t it? 

“Where are you from?” asks the guy. A straightforward question that I am perfectly capable of answering… hopefully. 

“I moved here from New Yor–” I manage to croak out, stumbling over that last syllable. I clear my throat. “York. I moved here from New York.” 

“New York City?” 

“The very one.” 

“Why would you leave New York to come to Loveland of all places?” he asks. “Most people are doing everything in their power to make it out of here.” 

“Oh, you know, sometimes the place a person needs is the last place you’d expect,” I reply. Looking back at the cashier, they have an incredulous look on their face like I’m speaking crazy talk. 

“Whatever you say, lady.” They hand me my coffee, my transaction finally complete. I lift the cup in salute and give a tight mouthed smile to the hot guy at the bar. He lifts his cup in return, a good humored smile plastered on his face. 

As I leave the coffee shop and settle into the driver’s seat of my car, I’m suddenly hit with the realization that I answered that hot guy’s question with the kind of trite bullshit normally reserved for Pinterest quotes. 

“Sometimes the place a person needs is the last place you’d expect,” I repeat back to myself. “What the FUCK does that mean, you dumbass weirdo bitch?” The heat I felt across my chest has definitely spread across my face. Luckily, there’s no cute coffee guy to see my embarrassment as I drive back home. 

_____________________________________________________________

Once I’m back home with my coffee and cinnamon roll, I park it back outside on the iron patio set and enjoy my breakfast. With a little food and caffeine in my system, I realize I may have been overreacting to the little interaction at the coffee shop. It probably wasn’t as bad as it was in my head. I was just hungry and fatigued from moving. No big deal. 

I hear the doorbell and go to let the internet installation technician inside. I’m impressed that he showed up so early in the estimated service window. It wasn’t uncommon for me to wait all day for a tech in New York only for no one to show up when they said they would. The next day or so, I’d often get a call while out and about. 

“Hi ma’am it’s George from Concast. I’m here to install your internet. Can you let me in?” 

“Let you in? You were supposed to come yesterday. I didn’t get any notification that you’d come today– I’m not here.” 

“Well, I need to be let in to install your internet…”

“But I’m not there. We’ll just have to reschedule.” 

“Next availability is in two weeks.” 

“GODDAMMIT. Wait right there– I’ll be back as soon as possible!” 

But none of that rigamarole is happening now. At this moment, I am reading a book on my back patio with an iced coffee and a cinnamon bun while Lyle sets up my fiber internet at the exact time he was scheduled to do it. Life is good. 

Okay, I may be looking at everything with rose colored glasses, but I’ll allow myself to bask in my new home serenity for a little while longer. What can it hurt to take the time to enjoy the fact that things are going smoothly? Back in the city, it felt like I was constantly having to strive for things to work. They rarely did and any hint of them possibly doing so was dashed with such expedience I never allowed myself the luxury of thinking that I possibly deserved for things to be easier. 

There was no way for me to get to that point when stuck in constant survival mode. The city is a beast, constantly growing. So even if you get to a point where you’re realizing some sort of comfort, the beast will continue to expand and shift until your complacency gets you displaced. It’s exhausting! I guess the hustle gives you something to live for– that’s why you see so many 80-year old women wandering around the streets of Manhattan. But they’re a hard eighty. And you can’t help but think they’re not there because they want to bust their asses just to make it through a day, but because they simply don’t even know there are other ways to live. Humans are creatures of habit. We find comfort in conformity. We create these confines and then tell ourselves because we made them, we must also work within them. 

It’s logical: as animals, we are bound by evolutionary instinct to find and keep a lifestyle that enables us to be productive– namely, reproductive– so that drives us to make choices that are safe and keep us connected. But I don’t think it’s extreme to say we as humans can and should continue to evolve past base evolutionary drive. It’s not imperative for all of us to be constantly productive. We have machines and programs that help us do a lot of the heavy lifting so that we may spend more time enjoying the world we’ve been gifted. And just as these advancements further separate us from any quote/unquote “natural way” of existence, we should consider the possibility that breaking free from our patterns and choosing not to conform to the established expectations may serve us positively. 

Of course, it’s that “new is better” mindset that led Mark to breaking up with me. He saw moving in together as conforming to the established expectations of those around us and he couldn’t do it. So perhaps I’m a hypocrite waxing poetic on the evils of conformity. No ideology would’ve stopped me from moving in with him. I was dead set on doing the expected. 

Except, I didn’t see it as settling. I saw it as an exciting new experience that just happened to promise a bit of security alongside the novel. There is adventure to be found alongside someone you can rely on. I guess at the end of the day, we broke up over a difference of perspective. If you’re going to build a life with someone, you should both see your future from the same vantage point. 

_____________________________________________________________

With the internet working and full stomach, I’m ready to continue unpacking. It’s not so much the unboxing that’s taking up my time. But with every essential item I unwrap, I’m reminded of something I’ll need to buy in the process of turning this house into a home. It feels a little consumerist, but I fully intend to take my time in accumulating these items and purchase with quality in mind, so I don’t sweat it.

Well, I don’t sweat the prospective shopping. Unpacking boxes does work up quite the literal sweat, however. It’s almost 6 pm and I am in desperate need of an end-of-the-day shower. Before I hop in, I pull up a food app and find the best rated Thai restaurant in my delivery area. I put in an order for pad thai and spring rolls and receive an hour delivery estimate– plenty of time to get clean before dinner, so I hop in the shower. 

I’m right in the middle of rinsing the conditioner from my hair when I hear the doorbell. An hour was either an incredibly inaccurate delivery estimate or it took me much, much longer to wash my hair than it normally does. 

“WAIT!” I holler towards the door as I wrap myself in my favorite extra large, super fluffy bath towel. “I’M COMING! I’M COMING!” I scurry as fast as I can to the door, probably looking like a drowned rat. 

“I’m so sor–” I halt as soon as I see who’s on the other side of the door. It isn’t my Thai food at all. It’s the guy from the coffee shop– the hot one who rescued me from my social awkwardness. He has that charming smile on his face, but it fades a bit as he gets a good look at me. In a breath of realization, his eyes go up to the sky as a pink blush spreads across his face. It’s kind of adorable, to be honest. 

“I am so sorry,” he says. “I’m your… we’re neigh– I live a couple doors down,” he fumbles through. “I wanted to come over and welcome you to the neighborhood.” 

“We– we met earlier, right? At the coffee shop?” I find myself once again in a situation I haven’t experienced in quite some time. Fourteen years in New York and not once did I have a neighbor come to my door to introduce themselves. I’m not even certain if I’m expected to invite him in. I certainly don’t know how to proceed when I’ve opened the door but a single layer of terrycloth between my nude body and the– admittedly gorgeous– welcome wagon. Thankfully, the wagon in question seems steady on the trail. 

“Yes! Yeah, that was me. Hey– I can, you know, wait here a second if you want to…” he makes a vague gesture towards the towel. 

“Oh! That would be great, yes. But you don’t have to wait outside. Please, come on in.”

He gives me a wary look. “Are you sure? I don’t mind…” 

“Yeah, I guess it’s not exactly best practice to let some guy I just met into my home while I’m changing, huh? I’m sorry, I just don’t want to be rude.” 

“You’re not, I promise. Go ahead, I can wait here. I’m patient.” 

Now I’m the one who’s blushing. Blushing a nude in front of a strange man. Mother would be so proud. I give him a sheepish smile as I close the door then scurry back to my room to throw on the nearest clothes I can get my hands on. I make a pit stop to take a peek in the bathroom mirror, rub the smudged mascara from under my eyes, and run my fingers through my hair. It’s not much, I think looking at my sorry state, but it’s what I got. 

I head back to the front door and take a moment to compose myself to come off with a false air of nonchalance. Fake it til you make it, right? 

I open the door and see him leaning against the wall and looking through his phone casually. I notice for the first time he’s holding a bottle of wine in the other hand. He looks up and catches my eye. A smirk sprawls across his face. 

“Woah– that was quick!” he says. 

“Yeah, well, I don’t have a lot of things unpacked here at the moment, so I don’t have much to sift through. Cuts down on the decision fatigue when choosing what to wear, for sure.” 

His smile brightens and it puts my entire body on high alert. I may not be nearly naked anymore, but looking at this guy makes me feel so exposed, like he’s seeing things about me that I’m not even aware of. I’m a grown ass woman, but this guy has me feeling bashful for the first time in years. 

“Come on in,” I move aside and open the door completely to let him inside the house. “I think you’ve proven you’re trustworthy enough.” 

“Cool, yeah.. I mean, thanks.. Yeah.” His stammering is endearing. There’s something comforting in the shared awkwardness as if the meeting of two awkward nerds cancels us out into being normal. “I’m Jeremiah,” he introduces himself and holds his hand out to shake. 

“Molly,” I grasp his hand in return. “It’s nice to officially meet you.” 

“Yeha! I hope you don’t find this creepy, but earlier I noticed the internet guy in your driveway and realized someone had finally moved into this place. The for sale sign was taken down about a week ago and I was wondering when you’d show up. Then when you said you just moved here at the coffee shop earlier, I thought maybe the new owner could be you.”

“And it is!” I interrupt. “I mean, I am. That is to say… It's kismet.” Jesus Christ. Is that something people say? Can I even define “kismet?”  Am I just embarrassing myself here? 

“Exactly!” His smile breaks my shame spiral. “It’s always worth noting when we get to witness the stars aligning in real time.” He holds the bottle of wine up to eye level for me. “I brought you a housewarming gift. It’s nothing special– I wasn’t even certain if bringing wine to a stranger is appropriate. But it’s a pretty dry red. I thought if you don’t drink, you can use it for cooking.” 

“I do! I mean, I do drink. Thank you, you’re very kind and I feel quite welcome.” I take the bottle and scan the label. It’s a Chianti I’ve never tried before. “This looks beautiful. Would you like to have a glass with me?” 

“Um… sure! That sounds nice. Do you have glasses?” 

“I don’t have stemware, but I have a couple cups that will do. Plus,” I pause to rummage in the drawer where I stashed my well loved wine key the night before, “I have this!” I grab the water glasses I have from the cupboard and start working the corkscrew into the top of the bottle. 

“Please, allow me.” Jeremiah takes the wine and key from me and effortlessly drills deep into the cork, angling the bottle away from him. He looks me directly in the eye as he pushes the lever away from him and removes the cork with an muffled POP.

What in the actual fuck? How was that so… hot? 

He grabs the glasses and distributes even, modest pours in each of them before handing me one. “Cheers,” he says, lifting his own glass, “to your new home.” 

“And new neighbors,” I clink my cup against his, immediately questioning whether that was smooth or just pathetically thirsty. Either way, I take a sip. I notice his eyes darting around, taking in the details of the house. 

“This place is almost the exact same layout as my place, just reversed.” 

“Really?” I ask. “Is that unusual?” 

“Not really, no. These subdivisions are financed and built before they’re ever sold. Developers will have a handful of blueprints and rotate between them while building. I guess keeping everything as uniform as possible allows them to churn out houses quickly and reduces the risk of error. You build the same house over and over again, you can probably throw them up in your sleep.” 

“Or they get so overconfident and cocky, they begin to slack off and make mistakes.” 

“Oof. You’re telling me. Complacency can definitely lead to miscalculations.” He takes another sip before continuing. “Happens in my work all the time.” 

“Oh yeah? What do you do?”

He winces. “It’s kind of hard to explain– not that it’s beyond your understanding,” he reassures me and my heart melts ever so slightly. “But, basically, I track and predict rainfall.” 

“You’re a meteorologist?” 

“No. I don’t really know much about weather in general. It’s more like I use statistics to estimate which places will experience flood or drought in the near future. I then use those estimates to inform the purchase and sale of certain commodities.” 

“Commodities. Like food?” 

“Food is a big part of it, yes. But also a lot of precious metals and whatnot. And oil. There’s always oil.” 

“So you’re a gambler,” I tease. He grins in response. 

“An informed gambler, yes. But, you know– no risk, no reward.” 

“Well it does sound pretty interesting. More so than what I do.” 

“Which is?” 

“I am an editor for a publishing company that specializes in highly stylized cookbooks. A lot of Housewives for housewives kind of content. I basically make sure that what the authors– or, at least, their ghostwriters– put in their drafts all make sense. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve caught cups– multiple cups– of salt from being added to a dessert recipe.” 

“That sounds interesting to me,” he says, being polite. I appreciate it nonetheless. “So does that mean you know how to cook a lot of different things?” 

I guffaw. “In theory, at least. I’m not a talented chef by any means, but I can make a meal.” I realize that at every chance I get, I’m diminishing myself in this conversation. When did I fall into that little habit? But before I can think much more about it, my doorbell rings. “Speaking of meals, that would be the takeout I thought you were.” I answer the door and thank the delivery person after they hand me my order. When I come back, I see Jeremiah rinsing out his now empty glass of wine before gently placing it in the sink. 

“Well this seems like the perfect opening for me to make a graceful exit. I’ll leave you to enjoy your dinner.” He gives me a genuine smile and reaches out to shake my hand goodbye. “It was really great meeting you. I’m excited to have someone cool in the neighborhood. And if you need anything, anything,” he gives my hand a squeeze on the emphasis and while making some very effective eye contact, “don’t hesitate to ask.” 

Damn. My new neighbor is hot.

[innerchorus]

Arslan Senki Chapter 128 (Part 2)

What a top choice, contrasting Arslan, the ruler Pars needs, being unable to draw the sword that would prove his right to rule, with Hilmes, who is choosing to brute force a coronation ceremony in order to give his position legitimacy.

While Arslan freely admits that his bloodline gives him no claim, Hilmes is still trying to maintain the lie that he is the son of Osroes. Ugh, watching him falter over this line during the ceremony was hard. He is far from at his best here, but I still have sympathy for him despite all that he's done.

However he needs to BE NICER TO ZANDEH, DAMN IT.

Things in Ecbatana... are not good. We get an overview: dry wells, Andragoras's growing army outside, closed gates, dwindling food, friction between citizens and soldiers, all combined to insinuate that it's only a matter of time before Hilmes's control of the city is overturned.

And a coronation won't fix this, (and nor will a crown patch up the emotional damage that was inflicted on him by Andragoras's big reveal) but what else can Hilmes do right now?

Ashamed to say I laughed at this. His face...

Man, Zandeh really is trying his best in this chapter. He and his men were the ones who went scrounging up golden coins to melt down in order for Hilmes to actually have a crown to wear after Guiscard stole the real one, but Hilmes isn't in the mood to appreciate his efforts.

(That little guy is with him in this scene, looking nervous of Hilmes's reaction! Feels like Zandeh also knows Hilmes isn't going to love what they've done, but as he says, it's the best they can do for now.)

The fact that Zandeh adores Hilmes and can't wait to see him crowned yet is willing to tell it to him straight: calling Sam away from defending the underground waterways to attend to coronation ceremony is a bad move.

Fucking ouch. At least he didn't tell Zandeh to go and watch the passageways himself!

'The ceremony was a miserable, spare, and unsatisfying one' 🙃

Starting out strong.

My boy is so happy!

When Hilmes starts talking about 'King Osroes's legitimate heir', things start to go to shit. He falters, Sam and Zandeh can see something is wrong (and while Zandeh is puzzled, you know Sam knows) and then after failing to get the words out twice Hilmes rips the cloth off his scar and fucking commits to that lie.

I wanted a mask-free coronation for Hilmes but NOT LIKE THIS 😭

Sacrificing Innocentis to the gods isn't going to make that lie any truer, but Hilmes is just grasping at anything that will give him even a whisper of security right now.

Zandeh is very into it, lmao. I love him but am unsurprised to see his rough treatment of Innocentis. If I recall correctly he was excited about the idea of killing him before.

Filing this away under 'things that should not be hot'. (Also noting that he removed his armour for the ceremony 👀 and that he's abandoned the idea of burning Innocentis alive in favour of a different method.)

Also... how blind can you be, Hilmes? "Thus will I show what happens to those of other lands whose ambitions threaten the peace of Pars!"? Pars is your own country, and you facilitated that. Pars would likely still be at peace if not for you and your ambitions.

Anyway, Innocentis, who is likely delirious with fever from his wound, asks for sugar water, which enrages Hilmes so much he's about to strike him with his sword, when who should burst in (no doubt through those poorly-defended waterways, sigh) than Team Arslan?

(The coronation ceremony is taking place 10 days after Team Arslan set out for Mount Demavant. Chapter 126 says they 'rode East along the Continental Highway for several days' until they encountered Don Ricardo, so it seems a little more time has passed between the events of the first part of the chapter and those of the second).

This fills me with fear because no way will Hilmes withdraw.

Anyway, there's a panel of Team Arslan entering the room where you can't see what weapon Arslan is holding. Rukhnabad, you there?

[wetcatspellcaster]

Hi dear Ms. Wet Cat, I’d like to scream about the latest Pieces chapter if that’s all right!

I think taking away flirting from Astarion is fucking GENIUS. It’s so fascinating to see him try to navigate direct communication and being so… honest?? We all knew but the contrast really illuminates how much he was actually deflecting all the fucking time.

Also I’m now so invested in Astarion and Ser Verity’s relationship I’m not even kidding. You write her delightfully. And I realized we definitely need to see more Astarion/cat action in general. Let 👏🏻 Astarion 👏🏻 pet 👏🏻 cats 👏🏻 (and wear jumpers because that was fucking adorable)

I’ve been thinking about your Astarion and wanted to ask you — do you think he is sort of even more weary of himself than in game? Cazador controlled him but not to the point of complete override like Ascendent did. He used ALL of him, none of him was his own. And now even tiny things like his body language and ways of communicating feel tainted?

hello very lovely anon, thank you for the message! <3

I'm really thankful for the kind feedback! Act 3 has weirdly and accidentally become the most AU characterisation of both characters, and I only appreciated this once I'd returned to my in-game narrative lmao. Astarion is feeling guilty and weird about flirting!! Rosalie is just tired and wants a hug!! He's waiting for an explosive argument and a roast that's never going to come, because Rose said all she needed to to the Ascendent and she just wants to rest!!

Anyway, it means the chapters are taking a little longer to draft and a lot more thought than usual. I'm really thankful people are enjoying it, I think it's going to be fun getting them both back onto an even keel but I'm doing it carefully. Knowing readers are still on board with my shenanigans is always a relief lmao.

As to your question! I one day dream about writing a meta post of what the Ascendent is so I can explain every facet of my thinking, but the fear the Ascendent represents to me is [REDACTED - to be explained in due course], and the fear he represents for Astarion is a mixture of extreme, unpleasant dissociation in traumatic episodes, [REDACTED - to be explained in due course], and the idea that someone only ever wanted the facade. That they only ever wanted the experience the body and what the body could facilitate, with no care for what's underneath. So yeah, he's feeling some kind of way about himself. Like yes, he's done horrible things to Rosalie, but he wasn't in control of any of it - that's the dissociation. You're right, it did use all of him. But he also has a set of memories confirming that what people wanted from his was just sexual fantasy and power, and so while there's disgust at his own behaviour and the time he's lost basically being driven by an outside force, there's also the knowledge that people liked him like that, which um. I don't know. Confirms a lot of what I think his fears are? That personally would cause me to freak out. No wonder flirting feels weird!

(To end on a lighter note, Ser Verity is a combination of three cats in my life, my two little demons and then my bestie's cat, so truly like. just a chimera of cat energy!)

[mi4019pinipasamarasinghe]

stage 01 presentation

okay so we had to do the research about academic industry. And this is a group work. So my group did different kinds of researches under this topic.

Semi government universities

I did some researches for semi government universities. And found useful information to work on our assignment.

Btw I had to make some questions to interview. Here’s my questions,

can you remember the first day you went there. Can you remember what u felt that day. 

⁠what kind of a impression you had when u entering to the university. And is the same way you have it now. 

⁠Did you get any troubles, struggles kinda things in your beginning of the journey at (name of the university) 

how was your syllabus in ( the uni)

did yall had examinations or did yall just had assignments 

how about your lecturers 

⁠how about the lecture hours (are they cool/ boring/ enjoyed etc…) 

how about your peers 

how you think about your university now. 

is there anything you think that they should develop or add to their university or to the syllabus? 

⁠(as an extra ques) if you got a chance to go back to those old days would you like to go?

what are some things about your university that you think are unique to your university ?

how did you find the transition from high school to university?

What do u think semi gov uni compared to others

Interview - i

sorry guys i can't upload the video. maybe because it's kinda long video.

Interview - ii

this interview i did trough DMs. cause my sister was so busy, preparing for her final examinations.

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

Q: Can you remember the first day you went there? Can you remember what you felt that day. 

A: I vividly remember the first day I went to the SAB Campus. I felt a mix of excitement and nervousness, as I was entering a new chapter of my life.

Q: ⁠what kind of a impression you had when u entering to the university. And is the same way you have it now. 

A:    When entering the university, I was impressed by the campus's infrastructure and the welcoming atmosphere. While my impression remains positive overall, my perspective has evolved with time and experience.

Q: ⁠Did you get any troubles, struggles kinda things in your beginning of the journey at (name of the university) 

A:  Like many freshmen, I encountered some struggles at the beginning of my journey at SAB Campus. Adjusting to the new academic environment and managing time effectively.

Q: ⁠how was your syllabus in ( the uni)

A: The syllabus at SAB Campus was comprehensive and well-structured, covering a wide range of topics relevant to my field of study. 

Q: ⁠did yall had examinations or did yall just had assignments 

A: We had a combination of examinations and assignments throughout the academic year.

Q: ⁠how about your lecturers 

A: The lecturers at SAB Campus were knowledgeable, supportive, and dedicated to helping students succeed. They provided valuable insights, guidance, and mentorship throughout the learning process.

Q: ⁠how about the lecture hours (are they cool/ boring/ enjoyed etc…) 

A: Most of the sessions were more engaging and I enjoyed it.

Q: ⁠how about your peers 

A: My peers at SAB Campus were diverse, talented, and passionate about their areas of study. Interacting with them enriched my learning experience and facilitated valuable exchanges of ideas and perspectives.

Q: ⁠how you think about your university now. 

A: Reflecting on my university experience now, I have a deep appreciation for the education and opportunities it provided me. It has played a significant role in shaping my academic and personal growth.

Q: ⁠is there anything you think that they should develop or add to their university or to the syllabus? 

A: While SAB Campus offers a strong educational experience, there are areas where it could continue to expand. This must include new degree and mastered programs.

Q⁠(as an extra ques): if you got a chance to go back to those old days would you like to go?

A: If given the chance, I would gladly revisit those old days at SAB Campus. Despite the challenges and pressures, it was a time of growth, discovery, and meaningful connections that I would cherish revisiting.

Q: Is there anything you think that is unique to your university compared to others?

A: I think there is a difference between the government and semi-government universities. These differences impact the university's infrastructure, faculty resources, research opportunities, and overall quality of education.

Q: What is the difference between your high school life and university life?

A: Universities typically offer higher education programs. but Schools provide primary and secondary education. Both universities and schools are educational institutions, they serve distinct purposes and cater to different stages of academic and personal development.

************************************************************************

that's it. hope ya'll get a knowledge about academic education. see you on next blog. take care till then. byeeee.

[w3tn3t]

I would like to start by saying that this is a very well worded, well rounded post, and I'm going to attempt to add to it rather than criticize it.

I agree that fanon MK1 Kuai Liang exhibits traits he doesn't really show in the game itself. You refer to these as being more Tomas than Kuai, but I feel where they're really coming from is Kuai Liang's characterization from previous games and media.

His being kind and courteous is most famously shown in MKX's story mode where he goes out of his way to facilitate as inoffensive an familiar an environment he can before delivering quite heavy news to Hanzo, and remains as polite as possible in the face of Hanzo's defensive hostility while showing great forgiveness. This is far from the first time he's portrayed as peaceful and kind. (This is a weird one, but in the Defenders of the Realm cartoon, he says he spent a lot of time trying to find inner peace before returning to kombat after going on the run. In a later episode, he wins a bet with Stryker and uses it to teach him some of his skills, as a friend.)

Going on a bit of a tangent here, but MK has started out as, and has been for a long time, a franchise aimed at teenage boys. While it's managed to avoid the worst of it, at the end of the day, the male characters have only so much emotion they can exhibit outside of the "cool" rage. The target audience doesn't want to see Scorpion cry unless it's man tears slipping out over gnashed teeth and a scowl, à la Scorpion's Revenge.

What gives Kuai Liang his emotional reputation in the fandom is that of the times this "rule" has been broken, a few moments of significance have been his. Like his face scrunching up in sadness and pain in his MK11 story chapter in the factory, or him openly crying in Battle of the Realms.

MK11 intros are a whole other thing for him, between the cuteness factor of letting Johnny Cage call him an amusing nickname and the way he defends Hanzo. He also has his flaws in MK11, like immediately fighting the younger Scorpion, but that only cements how thrown off he was by his friend's death.

All of this combined, he's the usually serene, wise yet not-without-feeling voice of reason...

And MK1's Kuai Liang looks like him. Not in the way they share a name, or have similar face models, but in the way they are presented. He doesn't speak often. Next to Bi-Han, he can easily be described as peaceful. ("Patience, Bi-Han. There are many demands on Liu Kang's attention.") His remarks about tradition, on their own, could be considered wise. Others look to him as a teacher. But now, this behaviour lacks the same context.

You said that being Scorpion means his flaws are overlooked, and while you are right about that, I feel like a lot of his problems are because he is Scorpion. Above, I mentioned that male characters' emotions are limited. This is never as blatant as it is with Scorpion. Because, up until this point, all Hanzo Hasashi has been allowed to exhibit is a mixture anger, rage, fury, and did I mention anger? They took a chance this time around by casting their arguably calmest character in this role. So what can they do about it? Utilize Hanzo's secret, second emotion: pride of his clan. Except, Kuai Liang is meant to abandon this clan during the story. So, he latches onto his ideals. And when clips of the story mode inevitably get posted on Youtube, it will look great to see Scorpion berate Sub-Zero on honor and tradition. No matter it being the third time during what meagre story mode they are both given.

I think the fandom has taken MK1 Kuai Liang as how NRS thought they have written him. But this dissonance between what you can gather from the material itself and what was intended and most widely received just makes him seem even more conniving.

All in all, his state in MK1 is just.. sad, becuase it has so much potential. Kuai Liang's story up until this point has been him losing and trying to regain his autonomy, and then owning up to the the things he did under control and duress. In contrast to Hanzo, who has always been in control of himself but not of his rage. But it has also been about his loyalty and love for his brother, going so far as to rewrite time in his MK11 ending to have him by his side.

He finally has the room to freely fight for Bi-Han's soul, and instead he gives up on it before the corruption has even spread.

(It's currently 4 am so sorry for any typos or things that don't make sense lol, just wanted to share my thoughts)

This is probably the most unpopular of all unpopular opinions out there, but hear me out for just a second:

Can we please start to acknowledge Kuai Liang's flaws? It's perfectly fine to like a character while also acknowledging their negative traits and the bad things they've done. I'm genuinely confused by the whole "aww Kuai Liang is so nice :)" thing the fandom has going on. I understand that, being a Bi-Han fan, I might sound biased, but I promise this is coming from a completely neutral standpoint.

I don't see how any of the positive traits fans associate with Kuai Liang (kindness, selflessness, a caring nature) are backed up by any canon material we know of. Those traits belong to Tomas, not Kuai Liang. The version of Kuai Liang that is a loving brother to Tomas and the prime example of a good man only exists in fanon.

Vengeful, short-tempered, regressive — those are Kuai Liang's actual traits.

May I remind you, the real Kuai Liang looks like this.

His face expresses arrogance, he's looking down on whoever is in front of him. He doesn't smile, doesn't display any expression that one could interpret for kindness. He looks cold. Does that arrogance and coldness look familiar at all?

It's the same expression as this one. Bi-Han is also shown looking down on others, with the exact same confidence stemming from the idea that he is superior to others. Kuai Liang mirrors that expression perfectly. They're brothers, they're similar in the way they act and think, in the way they were raised. Let's not forget that Kuai Liang was second in line for the grandmaster title while with the Lin Kuei. He is grandmaster of the Shirai Ryu now. They are both arrogant.

Tomas is the only one of the three who smiles and has a warm, kind aura to him. I'm not saying he's a perfect ray of sunshine, he's certainly capable of being ruthless just like his brothers, but he doesn't share their overwhelmingly negative traits.

There is no warmth to Kuai Liang at all, which is ironic given that his element is fire. Kuai Liang's fire, however, burns cold to match Bi-Han's ice. They are not opposites, they are the same.

Hanzo as Scorpion was driven by grief and ultimately love for his family, Kuai Liang's fire is only fueled by hatred for his brother.

While Bi-Han is obsessed with power, Kuai Liang's obsession with honor and tradition is crossing the line to fanaticism. Am I the only one to find it concerning how he worships his father and his father's ideals almost religiously? It's pretty much all he ever talks about at any given chance.

to Bi-Han: "His teachings did not pass with him. They should still guide us." to Bi-Han: "Father would turn in his grave if he saw this." to Smoke: "We must chart a new course. One that both honors our Father's legacy and serves Earthrealm." to Kitana: "Death before dishonor." to Smoke: "Only if we honor tradition."

Is this how a normal person talks? I don't think so. Admittedly, Bi-Han's methods are wrong, but since when is it a good thing to be completely against progress? Kuai Liang is stuck holding onto outdated traditions that don't allow for growth. It's not necessarily a bad thing that he looks up to his father, but idolizing someone to the point of never questioning anything they do or say and giving up any critical thinking is dangerous.

There's plenty more examples in the story mode and intros where Kuai Liang brings up honor and tradition, but this post is going to be long enough as it is so I only named a few.

I want to focus more on how Kuai Liang treats other characters throughout the story.

Tomas:

Why does the fandom claim he's such a good brother to Tomas when this is the only scene in the story mode where Kuai Liang expresses any sort of care towards Tomas — in a moment where he needs Tomas on his side?

Oddly enough, he's playing at Tomas' vulnerability here by bringing up family and reassuring him that they're brothers even if they don't share blood, in direct contrast to how Bi-Han said Tomas' blood was not Lin Kuei earlier. Words he chose carefully and deliberately, not out of the goodness of his heart because he wanted to comfort Tomas, but to achieve the desired effect: to sway Tomas to his side.

Similar to Bi-Han, Kuai Liang is a manipulative and calculating character. I would even dare to go as far as to say he's even more manipulative since Bi-Han lacks the charisma and patience to be a successful manipulator. Bi-Han makes no effort to convince Tomas to join him. He can't even keep up the lie he told Kuai Liang for very long. Bi-Han's actions are impulsive and poorly planned out, he's the naive one being manipulated by characters like Shang Tsung while Kuai Liang makes smart, calculated moves. He knew exactly what he was doing when speaking to Tomas.

I don't see how that was even necessary since Tomas would have picked Kuai Liang's side regardless simply because it's the one aligning with his own beliefs, but Kuai Liang's words were a subtle "Hey, remember that I'm the one who considers you part of this family and he does not. If you don't side with me, you're going to betray your own brother."

One of the key signs to recognize a manipulator by is how they try and convince a person close to them that it's "the two of them against everyone else" or in this case "them against their older brother". Manipulators know someone's weaknesses (Tomas' desire to be a part of their family) and how to exploit them to get what they want.

There was never even the slightest chance that Tomas would have sided with Bi-Han in that fight anyway, but he also appears way more passive in it as opposed to Kuai Liang. Tomas doesn't want to fight his own brother, but at the end of the day he cares more about doing the right thing and saving innocent lives than about his inner conflict. For Kuai Liang, it's a quest for vengeance and the pursue of his own goals above all else.

I also think it's interesting that Tomas looks slightly surprised/ confused at the hand being placed on his arm by Kuai Liang. It's almost like he's not used to being reassured like this which makes you wonder how often Kuai Liang really comforted Tomas or showed any support towards him. Like Liu Kang and everyone else, Kuai Liang barely acknowledged Smoke's presence before. They're only seen exchanging occasional glances.

What has me doubt the sincerety of Kuai Liang's words even more is this scene.

Personally, I don't believe that Bi-Han has ever snapped at Tomas like that before this incident here, but I know the fandom likes to think otherwise so just for this take let's go with the wrong assumption that Bi-Han used to put Tomas down like that regularly.

Why did Kuai Liang not step in to defend Tomas in this scene? If he knew where this was going why did he let Bi-Han finish his sentence? It's certainly not out of respect or because Bi-Han is their grandmaster. Kuai Liang has no issue talking back to him and contradicting him in other situations but he was surprisingly silent when this whole thing went down.

He was either just as surprised as Tomas that Bi-Han would snap at their brother like that because it hasn't happened before or because he simply didn't care to interrupt since he had nothing to gain from it, unlike later when he wanted Tomas' loyalty for himself.

Kuai Liang could have been standing up for Tomas in this situation if he was the good brother everyone sees him as, but for some reason he didn't. Make of that what you will.

As for the intros between them, there's only one where Kuai Liang asks about Tomas' family. In every other intro with Tomas he only speaks of his own goals. Honor, tradition, training the Shirai Ryu, defeating the Lin Kuei... At one point he praises Tomas for his loyalty towards him, only to question said loyalty later on.

Scorpion: Our resolve cannot waver, brother. Smoke: I'm offended that you think mine has.

If I'm not mistaken, that's a prime example of manipulation right here. Guilt tripping/shaming someone into doing something they don't even want to do.

Kuai Liang seems to always be working an angle with Tomas. Why is he suddenly doubting him? Because he knows Tomas wants peace, not war between the brothers?

Ultimately, it seems he doesn't care about what Tomas wants. We know that Tomas is torn in this conflict, he resents Bi-Han, but he also doesn't want his brothers to fight. Otherwise, he wouldn't have asked for Liu Kang to reunite them.

Tomas' intros are a whole paradox of their own.

Smoke: Are we to be enemies for life? Sub-Zero: Unless you submit, Tomas.

Smoke: I'll never forgive Bi-Han. Scorpion: His betrayal has seared both our hearts.

Scorpion: We'll soon meet the Lin Kuei in battle. Smoke: It will be our last with them. Smoke: For Earthrealm's sake, my brothers must reunite. Raiden: There's little hope for that, Tomas.

Smoke: Can I get the brothers to reconcile? Liu Kang: They must choose their own path, Tomas.

What Tomas says to other characters contradicts everything he says to Kuai Liang. But why? Why does he never tell Kuai Liang directly that he'd just wish him and Bi-Han would stop fighting? Why if not because he's afraid of Kuai Liang's reaction and that he will lose him as a brother unless he agrees with everything Kuai Liang says?

SPOILERS: It's interesting how Kuai Liang in this scene asks Tomas to help him bring Bi-Han back with them so he won't be able to aid Shang Tsung, but according to leaks he's going to leave Bi-Han behind with Havik in the dlc, not even caring about the consequences that might have for Bi-Han or for Earthrealm. Now that Tomas isn't there he no longer has to keep up the facade. Tomas' absence also makes me wonder if he maybe got tired of Kuai Liang's spitefulness and blind hatred.

To sum it up, here's what we know about how Kuai Liang treats Tomas:

Kuai Liang initialy doesn't defend Tomas against Bi-Han's harsh words

He picks an odd timing to comfort Tomas at the Ying Fortress, possibly to assure that Tomas will join his side, not Bi-Han's

He's trying to push his own agenda onto Tomas who agrees with him in their intros but doesn't seem to share Kuai Liang's goals when speaking to other characters like Liu Kang or Raiden

SPOILERS: It seems that Tomas won't be attending Kuai Liang's wedding as he's not mentioned at all in any of the dlc leaks. He might be trying to stay out of the fight between his brothers entirely.

Bi-Han:

Another detail I've noticed is how quickly Kuai Liang comes up with the idea to create the Shirai Ryu. How likely is it that he made the decision to form an entire new clan on the spot? He seems way too prepared for this scenario.

Smoke: Once he's exposed, won't you be grandmaster? Scorpion: You forget Cyrax and Sektor. Their loyalty to Bi-Han is absolute. They'll sooner abet his corruption than follow me. We must chart a new course.

Why did Tomas not know about this when they're part of the same clan but Kuai Liang knows the answer immediately? It's almost like he has thought it through before, tried to figure out exactly who would side with him and who wouldn't if it came down to important Lin Kuei members choosing between him and Bi-Han. And that's because he has. It even says so in his official bio.

Kuai Liang always intended to overthrow Bi-Han.

He admitted that he was aware of Bi-Han's frustrations all along and yet he never brought up his concerns to Liu Kang or anyone else. It seems that he intended to take advantage of how mentally unstable his brother was in order to become grandmaster himself. I'm not saying he always wanted the title to himself, Kuai Liang doesn't care about power, but his obsession with tradition equals Bi-Han's obsession with power. He wanted to rule the Lin Kuei himself to enforce his own ideals and when he realized that wouldn't work out, he settled for the next best thing: creating his own clan.

Kitana in comparison also knows that Mileena is impulsive and many people doubt that she's fit to lead but she supports her sister regardless. Her loyalty to Mileena is unwavering. Kitana loves and supports her sister unconditionally. It doesn't even once cross her mind to take Mileena's place on the throne.

Kuai Liang and Kitana share similar values, yet Kitana's loyalty to her sister outweighs all that while Kuai Liang didn't hesitate to plot against Bi-Han way before Bi-Han even sided with Shang Tsung. Just Bi-Han's frustration alone was reason enough for Kuai Liang to want to overthrow his brother.

Ashrah, a complete stranger, cares more about redeeming Bi-Han than his own brother does. And no, Kuai Liang's actions can't be justified by bringing up that Bi-Han let their father die or betrayed Earthrealm etc. because Kuai Liang gave up on him long before any of that happened. In fact, the way Kuai Liang constantly brings up their father at every chance he gets probably added to Bi-Han's frustrations and is part of the reason why he was driven to madness.

Scorpion: Glory? We fight for duty. Sub-Zero: Does our father's ghost possess you? All I hear is his voice.

Bi-Han seems haunted by their father's ghost and Kuai Liang knows, yet he doesn't shy away from bringing it up at every opportunity. Was it done on purpose? Who knows.

But it's noteworthy that it's again manipulative behavior. The way Kuai Liang constantly criticizes Bi-Han, undermines his authority, compares him to their father whenever he can although he knows about Bi-Han's frustrations, then claims a shadow has fallen on Bi-Han's soul when he at the very least partially helped cast that shadow.

I'm not sure why people claim Kuai Liang was supportive of Bi-Han before his betrayal because there's no evidence of that at all. At least, none that I could find. Kuai Liang seems reluctant to follow Bi-Han's orders and he also doesn't seem to respect him much. Again, compare that to how Kitana shows actual concern for Mileena while Kuai Liang just seems fed up with Bi-Han.

Personally, I believe Kuai Liang's goals are far bigger than we know at this point. Something about the line "The Shirai Ryu won't rest until Bi-Han is defeated and the Lin Kuei's honor is restored" suggests that, while he built his own clan, Kuai Liang still has some interest in the Lin Kuei. I doubt that he's just planning to take down Bi-Han to let someone else be grandmaster in his place. I think that Kuai Liang wants to merge both clans once Bi-Han is defeated. After all, Kuai Liang's bio mentions that he's willing to fight his brother for control of the Lin Kuei's legacy. He might think it would be in his father's interest if he became grandmaster of both clans. However, that's just an educated guess and might not be true at all.

How Kuai Liang treats Bi-Han:

Kuai Liang never trusted Bi-Han's leadership skills or acknowledged his authority

The conflict of interest between the brothers always existed, even before Bi-Han switched sides and Kuai Liang always planned to take the grandmaster title from Bi-Han

Kuai Liang attempted to (and would have) killed Bi-Han but was interrupted in doing so

He's eager to fight Bi-Han, while Tomas is reluctant

He seems to have always held very little love for Bi-Han, if any at all, although he claims they used to be close once

Harumi:

Does no one else think it's a little bit suspicious that the woman Kuai Liang ends up "falling in love with" is a capable fighter and head of her own clan, someone with exactly the resources, knowledge and means to provide Kuai Liang with everything he needs to build his own clan? He even names the Shirai Ryu after Harumi, a clan whose goal it is to take down Kuai Liang's hated brother, someone Harumi probably knows little about or never even met. Maybe I'm the only one to think that's kind of messed up and not a romantic gesture, but at least he's giving her some credit, right? Does Harumi lead the Shirai Ryu with Kuai Liang or did he take her own clan from her to build his own? I couldn't really find any information regarding that but it would be even more messed up if the Shirai Ryu are originally Harumi's clan that Kuai Liang simply took over.

Another weird detail is how Smoke calls Harumi Kuai Liang's "good friend" in his own ending, which makes you wonder if he left the Shirai Ryu before Kuai Liang and Harumi became a couple? Does he know Kuai Liang doesn't actually love Harumi? It's confusing because Tomas is the person closest to Kuai Liang. Shouldn't he be the first to know if his brother fell in love and is planning to get married?

Kuai Liang's reaction when Kitana congratulates him on his marriage is rather cold as well. He doesn't seem like a happy, newly married man and it makes me think their marriage wasn't necessarily out of love, at least not on Kuai Liang's side.

How Kuai Liang treats Harumi:

There's not enough known about their relationship yet to really know if Kuai Liang's love for Harumi is genuine

He benefitted a lot from his friendship with her when creating the Shirai Ryu

It's strange that Tomas only calls Harumi Kuai Liang's "good friend"

Final conclusion:

Kuai Liang seems to follow a pattern of binding people to him emotionally (Tomas, Harumi... ) to be able to use them to his own advantage. I'm not saying that he doesn't care about them at all, but first and foremost, they're assets to him and family second.

For someone who claims to care about honor, Kuai Liang sure has very little of it. SPOILERS: The fact that Kuai Liang is willing to let Bi-Han die and deny him treatment when he gets infected with chaos magic says a lot about the type of person he is. How is it honorable to kick a man when he's down? How is it honorable that he wants to kill Frost during his own wedding and Harumi has to beg him to spare her life?

To get this straight, this is not an attempt to paint Kuai Liang as the epitome of all evil or to say he doesn't care at all about the people in his life, just that he's much more cold and calculating than people give him credit for. Just because Kuai Liang has chosen the good side while Bi-Han went down the wrong path doesn't necessarily make him a nice person. He's still vindictive and selfish. He still shows toxic behavior.

I know someone will try and twist this post into something it isn't, so let me say this is NOT a personal attack on Kuai Liang fans or an attempt to spread negativity, it's just my opinion that you're free to disagree with. I blame the writers and their obvious bias for Scorpion that Kuai Liang's bad traits are so often overlooked. This post is only me sharing my thoughts. If it offends you, block me. I don't want to see this reblogged with paragraphs from people trying to defend Kuai Liang.

[hua-fei-hua]

HEY chapter # game 66 31 35 44 52 sory if we’ve already done these 🙈🌷

i am also not keeping track of what numbers you’ve picked already c’:

there’s a bunch of chapters anyway so you usually just end up picking new ones anyway

i’m also too lazy to stop abbreviating the chapters n stuff now so you’ll have to be living w/m# and r# now lmao rereading this sentence i read that as m-sharp and r-sharp lol

a lot of these are part of the tour arc!! as evidenced by all the abba lmao

31 - m19 honey honey by abba

I heard about you before (I heard about you before) I wanted to know some more (I wanted to know you some more)

this is the first chapter in the tour arc!! i don’t remember why i picked this song, but i do remember struggling to come up with an abba song i liked that also fit this chapter. and then months later when i was picking out the summary lyrics (like... a week or two ago lol) i was like “damn. what part of this did i have in mind when naming this chapter”

the main event in this chapter picks up right after the end of b1 which i feel okay mentioning here bc we are posting on tuesday what the fuck. anyway *sparkle sparkle* ~*girls’ niiiiight*~

35 - r14 mamma mia by abba

Mamma mia, here I go again My my, how can I resist you? Mamma mia, does it show again? My my, just how much I've missed you

this is the rhythm chapter that covers “the gang watches a liveshow of the mamma mia musical”!! the moment chapter that covers the same event is called “dancing queen” and these two chapters will be published on the same day.

ALSO. it has a pool moment. C:

i really love this chapter. it has top ten pictures taken just before disaster vibes. 

44 - m27 boo hoo by mindy gledhill

Cry, baby, cry Everything is gonna be alright You gotta live a little in the dark To appreciate the morning light

lowkey. this is a bit of a recap episode ahahahaha. 

it’s basically a bit where jirou goes to visit togata again the day before they go on tour!! she tells him about kaminari. c:

52 - m31 name of the game by abba

What's the name of the game? Does it mean anything to you? What's the name of the game? Can you feel it the way I do? Tell me please, 'cause I have to know

this is the last chapter of the tour arc. jirou and bakugou are running around six flags and arguing because they each keep dishing harsh truths out at each other and they get mad about it lmao. it’s peak bkjr friendship imo. 

but they both character develop as a result of it, and the conversations they have in this chapter affect the decisions they make in the rapidly-approaching endgame :D

fun fact, m29 is taking place at the same time as m31, and it follow kaminari and kirishima around six flags. c:

66 - r29 would you be so kind by dodie (reprise)

Oh, would you be So kind As to fall in love with me, you see I'm trying I know you know that I like you But that's not enough So if you will Please fall in love

super ultra mega spoilers but this is the chapter where krbk get together for real. 

the reason it’s a reprise is because i’ve used this song as a chapter title before in rhythm!! it’s the same as chapter 1, which had these lyrics for its summary, as reference:

I have a question It might seem strange How are your lungs? Are they in pain? 'Cause mine are aching Think I know why I kinda like it, though You wanna try?

other fun facts include that the song that gets reprised in moment is “Queen of the Night” by fialta, which, in just the chapter “queen of the night” covers homecoming. so if “would you be so kind” parallels the fake getting together and the real getting together, i wonder what queen of the night is gonna parallel homecoming against? 

c: c: c:

i am like, genuinely so excited for this chapter tho because of all the parallels and callbacks and just the detail i can imagine the scene in. it’s just. aaaaa!!!!!

[psychewritesbs]

Chapter 159: Justice is blind + Foreshadowing from chapter 6 and JJK0?

This chapter we’re introduced to Higuruma, one of the players in the Culling Game with 100 points who Yuji and Megumi will most likely target in an attempt to add new rules to the game. 

As I mentioned before, JJK is the equivalent of Murphy’s Law on steroids and we are guaranteed for Gege to pull the rug from under our feet. For all you know, the odds that Higuruma agrees to help them without a problem are 50/50.

Onto this week’s theories... This is a long one so brace yourself.

Higuruma’s Shikigami is the stuff of nightmares

Higuruma’s Shikigami, if that’s what it is, is loaded with symbolism. Perfect for my Cursed Technique of reading between the lines and over-thinking every single detail.

What I love about Higuruma is that he is a man on a mission--sort of like a Shonen Protagonist. He is single-minded in his pursuit of saving those he sees as victims to the monster that is the Japanese legal court system.

Despite continuing to put himself on the line for the people he is trying to “save,” the oppressive system that they are part of makes it impossible for him to achieve his goals. And yet, he keeps trying to fight the beast that is the legal system even when the odds of him ever winning are .1%.

In the end, it isn’t the legal system itself that breaks him, but rather his own unwavering conviction combined with his frustration and the anger from those he promised a victory he was not able to deliver despite his greatest efforts.

The only thing granted to all is an unfair reality

Lady Justice has been depicted as blind since the 16th century. Her blindfold is meant to represent her objectivity and impartiality before the law.

But Higuruma knows that a 99.9% conviction rate is anything but objective and impartial. Keeping his “eyes open” is his desire to bring awareness to a system that is broken.

What I found interesting, however, is that while Higuruma is intent on keeping his eyes open, his Shikigami’s eyes are sewn shut, as though they are being forced shut by thread.

If there is anyone who is closest to embodying the ideal of blind justice, it is Higuruma.

This makes me wonder how we’re going to see Higuruma’s character evolve, especially as he comes across Yuji and friends.

Higuruma vs. Megumi/Yuji?

Remember I said Higuruma might be willing to help Yuji and Megumi add a rule? I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen, but it is still a possibility. He does seem like a fair (pun intended) person after all.

What’s being set up, I feel like (and I could be wrong), is a showdown between two opposing belief systems: 

Higuruma’s blind trust in serving and facilitating justice vs Megumi’s self-serving justice.

Ironically, they both 

want to save good people, 

neither considers himself to be a hero, and 

their sense of justice is self-serving... they just have different criteria for what that means

Higuruma wants to facilitate justice for people who are innocent but are victims of the Japanese Law system. He’s done the research and he believes these people to be innocent and as having done nothing wrong. 

On the other hand, Megumi wants to facilitate justice for people he cares about no matter how potentially dangerous they are (and this last bit is really important). 

I realized recently that despite Sukuna having killed a lot of people during Shibuya, Megumi has not attempted to kill him since the Cursed Womb Arc. 

Remember, Megumi has said he’s responsible for those deaths since he was the one who saved Yuji.

In addition, not only does Megumi need Yuji’s strength to save Tsumiki, but I am going to go as far as saying that Megumi cares deeply for Yuji to the point he still doesn’t want him to die even after everything that has happened up to this point.

Which begs the question, how is Higuruma going to react to Yuji’s existence?

This brings me to the possible foreshadowing from all the way back in the Cursed Womb Arc and possibly even JJK0.

Foreshadowing from chapter 6 or Crack Theory?

When I first read the new chapter I was intrigued that one of the characters Higuruma is defending as an attorney has a similar backstory to Tadashi from back in chapter 6.

Although their face structure looks similar...

The circumstances are slightly different in that Tadashi’s case involved driving without a license and Higuruma’s client was drunk driving.

But if we’re willing to suspend judgement for a minute, this is important because, if it is, in fact, Tadashi he is referring to here, then this panel just goes to show that Gege foreshadows like a boss. 

And what if that girl who got ran over happens to be Rika from JJK0? 

There isn’t necessarily concrete evidence that Tadashi is the one who ran Rika over AND I would need to look at the timeline of events more closely, but if it IS the case... talk about butterfly effect in action.

But the foreshadowing doesn’t end there. Someone pointed out that in chapter 143, Megumi tells Yuji they aren’t heroes fighting for justice and that no one can truly ever judge JJS.

So... no one can judge sorcerers, unless judging is exactly what Higuruma has been doing to rack up points...

The fact that Higuruma has 100 points tells us he’s been on a killing rampage, and from everything we see him go through in the chapter and from that look on his face in the last panel, we should not be surprised that he’s gone off the deep end.

Honestly, characters who loose their shit (hello Feral Megumi) are one of my favorite things about JJK.

I am writing all of this because it goes to show that Gege does not show you anything in his story that doesn’t have meaning in the grander scheme of things. Which leaves room for interpretation about whether Saori and Yuko will have roles moving forward.

Right along these lines, in looking for a specific line from chapter 9, I ran into this little gem:

Is this foreshadowing about Tsumiki too? 

Maybe, maybe not.

As I said before, half the fun is in going through the journey of JJK unfolding before our very own eyes, while putting the pieces together from all of the breadcrumbs Gege dropped along the way.

But the fun doesn’t end there. I am fascinated at how as a fandom we willingly get traumatized when Gege kills off everybody and their mom that you cared about, while simultaneously loving every single minute of it.

We know it’s coming, and we’re there for it.

That’s Gege’s Cursed Technique for you... he gives you what you didn’t know you wanted.

Gege setting up the stage for madness

All in all, Gege has been painstakingly setting the stage for the madness that is to come during the Culling Game and the hype just keeps on escalating. If the Culling Game arc is anything like Shibuya, we can expect, again, Murphy’s Law in full effect. 

I was chatting with @darthdutton​ about how I started reading the Shibuya Arc only a few months ago and therefore I did not get to experience it as it was unfolding. 

It makes me so happy that I now get to experience the Culling Game as it happens and I am both so distraught and excited for whatever comes our way.

And when I say “whatever comes our way” I mean that I trust Gege to continue to surprise me.

I am here for the hype but I stay for the story

I loved this chapter! 

I thought it was the f*cking bomb.com because you can see Gege starting to tie loose ends from possible foreshadowing he shared at the beginning of the story. 

Plus, we got to see his story-telling skills in action as he creates yet another relatable character.

I truly admire Gege as a writer--the fact that he can come up with a story on a week-to-week basis, execute on it, create very human and relatable characters, set up foreshadowing all the way back at the beginning, and drop breadcrumbs along the way is just mind-blowing to me.

God, I love Jujutsu Kaisen.

Anyways... this was a bit long but I just felt like I had a lot to say about this seemingly insignificant chapter. Hope you enjoyed it, and as always, I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it! 

[todaydreambelieversfic]

Author Spotlight: Gleefulpoppet Day 1

Author Spotlight: @gleefulpoppet​ 

How did you get into Glee and Glee fandom?

Crazily enough, I was having the worst day ever a couple of years ago, and I was down a rabbit hole of Ms. Mojo’s top 10 videos; I’d never seen any of them before. I watched the Top 10 TV Kisses, and when the Klaine one came on, I got the chills! I sat back and thought, “WOAH! What did I just watch? That was intense on a whole different level. Like I’ve never seen on television before.” I set out to figure out how to watch Glee and was thrilled that it had been put on Netflix. I took some vacation days I had been hoarding and binge-watched all six seasons in about ten days. That led me to watch every interview I could find on YouTube, which led me to Tumblr, which led me to fanfic.

In general, what drew you into writing (and/or creating)?

I’m an artist by trade “in real life,” so I know how imperative creativity is to our mental health (I could talk about that for hours, so I’ll just leave it there). I was always interested in writing in the back of my mind but had never thought about it seriously.

What was it about Glee that made you decide to write fanfic for it?

For the first time, I didn’t want to create art with the characters; I wanted to write about them because I was so unsatisfied with the show itself. I have a love-hate relationship with Glee like a lot of us do. The characters were brought to life in such a fantastic way I couldn’t get them out of my head. They took up residence in my mind, and I couldn’t help but think about how I would have written them. And when I ran out of fanfic to read and couldn’t find more of the kind of stories I wanted to read, I decided to write my own.

Have you been a part of other fandoms before? Have you written fanfiction pre-glee?

I’ve always been a huge fangirl, the biggest one before Glee was probably BBC Merlin. But I had never read or written fanfic before Glee.

Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

I want to try so many things. Now that I’ve started writing, it’s something I doubt I’ll ever stop. I wrote a one-shot about a vampire/werewolf combination, and I’d love to expand on that someday. I also would like to write Daddies!Klaine, but I haven’t gotten there yet. I hope to very soon.

Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole?

Incest. I accidentally read a few chapters of a story that was not tagged correctly, and BAM, there it was. I threw my phone across the room in shock. And I can never get that scene out of my mind—I still cry thinking about it.

How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

I have a list of about thirty stories I’m serious about wanting to write and then the list is about fifty more deep of just random one-lines and thoughts that “could be” a fanfic someday. 

I’d love to share! One of the things I want to do is rewrite the classic Audrey Hepburn movies with Kurt and Blaine. Maybe, Breakfast and Tiffany’s and Roman Holiday to start with. Not sure when I’ll ever get to them, but I think about it a lot. 

***

Check out Gleefulpoppet’s Fics

Better Knot Bow Tie Company -  Blaine Anderson has been a Better Knot Bow Tie Company monthly subscriber for years. This summer he's taken a hiatus from Broadway to facilitate the Journey Performing Arts School's summer program in New York. What happens when a zany bow tie sets off a chain reaction of events that may change their futures forever?

Soulsongs and Seastars -  In a world where Doms and subs depend on the symbiotic relationship their pheromones provide, it can be a matter of life and death to go too long without a claim. When one of the most powerful Doms in New York comes home for some much-needed family time, he stumbles upon a scene that throws his instincts into high alert as he witnesses a sub do something he’s never seen before. Will the bravery of one man change his life forever? Kurt Hummel knows there’s only a one-in-a-million chance of finding his Soulsong, but what are the odds it could happen in a run-down mall in Lima, Ohio?

The Playhouse on the Edge of the Forest -  In the small town where Kurt lives, there is a forest of trees his home is nestled right up against. In the backyard, there is an enchanting playhouse made of bricks and wood and has genuine glass windows with metal striped awnings and flower boxes. This is the tale of his adventures in the playhouse from age 3 to 33 and how everything changed when he met the boy next door.

[popculturebuffet]

Of Moons, Millionares and Mothers FINALE: Moonvasion! or Duck Avengers: Endgame (Commission For WeirdKev27

Before we get to the review a bit of self promotion. As i’m sure anyone reguarlly reading these reviews is aware I have a patreon. For just one dollar a month  you get exclusive reviews (Including an exclusive darkwing duck review and an exclusive Carl Barks review about wigs. yes really), votes on polls and a FREE review on signup. So if there’s a ducktales episode I haven’t covered yet your dying for me to cover sign up today. And act now before the end of august and i’ll review ALL 40 SOME EPISODES OF QUACK PACK, along with other special rewards. Just click RIGHT HERE

Hello all you happy people and WELCOME to the FINAL chapter of “OF Moons, Millionaires and Mothers” my exhaustingly long look at the arcs of Ducktales season 2, the longest retrospective i’ve ever completed. And just in time for the ...several days the Ducktales Anniversary. Yeah in the future remind me not to put a ton of time senstive reviews in the same week then have a combination of sleep issues and a massive bout of shoulder pain kay?

It’s been a long road to get here: we’ve seen Pinocchio somehow be in the main duck universe, Donald baffled he’s in a will, ghost busters homages, david tennant using slang,, gay vikings, gay space aliens, all Glomgold do is win, space sexual tension, a mother and child reunion that was only an ocean of stars away, STAND OUT ABOVE THE CROWD EVEN IF I’VE GOTTA SHOUT OUT LOUD. TILL MINE IS THE ONLY FACE THAT YOU’LL SEE GONNA STANNNNDD OUT. TILL YOU NOTICE ME, Huey becoming speckle in 20 years,  Donald surprisingly getting mental help, Louie nearly destroying space and time, Louie surprisingly not giving a single shit he destroyed al lof space and time, and Zan Owlson finally being so done with this shit.

It’s been a crazy, sometimes disappointing, always interesting ride and before we get to the last leg of it i’d like to thank Kev, my patreon, friend and benefactor for paying for this retrospective. It was a great idea, i’ts been a great way and I especailly thank him for taking on the Louie arc as I felt these would be incomplete without it. Your a good man bud, thank you. 

So with that we’re in the endgame now: Lunaris is on his way to earth, Penny is MIA and it’s up to the greatest adventuring family of all time, sorry richards-grimm extended family.

To save the earth. So pitter patter, let’s get at er under the cut! 

We begin in the mansion with Scrooge playing Sessions Presents: Sounds of the Scottish Highlands as he relaxingly takes in the day.. so peaceful and serene surely nothing like say an alien invasion could happen to ruin this chill mood he’s set up. Yup just a nice peaceful hour of family bonding... and oh yes the ALIEN INVASION penny warned of that Della tries to “Promise you won’t be mad away”. Della that’s reserved for things like breaking a vase or doddling on a family portrait or your son nearly destroying all of space and time.

So our heroes watch on tv as Duckburg tries to make first contact.. by using the police to facilitate it because SURELY a group with only one good cop that we’ve seen in this series and a long history of shooting anyone diffrent first and saying “well they had a gun that I coudln’t find.. because it was invsible.. invsible gun” later can do that. They thankfully send in fenton instead who offers them a pie.... which begs the question why more first contact scenario’s don’t have pie. And why I don’t have pie. And why you, the person reading this does not have a fresh pie in front of them. These are truly the questions that keep me up at night. 

Anyways the pie goes over well... they still attack but i’ts more because their being led by a general with a petty grudge against earth. Don’t blame pie, for blaming pie is the real mind killer. 

So sensing the writing on the wall our heroes make haste from the mansion to the bin in the jeep sans launchpad whose on fire at the moment he’ll get back to you. We also get one of the best gags of the episode when, as their fleeing the moonlanders, Dewey being.. Dewey decides to open the back window of the Jeep and become savior of earth> Webby not wanting her brother-cousin to die pulls him back in with a “nerp”. 

At the bin.. things are somehow worse than outside: Every contingincy scrooge had in case of something this catstrophic? Down before he could activate them.  It instantly sells that Lunaris wasn’t bluffing in how well he knew Scrooge or how he knew just how to attack him: he made sure to know every counter scrooge had and take out most of them before he could even make a gesture. 

So with that our heroes are in dire straights, with Lunaris parking his flagship over the mansion and naturally gloating like any supervillian: The moon is superior, I will beat you, i’m going to kill your family..

Lance Reddick does deliver it incredibly well though. Point is things are bad so Scrooge decides to take a play from the “Don’t Touch My Ascot: The Fred Jones Guide to Traps and Mystery Solving” and split up gang: Della and the kids will go find whatever allies they can Globally, and Scrooge and Beakley will stay in Duckberg and take on Lunaris. After all i’ts not like Della say talked to scrooge right before and clearly has ulterior motives right? She woudln’t lie to her kids and Cousin Daughter righttttt?

Della Lies to Her Kids and Cousin-Daughter 

So Team Della heads to go gather who they can.. supposidely. IN practice their visit to egypt to recurit Djinn and Amunet ends with them abandoning the two to fend for themselves once the moonlanders overwhelm them. 

Then they head to Ithiquack where Zeus, to no one’s surprise.. i boarding up all the gods to hide and refuses to let Selene and Storkules help, and slams the door in Della’s face despite her wanting to just hide in there with them. 

So after that Team Della dodges a spacecraft... and Della scrambles to find SOMEWHERE remote to hide, with Huey spotting the thread that none of the places have reinforcements and Louie yanking it, realizing she never had any intention of getting help and was scamming them the whole time. With Lunaris coming after them, she panicked and wanted to hide their family. The kids.. are unsuprsiingly not pleased their mom yanked them away to try and hide them while their friends and family all fight. As this plot feels like the cumilation of the series so far, and the season it’s ending in paticular, it makes sense: Dewey’s best friend, Webby’s girlfriend and best friend, Huey’s best friend, and Louie’s money are all back there struggling and fighting to surivive... while Della forced them to do a runner without tellng them for what turned out to be a wild goose chase. And they didn’t even find Gladstone yet so it hasn’t even been a SUCCESFUL wild Goose Chase. 

Della’s actions are understandable: She finds a super smart, machavielan asshole coming fo rher kids.. and she gave him the tools to do it. This is her fault she feels, the spear of selene all over again, and she just wants to fix it. But the kids are right that they just.. CAN’T hide. They have to fight and as Lunaris himself points out, unsuprisingly having made his big bold threat to the kids to lure them and Della away, Della is the ONLY one who knows them and their technology. And she left out of fear. IT’s understandable to be afraid for her kids and all.. but it’s also undrestandable these aren’t normal kids, and the world needs them despite the risk. 

The argument is tabled for now though when they crash onto a deserted island.  And find something they lost in the process...

And also Donald! .. and Mickey Melon! Yeah for some weird reason Disney never let Frank use Mickey, though Mouseton was referenced via Owlson that Chekov's gun was never fired, they found a workaround.. having a melon who looks, sounds and acts like mickey that Donald’s using as a puppet/common-law wife , voiced by Chris Dimatopols to boot since he was already voicing 2 characters this ep what harms a third. 

Before we can get to Donald’s frayed mental state though he and Della properly reunite.. which goes exactly as you’d expect...

I absolutely love this. While most fans expected some warm embrace before the shouting.. let’s face it this was always going to happen, with Donald mad they didn’t come for him and Della mad he was apparently on vacation and Dewey mad his name isn’t Turbo. The two eventually end up hugging before Donald’s psychosis flares up again revealing Melon. 

After a scene transition Melon has apparently filled Team Della in on the moon, and further explains he met Melon as his best friend, and they bonded over sandwiches and that one time Donald put a hole in him. Good times. 

So after agreeing to not tell Donald they thought he was on a crusie for the sake of what’s left of his sanity, the kids naturally want to you know, go back and save their friends, loved ones and Gyro from certain doom. Della however wants to settle in on the island you know, play some volleyball with Donald’s live in boyfriend (He’s the ball), have the kids sleep in lockers (With Huey and Webby sharing one because in a nice detail Webby was clearly added after Della realized she forgot her cousin-daughter and hastily added her to Huey’s because Dewey’s the faviorite and she owes Louie one for the whole robot thing.. and for not calling child services for said robot thing.). 

What makes this truly heartbreaking is when the kids point out the obvious: if she keeps them stranded her she might as well be trapped on the moon again... and her denial.. has her reaching for a piece of oxy chew. It’s a truly gripping bit of PTSD: She may of left the moon.. but in a crisis.. she defaults to the surivival mode she used to get past it. By not getting help, by not trying to eve rprocess what  happened she almost let it happen again.. and it breaks her, with Della retreating. 

We then get one of the genuinely sweetest moments in the series: Louie goes to comfort her... which makes sense. After they finally bonded.... because the episodes said so and no other reason... it hits hardest that the one comforting her is the child that took the most time to accept her and then just did because plot said so. 

But Louie’s awful character arc aside.. this moment is sweet as Louie sings a song... a very familiar song.....

Face each new sun with eyes clear and true Unafraid of the unknown Because I'll face it all with you

Monihan and Brewster just.. nail it. As for how the hell Louie knew that.. Donald sang it to them. Every night. 

So with her confidence resorted and realizing her boys need to face this and she needs to face it with them, her brother and her cousin aunt, della’s finally ready to face her trauma, face her fears.. and leave. The question is how. 

Well last minute is a bit much as something from an episode I haven’t covered all the way back at the start of the season comes back, Mitzi, carrying fethry and Gladstone! Gladstone’s luck naturally blew him clear of the invasion, straight into his dear cousin, and then he found melon who della punted into the ocean earlier as he started to get hungry. So our heroes now have a way home, reinfrocments after all, and the husk of donald’s un-wife to snack on. 

So we end this part of the hourlong/two parter with both generations of clan mcduck striking a pose and Dewey wonders “Aw man am I the uncle donald” to which I say no... that’s huey. Your fethry. Your impuslive, live in your own world and will probably fuck a shrimp at some point. 

So as our heroes head to hteir big damn heroes moment, let’s wind back the clock and see what Scrooge’s been up to.

But Not Our Dumbest:

So about 12 hours back, and with their satlites down thanks to Louie, Gyro comes up with a plan b. And I do like his characterization here: he has his spark back by this point feeling more like the unhinged version from season 1, just with more heart, making for a better character. 

Anyway he sends his little bulbs out to gather whoever in Duckburg they can to reinforce their army: Lena, whose loitering in a park for reasons that totally don’t involve betting on squirrel fights, Violet and Quackfaster, who are both naturally at the library, Duckworth who for some reason didn’t float after them in the van, Fenton and his mama, and last of all Launchpad, who was absent earlier because the limo ws on fire and is joined by Darkwing.... okay like Lena and Webby earlier I really missed the hoy yay here. I mean Drake drove ALL the way here to visit launchpad BEFORE there was likely an invasion. That’s a good boyfriend. 

So with that Scrooge has everyone he could get for an army.. also the ottoman empire guys for reasons I don’t fully get. I mean sure one of them DEFINTELY killed that guy with an ottoman but that wasn’t ON PURPOSE. 

Bickering also naturally ensues with Lena rightfully calling Duckworth a waste of magic for wanting to politely ask the invading force whose leader has made it ABUNDNTLY CLEAR he has a personal grudge against the earth.... to leave. 

Gyro’s plan is less suprising: use his clone army and use Fenton as a meat shield/sacrifice. Unfrotunately for Gyro, he made the horrible mistake of offhand bullying his intern.. in front of said intern’s mother. 

Who threatens to literally shove his head up his ass to match how far it is metaphorically. She also reveals in the process she clearly knows who Fenton is and when he tries to deflect she states the obvious; She’s his mother and a cop. She knew. I love this reveal too: i was curious how the hell she didn’t know given all the evidence and the fact Fenton is REALLY not good with keeping a secret identity at all. She was just waiting for him to tell her and presumibly decided “Fuck it this is taking too long”. But clearly she holds no resitment either: she gets this was a lot for Fenton to process and he wasn’t hiding it from her to be cruel, but because she DID dunk on his other identity pretty hard at first and was likely scared to tel lher. Thankfullly unlike say Aunt May, it didn’t take 80 years and learning his identity to make her come around.

Anyways, Scrooge naturally has a plan..

I”m only half joking: his plan is to use this ENTIRE assembled strikeforce to distract the aliens and take them down while he, launchpad and Darkwing (who he barely acknowledges but is going anyway) sneak in and head for Lunaris directly. So yes folks Scrooge is using pretty much the EXACT SAME PLAN from the Suicide Squad years before that. Minus assuming they’ll all die horribly. Granted his isn’t to just sacrifice them most of the heavy hitters are on the other team as opposed to a guy with a javelin, arms fall off boy and the most punchable face in america. But I do question scrooge not taking ANYONE ELSE but himself, launchpad and darkwing to assaul tthe manor. LIke... what if team a gets captured? what if they loose? What if Scrooge McDuck didn’t find Mjonir and become mighty thor? What if Lunaris has every inch of the manor packed with goons? The plan isn’t TERRIBLE, he just needed a few more tweaks to it. 

But it goes off anyway with the main group having an utterly SPECTACULAR battle with tons of great moments: from Lena casually dispatching some goons and giving her baby sister a mace hawkgirl style, to Johny and Not-Johnny suprisingly hnot being useless, to a few gyros dying and the remaning leading one not being sure if one was a clone or not, to gizmoduck using lemon meringue pie.. to summon the harpies. I TOLD YA this tied back all of season 2. I was not kidding. Every character except the christmas ep ones is touched on every storyline touched on, everything leads to this and it is amazing. 

Team Scrooge meanwhile sneaks in and Scrooge soon has a better plan.. since no one notices darkwing it’s time to..

Darkwing puts on Scrooge’s battle tartan and gets beaten up but given this is Darkwing, while he’s left dazed, he’s also left triumphant as he takes so much punishment the moonlanders tier out.. while Scrooge sucessfuly sneaks in, even pulling off the terror that flaps in the night schtick and makes it ot the ship... which is a hologram. Yeah unsuprisingly Lunaris was ready for THIS too.... and was smiply waiting for Scrooge to find it so he could land his REAL flagship, a giant engine designed to make the earth orbit the moon. 

Well for once they do as this will freeze them all and Lunaris could care less. 

So when we pick back up with team Scrooge the next episode their hiding at the fisherman restraunt from “The Ballad of Duke Balloney” down to nearly no one: everyone  but Scrooge himself, Beakley, Duckworth and somehow Launchpad have been captured to thin the cast out, and Duckworth quickly leaves to prepare their graves. “It’s not reassuring he went down”. An utterly incredible joke. 

Scrooge is lost metaphorically after losing literally, as he realizes every plan he has.. Lunaris will counter. He’s facing a foe who knows how his brain works and thus can counter every move. It’s such a frightening prospect i’m not suprised they recycled it again next season with bradford, though I am pleased as punch they made it work. 

Cue the savior of earth: Glomgold, doing a jaws parody and offering his help. Beakley points out that his last scheme resulted in him loosing to a child and every villian in town wanting him dead.. but Glomgold SUPRISINGLY has a good counter.. he surivived that didn’t he? Which.. fair enough. Magica alone should’ve taken his heart out and eaten it. 

Scrooge however... ends up agreeing. He’s tried everything, he’s all out of ideas: better to try something stupid that probably won’t work than a well put together plan that definitely won’t. 

So we get a glomglorious slide show from Glomgold having to acknowledge his company is a subsidary of McDuck enterprises (To which scrooge smugly grins) to Glomgold doing beard pushups, to Glomgold, getting fed up with Scrooge’s snide commments acting like an annoyed school teacher: “Oh do you not WANT to survive?” His plan is his usual charming level of stupid and short sighted on steroids: his plan is to use sharks in parks (He calls them sharkas), to swim down and chew through some of the supports of the engine ship, and have Beakley disgused as a farmer for reasons that are lost to time launch launchpad, disgused as a rock in the part he was born to play, at another one. Meanwhile Scrooge will distract Lunaris as someone EVERYONE trusts... and Scrooge’s mos thated enemy and ex... SANTA CLAUS. The fact they tied THIS back into it is fucking incredible. 

It actually ends up working.. mostly because it exploit’s Lunaris own analytical mind: He ASSUMES the plan is too stupid to be real. Thus Lunaris falls over himself assuming this is some big gotcha he can counter.. when really i’ts just the dumbest plan alive.

It also feeds on Lunaris’ main weakness: his own fear driven ego. Lunaris is so obessed with beating earth and scrooge he’s convinced himself he’s better and that SURELY the only response Scrooge would have to the guy is the greatest and most brilliant plans possible.

Scrooge on the other hand will do whatever it takes to win... and admitted he had nothing left. BOth can see all the angles.. but only Scrooge really sees himself, and thus puts his own faults into it. Scrooge could admit he could loose.. and thus tried something stupid out of desperation and it WORKED because Lunaris can’t see a scenario where he’s not the smartest man in the room. Scrooge knows better: being clever, seeing all the angles is fine.. but sometimes you just can’t win even if your scrooge mcduck. 

So Scrooge and Glomgold make it to lunaris.. and naturally this was in part a scheme to get his company back as the script includes scrooge giving it back. Somehow this is legally binding. 

Glomgold: No takebacks on christmas! Scrooge: It’s not christmas! Glomgold: Then why is santa here? Lunar is breaks down, with Scrooge realizing he really is that up his own ass and remarking

Scrooge: You were ready for our best.. but  not our dumbest Glomgold: And i’m the dumbest that’s ever been! Muahahahaha... wait...

What follows is an aweosme fight scene as Glomgold proves he’s not actually bad in a fight as he and Scrooge team up, both seeing the fate of earth as more important and even Glomgold getting in on the “The moon isn’t a planet gag”. Eventaully though Lunaris proves that while not the better planner entirely.. he is the bestter fighter and nearly has both beat.. until 

Damn straight. So while Lunaris is baffled by Mitzi, Mitiz is able to start yanking the last support, and with help from Gladstone’s luck and a well placed shark, the world engine is defeated, and Lunaris is thwarted. 

The Ducks reunite with Scrooge naturally blowing the whole “we totally realized you were missing and not on a cruise thing” away, with david’s delivery of “So he wasn’t on a cruise then” just being delightful. 

Our heroes don’t have a lot of time to rest though as Lunaris takes off in his flag ship to go for plan b... blow up the fucking earth. Moonlanders included, which gets them to realize their boss is just a wee bit mad with power. 

Having their second wind, the Duck family isn’t about to take this lying down and Della finally fufills her dream of taking her children into space. Granted it’s to stop a power mad dictator from destroying the world but let’s face it, given this family’s life it was a pretty good chance it was always going to end like this. That or with Yogi eating everyone. 

So we get a gorgeous sequence in space with Della and Donald both taking the pilots chair, Scrooge standing by in command picard style, and the kids taking on the guns: Webby and Huey aim, Dewey and Louie fire. What follows is an utterly gorgeous triumphant space battle to a fucking beast of an orchestral version of the moon theme. Because of course Frank had to bring it back one last time and give it one last awesome version. Of course he did. We also get the great gag of Donald and Della arguing like children over who should pilot  while Scrooge happily sighs how much he’s missed this.

Our heroes do manage to turn the tide and take out most of Lunaris’ guns and englines.. but he has one left set to barbeque them.... until PENNY returns, finally making her entrance to slam into Lunaris’ ship..

She seemingly dies.. for about a minute before smacking into Della’s ship. Della has her prioritys straight and wants to introduce her girlfriend to her family... but Penny reminds her maybe do that AFTER getting Penny inside before she slides off the ship into oblivion. 

Lunaris tries escaping.. but finds his backup power cut as Jaws is here, long live jaws, he is a shark who bites the law, he was in a movie you should watch it it’s called jaws. So yeah Jaws cut the power, and to just pour an industrial barrel of salt in the wound Selene messages him, letting the fucker know she put things back int heir proper orbit with the help of storkules doing mad pushups bro, but on the bright side.. Lunaris is earth’s newest moon. And newest skelington floating around the moon along with the remains of William Howard Taft. 

So with that the day is saved and our heroes return home triumphant and in time for an epilogue: For starters of all people Glomgold has earned a happy ending: after a season of trying to earn people’s love by beating his arch enemy in a contest no one cared about but him and Scrooge himself, Glomgold legitly earned the people’s love and respect by helping save earth. Granted he still somehow frames it as beating Scrooge despite Scrooge’s incrediolous “We were on the same side!”, but hey it’s a happy ending and Scrooge decided to let him have his company back given next season. It is christmas after all. 

Launchpad gains a crush on Penny, not realizing she has a case of being gay as shit, and everyone celebrates with one hell of a group shot. Something my friend @jess-the-vampire noticed when I watched this with her as part of our movie night was Scrooge holding his daughter, a nice little touch of foreshadowing. 

So happy ending right.. except... we cut to an ominous red room 

This has gone too far. The ducks almost cost us the world today. And without the world, who would we larceny against? The pieces are finally in place. Time to come out of the shadows, take control and end Clan McDuck. If the McDuck family wants an adventure... we'll give them their last. FOWL emerges, consiting of a ton of characters from throughout both seasons along with Steelbeak and the Phantom blot..... most nottably BRADFORD, revealing all long the board has been plotting against Scrooge... and our heroes have one last fight ahead. 

Of course having covered all of season 3 as it came out... I know how this goes as I’m sure you do: Huey finds a girlfriend and a folksy hallucination, our heroes get trapped in Westview, Launchpad and Steelbeak prove to both be really bad at cards, Della tries to murder sexy merpeople, Donald finally had something go right for once, Huey finds a boyfriend, Dewey piledrives a god, Violet is susceptible to vampires while Lena earns the power of love, Penny tries to come out but can’t outright say it because Disney is stupid, Spike tries to eat some children, Scrooge kills a man in Florida, Darkwing Duck finally Darkly Dawned,  Della left the time loop room, Della Left the Time Loop Room, Della Left the Time Loop Room, Huey unlocked Ultra Instinct, Storkules tried to intitate a threesome, Donald had a grunge phase, Scrooge’s sister is hot wayne there I said it, Scrooge reconnected with his ex good old St. Nick,  Mark Beaks wore out the public’s welcome with fire, Kit Cloudkicker spun it and begun it.. it being a new career not trying to literally become his dad, Scrooge got a Sham Trial from the Fonz that we’d all like to forget, and Webby thinks she’s a clone now there’s always another two just a hanging around.. that Donald quickly adopted. 

Point is it was a crazy season and this is the best lead in it could’ve asked for. This is one of the best cliffhangers in tv history, brilliantly leading into the final arc with one hell of a setup that had been slowly building underneath the seurface of the series. A brilliant end to a brilliant episode

Final Thoughts:

I belivie I said brilliant... but to elaborate: This episode is an utterly thrilling conclusion to everything up to this point: every episode of season 2 contributes to the climax in some way great and small and all three plot lines intersect. The result just feels utterly satisfying: like every step of the journey wethere it was part of the main three plots or not lead here and every bit mattered. It’s probably why the proper series finale felt mildly lacking: it had a LOT more ground to cover and the fact it didn’t cover it all when this one did with slightly less runtime probably didn’t help. 

But this finale is to me the platonic ideal of what a finale should be: all consuming, satisfying and leaving you wanting more for the next season, if there is one. It sastifyingly ties up Della’s character arc, gives Glomgold a brief moment in the sun before he ruins it for himself as is his nature, and gives us so many impactful, amazing moments in the span of 45 minutes. This is truly one of the series finest hours and deserves al lthe praise I can give it. 

Final Thoughts on the Della Arc and this Retrospective:

So with this two parter we finally bring both Della’s personal arc and this entire retrospective to a close. ‘

Della’s arc is far and away the best of the season. In one episode they managed to take a blank slate and make her into a character as vibrant and fleshed out as the rest of the cast and thus keep us invisted all season as she reconnected with her family, slowly growing as a person, and to meet her kids needs: telling Dewey he didn’t need to impress her, letting Huey explore the world, virtual as it may of been at his own pace and putting a foot down with Louie, someething he badly needed even if she overdid it. She even was a good parent to webby in the episode we didn’t revisit, telling the girl she didn’t need to be just like Della, just herself. We got to see an emotionally stunted woman settle into being a mom, and in the end tackle her own trauma to save the world. Paget’s acting all season is phenominal. 

The moon side isn’t shabby: While Lunaris is an obvious main antagonist, Lance Reddick does a good job hiding it, being genuinely jovial and likeable.. until the mask drops and we see the selfish obsessive bastard underneath. Once he gets to, he still plays a smooth, calcuating mastermind, an utterly carasmatic villian with an understandable if still petty motive. He’s just fun to watch every time he appears and while it’s a shame we didn’t get to see him again, his ending is so fitting it almost makes me want to not use him in anything in the future. Almost. 

Finally capping off the three characters that truly make this arc we have Penumbra. Julie Bowen steps out of her more famous role as sitcom wife and into the roll of a gruff, confrontational commander who slowly realizes just hwo she REALLY feels about della.. and how badly she misjudged her commander. Penny was an okay character to me on first watch but is utterly gripping on rewatches as we see someone who has their purpoes yanked away.. only to regret getting it back as it threteans her people and who ends the season the hero she always thought she was. 

So yeah Della’s arc is a triumph and worth a rewatch> The arcs as a whole.. as i’ve said are a mixed bag, with Della being excellent and the other two being arcs with good indvidual episodes, but a messy whole. They work as pieces of a season.. but not peices of their own story. And that’s disapointing. 

Still I did enjoy this project. It was good, got a ton of episodes out of the way, and while i’m happy to FINALLY move on from it, it was a good ride while it lasted. I’ll still have more duck content for the rest of the year, including the conclusion of life and times, some birthday episodes of ducktales, and a singing contest turned lovecraftian. 

As for what i’m doing for Kev next? Well... that’s as simple as a piece of cheese...

Thank you for coming, thank you for staying thank you for reading the article. 

[whattheheehaw]

Hi! I’m sorry you’re getting shitty anons about this and you’re probably sick of it so I apologise for asking this but I’m genuinely curious what made you start actively disliking zutara? Like, considering how much excellent and insightful content/meta you yourself used to make/write? I get that interests change over time and you’re totally valid!! the anons sending you hate over it are really dumb, but if you’d be ok with sharing, I’d be really interested in hearing why you’ve done almost a complete 180 on the ship? Was is just burnout/end of a hyper-obsession? Or was it some of us in the rest of the fandom that turned you off? Or was it even something about the ship/characters themselves that you changed your mind about? xx

In short, it was a combination of burnout, dissatisfaction with fandom, and disappointment in myself that caused my disinterest for Zvtara.

I got asks similar to this one a couple of times before, but I never gave a comprehensive answer, mainly because I didn't know how to articulate my reasons why I don't like it anymore. But now that I've been out of ZK fandom for a month and have had some time to reflect, I think I can give a much more thorough response. Beware, this is long and I heavily critique the Zvtara fandom, so if you're a ZK shipper, keep reading at your own risk.

My first minor annoyance with Zvtara is that the fandom has a tendency to idolize certain fics and creators. And while there’s certainly nothing inherently wrong about that, I feel like the Zvtara fandom does it to such an extent that it influences the type of content that content creators make in order to get recognition. And to illustrate my point, I’m going to talk about one of the most famous Zvtara fics of all time: Once Around The Sun by eleventy7.

Don’t get me wrong, I love OATS. I think it’s a great fanfic and I think the author devoted a lot of time and effort to make it such an excellent fic. The plot, the development of the characters and their relationships to one other, and the messages about family and love were all brilliantly written. I mean, there is a reason why it’s regarded as the “Zvtara Bible”. This one fanfic had such a profound impact upon the ZK fandom, and I think the biggest impact that came from it is the dramatic influx of post-war Zvtara AU fanfiction. 

Because so many people kept reading OATS and recommending it to others, I think there was an overall interest in ZK fics that take place in a post-war setting. And I think that all of the high praise towards OATS made more fic writers start to write post-war fanfics because of this demand for post-war AU.* I normally wouldn't complain about it because more content is more content, but in my opinion, 99% of ZK post-war fics are the same fic but in different fonts.

Like, there's at least 3 of these elements in every ZK post-war fanfic:

Ambassador Katara

An assassination attempt (usually on Zuko's life)

A healing scene between Zuko and Katara (usually Katara heals Zuko)

Aang and/or Mai is pushed to the side or vilified to some extent in order to make ZK happen

A private journey between Zuko and Katara to facilitate #6

S L O W B U R N (that's not really slowburn and more like "I love you and I very much want to be vocal about my feelings but #7 is in this fic" but the love story takes up like 30 chapters so I guess it's a slowburn?)

Zuko's advisers don't want him to get married to Katara because ✨racism✨

Ursa is found

Azula is in the fic because a) she's going to get a healing arc ft. Zuko and Katara and thereby helps them get together or b) she's the villain and thereby helps them get together

ZK wedding happens in the FN

After reading multiple post-war fics back to back, I could tell that the format was pretty much the same across the board, which isn't very interesting for me to read. My only other fic options in the Zvtara tag on AO3 are canon divergence fics which almost always take place during The Crossroads of Destiny or after The Southern Raiders. And to some extent, those stories are pretty much the same too. There's nothing really new or creative going on in the ZK fandom fic-wise, and because of that, my interest in ZK fandom started to dwindle.

My second issue with Zvtara is that it's a very old ship from a very old show. Because there's been 10+ years since the end of A:TLA, every nuanced point about shipping and the show itself have been talked to death.** There's just nothing new to say. It's the same arguments being rehashed over and over again in the tag because there's no other interpretation one can come up with.

For example, there's so many people who talk about why Zvtara as depicted in The Southern Raiders is not toxic and that's great and all, but I (and most likely many others) have read those same points about five times already. And for some reason, each time this happens, people act like someone just discovered the lost city of Atlantis when they bring up their new-but-not-new argument in defense of Zvtara. Honestly, I'm ashamed to say that I'm not exempt from being part of the group of people that reiterate old arguments. I've done it with one of my posts about The Southern Raiders and I've done it again with my Zutara/Omashu parallels post.

There's no new content to really dissect and analyze (especially considering Zuko and Katara are rarely in the same panel in any of the post-war comics), and because of this, people are just restating points that someone else made several years ago.*** And even if someone did have a different interpretation of an episode, their ideas would most likely be shut down because for the past several years, the same interpretation has been recycled through the fandom repeatedly and people are resistant to new perspectives.

This brings me to the third thing that I dislike about Zvtara: the insistence that there can only be one way to interpret The Southern Raiders. For the longest time, I've read take after take that said if Katara decided to kill Yon Rha, it would be ok because that's her grief to deal with and if she thinks that's the best way to mete out justice, then good for her. And again, I'm ashamed to say that I perpetuated that idea in a few of my own posts. I have always thought that "Katara killing Yon Rha is ok" is just a bad take in general, but I didn't want to vocalize that opinion when so many people—so many of the nice mutuals that I made—all shared that same opinion. Taking down a popular opinion of your own ship is completely different from taking down a popular opinion of a ship that you dislike. The Zvtara fandom is the first fandom that I was actually active in and I wanted to fit in so badly with everyone else that I just parroted whatever other people said, even if I didn't agree with those sentiments.

This leads me to my final reason why I don't want to be a part of ZK fandom anymore. I think I established myself as a "meta" person pretty early on and because of that, I constantly felt pressured to come up with new takes on the ship. And when people started flooding my ask box with stuff like "Can you write a meta about your thoughts on the idea that 'Zuko only took Katara on that field trip in TSR because he wanted her to forgive him'?" and "What are your thoughts about antis saying Zuko and Katara are toxic because of TSR?", I realized that I don't need to come up with new takes. People just want me to paraphrase something that 10 other people said about the same exact topic, because if I said what I actually thought about the subject (i.e. there is some truth in what antis say about TSR and it's not as much of a "Zvtara episode" that most people make it out to be), I'd probably get ZK shippers in the replies telling me that I'm wrong because x, y, and z or "you shouldn't tag this as Zvtara".

And that was pretty much how my love for ZK turned into disinterest. I was and still am disappointed that I didn't stick to my personal opinions. For as much as I talk about herd mentality on Twitter, I certainly don't practice what I preach. In all honesty, the only reason why I held on so long to ZK fandom was because I had so many nice mutuals there and we all shared this collective distaste for antis. I think I started to become more anti-Zvkka and anti-Kataang than pro-Zvtara, which isn't what I wanted to do when I made this Tumblr blog.

The thing that made me joke about becoming anti-Zvtara was the fact that some ZK shippers just like to send shitty anons to people whom they've reblogged countless different metas from. Sending shitty anons to people in the first place is wrong, but sending them to people who tagged their posts correctly and did nothing wrong is just disgusting.

*I'm not a fic writer and can't speak for fic writers, but it definitely feels like a lot of ZK fic authors are pushing themselves to write the next OATS, and by doing so, they are proliferating the tag with post-war fics that have very similar aspects to OATS.

**I think that as more people point out the same nuanced points about Zvtara, it diminishes the actual significance of those points. Like, it's hard to explain but the more people talk about the subtleties of the ship, the more those parts become glaringly obvious and I become numb to their actual impact on the characters and the show.

***At this point, if someone wanted to make a new argument about Zvtara, I think they would have to look very closely at every little detail in every single one of their scenes together to find a crumb of new meta material. And speaking from experience, it's not very fun trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. Whenever I post a "meta" like that, I feel like I'm reaching to make a point that doesn't exist.

[innerchorus]

Ahead of this month's chapter of Arslan Senki, some predictions/theories (that I meant to post weeks ago).

We've all been wondering how Arakawa is going to tie everything together, especially how Zahhak will be integrated into what's going down in Ecbatana. Personally, my theory is that the Worst Coronation Ever™ is going to get even worse, in that following a defeat by Arslan (who as I've said before, I believe will be shown to be wielding Rukhnabad at this point), Hilmes is going to get kidnapped. I'll briefly outline some reasons for why I think this below.

Although the plot has been racing towards its conclusion, so far it has felt fast-paced but not rushed. To have Zahhak simply burst in on the coronation confrontation and be summarily defeated by Arslan there and then would feel rushed and, in my opinion, anti-climactic. But to have one event lead into another would be exciting!

We know Zahhak's body (Kaykhusraw) is vulnerable and starting to disintegrate. We can assume this is why it withdrew from attacking Team Arslan before, as the body took damage from arrows. It's clear that Zahhak is following some imperative to reach Ecbatana, likely related to the head jars. It makes sense to me that these will be used for some kind of ritual to transfer Zahhak to a new host body and bring about the full return of his consciousness.

Hilmes being yoinked (either right after shit goes down at his coronation or from the dungeons shortly afterwards) could result in Team Arslan seeking to locate Zahhak below Ecbatana and defeat him once and for all. Sure, most of Team Arslan would probably be quite happy if Hilmes just fucking died, because it's one more problem out of the way and he hasn't exactly endeared himself to them with his actions thus far, but do you really think Arslan would feel like that? Despite everything, I like to think that as well as defeating Zahhak, he would also try to rescue Hilmes if possible.

And don't you think this would be the perfect opportunity for Team Arslan and the (defeated) Team Hilmes to work together? Don't you think Sam would volunteer himself to go down there too? Don't you think Zandeh would be so desperate to save his Denka that he'd manage to put aside his grudge against Daryun to do so? I'm kind of rambling now but this sort of 'circumstances force opposite sides to work together' thing is 👌👌👌

I honestly think this would be a positive thing for Hilmes's future, too. My biggest hope/theory is that in Arakawa's manga, he will relinquish his claim on the throne of Pars and go to Maryam with Irina. Just being defeated by Arslan wouldn't be enough for him to accept this and become a good neighbour for Pars, in my opinion. But if he sees Zahhak for himself, and faces the full horror of what he has helped facilitate combined with the personal horror of the fate that Team Zahhak have planned for him, then if he survives it then I think he'll be so shaken that his perspective might change, especially if he sees Arslan wielding Rukhnabad to defeat Zahhak. One of the things that also might shake him is witnessing the death of one of his followers.

And if you're wondering how Team Arslan will even be able to find where Hilmes has been taken and where this ritual is taking place? Here is my other prediction!

Team Arslan will capture a mage!

In the last chapter, the presence of the owl felt like a hint that one of Team Zahhak is watching them. If my guess about Arslan wishing to return Rukhnabad to Kaykhusraw's mauseoleum is correct, that mage is likely to follow them there and interfere somehow. Remember Isfan apologising to Narsus for not managing to take the mage in Peshawar alive so they could find out who he was etc? After seeing Zahhak, they're even more certain to want answers. And a captured mage, brought with them to Ecbatana, will be able to lead them down into the Dark Temple.

Also not to be salty that Arakawa already killed Gurgin YET AGAIN but wouldn't it have been perfect for this mage to be Gurgin? This would have been the perfect opportunity for Farangis to recognise him! We could have had backstory! Also yes I did just want to see him fuck up and get captured lmao

[midnightactual]

Kurayami’s Perspective

To understand Kurayami, it’s important to understand what a typical zanpakutō even is in the first place. Most of the available evidence in the series revolves around Ichigo, who is obviously unique, but it still gives us some insight into what the average zanpakutō is like.

ZANPAKUTŌ IN GENERAL

Ōetsu has the following exchange with Ichigo in chapter 523:

Ichigo: Oh yeah?! So these guys are the embodiment of asauchi! But... why are we being attacked by them?! Ōetsu: So close!! Ōetsu: Embodiment, huh? Yes, yes, yes. So close, so close. It’s a bit different, but that’ll do for now. But what’s more important... is that they’re angry at you. Ichigo: Angry?! About what?! Ōetsu: The way you two use your zanpakutō. Ichigo: How we use it...?! Ōetsu: You don’t understand? I don’t blame you. How you fight? How you swing it? No, no. Then what? It's something more fundamental! Ōetsu: Have you been using it as a tool? Have you been interacting with it as a subordinate? Have you been relying on it like a partner? As a family member? As a friend? A superior? A junior? Pet? Acquaintance? Lover? Mistress? Ōetsu: GIMME A BREAK!!! Ōetsu: This how they feel about you. This is what I mean by more fundamental.

Just from the way this is being discussed, we can say that zanpakutō are none of the things that Ōetsu lists off. When Ichigo eventually returns in chapter 538, the asauchi he selects takes on his appearance and hairstyle. In chapter 540, when Ōetsu disintegrates the asauchi for forging, it starts with a hole in the heart, like a Hollow. In chapter 541, “THE BLADE AND ME 2″, we get the following:

Ōetsu: Have you figured it out, Go-Ichi? Ōetsu: The reason why this asauchi turned white... the moment it touched you? Ichigo: ... No... Ōetsu: Perhaps you thought to yourself that... it’s just like... the Hollow in you. Ōetsu: That's right. This guy is... the Hollow inside you. I had that asauchi become the catalyst to draw this zanpakutō out. Ōetsu: Do you understand what that means? Ōetsu: This Hollow is... your zanpakutō, Go-Ichi. Ōetsu: The Hollow named White that Aizen created is made from layers of many Soul Reaper souls. Oddly enough... that is also how my asauchi are created. Ōetsu: That Hollow entered your body... and melded with your Soul Reaper powers. It became your zanpakutō. Ichigo: Wait a second... so then... Ōetsu: That’s right. I know you know... Ōetsu: ... About the man who's been... pretending to be a zanpakutō inside your soul!

We go on to learn that “Zangetsu”, the Old Man, is a manifestation of Yhwach, and Ichigo’s Quincy powers. Ōetsu and Ichigo then reforge both Zangetsu in chapter 541, “THE BLADE IS ME”, and Ichigo bids farewell to both, giving the following internal monologue before the title drop:“I won't ask... for your help anymore. I won't tell you to stay out of my way either. Nor will I ask... you guys to fight with me. I... will fight on my own. Thank you. Zangetsu. You are... me.”

All of this is very unequivocal: asauchi are created in the same fashion as artificial Hollows and become zanpakutō upon fusing with Shinigami powers. Once fused in such a fashion, they are their wielder and there is no real distinction between the two. It would seem from the actual Zangetsu’s behavior that he generally represents instinct, impulses, killing intent, and self-preservation instinct, although he is no mere “Id” given his relatively cordial interactions with “Zangetsu” in chapter 112. All of the talk of him being a Hollow and “taking over” Ichigo is just that: talk to motivate Ichigo through fear. (Which is necessary for evolution, remember?) Zangetsu has no real interest or desire in taking over Ichigo any more than Zabimaru wants to take over Renji. He also can’t, since he’s already fused with Ichigo’s Shinigami powers and is Ichigo.

“Tensa Zangetsu” in chapter 409 tells us, “I don’t care. I don’t care what happens to things you want to protect. [...] Make no mistake, Ichigo... What you want to protect... is not what I want to protect!” In chapter 420, White Tensa Zangetsu says, “Tensa Zangetsu is you,” and “What I wanted to protect was... you... Ichigo!” This not only foreshadows what Ōetsu says, but given that both Zangetsu are fused at this time, we can discern that this is the desire of both, to include his “actual” zanpakutō. This reasoning is presumably why Isshin’s Engetsu refused to teach him the Final Getsuga Tenshō in the first place.

(This is not an Ichigo analysis, but it seems evident that Isshin and Ichigo’s Final Getsuga Tenshō would not be the same. The existence of White Tensa Zangetsu suggests that Ichigo’s Quincy, Hollow, and Shinigami powers are acting in unison and that what he uses against Aizen is in actuality likely a combination of what Isshin called the Final Getsuga Tenshō, Letzt Stil, and Segunda Etapa. It is unclear whether what Isshin called Final Getsuga Tenshō is available to all Shinigami, only Shiba, or only himself and Ichigo. By comparison with Letzt Stil and Segunda Etapa, presumably all Shinigami should have something similar as a final mode, but perhaps it’s a Shiba specialty, as it seems unlikely only Isshin would know of such a thing, and if ever there was a time for people who did know to use it, Thousand-Year Blood War was it.)

(This is also not a Tōshirō analysis, and I don’t presume to know what’s up with Hyōrinmaru in chapter -16, let alone The DiamondDust Rebellion if it’s taken as canon, but suffice it to say, based on what Ōetsu says his experience is clearly not typical in any event. Nor is it a Kaname and Kenpachi analysis, as it’s not clear what’s up with taking the zanpakutō off someone else who died. Nor is it an Arrancar analysis, as their zanpakutō seem very different.)

All this still raises several questions, such as ones like: why does an old and experienced Shinigami like Shunsui treat Katen Kyōkotsu in chapter 649 in exactly the sorts of ways that Ōetsu mocks over a hundred chapters earlier? That’s unclear. It could be that what Ōetsu reveals isn’t widely known, and that Shinigami are allowed to labor under false impressions of what their zanpakutō actually are for some reason (such as to limit their strength). Or maybe Shunsui just finds it entertaining despite knowing the truth.

Anyway, to recap, in general:

asauchi are created in the same fashion as artificial Hollows, and effectively are themselves weaponized Hollows (which fits well with the zanpakutō which Hikone used, Ikomikidomoe, which was made from a primordial Hollow)

the asauchi facilitate drawing out the “instincts” of their wielder into a manifestation which is similar to but distinct from Hollowfication, creating a zanpakutō and its attendant spirit (or at least manifesting this spirit if it existed a priori) while leaving the wielder seemingly unaltered

zanpakutō spirits are their wielder at base, and a zanpakutō is an extension of its wielder

zanpakutō view the protection of their wielder as an overriding priority

KURAYAMI IN PARTICULAR

Accordingly, it should be understood that Kurayami, like most zanpakutō spirits, is a reflection of Yoruichi’s base impulses and desires. Unlike most Shinigami, by virtue of her high office and family pedigree, Yoruichi knows this. She was thus increasingly horrified by what she saw as a result, and internally continued to otherize Kurayami...

... But she probably missed some things in the process, because she was too close to see them clearly for what they truly were.

Kurayami is a hardliner. Her attitude toward Yoruichi is similar to Zangetsu’s attitude toward Ichigo. As discussed, Zangetsu postures in the fashion he does to try and compel Ichigo to take steps that are necessary, but which Ichigo refuses to take. The ultimate examples of this are Zangetsu taking control of Ichigo’s body in an attempt to take down Byakuya, and likewise fatally wounding Ulquiorra. Kurayami’s constant admonitions of Yoruichi, advocacy of first strikes, and appeals to violence are her version of the same idea, as Yoruichi’s preferences for socializing, toying with her opponents, and avoiding killing might get her killed instead one day. (See also: Askin.) She always pushes for the maximal use of force, for overkill, because as Ripley says in Aliens: “I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”

Kurayami only cares for Yoruichi’s continued existence. Despite being perfectly aware of Yoruichi’s guilt regarding what occurred during her time in the Onmitsukidō and Gotei 13, Kurayami would happily kill a million, a billion, or a trillion people if it meant that Yoruichi continued to live. The lives of others aren’t meaningless, but they simply do not matter to her in comparison. It’s not exactly that she only views Yoruichi’s compassion, empathy, and sympathy as weaknesses, as they can be tactically advantageous, but she believes Yoruichi is too committed to them even when it imperils her.

Kurayami largely disdains others. Being Yoruichi herself, knowing everything she knows, Kurayami can reflect upon Yoruichi’s life and judge it from a somewhat different point of view than Yoruichi herself. What she finds isn’t great. Kurayami’s perspective is that others have used and abused Yoruichi, either blatantly to get what they wanted, or subtly through needing her. Her position is thus that almost everyone else can fuck off and die. “Leave Yoruichi alone,” and “You all don’t deserve her,” are fairly apt summations of her point of view. While this hostility isn’t (usually) actively violent or lethal, she is unlikely to treat most of those Yoruichi knows in any fashion other than condescendingly.

To summarize: Kurayami is actually Yoruichi’s biggest advocate and booster, just in her own way. She’s hard on and critical of Yoruichi because Yoruichi has been trained to be predisposed to learning best from that kind of input, and because Kurayami cares enough to settle for always being cast as a villain if it means Yoruichi goes on and succeeds. She believes that almost no one is worthy of Yoruichi’s time and attention, let alone her blood, sweat, and tears. And finally, she has an infinitely negative amount of compassion for anyone who would oppose Yoruichi, regardless of any and all reasons involved in any dispute or conflict.

She loves Yoruichi (and how can she not, since they’re one in the same?) and would gladly turn the universe to ash for her to keep her going even one more day. Lobbying for murderous rampages is in effect a posture she adopts to make a point rather than a desire she lusts for. She’s never actually at risk of losing control or going berserk—it’s always only ever about doing what needs to be done with minimal risk.

[cutie1365]

A Kid from Queens Part 15

Pairing: Peter Parker x Stark!Reader

Info: CA: Civil War Era. Tony Stark enlists his daughter to find the web slinging spider in Queens.

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: n/a

(no Far From Home spoilers)

A/N: There’s one part where maybe pretend you have an ‘A’ initial, this idea was written more for my OC on Wattpad, so I’m sorry, but I kinda love it so I didn’t wanna change it.

Masterlist linked in my bio. Taglist in the reblog.

- - - - - 🕷 - - - - -

“Where are you headed all dressed up?” Tony asks as you’re leaving your room at the compound.

“All dressed up? Dad this is a suit.” You laughed him off, he walked with you as you were making your way towards the front to board the jet.

“Alright Scully, where are you headed? Did I miss a memo for a shareholder meeting or something?” Tony asked.

Ever since you’d presented the information to him about the Mayor, he had been extra protective. But you’d done as he suggested, you turned the information over to the FBI. They suggested that for the time being, you keep up with Thomas and the family for appearances sake, to not cause suspicion. You told this to your father. What you didn’t tell him was that the FBI invited you to aid in the investigation, due to your proximity to the case you’d be useful. Also considering they were likely stealing from a government warehouse that was half Stark owned and maintained. You’d be a good person to have on board, and your commitment would be minimal. You’d publically stay with Thomas until they told you it was time to distance yourself, meaning they’d found something or want to provoke the family into making a mistake and slipping up, hopefully exposing a hole in their network they could exploit. You thought it was a good idea, you also thought it would be best for your father’s nerves if you didn’t tell him the full story.

“I guess someone doesn’t read their emails. But no, Linda has me judging the annual robotics competition at MIT, so it’s Back to School for me.” You spoke, digging through your purse, making sure you had everything, your suitcase should have already been on the jet, but you were only going to be gone for a few days.

Tony nodded, as if he now remembered seeing something about that somewhere. He saw the jet on the tarmac, ready to take off any minute as you both stood before the glass entrance of the compound.

“Alright Animal House, no toga parties.” He hugged you goodbye, you chuckled at the thought of a bunch of engineers throwing a toga party.

“I’ll try my best. I’ll be back in a few days. Oh, and tell Wanda I left a box of clothes for her in my room. And I made a prototype of an upgrade for Rhodey’s braces that I left in the lab for you to do some testing on.” You began to ramble off things for him, knowing there was a low chance he’d remember everything.

“Alright mother hen, you don’t want to be late.” He hugged you once more, shooing you off.

You made your way to the jet, as Tony watched you from a distance. His little girl, all grown up. He hadn’t seen you this happy in a while, it brought a smile to his face. Ever since he’d practically ordered you to stay away from Peter, he noticed a change in you. You spent so much time in the lab, tinkering on things to take your mind off of life. You were rushed around from interview to interview, dress fitting to dress fitting, and photoshoot to photoshoot. He noticed the toll it was taking on you. He hated seeing you so run down, and nearly considered giving the kid a chance. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad, it worked for him and Pepper, it might just be able to work for them. He’s a good kid, but he’s not willing to take a chance yet, not when it comes to his daughters safety. He’s kept you safe for a long time, and he didn’t want to ever see you hurt again.

- - - - - 🕷 - - - - -

As you arrived in Boston, after a quick flight, a car was waiting to take you the rest of the way to MIT.

The car pulled into the familiar streets where you’d resided for a few years when you were younger. You hadn’t been back in years, yet it all looked the same. Near the entrance you spotted some of your old professors chatting, likely they were also judges.

“Y/N.” One greeted you, his expression somewhere between surprise and joy.

“Dr. Greenfield, it’s nice to see you again.” You smiled, shaking his hand.

“You’re all grown up now aren’t you. You know, I still remember your first day in my class. I had to go home and rework half of my lesson plans.” He chuckled at the memory. You remembered sitting in his class, answering all his questions that were meant to stump the class. He was a sweet older man, and you were happy to be here with him now.

You chatted and caught up for a few more minutes before you were invited inside to check in and meet the teams. You were given a metal name plate that you slipped on. Dr. A. Stark, it read.

You met the other 5 judges and mingled for a bit while the teams were still setting up in their prospective rooms. Some were industry experts, some were old professors of yours. Each judge had been assigned to a team, to mentor and offer insight and guidance before the final judging in two days time.

When a facilitator led you into a room of five boys standing in front of their invention, you weren’t met with the warm welcome you were expecting.

“Gentleman, I’d like to introduce you to your mentor Dr.-” The facilitator was cut off by one of the boys, he seemed to be the ringleader of the group.

“No, no, our mentor is Dr. A. Stark. Anthony Stark. Not some...” He waved his hand at you, trying to think of the best descriptor, “Vogue cover girl.”

You’d had a nice day so far, you were willing to let it slide, but when he opened his mouth and spoke to you with such disrespect, you were going to make him wish he’d called in sick today. The facilitator, likely a student committee volunteer, had her mouth hung open slightly in shock, she didn’t know what to do. So you stepped forward towards the boys, and that’s exactly what they were.

“You got Dr. A. Stark. Y/N (I’m sorry my OC has an A initial) Stark. My father actually doesn’t have a PhD. But I’ve got two. One of them in Electrical Engineering from this fine university.” You raised your hands motioning to the school around you, stepping closer once more, and oh if looks could kill. “But if you don’t want my help, I’m sure there are other teams who would be happy to have me...”

You turned on your heel and made one strutt towards the door before whipping around once more.

“By the way, you’re going to need the help, because I can spot six errors already from here. Seven if you count that sloppy rotary potentiometer.” And with that, you spun towards the door once more and didn’t look back at what you were certain were five speechless boys nearly shaking in their boots.

You’d certainly inherited a flair for the dramatics from your father, but this time it was merely a facade. Deep down you were on the verge of tears. This was your livelihood, you didn’t care if the civilian population thought you were some brainless covergirl, but you at least thought the people in your own field would respect you. The opinion of five students shouldn’t have hit you as hard as it did, but it now had you questioning everything. Every move you’ve made since that damn photograph came out.

You were leaning on the wall in the stairwell, if you were going to cry, you were going to make sure none of them saw you do it. You suddenly heard the large metal door open next to you, and a student looked at you in shock.

“Dr. Stark?” He asked, he wasn’t one of the boys from before, he must have been on another team. You knew he wasn’t like the others, he at least seemed to recognize you and your title.

“That would be me.” You smiled, lifting yourself off the wall slightly.

“I read your paper on nanoparticle technology. I think it’s completely revolutionary, I mean the implications alone... I just, it blew my mind.” He smiled, you watched as he spoke so passionately, waving his hands about as he spoke. A smile slowly spread to your face as well. In his excitement, he’d forgotten to introduce himself. He was tall but lanky, with a dirty blond mop of hair resting on his head, and deep blue eyes.

“That was my doctoral thesis from a few years ago. Back then the idea was completely theoretical, but even today at Stark Industries we’re developing prototypes using only nanotech.” You stated proudly.

“How’d you get around the deterioration objective?” He asked, with a slight tilt of his head.

“A housing unit that harnesses palladium and vibranium to almost charge the particles.” You explained, enjoying watching his eyes pop as you explained. It was refreshing talking to someone who spoke your language.

“That’s brilliant. It’s really such an honor to meet you. I know my team and I would be grateful if you would be able to spare a few minutes to look at our design? Our mentor is just... well he doesn’t have your experience.” He rubbed the back of his head nervously.

“I’ll see what I can do.” You smiled, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Harley, Harley Keener.” He shook your hand with a smile.

- - - - - 🕷 - - - - -

Taglist in reblog

Please comment, like, and reblog!

Sorry this chapter is a little shorter, I’ve basically got the next one written but I thought it might be too long to combine them. Don’t worry Peter’s coming in soon!

[tearsofthemis]

Tears of Themis : Chapter 2 “Unbearable Love“ Part 15

[Previous Part] | [Masterlist] | [Next Part]

▌Location- Crime Scene

(Jiang MingYue’s lie about the rooming arrangements combined with the strange position that Shen Xi was found in… tells me that the missing piece we needed to crack the case was about to be revealed.)

MC: “Even if the hallway was empty, people could come and go as they pleased through the connecting door! This means Li Zhou could have entered Shen Xi’s suite when no one was watching. Officer, when did Li Zhou check-in?”

Officer: “Last night, 7:00 PM.”

MC: “That’s to say, Li Zhou was already checked in by the time Jiang MingYue brought up the box of chocolates. He had time to poison the chocolates.”

Mo Yi: “You’re right. From my guess, Li Zhou and Shen Xi must be associated with one another.”

MC: “You’re so sure of it, is it because…”

~~~Analysis Begins~~~

[Select: Position of Shen Xi’s Body, Misplaced Phone]

MC: “Her cellphone! Last night when Shen Xi returned to her suite, no one entered or left it, but her phone was taken away by someone. The only one who could’ve done so was Li Zhou.”

Mo Yi: “Not only that, judging by the position she was found in and the fact that she was still dressed in formal wear… points that it’s likely she saw someone in the room. Otherwise, the first thing she would have done upon returning to her suite would have been to get changed and remove her makeup.”

MC: “Therefore, Shen Xi must have known Li Zhou.”

Mo Yi: “The fact that Li Zhou was staying right next door and has the connecting keys to her room in his possession, is no coincidence.”

~~~Analysis End~~~

MC: “Did Jiang MingYue intentionally plan the room arrangements so that Li Zhou would be next door to Shen Xi?! If so, then the lies that Jiang MingYue told in regards to the room bookings were told to cover up Li Zhou’s presence. Li Zhou and Shen Xi, what kind of relationship do they have… If Li Zhou wanted to talk to her, why couldn’t he just enter through the suite door?”

Mo Yi: “It’s not outlandish to assume that Shen Xi and Li Zhou would be involved with some kind of secret romantic relationship. Li Zhou avoided entering through the suite door to prevent being photographed by paparazzi and risk exposing his relationship, which would ultimately affect his career.”

MC: “That’s true. There’s a saying that fans will use, ‘when an idol dates, heads will roll’. There’s no way Li Zhou would publicly announce that he has a girlfriend.”

Mo Yi: “Jiang MingYue’s intention behind the room bookings was to facilitate Shen Xi and Li Zhou’s secret rendezvous. She lied to protect her boss and a famous actor’s privacy. Jiang MingYue would have never suspected that her boss’s lover could be the murderer. She, like Shen Xi, believed that this was part of Lu JingHe’s revenge plan.”

MC: “Truly, once you think about it, you can find a reasonable explanation through a sea of doubts.”

(As Mo Yi and I were discussing, another officer knocked on the door and let us know that we could interrogate the hotel manager on duty.)

Hotel Manager: “How long will this police investigation take? We’ve been receiving guest complaints all morning.”

MC: “As long as you cooperate in the investigation, I think the evidence gathering will end soon.”

Hotel Manager: “There goes my yearly bonus, I suppose. Go on and ask what you need from me.”

MC: “When did Jiang MingYue make the room bookings? At the time, were the connecting rooms to room 1817 and the executive suites on the 17th floor already booked?”

Hotel Manager: “Miss Shen and Miss Jiang’s rooms were booked under Venus Fashion’s name. But the room next to it, room 1817, was booked by Miss Jiang herself. We never could have known that Mr. Li Zhou would be staying with us. In regards to the executive suites on the 17th floor, 1718 and 1717, both rooms were vacant. No one booked it and no one stayed in it.”

MC: “Then the suites on the 17th floor, were they connected?”

Hotel Manager: “No. The rooms were renovated last year, and any connecting doors were removed for all suites under the 18th floor. If it goes according to plan, the connecting doors will be removed for suites from the 18th to the 30th floor starting next month.”

Mo Yi: “This confirms our previous suspicions, does it not? The rooming situation was premeditated, whether by Jiang MingYue or Shen Xi’s request, it was intentionally planned. The choice of staying on the 18th floor must have been because of the connected suites.”

(Mo Yi’s explanation could very well be concrete. I nodded as I thought of another key problem.)

MC: “There’s another question…”

[Select the Red Wine in Room 1818]

MC: “I saw Romanée Conti on the wine list, but I didn’t see the actual bottle. Does the hotel really offer this product?”

Hotel Manager: “Of course! It is an expensive wine, and I personally dealt with the request in celebration of Miss Shen’s accomplishments. The servers brought it in after making the room last night.”

MC: “Around what time did that happen?”

Hotel Manager: “It was almost 7 PM.”

Mo Yi: “7 PM? Then the banquet had already started…”

MC: “I saw that room 1817 was already cleaned this morning. Was a bottle of Romanée Conti found in that room?”

Hotel Manager: “No, there were no abnormalities when Mr. Li Zhou returned the room key.”

MC: “What about Jiang MingYue’s room? Was the bottle of wine discovered there?”

Hotel Manager: “Rooms 1713 and 1817 are regular rooms, therefore, Romanée Conti isn’t offered on their wine list.”

Officer: “The police have already searched Jiang MingYue’s hotel room and nothing suspicious was found.”

MC: (Where did that bottle of red wine disappear to?)

MC: “The door connecting rooms 1818 and 1817, is it normally locked? Is there only one set of keys?”

Hotel Manager: “Our hotel is considered a legacy of Stellis City; the connecting doors were built according to old safety standards. The door isn’t normally used, so we keep them locked for our guest’s safety and privacy. There were two sets of keys, one of which we keep at the front desk, and the other was given to Mr. Li Zhou.”

Mo Yi: “What was Li Zhou’s reasoning for wanting a set of keys?”

Hotel Manager: “Mr. Li Zhou asked us whether or not the rooms were connected at the time of his check-in. He says he was afraid of paparazzi or fans catching wind of his whereabouts and the connecting door was a liability. So he requested the set of keys kept at the front desk and took them. The keys to rooms 1818 and 1816 were also given to him.”

MC: “That excuse was so unfounded. If he was truly scared of the paparazzi finding him, he should have chosen to stay in a room without connecting doors. If the other person was determined to harass him and invade his privacy, they would have been able to do so if they picked the lock, right?”

(I tidied up the testimony. Even if there were a couple of murky things, there wasn’t anything else, at the time, that I needed to ask the hotel manager for.)

Officer: “The analysis report of the glass shards has been completed. After a search in the citizen database, the dried blood on the shard was determined to be left by Li Zhou.”

MC: “So Li Zhou has been in this room!”

Mo Yi: “The two of them were in this room. Judging by the shattered vase and the fact that he cut himself, they must have been arguing about something.”

Officer: “Shen Xi’s autopsy report has been completed as well, her fingernails have been torn. Compared with the marks left on the connecting door, Shen Xi’s nails must have broke when she was knocking on the door.”

MC: “Then what about the time of death? Was there anything that could shrink the window of opportunity?”

Officer: “No, the suspected time still falls between 9 PM and 2 AM. To add, forensics can confirm that Shen Xi’s death was caused by the consumption of poisoned liquor chocolates. Other than the minute amount of brandy in the liquor chocolates, Shen Xi did not drink last night. We performed mark analysis on the liquor chocolates as well. There were only Shen Xi’s fingerprints, and indentations made from some kind of silk material.”

MC: “Silk product? That’s to say, when the murderer was tampering with the chocolate, they were wearing silk gloves.”

Mo Yi: “Even if it’s not a fingerprint but a silk imprint, it’s still a clue. Officer, even if there is not enough evidence that points to the culprit being Li Zhou… we can confirm that he has an undeniable association with this case. I suggest that Li Zhou be detained as soon as possible. If he possesses key evidence on his person and we’re too late, he’ll be able to destroy it.”

Officer: “We have updated Captain Yan’s team, and they with the idea, but… we broke procedure by taking in Lu JingHe without proper documentation. If we breach protocol again by detaining Li Zhou…”

MC: “But if we wait for the documents to come through, it might be too late. Can’t we expedite the process?”

Mo Yi: “In the face of these rules you call protocol, does Yan’s team not know how to improvise?”

Officer: “That…”

MC: “Dr. Mo, the police must follow set procedures in the justice system. Because of Lu JingHe, the media already has their eyes on the police. If you add Li Zhou to the mix, the case will be blown out of proportion…”

Mo Yi: “I acknowledge the police’s hardship. I'm simply regretful that when one knows the path one must take to exit hardship, one is walled up by rules, a mere social construct. The road ahead stays in sight, but out of reach.”

Officer: “We don't know where Li Zhou went after he checked out of the hotel, we’ll have to check road surveillance to find out and that requires additional clearance. To do so isn’t difficult, but considering the amount of heat Captain Yan’s team is under…”

MC: “What can we do… I got it, I know where Li Zhou is!”

(Under Mo Yi and the officer’s watchful eyes, I took out my cell phone and dialed Cheng Cheng’s number. She’s a paralegal in our firm and is one of my juniors. She’s been with Themis for less than a year and she’s a die-hard star chaser.)

Cheng Cheng: “Sigh, it’s Sunday, why did you call me so early.”

MC: “Early? It’s literally lunchtime, Cheng Cheng!”

Cheng Cheng: “It’s early for me. I was binging dramas until the sun came up.”

MC: “Alright, it’s early, if you say it so. I'm calling about actual business, can you do me a favor?”

Cheng Cheng: “What is it?”

MC: “Can you help me check Li Zhou’s itinerary for today? See if he’s gone on set for a shoot or maybe at an event?”

Cheng Cheng: “Eh? Since when did you start following celebrity news, and to be Li Zhou’s stan on top of that. Stay on the line as I check. There’s a lot of fan apps that you can search to see your idol’s public itineraries.”

MC: “Then I’ll have to trouble you.”

Cheng Cheng: “Hm… Li Zhou might be out of the province for a shoot. There isn’t anything on the app for this week.”

MC: “But he was staying at the Manny Hotel last night.”

Cheng Cheng: “Then it must be his private itinerary. It's not right to expose stuff like that.”

MC: “Where can I find his current-day plans? Like where he is, right now…” Cheng Cheng: “Oi, why would you want to know something like that! It’s an invasion of privacy and it’s not allowed!”

MC: “It’s not like I want to do this, but Li Zhou is connected to the homicide I’m currently investigating. By the time the police find his whereabouts, it may be too late, so I might as well…Sigh, you know what I mean. I have no other options… So you can’t find out where he is?”

Cheng Cheng: “A homicide? My gosh! Then I… why don’t I help you ask my friends if they know any paparazzi or information dealers…”

MC: “Sorry about this, Cheng Cheng. If you could, please do. I’ve put you in a difficult situation.”

Cheng Cheng: “If it gets out that I was looking for private information, my reputation will be smeared in the fandom! Everyone will accuse me. If things go south, they’ll expose me as a sasaeng fan. You owe me big time.”

MC: “Alright, whatever you want as compensation. But don’t reveal the fact that it’s for a case.”

Cheng Cheng: “Of course I know that. Don’t worry and wait for my reply.”

(After the call dropped, I lifted my head to see the shocked expression on the officer’s face. Mo Yi was trying his best not to laugh as he shook his head.)

MC: “It was an emergency, I was at my wit’s end…”

Mo Yi: “Even if I interact with students daily, I’ve always approached the subject of star chasing as a psychological lecture topic. I thought that it was low, but now… perhaps I needed to broaden my horizons. I should not have held onto prejudice for any group of individuals.”

MC: “I’m not too knowledgeable either, it’s all Cheng Cheng…”

(Just then, Cheng Cheng’s message came through. She sure is speedy.)

(“I found it, Li Zhou is at Stellis Airport, his flight is outbound for 12:30 PM, he’s already through security checks.”)

MC: “Li Zhou’s at the airport. His flight takes off in an hour, he’ll be boarding the plane soon!”

Officer: “I’ll head over right away and stop him.”

(The officer ran out while dialing a number on his phone. He must have rushed to inform Yan Wei.)

Mo Yi: “From the looks of it, we’ll have lots of things to ask Jiang MingYue again. Before that, we’ll need to organize the clues we obtained, so… we need to obtain more evidence that pertains to Li Zhou in this room, otherwise, Jiang MingYue will be unlikely to open up to us again.”

MC: “Jiang MingYue still has a chance to commit the crime, but as it stands, her motives aren’t as clear. Unless…”

(A man and two women, the entertainment industry, a fashion house… my mind conjured up something in an attempt to explain it all, in the most logical way possible.)

MC: “Unless her, Li Zhou, and Shen Xi are in a love triangle…”

(Voicing something so gossipy was awkward, but when it comes to a formal investigation, nothing is impossible.)

Mo Yi: “You’re guessing that Jiang MingYue poisoned Shen Xi out of spite and that Li Zhou was simply arguing with Shen Xi and did not intend to kill her?”

MC: “I cannot dismiss the possibility.”

Mo Yi: “I believe that the culprit isn't Jiang MingYue and that it can only be Li Zhou.”

——-

[Previous Part] | [Masterlist] | [Next Part]

——-

《CREDIT》 Translator: Humi Editor: @cL  QC: @hallowsivy​ 《未定事件簿》Tears of Themis is a 2020 Chinese otome game by 米哈游Mihoyo. All original credits go to 米哈游Mihoyo.

《 VOICE ACTORS 》 Mo Yi | Jiang GuangTao: https://weibo.com/jiangguangtao Lu JingHe | Yang Tianxiang: https://weibo.com/u/1745507755 Yan Wei: https://weibo.com/lengquanyeyue Jiang MingYue | V17-Vila: https://weibo.com/u/7360408881

[chibivesicle]

Golden Kamuy: chapters 255 & 256 - chaos at the brewery, superior private vs superior private, the death of the first Tsurumisexual

I was hesitant to write a stand alone 255 summary and I am glad that I waited until 256 was out.  I also had a busier than expected work week which kept me busy.  The fire that Jack set at the brewery was large enough that the local fire department is alerted to fight it.

The next few pages show how late Meiji era firefighters worked with a horsedrawn steam pumper.

The chief calls for a bugle player to call in the rest of the firefighters and they start spraying while the main pump starts.

This the allows us to see where some of the cast are.  As usual Shiraishi is near the fire fighters, he always has a tendency to know where the person in charge is, Ushiyama, Hijikata and then we see Boutarou is somewhere outside.

My most hated convict is there watching that everyone has assembled to find Jack.   He then has a fixation with the ladder.

I have no patience for Ueji, I really hope he’s not around much longer.

The action shifts to Asirpa still beating our convict until her sutu physically breaks.  I have to admit this concerns me since it shows that Asirpa may not have just been acting in self-defense/’basic’ punishment.  It indicates that she’s bolder or losing control of her own actions towards him.

Jack reaches out to grab her fur cloak and he holds here there as he reveals his ‘tragic’ backstory.  He was supposed to be the child of a prostitute and a member of the British Royal family.  Wow - riveting . . . . honestly, I found his backstory to be lame and I was like ‘on with it already.’  Still doesn’t really explain why a man would become a murderer . . . .

Asirpa then becomes more desperate and she threatens to stab him with one of her arrows if he doesn’t release her, while he insists he’s the product of a virgin birth. Since he was taken in nuns and raised in some sort of catholic setting . . .

What is important is that once she looks into his face after threatening she finally shows signs of PTSD from shooting Ogata.

Here face is sweaty and flushed and her pupils are tiny and she remembers Ogata collapsing on the ice floe.  I have been waiting so long for this to happen.  Asirpa is good at burying and denying her feelings and finally in a pinch her fears come to the surface.

Honestly, I am so relieved to have this happen in the story.

Sugimoto then arrives and tells Asirpa that killing Jack is his job.  He looks dangerous as his scarf flies back and he’s got the bayonet on his rifle.

Asirpa meanwhile is in the foreground arrow in her hand.  There are then several pages of Sugimoto stabbing and disemboweling and stabbing our convict before he kicks him out a window.

With luck, he falls out near Ushiyama who finishes him off with a skull smashing step.  I’ve never been a huge fan of Ushiyama, but I do like his line about how prostitutes are divine beings to him, remaining on earth to help others.

This seemed a lot more fitting than Sugimoto telling him what you do with your life is important.  I’m also curious how damaged his tattoo is after being slashed open across the belly. 

Now it is unclear if Sugimoto and Asirpa will be reuniting with Hijikata or not, since the skin has been delivered to Ushiyama.  I’m curious to see if they rejoin his group of if they break off again.

The action finally returns to the events that I am most interested in; the fight between Ogata and Usami.  The english translation has Usami calling Ogata by his first name as he beats the crap out of him while he tries to hold him off with the rifle.  Usami is upset since previously Ogata called him a ‘cheap piece’ on a chessboard and he did not like it.

We get a close up of Ogata’s bloody nose as the rifle moves. The next page makes it clear that Usami has grabbed the rifle and he proceeds to empty the remaining bullets and even kicks them away on the floor.

Usami is making sure that Ogata has no chance to fire at him and knows that if Ogata tried to fight back with the rifle alone, he’d have no chance.  Of course, Ogata goes to grab another clip, but Usami judo rolls him onto the floor and Ogata turns over and begins to crawl back to the rifle.

It seems like Ogata has some sort of thought in the first panel as Usami stands over him and tells him that he’s essentially useless without a gun.  I’m under the indication that when it comes to fighting and combat that Usami finds him useless since both of them have done things non-combat related.

Usami then boldly pulls the bayonet off of Ogata’s belt.  Usami then falls into the trope of overconfident monologue individual.

Ogata doesn’t give a damn about Usami’s monologue to him, he’s got to beat him and we get a close up of Ogata picking up an individual bullet between his bloody lips.  He’s got something in mind.

Usami then insults Ogata as being a son of a prostitute he can’t call Usami a cheap piece.  We know that Usami was raised in a normal but poor samurai family with both parents and siblings.  He feels that since he comes from a more reputable (though poor) background he has more legitimacy than Ogata which we know is the common perception of Ogata in the 27th.  We will need to know who told everyone he was Hanazawa’s illegitimate son to know how long the bullying went on for.

Usami then has self-reflective moment about how badly he’d wanted to say this to Ogata for at least a year by this point.  This has given Usami a pause to his advance and Ogata uses his tongue to push the single bullet into the open rifle. He still looks back at Usami and knows he can do this since he’s not paying close attention to Ogata crawling across the floor.

As Usami prepares the bayonet, Ogata flips the now loaded rifle towards him and Usami seems surprised.

The final page of the chapter shows what a point blank rifle shot does to Usami.  He’s been shot at close range and there is a massive blood splatter behind him, bayonet still in hand.  The chapter ends with Ogata calmly looking over his shoulder and smoke floats away from the barrel.

What a way to end the chapter!  I had been waiting for something like this for sooo long.  Usami fell in to the trap of ‘oh look at me, I’m going to let my emotions allow me to monologue’ . . . Ogata used the fact that he’s bad at close combat to crawl across the floor to the rifle.  Usami thought it was good enough to empty the rifle but he completely underestimated the tenacity of Ogata and his plan to reload his rifle in the most horny way possible. 

If Usami and Ogata are indeed pieces on a chessboard for Tsurumi, this has shown that Ogata is a much more valuable piece.  Or perhaps are all of them of equal value and Ogata just said that to rile up Usami?

Something that really stood out for me was how Usami’s approach to stab Ogata with a bayonet was very similar to chapter 5 when Sugimoto was over him about to stab him and Asirpa stops him.  Ogata then has the pause to poke Sugimoto in the face facilitating his escape.  In that instance, it was the combination of Asirpa and then Ogata that allowed for him to escape. 

With Usami, the only person in charge of Ogata’s escape is Ogata.  It this telling us that Ogata has leveled up?  He’s now taking ownership for saving himself?  No one else came to his aid, he did it all on his own a change for him since when they were in Edogai’s house, Sugimoto had to save him from the random guy from the 27th. . . . Just something to ponder.

Either way lets get to 256 where the action continues!

The chapter stards with Usami falling back as Ogata on autopilot ejects the spent shell to ready the rifle to be loaded and fired.

Usami tumbles down the stairs and Ogata pulls out another clip to load the rifle. As wounded as Usami is, he moves quickly enough to get out of visual range of Ogata.  He holds on the the railing of the stairs as he bleeds out his back and realizes his spat with Ogata isn’t important.

He needs to tell something to Tsurumi.  Is it what he saw on Kadokura?

Meanwhile Ueji is messing around with the firefighters.  He’s pulled on some of the hoses and begins to climb up the ladder as people wonder what he’s trying to do and Usami exits at ground level.

Usami finds the horses for the fire engine around the same time that Sugimoto kicks Jack out the window.  This inadvertently catches Ogata’s attention.  Ogata then looks out the window to spot Usami on one of the horses below.

Usami is pretty rough, holding onto his chest where Ogata shot him.  Ogata takes his time to set up his shot, breaking the glass and resting his rifle on a crossbar in the frame.  Ogata then tells Usami that if he’s that worried about being a cheap piece .  . . he needs to know what Tsurumi’s face looks like at his funeral.

Ogata has made it clear that Usami is not making it to Tsurumi alive.  His goal is to stop him. 

I think that Ogata is drawing on his own personal experience and observations of Tsurumi.  He knows that his mother was a ‘cheap piece’ to his father since he never came to her funeral.  He also got to see Hanazawa’s dying facial expression which let him know what little he thought of him as the son he ignored.  Ogata also knows Tsurumi well enough that he’ll reveal how he feels about Usami in death, so really if Tsurumi cares about him, he’ll get what he wanted.  Ogata likely has mixed feelings on this; his own experience is that no one cares about others in death, and he likely wants Tsurumi to be cold and calculating not giving Usami what he wants. 

To snipe Usami, Ogata levels up, Usami is able to round the corner of the building, but thanks to Sugimoto kicking Jack out a window it is now open.

Sugimoto then is walking away from the open window and another window faces towards Usami.  Noda ramps up the tension of Ogata aiming at the open window where Sugimoto is. . . . but just as Sugimoto moves out of the line of fire Ogata takes aim and fires.

We get a unique bullet view of his shot!  Oh no? Has Ogata decided to snipe Sugimoto instead?  Pfffttt!  Of course not.  Ogata is the type of sniper who gets his mark.  His shot enters Usami’s back and exits his chest likely near his heart.

This tells us several things.  Ogata really doesn’t give a damn about Sugimoto.  He could have shot him, but really why?  There is no point, his target was Usami.  He’s off to rely information to Tsurumi. 

I also wonder if Sugimoto even heard the shot after he walked away from the windows?  There was no indication as such in 255.  All of these events highlight that Ogata’s goals have nothing directly to do with Sugimoto and his flawed reasoning that Ogata is out to get him really needs a reality check.

Back to the action, Usami falls off the horse and is dramatically caught in Tsurumi’s arms.  Usami looks at Tsurumi while Ogata thanks him.

He then removes his bandage to reveal a glass eye and he declares that he is now completed as a sniper.  This refers back to when he was retraining how to to use a rifle with Hijikata.  He stated he would only be a sniper, if he actually killed a person not more ducks.

For comedic effects, his glass eye pops out and he catches it.  It looks like Ogata now has historical overlap with the French Canadian sniper Leo Major.

The chapter returns to Usami dying before Tsurumi.  He hands over he copy of a skin that he got from Kadokura.  He then begins to speak about Kadokura, while Tsurumi looks down at him softly telling him he’s done well.

Usami reaches to touch Tsurumi’s face.  There is then a very uncomfortable scene where Tsurumi sucks on his pinky finger before he bites it off.  He tells Usami that this will allow them to live on together.  He tells him that he’ll be living inside him as his number one friend.

So, unlike saving Olga and Fina’s finger bones he took from Russia, he’ll just digest and absorb Usami instead. . . .

Usami than smiles as he dies, telling Usami that he’s so happy that he’s going to come from the feeling as he starts to call him by his first name before he dies in Tsurumi’s arms.  The next panel shows Tsurumi holding him in his arms.

As a nerd with a minor in art history, I immediately noticed that this was a reference to Michelangelo’s famous sculpture of Jesus laying in the arms of the Virgin Mary, the pieta. 

First, based on how Usami’s death impacts Tsurumi, he can rest assured that he wasn’t a cheap piece.  Second, Tsurumi has stood in for the Virgin Mary again in the context of scenes.  I’m honestly curious where Noda is going with this Tsurumi = Virgin Mary bit.

The chapter then ends with Ueji standing on the smokestack of the brewery looking for everyone’s attention.  I guess he wants everyone to try to attack him at once?  Or is he going to jump to his death and result in the destruction of his tattoo making things impossible?

Overall impressions for the events of these two chapters.

1.) Jack was a lame convict.  He did not interest me and his only importance was to get Asirpa to recognize her PTSD when she really tried to threaten him.

2.) Noda tried to tease the readers with Sugimoto-Ogata conflict but it shows that Ogata doesn’t look at Sugimoto the same way he looks at Ogata.   Sugimoto thinks Ogata is messing around, an agent of chaos, but this is anything but that fact.  It also shows again that Sugimoto thinks he’s more critical in the gold hunt than he is.  Asirpa is key, he’s just going along for the ride and Hijikata has tried to eliminate him, as has Ogata, Tanigaki and Tsurumi.

3.) Asirpa is showing finally that she was impacted by when she shot Ogata.  About time, then again, Asirpa and Ogata are very similar characters with strong internal compasses and repress their feelings.

4.) Ogata has returned to wild-type.  The past few chapters he has been on fire.  He out smarted Vasily, and was able to defeat Usami.  Many of us wondered if his sniping days were over - he has proven otherwise, but him sniping Usami was both defensive and a highly tactical decision.  It seems that Ogata has gained a new will to live, he fought his way out of very difficult situations and did everything alone (and with the help of his Yuusaku subconsciousness).  It appears that Tsurumi’s statement of not wanting to have him fighting against you holds up and his own name that he is a single man but equal to one hundred.  Ogata also shows even if he may have emotions and feelings about how others treat/perceive him, he doesn’t like it cloud his judgement or actions.

5.) Usami got the death he wanted.  I’m a little annoyed that Usami got the death he dreamed of, he gained praise from Tsurumi and was told how much he cared about him.  Usami died happy in his arms.  Perhaps, this indicates a sort of guilt/responsibility that Tsurumi felt towards young Tokishige back in Niigata?  If he didn’t have Usami judo fight his friend, maybe he wouldn’t have snapped and become a perfect and loyal solider.

That’s all I have for now.

[artistic-writer]

The Contract :: CS Omegaverse :: Ch 5

Title: The Contract Rating: E Summary: Emma had never wanted much in her life, despite being married to one of the richest men in the world. For ten years she has felt like a prisoner in her own marriage, denied the one thing she wants the most, but her husband cannot help but bargain her want like a cheap business deal.  Enter Killian Jones, the Alpha her husband has hired to make sure she gets what she wants. And then some. A/N: Here is ch 5!! Graham is still a dick, Emma is very naughty and Killian buys a sex toy!  This chapter is so much fun ;) Enjoy!  Thanks to @kmomof4 who beta’d this one, because she is awesome <3 I would also like to give a MASSIVE thank you to @itsfabianadocarmo for her beautiful artwork that she so graciously allowed me to use from now on! <3

This is an Omegaverse fic featuring A/B/O dynamics.  Whilst this varies from fandom to fandom, for the purposes of my fic, there will be no mpreg.  Just so you know.  There will however be knotting, breeding, heats and other delicious things that come along with A/B/O.  If you do not know what A/B/O is, feel free to message me :)  Many thanks to @hollyethecurious @shardminds @kmomof4 @darkcolinodonorgasm @resident-of-storybrooke and @effulgentcolors for letting me bounce my complicated ideas of you lol

If you wish to stay away from this fic, blacklist the A/B/O tag.

Taglist:  I’ll be honest, i have lost my taglist for this fic, so if you want a tag, please message me here on on discord (Salem #5158/ itwontalwaysbelikethis@gmail.com) and I’ll add you!  I’ve tagged the following people i KNOW want to read this, but i don’t want to accidentally tag you if you do not like ABO.

@hollyethecurious @shardminds @kmomof4 @resident-of-storybrooke @darkcolinodonorgasm @thisonesatellite @xemmaloveskillianx @hookedonapirate @teamhook​ @winterbaby89​ @carpedzem​ @courtorderedcake​ 

——————————————————————————————

The lobby of the hotel was as Killian would have expected when he had received a call from Graham’s PA informing him that they were to meet again. Graham had insisted, as part of their agreement, that Killian would be paid in cash upon a meeting after each visit with Emma. Of course, that meant that there was no paper trail of his or Emma’s indiscretions, which suited Killian just fine. It was the only part of the damned contract he actually agreed with.

Just like everything else Graham Humbert had a hand in, this meeting place was as flamboyant and pompous as Killian had foreseen, with silken drapes with golden embroidery hanging on every window. Massive diamond chandeliers hung along the hall, and the sound of water flowing through an indoor fountain was accompanied by the soothing lilt of music that Killian was sure was emanating from some kind of hidden speaker system. The huge, marble columns stood floor to ceiling, lining the edges of both sides of the room, and were so highly polished that Killian could see his reflection clearly in them as he walked past. The floor, equally as polished to within one inch of its life, did little to absorb the sound of his footsteps as he made his way to the bar area, and Killian kept a careful eye out for anyone who might be more than unwelcomed at the meeting.

He had noticed that Graham never travelled alone, always meeting him with two big, burly henchmen at his side. They never sat with them, but were never far enough away that Graham would be in any sort of trouble if he found himself in a sticky situation. In a world where strength was everything, Graham’s actions made Killian chuckle. Humbert so desperately wanted to be an Alpha that he often forgot that, fundamentally, an Alpha would never need protection, or a bodyguard, let alone two of them, and it just spoke to how insecure Graham really was.

Killian’s lips ticked up into a small, tight smile that he hid under a swipe of his tongue, lest one of them be nearby. It wasn’t long before Killian spotted one of them, a big, fat lump of a man he had seen before, distinguished by three neck ripples of fat sitting on top of the collar of his shirt. He was slouched forward over a table nursing a glass of amber liquid, most likely expensive whiskey due to the reputation of the place, with one foot up on the cross beam of the chair and the other resting on the toe of his shoe. He had sushi, Killian could smell that much, four tiny pieces of fish decorated with carrot and cucumber that probably cost as much as his suit.

Off to the sushi scoffing man’s left was the other pitbull Graham kept at hand who Killian liked to refer to as ‘bowtie’. The man was easily spotted in a crowd because he always insisted on wearing a red bowtie with a crisp white shirt with matching red cufflinks that sat next to his oversized hands. He didn’t say much, not even a little grunt, but he was always sitting closest to their boss, and it wasn’t long before Killian spotted Graham Humbert behind him. He was, as usual, pretending to watch the world go by like it owed him something, and Killian felt the bile rise in his throat.

“Jones,” Humbert greeted cordially, pushing himself to his feet and extending his hand. Killian’s eyes flicked towards the man’s palm but he scoffed, his jaw ticking in annoyance. When he lifted his gaze back to meet Graham’s, a sickly sweet smile grew over Humbert’s lips. “Sit down,” he commanded like he was talking to a dog and motioned to the seat opposite him.

Killian refrained from hitting the man by biting his inner cheek and undid the single button on his suit jacket so that he could sit more comfortably. He sank down into the seat, a plush but executive tub chair with a checkered pattern that only just accommodated his bulk, and leaned back to take in the man before him. He hated Humbert even more with each meeting and he couldn’t help but dig his nails into the brass rivets at the front side of the chair’s arm.

“I’ll spare you the formalities, Mr Jones, because I’m a busy man,” Humbert began, sinking down into his own chair.

Killian thought the knee high table between them wasn’t enough space and he despised the feeling he had when Graham reached into the breast pocket of his fine, tailored jacket and fished out a pristine white envelope that clearly bulged with his payment. Humbert slid it across the table, tapping it with a finger.

“I’d love to know what you did with my wife last night.” He raised a brow, almost impressed. “She’s very happy.”

The thought of knotting Emma flashed across his mind, and Killian had to suppress a smirk, shifting in the chair when his groin tingled.

“Not something I’m willing to share this time.” Killian looked Graham dead in the eyes and didn’t look away, emphasising the first word. “However much you pay me.”

Graham took him in, sniggering at Killian’s aggressive tone. “Yes, well, you can spare yourself the Alpha dramatics, Jones. I wasn’t looking to take anymore of your ‘secrets’.” Graham flicked his wrist, his clearly solid gold watch heavy and rattling just a tad against his skin, and then looked at the time. “I don’t have time for your stories today.”

“Something more important to do?” Killian snapped.

“Someone, actually,” Graham sneered, licking his lips afterwards. “And she won’t wait long.”

Killian bit his tongue, regretfully deciding to not upset the man who could control his access to Emma.

“Please,” Graham scoffed, brushing the wrinkles from the front of his shirt as he pushed himself to his feet. Out of the corner of his eye Killian saw both bodyguards stop whatever they were doing and prepare to leave as well. “Spare me the judgemental looks and angry Alpha brooding. A man has needs, I’m sure you can appreciate that.”

Killian leapt to his feet, chest to chest to Graham. “I’m not just a man though, am I?”

Graham didn’t flinch, instead grinning like a proud cheshire cat. “You’re whatever I pay you to be.”

The blood pounded in Killian’s ears, his heart rate well and truly elevated to beyond what his body was comfortable with. Emma was worth this. Emma was worth anything Humbert could throw at him, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t play unfairly either.

“Your wife wants a knot,” Killian blurted, his hot breath fogging Graham’s face through clenched teeth. When Humbert’s smile faded, Killian knew he had touched a sore subject. As much as Graham could pretend, he would never have that one true Alpha attribute he wanted as desperately as his wife. “It seems a shame to leave her so unfulfilled,” Killian shrugged. “I mean, we might as well not even have this arrangement at all if she isn’t getting what she wants so you can get what you want.”

Killian heard Humbert take a deep breath and consider his words. Killian mulled over his expression, watching the puny man’s entire thought process by simply studying his face, Graham’s eyes widening between frowns as his mind went to work. Killian could tell Graham was conflicted. No Alpha for Emma meant no mistress for him, and a small smile tugged at the corner of Killian’s lips.

“I might have an idea so that everyone is happy,” Killian shrugged casually, knowing from the way Graham was sweating that he hadn’t found an option to his own dilemma yet.

“Go on,” Graham encouraged.

“I know of a certain toy that could facilitate what your wife wants,” Killian offered. He stepped back and buttoned his jacket, pushing the button through its hole slowly and deliberately. The smile that graced Killian’s lips was a combination of memories of the day before, when he had actually knotted Emma for real, and the knowledge that Graham was so arrogant, he would believe this whole thing to be his idea. Killian knew Emma would want nothing less than the real thing, his knot thrust up into her as she whimpered in delight, but that didn’t stop Killian playing Graham’s ego against him. “There would be no actual knotting, of course,” he finished, looking up to Graham’s intent expression. “As per your contract.”

“Like a sex toy?” Graham frowned.

“Exactly,” Killian nodded smugly. “A lot of hired Alpha’s wear them during encounters.”

“How much extra would this cost me?” Graham sneered, disgusted but intrigued at the idea all the same.

“Nothing,” Killian shook his head. “I’m sure I can afford one, what with your generous payments.” Killian leaned down and retrieved the money from the table, the envelope crinkling in his hand as he folded it in half and tucked it into the front pocket of his pants. “I just need to know if it's against the agreement we have to use one.” Killian's voice was darker, and he fixed his gaze on Graham once more.

Graham waggled a finger in Killian’s direction, a small chuckle tumbling from his mouth. “You know, Mr Jones, I think I’m beginning to like you.”

Killian shuddered, swallowing hard and looking down to his feet.

“Go buy what you need,” Graham nodded, balling his hands in his pockets. “In fact, why don’t you take Emma with you and then go back to the apartment.” Killian’s head snapped up at his offer and Graham just gave him a sickeningly modest glare like it was still up to him whether Emma saw Killian or not.

“What’s the catch?” Killian narrowed his eyes.

“No catch,” Graham assured him with a bow of his head, the most honest thing Killian had ever seen him do. Maybe the fool was in love with his mistress after all. “Think of it as a bonus for a job well done.”

“And what’s in it for you?” Killian scrutinized Graham, knowing full well that a man of his stature never did anything without something in return.

“Let’s just say, with Emma away, the mice can play.” Graham winked and Killian felt his stomach turn over. Now he was absolutely sure the man before him held no love for his wife at all, willing to defile their marital bed with his mistress, something he knew Emma was against doing with him. Then again, he also knew it wasn’t about respect for her marriage, but finding something new with someone else, somewhere else that held no memories of Humbert repression.

Killian felt sick at the thought of Emma as some sort of transactional incentive, but he wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, even if it was from Graham Humbert. Killian already knew he would do anything for her, Humbert be damned, and he dreamed of taking her away from everything she knew and showing her the life she deserved. Emma’s life wasn’t pleasant, he knew that, but when she was with him, she was herself, the real Emma, and Killian wanted that for her all of the time. Maybe he could show her that today.

“If you insist,” Killian nodded in agreement, only too willing to take Emma out and show her exactly how precious she actually was.

--

Not seeing Emma for a few days had almost killed Killian, especially when he knew that the next time they would see each other, they would be shopping for something he had tricked her husband into agreeing to. The idiot. Truth be told, Killian had in fact needed to pre-order the knotting toy in advance and they would just be popping to the sex store in order to retrieve it, and that freed up their entire afternoon. Because of his girth, the store had needed to have it custom made, something that had made Killian dance inside with glee because he was sure, at some point, Humbert would want to see it. Even if they didn’t need it, because Killian would be damned if he thought Emma wasn’t getting the real thing, he wouldn’t put it past Humbert to need proof.

All of his worries soon dissipated when his cell phone buzzed in the pocket of his pants. Killian had been lingering outside of the store for far longer than he should have been, one or two of the staff occasionally looking out of the black tinted windows to make sure he wasn’t some creep stalking their customers, and just like the last message, Emma was apologizing for being late. His thumb lingered on the cold surface of his cell phone, her words almost identical to the last message and setting panic in his bones.

His mind raced with scenarios that might make Emma late, from good to the very worst, and he cursed himself for even thinking some of them. He knew she would be arriving by a driven car, so graciously provided by her husband that Killian knew was just a front of generosity so Graham was sure she was out of the way whilst he entertained his mistress. Killian’s heart had long since given up breaking for Emma at the thought though, because he knew she would gladly let the mistress move in if it meant she could see him more often.

Finally, after what seemed like forever holding his breath and tapping his locked phone against his other hand, she came into view. He’d told her to dress for lunch but he had also neglected to remember the social divide between them, her dress far superior to his attire. He’d gone casual, just some chinos and a v-neck t-shirt under a summer blazer, but Emma took his breath away in what she was wearing. It wasn’t the plain, almost sheer magnolia off white top half that had him really rigid, but the bottom half, a short, black, thigh high skirt sitting under a matching rippled cumberbund style belt that hugged her waist and let him see the skin of her thigh. He swallowed hard as she approached, her hips sashaying from side to side with every step away from the car, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as her heels carried her closer.

Her hair was perfect, a fishbone braid across the top of her crown and hanging over one of her shoulders. Killian felt himself grow hot and imagined his hand wrapped around it, pulling her onto his cock over and over, just like a few days ago. Wisps of her perfectly toned blonde hair sprang out into the air but it just reminded him of how gorgeous she was as he watched her sleeping post coitus, his hands itching to flatten them and stroke the shape of her skull lovingly. Last but not least she was wearing a smile, one he had never seen in any photographs before, and one that was assuredly reserved for just him.

“Mr Jones,” she said sweetly, her hand reaching out for him after she tucked her matching cream clutch under her arm.

Killian took her hand with a growl, lifting it to his lips and inhaling her skin before looking up to her with a sultry stare and pressing his lips to her knuckles.

“Emma,” he breathed, her name everything. “You look beautiful, as always.”

“Thank you.” Emma smiled sweetly. “You don’t look so bad yourself.” Her eyes roamed his body, taking him in from head to toe and back up again, her tongue darting out to taste her lip as her eyes lingered on the bulge in his chinos.

“When you have quite finished,” Killian told her, tugging her fingers and bringing her back to reality. “One quick stop and we can be off to the restaurant for lunch.” Even saying it out loud made him tingle with warmth, like they were going on a real date, in public, with people seeing them side by side, and Killian couldn’t suppress his Alpha urge to let everyone know who Emma would be with at that moment.

“I’m not going to lie, Killian, I know exactly where we are, and there are no restaurants nearby.” Emma’s lips twisted into a coy smirk and she felt him squeeze her fingers. “What’s going on? Why are we here?”

Killian couldn’t hide his glee any longer and he let their hands dangle in front of them as he stepped forward to greet her with another kiss to her cheek. The softness of her skin made his knees buckle a little, but he managed to regain a sort of semi-composed state for what he had to tell her.

“This was actually Mr Humbert’s idea,” Killian smirked and when Emma’s eyebrows shot up on her forehead, he raised one too. “Or so he thinks.”

Emma looked perplexed. “Why would Graham let you take me to a sex shop?” She wasn’t even annoyed at the mention of her husband, because the idea of being here, with Killian, was far outweighing any hatred she had for the man who thought he supposedly owned her.

“That’s a story for another time,” Killian told her cryptically. He stepped back, interlocking their fingers and tugged her after him, encouraging her to follow. He bit his bottom lip, looking her up and down between steps, sighing audibly in appreciation of the way she moved after him. “I’m not sure this outfit is appropriate for lunch,” Killian teased, shaking his head. “How am I supposed to keep my eyes on you and one eye on every other man in the place?”

“And why would you need to do that?” Emma feigned modesty and Killian noticed a little more sway in her hips as she walked, drawing, tempting him to a fate he knew would have him killed one day.

Once they were through the doors, and hidden from any prying eyes by the darkness of tinted windows, Killian pulled his hand from hers and let it fall to her hip, his fingers hungrily grabbing at the material of her skirt and bunching it up until it was raised up towards her waist a little more. He stepped into her and Emma gasped when her bare shoulders hit the cold of the window and his knee between her legs stopped her from losing her balance and tumbling to the ground.

“You know why,” Killian growled sultrily, his nose pressed against hers and their lips a hair's breadth apart. She smelled of perfume, floral with undertones of her natural scent that had Killian rolling his eyes in his head and his jaw clenching tighter than he thought possible. It seemed a few days had been too long without her near him, and his hands skimmed the shape of her arse hungrily.

“How can you be so sure other men find me as desirable as you do?” Emma’s words were strangled in her throat that had gone bone dry from the way Killian’s thigh was rubbing against her clit through her panties.

Killian chuckled darkly, his tongue licking over her lips as he moistened his own in response to her fingers gripping his bicep through the material of his blazer. “Emma, Emma, Emma,” Killian taunted playfully with a shake of his head. “When are you going to realise how precious you are?”

Emma’s hand snaked up behind his head and held it in place as she moved hers to the side, the softness of her lips brushing against the shell of his ear as she whispered, “When are you going to show me?” Her fingers clawed over the back of his neck, raking through the hair there ever so gently that it had all of Killian’s nerve endings firing at once. “Again,” she added, her voice lowered and full of fire as she slipped out from underneath him and made her way into the main part of the shop.

Killian grunted in frustration, spinning his entire body off the window pane and following after her like a man on an invisible tether. She was something, he had to admit that, especially when, by watching the shape of her behind in her too short skirt, he had failed to realise that she was heading towards the lingerie section. He looked up just in time to see her holding the barest slip of material up to her body before looking back at him through her lashes and quirking a brow.

“How do you think this would look on me?” She asked innocently, tucking the material under her breasts and accenting them as she pushed them up.

“Not as good as it would look on the floor,” Killian whispered as he reached her and inspected the garment. It was made of lace as red as blood, with two cut outs on either side that would definitely show the contrast of her milky skin down to her hips where the built in lace underwear sat. The bra part was padded, hiding away her best parts behind another layer of matching lace and Killian made a mental note to make sure that never happened. His thoughts were soon interrupted when he noticed, with a glint in her eye, Emma was indicating to the slit like opening on the panties with a wiggling finger and a coy smirk.

“You sure that’s where you want it to be?” Emma teased, biting her tongue and feeling the material of the bra as if she were Killian kneading her breasts.

Killian whimpered and toyed with the little red bows that stuck to each hip of the garment, the material pure silk between his fingers. All he could do was shake his head, an Alpha pathetically reduced to just actions by a woman, and he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

“I’ll be right back,” he said quietly, his voice hoarse. He peeled the lingerie from her grip and Emma almost squealed with glee, her face erupting into an excited smile that made the skin behind his ears burn hot with pleasure. “I need to pay for this and retrieve something, then we shall go to lunch.” He took a step back, the air just two feet from Emma much easier to breathe in, but he immediately missed the heavy weight pressing down on his lungs.

“Perfect,” Emma beamed at him. She had that glint in her eye again and Killian’s jaw nearly hit the floor when she lifted her hand to her face and gave the tip of her thumb a salacious lick, the mystery behind the green of her eyes darkened by her lust once more. “I’m starving.”

--

Killian couldn’t help the way he was smiling, despite Emma telling him more than once to stop. They sat opposite each other in an almost rooftop restaurant and Killian had made sure they were seated next to the window so that they could both enjoy the view, not that he had seen much more than Emma right in front of him. Emma as she was. Emma in the new lingerie he had just bought her. Emma like she had been when she took his knot. God only knew how his brain managed to fathom much else at this point.

They had, somehow, managed to order some food, even if they were both anxious for what was to come afterward. Humbert had pretty much given him the green light to take Emma back to her apartment, so Killian wasn’t going to miss out on an opportunity when it presented itself. When he thought about it, finding loopholes in Humbert’s contract really was about as much fun as he had imagined, especially when so much was at stake.

“Thank you,” Emma said softly, shaking him out of his daydream by placing her hand over his. Killian looked down to where Emma’s fingers were tangling with his, the edge of their palms resting against the pristinely white table cloth, and gave her a sideways cock of his head.

“For what, love?” he asked sweetly, rubbing her thumb with his.

“For this,” Emma said with a nod, motioning around the slowly filling restaurant with a wave of her free hand. “For showing me that I’m not just arm candy for a businessman.”

Killian sucked in a breath and released a laugh at the same time. “Emma, you are so much more than that. What will it take for you to realise that?”

Emma blushed and diverted her eyes back down to focus on the hypnotic way Killian’s thumb was still etching the feel of his skin onto hers. Her smile faded and Killian was sure he saw a little bit of a tear in her eye, frowning and giving her hand a gentle tug until she looked back at him.

“Look,” he began, licking his lips. “I know this isn’t ideal, what we’re doing, but for what it’s worth, I’m having the time of my life.” Killian smiled at her warmly and she mirrored the shape of his lips with her own. “What happens when your husband is sick of his mistress is my only uncertainty.”

“You think he let this happen because he has a mistress?” Emma scoffed a laugh, looking away from him sadly. “Please, Killian, there have been other women and you’ve met the man. He’d do anything to avoid a divorce.” The sadness that laced her words pained him right to his soul and Killian felt his fingers tighten around hers when she turned her head to stare blankly out of the window. “The only reason you and I ever met is because he was trying to keep me quiet and retain his Humbert bravado. He can take this all away from me as quickly as it began.”

“I’d like to see him try,” Killian said defiantly.

“He’s done it before,” Emma almost sobbed, her voice weak and small in the back of her throat at the memory of how many times Graham had promised her so much only to rip it all away to keep her in line. She never wanted to imagine how it would feel to have Graham take Killian away from her now that she had known him.

“Aye, maybe, but you’ve never had me fighting for you before, have you, darling?”

At his words, Emma looked back to him and welcomed the way his confidence in her was written all over his face, from the curve of his lips as he smiled to the sparkle in the blue of his eyes. Emma had never known any Alpha other than the Humbert men, and certainly hadn’t known one to give the likes of her the time of day. But Killian was different, affectionate and passionate, and she knew that no matter what, she would be making the most of him tonight.

“You are a man of many firsts, Mr Jones,” Emma smirked. She pulled her hand from his and moved to lean forward, her head resting on her hand as the point of her elbow sat precariously on the edge of the table. She trailed one of her fingers over her lips, giving them a little tap.

“I’m also wonderfully committed to seconds,” Killian grinned. “And thirds, and fourths.” He winked, letting the corner of his lips pull up into a sideways smirk, one eyebrow jumping up higher on his brow.

“And is that what you want?” Emma teased, rolling her shoulders back so that Killian had no choice but to divert his eyes down to the sway of her breasts underneath the sheer, cream fabric of her dress. “To knot me again?” Emma blinked, looking up at him through her lashes. “And again?”

Killian didn’t mean to laugh but he hoped it helped that the tips of his ears turned a rather attractive rosy colour as he pawed at the patch of skin behind them, his tongue darting out at the memory of her taste on his lips.

“Like I need to breathe, love,” Killian said finally, rolling his bottom lip under his teeth and letting an appreciative hum escape his mouth at the memory of the feeling of her body around his knot. “I’ll beg if I have to,” he admitted with a nod.

“Would you want it now?” Emma’s eyes lit up with glee and she couldn’t hide the excited grin on her face. “With all these people around?”

“Aye,” Killian said, his words even and his voice a little huskier than it was before. He leaned forward and Emma could have sworn he was staring directly into her soul. “I’d fuck you over this table until you begged me to knot you because you couldn’t take not having it any longer.”

His words, despite what she had asked for, made Emma’s entire body prickle with heat. Every muscle was remembering the feel of his hands on her skin, the feel of his cock inside of her and recalling the way it felt to have such a rock hard, welcome intrusion like his knot. She pressed her thighs together at the thought, her core clenching with need and a little bit of hot, wet, discharge leaking out of her. She wasn’t sure if Killian could smell her, but his eyes definitely darkened around the edge of his hues and he drew his fingers into a clenched fist as he stared her down.

“I’m sorry,” Emma blushed, swallowing hard. “Would you excuse me? I just need to use the ladies room before our food arrives.”

Killian shook his head slightly, and pushed himself to his feet. It was probably the most gentlemanly thing Emma had ever seen and had been sure, when Graham failed to do it, it was the stuff of myths and legends that women only read about in books. The heat across her cheeks was more vibrant now, and there was no way Killian didn’t know what his words had done to her, or why she was heading to the bathroom at all.

“Of course,” he said cordially but grabbed her arm as she moved past him, leaning in and almost licking the shell of her ear with his words. “Hurry back,” he whispered, his words dripping into her ear like a hot wax that sent a shiver down her spine, before he stepped away and left her wanting even more than before.

Emma barely made it to the bathroom, her legs shaking and her skin on fire with a burning itch that only Killian could sate. She ran through the door, politely apologising to a woman she bumped into on the way, and flattened herself against the cool tiled wall. She let out a breath, long and uneven, her lips quivering slightly as she gulped down air, trying to quell her arousal. Emma had never felt so alive, her whole body aching as she pinned her weight against the wall, fingers clawing at the grout and her knees threatening to buckle at any second.

“Fuck,” she panted, pinching her eyes closed. How did Killian have the ability to make her feel this way with just his words and a sideways sultry glance? Emma was sure it was black magic. Or witchcraft. Or more simply, it was her pure, unadulterated need, two compatible people fitting together like puzzle pieces, her body crying out for him every time they met. Whatever it was, she was pretty sure that she would never make it back to her apartment without some sort of cooling relief for the sizzling heat that was eating her up from the inside out.

Emma bolted for the nearest stall, slamming the door closed behind her and sliding the lock into place. Not even the toilet seat lid offered her relief as she sat down on the cold plastic, and she slumped back against the cistern with a grumble. She pinched her eyes closed but all she could see was Killian, his eyes darkened to a lustful grey and his lips curved into that toying smirk he always did before he fully ravaged her. She loved it, and needed it - him - but all she had right now was her hand and her imagination, so with a hurried pant, Emma bunched up the material of her skirt, opened her legs and slipped her hand between her thighs.

The material of her underwear was already wet, the damp patch just below her clit cool on her skin. Her fingers toyed over it, sliding back and forth, teasing her body with the idea that she might slip lower. The friction was minimal but just enough, her nipples hardening in her bra and the material rubbing against them, causing her even more frustration. She let out a groan that was a little too loud, the sound of her voice reverberating off the bathroom walls.

She only stopped for a second to make sure no one had heard her, instantly missing the way her hand felt on the outside of her panties. She skimmed her fingers over the fabric again, sighing when she pushed through her folds and found her clit, circling the nub and feeling her entire body relax as she sucked in a breath through her teeth. Even just thinking about Killian had her body reacting like this, essence practically dripping from her core as she strummed out a beat over her clit.

She had to make it quick or Killian would grow suspicious, and Emma wouldn't put it past him to come looking for her. What if he did? Suddenly it didn't seem like such a bad idea to take her time, but Emma wasn't that patient, parting her legs even wider and settling the material of her underwear over herself where it contoured the shape of her clit and, with every flick, had white light erupting behind her eyelids.

Emma canted her hips to meet the rub of her hand, her body shaking as her clit grew harder and more sensitive with every sweep. Her thighs quivered and she needed to place her free hand on the stall wall for balance, her inevitable orgasm creeping up on her and leaving her whimpering Killian's name. The room was spinning, even behind her eyelids, and the warmth of the heated bathroom was beginning to affect her, a sheen of sweat condensing across her skin.

She’d never done this before, masturbated in a public place, and it was the most exciting thing she had ever done. Her entire body tingled, her hand shaking, her brain telling her to stop the assault on her clit that was pulsing and throbbing, but her body crying out for more. Her breathing was uneven and the skin under her braid tightened against her head, pulling all of her hair and reminding her of how Killian had grabbed it a few days ago. It was enough, the memory of Killian and what he could do to her making her legs and back stiffen as she came, her hand furiously rubbing at her clit through the material of her underwear and extending her pleasure through painfully gritted teeth.

It wasn’t enough, Emma could tell that the second her orgasm rippled away as quickly as it had arrived, but it was enough to keep her sated for now. Or so she hoped. Now her only problem was her soaking wet panties. Emma looked down between her legs, holding the ruffles of her black skirt aside as she inspected the dark grey patch that had appeared there, her clit still pulsing with aftershocks as she tugged the material from her skin. There was no way Killian wouldn’t know about this, because even she could smell herself in the confines of the cubicle.

He had done this to her. It was still beyond her exactly how, but Killian had this effect on her like nothing she had ever experienced before. It was like her body was his obedient puppy, eager to please him, willing to do anything for a little attention and it had never felt so right to let it. Emma’s lips turned up into a wry grin as she stood back on wobbly legs, shimmied her wet panties to the floor and then picked them up, straightening the creases in her skirt whilst balling the damp material in her fist. Horny didn’t even begin to describe how she felt, the thrill of masterbating in the bathroom of a restaurant combined with the knowledge Killian was hers all afternoon still coursing through every fibre of her being.

They had to skip lunch and Emma knew exactly how to do that.

When she reappeared, Killian was absentmindedly staring out of the window across the expanse of the city, but the slight rise of his elfen ear gave away his smile. He didn’t turn around when she approached, but he knew she was there, heels gently tapping the polished floor, their echoes eaten up by the sounds of the other diners. His hand rested on the tablecloth, fingers stretched outwards as if covering hers that had left the spot a few minutes ago.

“Sorry about that,” Emma chirped as she neared him. She reached the table, her hip brushing his shoulder as she passed, and in one swift motion that even left her surprised by her own audacity, Emma dropped her sodden lace panties to the table right next to his hand. “I needed to take care of something.”

Killian’s head snapped towards the garment beside his hand, his fingers lifting off the tablecloth that had suddenly become like hot embers under the tips. Similarly, his ears were burning with the tell tale tint of a blush that was soon replaced with the ferocity of his inner animal as he plucked the lace from the table and was immediately hit with her scent. It was the perfect combination of the sweetness of peaches and the exoticness of star anise, and he would gladly risk the toxicity of the latter if it meant he could feast on her for hours.

“You couldn’t wait until after lunch?” Killian smirked, tucking the panties under the table and out of sight of the other diners. He scrunched the material in his hand and rather than tuck it into his pocket, he unzipped his fly and tucked it into the crotch of his chinos and through the peephole of his boxers. Even the mere feeling of her clearly self-fuck soaked underwear against his cock had him hard in seconds and he had no doubt she knew exactly what she was doing when she had dropped them at his proverbial feet.

“I’m not hungry,” Emma lied coyly, leaning forward in her seat until her bare clit met the cold, harsh surface of her chair and her eyes fluttered closed.

“Oh, you’re hungry, love,” Killian teased, opening his legs a little wider so that his length wasn’t so painfully restricted in his pants. “Just not for what’s on the menu in this place.” He quirked his brow at her and Emma smirked back at him, rolling her bottom lip under her teeth and letting out a groan as she rocked forward again.

“And you are?” Emma teased back, twirling the tail of her braid around her hand and giving it a little tug, mimicking the way his primal urges had turned her on so much a few days before.

She couldn’t help the way he was playing her like a finely tuned piano, despite being in a public place, as if something was calling to her, telling her to jump and trust that Killian would catch her. Without a second thought she knew she would. She would leap from whatever height if it meant falling into his arms, especially now, and if the way he was looking at her like a ravenous animal was anything to go by, she would gladly let him devour her too.

“Pay,” Emma demanded quickly, hurrying to grab her clutch beside her.

“W-What?” Killian stammered, shocked by her sudden urgency to leave.

Emma pushed herself to her feet and Killian stumbled to follow her, the hard-on in his pants restricting his ability to stand upright. He stepped out from behind the table and she flattened herself to his body, not a sliver of light able to pass between them. She groaned in her throat, the feel of his hardness against her setting off another flow of slickness to escape her core, only this time there was no fabric to stop it and it began its descent down her inner thigh. Emma’s hand snaked up behind Killian’s head and she clutched the hair there in frustration, her only outlet in a room full of people.

“Pay now,” she ordered again, her breath hot against his neck where she couldn’t help but taste his skin there with a lap of her tongue. “And I’ll suck you off in the car.”

--

They had only just made it out of the car park when Emma had dove across the gap between them and was fumbling with the zipper of Killian’s chinos. He hissed as she snaked her hand into the opening, deft fingers stroking over the outside of his boxer shorts and hardening him even more than the anticipation was. Killian's knuckles were white from how hard he gripped the wheel and Emma tore into his underwear like a thing possessed once she realised how hard her prize was.

Emma had never blown an Alpha before and once his cock sprang out into the artificially heated air in the car, her eyes went wide with glee. Alphas certainly put most men to shame, and she licked her lips at the sight of him standing proudly for her attention before grasping him as firmly as she could close to the base of his cock and shivering from the filthy sound he made in response.

“Eyes on the road, Jones,” Emma said huskily, running her tongue over the point of her canine. She felt like a wolf, hungry for the meat Killian was dangling in front of her, the blood pounding in her ears as she used her other hand to grip the girth of him just under his tip.

Killian felt his hips shift forward in his seat, an involuntary spasm, the only reaction his body knew to her touch. He wanted her to stroke him, needed her to massage his length. What she had promised back at the restaurant was so close his balls ached. Her breath ghosted over his cock, the tip of her tongue flicking out to taste him as she held him, hot and hard and perpetually suspended in the promise of what was to come. He had to blink thrice as hard to focus his eyes on the road knowing that once her mouth encased his cock, it would be almost impossible to drive in a straight line.

“Emma, maybe we should wait until-,” Killian began, his heart hammering in his chest and the sound of his blood pounding in his ears.

“Shut up,” Emma snapped and Killian tore his eyes off the road to look at her beside him.

She was on her knees, crouched below the height of the window and hunched between the seats, her elbows resting on the only part of the seat visible beside his thigh. It twitched as his muscles contracted, his entire body as stiff as his cock was in Emma’s hands, her hands burning into his skin far hotter than his own body temperature. Emma was wet, he could smell her in the confined space of the car and it made him heady, his palms a little sweaty against the smooth surface of the wheel.

Killian had no idea what had gotten into Emma but he was not about to complain. Very few people had the bravery to tell an Alpha to shut up, and under normal circumstances the hormones raging through Killian’s body would have had him seeing red in no time, but the tone in Emma’s voice, insistent and desperate, had him hardening in her grip. She was ravenous and did something to him that he couldn’t explain. His body cried out for her, especially now he knew what it felt like to knot her, and one of his hands slipped off the wheel and smoothed over her back in gentle encouragement. Very little time passed between Killian touching her and Emma finally wrapping her lips around his length and all he could do was gasp in final, hot, wet relief and force his eyes to stay open whilst he drove through a foggy, sex hazed vision.

“Oh,” Killian gasped on an inward breath, his knuckles turning white with how hard he was gripping the wheel. “Bloody, Jesus, fuck,” he grunted when he felt Emma smirk against his length, her tongue lavishing over a particularly prominent vein that had swollen in her mouth as her hands went to work on the base of his shaft. With a hum, Emma let her hand drift into the opening of his fly, aching to have more of him in her grasp, her fingertips barely touching the bulb of his knot that was wrapped up in her come soaked panties.

Emma lifted her head, releasing him with a pop and hungrily licking her lips as she salivated over the taste of him in her mouth. Her hands went to work where her mouth had been, shifting up and down his cock and making Killian growl in frustration.

“So that’s where you put them,” Emma grinned triumphantly.

She hadn’t expected to find her underwear in his pants but it gave her a huge sense of gratification to find them there. She had never felt so powerful, so insanely and irrevocably turned on before. Her life had given her few chances to be the aggressor during sex, but Emma was a woman who knew what she wanted, if nothing else. Killian Jones was what she wanted, and she didn’t even wait for his reply before sealing her lips around his cock and stealing his breath once more.

Emma’s head bobbed up and down, spit dribbling out of her mouth and over her knuckles as she went down and her tongue slurping over his skin as she eased back up. Killian tried as hard as he could to focus on the road ahead of him, but thankfully the traffic was minimal, encouraging him to speed and run at least two red lights on their way to Emma’s apartment where he skidded to a stop in her parking spot. He had an overwhelming need to come, to fuck Emma’s mouth until his knot popped out of his body and he’d encourage her to extend his pleasure by sucking him some more. The mere thought had his fingertips digging into the curve of her behind, the only intimate part of her he could reach from his position.

But reality held him back. There was no way he wouldn’t draw attention by getting out of a car in broad daylight with an erection so massive, and as if Emma could read his mind, she doubled her efforts. Her movements sped up and Killian could feel his tip bumping the back of her throat, the muscles there contracting around him and pulling him in even deeper. At one point, Emma gagged a little and Killian wasn’t sure how much longer he would last under her assault. She hummed in appreciation, a soft whimper of pleasure slipping from her mouth between breaths as her fingers toyed with the smooth skin of Killian’s balls and caused another involuntary buck of his hips.

“You’re so close,” she purred, letting him slip from her mouth and not giving him a second before licking him from a straining knot bulb to tip. “Let go, Killian. Let me take care of you.”

“Oh, fuck, Emma,” he whimpered, legs shaking as he felt the unmistakeable thrum of his climax. “Suck it,” he growled and encouraged her to take him in her mouth once more with a gentle touch to the back of her head. His fingers toyed with her braid and his inner animal couldn’t be contained anymore. “I’m going to come so hard for you. Fill up the back of your throat like you need.”

An audible whine vibrated from Emma’s throat, a plea for what only Killian could give her. She arched her back, desperate for his touch where she needed him the most, her body language so incredibly wanton that Killian had no hope in holding off his orgasm. What he hadn’t expected was her skill, the way she swallowed him down like she had been made specifically for him, her throat relaxing around him as she crammed his entire cock into her mouth. Her tongue laved around his knot bulb, a soft wetness that, before he had time to stop it, had his knot popping from his body and his euphoria washing over him.

The world began to spin and Killian’s leg spasmed, his foot pushing so hard against the floor that he thought he might punch a hole right through the bottom of his car. He was coming, and he was coming harder than he had ever come from oral before. An Alpha’s place was to make his partner happy and so he had rarely been on the receiving end of a blow job, and they had never felt as good as the one Emma was giving him. It left him shaking and he held her face to his crotch, one hand around her jaw and her braid twisted around the other. When Emma gagged on his come, he tried to free her airway by pulling out, but Emma wouldn’t let him go, greedily swallowing every last drop of his load with a satisfying gulp.

“Wow,” Killian gasped, scrubbing his hands over his face in disbelief of his bodily reaction to Emma’s talents. “I...you...wow,” he giggled, ignoring the discomfort of his exposed knot and the hotness in his groin.

“You popped your knot,” Emma smirked gleefully, stroking her fingers over his still hard length and enjoying the way he twitched from her touch.

“I swear I didn’t mean to,” Killian laughed. “You were just...” he began but Emma’s proud grin stole his thought. “Just wow.”

“You need to work on your compliments,” Emma nodded with a raised eyebrow.

“Aye, love,” he agreed with a chuckle. “I have plenty of time to think that over whilst I wait for my knot to recede.” He blushed a little and Emma watched as he adorably scratched the patch of skin behind his ear.

“I’m sorry,” Emma offered sympathetically. She took his hand in hers, giving his fingers a little squeeze to emphasize her apology.

“Don’t be, love,” Killian assured her, interlocking their fingers. “It’s only uncomfortable for an hour or so,” he teased, lifting their hands and pressing a kiss to the back of her knuckles.

“Plenty of time then,” Emma smirked playfully.

“For what, love?” Killian asked her with a narrowed stare.

She leaned in close, gripping his hand tighter and holding it to her bosom. “For us to talk about later,” she whispered in his ear, her words making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. “When we see just how good that outfit looks on the bedroom floor.”