#because I can't just half-ass things with a <3 and go on the next chapter i just can't

[crying-wolves]

🆃🅷🅴 🅰🅽🅸🅼🅰🅻🆂.

(peer mentor!ex-prisoner!vi x masc!prisoner!reader)

PART ONE

synopsis: the consequences of your chaotic past have finally landed you in Piltover's finest Correctional Facility. Too bad you can't even atone for your sins in peace without seeing some very familiar, very unwelcome faces.

cw for part one: prison 😔, only sorta-kinda proofread, lots and lots of cussing, afab reader, masc!reader, reader is kind of a pessimist. and a little mean. she went through a lot. running from the cops, the slightest sliver of sexual tension, MDNI!!!!, discussions of crime, dr*gs, alc*hol, all that fun stuff, backstory exposition, let me know if i missed anything!

a/n: this is gonna be multi-chapter (around 5 parts) because it feels better to me this way! the second chapter will be out before next week! pls enjoy <3

likes, reblogs, and comments are always appreciated :)

Time. 

Sweet, sticky, oozing, glorious time.

It’s funny. When you were still a kid—

Well, kid is kind of an overstatement, but you were definitely reckless enough to feel like one. Wind in your face, light in your eyes. All that good stuff. Everyone around you said you were just a touch too restless. A little overboard with your idea of fun.

It was almost as if there weren’t enough seconds in a lifetime to get to everything you wanted to do.

And you wanted to do everything. Sex, drugs, booze, petty crime, not-so-petty crime—The list went on and on and on and on, and then it got longer.

And then, quite suddenly, actually, you didn’t feel like such a kid anymore.

Soon, you were well into your twenties.

  a newly-lit angry flame in your chest, 

  a whole lot more restless energy, 

and a shiny court order issued for you to pay for the consequences of your childish actions.

Now, shoved into the corner of four thick stone walls with 58 and a half more months to go, all you have is time. 

  And nothing has ever felt like less of a comfort.

It’s an uncharacteristically humid day when you see her again. The other prisoners are groaning about the busted ACs and barred windows, claiming that they’re being roasted alive every minute they’re forced to spend in these conditions, and if you weren’t so concerned with folding each individual page of a shitty magazine you’d found into jumbo fortune tellers, then you would be right there with them. But, you know, important task at hand and all.

You’re on your 15th glossy sheet when a heavy fist raps against your cell door, startling the plush paper out of your hands, and your contraband scissors clattering to the floor.

 “Fuck…one second!” you hissed out, trying to tape the tiny shears to the bottom of your crackling toilet’s seat. It’s usually the best hiding spot one can find in this overglorified bird cage. The guards who usually commence the daily room checks, Officers Harold and Steb, tend to overlook the rather obvious placement, choosing to believe in the all-forgiving power of ‘feminine rehabilitation’. As long as you bat those pretty eyes and send a half-assed smile over their way, they’ll depart from your space with little trouble, whistling cheerily and trusting in the innate goodness of women who are simply ‘down on their luck’.

If they found out about half the shit the other inmates were smuggling in, whether it be hidden under porcelain seats or shoved up some secret orifice, they’d have a serious bitchfit.

The door swings open after a great deal of hustling and bustling on your end. Flashlights and clickers bombard your senses like noisy fireflies, and for some reason, Harold is grinning at you like he’s won the lottery five times over.

  “There is a very special assembly being held today for you C-block girls. Report to the East chapel in 30 minutes! You don’t wanna miss it!”

He’s always excited about things like this. Fundraisers, kickball, bonding activities. Whatever gets the girls together, possibly even enjoying themselves for an hour or two, lights his wrinkled little face up like a Christmas tree. It’s hard, you admit, not to find his hopefulness endearing. Sometimes, at least.

You bare your teeth sweetly, corners of the mouth pointing upwards as politely as can be managed.

“Sounds like a whole lotta fun, sir, but I was planning on a cozy day in, you know? Window watching…ceiling observing. Can’t put those off.”

  He pouts, actually pouts, at your negative response. For a moment, you think Steb is going to have to talk him down from crying.

  “Oh nonsense! Nonsense!” he exclaims, waving his pudgy hands in the air to ease himself. “We’ve set up fans and opened alllll of the windows. It’ll be a great big treat Besides, inmate, it would be rude when our special guest has come alllll this way just to speak to you lot!”

He turns on his heel away from you, motions for Steb to follow in step into the hallway.

  “30 minutes! Nothing more, inmates!”

The door slams shut, leaving you to stew in frustration without the prying eyes of happy-go-lucky correctional officers.

You wonder, for a brief moment, if there’s enough time to grab the scissors from your hiding place and offer it up to Harold for a one-way ticket to solitary confinement, but you decide against it. Who knows what this special assembly will bring out of the other women?

A full 47 minutes pass by before you find yourself in the East chapel, Officer Harold clicking his teeth in disappointment at your tardiness. But when that sweet breeze of electric fans and breathable air hit you in the face, you wish you had arrived sooner. Especially when your eyes fall on the last available seat: one smack-down in the middle of the front row. Of course.

You shove your hands into the pockets of your dark blue jumpsuit, settling into the surprisingly comfortable flip-out chair that’s a hair’s breadth away from the altar. Every single person seems to be talking over each other, new voices add themselves sporadically into the mix, gossiping excitedly about the same old things that always happen in this place.

  “Did’ya hear Nolan’s getting out on good behavior next week? what a fuckin’ kissass? I’d break her face if it didn't mean God knows how long in the hole…”

  “You’ll never guess who I saw sucking face with a guard while waiting in the commissary line. Some of these girls’ll do anything for a freebie, I swear…"

It almost reminds you of a high school cafeteria. Nothing but low jabs and cruel chatter.

“Apparently, they flew her in from Zaun…she’s this ex-convict who got out of a murder charge ‘cause the judge says she’s got ‘good character’ or something. Can you believe it! I’ve got fan-tas-tic character and I’m still stuck in this hell for another 40 years…”

  That certainly peaks your attention…

  …because there aren’t many people, especially, many people from the Undercity of all places, who go before the hallowed Piltover court with a charge like that and just get to walk free.

And considering the fact that you were born and raised in Zaun, growing up with kids who had also spent their free time chasing the next new thrill until ultimately getting caught, it may not be a stretch to say that you could, possibly, recognize this speaker.

It isn’t until you catch a flash of electric pink hair, a silver sparkle atop thick raised eyebrows that your heart drops to your ass.

  Violet fuckin’ Lanes. 

In all her flesh and glory.

Janna, even the way she struts to the podium pisses you off.

Her boots hit the ground like some magic megaphone, somehow commanding the attention of each and every eye in the room. The inmates stare, like wild animals trailing a new addition to an already tight knit pack. It’s different, though. There’s none of the whistling or lewd comments that usually accompany the arrival of a new prisoner, but the captivated silence that falls over the crowd when she smirks their way makes you wish she was in uniform like everyone else was.

Some regard her with disdain, invisible daggers shooting from their eyes right between her charmingly crooked smile. Others are practically leaning into the spinning fans that litter the scenery, trying to catch themselves from swooning so openly in front of her.

You can’t say either reaction is unexpected. You two do have a particularly troubled connection, after all.

Violet had introduced herself to you as ‘Vi’ after some enforcers shut down a crazy house party you were both attending. Bottles were being thrown all over the place, people had been dragged out by their arms and legs. You took this as a sign to get the fuck outta dodge.

When the pink-haired girl had caught up to you, pretty easily, you might add, she was already talking your ear off. Inviting you to a different party just a few blocks away, asking if the dying cigarette hanging from your lips was up for grabs, listing off every situation in which she’s had to book it to keep from getting locked up (this was the 6th time in the last three weeks), all without faltering in speed or running out of breath. It was impressive, for sure.

She led you straight to that party she was gabbing about. Some stuffy abandoned warehouse spinning with heavy smoke and even heavier music. Vi hauled you into the center of the heady disarray and pulled you in as close as she could.

  “Dancing’s always more fun when your eardrums are about to pop right out of your skull.” she’d told you.

And you smiled at her. Honest full-face-grin beamed at her, because, Gods, where has she been all your life, and why is she only coming into it now?

So, of course, you danced with her all night. It ended up being the most fun you’d had in a really long time. You could tell she wanted to keep your attention all for herself, what with the way she wouldn’t let you out of her sight for longer than ten seconds (even when she challenged you to keg stand contest, and lost her focus because she couldn’t keep her eyes on her own barrel for the life of her), but you didn’t mind so much. She kept laughing and spinning you in circles and dragging you around like she was leashed to your wrist, but you didn’t find it the least bit annoying.

When the warehouse began to empty and the music dimmed to a shivering whisper, Vi brought you to the roof just in time for sunrise. The way the warm spots of heat kissed your features rebirthed a sort of softness in your heart, and you showed it by wrapping an arm around Vi’s shoulders in a contented squeeze.

  “You’re…something else, you know that?” you’d crooned to her, still addled and woozy from the flask in your hand and the—well, copious amounts of everything still settling in your system.

Vi trailed her gaze up to the curve of your neck, taking in the position of your head, memorizing the drops of alcohol as they ran down the corners of your mouth. You were downing cheap, warm beer like parched wolf, and for some reason, her head swirled with envy at the sight of it.

In a flash of a moment, she ripped it from your lips, and toppled you over so hard you started spitting up the bitter liquid.

  “Hey! The fuck was that f–”

She straddled you, trapping your thighs between her own in a tight embrace. pressed a harsh kiss to your temple to apologize, the madwoman.

When you looked back up at her, she tilted her head at your form like a curious pantheress, like she wanted to know how you felt squirming between her teeth.

“What are you doing this weekend?” she inquired, like her hips weren’t crushing yours into the impenetrable concrete.

You blinked several times at her.

  “I–I dunno! …What are you doing this weekend?”

That got her grin back. She rewarded you by shifting her weight off of yours, and stretching out next to your heaving frame with a thoughtful hum.

  “Come up Topside with me. I can show you all the best spots, we can get into some real trouble up there…”

  A stunned laugh loosened itself from your throat. No one’s ever caught you off guard this much in such a short amount of time, so you punched her in the arm to regain some iota of surprise back.

“What happens if we get caught, smartass? We’re not exactly piltie princesses over here.”

She rubbed her sore bicep slowly, shrugging as if she’s made of rock-hard diamond. From what you’ve seen of her, it doesn’t seem like an outlandish assumption.

  “Oh, please…”, she muttered, ultramarine eyes boring into your foggy glare.

 

“You really think they’re gonna be able to catch us?”

It’s been almost seven years since she said that to you, on that hushed, rumbling morning, 

  and you regret ever listening to a single word she ever uttered in your direction.

taglist: @baylegend6

[scary-grace]

Opposites Attract (Chapter 2) - a Shigaraki x f!Reader fic

Your quirk lets you capture almost anyone with ease, and you can't believe you let Shigaraki Tomura escape. Shigaraki can't believe it, either, and according to the League, there's only one possible explanation -- you let him go because you've fallen in love with him. He decides to find out if it's true. You decide you won't fail to capture him again. You both get a lot more than you bargained for. (cross-posted to Ao3)

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Chapter 2

It’s been two weeks since the League of Villains vs Kamino Ward: Round 2, and there hasn’t been a single day that somebody hasn’t read you the riot act. It wasn’t enough that Miruko did it on-scene, well within microphone range of every single news crew who swarmed the park – every senior hero in Yokohama got in on it, too. And as if it wasn’t already your worst week ever, the HPSC called you in for a formal review of your pro hero license. You didn’t sleep at all the night before, and when you got to the hearing half an hour early with sweat stains already oozing through your one nice blouse, you found out that they’d done the review already, and the hearing was just to present the findings. One of the members of the committee mentioned that you looked a little pale. In hindsight, you’re amazed you didn’t have a heart attack.

You found out that the review of your license was a PR thing more than anything else – although your choices weren’t popular or flashy, nothing about how you handled the incident fell outside the hero code. Not that it matters to the general public. If you had an agency, they’d be booking you on podcasts and talk shows so you could explain yourself, but you’re underground, so you’re stuck listening to TV presenters who’ve never met a villain and podcasters who’d piss themselves if they came face to face with even the pettiest of criminals, all talking about how badly you blew it. There was even a petition circling demanding that you make a public apology for what happened to the All Might statue – one apology to the sculptor who made the statue, and one to All Might himself. When that one started making the rounds, you set your social media accounts to private and hid from your phone for the next three days.

Things are starting to die down, you think, but you’ve still got one stop left on your humiliation tour, and it’s the one you’re dreading the most. Your alma mater is always looking for learning experiences to offer their students, so you’re spending this afternoon at UA, listening while the first-year hero students pick apart every action you took in Kamino Park.

It’s an open forum, so everyone who wants to run their mouth gets a chance to do it, and you sit stonefaced in your chair, praying for your composure to hold. Eraserhead said he’d give you chances to respond, and he does, every time a student sits down. But you don’t want to get into a back-and-forth with a bunch of kids. You did what you did. You can’t go back. Maybe they can learn from what you did wrong.

What did you do wrong, actually? The HPSC cleared you. You’re so unpopular right now that they’d seize any chance they got to strip your licenses, but they cleared you – and you’re still here, listening to a bunch of teenagers take shots at you. The unfairness boils up inside you all at once, and when the next kid sits down, you stand up before Eraser invites you to.

“You all think you could have done better than me out there,” you start. “Maybe you’re right. There are always things that could be done better. What did I do wrong?”

It’s quiet for a second. “Are you stupid or something?” Bakugou asks you. “They got away! That’s what you did wrong!”

“Is it? Kurogiri and Shigaraki got away at USJ, and again at Kamino the first time. I don’t see you lighting All Might’s ass up,” you shoot back. Bakugou makes an affronted sound. “Answer me for real this time. What was my actual, quantifiable mistake?”

It’s quiet for another beat. Eraser opens his mouth, but Class B’s teacher speaks up first. “That’s the more interesting question,” he says. “We’ve talked about how Skynet could have done better. What actual mistake did Skynet make that led to the final outcome of the incident?”

You know what it was, deep in your heart, and you also know that the only person who could call you on it is somebody you hope you never see again. A hand creeps up, and Vlad calls on the student – one of Eraser’s. “Yes, Midoriya?”

“I don’t know if I would call it a mistake,” Midoriya says, “but I was wondering – why didn’t you use more of your quirk?”

That’s a new one. You wait quietly, and Midoriya elaborates. “I mean, Magnetism has dozens of applications. You’re sort of known for being creative with how you use it. And r/herojapan did a power ranking of every active hero and you ranked the highest out of all non-charted heroes.”

That’s news to you. “So I guess that’s what I want to know,” Midoriya concludes. “If you have a quirk with a lot of applications and a lot of power to work with, how could the League of Villains escape?”

“Uh –” You glance at Vlad King, then at Eraserhead. They both gesture for you to go on. “What you said about my quirk – you’re right. I can go big with it. But the bigger I go with it, the less control I have, and I’m not creating magnetic fields out of thin air. I’m enhancing and altering what already exists. Every magnetic field I alter is touching another one, and my alterations affect those fields, too. If I want to use my quirk safely on a large scale, I have to alter some magnetic fields while stabilizing others simultaneously, and I have to do that while protecting civilians and assisting my fellow heroes and trying not to get killed. Using my quirk on the scale I would have needed at Kamino just isn’t possible.”

You can tell Midoriya doesn’t get it. Nobody else does, either. “Maybe you should demonstrate,” the girl from Class B who can make her hands enormous says. “Show us what would have happened if you used your quirk the way Midoriya is talking about at Kamino.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Vlad says. “Ground Beta should be open right now. Let’s go.”

Vlad was your homeroom teacher in your first year at UA. You’ve been struggling not to call him sensei since you set foot on campus, and you know he knows how much you’ve struggled with your quirk. You also knew he was going to support you, but you’re not sure you like how he’s doing it – proving that you’re right, sure, but proving it by proving that you can’t handle your quirk at even partial strength, when the way you were using your quirk wasn’t even the real problem. If you had reacted faster, gotten a solid grip on Shigaraki through other means instead of getting distracted by how not-okay he is, you’d have held all the cards by the time the warp villain came to play. You’d like to see the warp villain try to back you into a corner when you’ve got a piece of rebar wrapped around Shigaraki’s throat.

But you didn’t have your shit together, because you were too stuck on just how shocked Shigaraki looked when you asked if he was okay. Not fake-shocked, not mocking-shocked, not look-at-the-hypocritical-hero-pretending-to-care shocked – truly, honestly shocked, like you’re the first person who’s asked him that question in a while. You flatly refuse to entertain the thought that you’re the first person who’s ever asked him that, because that would be too goddamn sad and you’re not into woobifying villains. You know more than a few heroes who have those romance novels about getting captured and ravished by a not-bad-just-misunderstood villain hanging out on their e-readers, and that’s not your style at all. So why did it bother you, seeing that look on Shigaraki’s face? Why are you still thinking about it two weeks later?

You shake it off as you, Eraser, Vlad, and the students reach Ground Beta. If you don’t want anybody to guess how you actually messed up, you need to do a good job proving that their idea of your mistake is the right one.

Vlad sets up a target a quarter of a mile down Ground Beta’s main street – the distance from one end of Kamino Park to the other – then makes his way back to you and the others. Eraserhead ushers everybody away from you. “Okay,” you say, projecting your voice, “I’m going to show you what it would have looked like for me to use my quirk to drag the League of Villains to me from across Kamino Park.”

Part of you is tempted to just blow it. Use your quirk recklessly, without worrying about consequences or property damage or anything but how it feels to finally let loose. But you’re a hero. You need to set a good example, not give the students even more reasons to question why you still have your license, and even here, there’s a chance that using your quirk at full strength isn’t safe. You get set, feeling the stabilizers in your boots anchor you to the ground. You tap into your metal sense, identifying the target a quarter mile away. Then you extend your hand, activate your quirk as precisely as you can manage, and pull.

The practice target starts moving. Unfortunately, so does everything else. No matter how hard you try to keep your focus on the target and only the target, metal fragments in the concrete lurch upwards, responding to your shift in the magnetic fields, pulling the street apart. The buildings on either side crumple inwards as their steel frameworks tear free. Lightposts bend into impossible shapes. Manhole covers lift from the street and fly towards you, forcing you to employ your other hand to stop them from striking the students behind you. The air vibrates. And sure, the practice target is flying towards you at high speed – but the destruction you’re wreaking on everything in between you and it is worse than what anyone but Shigaraki could have done to Kamino Memorial Park.

You let your grip on the magnetic fields fall when the target’s within thirty feet or so, and let momentum do the rest. Then you turn back towards the students. “This looks bad, right? If I’d done this at Kamino, it would be even worse. Anybody want to guess why?”

“Water mains,” the girl from 1-A with the Creation quirk says at once. You nod. “Cities are full of underground infrastructure, and most of that is made of metal. If your quirk is hard to focus narrowly at a distance from the target, you could do billions of yen worth of property damage.”

“What about people?” the electricity kid from 1-A says – the electricity kid who, if you remember right, also has a wide-range quirk. “Do they get caught when you do that?”

“No,” you say. “I have to be at close range to manipulate the iron in someone’s body. And they have to have enough iron in their bloodstream to make it possible.”

You say that, cringe, and brace yourself for what must be coming – one of the students, probably Midoriya, realizing that Shigaraki’s weapons-grade anemia is what kept him out of your reach at first. Followed by one of the students, probably Midoriya, asking why you didn’t use any of the other means at your disposal to capture him. “Oh,” the electricity kid says instead. “I get it now.”

“I have a question, Skynet,” Bakugou says loudly. “Couldn’t you do all that without destroying everything if you trained your quirk harder?”

You asked yourself that question a lot when you were a student at UA. The theoretical answer was always yes. “No,” you say, without getting into all the reasons why. “Does anyone else have a question?”

A Class B student named Honenuki has a question about what types of property you should avoid damaging if possible, and a Class B student named Monoma wants to know whether you were in Class A or Class B when you were at UA. He looks pretty happy when you say Class B, which is weird. You’re persona non grata among heroes right now. It doesn’t make a ton of sense that he’s excited that you were in the same class as he is. Vlad doesn’t ask you how things have been going; he just pats your shoulder and walks off. You try to escape before Eraserhead can talk to you, and make it exactly five steps before he calls out. “Skynet.”

You grit your teeth. “Do you want me to apologize, too?”

“For what?” Eraser looks irritated. “I asked you to look after my students. You looked after them. I’d be asking you to apologize if you’d let them fight.”

“Oh.” You weren’t looking forward to making that apology. “Then, um – what did you want to talk to me about?”

“My students are used to having their quirks temporarily canceled, but my quirk is unique. They’re much more likely to run into villains whose powers serve to restrain them,” Eraser says. You get where he’s going with this and try to interrupt, but he talks right over you. “I want you to come back for at least one of our basic training sessions. It’s rational to give them a chance to practice against a power set like yours, and it’ll also allow you the chance to work on fine-tuning your quirk.”

You knew there was a backhand somewhere in there. “My quirk’s as fine-tuned as it’s going to get.”

“We’ll see,” Eraser says. “The next basic training where all my students will be present is next Thursday. Come in.”

You recall making a promise to yourself, one which included telling Eraser to go to hell if he asked any more favors. But you still need to rehab your image. A lot. “Yeah. Sounds good.”

You change out of your costume before you leave campus – everything except your boots, which you wear almost all the time – and while you’re waiting for the train, you get a text from the group chat you have with the three other female pros who debuted in the same year as you. That’s about the only thing the four of you have in common, but that’s not stopping Yue from messaging in all caps. I MISSED MY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! WE NEED TO CELEBRATE <3 <3 <3

Yue was the last one of the four of you to debut. Her agency held her back for maximum press impact, whereas you just picked a day at random to quit working as a sidekick and strike out for yourself. Kagura, another member of the debut class, texts back before you can. Spa night?

That sounds good to you, but it’s not Yue’s speed at all. GOING OUT! I CAN GET US INTO CLUB 100 IN TOKYO!

Right – Yue’s number 25, as of the most recent billboard chart update. Mayuko, the member of the class you get along with best, texts next. It might be nice to see what it’s like?

Kagura gives a thumbs-up, and Yue sets the celebration date for tonight – and orders you all to come to her apartment to get ready. She has a special message for you. NO BOOTS, SKY. THEY’RE TOO CLUNKY FOR DANCING.

You send back a frowny face, and Mayuko chimes in. You can borrow my shoes. It’s been so long since we got together! I can’t wait!

That’s true, and you’ve missed them – but right now you’re a liability. Are you sure you want to be seen in public with me? I’m sort of radioactive right now.

Nobody will recognize you out of costume, Yue says, instead of what you were hoping she’d say, which is that it doesn’t matter and she has your back. Be at my place at 6!

There goes your quiet night. You board your train and lean back in your seat. If you have to go dancing tonight, you’d better catch some rest now.

Shigaraki refreshes the page, frowning. Then he refreshes it again, getting the same message. What the hell does ‘set to private’ mean? He googles it, learns that only approved followers can see an Instagram account that’s set to private, and feels a surge of annoyance. It figures. He spent two weeks debating whether or not to look you up, and by the time he’s finally decided it’s not creepy to look up the weird hero who has a crush on him, you locked all of your stupid social media accounts.

Part of Shigaraki still thinks everybody’s messing with him – everybody except Toga, who’s delusional, and Twice, who’s probably never touched a girl who wasn’t in the process of arresting him. But something about it keeps bothering Shigaraki. Something about you keeps bothering him. Thinking about it makes him itch, and not thinking about it isn’t working. After two weeks of trying both, Shigaraki decided to look you up and find out what you’ve said about him and the League of Villains, so he can finally delete the mental save file with you in it.

But you haven’t said much about the League of Villains. Shigaraki can’t tell if that’s because no one’s asked you or because you don’t have anything to say – or at least not anything you’d say publicly, which is why he went looking for your personal social media accounts and found them all locked. Shigaraki scratches with one hand and looks you up on Reddit with the other. He has to be pretty specific in his search query. Just looking up “Skynet” brings up a lot of stuff about movies.

The Reddit threads about you are a mix of obsessive hero fans and people who think you’re hot. The latter group spends a lot of time bitching about the fact that you don’t post enough thirst traps. It doesn’t seem like you go for fanservice. Good. Shigaraki hates heroes on principle, but he hates the ones who don’t showboat ever so slightly less.

You used to work with Eraserhead, which is probably why he let you supervise his class. You went to UA. There are links to all your Sports Festival performances, and Shigaraki bookmarks them for later, in case you’ve got skills you didn’t show in the fight at Kamino. You’re not very well-known, and none of your arrests have been of big-time villains. And as far as Shigaraki can find, you’ve never said a word about the League.

It’s not like Shigaraki was expecting to find a whole essay about why you don’t hate the League and why you have a crush on him. He wouldn’t have liked that. But he also doesn’t like the fact that you apparently didn’t think about the League at all before you fought him at Kamino. Maybe you did and you were just keeping quiet about it. Or maybe you didn’t care at all until you met Shigaraki in person, and then you – what? Worried about him? Cared about him? Wanted him to live? Do people actually fall in love at first sight?

Toga would say yes, but Toga’s seventeen, and also insane. Shigaraki can’t take anything Toga says at face value.

There’s one other spot on Reddit where Shigaraki finds you – in a thread on the weirdest hero names. He remembers the movies that kept popping up in his earlier search results and finds one of them on his favorite pirating site. He’s bored. There’s nothing to do right now. He’s decided not to do anything else until the dust has settled. He has time for a movie.

The hideout is quiet right now. Dabi’s been gone all day. Toga and Twice left this afternoon, either to scout things out or to steal more supplies, and Spinner, Compress, and Magne are all napping in the next room. This afternoon, Shigaraki sent Kurogiri to ask the doctor for help. He didn’t want to do that, but with Sensei gone – gone, and it’s Shigaraki’s fault, because it was his stupid plan – the League is out of Nomus and running out of money. They need backup, and Kurogiri’s better at convincing the doctor to do things than Shigaraki is. A scarecrow with a paper bag over its head is better at convincing people to do things than Shigaraki is. If Shigaraki was convincing at all, he would have won Bakugou over, and none of this would have happened.

The movie is sci-fi, or maybe horror. It’s also really old, from some time period where all the movies were set in a world where quirks don’t exist. If quirks existed, this movie would be over before it even started. Probably. Shigaraki wonders if you’ve seen this movie. If you liked it. What other things do you like, in addition to him?

A few minutes later, he gets an answer to at least one of his questions. You’ve definitely seen this movie, and you must have liked it, or you wouldn’t have named yourself after the evil supercomputer that nuked humanity and started building killer robots to take out anybody who survived. Now Shigaraki gets why you were on the list of heroes with weird names, and he’s pretty sure you should be at the top of it. You must have at least a couple screws loose. That’s probably why you took one look at Shigaraki and decided to fall in love with him. If you have fallen in love with him. Have you?

Shigaraki needs to stop thinking about this. He presses play on the movie again. Now that he’s got at least an answer or two, maybe he can focus on something else. Something other than the fact that he’s tired and hungry and has a headache and will probably get dizzy if he stands up too fast, just like he always has. And the fact that none of those things were a problem until you asked if he was okay.

He must fall asleep or something, because the next thing he knows, the screen of his phone’s gone dark, and someone is hollering at him from the other room. “What?” Shigaraki shouts back.

“Get in here,” Dabi says. Dabi’s back. “Your girlfriend’s on the news.”

“All over the news,” Toga adds gleefully, before Shigaraki can argue back that a) you’re not his girlfriend because b) he doesn’t even like you. “She’s even cuter when she’s covered in blood!”

What? Shigaraki stands up too fast, comes close to blacking out, and scrambles unsteadily into the other room. Magne has the TV on, and Shigaraki elbows his way past Compress and Dabi for a look at the screen. It’s the national news, a special report. Something about speed brakes failing on a Shinkansen headed through Tokyo and a catastrophic derailment. Or what would have been a catastrophic derailment, if it wasn’t for you. Before Shigaraki can tell somebody to look up what happened on their phone – his is dead – the news broadcast plays a video of the incident. All Shigaraki and the others can do is stare.

“Damn,” Spinner says into the silence that falls afterwards. “If she’d done that at Kamino, you all would have been toast.”

No kidding. Shigaraki didn’t go to school past kindergarten, but every idiot knows that trains are heavy, and knows that the faster something is going, the harder it is to stop. In the video, you’re on the tracks behind the speeding train, hand outstretched. Shigaraki sees the train shudder when your quirk catches it. It yanks you off your feet about three seconds later, and you get dragged out of the frame facedown, one hand still extended, still hanging on. Whoever’s holding the camera pans left, following the train, and it’s pretty obvious that the train is slowing down. Shigaraki thought your quirk was good for paralyzing people and pulling wires out of the ground. He’d never have guessed you were capable of this.

“Why didn’t she do that at Kamino?” Dabi asks, baffled. “She could have made it big as the hero who took down the League of Villains instead of getting dragged by the press for letting us go.”

“Which do you think dragged her harder, the press or the train?” Magne cackles, and Dabi snorts. “She looks like roadkill –”

“Don’t be dumb,” Toga says to Magne. “She’s got blood all over her. It’s cute! And she let us go at Kamino because she loves Tomura-kun.”

“Oh, right.” Magne nods. Dabi’s still snickering. “The train isn’t half as cute as the boss is!”

Dabi’s snickering gets worse, and Twice is guffawing in the background. Shigaraki yanks the remote out of Magne’s hand and turns up the volume on the TV to drown them out. “ – pleased to report a lack of severe injuries to the passengers, courtesy of the gradual stop achieved by what was first believed to be a civilian acting without authorization,” the newscaster is saying. They’re on the scene. There’s an ambulance in the background. “We’ve since confirmed that the individual responsible for the save is an off-duty hero by the name of Skynet. We have her right here –”

The camera zooms in on you, just in time for you to spit a mouthful of blood into the gutter. Magne was right – you look like shit – and Toga was right – you’re covered in blood. You’re not wearing your costume, and your clothes are pretty shredded. You wipe your mouth on the back of your hand and stand up straight, grimacing. Shigaraki’s taken his share of hits in battle before. He’s impressed against his will.

The interviewer is asking you a bunch of questions, and Shigaraki listens carefully. Now that he knows how powerful your quirk actually is, he needs as many clues as possible about how it works. He picks up things here and there, but he keeps getting distracted by you. By the blood dripping from the corner of your mouth. By the big, bloody scrapes across your torso. By the way one of your shoulders is pretty obviously dislocated, and the fact that you’re standing there doing an interview when you should be getting help. Shigaraki doesn’t need to ask a stupid question about whether or not you’re okay. He knows you’re not. Why does he care?

Because you were off-duty. Because this wasn’t your job. Because you got in trouble for letting Shigaraki go at Kamino and still jumped onto the tracks to get dragged four hundred yards behind an out-of-control train. The heroic system is bullshit, and there’s nothing defensible about it, but that train probably had hundreds of people on it, and they’d be dead if it wasn’t for you. Being a hero is idiotic at best. But if it’s possible to do an idiotic thing the right way, you’re doing it.

The interviewer is asking you why you stepped in when you weren’t on duty, and you’re getting pretty visibly annoyed. Spinner is the only person other than Shigaraki who’s still watching. “She’s underground, right?” he asks. Shigaraki nods without looking away from the screen. “She acts like a true hero. Stain would approve.”

Shigaraki doesn’t give a shit what the Hero Killer thinks about anything. But he has a really bad feeling that he’s starting to give a shit about you. What the hell is he supposed to do about it?

Turn you, obviously. The League could use a quirk like yours, and it would be a serious blow to hero society for an established hero to join forces with Shigaraki. You probably weren’t trying to get Shigaraki’s attention by stopping a speeding train, but you’ve got his attention now, for a good reason instead of a stupid one. The thought of your feelings for him is a lot less uncomfortable now that they’re something he can use.

Kurogiri gets back from the doctor with bad news – the doctor can’t help them right now, because they’re taking too much heat. It sounds like bullshit to Shigaraki, but he has something else on his mind. He talks to Kurogiri away from the others. “Find out where Skynet lives.”

Kurogiri looks surprised. “Why?”

“She’s stronger than I thought. We can use her.”

“I see,” Kurogiri says, but he’s giving Shigaraki a weird look. “Why do you need to know where she lives?”

“So I can let her know I’m interested,” Shigaraki says. Kurogiri’s expression doesn’t shift. “I don’t have to tell her what I’m interested in.”

Kurogiri’s still making a weird face. As much as Kurogiri can make any kind of face. “Right?” Shigaraki prompts, and Kurogiri nods. “Right. Once we know where she is, what should I do?”

“Something subtle,” Kurogiri suggests. “Consider it while I seek the information you requested.”

Something subtle. Easy enough. Shigaraki feels better about the whole thing than he has since he ran into you for the first time. You’re in love with him? That’s fine. If you love him so much, you can help him destroy the world.

<- Chapter 1 Chapter 3 ->

[joelssimp]

STILL | CHAPTER 08

CW: Best Friend acting like a matchmaker, tension, yearning, trauma dumping, complex family relationship.

4.6K words

previous chapter | masterlist | next chapter

08 - On the Road Again

…On the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again…

“Do you seriously have a playlist for a 3-hour road trip?”

“Am I or am I not the best travel partner?” Kate swayed her body to the rhythm of the music.

“Kate, for fuck’s sake, focus on the fucking road before we both appear on the local news 'Two photographers flip their car to the sound of Willie Nelson'” I pointed to the road in front of us and she wheezed laughing.

“We're almost there. They probably haven't even left the airport yet” She said as if this was a victory.

“We're not almost there, we still have an hour and a half in this car” I checked the GPS to make sure I was saying the right thing. 1 hour and 28 minutes marked until our next city.

This past week everything was so busy, so much stuff to get done before production had to move, that only now I was getting some rest for my mind.

We were getting photo rejections on a regular basis now, some of them I thought were perfect to be approved, but each actor’s agent sent email after email saying the same thing. Which meant we had to do more work to deliver the same results. Not to mention that with the first episode done, I needed to organize everything that had been approved to send to the TV production company.

My mind was racing with so much information.

And the lack of time with my favorite person was something that affected my mood too.

…And I can't wait to get on the road again…

“I’m looking forward to explore Edmonton,” Kate said randomly, and I smiled in response.

“I just want to see what they’re going to do to be able to shoot so many scenes in such a short amount of time we’ll have there.”

“TV magic.” She made a rainbow sign with both hands, sending a cold wave right through my heart until I saw her grabbing the damn steering wheel again.

Kate will be the one to give a damn heart attack.

“sixteen-hour-a-day workload TV magic.” I made the same gesture as her with my hands. “Or more.”

“Yeah, these crazy ass people with a crazy ass job,” She said as if we weren’t part of this madness.

At that same moment, I received a message. A photo of everyone from the production and some actors on the airplane. Each person had a wrapper of my favorite fast food with them. Pedro was sitting in the first row, his mask was down below his chin, his brown eyes were tired, but he looked happy.

The caption right below made me laugh.

“I wanted to show everyone the supremacy of five guys.” Followed by a “Miss you, tho” That made my heart literally skip a beat.

“Don’t tell me you and him are “sexting” Now,” Kate joked, making me want to slap her arm, which I only held back because she was driving.

“Jesus, girl,” I said exasperatedly. “It’s just a picture…”

“He sent you a picture of his dick?”

“Kate, what the fuck?” I practically shouted over her words. “We held each other’s hands once, and you already think we’re having sex?”

She gave me a playful look, which showed me that was exactly the reaction she wanted to get out of me with her depraved comments. I rolled my eyes at that and turned my attention back to my phone.

I was falling so fucking hard for the guy, it wasn’t even funny anymore.

The time we spend apart now feels like something’s wrong. It goes by so slow, like one hour might as well be ten, and ten might as well be a whole week.

We didn’t have much free time together since the day we spent with his family. It was not like we were avoiding each other, nothing like that. Our schedules just didn’t match for an entire week of work.

We talked through messages—lots of it, voice memos, gifs, emojis, honestly, anything at this point was worth keeping up the conversations. And we facetimed twice. Once when he had a break during a night scene, and again during my lunch break when he was off.

Our dynamic didn’t change at all since that Sunday. He still made me smile so easily, he still was caring enough to ask me about my day of work like it was the most interesting thing he could hear from me. The only difference was the flirtation, on both sides. If he’s flirting, then so am I.

Kate called my name and brought my attention back to her “So, is that something you want?”

“What?”

“You know, this thing you’ve both been avoiding”

“This thing?” I trailed off, wanting to buy more time to answer it properly.

“I know you’re not dumb” She laughed, eyes still on the road ahead of us, but I could see the sparkle of amusement. “Hell, you’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. But when it comes to this thing between you and him… You should fucking see the way that guy looks at you.”

When nothing came to my mouth, she shrugged with a smile still displayed on her mouth. “You work so damn hard everyday, I just think you could use some happiness with a man like him” Her smile turned into something devilish as she spoke “Bet he’s the kind of man who would fuck you until every worry disappears.”

“OK” I said with a jump, reacting to her words. Neck, cheeks, well — my whole body was burning red with the feeling. A tingle went straight through the base of my belly too. “What the hell, you pervert.”

I wasn’t expecting that image to magically appear inside my mind. But it did. Waking up a different kind of monster.

By now I was already used to the wanting, It was there almost every moment of every day. A want so strong that I couldn’t dream of anything but him. And it wasn’t that kind of dream—yet.

“Oh, c’mon. Have you watched that scene in Narcos? Season 2, episode 3.”

“You’ve memorized the episode?” I pulled my legs up on the seat. Knees against my chest, trying to hide as well as I could how the single mention of that scene makes me feel.

“You haven’t?”

“Sounds like you’re the one in need of that…” I tried to deflect, my mind going into shutdown mode, where I was fighting so hard to keep the image of Pedro’s naked body away, so damn hard that I had to go into defense.

I knew Kate was only joking. Of course I knew it.

She made a disgust sound “I don’t like that kind of fruit, if you know what I mean.”

The wink said it all, and a heartbeat of silence crossed us before we both laughed, falling right back into our familiar and comfortable rhythm — Us talking shit, her making my heart almost run out of my chest whenever she took both hands out of the wheel, and me barking at her so we could survive this trip.

Kate’s become such an essential part of my life, that it’s hard to remember what it was like before I met her. Hard to think of a life back in the midst of a pandemic, staying behind closed doors, in a house that was almost too small for four people, and then we were only three after the incident.

…We're the best of friends. Insisting that the world keep turning our way…

“So you and Kate are doing this crazy ass marathon of a schedule?” Mandy asked, her face so close to the camera that I could see the giant pimple forming below her eyebrow.

“Yup, at the same time, every single day.”

“Why?”

“The schedule’s pretty tight. We’re closing a bunch of streets in a big city” I said excitedly while strolling around the street that looked like it came from the video game. Cars that looked like they had been abandoned for years, debris from fake asphalt and much more “You should see this, they went above and beyond with the set design.”

“Can’t fucking wait till I get to visit in December. I miss you so much.” She looked on the verge of tears for a second. My heart got so tight with her voice cracking at the last word.

“Don’t get me all emotional now, I have to look professional around here.” I said swallowing the lump stuck inside my throat. “Miss you too, little punk.”

“Dad’s been controlling me like I’m some kind of baby lately. Last night I was supposed to go out with Laura, but he fucking stopped me right before I could get my feet out the door. I’m so pissed.” Now she was walking around her room, pacing, just like she always does when she’s angry. “Almost threatened to go back to my mom’s house.”

“He just… He cares ‘bout you. I know it sucks sometimes, but you know him, he does that thing where he’s being overprotective when all he wants to say is that he loves you.”

"Doesn't look like it”

“Yeah, well… He’s weird like that.”

“Who’s weird?” Kate was walking by me right at that moment. Camera strap around her neck, and that same smile with her eyes of somebody who’s having too much fun working. “Hey there, kid.”

She smashed her cheek against mine to fit in the frame of my cellphone causing me to laugh inside my mask.

“Hey Kate” Mandy was now beaming to see my—our friend.

“Dad didn’t let her go out last night.” I explained, trying my best to keep the mock away from my voice.

“I mean, you can always sneak out…” She started, and as soon as I saw where it was going, I pushed her face away from the cellphone.

“Nice one,” I rolled my eyes. “Such a good influence on kids.”

“Yeah, I try my best”

“Where are you going now?”

“Bella’s make up trailer. Promised them I would snap a picture of their bite mark being made.” 

I knew what she was doing. She also knew it, and even Mandy caught up with that devil smile on her face. It was that famous scenario of a friend trying to set up another friend to someone she likes.

“So that leaves you Pedro’s trailer?” My sister asked on the other side of the call.

“Yeah, want to go say hi to him?”

She hasn’t spoken to him since that first time when they first met. Mandy is the kind of person who will only be herself around you when she’s very comfortable. If she doesn't know you, then her shy persona takes over.

Pedro being her most recent crush only intensified that.

“I have to go to school anyway. Talk to you later, workaholic.” She had that avoidance in her voice, making her reaction to the situation so damn cute.

“You have to get over this obsession about him. You’re gonna meet him, like it or not.” I said, now walking side by side with Kate in the direction of the make up section of the production.

“What your sister means is that you need to learn how to speak to your future brother-in-law.”

“Fuck sake, Kate” I muttered low.

I knew she wanted to set me up, but if for some reason the word gets around that I like the main actor of the whole production, that’ll be the death of my career. People thought I was professional, and a relationship with someone like Pedro would send the wrong message.

To fool around in a production like this would be no good. And his agent already gave me the warning.

“This is a borderline addiction by now” I pointed my camera to that handsome face as soon as I entered the makeup trailer.

Pedro looked at me from above his glasses that were hanging on the tip of his nose. Coco was working around his hair since his make up was already done. The trailer smelled like hair product, and this distinct artificial smell of the make up products.

It was possible to hear the small sounds his cellphone made each time his thumb slid across the screen. I can recognize a person playing candy crush by a mile now. 

“Leave me be” He said, voice low, going back to his cellphone, concentration taking a hold of him and his face.

“She’s kinda right, tho” Coco said while needling her fingers in his hair.

“Which level are you right now?”

I sat down on the couch behind them, camera resting on my lap. The day hadn't even begun and I was already feeling tired without coffee in my system. 

Pedro blocked his screen, got his glasses into the right position just to give me a look through the mirror in front of him “Four thousand two hundred and fifty two.”

“Addicted.” I scrunched my nose in his direction getting that beautiful laugh out of him.

The best sound of my morning, for sure.

“Alright, you caught me. But it’s either that or going through TikTok right now, and frankly? If I hear one more video with Industry baby I’ll lose my shit.”

“That’s fair.” I shrugged.

The whole day of shooting took us fifteen hours, and by the end of it I was dying to have a place to rest my feet. They were sore as shit, and my back was killing me like no other day. This was a whole new level of tiredness.

It wasn't until the third day of shooting that I really felt it. Wishing my body was at least five or six years younger, I had to sit down wherever I was when Craig announced a “1-hour” break for everyone to gather their strength, cool down a little, before coming back for more.

“Damn, you look like hell,” Bella said, coming in my direction.

“Thanks” I tried to smile, pulling my mask down to my chin.

“C’mon, you’ll feel better with some ac and a cold brew” Pedro stuck his hand in my direction, leaving me no other choice other than to let him pull myself up.

The smug handsome Chilean was right. My body felt less heavy with some caffeine and a nice cool air blowing from the ac unit attached to his trailer.

The only thing off was the way my heart sent warnings for being alone with him in there. His smell was stronger, his normal clothes were hanging by his gym bag.

It’s not like I hadn’t been here before. But something was different, something was charged between us. I could feel it crawling beneath my skin, this tingling sensation forming in every part of my body.

“I’m not a summer type of person. The heat is too much.” I said, slumping my body against the cushions of his small two-seat sofa.

“Oh, I am the summer type of person. Born in a place where winter was so short, I don’t get to be a cold-lover.” He said, also sitting down. His arm brushing mine, like the contact was something normal.

I hummed around the rim of the cup filled with cold and refreshing coffee.

“So we’re like… The opposite of each other.”

“Yup, and you know what they say.” His voice turned into that syrupy tone.

Oh, this flirting shouldn’t excite me that much.

“What do they say?”

He felt my change, and the smile on his lips got shy, but didn’t leave anyways. “Something about the opposite attracts,” Pedro shrugged.

I fought the shiver that threatened to run my whole body, and just hummed the acknowledgment of his words.

The silence wasn’t soft or calming, no. It was warm and charged. Like words just waiting, longing to be free, to mean and to expose every feeling.

I took the strap of the camera off my neck and a low grunt escaped my lips before I could hold it back.

We did fifteen hours the first day, and a fourteen hour shift on set yesterday followed by an almost overnight editing session by myself. Body ache, mind was fuzzy, and my goddamn heart was beating so loud just to be near him, I was almost sure he could hear it too.

“You’re working yourself too much, stubborn ass” He muttered, turning his body to my direction.

He didn’t ask, just shifted my body to face away from him, and started to work the knots around my neck and shoulders.

My breath got caught up on my throat, he ignored it. Fingers sinking on my skin, warm and intentional. He knew — Of course he knew — the way my body responded to his touch in such a strong way.

Her muscles were hard as steel, the tension, the way she carries herself around with that heavy camera all around the set, and all day, snapping the perfect shots, like it’s so easy, so natural. She has a creative mind I haven’t seen yet in the industry.

But now, right there under my touch is where I feel her becoming so vulnerable. Her fingers twitching against one another, like someone reaching for something to hold on to, an anchor to the moment.

The tension feels so heavy in the air, it lingers as I work my way around her back. Trying as hard as I could to not let my hand shake, or to let it show the wreck I feel just to touch her again, alone inside this trailer.

Even the cool air blowing was not enough to keep the drops of sweat rolling down my neck.

I lean my body forward, just slightly and pray to have a firm voice being so close to her left ear “Is this okay?”

She swallows hard and a nod comes, positive, as if she is afraid to speak, and I get it.

I get it, because I’m as afraid as she is of this. Of all of those feelings. Like I can’t breathe beside her, like she took all the space inside my mind, and I can’t think of anything else. All I do is replay these small fucking moments over and over again.

“When we go back to Calgary, I’ll pay a professional to do this, you need to relax, Cariño” My voice comes like a whisper. 

The room is quiet, I know she can hear me.

“I li-like — fuuuck that feels good” An almost moan comes out when I find a particular spot that was tighter than the others, and my hands stills — because I wasn’t expecting that sound to come out of her mouth like that. “I like your hands doing it,” She says, tilting her head to the left, towards me, leaving mere inches between our faces. “Don’t need a professional.”

For the first time since we first met I could feel the warmth of her breath, could smell the faint essence of strawberry of her lip balm and the coffee she was drinking.

The small movement of her teeth catching her bottom lip brought my eyes to it. They were so inviting, so kissable.

I could see the fast pace of her chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. In sync with mine, because it felt like I couldn’t get a full gasp of air either.

I should just lean in, right?!

But something hypnotic was holding me back, just looking at her lips, imagining if they taste like that strong cold brew she was drinking.

My left hand came up, fingers finding their way to the back of her neck, the index just below her earlobe and my thumb tracing her jaw in a line going straight to her lips, so I could feel they were actually real, and not just another one of my dreams.

My heartbeat was reverberating through the whole length of my body.

His eyes — his fucking warm and needy eyes — were fixed to my lips. His hand — big and wide — was hot against the skin of my neck and my face.

That’s it, isn’t it? That feeling, the high of it, that’s what we both have been longing for.

And when I finally felt a rush of courage to lean into him, my cellphone started to ring in the room full of silence. It was so loud, we both jumped back, getting away from each other like we were two kids getting caught doing something naughty.

“yeah, yeah—yes?” I stammered getting up on my feet.

“Hey kiddo, how are you?” The familiar voice of my dad came around this thick fog I had surrounding my brain.

“Hey dad” I said, turning my back to Pedro who was still sitting on the sofa. “I’m—I’m alright. Yeah, alright…” I sounded like an idiot, trying with the best I could to regain some of the functions of my dizzy mind.

“Your voice is weird, am I interrupting work?”

“No, no—not interrupting. We just got a break” I ran my fingers through my hair. “Why are you calling? Is everything alright at home?”

“At home, yes…”

“Is it Matt?”

I felt Pedro’s eyes on my back, he was quiet listening to half of the conversation, and when I turned to face him, his eyes were curious. 

“He’s missing you a lot these past days.”

“Shit.” It’s the only thing I could say with that information.

“Yeah, shit.” My dad replies with a humorless laugh.

Pedro has his eyebrows furrowed. He’s worried by my moodshift, so he does what he knows better: Takes my hand on his and pulls my body to sit back down. Knowing that his touch is somehow the thing that will work me up when it is just the two of us, but it’s also the calming effect I need when something is not right.

“I can’t visit right now.”

“You haven’t seen him since… Since what happened last year”

“I…”

“Didn’t have time, nope… That’s a lie. You don’t have time now, but you did.”

“Dad, can we not do this right now?” I asked quietly, “Today’s not a good day to drop something like that on me.”

“Then when?” His voice grew impatient.

“I don’t know, gotta look at my schedule, see if there’s a gap in between episodes or something. But I’ll come visit.” 

“He’s family—shit… He’s your twin brother, you shared your mother’s womb.”

I looked down at where my hand connects to Pedro’s, and a small smile curls up my lips “I know that. I was there, remember?”

“Yeah, smart-ass, I actually do. Raised you both.”

A moment of complete silence fell in between our voices. I could hardly hear his breathing, but I knew he was there, chewing up some words he wasn’t able to say outloud.

He was just like that every single time. More actions than words. Not the clearest ‘I love you’, but enough for me to feel it — to know.

“Listen, I have to get back…” I didn’t know what else to say, but couldn’t take the silence anymore “Talk to you later?”

“Yeah, I’ll get off your shoes” His words came out in a rush. A man who hates to stay in between his daughter and her busy life. “Have a good rest of your day, kiddo.”

“You too Pops.”

My phone was now resting by my side, and our hands together brought me back to that reality. The small trailer, cooling our bodies from Alberta's summer, an actor and a photographer waiting to go back to their jobs for a long day of shooting. And both of them almost kissed minutes ago.

We didn’t pick up where we left off. Instead, Pedro brought my body to his in a comforting hug. His strong arms surrounded me, his scent was a soothing reminder that he was there for me, whenever and wherever I needed him.

“You think I have everything figured out…” I started, and he tried to stop me immediately.

“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“But I do.” I didn’t look at him, didn’t need to. Felt his right hand tracing some patterns around my arm, and I heard his heartbeat so damn close. “Matt—Matthew. He’s my twin brother, I’ve talked about him to you before. We grew up like any other inseparable sibling, always together, always supporting each other in any — and I mean any — circumstance.”

I was now fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, my ears picking up any small sound he did to let me know he was listening.

“He started to act weird years before something happened. Some days he was paranoid that someone was living in our basement, there were so many mood swings, like we were doing something together, and the next minute he got angry and just left. He was not sleeping like a normal person, there were nights he didn’t sleep at all, but when he did, it was something like sixteen to twenty-something hours straight of sleep.” I took a deep breath, feeling this heavy weight inside my chest.

I haven’t talked to anyone about this like I am doing right now. And it feels… good?

Pedro gave my arm a soft squeeze, encouraging me to keep going.

“The last signs were scary. He was hearing stuff, people, whispers, told me they were coming to get him. But I fucking thought he was joking.” I swallowed way too hard, trying to keep the tears at bay. “Matt was always the funniest between the two of us.”

The first tear was an invitation to the others, and the more I let myself cry, thinking about it, the tighter his arms got around me.

It took me minutes before I could speak again. Voice thick and little gasps of air here and then. His voice came in some quiet whispers while I couldn’t get anything out “It’s okay, you’re okay, baby. Just let it out, shhh, I got you, I got you”.

“He, hm… He was out of himself. The lockdown was the thing that did it, it finally triggered him. And he tried…” I closed my eyes as tight as I could and held him closer. “He tried to stab Mandy. Said she was one of them.”

The hum of the air conditioner filled the room. My trauma out for the first time since it happened. And I’m glad it was him, the first person I trusted well enough to let in, to see my wounds, to see how hurt I was was.

There were three knocks on his door, startling us a bit. “Pedro, we have five minutes to go back,” Coco said.

“Be right there” He replied loud enough for her to understand.

“C’mon” I smoothed the place of his shirt I was gripping before “Enough trauma for a day.”

“Hey.” Pedro pulled his head back just enough so he could look at me “You’re the strongest, smartest and the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

His words sent a sparkle into my soul, and I tried to look away, but his index finger tipped my chin back to him. “Can I take you out on a date? And I mean a real one, not just some pick up to go to work.”

“A date?” I asked, soft and low.

“Yeah” He smiled “While I can’t make your past go away, I figure we can make some good memories together. I would love to take you out, talk all night long, have some good food, and go on from there.” His eyes dropped once again from my eyes to my lips, but they came back up and he pinched my chin in between his finger and his thumb “What do you think?”

“I would love to go out with you, Pedro.”

[teruwasright]

so season 3 (season 2 part 2 i guess??) is starting and I see a lot of your criticism in the tag on the anime. can I ask what parts of it made you say its changing the characters to be less interesting, and generally what changes were made that make you think it's poorly written? I thought the adaptation was pretty faithful to the manga, but I'm def biased towards a select few characters so I'm not sure if I just missed something.

sorry if this comes off as rude! it's not meant to, i'm just genuinely curious and trying to understand your point. i do generally agree that the manga is better than the anime, but i'd love to hear if there's more to it then just what i think!

Hello Anon, you didn't sound rude at all

In my opinion the anime is not faithful to the characters nor the story, the anime wasn't really ruined off the get go, the first like three episodes weren't that bad and getting past the funky looking animation it's enjoyable

The biggest problem was cutting out the young exorcist arc to jump farther into the fan favorite characters

I'm sure what you mean is mainly about how you don't see the value or importance in the cut story and arcs, the young exorcist was one of their biggest fuck ups because the arc is when Kou gets his first bit of character expansion and a proper introduction to Teru and their relationship, setting their dynamic up to see their characters develop later in the series

This also establishes Kou's view on Hanako and helps Hanako see Kou differently, in a more personal light if you get what I mean

With cutting it out Kou and Teru are just honestly ruined, Kou has no reason to like Hanako, Teru is never introduced properly and fans views and thoughts of him are far more influenced by his first bit, which the anime STILL did badly imo

So lemme get this straight, Kou hates Hanako...protects Nene...and then suddenly he's chill with Hanako

NOTHING changed, Hanako acts the same, which Kou points out in the beginning how you can't trust him..but then falls for his tricks like a few episodes later?? In the young exorcist arc Kou follows him around to "prove" that he's doing evil stuff but he doesn't catch him doing anything and ends up helping him, falling out a window yk bonding stuff and that's how Kou gets to know Hanako some more, he was influenced and decides you know what? Hanako's a chill guy, WRONG and Hanako gets all crazy because he has issues and Teru steps in

We learn some about how Teru was a child exorcist and how they grew up...sets the baseline for their relationship and their later fight

Kou stands up to Teru for the first time, helps you see both of their characters some more, Teru tells him he won't let this go the next time something happens and boom, we got some good character interactions, relationship development, backstory and a perfect set up for their big fight in chapter 87, the anime has ZERO of that, the CLOSEST we got as a bandaid for the storyline was their weird sparring session on the roof in season two...where they had a weird ass interaction

Bsf that extra scene was awful, ooc and did absolutely nothing to help the lack of character depth, Teru says basically the same thing he did when they half assed the start of the young exorcist arc, which once again is reworded because I KNOW Teru would never say anything like the anime keeps putting in his mouth and we completely miss how although Teru can be hard on Kou, he respects and loves him in the fucking anime we never see Teru respect him and give him space to figure it out the hard way, he just says this God awful line how "you'll regret it" I'm sorry?? Teru never even said anything close to that 😔

Overall Teru's character writing has been pretty poor and I don't expect much

Let's say I look passed this awful horrendous and diabolical change it doesn't get better, the overall way they write and animate Kou just feels really bad, they cut through important scenes and shafted the clock keeper arc to ensure Mitsukou got a good portion of the first season and it wasn't even done well

The animation is SO unemotional, it gives nothing the original manga panels did

I legit didn't gaf because Kou just had no personality. He had none of the charm manga Kou had, honest to god they do this to all the characters

The anime feels like they take the baseline character and their stereotypes and run with that, I feel no care from the writing like the manga

The anime is so obviously a money maker and they give no care to the original intention or characters, not to mention the style direction doesn't fit tbhk

They keep bright colors and make everything lighthearted, how is this going to fit the serious scenes later in the series?? The "darker" scenes don't feel dark or intense at all except maybe the Nene lifespan reveal, otherwise it never brought the same darkness the manga carries and it gets a LOT worse, I can't even imagine how bad the next part of season two is going to be lol I am not watching that shit

I did not watch the entirety of season two, I never finished the picture perfect arc and honestly I don't even care, all I'm doing is saving myself the headache XD

Back to topic, they cut out BIG chunks of dialog too and it all just feels like they're running through the series as fast as they can to get to the hype moments that the fans like (fan service 101) now kicking Akane out of season one was a bad idea, but we did end up getting the clock keeper arc...surely they can't mess up this super short arc right? I WAS WRONG APPARENTLY and they not only ruin Akane but somehow AOI??

Now I hate the anime. BUT they got one episode down, s2 ep2 was pretty good, hell for once I was interested in what the anime had to offer and whether they were really changing the direction to be well done and true to the manga, WRONG AGAIN because it immediately got bad again

My main gripes with the earlier episodes of season two, IS HOW THEY MASSACRED AKANE AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH AOI

When they are waiting around watching Aoi on the stage, Akane sheds some light on why he acts the way he does wit Aoi and their childhood

The anime cut a good portion out of his not even 30 second speech and it SHOWS

His speech gives light to how young their codependency started, how Akane feels and why he does what he does, look idc if you think he's a creep and can't be justified but their childhood influenced their current relationship SO MUCH without that context it's missing how they became this way and how Akane thinks, we understand his character some more etc

With what we have in the anime...it's flat and the best we have is Nene's pov and what Teru said to Kou about him

This paints him closer to a yandere character with no depth, where is the backstory?? Come on now, what about when they argue in the far shore?? That's going to feel so bad with the idea we currently have of Akane

Now Aoi...oh Aoi my girl, WHAT have they done to you! This honestly, HONESTLY feels like AoiNene fan service, they animate and put in how Aoi wants to tell Nene something, how she's nervous cue the weird Hanako scene and just, never touch on it again :) that's it! Like HUH?? Aoi was supposed to go to Nene and ask her if she hates her and why she's been avoiding her and acting differently

This is not only important to Aoi's character but Nene's too, also their relationship

How the effects Nene is it shows she used to be a normal teenage girl, hangout with her bestie, go out, day dream, she always used to talk to Aoi, tell her EVERYTHING

Now they barely talk, she doesn't go out, they don't hangout after school

Her life revolves around this supernatural business, it honestly makes me sad for her, when she was preparing for the festival, school sleepover etc she was actually excited to hangout with real people doing real activities while including her supernatural friend, otherwise her life has been taken over by this supernatural drama

Anyways point of the matter is it's all erased and we get none of that subtext in the anime

On Aoi's side it's plain bad, this scene should be there to explore Aoi's character and get a glimpse into her before the grim reaper arc, where her mask falls apart

Without this she's lacking character and anything to show her true self before it gets spelt out for everyone, character assassination if you ask me...

Never talked about again though! Yup, I guess Aoi had nothing to say..

This one's kinda a more personal opinion but the scene where Hanako possess Nene and harasses Aoi felt REALLY uncomfortable, I know this is an overall uncomfortable scene and sometimes controversial but the anime...felt so much worse

You can tell this was a scene they made sure looked good and animated better, the rest of the episode mainly looks bad too...it almost feels too sensual and overral gross that they focused on the scene, giving up fixing the other lower quality scenes

More fan service I tell ya, this anime is pure fan service

I feel sooo bad for anime only fans, y'all are getting the scraps and you don't even know it😭

They have missed a lot of scenes and potential foreshadowing, this is a a mystery manga with twists and turns

Running to the end of a scene fucks up the pacing and the important details, this series is UNFINISHED and we have no idea how it will work out, if the anime fucks up big time on missing core scenes they're going to have to make up MORE random shit to fit the series they created. It's ass

Now onto whatever they're doing with Teru and Akane (more fan service dear goodness) uhhh WHAT was that preview?? Where we see Teru grab Akane's face?? I'm sorry...my early terukane??? Making physical contact?? SOOO OOC IM SORRY

Teru is not physical. ever. PERIOD

He mainly uses his bracelet to tie Akane up throw him around or hits him with his sword, current chapter Teru is much more handsy but for the first like 60+ chapters he would never touch Akane like that

He dragged him away after the clock keeper arc yeah but to put it in perspective when Akane and Teru had their first big fight after the severance the most Teru did to Akane was punch him and drag him away, their most recent fight Teru not only punches him but he grabs his tie and gets more handsy, they have grown a lot more closer but they were never handsy like that from the start

Weird as hell to see tbh

Alright I'll end the rant now, overall they have done poorly with keeping their characters intact, the animation and showcase of emotions are poor and it's a big flaming pile of fan service missing all of the best parts of tbhk, the character writing and implications of their character, thoughts and intentions and the (mostly) great story pacing

‐------------------------------------

Lmao this was all written by @kittytheartist ! Ty sm Kitty for putting my thoughts into words!

I'm not good at articulating my thoughts but with an ask like this I really wanted to give you something so I asked Kitty (who we both agree very heavily that the anime is ass so I trusted them in writing out a response for you) if they could write this- there a lot better at putting thoughts to words then I am lmao

But basically the anime to me is a flaming dumpster fire of fan service and atp im done watching it and trying to give it a chance.

Not to say that you CAN'T injoy it- if you do that's fine but I don't and im getting a little tired of people asking me why and acting like I "should" just bc it's tbhk.

I want tbhk to be animated JUST as much as everyone else but I will NOT settle for this dumpster fire of an excuse of an anime so I hope this answers your question

[stealthnoodle]

How to Scrape Your Way Through Honour Mode and Look Reasonably Good Doing It

I won't say I beat Honour Mode on my first try, because my Dishonour Mode playthrough served as a critically useful dry run, but I will say that the first character I made with the intention of completing Honour Mode properly did in fact complete Honour Mode.

Below are the 13 most important lessons I learned along the way that made this possible.

1) Do not be Mothman.

You really want to minimize fights and maximize available vendors. Ask yourself "What would Mothman do?" and then do not do that thing.

2) Do be a half-orc.

Fights can go real wrong real fast, and in the early game, you are perpetually one bad round of combat away from oblivion. In my case, the harpies critted Shadowheart to death, and then every chucklefuck in my party failed their wisdom save at the same time. The other two members ate more multiattacks than they could handle, and then so did Pizzazz, but she held on with one single precious hit point after the last blow. She dug herself out of the hole with heal potions and her fists of righteous anger.

Pizzazz being a half-orc saved the entire run here. Having Death Ward once a day comes in fucking clutch when you're below level 5, and tbh the hardest part of Honour Mode is getting to level 5.

The harpy fight was also when I realized the need for a critical strategy:

3) Make one party member your panic button.

I only really needed this trick in the early game (I cannot emphasize enough how most of my close calls were before level 5), but it saved my ass several times. Panic early, panic often.

Pick the party member who has the least to contribute to a fight and park them where they can't get drawn into initiative. You can leave them all the way back at camp, or if you're me, just put them far back in hiding so it's easy to pull them in to help with late-fight cleanup if things are going well (or to finish a fight in the goofiest way possible, see above). Either way, their job is to run crying to Withers if everyone else dies.

Speaking of which…

4) Exploit Bone Daddy's indifference to being pickpocketed.

You can get back whatever "the price of balance" is by yoinking it right out of Withers's pockets. If you fail the sleight of hand check, no worries; you get pulled out of hiding, but he doesn't react at all, and you can just squat back down and get right back in there.

5) Tell Jesse you need to cook.

Potions of Speed are the goddamn Philosopher's Stones of this game. So I made Gale a Transmutation Wizard, made him proficient in Medicine, and put him in charge of alchemy. Just clearing the gnoll zone got me pretty well set for the first two acts.

Getting double heal pots sure doesn't hurt, either.

6) Start a local chapter of the Warding Bond Cleric Club.

This is something I discovered was possible while I was fretting over prepping for the end of Act 2, because last time was such a clusterfuck. You can hire three hirelings, give them fun names like Ouchie Magnet, Sexy Pincushion, and Yoohoo Loviatar, get them to cast Warding Bond on the party members you actually intend to use, and enjoy the full benefits of it out in the world while your hirelings stand around bleeding at camp.

Any buff that lasts until the next long rest and doesn't require concentration works like this, fyi. Death Ward and Longstrider are also especially handy (and once you get to level 11, Heroes' Feast). Setting this up is tedious enough that I only did it a few times during the game, when I was going into situations I couldn't easily extricate myself from in case of emergency. (So the Mindflayer Colony, the Iron Throne, the Steel Watch Foundry, and one last time for the Temple of Baal.)

7) Break big battles up into bite-sized skirmishes.

Why would I fight all the cultists at Moonrise Tower in a grand climactic battle when I could sneak around before finishing the Gauntlet of Shar and pick off my future foes in packs? Since they're not hostile yet, it's pretty simple to wipe them out one room at a time, using Minor Illusion to lure guards away from their posts. Then I got the joy of showing up with Jaheira and all her Harpers to curbstomp the two (2) guys I missed.

Also good for removing all the intellect devourers before you pick a fight with Mindflayers in the Mindflayer Colony and for surviving gnoll swarms. Sometimes you even get lucky and a hyena falls into a hole, somehow.

8) Fill your camp with literal tons of explosives.

See a smokepowder barrel? Pick it up and send it to camp. Do this consistently and you will have deeply nervous party members every time you light a campfire, probably, but you'll also have a way to cheese boss fights that you're worried about. I chugged elixirs that raised strength before the end of Act 2 so that I could bring a dozen smokepowder barrels with me to the Myrkul fight and absolutely trivialized it.

9) Become a partial illithid.

Mourn your aesthetic and commune with that frosty little worm. (Take Volo's amateur eye surgery, too, btw. Just fuck yourself up.) The powers are worth it. A truly hardcore player would also get their companions to dip a toe into ceremorphosis, but I started by asking Astarion, who fucking loves regular tadpoles, to try it, and his response made me feel so bad that I abandoned the cause entirely.

10) Start your day with a delicious and nutritious Heroes' Feast.

So I never really read the description closely because sometimes I'm just like that, but thanks to the Warding Bond Cleric Club, I started paying closer attention to buffs and holy shit??? Thoroughly Stuffed is a baller condition, and it also makes food. I didn't have to go grocery shopping even once! Having three bonus clerics with spell slots to burn also meant the 6th-level cost wasn't coming out of Shadowheart.

11) Accept that late-game enemy saving throws will mercilessly fuck you.

It feels real bad when you cast a 6th-level spell that operates on saving throws and your target shrugs it off with 0 damage. Spells with attack rolls are usually better bets, and Artistry of War is a wizard's once-per-short-rest MVP. Open Hand Monk Pizzazz was consistently my best damage dealer, especially once I looted the Bonespike Gloves from Strangler Luke.

12) Skip the high-risk low-reward quests in Act 3.

Consider your party composition and tactics and whether any optional quest line is worth completing for its rewards. Cazador, the Sharrans, and Ansur are non-trivially difficult fights that I didn't need to subject myself to, so I didn't. But there's real good shit under Sorcerous Sundries, so of course I cleared out that vault.

Hell isn't actually that bad on Honour Mode (no, really! The restoration faucets have unlimited uses!), but it's not a sure thing and I could live without the rewards. Had a tense moment passing the DC 30 Persuasion check with Kith'rak Voss later, but he chilled out and even let me borrow his dragon's breath.

The only unnecessary hard fight I did was the Steel Watcher Titan, which was a bad call on my part; I kinda wanted the crossbow and I really wanted to keep the runepowder bomb in case I needed it, but Mothman didn't do this fight, so I was not prepared for the Hellfire Steel Watcher Titan's bullshit. I won, but it was a closer shave than it should have been.

Then I ended up not using the crossbow at all.

13) Thank Gale for his sacrifice.

The Netherbrain is fucking nasty on Honour Mode. Fuck Karsite Grip. Fuck Aegis of the Absolute. Does it feel bad to make Gale sacrifice himself? Yes. Would it feel worse to lose the run right before the finish line? Also yes.

I brought every explosive I had with me (which required two rounds of strength-boosting elixirs, because the game hits you with a long rest before the Astral Plane) just in case Gale got cold feet and I burned all my inspiration fucking up the persuasion roll, then went through the sewers to avoid the larger fight. Someone (Gale, so I couldn't be too mad) failed a stealth check and aggroed them all anyway, but Pizzazz covered the ground to the brainstem in like three rounds and everyone warped up after her for the cutscene, so no harm no foul.

Then Gale volunteered—nay, insisted on blowing himself up and I felt bad! Real bad! Not bad enough to change course, but Pizzazz's face was also my face during epilogue:

P.S. At least for me, the achievement procced after the epilogue, credits, and post-credits scene, and I was tense af the entire time. But not so tense I couldn't be sad about Gale (oh no he wrote me a letter) and Astarion (oh no he's still in hiding because of Cazador). Luckily my big hot wife was there to support me.

Anyway, let's load an old autosave on another campaign and check out those golden dice, shall we?

Ahhh, my horrible son

[junglefurytrash]

Starlight Express Headcanons/AU Canons Part 3 - Totally Professional Starlight Chatroom Edition

After writing the Electric Storm Arc and 30 whole chapters of TPSC (holy shit), I decided that since I had a lot of stuff that was on my mind regarding little random character info bits, old plans, and other random assorted facts and worldbuilding stuff that I've yet to incorporate into chapters, mentioned but not gone into detail over, or just can't fit anywhere naturally.

So I decided to make this to put down a bunch of fun facts and info for everyone in the form of headcanons/actual AU canon fun facts! I think a lot of this will be going into the eventual Google Doc of AU World Lore as well as a Google Doc for Character Files I'm slowly planning out.

This is all stuff relating to my StEx Chatfic, so for those who haven't read it and are wondering what half of these are on about, I'd highly recommend reading up on that! Especially the Electric Storm Arc where lots of plot and lore happened.

As an aside, life has been kicking my ass with stuff over the last 4 weeks, but with things roughly settling down now, I should be able to get the next chapter of TPSC out sometime! :D

The group chat/server everyone uses is basically Discord, or at least a version of it.

All of the events since the Pride Party have happened over the course of about 2 weeks.

Tassita is Transgender, female to male! I really enjoy this headcanon, especially because Tassita was female originally in the Workshop they stem from but are now male in the actual Revival Show. Just makes so much sense to me. :)

Originally, the resolution chapters of the Electric Storm Arc were going to be just one chapter, Chapter 29, where everyone talks about what to do with Galvanic & co and if they still want them in the group chat server, before deciding at the end and leaving things there. I didn't think it was a good enough resolution for the arc though.

^ Adding onto this: Chapter 29 would've actually been chapter 30. There was going to be a sort of filler chapter that'd be Coach-focused, with Buffy, Dinah, and some of the others talking about the menu for the yard diner, Volta and Joule come in and chat for a bit, and then the whole topic of Dinah bringing over some goodies would be brought up and lead into that whole thing. I decided to ultimately merge that in with Thundercab's introduction chapter via way of the group talking about Forbidden Snacks.

There was also another filler chapter about the group talking about Pokemon Sun & Moon.. Until I realised the plot is still happening in the summer and Gen 7 came out in like November, so that got moved and 2 more plot chapters got merged (which is why Chapter 28 is LONG AS FUCK). The Pokemon chapter will come later though!

Slick has Mild ADHD and Conduct Disorder, both having been gone undiagnosed and untreated. Her behaviour got chalked up to her being just a troubled child, who Mum (2024 Momma) tried her best to help and teach and look after, but struggled to do so while also focusing on Corry's own physical health being precarious. Slick's Conduct Disorder is why she took to vandalism, bullying, and setting things on fire intentionally (those are all signs/symptoms of CD).

When the Electrics get angry enough, they produce enough static electricity to make people's hair stand on end.

Dinah started the Conspiracy of the Secret Karen Organisation meme a few years prior to the Championship, and it's a regular shitpost between the Coaches.

Everyone is very defensive of Ashley, who's one of the few Smoking Coaches that didn't undergo conversion after the Smoking Ban on transport and in the workplace between 2005 and 2007. Ashley however is more than capable of looking after herself (though she loves the other Coaches and how they look out for her).

Mum (aka 2024 Momma) is Slick's legal guardian and has been since Slick was about 9-10 years old due to her parents being troubled in their own rights and being unable to look after their daughter. This makes her Corry's adopted little sister!

Caboose has Hypomania and PTSD. Both stem from his older brother, BV (Brake Van, aka 2018 Caboose) getting CB at a young age into doing damage and crashing Trainfolks, and egging him on/being "proud" of CB when he did hurt people. While BV crashed Trainfolks out of greed (and in some sense a way to better keep a roof over his younger brother's head), CB ended up continuing his crimes for the Hypomania adrenaline rush.

Radial has been pining for Dolly since she met them at the Wembley Park Trainyard Races, but absolutely sucks at managing her own feelings (she views herself very unfavourably and as irrelevant) and doesn't want to do anything to ruin Dolly's relationship with Thundercab (who she thinks would deck her if she found out Radial had feelings for Dolly). ENJOY YOUR SLOW-BURN, PEOPLE!

The Electric Racing Commission are a global presence, with different branches for Electrics registered under them in nearly every country with Trainfolks in it. It's an organisation created from exploiting Electric Trainfolks' fear of humans back in the 1850s when Trainfolks in general had less rights in human society. They, generally, are not very good people, as even in the present day in-universe they still somewhat treat Electrics as lesser - The American Branch that took in Galvanic and their Components is one of the worser branches in terms of mistreatment.

Greaseball and Thundercab very much have a big-brother-little-sister vibe after TC joins the Apollo Victoria Yard. Pretty much joins his Gang (which are less of a GANG gang and more now of a group of close-knit friends, mainly Diesels and Freights, who do workout together too).

Gets mentioned in the chapters anyway, but Hydra is an Electric/Freight Hybrid Trainfolk! He has an Electric Engine mother and a Water Tanker dad. His mother has been an Off-The-Grid Electric since birth - Off-The-Grid Electric being a term referring to Electric Engines who don't work for the Racing Commission. His strange heritage and different nature is part of why the other Freight take a while to fully warm up to him.

The Hall of Cursed Things was started by Pearl after one too many late-night-group-shower-thought-rambles. (Said "Hall of Cursed Things" is a channel in the groupchat/server where people will put screenshots of said Cursed Thing that someone else said/posted).

Belle and Moonstone are both Autistic! Belle hyperfixates on various drinks and mixology as a whole naturally, but she also hyperfixates a lot on other random miscellaneous stuff like Star Wars, constellations, and types of flowers. Moonstone meanwhile hyperfixates on her scrapbooking and photography hobbies mainly, though she also has hyperfixated on animals - mainly dog breeds and bird types.

Panda the Cat from Chapter 22 looks kind of like a mix of these two cats.

Memphis Belle is around in this AU, and she's like a wise old Aunt to the AV Trainyard. She and Poppa are old racing besties, and she's also his emotional support while he tries to find his missing-in-action wife (Momma).

The moment they get their freedom Post-Chapter-30, Ampera gets explorative and adventurous pretty much immediately; Hair extensions until her hair grows back to full length, cool shades, red hair dye, bracelets, anklets, the full 9 yards. The others in their group take a little more time.

Galvanic is the most socially stunted out of the Electric Engines, mainly because they only very recently got a bit of common sense and grounding to reality via losing the Wembley Yard race and also the Electric Storm Arc.

"Star-Touched" is a term across Vehiclefolks (but primarily the Trainfolks) for those who have been met in some way by the Starlight Express. Those in the main cast who've been Star-Touched are Rusty and Corry (of course), Charge (happened in her side-fic I wrote), Dustin and Hydra (being visited by The Starlight to go help Rusty/Corry respectively), and Electra as of Chapter 30.

Movie Nights started sometime after the Championships by Dinah and Rusty as an attempt to help everybody get along a bit better after the Championships and start forming friendships.

Just Dance is the equivalent of Monopoly for the cast - Competition ensues, everyone gets VERY into it, chaos breaks out as everyone tries to beat one another's scores.

Thundercab likes giving nicknames to everyone. It started teasingly with Corry and affectionately with Dolly, but it turned into just a habit she has with everyone.

Purse likes those old 2010-2012 internet memes and that's how he bonded more with some of the AV Trainyard crew.

The Freight love piercings the most out of the cast - Slick, Hydra, Lumber, and Porter all have their ears pierced, and Slick also has a nose piercing she sometimes has in, while Flat-Top just has a lot of piercings in general as do the Hoppers. The Rockies have a few piercings, but they have to take them out or put tape over them often so they don't come out during their sport activities.

How much would I break people's hearts if I said that Radial is heavily implied to be inspired by, if not outright related to, OLC Wrench, the version of Wrench prior to the character getting the helmet addition? That's why her hair is described as "once red and fiery curls" in Chapter 21. As shown in her eventual post-arc design I did here, her hair won't be the same for a long time due to having to bleach her hair regularly as per the other R.C Branch's regulations, but she will gradually regain SOME of the curly red colour - Whether it returns fully to its full fiery glory is uncertain.

^ The same goes for Hardwire! His hair is actually naturally a dark grey/black, just like Killerwatt's and Krupp's, but constant bleaching per regulation rules has damaged it just like Radial's hair has been damaged. He'll get his colour back too though.

[bellaxgiornata]

Alright friends, I am here to tell y'all I am going on vacation this weekend and through most of next week! It's been literal years since my ass had one (2019 for my honeymoon to be exact) and I'm in desperate need of a break. Though it was a literal last minute thing and I now only have two and a half days to plan and pack and prep a 3 year old for their first vacation...

Story update-wise that means y'all won't be getting much from me the next week. I was hoping to stockpile a couple of updates because I wasn't planning to leave for another week, but schedules worked out differently. So far chapter five of You're Safe With Me is almost written! I think I'll work on ATYs next update after that to hopefully get some Matt content ready. And I'll probably run that poll for FFTD soon to figure out a name for Matt and Reader’s new furry addition before I work on that story.

Obviously fanfic is not my priority over vacation though, but I'm also vacationing with a toddler who takes a nap daily in which I can't do much so I'll probably still write a bit or maybe post something I have finished while I'm gone. It just might pop up as a surprise if I do! I just wanted y'all to know what's going on with me content-wise this next week! I've been writing nonstop since last November and I could use a minute to turn off my brain before I come back with more ideas 😆

[land-of-frogs-and-dragons]

Is it possible to know when we will have an update of "Green Eyes"?

Sorry if the question is annoying but the story is really good and I really want to know what happens next.

Do you know in which chapter Sam, Tucker and Jazz are going to appear again? I don't know about you but I really want Primus to turn them into half Cybertronians and Tucker to be adopted by Soundwave to everyone's horror.

-🦝

Hey sorry about the delay in seeing the ask, I mainly use Tumblr via mobile and it's ass at letting me know when I have new asks lol. It's not annoying to get asks about my fic, I promise. Feel free to send in more if you want to <3

I am working on the next chapter but seeing as the thing that lets me write is very distractable hamsters on a running wheel, I can't say with certainty when the next chapter will be. Nor when Jazz, Tucker, and Sam will make another appearance. I am fairly confident in saying that I need Shockwave around for the trio to make it to the spaceship, at a minimum, because of a juicy B plot that comes up in Chapter 9. I have most things roughly mapped out it's just a matter of Lack Of Writing Time due to life, writing juices flowing at Not Writing Time, Megs being hard to write especially because of the B plot that I refuse to lose, ect. I'd say tentatively hopefully this/next week?

Also when the trio get botted, Soundwave will not be adopting any of them. Not because he doesn't want to throw hands over custody but bc they're all going to be seekers and thus require a seeker parent. Not Starscream though, he's got his servos full with the halfas xD

Pinging you so you see this @smilingraccoon1008

[gothcsz]

idk why i masochistically decided to finally catch up on thoroughfare at work when i knew my ass only had like a half hour-ish to spare but finally read gods & monsters and i fully recall why it is so hard not to inhale every word you write with zero regard for all else! first of all, excuse me but why are you torturing paloma? the fuck did she ever do to you?! where do i file a complaint?!? i'm kidding. this whole chapter is god tier plot development and so beautifully captured by your words, i know i am kissing your ass always on this story swear to god i ate this whole ass chapter up. it made my skin crawl in the best possible way. i literally cannot yap too much right now but that is for the best because i am obsessed with how seamlessly this was written and i need to re-read ahhhh javi slowly realizing shit is NOT okay, alllll the stuff with gabriel like... must know wtf is going to happen there, august truly creeping me the fuck out. this psycho ass ritual bro!! it will be beyond satisfying to watch p get out of this god forsaken situation. i hope there is a lot of blood. i'm dying. i will refrain from yapping further but truly i'm a massive dumbass because i can't immediately read the next chapter atm. love this story so much.

welcome back diva, sorry to have greeted u with nothing but horrors and suspense but you're 22 chapters deep... you know what's to be expected in the thoroughfare universe 🙂‍↕️

first of all, excuse me but why are you torturing paloma? the fuck did she ever do to you?! where do i file a complaint?!?

i do this thing where i love a character so much that i want to traumatize them and hurt them beyond repair <3 p happens to be the character in question this time 'round BUT IT'S OKAY SHE'S JUST EARNING HER FINAL GIRL BRAGGING RIGHTS RIGHT NOW

this whole chapter is god tier plot development and so beautifully captured by your words, i know i am kissing your ass always on this story swear to god i ate this whole ass chapter up. it made my skin crawl in the best possible way. i literally cannot yap too much right now but that is for the best because i am obsessed with how seamlessly this was written and i need to re-read

i'm literally gonna pass out pls ur too nice im literally always on the verge of a mental breakdown when i write this story u dont even understand.... but literally thank u so much i am so happy that ur as invested in it as i am like it really does make me happy :,) eat my ass whenever u want 🍑

it will be beyond satisfying to watch p get out of this god forsaken situation. i hope there is a lot of blood.

i can't wait to hear ur thoughts on the next chapter... shit gets even more real.... and trust me there will be PLENTY of blood to go around i mean it is a story about a cannibalistic religious cult.... it's to be expected.... :p

[recurring-polynya]

Writing/Art Update 3.5.2024

So, Polynya, did you finish the fanfic? Well...sort of? No. No, I guess the answer is actually no.

Last week, I said I had two and a half scenes left, one of which was the epilogue, and one scene I wanted to rewrite. I wrote the scene and a half that were not the epilogue, and then I tried to do that scene re-write. It came out better than it was, but I still didn't love it. I figured I would just go ahead and write the epilogue and then maybe come back and try again. 3/4 of the epilogue went great, and then I just couldn't manage to end it, and got stuck for three days. I went back and tried to re-write that scene I didn't like *again*, and barely got into before realizing that the way I was hoping to make it better did not, in fact. Yesterday, after Much Struggle, I managed to pull together an end to epilogue with is...okay...but I don't love it. So the current state of things is: 107,408 words, and it is strictly speaking, A Whole-ass Fanfic, but with two half-scenes that I hate.

It's really frustrating, because I had a bunch of productive weeks in a row, and my brain has just utterly collapsed on me in the eleventh hour. I've been trying so hard to push it over the finish line, but it's one of those things where I can't just brute force it, I need to somehow have a good idea. I am also so so tired this week. I know, logically, that probably I just need to relax and rest up for a few days and this will be easy to fix when I am feeling better, but it's hard to relax when I have this stupid almost-but-not-quite-done fanfic hanging over my head.

Here are some other stupid facts:

The scenes in question are important and I want them to be good, but they aren't exactly load-bearing, in the sense that nothing else depends on them

I don't even *need* the epilogue, and in fact, after I realized that I end all my Heart is a Muscle fics with people drinking (not on purpose, I'm just unoriginal), it made me want to drop the whole thing on principle (except that I also don't because it's sort of a thematic lead-in to the next story in the series and also Ukitake is there)

The two problem scenes are way at the end of the fanfic. When I do start posting this thing, I plan to post one chapter per week like I often do, meaning that I have literal months to fix these

Chapter 1 is beta'd and ready to go and literally nothing is stopping me from posting it this very second

BUT I don't want to post Chapter 1 until my beta has seen the whole fic because what if she notices something in Chapter 12 that needs to be fixed back in Chapter 1

AND literally nothing is stopping me from just sending my beta the last few chapters with a little note on the scenes I'm not happy with. It's highly possible she might have some ideas! Or just be like "you are insane these are fine"!

EXCEPT I don't want her to see my bad writing that I am embarrassed about

And so, here we are. I am probably going to give it another day or two, and if I can't manage to fix those two scenes, I'll just suck it up and send the rest to her.

I guess I also should re-do the banner, except I don't feel like re-doing the banner. It's....okay. I don't know. I just kind of slapped it together based on a thing we were doing at Art Club. Maybe I don't even want a banner.

Speaking of Art Club, it's March now, which meant there was a new theme at Art Club (nature) and I decided to try to get back into my daily drawing. I think this is possibly what killed my momentum on my fanfic. I am just literally only capable of having one priority at a time, even if it's a little tiny one, otherwise my brain just plays tug of war with my priorities and it's hard to manage either of them.

Anyway, I've been in kinda rough shape for the last few days, but I am sure it will pass. It's got some good bits, but I think I just never really managed to fall in love with this one, and I'm really worried about it getting a cooler reception than I'm used to, since the fandom seems to have quieted down significantly since the last time I posted one of these. On the other hand, I've worked too hard on this to not post it. Also, it's got some stuff in it that had to happen for the series to progress. And maybe other people will like it! Who knows! Not me!!

I had hoped to be able to start posting it this week, but that's not looking likely at this point, so I guess you can have another preview.

--- from Ch 3

"You really didn't have to go to all this trouble," Rukia pointed out, as she methodically piled her bowl with a heaping serving of everything on offer.

Renji grabbed a big pinch of the shirasu before passing it over to her. "It's fine. I'm not sure when I'll be up for cooking again, so I'm trying to clean out my fridge."

"Oh, so I'm helping?"

Renji grinned. "Sure."

"I love helping! If you need me to take this pickled ginger with me, I could take it off your hands."

"I think the pickles will probably keep for a bit."

"Hmmph," Rukia replied skeptically, and scooped some more into her bowl.

It was always difficult not to just sit and watch Rukia eat, in part because she truly did have an extraordinary talent for shoveling food into her mouth, but mostly because it reminded Renji of why they had come to the Seireitei in the first place, of how lucky he was these days. You have to go to work, too, this morning, he reminded himself, and dug in.

"You know, speaking of helping…" Rukia said a few minutes later, once she'd managed to eat enough to shave the edge of her morning ravenousness. "There's something I want to talk to you about."

The pleasant feelings in Renji's chest abruptly turned cold and gloppy. He frowned, and raised one eyebrow skeptically. “Yeah?”

Rukia looked up at him with her big, stupidly blue eyes. “Do you remember when we talked about how important it was for you to have a comfortable and peaceful recovery from your surgery?”

“I do. I distinctly remember asking you to drop it and not bring it up, again, actually.”

“Right, well, I never actually agreed to that. I think that you should come stay at my house.”

Renji gave her an incredulous look. “Your house? Kuchiki Manor, you mean? Your house that is actually my captain’s house?”

“It’s very nice there, as you know. The food really is very good and we have a million servants with nothing better to do--”

“I am sure they have better things to do, Rukia.”

“--and you can sit in a sunny spot in the garden and I’ll read you books and it will be so much nicer than staying in the Coordinated Relief Station!”

Renji heaved a huge, exasperated sigh. “It’s a nice idea, Rukia, but think about the look on Captain’s face if you even--”

“He said it was okay.”

Renji felt all the blood run out of his face, possibly out of his body entirely. “You asked him?”

“I know you’re only getting it done because he ordered you to. He obviously wants you to do your best to heal up well. He cares about you, too, you know, in his own way.” 

Renji stiffened, his fingers tightening on his chopsticks. “You probably told him the whole story, then? How I broke my arm in the first place?” His voice sounded like it was coming from somewhere far away.

“Not the whole thing!" Rukia shook her head vehemently. "He knows you broke it saving me, that's the only important part.”

Renji drew in a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut. All he could focus on was the sound of his own blood pounding in his ears. “Why do you always have to do this?” he finally managed through gritted teeth. “I asked you to just leave it, but you never can.”

Rukia shoved out her lower lip. “Maybe if you took care of yourself half as well as you take care of everyone else, I would!” she protested. “Just let me spoil you for a few days, would it be so terrible?”

“Yes.”

[the-batcats-mder]

Description of Book

About Her

Soulmates

[Posted on here on: July 2, 2024]

Chapter 1 Forest

Note: Don't hate me, but I'll like to state that I haven't watched Titans yet. I've seen clips, povs, and read some fanfics, but i haven't seen the show yet. I've seen in total like 1 or 3 episodes…. A year or two ago.

It's on the list of shows to watch, just not yet to be watched.

This is, of course, following the characters from the show, but I'm going off on something totally new. So, I won't be following the show anyway. Just wanted to state that right away that I haven't seen the show yet. So I can't fully take requests for the show… yet. I bet when I watch it fully, I'll be writing for it 🫣.

First posted on here: [July 1st, 2024]

(Might have to edit again, and might change name of book later on)

Chapter 1 Forest

Third person pov.

Forest, a nineteen year old teenage woman, peaks over her shoulders every few seconds as she does her trick of getting a car that she doesn't own to start working without its keys; doing so very quietly.

It didn't take Forest that long to get it started up and had the car moving fast down the road, leaving the motel behind so she could start another long day of trying to find her family.

Gotham was still dark out at this time of early morning.

Forest knew where she had to go. Working late last night, she found a possibility of where Dean and Sam Winchester could be.

Before she could go and check the place out, she knocked out and slept at least an hour before she was rudely awakened by the next motel room beside her being….. eighteen plus shit.

Her leaving so fast this morning wasn't just because of the maybe find of her siblings; it was also not being able to handle the whole,

‘PLEASE MORE’ ‘DADDY YES!’ screams of the next room.

So she left fast.

Today is October thirty-first. Halloween.

It's Halloween! Well, five in the morning on Halloween day. Still Halloween, though.

Half the population celebrates this ‘holiday’ and is looking forward to it when they wake up. Though, there are people who don't enjoy it or even celebrate it, maybe for religious purposes, or just don't celebrate it or, in general, hate the holiday.

For Forest and her brothers… they don't totally hundred percent hate the pagan holiday, but they do hate ninety-seven percent of it.

Maybe if it wasn't for the monsters, creatures and so on that people dress up for fun; were actually fake, then maybe it would be good fun for them too, but that's not their reality.

Almost every monster, creature and so on are real; and most of the time are causing more problems on Halloween day and night because they are able to do more than they can on October thirtieth or November first.

In general, Halloween is just ‘worse than normal’ for hunters.

So when the clock hit twelve o'clock, marking it as October thirty-first, she kind of dreaded it. She knew how this day and night might go.

Especially when she's in Gotham city trying to find her brothers because they once again went missing and probably needed saving.

Gotham City was one of the most active cities out there when it came down to the creatures, monsters, and so on. Now add Halloween to the mix; it was ‘worse’.

Today she had a time limit, before it hit dark out again, she needed to find her siblings.

She wasted too much time sleeping and trying to find any hints on where they could be.

Though, this wouldn't be happening if Dean and Sam weren't…. Stupid.

Dean and Sam Winchester were getting Forest really pissed off recently. For the past few months they keep on going on hunts without her; she's fine with that, never really cared about it now, but every time they do, she's having to track them down and save their ass's from getting killed or at least hurt really badly.

If they just brought her along, maybe, just maybe, things would go differently, and they wouldn't be wasting time on really anything.

She could be home watching a show on her long list of shows she wants to watch, or doing her own hunts; but they keep not bringing her or at least telling her where they are off too or what they are even hunting, causing a long ass search for them. A lot of the time, though, the hunts the fifth hunt, causing her to either pass them or have to go farther off to find them.

She's been to three different towns and cities before finding herself in Gotham city with a hopefully better lead than before.

It's been a month and three days so far, and it's just getting more annoying and frustrating. More than just one reason why.

One, she wants her brothers to be safe and so far she doesn't know if they are, two, to her she should have already found them and got this all dealt with already and it's not, three, as selfish as it sounds, she hasn't watched anything for this month and three days and all she kind of wants is to watch something or at least get more then three hours of sleep, but she can't because her brothers comes before shows and at times sleep.

So here she is, semi speeding down the back roads of Gotham city in a car she doesn't own going to where she thinks and hopes she needs to be going to. Hoping that it won't take long to get there too.

The sun is finally slowly peeking out now, casting the cold October air with some warmth.

Forest bounced her head and fingers to the music she's blasting. She loves when she has control of the music, she hardly has it when she's with her brothers because the driver gets to pick the music and the others keep their cake holes shut, so having the music choice all for herself she's taking every chances to blast what she wants to listen to… but she misses it though. She misses her brothers a lot. She wouldn't say it to their faces, but she does.

She kind of wants to be bickering in the backseat about why she can't play something she wants to play.

‘Ring!!!!’

“FUCK!”

The car came to a stop with a loud screeching noise. Her back hits the seat, and she groans, and she stops the music and picks up the call.

“Hello?”

---

Across Gotham city Dick Grayson is slowly getting ready for work.

Five pm was the time he had to clock into work. The last few things he was able to do before five were to do a quick workout before showering, eating, and then finally leaving for work.

He was dreading this work day. He knew what he was being put to work today, and he didn't want to do that job. He would rather be on a lead than scan the abandoned buildings around Gotham city.

It was so fucking boring to him. He didn't understand why he was put on this job when there are semi newbies that could be doing it.

He had no say, though. He had to do this or else he would be put to desk work and as much as driving around and checking if there is any activity in a place that's not supposed to be active is boring, it's not as boring as desk work.

So he just did what he wanted to do and then got ready for his work day.

Before he left, he got a quick kiss from Starfire.

“love you, baby!”

“Love you too!”.

Off goes Dick Grayson to his normal day (also at times night) job; the one without the masks and the badass ass kicking.

He was hoping this Halloween night would be a calm one.

Yeah, not going to be happening. This is Gotham City, after all.

And Halloween.

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

I hope you like it.

I’m sorry for any short chapters.

I'm also sorry for any bad grammar or spelling errors.

I would very much like to say thank you for taking the time to read my chapters, I really appreciate it.

----

There's warnings ⚠️ for a reasons. If you skip them, that's fine, but not my fault if you're taken back by what I write for.

----

[parsnipping]

I REALLY HOPE THIS DOESN’T COME ACROSS SUPER INTRUSIVE — but i’ve just binge read ‘Only in Private’ on AO3 and I’m obsessed??? Instant favorite, that cliffhanger at the end of chapter 6 made my heart skip SEVERAL beats and the whole date as a whole just had so much romantic tension I was on the edge of my seat. Something about Thrawn being *desperate* is just CHEF’S KISS and the way you’ve written it is just perfect and conveyed everything so beautifully.

I don’t want to talk your ear off too much, but everything was just wonderful, LITERALLY breathtaking, literally heart-stopping. I’m so looking forward to the next chapter I’m getting giddy just thinking about it.

ADHD can be a real pain in the ass sometimes (I’m speaking from experience) so in the meantime, please know that you can take your time with updates and look after yourself. Take breaks, remember to drink water, and most of all please know you are a wonderful writer.

“i’m not gonna talk your ear off” proceeds to do exactly that LOL

Oh my gosh this is so sweet of you!! ;A; You absolutely aren't being intrusive or talking my ear off. I adore these kinds of comments and you've really made my night. Thank you so much! I'm so glad I'm portraying him in a way readers are connecting with and enjoying because I always get a little afraid of making a character too OOC (even though I'm so vocal about "make characters ooc all you want, people don't have to read your fics if they don't like how you write"). It's also my first x Reader fic so I'm especially relieved that people are able to see themselves in the RC and that things are progressing smoothly. Thank you so much for understanding and your encouragement re: the ADHD. It really kicks my ass sometimes especially when it comes to creative endeavors. I have a really hard time staying with long-term projects so that's why most of my fics are short one-shots. So this has really been stretching my creative muscles and pushing me out of my comfort zone to keep a coherent story for so long. Especially one that I'm doing by myself instead of rping with someone where I'm getting help with at least half of it lol. I seriously can't thank you enough for such a kind comment, I appreciate it so much. This sort of thing is what keeps me going. I'll get the next chapter out as soon as my brain will allow me, but I AM taking care of and being kind to myself. <3

[cepheusgalaxy]

Okay so: Things I liked and didn't like in the past chapters (feel free to ignore this is very rambly and likely slightly nonsensical)

Ch0/Prologue: Nothing remarkable

Ch1: I like the second half of this the most. The first feels a bit like dragging things... I did want to make a bit of exposition and that part was managed fine I think but huh. I don't know, in the future I want to do those things in a bit more of an exciting way.

Ch2: It's pretty long, and to be honest was quite a pain in the ass to edit because of that, so I think I did good in avoiding this sort of lenght in the ones following. 12~ pages is still a bit lenghty compared to some other series but it's a size i'm comfortable writing and can edit. Besides that, I quite like this chapter

Ch3: Gotta be my favorite, because it's the only one in five chapters with actual whump in it. The little glances we get of Gisele are also nice, and if there's something I'd say I didn't like much about it... yeah, probably the little blurb of time in which Espa is waiting. It does it job, but I wonder if I could have made it tenser. I like Espa's reaction here though

Ch4: It's technically pretty slow, but in a more light way, not like I felt ch1 was like. We stabilish some pretty important things and there's not just a single way it could have went, it wasn't like trying to figure out what the hell could happen to make things go this way. One of my favorite too

Ch5: Slow-paced but plot-relevant, just like the first one. But I'm not completely sure if I like it that much. Again, much of it is likely because it's freshly out and I'm already sick of reading through every character and sentence of that one again and again, so I'll have to give it a bit more of time to be sure about how I feel towards it.

Overall, things I liked and want to do again/keep doing: Chapter lenght (around 4-5k words), Gisele's characterization (and making her a bit more active in things a well, I like writing her pov and we can use her to move the story in way I hadn't planned at first), a coure of events that isn't very tight and strict and can just go ahead any way (might be why I liked the ending of some chapters better than the beggining, the setup was already done and now i could just roll with it. chapter 4 a a whole is also a bit like that... i wonder if i can make the setups for the next chapters in the ending of the previous one.)

Things I'd like to change in the future: I just realized there is rarely a scene in which more than two characters are interacting, if at all... I remember that back in chapters 3 and 4, I think, I was trying to make it more than just Espa's internal monologue alone and try and push more character interactions, and we did manage that. Though I don't know how I will make them interact with the way we currently have things... this will probably have to stay as it is.

And also choosing events that I find a bit boring (ie stalking, grocery shopping) when i can't thing of other ways to progress things. I want to think things more through next time and think up of something that's more exciting to me from beggining to end.

Having Espa react to things also instead of just acting about them also, perhaps? We could try.

[flyhighfreebirb]

SPOILER-FILLED SUMMARY OF DELTARUNE CHAPTER 3

I played through chapter 3 and 4 near-blind, so expect me to miss a LOT of stuff. Don't worry, I'm currently replaying them, mainly to fill in some secrets. In the meantime, please enjoy what little I have found to share with you!

However, before I begin, I have to apologize for something: I kinda lied, there will be no chapter 4 content in this article. I believe describing two brand new chapters with my limited writing skills may make this post way longer than it should be, and also there might be some people who just started chapter 3 with zero knowledge of the next chapter, so please let me take my time and summarize chapter 4 more clearly. Sorry for that!

Since I was so excited to play the game, my stupid ass forgot to record or screenshot, so I'll use what I've found online instead (I'll still only cover what I've found in my playthrough tho). Credits to Toby Fox, deltarune.wiki, and Shayy's playthrough videos.

So now that I've said everything I had to say, let's get to the point! You probably knew this already, but spoilers below, watch at your own risk!

So I waited through the countdown, bought the game on Steam (the process took several minutes since the server keeps crashing), and hooray, Deltarune chapter 3 is here! Kris and Susie woke up from a couch (and Ralsei joins soon after, of course) I walked them through the starting area, which resembles the area before chapter 1 castle town, for some reason.

Ralsei talked about the origin of darkners and gets depressed about not being real, and Susie tries to comfort him. Everything about this place felt so serious, so emotional, until... he arrived.

"It's now time for our feature presentation!

FEACHER

Coming straight from your house! Coming straight from YOUR house!

Coming! He's the one! COMING! THE KING OF ONLY! He's groovy and never glooby! You can't get this from an egg!

The sensation of your screen! The show that makes you scream! Say it with him, folks!

MR. (Ant) TENNA'S T-V TIIIIIIIME!!!"

I was still moody from the cutscene of Susie comforting Ralsei, and then Tenna just jumpscared me like that. Damn you, Tenna.

After a short introduction, we will be participating in Tenna's show! I thought it would be like Undertale's hotland shenanigans, where you traverse a map while Mettaton randomly hops out to give you a minigame, but nope, it's Zelda time!

I wasn't being warned in the slightest, because my God, this section is LONG. It took out a half of my total play time! Although I admit it was mainly because of me trying to search for secrets (I did all this since I had a great ambition to find and fight this chapter's secret boss in my blind run. It didn't turn out so well....), but this section is still very long even in my second run, so I'll cut most of the overworld exploration and cover only the important parts!

Lancer in chapter 3!

The weather, in fact, did not stay together

Cooking minigame. Unlike the pro gamer on stream, I fumbled the controls and died an ungodly amount of times. (Is three times a lot?)

The Green Room, where you relax and enjoy various stuff (Fighting a miniboss, gambling, playing minigames, etc.) before the next round! Imagine going back to a few years ago and telling people this is official content....

M O S S

Song That Plays When You Fight A Currently Divorced Couple Or A Funny Camera Thing

Awww, the couple is finally getting back together...

... with Rouxls! Wait, ROUXLS!?

Rhythm minigame. Again, unlike the pro gamer on stream, I am not doing well here, but at least I got this first try!

Susie decided that two Zelda sessions were quite enough, and she prompted us to explore a previously sealed-off area by mitigating parental controls. We found Toriel sleeping in the Cold Place, but Tenna caught us in the act and forced us to play a THIRD ROUND! Luckily, we managed to escape, and our world exploration can finally begin!

Banger alert! This area theme is FIRE!

Challenge yourself through various minigames and quizzes!

Office working simulator. Something good might happen if you free them from capitalism...

HE'S HERE

Battle Against a True Bisexual

After a short trip, we're finally back at where we started... hey, is it cold in here or is it just me?

We rushed to the Cold Place once more, where we finally confronted Tenna! Tenna told us his backstory: he used to be the Dreemurr family's beloved TV, which they and the Holiday families would gather around to watch the yearly specials. However, one by one, the viewers left, and Tenna was eventually unused. The Knight told him that if he could create an endless show for the three heroes, he could have all the people watch him as he wanted. Seeing that he can't convince them, Tenna fights the party as the final act...

(Wait, was this a Warioware reference?)

Tenna was finally defeated, and he admits that he just wants to be watched, wanting to be "useful" once more. Susie comforts him with her own experience and promises to find him a new owner.

Moved by her speech, Tenna decided to free Toriel and let the heroes leave! Awww, such a beautiful endin- OH GOD OH FUCK

The Roaring Knight showing up as early as chapter 3 was not on my deltarune bingo list, but here we are! The heroes tried to fight the Knight, but ended up failing miserably. Thankfully, it seems to be a scripted fail...

...or is it?

Chapter 3 had always been the hype center of our fandom for years, and I gotta say, Toby blew our expectations out of the stratosphere. The characters are so lively, the new mechanics are fun (although it took some time for me to adapt), the lore implications are wild, and the humor is of course top-notch. I have a few nitpicks for the story pacing though: This chapter was structured vastly differently from the previous two, which screwed my senses up a bit. I thought the "gameshows" would be some minor, recurring event happening throughout the adventure, not something that takes up half a chapter! (To be fair, Toby warned us this chapter would be pretty strange...)

Anyways, chapter 3 was for sure a surprise, but a rather welcome one. It is so shitpost-y, so goofy, yet so emotional and dark at the same time. I saw someone on youtube describe it as "if Toby Fox was tasked to make a deltarune fangame", and I honestly couldn't agree more.

This chapter feels rather weird at first glance, but I really look forward to replaying it. Now that I know the tips and tricks for the various sections, I'm looking to go through this chapter again and fill in the secrets!

(By the time I wrote this, I already completed chapter 4 and was partly into my second run of chapter 3, so I'll finish my summary of chapter 4 first, then make separate articles for the secret bosses and easter eggs)

Thanks for reading all of this, and hope you enjoy!

[emmy-and-the-tieflings]

Heart of the Weave: Part 3

Chapter 36

Ah, yes. Time for a little bit of Mermaid Whiskey and  some wine. We all just ate a ton of food, and there's still plenty left over; props to my parents for making it all happen. Needless to say, this birthday has been one for the books and unforgettable beyond measure. 

   “Cheers to the birthday girl, my beautiful wife!” Gale exclaims happily, holding up a glass of wine. Me, who is already slightly drunk, chimes in immediately: 

  “To me!” Everyone busts up hysterically, and I'm over here with half a brain cell trying to figure out why. “Oopsie doopsie, was I not supposed to…?”

  “You got a head start, it's fine. Here, I'll join you! Oh but first… CHEERS TO EMMY!” Karlach says, then takes a shot of whiskey. “Ah. It won't be long before we’re both tearing the place down!” Wyll sighs, but can't help but laugh at his eager wife’s energetic antics. 

 “Love, don't actually tear the place down. Please.” Karlach rolls her eyes as she takes another shot. We both smile at each other with excitement, thrilled to see where the night leads us. 

 “Fine…” I’m on my fourth shot, and I'm already feeling the nonsense trickle through my brain. “Emmy just downed her fourth, I need to catch up.”

 “Ooh! Let's play a game. This one is for the parents in the room…” Shadowheart states as she stands up, then looks at the table. “Oops, sorry Therran. I just realized you're the only one who isn't a parent… You know what? You can pretend to be Fanden’s dad.”

 “FUCK YEAH!”

“Okay, here is how it works. I'll ask a question about parenthood, and someone answers. If anyone else in the room has dealt with that same scenario, they take a shot. Ready? Whoever is the most sober wins!”

“I guarantee I won't be drunk by the end of this, but let's go!” Therran manages to stay enthusiastic. If anything, he will get a kick out of all of us being more than just tipsy. 

 “Birthday girl is first. Emmy, what is one thing you didn't expect from parenthood but it happened anyway?” I laugh at myself, drunk out of my mind, then proceed to pour another shot. 

“Breastfeeding for twenty five years.” Everyone laughs once more, even harder than before, as I take another shot. Obviously, I'm the only one in that scenario. “Just me? Alright then.” I think Gale laughed the hardest, because he’s practically wheezing and drying off tears from his eyes. 

 “Fanden! Your turn. What did you least expect from parenthood but it happened anyway? I know you only have a newborn, but still.” Fanden chuckles as he pours his first glass of whiskey. 

 “Sniffing a baby’s butt.” 

 “Does it count if I was sitting down and Fanden’s butt happened to be in my face? Sorry my dear hypothetical son, I just want to make sure. He did rip ass in front of me on purpose,” Therran chimes in, and Fanden immediately shoots him a brutal glare. I was actually there when this happened, which led to Therran pinning Fanden down in a wrestling match. 

 “Yes, that counts,” Shadowheart states as she's fighting a laughing fit and taking a shot. 

 “I think it's safe to say we've all sniffed a baby’s butt, because everyone in the room took a shot of whiskey,” Gale adds as he also takes a drink. “It's unavoidable really.” He has a point. Shadowheart prepares her next glass because it's her turn. Astarion decides to ask her this time. 

 “My darling wife! Your turn. What did you not expect from the wonderful journey that is parenthood?”

 “Having a child that can't age.” Once again, all of us – including Therran – take a shot. He might end up pretty drunk at the end after all. Shadowheart suddenly looks a little sad, probably realizing Asher is getting older by the day, and it hits her again that she will eventually lose him. I sense her sadness despite the fact I'm drunk, and I just want to wrap her in a comforting embrace. 

   So, we all may have gotten ridiculously plastered and aren't quite sure we will make it back home tonight. So, we rented out the largest Inn located right here in Waterdeep. Tomorrow morning, we head home and get the babies back in our arms. As we leave Blackstaff and head to the Inn, I look toward the path that led us to the horrors of the forests. A memory appears in my mind that I'm finally beginning to recall, where I met the green eyes of the creature and I could see its bared teeth that hungered for my flesh. I recall seeing one of my arms fly off my body…that's it. 

   “Emmy?” A familiar voice is muffled as I continue to stare, haunted by the horrors I met that afternoon. “Emmy, baby?” I snap out of the trance I'm in as I feel a hand shake me out of it. 

 “Sorry, I'm…definitely drunk,” I say, my words just slightly slurred as I try to forget what happened. Everyone’s eyes are on me, completely confused as to what's happening. They all noticed me stare in the area where the horrifying woods lie. My friends have no idea what happened that day. 

 “Baby, is it…the forest?” Gale whispers in my ear, and I squint my eyes shut as he says those words. “Okay, we won't talk about it. Let's get settled for the night, shall we?” I stumble with everyone else as we all make our way to the Inn just a few feet away from the Academy. We rent out two large rooms: one for Gale, myself, Halsin, and my brothers, and the other room for Shadowheart, Astarion, Karlach, and Wyll. This will be a great night. 

The room is beyond beautiful; it has a large spring in the middle of it for relaxation, multicolored glass windows, a large table topped with prepared home cooked meals, and three large beds with suede comforters. I'm sitting down on my bed, ready to get comfortable in my pajamas but waiting for my brain to be nice to me. By that, I mean quit thinking about the sudden memory that just came to visit. 

Gale sits next to me on the bed as he finally sobers up, placing his hand on mine. I try to assure him with my happy facial expression that I'm fine, but I can't see my face so I have no idea if I'm doing it right. 

“My love, are you alright?” His voice carries the weight of a worried tone. “You were in a trance before. I worry that…” My brothers overhear Gale, who thought he was being quiet; maybe he's not fully sober. “I'll make you some hot tea so you can relax.” He accidentally triggered a worry within my brothers, who both come to comfort me. Halsin is helping Gale prepare tea so he can properly keep me relaxed. 

 “Hey there sleepy baby, is everything alright? I knew you seemed a little off when we left the Academy, but I just thought you were drunk,” Fanden mentions as he sits next to me on the bed. Therran crosses his arms, a serious expression on his face that implies he's rather concerned about me. 

 “As I stared at the path we went down, I started to recall…like a memory of what happened. The popping sound of my arm coming off, the snarling teeth of the wolf…” I take a deep breath and smile, trying to forget it all. “But I don't want to remember. I'm going to drink some hot tea, sit in the spring, and go to bed after.” Fanden rubs my upper back gently, then places a kiss on the top of my head. 

 “Okay, but don't think I'm not watching you fall asleep tonight. Just in case,” Therran chimes in, his tone somewhat stern. Gale comes back with my hot tea, handing it to me as he sits on the unoccupied side of me. I inhale the sweet aroma of lavender and orange peel. 

 “Thank you, love.” I flash a cheeky smile as I lean in to kiss his perfect lips that feel soft as silk. 

[pillowfriends]

Towers of Midnight new reader thoughts: Prologue - Chapter 5

Brief thoughts (well, I tried to keep them brief) followed by favorite moment. This is extremely delayed from when I actually read these chapters but oh well.

Prologue (Distinctions): This prologue popped off so hard I had to make a meme about it. I got hyped IMMEDIATELY with "Mandarb's hooves -" because LAN POV!! I'M DANCING ON TABLES!!! and I simply did not stop being hyped. My beautiful son Galad slayed but then he got the shit kicked out of him, so complicated day for the Galad fans. Also GRAENDAL IS ALIVE!!! I'M DANCING ON MORE TABLES. I do think she's going to die in this book but yippee!!! Also lesbian sex on page!!! It was evil and exploitative rapey lesbian sex but I admit to being fascinated by the Graendal/Aran'gar/Delana dynamic. Graendal flirting by caressing Aran'gar's face with the True Power... girl??? This was one of my favorite prologues yet. Oh yeah also there was a Padan Fain POV - honestly I'd forgotten him and thought the series had too but cool, I like him, glad he's back.

This is going to be the book of tying up loose ends, and I think this prologue did great at reminding us of some of those loose ends. Thank you Brandon for getting these books back on track lmao. (NO SHADE to RJ but he's definitely less of a tight plotter than Brandon and we need some structure post-slog.)

🧡 I can't pick, this was a FEAST I want every word of it tattooed on me

Chapter 1 (Apples First): I might have just been in a pissy mood when I read this but I thought it was kind of boring and bad. You can't force me to care about Almen Bunt okay. Yes I get it full circle moment for Rand, fine, but I don't need the points hammered home this hard. [Actually, revisiting this, I think I am just feeling cynical about hope and thought this was cheesy because of it.]

🧡 "It's not you who is mad, friend, but the entire world."

Chapter 2 (Questions of Leadership): Perrin's amassing an army, get fucked, you're a leader now whether you want to be or not. Also I love how the Galad issue set up in the prologue is just... resolved now. Robert Jordan could never. No time to drag things out, we're speeding towards the end!!

🧡 Galad cleaning off his face from the Questioners' torture

Chapter 3 (The Amyrlin's Anger): Honestly I have no motivation to go over the dreams Egwene didn't translate - looking back after her conversation with Rand, the sphere is definitely the Bore and Rand breaking the seals. Not sure what's going on with the 13 -> 6 Black Towers but I don't want to theorize.

The scene of Siuan grappling with Egwene being Amyrlin now and coming to terms with her place in the world was really touching, but sullied by Gareth being the other character.

🧡 Unfortunately it's a Gareth quote. "You brought us here, Siuan. Whatever steps that girl climbs to, she'll do it because you carved the steps for her."

Chapter 4 (The Pattern Groans): Perrin finally running in the wolf dream! Banger sequence. It's kind of hilarious that Dain's hatred of Perrin is finally relevant after 7 quadrillion books.

🧡 Galad is starting to change Whitecloak minds!! lfg

Chapter 5 (Writings): The first half of this chapter sucks balls because of Gawyn. I literally could not care less about the Gawyn and Sleete Detective Agency. Let someone else investigate the sisters being murdered.

The SECOND HALF was a banger because of Graendal. The epic highs and lows of G named characters. My girl is hiding in a cave, lying out of her ass to Moridin, and now she's going after Perrin! WITH SLAYER! Also she got a "dreamspike" this is another Brandon moment.

🧡 Graendal pretending she drove Rand to attack on purpose, delicious

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