#brain replaced by sad gay soldiers

[zarophod]

hi guys i am reaper76 brainrotted rn

[tendermiasma]

Do you have any lore/ story character moments or anything to say about Ariel you’d be willing to share? Your art and little revealing bits about him and your elden ring journey have me so interested Id love to know more about the sad charming wizard im very chin on hands while i kick my legs 👀 about him. Also thank you for introducing the big brain morgott x tarnished ship to me and a big hell yeah to your gay demon god (mogh) x tarnished art can i get a hell yeah

Not me crouching like a goblin just behind the door waiting for someone to ask about him, I'm so insanely touched that you're that interested in him- he actually has quite a history that he's grown to try to live in spite of. Both of Ariel's parents were Haima Conspectus scholars and his father was killed in combat when Ariel was still a child. He was old enough to know it would be just the two of them from now on, but too young to understand the alchemy that turned his mother's grief to resentment and anger towards him. She tried to mold him in his father's image-- replace him, make him succeed where he failed, the most violent kind of mourning. Although obedient, Ariel was sensitive and quiet and fell apart under her hand instead of hardening into the iron will she wanted; he couldn't understand why this made him feel even more hated, mocked, even more of a bad child. Their house, while never a warm one, was as cold as death. She found Ariel hiding out, feeding dragonflies sugar water from a spoon when she told him he would attend school and enlist or she would no longer be his mother. He was nine years old.

Ariel loved his mother.

Just like the kids back in Sellia, the students at Raya Lucaria could smell blood before they'd even spilled it, only made worse with the advantage of extra years spent sharpening themselves seemingly for this purpose. Ariel was an ungainly sum of contradictions-- a soldier's cut, a clear declaration of the intent to pursue Haima and distinguish oneself on the battlefield, but instead it hung limply about his ears and eyes that refused to meet anyone else's; Quite proficient in spellcraft but would tremble to the point of being disdainfully dismissed during training; A build that would have been formidable but turned awkward by robes that were too small and a habit of hunching in the hopes that maybe could make himself disappear, or at least be left alone. To his dismay, this had the opposite effect.

He spent all the time he could in his room, away from the rest of the students. It was there, from night to morning, that he could study not Haima, but the stars. He was desperately trying to prove that he could become valuable and earn her love doing something else that wasn't killing if he became really, really good at it. Whatever it took would be worth it a thousand times over. He kept chopping his hair, out of habit or obedience, for a while longer. Guilt and dread welled in him when it brushed his jaw, then the tops of his shoulders. Ariel hadn't slept in two days, but this was normal. Sunken eyes blinked unevenly back at him in the mirror. He had to succeed, or die.

And then the sky stopped for him. It was his only salvation, and it was gone. The one thing that justified his existence, gone.

One morning his room would sit empty, articles neatly folded on the bed. Without knowing him, it looked like no one had ever been there. But for Ariel, it was a kind of goodbye. One that didn't take up too much space. One that said, "I'm sorry."

It's hard to say how long he wandered or under what roof he slept, or how many of those nights saw him sleepless and staring at the night sky that shunned him. An unyielding judge. Ariel began to understand his sentence.

When the sorcerer approached Ariel with a proposition he still refused, shaking with fear. Some days later, he would see him at his door, red eyes and a sort of resignation; not peaceful, but accepting. He would aid him in assembling the graven mass, but with the promise that he would leave a space for Ariel.

Constructing a graven mass is a lengthy and harrowing process. The bodies must be living since they're acting as the "core" of the star and are all connected together to share that same force and strengthen the core as a conductor for the primeval current to flow through. They would not be able to survive apart again.

What Ariel had been taught all his life was coalescing before him, that moral sacrifices must be made, and if his body was the only thing of value he could give when the rest of him proved to be worth nothing, then he would give it. So he allowed himself to be given the draught of sedation and slowly fused to the mass of bodies.

He knew the deep twilight the potion brought wouldn't last long. Full consciousness and full power of thought was needed for these stars to receive; he awoke a prisoner in his own body, unable to move or speak, the magic and corporeal material of twelve other sorcerers pulsing through him, and he was no longer himself. Fission was taking place and they writhed wordlessly in the exposure of the Primeval Current. He wanted to scream.

It felt like pain, but in a way pain can't be fully described. It entered his eyes and mouth and ears and expanded into the farthest reaches of the universe inside of him, and then pulled him down into its depths. He felt like he was falling in all directions at once at great velocity, cosmic radiation searing his flesh from his bones, his breath crushed from him in the whorls of a black hole. He saw the birth and death of stars. He was torn apart by the astral macrocosm while his body decayed. The entire mass was decaying and growing unstable. It was uncontained and something was wrong.

The astrologer was instantly consumed in the flare that burst from the star-seed he attempted to create. The others perished along with it. It had failed.

Then Ariel, left alone on the dead core, the material of twelve other lifeless bodies continuing to feed their viscera through him, left to rot in the Current.

The magic of the draught slowly seeped away. Moving inch by inch, night by night, Ariel's fingers at last wrapped themselves weakly around one of the tubes embedded in his neck. It was the very last of himself he had to give. The star went dark.

He found himself waking to the call of Grace. 

He rose and walked along the shore, not seeing, not really feeling. It was a deep, empty despair. He had enabled the suffering of others and that could never be forgiven. This is what it meant for him to exist-- the suffering of others. If he could give one thing back, not for hope of redemption, but doing one small goodness for the world, anonymous and forgotten, he wanted it more than anything. 

For days he sat on the beach, towards the wide sea and the fog, where the ships first bore him to the Lands Between. He sat with the waves making his shoes damp and crusted with salt, carving a small blade, a glintstone in the sand beside him. It was dull and tired-looking, but it would be okay. He was slow. His hands accumulated cuts and the blade was crooked. He didn't know how to do this very well. He'd never tried. Thankfully it didn't need to be beautiful.

When he was finished, he knelt in the sand and pressed the glintstone to his chest, and the knife he pressed into his heart beside. If he could give that one small goodness, his meager soul might serve someone better than he could, lying on the shore where the ships came, across the fog, across the wide and sparkling sea.

The tides had changed when he woke. Gentle ripples of seawater lapped at his cheek and cracked lips as he lay curled in the sand, their work slowly cleaning away the blood from his fingers and the dull little stone that rested in them. Overhead the stars hung like glass in the vast night sky. 

His past is his future as well. Just as souls on earth returned to the Erdtree, all rivers, no matter how long-wandering, return to the sea. Ariel doesn't belong to the earth anymore. He long drifted in the tide of the Current and it will reclaim him, in time. Their bond sealed within him the fate of Lusat, and of Azur. Where we find him today is after he's realized that even if he doesn't believe he's right for this, that truly anyone else would be doing the world a service to take his place, he is what they've got and he is going to try with everything he has for the people he loves-- who he loves far more than himself. That's part of why he is so desperate now to try and right the world, to do everything that he can. He knows he doesn't have forever.

[hawkland]

Dear Fandom5k Author

My AO3 account (sidewinder)

Hello and thank you for writing for me! I’m excited to give this exchange a try for the first time and cannot wait to read what you can come up with for one of my requests. Please note I’d love any of them equally, no matter if I have more prompt ideas for one or the other. Some I seriously would love just about anything about since they are so rare, others I have more specific requests to scratch itches I haven’t seen written before (or that much.)

General Likes:

Soumates with a twist. I love soulmate/soulbond AUs, as long as it’s just not a shortcut to happily-ever, no-conflict fluff. I want there to be some difficulties or angst involved. For instance, I’d love seeing any fusion/inspired-by fics based off the concept of the AMC Soumates series - where there’s a newly-developed scientific test a person can choose to take to find their soulmate (if the other person out there has also taken the test). That way it’s a choice to find out or not. Would an already established couple want to take the test to find out if they’re really “meant” to be together or not? What if they find out other people are their “soulmates”? What about the possibility of platonic soulmates vs romantic? Discussions for the future if/when one partner dies before the other? I’d love to see these questions played out with one of my fave ships in either a  happy or somewhat angsty/dark way.

Vacation/travel stories. Being unable to travel this past year+ thanks to covid-19 has me desperate to explore and live vicariously through my favorite characters! So I’d love a story involving travel to somewhere new (to them). It could be a romantic getaway/honeymoon trip to somewhere special - and I love it when an author “takes me” to a favorite city/place of their own. Or two friends just going on an escapade together, maybe one sensing the other needs some time away from a stressful situation or workplace.

Smutty likes: I love extended kissing scenes, frottage, light restraint play, sharing-one-bed-for-~reasons~-ooops-how-did-we-wake-up-cuddling, bathing/caretaking an injured partner-turns-erotic, desperate/reunion sex.

Canon-divergent AUs - I’m always good with fix-its, shifts in canon that only change one thing and see what happens next or instead.

Do Not Wants:

A/B/O dynamics, mating heats. (I do like Supernatural fics that explore Castiel and the angels having bird-like behaviors and instincts, however.)

animal abuse/death

anything related to pregnancy/childbirth/kidfic (except for Jack in SPN)

formalized BDSM relationships

scat/watersports

unrequested alternative-universe scenarios such as high school/mundane/genderswap/coffee shop/fantasy/etc. There are a few ships/groups where I would enjoy specific AUs, and those are outlined below.

Completely sad endings/permanent character death or injury that isn’t part of canon

Rape/non-con between requested characters. Dubious consent is fine in situations like magic spells/possession/fuck-or-die, however.

Supernatural

AU - Canon Divergence, Character Development, Established Relationship, Getting Together, Fix-it fic, Interpersonal Drama, Smut, Angst, Canon-Style Plot - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, Mystery/Procedural, Slice of Life, Worldbuilding, Horror

In general for SPN, I love canon-divergence AUs at pretty much any point in time (especially as they kept having so many dumb reasons in canon to keep Dean & Cas apart just when one or the other seriously needed support or TLC!) I’m okay with post-series Heaven fics as well as canon fix-its/completely ignoring the finale, and I like exploring both human!Cas as endgame or Cas keeping/getting his full angelic grace back (which is a slight preference to me, as he repeatedly seemed to genuinely value/want to be an angel? But exploring all possibilities in fic is cool for me.)

I’m a sucker for Castiel Whump/hurt!Cas in general, so long as the author remembers Cas is a bad ass and not just a baby in a trenchcoat. If he’s going to suffer, I want him to suffer stoically until he just cannot keep up the facade any longer.  

SPN-specific DNWs: mentions/implications of Wincest, past or present; extreme bashing/characterization of John and Mary Winchester, or Jimmy Nowak, as homophobic. 

Group: Castiel/Dean Winchester Group: Castiel/Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester

Give me all the finale fix-it fics - no I’m still not over it, I’m still happy to read any new twist on how Cas got out of the Empty and got back together with Dean (and Sam). If Dean still dies early/ends up in Heaven, I’d like a story that explores what happens when one gets bored of peace-and-happiness-ever-after. (Yes, I’m a big fan of The Good Place and as such it makes me wonder if eternity with no conflict and everything you could ever want would just melt your brain and identity after a few millennia.) So what then?

I’m also stealing a Tumblr rant as a prompt I’d love to read, if you want to get into some good dirty smut:

ive had it up to here with fictional gays being like “i love you and if all i can ever have is that knowledge it’s enough for me” we need more “i have been struck down by horny insanity and i beg you to fuck me once. i’ve had three smirnoff ices and i’m gonna be crazy now. we can pretend it didn’t happen i don’t give a shit just gimme daddy’s blunt instrument” it’s more realistic [x]

Um so yeah. I’d love an au where, anywhere along the line when it’s been their/someone’s/the universe’s life on the life, Cas takes the initiative decides they’re gonna have crazy sex even if it’s just once before the end of the world/we die. But then, oops, we’ve survived, now we have to deal with it. ...Please?

For something different, maybe more romantic/fluffy, I’d really love a vacation/getaway story here, since they never really got anything like that of substance on the show. I want to see Cas take Dean somewhere beautiful and amazing in the world he’s never gotten to see before. Show him there’s more than just greasy diners and the landscape of America to enjoy and experience. If you want, they could stumble on a case/haunting/monster from another part of the world while they’re at it...but I just really want to see Dean having some mind-opening and expanding experiences beyond what’s he’s known and seen so far in life.

In specific with Cas/Dean + Sam, I love another tumblr idea I saw recently where Sam totally keeps bringing up the idea of “Sastiel” as a fun joke between him and Cas, and Cas plays along, and it drives Dean up the wall. Cas has to just keep re-assuring Dean that no, he doesn’t see Sam that way...but why does it bother Dean so much? A.k.a. Dean has to finally own up to the fact that it bothers him because he wants Cas to feel that way about him.

Castiel (Supernatural)

I just love Cas, period, end of story, he’s my One True Character of SPN. I love any stories that try to explore him more fully—be it his relationships in the past with other angels and being a BAMF commander/warrior of Heaven, or what specifically it is that keeps him so tied to the Winchesters. I love stories that feature his true-form in some fashion or try to dig into the alien/different nature of angels vs. humans.

Also, another Tumblr-musing-turned-prompt (I lost who posted it, sorry!) I'd love to see explored in a canon divergence fic focused on Cas. Specifically: 

"I would have loved an arc for Cas (after he got his grace back) where he wanted to help people, like he was helped. Spending time in soup kitchens or healing people, and through that developing a sense of self purpose, leading to his grace replenishing unexpectedly. Sort of fulfilling the traditional angel role (as we know it nowadays) by replacing his faith in heaven/dean with faith in himself, to redefine himself as a protector of humanity instead of heaven's soldier."

Group: Castiel/Dean Winchester & Jimmy Novak Group: Castiel & Jimmy Novak

We know Cas carried a lot of guilt for what happened to Jimmy and his whole family. So I'm interested in a post-finale, canon-compliant (I guess?) fic where Cas tries to reconcile things with Jimmy in Heaven. Maybe Jimmy & Amelia were one of his first "projects" or test cases in trying to build a new and better Heaven with Jack? (And it's what he was so busy with while Dean was still alive.) Or, is it weird in Heaven with Cas and Jimmy looking so similar? Does Cas still fight doubts as to whether Dean really loves him, or just desires this body/form that isn’t his own?

Otherwise, I've been thinking about Endverse!Cas, who had lost his grace/powers as the angels have all left and abandoned humankind. What happened to/where is Jimmy in all of that? (If we go by the canon that Jimmy was not killed, nor went to Heaven, until the end of Season 5, when Lucifer blew up that vessel and Cas was resurrected by Chuck.) Are they now two "mortal men"/souls trapped sharing one body? Is that why Cas is so messed up/always seeking an escape through drugs and sex? (Besides of course Dean having changed so much.) This is one prompt where I don’t mind a very dark/not-so-happily-ever-after ending.

The Police

Angst, Character Development, Established Relationship, Getting Together, Humor, Interpersonal Drama, Smut

Group: Sting/Stewart Copeland

Yeah I’ll always request these two together even though I know it’s a long shot to find anyone else as obsessed about them as I am. Really anything at all whatsoever would make me happy for this ship: Reunion Tour-era fic, early punk days before they grew successful, soulmate AUs...

I’d also love a spooky story where they’re on tour/on the road somewhere and end up in a haunted hotel. Or their tour bus/van breaks down in the middle of nowhere and they have to seek shelter in an abandoned house or farm or something...and supernatural weirdness ends up affecting them or bringing them together.

If you want to go the crack route: it wasn’t enough for Miles to take them all around the world to tour in “exotic” locations back in the day. He’s arranged for them now to go on the ultimate tour...of outer space and alien worlds.

Crossover Fandom

Action/Adventure, Character Development, Interpersonal Drama, Angst, Canon-Style Plot - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, Mystery/Procedural

Group: Abe Morgan (Forever TV) & John Munch (L&O: SVU)

I’ve had a long running headcanon that these two could have been friends back in their respective 60s/early 70s hippie days. I’d love either a story set back then, “pre-canon”, or them running into each other in NYC later in life. Munch ending up in Abe’s antique shop, for instance, while on an investigation?  

Group: Dean Winchester (Supernatural) & Ezekiel Stone (Brimstone) Group: Castiel (Supernatural) & Ezekiel Stone (Brimstone)

I’m fascinated by the idea of crossing over these two canons. Even if there’s some conflict in their approach to Hell/Lucifer/demons, there’s still a lot in common. Dean & Ezekiel having both put in their time in Hell and being demon hunters, for instance, and their complicated relationships with (fallen) angels. I’d love to see them bonding over their experiences (Maybe they even meet in Hell? Time DOES work differently there…) Maybe somehow after Ezekiel completed his mission for the Devil, he did get his second chance at “life on Earth”…but the devil’s trick is that it’s not HIS Earth, it’s in a different dimension (Supernatural’s). I’m also curious how Ezekiel might respond to Castiel as an angel–perhaps he mistakes Cas for a demon at first, with his powers, but then they realize they are in fact hunting the same demon? Cas is stuck in an alternative dimension and recognizes Ezekiel as a similar soul to Dean’s, and seeks out his help?

Basically I’d love some kind of casefic/demon hunt here, with the characters bonding over their shared/similar past traumas, taking care of each other when/if injured on a hunt, and/or perhaps helping them sort out their complicated feelings for another (ie, background Cas/Dean and/or Zeke/the Devil are TOTALLY welcome here, as I ship both of those ships.)

Law & Order: SVU

Group: John Munch/Odafin "Fin" Tutuola

Character Development, Established Relationship, Humor, Getting Together, Interpersonal Drama, Canon-Style Plot - Freeform, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Mystery/Procedural, Slice of Life, AU-Genre shift

Munch/Fin is one of my eternal OTPs so I’m always happy to see something new featuring them! I’m always good for procedural/case-fics. And this is one request where I’d love to read some AU-Genre or setting shift, reimagining the two in some other situations besides police work. I’ve always loved the idea of John hosting a conspiracy/weird news radio show or podcast, and Fin as someone completely skeptical but who gets wrapped up in one of John’s mysteries. Or John as the owner of a bar somewhere that Fin is one of his regulars, and over time their friendship develops/deepens into something more.

Supernatural RPF

Misha Collins/Jensen Ackles Established Relationship, Getting Together, Smut, Fluff, Slice of Life, Humor

It’s odd for me to be into an actor RPF fandom (I usually only fall for music/band-related ones), but what can I say...these two just make it almost impossible not to see the possibilities!

I was thinking I’d love something set post-Supernatural...their first time seeing each other again after a long time apart? (What with the show ending, covid, Misha’s surgery, etc etc.) Could be at a convention or maybe they get to go off on a getaway together somewhere private/romantic and it’s...kind of tense and maybe nervous/angsty at first? Like with doubts about whether they can/should go back to the way things were before.

Or: putting tin-hatty speculation about the “secret/real identity” of Alma Perpetua aside, I love their poetry and I’d love any “Cockles” fic using one of their poems as inspiration.

[britishassistant]

But I Like One Piece (16)

Surprisingly, Lee wraps his head around the idea of reincarnation from another world the easiest.

“It’s like when children at the Orphanage are adopted.” He explains blithely. “The parents who take them away give them new names, so you can’t ask to visit or see how Shinpachi is doing anymore, but the person who was known as Shinpachi still exists. He just has a new life with a new name somewhere far away.”

There’s a moment of contemplative and slightly horrified silence.

“Huh.” She says. “I-I guess it is kinda like that. I am Mayu, I just...remember being someone else before that. Somewhere very, very different.”

“Mayu—” Her mother pinches the bridge of her nose. “How-how do you know that this—this other world even exists?”

Well, she’d known they’d need proof to believe her, one way or another. Hopefully this will be complex enough that it should suffice.

She takes a deep breath.

«It’s the eye of the tiger, it’s the will of the fight, risin’ up to the challenge of our rival. And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night, and he’s watching us all with the eeeeeyyyyyyeee—of the tiger.»

Naruto grins. “Hey, it’s the singy thing!”

Lee gives a little round of applause. “You have a very nice voice, Mayu-chan!”

She tries not to blush and fails miserably.

Gai-sensei nods. “A most youthful tune, Mayu-chan. But do the sounds have any meaning?”

“Wait just a moment.”

All eyes turn to her father, whose head is hanging down, hair bracketing his eyes.

“Those sounds...aren’t they...”

She feels a drop of sweat slide down the back of her neck. Otou-san is the second son of a samurai clan after all; it’s no surprise that he can recognize a foreign language just by hear—

“They’re the noises you used to make when you were a little baby!!” Her father yells, pointing a dramatic finger at her.

“NO!!” She yells back, cheeks aflame. “Well, actually, yes, they kinda were, but they weren’t just baby noises!!”

Okaa-san gasps, pressing a hand to her cheek. “Dear, I can’t believe I couldn’t remember! You were so sweet, Mayu-chan, always going ‘aa dun uda’sta oo’.”

“That’s because I was trying to say «I don’t understand you»!” She groans, covering her eyes. “I didn’t understand this language back then! I just wanted to know what was going on!”

“Hey, hey, Mayu’s Tou-san,” Naruto says, eyes sparkling with mischief. “What was Mayu’s first word?”

Her father exhales and strokes his chin while looking off into the distance with a nostalgic twinkle in his eye. “Well, let’s see. She would’ve been about twenty months old or so—”

“IS NOW REALLY THE TIME FOR THIS STORY?!” She cuts in desperately. “I’m trying to prove the existence of another world by showing that I know a language that no one in this world has ever heard of and is far too insane for anyone with a brain to have made up!”

“Insane?” Says Lee, tilting his head in confusion.

“English is the pirate of languages.” She mutters darkly. “It goes around and beats up other languages and steals their words.”

“Is there anything about your past life that’s not related to pirates?!” Okaa-san asks, exasperation evident in her tone.

“I like pirates.” She says, hurt.

Her mother shoots her an unamused look. “Ketsugi Mayu...”

She holds up her hands in surrender. “Pirates were kinda mythical in my past life by the time I was alive. There were historical ones, but people romanticized them a lot. Like ninja.”

“What?! How dare they, that’s really rude, believe it!” Naruto fumes, crossing his arms. “...Kaa-san, what’s rom-an-ti-sized mean anyway?”

“It means they make up stories about them to make them seem...nicer.” Okaa-san explains. “Usually by pretending they aren’t as violent as they really are.”

“Oh.” Naruto thinks about this. “That’s dumb. Ninja are already cool, they don’t need to be nice.”

“Pirates are cooler.” She says.

“They are not—”

“Don’t start.” Her mother says in her scary week-long-ban-from-cooking voice.

“Yes Okaa-san.” They chorus.

“But wait.” Lee’s now frowning. “If the only ninja are historical, then how did countries in your past life defend themselves?”

“With armies of soldiers. Normal ones.” She replies. “ Though those might be replaced by flying robot drones by now. There used to be ninja in Japan—may still be even if only in name—but there wasn’t anything like chakra in my past life, so we developed technologically to fight each other instead. Now the world’s kinda in a stalemate peace because we’ve developed so far that the planet will become unable to support human life if we ever go all out.”

Lee stares at her, then drops his head, fists trembling in his lap.

Gai-sensei presses a hand to his shoulder. “Lee.”

She grows alarmed as tears begin to drip off of her friend’s face. Oh shit, she hadn’t meant to insult his dream. “Hey, Lee—”

“Mayu-chan.” His voice is surprisingly steady. “Did you mean everything you said? You aren’t making anything up?”

She hesitates but shakes her head, mouth twisting in consternation. “Yes. I did mean it. Lee, I’m sorry—”

Suddenly his arms shoot up in the air, fists still clenched. When he raises his head, his tears are sliding around a wide and dazzling grin.

“There’s a world of ninja without chakra.” He whispers, tone awed. “They don’t need chakra to become strong. To become ninja.”

Gai-sensei beams back and ruffles Lee’s hair into a haystack. “Of course! A youthful spirit and the willingness to work hard are what truly make a ninja!”

“And our Lee has that in spades.” Okaa-san says fondly, smoothing some of the now-haystack back into place. “You’ll be a fine ninja, I’m sure of it.”

Lee sniffs noisily. “Gai-sensei, Chie-oba-san...!”

“Yeah!” Naruto throws his arm over Lee’s shoulders. “An’ then you an’ me an’ Mayu-chan are gonna be on a kickass ninja team together, believe it!”

“I’m gonna be a pirate.” She interjects staunchly.

Naruto pouts at her for a moment, before he brightens again. “Fine then! Sakura-chan can be our third teammate, and Mayu’ll be the pirate mascot!”

“Sakura-chan?” Lee cries eagerly.

“Pirate mascot?!” She echoes indignantly.

Naruto sticks his tongue out at her triumphantly while her father and Gai-sensei turn away to muffle what sounds suspiciously like laughter.

She folds her arms and scowls at the stair in front of her while her mother pats her head consolingly.

Otou-san manages to get his chuckles under control enough to place a hand upon her and Lee’s shoulders. “We’ll always be very proud of you all, whether you’re a pirate mascot—” He fails to hide his snickering under her disapproving gaze, “—or a ninja. We just want you to be happy.”

“Jirou-oji-san!” Lee sniffs, eyes refilling with tears.

It takes another five minutes to get Lee and Gai-sensei to stop crying and hugging everyone in reach.

This is only exacerbated by the fact that her parents lose all rational sense and begin blushing and stuttering helplessly when they’re caught in Gai-sensei’s embrace.

Once everyone’s calmed down a bit, Naruto turns to her again. “So if this world was a story in your past life, does that mean you know the future, or any super cool jutsus?”

“No.” She says. “Because I never read that comic. I only ever read One Piece and argued with idiots who tried to say that that comic was better, which it obviously wasn’t.”

Her mother rolls her eyes at her as she lies, “I don’t even remember what that series was called, or any of the characters from it.”

Naruto narrows his eyes at her. “Then how’d you know you were here?” He fires back.

She stares at him as placidly as possible. He’s her best friend in this world—practically her brother in all but name. Lee is too, and Gai-sensei may as well be a third parent by this point.

She’s afraid of dying again, but she thinks that if it were for this family right here, her family, she’d face it with the kind of smile that only a D could muster.

She refuses to sentence Naruto to a miserable life of second-guessing and unearned guilt over things that he couldn’t possibly control.

Not this time.

Usopp, Nami and Robin give her the conviction to make this lie believable.

“The Hokage Monument.” She tells them smoothly. “It was in the background of almost every panel that idiots who liked the comic would try to show me. I didn’t remember where I recognized it from until I was about four years old though.”

Naruto doesn’t quite look convinced at first, but his expression becomes more accepting as he mulls it over.

Lee, bless him, just nods along trustingly.

Okaa-san tilts her head and stares at her with unnerving scrutiny.

Otou-san touches her mother’s arm, an eyebrow raised in concern, only for his wife to shake her head almost absent-mindedly.

Gai-sensei’s nose twitches.

She holds her breath.

His face breaks out into his usual beam. “I see! So the Will of Fire blazes strongly even in other worlds!”

She exhales, sending a mental thank you to the Rational Trio. “Yes. Any other questions?”

“Did you have a family in your past life?” Lee asks.

She flinches.

“Ah.” Lee’s smile is sad and understanding. “It’s okay if you didn’t—”

“I know it is.” She cuts in, grin feeling stilted. “It’s just—they weren’t anything to special. My Dad was a businessman and pretty strict. My Mum was a housewife and very spiritual. Kinda boring overall.”

Lee nods again, though he looks a little confused.

Okaa-san and Otou-san look...hurt.

She wants to hug them, but there’s a little part of her that whispers that doing so would be a betrayal. She forces herself to turn to a nicer topic.

“I did have a little brother, Harp.” She smiles to herself. “He’s a good kid, you guys would’ve loved him. He’s wizard at doing presentations and performances and things like that, really makes it easy to understand and believe what he’s saying, you know? He’s gonna be a famous actor when he grows up, or a politician, some really great speaker once—”

She freezes. “Shit.”

“Language!” Okaa-san says, but she barely hears her, knuckles white as her nails dig into her knees.

“I didn’t make a will.” She rasps. “I never made—and now they’ll get it all. They’ll take everything, and he’ll still be trapped.”

“Who will take everything?” Otou-san says, steely-eyed and serious. “Mayu, was someone you were related to threatening your family?”

She shakes her head. “Not—not threatening, exactly. S’just.” She makes an abortive movement with her hands. “Living with Mum and Dad was...not good. For me or Harp. They never got on with each other, and both of them were disappointed in us in their own way—anyway.”

“No, why were they disappointed?” Okaa-san says, eyes blazing. “I want to know what they thought was wrong with my little girl.”

“Okaa-san—” She tries to say, flattery and embarrassment warring inside her.

“Nothing’s wrong with Mayu-chan!” Lee interrupts, little chest puffed out. “She’s fine the way she is!”

“Lee—”

“Except that she does curry too spicy.” Naruto cuts in. “And argues with the Academy teachers a lot. But that’s not disappointing, believe it!”

She’s torn between the overwhelming desire to kick him in the shins and give him a great big hug.

Gai-sensei gives what, for him, counts as a discrete cough. “While I’m sure we can agree that Mayu-chan is one of the farthest things from disappointing there is, I believe you were in the process of explaining your dilemma?”

“Right.” She tries to will her cheeks to stop burning.

“Well, I had some money saved up so I could try to get Harp out—hire a good lawyer and see if, while Mum and Dad’s divorce was finalized, I could win custody so he’d get to live with me.”

“What’s divorce?” Lee asks.

“It’s when two people who are married decide they don’t want to be married anymore.” She explains. “So they go to a court of law to make it so they officially aren’t, and each person gets part of what they both owned.”

Naruto gasps, like the idea is somehow shocking to him. To be fair to him, the adults look equally scandalized, so she guesses that’s not exactly a common practice here. “You can do that?! But why? I thought married people were supposed to love each other forever.”

“Usually they do.” She says wearily. “But sometimes people fall out of love, or one person is hurt by the other, or both misunderstand the person they got married to. Dad thought a woman like my Mum would be very business-focused like he wanted. Mum thought a man like my Dad would be very spiritually enlightened like she wanted.”

Naruto looks confused but considering, so she moves on.

“Anyway, I had a lot of money saved up, but because I died without leaving anything that said how I wanted it to be used, Mum and Dad will take all of it, or at least argue over who should get the most of it in the divorce.” She clenches her fists. “And Harp’ll never see a penny.”

“Mayu-chan.” Naruto’s voice wavers slightly. “Did you not love your parents?”

For an awful moment, she’s struck by the paralyzing urge to say “No”.

Then the horror and guilt settle in her gut again like undercooked food and make her feel like she’s going to choke on bile.

“Wh—of course I loved them!” She sputters indignantly. “They were my Mum and Dad. You’ve got to love your Mum and Dad.”

“It’s okay if you didn’t!” Naruto holds up his hands placatingly. “They just don’t sound very nice! You said that they said you were a disappointment! And you didn’t want your little brother to be with them!”

He and Lee are staring at her wide-eyed, as if waiting for her to snap at them again. The same way Naruto and Kiba look around Sakura these days.

She takes a deep breath and tries to make her voice softer, gentler. “I’m sorry for yelling. It’s just, sometimes, you can love someone and know when they’re not very good at something, or in a position that they and other people aren’t happy they’re in. I did love my Mum and Dad, but they are the last people in that world I’d trust with a kid. It wasn’t their fault, but I thought if I could get Harp out, let him grow up happy—”

She shakes her head, worrying the scar on her lower lip.

She’d promised him she’d get him out.

She’d promised.

“How old were you?” Her father asks, voice low. “When...?”

She can’t bring herself to look at him, but he sounds weary down to his very bones.

“I was twenty years old.” She says to the stair in front of her.

“Is that.” Her mother hesitates for a moment. “Is that an old age to die at? Among the people of that world.”

She makes a face. “Nah. I’d been an adult for two years in the eyes of the law, but most people in my past life could expect to live until their lates eighties or nineties before dying of natural causes.”

She hears Gai-sensei whisper “late eighties or nineties” to himself in a tone filled with something like wonder.

It’s that wonder which spurs her to look up and say, “In fact, if you manage to live to your hundredth birthday, the Queen sends you a card wishing you a happy birthday and congratulating you. I had a friend whose great grandma got one.”

Only Gai-sensei looks as amazed by this information as she’d hoped they’d all be. Lee’s trying to muster up the same enthusiasm as their teacher, but he can’t quite. Naruto looks more confused than anything.

Otou-san and Okaa-san are just staring at her like they don’t recognize her.

It hurts too much to hold their gaze.

“How’d you die?” Naruto asks. “Were you fighting a bad guy?”

She rubs the back of her neck. “Not really. A man broke into the flat. I grabbed a knife. He freaked out and his gun went off. He said it was an accident.”

She hisses the last word with all the venom it deserves.

She doesn’t understand anymore why the One Piece anime tried to censor Belle-mere’s death by changing it from a headshot to a bullet to the chest.

A headshot is quick and painless, at least.

She’s so caught up in her own memories that she doesn’t hear her father’s question. “Pardon?”

“What was your name?” Otou-san’s voice is soft and understanding, even though his eyes are pitying.

“...The girl who died was called Tamara Kaur. Her friends called her Tammy or Tim-Tam for short.” She says, a mournful grin on her face. “My name is Ketsugi Mayu. I’ll be in your care, if you’ll have me.”

The quiet that follows this statement, half joke and half plea, is enough to make whatever hopes she was still desperately clinging to crumble like a sandcastle in the face of the tide.

There aren’t many more questions after that.

Aside from the pointed conversation that began with “so if the person Naruto mentioned really was a comic character, then who was the home invader?” and ended with her exasperated mother asking “What do you mean, you ‘accidentally created divinity’?”

She winces. “Kinda that? I just, I was praying to them for normal stuff, and then that day I prayed for help with cutting the lamb and ended up with an entire meal I didn’t remember cooking.”

Okaa-san stares at her for a long moment before burying her head in her hands. She makes a noise Mayu thinks might be a sob.

Otou-san pats her back awkwardly and shoots her what she thinks is meant to be a reassuring smile. “Your Kaa-san’s fine. She just...needs a moment.”

“So it was Sanji?” Naruto whispers to her.

She nods rapidly.

Naruto’s face splits into a grin so wide his eyes almost close. “Awesome.”

“I know.” She whispers back, hardly able to keep from smiling herself.

Okaa-san sends her to turn off all the taps and hang her clothes back up upstairs.

She supposes she has wasted enough water for one day.

She blinks in the mid-afternoon sun when she opens the door to her bedroom, ignoring the masks that are all but pressed against the shut window more out of habit at this point.

She feels too drained to even feel alarmed by their proximity to her home. Talking about her Mum and Dad always did that to her, even when she was in the same world as them.

A phantom hunger pang pierces her stomach.

She shudders at the memory. Oh Luffy, she hopes Harp got out quickly, that he didn’t have to grow up on meals that were either pigswill or denied to him entirely.

He’d be...what, eighteen, nineteen by now?

Reading about Sanji and the adventures of the Straw Hats used to help her get through those punishments.

She sends a prayer to them now that Harp didn’t have to learn how to do that himself.

Otou-san, Okaa-san, and Gai-sensei are discussing something in low, serious voices when she comes back downstairs.

They quiet down for a bit when she steps between Lee and Naruto to get to the kitchen.

When she returns to the hallway, Gai-sensei pats her shoulder with a little too much force, shooting her a megawatt beam and a thumbs up.

“Do not worry, Jirou-san, Chie-san! I am certain that there will be no cause for concern for yourselves or Mayu-chan!”

Otou-san heaves a sigh. “We have every faith in you. It’s just—”

Okaa-san lays a hand on Gai-sensei’s arm. “Please, Gai.”

He solemnly takes her hand in one of his own, reaching out to grab her father’s arm with the other. “Everything will be as it always is. I swear it to you.”

The adults’ eyes seem to glisten as they stare at each other.

She glances at Naruto and Lee, eyebrow raised.

Naruto gives a quizzical shrug. Lee’s almost vibrating as he stares at their parents, eyes wide.

She hates to break up the moment, but there’s an elephant in the room that needs addressing.

She coughs a little. “Um, Okaa-sama, Otou-sama?”

Her parents look over at her, shoulders stiffening.

She worries the scar on her lower lip. “I, ah, just wanted to say, that if you need some time to-to process what I’ve told you, and you don’t want me a-around for it, I can get out of the house, go somewhere else for as long as you need me to—”

Otou-san and Okaa-san stare at her, expressions of pure horror on their faces.

Shit, has she really overstepped by that much? “O-or if you don’t want me to come back, I could always try to find o-other living arrangements for myself—”

“YOU FOOL!”

The slap to the back of her head isn’t nearly as painful as most of the blows she’s weathered during training, but the sheer surprise of the attack has her clutching it and looking up in bewilderment.

Gai-sensei looks madder than she’s ever seen him.

“...Or I could leave the village entirely?” She meekly suggests, unsure of what to say to appease her teacher’s anger.

“And when did anyone ever say they wanted you to leave?!” Gai-sensei booms.

What?

She blinks in confusion. “But I’m not who you thought I was, I have—”

“Are you Ketsugi Mayu?” Her mother asks, voice drier than an over-baked cake.

“Yes—”

“And do you enjoying cooking and feeding people?” Okaa-san walks towards her and leans down.

“Well, yes, but—”

“And you have an obsession with pirates that leads you to act without thinking a lot?” Her mother reaches out and grabs her cheeks.

“It’s not an obsession—” She feebly tries to argue through pursed lips.

“Then you are my daughter.” Okaa-san says. “And you are going to stay right here where I can see you, and we are going to lay down some ground rules about contacting strange deities, do you hear me young lady?!”

She’s so alarmed by the sight of angry tears gathering in her mother’s eyes that she just nods her head as best as she can in this grip.

Okaa-san lets out a little sob and then she’s being enveloped in a crushing hug by both of her parents.

Otou-san murmurs, “Our family stays together, damn what anyone may think. Even if we have enemies on all sides, the Ketsugi clan will weather any blows. Didn’t we already tell you that?”

Then she feels Lee and Naruto’s little arms squeezing her from behind, and the gentle weight that means Gai-sensei has joined the hug too.

“Please don’t go Mayu.” Naruto says, sounding small and scared. “Please.”

She can’t help it when she starts bawling like a little kid again.

[agoddamnsupernova]

Emily is delighted to see an envelope waiting for her on her pillow when she gets home and she briefly wonders if Chloe had brought it up or if it had been one of the other girls. She greets Bun with some ear scratches before she settles down on her bed.

“It’s been a few weeks but look, she wrote back,” Emily hums, leaning back against the wall as she opens the letter carefully.

Emily,

Sorry, it’s taken me a little longer to reply than I would have liked. Lincoln and I got a little banged up on our mission. I’m happy to say he’s perfectly fine, if not a little more protective of me right now. I’m a little worse for wear, but I promise I’m in one piece. I’ve even included pictures as proof.

I want to thank you profusely for the phone, I’ve been needing a replacement and you just have really good timing. Your taste in music is fantastic. It’s so rare to hear music here that isn’t classic rock or country (fuckin white men, I swear.) David Guetta kills me man, his stuff is so good! And you included a lot of mixes which just makes my heart sing since I used to play with mixing stuff all the time.

So, I am an awkward fucker, if you couldn’t tell already, but the idea of calling you out of the blue is terrifying as shit so I wrote my number on the back of one of my pictures. If you want to text or actually call, feel free. I’m in the hospital for a few more weeks while I do physical therapy and get cleared for field work again. Lincoln also has to do some therapy but it’s to try and help chill him out. I love him a lot but he needs to understand the difference between a hostile stranger and someone trying to help.

The Cheetos are fucking amazing, I had almost forgotten what they taste like. I had to stop myself from demolishing the entire bag the first night. Pretty sure they would have rotted my insides if I had. Everything else was so thoughtful and just so nice. How did you know strawberry was my favorite scent? I’m beginning to think you’re psychic, Miss. Junk. And I suppose since you did come through, I’m just going to have to come and see you to hold up my end of the bargain. I should get some knee pads, I can’t say I’m on my knees very often these days.

Lincoln loves the dog treats, they usually don’t get treats around here, we focus on positive verbal ‘rewards’ with the dogs, keeps them focused on the job and not just the treat they could get for doing it. But I won’t tell if you don’t. Beside’s he needs a little pampering after getting launched in the air, right?

And now that you’ve read that, you’ll want to know what happened and I can tell you that mistakes were made and an accident happened, but we’re safe. Don’t let my ugly ass in the photo’s worry you, I promise I’ve had worse.

We don’t have much here in the way of shops but I could get you an official army t-shirt if you wanted one, I just need your size. I think they’re good sleep shirts, super soft cotton. Aubrey says it’s against the rules to send actual army issue shirts, but I’ll just buy one, wear it a few times to throw her off and send it your way. (I hope you like the smell of strawberries too, cause the shirt will end up smelling like them)

Also, I just really want to thank you for how you wrote about what normal is to you. It really made me smile. My normal used to be something like that but some shit happened and now sand and bullets and a unit full of sarcastic assholes. Oh, and ya know, Lincoln’s furry ass in my face.

I’m being yelled at that I need to get to therapy, I hope you haven’t worried too much and I really do hope you call...or at least text. Uh, anyway, have a good day.

-Beca

Emily isn’t sure how to feel by the time she finishes reading the letter. Beca was hurt so badly she was in the hospital, but could it be so bad if she was making jokes about it? She shakes her head a bit, pulling the pictures out of the envelope.

The first one is of Lincoln curled up at the end of a hospital bed, his head resting on Beca’s feet. He seems peaceful, a tight (not so) little ball of fluff, content to be by his master’s side while she heals. She flips it over and finds there’s no number so she lays it down on her bedding.

The second one is clearing a picture taken by someone else and Emily briefly wonder’s if it had been this Aubrey girl Beca talks about before she’s focusing on Beca’s face. She’s frowning in it, her middle finger raised to the photographer. She’s got a black eye, the bruise blooming out around the edges and past the stitches that show clear as day against Beca’s fair skin.

“Ouch,” Emily whispers, brushing her fingers against the picture. The wound curves from Beca’s brow bone to her cheekbone. “That will leave an interesting scar.”

She seems rather in one piece in the photo, even though she’s banged up and bruised, she’s still beautiful and all Emily wants to do is talk to her. So, without looking at the other two photos, she just flips them all over until she’s reading off the number on the back of one.

After a moment’s hesitation, she types the number in and hits the video option, biting her lip as FaceTime’s familiar ring plays. She’s ready to hang up when Beca finally answers the phone, her face a little less bruised than in the photos. “Hi,” Emily says softly.

“Hey,” Beca breathes out, noticeably fidgeting in her bed. “I didn’t actually expect you to call. Not that I mind, I just always assume the worst, ya know?” The soldier says a little too fast and it makes Emily smile.

“I get it,” Emily hums, shaking her head a bit. “I just finished reading your letter and looking at your pictures and I just...I don’t know I wanted to make sure you were okay,” she shrugs, letting out a nervous chuckle.

“I’m fine, we’ve had worse,” Beca smiles, patting the bed next to her for a moment before Lincoln is shoving his face into frame. “Huh, buddy?”

Emily grins at them both, leaning back against her pillows. “Just because you’ve had worse doesn’t mean this is okay,” she says softly, scratching Bun’s ears while she speaks. “Hey, Lincoln, how’s my favorite pooch?”

Beca giggles softly and Emily thinks it’s the most beautiful sound in the world, next to Beca’s speaking voice of course. “He’s good, been harassing the nursing staff, but we’re working on it.”

“Aww, he’s just trying to keep you safe,” Emily teases, tucking her phone between her knees before hauling Bun into her lap. “Say hi, you fat thing.”

“I am not fat,” Beca whines, a smile on her face. “Hey Bunbun,” she coos, snorting when Lincoln snuggles closer. “He’s not even here to take attention away from you, stop it.”

It’s Emily’s turn to giggle now, grunting when Bun decides he’s had enough of being held. “Look, Lincoln, he’s gone.”

“Don’t encourage him,” Beca chuckles, shoving the dog’s muzzle away from her face. “I don’t want kisses right now, bud.”

“He’s just trying to make you feel better,” Emily says, running a hand through her hair. “Speaking of, how are you feeling, really?”

Beca shrugs her shoulder, wincing a bit when Lincoln moves off of her completely. “I’m sore, that’s for sure, but my MRI has come back clean so I don’t have any brain damage from the blast. I’m getting these stitches out tomorrow and my cracked ribs are just gonna have to hurt for a while.”

Emily frowns a bit, wishing she could take the other girl’s pain away. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Just keep being you,” Beca says softly, a slight smile on her lips.

“I think I can do that,” Em replies, trying to ignore the way her cheeks burn. “I have a random question.”

“I have a random answer,” Beca teases, leaning back against her pillows. Emily can tell it hurts but keeps the apology that’s on the tip of her tongue to herself.

“How old are you?” Emily asks, resting her head against the wall. “I’m going to be twenty-one in a few months.”

“Funny enough, I’m going to be twenty-two in a couple months,” Beca chuckles, brushing her fingers through her hair to tie it up in a loose ponytail. “When’s your birthday?”

“December eleventh,” Emily replies with a yawn, trying to resist the urge to pull her own hair back. She always thought she looked better with it down. “What about you?”

“Pft, that’s like half the year away,” Beca snorts, yawning herself. “Mine’s August ninth,” she says, eyes flickering away from the camera for a moment.

“I’ll have to get you some more Cheetos it seems,” Emily smirks, watching the way Beca’s cheeks go pink. “And maybe a set of knee pads.”

“God, you’re an ass,” Beca breathes out, shaking her head while she avoids looking at Emily. “I can’t believe I actually sent that to you. I should have just rewritten the whole thing.”

“Nah, I liked it,” Emily admits, biting her lip as Beca’s eyes snap back to her. They’re so blue, Emily feels like she’s drowning in them. “Gotta get you used to being on your knees somehow.”

Beca does a fairly good impression of a fish out of water, her mouth opening and closing a few times before she lets out a frustrated little sound. “You’re cockier than I thought you’d be.”

“I could make so many jokes right now...” Emily chuckles, brows raised at the blushing soldier.

“That’s gay, Em,” Beca snorts, trying to save face and it just makes Emily chuckle.

“Pretty sure that’s the point, Bec,” Emily replies, butterflies erupting in her chest when Beca uses her nickname. “It’d be pretty sad if we weren’t a little gay, huh?”

Beca does her fish impression again before she’s huffing softly, her lower lip poking out a little. “I mean...I guess!”

Emily laughs hard at her reaction, blushing when she snorts in the middle of it. Beca seems to find it amusing though, laughing right along with her. “Fuck.”

“You can say that again,” Beca wheezes, an arm around her middle. “I haven’t laughed in a long time and I’m not sure right now is the right time...but I liked it.”

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” Emily says quickly, biting her lip as she watches Beca breathe deeply through her nose.

“Not your fault that I fucked up, Em,” Beca replies, thumping her head back against the mattress.

They’re quiet for a moment before there’s a soft bang in Beca’s room. “Hey, Bree,” Beca says, lifting a hand in a half-hearted wave.

“What are you doing in here?” Bree asks and Emily cocks her head to the side as a blonde woman comes into frame. “Oh, hi! You must be Emily.”

“Yeah,” Emily replies with a nervous chuckle. “And you’re Aubrey, right?”

“I am indeed,” She grins, her smile a little too big, a little too bright. “And I’m sorry to break up this chat, but it’s getting late and Beca has to be up early tomorrow.”

“Fuck’s sake, Bree, you’re not my mom,” Beca whines, flicking the other woman’s arm.

“I am not, but I am your commanding officer,” Aubrey says sternly and Emily smiles at the way Beca pouts.

“It’s okay, Beca, I have a shift to get ready for soon anyway, you should try and get some sleep,” Emily says softly, smiling when Beca caves.

“Fine, fine,” Beca huffs, throwing her hands up. “I’ll go to bed then.”

Emily chuckles softly, trying to hide the fact that she wishes their conversation had been a bit longer. “Goodnight guys.”

“Goodnight.”

Emily is a few hours into her shift when her phone buzzes, a text from Beca showing up on the screen. She glances around to make sure no one is paying attention before she unlocks the screen.

Since I couldn’t say it properly earlier (and I couldn’t text til Aubrey left my damn room) I wanted to actually say goodnight. And I also wanted to thank you for calling, it really made my day. It’s been a rough time and you made it a lot better.

Emily smiles softly, shaking her head a bit as she starts typing back. You don’t have to thank me, I’m glad I could help even a little bit. Call me when you can tomorrow, I have the day off. I hope you manage to get some decent sleep tonight.

She tucks her phone away to help out a customer, forcing her smile and polite tone. As soon as she’s free she checks her messages.

I’ll say thank you as much as I want. But in all seriousness, you’re one of a kind, Em. I hope you have a good shift, I’ll text you in the morning. Goodnight, beautiful.

Emily blushes slightly, biting her lip as she sends back a simple. Goodnight, Beca, sweet dreams.

The rest of her shift is spent thinking of her blue eyed soldier and what might await her the next time they spoke. Perhaps Stacie had been right that day she picked up that pamphlet.

[mysticdragon3md3]

5:49 PM 4/23/2021

The Falcon and The Winter Solder ep6

So when Marvel Movie Marathons return to movie theaters, are they going to include Falcon & Winter Soldier (and WandaVision)? Because The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is pretty much like 3 movies.

I'm kind of glad this ep begins by kind of quelching theories about Sharon being the Power Broker. They needed another hand to help for this mission. So no use complicating things by making Sharon a secret bad guy. Still, why did she hire that French mercenary Batroc?

It's really cool how Sam throws the shield then catches it mid flight. *o*

Karli is really escalating, but it happened so gradually, you can feel her followers didn't know how they got to this point.

Wait. What? I gotta pay attention vs typing notes. ...Oh, the NYPD chopper got clipped.

"I don't wanna hurt people that don't matter." Ouch.

Maybe it's just me, but I like that they got an Asian woman to play the random extra with the helicopter training. Ayla. Especially now that AAPI community is trying to get visibility vs the hate crimes lately. And I really like this idea of Captain America working with normal people. It gives a sense that he's really part of the community, represents it, and will fight for it. And he'll best represent the will of the people.

I don't know how I want this fight between Karli and Walker to go. Man...

Oh, she brought the hostages to Bucky. How convenient.

Oh, I guess we gotta have some pathos for Walker. I gueeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssss~ -.-

Oh wow. The vehical got caught again. By Falcon---SORRY. I mean Captain America. Goddamn, how did I make that mistake when that's what this whole series is about?!!!

I know the crowd reaction---the extras aknowleding that Sam is no loinger "Falcon" but "Captain America"---is cheesy, but I'm crying. I love sincerity. ;u;

"You of all people bought into that bullshit?" I love that the antagonist and the protagonist of this series recognize their ideological connection. So that Karli can speakwith camraderie and disappointment when she has a fight with Sam, instead of fights just being "Argh~! I hate you! *violence*!".

Maybe Sharon is the Power Broker. Wait. Did that mercenary Batroc just arm Karli? Oh, the smoke screen was just Flag Smasher backup.

Shouldn't Bucky go with Sam since Sam isn't a Super Soldier? Can't leave Walker alone because he's going to do something crazy, huh? Anyway, Sam is Captain America now. It shouldn't matter if he has super strength or not. He's got the character and brains.

Oh man, Sharon really is the Power Broker. Ug. Kind of weird to hear that Sharon wants an Empire.

Oh, they're going for the sacrifice-redemption route?

"I'm not gonna fight you!" I like that that's what a shield is for. And I like that it demonstrates that Sam believes in negotiation and people understanding each other, more than just fighting. It reiterates that Sam believes that violence is a last resort, and has a character we can believe in. Or at least a character I can admire and believe in. Throughout this series, I've really liked the emphasis on Sam's skills as a soldier counsellor. It's those skills, reiterated on his purely defensive fighting style vs Karli in this scene that have convinced me he is best to be Captain America.

"Stay down". Ooh. Reference.

Before you die, tell Sam that Sharon is the Power Broker! I like that Karli's last words were "I'msorry". I really think it captures the dichotomy of her motivations. She wanted to do good things, but she was doing bad things, to do good things...

Wow. Angelic pose.

I'm surprised this episode is short. Feels a little cut short. But it's an action and stunt heavy ep, they can't afford too much. No, wait. I forgot that Disney+'s mintue counter is different from Netflix's. The number on the right is how much time is remaining, now the total episode length.

Sam's monologe was beginning to feel a little bit cheesey or rather, artificial, but that reaction shot to Isaiah really got to me. Crying again. ;u;

Bringing it back to the plot, reminding them to ask why Karli did what she did, really help ground this monologe too.

I liked that Sam equated the decisions the council would make, to having the same impact as what Thanos did.

So is Sharon going to walk-off a gunshot??? lol Superhero logic! lol

I'm really in denial about Sharon being the Power Broker, because I just don't want it to be true!!! ;O; Tho, I am a sucker for the ambiguous, "on no one's side" female character. Plays into the Universal Mother Goddess archetype that I love from mythology.

GASP! When that military guy told the Flag Smasher prisoners their motto "One world, one people", I thought that meant they were going to be rescued from the Raft. Not exploded! O.O!!!

Wait. So is this old guy the *real* Power Broker? The statement that Sharon was the Power Broker was said by Karli, afterall. Not an admission straight from Sharon herself.

Oh,it was Zemo's butler.

"Or did I?" Stop it, Elaine. lol

It's probably the helmet. lol I'm sure the costume department designed that first helmet to make him look goofy on purpose, when he first appeared. So you'd recognize "Captain America, but ASKEWED". So I guess they gotta fix that now that he's going to stick around and in a different, US Agent role that better suits him.

I must be color blind because I didn't notice his suit was black. I thought it was just the scene'slighting, shadow.

And Disney+ crashed. omg. At least it was during the epilogue scenes.

Oh..Here we go. Bucky is going to confess to killig Nakajima's son. ;~;!!!!!!!

I like that the shrine to his son is visible whenever he opens his door. I wish I could be thoughtful enough to shoot compositions like that. Today is Figure Friday.

Well, if Nakajima wants to hit him or hate him, that's fair. Wow. They cut out his reaciton to Bucky's confession. Well, more than that "Why?" and silent reaciton.

So Bucky just gave away Steve's book?

Well, at least the waitress is keeping Nakajima company.

I like how Isaiah is so old but he so easily picks up that GIANT potted tree. So casually portrayed too! lol

I mean, it's a great gesture if Sam got the Smithsonian to put Isaiah into the museum. But isn't publicity going to get him killed by some shady organization trying to cover up what they did? I'm afraid for him! Aw, but it means so much to Isaiah! ;O;!!!!!!!!!! Maybe the exhibit only mentions how he saved that group of POWs, and not that he was part of a Super Soldier program.

So is this ending theme a Marvin Gay song? After all that dialogue setting up how much Marvin Gay's music means to Sam, it would only make sense to use it as the ending theme.

Is there a post credits scene...?

So is Sharon going to use her pardon as just freedom to move into more territories as the Power Broker? Mysterious slow motion! ...Kind of sad that she's a "bad guy" now tho. But hey, they got to use the ironic line, "The Carter name has always been synonymous with service and trust." to add so much intrigue. Well, it's very possible something big with her character could happen in one of the movies and she'll then stop being the Power Broker. I mean, SHIELD was revealed to be infiltrated by Hydra in one of the movies. I mean, being the Power Broker wouldn't be bad if she wasn't arming criminals...and stealing art to replace with replicas so that underground elite could buy the authentic art...And probably lots of other crimes that hurt people... Ugh. She's a bad guy now. o_o;

Y'know, a lot of the powerful authority figures in the villains side have been women in this series. The crime boss that Zemo met with, Contessa Val, and now Sharon Carter. It's a nice inclusion. If this was a few decades ago, all those characters would have been cast from white male stereotypes of 1950's Chicago mob bosses. Female representation!

Now I can watch everyone's reactions and browse Twitter without worrying about spoilers. ^_^

[survivor-themyscira-blog]

Okay well, that challenge was a fucking bust. LMAO. I should’ve numbered everything

I’m shook to have made it through the vote tonight. Like after being told the other day that Nicholas was going to go home, only to be blindsided and have fucking Rhone die, it was a shock that everyone stuck to their word for once. I’m starting to feel a little more awake in the game, too. Thankfully, I’ve got my hands typing away feverishly to everyone on the tribe as often as I can handle. I think that there are other people doing the same thing, but who knows for certain! I hear a lot that I’m the “only person who talks a lot of game with me”, so that’s an improvement from before already.

I’ve got to keep downplaying that I’m a big threat going forward. Nicholas left and said that he was gonna vote for me to win if I made it to the end, which I highly doubt is the case. I tried my hardest to attempt to clear the air with him and get him to at least consider other options on this tribe other than voting for me to go home. In that conversation, I tried to just make peace with him as a person but I dunno. I think that Nicholas doesn’t like me very much and according to everybody else, he had nothing but criticisms to say about me. He was my biggest adversary when I won my way back and I knew from the get-go he’d do whatever he could to fuck my life up. Now he’s gone and probably shit-talking me to Rhone so there’s another jury vote I’ve lost this far LMAO.

There’s no chance that I’ll win today’s immunity, unless of course everybody else fucks it up majorly. If I don’t win, I’d prefer Jack to win because I want to start to paint him as a bigger physical threat than myself so everyone can target him before me. As I said in my host chat, he and I have a final two agreement right now but the only way I can get there is if he’s dragging me along.

The plan for now is to just take out all the goats. So rip Lily, Toph (to an extent), Logan, and Madeline. I don’t want Ian, Kai, Jack, and Emily to think that they’re more important to take to the end than me because I’m trying to sell to everyone that I’m the perfect little goat to take to the end and beat because I’m an ugly returner with no fucking friends on the jury. I think that the jury is going to either hate or at least partially respect the game I played – so far, I’ve been really chaotic but I’ve calmed down a lot since the merge. Even though I played that idol on Ian, some people think it was a one-time use thing and others think it was a regular idol. I don’t need Jack on the jury finding out that it was a regular idol because he’ll NEVER respect the move I made with it and he was already super fucking critical of me for it to begin with.

Toph is so fucking messy, man. He voted for me after trying to get me to vote a certain way all afternoon. I understand why he likely did it, because he didn’t want to vote out Nicholas and Lily would be pissed if he wrote her name down. I think Lily needs to know that Toph was being really messy so she thinks about turning on him sooner than later. Honestly, if I can get all the other weaklings to turn on one another, that’d be perfect so I can ride it smoothly with the larger threats.

The way I see it, Emily and Kai are the two biggest threats in this game. Kai seems to be the one controlling everything, while Emily is the one who KNOWS everything; she’s voted correctly the entire game by my knowledge. She took out Rhone, turned on Nicholas, and yet nobody bats an eye at her. She hardly acknowledges me unless I acknowledge her first and everybody RAVES about how much they love her. Although my strategy of keeping the threats around is more realistic for my chances at just getting to the end, I know that I need to make some serious moves to still have the opportunity to win. If I can somehow take out and replace both Kai and Emily with myself, while coasting under the radar, I could potentially win. I dunno. I need to be smart and not emotional from this point on…

Relying on fact over emotion is really difficult for me. I am a really opinionated person and I often make plays based off of those opinions I form or hear from others. This is super dangerous to do because there is a risk that people don’t share your opinions. Objectively speaking, I can’t determine who the biggest threat to win is because we’re only at the final nine… but I can’t figure out who that biggest threat is without listening to the opinions of others! The whole setup of Survivor revolves around a big opinion everyone shares on who deserves to win. And there isn’t a whole lot you can do to change crazy people’s minds… we’re all crazy because we’re playing this game SOOOOO….. fuck!

I feel like none of my confessionals make any sense. I just want y’all to know that I need to get rid of Emily probably soonish because she’s a huge danger to me. I should be more selfish than I already am (if that’s even possible) and push that agenda onto everyone, but idk if everybody will take too kindly to me being a huge bitch to them about it.

JACK IS A SMALL LITTLE BEAN BUT SO HELP ME GOD IF THAT BOY INTENDED TO GIVE ME A DISADVANTAGE THAT BOY IS OUT OF HERE.

If I go home on this next vote expect fireworks on my last words in the game. Kai was the one that gave me the idol to use, Emily is the leak, Toph is just a pawn, Lily who even are you in this game? Jaiden good effing game, Madeline is irrelevant and Jack thinks he can control her, Logan says he has an idol, Jack says he has a super idol. Have fun yall.

i’ve been #flopping st confessionals recently (well i don’t actually know but anyway) so here’s a tea filled confession

i think i have figured out what was in the hippothias bedroom: a legacy advantage. all i know is that the room was empty when kai got to it, but using that knowledge, i just have to figure out who got whatever was in there. and i think it was jordan. jordan and i talked a lot about how to get into that room pre-merge and i’m thinking he got there first. when i asked what was in the room, he told me it was empty and that someone got there first, but he didn’t send a quote. i didn’t push him on it because i didn’t feel it necessary or smart at the time. kai sent me a quote, though. and something was gone. so! using my brain, i’ve decided jordan got whatever was in there. and i think the only thing he’d not tell me about being there (because we were very close before merge hit) is a legacy advantage, just in case he didn’t want to will it to me. and i don’t think he did. i think he willed it to jack. (just remember this is all me thinking hypothetically and could all be COMPLETELY wrong, but it is also me trying to justify voting out jack.) since madeline and jack are close now, i think there’s a good chance that jack would will the legacy advantage to madeline. and i would MUCH rather have madeline have the advantage than logan or lily or toph or jaiden. i just need madeline to fight hard for jack to stay this round to the right people (toph) and then one of the dudes and dames can throw their vote to lily. make it look like a fight was put up to keep jack in, but in reality there wasn’t. if madeline fights to keep jack then he’ll likely will the advantage to her rather than the people who voted him out. the votes will ideally fall like this:

5 jack: ian, kai, jaiden, logan, lily

3 lily: jack, me, toph

1 madeline: madeline (bc she got a self vote while searching the island lmao)

again, this legacy advantage may be nonexistent but STILL! if it is real, i truly did that. i came up with this all on my own and shit!!! look at me making moves and being cracked as fucc!

APARENTLY JACK IS SOREADING MY NAME AROUND AND ITS FUCKING CLOSE SKSNSJSNWJ THIS IS A MAJOR MESS A BITCH THOUGHT SHE WAS IN CONTROL HELLA TONIGHT AND JOW IT MIGHT T I E

GUESS WHO WAS SO RIGHT ABOUT HATING JACK BC THE BITCH IS SPOUTING MY NAME EVERYWHERE SJSJSJSJSWJWJ IM GOING TO CLOCK THIS FUCK

Everyone is lying to my fucking face and i am REALLY working hard to not be OTT right now!!!!!!!!!!!!! Emily u r not an OTT you are a CP stay calm BUT I CANT DUCKING STAY CALM

i feel very sad. kai was like my best friend in this game and seeing him go was the last thing i wanted. i would’ve gone to rocks for him. and then joseph had to play that fucking idol. and he didn’t even understand that my voting confession was a vine reference “keep my name out of your mouth or i’ll fucking rip your face off BITCH” like i’m so funny. anyways this is one of the saddest tribals yet. i miss kai and i’m going to miss going on call and making fun of his accent and making fun of weird british words. just making fun of kai in general. i’m just so upset kai was fucking robbed i didn’t even know he was getting votes! i thought it was going to be me. and i’m still here. but kai is gone. i’m fighting so hard for this immunity. i’m avenging kai. this is absolute bullshit.

I’m still convinced Jack has the legacy advantage even though I have no evidence to back that up

We had to lose a soldier, but we will win this war. Kai is being avenged. They have awoken the tiger. I’m mad. Logan, Lily, and Jack will get voted out if I have ANYTHING to say about it.

listen i know i have confessed like eight times already in the past hour but i am so upset. kai was fucking ROBBED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fuck the gay agenda.

[allthereclists]

Otayuri

Birthday Boy by Ren 1,106

Otabek lets slip that he never celebrates his birthdays. Yuri decides to fix that.

what hoodies are made of by pissedofsandwich 1,235

Let it be known that Yuri Plisetsky is killed by his first friend, and possibly, if given more time—and if he could just admit it deep down in his heart that yes, he has a crush on Otabek the size of St. Petersburg—his first boyfriend, during the exhibition gala of Trophee de France.

Oh, what’s the murder weapon, you ask?

The goddamn hoodie.

Or: Otabek dresses sexy for his EX Gala and Yuri loses his shit.

Worth The Wait by Ren 1,277

"I turned eighteen in March," Yuri says.

melt me down by ohhotlamb 2,196

“Do you remember? In Barcelona? It’s been at least three years by now.”

“Of course I do,” Yuri mumbles. “That was when we first started talking.”

Methods of Falling by stutter 2,610

"When Victor was his age - younger, even, Yuri thinks, shame blooming in his chest - he’d made the whole world fall in love with him already. The long hair, the soft smile, the way he moved like he had a secret in his skin and he couldn't wait to share it with you. Yuri’s watched the tapes over and over. He could skate any of Victor’s early routines in his sleep. But he can't - the thing Victor could do so easily, the casual, guileless charisma he threw like a shadow - Yuri can't manage it on a single person, not even some moody Kazakh with a dumb haircut whose eyes are too far apart anyway - "

(In Park Guell, Yuri takes a hard fall. Otabek picks him up.)

The Death of Golden Locks by IzzyBee92 4,505 

Yurio shows up with short hair and Otabek tries to figure out what the hell happened. But Yurio doesn't seem to want to discuss it.

The Naming of Cats by unheroics 6,075

The photo gets almost drowned out in a sea of others, more flashy. It’s easy to miss, tagged only as #practice. Otabek doesn’t remember following Yuri Plisetsky on Instagram. Maybe his sister did it for him.

(Otabek, Yuri, and a relationship that develops in the margins of their careers.)

Baptism by InsominiacArrest 9,648

Yuuri Plisetsky has been waiting to lose his virginity to his boyfriend (and also take his boyfriends virginity) and on his 18th birthday, he gets his wish.

follow up: Otabek and Yuri have been apart for a couple months and finally get to reunite.

Anything But Obvious by Tessa on Ice (tessacrowley) 15,016

Yuri Plisetsky would rather die than ever be obvious.

let us be the unexpected by peachys 16,394 

Yuri is used to overworking himself but Otabek helps him see everything he's been missing out on.

Extended Free Skate by Opalsong 20,420

Otabek won silver at Worlds. Yuri was going win gold at fucking domming.

(Fuck his brain and its fucking innuendos.)

Something Old and Something New by heartsdesire456 30k

When Otabek's home rink is damaged in a fire, he and his coach get permission to train in Russia from Yakov. Yuuri and Victor offer their spare room to Otabek for the duration of his stay, and in doing so, Yuuri is given a front row look at Yurio coming to understand his feelings for his best friend, as well as the subsequent panic that ensues after he discovers his feelings aren't so 'friendly' after all.

in flesh and bone by csoru 32,077

After recovering from an injury that cut his previous season short, Yuri makes a comeback with a new coach, a new country of residence, and a relationship upgrade. Still: perfection takes effort.

AU

Panic! In the Hotel by sweatpantz 1,318 

Yuri has a minor panic attack after something that happens between him and Otabek. He comes to his gay dads for advice and then he and Otabek talk it out <3

Spontaneous Combustion by kanekki 3,589

When Otabek and Yuri present at the exact same time, chaos ensues.

concerto for piano, in a minor key not yet decided by 777335 5,260

magical realism au, where yuri is a tsar of ice (which, for the purpose of this fic, is almost a demigod, of sorts) and otabek is a very sad and musical young man who has moved to St. Petersburg to deal with the death of a friend.

it starts like:

Otabek moves to the outskirts of St. Petersburg and becomes friends with Yuri slowly and then suddenly, like ice sliding across a plate. How he meets Yuri goes like this: (a memory that retains the present tense, because it feels very much like a thing that is still happening to him, not a thing that is over)

by the nape of my neck by aphhun 5,499

Everyone has a counter that ticks down the hours until you first meet your Destined; your soul mate. Yuri Plisetsky has been actively ignoring his timer for the last eight years. That is, until it's dwindled down to zero behind his back, and he has no idea how or when he met his Destined in the bustle of St Petersburg

Fire Red by Qitana 7,813

The static reaches its peak before someone says, “Hello Mr Yuri Plisetsky.”

He’s different from the first person, of this Yuri is certain. He jolts slightly when the man pronounces his full name, and he finds an absurd amount of comfort in his voice. It’s soft and warm, with a stoniness that could rival Yakov’s and Lilia’s, and his accent makes it endearing as hell. A small flame slowly starts to burn inside of Yuri for reasons he can’t possibly fathom. It’s just a man’s voice, and a stranger’s to boot, but he feels significantly better already.

When Saving Fairies by Eshli 8,064

Otabek is a knight to the Kingdom of Kazakhstan. He winds up saving a fairy from a tough spot, taking love advice from a total idiot, and losing his virginity in an unsuspecting way. Such is the life of the Hero of Kazakhstan.

Someone to Protect by DragonofFernweh

Yuri's heat happens to take him by surprise the day before a competition, even though those stupid suppressants were supposed to take care of that. He'll head to the medical wing to take care of the problem, but what if he runs into someone else? He dreads anyone finding out about his being an Omega. Still, he's just fifteen, no one would be affected by his heat. He was just a kid.

It turns out, they hurt kids everywhere. It also turns out that Katsuki Yuuri is really fucking terrifying when he wants to be.

the birth of comets takes place on the tip of your lashes by apollothyme 15,622

His second visit to an ophthalmologist occurs five months later.

Just like during his first consultation, he doesn’t understand any of the medical jargon coming from the doctor’s mouth. Only now, after he’s done explaining everything in complicated, convulsed words, the man turns to Yuri with a smile on his face and explains everything once more, this time using terms Yuri can understand.

Yuri listens. He bites down on his bottom lip and he does not cry.

My Life is Over, I Might As Well Jump by accidental-mormon (crazyhomoinspace) 20,109

Yuri Plisetsky was not expecting to go into his first heat surrounded by competitive figure skaters in a classy hotel before an international competition. He was not expecting to sleep with his roommate.. and they weren't expecting to have to deal with the consequences.

First Door On The Right by TeaLovingTooru 21,218

When Yuri turns eighteen, his brother Viktor, informs him that he has to find an Alpha suitor. Yuri is angry as he doesn't understand why he would have to get married, causing him to run into town. After a chance encounter, Yuri makes an unexpected acquaintance with a local.

Neon Pink Motorcycle by goldheart 74,720

There are certain moments in Yuri Plisetsky’s life that he likes to forget happened at all. The time they were chased from the apartment, the landlord angrily spitting and waving threateningly at them when his mother couldn’t produce enough money for rent. Babushka’s funeral. The first time he fell in competition.

He cannot forget that, under the black band he wears around his wrist like a shield, his soulmark may as well be nonexistent.

Unsteady by otayuri_oh_nice 139,679

Otabek was going to kill JJ. He was going to take the next flight to Canada, hunt him down and kick his ass. Leo: I tried to stop him but he went and did it anyway, I’m sorry! (link)

- Or: JJ uploads one of Otabek's remixes of Yuri's songs to YouTube and Otabek freaks out.

- Or: what happens when you take episode 1, replace figure skaters with musicians and exchange Victuuri for Otayuri. Aka another strange AU no one asked for.

on finding your way; by crossroadswrite

When Otabek has to leave back to the dormitories, he turns to Yuri, looking slightly nervous and asks, “So, are we friends or what?”

Yuri stares at him. “Beka, I let you pet my cat.”

Prequel: on growing; by crossroadswrite

Yuri Plisetsky glares at him with all the righteousness five year olds possess, and says in heavily accented and clumsy English. “Be more gooder, stupid!”

And then he storms out in a sweep of blond hair and blue and red lights from his Sketchers.

(Or: in which everything is the same but Yuri Plisetsky is Victor's bratty five-year-old child.)

https://otayuri-ficrec.tumblr.com/tagged/yoi-fic-rec

wip

Eat Your Heart Out, Adonis by blackmountainbones 

The year is 2021. The Beijing Winter Olympics are just around the corner, and Yuri Plisetsky is forced to take a break from skating in order to recover from an ankle injury. His friend Otabek comes to Russia to keep him company during his time off the ice.

soldier boy, tripping over himself to win my praise by thissupposedcrime

Yuri cannot crater down the path Victor blazed, happily forsaking Russia and his career for an international love affair. Neither will Kazakhstan's favorite son.

Or Yuri and Otabek from 2016-2026 and the competitions, weddings, and longing that define them.

Not your usual love story by arcsinx

Baranovskaya's new face, Yuri Plisetsky (22), who shot in Venice for Vogue's last issue, was seen accompanied by Otabek Altin (25) as they left a coffee shop in St Petersburg yesterday. The DJ and voted 2017's hottest musician, Altin was in the city to compose for Victor Nikiforov's (30) new movie production. The couple met at the Paris Fashion Week after-party(image) and have been appointed to be secretly dating ever since. An intimate friend claims Altin to be completely besotted with the Russian beauty, having even gifted him a $35,000 diamond collar necklace!

For more photos of Plisetsky's front cover shoot for Vogue, click here For more articles on Altin's new collabs with popstars, click here.

Let the Record Drop by BoxWineConfessions 

A collection of PWP oneshots loosley based around the idea of DJ-Otabek.