#but actually ends up sending himself and her into war flashbacks.

[lillambtotheslaughter]

She's so happy she lived guys can't you tell?!

She will now forever frog blink I fear.

"Well I just went through hell and somehow managed to survive with the most damage being on my back but at least we're still together!"

"Right Cin, right isn't that just great...!"

"....what.."

[velvetxkissesx]

everything

shouto todoroki x fem.reader

shouto todoroki has been your best friend since your first year at UA, you’ve watched him blossom and grow as a person not under his family’s shadow. so why is it that neither of you can just admit your feelings for the other?

season six spoilers. manga spoilers. not everything will be accurate to either as this is a fic thank you <3

warnings: angst. mentions of death. violence. shouto being a dunce when it comes to love. frustratingly stupid idiots who are in fact in love with one another. drinking. anxiety attacks. vomit. ptsd flashbacks. everyone is in fact traumatized. brief mentions of sex, no actual smut though. a wee bit of drinking and driving, but don’t do that. it’s awful and bad.

Those first few years after the war really affected and shaped everybody.

You remembered that first night, after the fighting was over and the sense of peace had returned. Every civilian was celebrating, and maybe you guys should have been too. After all you were just kids, you should all be happy that you kicked ass. None of you could do it though, instead, you all sat in the common room together. Everyone either bandaged, burned, or even just emotionally scarred. Aizawa sat in the room with you, and tried his best to find the right words to say.. He couldn’t though, he knew that everything you all just witnessed was something that couldn’t be washed away with a simple ‘you were heroes’ speech. Shouto was next to you on the floor, your shoulders touching. Neither of you had said anything, not since you first spotted him when the fighting was over.

“Where is Shouto?!” You were yelling at anyone you saw, any classmate. Kaminari was trying to hold you down, you were pretty banged up and the medics were certain you had a broken ankle.

None of that mattered to you though, because you didn’t know where he was. You saw Bakugo, and that was all you needed for your panic to start. The last you heard, Shouto was fighting Dabi, he was fighting his brother. You kept shoving past people, your ankle throbbing. Kaminari was calling after you, trying his best to get you to stop, to slow down. He even threatened to shock you a few times. They were empty threats of course, and he knew it was no use. Sero eventually joined Kaminari and kept threatening to tape you up. It wasn’t until there was ice bursting one of the medic tents open that they both realized they needed to just let you go.

Todoroki came out of the tent, at least three medics trying to stop him and pull him back saying that he was suffering from extreme exhaustion and that any intense activity could make him unstable. He just kept saying he needed to find her, throwing them off of him. Finally, after following the ice, you spotted him and he spotted you. Both of you stood still for a second, looking each other over to asses the damage done to the other. The voices and sounds around you muffled out as you stared up at the taller teen. His two-toned hair was disheveled, and an honest mess for once. There was something else though that was different, Shouto Todoroki’s eyes were filling with tears.

Without a care in the world about the fact your ankle was now sending searing pain up your entire leg, you took off in a hobbled run towards him. He did the same towards you, except he was much quicker and his strides were longer. When you two finally met in the middle you were being lifted off the ground as you sobbed into neck. Todoroki lost his balance but caught himself as he finally just sat on the ground with you wrapped around him. Anyone who knew Todoroki knew that this much affection, this much touching, went outside of any comfort zone he had. He didn’t care though, because he was holding you.

From the moment the fighting ended, the moment he saw how many heroes had fallen, all he could think about was getting to you. He was trying to find you when the medics finally caught him and tried to force him to relax. He was trying to be calm and rational, after all he knew his body and it was spent. Still though there was something that was keeping him going as he saw classmates being carried in on stretchers.. He needed to make sure that you were okay. So as you sat on the ground with him, and pried you away to look you over. He was gentle as he tried to assess the damage that had happened to you. Finally you winced when he touched your leg and his eyebrows furrowed. He stared at you intensely, like he was trying to read your mind as to what was wrong.

“I think my ankle is broken.” You whispered, finally noticing how close your face was to your best friend/long time crush’s face. He let out a distressed ‘tch’ sound before he looked up at the medics that were still standing around you both, he instructed them to take care of you first. They took you both back to a tent (one that wasn’t filled with ice) and started to treat you. Todoroki refused to leave your side after that moment.

After Aizawa finally did it in himself to give a speech about how he was damn proud that you were his students, nothing about how well you all fought, or what to do next. Just that he was proud of you all, you all knew it was his way of telling you he loved you guys. After awhile of sitting there, you all decided that you were going to just camp out. Sato offered to bake for everybody, Kaminari and Jirou suggested they played music for everyone, Momo even conjured up a projector screen to all watch movies on. Everyone went to their dorms, to collect any and every pillow or blanket you all owned. Todoroki followed you to your dorm, because you owned more blankets than anybody there really.

“I can carry more,” You suggested as you put another blanket in Shouto’s outstretched arms. There was a crash from down the hall, someone dropping something, and you lurched forward ready to fight all over again. Shouto dropped the blankets, and grabbed your now shaking hands, “I.. I..”

“I know,” He held your hands and stared down at them. The difference in temperature in both of his hands soothing you and bringing you back down to Earth, “Seems a little morbid to go and have a movie night as if we didn’t just fight a brutal war, huh?”

“G-glad you finally understand what doesn’t seem normal socially,” You teased, a small chuckle leaving his lips before he met your eyes again, “I was so scared that I was going to lose yo.. Lose anybody, the entire time I was fighting,”

He noticed that you almost said “you”, but he thought of it has just a misuse of words due to your current stress. That was when he finally realized that he was fighting for you. Especially when Dabi mentioned that Shouto had a weak spot, that weak spot was you. Dabi caught sight of it after his big reveal, when you were standing down below with Midoriya and staring in shock. When you rushed to his aid after Dabi originally tried to kill him. You were Shouto Todoroki’s weak point, because he.. He felt different for than he did for anyone else. He just didn’t know how to articulate that into words. He wanted to so badly, but he didn’t know what it was he wanted to say.

“Hey dudes, whoah, whoops, sorry,” Kirishima was at your door, and noticed Todoroki holding your hands. You both instantly pulled away from one another and looked at him, “We were wondering if you could bring down your beanbag chairs too?”

“Oh, yeah of course,” You smiled at him, “Mind helping us?

Kirishima helped you both collect the beanbag chairs, and the blankets. Both you and Shouto still awkward over the entire moment. Everyone in class found their spots on the floor, and again you were right next to Todoroki. You all watched kids movies that night, not wanting to watch the usual action movies that the boys would typically pick on these nights before. Aizawa and Eri had joined you all though, so Eri wasn’t complaining at all as she took turns sitting with everyone and hugging them all. Eventually, you all stopped fighting it and let yourselves find sleep. For two weeks, that’s how you would all sleep, together on the floor like that. That way if someone had a nightmare, there was always someone there to help them.

five years later.

Even after everything that happened with All for One, there were still villains that existed in the world. So most of you continued on to continue to becoming Pro-Heroes. There were a few that chose different routes, like you. You were still a hero, you were still a pro, but you were also one of many young advocates to reshape the Hero Commission and hero society. Hawks was the new leader of it, begrudgingly so, but you worked close underneath of him. Slowly but surely rebuilding the civilian trust in heroes. Midoriya was also at the forefront of this, demanding that things needed to be better. That some villains deserved that same outreaching hand. Seemingly enough, it was working. When a villain was caught, they were given the option of jail or a reform program and a mentor. Most chose the reform options. With the help of Shinsou, you both worked towards making sure that stigmatization of what “good” and “bad” quirks were, was brought down. Starting with UA, where you both made sure that the students were given the option of which courses they took.

Shouto had started working for his dad, which shocked plenty of you. His siblings especially. Endeavor was working towards retirement though, so soon enough the agency would be Shouto’s own. Rei Todoroki had been released from the hospital, and Shouto had helped her get a nice apartment set up. Shouto and his siblings would often go and have dinner with her at least three times a week, and eventually you started to go to at least once a week. Rei loved getting to meet the friends that helped her son see not all people were bad. Plus she also just thought you were the perfect match for her baby, but she wouldn’t say it out loud to either of you.. Mostly just to Fuyumi or Natsuo while she watched Shouto watch you.

This weeks dinner you were attending, was before you and Shouto were supposed to attend Mina’s birthday party. You both just brought clothes to get ready at Rei’s apartment after dinner, seeing as neither one of you usually dressed in party clothing to go to family dinner. It was particularly hot that week, and Mina’s birthday was at an outdoor venue, so you opted in for a baby pink sundress. As you were finishing up getting ready, Rei knocked on her bedroom door and stepped inside.

“Oh don’t you look gorgeous,” She smiled softly, you noticed that she was very soft spoken still, and that when Shouto used that voice you could see their resemblance even more, “Shouto is wearing a pink dress shirt, are you two meant to be matching?”

“Hm? Oh no, our friend is well.. She’s pink,” You laughed a little trying to find the way to describe it, “So every year she demands that we wear pink to match her,”

“Oh, I thought maybe you two finally breached that whole just friends gap,” Rei’s words instantly made a blush creep onto your face as you stumbled trying to find a way to deny it, “Honey, just because I was trapped in a loveless marriage, doesn’t mean that I don’t know how to tell when two people are in love,”

“No, no, Shouto just sees me as a friend, that’s all we’ve ever been really,” You smiled sadly, you had thought maybe after the war that things were changing between you two, and they did, but not in that way. Instead it seemed you had been buried even further into the friendzone.

“I’ve never seen someone look at somebody the way my son looks at you, and truthfully believed that they were merely friends,” Rei was folding up your discarded clothes for you, “Shouto, he struggles with emotions, we’ve talked about it and it’s something he still works on, if I had to guess he doesn’t know how to read you, so perhaps you should just lay it all out on the table for him?”

You blinked a few times, trying to process getting dating advice from the mother of the guy you were in love with, “I.. I have considered it, but I’m scared that it would, well that it would ruin everything,”

“I still think that you should try.” Rei held out your repacked bag for you, and walked with you back out to join the others. Fuyumi squealed when she saw you, and started gushing about how pretty you looked. You didn’t even notice Natsuo nudging his baby brother, who’s eyes were trained on you. The two of you said your goodbyes and you both walked down to Shouto’s car. At first the ride was silent, just the occasional small talk about dinner.

“My family really likes when you come around, you’re usually the reprieve before we have dinner with our father,” Shouto’s eyes were on the road still, and you glanced towards him.

“How are things? Between Endeavor and Rei?” You approached the topic gently, knowing it was still a sensitive subject for them all.

“They’re, amicable, he tries his best to make up for what he did to her but it’s..” He trailed off for a second, his hands clenching the steering wheel tighter, “It’s not an easy to forget situation so it’s hard, for everyone,”

“And.. Touya? How is he doing?” You two really never spoke about his brother. You knew that Eri had been able to reverse his own damage he had done to himself.. Physically at least. Mentally he was in the same kind of facility that Rei was in. She went to visit him often, and as of lately he invited Natsuo from what you understood. Touya was trying his best to put Dabi to rest, to set him aside and get better, but it was a hard thing to do. Any mention of Endeavor would send him into a spiral, and to him Shouto was still just an extension of their father.

“Better, he.. He asked if Fuyumi could come with them next week, and told our mom he was ready to see um pictures of me,” Shouto’s voice was strained as he forced himself to talk about it. You reached over and gently put a hand on his shoulder.

“We don’t have to talk about this now,” Your voice was gentle, and you watched his shoulders relax a little at your touch, “We do need to talk about how every magazine is going to have a picture of you in this shirt plastered on it though,”

Shouto cracked a small smile and glanced over at you, “They would be stupid to do so as if you don’t like you do in that dress,”

Your cheeks were red again and you smiled at him, “Was that a compliment?”

“Of course it was,” Shouto sounded offended that you even had to question it, finally the blunt side came out, “You look beautiful.”

Thanks to the flow of the overhead streetlights, you were almost certain you saw him blush too. When you arrived at the venue for Mina’s party, the paparazzi were already lined up outside near the valet. It wasn’t uncommon for there to be this much press at events that your class was at, after all you had all been semi-famous since you were fifteen. Shouto passed the keys off to the valet person and rushed to your door to help you out. You both started making your way inside as you were being bombarded with questions, the typical ones for the gossip columns. Once you were inside you were both led out to the deck where your friends were.

“Ah! You’re here!” Mina rushed forward and hugged you first, both of you squealing as you squeezed each other in a tight hug. Kyouka and Ochaco were not far behind to hug you when Mina finally split away to give Shouto a hug. Sero whisked Shouto away, and you were left with the girls to talk and catch up on a few things. Mostly them bombarding you about whether or not you and Shouto were finally anything to talk about.

“I don’t understand, you two have an apartment together, and there’s been no steamy make out session or anything?” Ochaco asked as she handed you the drink you had ordered from the bartender, “Have you considered maybe you need to make the first move?”

“I’ve tried dropping hints for years you guys,” You sighed, “Maybe he really just doesn’t feel the same,”

“Well I know someone who does,” Jirou shrugged and the three of you glanced at her, “Denki was telling me just the other night that Shinsou had a thing for you,”

“Hitoshi?” You tilted your head, “No, no we just work together,”

“According to my idiot, Shinsou is definitely into you, just doesn’t act it cause well you know everyone’s always assumed you were off limits,” Jirou explained, and you felt unbelievably nervous about it. Shinsou was attractive, there was some mild flirting when you worked together, but you had never seen it like that.

“Maybe you should take a little more interest in Shinsou then, I mean he is here tonight?” Mina suggested, “Oh you could totally see if Todoroki got jealous!”

“Mina, I don’t think it’s fair to either of them if she uses Shinsou to get Todoroki’s attention,” Ochaco pointed out and you nodded in agreement.

“Maybe I just need to man up and just talk to Shouto finally,” You stared over at him talking to Midoriya and some of the other boys, “I’m definitely going to need a few more drinks before I do.”

Mina had no hesitation in ordering shots for everybody in attendance, and soon enough all of the guests there were feeling a little more comfortable. The dance floor in the middle of the room was filling up with more people, you were with the girls and dancing, and probably drinking more than you should have. It wasn’t until you spotted Shouto at the bar that you finally broke away. You walked up and stood beside him as he waited for his drink, and unashamedly stared up at him taking in his features. It was incredibly annoying how as he got older, he just became that much more beautiful. He finally glanced down at you with a smile, and told the bartender to make you a drink too. Your heart fluttered a little that he knew what you would like.

“Are you having fun?” Shouto turned so his back was leaning against the bar, and he used his elbows for support. You had to stop yourself from staring at his arms, then his chest, and finally you went back to the eye contact he was still trying to hold.

“Yeah, it’s nice seeing all of us in one spot again,” You grabbed your drink that the bartender dropped off, “What about you?”

“I agree,” Shouto took a drink, “There’s a private lake that we can walk out to, do you want to come with me? Need a break,”

“Yeah, yeah of course,” You nodded and grabbed your drink. You tried your hardest to ignore the winks of your best friends as you walk down the steps with Shouto.

There were lanterns lighting the path out to the lake, and the slight breeze made the warm summer air cool down a lot more. Maybe it was the fact you were walking on Shouto’s ride side though. A pit of anxiety was in your stomach at how romantic the entire scene seemed to be, because what would be a better moment to confess to your best friend that you loved him? You both walked out on the dock, and sat down off the edge. Both of you took your shoes off and let your feet skim above the water. Shouto took a deep breath and looked up at the stars, you stared at him for a second before chugging the rest of your drink.

“The sky is always so much clearer outside of the city,” Shouto mumbled as he stared up at the stars, “They’re even clearer out here than they were at-”

“I think I’m in love with you,” You blurted out, and a heavy tension settled between you both. Shouto’s head stayed tilted towards the stars for a moment, like he was frozen in place, “Well, no, not I think, more like I am, I have been, for a really long time now, and I think that maybe you know this could well, it could be mutual?”

His head dropped down and he looked out at the water this time, still not looking at you. Shouto wasn’t saying anything, and for the first time that was really starting to freak you out. He was usually stoic, and hard to read for other people. Never for you though, you could read him like a book that you knew every word of. You kept your eyes on him, trying your hardest to just keep your cool.

“I get that you know that wasn’t the most calm way to go about that, especially blurting it out here and now, but Sho I want to be with you,” You reached your hand out to touch his arm, and for the first time in five years, he flinched away from you. Panic started to settle in as you started to conclude that he didn’t feel the same. He didn’t want you in that way.

“Oh, oh my gosh,” You stood up and grabbed your shoes, running your hand through your hair. Shouto finally seemed to snap out of it, and he stood up to look at you. The only hint of emotion was the confusion in his eyes, “Fuck that was so stupid of me, I know that it was, I shouldn’t have even said that, I mean I’ve been drinking, and you have been drinking and that was all just a mistake,”

“Are you leaving?” Shouto finally spoke, as he watched you put your sandals back on.

“Yeah, before I say anything else that’s stupid that I will regret tomorrow,”

“You regret saying it?” Shouto’s voice was monotone as he looked down at you. You tried to find any sign that you should say no, but from the looks of it he didn’t want that. He didn’t want you. It was as if you were sinking into a hole, a hole that meant no more Shouto. You needed to claw your way out of it.

“Yes,” You answered, hoping that was your ladder. Your ladder to get out of that hole, “Yes I do, I should get back, um, I’m sorry for all of that.”

You were practically running up the path before he could say another word. When you got closer to the deck, you made your way back to the bar and ordered a few more shots. After your third one the pain in your chest was dull, and you were starting to feel a little better. Shouto had made his way back on the deck, and seemed to be looking around. You wanted to duck and hide, but instead you found coverage elsewhere. In Shinsou.

“Hey,” You smiled at him after you rushed over to the table he was standing at with a few other people, “So, a certain purple birdy told me that you’ve been talking to a yellow bird about me?”

Shinsou choked on his drink a little, coughing before looked down at you, “Perhaps, I’ve been talking to some annoying yellow birds,”

“You should know that the yellow bird can not keep secrets to save his life,” Shinsou laughed before he leaned in a little more towards you.

“Maybe I didn’t want him to keep the secret?” He whispered, and you flushed a little red. Your head was somewhat spinning, maybe from the drinks, but you were going to convince yourself that it was because of Shinsou.

You were too far drunk to feel the immense guilt at using him for a distraction from Shouto. You were also too far drunk to notice Shouto standing back and watching as the two of you flirted. Sometime after Mina’s cake, you and Shinsou made a quiet and swift exit to his car. Then you made it to his apartment, where you briefly remembered drinking more with him when you got there. Those were all in fragments though, patches that needed to be filled.

When you woke up in his bed the next morning though, hungover and guilt ridden, you rushed to the bathroom to throw up. Shinsou came into his bathroom and grimaced at the sight of you, but tied your hair back for you anyways. You were coughing above the toilet, too scared to make eye contact with him.

“Oh fuck, did we..?” You mumbled, your head now pounding.

“No,” Shinsou reassured you, “You were way too drunk, and eventually started crying because you um.. Well you told me everything about Todoroki,”

You groaned and felt like you needed to throw up again, “Shit, I’m so so sorry Hitoshi, I wouldn’t blame you if you were pissed at me right now,”

“Pissed at you for what?” Shinsou sat down on the floor next to the toilet, “When I told Kaminari about my attraction to you, we both agreed and knew who you had your eyes on, everyone’s known it for a really long time,”

You teared up and took the mouth wash he had out for you, and swished it around before spitting it in the toilet. You flushed down all of it and leaned back against the bathtub with Shinsou, “I can’t believe I screwed that all up,”

“Maybe it’s still salvageable, so why don’t we get you some breakfast and I can drive you home?” Shinsou suggested, “You have to face him sooner than later, so why not get it over with?”

“You promise you don’t hate me?” You muttered, and Shinsou wrapped his arm around your shoulder and pulled you against his side.

“I promise, now c’mon, let’s go before you throw up in my bathroom again.”

After breakfast, Shinsou dropped you off at your apartment building. You found yourself hoping that the elevator would get stuck, or maybe even crash. Luck wasn’t on your side though, so instead you just made your way down the hall. You stood outside of your door for a second before finally realizing you had left your phone and keys in Shouto’s car the night before. After muttering a string of cuss words, you finally knocked on the door a few times. Trying to prepare yourself from the look on his face at your current state of holding your dress from last night in one hand, while wearing Shinsou’s shirt and basketball shorts. You tried to prepare yourself for any possible outcome.

What you weren’t expecting though was some perky girl to open the door, wearing one of Shotou’s shirts.

“Oh? I’m sorry, can I help you?” She smiled, “Shouto’s not here right now, he left for patrol,”

You were too far into shock to even say anything. Instead you pushed past her and she followed after you claiming that you shouldn’t do that. You pointed to a picture of yourself, and the girls on the wall. The girl looked at it and then back out you before gasping.

“Oh! I know you! You’re Shouto’s best friend, I’ve read all about you on the news pages,” Her voice was so sickly sweet, “I didn’t realize you two lived together, he didn’t mention that he had a girlfriend last night,”

Your stomach churned at the thought of them together. Finally you looked around the apartment and noticed her dress tossed on the couch.

Before you knew it, the girl was now wearing Shouto’s shirt and your breakfast. She started screaming, and you rubbed your temples as you walked away to grab the cleaning the supplies from the bathroom closet. When you came out, Shouto’s now puke covered shirt was laying on the ground and the girl’s dress was gone. You started to scrub the spot on the floor where your vomit had landed, and then picked up the shirt and threw it in the washer.

After you were done cleaning up your mess, you were like a zombie as you went around and scrubbed any surface that she might’ve touched. That he might’ve touched her on. You stared at the couch, and contemplated making Kirishima come and remove it from the apartment for you. The longer you stared at the couch though, the harder it was to not let your emotions get the better of you. Not even thinking, you went into Shouto’s bedroom to use his bathroom. His shower was better than yours, so the two of you usually just shared it. On his usually made, unmade bed, was a note with a pink lipstick smooch at the bottom.

‘Thanks for last night, call me when you’re home xx’

You ran out of the room as fast as you could and made it to your own bathroom before you threw up for the final time that morning. You pulled yourself up off the ground just enough to turn on your shower. You stripped yourself of your clothes and climbed in, sitting on the floor of it as the tears finally started to slip out. A million thoughts and ideas started going through your head. Your head racing as your chest started to feel as though it was shrinking in on you. You were sobbing but you were convinced that you couldn’t breathe. All at once you felt like your entire world was falling apart, like you were broken into a million little pieces.

It wasn’t unfamiliar feeling, but there was always one person there who could at least put your pieces back together. Shouto could fit all of those pieces back together. Not in a “he fixes everything” way, no instead it was more like he would sit with you and help organize the pieces as you put yourself back together. Trying to convince yourself that you were still capable of doing it without him you pulled yourself up in the shower. You forced yourself to wash your hair, and your body. Sobs still slipped out every so often, but you were trying your best to force them back down.

Once you were finished in the shower you cursed the fact that you two didn’t really leave towels in your bathroom. So instead you just left a trail of water as you walked back into your room. Once you were dressed, you didn’t even bother to brush through your hair as you plopped down on your bed. You pulled the blankets right around you, and let yourself cry more until you finally could fall asleep.

Shouto was a mess. He had been a mess since last night, when you disappeared from the party. He saw Shinsou talking to Kaminari, so he could only assume that you didn’t leave with him. He asked everyone if they had saw you, but they all said no. After saying a quick goodbye to Mina, he went back for his car. His first destination of searching was the apartment, but when he opened the door he could tell that you weren’t there. Your shoes weren’t lazily kicked off by the door for him to fix and put back the right way. A string of cuss words left his mouth, and he started his search of the bars he knew you enjoyed going to.

There was no sign of you there either, just an incredibly too drunk girl that was clinging to him begging him to help her. So he did, he helped her and gave her a place to stay for the night where she could be safe. As soon as they were inside though, the girl stripped out of her dress and tried to pull him on the couch with her. After rejecting her more than he should’ve had to, she finally got the hint and started to cry. He offered for her to sleep in his bed, and gave her his shirt to sleep with so her bare chest would be covered. Even though he didn’t actually sleep, Shouto sat in your room with the door locked to keep away anymore potential unwanted advances.

That morning, he went into his room to gather his patrol clothes. He usually took Sundays off for himself, and because it was the one day you had off. He was going to patrol for you though, to try and see if he could find you anywhere because he was going out of his mind. The girl was still there, tangled up in his bed in nothing more than his shirt and her underwear. He awkwardly explained to her that he was leaving, but he would let her wake up more and she could see herself out.

He went to his agency, and then got ready to start his search for you. He even demanded some of the sidekicks helped him. Shouto was cursing himself for freezing up last night when you told him that you loved him. His entire plan for going out to the lake was to finally confess that he loved you. You beat him to it though, and you were so hasty in telling him you didn’t mean it that he didn’t know what to do. The two of you had both been drinking, so maybe it wasn’t the right moment for either of you to say anything. Before he could even ask you if you could talk about it the next day, just enjoy the party together, and maybe talk about it over breakfast.. You were saying it was a mistake, and you didn’t mean it. Then you were rushing off and avoiding any kind of contact with him.

After searching everywhere he could, he was finally starting to lose his cool. Shouto had seen you have your attacks, and you were the only person who was able to help him identify when he was having one himself. He didn’t even notice one coming on, until Midoriya was kneeling in front of him. He was trying to talk to him, and understand what was happening.

“She’s gone, she’s gone and I can’t find her, why can’t I find her? I s-should’ve stopped her.. I..” Shouto Todoroki knew you were his weak spot, you had been his weak spot since the moment you opened up to him. You were also his rock though, the only other person beside Midoriya who was completely and totally patient with his lack of knowledge when it came to relationships and people. Now he didn’t know where you were, and his brain could only assume the worst outcome or scenario.

“Shouto, I’m going to get you home okay?” Midoriya’s words cut through the clouds in his brain, “You and I will wait there for her, and I will get in touch with everybody else to see if they can find her.”

Shouto let his friend pull him up off the pavement, but was silent the entire way back to his agency. He was quick to change and grab his things, trying to avoid anybody else seeing him in the state he was in. Midoriya drove him home, and tried his best to get Shouto to calm down. In his head though, the worst possible outcomes were happening. Finally, Shinsou answered Midoriya’s calls.

Midoriya explained everything, and Shinsou sighed before saying, “She’s home, I dropped her off there myself.”

Shouto practically leaped out of the passenger seat at the last red light before your shared apartment. He was running as fast as he could, too impatient for the elevator he opted for sprinting up the stairs instead. His hands were shaking as he unlocked the apartment door, and he stepped inside to the smell of bleach overwhelming him… And your shoes and your dress from last dropped by the front door. Shouto fixed your shoes, and picked up your dress as he made his way down the hall to your room.

Shouto felt the entire world lift off his shoulders when he saw you curled up in your bed. Your soft snores filled his ears and he dropped your dress in your laundry basket before went and sat on your bed. Your hair was damp and in tangles. Your pillow was soaked. He wanted to wake you up and scold you, and tell you that you were going to catch a cold sleeping like that. Instead though, he opted for gently letting his fingers touch your face.

You shifted a little at the sudden cold touch on your face, and your eyes peeled open a bit to see Shouto sitting next you. For a minute, you didn’t remember anything that happened. All you saw was the man you loved, looking at you like you were the only thing that mattered in the world. Then the memories sunk in, of the previous night, and seeing that girl just hours prior. Your throat tightened up, and you shifted a little.

“You scared me,” Shouto sounded like he was scolding you, “When I couldn’t find you last night I thought something had happened to you,”

“I’m surprised you had time to worry,” Your words were so quiet, but they shocked him nonetheless.

“What do you mean?” Shouto’s eyebrows creased in the middle, “Did you stay with Shinsou? He said he dropped you off at home,”

“I did,” Your words were dry, and when you sat up Shouto finally noticed that you had been crying. Your eyes were red, and your lips looked like you had been nervously peeling the skin off of them. His heart sank a little, something had upset you and he wasn’t there to help.

“What happened?” Shouto whispered, and his hand reached out to grab yours. For the first time ever though, you pulled it away from him. Out of his grasp.

“Did you have fun after I left?” You hated that you sounded like a jealous lover. You were definitely jealous, but you weren’t a lover.

“No?” Shouto tilted his head, “No, I didn’t even notice you had left,”

“Yeah, I mean from the looks of this morning, your hands must’ve been pretty full,” You sounded angry, and Shouto was confused as to why.

Why were you upset with him for looking for you? Did you two have something planned?

“Well, I know I don’t usually work Sundays but I made an exception for today because-”

“Because you needed a way out of your one night stand? She left you a note by the way, with her number on it, maybe you should go bother her,” You snapped, and Shouto sat back a little. He was trying to read the situation, trying to read you. All he could pick out though, was that he was bothering you? Bothering you because he cares

“I didn’t realize that looking for you all night and all morning was bothering you?” He scoffed, “I mean you just disappeared last night, and I couldn’t find you anywhere so I,”

“Took home another girl instead? Since you would have the apartment to yourself?” You didn’t even let him finish the sentence, which just frustrated him even more.

“What? No,” Shouto stood up and looked at you, and you laughed. Actually laughed at him, before you stood up too.

“I mean hey it’s fine, she looked great, so I bet you had a good time,” You scoffed crossing your arms, “If you want to start doing that more often don’t let me stop you,”

“What are you even fucking talking about?!” Shouto finally snapped, the frustrating and confusion getting to him, “You think I had a good night?! I spent the entire night waiting for you to come back, then when you didn’t I spent my entire morning and afternoon trying my best to convince myself that you weren’t dead! Why are you mad about that?!”

You blinked a few times, “Because I came home to our fucking apartment after telling you I was in love with you, to find another girl walking around half naked!”

“Her being naked was a shock for me too! Imagine how I felt when I turned around and her dress was gone!”

“Judging by the state of your bed, and the note on it, you didn’t seem to mind it!” You were both confused, tired, and angry. Shouto was looking you over, like he was trying to assess you like you were some work problem. In usual fashion, you could see the pieces start to add up as his eyebrows unclenched. Shouto took a deep breath.

“I didn’t have sex with that girl, she was crying outside of the bar that I went to look for you at, and I offered to let her sleep in my bed,” Shouto explained the situation, and now it was your turn to feel stupid. You wanted to crawl back into your bed and hide from him like a scared little kid. You opted for just sitting down though, and he followed you in doing so.

There was a moment of silence as you tried to digest the embarrassment of how you just acted, “I don’t blame you, I supposed if I would have shown up at Shinsou’s and found you there I would’ve made the same conclusions about the two of you,”

“I stayed there, but nothing happened between the two of us,” You whispered, picking at your sheets slightly. There was another bit of silence before Shouto finally took a deep breath and turned himself completely towards you.

“I love you,” Your eyes snapped up to meet his, “I am in love with you, and have been since I was sixteen, I didn’t say anything about it because the person who started pushing me towards realizing it was Dabi, when he mentioned you being my weak spot,

I didn’t know what that meant at first, but I knew after he pointed that out I just wanted to be around you even more than I already was, I didn’t even realize what the feelings were that I was having towards you until Midoriya explained it to me, but then I was just too.. Too scared to even say anything about how I felt, because I had never felt that way before, so then instead I just kept you even closer to me, brought you around my family and watched the way you molded with them,

At dinner yesterday Natsuo finally convinced me that it was time for me to man up and tell you how I felt and I was going to at the lake, but you were talking so fast and I couldn’t even process what was happening until I couldn’t find you anymore and I started to get scared that I lost you,”

Shouto was looking right at you, not once breaking eye contact while he spoke every thought that was in his mind. You blinked a few times, and tried to force yourself to say something. Shouto fidgeted nervously.

“If you were telling the truth last night, and you didn’t mean what you said me then that’s okay and I won’t hold it against you, but if you did..”

You couldn’t find the words to say, so instead you sat up a little and glanced at his lips. He caught the subtle look, and as if it was second nature to him gathered what you were hinting at. What you wanted to do but you were simply too scared to. So instead, he placed a warm hand flat against your jaw and gently moved in closer. Both of you were hesitating, both of you watched the other for any kind of tell that maybe it shouldn’t happen. Shouto was surprisingly the first one to close the gap between you two, and pressed his lips softly against yours.

The kiss was gentle at first, his lips slotting against yours as if they were always meant to be there. His hand stayed on your jaw for a moment before finally sliding to the back of your tangled and damp hair, pulling you closer while always pulling himself closer to you. Both of your hands mimicked his, as you slid them to the base of his neck holding him in place. Shouto shivered a little, at the feeling of your nails gently scrapping the nape of his neck. His free hand snaked around your waist to pull you against him even more.

“Not close enough,” Shouto complained against your lips, and you let out that little laugh that loved more than anything. He went into kiss you again, but you tried to hold him back so you could tell him you felt the same way. So you could tell him you loved him too. He was a fighter though, and kept pressing his lips against yours.

“Sho,” You giggled again, and finally placed both of your hands on his face, “Let me talk,”

For the first time in knowing him, you saw Shouto Todoroki actually pout at the fact he wasn’t getting his way, “Hurry, need more of that..”

His words sent a shiver up your spine, and goosebumps formed on your arms, “I love you too, Shouto Todoroki, I always have, and I promise you I always will,”

His pouting lips tugged up into a small grin that made your heart melt, he pressed his forehead to yours before he whispered, “I have.. I have a lot to learn about this, about loving someone like this, so please.. Be patient with me?”

“I’ve been patient for five years waiting for you to even give a hint that I was more than a friend, I can be patient with you learning how to navigate me being your girlfriend,” Your thumb rubbed just below his scar, and his eyes opened up again to look at you, “I mean if you want me to be your girlfriend,”

“I want you to be my.. You are my everything,” Shouto breathed out, the words making you both feeling giddy inside, “Your minute is up though.”

Shouto pressed his lips against yours again, this time with a little more force. The two of you eventually were laying in your bed together, still letting the occasional lazy kiss turn into a make out session. Both of you just wrapped up in one another, as comfortable feeling settled between you both that you were together.. Finally.

[tonydaddingham]

im losing my MIND bUT here you go have some thoughts on the second coming

so we start with the below screenshots from the trailer where we have a statue of gabriel close up holding the crucifix, and then the next shot with beelzebub where there is no cross and instead what looks to be a bundle in its arms (i don't think it's a shadow bc it looks too opaque, too human shaped (think voldemort in goblet of fire lmao) AND the lighting from above on the stone would be more illuminated???)

the clue to where this is in the storyline however is that gabriel looks to be dressed in his lighter coloured heaven clothes, so before he loses his memory/flashback?

so this is presumably where gabriel has arrived on earth to retrieve jesus, possibly tucks him into a pristine moving-day cardboard box (i feel like the 'this way up' is both literal in that one shouldnt hold christ upside down as well as being a direction to deliver it to heaven?)

and given that gabriel heralded the birth of jesus in the first place, its perhaps all hinged on gabriel himself that the second coming happens, ergo if they eradicate gabriel, then there's no second coming, and therefore there's no tilting of the scales to favour heaven in the eventual war that will follow

anyway i reckon there must be a tussle with beelzebub or demons in general in the graveyard because then it seems like beelzebub gets discorporated possibly in the graveyard (hence the marker in the opening sequence) and gets temporarily demoted back in hell for losing gabriel/jesus (leaving a power vacuum for shax???)

update: AYOO @goth-maudra had them eagle EYES and spotted this!!!!

WE SEE YOU SHAX 💅

update 18/07: ayo fucking called it???

but gabriel either gets possessed by jesus (see: funny as fuck) or something just generally happens to him in this fight that makes him lose his memory and possibly lose track of the box, so the whole thing gets all messed up and noone knows where jesus has gotten to... but god sends aziraphale a clue (✨✨A cLuE✨✨) to tracking it down, in the shape of the everyday record and the resurrectionist pub address (lmao is jesus in the JUKEBOX???) on a fucking post-it note

or maybe hell had something to do with gabriel losing his memory (shax? idk but that could be the motive for her getting chummy with crowley in the first place) (i promise I'm not hating on shax my beloved but she SCARES me) in an effort to stall the second coming and now they're trying to retrieve and kill goob to forestall it altogether

but what they didnt count on is a smart, fastidious, nosy lil angel boy sticking his oar in and getting there first, and being a good enough person to hide goob in the first place but i disgress

and beelzebub, knowing that there's a retired angel on earth and gabriel might naturally gravitate towards there, infiltrates the bookshop as a wee fly (funny af in the goob clip of him swatting them with books BUT also the fly is like centre placement in beelzebub's character poster... COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT) and feeds this back to shax, so shax gets chummy with the demon that she replaced 👀👀 and tries to get him to turn on aziraphale and pressure him to luring goob out of the shop so hell can get to him, pressing crowley's Jealousy and Possessiveness buttons to her advantage

now idk how i feel about goob getting lost/leaving the shop and aziraphale has to track him down by going to Edinburgh, ill need to ruminate on this more, but crowley saying 'ooooh hell won't like that' and infiltrating (see: strolling blithely into heaven cosplaying bill nighy in love actually) makes me HOPE that he is still fighting the good fight but something is niggling at me as to why he ends up on the throne in hell and NOT in the bookshop when the demon attack is taking place, that makes me think major angst will happen and crowley ends up inadvertently supporting hell in getting goob and preventing the second coming

sigh now i need to go update my episode timeline how the fUCK do i summarise this

[writtenonreceipts]

This is the chapter that kinda started it all, especially the flashback. I’m trying to make things move faster than they want to.  I think I’m just resigned to be that fic writer who never finishes anything.  Sorry you have to deal with me…

Find the Masterlist Here // Ao3 Link

Warnings: These apply to the flashback portion at the end of the chapter: language (nothing major, just more than I typically like using), war, blood, injury, minor character death, if you’re iffy/worried dm me or send an ask and I can summarize details if you’d like.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Where We've Been, Where We're Going--Part Eight  

The next few days continued in an easy rhythm.  

Rowan didn’t know what surprised him more--that he adapted so easily to the various tasks he had on hand or that he and Aelin had entered into a cautious friendship.

Though, to be frank, cautious was putting it lightly.  It was a situation he’d never found himself in before and he wasn’t sure how to proceed.  He made sure he wasn’t in the house when Aelin wasn’t and tried to stay out even when she was home, only returning when he had to or she sent him a message about an extra pizza slice in the fridge for him.  But he didn’t want to intrude.  Or he really just didn’t want to run the risk of letting something slip or proving just how incapable he was at being around other people.  

Keeping busy helped.  

Unfortunately, he didn’t sleep any better which was more of a pain than he’d let anyone know.    During the day he could distract himself with various tasks of making sure fence posts were even or he did a decent job installing windows.  At night, alone and in the silence, was when his mind would wander most.  It was here in the quiet confines of his mind that his memories came out from the shadows.

 For now, it was easy enough to keep to himself.  When he got too restless at night he’d go out and sit in the bed of the truck and stare out at the night sky.  More often than not, it was cloudless and he could watch the stars.  It was much as he did in Kovac only with different constellations.  

The only thing that really bothered him was ignoring the various texts and calls now that he was letting his phone remain charged up.  He’d only done it to keep Aelin appraised of his watching Meiri that one night.  And then, for some reason, he left the damn thing on and charged ever since.  

Aelin only sent him a few messages during the day.  Mostly simple reminders to eat something.  And then a few updates on Emrys as well.  Rowan didn’t tell Aelin he’d given Malakai his number already.  He didn’t want to run the risk of her not messaging as often as she did.

Which he realized made him a miserable ass, but he already knew that.

By the time two full weeks had passed since his arrival, Rowan had become a recognizable figure in Terrasen.  People actually knew his name and would greet him on the street or at the store.  Some would hire him out for odd jobs in their yards, even Sartaq let Rowan swing by to fix up a few other cars on occasion.

He was still helping get the motel up and running of course.  Emrys was still in rehab after some tests came back a little less optimistic than what the doctors preferred.  So, Rowan kept up his usual ritual of odd job help in the morning and hammering away at the motel until well into the night.

The routine was more helpful than he’d ever admit.

It almost made it easier to bear the memories.

Until his phone kept buzzing.  There was only one consistent number that reached out to him and after a while, Rowan wondered if he should just save the new contact.

Which was probably why he was currently distracting himself at Sartaq’s garage.

It was a late Friday afternoon with the usual summer heat and bright sunlight banking through the open doors.  Rowan was staring down into a nearly obliterated radiator and hose tear wondering just how poorly this car had been treated in the past when Sartaq finally broached a topic he’d much rather had avoided.

They’d both served in Kovac, Sartaq for such a short time and Rowan had been busy in sniper training that they’d never met.  Sartaq also hadn’t been in a position that could also lead him to potential harm.  Family strings and all.  Rowan didn’t begrudge the man for that--as far as he could tell, Sartaq would have been in the front lines even now if his family would allow it.  Instead, to keep him from getting himself killed, his wealthy parents let him land in Terrasen fixing up old cars.  Rowan had the feeling his new friend resented his family quite a bit even if he liked the work he was doing.

“Did you ever go to Orynth?” Sartaq asked.  He leaned over another car that had been brought over doing a general assessment on what would just be a break-check and oil change.

Rowan paused to wipe his hands on a grease rag, not really wanting to talk about the war.  But he figured Sartaq would be a decent enough guy to back off if Rowan started showing any signs of disinterest in the topic.

“No, but I heard it was rough,” he said. “One of my mates was reassigned there for a few weeks out of punishment.”

Lorcan never did say why Maeve made him go, just that he’d learned his lesson on the matter.  He did, however, share that they could all consider themselves lucky for not going.  Lorcan had always been that way: never sharing anything, never revealing anything, never opening up with vulnerability.

“Nesryn was stationed there for ages,” Sartaq said.  He often referred to his friend as though Rowan knew her himself.  As it was, she was a constant staple of conversation in the garage.  “Always said it was the worst place to be.”

“Isn’t she the one that would whip out a bow and arrow instead of actually using a gun in training?” Rowan asked.  In all honesty, he was desperate to have some sort of a good connection to his memories of Kovac instead of the blood and violence and misery.  So why not play into this conversation just a little?

Sartaq chuckled. “Yeah, probably.  She was only a translator so she never liked using a gun, but the locals had bows and arrows to use when their resources were so shitty.  So she’d entertain the kids when their parents were dying or after a raid when the Valg gangs would wreak havoc.  She was good like that.”

Rowan remembered her.  He’d never actually met her, only saw brief snippets of her or heard other soldiers talk about how she’d take no shit or stupid orders.  The one real memory he had occured after that damn raid that sent the rest of his military career into hell.  

He’d been kicked out of a debriefing and instead was trying to clean his rifle when this woman waltz through camp with a bow and arrow.  She had a bag full of candy and water on one shoulder and a beautiful handcrafted weapon on the other.  Kids tentatively approached while she put on a small show of all the odd places she could land and arrow from all sorts of strange positions.

It was the first time in a long time he’d seen the kids of the village smile.

“Yeah, Maeve got pissed at her for it too,” Rowan said.  He loosened a bolt on one of the spring clamps that needed to be replaced.  “Said she was being too distracting.  But Nesryn just shot an apple straight from a kid's hand.  Didn’t even look.”

With a fond shake of his head, Sartaq didn’t say anything for a minute. “You were under Maeve’s command?”

And just like that, Rowan felt an icy dread pool in his gut.

“Yeah.”

“I heard about her and that prick Hammel.”

Static started buzzing in Rowan’s ears.  He crossed to where there were some extra bolts and equipment waiting to be used.  Tacky sweat gathered on his skin and he wondered if he could get along with disinterested grunts the rest of the day.

“They were always so elitist, yeah?  Really careful about who they let on their squad.”

Sartaq didn’t notice Rowan’s dilemma in the slightest.  Which was supposedly a good thing.  If he didn’t notice then he wouldn’t ask about it.  

“How’d you manage to be a part of that little cadre?”

“I was a sniper,” Rowan said.  He took his time picking out a new bolt, clamp, and radiator hose that would fit the car’s needs he was working on. “Had the best marks, I guess.”

“Strange she’d let you go after getting her claws in you.”

“Proof we don’t always get what we want,” Rowan said, lightly.  He added a laugh, strained though it was.  

So, Sartaq didn’t know about that last mission.  Not surprising considering how long he’d been out, but still.  Rowan was grateful he didn’t have to talk about it.  He could manage a passing tale about Talbot if he needed.  But that last raid?  The one where he’d screwed up enough to be stripped of his previous honors?  To be dishonorably discharged?  That one he’d take with him to his grave.

…

It was late the next day when Rowan got a call he actually wanted to pick up.

He was back at the motel trying to figure out how to reach one of the window ledges that had not been planned out very well when his phone buzzed.  The only reason he knew who it was was because Aelin stood and watched as he saved the number.

MALAKAI steamed across the screen in bold letters.

For a moment, Rowan worried if it was bad news.  He wasn’t sure he could handle a messy phone call.  But then he managed to convince himself that Malakai certainly wouldn’t try calling him if it were bad news about Emrys.  He’d be too focused on Aelin and his son. So, Rowan picked up the call.

“Malakai,” he greeted.

“Rowan, glad you have caught you,” Malakai said.  The unspoken I didn’t know if you’d actually answer was particularly loud in the brief silence that followed. “I wanted to let you know that Emrys’ numbers improved and he’s being discharged tomorrow.”

It was a strange thing to feel joy.  Especially when it had been so long since the last time you felt it.  So when his heart skipped and all the tension eased from his body, Rowan had no idea how to respond.

“That’s,” he finally managed, “that’s good to hear.”

“I tried calling Aelin, but I know she’s on shift,” Malakai said. “I know it would mean a lot to her if she knew sooner rather than later.  Would you mind going--”

“I can do that,” Rowan cut in.  Hell, there was nothing he’d want to do more. “I’ll head over there now, I was just finishing up one of the windows at the motel.”

There was a beat. “You were doing what now?”

Ah.  He’d forgotten he hadn’t actually told Malakai what he’d been doing the last two weeks.  Everyone just assumed he had and Rowan went along with it.

“I gotta go.”  Rowan hung up.  He didn’t really like talking to people anyways.

He made quick work of packing up and ensuring the motel was locked.  The ladder went around the far corner of the motel near the alleyway.  Despite some rambunctious teens and the usual problematic people in a small town, nothing was really in danger of getting stolen.  Plus, Rowan would see to it personally if anything was taken from Malakai and Emrys.

He closed up his tool box and settled it in the bed of his truck before driving the short few blocks to the diner.

The parking lot was nearly empty aside from Nox’s car around back.  Aelin usually walked to work whenever she could.  Only a dark truck was in the lot and Rowan recognized that as Mr. Aguayo’s.  He always swung by to purchase an order of steak and gravy for his pregnant wife.

Rowan parked near the back of the lot, not minding an extra walk.  It was still warm even as the summer days slowly drifted closer to fall.  From what he’d heard, it wasn’t until October that the weather drifted below seventy degrees.  And then usually the first snow came in November.  It’d been ages since Rowan had experienced snow and he wondered what it would be like…

Though, he’d be leaving soon enough so it didn’t really matter.

Mr. Aguayo was leaving just as Rowan walked up to the door.  They exchanged a quick greeting--Rowan really didn’t know the man very well aside from his small landscaping business.  And Mrs. Aguayo loved her steak cooked at a medium rare.  And she often craved Funyuns too.

Once inside the diner, Rowan almost felt like home.  The 50’s aesthetic was just as garish as the first day he’d been in there.  The red booths and checked floor looked a bit tired, but clean.  

“Welcome in! Oh, Rowan.” Aelin rounded the corner from the back of the restaurant, dressed in her usual shorts, t-shirt, and an apron that had seen better days.  Her blonde hair was in a long braid over one shoulder, frayed edges poking out after a day of running between tables. “You here to eat?”

“Have you checked your phone recently?” he asked instead, though he knew that if she’d seen any messages from Malakai she would have already heard the news and would have been telling him all about it.

She frowned, scrambling for the pockets of her apron. “What happened?  Is it Marion?”

“Wh-No, no,” Rowan said.  He wondered briefly why her mind went straight to Marion, but he hurried to cross the space between them to reassure her.  He rested a hand on her arm before he thought better of it. “It’s good news, I promise.”

She stared at him with wide, blue eyes.  There was apprehension there, but trust too.  It had been so long since anyone had looked at him like that, trusting and open, that Rowan found himself speechless.

“Emrys is being released from the hospital tomorrow.”  He didn’t want her hanging on anymore of his words waiting for bad news. “Malakai just called me.”

Aelin released a shaky breath before she laughed.  And then, in a turn of events that Rowan had not expected, she threw her arms around him in a hug.

The first thing Rowan noticed was the fact that Aelin smelled like jasmine and honey.  The second was her soft curves and vice like grip.  And then he thought about how long it had been since someone had hugged him.

No one on his squad cared for anything other than the roughhousing or smacks upside the head.  He hadn’t seen either of his cousins since before he enlisted and even then, the Whitethorn’s weren’t touchy-feely.  And that was it.  That was everyone he knew that he would even consider hugging.  And here was Aelin who had been through hell and back hugging him as though they were friends as though she actually liked him.

And he had no idea what to do.

Oh he knew the mechanics of a hug and how not to be a complete robot in his emotions.  Somewhat.  But this was Aelin.  Who in just a few short weeks had come to actually mean something to him even if he didn’t know how to define it.  And he was Rowan who had only ever been a complete and utter screw-up.  In everything.

“Sorry,” Aelin said, pulling back while Rowan just stood there. Her cheeks were flushed with a mix of embarrassment and residual excitement. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.  I wasn’t thinking.”

Rowan cleared his throat, nose still tingling with the scent of her. “It’s fine.  It’s good news.”

“Yeah, it is,” she agreed.  She was still smiling but it was jaded now after he’d gone and made things awkward by not hugging her back. She brushed an errant hair from her eyes and didn’t meet his eyes. “Really good news.  I know they’re both ready for him to be home.  And Luca will be so excited too.  He’s been a mess since it happened.”

“It’ll be good for him to come home,” Rowan said.  This was the type of news everyone deserved to receive.  The type of news Rowan wished he could have given more than he did.

“Emrys always had that way about him of just making a place home, you know?  And giving me so much patience when I didn’t deserve it.”  Aelin exhaled slowly before looking at him. “Thank-you for coming to tell me.”

“I was glad to,” he said.  Really, it was the best change of pace from having to acknowledge another death.  And if it meant seeing her smile like that and have a bit of joy in her life?  Rowan would do anything for her to keep smiling, he decided.

“I’ve been a mess all week with his new tests going through,” Aelin said as she finished pulling her phone out of her apron pocket. “And Meiri is not enjoying daycare this summer, plus Marion--”

She waved a hand in dismissal and pulled up Malakai’s number on her screen.  Rowan should have left then, a part of him was screaming too.  She still had an hour on her shift, he’d told her what he wanted to, and there was still daylight left to try and finish another window at the motel.  And if not that, Murtaugh at the hardware store donated paint to help give the motel a new look.  Rowan could start in on that.  And yet, he stayed.

“Malakai,” Aelin said when the other line picked up. “Yeah, no, Rowan just told me.  He’s coming home tomorrow?...Good, that’s so good to hear…I’ll make sure Chaol brings Luca home…You too.”

She hung up, a small smile still on her lips.

“We’re going to have a welcome home party,” she announced.  She nodded firmly to assert her words more fully. “With chocolate cake.”

There was nothing that sounded more like Aelin than chocolate cake and parties.  Rowan could easily imagine that Aelin would put an overwhelming amount of detail and care into such a venture.  For the first time in knowing her, she actually looked happy and at peace.  Which, from what Rowan had gathered about her, was a miracle in itself.

“You’re going to come, right?” Aelin asked.

Rowan hesitated.  As of late, he’d never been one for social gatherings.  Especially not with so many people he didn’t know.  Sure the last few weeks he’d gotten to know many of the people in town.  But it wasn’t the same.  Not when the second the motel was finished he’d be gone and in California.

Crowds especially had been difficult and he’d avoided them ever since coming back home.  Most of the time he knew what his triggers were and how to avoid them.  Being in a crowded room could easily overwhelm him.

“I--” Rowan was blissfully cut off when the door of the diner opened and Chaol walked in.

The sheriff was only partially dressed in his uniform--the tan pants that most law officers wore looked a little worse for wear as they were stained with dirt, grass, and dark splotches that were almost certainly blood.  Instead of the usual brown button-up, he wore a plain white t-shirt that was a mess of dirt and dried blood.

“What happened to you?” Aelin asked when she took Chaol in.  

“Bad day,” Chaol said.  He scowled and ran a hand through his short hair.  “Told Luca I’d pick up food.”

It looked decidedly worse than a bad day but Rowan had a feeling Aelin was already gearing up to chew Chaol out.

“You have blood on your shirt,” she said, resting her hands on her hips.  She fixed Chaol with a glare that rivaled even the worst that Rowan had received.

Chaol returned the deadpanned stare. “It’s fine.”

Rolling her eyes, Aelin turned to head back to the kitchen. “There’s a few extra sandwiches in the back, give me a minute and I’ll do up some fries.”

“Thank’s Aelin,” Chaol called after her.  She waved a hand overhead to acknowledge she’d heard.

It was only when she was gone that Chaol sighed and ran a hand over his face.  He eyed Rowan for a moment before speaking up.

“It was an accident involving a kid,” Chaol admitted lightly. “Ten-years old.  Nothing anyone could have done.  And you know she wouldn’t take that easily.”

It was the simplest explanation he could have given, but Rowan could already paint an exact picture of what had happened.  Especially with how run down Chaol appeared now.  Rowan wondered why Chaol would take it on himself to use a filter around Aelin, especially considering her no nonsense attitude and strong will to simply survive.  Though, he’d try not to judge the sheriff too harshly for his choice.

He’d lived through his fair share of accidents. Accidents where no matter what anyone did it just wasn’t enough.

Rowan knew exactly what that was like.

“I’m sorry,” he said honestly.  

He thought, briefly, about spoiling the news of Emrys’ hospital release, but decided that would best be left for Aelin to reveal.  Besides, he needed to leave.  He didn’t know where he needed to be just anywhere but here.

Instead, Rowan offered a single nod and headed back out of the diner.  “Have a good night.”

Chaol frowned in confusion, gesturing to the kitchen doorway where Aelin had gone. “Do you want--”

But Rowan was already gone, lost to the heat of the night and the memories of his past.

…

There was a man dying next to him.

Rowan didn’t know him.  Rowan didn’t want to know him.

All he knew was that just moments before this man had been trying to kill him.  And he knew that now, amid the darkening shadows of the night, he was trying to say one final round of prayers.  And he knew that the blood seeping into the dusty ground was innocent.  Innocent.  Innocent because what right did Rowan have to kill this man?  Because of a raid that might not amount to anything?  Because of a war that had been drawn on so long that violence had become the only answer for any question asked.

The man’s final breath rattled wetly.

Forcing the man from his mind, Rowan pulled his knife from the man's gut and returned to his rifle.  He had to wipe the blood from his fingers first, but that couldn’t be avoided.  He slowly wrapped his fingers around the grips and rested his finger on the trigger.  When a soft breeze blew, the wet blood caused a chill to snatch across his skin.

Through his sights he could see the streets of the village they were about to raid.  Maeve was insistent the Valg gang that had been terrorizing this side of the city would be moving weapons tonight.  Rowan didn’t know where exactly the intel had come from, only that it was from a reliable source.  He supposed the dead man beside him was evidence enough.

Hammel had barely developed a plan besides watching the trucks that rolled in and out of the city.  Even though it had been one week since his arrival, the new co-captain hardly seemed interested in doing his job.

“White Hawk?” Gavriel’s voice came over on the coms. “I saw signs of a struggle.  You good?”

Rowan clicked his com in acknowledgement.

“Where’s Talbot?” Gavriel demanded. “Shouldn’t he have your back?”

“Taking care of a few spooks, sir,” came Talbot’s quiet reply, “circling back now.”

Rowan hadn’t been concerned over the kid making sure they wouldn’t have any more surprises.  While Talbot was a little younger than him, he was eager and a hard worker.  Smart too.  He would trust him with his life and not just because he had to.

“All clear at the North and East entrances,” Rowan murmured in his coms.

At his words he watched as Hernandez led a group of her soldiers through the street to the building in question.  Rowan had seen at least three targets circle back to the building over the course of the night, each either carrying something or pushing a cart.  The thing was, this area was family dense.  Someone could simply be transporting food or extra blankets or wanting to move in the dark without being seen.  

Then why had the man beside him tried to attack him?

Rowan watched and listened as Hammel ordered the entrance.  Half of the squad took the front and Gavriel led the others through the back.  It would play out like it always did: orders to stand down, not to move, don’t resist, watch the west side.

It was how it should have gone.

“Front’s still clear,” Rowan said into his coms, “Redline, what’s your status?”

Talbot remained silent.

“Redline?” Rowan repeated.  He switched to the mainline for the rest of the squad just in case the network was fritzing. “Talbot, check in.”

There was a flicker to the north side of the building the squad was raiding.  Rowan turned his scope in that direction and adjusted his sights.

“Lionheart we’ve got a bogie to the north, Redline is unresponsive.”

“Roger that,” Gavriel responded. “Keep your eyes open, White Hawk.”

Rowan tried to ignore the feeling in his gut that grew with every passing second.  Something was wrong.  He didn’t know what it was, but it was damn near palpable.  Talbot never went radio silent.  Not like this.  Hell, he had to remind the kid to stop talking when they were on stakeouts.  But Talbot was still responsible.  He knew his duties and he did them well.  

For one, brief moment, Rowan considered leaving his post and looking for the kid.  But with Maeve and Hammel watching, he knew he couldn’t.  All he could do was hope the kid showed up. Maybe his radio disconnected and he just hadn’t noticed.  Or he didn’t charge it properly before the mission.  It had happened once before.  Or--

“White Hawk?” Talbot’s quiet voice crackled through Rowan’s radio.

Thank the fates. “Where the hell have you been, kid?  I’ve been--”

“Found something,” Talbot cut in.  His voice was still distorted with a bad connection, static fizzing and popping horribly. “Had to make sure,” a loud pop of static, “something’s wrong, can’t reach Lionheart.”

“Repeat that, Redline, you’re breaking up,” Rowan said.  He kept his sights trained on where he’d seen the flicker of movement, knowing Gavriel was keeping tabs on the other side of the homestead they were raiding.  As far as Rowan could tell there was just a flickering curtain he’d already cleared.  And a flash of silver but given this part of the village that shouldn’t be a concern.  He’d noticed something similar, but it flicked so irregularly that he decided it was nothing important.  Morse code wasn’t universal, but Rowan knew most codes various countries used and there was no discernible pattern that he could note.

“Rowan,” Talbot’s voice finally rang clear and strong. 

“Talbot--Danny,” Rowan sighed, relieved. “What happened?”

“Think I was spotted,” Talbot said, “I came back around to see where the bogie came from.  Saw something weird.  Rowan, we gotta pull out.”

“Hold on kid.”  Rowan did a sweep of the surrounding area but didn’t see anything.  “Where are you?”

“North.  There’s a few Kovac soldiers dragging boxes around,” Talbot said as the static returned. “Rowan…I think they’re smugglers not--”

Talbot was cut off by something crashing on his end followed by a shout in another language.

“Talbot?” Rowan shifted, drawing one hand to his commlink and pressing it into his ear, as if that would help with the connection. When no response came Rowan switched frequencies. “Lionheart, we’ve got a situation.  I think Redline found trouble.”

There was a pause and a round of muffled voices before Gavriel responded.

“Copy,” Gavriel finally replied. “We’ve got it under control here, I’ll send Fenrys--”

“There’s no time,” Rowan said, nerves spiking despite how hard he was working to control himself.

Rowan was up and moving before the captain finished speaking.  He made sure to stay low and keep his position as uncompromised as possible.  The hot air whipped around him digging sand between his skin and the straps of his goggles.  Sweat trickled down his back as he moved.  Even at night the heat was unbearable.  

The discomfort all but faded from Rowan’s mind as he ran down the dusty trail than wound down from his snipers nest.  Underbrush crunched beneath his feet and sand picked up in thick plumes.  Rowan hardly noticed.  In a matter of minutes he was down from the bluffs and in the near empty streets.  He hardly noticed the weight of his rifle in his hands as he ducked behind the wall of a small home.  There was nothing to indicate any potential danger.  

He slipped around the corner keeping his gun ready and eyes open.  Nothing.  Nothing but the wind picking up and the sound of scattering debris.

“Whitethorn, what are you doing?” Gavriel demanded through the comms.

Rowan ignored him as he sprinted down the road to the building he last saw Talbot clear.  He was closing in by the yards, slipping behind doorways or abandoned carts when he thought he saw something.  He didn’t dare try and contact Talbot in case his radio crackled, giving him away.

On cat's feet, Rowan darted the last stretch of road to where he’d last clocked Talbot.  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary--no extra footsteps, no strange sights.  All there was, was the faint, sweet scent of almonds.  But then it dissipated.  

Rowan was about to risk radioing Talbot just to see if he saw anything, or if he’d changed location when the first shot rang out.

The singular pop echoed through the otherwise silent night.

And Rowan felt his heart seize.

Time passed too slow as he dropped all pretense of stealth.  Another gunshot rang out as Rowan pushed himself harder through the streets.  He threw open the door of the house Talbot was checking.  Through his radio he heard Hammel and Gavriel both yelling at him.  The first to stand down the second to report.

Rowan focused only on his steps, his breathing, the tight turn around a corner and the body he found slumped against the wall.

Blood smeared in an aftershadow against the dark wood and already began trickling down in a slow, slow pull.

“Man down,” Rowan said into his radio, “medic needed.”

His voice was strangely calm as he said the words.  

His body too as he dropped down beside Talbot.  Already there was a pool of blood forming beneath the other man.  How, with all the layers Talbot was wearing, was that possible?  Rowan wouldn’t let himself think of the implications.

“Talbot,” he said, pressing his hands over the first entry wound he saw, hot blood wrapped around his fingers. “Talbot, look at me!”

With a groan and a cough, Talbot’s eyes fluttered open. “What’re y’doing, Whitethorn?”

“Applying pressure, you idiot,” Rowan said. “You’re gonna be fine, alrigh’?”

Talbot tried to laugh and Rowan pretended it wasn’t blood pooling at the corners of his mouth.

“Two gunshot wounds, gut ‘nd chest.  I’m not…I’m not--”

“Shut up,” Rowan growled, “I said you’re gonna be fine.”

His radio was going off with demands for answers, the eta of a medic, the call for a pull back.  Rowan ignored it all.  He should have been able to respond to some of the calls, should have multi-tasked, but all he could do was apply pressure to the wounds hemorrhaging blood and the way Talbot’s face quickly became ashen.

“Just talk to me, alright, kid?” he said. “What happened? We had the clear.”

Talbot’s head lolled to the side, eyes bleary as he tried to focus. “I saw him.”

“Who?  Who’d you see?”  Where was the medic?

“Thought my mind was playing tricks on me, he shouldn’t be here,” Talbot continued.  He weakly raised a hand to latch on to Rowan’s wrist. “Rowan--”

He had no idea what Talbot was going on about.  The slur of his words, the confusion--none of it was good.  Rowan pressed harder on the wounds, blood hot even as the beat of Talbot’s heart stuttered.

“We’re gonna get you fixed up,” Rowan said, “then you're gonna go home and see your mom, alright?  I’ll come visit, you can show me all there is to see.  Like that county fair, yeah?”

“It ain’t shit,” Talbot laughed, falling into a wet cough. Rowan held him down. “You should go to the mountains.  The mountains--”

Rowan’s radio crackled.  Medic on route.  They should have already been here.

“You gotta do something for me Rowan,” Talbot said, his voice growing too weak. “You gotta tell my family--”

“Tell them yourself.”

“Tell them, I’m so-sorry.”

Rowan stared down at his friend.  Slowly, the rest of the world came back.  The too hot air and metallic tang of blood.  The shouts in the distance.  The decrepit creak of wood where they sat.  There was noise and chaos in a world that just kept moving and Rowan…and Rowan…

“It’s gonna be fine,” Talbot whispered.

And then he was gone.

And Rowan had blood on his hands.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

tags still aren't working for me so if you'd reblog for more people to see this update, I'd really appreciate it. as always, i'm so grateful for ya'll <3

[a-reader-and-a-writer-for-all]

(If it’s okay I want to do another for the ask game)

♒️☮️For Bucky Barnes please!

Of course it's okay! It actually means a lot that you took the time to send in another one 🥰 Thank you!

Bucky Barnes Food Headcannon:

Before becoming the Winter Soldier, Bucky loved food of all kinds but especially home-cooked foods. His family was decently well off so even during the height of the Great Depression, they still managed to put a full home-cooked meal on the table every night and Bucky– the growing boy that he was – never let any of it go to waste. But his favorite thing his mom made was her chocolate chip cookies. No one else made them just like hers (he always shared them with Steve even though he really wanted to keep them all for himself). 

After his time as the Winter Soldier though, food lost all pleasure for a long time. He had survived decades on tasteless gruel, liquid supplements, and injections so even once his mind was free again, his mind told him that food was for nothing more than nutrients and fuel— the taste or quality didn’t matter. So he would eat whatever he could while on the run, stealing most or using what little money he got to buy cheap food most other people wouldn’t eat. 

It was only by chance that he got his appreciation for food back. He had stolen a few things from the store earlier that day and was quickly eating his bounty as he tried to find a place to hide out for the night when he took a bite of the food in his hand and came to an abrupt halt as a memory hit him so strongly that he almost dropped to his knees. It was of a woman kissing the top of his head and handing him something warm and gooey, and the flavor exploded in his mouth as he took a bite of it. As the memory ended, Bucky looked down through tear-filled eyes at the bag of chocolate chip cookies in his hand. It was the first flashback he had had to his old life that involved part of his family. Wiping his eyes, he sat down on a curb next to where he was standing and slowly finished the bag of cookies. They were nowhere near as good as the ones in his memory, but it was close enough to trigger a few more memories of his mom. 

After that, Bucky slowly started to reappreciate the taste of food and remembered more of his favorites from before. Food was no longer just something to consume and move on, it was something to appreciate and enjoy.

Bucky Barnes Friends Headcannon:

Back in the 1940’s before getting shipped off to war, Bucky wasn’t exactly what you’d call a great friend. He was handsome and charming and he knew it. This often led him to forsake or ignore his friends so he could find the latest girl of the week. Usually, he didn’t do “relationships” but even when he did, his longest one was only for a month, and that was mainly because she was his boss’s daughter and he couldn’t figure out how to end things without getting fired. Eventually, the friends he did have wised up and stopped hanging out with him unless they wanted to use him as a wingman. However, even that ended after a few times when Bucky walked away with both of the girls in question. 

The only exception to Bucky’s flaky friendship was Steve. Bucky and Steve had already formed such a strong brotherly bond when Bucky hit his growth spurt and he began noticing how ladies looked at him that he would drop everything if Steve said the word, no matter what he was doing or who he was with. He tried to drag Steve out with him to look for girls but Steve almost always passed. After all, who would give him a second look when standing next to James Buchanan Barnes? 

However, once Bucky was captured, experimented on, and then rescued in Austria by the now super-soldier Steve, he was changed by his experience. While he still had some of his usual cockiness and bravado, he had also been humbled and his priorities shifted. Instead of turning his focus back to his next date, he threw himself headfirst into helping Steve and helped form the Howling Commandos. Soon, he developed extremely close bonds with the other Commandos and for the first time in a long time, he found himself having friends other than just Steve (but that would be shortlived).

Headcannon Meme

[sir-yeehaw-paws]

for the made up fic titles: 1) War Drums; 2) The Light in His Eyes; 3) Primadonna

Made Up Fic Titles Game

Send me a made-up fic title (or 2 or 3) and I’ll tell you what I would write to go with it.

Oh these are such FUN titles friend! Let me see here:

War Drums

This would make an excellent life-reflecting fic for Big Boss, I think. Because the only time I think he is ever truly reflective is in MGS4. When he's far too old to care about putting on any kind of emphasis or show, and is at his most 'looking back' mindset. Which is not to say he wasn't before (he has some moments in Peace Walker but that's less so 'reflection' in my mind and more asking for answers that he never got and does not get). A fic like this I think I would have him alone, maybe watching Dave from the graveyard before he makes the move to approach him, looking around (could have Zero visible in the distance as well) and write it memory style. The first flashback I would have him either as a teenager before he meets the Boss, or just as he's meeting her, and go from there. The atmosphere would be carry out the theme of how war both impacted, became an was the majority of his life. Each 'memory' or moment punctuated by a profound or altering moment, before the hard cut near the end being where Dave pulls the gun away from himself, and collapses. Something like that, maybe. I'd of course give the actual fic way more thought. Heh.

The Light in His Eyes

I've actually thought of this idea before, but. Gray Fox POV horror fic while Dr. Clark is working on him in interment stages. Fox has been the subject of experiments since back to his time as Null when he was a teen. And for as scattered as his memories are, I could envision a scenario of him laying there, waiting for the next 'wipe' and grasping every second before he's under again. Of course, each of those moments feel 'brand new' to him-but not to the reader-because he doesn't remember them. But he knows that light, he knows that light. And he fears it. (My issue is..I'm not the best at writing horror, I want to try though).

Primadonna

This ones easily Eva to me. Maybe I'd have her putting on a show, or trying to get used to her role as a Philosopher agent. Would she be worried about being successful? Or as confident as Ocelot and completely certain of herself? Is she regretful in the end and mourning what could've been? Or does she not care? Who is she as a person-does any of that matter when she was invented to be someone at any given moment? Perhaps I'd have her doing a recording, either for her assignment or for her own personal memories. Maybe I'd give her a mission, and she'd excel because it's what she does, surrounded by the grandeur, the charm of the moment. It's not her that's questioning everything, but the people around her. Isn't she too good to be true? And if she is, do they care?

Thank you for sending in! This is a really fun game and a good way to hash ideas out.

[scrumptiousstuffs]

Midnight Museum, episode 10 - The Magician Embodiment (aka the finale)

After Khatha was forced to destroy Chan’s skeleton, we see a flashback of Khatha being absolutely devastated when Chan was burned, resulting in him clutching his remnants for >100 years until Triphob’s grandfather found him and helped Khatha to focus his energy (and new found immortality) towards better outlet. This led to the foundation of the museum.

We then come back to the present, where Chan’s soul (now in Dome’s body) has taken hostage of Anthika and forcing a tense reunion with Khatha. We learn that the moon is breaking apart, which is likely the combination work of Chan’s dark power (thirsting for revenge) and The One (played masterfully by Nanon, who also played Dome at some point of this episode) - where The One has manipulated events to lead to the apocalypse.

Chan burned Khatha, still salty and angry about past event. Khatha accepted this, but woke up alive on Dome’s home planet (by now, I think we can safely said that Dome and Chan, while sharing the same face and powers are 2 different people!). And while Khatha will happily live with Dome on the small planet, he is tasked by the higher power (not really god? But also god? I got confused by this point)…to destroy Chan or otherwise earth will be destroyed. Khatha got send back, where he successfully defeated Chan (but devastating both parties, as you can really tell they still love each other).

At the same time, Dome’s soul got send back to earth, and he managed to possess The One’s body (Nanon again seamlessly playing a different role!). With the help of June and the asteroid rock (which we were introduced to in episode 4) managed to stop the moon from exploding.

But when Dome and June were supposed to meet Khatha at the museum, The One managed to repossess his body again, while sending Dome’s soul and body to a different timeline altogether (we later learn he got dropped in the middle of the war in 1943).

The One had a long monologue (and I must confess, I got lost with the explanation). But the gist is that he is Death (one of the four horsemen of apocalypse) from a different/alternate world where he already killed his own god and now searching for a new one? In the current world - he wants to get rid of the god in this current one too, because he wanted humans to have choice rather than preordained fate/destiny. The One believes Khatha can help him do so. But as we all know, Khatha is whipped for Dome - and the only questioned he asked (pretty much ignoring everything else that The One has said) - “Where’s Dome?” (Must appreciate the consistency of this man!)

And we learn that Dome and Khatha have essentially a connection with any universe they are set in, be it good or bad. They will always meet..but Dome is always set to have a trial…

While the above is playing out, Triphob made a quiet deal with the devil (using the same piano key that Bee made a deal with)…to save Bam’s life but with the expense of her memories of his…or something else??

We finished with The One disappearing (but promising Khatha that they will meet again), while Khatha using the magical phone booth that Tum has kindly fixed (while Tum himself managed to finally save a version of Phone!!!!) to find Dome who is currently lost in an alternate past time. He managed to reunite with Khatha (FINALLY!!!!) in 1943, but ohhhhh what’s this, Boon survived the killing by Anthika and stands in the midnight museum (did he took over while Khatha is away?)

(The finale gave me whiplash, the different timelines, alternate universe and Nanon/Gun playing multiple characters…🫣🫠…but I appreciate the actings. They are truly excellent actors!)

(On another note - Khatha and Dome, definitely not brotherly feelings 🫣😅🤷🏼‍♀️….)

(Also, the ending with Boon standing tall at the top of the staircase in the museum, gives us a hint of possibly season 2 - do you think Triphob may have actually betrayed Khatha when he made the deal with the devil? And now forced to work with Boon?)

[squiddieblogs]

Rambly post abot the pjo show.

I read the books after episode 3 to see what I liked about them PFF

maybe a 3/10 from me. I think I’m the wrong audience, but I’m not sure if kids would be the right audience either.

What I liked.. it wasn’t a lot.

- Blue food mention !! I am so easily swayed.

*tho they feel like they crammed in a bunch of character stuff in the last episode. Peter Johnson, Annabeth’s fear of spiders and Blue Pancakes..

- as a cringe non American it was fun to have visuals for all this stuff. Like in my head everything was so different lol. Olympus was also very pretty. I’d always imagined it to be made of minecraft quartz.

- Ares was fun, and I liked most of the actors. Tho of course I can nitpick pff (ie. I didn’t expect Zeus to be bald PFF sorry o7)

- I really loved the end credits lol, I watched most of them. It really loved that the gods shown all pretty much showed up in the series, except maybe Athena? Who didn’t show up physically as far as I’m aware.

- the amount of god appearances is kinda interesting. I am curious how it will be if they do later books, since there were random in world big 12 god appearances for every book (Ares in 1, Hermes in 2, Apollo, Aphrodite and Athena in 3, Hephaestus and Hera in 4. Hestia kinda in 5? I guess. Plus Dionysus being a mundane figure in camp halfblood). So I do kinda like they’re scattered around, and it makes sense to me. Tho of course there’s more of them the more crazy things get.

Observations (mostly what I didn’t like)

- the sheer mount of talking scenes. Additionally everyone is SO quiet in this show, and it’s hard to focus on what they’re saying cuz I’m partially deaf. I found the Hermes in the lotus casino kinda hard to follow and I need to rewatch it because I have no idea what they said in that scene lol.

- I didn’t really like the tunnel of love replacement because it was much more boring.

- so much happens in this show that falls flat, especially things they added. At least I didn’t feel much

Eg. The golden chair is like. Percy sacrifices himself > Hephaestus shows up and says some stuff (I need to rewatch because it was quiet and really dark again) > Percy is ungilded > they never speak of this again.

Eg. They miss the deadline. Oh no. Gives back the bolt and Poseidon surrenders so no more war. What was the point of there being a war? Like they mentioned that planes weren’t operating cuz of it and there wasn’t even an “oh shit how are we gonna get the state building before war gets super real”. The stakes that should come from an impending war just aren’t there. I don’t think it should it have been a thing at all (and it wasn’t in the book)

Eg. They go to the Arch for protection (not because of annabeth nerd reasons btw. I hate that they didn’t include that) and because Athena was offended by Medusa , Echidna is able to follow them in > annabeth is like, why would my mom do that? > Her faith is never brought up again.

I think a positive example of points not falling flat is the Medusa scene. Medusa kinda explicitly lays out a theme, then she is killed and as reaction Percy sends her head to Olympus. It’s also kinda neat cuz the head is brought back to deal with gabe at the end (even if he didn’t really deserve it from what we saw of the show) The main thing with Medusa tho is that the scene gets wrapped up with Percy deciding to do something with it and the others are like, why that’s a terrible idea. They actually react to what they just did and with an action.

- related, but the show is a kinda mix of episodic and narrative I feel? The last points are an example of stakes being kinda self contained. As well, they set up things as an episode happens it seems - ie. Flashbacks of Luke doing sword fighting with Percy in the last episode instead of in the first few episodes. Tho I can’t think of any more examples of that kind of set up atm, I just thought it was interesting.

However they did add some info about Luke from further on in the series, so idk.

- it’s brought up a tone but the fact they know everything removes so much tension and whimsy. It removes a lot of character and childishness to their actions as well. As well, it means they knowingly walked into traps 2-3 times. Also in the Lotus they kinda. Walked into a trap and then sent Grover away like? what are you doing !

It also removes some of the smartness of the characters like. They manage to get away from Medusa even after being lured in, Percy figures out that the Lotus Casino is a trap and he manages to trick waterbed guy in order to defeat him.

Despite disliking the scene I did like that they tied waterbed guy into finding the underworld. I don’t think he would’ve been in the series otherwise.

- the character relationships are really dumbed down. There is some hints that Luke cares for annabeth but not really any hints that it’s a mutual bond. The school scenes are altered in a way that Grover and Percy never really feel like best friends, and Grover ends up kinda a third wheel. Percy and Annabeth don’t hang out at camp before the quest like the book, and their nicknames aren’t used until like half way to the end of the series.

- THE PACING IS AWFUL!! In episode 1-2 and the finale there isn’t a lot of time to breathe. There’s no time to reflect on many scenes that happen in the book throughout tbh. And many of the talking scenes and flashbacks are long and quiet. If I had to guess, I feel like they adapted the book scenes to be appropriate length for the show but didn’t really with new scenes.

- lastly I hate the tone. It’s so serious and if I see “dramatic music” in the subtitles again im mclosing it. There is really a lack of fun in this show. The light hearted nature of the first book at least is lost. Even if the book is shown in Percy’s pov I think they could have retained the mood and tone but they really didn’t. The movie (agony) I think does a great job of having the fun of the book even if the finale gives me whiplash everytime (Movie Luke is iconic tbh who is this dude? Look?)

Maybe I am a Movie apologist smh. I really don’t mind if they make changes to the story. At least unlike the movies, I do see the show as being Percy Jackson - tho really watered down and boring adaptation of a book that I still really enjoyed reading it as a cringe ass adult.

I don’t think the changes break the story but I think they were done poorly. I think it would have been more interesting if they didn’t know about every threat and they kept elements of the book that conveyed the personality of the chars other than Percy.

Maybe I will like it more on a rewatch. But I think that’ll be a while lol. Of course I’d love to hear opinions on how others feel. This is a ramble off the top of my head so not really that serious

[tehuti88-art]

7/21/23: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is Walther Dannecker. He's the husband of Margit Dannecker and father of Lt. Col. Ernst Dannecker. He's deceased by the time of the main storyline and happened to meet a particularly unfortunate end because his entire family is messed up. There'll be more about him later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se.

Regarding his design, he's a Siberian husky.

TUMBLR EDIT: Walther is the posthumous background character father of another posthumous secondary character (Lt. Col. Dannecker appears only in flashback in the bulk of the story, Reborn and Reunion, and has nothing to do with Ultima Thule, though I'm unsure about Genesis--he does play a major role in the "lore" prequel story Weltuntergang, however), therefore I've not developed his own background yet, if ever. I imagine he had a normal middle-class upbringing. Most of his action in the storyline, including his disturbing end, can be found in Margit Dannecker's entry.

The Dannecker family is hopelessly f**ked up, for want of a better term, though Walther himself is actually sane and stable. Unlike other characters who start out good but go bad, such as Georg Klemper or Jürgen Werner, Walther is genuinely decent, and never falls down that particular hole; he just has the misfortune to marry into a family line with lots of problems he can't fix. When he finally does learn the extent and seriousness of what's going on, he even correctly identifies his son Ernst as a victim--despite Ernst willingly participating in his mother's actions, he's not old enough to make such decisions on his own. Result, Walther's anger is aimed at Margit, not Ernst. He realizes that the only reasonable course of action is to separate the two, and accordingly sends Ernst off to a military academy. It's an act that ensures both wife and son will forever hate him, though he hopes they'll come back to their senses, and even if they don't...well, he couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

Walther is a good person, like I said, and that's why it doesn't occur to him that his son Ernst, aside from being victimized by his mother, was additionally just born broken. If not a full-blown psychopath, Ernst is quite close, and that's something that no amount of motherly "love" or fatherly discipline can fix. Margit herself starts to catch on as to their son's true dark nature after he comes home from the Great War--full grown now, and taller and stronger than his own father--and treads carefully. Walther never has the chance to reach this realization, mostly because Ernst murders him before he can, but also because, being a good person himself, it simply goes against everything he's ever known or learned about people, to realize that some of them are just born bad. Walther figures that, like Margit (who's not what I'd technically call a "bad person," but does do bad things), bad people are made that way through their experiences (Margit, too, was similarly abused by her own father), not born that way--why would it ever occur to him that a child who's been raised sternly but was otherwise loved and well cared for might turn out broken, anyway? The concept is just beyond his understanding. Even if someone were to inform him, I bet he would've thought there was something he could do, to change his son for the better. Walther is no fatalist.

This is a hopeless task, however, and Ernst has a lot stacked against him. Walther's attempt to straighten him out by sending him to the military academy, and by extension unwittingly sending him to the Western Front (he hadn't counted on war actually breaking out while Ernst was away), only exacerbates Ernst's dysfunction by teaching him how to be an even more effective predator and killer. Ironically, Walther--in an attempt to save his family by saving his son--ends up helping Ernst destroy it. (Ernst Dannecker then carries on the tradition by victimizing his stepdaughter Gret, who then, with the aid of another of his victims, helps kill him, in turn. She takes his honor sword both as a trophy, and as a means to protect herself...far better than Ernst ever did.)

Walther ends up a victim of not just his own broken family, but also his own good yet misguided intentions...well, Ernst Dannecker later earns the nickname "Der Teufel" (the Devil), and what is the road to Hell paved with, after all? As well, he becomes just another rusty cog in the malfunctioning machinery of the Dannecker clan, all too easily disposed of and forgotten after playing his part in ensuring the family's collapse.

Maybe, though, in some small roundabout way, that's a good thing after all.

[Walther Dannecker 2023 [‎Friday, ‎July ‎21, ‎2023, ‏‎2:00:52 AM]]

[discordiansamba]

tag list

ATLA

ongoing:

kintsugi: After being banished from the Fire Nation and set to roam in the Earth Kingdom, Zuko accidentally winds up becoming the bodyguard of the young Beifong daughter. The rest, they say, is history. (fic link)

heart of a dragon: Fate turns a little differently, and Zuko ends up being raised far away from the royal palace- and with dragons. But no matter how things change, one thing remains the same- that it's his destiny to teach the Avatar firebending, and to fight against the Fire Lord. That's the easy part. The hard part? Literally everything else. (fic link)

in tandem: in which Suki and Zuko are raised on Kyoshi Island as twins after they wash in on driftwood as infants after a storm. (fic link)

living requiem: zuko dies in the agni kai with azula, but agni decides to give him a second chance at life. (fic link)

the spirit tail of prince zuko: au in which zuko is a werewolf. (fic link)

the banished avatar: au in which zuko is the avatar (fic link)

future:

second spark: in which azula kills Zuko during The Chase, forcing him to accept a bum deal from Agni himself in order to return to life- which means he has to teach the Avatar firebending if he doesn’t want to die again

toph beifong’s guide to being a paradox: in which toph mentally time travels back to before Aang is freed from the iceberg after dying during the finale and vows to fix things... by befriending zuko and forcing him to become good earlier

moonlit: in which Yue is the avatar instead

unnamed bounty hunter zuko au: in which June raises an amnesiac Zuko as her apprentice

flashback: Zuko ends up in the past two years before the start of the series... and lands in the South Pole. or: Zuko adopts Katara and Sokka this time.

knowledge seeker zuko au: after his banishment, an amnesic Zuko gets taken in by Wan Shi Tong.

runaway mai AU: AU in which Mai decides to run away from home and join Zuko in his banishment.

mer zuko AU: Zuko dies when Zhao blows up his ship, but La, who has been watching over the prince for the past three years takes mercy upon him and revives him... as a merman.

assassin zuko au: zuko is raised as an assassin after fire lord azulon notices his budding talents for stealth, and is given the mission to infiltrate the avatar’s group.

dragon cursed zuko au: in which zuko stumbles upon the bones of a dead dragon as a child, and is possessed by its vengeful spirit.

suki zuko bodyswap au: au in which suki and zuko have been swapping bodies since they were young. zuko gets into treason way earlier.

bad reality au: aang fails to energybend ozai, and as a result he’s able to warp reality into a world where the fire nation has won- so the spirits send zuko to set things right.

atla werewolf au: au in which zuko and toph are werewolves.

not your son au: au in which zuko is actually ikem’s son, but is still raised among the royal family anyways.

spirit bridge zuko au: when the avatar vanishes, the great spirits call in a substitute to temporarily fulfill his duties as the bridge between two worlds. they bestow said mortal with an undying body and an unchanging face. the mortal they choose? fire lord sozin’s second son, zuko.

jazz era atla au; or: that one where the hundred year war never happened, but ozai sure wants to start it. korra-era technology in the aang-era. also. zuko, toph and yue do terrorism.

zuko jet roleswap au: au in which zuko and jet swap places- sort of. jet is the non-bending son of a fire nation general out to prove himself by capturing the avatar. zuko is a half-earth firebender just trying to get by in the middle of a war- and maybe causing some trouble along the way.

earth prince zuko au: au in which a young zuko is kidnapped by the dai li and has his memories suppressed. he’s raised as prince dai of the earth kingdom, who works with the dai li to hide the war from his ‘half-brother’ king kuei.

lee from the tea shop: azula doublecrosses zuko after the fall of ba sing se, and hands him over to the dai li to be brainwashed.

liquid gold: in which zuko is a pirate and a waterbender.

VLD

complete(ish)

cosmic dust: in which pidge and keith are space pirates (fic link)

anomalous point: in which Keith is a cryptid and the war between the Voltron Alliance and the Galra Empire started recently (fic link)

long live the queen: in which Allura and Keith go up against the space equivalent of an eldritch horror. (fic link)

ongoing:

burgundy: in which BOM agent Keith is sent to find the blue lion on earth, only to become a paladin himself (fic link)

who you are in the dark: in which Keith is recruited by Lotor after being captured and experimented on by Haggar... and decides to play double agent (fic link)

abyss of memory: in which Keith is captured by Haggar and loses his memories after being experimented on before being rescued by Ulaz (fic link)

the stars shine a different shine: in which Shiro and Keith swap ages, but stay as their respective paladin roles (fic link)

desert born: the one where Shiro inadvertently adopts a half-alien desert child (fic link)

under the pale moonlight: Voltron but make it a fantasy AU (fic link)

when a black cat: in which Keith is a were-cat, but there’s still aliens (fic link)

flicker: in which Keith never joins the Garrison and stays behind on Earth for Sendak’s invasion (fic link)

ignis: in which Keith survives Naxzela in secret and learns the truth behind Kuron (fic link)

run all through the night: Heath lives, and raises Keith with the full knowledge of his Galra heritage. This absolutely does not stop Keith from making some of the worst decisions you’ve ever seen after he gets locked into his Galra form. (fic link)

what’s hidden next to you (will soon be seen): in which Shiro finds himself in the crosshairs of a supernatural threat that could doom the world (fic link)

pidge’s (highly improvised) guide to demons: In which Pidge summons a demon. The demon is Keith. (fic link)

future:

temporal shift: in which a future Keith travels back in time to prevent the worst possible future- starting with the destruction of Earth during Sendak’s invasion

lion’s pride: Voltron but it’s a superhero AU

parallel reverse: altean empire AU

avatar legend of hunk: (atla au) two separate groups set out a quest to find the avatar before Empress Honerva and her Fire Nation forces can locate him- meanwhile, the Avatar is just trying to reunite with his family, unaware of his true identity.

scrap: in which Keith is a druid raised by Haggar who betrays everything he knows after he helps rescue Shiro from the arena

unnamed heith area 51 au: in which Hunk unwittingly involves himself with government conspiracies and alien bullshit by hiring the cute new guy in town to work at his bakery

unnamed earthbound krolia au: in which Krolia stays on earth to raise Keith

fully human keith raised by BOM au: in which Keith is 100% human and ends up raised by the Blade after his father’s death

unnamed pidge keith ageswap au: in which Pidge and Keith swap ages.

unnamed undercover BOM agent keith au: in which Keith is raised as a Blade and infiltrates the Empire alongside his mother

galra prince keith AU: The universe fucks up, deletes Lotor, panics and tries to replace him with Keith... to very, VERY mixed results.

quintessence poisoning AU: AU in which Haggar poisons Keith’s mind with quintessence, effectively brainwashing him and bringing him over to the side of the Galra Empire- along with the red lion.

parental figure bodyswap au: Pre-Kerberos AU in which Shiro and Krolia mysteriously swap bodies, and have to figure out a way to swap back... which is very difficult, when you’re on the opposite sides of the universe.

twin au: AU in which Keith and Akira are twins, and circumstances lead them to pretending to be one person.

MFE paladins AU: Keith turns purple at the Garrison. This leads to a a cascading series of event that results in Keith and the MFE pilots being the ones launched into space instead.

zombie apocalypse AU: The Kerberos mission returns to a backdrop of the zombie apocalypse.

assassin AU: Modern day AU in which Keith and Romelle are assassins searching for answers about their missing family members, with a dash of shadowy corporation and unethical human experimentation.

identity crisis AU: the one in which due to the corrupted wormhole, PIdge, Hunk, Lance and Keith all swap personality traits with each other. No, Allura, we can’t just call this a bonding exercise.

commander and druid AU: Keith and Shiro both go on the Kerberos mission. Haggar gets a new druid and Zarkon gets a new Commander. featuring black paladin Adam and Galra Shiro.

amnesiac blade AU: Keith is raised as a Blade, but crash-lands on Earth during a mission and loses his memories.

oops! all Galra AU: Au in which all of the paladins are Galra.

displaced rebel AU: Matt from a bad reality swaps places with a Matt from a good reality, and needs to find his way back- except he’s stuck on Earth.

accidental paladin Matt AU: Matt mentally time travels back to the past when he first joined the Garrison and accidentally prepares for the outcome of the Kerberos mission so hard he takes over Shiro’s role as Champion and black paladin. oops.

you are (not) a weapon: The Garrison knew about the Galra much earlier, and raise Keith to be a weapon against them. Up in space, far away from the Garrison, Shiro begins the long task of trying to deprogram him.

reality scramble AU: Defeated during the events of Genesis, Honerva instead opts to rewrite this reality to her liking. She assumes she’s wiped Allura from existence, but she could not be more wrong...

double Keith AU: Keith accidentally time travels back to the past and prevents his father’s death, destroying the original timeline he came from and stranding him in the past.

mer AU: obligatory mer AU

macross AU: In which Hunk and Romelle are idols on an intergalactic peace tour, escorted by Captain Shirogane and the IGF-Atlas and their childhood friend and bodyguard, Keith.

vld wing AU: vld but make it wingfic

triple agent AU: AU in which the Galra have taken over Earth, and Keith works as a triple agent for the human resistance and the Empire, but his true loyalty is to the Blade of Marmora.

port brat AU: Heath and Keith are abducted by the Galra Empire when the latter is young. After being separated from his father, Keith runs away from the Galra whose care he is put under and grows up hopping from space port to space port.

druid on earth AU: Keith develops druid powers while still on Earth, and uses them to become a runaway.

Trollhunters

ongoing:

in daylight: in which Jim is born half-troll, but still becomes the Trollhunter (fic link)

future:

unnamed trollhunter claire au: in which claire is the trollhunter, toby is a changeling, and jim is raised by angor rot

Detective Conan

(don’t) believe what you know: in which there’s more behind Heiji’s string of supernatural related cases than he lets on (fic link)

[bluerosesburnblue]

I don't suppose you could explain the ending for khux for me?? i've watched it and i've been following the translated storyline for it and this ending just. does not make a ton of sense to me. i can usually figure out kh endings no problem but this time i'm just lost.

Isn't that just the state of the writing for it, where even people familiar with the series are having trouble understanding it. And, of course, the game dies as it lived: screwing over Global so we can't even compare/contrast with an official English version yet to see if it's more clear

Anyway, sure, I'll try to break it down scene by scene (Note: these aren't the actual scene titles, I just needed a way to delineate them so I made titles up)

Scene 1: The Master and Luxu

The update begins with a continuation of the past flashbacks expanding on the Case of Luxu and the Master of Masters' instructions to him. He explains that he knew that Darkness could only truly be defeated in the future, and so he made sure that Keyblade wielders would exist to fight it by recruiting many Keyblade wielders in Daybreak Town (as per the start of KHx) and then using the Dandelions to stall Darkness's takeover and give them time to make sure that the Keyblade legacy would live on. As Luxu turns to leave, though, the Master stops him with one more bit of information that he feels Luxu needs to know

He explains that back when he was younger, the being known as Darkness tried to gain the advantage in their battle by becoming incorporeal and attacking people's hearts instead of their bodies. There were 13 of these original Darkness beings, and because they lack bodies they aim to win by quantity and so created the Heartless as lesser, but more physical versions of themselves. The original 13 still haven't given up their desire to regain a physical form, however, and so they target those with strong hearts to take their bodies for themselves

The Master of Masters, knowing this and knowing that something without a physical body can't be destroyed, came up with a plan. He took in six children, his apprentices, and raised them to be a prison for Darkness. To foster light so strongly within them that Darkness couldn't possibly taint it, and then seal the strongest 7 of the 13 Darknesses within himself and his students, trapping the Darknesses inside their impenetrable hearts of light. Then, he instigated the Keyblade War. This is only my interpretation of the line, but it sounds to me like the purpose was to get the Foretellers killed in the War and the Darkness sealed inside of them along with them. How this relates to them coming back in KH3 is unclear

When Luxu asks if the War and the idea of a traitor were necessary, the Master goes on to say that the purpose of making the Foretellers believe there was a traitor was to instill negative emotions like fear and doubt in them. Darkness feeds on those emotions, and so by making sure that his students would produce them and yet not have their light tainted, he would attract Darkness into their hearts by giving it something to eat, only for it to realize that it was trapped in light that couldn't be consumed. The infighting amongst the Foretellers was bait to lock Darkness in their hearts the entire time

After that, there's only six left and so the Master chose five individuals, the Union Leaders, to be the uncorruptable lights that would house the weaker Darknesses. The final one, he would simply trap in the Data Daybreak Town

At this, Luxu flies into a rage at his master, angrily shouting that he can't possibly accept a plan that sacrifices so many people, but the Master stands up and starts talking over him. He's made it clear that he doesn't see Darkness as human, and he's seen this inhuman thing take countless lives, including people he's cared about. He doesn't believe them to be heroes, and he doesn't care. The entire purpose is just to ensure that in the end, humanity is what survives the war. He knows it's a tragedy, but for one who believes that tragedy can't be fully avoided, this is a solution that will at least save some

Luxu accepts this answer and leaves, but behind his back the Master muses on what Luxu, the traitor, needs to do. Luxu was the traitor from the lost page the entire time, given a role to take him out of the infighting so that his identity as the traitor wouldn't be discovered (or at least, that's how it seems to me considering that he needed the Foretellers to fear and doubt to attract Darkness to them)

Scene 2: Fleeing Daybreak Town

We now cut to the real Daybreak Town in the present, where Lauriam, Elrena, Ventus, and Brain have just emerged from the Data Daybreak Town into the real-world version of the lifeboat room. Daybreak Town is breaking down around them, about to be fully consumed by the aftermath of the Keyblade War which had been temporarily staved off while the Data simulation was running

Brain is attempting to enact his plan to extract all of the Dandelions from Data Daybreak Town and bring them into the real world, but he's worried that there won't be enough time to actually do it before the simulation shuts down and the real Daybreak Town is destroyed. The only thing he has time to do is get their three remaining friends (Ephemer, Skuld, and Player) out to the real world, and the only way that he can think to do this is to send Lauriam, Elrena, and Ven away to the future and to safety and then send the remaining lifeboats back into the datascape so that there's enough for the three trapped in there to use

Brain is willing to stay behind to man this operation, but he wants to ensure that at least one of the true Union Leaders (Lauriam) manages to live on in case things go wrong and save as many of them as he can, so those going to the future must be sent first. Lauriam, etching his mission to finally find Strelitzia (or even just her data) into his heart, departs with Elrena and Ven. Once they're gone, however, Brain notices someone enter the room and turns to find Luxu approaching him

Scene 3: Those Trapped in Data

We now cut to Player, Ephemer, and Skuld in the data version of the lifeboat room, contemplating how the others are doing. Just as they muse about how quiet the end of this world feels, Player turns to find that four of the remaining six Darknesses have entered the room (presumably the other two are the one sealed in Ven and the one that Luxu was fighting in the real world and who helped Maleficent, who seems to be gone by the time Brain and the others end up back in the real world)

The Darknesses, it seems, have come to politely ask the gang to open up a way out of the Data Daybreak Town for them, so that they can spread to other worlds. They don't want to fight, and obviously even if they did they'd win, so just open a gate for them to escape with already. They could always just take over Ephemer's friends and force him to watch as they rip them away until he complies

Ephemer mocks this and moves in to attack, but before he fully commits he whispers his plan to Player: he and Skuld will hold them off to buy time for Player to get into the last pod and run. To his shock, however, Player begins mimicking Darkness's speaking patterns and then goes to attack their friends. It seems that Darkness has done to Player what they did to Ven, taking them over and forcing them to act out. Player is now their bargaining chip; they'll only give Player back if Ephemer opens the gate. And since Darkness can only be defeated if it has a body, their options are to give in or destroy the possessed Player

This initiates the final boss fight against Ephemer and Skuld, Player's dearest friends who have been with them since before the war

And the duo prove no match for the Darkness-possessed Player, who taunts them about not just leaving when they had the chance. Ephemer begs his friend to stop as Player goes in to finish off Skuld, and in his desperation to protect one friend, he opens up the portal to Game Central Station and forces his fallen friend though. As it closes, Ephemer breaks down in tears, muttering apologies to the friend that he was unable to save

Scene 4: Luxu and Brain

We cut back to where we left off in Scene 2, with Luxu confronting Brain in the real lifeboat room. He introduces himself, and Brain is taken aback that one of the missing masters has finally returned. Luxu asks Brain if he's a Union Leader, and when Brain confirms that he is, Luxu then gestures to the missing pods and asks where the others are. Brain tells him that one escaped, and the other two are still trapped in the data. Luxu's confused; there should be five Union Leaders, but Brain only listed four. He asks what happened to the fifth, and Brain confirms that they were struck down

Luxu assumes that Brain is going to make his escape, but Brain denies this. They have a friend who he calls a Dandelion (even though Player did not consider themself one) who is trapped alongside the other two Union Leaders, and he intends to get all three out no matter what. Furthermore, Brain has no intention of using one of the real lifeboats. Rather, he has resigned himself to staying behind in the past and finding some way to survive the end of the world to eventually extract the rest of the Dandelions from the data as well, and wake them from their data sleep

Luxu, however, has some bad news. While normally that would be true, the Data Daybreak Town was designed to lock Darkness away. Once it's locked up, nothing will ever be able to get out of it again. If anything could get out, then Darkness would as well. It was meant to be a grave for an intangible being

Not only that, but Luxu expresses doubt that Brain has properly prepared for his friends who use the lifeboats to awaken in the future. What does Brain plan to use for mediums? Who are the memories going to come from? Brain doesn't have an answer, but he has to do this and he's willing to put his life on the line for it

This seems to earn Luxu's respect

Scene 5: The Two Who Remain

We now resume with Ephemer and Skuld in the data lifeboat room, having just sealed Player away. The two real pods that weren't used yet are digitized and sent to Ephemer and Skuld to use for their escape. Ephemer picks up the weakened Skuld and places her in a lifeboat, then looks forlornly over to the one on the other side of the room. The one meant for Player. Then he reclines back into his own pod and the two leave the Data Daybreak Town

Scene 6: "You're So Gullible"

We now join Player inside of the familiar tunnel that joined the Data Daybreak Town to Game Central Station

The four Darknesses swarm around Player, commending them for goading Ephemer into being desperate enough to open up a gateway for them, implying that Player was at least partially in control by the end of the fight. In a bizarre way, they seem to be trying to help Player as they warn them they must cast off their body if they don't want to be destroyed by the simulation shutting down

Player laughs

They ask if Darkness is always this easy to trick. After all, it can't go anywhere without a Keyblade and without a body it can't use one, either, which is why it needed one of them to open a path for it. Player turns, and locks the end of the pathway that leads to Game Central Station. And since Ephemer sealed the Data Daybreak Town end when he cast Player and the Darknesses through the portal, all five of them are now trapped in this space between worlds on the cusp of shutting down along with Data Daybreak Town. This was Player's plan all along, opening their heart up just enough for the four Darknesses to try and use them as a host and then provoking their friends into sealing them away and taking Darkness with them

Darkness flies into an anger-fueled frenzy but is unable to do anything to escape. Player collapses, and Chirithy appears. Petting them much like they did during the Keyblade War, Player apologizes for forcing Chirithy to be sealed away with them since their hearts are bound. Chirithy shakes their head, signaling that they don't hold it against Player, and the two go in for a final hug and are bathed in light

Scene 7: The Destruction of Daybreak Town

Back in the real lifeboat room again, Ephemer and Skuld emerge and are met with blaring sirens signaling that the world is at its end. The other are gone, including Brain and Luxu, and the two have no idea what happened to them (or that Luxu was involved). They simply hope that they made it out safely, and decide to check outside just to see what's going on

They're met with the destruction of Daybreak Town. Smoke is everywhere, the sky is red, and pieces of debris are being drawn into a swirling dark orb in the sky not unlike the destruction of Destiny Islands from KH1. Ephemer decides that they need to leave, now, and Skuld muses about how it takes a lot of time and effort to build something, but none at all to destroy. The two retreat back into the lifeboat room to make their exit

Scene 8: The Master's Plans

We now cut to our final continuation of the flashback of Master of Masters' talk with Darkness from before he disappeared

Darkness muses that it truly does not understand the Master of Masters at all. The Master asks if it wants to, and Darkness replies with a very clinical, "Yes, understanding your enemy is important." The Master muses if it means all of the Darknesses or just the one who is speaking, and Darkness states that it's speaking for all of them

The Master muses for a bit about how small worlds are easy to control. If this small world simply expands gradually over time, then eventually there will become parts of it that the light can't reach, but Darkness will have free reign over anywhere it pleases (much like real light can only shine so far, and anywhere it doesn't reach is filled with shadow). This skews everything in Darkness's favor when vying for control and is precisely what would happen if the world of the Age of Fairtytales continued to expand

Darkness simply notes that of course it will always be around, that's what "friends" do, but the Master says that sometimes he'd like to be left alone. And so, to get away from Darkness, he plans to flee to a world that Darkness does not know about. One where neither Darkness nor Light can be controlled. Darkness asks what this world is, and the Master says that humanity, even if their lives end, want to believe in a world that exists for them in the future. For him, this is a world of fiction and imagination. This implies that he plans to flee into the world of Quadratum, the fictional world that we learned about in Melody of Memory that exists on the other side of the "real world"

Darkness is clearly lost as it asks if he's talking about the Data World. The Master simply says that even if it started out as fiction, you can make it real. But he won't explain any more. After all, the point is that this is a world that Darkness doesn't know about. It cannot reach it, even if it tried

Of note is that he mimics what the illusory Xehanort remarks about Sora in Melody of Memory by calling this a place where neither your "eyes nor voice" can reach, much like Sora's voice could not reach Kairi in The Final World from Quadratum. His final description of it is as "a world of [symbol]." It's unclear if this is an actual term that is unpronounceable and unspeakable in-universe, or if this is simply done to censor the word for the players

Scene 9: Goodbye

We once again return to the real lifeboat room amidst the destruction of Daybreak Town. As she gets into her pod, Skuld starts sobbing and thanks Ephemer through her tears for staying with her until the end. Ephemer tells her that she can't give up until it's all over. As he goes into his pod, he flashes back to all of the time that he spent with Player, and mutters their name through his tears as their pods close and the room caves in around them

(AND THIS IS WHERE IT SHOULD'VE ENDED BECAUSE IT WAS ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD UP TO THIS POINT BUT HERE WE GO)

Scene 10: Where Do Dream Eaters Come From?

Player and Chirithy are floating in a white void alongside all of the other Dandelions that were trapped in the Data Daybreak Town and their Chirithies. Some of them are familiar faces, like the "My friends aren't my power" kid and the squad of four kids that Player had befriended and their ex-teammate. As Player awakens, they watch these sleeping Dandelions revert to the forms of hearts that are then eaten by those Chirithies, transforming them into the Spirits seen in Dream Drop Distance

Player's Chirithy explains that because Chirithies are bonded to their Keyblade wielder's heart, they take on a state to match their wielder. If the wielder dies, so do they. And if the wielder falls into a deep sleep, they take on a stronger form to protect it

Contrary to what the fandom is saying, NO, Spirits aren't dead Keykids. Rather, the Chirithies are simply taking their sleeping hearts into their bodies and transforming into a stronger form to keep them safe. This is only my assumption, but I would assume that this is possible since they don't technically have bodies anyway, having been digitized. Therefore, their body-less hearts would otherwise have been sent directly to sleep with no protection, hence the Chirithies moving in

Now, this still doesn't make sense regarding Dream Drop Distance by overriding the lore that all Dream Eaters are simply the form that Darkness takes in Sleeping Worlds, which made sense from a metaphorical perspective of "you sleep at night which is dark, so dreams are darkness and both good and bad dreams are made of the same stuff." And also you can totally craft Spirits and have them explode if they take too much damage, all with zero indication that a keykid heart was involved in the creation process or released on destruction, but whatever, let's just move on

Player asks if this is what will happen to them and their Chirithy, and Chirithy responds that they have a choice. If Player doesn't want to go to sleep, then their heart will be broken down and reconstructed as an entirely new heart to live a new life

Smash cut to an unfamiliar town where a woman in purple with black hair and silver eyes hand over what is obviously a baby Xehanort to a hunched figure in a blue cloak, holding a cane. She sobs. Cut again to the figure in blue holding baby Xehanort standing on Destiny Islands' play island. Cut once more and Xehanort is now his teenage self from Dark Road on the beach of the play island. The figure in blue is standing on the ledge behind him, and as Xehanort stands up to walk to the shoreline, the figure collapses onto the ground. Xehanort does not notice this. Two more cuts, this time to the day that Xehanort found himself in Scala ad Caelum and a chess match with Eraqus

We return to Player, who closes their eyes peacefully and decided to move on to another life. Chirithy is confused, but goes in for a final hug as both of them dissolve into light, Player's heart flying off into the white void

The implication of all of this being that not only did Player reincarnate as Xehanort, introducing reincarnation into a series that it has never been a part of and overcomplicating the lore even worse, but that Xehanort isn't even from Destiny Islands in the first place, invalidating nearly all of his character motivation from the series

This is so bad that it deserves its own post though, so we're moving on

Credits Roll: Scenes From the Game Play Over It

Post Credits: Aftermath

We find our scene in a vast expanse of water, littered with debris. A lone lifeboat floats amongst the rubble. Some houses from Daybreak Town can be seen partially submerged, setting this after its destruction. The lifeboat comes to a stop and opens up, revealing Ephemer's silhouette. He looks around

It's unclear why Ephemer seems to have landed so far back in the past compared to the others, though some people have noted that he also doesn't appear to have lost his body, so it could be that his pod simply didn't activate (note how we only saw it close, not disappear into light like Lauriam and crew's) and that Ephemer didn't time travel at all but simply rode out the destruction of Daybreak Town inside the lifeboat

We see a rendition of the scene from KH2 where Diablo the raven brings Maleficent's cloak to the three fairies and she revives, showing that this scene was, indeed, her coming back from her time travel adventure

Lauriam wakes up in the field of flowers from Dwarf Woodlands, and looks confused and startled as a white butterfly flits about him. The flowers clearly a nod to his element among the Organization

Elrena is shown still unconscious along the cliffs that lead to Maleficent's castle in Enchanted Dominion. Much like Lauriam, her element is represented in the thunderstorm that rages around her

Ventus is shown unconscious in the Keyblade Graveyard, and a silhouette approaches him. Many believe this to be Xehanort finding him, though as of now the figure's identity is unconfirmed

We cut to a scene of Luxu dragging the black box behind him in the Keyblade Graveyard, much like a certain scene from the end of Back Cover. However, this time the scene continues and he removes his hood to reveal Brain's face. The implication here is that after Scene 4 above, Luxu took Brain's body as the first of many that he would steal to prolong his own life. This is why neither of them are seen when Ephemer and Skuld emerge from the datascape; Luxu has already taken Brain's body for his own and made his escape to survive the destruction of the world with the black box

We get a title card, but are treated to one final scene. Brain wakes up (sans hat) in the same town that we saw baby Xehanort being given away in. A hooded figure in strange garb arrives, holding Brain's hat, and asks if he is Brain. At Brain's confirmation, the figure returns the hat and introduces themself as Sigurd (a Norse mythology name much like the other Scala ad Caelum characters so far). They seem to have been waiting for Brain and report that they found him into an earpiece of sorts

Brain is understandably confused, and Sigurd explains that they know of the Brain who escaped Daybreak Town's destruction and that he would appear in this spot on this day. Brain panics, realizing that he doesn't know where any of his seven other friends are and if they made it to safety. Sigurd tells Brain that he's the only one who made it to this spot. Brain, utterly crushed that all of his friends have seemingly perished, listlessly follows Sigurd as Sigurd leads him to their headquarters

On the way there, however, something catches Brain's eye. He sprints to the fountain and looks up at something that's not in the frame in shock. Sigurd explains that this is a statue of this town, Scala ad Caelum’s founder (so Xehanort's actually from Scala...) and the first ever Keyblade Master, Master Ephemer. The camera pans up to show the statue of Ephemer as we know him holding the Master Keeper Keyblade that he got from Brain

Brain is overcome with emotions, and through his tears states that he knows exactly who that is. That's his best friend, and he's so proud of him for rebuilding

This is just my speculation, but what I believe is going on in the final scene with Brain is that when Luxu took his body, he ejected Brain's heart from it. A lifeboat wasn't used up, so Luxu must have either used time travel on his own to send Brain's heart to the future or simply left Brain's heart stranded and waiting in the ruins of Daybreak Town. This would let Luxu have his body, but Brain's stranded heart could make a new one with the proper resources in the future like the other hearts sent via the pods. That's what I think the focus on the hat is about. Luxu is shown without it after he takes Brain's body, and Sigurd has it. So my assumption would be that the hat was the medium used to bring Brain's body back like Maleficent's cloak was for her. It’s possible that Luxu set this up, but I can’t confirm. As for the memories, I couldn't say

I would also speculate that this scene takes place a decent amount of time before Dark Road, since Eraqus has been implied to be a descendant of Brain due to their similar looks. If Brain is in Scala ad Caelum in the past, then he could easily be the grandfather that Eraqus mentioned

My final bit of speculation is that the reason Sigurd and crew know who Brain is is because Ephemer, the founder of Scala ad Caelum and the inheritor of the Book of Prophecies, likely saw when Brain would emerge and set up a system to take care of him, knowing that he wouldn't survive to see him again

Apologies for the length, the ending was 40 minutes long. But, hopefully, I've made it clear which scenes are connected to which and what is actually happening. If it wasn't actually clear, there's two flashback sequences involving the Master of Masters that take place before KHx, the scenes in the data and real lifeboat rooms are running concurrently with each other (Brain and Luxu are having their conversation at the same time as Player is being possessed by the Darknesses, etc.) and everything else is roughly chronological with the exception of the scenes where Maleficent, Lauriam, Elrena, and Ven are revived after time traveling. Lauriam, Elrena, and Ven's scenes all must take place sometime before or around BBS (Lauriam and Elrena for their ages to match up, Ven because he's in BBS). Maleficent's is at the beginning of KH2

[lunaekalenda]

hi! i have a request about jean and reader that are internet friends who have never seen each other in a real life. they just chat somewhere using nicknames. one day they accidentally meet irl and jean invites reader on a date. later they text each other about this date and both feel jealous. they are just sooo confused, cause they like someone irl, then why they don't want their internet friend to find a s/o? and happy ending, please? i hope that you take good care of yourself, love u <3

omg sure! i just got heavily inspired about this, i hope you like it!! take care of yourself too, anon ! <3

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jean x reader

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jkst is online

jkst is typing...

jkst: hi

Your phone rings at this last notification. You take your phone. The world-wide used avatar chat app sound comes with another message.

jkst: that sounded awkward lol

You unlock your phone and enter the chat, reading the two new messages. You type fast, a smile on your lips.

outofcoolnames: hey, Kir.

He told you his name was Kir. The first day you met, you received a little document with all the chat rules, in where you can't share your name, your city or pictures of you. It has to be safe for everyone. On the other side of the chat, Jean chuckles. He always does when he reads your username.

outofcoolnames: yeah like it sounded as if we were having a normal conversation.

outofcoolnames: what are you doing awake so early? it isn't noon yet lol go back to sleep.

Kir never, never messaged you before noon, and he always tells you he has been sleeping, so finding his message at 10 on the morning while you're working surprised you a lot. Fortunately, there isn't a lot of people on the book shop, so you can answer him calmly.

jkst: oh, you think you're funny? us adults have to wake up early for adult things. you'll never understand, child.

You don't know exactly his age, even when it is legal to share it on the chat, but you know he's on his early twenties. You raise a brow quietly. You tip fast while a couple enters the bookshop, with a little girl on their hands.

outofcoolnames: sure, geezer. now, if you let me, i have to work because i'm an adult.

You put your phone on your pocket, getting closer to the family. "How can I help you?"

The little girl tells you that she wants a "huge, no, enormous book about fairies with some dragons and a huge festival?"

You need almost an hour to let the girl decide between all the books you showed her. She finally decided for a illustrated book full of classic tales. You give it to her mother and, thanking the family, you open the door for them. When you close, looking at all the books you have to put back in the shelves, you hear an unpleasant sound followed by a deep moan. When you look at the crystal door, you can see a tall boy rubbing his forehead, his other hand on the door. You realize you hit him.

“Oh no, sorry, sorry.” you say, opening the door. He takes his honey eyes to you, his forehead a little red and his big hand rubbing the place where he got hurt. “Come in, please.” you say. You think you have a pomade inside.

“Yes, that was what I was trying to do, actually.” he jokes. You blush, you hit him and he’s literally joking about it. 

“Please sit here.” You show him a little sofa you have for kids to read. He’s not sure his knees will enter on the little couch, so he says he doesn’t need to sit. You run to the back of the store, taking a pomade from the bathroom. “Here, put this. It should avoid a bump.” He thanks it and puts a little on his forehead. You look at him while he does it. 

He has to take his light brown fringe out of his face to rub the pomade on his forehead. His hands are big, with bony and really long fingers that end on good-cared nails. His eyes are honey like color, and he has a mullet on the back of his head. He ends applying the pomade and takes his hand back down. He offers you the other.

“Jean Kirstein. Just in case you want to pay me a coffee.” You blush. After all, you hit him. Maybe you should invite him to drink something. Your half morning break starts now, so you take his hand.

“Y/N. And, casually, I have a break now. Where do you want to take a cup?”

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Jean opened the door this time and that made you laugh. He closed behind him and searches a free table with his tall body. He walks towards one.

“Sorry, I opened it, I still have war flashbacks.” You laugh and you both ask for your drinks. “So, Y/N, you should look more at doors.” you laugh.

“I know, I know. My bad, sorry.” you say. He shows a big smile.

He’s attractive, you can’t deny it. From his marked jaw to his smooth clavicle, seen through the open buttons of his shirt. Also, he has a really cute smile. He looks around, to all the people in the café. He smiles at you.

“So, you work on a book shop?”

Jean and you keep talking while you drink your coffees. He tells you he has been working on some art pieces lately. As you could suppose, he’s a painter. 

“I wish I could live just by painting. I work on an office all afternoons.” He says. The smile on his face fades a bit when he talks about the office. You listen to him quietly, his face quietly changing when you ask him more about his paintings. The break passes fast and he decideds to give you his number.

"You know. That way you don't need to hit me on the face with a door." you laugh and blush again. Is he going to forget it?

"Please, don't tell anyone..." you ask. He nods and leaves, a huge smile on his face. You feel butterflies.

Does liking someone feel like this?

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jkst: sorry, i disappeared today. i had a date.

You let the towel fall from your head while you read the message, the other towel around your body.

outofcoolnames: oh wow, a date.

You felt uncomfortable. Kir had a date. But well, you don’t know him. He has to search someone to date, after all.

jkst: jealous? :P

outofcoolnames: nah. i also got one.

Now is Jean the one looking at his phone with frown brows. He has no shirt on and he’s lying on his bed. He sits to read that message twice. You look at the paper with Jean's telephone number. Should you call him today? maybe tomorrow? or maybe send a message to let him know your number.

outofcoolnames: i think that silence means you’re jealous :D

Jean doesn’t know why, but he is. Damn, of course he is. He shouldn’t because you’re just internet friends, you didn’t saw each other. He doesn’t know how you look, what personality you have or if you’re even on the same country as him! 

jkst is typing...

jkst is online

jkst is typing...

jkst is online

jkst - last connection, now

You look at it. Has he just left? The hell? What is wrong with this guy? You let out a sigh and change to the other app. You introduce Jean's number and search him on the list, your lip between your teeth. You find him. His profile picture is a cute selfie of himself and a little cat. You message him.

y/n: hey, i'm y/n. this is my number if you want to adress it.

His answer comes in seconds.

Jean: oh, the door friend. cool, adding you.

That way of jocking, that way of tyiping. Why does it remember you to Kir? You shake your head. It doesn't. It's just that Kir left unexpectedly.

y/n: yeah i'm sorry, i hit you with the door. should we see each other another time?

Jean: sure. why not tomorrow? when's your break?

Wow, tomorrow. The guy is fast as hell. You check the other app, but Kir isn't online. You send him a quick message.

outofcoolnames: hi?

Again, no response, no connection. You go back to the other chat quickly. You answer that your break is tomorrow at 11:30, as it was today.

Jean: i'll make the effort to wake up that early. see you tomorrow.

y/n: bye :D

You go to sleep, but you check the other app a couple times.

On the next street, lying on his bed, Jean checks it too.

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"Good morning, y/n" he says when you enter the café. You search Jean. He's playing with his phone, moving it between his hands. You take a seat in front of him. You put yours on the table, side up. He does the same and you order some coffee. As the other day, you talk casually about a lot of things.

"Jean!" you hear a boy calling him. Jean looks around and finds the owner of the voice. He's a tall man, with a bun. Holding his hand, a black-haired girl smiles at Jean.

"Wow, Eren and Mikasa, the happy married couple!" Jean looks at you. "Could you excuse me for a moment? I promise I'll be back as fast as I can." He winks at you and gets up. You take your phone from near his. You enter the app. Kir has entered before, but he didn't answer you. You sigh and type.

outofcoolnames: look, kir, i... i was joking. i really like this guy and i think he also likes me but... when i'm here... i think about you. it is dumb because i don't know you. but i do. please, come back.

When you hit the send button, Jean's phone illuminates and sounds. The same sound your app has.

Wait a damn minute. Why did his app sound when you sent the message?

It has to be a coincidence. You debate between trying again and leaving it, but one more message isn't going to be a catastrophe. You tip again.

outofcoolnames: kir?

Again, his phone illuminates and sounds. Does that mean he is Kir?

You look behind you. Jean keeps talking with the couple. He said his last name before, it was something with a K, right? K, K, K....

Kirstein. Kirstein, right? He's not called Kir. It is a part of his surname. You enter fast his user. jkst. Jean Kirstein. Jean Fucking Kirstein. You look at him again. That's why his way of texting reminds you of him. That's why you think of Kir when Jean talks. Because it's the same person.

You like Kir. You like Jean. You like the two versions of the same person. Jean comes back quickly and he sits. He takes his phone. "Oh, did it sound?" he asks. But you can only look at him. You look at his hazel eyes. The eyes you wanted to see for so long, the lips you wanted to meet. They are all there. Kir is there.

"Do you use... ChatApp?" you ask, with quite voice. Jean smiles, blushed.

"I... I do.. I've met a person there. We chat often. Their username is really cool."

"The username is literally outofcoolnames." you reply.

"Yeah, but it gives like... What?" he looks at his phone. "Did you read my messages?"

You take your phone from under the table, the chat with jkst opened.

"No. I wrote them."

Jean looks at your phone. That's his ChatApp account. That's your ChatApp account. That is your chat. His head was a mess. He liked two people. But you're both of them? Is this fortune?

"You... You don't know how much I wanted to meet you." he sighs. He admires every single detail of your face. They all are like in your descriptions. He has been so blind.

"I also wanted to meet you. But Jean appeared before Kir. I liked Kir, but I assumed he had his partner, and you looked really interested..." you whisper.

"Do you believe in destiny?" he asks. He takes his phone to the table again. You shake your head. "Then, how do you explain that I fell in love with the same person twice?" he says. "Not once. Twice. With your personality through a screen, and with you all in your book store. This are signals. We belong together." you look at him. That's Jean, but he's also Kir. Your Kir.

The boy that made you feel so much through a simple screen. The one that is smiling at you now. Looking at you with sweet and hazel eyes. He uninstalls the app in front of your asking eyes.

"We don't need this anymore. Now we are face to face. And I hope it is for a long time."

[tommysparker]

Never Forget You [Chapter 3]

Obi-Wan Kenobi x Jedi!Reader

A/N: hey y’all! thank you for your patience with this chapter. enjoy!! :) [also totally didn’t have this in my drafts then forget to post earlier pfftttt whaaaatt?]

Warnings: angst with a tiny amount of fluff. anakin finally makes his debut in this series. it gets better just stay with me. long italic paragraphs = flashbacks

Anakin Skywalker had witnessed many things over the years. 

Giant beasts? At least once a week. Sith Lords? Becoming too common. Droid armies? All year long. Looking death in the eye? Simply another day in the life of a Jedi. 

Nothing could ever have prepared him for the sight he was currently witnessing. 

Obi-Wan Kenobi, his Master, The Negotiator, the Jedi Council’s most prized Jedi…sulking.

It has been a full week since You returned to the Jedi Temple and Anakin couldn’t help to think his former Master’s mood and your arrival were connected. He was vaguely aware of your past friendship, only hearing bits and pieces of the adventures you had together as Padawans. 

During his days under Obi-Wan’s apprenticeship he would often hear about how “a wise Jedi I once knew” would do certain things. He wanted to know more about this oh-so-great Jedi, however, any time the young boy asked his Master would always brush him off with a mournful look in his eyes.  

He didn’t understand at the time but now he’s beginning to piece together that perhaps there was something more between the two of you. 

“You think Master Y/l/n and Master Kenobi were courting?” 

“Keep your voice down, Snips,” Anakin hushed.

“Sorry, sorry. But Master,” Ahsoka lowers her voice, “what led you to that conclusion? I’ve hardly seen them together since Master Y/l/n came back. What makes you think they could be lovers?” 

“That’s just it, Ahoska. They’ve been avoiding each other like the Rakghoul plague. Obi-Wan told me they were such good friends, and now that they’re back they can’t stand to be in the same room as each other? I don’t buy it.” Anakin looked back to where Obi-Wan sat with Commander Cody, no doubt brainstorming new battle tactics and liberation plans. 

“So what do you suppose we do? Set them up or something?” The look her Master gave her made her regret her words the moment they left her mouth. 

“Come on, Snips. It’s a good idea. We get them to stay in the same room so they have no choice but to confront each other and talk things out! It’s genius.” Anakin smiled, his eyes still on his former Master. He had a feeling if Obi-Wan were to find out about this plan he would be in for a major lecture but he couldn’t bring himself to care at the moment. He couldn’t stand to see the old man look so miserable, not if he can do anything about it. 

Ahsoka crossed her arms and followed her Master’s gaze. Something was clearly different about her Grand-Master. He had put his full attention into ending the war, which wasn’t new. However, she could tell something was off. He no longer came out to the landing zone to greet returning fighters, stayed away from the meditation and training centers as well as the Jedi Archives which was the most off-putting observation considering that was where he spent most of his time.

Anytime someone needed to find Obi-Wan Kenobi, the first place they would check was the ancient history section of the Jedi Archives. 

“I don’t know why you find so much interest in these old books Y/n/n,” Obi-Wan complained from across the table. “Can’t we go practice our lightsaber skills instead?” 

You smiled. “Nuh uh, mister. If I won the wager you promised to sit with me during my reading time. Now shush, and read.” You pushed the unopened textbook toward the pouting Padawan. “Maybe you’ll actually learn something.” 

Obi-Wan stuck his tongue out in a childish manner, sighing dramatically when you gave him a certain look and reluctantly opened the cover and began to read Tales of The Old Republic. 

Safe to say from that point onward, Obi-Wan would join your daily Archive visits with zero complaints. 

You close the book, careful to make sure no pages fell out and gently push it back into its place on the shelf. Using the force, you carefully push the ladder you were currently standing on over to the next column and begin nitpicking through the array of old texts. 

It took a few days for you to settle in and readjust to the Jedi Temple life. Once you had, however, things quickly took a turn. 

Master Yoda requested that you help train some of the younglings who were having trouble advancing into the next stages of becoming a Jedi. In all honesty, you much rather have had the freedom to roam for at least one more week, but the new role presented an excuse to not be around a certain blue-eyed Jedi. 

“Looking for something?” 

The voice startled you, causing you to jump and lose your balance on the ladder. You yelp as you begin to fall towards the ground, bracing yourself for the hash impact and the bruises that would add to the collection on your side still currently healing.  

Instead, you feel a pair of arms catch you, one under your back and the other behind your knees in a classic bridal style. The hold felt secure instantly, and you instinctively clung to the tunic of your savior. You look up to thank the person for preventing any injuries, but the blue eyes staring back at you made your mind go blank. 

Obi-Wan stared back, unsure of what to say. This was the closest he has been to you since you left a decade ago. He longed to have you in his arms, to hug you, to regain that safety net you provided he knew he could always fall back on.

“Um...thank you, General.” It came out as more of a question, your mind still reeling from almost falling and also the fact that the man who you had been actively avoiding just happened to be in the same place you spent hours of your youth together. 

“Obi-Wan, please. No need for formalities, darling.” The old nickname slipped out, and he was about to apologize when he noticed the light blush that spread across your face. Perhaps not everything about you has changed. 

“Right...Obi-Wan. Well, I’ll be on my way then,” You rushed, trying to pass by him but he stopped you once again by the call of your name. 

“Y/n/n’s wait. Whatever game you’re playing, frankly I am not a fan of it.” Obi-Wan crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows. 

“What are you talking about?” You turned around and looked at him confused. 

“You were the one who summoned me here,” he stretched his arms out, “here I am and now you’re trying to run away again. I hardly think that’s fair.” He was beginning to get frustrated. He came in with his heart on his sleeve, ready to finally talk to you after so long and find out why you’ve been keeping your distance. Now, all he felt was betrayal and irritation at the ongoing dance you insist on doing around each other. 

He preferred to dance like you did in your youth, but alas this was nothing but another sign he needs to get mind out of the past.  

You scoffed lightly. “Again? What is that supposed to mean exactly?” You knew exactly what he meant, but you didn’t want to admit it. You’ve been denying it for ten years and Force be damned if you’d admit it now. 

“You’ve been avoiding me since your return--” You open your mouth to protest but he ignores you and continues “--and then you send the youngling to bring me here, only to try to flee upon my arrival,” He frowns, lifting his elbow and resting it on his remaining crossed arm. “I know our history can make things...difficult in the present time,” He glanced around cautiously as he spoke,”but I would appreciate it if we make an agreement simply to not speak from now on. No more games.” 

You blinked, head tilting slightly as you waited for him to finish. “Obi-Wan, I didn’t ask for you to come here. Nor would I ever involve younglings in personal matters.” He should know that, you thought. But should he really? 

His face fell from annoyance to embarrassment, his arms falling to his sides. “Oh.” He wasn’t sure what to do now. It was his own fault for getting his hopes up. I should have known better. 

You purse your lips and nodded slowly. “Well, I’m glad we at least came to an agreement. Goodbye, General Kenobi.” You took your leave, forcing yourself not to look back as you felt his eyes watching your figure. 

Obi-Wan let out a frustrated sigh, knowing he just ruined any and all changes of reconnecting with you. In his defense, however, you were the one avoiding his attempts at friendly conversation and refusing to meet and make up for lost time.  

Still, something didn’t feel right about this. 

“What the kriff was that?” 

Ah, there’s that something. “Anakin, please tell me this was not your doing.” 

Anakin smiled guilty, Ahsoka coming out from behind the bookshelf to stand next to her Master. 

“It was Snips' idea.” Anakin shrugged, flinching when he felt her punch his arm. “Ow!”

“You were the one who came up with the plan, and now look! Master Y/l/n and Master Kenobi will never get together--” Ahoska stops herself, realizing she said too much. “Oh no.” 

“I beg your pardon?” Obi-Wan looks at them both incredulously. “First of all, Master Y/l/n and I are simply…” he wanted to say friends, but even that was a reach at this point, “acquaintances. We knew each other in the past, and in the past our friendship shall stay. As for ‘getting together’, you both know very well any implication of that goes directly against the Jedi Code.” He crossed his arms tightly as he scolded. 

“I can tell you harbour feelings for them, Obi-Wan. You don’t need to lie to us.” 

“Whatever feelings I may or may not have for Y/n are unrelated. You must understand your responsibilities as a Jedi. No matter what emotional sacrifice we must make.” He made a point to look at Anakin at the end, knowing he won’t follow the implication but at least hoping he’ll get the message.     

“We’re sorry, Master.” Ahsoka looked down in shame not at what they had tried to achieve, but at the cost and clear damage they caused. 

Obi-Wan sighed, running a hand over his beard before resting it on her shoulder. “It’s alright young one. You meant no harm. Perhaps some things are better left forgotten.” 

Oh, if only it were that simple. 

A Padawan approached the three of them quickly. “Excuse me, Master Yoda sent me to tell you he and Master Y/l/n are waiting for you all in the council room.” 

Of course, these things never are. 

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heres a box to put your heart pieces in  -> []  :) 

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[the-ferocious-kittyrose]

My complicated opinion on Keith Kogane

Keith Kogane is definitely one of the more popular characters in the VLD fandom. People love brooding emo bad boys.

My feelings on Keith are... complicated. I definitely don’t hate him. I have a lot of problems with the character but I don’t think I could ever bring myself to actually hate him. Mainly because I kinda relate to him. We both have problems controlling our emotions, interacting with people, and making friends.

And we both have trouble believing there are people who truly have our best interests at heart and won’t abandon us because we’re a burden.

What I do hate is the way his character was written and the way it negatively impacted the characters around him.

There are definitely a lot of factors that contributed to VLD ending up the way it did. But to me, Keith and the writers insistence on pushing him to the forefront was the poison that killed the show.

Ok, before we get into this whole rant I feel like I should talk about the things I do like about Keith.

I like the premise of Keith’s character. He’s half Galra and never really fit in on Earth. He didn’t act like the other “normal” kids so kids made fun of him and adults didn’t want to deal with him. So in order to protect himself from the pain of rejection he would put up a tough angry facade and push people away and reject them before they could reject him.

This is something that really resonates with me personally having grown up neurodivergent. It’s awful growing up in a world that isn’t made for people like you and not knowing how to interact with or connect with your peers. Especially when you don’t know why you’re like that.

You learn to avoid social interaction because it always ends up negative. You put up walls because you don’t feel like anybody understands you or what you’re going through.

I know the writers probably didn’t intend to code Keith as neurodivergent. They just wanted Keith to be a hothead with abandonment issues, but nonetheless, this interpretation means a lot to me.

I also really like his relationship with Shiro. Keith is so used to being left behind and abandoned that when he meets someone like Shiro who’s patient and genuinely cares it’s new and strange. He’s so ready for Shiro to abandon him, even telling Shiro to send him back to the home, but Shiro refuses to leave him and tells Keith ethat he’s never going to give up on him.

It’s also interesting to see how their relationship develops over time. It’s clear Keith trusts Shiro, but you can tell that that fear of abandonment is still there deep down. In S2, Keith tells Shiro that he’s like a brother to him, and then in season 6, he takes the extra step and tells Shiro that he IS his brother and that he loves him. And for someone like Keith, telling their friend they love them is a big scary thing.

And also it’s just great to see a platonic “I love you,” especially between two guys. Don’t be afraid to tell your bros you love them!!!

Now let’s talk about the stuff I didn’t like.

Keith doesn’t have much going for him in terms of personality. He’s just sorta brooding and serious all the time. He does make jokes occasionally but it’s rare. The writers were more focused on making him cool and badass rather than fun.

I always loved the idea of Keith as a cocky carefree asshole who doesn’t give a shit about rules/laws and is kinda rude/aggressive but has a heart of gold deep down and would do anything for the people he cares about. (Just like a cat.)

I would also make him more alien esc. In terms of design I like the idea of Keith having red eyes with narrow pupils and fangs. And also just small things like the way he walks and holds himself. He growls and bears his teeth when he’s angry, his hair puffs up when scared, he’s fast and agile, disappearing and reappearing without making much noise, small things.

Then you have his race and sexuality. I have no doubt in my mind that Keith was intended to be a straight white dude. A lot of people see him as gay and Asian but there’s no evidence for this in canon. Acxa was originally intended to be his love interest and his race was never mentioned in canon. His name isn’t even Kogane in canon. (And the race of the voice actor doesn’t equal the race of the character. If that was the case Shiro, Hunk, and Lance would be white.)

They should’ve totally made Keith Japanese like he was in the original. It would’ve been so easy! Just canonize Kogane as his last name and have the book say he’s half Japanese half Galra. They could’ve also done what they did with Shiro and keep his og GoLion name. Just have him be Akira Kogane. Definitely cooler than “Keith.”

And as for his sexuality, I definitely think they should’ve had Keith be gay. But well get to that Later...

I also don’t like how they handled the whole Krolia thing. Not only was it crazy rushed, but it completely goes against the shows theme of found family.

Keith’s arc should’ve been about overcoming his abandonment issues and learning to accept the paladins as family. But instead they just get rid of the abandonment issues by just giving him his mom back.

I know a lot of people love Krolia but I don’t feel like she should’ve been introduced in anything other than flashbacks. Because Keith’s mom isn’t really that important. The show is about found family and friendship, not blood relation.

You can definitely have Keith learn about his mom and his family, but I feel like giving him his mom back was too much.

Personally, I always headcanoned that Kolivan was Keith’s grandfather or just a close friend of Krolia’s, and when Keith showed up at the Blade’s base Kolivan recognized the blade as his Krolia’s. Keith could learn about his mom through Kolivan telling him about her, how she was a great person and warrior who died fighting to make the universe a safer place for her son.

Another thing I didn’t like was the whole Keith leaving the team for the Blades thing. I know why he did it, he felt like the team was gonna reject him, he wanted to be more useful, and wanted to learn about his family, but I feel like you could’ve touched on all that without having him abandon his team.

One of the biggest problems with the show is that they did a bad job at establishing the paladins as friends, they feel like coworkers more than anything, and I feel like Keith being absent for two seasons contributed to that.

And his absence is hardly addressed. The team forms Voltron perfectly without him and no one ever says they miss him. Keith doesn’t even seem like he missed them after being gone for two years.

And a lot of the weight was taken out of that Keith v Kuron fight by the fact that Keith and Kuron hardly interacted.

That whole thing amounted to four things, Keith meeting Krolia (which I don’t think should’ve happened), them finding the colony (which was a dumb plot I don’t think should’ve happened), Keith aging up two years (which was weird and unnecessary), and Keith meeting Kosmo (which is... complicated).

I don’t think this plot was necessary. Keith should’ve stayed with his team.

Then you have his relationship with Lance. I know people are very sensitive about this topic. People have very strong opinions about whether or not Keith and Lance were intended to be romantically coded.

Personally, I do like Klance but I don’t believe they were romantically coded. I think if you want them to get together some things would have to go differently.

For example, the bonding moment. In canon, Lance tells Keith, “we make a good team.” I don’t see this as referring to him and Keith. I think he was talking about the whole team. If you want it to be about the two of them, I feel like it should be Lance telling Keith something like, “ya know, you’re not so bad after all,” and then Keith smiles and responds, “you’re not so bad yourself.”

Another example could be the scene where Lance comes to Keith with his insecurities. (Whether it’s as a leader or a friend.) This scene was weird in canon, Lance comes to Keith for advice and Keith basically tells him to just stop thinking about it.

I would prefer if Lance brought up to Keith how he doesn’t feel like he’s good enough or that he doesn’t have, “a thing,” and Keith is completely dumbfounded like, “what are you even talking about?” He goes on about all the good shit about Lance. Talks about how Blue chose him, how he’s a great shot, how he’s good at dealing with people, meanwhile Lance is standing there in shock as Keith says all these nice things about him.

Over all you would just have to develop their relationship more. More meaningful interactions. And if you want the relationship to be romantic you would have to establish that early on. Establish that one or both has romantic feelings for the other in like S1/S2 because if you wait too long it’s gonna feel forced/out of no where.

And then... you have the Black Paladin arc... I’m gonna be real with y’all, this is the arc that killed the show for me, for a few reasons.

One, even ignoring the whole quintessence bond thing, it makes no sense for Keith to be the bp. He doesn’t fit the role. I adore Shiro but choosing Keith as his successor was a dumb move. I get that he saw potential in Keith but they’re are fighting a war, there’s no room for favoritism.

Shiro should’ve chosen Allura as his successor. Not only does she have actual leadership experience, but you would only have one paladin in a new Lion instead of three.

If a lifeguard breaks his leg and can’t work, he should choose an experienced swimmers to take his place, not his little bro that’s still in water wings in the hopes that it’ll teach him to swim.

Two, Keith being the bp doesn’t help his arc. Keith’s arc is about overcoming his abandonment issues and learning to be a team player, he doesn’t need to be the leader for that.

VLD should’ve been about the paladins growing into the best versions of themselves they could be. Their development shown by unlocking new abilities in their respective lions, new forms for their bayards, and new Voltron bayard power ups. They shouldn’t have to change lions and themselves.

Keith and Red have a strong bond and work great together. Keith and Red are both temperamental, unpredictable, and have issues with trust. Keith having to fight to get Red to trust and open up to him mirrors how others have to fight to earn Keith’s trust and get him to let down his walls.

It would’ve been interesting to see them grow together. Keith has no emotional connection with Black.

We never even get to see them bond. Keith just suddenly becomes the “perfect” bp/leader because he got over his mommy issues

Three, it’s a MASSIVE disservice to Shiro’s character. Shiro put all the work in earning his position as the bp, he literally fits fought Zarkon on the astral plane to earn her trust, yet Keith is the true bp? What?

It sucks. Sendak told Shiro that a monster like him could never be a paladin and the writers went and proved him right. Hell Shiro didn’t even get to kill Sendak, Keith got that too.

And don’t tell me, “but he got the Atlas!” REALLY!? A massive Deus ex machina that required absolutely no effort from him to acquire!? Filled with a bunch of rando background characters no one gives a shit about!? You’re totally right, that 100% makes up for it.

I could go on and on about how the treatment of Shiro in this show (and fandom) is blatantly ableist but that’s a rant for another time.

It sucks. I want to like Keith! He had the potential to be an amazing character but the writers just kept on trying to turn him into something he wasn’t and it ruined him for me.

They kept trying to turn Keith into the main character and ignored that ALL the paladins are the main characters. It’s an ensemble cast! You don’t have to have everything come back to one guy.

[incorrect-ikevamp-quotes]

i saw your post about Charles and what his personality past and part in the story line so i was wondering if u could do the same for vlad? :)

Ah, well, I can at least let you know what I’ve seen so far? I haven’t delved too far into Vlad, and some of his general impressions can be confusing, so I’ll do my best to make it sensible and unbiased! Here you go lovely <33333

Fair warning, there will be mentions of a lot of JPN app content since Vlad and his boys aren’t around much in the ENG app yet.

My general sense of Vlad is basically discount vampire Sasuke Uchiha.

What I mean by this is to say–according to what I’ve read so far–his clan/family were murdered by vampire hunters in cold blood when he was just a young boy. Presumably as a result of that traumatic event, he harbors a sizable enmity towards humanity and kind of lashes out on them in weirdly specific moments of violence. Another aspect of his motivation is something that’s mentioned within Comte’s route; which is that Vlad went through the timespace door on his own one day and allegedly saw a devastated future, where nothing remains of life on earth more or less.

I guess the reason I find him to be so perplexing is that he speaks about his actions in terms of efficiency, while most of the things he does just feel like unhappy outbursts (v often a product of unresolved trauma symptoms, I’d wager.) I also say this because he appears to have no larger pattern to his fury beyond the original event of his loss. Most of the human beings he attacks aren’t much of a threat to him and hurting them really doesn’t bring him any dividends beyond revenge.

For instance, he insists his disdain for humanity and insistence on controlling them is for the sake of ensuring they do not destroy the future–the horrifying wasteland he witnessed when he traveled through the timespace door. However, I’m not really sure how his current movements really speak to that goal? I mean sure, maybe he’s relying on Faust to create an immortal human so that humans will be forced to care because it will be their future too, but he doesn’t allow Faust to draw his pureblood blood for experimenting. (One can most certainly argue this was more about a lack of trust, and perhaps for plenty reason: Faust is vindictive enough to try to turn the tables and exert control over Vlad, or act on his own whims with his findings.) But if that’s the solution he’s waiting on, turning the rivals of the men in the mansion doesn’t really bring him any closer to that vision either? I mean, what good does it do to bring back Gilles de Rais–a prominent French serial killer? How would unleashing him on the populace help humanity “realize the error of it’s short-sighted and wasteful ways” and move to a brighter future?

Can’t help it, I ask these questions as I read.

In Comte’s main story, Comte hammers home that Vlad is not somebody to be taken lightly. One day when MC goes out to buy flowers, Vlad poses as a human florist to sell them to her–which is how Comte finds out he’s in France, and that he’s made contact with MC. When prompted, Comte describes him in a very particular way; and I think people really overlook this when they talk about their relationship. He says that Vlad is frighteningly pure in terms of the way he thinks and acts. The way I understood his description (given what I’ve seen of Vlad) is that Comte really does mean it point blank: Vlad is very simple in terms of why and how he does things. The issue with this is that nuance and context are lost on Vlad as well–and that’s where the problems start to flood in. Vlad is angry at humanity for what they’ve done to him. Baseline? That’s fair, they killed his damn family. However, Vlad thinks that by extension he has the right to decimate the general public and attack people completely uninvolved in his hurt.

And that isn’t right either–it’s ignoring so many factors here. He’s ignoring how much vampires use and toy with humans as pawns, it’s ignoring the massive power imbalance between him and his victims (this really isn’t a case of self-defense most of the time, nobody but Comte/Leo is a sizable threat to him), and he’s ignoring whether or not a person even did anything to deserve his retributive violence. While murder is never okay, it is perhaps more understandable when we see Jeanne’s frenzied and violent belligerence in response to a man who murders a boy’s mother for the sake of his own amusement/convenience. Vlad literally sees almost every single one of the rivals he created begin to heal/improve and murders them in cold blood because they are no longer of any use to him. That’s uh……..that’s a little messed, not gonna lie to you chief.

While part of me understands the efficiency here–he doesn’t want to leave any traces of his involvement, he doesn’t want any loose ends–it’s also just kind of foolish and cruel ultimately. From my understanding of the narrative, all the people he turned had some visible sign that indicated their origin to Comte. So even if he claims it was for the sake of concealment, it was more likely about his personal convenience. Which…..also yikes.

[Comte clearly does not trust Vlad to be reasonable, and I think there’s plenty of good reason enumerated above, but I actually don’t sense quite so much hatred? I think he’s just given up on the idea of Vlad growing up, even if he doesn’t like giving up on people. And considering Vlad’s behavior, I think it’s overkill to say that Comte just abandons him because he doesn’t care lmao. Even when Comte expresses real anger at the end of his own route, it was more because Vlad was fine with endangering MC’s life just to get back at him. I think Comte’s unhappiness with Vlad has more to do with Vlad’s treatment of human life as meaningless and worthless. It’s fascinating but also kind of sad? Vlad’s traumatic experience results in behavior that is a direct exacerbation of Comte’s trauma, and as such--no matter their potentially fond history--they can’t stomach each other.]

In Comte’s route, Vlad also has Shakespeare abduct MC and take her to the cathedral. Later on in the castle, we see an immediate display of Vlad’s shocking powers: he has the ability to manipulate people’s desires/thoughts. I’m not exactly sure how this works, but he is able to give MC visions of the mansion and Comte coming on to her–which shocks her into realizing it’s all just a dream. It’s not reality; it’s all manufactured by Vlad.

After that...weird introductory note...Vlad gives MC the rundown on his life together with Comte, which as always is subject to a question of bias. My assumption is that he did not lie, only because he was trying to convince MC that he was “right.” Furthermore, he does not omit the most damning evidence of his erroneous judgement, which suggests a continued inability for him to see where he went wrong.

We get a series of three flashbacks. The first is them as young kids. I don’t know if Vlad had already experienced the horrors of his family being destroyed, but this particular flashback focuses on Comte. His parents, in an effort to teach him that vampires and humans have no ability to co-exist, send away all of his teachers/mentors/nannies/the servants--pretty much everyone and anyone he was closely bonded to. Think about it this way: we can see that Comte is very sociable and affectionate by nature. He was living in a house full of people, all of whom cared about him and looked after him in their own way. Now the house is entirely empty. Naturally Comte is very very upset, and Vlad appears to try to cheer him up with little success. 

[When I look back on this scene I don’t think I initially registered the sheer dissonance of Vlad’s reaction, versus Comte’s catatonic misery. There was a very solemn feeling to that memory, and the correct choice in terms of extending comfort is to hold his hand believe it or not. There is a sense that he feels very alone. When young boy Vlad enters one can argue that it was the proper thing to do; he was trying to cheer up his playmate and friend. But at the same time, I think I need to double check. Because I’m beginning to wonder if I was wrong. What if Vlad was happy to see someone as alone as him, and that joy is accordingly dissonant for that reason? He can’t see what Comte needs or how he’s hurting because he’s so glad he isn’t alone anymore in a way.]

The second flashback is the war nurse scene that I have spoken at length about. The important thing to focus on here is Vlad’s surprise that Comte would opt out of turning her out of respect for her wishes. The way Vlad frames the situation is starkly different from Comte’s. Comte sees himself as an outsider, somebody who invaded her life as a result of the timespace door and therefore has no right to suddenly change the course of her fate. He had no idea if she even wanted to live (considering the horrors she’d have to cope with and remember) or leave that time period at all, for that matter (considering the only thing keeping her going was helping the wounded/victims). Comte really was listening to everything she had to say, and he was taking her concerns and motivations seriously. 

Vlad simply says: if you want her, take her. It’s as simple as that for him. And in one way that’s not entirely wrong--assuming Comte would have every intention of looking after her and actually cares a lot about her. But what’s being ignored here is her agency and the fact that they really don’t know each other that well? Something like that could begin and be rocky, if it doesn’t end in complete disaster. Worse, I get the feeling Vlad is perfectly fine with the notion of turning her and if things don’t work out, just kill her or get rid of her. Again, the simplistic thinking comes into play here: it ultimately comes down to Vlad being self-centered. He’s thinking only in terms of satisfying his needs, he doesn’t seem to have any concept of a larger pair or group feeling. There’s an inability to bend/be flexible for the sake of maintaining a greater harmonious feeling. 

[For the record, I don’t think this makes him irredeemable? Only that it makes it very hard to live with him or love him, probably. There’s an inability to live at a joint pace? It’s always answering to what he wants without room for anything else most of the time, which to me is not living and it’s not love ;;;;]

Following their escape back to their own time, Vlad explains how he wants to use the door to turn geniuses and control humanity. He eventually wants to create a surveillance state, which would mean everyone is forced to move with his explicit approval, more or less. (He almost reminds me of Louis XIV, can’t tell if that’s what they were going for.) I have my doubts that his abilities could extend that far, but human history shows us that we are plenty susceptible to fascist and totalitarian rhetoric. In a shocking display of anger, Comte draws the line at controlling humanity and forcing them into a regime in which, and this is Vlad’s description not mine, “we (purebloods) would be like kings.” There’s definitely a concept of evolutionary superiority at play here, which echoes what I mentioned earlier; vampires seem to have this awareness that they’re apex predators in a sense, and enjoy the power that comes with that. Unfortunately, that probably makes for a fairly toxic/uncomfortable larger species culture, which is exactly what Comte and Leo hate lmao.

Vlad does not seem to find any issue with this sort of outlook, and asks MC to decide which of them--Vlad or Comte--is right. Who is more realistic, who best understands the future? As expected the MC replies that it's Comte, and Vlad goes from beseeching to big mad at record speed. He's p much that gif of the teddy bear that smacks its head down on the tables and then has the angry eyebrows.

This is where Comte intervenes, firing a warning shot that grazes Vlad's cheek and demanding he let MC go. In response, Vlad shoves MC into the turbulent timespace door--p much guaranteeing MC's death. (Essentially timespace is a void of sorts, a human being could never survive in that environment for long. Vlad fully knew this, and yeeted her anyway.)

So uh, yeah. Disagreement? Death. Moving on? Death. Nuanced approach to reality? Death. Beginning to think he doesn't really have a lot of patience or open-mindedness or any other kind of problem-solving approach. 

He raises flowers and gardens like a fiend, and he openly plucks any single flower with a blemished leaf. Even if a single petal is slightly damaged, it will be removed and destroyed. So one could argue his extremism reflects a kind of perfectionism as well. No room for errors or troublesome dissent. No ugliness of any kind. I mean in all of his interactions with Faust and Charles this is the overt undertone. Don't ask more of me than I'm willing to give. Behave like good children, mommy's busy. Is that insubordination? boss music begins

One thing I actually don't understand very well is his decision making in Dazai's route. Dazai finds out about what Vlad's doing in a nanosecond when he senses MC is in danger, and yet Vlad makes absolutely no move to eliminate Dazai? He just watches from the shadows. Even when Dazai grills Charles about his loyalty to Vlad, no retribution.

My best guess for this specific situation is that Vlad does derive some level of satisfaction thwarting the future of human beings/former humans. Dazai--being somebody with no great desire to live, no rivals to speak of as far as we can tell, and no larger aspirations--is a life that is easily extinguished. There's no satisfaction in it. When Vlad's clan was murdered and he saw the future decimated, it could be that he felt humans had invaded and eradicated every potentiality that was important to him. Where he might have lived happily with his family, that future was ripped from his grasp. Where he might enjoy his flowers and the creation of an immortal for the rest of conceivable time, that too was ripped from his grasp with a desolate future. 

So much about who Vlad is is about control, so it's very possible his lashing out is an extension of that. Dazai does not awaken any of the disdain he feels, and he does not succeed in overthrowing Vlad's control over Charles, so Vlad simply lurks in silence.

And last but not least, I've seen the preview to Vlad's newest birthday event story. The contents are incredibly revealing, in that MC wishing him a happy birthday and offering him a gift has him saying that it was "the best birthday ever." Granted idk if that’s sweet or just...beyond sad, but here we are. It’s only compounding my curiosity about the wound on his chest--I really do wonder if he was attacked and locked away by vampire hunters or hostile human beings or something. I say that only because that line speaks to a lot of isolation, and given how little he seems to care about turning people/subjecting them to his whims it feels odd. Why the isolation or lack of people who care about him? Is it a perceived lack where his actions alienated all the people who wanted to be close to him, or is it a more involuntary lack?

When she says let’s celebrate again next year, he seems a pleasantly shocked by the notion, and remarks “Ah yes, it’s a promise c:”. The preview was also mega horny: “You make me feel so loved, I don’t think I can be gentle with you tonight. If you enjoy it so much, then I won’t stop. I want to see you completely lost for me. I’ll teach your body what it means to be loved by a pureblood.” Aaaaaand pretty sure the CG was alluding to him licking the good stuff from her basement, though not entirely sure given it was only the preview. 

The brief POV they give us is also very revealing:

“You always keep your promises, and I think I underestimate all the time how much you saved me. You are good, only you are good in this world.”

“Will we continue to make promises to each other in the future? Well in that case--you will always, always be mine, my vampire.”

Tbh he’s...v sweet? In his own way? Honestly he feels like a crabapple that is just so sick of the world and wants softe wife to take comfort in. While granted that’s not really my thing, I know a fanbase appeal exists for these types--so if that’s your thing, have at it!

So now that we have reached the end of my ridiculously long analysis (when am I ever brief, I’m so sorry. If you made it all the way here you deserve a cookie at the very least, if not the right to chase me with a bat) perhaps it’s more clear why I said discount vampire Sasuke Uchiha? “My clan is gone, every other second I’m going to be in retraumatization insanity, when I’m not I’ll be seeking power/hobbies, planning the demise of people who wanted the best for me, building a team to my advantage and unquestioned control, and eventually settling for a lifelong love who sees the best in me despite my more difficult moments and perceived hollowing loneliness. Not the most ideal comparison, but I will say if Vlad was not already named the historical figure, would have pointed and yelled Uchiha.

That’s all from me folks, hopefully this was a fun way to get introduced to him? And again, hope I didn’t alienate--I fully respect what people do and don’t enjoy o7

[weasleylangs]

in the summer sun - f.w

Pairing: Fred x Fem!Reader but honestly it’s just a whole Weasley family slice of life fic. Summary: The war has ended and the Weasley’s appreciate their family now more than ever. Warnings: Mention of the war, mention of Fred having a near death experience, mention of PTSD, anxiety, nightmares and injuries, opening scene involves an anxiety attack, fuck is said twice by the way. Word Count: 3.1k

A/N: This fic is inspired by this ask I received from Kai @weasleyclaw for the ‘send me a made up title game’! The warnings sound scary, but I promise this is a super fluffy slice-of-life fic with Fred and the reader, just existing after the war! Fred lives, obviously but he still had an accident and in reality, he’d be going through a lot of shit and I didn’t want to ignore that!

I am in no way romanticising mental illness and trauma, I myself struggle with a variety of mental illness and trauma and representation is super important, babey!!!!!! Proper support is important!!!!!!

I still can’t decide if I love or hate this but.... [schedules while I’m asleep]

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

Fred sat up quickly. Heavy and ragged breathing coursing through his lungs as he struggled to catch his breath. He couldn’t even remember what he was dreaming of now that he’s awake, only remembering flashes of green and a loud ‘bombarda maxima’ before being shocked awake by his anxiety and fear.

He’s been plagued by nightmares for three months, ever since he was fighting in that seventh floor corridor and the wall came crashing down on him. He knows it’s normal to be haunted by these memories, he almost died, for crying out loud, but he would really like to have one night where he sleeps through it without being jolted awake. 

He could feel the pressure in his chest get stronger as he struggled to breathe as he checked the clock on the bedside table. It reads 6:30am and when he looks out the window he realises the sun is already rising and the summer heat is making it into their bedroom. His girlfriend of five years sleeps in the bed next to him, snoring lightly having not been woken up by his oncoming anxiety attack.

Fred struggles to remember the grounding technique she taught him when he had his first attack. She’s his biggest supporter, always there when he needs her, but he wants to get better himself . He doesn't want to rely on her for the rest of his days no matter how often she reminds him it’s okay and that she wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

He’s got his legs swung over the side of the bed, his body closing in on himself when he feels the bed move and arms wrap around his middle, “Breathe, Freddie, and tell me five things you can see,” she whispers gently in his ear.

His eyes darts around the room, searching as he tries his best to breathe, “The tree outside our window, the lamp, that chair,” he struggles to speak as his breathing is laboured, “your book on my bedside table, my slippers…”

“Good job, my love. Now, four things you can touch.”

His hands grab hers, “Your hands,” he says as he turns to face her, “the duvet, my shirt and…” His hand moves, from her hand to cupping her face, “your hair.” 

This continues, Fred rattling off three things he can hear, two things he can smell and one thing he can taste before he realises his breathing has slowed down, his hands have stopped shaking and while the pressure in his chest is still there, it’s been alleviated and he knows it’ll disappear in a few moments. 

Y/N whispers soft praise in Fred’s ear as she lays him back down in their bed. She’s so proud of the progress he has made in just a short few months. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

He shakes his head, while he barely remembers, he knows it’s the same nightmare as usual. Hogwarts, duelling, wall comes crashing down and Fred almost dies. It’s more of a flashback if anything, that he’s constantly reliving the worst day of his life.

“That’s okay, we can just lay here and rest before we go to your mum and dad’s… If you still feel up to going?” Y/N knows when nights like this happen, Fred usually wants to stay in bed and recoup his energy and try again the next day. 

“No, no, we have to go,” he says and it’s not because it’s an obligation, he truly does want to. After almost dying, after spending almost a year without knowing if Ron, Harry and Hermione were okay, after Bellatrix Lestrange threatened to kill both Ginny and his own mother and with Percy reconnecting with them all, he appreciates family time like he never did before. They all deserve to have happy, carefree and relaxing days and that’s what today is meant to be for them all.

“If you’re sure, my love,” she whispers, pressing a soft kiss to his neck. Fred probably won't fall back asleep, the sun has risen and while he won’t admit it, he’s too scared to try and sleep again. But he doesn’t mind, he’s perfectly content having Y/N fall back asleep in his arms and sometimes, rarely but sometimes, her soft snores lulls Fred into a light, undisturbed sleep.

-

It’s lunch time by the time Fred and Y/N apparate to The Burrow. Fred’s still recovering physically from his injuries - having your entire body crushed by rubble does that to you, so he happily side-along apparates with Y/N instead of solo floo’ing places. 

When they walk into the house, they’re met with a chorus of hello’s and Molly dragging Fred into a hug and kisses his cheeks repeatedly, and then continues to complain that he has no meat on his bones and that he needs to be eating more while shoving a muffin into his hand. 

George is snickering by the table because someone who isn’t himself is finally being on the receiving end of his mothers affection and he has Angelina Johnson awkwardly beside him. When Y/N raises her eyebrows at him, he mouths a ‘I’ll explain later’ before winking and walking Angelina over to her. 

“Hey, Angie,” she says, pulling the girl into a hug. While they were never close at school, considering Y/N wasn’t a Gryffindor, they still got along when the time arose, “didn’t know my little Georgie here got himself a bird.” 

George groans at the fact Y/N completely ignored him and Angelina blushes as she tries to hide her face behind her hair, but Y/N can see that she’s smiling and not at all bothered by the teasing, “Hey, I’m only teasing, come here!” she says as she pulls the embarrassed girl into a tight embrace. While Y/N drops the subject of Angelina and George finally getting their lives together and dating after years of pining, George knows Y/N is going to corner him later and get the answers out of him.

Hermione and Ginny quickly run down the stairs and grab Y/N, pulling her into a hug as well. Soon enough, the entire family is trying to squeeze inside the living room - including Bill and Fleur who always turn up for the Weasley get together and even Charlie has taken extended leave from his job in Romania to stay and spend the summer with everyone. 

Because of the overcrowding, Ron whistles loudly, grabbing everyone’s attention, “Who wants to play a game of quidditch and let mum have some peace and quiet?” Immediately Harry, the twins, Angelina and Charlie are out the door, already fighting about teams and position. Y/N briefly hears Harry whine ‘I want to be on Charlie’s team but he plays seeker’ as their voices fade. Ginny stays back, wanting to catch up with Y/N for a bit and promises to join everyone later.

Fred loves nothing more than spending time with his siblings. Growing up as a twin, he’s had someone constantly by his side, but he loves his huge family more than anything. George and he spend 5 minutes fighting over who gets to be beater until they just decide they’ll just be on different teams before they realise they don’t have enough siblings for a full team anyway, meaning the beaters are out of the equation.

This causes the twins to just start jokingly fighting over who plays chaser before Ron and Harry has to break it up so they can actually play. 

Fred adores flying. His hair has been growing out and the wind through it as he flies is one of the best feelings in the world, he thinks. It makes him forget all his worries, his only focus is snatching the quaffle out of George’s slimy grip and getting it past Charlie, who’s playing both keeper and seeker for the other team to make up for the lack of players.

“Oi, Ickle Ronnikins,” he calls out from his broom, wobbling slightly as he yells to get his brother’s attention, “mind paying attention to the match and not your girlfriend? George is getting every shot in, mate,” He’s teasing of course. They can see the girls through the window and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t sneaking glances at Y/N.

Meanwhile, the three girls sit at the kitchen table chatting amongst themselves and Bill and Fleur are outside in the garden when Percy and his girlfriend turn up. There’s tension in the air, there always is when Percy turns up. It’s not that no one wants him there, but given his history of being a ‘right prat’ (Fred’s words), everyone is cautious. 

But he goes right up to Molly, pulling her into an embrace and kissing her on the cheek and then turns to his dad and gives him a hug. 

“Hey Gin, Y/N, Hermione,” he gives them a curt nod as they say hello back before pulling the girl beside him closer, “this is Audrey, my girlfriend. Do you guys mind hanging with her while I go find the boys?"

The girls, of course, nod. “How long have you and Percy been together for?” Y/N asks as the girl sits and she hopes she isn’t coming off rude. She’s been with Fred for five years and never met Audrey and Hermione’s been in the Weasley’s lives for even longer, so it’s clearly a recent development. 

“Around this time last year… With everything going on and Percy not being on speaking terms with everyone, we haven’t really had the chance to meet…” she trails off and Y/N senses the awkward tension rising, so she grabs Audrey’s hand in a reassuring matter.

“Don’t stress about that. You’re here now and you’re family,” while Y/N isn’t officially a Weasley, her and Fred have spoken about their future together on numerous occasions so she doesn’t feel like she’s speaking out of turn offering ‘Weasley Family Status’ to Audrey, “I’m Y/N, Fred’s girlfriend.” 

“And I’m Hermione, Ron’s girlfriend,” Hermione adds and before Ginny even speaks, Y/N interrupts her, “You’re obviously a Weasley, Gin,” and the girls all start giggling.

“I’m Ginny, Harry’s girlfriend!” she exclaims proudly when all the girls finally calm down and it only sets them off again.

What the girls don’t notice is that Molly’s watching them, with a smile on her face. She’s always wanted daughters - she loves Ginny and she loves every single one of her sons, but she wishes she had been able to give her a sister. But watching the scene unfold in front of her, how these girls welcome Audrey so easily into their lives, Molly’s eyes well with tears as she realises she has the most wonderful daughter and future daughter-in-laws a woman could ask for. 

“How’s Fred doing?” Ginny asks. Of course, everyone’s suffered from the war, but everyone is constantly concerned about Fred. 

“Between seeing his psychologist and his physical therapy appointments, he’s doing really good,” she says, looking out the window and she laughs as she sees Fred holding Ron in a headlock, shouting something about how rusty he is at keeper, “there’s days it’s hard, and he has really bad nightmares sometimes, and there's days where they make him not want to leave the house but he had one this morning and was determined to get here today. I’m really proud of him.” 

Molly rubs Y/N on the shoulders, almost like a thank you for being there for Fred through it all as she places muffins in front of all the girls and takes her own seat. She takes a moment to scold Arthur for trying to repair the muggle radio playing he’s stolen from work before joining in on the girls’ conversation as they eat. 

The sweet moment is interrupted by a voice that is clearly Percy’s shouting and both Y/N and Audrey’s automatic assumption is that the worst has happened. Especially when Y/N hears the familiar voice of her boyfriend shouting incoherently. 

All the girls rush out the door, expecting to break up a fight but that isn’t what’s happening. Instead, Fred has Percy on the ground, rolling around in dirt and they’re both laughing . Molly has to excuse herself, tears welling in her eyes at the sight of Percy being accepted by his brother. 

“What’s going on here?” Audrey questions. It’s clear she’s still weary, worried that at a moment's notice, Percy’s siblings will turn on him and forget his apology. Fred looks up, winking at Y/N before looking at Audrey and flashes her a cheeky smirk, “Perce said I suck at quidditch.” 

Everyone rolls their eyes at this as Y/N grabs Fred’s hand and pulls him up. She lives with him, so one would think that the time spent apart at The Burrow is no big deal, but secretly Y/N has always been super clingy, wanting to always have Fred in her sights, and it's only worsened now they live together.

“Hi Freddie,” she giggles, tucking herself close to his side despite the summer heat blasting down on them, “I miss you.” she whispers.

Fred lets out a cackle of a laugh, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and leading her to the tree they always sit under as he tells Ginny to take his spot on their makeshift quidditch team. Secretly, he was hoping to get away from the game because he needs a break and maybe an attempted nap under the tree. 

He settles down first, stretching his legs out as he leans against the trunk and then he pulls Y/N down to sit between them and to rest her back against his chest. This has always been their favourite way to cuddle.

“What’s the go with George and Angie? I knew they were going on dates but...” Fred asks, and Y/N shrugs. “He just said he’d fill me in later so I’m still waiting. But she’s at family day, so it must be getting serious.” Fred hums behind her, resting his chin on top of his head as he watches his family on the makeshift field in front of them fight over quidditch rules. George is trying to teach Percy fake rules and Ginny’s smacking him over the head as he laughs at the confused expression on Percy’s face. 

To their right, Arthur’s got the radio working and he’s charmed it to blast 80s muggle music loudly for the entire family to hear. Bill’s dragged Fleur to dance around with him and Arthur’s trying to get Molly to join them. Charlie’s sitting with Audrey and Hermione, probably droning on about dragons as usual and the girls listen intently, gasping when appropriate. 

“What are you thinking about?” Y/N asks. Fred is never this quiet, usually speaking every single thought that comes to his mind without any sort of filter. It’s gotten him in trouble a fair few times, from both his mother and Y/N. 

“I’m just happy,” he says quietly, tucking his head into her neck, and Y/N doesn’t miss the crack in his voice, “I’m so happy I’m here with everyone.” She shuffles in her spot so she can sit and face Fred and he can’t meet her eyes because his own are welling with tears.

“Don’t hide, my love, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” she coos as she cups his cheeks in her hands. He leans into her touch and smiles as he sniffles. 

“I know, it’s just…” He trails off and Y/N knows what he’s going to say. He almost wasn’t here and that thought haunts the both of them more often than they’d like to admit. “I know, but that doesn’t matter, because you’re here , and I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am you are,” she whispers, pressing a kiss to his cheeks.

“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you,” he says and Y/N’s heart swells. Marriage and lots of ginger babies has always been in their life plan, but hearing Fred say it, so, so vulnerably, almost brings her to tears. “Forever, Freddie, you promised,” she replies and he leans forward and presses a soft kiss on her lips. 

He’s always promised. He promised forever when they were 16 and they’d only been together for a year as they danced at the Yule Ball until 12am. At 17, when he admitted he wouldn’t be finish the school year. He promised once again at 18, before he flew out of Hogwarts with George. At 19, straight after George had his ear cursed off and he was sick with fear because the war was real and happening.

At 20, they were fighting in their school and he’d promised, ‘We're surviving this fucking thing and I’m marrying you as soon as I can.’ 

They pull apart and Y/N is smiling at him, adoration filled in her eyes as Fred feels around in his shorts, clearly trying to grab something. When he pulls it out, Y/N’s eyes catch the small, velvet black box and while she doesn’t want to get her hopes up, her heart is racing.

“I’ve been carrying this everyday, waiting for the perfect time,” he chuckles, shaking his head. You’d think Fred Weasley would have a huge and bizarre proposal, most likely with fireworks and dancing gnomes somehow, but in reality, this is perfect. He’s surrounded by his loved ones, there’s no war and he wants nothing more than to officially make Y/N a Weasley. 

“Is that now, Freddie?” she says and he nods, smiling. Y/N thinks he’s never looked happier in his life. He knows what her answer will be so he doesn’t feel the slightest bit nervous.

“I promised you, we're surviving the war and I’m fucking marrying you as soon as I can, so here I am,” he pops the box open and Y/N gasps. It’s nothing extravagant but she doesn’t mind. Small and classy, just like she’d always wanted and she doesn’t even realise she’s crying until Fred’s hand wipes her tears with his free hand, “Will you marry me?” 

She barely gives an answer, nodding her head violently as she wraps her arms around his neck and presses her lips to his. Their teeth clash and they both laugh at Fred not being prepared to be jumped before getting a verbal response. Y/N pulls away and puts out her left hand, “Of course I’ll marry you.” 

He slides the ring on her finger and it’s a perfect fit. They continue to sit in front of the tree, watching their family but Y/N constantly catches herself looking at the diamond ring sparkling in the sun and she’s decided she’s never been happier as well.

Everything is perfect, because it’s the calm after a very, very long storm and she’s never taking family for granted again.