#but he's also a humongous weirdo so like and like

[zorosangell]

⛥ﾟ・。 protector: chapter fifteen

synopsis: " you were supposed to stay a crewate, just another back to watch, " he tightened his hold, " i didn't even notice the change until i woke up one day and realized i'd take a bullet for you "

cw: violence, gore, fighting, mature themes, profanity, MAJOR/MINOR ANIME SPOILERS, follows the plot of the anime, slowww burn.

a/n: reposting from another account

Once the crew got past Reverse Mountain, the lot of you ran into a gigantic whale, which ended up swallowing all of you.

Inside the whale's stomach, you met an old man Crocus, the keeper of the lighthouse and caretaker of the whale, who's name was Laboon.

He told you the story of Laboon's previous owners, and how he was stuck there until their return. 

And while telling the story, these two weirdos, who went by the names of Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9, tried killing Laboon.

Luffy beat them up easily, and got into a fight with the whale, promising to return so they could have a rematch.

And now here you were, the entire crew laid out on the floor after the roughest patch of sea you've ever faced.

Well, not the entire crew.

"C'mon. The weather's nice and all but that's not a reason to be lazy," Zoro scoffed, having just woken up from his nap.

"I'll kill you," you groaned, your voice dangerous.

He turned to Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9, who were also sprawled out on the ground.

"Oh, you guys are still here."

He crouched down, the both of them abruptly sitting up with fearful expressions.

"Wanna tell me what were your strange names were again? 'Cause I don't think that you can be trusted."

"Well," Mr. 9 shakily started, "I'm called Mr. 9."

"And I'm called Miss Wednesday," Wednesday answered as well, her smile faltering.

"Right. You know those names sound familiar, and that's what's bothering me. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I'm certain I've heard them somewhere before. Or maybe I—" you interrupted his rant by punching him in the back of the head, hard.

"You think your lazy ass can just sleep while we do all the work?! You're lucky I didn't throw you overboard!" you scolded, angry.

"Ow! What's the matter with you, woman?!" he exclaimed, rubbing the large knot on his head.

You answered his question by punching him in the same spot twice more, leaving him clutching his head in pain.

"Listen up, everyone! There's no way to know what's gonna happen next. During the terror most of us experienced, I came to an understanding of why this sea is named the Grand Line. My navigation skills are useless here, but mark my words I will guide us through!" Nami announced, proudly.

"Umm... okay. You sure, Nami?" Usopp asked.

She smiled, turning to look out at the distance, "Without a doubt.

"And speaking of which. We're here. Our first journey on the Grand Line comes to an end."

Everyone turned to see the island not too far ahead.

Whiskey Peak.

The island was covered with humongous cacti, some of which stretching up past the clouds.

"This is unlike any landscape I've ever seen," Sanji stated, impressed.

"Those cactus are humongous!" Luffy shouted.

Just then, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday jumped onto the rail of the Merry.

"Thank you but we must be leaving," he smirked.

"It's been an interesting ride to say the least," she agreed.

"Bye, bye, baby!"

And with that, they jumped off, back-flipping into the ocean and swimming to shore on their own.

"Buncha weirdos," you scoffed, crossing your arms.

"I guess we'll never learn what those nutjobs were up to," Usopp shrugged.

"Eh, who cares. We're landing!" Luffy smiled.

"There's a waterway right up to the shoreline. It looks like we can go inland by ship," Nami pointed.

"Um, am I the only weighing the possibility of monsters on that island?" Usopp began to shake, nervous.

"It's possible. This is the Grand Line," you shrugged, "Even if there are it's not like we can leave."

"Huh? Why not?" Luffy asked, confused.

"Don't you guys remember what Crocus said. The Log Pose needs enough time to record the islands magnetic field so we have to stay put. The Log Pose needs a different amount of time for each island so some may take a few hours while other may take several days," Nami explained.

You continued up the waterway, a dense fog rolling in and covering up the view of the port.

But as the lot of you got closer, you could her a faint sound.

Faint, but distinct.

"Is that—?"

As the fog cleared, a crowd of what looked like the entire island could be seen gathered at the docks, all cheering and celebrating. 

"Greetings and good tidings, travelers!" a man shouted.

"Welcome to Whiskey Peak!" another agreed.

"These aren't monsters. They're people. And they actually look happy to see us," Usopp stated, getting out of his defensive stance and lifting his goggles.

"What the hell's wrong with them?" Sanji asked.

"Pirates are always welcome in our town!" A random woman cheered, whipping around a flag

"Hooray for the heroes of the sea!"

"Hey!" Luffy cheered, sitting down on the head of the Merry.

"This is fishy," you stated bluntly, standing cross-armed next to Zoro.

"Definitely. I'd keep my guard up," he nodded, resting his hand on the hilt of his swords.

"Agreed."

After an entire day and night of partying, the crew was out cold, each asleep with a blissful smile on their faces.

You kept to yourself the entire night, distrusting of the villagers odd hospitality to pirates.

And luckily, that led you here, sitting on a rooftop next to Zoro, as the villagers below plan to raid your ship and murder your crew mates.

Not only that, but it was Zoro who revealed that they were actually a part of some giant criminal organization, all based on bounties and assassinations.

"You mind if I watch?" you smirked, crossing your legs and resting your cheek in your palm.

"Not at all," he smirked back, disappearing from the roof and appearing in the center of all the agents.

"Alright, then. Gimme a good show!" you smiled.

And what proceeded was a long, and hilarious, battle between Zoro and the hundred and some change criminals.

Each one had their own goofy weapon, and each one would get swiftly taken out upon entry, mostly because of their own doing.

"We got you now, girl!" a small fry shouted as he and a group of his friends came running up behind you.

"This'll teach you to mess with Baroque Works!"

"God's Messenger: Army and Point," you stated, not taking your eyes off Zoro's fight.

A large amount of your feathers detached, stabbing and slicing the men like knives with a mind of their own.

Once all of them were down, your feathers returned to you, softening back to normal.

"Will you idiots give it a rest? You're way out of your league," you rolled your eyes.

As you continued to watch the fight, the gears in your head began to turn, and you realized the opportunity put before you.

'If these guys are part of an intelligence agency, then maybe one of them knows something about Doflamingo.'

You turned to the curly-haired guy, Igara-something was his name. 

He seemed to be the leader of the small fry.

'Perfect.'

You quickly stood up, unfurling your wings and flying down into the battle, kicking away the mayor's saxophone gun and grabbing him by the collar.

"I'm stealing one, Zoro!" you called as you began to fly straight into the air.

"Find by me!" he shrugged, pushing a bunch of the agents off a ladder.

"What are you doing?! What do you want?!" the man frantically shouted, growing more and more fearful as you flew him higher and higher.

"I'm gonna make this real plain and simple, got it? You tell me what I wanna know, and I won't drop you," you started, your expression stone cold.

"But... you tell me somethin' I don't like," you smirked, "and I'll drop you so hard they'll be scrapin' your remains off the road for weeks."

"Okay! Okay! What do you wanna know?! I'll tell you anything!" he cried, his shaky hands gripping onto your wrists for dear life.

"Tell me where I can find Doflamingo," you ordered, tightening your grip on his collar.

"Doflamingo? I'm sorry but I have no idea what you're talking about! Please you have to believe me! I don't know who that is!" he blubbered.

You smirked, let out a quiet chuckle.

"Damn, Igarrapoi," you started, outstretching your arms.

"That was somethin' I didn't like."

"No, wait! Please! I—!" But before he could plead any more, you dropped him, his body landing one top of a couple of other agents.

He wouldn't be dead, but he'd be battered a good bit.

'Can't kill him for not knowing. But he did plan to kill my crew mates so most of that was deserved.'

"Ya done up there?" Zoro called, sitting himself down on the edge of a different rooftop.

"Yeah, I'm done," you sighed, flying down and sitting next to him.

"The guy had what you're looking for?" he asked.

"Nope. Another dead end," you huffed, glaring at the mayor's body, who seemed to be talking to someone in the alleyway, along with Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9.

"Don't let it discourage you. The further we get on the Grand Line, the more information you'll be able to find," he nodded, placing an assuring hand on your shoulder.

You smiled, a faint red tint rising to the apples of your cheeks.

"Anyway, you think our captain'll be alright. I left 'im down there with those weirdos," he asked, removing his hand.

You were already beginning to miss its warmth.

"Wait, Luffy's down there?" you asked, looking over the ledge to see that Luffy was indeed there, fat and passed out in a wheelbarrow.

Suddenly, the mayor jumped up and pulled the strings of his bowtie, sending a barrage of bullets towards the man and woman he was talking to.

And Luffy was caught dead smack in the middle.

"Dammit. Luffy's trapped," you sighed, pinching the bridge of your nose.

"We better go do something about it," Zoro begrudgingly stood up, resting his hand on the hilt of his blade.

"Right behin—" Just then, a gigantic explosion ripped through the gunfire.

And when the smoke cleared, the mayor lay unmoving on the ground.

'This is too much.'

"I've had enough fun for one night," Zoro grumbled, jumping down from the roof and grabbing Luffy by the shirt, dragging him off.

You looked down at the scene again, cocking a brow as the mayor called Miss Wednesday Princess Vivi.

Mr. 9 tried to protect her, but the dread-headed guy picked his nose and shot a booger at the poor guy, blowing him up.

"That's disgusting," you grimaced, shuddering at the thought of explosive boogers.

'Now wait a second. Intelligence agency... secret princess... kingdom in danger... I think I'm starting to get the gist of what's happening around here.'

Flying over the dramatic scene happening with the princess, you met up with Zoro and Nami, who seemed to be arguing over money while the mayor lay on the floor, helpless.

You landed and squatted down to his level, him lifting his head to see you.

"Igara-guy," you started, serious, "Would the princess, or the king of this Alabasta place, know anything about Doflamingo?"

His eyes went wide, and he coughed up a little bit of blood, "I am almost certain that Princess Vivi knows nothing of this Doflamingo you speak of, but King Cobra should surely know."

You smirked, standing up straight.

"Well then, can't let my map die."

You managed to catch up with the princess only to see the exploding-booger guy fire a pretty big one at her.

Quickly, you swooped down and hit it away with your mace, sending it flying and exploding in mid-air.

"Gross! I just hit someone's snot!" you exclaimed, tongue out in disgust.

"You! Don't you pirates give up! Leave me alo—!" you quickly stopped the princess' spinning toy and turned to her, seriously.

"Relax. I'm here to help," you assured, firmly.

"Help?"

"I take it that you must be a part of that swordsman's crew. The one that beat up all the lowly employees stationed here," the blonde woman with the umbrella smiled.

"Why would you wanna protect the princess of Alabasta?" the booger-man asked.

"I have my reasons," you glared.

"Well one way or another we're gonna have to eliminate you. You're in our way."

"Aww, what a shame!" the blonde woman laughed. 

Booger-man stuck his finger up his nose, and you got yourself ready for another attack, until Luffy and Zoro suddenly burst through a house, fighting.

Your eyes went wide.

"Huh?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING?!" you shouted, angry.

"ZORO BEAT UP THE NICE TOWNSPEOPLE THAT GAVE US FOOD!" Luffy shouted, sending the swordsman flying into another building.

'My captain cannot be this stupid.'

"LUFFY, YOU DUMBASS, THEY'RE THE BAD GUYS! THEY TRIED TO KILL US!" you scolded.

But he ignored you, and instead got sent flying into the blonde woman and the booger man, knocking them into another house. 

After about five more minutes of the two knocking the sense out of each other, and the bad guys, you had had enough. 

"WILL YOU TWO IDIOTS QUIT IT!" you shouted, flying over and slamming the two of their heads together, stopping their fight. 

"You people... are insane," the princess gaped. 

"What the hell is wrong with you two?! You're lucky you guys kept her safe during your shenanigans, otherwise I could've lost out on some VERY important information!" 

"Huh? Information?" the princess asked, confused.

"In exchange for delivering you home safely, you're gonna bring me to your dad where we can discuss some things," you stated.

"I... uh... umm—" "Deal? Deal," you smiled, interrupting her.

"(y/n), that hurt," Luffy sniffled, clutching his head. 

"You're lucky I didn't hit you two harder!" 

"Tch... Crazy woman," Zoro huffed, nursing his new welt.

[imagionationstation]

GONNA GET RANTY

You like my rants, do you?! You like my headcanons?! Hmmm?!

THEN LET’S GO BECAUSE I SUDDENLY REMEMBERED THAT I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT THIS!

Two words. Fungus. Humongous.

*screams into pillow* *wrenches self back up*

OKAY. Let’s get ‘er done.

It’s not the episode itself that I don’t like. It’s just one premise of it that I refuse to accept. And as it’s already been established that Donnie is the fav, I THINK IT SHOULD BE CLEAR WHERE I AM GOING WITH THIS

Or maybe not. Because this became canon, so a couple writers must have been blind to it. So let’s get a move on, shall we?

So. Their fears.

April’s makes perfect sense. Her dad’s been turned into a mutant that she can never be certain isn’t going to decide that she’s his meal instead of his daughter. She knows that he’s her dad, but he’s also become something else. That has to be scarring and terrifying, especially since he kidnaps her whenever they meet. This girl has some serious trauma, and her fear is of her dad turning against her- him hurting her. Especially after he’s spent his entire life obsessively protecting and caring for her.

We’re introduced to Leo’s fear early on, which is him failing his brothers. He mentions that he has nightmares about things happening to them, and him not being able to do anything about it. Not only does he have big brother and instinctual mama bear vibes, but now he has leader responsibilities on top of it. He’s terrified that he’s going to be the reason they get hurt.

And I know what you few Leo-shouldn’t-be-leader fans are thinking, and NO! I do not support fanfics where the brothers are like “Sensei gave this to you when it was to much for you to handle, so you shouldn’t be leader anymore”. LEADER IS EVERYTHING HE WANTS IN LIFE! LEADER IS APART OF WHO! HE! IS!

His father didn’t up and decide that for him! Master Splinter was just trying to help lead him to being the best leader he could be!

Of course it’s stressful! He’s out there saving the planet and keeping his family safe! Besides, what worthwhile thing in life isn’t?

We’ve already established that Casey has a thing about rats, and who knows if it originated or was influenced by the story about this ‘Demon Rat?’ Super curious about that lore, btw.

In conclusion, perfect sense. Irrational/chronic fears are not fun.

Also, Casey, bro, look me in the eyes and tell me that you haven’t subconsciously shaped the Demon Rat to look like Master Splinter this whole time, because I believe nothing! 🤣 (Not a jab at Splinter, I just like how brains make connections without our consent. Like how dreams work, yk?)

Mhmm, mhmm, I completely believe that somewhere in Raph’s mind, he’s secretly terrified that the Spy-Roach- *looks at mental notes* -otherwise knows as Chong (*WHEEZE*🤣)- will come back. His irrational fear transformed into a weaponized creature that’s only life’s mission is to hunt him down and end him, and in turn, will happily end his brothers along the way. Two terrifying prospects in one. This fear checks out.

Again, past mutant trauma that I wholehearted believe haunts Mikey because of their first battle! He never had the irrational fear, but he does have the spooky tunnel attacks and almost drowning at their hands in the back of his mind. They start out tiny and cute and suddenly they’re purple and trying to kill you! No way to tell until it’s too late! Seriously, it’s played off as a joke (a funny one, mind you), but I wouldn’t trust squirrels either!!

And now.

What you’ve all been waiting for.

“Don’t touch me! Get away from me! You make me sick! Mutant! Weirdo!”

“April! What’s wrong with you??”

“You nerdy- three-fingered- FREAK! I hate you! You mutated my father! I never want to see you again!”

YEEEEEE- CAN I JUST SAY HOW MUCH I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS! The way the scene is acted out is a little cringe, but you look past that and EVERYTHING THEY ARE NOT SAYING BUT ARE ABSOLUTELY SAYING?!

“Don’t touch me!”

HELLO?! THE MUTATION SITUATION ANYONE?!

“Don’t! Don’t touch me! You keep away from me! I never want to see your faces ever again!”

“What am I to April, anyway? I’m worse than a nerd. I’m a freak! We’re all total and complete frea-!”

People, this is all being made up by his subconscious. I don’t think I’m reading into this when I say that he is absolutely dealing with intense insecurities and this cringe scene is so much more than him fearing his crush disliking him. April is the first female human he’s ever met; the first human kid his age that he’s ever come in contact with! I’m not surprised that he attached himself to her, or that he’s placing every inch of self-respect on whether or not she can see past him being a ‘freak’.

I think if they had left this here; I would have been in love with this ep. This would probably be up in the favorites, and I’d watch this as obsessively as I watch “The Broken Foot” and “The Creeping Doom”.

Unfortunately…

THIS IS THE ESCALATION SCENE?! THIS?!

YOU KNOW WHAT THIS DOES?! THIS TRIES TO UNDERMINE EVERYTHING THE FEAR PORTRAYS! THIS TURNS IT FROM A DEEP AND BURIED TRUTH, TO THE OBSESSIVE CRUSH! I CAN STAND THE CRUSH ASPECT AT TIMES, BUT THIS IS PUSHING!

BUT I REFUSE! I. REFUSE.

NO WAY! NU-UH! NO WAY! NOPE! NADA!

There is obviously some serious Mutant Dysphoria going down, and I’m willing to bet it’s been there for as long as this kid has known the truth about the human world. This should have escalated into his brothers hating him or being mobbed by humans or just her yelling at him some more- literally anything would have been better than this!

Oooooh, maaan, I am so high strung right now. Should probably walk away before I snap. As you can see, I’m so normally attached to this show and this boy. Nothing concerning or unreasonable about it!

If you disagree with or dislike anything I said, leave a factual comment explaining why I’m wrong! I totally could be! Or you could not know something that unintentionally makes you wrong. Either way, turtle education is shared! Tis the best kind~ 💚💜💙🧡❤️💚

[basedkikuenjoyer]

More Like a Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Egg

1093 is a pretty action heavy chapter, so it leaves a lot less to ruminate on. The Kizaru fight is oodles of fun. The Dawn Stamp to all the illusions after getting them lined up is a classic, reminds me a little of Kuwabara vs. Byakko from YYH. And I love how much Luffy looks like a lil gremlin when he goes big. He'll always be just a lil guy to me. We'll also see a lot more of Egghead as we jump around and sadly nothing that bolsters the idea this was Toki's island. We even add a new Egghead-specific vegetation in some happy lil Diablo cacti. I think we've seen them already but you know...hard to remember every plant you see. And now I kinda want to take this break to talk foliage on various islands. Remember the spotted flowers would be the golden hint.

Still, I wouldn't toss that idea just yet. We only saw one bay on Toki's unnamed island. The placement still adds up, as does the timeline for Vegapunk getting started on his projects.

We did play with this area another way though, since Bonney incidentally gave us a detail about the timeline. And this is the big gun from this chapter. I've backed off of pointing out shared themes because it was getting repetitive, but this is a huge one. Type of thing where even non-obsessive weirdoes like me are catching on. We strongly imply Bonney's actual age is younger than first assumed. This is why you never horndog about people with skewed time. I do see people stumbling on this so keep in mind Bonney could be a "young girl" and like...14. This would all make sense.

That makes Bonney a humongous tie with Momonosuke as well as Kiku & Yamato who play with that theme in different ways. So tomorrow we're having a fun Tale of Two Hannya about that. Ooh, and while we're at it lovely Thriller Bark callback in Luffy thinking of Perona's ghosts with Kizaru's illusions. It's a long crescendo but the type of stuff we've been looking at all along is still escalating.

Sentomaru looking cool as hell here, and I'll say Vegapunk's reckless abandon rushing to save Bonney is reminding me of Usopp in the Raid. Good on him actually, he's seemed to be a little careless about allies all arc and knowing Bonney is actually a child makes a lot of sense out of how he treats her.

Last thing I'll say here is this. These have been some big chapters fleshing out Jewelry Bonney. We've been keeping an eye on her all Egghead because of her basic setup lending itself well to picking up Kiku's thread. Just remember...we took a lot of arc to get here. We've done the same so far with Stussy and Sentomaru and Vivi in the cutaway. Bonney being an actual child pushes her more towards ending up in a "family" structure as an ending. Happy end for Kuma, Vegapunk taking responsibility, something like that. If it were just her in all these side story spots I'd be over it, because I like Jewelry Bonney a lot actually...but when it's juggling multiple stories like this that play with established Wano themes, you can't ignore when someone who threads the needle on all of them was the one with the strange ending.

[joslincox]

Enter The Mayor

My new issue of Bop magazine says that the key to happiness is the four Fs:

FRIENDS, FUN, FASHION, AND FLIRTING

But unfortunately, the closest I got to friends, fun, fashion, and flirting was having a locker right next to Paul Spryman

He's MY little brother and THE mayor of Hector.

Lucky me! ☹️

I had just finished fighting my way through the crowded hallways to get to my locker and almost have been trampled alive.

Then, suddenly, as if by magic, the huge mob of students parted right down to the center, just like Red Sea.

That's when I first saw Spryman strutting down the hallways like it was the runway of a Paris fashion show or something.

He had green hair and blue eyes and was dressed like he had just left a photo shoot for the cover of Teen Vogue.

And everyone (except me) immediately fell under his powerful hypnotic spell and totally lost their minds.

"What's up, Spryman!"

"You look hot, Spryman!"

"Are you coming to my party this weekend, Spryman!"

"Love your shoes, Spryman!"

" Will you marry me, Spryman!"

" You'll NEVER guess who has a crush on you, Spryman!"

"Is that a designer purse, Spryman?"

"Fabulous hair today, Spryman!"

" I'll pluck out my eye with a pencil and eat it with a spam and mustard sandwich IF ONLY you'll sit at me lunch today, Spryman!"

This also proves my theory that there's always at least one seriously mentally ill-as-hell WEIRDO in EVERY middle school across other people's BODIES!

It was "Spryman! Spryman! Spryman!" When he walked up to the locker right next to mine, I knew then and there I was going to have a VERY bad school year.

Being so close to the radius of his awesome yet sickening perfection just made me feel like a humongous LOSER. And it didn't help that he was HOGGING most of my personal space!! ☹️

Hey, It wasn't like I was jealous of him or anything. I mean, how totally juvenile would that be?!

Between classes, Spryman and his friends are forever standing right in front of MY locker "GGG-ing

That means:

GIGGLING, GOSSIPING, AND GLOSSING

And whenever I get up to nerve to say, "Excuse me, but I really need to get into my locker," He just ignores me or roll his eyes and says stuff like, "Annoying much?" or "What the hell is HIS problem?"

And i'm like, "Hey, baby bro! I don't got no DAMN problem!"

But I just say it inside my head, so no one really hears it except me.

However i'm troubled in a shame but a tiny part of me - Is a very dark and primitive side - would totally LOVE to be best friends with Spryman!

And I find out part of myself so damn disgusting... I could... VOMIT!

But on a much happier note, I'm really into lip gloss, too.

My favorite one right now.Is Krazy Kissalicious Strawberry Crush Glitterati.

It's yummy and tastes just like strawberry cheesecake.

Unfortunately, no super cute girl (like Leah Estrogen, the girl who sits in front of me in my biology class) has developed a huge crush on me and fallen in love with my fabulous glossy lips, like in all of those KRAZY KISSALICIOUS television commercials.

But, hey! It could happen!

In the meantime, i've decided to enjoy my single status.

Oh, I almost forgot! My dad, the police chief, is supposed to pick me up after school to take me to my dentist appointment.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don't let him pick me up in his police car with the 5-foot-long plastic roach on top.

I would absolutely DIE if anyone found out I only attend this school due to his police contract!! ☹️

[the-firebird69]

One reason why we're attacking you John renillard is because sitting on this particular ships I don't know if you understand this stuff we see you d****** with him we tell you not to we have you killed and you get killed like every time it's still kind of a mystery to me and he says it's not really is a certain level on the zombie scale and he needs to be burned and it's simple sop to and I probably have it he says and elected out I looked it up this morning and it says it if he responds no more than a few times and you're not asking is some moron who thinks he can make it happen by saying it out loud and we checked in the computer is not doing it so we're going after you John remillard AKA Trump is going to finish you off and this big list of us

Mac Daddy

We are also with it and we hear what our friend is saying we're going after ships with real fleece and we really need the ships and not to am scram and get hit by a big huge bases we don't need that and a lot of these Macs are ostracized and not allowed on base because they disagreed with methodology and it happened to us a long time ago now it's going on again they got big miles like you do John remillard and they're going to get plugged

Michael tew

We have to sit here and tell you people we know what you're doing it's exhausting you're bad at your job we went to Chinese food one way or the other and we know that some of it loosens you up she's not like making a killing and getting all sorts of places and being the man what you're doing is pissing a lot of other people off who want to use our services just because you have a technique that is horrible and ruins your life doesn't mean that it won't ruin your life and it's horrible and if you can't follow it please don't ask me I'm trying to think your simple pieces of s*** and you've expired and a friend who is right check some of the zombie scale get get the business done those people in the bunkers want them to do stupid things and start a war and such and John remillard's throwing his life away and doesn't know it and that's what's happening all over the world and yeah these Max are helping and my friend here did it on purpose he said that the max will have jobs to me one way or the other we'll figure out what what they're doing and they're building bikes which didn't make a ton of sense and now it does

Ken

It was a supposition and he needed to know stuff he also needed these people out of his hair and for them to be busier doing something else and they got very busy and they are humongous losers both sides of this weirdo idiot coin that's screwing up tons of stuff right now they're fighting each other and everyone is very grateful except it's really turned into a hassle but Tommy f is a nightmare and everyone is going to have to fight him soon this riff Raff will be out of the way and we have some big groups and we'll be this fugitive group and he's used to it he says we're not really but we're going to have to adapt and in our way is more dangerous but it's not the children and it's stupid and we're going to pay for it through the nose and it's unfortunate and people like John remillard might be the ones who inspired it and we say it this guy sounds like he's sitting there making this dumb s*** happen to a lot of groups it's not right and he's a mean piece of crap and he actually knows how to make it happen today there's several indicators that show he's the one doing it and making it happen and he stalled out the economy with covid-19 this one proof and a friend here mentioned it is being very brave he wants the a****** out and he says he's been saying that to me for years and he's been dying for years and it's gross there's nothing left of him he's no longer Billy Hicks at all and Billy Hicks was a monster and Jackie karate was a monster but they weren't doing this stupid s*** that he's doing now he's a zombie and we noticed you saying that Tommy f wants him to hit me and the guy has spent and people have to stop him and we're up to it now and he appreciates it and it's a good deal and we have a bike picked out because usually they revert to number one and it'll have to be the off-road version so it's not perverting it but there weren't really paved roads back then it's kind of what it'll be driving on anything so we're laughing cuz you might sneak off to the convenience store like Arnie and we'll be there riding around it says I wouldn't do anything else so that's a good time

Macs for Earth group

We do admire them for doing it and my nephew for helping them they weren't bad to him and he had friends like hulk Hogan was trying to coach him on how to get beat up by Andre to have a little revenge for him grabbing his throat and stuff like that is going to happen in the future is getting it out but he was a mean person and our son can probably beat him but he says that Andre has a lot of history and experience with close in combat street fighting kung fu wrestling and all around bad guys stuff so it's going to be kind of tougher than that but we've seen Andre over power people that's how he does it a lot and it could be what he's up to he says today if you don't have to go to the laundromat you save this all what a nightmare that is and why don't you get to work repairing stuff for people won't beat you up and he says my father's at me if I don't go with him he just takes her things so we're going to shut him down it's terrible this whole clan is going to get shut down because of what he's doing and they won't stop him

Mac daddy

This is hell it comes back to this idiot every few minutes and nobody wants to talk about this idiot I'm putting the word out there for people to stop him

Mike tew

Olympus

[lady-plantagenet]

shipping bingo george and isabel :)

~ Did anyone expect anything different ~ hh. You indulge me my friend ;).

Some Comments: I am picky about it, because like most of us weirdos on here I feel somewhat protective of how my OTP is depicted, but given how it is almost never shown as anything other than a terrible relationship full of abuse and neglect (entirely based on given author’s need to exalt Anne/Richard III in its place or their inexplicable hatred towards Clarence) at this stage my standards are so low I will accept anything that shows the relationship as remotely pleasant. Not only do I read fic/would but I write fic, so one step ahead hehheh. You may have noticed I didn’t pick ‘complicated’ because even though I doubt there were never tensions among them (given what happened historically), the relationship in itself had none of the unconventionalities that would indicate that their feelings were anything towards each other but loving and faithful - they were barely ever apart! This in itself makes it at once unconventional and (given Clarence’s track record at switching loyalties at his displeasure) downright intriguing. I put softly both for my feelings and the circumstancial evidence that indicates that the marriage served as a sort of cushion for both against the visccitudes they would face in their lives. Unhealthily... ok I’m not talking about myself but rather that the marriage itself had also led to severe issues: Clarence spinning out of control after her death, Isabel becoming severed from her family, Isabel losing her child during their crossing into the channel. Like who knows, if they married other people maybe both would have lived longer lives.

The Ship:

Honestly, I harp on about these two loads and I will not write everyone an essay about why I inexplicably like this pairing so much (apart from the fact that I am technically a product of this union lmao). But I’ll still add... George x Isabel is very unassuming from the outside, just a conventional arranged marriage right? Sure, Edward taking great pains to veto it it has the whole forbidden love angle and (according to contemporary commentator: J. de Wavrin in Recueil des Chroniques et Anchienne Istories de la Grant Bretaigne, à Present) he had even briefly put George in house arrest when he was bringing it up (lmao), but it’s not Edward IVxElizabeth Woodville or Jacquetta Woodville x Richard Woodville or the other famous love matches. Without going into its more well-known dramatisation-worthy elements, I will just say that, on objective analysis, it was a union that brought a fulfilment neither would otherwise have had. George’s greatest power and influence came from being Warwick’s political heir and a feudal magnate, not the prince he was from birth. The years (1473-1476) he had spent being ‘good lord’ (beside Isabel) were most likely the only time in his adult-life he had felt any sense of happiness (in the Aristotelian manner of speaking), having his worth confirmed. He was praised heavily by Rous and it was only within those years that he did not make any move for the crown (until Isabel died that is). Isabel had grown up most likely expecting to grow into the greatest lady of the realm, sure most noblewomen did but she was heiress to one of the greatest and richest barons in England’s entire history. Sure, her father and husband rebelling caused the patrimony (and matrimony) to be lost in 1470, but had it not been for those strange circumstances Isabel may have never inherited the humongous share that she did (because she would co-inherit with her cousin Montagu and sister Anne).

It was very down to Clarence’s merit as an orator and counsel (Crowland praised him heavily on his talented performance in the inheritance trials) and extraordinary perseverance that she could live the life she had probably envisioned for herself since she could speak. It is also a nice trope subversion of the hero using his sword in a duel to champion the lady, here the ‘hero’ fought hours and hours in court and against his brothers and with his mind as his weapon. It was an outcome which she herself had fought for at the expense of her father, mother and sister (by clandestinely liaising with Edward IV while in France to bring her husband back into favour - this message passing was reported in Philippe De Commynes’ writing). Of course, that action could also be construed out of a deep love on her part, it must have been very deep given the risk was her family’s safety. And there’s a litany of clues that point to not only how inheriting the massive legacy of Warwick was a joint-enterprise but also how strong the bond must have been for someone like Clarence to have (as a man) visibly represented himself as marrying into his wife’s family as opposed to vice versa. I mean he wasn’t some humble suitor below her dependent on her name and fortune, after all though she may have been noble but he was a prince! He buried himself with her (among her ancestors), constructed a tower at Warwick castle and named it the ‘Clarence and Bear’ tower (the bear signifying Isabel’s ancestral emblem), took part in her ancestor’s numerous traditions (Hicks) and there’s others but I feel like this is already turning into an essay (which I promised it would not!). Add to all this the fact that the Neville name had become disgraced by that point, the aforementioned aren’t the actions of someone who cares only for the crown, because if he did he would have distanced himself as much as possible from his wife and the legacy of her father and mother. His extravagant reaction to her death and her obsequitious funeral is probably the only reason she is even remembered at all today. There’s still more I can say but here have some pieces of trivia which are more rarely considered as fodder for this ship. I mean sure, I can’t prove it was a great love match, but I stand by the belief that no one living today can prove beyond reasonable doubt that any two people 5 centuries ago were in love. However, the pieces of trivia against the factual picture taken as a whole makes it for me as true a ship/OTP as any other historical pairing.

[chxoticmuses]

SHIP QUESTIONS THINGY

Status: Accepting

@streetsofsecrets​ / @themercifulmother​ said: our ships?? 🥺 ( Travis & Delores )

PRE-RELATIONSHIP

How did they first meet?: Delores came stumbling into his cab one night drunk and rambling the whole ride.

What was their first impression of each other?: “Wow, she’s kinda odd and seems kinda weird, but she’s very pretty!” I feel like Delores didn’t have much of a first impression since she was drunk. Once she sobered up and met him again, she probably thought he was a total weirdo and creep!

Did any of their friends or family want them to get together?: Travis talked about her to his coworkers a lot and they all encourage him to shoot his shots and pursue a relationship with her. As for Didi…..at least Esme told her it was a good idea to be with him.

Who felt romantic feelings first?: Travis and he felt them the very first night that they met! She trusted him to drive her home in the state that she was in? It was a sign in his head.

Did either of them try to resist their feelings?: At one point, Travis did try to resist the feelings he had for her because he didn’t think he was good enough for her 😔

If you had told one of them that the other would be their soulmate, what would they think?: That it was absolutely true, especially if you told them in their older years. “The universe worked hard at making sure the two of us ended up back with each other!” Is a line you���ll hear Travis say a million times. Even if you told younger them they’ll believe you as well. They’ve never found someone else who understands them and their feelings so well.

GENERAL

Who initiated the relationship, and how did it go?: I feel like Delores was the one who started initiating and labeling the romantic aspects of their relationship. Travis always did things that made it seem like they were a couple, but she was always the one who was more verbal and labeled things.

Did they have an official first date? If so, what was it like?: Travis took her to a carnival that was in town. At first he was going to take her out to some fancy restaurant and really show out because that’s what people kept telling him to do, but he decided to go with his gut and it went well! They had the time of their lives laughing and riding all the rides, he even won her a humongous stuffed dog at one of those balloon shooting games.

What was their first kiss like?: It was kinda awkward to be honest. He just went in for the kiss while she was next to him on the couch changing his bandages and then there was silence. Then like two minutes later, she kissed him again. Sweet because he was finally able to show her how he felt, but when they reminisce on it they definitely find it awkward compared to their other kisses.

Were they each other’s first anything (kiss, relationship, etc.)?: Delores was Travis’ first actual stable girlfriend. He had some experience prior to her; but nothing that was stable and tested like an actual relationship.

What’s their height difference? Age difference?: Neither of them are really considered to be tall and are just shy of average BUT there’s still a significant height difference between them. At least 8in to be exact, so I’d say she barely reaches his chest. Also, funny of you to assume that I’m going to do math. Nice try Xia, but whatever that gap may be I feel like Travis is older by 2-3yrs.

What’s their relationship with each other’s families?: Errrrrm, SKIP!

Who takes the lead in social situations?: It really depends! Delores tends to take the lead or take over in situations that are awkward because Travis usually tenses up and goes stiff in moments like that. While, on the other hand, Travis takes over in tense or aggressive situations. He’s quick to come to her defense and deal with whoever’s Messi big with her.

Who gets jealous easier?: Travis! You can blame Sal for that.

LOVE

Who said “I love you” first?: Delores, I think? If I remember correctly?

What are their primary love languages?: Touch! They’re big on things like cuddling, hugging, holding hands, kissing, and all that lovey dovey stuff.

How often do they cuddle/engage in PDA?: Not very often. I think they way they move alone, Travis usually very close to her and hovering over her like a protective figure, is enough to let people know that they’re a couple. He might do subtle things like hold her hand, pull her in to his side, or give her kisses but that’s as far as they really go in public.

What are their favorite things to do together?: Sleep! Cuddle! Anything that involves them and a bed (😏). Very therapeutic bonding time for the both of them. Some of their best memories come from being in the bed. You know how people say couch potatoes? Well, they’re bed beets.

Who’s better at comforting the other?: Delores is 100% better at comforting Travis and I think that motel thread we did is a perfect example of why. He tries his best, doing what he can to make her even feel slightly better, but she’s just way better at it then him. She always know what to say or do to get him in his prior mood.

Who’s more protective?: Travis 100%. I feel like he definitely cussed out at least one person at the motel they were staying at for messing with Delores and feeling up on her belly all the time.

Do they prefer verbal or physical affection?: physical!! Touch is Travis’ main love language. He lets his actions express him words for him.

What are some songs that apply to their relationship, in-universe or otherwise?: Like every song from the 60s that’s about love.

What kind of nicknames do they call each other?: I think they stick to each other’s names, abbreviations, and common pet names like honey, baby, etc.

DOMESTIC LIFE

If they get married, who proposes?: Travis proposed with a $16 ring he got from a vendor off the street while they were in their motel phase. Of course, he upgraded to a better ring once they were financially stable. I feel like the $16 ring proposal was more sentimental for them because he gave a very heartfelt speech about their relationship and how he felt about her.

What’s the wedding like? Who attends?;

How many kids do they have, if any? What are they like?: Please, the ever so iconic Melissa and Cecilia! Cecilia is obviously the firecracker out of the two with her explosive personalities but even then they’ve never had a problem that was too serious with the girls. They’re pretty tame in Travis’ opinion.

Do they have any pets?: A dog to complete their white picket fence look and plenty of pats to account for over the years from the girls. Like Melissa’s cat that had to be returned after a day because Travis was allergic and Cecilia’s ferrets that ran loose in the middle of the night all the time and almost got killed by Travis on three (3) separate occasions.

Who’s the stricter parent?: Delores. She knows how to get the girls in line much better than Travis does.

Who kills the bugs in the house?: Travis does. I feel like everyone leaves him hanging and runs to their rooms screaming.

How do they celebrate holidays?: They don’t even invite friends or family over like that to be honest. They prefer to be in their livingroom with each other enjoying the time they’re spending together.

Who’s more likely to convince the other to come back to sleep in the morning?: Travis convinces Delores all the time, heh. She likes to get up early and actually be a productive human, but he’s not going for that! At least twice a week he pulls her back into the bed and forces her to lay with him for another hour or two.

Who’s the better cook?: Delores all the way. Travis can cook, but he cooks dad foods like meatloaf, ribs, etc. but cooking stresses him out so he doesn’t do it too often. Only on holidays or when he’s craving something.

[spongeguyandlelouchvibridankia]

Mistletoe Mayhem: A Christmas Gift for

@princess-kidatheart17

“Hiiiroooooooooo!”

 Oh boy.

 Something was up.

 Hiro Hamada, SFIT’s resident robotics prodigy/superhero/lovable scamp/”genius boy” turned his chair around to welcome on the unwanted and unexpected visitor, but he didn’t even need to open his eyes to know who it was.

 Good. More time to massage his temples.

 “Oh… Are you… Ok?”, Karmi Khan, SFIT’s resident Bio-Tech prodigy/Big Hero 6 fangirl/lovable tsundere/“Best girl” (oh wait, that’s my nickname for her) found herself exhibiting an unusual emotion, at least, unusual in her relationship with the brunette boy trying not to sigh heavily.

 Hiro sighed heavily, contradicting me. “Karmi, I thought we were beyond petty fights! And I didn’t mean to leave my lunch behind in your lab!”

 Despite its slight surprise, Hiro expected a Karmi visit today. Good news or bad, his new friend (who he may or may not have slight feelings for) had been making daily check ups.

 What he didn’t expect (though he chided himself for that) was Karmi leaping up to him and hushing him with her finger, fear and alarm in her eyes.

 Moving the finger wordlessly, an annoyed Hiro with a raised eyebrow asked a sort of pointless question. “Karmi, are we seriously still doing this?”

 Karmi blushed red faster than light traveling in space and, with an incredibly impressive backflip, closed the door to Hiro’s lab and jumped back to him, her eyes darting around madly.

 Hiro stayed still in his seat, before lifting a perfect 10 sign.

 “Of course we still are seriously doing this! I’ll even do it absurdly, if the need arises!”, Karmi told him off, before wordlessly nodding at the other seat.

 Hiro nodded in approval and Karmi sat down, taking his bag of gummi bears.

 ���Hey, I never nodded at that!”, Hiro remarked, with half a smile.

 “General vicinity, Genius Boy.”, Karmi bit back humorously, and she began to stuff a few in.

 Hiro shook his head in adoration and they resumed their conversation.

 “So, let me get this straight: Even though we’ve made up, even though everyone basically knows we’re friends now, and even though we’re smart enough NOW to know that there is something between us, you want to keep it secret?”

 “First of all, we are not dating, if that’s what you’re implying!”, Karmi, with a slightly full mouth, was wuick to correct.

 Pointing at him, she continued. “I may feel slightly sort of very intense feelings for you, but we are NOT dating.”

 Hiro slow clapped, a cocky smile gracing his lips. “And the Nobel prize for best explanation goes to…”

 “Ha, ha! I see you still major in comedy.”, Karmi retorted, but deep down she thought it was funny.

 She didn’t hide it as often these days, she was a lot more open in her adoration, but she had to hide it.

 At least… Here.

 Hiro, standing up and resuming his previous operation of fixing his armor, asked the necessary question. “So, I assume you’re not only here to remind me of what I already know.”

 Standing up as well and already peering over his shoulder (to his half annoyance-amusement), Karmi supplied the answer with a copy of the school paper. “Somehow, I am actually here to inform you of something you really should know.”

 Hiro stared at the paper in front of him before dryly remarking. “Not only do I not bother with print, but why would I care about a celebration of meat loaf in Room 3B?”

 Karmi took the paper back, grunted, and turned it around.

 Hiro’s eyes scanned the words and still looked phased as they reverted to Karmi’s beautiful…

 “Don’t think it. Not yet.”, he thought.

 Anyhow, Hiro was still confused. “A Christmas party is the problem? And here I thought the only Scrooge was Professor Granville.”

 “Actually, she REALLY loves Christmas.”, Karmi corrected, and Hiro couldn’t help but chuckle, raising the smallest smile on the girl.

 “Professor Granville and Christmas? Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it.”

 He then stood up and crossed his arms, observing her with curiosity. “So, do please enlighten me to the “humbug” in the situation.”

 Karmi sighed, wondering how dense can one admittedly lovable boy be. “Hiro, surely even you know that a Christmas party with mistletoe and your friends is a recepie for disaster.”

 Now, Karmi’s assertion was absolutely true in every way.

 It was her timing that was a little off.

 Hiro began choking on the gummy bear that he extracted from the left over bag while Baymax woke up.

 “I was alerted to your presence when you made choking sounds. Like this!”

 Baymax began impersonating the choking noises quite adaquatley, and now it was Karmi’s turn to lift a perfect 10 sign as Hiro thankfully spat out the sweet.

 “I’m… Fine, Baymax.”

 Hiro did NOT want the inevitable…

 “My diagnosis is different. You appear to also be afflicted with a rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, and hormonal activity retaining to…”

 “IAMSATISFIEDWITHMYCARE!”

 Baymax quickly shut down and Hiro, who had dashed to his robotic friend, was now panting on the marshmallow body.

 THAT was close.

 “Hiding it… You’re right, Hiro. It really is sad.”

 Hiro snapped back, pouting. “Uh, of the three people in this room, who barged in to tell me of the ever present and horrible danger of mistletoe?”

 “Karmi! Karmi did!”, a voice answered from above.

 “Yes! Well said!”, Hiro congratulated, before realizing someone was above them.

 “What the…”, Hiro and Karmi both said at the same time as they looked up and saw…

 “FRED ATTACK!”

 Fred dropped down from the ceiling, suction cups in his hands, and he bowed down exaggeratedly. “A thank you! A thank you!”

 Hiro and Karmi, blushing wildly, stammered and stumbled out unfinished questions. “Why are you… What are you… How did you…”

 “Oh! I was just sticking up on the wall with suction cups to hear your inevitable conversation over mistletoe. GoGo sent me!”, Fred informed with zero hint of awareness.

 Hiro and Karmi both sighed. “GoGo…”

 For some reason, GoGo was sort of fixated on proving that the two had feelings for each other. WHICH THEY DID NOT!

 But still, it was a recurring theme.

 And Fred had been roped in.

 Karmi, however, sensed a hole in the plan, and she grinned smugly as she approached the rich teen, a sight Hiro had to admit he had grown accustomed to.

 “Ah, but Mr. Frederickson, therin lies a problem in your plan!”

 She prodded him on the chest, cocky and sure. “We both clearly don’t want to kiss under the mistletoe, if one assumes you heard the entire conversation!”

 Hiro sat down, cocky too, and the two teens high fived. “She’s got you there, Fred!”

 But now it was Fred’s turn to cockily smile as he left the room. “Oh, that is true… But of course, 4 against 2 is quite the advantage…”

 And as he shut the door, Hiro and Karmi both blushed beet red and looked at each other with fear and alarm.

 They may have only become friends four months ago, but they were very much in synch enough for this statement:

 “We have GOT to stop this kiss.”

           “…Are you ready?”

 Hiro’s palms felt very sticky and sweaty, and he tried to wipe them on his ugly robotics Christmas sweater.

 “…Well, that depends. Do you have everything?”

 Karmi’s mouth felt very dry, and she hoped that her fidgety hands would not be noticed.

 “…I do.”

 Hiro wished the floor could swallow him whole.

 “Well… Let’s go stop your weirdo friends from making us kiss.”

 Karmi wished that she could stop time so she could run away and live on an island with a giraffe named Kenneth, but that wasn’t happening any time soon.

 Hiro gripped the doorknob and Karmi gulped.

 “Yes… Let’s do that…”

 Suddenly overreacting, both teens kicked the door down, revealing the main SFIT hall to be decorated with bowls of holly and somehow endearing yet still a little kitschy ornaments, from the usual bells, reindeer and Santa dolls to the less traditional Kaiju with a Santa hat.

 Blinding lights, cheery Christmas carols belted out from a humongous speaker system and many ugly Christmas sweaters enjoying the not exactly (but let’s not kid ourselves) spiked egg nog.

 Professor Granville would SURELY not like this!

 “Mr. Frederickson, is that festive Kaiju yours by any chance?”, the as ever serious and dry tone of Professor Grace Granville was not music to Fred’s ears, as he and his friends were still hatching their plot.

 Turning around with remarkable speed, Fred smiled sheepishly. “Why, it is! I seem to have…”

 Honey Lemon piped in. “Misplaced it!”

 Fred pointed back at her, grateful and jubilant. “YES! Misplaced it! Nice!”

 He turned around, cocky grin. “As my very helpful friend just informed you, I have misplaced this awesome beat of awesomeness! Don’t worry, I will have him removed immediately, as he is…”

 “Unfit?”, Wasabi offered hopefully.

 “Yep! That was the word I was looking for! Unfit for this great hall of Christmassy Christmas!”

 Fred smiled innocently, as did Wasabi and Honey Lemon (GoGo couldn’t be bothered).

 “Why, yes, Mr. Frederickson, he IS most unfit.”, Granville informed, before suddenly attaching a white beard to the Kaiju’s face.

 As Fred and the others gaped in shock, Granville beamed and danced off in a hurry. “IT’S CHRISTMAS! FUCK YEAH!”

 The foursome blinked in confusion before stating the obvious. “Huh! Who knew?”

 Hiro and Karmi, meanwhile, were hiding behind one of the snack tables.

 The cold floor was not very welcome, but Hiro’s butt would have to live with it as Karmi laid down the game plan.

 “Ok, so we have four obstacles to encounter: Fred, Honey Lemon, Wasabi and GoGo.”

 Hiro set down a small circular device, which, when opened, revealed a 2-D hologram of his friends, now turned enemies.

 Removing the Fred hologram, Hiro threw him onto Karmi’s arms. “Fred is too excitable not to strike first. And knowing him, his plan will involve comic books!”

 Now lying down on his stomach, Karmi repeating the act, Hiro took out Issue 2500 of Big Heroes and opened it on the final page.

 “Thanks to extensive research…”

 “I.E, listening in on Fred in the shower.”, Karmi rubbed in, and Hiro rolled his eyes.

 “Hey, he signs everything in the shower! Easy pickings!”

 Reverting to the plan, Hiro cleared his throat. “Moving on, this issue of Big Heroes end with Mr. Moe, the superhero who uses cuteness as a weapon, accidentally getting a mistletoe kiss from his on and off rival friend Haley Tju.”

 Hiro then pointed at a specific panel, one that is almost directly before the kiss. “And it happens because Fanboy Kaiju, the shipping trash monster, lures Mr. Moe under the mistletoe.”

 Karmi nodded, understanding fully. “You’re more used to Fred, so you should tackle him.”

 Hiro shook his head though, surprising his partner. “That’s what he WANTS! We need to surprise him, not play into his plan!”

 “He’d be expecting us to… No, you know what? I’m not going to even finish that one, he’s not smart enough.”

 Hiro and Karmi shared a small laugh and Karmi inserted the hologram into her folds as Hiro then picked up Honey Lemon.

 “You seem to be closer to her…”

 “Bio-Besties. Not the term I’d choose, but she likes it.”, Karmi admitted, with a small smile. She sort of liked how much Honey Lemon cared.

 Hiro pocketed this one. “Well, then, this one goes to me.”

 Next was Wasabi. “Now, Wasabi is probably going to be the easiest to handle.”

 “So I should have him!”, Karmi demanded, and she made a grab for the hologram, but Hiro kept it at arm’s length.

 “Hey! I already have to deal with Honey Lemon! I want Wasabi!”

 Karmi kept reaching for the hologram, though, grunting in frustration as Hiro stuck his tongue out.

 “Hiro! I should handle him! I actually know his weakness!”

 “Oh, please! Everyone knows it’s dirt! Even Mel, that one moron we fought once knows!”

 “Hurtful!”, Mel called out of nowhere.

 Karmi had to counter and fast, if she wanted to stop Wasabi.

 Luckily, she really did know his weakness.

 “No, Genius Boy! I’m talking about his OTHER weakness!”

 Hiro laid there, dumbfounded. “…What other weakness?”

 Using this for her advantage, Karmi snatched the hologram and send it flying into her folds.

 “Exactly.”, she grinned smugly, but Hiro couldn’t help but laugh at that.

 In an odd way, she had become so endearing to him, that he really didn’t mind.

 Finally, they reached the one they dreaded most.

 “And then there was one…”, Hiro announced morbidly, and a hologram of GoGo popped up.

 Both teens gulped in fear, clearly uneasy. GoGo was not just a physical challenge with her strength and speed, and a mental challenge with her brains: She was also determined to make fun of Hiro and Karmi’s… TOTALLY NOT ROMANTIC relationship.

 She was cunning, she was tough, and she would stop at nothing, efforts be damned.

 Hiro and Karmi exchanged knowing looks, and without a word, silently nodded.

 This would require all hands on deck. The two could only prevail by teaming up on GoGo.

 Slicing her in half, each one received a GoGo, the mission now ready to be taken on.

 Extending his hand, Hiro smiled encouragingly. “Good luck.”

 Karmi took the opportunity to barb with him, but she too was genuine deep down. “I mean, you’re the one who’s gonna need all the luck, but why sweat the small stuff?”

 The two giggled for a moment, before realizing how close they were on the floor to each other.

 Close enough to look into each other’s eyes, feel each other’s breaths…

 Maybe…

 Even…

 K…

 “OK, LET’S GET ON WITH THIS!”, Hiro suddenly shouted out, and he and Karmi, with VERY red faces, stood up and went to their positions.

 Shifting through a sea of slightly tipsy college students and robots “attempting” to do the Macarena, Karmi nearly tripped over a few feet, before finally finding Fred.

 Not that it was hard.

 “JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS, I DON’T KNOW THE WORDS! JINGLE JINGLE JINGLE JINGLE MOTHERFU(BLEEP) JINGLE!”

 The strangest part of Fred singing wildly and flailing all over the place in a Fanboy Kaiju costume, slurring all the words, was that he hadn’t drunk a single thing that night.

 Huh.

 Karmi, however, was a lot more cool and collected, and she grinned to herself as she turned her back to the rich boy and put on a certain hoodie.

 “Karmi Khan, you are a genius! Why, thank you, Karmi! You’re welcome, Karmi!”, Karmi congratulated herself, leading Hiro to radio in “Modest, much?”

 “Says the guy who has an edited recording of Tadashi saying “Noice and Toight” every time you succeed.”

 “…I would like to withdraw my comments from the record. The floor is yours, Ms. Khan.”

 Chuckling to herself, Karmi then took out a pre-recorded sound byte of Hiro, which she played right next to Fred after bumping into him.

 “Sorry, Fred! I’m just such a clumsy weirdo! Also, Karmi is smarter than me!”

 “THAT SOUNDS EXACTLY LIKE HIRO! TIME FOR OPERATION “MAKE SHIP SHIP AND ALSO LEARN TO SPEAK PROPERLY OR SOMETHING WHY DOO BUTTERFLIES CALL THEMSELVES BUTTERFLIES IF THEY PREFER MARGARINE?” TO START!”

 “Seriously? What if Fred wasn’t a total car crash of a human being?”, Hiro asked, annoyed.

 As Karmi Naruto ran away from a lumbering Fred, she radioed back with a playful grin “As if you don’t have a bantery recording of me somewhere!”

 Tucking in his deepfaked “Karmi sings “I’m a Barbie Girl” recording, Hiro sheepishly confessed with a “Yeah, probably, kind of, I wouldn’t know…”

 Karmi continued to dash along, pushing students to the side as Fred lumbered down the room, knocking even more.

 “HIRO! WAIT UP! I NEED YOU TO STOP SO I CAN ENFORCE ROMANCE ONTO YOUR LIFE!”

 “Wow, he’s not being subtle about this.” Hiro radioed Karmi as she slid under a table to hide for the moment.

 Karmi agreed, panting as Fred continued running for no reason. “I know, right? Why the heck would GoGo let him in on the plan?”

 What Hiro didn’t know, as he hid in the mini fridge, was that someone was already there…

 Waiting to strike.

 “Well… Maybe because GoGo knew that you’d send Karmi after Fred, so she sent me to follow you?”

 “H’mm… Maybe…”, Hiro said, scratching his chin, before realizing that someone was now… Right behind him…

 Beaming brightly, Honey Lemon waved cheerfully. “Hey, Hiro! Don’t mind me, GoGo just asked me to force a mistletoe kiss between you and Karmi.”

 As Honey Lemon tapped her chin, stating that she considered it “a little immoral, but whatever”, Hiro slowly got out of the mini fridge.

 “Karmi, I am being pursued by Honey Lemon! Fred is a diversion, I repeat FRED IS A DIVERSION!”

 Karmi was startled, the plan not spiraling out of motion, so much so that she stood up and dropped one of the snack tables.

 Food and punch spilled all over the floor, and many students turned around, seeing Karmi in Hiro’s hoodie.

 Karmi had to come up with an excuse, and fast!

 “…Hey?”

 Karmi was a genius, but even she was liable for a total “doi” moment.

 Unexpectedly, the students all suddenly picked up their own Hiro Hoodies, gesturing at them excitedly.

 “Huh. And I thought I was the only one who found it amazing.”

 “What?!”, Hiro, who was being chased by a giggling Honey Lemon with a butterfly net, asked incredulously.

 “NOTHING!”, Karmi shouted back.

 Able to focus now, Karmi started to think. “Fred as a diversion makes sense… And honestly, he should be out of my hair for now, since he’s a total moron…”

 “YEP! THAT’S ME! A TOTAL MORON!”, Fred confirmed as he breakdanced.

 Karmi fist pumped, seeing victory coming in hot. “PERFECT!”

 She took off the hoodie and narrowly dodged flailing elbows as she radioed a now roof climbing Hiro, who hissed like a cat as Honey Lemon jumped up and down to reach him.

 “I’m taking on Wasabi! Fred basically took himself down!”, Karmi informed as she leapt over a pile of presents.

 Peaking down, she moaned. “Aw man, none for me?”

 “Great! I just wish I could take Honey Lemon down!”, Hiro replied as he swung from one sleigh decoration to the next, Honey Lemon still in pursuit.

 Karmi slid between some elves legs. “What even was your plan?”

 Hiro narrowly reached the tree, hissing still as Honey Lemon barked enthusiastically. “I WAS GOING TO SPEAK TO HER NORMALLY! I THOUGHT SHE WAS SANE!”

 “YOU’RE MY OTP, WHAT DO YOU WANT?”

 “WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!?!”

 “Only true pairing.”, Karmi helpfully informed as she finally reached Wasabi, who was holding a vacuum cleaner of sorts and “calming” himself down by talking to himself.

 “Just relax, big guy. Suck your two friends in, make em kiss, and all will be fine…”, Wasabi whispered to himself, not realizing that Karmi was right behind him.

 Hiro, who could see this from the tree, prayed for Karmi. “With how hard this has been, who knows if Karmi can take on Wasabi! I hope she fares better than I have.”

 Karmi suddenly looked back and winked at Hiro, causing his heart to skip a beat.

 Turning back to Wasabi, Karmi tapped him on the shoulder.

 “AAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!”, Wasabi screamed as Karmi waved back.

 “Hey, Wasabi!”, Karmi greeted with a smile and closed eyes.

 Wasabi, calming down, waved back, his green sweater already stained with sweat. “Hey, Karmi!”

 Getting a little fidgety, Wasabi pointed at his device. “Say, I know this is weird, but GoGo be GoGo, you know! Um… Can you, like, let me suck you into this for kissing Hiro reasons?”

 Karmi put a comforting hand on Wasabi’s shoulder, apologetic. “Why, I’d love to, but I’m sort of busy.”

 Wasabi blinked, confused. Had he failed the mission? “Busy? Doing what?”

 Karmi suddenly unveiled what looked like Chris. “Hooking you up with Chris’ good twin who in no way is a criminal, Finn!”

 Wasabi took one look at the dashing man before him, with lovely blond hair and a sparkling smile, and then resumed staring at Karmi.

 “Don’t snitch on me and you’ve got yourself a deal!”

 “Wouldn’t dream of it!”, Karmi vowed, shaking Wasabi’s hand and watching as the two guys had a gay old time (kill me).

 Hiro, however, was less pleased. “HOW DID SHE GET ALL THE EASY ONES?!”

 Honey Lemon, meanwhile, continued to surround the tree. “Hiro… Come out, come out! I only want to ensure your happiness and fuzzy feelings!”

 The mad look on her eyes didn’t ease his soul, however.

 Hanging on to the tree, Hiro sighed. What could he do? Karmi was clearly smarter!

 He was just a…

 “A failure…”

 Karmi, meanwhile, who was still being very smug, was about to radio some more banter when she saw that her friend was seemingly lost.

 This made no sense to Karmi. Sure, she was clearly the real brains of the duo, but Hiro was a genius too!

 This should be easy for him!

 And if Karmi was really being honest, she totally believed Hiro could do anything if he put his mind to it!

 Seeing him like this depressed her. He needed some motivation.

 Perhaps…

 No, no, she couldn’t!

 Not in front of all these people!

 But deep down, Karmi knew that she had to.

 “That’s…”

 She took a deep breath and braced herself.

 “That’s what friends do.”

 And she smiled a little smile as she realized that Hiro really was her friend…

 And she knew that she wanted to go the distance for him.

 Now, usually, a writer for this fandom would most understandably use Tadashi as an inspirational motivator for a moment like this.

 But this time, someone else motivated Hiro.

 “COME ON, HIRO! YOU CAN DO THIS!”

 Looking down, Hiro saw Karmi do something totally unexpected: She was cheering for him.

 Not just cheering, but holding a sign with his name and jumping around like a cheerleader (and Karmi HATED cheerleaders!).

 “Who’s a genius, who’s a boy? Who’s gonna spread some Christmas joy? HIRO! HIIIIIRO!”

 Hiro was shocked at this exhibition of affection.

 But he was also touched.

 Enough to flip down from the tree and finally get Honey Lemon to leave him alone.

 “Karmi, read this slip of paper!”, Hiro ordered, as he slipped her a slip.

 Karmi grabbed the slip and read out loud.

 “Tadashi is gone?”

 Hiro suddenly burst into tears, the water level slowly rising in the party.

 Honey Lemon immediately threw away her butterfly net and hugged Hiro, comforting him. “Oh, Hiro! I am so sorry! But Tadashi isn’t gone!”

 Hiro cried on her shoulder and she patted his back, making him feel a bit better.

 “How can I make you feel better?”, Honey Lemon asked, kissing his forehead.

 Sniffling, Hiro mumbled “If you could leave me and Karmi alone, that would be great.”

 Nodding vibrantly, Honey Lemon ran out of the room. “No problem, Hiro! Just don’t cry!”

 Immediately wiping his tears away, Hiro cockily grinned at Karmi, who raised an impressed eyebrow. “Not bad, Genius Boy!”

 Hiro chuckled and high fived her, before suddenly getting a little shy. “So… You really meant all that before? I thought… I thought you wanted to keep this a secret of sorts.”

 Karmi now was a little red, but she stood up for her feelings.

 Smiling, she grabbed hold of his hand. “…Well… I’ve got your back. We are friends… No?”

 Hiro smiled and shook back. “Yeah… We are…”

 Holding on perhaps a little too long, feeling for once not alone, the two teens smiled before suddenly hearing a squee above them.

 Turning in horror, they saw Fred and laughed.

 “Oh, that’s rich! You’re going to stop us?”, the two geniuses challenged the shipper.

 Fred suddenly began to laugh sort of… Evilly.

 In fact, his whole body shook quite visibly as he laughed, causing Hiro and Karmi to exchange worried glances. “…Fred? You ok, buddy?”

 But Fred wasn’t there.

 Instead, it was…

 “GLOBBY?!”, Hiro and Karmi shouted as the former villain turned friend appeared.

 “YES! IT WAS I, GLOBBY!”, the pink ally pointed at himself.

 Turning again into Fred, he explained. “Fred may be dumb, but not THAT dumb! I was sent as a distraction to lower your guards!”

 “Fred” then grinned and pointed behind them. “Ah! I see Uncle Globby’s shipper squad is already here!”

 Hiro and Karmi gasped and turned around, fully expecting GoGo but instead seeing…

 “AUNT CASS?!”, Hiro screamed, disbelieving the maternal figure behind him, holding very sticky bread mix.

 “FELONY CARL?!”, Karmi screamed, shocked to find the former criminal with open and ready hands.

 “And me!”

 “…Yama?”

 Yama shrugged, smiling. “What can I say? You’re adorable!”

 Hiro and Karmi slowly backed away to the wall, scared out of their wits, as the four figures approached them “maliciously”.

 “Listen, guys, we don’t have to do it this way!”, Hiro nervously tried to convince as he ran out of floor.

 “Really, maybe we can postpone this to Valentines? WAY more romantic! NOT THAT I WANT TO!”, Karmi offered, sweat dripping down her neck.

 “Nope! This is the end of the line, kids! You gonna kiss!”, Globby said, and the four laughed evilly.

 It seemed like all hope was lost as Hiro and Karmi hugged each other in fright.

 That is…

 Until something else unexpected happened.

 Just before Globby could grab them.

 CRASH!

 “Hello!”

 Baymax, dressed as Santa Claus with Mini Max as a reindeer, crashed down the roof and onto the four shippers (the sleigh was made of marshmallow, so no one was hurt).

 “Baymax! Oh, you are the best!”, Hiro and Karmi hugged the robot as the four shippers shrugged and ate the marshmallow sleigh.

 “No one is the best, Hiro. The best is an unmeasurable…”

 “Yeah, great, see ya!”

 Hiro and Karmi decided to make a mad dash for the door, when they suddenly realized something.

 “Hiro, wait! GoGo and Fred are still out there!”

 “I know! Let’s get out before they get us!”

 Karmi blocked the door, and Hiro looked at her, puzzled.

 “Karmi, I’m trying to run away here.”

 “Hiro, think! If GoGo and Fred went to such extremes to make us kiss, they could be hiding somewhere with a portable mistletoe!”

 Hiro turned white. “Oh shit.”

 Karmi gripped his hand and looked at the party, with terrified eyes, as they began to walk in, approaching a closet door.

 “I hate saying this, but we need to stop them first. It’s the only way.”

 Hiro gulped, but smiled. “Ok. We’ll do this…”

 He extended a hand. “Together!”

 Karmi grinned and shook back. “You said it, friend!”

 But as they shook, Hiro suddenly overheard an odd noise.

 Karmi noticed this. “Um… Hello? Earth to Genius Boy? What’s wrong?”

 Hiro shushed her and pointed at the closet.

 Weird, wet noises could be heard, alongside muffled grunts.

 Terrified, the two opened the door slowly, expecting a trap or a monster o even worse, a shipping Obake.

 But instead, they found…

 “GOGO AND FRED?!?!?!?!”

 In the midst of a VERY wet and passionate makeout session were GoGo and Fred, who seemed to have forgotten all about the plan.

 “You are so divine, my knight in shining armor!”

 “You’re such a fucking idiot… Kiss harder.”, GoGo instructed as Fred continued.

 As Karmi giggled uncontrollably, Hiro cleared his throat. “Why, my dear Karmi! I believe we are interrupting something!”

 Fred and GoGo’s eyes widened and as Fred hid under his hat, GoGo, with a very phased expression, surrendered.

 “Don’t tell anyone, and I’ll let you off the hook.”

 Hiro and Karmi nodded, but not before GoGo added “and I WILL kill you if you tell!”

 The rest of the party was surprisingly normal, especially compared to the insanity beforehand.

 Pretty soon, the whole room was empty, save for Hiro and Karmi, who observed their hall of vanquish.

 Karmi sighed, pleased with herself. “I must say, we really nailed it!”

 Hiro, leaning on her, jokingly boasted. “Of course, much of the work was mine!”

 Once, Karmi would have argued with him, and they would have wasted valuable time sniping at each other.

 This time, though, Karmi just shoved him slightly, laughing. “For a genius, you’re a real idiot sometimes!”

 Hiro shoved back, laughing, and it wasn’t long before they rolled around on the floor, laughing and actually feeling free to be themselves.

 To be friends..

 Still giggling on top of each other, the two didn’t even notice where they were…

 Until, that is, Karmi looked up and…

 “…Oh…”

 Hiro, was on the bottom, looked at her quizzically. “What? What did you…”

 Then, he saw it.

 “…Oh…”

 Somehow, they had let their guard down long enough to stand under the very thing they had fought all night long to avoid.

 Karmi looked at Hiro.

 Hiro looked at Karmi.

 Both smiled weakly, embarrassed chuckles abound.

 Finally, pink blushes tinging their cheeks, the two were brave enough to take the step:

 “You know…”, Karmi started, really getting shy now, looking up at him with a soft smile. “…No one is here to see us…”

 “Yeah…”, Hiro agreed, holding his own hands and rocking a little bit. “I mean… It can just be a secret… Between the two of us…”

 “It’s not like it means anything!”

 “Yeah, exactly! It’s just… A totally platonic friends thing!”

 “Yeah! And nothing more!”

 “No dating here!”

 “Nuh uh!”

 …

 Finally, slowly but surely, they edged closer and closer, eyes closed…

 And their lips met in near silence.

 Not a single sound could be heard in the entire room, as Hiro and Karmi made each other feel special and loved for just a few seconds.

 Warmth enveloped them and seconds felt like hours.

 They felt…

 Safe.

 Finishing the kiss, the two teens held hands and looked at each other with short, slightly surprised breaths.

 Slowly, they smiled softly.

 “…Merry Christmas, Hiro.”, Karmi offered, blushing.

 “…Merry Christmas, Karmi.”, Hiro returned.

 And the two went back to their homes, hand in hand the entire way.

[kurenaiwataru]

Victor Grantz Observations

I’ve been playing Victor Grantz the Postman for 4 days now, and I’ve decided to compile some observations and headcanons into a convenient post for my own benefit. If anyone else finds this interesting, that’s cool, but this will be mainly for my own personal use. Check the Read More for my humongous paragraphs filled with Victor Grantz observations and headcanons. They’ll probably show up in my fics at some point, whenever I get around to writing again. Until then, enjoy all of this nonsense.

1. Firstly, Victor is a lot quieter than the other survivors. Yes, he pants and moans and makes ghastly noises from time to time, but on the whole, he keeps his mouth shut. Quite literally. The voice recorded for him, in addition to being extremely soft and light, has mainly an array of muffled throat noises to pair with the fact that his mouth is sewn shut. Even when he gets sent off on the rocket chair, he doesn’t scream but lets out a muffled cry. It’s very cute and I do enjoy it.

2. Victor is a genuinely good boy. Despite how he seems to not enjoy people in face-to-face settings, he has a deep rooted belief in the morality and goodness of people, finding that humanity’s moral goodness is merely hidden beneath the veneer each person shows to the world. This is in contrast to how Aesop views people, where he would rather interact with a dead thing rather than a living person. In that way, Victor has a charm that reminds me of Kurenai Wataru from Kamen Rider Kiva. I mentioned this on Twitter, and I still hold to it now that I’ve had so much time with the character. Wataru was also one to think that humanity was depraved and unclean, yet he believed in the hidden goodness of mankind and fought for them as Kiva. That is also Victor’s charm, only with handwritten letters instead of vampire armor and a demonic horse motorcycle.

3. Victor’s empathy shines through via his in-game actions. One of his traits is that he is empathetic, and I feel it whenever I play as him. I’m sure it’s because I’m a weirdo, but whenever I send off a letter, I hope it arrives safely. When Wick barks to indicate the letter has been delivered, relief washes over me and I feel so much joy that it was received safely. I’ll often get thanked for the letters, which isn’t necessary but greatly appreciated. It makes me feel like I’m doing a good job, even when I’m not utilizing the benefits of the buff. And Wick the Post Dog is very cute and hardworking. I always feel bad when he can’t deliver a letter or I send him off and it’s too late.

4. Speaking of Wick, here are some observations about him. He’s a weird mix of the seer’s owl and the wildling’s boar. When you use owl sight, the observed character can’t see the owl until it’s needed, which is how Wick is sometimes. Wick isn’t seen unless he’s needed, making him invisible until you’ve decided on the letter you wish to send. Once you give Wick a letter, he will appear visibly on the field like the boar and you can crash into him if you’re not looking. I think hunters can hit Wick, too, but I’ve never seen it since I give Wick letters and don’t see him until I send another letter. The only other times I see him are if we happen to be running in the same direction or if I accidentally crash into him while we’re going opposite directions. He’s very small and hard to see if you’re wearing The Embrace, since it makes him black. I’ve been using Victor’s base skin since Friday after crashing into Wick several times during one match. He’s a lot easier to see when he’s a bright yellow dog. Darned good doggo, 13/10, would pet infinitely.

5. From here on out, it’s headcanons. While playing Victor for… 4 hours… yesterday, I started to wonder what exactly was inside the envelopes he sends out. I then envisioned him writing each letter by hand before his matches, making sure he has a surplus to send to people. Sometimes he gets so excited about how well he’s written a letter that he wishes to read it again, which is why he opens letters surreptitiously during matches, as though to remind himself of what good writing skills he has.

Anyway, after thinking about that, I decided to try my hand at writing such letters given the letter types he has available as prompts:

Urgent Letter

Farewell Letter

I am writing you this to inform you that I am leaving. The time we spent together was beautiful, but it had to end. To part ways is a normal experience, as people ebb and flow from our lives like the tide. Each new phase of the moon brings new people for us to experience and love, just as it takes people away, and I now must away with the tide.

Should we see each other again someday, I hope that you will remember the happiness we felt. There is no malice in this parting, for farewells are hope for a bright future apart. May time be gentle as the waves of change flow over you.

Victor

Tranquility Letter

I hope this letter finds you well, for now there is peace, though its tranquility I know is fleeting. Time will find us, and when it does, hardship will prevail again. The waltz of time dances around us, and we are in one upward beat of its musical rhythm. The next beat will fall upon us, and time will rage with its horrors again. Yet now we can ease ourselves into this momentary peace.

Do not think to darkness. Do not think to tragedy. If famine and war and violence befall us, we will be together in it. We will persevere and strive towards living, to find that beat of tranquility again.

Time dances on to its own beat, and we can join its dance if we are surefooted.

Be safe and at peace,

Victor

Bravery Letter

Rise up, my friend and ally, and throw yourself into the fray! You are strong and brave beyond compare; have confidence in yourself and we shall not lose. Fight on, brethren! Victory shall be in our grasp should we merely strive to obtain it. Reach out your hand and grasp victory! Hold it firm in your hand and never let go. We must survive to another day. Be like the sun, rising and setting in glory with each turning of the Earth. Do not think to failure. Do not think to the endless bitter outcomes. We can win the day.

Stay safe, my dear friend and ally.

Victor

Inspiring Letter

Have you ever looked to the sky and thought of its brilliance? On a summer day, bright and warm, we are treated to bountiful warmth and beauty. Each day sprawls before us in splendid colors, radiating their joy endlessly. Everything is verdant and rich, succulent in its glory each day. Even in rain and gloom, colors shine to warm even a dull day.

That is you. You are the summer. When you smile, birds sing of its radiance and send those songs to the wind. You are the brightest and the warmest. You are brilliant in intelligence and warm in kindness. You exude life and color to all who see you, even on days when you lack the confidence to shine. I have seen you shine, and you are stunning.

Shine for everyone. Be brilliant and bright. You are resilient and true willful. Use that willfulness to your advantage and become a beacon in the dark. The path you forge blazes only for you. Cleave the darkness before you and shine towards a brighter tomorrow.

Ever faithful under your light,

Victor

Hope Letter

Do you believe in anything? Do you believe in God? Do you believe in science? Do you believe in the morality of humanity at all? Belief is what drives us to be so resilient and adaptive. We drive ourselves toward betterment because we simply believe that we can be better. What an incredible drive we have!

Tantamount to this drive is a simple belief in hope. A hope is like a wish, but more tangible and real. A hope can be so simple. I hope that you will see me. I hope that you will smile for me. I hope that you will say my name. Such simple desires can keep us motivated for short intervals. On a day that drudges on, one can merely hope that it will be lunchtime soon. On a day when the air is cold and the sky is dark, one can hope that the clouds will part and bring the sun back to smile on us. Hope isn’t as lofty as wishing. I could wish for something unfathomable, such as a giant swimming pool filled of ice cream and chocolate pudding, but wishes rarely come true. With hope, there is a flicker of reality in them and with enough hard work that hope can be obtained.

I hope that you have belief in hope. I am sending you this in the hope that you receive it. I am sending you this in the hope that it will aid you in some way. I know not how, but if it is helpful to you in anyway, that is all I hope for.

I hope to see you again. I hope that we will share a knowing smile between us. I hope that you will say my name and that the word is filled with your gratitude that I helped you, even if my aid was so small.

Those are my sincerest hopes and I have put all of my belief into each one.

Stay safe, my friend, and return to me.

Victor

These are just quick samples that I whipped up, but I’d like to think that he is feverishly writing, knowing that his letters inspire hope in the hearts of those he sends them to. I feel like it’s a lovely sentiment that he endeavors to bring just a modicum of inspiration to his teammates, even if he fails in the match. Especially if he’s sending out the permanent buffs. That’s his last wish, essentially. He wants you to succeed where he has failed because he has faith that you can triumph.

Those screenshots are mine btw. If you want to see them all in tweet format, you can find them on my Twitter account. Feel free to RT if you think it’ll help someone.

6. Victor is quiet, meek, and a nervous wreck, but he has a heart of gold. Much like Aesop, he’s shy and not the most forthright with his emotions. He hides himself behind a mask of silence, as I enumerated in How Do You Explain Love? I wouldn’t say that he’s afraid of intimacy, but more that he worries that intimacy may shatter his worldview. I doubt that having his world be shattered in such a way would leave Victor in a poor situation. He already has belief in the goodness of humanity, as witnessed by his introductory video, yet he could be left shaken by the thought that not all people wear such reprehensible masks. To know that there are people who wear their honesty plain as the nose on their face would be a shock to him, but I think he would readily accept it. Despite how he hasn’t experienced much kindness in his life, he’s always open to giving kindness to anyone he meets.

7. And I believe that that kindness could be extended even to hunters. Though they pursue him daily for death, he likely understands that it’s merely their job and laments not being able to give them letters as he can for his allies. Perhaps if the hunters got warm, heartfelt letters like the survivors do, then they would not be so cruel and heartless. He knows that many of the hunters were human once, and he would likely want to appeal to the remainder of their humanity by offering them comfort in the form of a beautiful letter. A wonderfully crafted letter can bring even the strongest men to tears, and I’m certain that Victor would feel that the hunters are deserving of that kindness despite how terrifying and terrible they are.

…Okay, I think I’m done. Sorry this is so long. If you see me in game, I’ll try my best to be a good letter fairy, delivering hope and inspiration to all!

[stannerofall]

Carry Me Home - Part One

Type: fanfic

Pairing: Jungkook x reader

Summary: You move to Seoul with your parents and hate being there, until you meet a tall dark stranger..

Chapter One: Tall Dark Stranger

I’m in Seoul. Fucking. Seoul. My mom and dad had been talking about moving here for such a long time. I just thought it was a crazy dream of theirs, but after my father got a job offer at a IPG Legal Law Firm everything went really fast. And I hate it. I loved the place we lived before in the middle of Salt Lake City. We had a big house filled with walls that just begged to be painted. I had just finished a mural of me, my family and my friends in my room, then, just a few hours afterwards, my parents broke the news. I was heartbroken. I had to paint my room a couple of days later and managed to capture a picture of the mural before it was whisked away and then again just a white wall.

Then I had to break the news to everyone else. First, I had to tell my boyfriend, Adam, that I was moving to a country on the opposite side of the world, which he definitely wasn’t happy about. He begged me to stay with him in Utah, but I couldn’t afford it and my parents were stubborn in their decision to bring me with them. “It’s going to be great, just you wait and see.” Yeah, moving 6,000 miles away from everything and everyone you know seems fun.. I promised Adam that I would message him every day and he promised me the same. Then I had to break the news to my best friend, Anna. I think we cried for about three hours straight, until we both looked like absolute monsters, dark circles under our eyes from mascara and red eyes worse than a pink-eye breakout. We both started laughing uncontrollably for several minutes and then started crying again. My mom fiddles with the key for the new apartment, eagerly trying to open the door to her “dream apartment”. I sigh heavely and take the key from her hand, putting it in the lock after one try. “Thank you, honey” she says, and I move out of the way so she can slam open the door. My dad and I look at each other and he shrugs his shoulders and smiles. I do a minor eyeroll but follow him inside. I’m almost blinded by the white walls that dominate the hallway walls which lead directly into the living room/kitchen. Yes, my American parents wanted an open concept kitchen and a living room the squarefoot space of three apartments combined. What a surprise. The lowered living room has a giant window in front of it which takes up all space of that wall.

“Isn’t it great, Lily?” my mom asks.

“If by great you mean excessive to the absolute fullest, then yes.” I say. My mom stops looking in the kitchen cabinets and turns around to give me a sympathetic look.

“I know it’s a lot to move here, away from all your friends and Adam, but can’t you try to just enjoy it a little?” she asks. I look at her feeling a little guilty, but I’m still too mad to forgive her.

“I just don’t understand why you couldn’t lend me money so I could stay in Utah, when you have money for a place like this. It’s not fair.” I say and turn around to go find my bedroom.

Even though I would rather go back to Utah, I must say that I love my new room. Again, everything is way too white, but nothing a little paint can’t fix. The room is at the end of the building meaning I have two windows that meet at the corner of my room. I have a great view over the city and I already know that I’m going to use a lot of my time here, listening to music and dreaming of being someone and somewhere else. My mother knocks on the door and slowly steps inside my room.

“Sooo, what do you think?” she says, anticipating my answer.

“It’s okay, I guess.” I turn around and face her, and she gives me a bright smile. She has her hands behind her back, as if she’s hiding something.

“What’s that behind your back?” I ask, still with a dissatisfied expression on my face and my arms crossed.

She puts out her hands and hand me a card. It reads “Homi Art Shop” – Giftcard. I glance at her with a confused look on my face.

“Your dad and I talked about using the spare room as a guest bedroom, but also as your new studio, so you have a place to work. That is a giftcard to a big arts and crafts store just a few blocks from here. There should be enough money on there to buy new equipment.”

I widen my eyes. My own studio?! I didn’t have that back home, so I just used all the walls I could get my hands on and painted them. I’m in shock, looking at the card, then at my mom, then back at the card, then back at my mom. She looks at me in anticipation. I can feel the tears coming, so I put my arms around her and hug her tightly.

“Thank you.” I mutter into her shoulder, tears rolling down my face. She lays a hand on my head and the other around my back, and we stand there for a few seconds, until dad shouts from the kitchen.

“Hey, I think our furniture just arrived!”

 Moving in takes a lot of time, and after several hours we only have the big pieces of furniture ready and in place. My room is plastered with boxes and I don’t know where to start, so naturally I take my huge beanbag, throw it in the window corner, sit down, plug my headphones in and start blasting Bring Me the Horizon till my ears start bleeding.

I must have fallen asleep, because my mom shakes my shoulder and I quickly take out my headphones.

“Did you hear what I said?” she asks.

“No, sorry, what was it?”

“I asked if you wanted to go with me down to the grocery shop so we can stock up the fridge.” I look at her, knowing that if I say no I have to deal with all the boxes, and that’s just not something I wanna do right now. But I really don’t want to go with my mom and pick out the best offer on chicken either.

“I actually thought of going down to the arts and crafts shop and buy new equipment, so I could have the studio ready before school starts.” I say. I was accepted to attend Seoul National University College of Fine Arts which was one of the few things I was looking forward to.

“Oh, you don’t want any company? Maybe dad can help you carry it home?” I know she only says this because she’s worried that I will get lost. I am not the best at finding my way around new places, so my parents always keep an eye on me when we are out.

“Mom, if I have to live here for a long period of time, don’t you think I should find out how to get around? Besides, I have my phone, so if I get lost I can just use Google Maps. I already have the address in my phone, so don’t worry.” I can see my mom is contemplating whether or not to cancel her grocery plans and go with me.

“I am also almost 20 years old. You have to stop treating me like I’m still 5.” I can see that this convinces her by the look on her face shifting from concerned to smiling a little.

“Fine, but if you are not home in an hour, I’m calling the cops and I will send the whole police force out looking for your ass.” She’s trying to sound intimidating, but I just smile and nod.

 I follow my mom’s instructions on how to get there, and after 15 minutes of speed-walking I reach the arts and crafts store. It is humongous. It’s three stories from what I can see, and by the looks of it they have everything an artist’s heart could desire. I try to find a sign that says something about paint, but everything is in Korean, so I give up, and just wander around until I find the painting section. Acrylic paint, oil paint, canvases in every size imaginable, easels and paintbrushes. I let out a small shriek of excitement and start choosing the things I want.

I end up carrying way too much on my way to the cashier, almost dropping all of my new brushes, but I manage to catch them before they land on the floor. I put everything down before the cashier, who just looks at me with wide eyes like I’m a weirdo, and then start to scan everything. I fumble around my pockets trying to find the gift card. I slowly start to panic, as I notice it is in none of my pockets. I then remember I put it in my pocket inside my jacket so I wouldn’t lose it. I glance at the entrance and through the door comes a tall dark figure, but before I can catch a good enough look the cashier says something in Korean and I turn around again. I look at him not knowing what he just said, and he points at the display, showing the amount I have to pay. 450,000?! Oh wait, it’s not dollars. I almost had a heart attack. I hand the cashier my giftcard and he swipes it through the machine. I start taking the things from the counter, trying to figure out how I’m going to carry all of this home. The cashier again says something in Korean, and I figure he asked if I want the receipt, so I just say no thank you. He says something again, and this time I look at him, and I can see that something isn’t right.

“Not enough.” he says, and again points at the display. I start freaking out, I didn’t bring anything else than the giftcard, so I just hoped that would cover it. What do I do?

“I live only 15 minutes from here, can I please just go get my card? I won’t be long I promise.” I don’t think the cashier understands me, because he again says “Not enough”. I can see that I’m 2,000 won short and I try to rummage through the pile to find something that is around that price. The cashier is growing impatient which only makes me stress even more, and I end up dropping a pack of acrylic paints on the floor. The tubes fall out of the box and I crouch down to pick them up, when suddenly someone starts helping me. Finally the cashier has found a more humane side, I think, and as I look up I don’t see the clothes of an employee, but big Dr. Martens boots, black tight pants, a black shirt and a big black coat. The bucket hat and mask hide most of his face, but just under the top of the hat I’m immediately fascinated by the dark piercing eyes staring right at me. For a split second I forget where I am and just want to stay right here. The stranger gets to his feet and I shake my head a little, picking up the box, getting to my feet and as I turn around, the stranger hands his card to the cashier.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that, I’ll just leave these here, thank you.” I say. He doesn’t say anything and before I get to say anything else the cashier has already scanned his card and handed it back to him. He puts it back in his pocket and turns around to walk upstairs.

“Hey, I didn’t need.. I mean, you shouldn’t.. uh, thank you!” I almost manage to stutter my way through a sentence just as his feet disappear up the stairs. That was weird.

 I get out of the store and I am immediately met by the freezing cold weather. Fortunately, I have my big winter coat on, but I forgot my gloves at home. As I try to figure out which way I need to go I can feel my fingers get colder and colder. On the way here I was able to put them in my pockets, but now I have to carry all of this shit and I don’t even know which way to go. Fuck. Luckily I have my phone with me, so I can just.. oh no.. I don’t have more power. I must have used it all when I was listening to music. Dammit, now I have to rely on my sense of direction which is just great. Okay, I can just trace back what mom told me about getting here. So firstly, I went left. Wait, or was it right?  Shit. Shit, shit, shit. My fingers are not getting warmer, so I make a decision and turn left.

After having walked around the streets for 20 minutes I end up back at the arts and crafts store. You have got to be kidding me. I stop and put down the art supplies, so I can blow on my hands to get some feeling in them again.

A deep voice appears behind me: “Do you need help?” I turn towards the entrance of the shop and notice the tall dark stranger once again staring at me. I immediately tense up as I meet his gaze. This time I get a better look at him. As I saw before his outfit is all black, but I didn’t notice the chains on his pants and the long earrings dangling beneath his black hair that protrude out from his hat. I must have been staring for some time, because he repeats his question and as I come to my senses, he looks at my hands.

“Are you cold?” he asks, pointing towards my cupped hands that I am still holding in front of my face.

“Oh, no, it’s fine.” I say and quickly hide my hands behind my back.

“Let me see.” he says, and steps closer.

“No, really its fine.” I say, and try to walk a little backwards, but I hit the wall. I think he realizes that a man coming towards you in all black clothes wearing a mask and being way taller than you might seem a bit frightening, because he removes his mask and reveals what I can only describe as the sexiest grin I have ever seen.

“Do you know me?” he asks and tilts his head a little to the side. I look at him confused.

“No, should I?” I try to slowly slide to one side, but before I move just and inch, he places his hands on the wall, trapping me between him and it.

“No, I guess not. Let me see your hands.” He bends forward to grab my arms and by doing so gets very close to my face. He pauses, looking directly into my eyes making me hold my breath. He then slowly removes my hands from behind my back, still keeping his eyes locked on me, as he leads my hands closer to his mouth. He cups my hands between his and starts breathing on them. Even though this is incredibly weird, something in me doesn’t want it to end. His soft hands and warm breath on my hands make my heart flutter and I could swear I have actual butterflies in my stomach. Before I lose myself too much, a picture of Adam flashes before my eyes, and I pull my hands from his, and break our eye contact. I start quickly picking up my things, and he asks if everything is okay.

“Yeah, I just have to get home before my mom gets worried.” I try not to drop anything as I pick everything up from the ground.

“Do you need help with that?” he asks.

I burst out a “NO!”. I accidentally drop a paintbrush and before I can reach it, he gets it for me.

“I mean, no thank you, I can take care of it myself.” I say and take the brush from his grasp. I start walking and immediately stop. I still don’t know where I need to go.

“Do you know the way to Laymean Daychi Palace Apartment Complex?” I ask, as I turn towards him while looking at the ground.

“Do you mean Laemian Daechi? It’s just down the main road and to the left. I can show you the way if you..”

“No thank you, I know where it is now.” I hurry past him and start walking in the direction he pointed.

“I didn’t catch your name..” is the last thing I hear as I turn around the corner.

[fourangers]

Perhaps, in the end, it’s fate

Summary:  With one different tilt of the destiny, many other paths can be unfolded. However between them, there would be always an automatic pull since they share an interchangeable fate.

It's ninjaverse AU, completely different timeline. Teacher!Naruto, father!Sasuke, lil!Sarada with a harmless crush on Nardo. No prior pairings with Sasuke (and Naruto btw) because babies can be created through power of SCIENCE! (or in this case, Orochimaru’s experiments).

Based on February prompt from Sun and Moon Challenge, check it out once you can! SNS, T-rated. Comedy and Romance.

AO3 link | FFnet link

⏤.⏤

Squinting his eyes, he swallowed dryly with fingers crossed. He hoped his future mentor would be wise and kind, his teammates nice and welcoming. If he could stretch a little bit more in this wishing department, maybe Sakura will be part of his team. Well, anything, anyone but Sasuke. It was already humiliating enough losing his first kiss to that bastard, going on missions with him would be. The. Worst.

Iruka cleared his throat, staring the list. "Well, Team 7 will be Haruno Sakura..."

Naruto inhaled sharply, tightening his fists.

"Uchiha Sasuke..." He could hear Sakura's jubilant scream all across the classroom, in midst of other feminine complaints and whining. Naruto groaned too.

"...and Hyuuga Neji."

Huh.

That was...sort of unexpected. Really unexpected.

Naruto frowned, wondering why it felt so out of place that he wouldn't be part of this team.

Iruka continued to recite. "That means that the last team will be Rock Lee, Tenten and Uzumaki Naruto."

He threw a tentative glance towards his future teammates, trying not to get freaked out towards the most humongous eyebrows he had ever met in his life. This boy was also wearing a spandex, a bowl cut haircut style and a goofy smile. His female teammate, on the other hand, simply smiled once she noticed him, waving her hand.

Naruto awkwardly waved back, butterflies squirming in his stomach. A brand new life lied ahead of him and he couldn’t wait to get into his first ninja mission.

His new teacher was a bigger weirdo named Maito Gai. He wore Lee’s same spandex and had even thicker brows, but every qualm was instant quelled once he showed impressive taijutsu skills. He was also unbelievably patient and kind with his protegées, taking notes of their strengths and deficiencies, even teaching basic ninjutsus skills to Naruto that he didn’t manage to learn back in ninja Academy.

Gai had auto-proclaimed rival to Team 7’s leader, some shady guy named Kakashi. They stumbled towards that team on a rather frequent basis while watching Gai’s bravados and weird contests with Kakashi laidback responses. That also meant that Naruto and Lee were busy wooing (or at least trying to) Sakura. Noticing Lee’s unsuccessful attempts to ask her out made him shift for another strategy; concentrating on the other rival ergo Uchiha Sasuke.

(though frankly, while sprawled on the bed after another grueling day of training, Naruto had to admit that what he wanted the most was to check if Sasuke, who is another orphan like him, was doing ok on his own)

Sasuke egged him on, honestly. Calling him a total dumbass, smirking while they bickered, it was refreshing someone acknowledge him aside his teammates.

Sakura was treating him better in comparison to the Academy days, much to his positive surprise. She muttered something about Sasuke giving her a blistering lecture, defending Naruto out, which broke his wall for a second.

Chuunin exams arrived, Lee and Tenten losing in the preliminaries, fueling Naruto to get a victory for the team. His fight against Hyuuga Neji ended with some broken bones, painful conversations, a promise and a new friend. He was looking forward to see Sasuke defeat Gaara to honor Konoha, however, as life was full of unexpected changes, that innocuous exam ended with the Sandaime Hokage murdered and the village being attacked.

The village council convinced Kakashi be a temporary Hokage, everyone gathering around to fix the destruction. Soon they returned to their old routine with the usual genin missions while they went back to train. Naruto kept helping Tenten to conjure better weapons as well as sparring with Lee. He had to admit that while Gai was a good teacher, he wished he could expand even further his skills to something other than taijutsu…

Before he could get back to the idyllic days, out of nowhere, Sasuke disappeared. Rumors spread seeing Sakura’s swollen eyes and Kakashi handling a mission to retrieve him. All genins he knew assembled a team with Shikamaru as the leader and Neji to talk him through.

The mission was a complete utter failure.

“He just didn’t listen to me. I even mentioned you Naruto-kun, how it’s possible for anyone to get out from our personal darkness and conquer fate but still…” Neji shook his head, swallowing a soldier pill to replenish his depleted chakra.

Words of disagreement lodged on his throat but he couldn’t voice it out. Naruto knew, somehow, that if it were him, instead of Neji, maybe…Maybe he’d be able to convince Sasuke, or…

After this incident, he noticed Sakura’s grim expression when she started her medic nin training, as well as Neji’s renewed determination to change the Hyuuga clan. Naruto questioned himself, why he wanted with almost the same intensity to bring Sasuke back to Konoha, despite wondering if he’d make a difference. He’s not even his teammate…

And yet he pondered; was this the reason why he accepted Jiraiya’s tutelage, when Gai mentioned about him when they went to retrieve Tsunade?

But as painful that experience was for everyone involved in, life moved on. Even shadows casting on Team 7’s eyes were blurring out, Sakura mentioning her ex-teammate with a somewhat nostalgia instead of bitterness, and Neji found a closer friendship with Naruto as years passed by.

Naruto questioned himself then, the irrational need to work to the bone 24/7, red iris plaguing his dreams sometimes. He was evolving, he was becoming a stronger ninja and yet he always felt that he didn’t reach his full potential. As if his body was waiting for a worthy rival to inspire him.

Team 7 and Team Gai were celebrating together for gaining their chuunin title, as well as Neji’s jounin promotion. Lee and Sakura used this opportunity to reveal that they were dating, shocking them all. They were a cute couple; Naruto figured, so he approached her to drop a quiet confession.

“You know, it’s funny but I used to have a crush on you.” He muttered, sipping his tea.

Sakura stared with wide eyes, before letting out a short chuckle.

“What!” Naruto yowled. “I mean, don’t sell yourself short, you are cute so a lot of boys liked you and I used to be one of them so⏤”

Sakura shook her head, giggling. "No, no, no, I mean...I thought you used to have a crush on Sasuke.”

His jaw dropped to the ground. “What?!”

“Yes, whenever our teams met, you were busier staring at him and trying to get him to fight you than trying to talk with me. So I thought maybe you were into him? Like the typical boy who pull the girl’s pigtails because he likes her. Well, though you two were boys. Was I wrong?”

Naruto was scarlet red to the tip of his hair, mouth still slack, unable to formulate any complete sentence. Sakura’s smile grew more mischievous so he settled to avoid looking at her, wolfing down his plate.

Sakura pursed her lips, sagging on her seat. “Sasuke huh...he’s coming back, you know.”

For a second, the world stood stock still. “What?”

She shrugged, fingers twirling strands of hair. “You heard that right. He wants to go back to Konoha, claiming that he saw the errors of his way. So he traded important information about Sound Village and Orochimaru to regain his citizenship and ninja status in Konoha.”

A silence fell between them as they both took their time to absorb this bout of information. Sakura cheered up once her boyfriend was back with fresh food, but Naruto was lost thinking about all possibilities.

Few days later, Sasuke arrived at the gates, battered and tired, cradling a cloth wrapping with his arms. He was already the main gossip of the town, then the whispers grew exponentially once they confirmed that he was, indeed, holding a little child.

At a tender age of 18, this young man was already a father.

Naruto hid in some corner of a store, glancing surreptitiously as Sasuke strolled through the streets, uncaring to people gawking and muttering around him. The toddler began shuffling, hiccuping. Those small noises soon turned to loud wails that made him stop at once, cradling her close as he made little bounces though this wasn’t enough to calm her down. People made annoyed faces and had quicken their paces, everyone refused to help him out.

Listening to the cries that increased in volume, he bit his lip, taking a deep breath. He emerged from his spot, walking closer to Sasuke who appeared a little frantic.

“Um.” Naruto scratched the back of his head when Sasuke turned to face him with a glare, hands busy while his daughter kept crying. “Maybe you can try putting her body resting over your upper arm, like a tiger resting on a branch.”

Sasuke stared skeptical, despite obeying his suggestion. Her short yowls decreased, breathing becoming more even till she slept in his arms. Needless to say, Sasuke was rather impressed.

“Uh yeah⏤Iruka-toosan sometimes asks me to help him out taking care of children in the daycare center. I got some of those tips.”

Sasuke grunted back, gazing upon his baby.

“So…” Naruto smacked his lips. “Welcome back? Uh, what’s her name?”

Sasuke huffed, placing her head on his left shoulder. “Sarada.”

Naruto held her tiny hand, smiling with a whisper. “Sarada-chan~welcome to Konoha. You’re gonna love living here, meeting auntie Sakura, uncle Neji, Kakashi, me...how old is she?”

Sasuke scrunched up his face, staring downwards. “9 months. I thought...I’d be fine on my own but in the end, we needed⏤” He thinned his lips. “I said too much.” Before Naruto would ask any further question, Sasuke said. “I should get going. Thank you, Naruto.”

Naruto nodded back, watching the brisk steps moving away from him.

Once Sasuke had settled in the old Uchiha compound, Sakura, Neji and Kakashi visited him. They were welcoming, but absent. After all, Sakura was busy in Konoha’s hospital, Kakashi was going to be officially appointed as Konoha’s Hokage, Neji was helping his cousin changing Hyuuga clan’s laws.

There was a significant chasm between Sasuke and other ninjas of his generation, since he was now a father between young adults, and left Konoha while the Rookie Nine nurtured their relationship over the years. He made no effort to draw the bridge too, cooped in his house taking care of his daughter most of the time. And even when the gang would reunite, he was always the last one to arrive, the first to go.

On some occasions Sakura would succeed in convincing him to bring his daughter whenever team Gai and team 7 would gather in her house. Sasuke however, maintained his distance with the crew, aside some quiet conversation with Neji.  

It was almost like living in an old film reel, rolling all over again. Watching Sasuke as a child from afar, craving to reach his hand and talk to him but never building enough courage to do so. They became mere acquaintances, the occasional nod of recognition when they crossed paths, making small talks while Sasuke was nursing Sarada. Soon Naruto became jounin when Sasuke managed the chuunin title, Lee mentioning he and Sakura took care of Sarada while he was doing the exams.

He stared down the porcelain mask while the townspeople cheered the end of Kakashi’s appointed ceremony. Gai stood next to him, and Naruto smiled from his teacher’s happiness emanating from afar. Long time ago, he remembered desiring conquering such coveted position, but nowadays he was content knowing that Kakashi would make a decent Hokage.

(why did he lose so easily his determination to follow his ambitions?)

Kakashi didn’t waste much time in celebration, throwing mission after mission on him, one longer than the other and in some faraway sketchy places. Most those times Naruto could only hear the faint echoes of their sprinting, casting long shadows on the cavernous walls. He was responsible exploding laboratories while Tenten gathered reports, weird shapes submerged in purpleish water.

How bizarre. Sometimes he could swear some of those shapes had some resemblance with Sasuke.

⏤.⏤

Iruka was like a father to him and he deserved this long vacation after years of tireless tutelage. But still.

Screams. Collisions. Little imps running around all over the place. Those squirmy little brats slithering out of his grasp and making a racket.

Naruto really needed to work in refusing Iruka’s requests, but the older nin was just this damn persuasive.

He spread his clones in every corner of the daycare center, however, it didn’t seem to be enough. The moment the kids understood that his bunshins could pop out with some harder shove, they made their newest game dispelling as many clones as possible.

Yet those kids were old enough to learn basics of ninja skills, so other teachers threw such responsibility on Naruto’s shoulders, considering he had a higher rank. He had a hard time tampering down his strength, why are children such squiggly delicate beings that cried with the littlest wound?

Naruto spent only one day with them and he was already wondering if he would leave this experience unscathed. Nevertheless he summoned every bit of his patience and taught the fundamentals of aiming, giving them the chance to train too.

He heard collective praises and some gasps coming from afar, approaching and noticing the dark haired girl concentrated on her task. Whoa...time surely flies by pretty damn fast. He had forgotten that Sarada was already 5 years old. Naruto snorted when he saw that most shurikens she threw hit the bullseye.

But that wasn’t enough to satisfy her, since she picked all the paper shurikens and threw with renewed zeal. The rest of the kids went away playing on their own, but Sarada remained in training. Heaving tired breaths, she flung another shuriken but this time it flew past the target.

She made a frustrated growl, running to dislodge the weapon that dug deep in the bark of a tree. Naruto heard a concealed hiccup, as Sarada rubbed her eyes with her arm.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, I got this.” Naruto appeared in a blink, quirking a mollifying smile and removed the shuriken with ease. He offered to the young Uchiha, she accepted the weapon with contemplative eyes.

“You’re Lee-san’s friend right?” She realized.

“Sure am! I’m Uzumaki Naruto, it’s nice to see you again Sarada-chan.” Naruto patted her head. “You know, it’s really important to train your skills, but taking a break is also equally as important. Letting your body rest when it’s so tired, so it can grow stronger the next time.”

Sarada pouted, then muttered. “Auntie Sakura told me stories about back when my father was my age. He was a genius, always great with whatever he did, but I’m…”

“Ah yeah your dad...I also remember that he used to train all day and night over and over again. You’ll get as good as him in no time, don’t worry about it.”

“But…” Sarada bit her lower lip, shuffling her feet. “Father once talked to me about the Uchiha clan and how it used to be a very respectable clan and I have to follow their footsteps so⏤”

“Ugh, who cares!” Naruto rolled his eyes. “I think it’s too much that this bastard⏤”

She gasped. “You said a bad word!”

“S-sorry.” He scratched his head. “Anyways, I think it’s unfair to put such heavy duties on your shoulders. Your dad suffered back he was your age, I don’t want you to suffer the same. You should be only Sarada-chan after all right! You’ll make your father proud in your own pace.”  

“You think so?”

“I know so! After all, I’m already proud of you and I’m your teacher, right.” He messed her hair, patting on it.

Sarada stared down her shuriken, thumbs sliding over it. She peeked through her fringes, a rosy blush dusting her cheeks. “Thank you Uzumaki-sensei.”

“Oh, you can call me Naruto.” He grinned.

Her voice pumped with more excitement as she said. “Naruto-sensei!”

On the following days Naruto continued with his ninja classes, juggling between paying attention to all students, focusing on the rowdy ones, teaching those lessons and avoid any kind of catastrophe might ensue. He had found another mounting respect towards Iruka, those kids just can’t be real.

In every class Sarada was the first to complete it with pristine score, dashing next to him with eyes silently asking for his praise.

And praise he did, with words of encouragement and approval, injecting an impressed tone as he ruffled her hair. Every single time this gave her renewed motivation to improve herself. Naruto gazed fondly from afar as Sarada hopped between trees with ease. His entire childhood was consumed by hatred and neglect from adults until he met Iruka, he’d never subject any other kid to such trauma once again.

“Naruto-sensei!” Sarada exclaimed, hugging his arm with a tight grip.

Naruto beamed, patting her hair. He was starting to see the perks of this profession, was this the reason why Iruka continued to be a teacher despite having to take care of these little brats everyday?

A baritone voice chimed from behind. “Ah, I see. Expected nothing less I guess.”

They turned around, facing the familiar piercing dark eyes. Sasuke gazed back in fond amusement.

“So you’re really the Naruto-sensei my daughter kept gushing about all last week.”

Sarada pale cheeks reddened at once. “Father!”

“Alright little one, it’s time to go home.” Sasuke hushed by patting on her back. “Go grab our things ok.” After Sarada obeyed him with a pronounced pout, Sasuke muttered once she was out of the picture. “Long time no see.”

“Yeah…” Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. “You look well I guess.”

“Hn. When Lee told me you’re subbing for Iruka-sensei, I didn’t quite believe at first. I thought you’re a jounin?”

“I am, but Iruka-toosan made me promise that I’d take care of them while he’s on vacation. I thought, well, kids right. I took care of ‘em sometimes, one whole month would be nothing and⏤”

“It’s hell isn’t it?” Sasuke smirked.

Naruto dropped his shoulders at once, a long groan vibrating on his throat. “Totally. I was already dead on the first day.”

Sasuke nodded in agreement. “Sarada thankfully is more helpful than most children. But still, where do they get all this energy?”

“I know right??” Naruto laughed. “They look so small I thought they wouldn’t be much trouble but whoa, did I misjudge on this one.”

Sarada arrived with backpack ready. “I’m back father!”

“Good. Maybe we’ll go eat outside for a change.”

“Oh! You should eat Ichiraku Ramen then, it’s perfect for cold day like today!” Naruto said.

Sasuke shook his head. “You and your Ichiraku Ramen, I remember you used to drag Lee and Tenten to eat at that place.”

“Ichiraku Ramen is the greatest, I was just doing them a favor to acknowledge such fact. There’s no other restaurant that would have such delicious braised pork, a tender yet firm noodles coupled with the rich texture and savory miso broth. It’s the best.”

“If Naruto-sensei said so, maybe we should try it!” Sarada chirped. A lightbulb went off and she added. “Maybe he could go with us!”

Both young men crossed their eyes before deflecting in haste, Naruto cleared his throat as Sasuke thinned his lips. “Naruto-sensei looks pretty tired, maybe we shouldn’t bother him too much Sarada.”

“Oh, she’s not bothering me for sure.” Naruto retorted. “But maybe you want to have some quiet time together with your father, right, Sarada-chan?”

“Father wouldn’t mind if you tag along Naruto-sensei, right?” Sarada pulled out the most pitiful expression she could ever muster, jutting her lower lip. “Right?”

Glancing in between her frantic daughter and the bewildered blue eyes, Sasuke exhaled tiredly. He mumbled under his breath. “Is it ok for you to go with us Naruto?”

“Um, ok. Sure!” He messed with Sarada’s hair when she jumped in joy. “I’m going to ask my favorite Ramen flavor for you Sarada-chan, I’m sure you’re going to love it.”

Despite initial reservations, they maintained a cheerful conversation peppered with Naruto’s booming voice and Sarada’s exclaims while they were walking on the way to the restaurant. This time though, Sasuke appeared to be a more sociable mood, chatting back with occasional grunts, which Naruto didn’t mind with his easy-going nature.

Sasuke insisted paying the bill despite all his protests, explaining that this was a small gesture of gratitude for taking care of his daughter. After waving goodbyes, they went on separate ways, smile playing on both their lips.

“Naruto-sensei is like the sun right!”

Sasuke blinked, head tilted to one side to gawk at her. Sarada linked her fingers together, placing to one side of her cheek as she whispered with a dreamy voice.

“He’s so nice and friendly, full of energy and bright. And when he smiles you just feel happier too, it’s wide and sincere, he makes your mood so much better. I love his hair, it’s golden exactly like the sun and his eyes have such a beautiful shade of blue, I’d never get tired looking at his eyes and⏤” She stopped her diatribe once she noticed her father’s peering eyes. “What?”

Sasuke studied his daughter, before settling with a long sigh.

She wrinkled her nose. “Anyways, as I was saying…”

⏤.⏤

2nd chapter here

⏤.⏤

AN: at first I thought that it’d be a one-shot but it got too much material for only a one-shot. So...lol. It’s gonna be a two-shot.

[missstormcaller]

CAN’T FEAR YOUR OWN WORLD Vol. II Part 3 Full Translation

This is part 6 and 7 on the app. (chapter 7 continued)

---- what is this?

---- what am I looking at right now? Almost immediately, a cold sweat trickled down the body of Candice who was just convinced of her victory.

Even if there is a decline in power, it should have been a lightning strike that was able to incinerate a target whether it was a Shinigami who harboured a fair amount of competency or not. However, when the lightning she herself had summoned finally dissipated, the figures of three men who appear to have defied that lightning strike, rise to the surface. Be that as it may, this is not the thing that shocked Candice. What caused her to be taken aback, unexpectedly made an appearance beside the targets, a huge, thick rooted tree growing so high as if to pierce to heavens. Candice who had launched the surprise attack, is at the very least able to grasp the state of affairs surrounding her. Until just before she unleashed her "Electrocution", such a thing had not existed there. ---- Crap! Most of my lightning strike flowed into that tree?! The thunderstorm which even surpasses nature's lightning, was mostly absorbed into the ground through the large tree, meanwhile the flank attack generated by the thunderstorm was repelled in the same fashion as before by the big sword in the possession of the man with the black jacket. Before Candice could even digest that fact, the blade in front of her eyes drew near. " *Gasp* ! " The edge of the large sword which glowed silver, came sweeping across the spot Candice had just leapt back from, evading it by a hairbreadth. "……!?" A cold electric current ran down Candice's spine. When she twisted around as she jumped to the side, a slashing attack fired from the blade brushed past her whilst it tore up the Reishi in the air. That slashing attack pushed its way forward as it dispersed the smoke from the huge tree that was burnt by lightning, eventually it pierced through a hill far away in the distance causing a portion of the slope to explode and scatter. "Just now…that was Kurosaki Ichigo's…!" "Huh…? You've engaged in battle with that guy before, young lady?" The man who shot the slashing attack which cut through the air, smiled as if to provoke her after raising an eyebrow and saying as such. "So is that why you managed to dodge my attack? That was some good luck huh. You should be grateful to Kurosaki." "…Huuuhh!? Who should be grateful to whom you say!?" Even though she had barely just overcome a life-threatening situation a moment ago, Candice was enraged once more, making bolts of lightning coil around her whole body. "Oh my, a short-tempered young lady."

Releasing a sigh whilst jumping away and maintaining a distance, Ginjō briefly glimpsed at the huge scorched tree standing beside him. "This one over here has really overdone it in his own way too it seems." In response to that, Tsukishima gave a slight shrug of his shoulders as he replied. "It's no big deal. I merely nurtured this tree in between reading my book. I took all possible measures to do so from the time it was a seedling." "…Just how many years did you insert?" Ginjō spoke as if he was stunned. The moment this opponent had appeared, Tsukishima transformed his bookmark into a katana with his Fullbring, he then slashed the tree he was leaning against using his "Book of The End" ability. By wedging his own presence into the tree's past, he was able to supply it with copious amounts of nutrition and transform it into a humongous tree. It is a foul technique which used Tsukishima's unique ability to exert influence on the target alone and alter its past, however the woman who came rushing in to attack them seems unable to comprehend what had just happened. If she had listened to the conversation just a moment ago, she might have at least guessed his abilities, but the woman who is apparently the key assassin, seems to have flipped her lid by allowing the blood to rush to her head, and there was absolutely no way she was going to be able to read their lips now. Ginjō made speculations about the identity of his opponent once again. "She doesn't look like a Shinigami. Judging from the bow she was using, one would think she's a Quincy, but…. If we assume that she is a survivor from the group that waged war on Shinigami not too long ago, then I'm not sure what reason she would have to attack us. Is it something related to XCUTION in the Human World?" For the last few days, Ginjō and the others have been asking around for news centered on the 'Japanese people who have just died' and turned up in Rukongai, they were gathering information about the emerging religious organisation "XCUTION" who have recently been making their presence felt in the Human World. They formulated a certain degree of speculation for themselves, it is an attack taking place during a time where they were contemplating whether or not they could somehow from this place, manage to get in touch with Yukio and Riruka in the Human world, and since the threat is not a Shinigami, they surmised that it wouldn't be surprising if there is also some sort of relation to XCUTION, however ---- "I can't make heads or tails of whatever nonsense you're on about! There are no trees that can protect you jerks anymore! So just turn to ashes for me like a good little lamb!" The Quincy who had just pulled herself together from amongst the chaos, began to shoot a volley of arrows from her lightning entwined bow, Ginjō and the others had run out of time to leisurely analyse their opponent's true identity.

Quite in contrast with Ginjō's group, Lurking in a place a small distance away, there is a single figure who is carefully 'observing' the battle between Candice and the Fullbringers. "Oh boy, that idiot, she's completely forgotten the damn bit about capturing them. I hope I'm not also treated as incompetent by that weirdo scientist by getting mixed up in this." It is a man dressed in white garments affiliated with the same group as Candice -- NaNaNa Najahkoop. One of the Quincies who suffered fatal wounds at the hands of the Sternritter member Bazz-B, and then 'rebooted' by Mayuri when he was almost on the verge of becoming a corpse. "Oh well, would you tear each other to pieces for me please with as much showmanship as you can muster?" He did not harbour any rebellious intentions against Yhwach until the bitter end, but now that Yhwach is gone, his highest priority was to stay alive and watch for an opportunity to escape. "So that I can 'observe' in full." For him, although he had a metaphorical collar around his neck, seeing the outside world he could think of nothing but opportunities, in order to maximise the leverage of his abilities, he plans to observe as many Shinigami as possible. The "Morphine Pattern", an ability of his schrift U "The Underbelly" which was bestowed upon him by Yhwach, is a technique that allows him to locate holes in an opponent's Reiatsu, by forcibly expanding them he can bring the activity of the Reiatsu itself to a standstill. Although that power is so formidable that it once completely paralysed even Aizen Sōsuke's limbs, the result of trying it against the key player Mayuri, was receiving a firm declaration that "it's futile to even observe me. Making changes to Reiatsu patterns and the like in a matter of seconds is a basic thing.” In fact, his observation cannot keep up with constantly changing patterns, consequently Najahkoop was forced to endure electrical shocks generated by the device Mayuri had implanted in his body. Thus, he has remained unable to work out a plan in order to find a concrete solution to this dilemma, leading to his current situation. "But, those guys over there are the Fullbringers?" At this point Najahkoop paused for a brief moment, he muttered to himself appearing to be somewhat astonished by the Fullbringers he was observing under Mayuri's instructions. "Although it's the first time I'm seeing this… it damn well looks like Hollow is mixed in with their Reiatsu pattern…"

Human World - Karakura Town "Hold on a moment Urahara san. Why did you bring up that guy's name here…?" Looking at Hisagi's shaken expression Urahara pointed out something odd to him. "Oh, have you met? When Kuchiki san and the others came to transfer Shinigami powers over to Ichigo san, Hisagi san wasn't there was he?" "…No, I just happened to meet him in Rukongai by chance some time ago." "What a coincidence. Since he was basically passing the time as a human, you probably wouldn't have noticed the out of place feeling of his Reiatsu unless you engaged in battle with him." Indeed, it was just as Urahara describes. If he thought about it, he usually can't even sense that other elements are mixed into Kurosaki Ichigo's Reiatsu, and it is impossible for one to have the same analytical capacity as Urahara or Kurotsuchi Mayuri. That being the case, he is not sure whether he could trust Urahara's words right now, but if he has doubts here, then the whole interview will be rendered pointless. Strengthening his resolve, Hisagi decided to move the conversation forward on the premise that Urahara's words were the truth. "Is there some relation to this so-called Fullbring ability or something?" "That's right. Let's review this topic a little shall we?" When Urahara touched the edge of a tatami mat, a huge whiteboard descended from the ceiling. On the board, there was some kind of abstruse numerical formula along with drawings of unsettling Shinigami and the like, written as a heading above it were the words "Mysterious! A taste for the bizarre! How to make the heart-pounding Shinigami Majin* (temporary)!" (*supernatural being with mystical powers, like a genie or a sorcerer) "Oops, my apologies." When he pressed the corner of the board, for some reason the text and illustrations which were supposedly composed with a marker, were completely wiped clean, only a glossy surface which had just become a pure white was left in its place. "Well then, first of all, the Fullbringers are……" "What was that just now!? You're trying awfully hard to nonchalantly let it pass, but you're overdoing it don't you think!?" "Oh my, I must say I'm quite embarrassed. Shinigami Majin is only a temporary name, eventually it will be improved, I will give it a hip new name that can compete with Karakuraizer so please rest assured." "That's not the issue you know!? And what the hell is Karakuraizer!? That reminds me! After the war had ended, Shihōin san went asking around among the people who had broke into the Soul King Palace, telling them 'did you see my combat form at the time of the decisive battle?' whilst exhibiting a grim expression on her face, but if you were careless enough to answer that you saw it, there would be an aura around her like she was going to kick your ass until your memories were erased, is it perhaps something connected with that!?" In response to Hisagi who skillfully exercised his intuitiveness, Urahara averted his eyes as he laughed self-consciously. "Oh dear, well I certainly had a difficult time afterwards too, but I'm not directly responsible you know? We can't go without mentioning the fact that the application of technology is just the way of the world right?”

Although there were things he was still unsatisfied with, the content on the whiteboard had already disappeared. Even if he was convinced that Urahara's remarks just now were probably made in order to put him at ease, Hisagi decided to stop proceeding with unproductive comebacks. "Sorry… please continue with your explanation of Fullbringers." "Now then, let's just make a simple point clear first of all!" As the composed Hisagi cast a cold stare in his direction, Urahara proceeded to fill out characters onto the whiteboard in an easygoing manner. "In this world, there exists a number of intelligent life forms. Generally speaking, this amounts to 'humans', 'Shinigami' and 'Hollows'. Well, Hollows are originally souls of human beings, 'Fullbringers' basically derive from the human." "Do you mean to say, it's a mutation?" "Or in other words, it's a forced change that occurs due to the effects of external factors. In a broad sense, Sado san and Inoue san can also be included in this." "Huh?" Hisagi tilted his head ever so slightly at the sudden mention of those familiar names. He has heard that Orihime's powers are activated through her hairpins, and that Chad sets his abilities into motion through the skin of his arms. However, it was unexpected for Hisagi to link that to Fullbringers in any way. "But, wasn't the powers belonging to those two influenced by being in close proximity to the 'Hōgyoku'……" "That's right, therefore the circumstances are a little different to that of other Fullbringers. Nonetheless, I get the impression that the difference is only in the process and that the origins and results are similar." Whilst drawing an illustration on the whiteboard, Urahara went on to explain even further. "Those who are Fullbringers, basically have mothers who were attacked by a Hollow during the time they themselves were still a foetus in her womb. Furthermore, if its the case that the mother was able to survive the attack and safely give birth, it is said that the child will be influenced by the Hollow element and have a high likelihood of awakening a Fullbringer’s abilities in the future." "It certainly does feel like I've heard that somewhere before…. But, they're awfully lucky to have survived a Hollow attack huh?”

Recalling his own experience of being attacked by a Hollow at a time he was helpless, Hisagi expressed such doubts. "The assistance of a Shinigami or a Quincy came at the critical moment… it seems only natural to think that, but if that's the case, how much did the Soul Society know in return? ……And how much did they know about the fact that the child of the pregnant woman who was rescued at the last moment, has the potential to become a Fullbringer in the near future." "Ah……" "I have learned various things from knowing about the existence of Fullbringers too, but how could it be that the Shinigami who have continuously fought Hollows for thousands of years, were unable to notice such a thing before me? I also got Amakado san to make some discreet enquiries for me, however it seems there were no such records even in the Great Spirit Book Gallery, until quite recently." "That makes sense, in that place, it is information within Soul Society that is collected under compulsion, so as far as the Human World goes…" Interrupting Hisagi's statement, Urahara utters the name of a certain organisation. "What about the Visuals Department?" "……" At that very moment, Hisagi's core temperature dropped. For the past few days, he too has been investigating many things in his own way. Contained within those investigations, is the fact that the Tsunayashiro clan had involvement in the Visuals Department since the age of its inception. "Urahara san, why mention that to me just now?" "It's not unnatural to suspect that they know something right? Well, beyond that, this is the job of an intrepid journalist rather than me." "Do you mean to say the Tsunayashiro clan even had some sort of involvement with the Fullbringers… or rather, with Ginjō's group?" Hisagi called to mind the "motive for betraying Soul Society" which he had heard from Ginjō. If the Tsunayashiro clan were involved there, then he could also understand the reason why Kyōraku said "I want you to wait a little while." "Goodness, please don't make such a grim face Hisagi san! If Jinta kun comes back he really might wet his pants!" Whilst chiding Hisagi in a joking manner, Urahara continued to speak in a way that was similar to child who was hatching a mischievous plan. "Speculation can only amount to speculation. That is all the information I can hand over to Hisagi san 'at present'. I have several other speculations too, but if by chance I am mistaken, it will cause trouble for a great number of people. Therefore, I also need some information in order to confirm these speculations a little more." "…You mean, you want to receive information through me too?" "I'm even asking this of Yoruichi san, but I want data from multiple sources. In fact, the story around the Child named Hikone from a little earlier was some very useful material. I am extremely grateful to you." "Although I have the feeling I'm being cleverly exploited, I understand, if Urahara san has confidence in me as a journalist and as a Shinigami, then I will do as much as I can." At Hisagi's acceptance, Urahara opens his folding fan with his usual merchant's visage. "Well, well! Let's shake on it! Let us forever get along like birds of a feather!" ---- That was rather hasty? I…. While thinking such a thing, Hisagi spoke of a matter which had suddenly struck his mind. "By the way, what kind of relationship is there between Fullbringers and Hollows? Well I mean, not in terms of composition or something, but in a current sphere of influence sort of sense…." "Given that they have a past where a parent was attacked by a Hollow, I think there exists a considerable amount of cause and effect right? Even for a Hollow, seeing humans who possess the same elements as themselves, there will be individual differences as to whether they exercise vigilance or initiate contact out of interest." Urahara shakes his head whilst recalling some members of the Arrancar he is familiar with himself. "Well, in the end, it's still a case-by-case thing."

"Even among the Arrancars, individuals who are relatively mild-mannered have increased in numbers these days."

Soul Society - Outskirts of Rukongai Piercing claps of thunder resounded many times over from the outskirts of Rukongai. As soon as the first bolt of lightning struck the neighborhood residents tried not to get too close, everyone hid themselves away in their homes. Naturally, the lightning strike was also being monitored within Seireitei, but immediately beforehand Mayuri had issued a request for "the Department of Research and Development to conduct their experiment", as a result Shinigami from other squads did not even come to check out the situation. In the midst of such circumstances, Ginjō and the others failed to hear a significant noise due to the effects of the thunder which vigorously continued to ring out. The noise of someone's fist uprooting the huge tree which was still standing until just a moment ago. "Don't, Candi-chan." Along with a relaxed female voice, 'it' fluttered down from the sky. "Our orders are to capture them, so if you completely scorch them, I think we'll be in for a scolding…" When Ginjō and the others looked up after realising something was looming overhead, there the single figure of a Quincy came swooping down with the large fractured tree still raised in one hand. "Hey, what the hell kind of brute strength is that?" As Ginjō spoke in seeming amazement, the huge tree that was burnt by lightning was suddenly thrust towards him. The ground trembles together with a deafening noise and a cloud of dust envelops the surrounding area. "Meni you fool! Crushing them completely is the same thing you know!" Candice widens her eyes and raises a yell at the assistance that had just made an appearance -- Meninas McAllon who held the Schrift 'P' - "The Power". "Even so, if I crushed them to a certain extent, I think that weirdo scientist san will still be able to manage somehow…" "If that's the case, I guess he can also manage if they're burnt to a crisp! Whatever, for the time being, take advantage of this opportunity to try and get in contact with Lil and the others……" Just when she was about to finish speaking, a crushing noise resounded from the large tree which was lying on the ground. " !? " "You have got to be kidding me!? Aside from Meni, there's some dude who can pull off a stunt like this…?" As the name "The Power" suggests, Meninas' ability is purely immense physical strength. Although Meninas' power could have been judged as potentially being on par with Zaraki Kenpachi when it's a simple contest of strength, in the next instant, a 'power' that rivaled her's repelled the charred tree back into the sky. " ! " Meninas and Candice dodged it by a hairbreadth. Appearing before their sightlines, is a man whose figure was completely different from a little earlier. "Hmph… This time it really does appear to be a fool who relies only on strength." With regard to the individual who had an eyepatch fastened to his face, until just a moment ago, he appeared to be a thin man clad in a style of clothing befitting of a gentleman. However, now his stature easily exceeds five meters, transforming into a figure similar to that of a Huge-Hollow whose every muscle has swelled up in a distorted manner. It is entirely possible to presume that he possesses brute strength in accordance with that outer physical appearance and is therefore able to stop the blow from the large tree not to mention throwing it back in the direction from whence it came. Faced with the eyepatch wearing man who became ridiculously muscular all of a sudden, Meninas who was described as "a fool who relies only on strength" remained expressionless as she gave her upfront impressions. "I think it's gross when muscles bulge that much…" "…Meni isn't it the same for you when you're using your full strength, your arms and such can grow to that kind of state can't it?" Meanwhile Ginjō also knit his eyebrows together after watching the transformation of Giriko who was a member of his gang. "You don't have to go over the top too you know. And what do you mean by this time?" ---- That reminds me, I still haven't heard anything about how Giriko died. Despite Ginjō thinking as such, quite in contrast with his usual gentleman-like composure, Giriko seemed somewhat excited as he began to talk about his own powers. "Ginjō san, I was mistaken. In order to truly wear the power of the gods of time on this body, it was necessary to make a clear-cut sacrificial offering of time!" "O-okay." "That's right, what my Time Tells No Lies governs is 'time'! To the rapidly flowing stream of time which equates to an eternity, I offered the gift of a vast expanse of time which Tsukishima dono inserted into that tree, thus entrusting a more pure form of power into this body of mine! No longer will I repeat the same mistake as before! Well now, allow me to thoroughly show you this power which I have obtained through a contract with the gods!" "Why are you so energetic all of a sudden…?"

Beside Ginjō who was disturbed by that reaction, Tsukishima shakes his head with a faint smile still carved on his face. "Even I would be troubled if my inserted past was treated as an offering without my permission." True to both his and Giriko's words, before they knew it the huge tree which was cast back into the air shrank to its former small tree self, breaking up and scattering into pieces as it fell. As if that were a cue, the enemy Quincies begin to stir. "Stop right there with the theatrics! You punks have already chosen the death penalty anyway!”

"I've already told you, I'm afraid we can't kill them because it's a capture mission…” Whilst playing the 'straight man’ at Candice's expense, Meninas herself threw a strike towards the eyepatch wearing man who had transformed into a giant clad in muscled armour. The arm that had been injected with strength swelled like an enormous log whilst making a creaking sound, she swung her fist down obliquely with spring action momentum. "Gah!" Although that fist was encircled by his huge hand in order to stop the blow, the force of the cannonball-like hit still caused his large physique to lose its balance. "Well now, you've actually managed to stagger me, it seems you certainly don't just speak a load of hot air." "I've barely said anything?" After tilting her head for a moment, Meninas twisted the upper half of her body around whilst relentlessly unleashing a number of combo hits with both arms. The eyepatch wearing man continued to bear those attacks without even breaking a sweat, the ground beneath them gradually began to crack instead. For an instant the giant sank to its knees whereupon Meninas took it as an opportunity to try and deal a particularly powerful blow. However, as if he had been waiting for this moment, the man with the eyepatch extended his bent knees in one fell swoop and released its force into the ground. "You will learn firsthand! That the flow of time cannot be swayed by a blow that lacks respect to the gods!" " ! " Taking the form of a shoulder tackle that came at an angle from just below her, Meninas was blown away high into the air accompanied by the noise of the impact which sounded as if a train had collided with an oversized bull. Giriko intended to pursue her on the ground and in the atmosphere by means of his Fullbring, but a countless number of arrows suddenly pierced his body simultaneously sending high voltage lightning coursing through his system. "Gah!?" "Ha! Being that big! Makes you an easy target!"

More pursuing arrows came flying inbound, but Ginjō who had pulled ahead of it swept them all aside. "You're too careless, Giriko. Having such a huge physique is a disadvantage against Quincy opponents." "No, not at all, you need not worry yourself over me. The power I obtained through this contract is something that can even suppress the pain of being struck by lightning." In fact, it seems he has barely taken any damage with regard to the several number of arrows that had stabbed his body. Even so, apparently the same could be said for the other side, Meninas who was hurled high up into the sky also landed on the ground with a nonchalant air about her. "I guess it can't be helped…. I'll create an opening. During that time, Tsukishima will interfere with either one of them." "Sure, no problem. If I make some inquiries in the past, even their objectives will become clear." Ginjō who had decided to simply proceed with a mutual wait-and-see approach like this, now formed a plan to pool their efforts and settle this dispute as soon as possible, however ---- As if mocking the battle itself, a heavy presence surged up in the distance.

"Captain! There's an abnormality in the Reishi feedback! Three spirit-miles ahead west-northwest from your position… there's… there's a Garganta opening up!" Mayuri who had heard the radio report from Tsubokura Rin, quizzically cast his eyes in the direction of the incident. Garganta. A means of transportation peculiar to Hollows, its unique shape is reminiscent of a huge set of jaws that had opened up in mid-air. "Arrancar? I recognise this pattern." Just by looking at the data which was being sent, Mayuri instantly figured out the identity of this other party. "It's not that plaything of the four great noble clans. It's a genuine Arrancar." Mayuri then narrows his eyes, he recalled the face of a certain man, with a slight look of disappointment on his countenance Mayuri continues to speak. "My my, even when Kurosaki Ichigo is not here, that good for nothing bunch are still a nuisance, honestly."

A Garganta opened up in the far west. The white silhouette that emerged from there leapt into Soul Society with the same vigour as Candice's lightning. It was as if a carnivorous animal who had located its prey, was making a beeline through the grasslands. " ! " " !? " It seems they finally noticed the heavy presence of an Arrancar drawing near. The Quincies and fullbringers who were waging war in the outskirts of Rukongai, simultaneously turned their attentions in its direction. It is too strong a presence to leave it to chance and concentrate on the battle instead, and above all, this ill-natured atmosphere was heading straight towards them. Ginjō and the others tried to probe into the identity of this intruder and even faster than they could square up ---- Was the wind. A blue haired beast with a gust of wind coiling around him, fiercely tore through the atmosphere of the battlefield. Banishing the Quincies' lightning strike which was set upon him and shattering to pieces the large boulders they hurled towards him, the man pounced into the centre of the battlefield. As a result, the wind relented, the lone figure of an Arrancar emerged from within the cloud of dust that gradually began to settle. "What the heck…" "……?" That Arrancar who gave a click of his tongue as soon as he came into view, looked at the Quincies and Fullbringers who had grown tense, he muttered to himself appearing not to be particularly interested by them. "I came here to take a look at what I thought was the stench of a hybrid, I guess it's neither one of them huh." Although he maintained a watchful eye on Ginjō as if weighing him up, before long he remembered his purpose, the Arrancar who had abruptly caused the atmosphere of the scene to freeze over, opened his mouth to speak with an arrogant tone. "Screw it. Today's target ain't Kurosaki anyway." Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. Due to his entry on the scene, this spot became the single most chaotic space within Soul Society at present. Shinigami. Quincy. Arrancar. Fullbringer. Each faction who once made enemies of Kurosaki Ichigo, have all assembled in Soul Society, home to the Shinigami. Could this really be a coincidence or an inevitably? Grimmjow who made an appearance as if being drawn to the heart of the calamity, uttered a single demand towards the one he deemed the strongest among the lineup of faces that was currently before him ---- towards Ginjō Kūgo. "Hurry up and inform this Hikone brat. Tell the kid that I've come to continue our death-match from the other day."

[ccjinxxandjake]

Done for You

Chapter Title: Exordium

Author: Max

Word Count: 6,348

Warnings: Fluff, angst, smut, suicide, suicide notes, character death, minor character death, implied/referenced character death, original character death(s), temporary character death, past character death, near death experiences, child death, animal death, not really character death, possible character death, near death, slow burn, slow to update, slow romance, tags may change, rating may change

Rating: Teen audiences and up

Summary: A fanfiction based off of Wretched and Divine and Vale aka an overhaul of a fanfiction that I had been writing for a few years.

Main pairing: Undecided

Author’s Note: Don’t forget to comment because comments are what keep me going and make me want to continue writing. I do not get paid to write this and I could be using this time to study for my AP Government and Politics exam and all of my college courses (I’m a dual enrollment child). Comments are your way of giving me my “paycheck” and feedback on my writing so I can improve to actually earn a paycheck from this in the future. So please help me put by commenting, liking and reblogging this.

I wasn't meant to survive this. I wasn't meant to be the last one alive. I wasn't meant to be the only survivor of this attack. I had friends whose lives were more valuable than mine. My best friends who knew I wasn't meant to have this life. I wasn't meant to be the last one here. The last one to survive this attack. I was meant to take my last breath with them, or without them as they would have been the ones to survive. But now they were dead, in a circle around me. My best friend's head laid on my lap. His light brown eyes looked up at me. A smile was painted on his face. He seemed so peaceful and I wished I was with him but I wasn't. I couldn't handle the pain of having him in my lap. He was dead, there was a dead body in my lap. I lost my best friend and the pain was too much too bear. My heart was in pieces as I looked at my other friends. They were my favorite people on the entire planet. "Police! Come out with your hands on your head!" The door was locked but I could hear the knob jingling. I didn't want to move. He was still here, still in my lap. I looked up and put my hands on my head. I pulled my eyes off of my dead friend and looked up. My eyes drifted to the only door in the room. A shadow appeared in front of the frosted glass window. “Come in, please, don’t hurt me! My friends are dead and three of them are on me. I can’t move them. I’ve been in here for days.” I really couldn’t move them at all. I had been here for a few days with no food. My body was too weak to move three grown men off of my small body. The door came down after three large thuds, probably from a policeman banging against it. The door gave way and three policemen, full SWAT gear, came in. My friends were light up by  flashlights. My hands were on my head still. The police looked me over and my weak body. I probably looked like I was going to die. I probably would have if the police hadn’t found me. “What are you doing here?” One man lifted his mask and looked at me. He had dark brown eyes and cropped blonde hair. My heart sped up as I looked up at him. “That’s a bit classified.” I replied as snakily as I could while in my position. I raised an eyebrow and looked up at him. His smile grew as I looked at him. A smirk grew on my face. He chuckled and bent down to look at me. “Now baby, I don’t think you want to say that around someone who could move these bodies.” I rolled my eyes and looked at me as I turned to look at the dark haired man next to me. “Then I guess I’ll just have to move them myself.” I shrugged as a glow began in my stomach. A deep, rich red that began to flow through my veins and towards my hands. A ball slowly began to form within my hands. I smiled and touched the body of the friend’s who herd was in my lap. His eyes glowed red and moved closer to me, pulling himself up. I smiled lightly, touching the two friends next to me. They did the same and looked at the police man. He looked on in terror as I touched my last friend. He also stood and began to work his way towards the policeman as I stood up weakly. A smile appeared onto my face as my ammoniated body began to move. “W-w-what the hell? What are you?” He asked, shuffling backwards. His friends turned from inspecting the rest of the room. Their eyes widened as they looked at me. I smirked and looked at his partners. My friends moaned, drooling lightly. I smiled and looked at the man’s friends. My friends screeched an ungodly noise and lunged towards the police. In a flash of blood, guts and flesh, the police were gone. I smiled and brought the friends back towards me. They collapsed into a pile of guts and onto the tarp I had brought with me. I wrapped them up and smiled lightly, throwing the wrapped up bodies over my shoulder. I turned and ripped the police badge off of the man’s chest. I also took his friend’s badges and shoved it into my back pocket. I turned and walked down out of the room. My body was hurt but I knew that I had to get out of here as fast as possible. I turned and looked at the empty room, well empty expect for the fact that there were dead bodies in there. We smiled and looked in front of me. The light from the sun came in from small skylights above my head and a small door, the one I had come through when I was sent on this mission. I smiled and headed towards it. I giggled and looked at the sun as soon as I got outside. The sun hit my face and giggled as I looked up. I smiled and looked at the dessert ahead of me. We won’t call it a fight when we know it’s a war. I always felt sorry for the people we lost.  I’m sorry if you want to call this a fight. I’m sorry that you have such bigoted views that you want to say that this whole situation that you left us in is a fight. That a lot of people were too extreme when all we wanted was equal rights. That’s all we wanted were our rights and that’s all we wanted. We were slaughtering ourselves with our bad decisions. These bad decisions lead to a war. A civil war, to be more honest. A war of which was worse than any of the world had ever seen. The bloodshed came in the tons of gallons and the bodies came in the hundreds of thousands. The bodies were so high in number that no one knew where to put them. So, there were mass graves underneath the cities. These were the biggest cities, of course, as they had the highest populations. There were tons of dead. Tons of dead bodies. All of which decaying right now. There were also loads of lost spirits. All Hallow’s eve was the worst. We were overrun. When all the spirits came to play, we hid. We hid like madmen. Ghosts ran free. We had been trapped. There were humongous catacombs under the cities. People could go and visit them anytime they wanted. But only on special, designated holidays. The catacombs were closed the rest of the year. They were very eerie and creepy when you moved through them. They were filled with cobwebs and bones, no shit. Bones filled the floors and if you weren’t careful, you’d crush the bones. We weren’t supposed to crush the bones. You would be cursed if you crushed a bone. Then you weren’t allowed back into the catacombs. You would never be able to see your family or ancestors again. I guess that wasn’t okay for most, but okay for others. I never knew someone who was banished from the catacombs. Technically all Wild Ones were banned though, but we all snuck in anyways. Well, everyone but me since I had no family. Not many Wild Ones had families either. Not many of us did and we were able to sneak those who had families. We were happy to help them out to see their families. But it was highly illegal and just one of the many rights we had lost to the Free Ones, or normal people. Wild Ones were outcasts from society and most people were. Some outcasts even were able to assimilate into the culture. They hid in plain sight. We were just the outcasts from the outcasts. We were the worst of the worst. The most terrible of society, the unfixable. We were mostly anyone who wasn’t white, and even some white kids were here, and who weren’t fitting into the norm. People hunted us all down because some of us had this special blood. They needed us to make some special serum and we were going against that. We needed to run away from them. We were not going to leave our fates in the hands of some weirdo. The end of the world as we know it did not come quickly. The end came very slowly, in fact. Laws were slowly passed and people were taken away to government facilities. There were no bombs and there were no wars. That war was called The War on F.E.A.R by news outlets. People who rebelled were called Wild Ones. Wild Ones were the outcasts of society. They were the rockers and the metalheads. Wild Ones were what “normal” and ��regular” people called emos, goths and scene kids. Of course, some of them are emo, goth and scene. But not all of them were. The people who didn’t rebel were normies. They were the one hundred and eighty degree total opposite of the Wild Ones. Then there was F.E.A.R, the religion and idea that controlled every little movement of everyone. The government religion that was created out of fear, obviously, of the religion of Islam. They wanted to be able to keep different people out of our great United States of America. The president even decided to build a wall separating America from Mexico. That’s when it all started in my mind. Others trace it back to that election. They said too many people were blind to the right choice. There were too many bigots in the world and that election showed it. The War on F.E.A.R has been raging for years, generations in fact. The war stretched back as far as anyone could remember. Children were left homeless orphans, cold and hungry as they were left in the streets. Parents were left in the dusty streets. All because they didn’t conform to the regulations that the new government had set in place. The rules were so strict that even people complained that we were no better than the robots we had long since destroyed. This happened way before any of us were born. We are children of war. We don’t know any different. We know nothing other than tears and bloodshed. We are one heartbeat, one life. We just did not know it yet. We were ignorant to that fact until half of our population was dead or dying. Normalcy was not a subject the world was used to. It had never been used to normalcy. It had been constantly changing and growing since Pangea, the supercontinent. They were still pulling out of conflicts caused by a president who will go down in infamy as one of the most hated presidents in the history of America. No one thought to make an attempt on his life. Many people talked a big game but all of them were too cowardly to actually do anything about it. That was until the president was killed by a man named William. He and his Shadows killed the president to take over for themselves. I sat inside an old cathedral. It was wood and stone, mostly crumbling and beautiful. The stained glass windows were broken for the most part but the desert sun spilled through the unbroken glass splattering colors on the golden dirt ground. I moved like I was on broken glass. My back never to the door for long. I was scared of being tracked down by my old boyfriend and his Shadows. I had betrayed him and the cause we had worked for. That and the cathedral was off limits for F.E.A.R was always watching. They were especially watching me, for I had been one of them once way back when I strayed from the light of the Wild Ones and had believed in the power of F.E.A.R. The cathedral was on the outside of a run down Los Angeles. I learned from war lessons that Los Angeles was a bustling city and was a major hub for F.E.A.R supporters. Los Angeles was one of the first major cities to be taken over. Los Angeles, then Seattle, Washington D.C and Cleveland were in the first wave. Slowly other cities feel to the power of F.E.A.R. When they, F.E.A.R, were found out to be a pretty bad group in their own right, a group of rebels formed. Their name was unestablished until F.E.A.R deemed the rebels “The Wild Ones” after their wild and unpredictable nature. I was apart of them as soon as I learned of their plans to kill off anyone with special powers. Let me pause for a second and talk to about F.E.A.R for those of you who somehow stumbled upon this story by accident and I hope you stay until the end. I hope I make it to the end, to be honest. I guess the both of us will see who makes it farther, me or you. Last one to the last sentence is a goner. They’re the one who avoided and probably read the most spoilers. They’ve probably even see some awesome fanart. I really hope that there’s fanart of me. I don’t want to become one of those stories. I want to have a cult following and everything. I don’t want to be forgotten. I normally came to this cathedral to pray and meditate. Though, I never really took in the beauty of the run down place I came to on a weekly basis. I had been coming here once a week for most of my life. This was the only place where I truly felt comfortable with myself. I wasn’t overly conscious about my weight or appearance when I came here. It’s not unlike the US government to make everyone’s life a little bit worse. Some of us were rightfully pissed. Others turned to the church set up by the government. Those who turned to the church ended up seriously messed up. The whole church was just a set up. They brainwashed people and spit them out into the world. Those who were brainwashed had a mission. A mission to brainwash and control other people. The church controlled the whole government. People were just too blind to see what was really going on in the world. The human race was clearly fucked up. The president of the United States of America was going batshit. He mocked disabled people. He was clearly a misogynistic asshole. He was homophobic and transphobic. He lead the entire country to hate instead of love when just a few years early gay marriage was legalized. The president was just so aggravating and terrible. The whole world was fucking crushed. The US president brought our world to its knees. I had been taught by one of the Wild Ones. A man who went by the name of Mystic. I called him Jinxx and he had allowed me to harness my elemental powers safely, even if he only knew how to control fire. Fire was the easiest one to learn as Mystic was a good teacher. Luckily, I had learned one of the more dangerous of my powers first. Then the Prophet, a pretty douchey guy by the name of Andy, taught me how to control my seeing powers. Now I was on a whole new watchlist for F.E.A.R. I was never put on any kind of wanted list or anything, but I knew that I was being watched. Being this far away from base with my warpaint on was dangerous. My warpaint wasn't subtle to say the least. It consisted of red and gold feathers that extended from the middle of my forehead all the way and into my hairline. A mask covered everything from my forehead and down to my top lip. It was an old bird masquerade mask that we had picked up on one of our raids. One of the people on the raids had said that the mask suited my fiery personality and said I should take it for my own. So, I did and it became apart of my persona ever since. My life as a Wild One definitely wasn’t very conventional. I’ll admit to that fact almost immediately. I started off basically on the other team in my first few years of life. Then I was taken to the other side of the war. Eventually, by my own will and someone else’s, I was pulled back to the other side. From there, I bounced back to the other side and that’s where I am right now. From there on, I was being watched for any time that I was alone. I was sure that I would be pulled back to the “evil” and “terrible” side sooner than later. I’m not essentially evil or immoral. My “magic” isn’t evil or immoral. It’s just shades of grey instead of black and white. I have done evil or immoral actions in my life. Every human has done those types of actions in their lives. Does allowing a singular evil or immoral act to consume your life evil or immoral? Welp, that depends on the human being asked. I do believe that does make a person evil or immoral. If you let those feelings of guilt consume you, you become evil and immoral. I sat down in a dusty and old oak pew who’s hinges groaned in disgust as I sat down. I looked at the man people called Jesus in the old times. I dropped my bag of people on the floor. I looked over at the room and sighed lightly. I smiled and looked at the stained glass windows. What if there was a huge city here once? One with more churches like this. One with more freedoms and more rights given out. A world where America was actually a good country. I wouldn’t know if it would have been the best for me, living in the past, but I knew it was good for some people. I just felt bad that I had to fight for these rights. I sighed and looked down and picked up a bible from the back of the pew in front of me. “‘The kingdom of God is inside you, and all around you. Not in a mansion of wood and stone. Split a piece of wood and God is there. Lift a stone and you will find God.’ It honestly sounds like a bunch of bullshit. Hmmm, I wonder if anyone actually believed in this stuff. Like really believed in it. So much so that they went to this place to worship their gods. I guess not considering that the world almost at its end. Maybe they did and they watched the world end as they prayed for the world not to end.” I got up and brushed off the dirt my ruined leather jeans and walk away, leaving the book. I hurried back and pick up the book, taking it with me. I had changed my mind, it might turn to be useful later. I don’t know how it would be useful to any of the Wild Ones, but it just might save our lives one day. It wasn’t like we needed to be saved from anyone other than F.E.A.R. But, F.E.A.R was just a concept made to confine the United States citizens and other select groups in the world. This book might allow for the Wild Ones to gain some knowledge for F.E.A.R. F.E.A.R was a construct created by the angry cheeto known to some as the forty fifth president. His name has been wiped clean of anyone who was there to see his term as president. We choose not to remember what he did because it was just that abominable. He was not our president, he was a way to get F.E.A.R into power. He let them take over and he let them start a war on us. He saw when we were at our most vulnerable. Then he launched his carefully thought out plan to exterminate us. He may have seemed very dumb at the time. He went on twitter rants and made obscene comments. Yet, he was much more cunning than the rest of us gave him credit for. He was the most cunning man to grace this earth, other than Hitler. You must give both men credit where credit was due. They were cunning man who knew how to manipulate people. If you could manipulate people, you could have anything you wanted. From a strategic standpoint, both men were utter geniuses. This doesn’t excuse their behavior at all. Yet, many people only look at what horrible actions they took. If only they looked at their actions like actual war. The games that they played with actual human beings. Instead, they thought of them were pawns. All humans were in their minds were pawns. They were just a bunch of chess pieces to them. As a matter of fact, humans are still pawns. They are the pawns of their religion, their beliefs, their values and their moral codes. They will never truly be free minded humans. Feebleness is not a weakness as some might lead others to believe. Every person has a weakness that they won’t show to others. Some mess up and their weakness gets them in trouble with the laws set up by society. Pedophiles and caregivers to non-age regressing littles are weak for little children and have an innate desire for sex with young children or those who act like little children. Rapists are weak for non consensual sex with other people. Serial killers have a weakness for their untreated mental illness which bring them to kill or just kill even though their mental health is in wonderful condition. Others have more physical constraints to them. Some people suffer from arthritis in certain joints. Others suffer from less serious mental illnesses. Either way, we will be tested, not only on our physical capabilities, but our mental ones as well. In high school, people always talk about grade point averages and test scores. The higher a person ranks, the more likely that person will have a better life. More opportunities are set before these people. They are allowed to live the high life if they so choose to take it. The lower scoring people are looked down upon. They are given the jobs no one else wants. But that does not mean that people can rise and fall in ranks. Scandals and miracles happen all of the time. This all depends on the person’s willingness to move forward in life and the laziness of the people who are accustomed to the luxurious lifestyle. I trudged back to the flattened city, my legs paining me with every step. My legs were so sore and they had been for nearly three weeks. I had taken the hike back to the compound like this almost every day. Sometimes I would have someone accompany me with a set of wheels. Then we would make our way back in record time. I had had enough energy to essentially fly myself here, but my powers in the element of air were pretty weak. They drained me if I used them for long. Too long essentially means like five seconds and that is quite depressing. I needed more training with my wings but Jinxx was never free. He always had some other trainee in the room with him. So now I had to walk ten miles back to the town square with a constant fear of being captured. It’s not like I would get captured on my way back home, it was just another fear of mine. Fear is what had always controlled me. I turned and looked over my shoulder as I looked at him. I just had to make sure that I was alone. It wasn’t like I was paranoid or anything. But I just needed to. I kept walking and sighed lightly. I wouldn’t be home for at least another hour. I didn’t need to be here anymore. I wasn’t meant to meant to be here and I knew it. I didn’t need to be here. I smiled and looked down lightly. I sat down on the hot sand and looked up. It reminded me of the day Andy picked me up. One day I was reminded of very often. Especially here in the desert so near to when I was found. ~ The hot afternoon sun beat down upon his back. Andy moved closer and closer to the funeral pyre. Ashley stood behind him, his chocolate brown eyes wide in fear and wonder. The pyre still smoked and it seemed like it had gone up in flames only a few hours before. Andy slowly moved closer to the skeleton of a Shadow. Its cloak and clothing had burned easily as cloth was always the first to go when lit on fire. The air stank of burning flesh. Andy pulled a bandana over his face and moved even closer. The skeleton moved slightly and Andy pulled back, holding out an arm to stop Jinxx from moving any closer to the skeleton. All of the kids were between ten and seventeen. “I have to investigate Andy. You know how important this discovery is to my research.” Jinxx held up his ripped up black leather journal and a stubby pencil. Andy shook his head and Jake pushed forward. Ashley stopped him and CC sat on the ground, pulling out a bag of M&Ms and munching on them. Andy looked back at CC with a fire in his eyes. CC rolled his eyes and stowed the M&Ms away. He slowly stood up and glanced over at Jinxx who gave CC a nod and a knowing glance. CC took this as permission to keep eating his candy, so he opened his bag back up and began munching on the candy once again. CC sat down again and a plume of soft dirt flowed up behind him. “I don’t give a crap about your freaking research Jinxx.” Jinxx gasped, astonished by Andy’s language. CC smiled and leaned back, taking in the sun on his, at the time, pale face. Jake moved up and behind Jinxx. Andy nodded and let Jinxx move forward. Andy watched on as Jinxx leaned over the Shadow. He checked over the skeletal figure and poked at it with his pencil. Flesh clung to the figure like wet clothes to a person after a long storm. The fire must have been put out before the skin had been completely burned off. Most of the skin was charred and it was next to impossible to see what age, race and gender the Shadow was originally. Jinxx was launched back in fear when a ten year old rose out of a pile of ashes underneath the Shadow’s stomach. “Who am I? Where am I?” A young girl said. She had raven black hair, one baby blue eye and another flame orange eye. She was tall and lanky. She was crying, the tears on her face sparkling in the desert sun like diamonds. CC stood up and slowly walked towards the girl. Jake pulled a First Aid kit out of Jinxx’s sack, which Jinxx had dropped when he went to go investigate the Shadow. Andy watched on as the rest of his team went into action, pulling the girl into a standing position. They looked over her, checking for any injuries. Andy moved closer and closer, eventually he was standing near her. The girl smiled at him as Ashley pulled her hair back. “She’s got a tag!” Ashley said, urgently. Everyone crowded around her neck. There were a few numbers tagged onto her neck, almost burned like a brand. Those letters and numbers called her to a place, location, owner and date. The date was too hard for anyone to read as it had been burned off. “HOT dash CLE dash SHA dash FIV. The rest is burned off. We don’t know a date.” Tags were always written in three letter code. HOT meant hotel, CLE meant Cleveland, SHA meant Shadow and FIV meant five or the fifth month of the year, May. Dates were everything in this kind of branding. That was when a slave or Shadow was born. That determined when they could be sold off to other pods. Pods were basically small forms of people put under the watch of a voice of F.E.A.R. Shadows and slaves were then sold off to other pods and constantly shifted around. ~ I kept moving and sighed to myself. Nothing else would work and I would be missed. If I dropped and never came back, someone would know. My body dropped and I sat on the hot sand. Someone would come for me. I was the most valuable asset to the Wild Ones. I was their last hope for any kind of salvation. Andy said I was some sort of angel fallen from heaven. That I had fallen when I was a baby because whoever was up there dropped me. That I was meant to save them. I didn’t know how true that was. Rumors swirled that he needed me to be an angel because he was losing support. That he needed me to make his support from other people grow stronger. I didn’t want to believe the rumors either. I didn’t want to think about him being a liar. Or at least, him deceiving me all of these years. I wanted to believe the memories he gave me. I wanted to believe in him, a prophet. I really did and he never seemed to want to be able to give into what actually happened. I sighed as I stood up and kept walking towards the city. Someone was bound to notice my absence. I had been gone half the day. Andy was sure to notice my absence. I turned and began working on my way back. The sand hit my eyes, making me tear up, and I pulled some goggles over my eyes. I smiled and looked down. I was heading home. I was heading back to the only home I ever knew. I only knew this home. I smiled and looked over at the city. It was gorgeous from way out here. I smiled and looking at him. I looked down a bit. I smiled and looked at him, the city. He smiled at me. I was amazing and I knew that much. I was this city’s savior. The only one who could save anyone. I walked and walked. I was miles away from the city. My absence would sure to be noticed. I was going to be noticed as soon as I got home. My feet pounded on the hard ground as I looked around, nothing to be see for miles. The sand hit my face as the wind picked up. A sandstorm was on its way. I needed to get home soon. I was going to be caught in the storm. I turned and looked at the city. It was getting closer to me. The city looked at me as I sighed I did the same. I was going home. The wind kicked up as I pulled my goggles closer to my eyes. Sand was already pushing into my eyes. I sighed and looked down lightly. Tears filled my eyes as I tried to get the sand that had entered my eyes out of them. My pace picked up as I began to jog back to the compound. I was still a few miles around and I would take awhile to get home. I sighed and kept jogging. I jogged all the way home, hoping that no one would miss me. I walked past the receptionist and smiled, knowing she wouldn’t complain about the dead body smell or look. I put the bodies back into their animated state and they began to move around freely. I never kept my friends dead for long. They were my favorite people and they willingly died for me every once in awhile when I had to do a mission. Luckily they were cool about maybe being dead for a few hours to a few weeks. “What’s up with us staying dead for like a few days? That rigor mortis shit really fucking hurts.” Chris came out of his room and smiled lightly as he stretched. “It’s not my fault that the police took three days to come find me. It’s not like my phone was fully charged that entire time. Not like we set up near an outlet or anything.” I smiled and giggled as I looked at Chris. Vinny walked out of his room and smiled at me, sitting across from me at the table. We had gutted the whole top floor of the apartment, much to our amazement as we thought that the landlord would shut down, and now I lived here with ten other men. “Chris, you should go shower. You smell like death.” Vinny pinched his nose and giggled lightly. I smiled and looked at him, nodding lightly. “Of course, but you need to shower after me.” Chris smiled and looked at Vinny as he nodded. I turned and looked at the maps spread out across the table. I smiled and played another pin in the map, right where the school was. “How was the mission, did you kill Justin?” Andy leaned on the door frame of one of the old apartment buildings. I smiled and looked at him, nodding lightly. I produced the badges from my back pocket. I smiled as Andy took the badges. His hands moved lightly as I giggled lightly, proud of my accomplishment. He nodded and looked at me, heading back into his room. "Hey, good job on the mission." Ashley looked at me and smiled lightly, patting my shoulder lightly. I smiled and blushed lightly. Getting praise from Ashley was possibly the best part of doing any mission. I thought he was super cute and I had developed a small crush on him. He smiled and looked down at me. "Thanks." I smiled and looked at him, he smiled and looked at me. I broke eye contact and looked over the maps. What would be the next mission? Who would I take down next? "I think you need to take a break from doing missions." He looked at me and smiled lightly, touching the small of my back, electricity shot up my spine. A blush creeped up to my cheeks. "No, no I don't. I want to take up another mission. A lone mission." I turned and looked at him, bouncing on the balls of my feet lightly. He shook his head and crossed his arms. Ashley tapped his foot and bit his lip as he looked over the map. He clicked his tongue a few times, eyes scanning the California map. "I know taking down F.E.A.R means a lot to you but, I don't think that you need to go on any more missions. I mean, look at you, you need to at least eat." He looked me over and sighed. I rolled my eyes and sighed lightly. He was right and I couldn't deny it. I definitely hadn't eaten in a few days. "I'll at least eat, do we have any food in the house or do I have to make a grocery run?" I raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "You need to make a grocery run." Ashley raised an eyebrow, smiling lightly as I nodded lightly and smirked a bit. I ran into my bedroom and grabbed a black down jacket. A grocery run basically meant that I was going to go to a Target or somewhere else that sold food and necessities. Someone else would accompany me and I would take as much as possible. Normally Ashley would accompany me. We would stuff my coat and pockets with food. Most time we would go during the morning, when there were less people there. We would only take what wouldn't get us dinged at the security scanners. But we had found other ways out, like the emergency exits. A few employees would help us a bit but those were the people who hated working at the stores. Ashley and I had a lot of fun doing these "raids". "Ready to go?" I asked, coming out of my room and smiled. Ashley nodded as he finished tying his hair back into a bun. CC came out of his room and smiled, looking us over. "Going on a raid?" He asked as turned towards the fridge, opening it up. I heard his stomach growl as I looked at him. I smiled and looked at him. He shrugged and looked at me. "Yeah, might have want to let me answer that before you opened up the fridge." I laughed and looked at him lightly.  CC walked over to me and looked at me. "Can I come with you then? Pick up a bit of food for myself?" CC asked as I prepared to go out on the raid. I smiled and looked at him, finishing up my job. "Of course you can come with us, the more fingers the better." I smiled and looked at him. He smiled and nodded, throwing on some sandals and heading out with us.

[annashipper]

P Anon

Not sure what you think I might be doing deliberately anna about missing the point as I do absolutely get your point that what Wanda is reported to have said ( by accident or design ) does point to him being a honourable man ( debatable for reasons discussed before ) by marrying a woman he made accidentally PG and trying to make that mariage work…… ( am ignoring 3 yrs of lying and embellishing for the moment )

But my point about Baby no2 having his eyes as said by Wanda,if as other posters have said it dosen’t matter that she said it because only skeptics and nan’s will have read about it,by return only skeptics and nan’s will have read the “Saint” Benedict narrative so all that has little affect either on the run of the mill GBP if as some believe Benedict’s “team” including Wanda are trying to build him a narrative towards an “out”

It’s easier and simpler to go with oooops PG with a fling,decide to get married even though VERY badly matched,try to make it work,settle,even have another child,dosen’t work,……divorce.

But if you believe no kids that doesn’t work even though it’s a simpler way out than B and everyone around him including friends,cast members and even his Mother lying for him.

Sorry if I ramble on here anna,I’ll try not to.

On balance I think there are kids of some *variety* ( that’s the only way I can put it ) but I COMPLETELY agree SH first pregnancy at least ( didn’t see enough of her for the second ) WAS  the strangest known to woman ( or man for that matter ).I COMPLETELY agree her appearances so soon after the birth were also strange.COMPLETELY agree that I’m surprised if BC has two babies at home ( welll toddler and baby ) such a supposed devoted Father goes out at night on his own to non essential social events …go out of course if you want and can but as much as he does after a Day being out working ??  ( you assume ).

But the main reason I think kids exist is that you would have to be stark raving loonytunes to keep up a lie of having kids when you don’t for a period of nearly 3 yrs.That and the fact people around BC including his Mother talk about the kids.His fellow cast mates etc.

I don’t think BC is complete and utter loonytunes so I have to believe there are kids ( of some variety )

So my point ? Given on balance I think kids exist then IF HE WANTED ( who knows ?? ) he could go for divorce and quote whatever anyone else does when they divorce and no one would think twice about it….simples.

If no kids then in my view hes got bigger problems than just trying to cover up an humongous lie…he needs serious mental help.

I know you won’t agree anna but we can agree to disagree :)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I actually agree with most of what you said P Anon.

I agree that Weirdo’s first pregnancy was (simply put) unrealistic.

I agree that a father of a toddler and a baby would not go out to the theatre and/or the pub after working endless hours away from home, knowing he’ll soon have to leave London again to film his upcoming project.  Also knowing that come November he’ll have to start globetrotting again in order to market his new film (which hopefully will be well-received enough to earn him award nominations, which in turn will mean even more globetrotting).

I agree that it’s completely looney tunes to fake / help fake a pregnancy and keep up the lie for three years, but I also see a man that’s terrified of stirring scandal against a woman who’s proved herself to be ... unpredictable (I’m being very nice in the characterisation I chose) when it comes to pulling stunts that put her employer (I mean Ben) in hot water.

What I don’t agree with is all of the photographical evidence / video footage pointing to a blatant lie but disregarding that evidence because the alternative seems looney tunes.  The day someone will be able to offer me a counter argument regarding the deflating pregnancy that led to the “birth” of Pilo considering ALL of the pictures and videos we have pointing to bad prosthetics being used, will be the day when I’ll admit I’ve been wrong for the past two years and I’ll even start making excuses for Weirdo.  Until that day comes, I’ll stick to my conviction.  I’m sure I don’t need to post the shape shifting / deflating-inflating-deflating-stunted during the last trimester belly of much inconsistency AGAIN.

For the record, as long as I remain convinced Weirdo went so far as to fake a pregnancy to remain relevant and have more time at her disposal to try for more fetch (which she never actually got to accomplish in the end), I will keep defending Ben because I believe anyone who’d have agreed to a red carpet girlfriend and in the end was faced with an unpredictable (I’m still being very nice) woman who was desperate and ruthless enough to reveal a non-existing bump on a fucking red carpet would have been stunned to say the least.  The fact that he clearly didn’t have the balls to put a stop to the circus his life became at that particular moment has cost him dearly.  

I know not everyone remembers, but I will never forget Ben’s demeanour changed from that of a happy go lucky man to a guy who looked like he’d lost the will to live for about 7 months.  Thank goodness for Hamlet!

Anyway, I’ll wrap this reply up in a jiffy, but let me just say this:  

The only reason I said I’m not sure whether you were deliberately missing the point I was making (yesterday) was because I know for a fact you’re smarter than not getting the points I was making about Wanda painting Ben’s hagiography (it’s evident from this submission that you get every single word I typed yesterday and understood exactly what I was implying) and the conversation just doesn’t progress when we’re talking in circles even though each of us gets the other’s point.

You know you’re always welcome to argue your points on my blog and that I value differing opinions to mine greatly, but there are only so many ways I can say the same thing over and over and over again.  Especially to someone who I know gets what I’m trying to put across on the first go  ;o)

[the-firebird69]

The Supreme Court gives Jack Smith a week to respond on Trump immunity

This guy has positions all over the place and is Trump and right here he has to decide what to do to himself if he doesn't allow the appeal he won't get an appeal to the decision she has to make himself go to court which is stupid cuz he's even f****** ass he has to send himself the court there's no other decision I mean this guy is a f****** weirdo little face is a freaking weird person and a dumb person you're putting yourself in court you jackass what's the matter you can dish it out we can't take it for a second p**** can sit there saying be quiet it's too loud you can't take it for a second so freaking p**** so here he is with another congenital conundrum and the guy can't figure out what to do so he's going to sit there till the 20th and doesn't make a damn difference we think they're going to fire him we think they're going to fire him from all sorts of jobs like this cuz we'll see him delaying stuff and standing in the way of all sorts of things that's what he does in jobs like this but he is trying to prosecute our people. And he works for the attorney general and he's the number one special prosecutor and he has no business being in that job and people are going to displace him. Beginning today I want him shut down on anything he's trying to ding our son with especially new ones

Thor Freya

Olympus

You're a big huge pain in the ass Trump but boy you're a stinks humongous you're a giant mistake person for your realm you make huge errors every day gigantic mistakes and I'm utilizing them against your people and your realm it's almost nothing that you won't mess up and simply irresistible to admit right now yeah that you're this big huge hose bag. My Giants are wiping out your armies and they're not even awake how pitiful for you Trump what a joke you must be to others he's attacking him and all of them are dying again and this army is in entombed that's destroying him.

Zues

There's also another issue with this idiot being nearby my husband's it is a smoke screen but you know we're young and just don't like it but it's working and we're using it until he's gone right now he's trying to find a weapon he says so what we're doing is penalizing him by taking stuff out of his stashes and caches last night a ton of them were emptied in this hemisphere and right now we'll be getting it overseas but it's more aggressive and it's going to be it should be more people to it and my husband says the right words he has the most something wins

Hera

We're going to live by those words and we're sending more troops now

Thor Freya Olympus

[punishandenslavesuckers]

Caleb and Adam go to a party. It’s a nice party. The food is good. The people are chill. Then Caleb eats like three fucking pot brownies by accident. Getting snacks for your giant, high, empathic boyfriend is not the worst way to spend a night. (ao3)

Adam can honestly – for real – admit that Caleb’s teammates are not actually all humongous frat-boy assholes in muscle shirts. In fact, only one of them is wearing a muscle shirt and the one in the muscle shirt is also in Adam’s AP Calc class and, apparently, his ability to crush a beer can against his forehead hasn’t stopped him from getting a 4.0. Several of them have 4.0’s. Adam… knew that on an intellectual level of course. Something about all of them standing together in jerseys made them kind of vanish individually for some reason.

“Cheerleader effect,” says Katie McLain, who has a cider in her hand and winged liner out to her temples. “When a bunch of people stand in a group you stop perceiving the details of each person and view them holistically. This tends to make everyone more attractive. It’s why they all move in packs.”

Bobbie Kensey, the second-string quarterback and her best friend, looks up from the blunt he’s trying to light, offended.

“Hey! That’s not true.” He tries to push Katie away with his palm over her face. She bites at him. “See? She’s rabid. Don’t buy into her fuckin’ slander. We are all individually gorgeous.” He raises his voice. “EXCEPT FOR HENDERSON WHO IS UGLY AS FUCK! GAWD! SOMEONE JUST PUT HIM DOWN ALREADY!”

Faintly from the other-side of the house: “FUCK YOU, KENSEY!”

Adam, who has been nursing a plain Cola-Cola for the last ten minutes, says, “Are the migratory habits of football players really that interesting to you, Katie?”

Katie snorts. “Hell, no. I’m gay as fuck. It’s the cheerleaders I’m monitoring.”

Bobbie and Katie high-five, except Katie is drunk so her palm smacks Bobbie right in the face. “Katie! You useless lesbian!”

“HAAAAAA!”

Bobbie shoves Katie down a nearby hall and moves as if to follow her, then hesitates. “Hey, man, you’re here with Caleb right?”

“Uh, yeah.” Adam takes a drink of his soda to mask the immediate nerves that rise at the question. “I am here... with Caleb.”

“Cool, cool. He didn’t ditch you did he?” Bobbie’s eyes narrow in suspicion. “Because, sometimes, he like just jets outta these parties like a weirdo and doesn’t tell anyone he did it, so people think he’s lying in someone’s lawn somewhere. Or, people would think that, if Michaels actually drank. Which he doesn’t. Because he’s lame.” Bobbie lets that stand for a moment, looking hyperbolically annoyed, but not really. “Anyway, don’t let him ditch you like a loser.”

“Uh, he just went to get some food really quick.” Adam looks around. “Really quick… in this case meaning like half an hour ago.”

 “Food’s down stairs in the den. He probably got roped into a Cards Against Humanity or something. He fuckin’ kills at that game.” Bobbie points a finger. “Don’t… let him ditch you.”

Adam snorts. “He’s not ditching me.”

“I know, like, he really likes you, dude. But he’s kinda dumb in groups. Don’t let him ditch you.”

Adam… isn’t sure why that makes him smile, but it does. “I think Katie found the cheerleaders.” He jerks his head as delighted screaming originates from down the hall. “Should you stop her?”

“Ah, fuck.”

Adam navigates the house, sipping his watery soda to deflect any misguided notions that he might want someone to talk to him. He doesn’t recognize at least half the party-goers, so they’re probably from other schools in the area. He’s already feeling pretty tapped out from meeting the team in a giant group earlier and suspects there were instructions to ‘be cool, guys, seriously, be cool’ because some of them seem to be going especially far out of their way to chat him up.

Imagining Caleb nervously negotiating with a bunch of football players to be nice… Adam logs that mental imagine away to tease him about later.

If he can find him.

After about five minutes of unsuccessfully hunting, Adam begins to worry Bobbie was right. Not about the ditching, but about the jetting away from groups thing. What appears to be random sprinting away from parties to the casual observer was likely just Caleb getting overwhelmed by the collective drunk emotions of other teenagers and peacing out. Seems weird that he wouldn’t text if that were the case. Adam triple checks his phone a few times. Scans the dark slightly smoky confines of the basement. The pool table’s been converted into a buffet line of chips, dip, mini hotdogs and desserts.

There are dark piles of people in the corners of the room, chatting and/or making out. Adam recognizes most of the defensive line-men yelling happily at each other over on the couches near the fall wall. Adam hesitates… then carefully wanders over to inspect the activities and scan for Caleb. He tries to be stealthy. Unfortunately, team captain David Yen spots him over his hand of poker cards and, of course, shouts at him.

“Hey Adam! Wanna play?”

“Uh, maybe next round. Anyone seen Caleb? I think he got lost on his way to pizza rolls or whatever.”

The groups immediately busts up laughing. Yen points at the loveseat by the TV. A very tall person in a letterman’s jacket is flopped there with their arms over their face. Said tall person is wearing the same jeans and sneakers that Caleb was last seen wearing. They are built like Caleb – improbable shoulder to waist ratio and weirdly attractive forearms. But this tall person cannot possibly be his improbable boyfriend because the tall person on the love seat looks… drunk, maybe? Or like they fell asleep in a crowd of raucous teenagers. Both impossible things.

“I think it’s kicking in,” Yen laughs.

Adam immediately goes on alert. “What… is?”

“I saw him eat like… three pot brownies earlier.”

Adam’s eyes get very large. “Say what now?”

“Pot brownies. Like… some pretty strong ones. I know he doesn’t, you know, do that. So I told him to sit down.”

Adam physically climbs over the first-string defensive tackle and the second-string running back to get to the loveseat, disturbing a bowl of Cheetos on his way across the room. He leans over and gently puts a hand on Caleb’s arm, shaking him.

“Heeey, buddy. What’s up?”

Caleb groans and rolls over. It’s very slow, lethargic kind of moving, lots of stretching and unnecessary arching. Caleb drops his arms to squint up at the face hovering over him. Then he grins. Fuck. That smile is white sunshine. Adam’s brain – easily distractible in this area – stops for a moment to admire the geometry of his boyfriend’s face. It’s like… something. A Renaissance painting. The Golden Ratio is somewhere in the way his eyes crinkle at the corners and his mouth kinks up into left-side dimple. There is divine intervention in the warm brown of his skin and the clean line of his jaw.

He’s ridiculously fucking hot. Okay?

Adam shakes himself out it.

“Caleb. You okay?”

“M’green,” he says cheerfully, running a hand over his face.

“Yeeeah. I’ll bet you are. Are you… sure you’re okay?”

Caleb laughs, a warm, sleepy sound and reaches for Adam, catching his arm. “C’mere. Hey, I need to talk to you.”

Adam heroically resists being pulled onto the couch by his giant running back boyfriend. “No. You need to stand up and probably go home.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re reeeeeeally high.”

“Maybe.”

“Not maybe. Definitely. One-hundred percent.”

“So what?”

Adam lowers his voice. “So… we might want to get away from the big crowd of drunk people?”

Caleb blinks, confused, then remembers apparently that he’s fucking empath.

“Ooooh, okay. Right.” He nods. “Smart.”

“Yeah.”

 “You’re worried?” Caleb frowns, brow knitting. “Why’re you worried?”

Adam laughs. The act itself banishes some of the niggling anxiety and Caleb’s grin comes back, relieved and sympathetically cheery. Adam has a sneaking suspicion that his good mood might be contact-high (so to speak) from being around his teammates who seem to all be in relatively high spirits presently. Adam resolves to be calm and logical. It would be incredibly lame of him to fail at being an empathic true north by getting all panicky, thereby making his empath boyfriend freak out while high as balls.

“I’m not worried. You’re just a dork who can’t tell pot brownies from normal brownies.”

Caleb pouts. “They had sprinkles.”

“Oh? The sprinkles fooled you?”

“Pot brownies don’t have sprinkles.”

Yen, from the other couch, pipes up. “Yes, they do, Michaels, you fuckin’ geek.”

Adam nods. “See. Team captain says so. You were duped by sprinkles. That’s adorable.”

“Noo,” Caleb grumps.

“Jesus, you’re really high. C’mon.” Adam takes Caleb’s elbow and tugs, eventually pulling his arm over his shoulders so he gets the idea. “Let’s go. Up. We’re going for a walk. Let’s walk it off, champ. Hey! No! No – well, fuck me, I guess.”

Caleb’s on his feet, but he’s turned Adam’s helpful arm-drape into a hug. Yen and the defensive line are dying laughing, which only makes Caleb increasingly giddy. Adam tries to pry his way out of the bear hug, but gives up and tolerates the warm, nice-smelling, rib-crush of Caleb’s embrace. Mostly because he literally cannot get away, but partially because there’s a kind of rabbiting excitement jacking through his nerves because Caleb is hugging him in public and nothing bad is happening. He eye-balls the rest of the team. The team cornerback is giving Adam an enthusiastic if somewhat asshole-ish thumbs up.

“So… none of you are gonna help.”

Rogers and Masuri shake their heads. Yen is too busy taking a selfie.

“Thanks guys. You’re the best.”

Adam kind of grabs Caleb’s elbow, his arms still firmly around his shoulders, and marches through the chortling linebackers, dragging Caleb with him. Caleb’s weight falls partially against him but not quite enough to drag him down as dead weight. He hums happily and presses his face against Adam’s neck which is, you know, completely earth-shatteringly unfair. He was wrong. There is no god. Adam focuses on putting one foot in front of the other, relying on the smoke and commotion to hide how red he’s getting – and not just because Caleb is goddamn heavy.

“Hey,” Caleb says. His cheek brushes Adam’s jaw. “Hey, Adam?”

“Yup?”

“I’m hungry. Can we go to Taco Bell?”

“Jesus. Yes, Caleb, we can go to Taco Bell, you fuckin’ pot-head.”

“Yesss. You’re the best.”

Caleb kisses him on the cheek.

Adam’s whole goddamn face is now, surely, lit internally. No one cares. Literally no one is looking at them. He knows this. He can tell everyone is far too busy doing whatever they’re already doing, to notice Adam Hayes and Caleb Michaels struggle to get up the fucking stairs because Caleb won’t stop nuzzling him. It’s fine. Happy thoughts.

Adam succeeds, just barely, in lead-dragging Caleb out the front door and into the driveway, where the cool air and distance do the work he was hoping for. It takes about five blocks of walking out from suburbia toward the distinct glow of fast-food establishments, but eventually Caleb stop bear-hugging him and kind of squints around like, he hadn’t noticed the sudden change of scenery. When they reach the sprawl of streetlights and late-night restaurants, he grimaces and scrubs his face with both palms.

“Oh god,” he says into his palms.

Adam pats him on the shoulder. “Breathe.”

“Oh my god.” He drags his hands down his face.

Adam grins. “It’s fine.”

“That was so embarrassing. Oh god. What the fuck?”

“Seriously, it’s fine. No worries.”

“I’m sorry. I ruined it. You were supposed to have fun at the party.”

“Trust me, I’m wholly entertained.”

Caleb frets at the crosswalk in front of Taco Bell. “This is so weird. I’ve never… I didn’t know…”

“Know what?”

“It’s like… I can feel your emotions but its… blurry and far away? Kinda.”

“In a bad way?”

“No. Just… not as strong somehow? Everyone’s emotions felt… distant? Like There were their emotions and mine and they didn’t… mix as much.”

“So… pot mellowed out your powers?”

“Maybe? I dunno. Kinda?”

“Okay. Good to know. Live and learn.”

Caleb’s whole face scrunches up. “Fuck. I kissed you… in front of people…”

“Let’s get you a Crunch-Wrap.”

“Oh man, that sounds so good. Shit, I’m sorry.”

“I really didn’t mind and no one cared, dude.”

“But that wasn’t cool. I didn’t ask or anything. Geez…”

Adam sighs and taps Caleb on the shoulder. When he turns, Adam boosts up slightly to press a quick kiss to his jaw.

“You’re fine.” He drops back down and slaps the back of his hand against Caleb’s chest. “Feel that? Even fuzzy and distant, you gotta feel that right?” He grins at Caleb’s slow, hopeful smile. “See? You’re good. Now, let’s get tacos.”

  fin