#but he's still pissed about it and this is a very convenient target!

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

you know, i can't wait to see season of mists in the show, yes to watch certain pieces fall into place for later story and for one particular dream hob conversation

but also because it really is in so many ways just the funniest volume

and i've seen some of those funny moments get mentioned

i've yet to see anyone list dream's defeat of azazel among them

but like. let's lay this out. so dream already has about 500 problems to deal with, at least 300 of which are queueing up in the dreaming telling him to give them the keys to hell or they're gonna [insert threat here], when all he wants to do is rescue nada and maybe also sulk in his bedroom for a bit

when problem #501 shows up - azazel would like hell back so they can make it even worse, and they've brought nada as a bargaining chip to ensure it. they also throw in choronzon for free, because everyone else has been offering gifts, and dream likes revenge, right? yeah, revenge, that'll definitely get him to like us

azazel mostly behaves themselves during the actual negotiations (mostly), bc they're sure they've won, and no need to cause a scene and make more enemies than they have to. but when they realise that's not the case, they threaten to eat nada if dream can't get them what they want

to which, in a move that made me realise exactly why dream gets along so much better with fey than he does humans, he reminds azazel that everyone who crosses the threshold of his realm is entitled to his hospitality, including nada (thanks for bringing her here for me btw, saves me the trip), so if azazel harms her in any way they'll no longer be entitled to dream's protection

and azazel is like fuck you fuck your hospitality i can eat anyone i goddamn like

so we get that challenge between the two of them taking place inside azazel who is kind of a realm in their own right, which, when dream wins, azazel tries to pull a lucifer "why should i let you leave?"

and yes. dream is currently in azazel's void. azazel could try to eat him from in there, regardless of who won. but see, lucifer had one thing azazel doesn't, which is remembering whose fucking house you're in

azazel's entire realm, entire self, is still inside the dreaming. regardless of where dream's physical manifestation is, demons have no power here.

you really shouldn't have denied my hospitality.

and since dramatic irony is the order of the day, dream's then just like "so, what was it you were promising, again? nada and some, uh, sweet sweet vengeance? yeeeaaaah i think i remember you saying something about that. hey azazel? what are your opinions on glass spheres."

and then he turns to the vast assortment of gods and similar he's been trying to get rid of for two days and is like "any arguments? no? cool, get the fuck out of my house."

[assortedvillainvault]

thanks for the lovely response!! originally, i rediscovered your account by searching pitch black x reader, so I was wondering if you'd write for him?? How about a pitch who used to terrorize and the scare the living hell out of the reader 🤣 (all in good, fun banter of course!!) And the reader eventually grows used to him and ends up loving his company, but-

one day, out of the blue he just up and disappears! Just like that. The reader gets worried, and it turns out he did it because he thought it would be for the readers own good, because in the end, she's still human. she would still end up passing wayy before him. Now that I think abt it, it sounds a lot like it's more for him than her, actually?? Anyways. Jack frost ends up getting involved somehow and finds out about this, goes to confront pitch who's an absolute miserable mess, and one thing leads to another, and Jack's comment of "wow you're afraid," triggers him somehow and he goes to face the reader who's angry at him, rightfully so, and they make up??

It could be in hcs or whatever format which would be most comfortable for u. Of course, I realize this is a very demanding and long request, so u obviously don't have to do it if it hinders you in any way!! Once again, love you and your writing ❤️❤️ wish you the best

I do indeed write for Pitch! I love this stupid lanky bastard- mostly because you know that behind every interaction there is a 3 part act and a soliloquy of desperation because he lives in a cave and can’t even touch grass without getting weird about it.

Pitch x Reader - Disappearing Act

Pitch you BASTARD.

You missed him so much it ached.

Years of your life he had spent dipping in and out of your nights, scaring the absolute piss out of you well into your twenties.

Slowly though, nightmares that had once been borderline torture became spooky weekly catch ups, his laugh leading you through mortal terror into something...not nice, but tolerable as you slept. You’d while away whole nights chatting, playing, stealing time, and now he just-!

You roll back onto your bed with a scowl, wiping your eyes harshly. He hadn’t shown up in weeks.

Ironically, your nightmares now revolve around his absence, or him being hurt nearby, his voice ringing out in pain through your subconscious maze - but no matter which way you turn you only get further away, your efforts fruitless.

You wake every time to find no trace of black sand, and it makes you want to cry and hit something.

Maybe the conveniently sheepish looking shadow on your bedroom floor, with a shit eating white haired child sat on his back, would be a good target.

“Pitch?! And, uh, who the fuck-”

The white haired child cheerfully waved his shepherd’s crook, and you felt a winter’s brisk breeze gleefully whiz around the room. “Hi! Name’s Jack Frost – nice to meet you – here on boogeyman special delivery service!” He gleefully bonked the staff down and froze Pitch’s arms to the ground with a crackle. Pitches voice ticked into the kind of strangled swearing you’ve only been able to manage when you accidentally got too mushy and turned his sand golden.

Jack skipped to his feet and dived for the window. “He’s got something he wants to saaaayyy!!! Bye bye!” Aaaaand he’s gone in a swirl of snowflakes.

You turn back to the scrabbling form of your longtime headache, still awkwardly stuck to the floor via his hands and forearms. Pitch caught your gaze for a second before turning away, mortified.

You sighed, sitting next to him. “Hello stranger. Been a while.” You plapped your hand on the ice, hissing at the cold as it began to melt a little faster. “...missed you.”

Pitch jerked around, golden eyes wide and oooh, was that guilt? That looked a lot like guilt, but you wouldn’t know given how he normally looked haughtily down at the world via his nose.

He chuckled humourlessly, biting out his answer. “...You shouldn’t.”

Ah. One of those bouts of self pity and needless flagellation was it? Well.

Luckily you’ve developed a longstanding tactic for such events.

You snorted and flopped elegantly on top of him, squishing him down and snuggling in even as he sputtered. “Well. I do. Despite your best efforts.” You poked him in his gaunt ribs, taking full advantage of the fact his hands are stuck to really snuggle in there as the room becomes swallowed in shadow. Good luck escaping with you in limpet mode, Pitch. You figured out ages ago he can’t teleport away if you’re holding onto him.

“C’mon, love.” You squeezed gently. “Talk to me.”

Pitch grumbled and sighed as though opening his mouth was tantamount to the world collapsing around his ears. Your weight on top of him always made his head go fuzzy, and you’re distractingly, stupidly warm.

You wait a little longer. The world doesn’t end when the words quietly come.

[hcfiles]

There's a peculiar detail about this HC circus that people forgot and has been ignoring. Amazing how people are easily manipulated. It would explain his lack of attitude (Shame) and the need to make this woman the target of attention.

For over 3 years all they have been doing is using NV as a DIVERSION, while he changes Character according to convenience and accepts being a muppet in the hands of his team. Just pay attention to the slight changes:

- He started showing in public events surrounded by female bodyguards and his male bodyguards disappeared as if trying to sell the image he deals well and respects women.

- His family started getting involved, apparently trying to defend NV, but actually trying to manipulate people to believe the date was real.

- Many clickbait paid articles with lies and rumours started popping up.

- He started naming NV in every interview, obviously for professional reasons.

- He changed the way he looks and dresses, giving an impression of an elder man.

- His IG, all of a sudden, became fictional - his words - after saying he would only surrender to social media if it reflected who he was. So, who is he?

- He started referring to himself in interviews as a respectful eldery.

- Subjects not directly related to the content discussed in interviews were brought up: A speech about him not being comfortable with sex scenes, as well as the gentleman image, brought up by GR.

The goal became selling a more mature image. It's like he was impersonating a defensive character. There's something there. There are probably other details you've noticed. Those are just a few examples. And, while his team motivates hate on the internet against NV, who accepted being his shield, cannon fodder and maybe more, you forget a very significant detail:

In the beginning of this PR stunt, a page exposing HC appeared on IG. The person behind it made it clear she (It seemed to be a she) had had an affair with him and gave the impression she was an actress or someone from a studio crew pissed for being mistreated. She brought juicy donuts and tea about his way of treating women. making him look like a sexual freak.

I'm not getting into details of those donuts and tea, 'cause they are irrelevant to what I'm calling attention to. True or false, the person seemed reliable but, that page could have been easily considered a page of one more "toxic fan", like many that are still on IG. But, differently from most "toxic fan" pages, this specific one was fastly taken down. Now, that was really an enormous reg flag!

Especially, because right after being noticed in IG, they (His team?) created similar pages (with similar names) to NV and DG, which are still there, but inactivated. Curious, isn't it? I suppose these two were also distractions to discredit the first. And, the narcissistic strategies inflaming people and motivating hate on the internet had the initial intention to blend this page in, until they could shut it down.

From where we stand, it seems that using narcissistic strategies to gaslight and confuse was the way they found to hide the juicy donuts and tea someone he knew well was spreading about him. Also, it was to make his fandom forget, ignore or consider it one more lie about him, looking the other way.

Got it, now?

[crowtrobotx]

I know this is out of the blue, but thank you so much for being a real one 👍✨️

Like I have nothing against people who see Heisenberg as a gay man, they’re entitled to think that. But I draw the hard line at people who feel the need to bash others just because their views don't align, and then when confronted use the piss poor "it's just a joke" or "it's just an observation" excuses. If you're going to be a bitch at least have the balls to own up to it.

Anyway, loved your work since 2021 and wishing you all the good vibes. 🤗

Oh my goodness, thank you!!! This is such a kind message and I appreciate you so much. ❤️ Good vibes right back at you. I’m glad that my rantings have resonated with folks because sometimes I wonder if *spongebob voice* I’M the maniac. Getting dragged into this stuff really makes me feel like it sometimes, haha.

Yes! To be clear I also truly do not care what your HC’s are! I love that there are people for whom gay Heisy is their thing and I hope they are having fun and keep making their art/fic/etc! Even if I really can’t stand the popular fanon ship I’m so glad it exists for folks who enjoy it and I am not going to spend my time posting about what I don’t like/agree with when they’re not hurting me and I can spend my time on stuff I do like!

And like. I know. I KNOW a lot of these people are teenagers. And I struggle sometimes because “do not fight literal children” is a rule I try to live by lmao but I also really don’t like seeing people target and mock folks for harmless fun. (It’s on sight if a 25+ year old starts putting this shit in the tags tho. I know they’re out there.)

Still, it’s extremely weird because they always defend themselves with “it’s just a joke/it’s not that deep” or “oh my god no one is stopping you from liking x why are you so pressed 🙄 i can’t believe you’re letting my nasty opinions bother you just because i put them right where you can see them with the intent of insulting you.” 💀💀💀 Like what could possibly be the point of doing this if not to, at the very least, actively try to dissuade people you don’t like from engaging with the community? Obviously no one can stop me but if I know that there are dickbags out there who are going to vaguepost and make fun of me when I do, I don’t care how confident and thick skinned you are (and I am very,) it’s still going to sting!

People are not bothered because they’re disconnected from reality and think they’re really married to a pixel man, they’re upset because life is hard enough and you come into your hobby space to have a good time and then find lame ass idiots infesting it. I also think the whole “ohhh my god why are you so upset he’s/she’s not real!!” is a blatant attempt to discredit the hurt parties by once again insinuating that they are “crazy” which once again conveniently ignores multiple realities, chiefly that 1) most people are not upset by a simple opinion that their fave wouldn’t fuck them IRL, they are upset at the blatant meanness of the person making the accusations and 2) even if they are genuinely hurt by the thought because it’s a coping mechanism for them, why does that make it okay for you target them? What gives you the right to harass and mock people who are not bothering you? Do these people think they’re doing these folks a ‘favor’ by forcing them to contend with what they perceive to be some kind of delusion? Shut the hell up. Why do people decide it is their god given right to hold strangers on the internet accountable for psychological “problems” that they’ve completely made up.

Anyway SORRY I have a serious problem shutting the fuck up lol. I have never been good at phrasing my thoughts in a coherent way especially when I’m grumpy. I am very glad my little circle is full of awesome, open minded and levelheaded folks and not gatekeepers/weirdos (derogatory) who have decided that diversity of opinion in fandom is bad actually and that women and femmes specifically are enemy number one.

[msvblight]

Realising that I don't have a consistent picture in my mind for Graham's strength and speed.

I figure that it can vary based on his emotions, and adrenaline. Normally, though, he is notably stronger than a regular human, can probably leave a dent in a brick wall with a punch if he really put his weight into it.

During a fight/when he gets pissed off, he can almost certainly rip a car door off said car.

I think if he wanted or needed to he could also lift a car up. Not above his head, he still has to work with physics, but he could pick up one end and hold it long enough to change the tyre lol

Most of the time people don't notice his strength, partially because he's constantly reigning himself in to be careful of others - but also most of the time he doesn't really need nor want to use it. He prefers to use firearms in combat, they're convenient and do the job faster, and he also has to be careful with his body.

This is because even though he's what I'm terming "Demi-mortal" (ages, but VERY slowly. Can recover from just about any injury), and silver is the only thing that can properly harm him or potentially kill him; any wound that would be fatal on a human triggers his monster-wolf transformation and in that form he has no control and will kill anything around him.

It should be noted that Graham's particular form of Lycanthropy, which is what has given him the strength and healing factor, means he has two transformations. On a full moon he turns into just and exceptionally large wolf with all the instincts and such related to that. HOWEVER when injured in a manner that would kill a normal person, his body reacts for self preservation and transforms him into the monster-wolf. A hideous and hulking humanoid form of jagged spikes of bone, rending claws, muscle to tear through a tank, and a healing factor that is near instant. In that form everything around him is a target, and he'll only transform back when KO-ed by some means (usually an injection of liquid wolfsbane) or if there's nothing left to kill that he can find.

For obvious reasons Graham doesn't like his monster-wolf form.

EDIT: It should also be noted that one of Graham's biggest fears that he keeps secret is that because of his slow but inevitable ageing, he's terrified that one day his body will be too frail to continue living and will enter a perpetual state of being in the monster-wolf form in order to stay alive.

He's already set up precautions for this, and even though he'll probably outlive her Graham has also entrusted Delilah with knowledge of a hidden cache that contains a weapon he's specially had designed to be able to kill him - just in case he ever loses control

[solitarysketcher]

*slams door open at lunch* got some more Javin thoughts thanks to chicken nuggets. This long so sorry about that.

Gavin is currently in some deep shit, and has some enemies. He's been sorting out everything info-wise and is trying to make a plan to get himself out of it, but because of how unpredictable everyone is, he keeps having to remake it again and again, so his head is on the desk, groaning at 2 in the morning and stressed af.

Jimmy, who's been sat there, finally pipes up about the guys on screen and Gavin, after having a heart attack, ("HOLYSHIT- how long have you been there?!" "Since midnight :)") mutters that it's essentially a hit list; he needs to kill them before they kill him. But complications keep screwing his plans, so he's now back to square one.

He gets some interest when Jimmy suddenly stands up and gets closer to see the screen. Gavin asks what he's doing and gets the response of: "I wanna see something", he doesn't connect the dots as to what so he lets him.

Next day, he leaves his apartment to start his newest plan with not much hope for it going well. When he breaks in, he immediately sees massive evidence of a struggle, plus a blood trail. Following the trail leads to the bathroom, with his target in the bathtub and dead, littered in deep stab wounds.

Gavin already suspects who done it, and to confirm, goes to the next one on the list and sees similar wounds. Well, that's convenient.

It takes a few days for Jimmy to get everyone (he pissed off alot of people) and surprisingly doesn't mention anything about it when he comes back, hands still dripping. Just gives him a nuzzle on the cheek

Gavin gets the chance to return the favour a few weeks later. Thanks to awful bad luck, Jimmy is in a life-or-death scuffle with an angry someone with a bat in a very secluded area, and very much not winning because of said bad luck. He's on the floor and snarling.

The guy is about to swing at his head when a gunshot rings out, and a sudden bullet wound is now in guy's chest. It takes another shot for the guy to hit the ground. Jimmy is very surprised when Gavin shows up a few seconds later, gun still in hand, and gets him up off the floor.

I am once again telling an anon to go write fanfiction. this is a good premise and you should write it out more.

[merge-conflict]

heartbreak & mask

heartbreak: Have they ever had a relationship that ended badly? Experienced some other kind of heartbreak? What happened?

Oh yes! Valentine was Abernathy's secret lover for about 8 years (including after she married) and then once Abernathy got her promotion she was cut off and kicked to the curb. Truthfully the timing was more of a convenient excuse– the two of them were starting to fight more often, Abernathy was growing paranoid that the relationship would harm her chances of further advancement, and she didn't want to give Valentine any favors to move up, even though without that sort of help no one in a corp gets promoted for merit or any other reason. Pathetically, Valentine was still very much in love with her and would have happily remained her dog, but uh. Could not.

Valentine did end up some kind of ally with Jenkins, even though she hated him. She was truly conflicted about her own desire to kill Abernathy (or at least hurt her), but was not at all enthusiastic about the way Jenkins sprung it on her. She's very skittish about expecting the people she loves to respect her, in some ways, and prefers not to talk about long-term plans.

mask: Does your OC wear a mask, literally or figuratively? What goes on beneath it? Is there anyone in their life who gets to see who they are under the mask?

Most definitely. She's got plenty of different kinds of masks she uses, although she prefers her performances to be subtle- it's always easier to remember what kind of lies or misdirection you're weaving if there's a bit of truth at the center. She edits her performance very carefully, choosing to play-up certain emotions or reactions she does have, in order to make concealing other ones easier. Her compulsive need to cater to her loved ones and superiors means she's doing this constantly, all of the time, with no small amount of effort involved keeping the web intact.

Even the people she's closest with only get to see her true, bare feelings from time to time. When she's too exhausted or pissed to play nice any more. But even then she's not exactly forthcoming so much as too tired to keep kicking up dust. The two people she is closest with are Goro and Johnny– the former used to predicting the weather by carefully weighing Saburo's vibes, and so gradually picks up on Valentine's tells based on experience. The latter has spent a long time in her head and still lugs around a lot of her memories, and so has some cheat codes, but he's also Johnny so he might know what she's feeling but totally miss the target on why.

[violetjedisylveon]

Amnesia Chapter 13 - Home

Bad batch Omega centric au

Summary: Freyu returns home and finally accepts that Omega is part of her life. Tech discusses a lead he has with Echo.

Word count: 2.7k

Warnings: 🛑sleep deprivation, stress🛑

A/N: Hunter is stressed, sleep deprived and angry and has been for about 3 months at this point, his prefrontal cortex, the critical thinking part of the brain, is not working, at all. And good person/boss Cid is my fav headcanon.

Enjoy!

Bad Batch Amnesia AU Masterpost

________________________________________________________________________________

Freyu angrily stormed off the Mlikix hover station. The Empire hadn't had any issue with using a shuttle to get her to the capital, but when she had asked how she was going to get back, they just told her to take the hovertrain. It took her the entire night and most of the morning to get back.

That on top of everything else really pissed her off.

She really wanted to break something or someone for the stupid bullshit they just put her through for absolutely no reason, but that would only put a target on her back and she wasn't trying to get caught.

Her vehement refusal to the blood draw might have just put her in a worse position. That creepy doctor, he was smart, she could tell he was smarter than Rampart, than a lot of the Empire. He might figure it out if she wasn't careful.

Even if the Empire said they were done with her, she had a gut feeling she was going to be watched from now on. Her instincts had never been wrong before, she had been wrong.

Now she had to be extra careful with what she did in public, and even at home. Though it wasn't like they could get close enough to her home to see anything.

She still had a feeling of unease as she thought about that creepy doctor, she knew him from somewhere, she was sure of that, she just couldn't place it.

I'll have to check Maat's list. Her brother has given her a very long, extensive list of now Imperial personnel to avoid and why. The top three were all Palpatine. She had never really liked that old man so it made enough sense, something felt off about him the one time she met him.

A loud whiny roused her from her thoughts.

She glanced up to see Asichi standing in the middle of the road. Of course she'd been followed.

"Hey girl, see you've been waiting for me." She called out loudly, weary of being watched.

Asichi caught on and trotted over to her. If the doctor had questions, he could ask a Massii that could stomach his vile presence. Asichi's velvety soft muzzle nuzzled her forehead, she closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her thick mane.

"I'm tired." She whispered.

It was late, it would take her an hour to get back home from here. She could just head home, it wasn't too late yet, and she had promised Omega she'd be back by tonight, but she didn't want to be around anyone right now. Not for a while, she needed to process everything before she went back home.

Asichi neighed and nudged her cheek, bringing her attention to the saddle on her back. The saddle bags were full.

"Alask packed you up for me?" She mused.

Asichi nodded and wrapped a tendril around her wrist.

Alask's too good to me.

Freyu pulled herself up onto Asichi's back and rode out of Mlikix, heading for the forest near her home.

She needed to be among the Mother Forest for a few hours. She was safe there, she always had and always would be safe there.

"Let's go see our mother, shall we?" Sje prompted Asichi.

With a giddy neigh and jump, Asichi took off, taking her far away from the Empire.

XXX

Freyu arrived at Alask's house late at night. Just barely within the time limit she had given Omega. She was cutting it close, but she had still made it.

She set Asichi up in the conveniently left open stall for the night. The mare gleefully chowed down on the food she offered. Freyu patted Asichi's neck as she ate.

"I'll give you a good grooming tomorrow, hows that sound?" She prompted.

Asichi neighed in agreement, then nudged her towards Alask's house. She had a feeling she would find a certain someone still awake.

She entered with the key she still had, and made sure the house was fully locked once she was finally inside.

She took off her shoes and coat and quietly moved into the living room.

Knowing Alask, something had been set up for her to crash on for the night. She found the lamp near the couch still on low, and the couch's bed was pulled out. Alask's couch bed was unfairly comfortable.

Sheets and blankets were laid out nicely for her. Alask was truly too good to her.

She quietly made her way to the refresher to change with the clothes she'd brought in. She briefly debated taking a shower, but decided against it, she could get one later and Alask's sheets could be cleaned. It wasn't like she was covered in blood this time.

She put her dirty clothes in her bag and made her way back to the living room. A soft noise caught her attention, she glanced in its direction and saw a very sleepy Omega walking out of her room, rubbing her eyes.

Her hunch had been correct. She wasn't exactly happy about Omega staying up waiting for her, but she certainly wasn't going to complain, she had missed her vod'ika.

Omega squinted at her for a second then blinked.

"Freyu?" She whispered.

"Yep. I'm back, Meg'ika." Freyu whispered back.

Omega threw herself down the hall and slammed into her, almost knocking her off balance. The girl almost started crying as Freyu patted her head and ran her fingers through her curly hair.

"I'm back, just like I told you I'd be." She whispered reassuringly.

Omega held onto her for a little bit longer until her need to use the fresher overtook her.

"I'm on the couch, goodnight Meg'ika." Freyu whispered.

Omega muttered an "mhm", and Freyu left her ward to tend to her business.

She settled into Alask's incredibly comfortable couch bed and was prepared to knock out for a solid day. She was so exhausted.

In the back of her mind she knew she wouldn't get nearly as much sleep as she wanted, she had orders to catch up on, ingredients to process since she had been smart enough to do a bit of foraging while she was out and a bunch of inventory to do, maybe she could ask Tesi to help out with that. And she needed to carve some time out to give Asichi a proper grooming.

However, all of that was hours away from being her problem. She sighed and finally released the tension that had been building inside of her since that clone approached her yesterday.

She wasn't at all surprised when the bed creaked as she was joined by Omega. She let Omega snuggle up close to her and get herself comfortable before wrapping her arms around her sister and pulling her close. She breathed in the warm, comforting scent of Alask's cleaner, the soft, sweet scents she had come to associate with Omega, and the dozens of other smells that symbolized home and safety to her.

Nothing else in the galaxy mattered but this sense of safety she had right now.

"I missed you." Omega whispered quietly.

Freyu nuzzled her forehead, relieved when Omega eagerly leaned into her soft touch.

"I missed you too, vod'ika." She whispered back.

Omega hummed contentedly, her mind was completely peaceful and quiet. Screw whatever had happened to Omega before she found her, even what she did remember wasn't good, she was much happier and safer here. She liked it better here, and she liked being with her.

Freyu felt something she hadn't in a long time. The warm, fuzzy feeling of loving and being loved slowly spread through her body. After all of this time, three months of caring for and loving Omega, she could accept what she had initially refuted.

Omega was her sister, and Mother Forests take pity on the poor souls who thought they were going to take her sister again.

Omega was her Vod'ika, and she was Omega's Ori'vod.

She was going to protect her like one.

XXX

Echo walked into Cid's to see Tech furiously typing away on his datapad.

Hunter was nowhere to be scene, he vaguely recalled Wrecker saying something about distracting him before going to his therapy appointment.

"Is something up?" He prompted his younger brother as he got himself a drink.

He had started working at the bar since Cid wasn't sending them out so much. At the moment it was just Viserric working, the Mikkian nodded to him and moved aside to let him come behind the counter.

"Your idiot brother has been ordering energy drinks every twenty minutes." They muttered to him.

He glanced over and yep, there were several empty glasses around his little brother. He recognized that intensely focused look in his eyes.

"Tech?" He tapped his little brother's shoulder.

Tech jolted away and reached for his blaster before recognizing him.

"You alright?" He asked.

Tech adjusted his goggles and cleared his throat.

"Yes I-I was not expecting that." He explained.

Echo just patted his shoulder and slid him a large glass of water. He gathered up Tech's used glasses and started to wash them.

"You looked pretty focused there, find something interesting?" He asked.

"I believe I have." Tech said.

He took a breath, about to spill literally everything he had just learned, whether it was important to their operations of just something Tech found particularly fascinating today. Echo truly didn't mind his little brother's info dumps, but given the amount of glasses, Tech hadn't done anything but research and binge caffine for hours.

"Drink some water and eat something before you tell me." Echo instructed before Tech could start his rant.

Tech grumbled under his breath, but didn't argue. Echo had his headset play some relaxing music in the background as he took care of the dishes, his cybernetics had been waterproofed by Tech back when he first joined them.

Viserric quickly tossed together whatever Tech had ordered. Cid's food wasn't always the healthiest, but it was a good price for a decent quality.

"If you want to eat something you should get it before the evening rush." Viserric advised him.

He acknowledged their words with a nod and did a few more odd jobs while he waited for Wrecker to come back from whatever distraction he had dragged Hunter off too.

"Echo, there's something I'd like to discuss with you before the others come back." Tech said once he finished his plate.

Echo glanced to Viserric, the Mikkian was somewhat aware of their situation, they didn't say anything about it, it wasn't their problem. They rolled their eyes and grabbed Tech's empty plate.

"Get going, Weshu and Aevnass will be here before the rush starts." They told him.

He followed Tech to the employee rooms in the back of Cid's, not all of Cid's employees used them, but there were enough for most of a full staff.

Viserric lived here, which was why they were more aware of the situation than the others. Echo spent more nights in the moderately sized room than he did on the marauder, he almost never slept there any more. His brothers had stopped asking about it two months ago.

Tech sat at the small desk, Echo sat on his bed.

"Well?" He prompted.

"I think I've finally got something." Tech said with a hopeful excitement in his voice.

"You do, huh?"

Tech nodded and pulled something up on his data pad.

"I was checking Imperial activity in sectors with refugee programs in the outer rim, I thought I would find something of use to us, and I was correct." Tech said.

"You think you've got a lead?" Echo hummed thoughtfully.

"I believe I do. Yes." Tech handed his datapad over.

Echo glanced over the image on the screen. It was taken from a surveillance drone, the focus was two Pantorans going about their day in a market. The younger of the two was holding the older girl's hand as she talked with a vendor.

"It's just a pair of Pantorans. I don't see how that could help us." Echo said, passing the device back to his brother.

"The young girl is Omega." Tech stated.

Echo blinked at the bold statement

"Really?" He asked sarcastically.

"Yes, do you not see it? I thought it was obvious." Tech said.

Echo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Tech, that is clearly a Pantoran child, she just happens to look somewhat similar to Omega from that angle." He said.

"I did a facial analysis of her in all the images I could find, it matches Omega almost perfectly, I suspect the error is due to the face mask she is wearing to get the blue color." Tech said.

"Or, that error is because they are two different people." Echo argued.

"They are too similar for that to be the case." Tech argued back.

Echo did not have it in him to fight Tech on this issue. He sighed and conceded defeat.

"Okay, so you think that's Omega, what do you plan to do about it?" He asked.

"We'll go to this planet and find her, it's quite simple actually." Tech said.

"And if it's not Omega and we just harassed some random Pantorans for no reason?" Echo challenged.

"Then we keep looking." Tech said.

"Assuming they don't call the local authorities or the Empire on us for harassing them." Echo scoffed.

Tech fixed him with a glare.

"I did not know you cared so little." He said.

Echo scowled at him.

"You know it's not that. We lost Omega three months ago and haven't heard anything of her since, I'm just a little skeptical that we'll ever find her by now." He explained.

"What if this is it? What if we've finally found her? Isn't it worth the risk?" Tech prompted.

Echo sighed and glanced at the images on the datapad. He wouldn't admit it, but the little girl's smile did remind him of Omega, only she was happier than he'd ever seen her. She looked happier, healthier and better fed than ever.

Even if it was Omega, and he was very sure it wasn't, taking her from a place where she was clearly well cared for didn't feel right.

"She looks pretty happy there." He pointed out.

Tech gave him a side glance.

"Even if that is Omega, are you sure we should take her?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Just look at her, Tech, that kid is someone who has a home where she's being taken care of, she isn't risking her life to earn a living, she's safe." He paused for a moment, debating whether or not to say what he had been thinking for months.

"Omega wasn't safe with us, not like that kid is. Maybe, if it is her, it would be in her best interest to leave her alone." He suggested.

Tech was silent for a few minutes.

"You have a good point, though I'm not so sure Hunter would agree." He said cautiously.

"Do you?" He questioned.

"I want what is best for Omega, if that means leaving her to someone else's care, then that is what will happen." Tech said firmly.

At least I have one brother on my side. Echo thought.

His eyes flicked over to the pair of Pantorans.

"Why's the Empire interested in these two anyway?" He asked.

"I'm not sure yet, though the older one is their focus. The reason is classified." Tech answered.

"What's classified?"

Echo jumped at Hunter's voice.

"Kriff Hunter! You can't just barge in like that!" He scolded.

Hunter gave him an apologetic shrug.

"What are you two looking at?" He asked.

"I've found a lead." Tech stated before Echo could stop him.

"What?!" Hunter pushed past Echo and snatched up Tech's datapad.

"Did you find 'er?!" Wrecker asked excitedly.

"Tech found someone who looks like her." Echo said.

Hunter immediately glared at him and opened his mouth to say something Echo didn't care to hear.

"Save it. I've already had this talk with Tech." He growled.

Hunter still glared, but at least he shut up. They weren't on the best of terms at the moment.

"Where is this? We need to get there now." Hunter said.

Echo reached over and took the datapad from his brother. He wanted to stop him from getting any unrealistic ideas.

"How about we go talk with Cid about this first, she might have some useful information." He said, folding his arms over the datapad.

Hunter looked pissed, well he would have if he wasn't so sleep deprived.

"Fine." He grumbled.

Echo quickly left his room to go find Cid and drag her into this mess.

________________________________________________________________________________

Sillies:

Freyu: *adopts Omega*

Hunter: damn it! how are we gonna get Omega back now?!

Echo, tired: how about we just adopt the person who adopted her?

Hunter, sleep deprived (and stupid): that'll never work!

Echo: wanna bet?

Freyu has finally accepted that Omega is her sister! Yay! It only took her three months to get there, by Massanii laws Freyu's been her legal guardian since week two.

Good luck trying to get Omega away from her now.

Ngl the boys are gonna have a very interesting situation on their hands soon. Omega doesn't remember or know them, and she's with Freyu now, who actually knows how to take care of and raise a child, and it's been over three months, do they really have any right to intervene in something so good for her?

Expect lots of arguments + Hunter's prefrontal cortex still not working(that's the nice way of saying he's gonna do something(s) stupid)

Also Cid has housing for her employees, they don't have to pay for it and it isn't taken out of their salary. It's a policy enforced by the person who actually owns the building Cid uses, but Cid doesn't really mind cause it really doesn't take that much out of the bottom line. She's a business person but she's not heartless, not here at least 🙃

I hope you all have a good day, whatever that is for you!

VJS Out!

[sheepwithspecs]

A Curious Attraction: Chapter 3

|| Hellsing || Rated M || (3 / ??)

Ao3 Link

Unconventional relationships can take many forms: some are founded by whimsy, others necessity and convenience. They fade like embers in the night or, fueled by loyalty and emotion, grow into an all-encompassing inferno. When those aren’t enough, the most obstinate can still find something to cling to in the ashes.

Friday, 29 September 2000

“And then I said, “That makes two of us!” which—in all fairness—I don’t think he particularly enjoyed hearing.” Seras lifted the clasps on the case that housed her Harkonnen canon, hissing under her breath when her nail caught the edge of the metal. “Damn,” she whispered, biting at the jagged edge with a grimace.

“Dunno why you’re surprised.” Captain Corey Barkley, her second-in-command, knelt beside her as he affixed the scope to his own firearm. Seras enjoyed his company, and ultimately preferred it to most of the soldiers in the Organization’s employ. He had been transferred from the Johannesburg auxiliary following the Valentine Incident, and the two of them had grown close while bringing the new recruits up to speed. Barkley was one of the rare few who didn’t seem to mind that Seras was a vampire, nor did he resent being in the command of someone at least ten years his junior.

“From the way you talk about him, the man’s one loose screw away from going completely mental.” Barkley scratched the day-old stubble on his jaw, lifting the rifle to his shoulder and adjusting the focus with a pensive hum. “You’re probably better off avoiding him.”

“You say that like it’s easy.” Seras rolled her eyes, lifting the cannon to her shoulder. “I just don’t see—” She paused as, with a deafening roar, the first volley burst through the target at the other end of the firing range. “—what the bloody problem is!” Barkley watched in silence as she reloaded her next round. Her hands worked on autopilot as she continued her tirade.

“He complains that I don’t drink enough blood, that refraining makes me less of a vampire or something. Fine: I drink the damn blood. But that’s not good enough either! Now he’s complaining that I don’t drink his blood specifically. And then, when I finally stand my ground and argue my point—a very logical point, mind you—he gives me this… this look and vanishes without another word!”

“Like I said: one loose screw away.” Barkley fired his own round, growling under his breath when the bullet missed the center of the target. “Maybe he needs a good wank.”

“Oh, grow up.” She glared at him over her shoulder. “That’s disgusting.”

“Yeah? And?” He adjusted his scope before trying again, only to curse aloud when the bullet neatly severed the line between the first and middle rings. “I bet he hasn’t had a good stroke in over a century. Go ask him, I bet he’d tell you.”

“You go ask, if you’re so curious.”

“What, and get a bullet in my head for the trouble? No thank you! Besides, I’m not the one he’s jealous over.”

“Alucard is not jealous.” Seras sat the butt of the canon on the ground, one hand on her hip.

“Isn’t he, though?”

“Definitely not.” She stretched her neck, looking up to where the clouds floated lazily overhead. It was almost too nice of a night to be stuck with target practice. She wanted nothing more than to take a long walk in the moonlight, counting the fluffy clouds as they sailed towards the distant horizon. “And anyway, he’s not trying to get me into a new relationship. He’s too busy ruining the ones I already have.”

“All the more reason for me to avoid him like the plague. Otherwise it’ll be my head on the chopping block next.” Barkley looked over at her, wagging his brows with an ostentatious flair. “Then who would you wile away the midnight hours with?” He let out a sigh when she didn’t respond. “You’re really taking this to heart, aren’t you?” Scratching the back of his head, he looked around the firing range as if searching for inspiration. “Listen, if he didn’t make me want to go n’ piss myself, I’d march right down to the basement and give him what-for. I mean, why invite you down there just to turn around and assault you?”

“That wasn’t an assault.”

“So putting his hands on you without your consent no longer qualifies?”

“That’s—! Okay, maybe it was assault.” Seras frowned. “I just wish I knew what his deal was. It’s like he’s never heard of communication.”

“Has anyone in this place heard of a healthy relationship dynamic?” he chuckled. “Besides you and me, of course.”

“Walter… maybe.”

“Maybe.” Barkley mirrored her stance, loosely gripping the rifle as he turned to face her. “Here, why don’t you tell me again what you said before he went all berserk? I’m sure if we put our heads together, we can come up with something.”

“Well…” Seras closed her eyes, letting the memory of the night play out in the forefront of her mind. “He was asking about Walter, mostly. If I spent a lot of time with him, I think? And I do, to be quite honest. It’s just that he was injured after the whole Tower thing, and I felt bad for him, so I offered to do whatever I could to help. After that, things just sort of… transpired, I guess. Is it so wrong of me to enjoy spending time with an old man?” 

“Not necessarily, but do you remember how you said it? Ignore my saying so, ma’am, but you’re not exactly glib.” He averted his eyes as she leveled him with a death glare. “Even you have to admit that sometimes you say things in a way that’s rather… easy to misinterpret.”

“I said—” Her nose wrinkled as she screwed her face in thought, ruffling her fluffy bangs with her fingertips. “I said that I only spent one night a week with Walter, since I didn’t think he could handle more than that. And then he made this off-color joke about testing Walter’s stamina, and I said that I—”

“Tch… hahaha!” Her frown became more pronounced as Barkley burst into peals of helpless laughter. “You did not!”

“What!? I don’t see what’s so funny! It wasn’t even that good a joke,” she added sullenly. “You’re not taking his side now, are you?” Barkley saw the flash in her eyes and immediately sobered, jaw shutting with an audible snap of teeth. He swallowed heavily, looking away as his innate human senses went into high alert mode. Seras took a deep breath, willing herself to calm as her undead heart began to ache with the urge to race in anger.

“It’s just that, well: when you put it that way, it seems like you and Walter are, erm…”

“What is it?”

“No offense, but you act so damn innocent! No, you are innocent,” he amended. “Do you not even realize what it sounds like you’re implying?”

“No? Clearly not. Why don’t you spell it out for me?” she ground out between clenched teeth. “Since you’re so worldly and wise.”

“If you insist.” Barkley heaved a breath. “Frankly, when you say it like that, it sounds like you and Walter are fucking.”

“Fucking—what?”

“One another?” He shrugged. “He’s old, but he’s not that old. He can probably still get it up, and no one would bat their eyes at the idea of a friends with benefits—”

“Come off it!” Seras fumbled the canon, her cheeks stained a deep red. “That’s disgusting! Walter is like a grandfather to me!”

“Hey, hey! Don’t bite my head off! You’re the one who told me to set it straight for you! Besides, shouldn’t you be more worried about that weird master of yours? He’s the one that decided that’s what you meant.”

“Oh… fucking hell!” Seras wasn’t often one to swear, but it seemed to be happening more and more the longer she stayed in the manor. “That annoying, infuriating old… bat!” She turned on her heel, sprinting towards the manor with a speed that nearly blew Barkley sideways. He staggered, regaining his balance and still somehow managing to keep a tight hold on the loaded rifle in his hands.

“You really are something else, ma’am.” He watched her leave, a pained smile on his face as he shook his head. Turning back to the firing range, he blanched at the sight of the Harkonnen and its equally heavy ammunition lying where she had dropped it. Both would need to be back inside the armory before the dew fell. “Oh, fuck it all.”

 “Master Alucard!”

If Alucard had been the sort of man to startle easily, he would have jolted at the sound of his chamber door crashing against the stone wall in an echoing symphony of rotting wood and hammered metal. Somehow it miraculously held, wobbling precariously on rusted hinges before being blown back once more as Seras charged in with the righteous fury of a Valkyrie and the unparalleled bloodlust of—well, of a vampire.

“Wake up, you miserable, motheaten pile of—!” Any further insults to his person were left smothered in her throat, drowned by the grinding of her jaw and forgotten entirely when he caught sight of the hellfire blazing in her eyes. The presentation did not alarm him; it was not the first time a fuming blonde had roused him from dozing dreams of days long gone, and it was certainly not the last. Intrigued, he straightened up in his chair to face this would-be adversary head on.

“Is there something you need, Police Girl?” he inquired with all the blithe disregard he could muster, looking his little protégé up and down with a sneer. Seras was practically frothing at the mouth, hands fisted and ample bosom heaving with each unnecessary breath. She let out a new barrage of muttered curses at his smug dismissal, nostrils flaring as she advanced even closer to where he sat.

“Let’s get one thing straight right now,” she hissed, leaning in so that they were nearly nose-to-nose. “I. Am. Not. Fucking. Walter.”  

“Is that so?” How… interesting. Only a week or so prior, Seras had been nervous at the thought of entering his room, much less remaining there for any amount of time. At the time, she’d managed to hide her emotions well. But now it seemed that anger was more than enough of a catalyst to push aside her wariness, and belay any qualms she had about not only entering into his space uninvited, but facing him on her own terms.

A part of him did wonder if he ought to be more incensed that she’d given up the subservient attitude. On the whole, however, he found himself rather… pleased.

“Is there any particular reason for this little outburst?” he asked, further drawing out the amusing diversion. “Or should I brace myself for more mundane facts about your night?”    

“What—that—you know bloody well the reason why!” she screeched, throwing up her hands. “Ugh! Honestly, I don’t even know why you’d come to that sort of conclusion in the first place! Walter is probably five times my age, and that’s including the vampire bits! He’s certainly old enough to be my grandfather at best, and anything we have is strictly platonic! Furthermore:  and I don’t say this lightly, mind you—”

Alucard watched as she paced the length of his chamber, boots echoing off the stone tile and hands gesticulating wildly to punctuate her breathless tirade. Her cheeks were flushed, rosy with agitation, her brows wrinkled thin lips twisted in a grimace. It was a far cry from his master’s lectures, which were often rife with threats of punishment and calls to action in the face of backlash from her own superiors. Seras had a certain energy in her anger that directly mirrored her usual cheer. It lent a spark of honesty to her emotions that was… striking, though he felt that humans might have called it endearing.

“Earth to Alucard? Are you even listening?”

“Believe me, my dear: the sound of your voice could wake the dead.”

“That’s not an answer!” She was standing before him again, vexation melting into a wounded expression. Her brows furrowed so that a small wrinkle appeared above the bridge of her nose, chin ducking into the collar of her uniform as the corners of her mouth dropped in her distress. “Master Alucard, do… do you hate me?”

“What?” He was not quick enough to hide his surprise, eyes widening behind the round lenses. Nor was he able to completely mask his displeasure at such a question, lips pursed in a small frown that was somewhat different from his normal scowl.

“I meant what I said, you know. I don’t regret choosing any of this.” Seras waved her hand at the room, as though the shadowy corners and dusty furniture could somehow encapsulate her experience as a vampire. “It’s just that sometimes I think maybe you regret choosing me. And maybe… maybe that’s why you’re in such a hurry to be rid of me.”  The same hand fell to her side, fingers flexing nervously against her stockings.

“And how, pray tell, did you manage to arrive at such a ridiculous conclusion?”

“Ridiculous!?” Her mouth dropped open, shoulders sagging. “What’s so ridiculous about it? According to you, I’m a terrible vampire. I don’t make you proud; I don’t give you anything to boast about. I don’t even make decent company.” Her eyes darted to the chest nearby his chair, where it had remained following her impromptu escape.

“You’ve taught me so much already, and in such a short amount of time,” she admitted. “But you also seem to think that it’s improper to want any sort of companionship at all. Don’t you get lonely sometimes?” Seras tilted her head, gazing imploringly at him through her bangs. “I know I do.”

Why should I be lonely? The thought occurred to him before he had time to process her question. I have you. His frown deepened as he met her gaze, bitterness eating a hole in the place where his heart used to beat. How on earth had she managed to convince herself of such a bizarre, human notion? Seras was a fast learner, true, and in her time at the organization she had already learned a great deal. But there was so much more still to cover; they had barely scratched the surface of what it meant to be a vampire! Did the teacher naturally resent the pupil for their ignorance?

“Suffice to say, you’re once again wrong on all accounts.” He shifted in his chair, lacing his fingers and squeezing until he felt his knuckles start to buckle beneath the pressure. It served to regulate his temper, keeping his voice calm as he spoke. “The act of turning you into a vampire is one of the few choices I have no reason to regret.” A strange lump arose in the base of his throat at the admission, the familiar echo of some past emotion. It was not regret, not anger. Soft, poignant… fondness, perhaps? Affection? He brushed the thought away for another time.

“You are more than my student. You are an apprentice, a disciple that I have chosen to take under my wing. You may live in my master’s home and work beneath her watchful eye, but until you partake of my blood, you remain under my jurisdiction. As for your failings, many as they are… why should I resent you for them? They are steppingstones, a broken path that can only lead you to your true calling as a sovereign of the night.”

“Stumble though you will, you only fail me the moment you cease to try, Seras Victoria. Thankfully for us both, you are obstinate to a fault.”

“Master, I don’t know whether I should be insulted or not.” Her brow wrinkled again, this time in mirth. “I think that’s actually the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. It’s honest, at least.”

“A simple observation, nothing more. Make of it what you will.”

“Well… maybe I am obstinate. Because I’m not going to avoid Walter,” she declared with an expression that dared him to protest. “We listen to the radio together, he and I, and it’s the most entertainment I have around this dusty old manor. You can spare me that much.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s so. What’s more: the next time you get the bright idea that I’m fooling around with someone behind the scenes, just ask me.” She winked. “Unless you want to try changing my mind.” Something in his expression must have spooked her; she took a step back, laughing nervously.

“It’s just a joke! You don’t have to glare at me like that…. L-Look, I’ll just see myself out. Sorry about your door, by the way. I can fix it.” She awkwardly tried to bend the hammered metal frame back into place, blanching when it broke apart in her hand. “Erm… okay, I’ll get Walter to fix it,” she muttered, tossing the ancient chunk of splintered wood aside. “Either way, it’ll be fixed by morning, I promise!”

“Police Girl….”

“Right! Sorry! I’m going, bye!” He listened to her scurrying footfalls, mapping her course through the manor as she went in search of the man he’d told her to avoid. Insubordinate… churlish, defiant little thing, isn’t she? He tipped his head, eyeing the partially full bottle of wine at his side.

Still, it’s more entertaining that way.

[creepykuroneko]

One thing that really pisses me off about conservatives in America is how they pick very convenient times when they are anti-government.

When Native Americans talk about being kidnapped by the church, pedophilia and murder at the residential schools, forced sterilization of indigenous bodies without their knowledge or consent, their lands being Poisoned With radiation, and their drinking water being contaminated by the government they are "making up unfounded conspiracies to try to get money from the government".

When African Americans talk about their hesitancy towards doctors because of the doctor who invented modern gynecology mutilating the vaginas of enslaved black women against their will, tuskegee experiment, the fact that African Americans were also sterilized against their knowledge and consent throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the fact that despite it being the 21st century doctors and nurses including those who are part of gen Z still believe that African Americans have a much higher pain tolerance and don't need pain meds when they go to the hospital, if someone say a black woman is in labor asks for something to help with pain, medical staff assumes they are an addict looking to score some pain meds, etc. White people write them off as being a paranoid schizophrenic.

When Asian Americans try to warn against putting too much faith in the US government and the model minority myth by bringing up: the fact that Chinese workers were only brought into America to finish the railroads in the 19th century AFTER white railroad workers left because of appalling and inhumane working conditions, even though many wealthy white men of the time hated Chinese immigrant workers, employers loved the fact that they didn't have to feed them or pay them, the Chinese Exclusion act, yellow peril, the fact that white unions supported the Chinese Exclusion believing that CHINESE foreigners were stealing their jobs, accused Filipinos of having " tropical diseases", the Japanese internment camps of World War II, the fact that ICE also targets Asian American families, in the mid 20th century America lifted some of their restrictions on Asian immigration but he had to have a college degree to come to the USA, etc. They are called a traitor, told to be grateful for what they have, told to go back home to their communist country if they hate the USA so much, warned that if they step out of line instead of being considered a second class citizen they'll be put on the same level as African Americans.

When I have found myself having conversations with white conservatives and pointing out this country's Legacy of racism towards anyone who wasn't white, I am told that it's not true or that is taken out of context. Yet when something (for example the covid vaccine), comes out and it makes white conservatives uneasy, then suddenly they believe in this government's medical malpractice towards Native Americans, tuskegee, LSD experiments, and other medical atrocities. When I try to talk immigration it's always, "well they shouldn't be here legally". Yet when Trump was in office, suddenly all these white pigs from Europe who were living here without proper paperwork for decades were worried about being deported. #1 they don't care about undocumented White people, only the brown and black ones, #2 what happened to "you shouldn't be here illegally then"? White people love to cherry pick when something is irrelevant to their belief and when it's not. This is why the term token exists. White people don't care about history that is not theirs but when they want to make a point then suddenly it's "well I don't want to get my children vaccinated because look at what happened to the indians". Sorry/not sorry but white people do not get to use other marginalizes people's trauma as their own personal triumphant card.

Why do right-wingers crackpots believe the most boring conspiracy theories?

Oh they’re putting things in the water/food/vaccines? Elites are sexual predators? How unimaginative.

How about something more creative like the government feeding radioactive isotopes to the mentally disabled?

Or giving black men fake syphilis treatments to study the disease?

Or kidnapping people and subjecting them to LSD and sensual depravation to try and develop mind control?

Or secretly hiring Nazi scientists to work in NASA?

[kallulovesu]

What about a shy darling with yandere Prussia, England and Germany BUT its all an act and eventually the darling escapes? How would they react to being fooled?

Prussia was...indifferent of it once realizing that you were plotting something; not truly believing you would dare to go up again someone such as himself— but then he got curious to see what exactly you’d do; to what extent you were willing to go for your freedom, and to see if it would all actually work out for you in the end.

And it did, from the look of things.

Gilbert had just gotten home, the place looking the same as ever if he were to ignore just how...cold and empty it felt now that you were gone, or was that just him?

Sucks. He would’ve liked for you to at least try escaping when he was right there to actually see it, since he looked up to doing so. But oh well.

He could’ve stopped you, avoiding all of this from happening altogether and simply going on with his day with you. But he didn’t. Maybe he hoped that you’d change your mind last minute, that the risk of escaping wasn’t worth it compared to just staying home; with him.

Though that felt too convenient...he liked a darling with a little fight in em.

Lets just hope that hiding will be as successful as escaping was because— you didn’t truly think he’d actually let you off the hook this easily, did you? The games were fun as they lasted, but you were ultimately still his, and let him be damned if he actually let you roam out in the world for too long.

England damned himself for falling for such a cheap trick.

It wasn’t like himself to get...fooled this easily! With such a foul trick too, surely he should’ve seen it coming from a mile away; the suspicious change in your behavior, the warnings that his companions had given from their observation, but it just seemed like he turned a blind eye to it all. He couldn’t help it, you were too sweet— too delicate to resist, and he fell under your charm just like that.

Shy darlings usually weren’t his cup of tea but oh, you were so hopeless. So surely it wouldn’t do any harm to cut you some slack, would it? Apparently it did since you were gone now,

Arthur recognized that it was his own mistake for getting caught off guard, and that he should’ve been a tad bit more aware of what was happening; but still...there was something that deeply pissed him off. He could tell that you were a smart person, supported by how easy it was for you to fool him, so why not use that pretty head of yours to comprehend that you’d never have a single chance against him? He would find you no matter where you went, and it would only be a waste of time to do so. Everything would be much easier if you just understood— if you just forgot about all besides him.

But with all means, go on. Run along and relish in your short-lived freedom as much as you possibly could. You’d need it, before having to endure his wrath once he had you again.

No; he’d do nothing physical of course, but messing with your mental and emotional state was something that he looked up to. Perhaps then you’ll lose that stubbornness of yours.

He...really should’ve seen it coming.

Germany knew that there was something up from the very beginning, that something about the way you were acting just seemed too strange...but he brushed it all off; ignoring all the warning signs that went off in his head and instead opting to let himself dwell in that little fantasy of his like a foolish man before it all came crashing down on him at once. You were gone again just like that; abandoning him, and leaving him in that godforsaken house that felt so empty without you inside of it.

It hurt. Having you away from his hold— you tricking him and escaping— all of it, and it was almost too much for him to handle. Ludwig was a strong man, yet he felt so weak when it came to you; his emotions always getting the better of him and making him such an easy target of your manipulation. He hated it. He wanted to correct himself.

Right. Being around you ended up softening him up, and we couldn’t have that, could we? Ludwig will try pushing his feelings away; instead going to take you back and promising himself to be a bit rougher with you from now on. He didn’t want this, he didn’t even want to lay a single finger on you in an aggressive manner, but you didn’t leave him any other choices.

He’ll have to start training you thoroughly once bringing you back home; getting rid of all that disgusting behavior that you had displayed.

[gwendeeagain]

Prefacing this by saying I never read the manga this is all I remember of Assclass anime (I last watched that in 2018 so correct me as you wish).

There are like two main types of gakushuu fics; (1) the author's priorities are on another character and gakushuu is just there to be a stock accessory to drive a (usually antagonistic) plot (this is his main role in canon anyway, he's the most convenient low-stakes antagonist for 3E); (2) the author has something to say about gakushuu.

For (1), Gakushuu gets to be spun into whatever the author's thesis statement about the other character is. Whenever I write about Shuu I too throw in some random 3E names and boil their personality down to the first line in their wiki, so, glass houses and all that.

Gakushuu is SUCH a good character to project onto though I'm not surprised there's so many sadboy saved-by-prince-charming fics about him, because people want to live vicariously through him. I'd argue he's the most relatable character in Assclass because, other than his exaggerated academic prowess (when you compare and contrast it with Karma, it's par for the course) his motivations are so... normal. He just wants to get good grades and piss off his dad (but not too much, in case Gakuhou really does blow a gasket and kill someone). Every gifted-child-burnout candidate picks either Gakushuu, Karma, Rio or Kanzaki, but the girls have arguably less screen-time than the boys. And you would obviously go for Gakushuu over the other three if your parents yell at you, because Gakuhou is right there so you won't even have to make up an OC.

And given the target audience for assclass (these kids are in middle school), it's just a rite of passage to write basic tropes about your self-insert (Gakushuu Asano) getting whumped. You look at your fav and think, "but what if he was secretly sad?" And because you're 14 and still figuring out plot or pacing or whatever, you accidentally make that his whole gimmick and forget to give screen-time for his other qualities. So like, it's fine, I guess. To be clear, I don't read them either because I objectively have the correct Gakushuu take so I'm reading only fics I agree with.

I have my own opinions about fics that are just angst for the sake of angst (you know, the ones that just bombard you with a sad monologue) but I don't necessarily think that's a characterization issue, just more of a technical writing issue. Gakushuu is a side character, so I feel like if you're choosing him to write about, you probably have some layer of complex feelings about him already, you probably just don't know how to portray it. More than likely I think it's tunnel vision: most commonly you'll see ship fics where the love interests talk to each other only and have no substantial dynamics with anyone else, but you will also end up with flat characters that only feel like they have one thing to talk about. In a Karushuu fic, if you're banking on Karushuu bonding because of their shitty parental life, you're just unfortunately going to end up with Gakushuu lamenting about how sad he is all the time. We see most of Gakushuu's personality shine through when he's interacting with 3-A, with Karma being there for Gakushuu to show vulnerability. Unfortunately Karma has the only other speaking role in your ship fic so it's all vulnerability. It's very "tell-don't-show" with Gakushuu's badassery - you're going to hear npc dialogue about how cool Gakushuu is, but that's about all you're going to get.

But honestly I feel like I've been too out of the loop of the Gakushuu tag for ages now, I don't even recall what fics this post is referencing. (Maybe my own, and I've been blind this whole time? Hehe) I've seen (and written) my fair share of Gakushuu-suicide fics though, and I think it's a toss-up between whether the author wants to write about Gakushuu, or if they want to write about other people reacting to Gakushuu. If it's the latter, that's just a fic that falls under (1), so they can do whatever they want.

Gakuhou is an even funnier character to see portrayed in fandom because of how terribly (both his shitty personality and his developmental arc) he's written in canon. Canon hardly shows any redeeming qualities in him whatsoever, unless you like him enough to put in effort to think hard about it. So if you're a 14 year old Gakushuu stan who hates your parents, you're not going to bother unpacking Gakuhou's intricacies and you're just gonna remember that he's a child abuser and run with it.

Because he hit Gakushuu physically once, sure (and even Gakuhou likers have different interpretations about whether the Asanos' reactions imply physical abuse was common or not in that household), he physically assaults other students multiple times + psychologically torments 12-15 year olds as his day job. The Ikeda episode is doing a /lot/ of heavy lifting with a good-Gakuhou characterisation, and even his teaching methods were so questionable then (letting Ikeda skip school if he manages to land a hit on Gakuhou or something?), he was just smiling while saying all that BS and there was happy music playing in the background.

Gakuhou loving (or even caring) about Gakushuu isn't even acknowledged explicitly in canon, that's just after a few layers of good-faith interpretation about the Ikeda episode. Gakuhou talks about liking Korosensei and Aguri more openly than Gakushuu, even. The fun fact about "Gakuhou won't stop talking about Gakushuu when he gets going on it" isn't portrayed in canon, as far as I know, just something sprinkled in one of the extra merch, so I don't really count it as a Gakuhou Character Trait (yes I've written about it.) If I was any less invested in fandom stuff and didn't see that one post going around where someone (blazardragon I think?) translated the book, I'd never have known about it. Besides, it could be a mark of possessiveness or obsession too because he micromanages everything about Gakushuu's life + clearly has some issues with taking ownership of Ikeda's suicide and making it a Him problem. (Ikeda, you're foul for that letter. "I followed everything you told me to do, Sensei, so I killed myself?" Yeah, if I were Gakuhou I'd go nuts too.)

Despite creating this account to complain about TROTSH, I want to talk about other pieces of media that I have an issue with.

Case and point, Assassination Classroom:

I absolutely hate the fanon Asanos !!!

TW: MENTIONS OF CHILD ABUSE/ SUICIDE/ SUICIDAL THOUGHTS/ SELF HARM

They way the fandom sees and portrays Gakushuu and Gakuho is not only completely wrong but also pretty disgusting and disturbing.

Gakushuu suffers from what I call "The Draco Malfoy Effect", basically a character who isn't exactly the nicest, this character may have done some pretty bad things and most of the time they are villians/antagonists.

Gakushuu along with his father act as antagonists within the story and will do anything to achieve their goals. Both want to keep class E at the bottom of the school hierarchy and are obsessed with winning and maintaining the status quo.

Despite this Gakushuu has shown to be different from his father. Unlike Gakuho who will go to the extremes in order to achieve victory Gakushuu has lines he won't cross.

He refuses to poison the food class E has prepared and even calls the principal out on it, despite losing at the sports tournament he recognises that he and the others tried their best and doesn't let that one failure get to him and most importantly: he comes to the realisation that his father is bat-shit crazy and makes it his mission to destroy his philosophy.

In the end he swallows his pride and asks class E to "assassinate" his father's philosophy and is pleased to see that they succeeded. He stands up to Gakuho in frond of the whole class and isn't too bothered when he gets hit because this shows that his father's hold on the school is starting to crumble.

All of his personality gets stripped away from him the moment the fandom gets involved. People boil down Gakushuu's character to an uwu, sad and depressed boy who wants to kill himself because daddy is mean to him. They portray him as this omega male who needs his alpha bad boy boyfriend to save him because he is incapable of doing it himself.

Seriously, go to AO3 and search on the Gakushuu Asano tag and you"ll see what I am talking about. 90% of his fanfics are about Gakushuu being suicidal, harming himself, attempting suicide, committing suicide and just being sad.

What disgusts me the most is the way the authors handle such sensitive topics. They make Gakushuu go through all this pain just so that Karma can comfort and sweep him off his feet . In other words, they use suicide and self harm to push a ship wich is very gross. They also write Gakushuu committing suicide as a way for him to get back at his father, as if people in real life kill themselves because they want to piss off or traumatize people. Absolutely disgusting!

Gakuho's portrayal isn't any better.

At best he is seen as a neglectful father who doesn't care about his son and at worst people portray him as this evil man who hates his own child and beats him on the daily and only cares about himself.

I seriously don't understand why people think Gakuho hates his son because this isn't true.

The reason why Gakuho is so strict with his students and especially with Gakushuu is because he doesn't want any of them to end up dead like Ikeda.

The whole reason he built the school and created such an antagonistic and hostile environment is that so his students and son will grow strong at a young age and won't have to suffer like Ikeda did.

Does this excuse his actions? Absolutely not!! Despite being traumatised by his students death, Gakuho has taken things too far and has created a system that expects nothing but perfection and the students in that system are pitted against eachother for the top.

Long story short, Gakuho is not a good person and has done some horrible things, but he isn't pure evil. He doesn't beat up his son and doesn't hate him, if anything he loves Gakushuu too much (it is canon that once you make him talk about his son he won't shut up about how great his boy is) and wants to make sure he doesn't repeat the same mistakes he made with Ikeda.

In conclusion,both Gakushuu and Gakuho are complicated characters with complicated emotions who the fandom boils down to a stereotype because they lack media literacy and it pisses me off!

[fill-me-with-your-memes-daddy]

Watching the Rise of the Titans movie and I'll be documenting all of my thoughts/reactions here. [Spoiler Warning]

So instead of reblogging every new update, I'm just going to have this post up on my phone as I watch and type my reactions in a bullet list format.

Nari's human disguise is so cute. As someone who does have a cottagecore aesthetic, I want to cosplay her so bad

Are Skrael and/or Belroc non-binary coded? Regardless, I'm also obsessed and I want to fuck Skrael and be Belroc.

STEVE CARING ABOUT JIM BEING HURT YESSSS!!! My god his redemption has probably been one of the greatest there is because he doesn't just suddenly go from being a bully to a completely good person. You can see the gradual shift in learning better throughout the shows which is awesome.

IN NEW YOOOOOOORRRRRRRK!!!!!! CONCRETE JUNGLE WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE OFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!

The mugshot montage reminded me of season 1 of trollhunters when toby and Jim were arrested at the museum.

STRICKLER PUT A RING ON IT??? HE'S THE ONLY DILF IVE EVER ACTUALLY AGREED WAS HOT WYM I CAN'T HAVE HIM??? well I'm still really happy about his arc over the series probably one of my favorite character growths.

Eli my guy got his growth spurt!!! As an 18 year old who is still 5'0", I'm happy but envious for him

So I went into this movie without watching any trailers or promo, but I doubt anything could have prepared me for the existence of mpreg. In fact, I wasn't going to document my reactions until I saw that.

NAMURA!!!!!!!!! MY BELOVED!!!!!! I CAN STILL THIRST FOR YOU WITHOUT GUILT

The coach teacher just called the kids zoomers so I have to dock one point from my final rating just because of that. Unforgivable

Those husky animation models suck lmao

Oh fuck the titans got power ranger zords!!

God why did they include the mpreg??? This movie would have been perfect without it.... After that plot point being revisited only one time I'm already beyond done with it

Like it's bringing me back to the v*ltron days where they're was a suspiciously high amount of klance omegaverse and mpreg fics and art created and it physically hurts because Steve and Keith's voice actor is the same person meaning this is especially cursed to me since I was unfortunately in the v*ltron fandom and remember all of that

But like on another note, how old are these characters again??? I haven't checked any wikis because of spoilers but is Steve an adult??? I know aja might be technically a lot older than 18 because alien but is whatever age she is equivalent to an adult as far as emotionally and physically in Akaridion development??? IS THIS A TEEN (M)PREGNANCY IN A KIDS SHOW????

Like bruh I saw a singular post on here before going into the movie that was like "rott spoilers without context" and there was a pregnant belly but I was absolutely not expecting the actual context of it. I'll find the post after I finish and edit this post to tag the creator right here: @makoden

This entire post is just gonna be me ranting about mpreg huh

Anyway I love the whole roundtable allusion to the legends of king arthur (not the toa version but the one he's based off)

THERE'S 3 TO 5 BABIES????? I need to take a break bruh this is just too much

Alright I've taken a 30 minute break got some food and did some things i love (decompressed by tactile stimming with some owl plushies and watched some videos on my favorite owl, Garu. He lives in Japan with his owner and is a domesticated eagle owl who basically just acts like a sky cat. If anyone else needs some eye bleach, here is their YouTube channel)

Blinky and ARRRGHHH!!! saying their "if one of us doesn't make it" talk my god one of them is going to die I can see it and I will be utterly crushed. Jim can't lose another father figure and Toby can't lose his wingman again I will riot if this happens

On a similar but unrelated to the movie note, can we just talk about how toa started with Jim having 0 dads and (if strickler and blinky live to the end) will end with 2 dads? Like I just really feel happy for him that he has two dads who actually figured out how to put the past behind them to not have any infighting between them so that both of them are healthy father figures. Jim has already been through literal hell and back losing his actual humanity in the process so if he loses one of them, I'm going to be really pissed because at this point, this is just Jim torture porn. Y'all know how as SpongeBob SquarePants went on, the show just became Squidward torture porn? It's starting to feel that way for toa and I really hope they cut the shit by the ending

Jlaire is such a good ship but like I feel like it's too perfect they never disagree with each other

YESSSSSSS Someone finally doesn't treat toby like a fat waste of space who messes stuff up!!! I think out of all the characters that would have been most deserving of a rewrite, it's Toby. Sometimes I just feel he's only comic relief and any heartfelt moments he's had in the series was also born of stupidity (ie his flour baby project being unharmed was seen by him as divine intervention from his parents but was actually just Eli and Steve behind the scenes).

Ohhhhh yesssssss Archie's father!!! I was hoping I'd see him again because we got so little of him last

Ooooooooooh Asian trollmarket!!!!!

Oh never mind slavery trollmarket

Bruh titanic camelot

I feel like we're not seeing enough of the villains because I completely forgot about the power ranger zord things

NAMORA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY LAST CRUSHHHH

STRICKLER NO NOT YOU TOO PLEASE

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE ONLY TWO CHARACTERS I SIMP FOR ON THIS SHOW DIED WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OF EACH OTHER

THAT WHOLE ASS RANT I WROTE IS COMING TRUE FUCK THIS MOVIE THIS SERIES IS JUST JIM TORTURE PORN

WAIT JIM'S SPERM DONOR INFO?

Oh thank God I don't want to know anything about that person

For the record, I call that man Jim's sperm donor because he has no business being called a father to him. All he did was donate some swimmers to the creation of him and give him abandonment issues

Oh another blind troll elder???? This fucker is just if vendel was a bad guy

Bruh I was grieving

PACIFIC RIM WITH GUN ROBOT VEX AND THE BELROCZORD? I've never seen that movie but I know the reference

Bruh Blinky doesn't read horoscopes? Does he realize conspiracy theories are just the manly version of horoscopes?

NO DON'T KILL VEX STOP KO-ING FOUND FAMILY MEMBERS

Oh thank God he's okay

NO NOT ARCHIE AND CHARLEMAGNE OH MY GOD

oh never mind they're just gonna coup de tat I believe in them :))

But I want to see him again

But I'm glad to see vex

Yay they're in arcadia!

But yeah I wondered why the trolls and Merlin didn't keep the whole "daylight doesn't hurt trolls" feature from the eternal night but now Guillermo del Toro I see you were playing the long con in that just to kill my girl Namora :(((

Oooooh I love the animation of the Narizord over Chihuahua!! It looks very good and realistic (if only they could have put some of that into those huskies from before smh)

Bruh the character designs of the arcane order are so good I want to be them

Nari making sure the Skraelzord doesn't crush the bus

DAMN DOUBLE HOMICIDE

Bruh I'm just glad we finally have an answer on why arcadia had everything going on as opposed to literally anywhere else!! I always found that as a weird coincidence for plot convince.

BRUH WERE BACK TO THE MPREG IM SO JEALOUS I FORGOT ABOUT THAT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS BECAUSE I WAS GRIEVING THE LOSS OF MY LOVELIES.

Oh that's real convenient that the ninth configuration meant all of them. Way to not decide which character gets more attention. Though it probably was a smart way to not have any infighting in the fandom between each character's stan group.

Bruh I just realized where is Barbera did they just ditch her on the Camelot ship???

And where are the other trolls that migrated at the end of trollhunters s3? They said something about new jersey but obviously Jim and the other main characters got on Camelot instead.... This feels like a plot hole

And we never learned the process of how changelings are made and bonded to humans and stuff. We just know it's super painful but I'm curious ffs!!!!

THE DONT THINK BECOME HERO SPEECH ALL SAID TOGETHER!!!

BRUH THEY REALLY HAD TO SHOW HIM GIVING BIRTH??????? WAS THAT AN ABSOLUTE MUST??????

Plus the main audience for this series is little children (the rating for the movie is literally TV-Y7) so even though my adult ass is not in the target audience, I STILL DONT UNDERSTAND WHY WOULD MPREG AND ANAL BIRTH WOULD BE AN IMPORTANT THING TO 7 YEAR OLDS???? THIS IS A LITERAL FETISH HIDDEN IN KIDS CONTENT ITS ELSAGATE ALL OVER AGAIN Y'ALL 😭😭😭😭😭

Though it's probably hypocritical of me to think fetishes don't belong in kids tv when I've openly admitted to thirsting for strickler and namora

HUZZAH

NEW AMULET WAZ GOOD????

STAB THAT BITCH JIM

WAIT NO I SAID STAB NOT GET STABBED

Alright good job just missed the directions at first but you fixed it

SEVEN KIDS?????????

T O B Y ????????????

W A I T NO

N O

IS HE ACTUALLY

OH MY GOD THERE'S HOPE

NO THERE ISN'T

F U C K THIS SHIT THEY REALLY JUST HAD HIM TO BE BULLIED THEN KILLED

Y'ALL IM ACTUALLY CRYING THIS NEVER HAPPENS

I NEVER ACTUALLY GET SO EMOTIONAL OVER MEDIA THAT I CRY IT ONLY HAPPENED ONCE AT THE END OF VOLTRON BUT AHHHHHHHH

W A I T

HE'S GONNA BE BROUGHT BACK?????

HOLD UP THEY'RE JUST GONNA BRING ALL THOSE DEAD PEOPLE BACK??????

WAIT IS HE

BLINKY CALLED HIM A SON

HOLD ON IS THIS GOING TO BE A CLIFFHANGER???????????

BRUH THEY REALLY JUST CAN'T END THE SERIES WITHOUT CLIFFHANGERS like there's always an open ending

TROLLHUNTER TOBY????? You know what forget the whole rants I had on how toby was written they just redeemed it all

And that's all! I'd rate it a 6.5/10 because it's definitely the weakest of all the sequels but still had amazing animation and some good plot points. It's just really hard to look over the bad stuff enough to rate it any higher.

[consumeconstantly]

A Discowing at the Wayne Gala

Summary: Getting Jason to go to the Wayne Gala each year was more difficult than putting the Joker away in Arkham; he insisted the part was full of pretentious, rich social climbers who were horribly boring. As it turned out, all he really needed to persuade him was an upset, drunk girl rambling about how much she was going to deck her highschool enemies there to convince himself that he’d be in for a great show. (AKA the extremely chaotic and nonsensical salt/crack fic)

____________________________________________________

“I, Mar--” she hiccupped, “Marinette Dupain-Cheng solemnly swear to rip Lila a new one with Discowing’s godawful costume.”

“You say it girl!” called some random person from across the bar. 

“I will--” another hiccup “--use Batman’s Batmobile to run over Kim. And slam Red Hood’s ugly ass helmet onto Adrien’s stupid face.”

“Better yet,” Marinette pounded the table, “I will use their stupid utility belts to dismantle Gabriel’s empire. Somebody give me a yeah!”

“Yeah!”

All in all, the sight wasn’t that atypical for a bar in Gotham, if it weren’t for the fact that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was barely five feet, wore pigtails, and knocked five men on their asses when they tried to approach her. 

“Take that, Hawkass,” she hissed. “Think you can pull a fast one on me when I’m drunk, do you? Well I’ve got news for you!”

Her words slurred together, and she leaned on the bar for support. “When I get my way, you’re going to be tied up into a pretzel and dumped into a volcano, then the tundra and then we’ll see how you like your stupid little jewlery touched.”

“Dupain-Cheng,” her blonde companion hissed. “Get yourself together. We don’t need another one of your breakdowns now. You know we’re going to be busy tomorrow night, and I don’t want to deal with you completely hung over all throughout the gala.”

“Aww,” Marinette squished her cheek onto Chloe’s “You know you love me.”

“Yes, yes, but I’m not going to tolerate this bullshit. If you want to make good on your plans, you need to be in tip top shape.”

“Ughhhh, why are they even invited to the stupid gala? It’s not even like they’re rich! Oh wait, I guess they are…” Marinette pressed her face to the bar, which was undoubtedly dirty. She reveled in it’s coolness, brushing her bangs out of her face. “And why do you have to be right? I guess I have to stop drinking if I want to make any of my plans work.”

“Your plans will work, hungover or not. It’s just a question of how much you’ll be able to enjoy them. I don’t want you complaining for months after the fact that you don’t remember half of what happened.”

“I guess you’re right. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and I'm feeling a little too warm to ice them out.” Staggering, Marinette got to her feet. “Call an Uber?”

“It’s already here.”

#

“What made you change your mind?” Tim frowned at Jason, doubtful that he wasn’t going to cop out at the last second. He was sure that he was only putting on his suit as some sort of deliberate ploy to get out of the Gala. Truthfully, it wasn’t required that all of them attend the Gala, but it was one of the few events that brought together most of the Wayne family.

Jason ran a hand through his hair and smirked. “Let’s just say I’m expecting quite the show.”

#

Jason kept a hawkish gaze on the entrance, waiting for the appearance of one short, pigtailed girl, and a taller blonde. They arrived almost forty five minutes into the Gala, which was good timing; not late enough to be considered rude, but most people have already arrived and have made their rounds.

Marinette looked different out of the dim lighting of the bar, and even though she definitely looks like she’s nursing a light hangover, she still managed to look stunning. With a matte-black floor length dress that attracted all light in the vicinity towards it, it’s hard not to look her way; Tim, for one, stared at the outfits that Marinette and her companion are wearing with stars in his eyes. Any moment now, he’s going to approach them. Or he would if he weren’t on Jason-sitting duty.

“I’ll play nice,” Jason promised.

“You? Nice?” Tim sounded incredulous, and it’s not like he can fault him. Whenever Jason did successfully get roped into coming to the Gala, it’s a sure thing that he gets at least one fist fight started, if not an everyone for themselves sort of situation. 

“They’re the reason I decided to come. It’s not me you have to be worried about.”

Tim groaned. “Really? They’re trouble makers? But they’re wearing MDC!”

Jason chuckled, slipping a hand into his pants pocket. Tim was weirdly obsessed with the highly secretive French designer. Nobody ever saw them in person. “Wearing your fashion icon doesn’t mean they can’t kick ass.”

Tim rocked back on his heels, looking at the two girls calculatively. “That’s right. If anything, they’re more likely to kick ass, because that’s the kind of confidence that MDC inspires in their designs. Well, if you’re not going to fight them, I’m going to introduce myself.”

“And I can’t leave my little brother alone.” Jason said, watching the blonde girl point in the direction of, if he wasn’t mistaken, Gabriel Agreste’s son and his plus one.

Who knew that doing a preliminary reading of the guests would be so informative? He could only guess what kind of beef Marinette had with Agreste Jr.--Bruce had enough problems with Gabriel; even though Wayne Enterprises only dabbled in fashion, Gabriel was a ruthless man when it came to his competitors, and tried to edge them out of the market multiple times. Foolish on his part, not taking into consideration that both Bruce and Tim were very, very stubborn people who only get more difficult to face when dealing with a challenge.

Wayne Enterprise might primarily be considered with R&D and technology companies, but underestimating the amount of influence Tim could gather when someone pissed him off was just a bad idea.

“Hi, I’m Tim--”

“--and it’s lovely to meet you, but we’re on a mission right now,” finished the blonde girl, who Jason was now 98% sure is Chloe Bourgeois, daughter of Paris’ mayor and Style Queen Audrey Bourgeois. “Dupain-Cheng, it’s your time to shine.”

“God,” Marinette muttered underneath her breath, ducking her head. “I can’t believe you’re holding me to what I said while drunk last night.”

“It’s not just what you said drunk last night, it’s the most effective way of dealing with that liar. She’ll be so embarrassed she’ll hide away forever. Maybe get some plastic surgery and change her name. Daddy will make sure she can never step foot in Paris again.” 

“Chloe,” Marinette groaned. “We all know how that panned out last time. Do you want a repeat performance?”

“By that time Hawkmoth will already be taken down. No need to worry about evil butterflies.”

“Evil butterflies?” Tim frowned. 

“We can fill you in later, Marinette has a car to steal.”

“Chloe!” 

“Oh stuff it, Dupain-Cheng, you’re no goody two shoes, even though you pretend to be one.”

Marinette whispers into Chloe’s ear, eyeing Jason and Tim. “Do you have to discuss that with other people around?”

“Well,” Chloe crossed her arms. “You boys aren’t going to rat us out, are you? They’re part of the infamous Wayne family. They’ll definitely be in.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. You know they already reached out-- I can’t risk--” Marinette kept cutting herself off. “Fine, but if you-know-what falls through, I’m putting it all on you.”

“Like they’re going to pass you up just because of what’s going to go down at this gala. If anything, they’ll be glad to know that you’re as vicious as you are creative,” Chloe checked her nails and touched her hair, making sure it was in place.

“Sorry, what? I’m a little bit lost.”

“Keep up, Drake. I’m beginning to doubt your title as child-genius.You have the unique opportunity to watch history in the making.”

#

“Wait,” Tim’s jaw almost dropped at the display in front of him. “How did you even--”

“Trade secret. Marinette doesn’t kiss and tell.”

“But that’s the Batmobile.”

“Yeah, and?”

Jason laughed. He stole the hubcaps off the Batmobile, Marinette stole the whole thing. What a sight.

#

Here’s how the rest of the night went: Chloe plied Marinette with copious amounts of water, trying to get rid of her headache. Marinette hopped into the driver’s seat of the Batmobile (to which Chloe cackled, “And she doesn’t even have a driver’s license yet,” and Tim paled to the shade of freshly fired ceramic plate.) They ran over Kim, who, somehow managed to get into the event as a server of sorts, at which point Tim swore that the background checks would have to be upped again. Marinette landed the Batmobile in the middle of the gala, barely managing to avoid several innocents who were in her path. She reached into the convenient storage compartment that Jason was previously unaware of and pulled out the Discowing outfit and his helmet-- seriously, how did she get those?-- and slammed the car door.

Security, of course, was waiting for them. How couldn’t they, with that big of a disturbance? Half of the guests were up in a tizzy-- mostly the ones who were experiencing their first Wayne Gala-- and the other half were looking on, amused. Tim waved the guards off as Marinette made her way to Lila and Adrien, like a vengeful Valkyrie.

“You,” Marinette grimaced. “Chloe, say the words, I forgot them.”

“We decided that words were useless, remember?”

“Oh, that’s right,” Marinette said, before promptly slamming Red Hood’s helmet onto Adrien’s head hard enough for him to fall to the ground, likely concussed. Lila, who started screeching and running away made for a surprisingly difficult target. Well, difficult in the fact that she was using other people as shields, but once she came across a group of Experienced Wayne Gala Goers, she got pushed out of her comfort zone.

In eight inch heels and with her hair down, Marinette stalked towards her prey. 

“Lila Rossi,” Marinette intoned. “Your sins will be judged.”

“What are you going to do, Marinette? You have no power here. We’re in America now. No Ladybug to back you up. No public opinion in your favor.”

Marinette shuddered. “Ugh, your voice makes me want to vomit. In any case, I sentence you to life in Discowing’s costume.”

“You can’t make me wear anything!”

Famous last words, Lila.

#

“I’m still so confused. What just happened?”

“Don’t worry,” Chloe gave Tim a pat on the back. “You’ll get used to this kind of thing if you end up hanging around Marinette more often.”

“I think I’m in love,” said Jason.

“Get in the back of the line. The only thing Marinette has time for now are her plans to take down Hawkmoth.”

“I’m not opposed to joining you. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.” Jason paused. “By the way, has she already stolen the utility belts to take down Gabriel or does she need more? I’ve got contacts.”

 "Fair warning, everything in Paris is at least twenty times crazier than what you’ve seen here today.” Chloe swiped through a few notifications on her phone. “And please, do you think someone who hotwired the Batmobile needs your help getting her hands on a couple utility belts? If she really put her mind to it, she could get the Lasso of Truth from Wonder Woman.”

“Yeah, Jason, I’m definitely not going to join you on that trip.” Tim turned his attention towards Marinette, who was currently passed out on the hotel couch. “Anyways, You two are wearing MDC, right? I have a meeting with them tomorrow!”

Chloe looked at the poor boy with pity. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.”

@jasonette-july-2k20

________________________________________________

i’m really churning out these jasonette prompts like butter (god butter is so freaking good you ever eat butter straight? i do. heart attack city & the next paula dean) even tho i only thought about joining in right when july was ending but here we are 

[rinarin-karimel]

Again I meet the opinion on Twitter that Vanitas is a misogynist and "what the hell, pardon my French" *. As I understand it, this comes from the fact that Vanitas called Domi twice a "convenient females".

But maybe it’s not worth projecting an interpretation of this with the west views of the 21st century, when is the alternative 19th century canon with vampires written by a japanese?

Briefly, in the first scene where Vanitas calls her that, Domi caught him interrogating and throwing knives at him. Not very good behavior right?

We look at him in similar situations: here is Vanitas stuck in the ice, he cannot move and defend himself, but provokes Ruthven in response to the accusation of murder.

Here again Vanitas and Ruthven, this damn masochist smiles when he is strangled, provoking Ruthven to such a reaction.

Vanitas caught Roland in the catacombs: even behind bars, Vanitas needs to somehow control the situation and show that his actions are still independent and that he can somehow influence his opponent, so he scolds Roland and expresses objections to his opinion.

Doesn't it remind you of anything?

At that moment, this is the only thing he can hurt Domi with, because he does not know her / trying to prick her with the dubious affairs of her family or something else, may not have a profit, and her love for Noe, he notices, so his words fall on target.

Vanitas needs to feel at least some control over the situation, especially if he is at a disadvantage / insecure position, he tries to at least hurt the enemy with words, even if they hurt him for these words.

Quite the opposite: the fact that the enemy hurt him / hit him from his words proves that Vanitas did hit his sore spot, and at least got back like that.

There is no question of any hostility towards women personally, only about his specific hostility towards Domi.

As for the scene in the amusement park, it is quite obvious that he was trying to piss off Noe, which is why he used such words about her.

(why is another question: was he trying to get Noe into a state of readiness to fight or was he trying to prove to himself that he did not need him or..

[nexuschampion]

The first time it happened out in the open it brought on just a little bit of bad press. At least it did until the next week the 'victim' was arrested for armed robbery.

It had been only a moment in time when Michelangelo, for some reason that wasn't disclosed to the public other than 'good reason', upon passing a man on the street grabbed him by the arm. Angered, the man sounded all the alarms, claiming he'd been targeted for no reason and even injured. By the end of the next day it was clear he hadn't been, but he still shouted to anyone that would listen that he'd been unjustly assaulted.

Mikey did tell his family the man stank of gunpowder amoung other things and even had a gun on him at the time, but let him go with a growl as Shadow tugged urgently at him and he noticed the stares around him turning fearful and concerned.

The second time Shadow had also noticed some unusual behavior from some people in a store via the overhead camera feeds at the checkout, but as he moved to intervene someone gently put their hand on his arm. After a fraction of a second it was clear they had wandered into some kind of sting operation, and the couple quicky left to avoid being dragged into something that might shed a bad light on them for conveniently being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"It's weird" he recalled at dinner at the Jones' one night. "A couple of years ago I literally couldn't bring myself to help anyone for any reason. Now I'm pissed I keep coming across situations that need my help but I can't. I cared more about my reputation when no one knew who I was.."

The next few times it was viral videos from the middle of the night. It was always only him in sight, always a clear interference to end some kind of injustice, and almost always included a firm knock somewhere on the body of the perpetrator or relentless teasing.

Overall it was positive. People loved watching him do his thing in the wild.

So it began to happen, seemingly randomly though actually very purposefully, more often.

@accioturtur

Inevitable

"Mr. Hamato, thank you for your time. We want to be clear that this is an unofficial visit, off the record, we would just like to get an idea of your experiences."

Mikey smirked. "Yeah, sure. Earth Protection Force not doing so well these days?"

"That agency has been disbanded as we have adequate plans for multiple potential scenarios regarding alien transgressions. We just have a series of questions to help us gauge the security of not only our country but the world."

"No pressure" he chuckled. "Trust me though, anything I might know that you don't, I won't be able to elaborate."

"Are you aware of alien civilizations?"

"You were around when the Triceriton thing happened yeah? I think that speaks for itself."

"Are there others?"

"Of course there are. You think the only intelligent life forms are humans and a literal dinosaur species?"

"Are there any you can specify?"

"You mean are there any that are a threat to Earth? Sure, plenty coud take us out, but Earth isn't exactly a target destination so I really doubt we have to worry about it."

"The Triceritons disagreed."

"The Triceritons had Earthly origins."

"What about multiple dimensions? There are theories that there are layers of alternate realities."

"Closest I've gotten is a really wild dream where my father was a villain and I had to take him down. Sorry."

"Have you been in contact with any foreign entities on this planet that might be a threat?"

"What, like other mutants? Spies from other countries? My life isn't that exciting. The only people who aren't regular humans I have regular contact with is my own family and friends."

"Would you be willing to share information if you happened to come across it?"

"This is sounding a lot more like recruitment than a friendly chat. Look, if there is an immanent threat I would weigh my options. I'm not taking sides or any of that shit. I'm just one guy."

"One guy with very unique skills and" the man looked him up and down. "One guy with unique skills and physical opportunities. We can make you a citizen, if that's something you would like. Give you a pension in exchange for those skills."

Mikey paused at that. "I don't really like the idea of opening up the pandora's box of being a recognized person. I'm good. "

"We'd just like you make you aware that there are options. We do have a lot to offer, in exchange for favors."

"Mmm okay. Although we both know I'm capable, I'm not an assassin, I'm not a soldier, and I'm not for sale. I do what I know is right for the people right in front of me. That's all."

The man, dressed formally, suit and all, nodded. "You could be doing a lot more for your country. We'd just like to ask you to keep us informed if you become aware of anything regarding national or worldwide security, and we would like to do the same for you."

"Alright." He shrugged. "You get wind of an end of the world thing you let me know and I'm happy to help. And I'll let you know if I hear anything. We good?"

"I believe we're good Mr. Hamato. We look forward to any correspondence. Call this number at any time for any reason."

"Like a late night pizza service? Nice!"

The man stood and looked at him with zero humor. "Have a nice day sir."

"Yeah. Yeah, um, you too."

@accioturtur