#but i never beat the final boss. + i barely moved and definitely never dodged

[zincbot]

beat undertale yellow!!

[imagineaworlds]

Rules & Roses

“tripping over my own feet”

Written By: @desperately-bisexual​

Request: None.

Warnings: Cursing, mentions of sex. Pretty sure that’s it.

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Non-binary!Reader x Emily Prentiss (poly triad)

Word Count: 2022

With the slight promotion I earned in January came the perk of making my own schedule. Since people worked for me, I got to “sleep in” until about nine or ten in the morning— and by “sleep in”, I mean that it gave me a chance to roll out of bed and go for a run every morning with enough time to shower and still get breakfast. But I liked it. I liked that I wasn’t having to rush to work at five anymore. It was all at my own pace. My later schedule also meant that I could afford to go to a better park with a nicer trail to run on. At seven in the morning, it was a fairly popular place with everyone running around each other while trying to dodge the dogs and kids running around. The trail itself was longer, but it circled around a gorgeous garden, then led to a great view of the city so that I could see the Capitol building. I loved it, and it seemed that everyone else did, too. It was hard to run around the hikers and the families that were taking up the width of the path, yet it was always worth it.

Fridays were the busiest. Since the weekend was approaching, tourism normally spiked, and there were some people who were already off of work, or their bosses were being lenient with the hours. So, the already busy path was… full. It was ridiculous. Still, that didn’t deter me from finding a parking spot, lacing up my running shoes, filling up my water bottle at the fountain between the public bathrooms, pushing my earbuds into my ears, then heading onto the path.

Immediately, I almost ran into a little kid that was running straight across the path to catch the frisbee his dad threw a little too far. I stopped, rolled my eyes, then, when he was out of the way, I continued on. How were kids awake at 7AM? I hated summer. When I was a kid, I spent all day in bed when I wasn’t in school— which I thought was a timeless tradition. For the most part, I was sure most kids would prefer that to be the case, anyhow, which was probably why I was so shocked when I saw so many kids at that park every morning. His dad apologized with a wave as I ran by. I hardly acknowledged him. America was so different compared to the rest of the world. Americans liked to keep to themselves, however, there were some that were a little too nice, hence my hesitancy to wave back.

Near the end of the path, where there was a huge U-turn to keep the flow of traffic on the path moving, I found myself slowing down slightly to make sure I didn’t run into any of the tourists that were stopping to smell the roses in the garden. My eyes were up, trying to gauge if anyone was going to run into me. It seemed safe. The awkward part about this U-turn, however, was that everyone who had been ahead of me on my run was now turning around to run the opposite way. The backs of heads I recognized were now gaining faces to attach to them. And the eye contact… Don’t get me started. I practically had to keep my eyes up, but that meant that everyone running my way now had an instinctual urge to look at me, which meant that I had to look at them. It was horrible.

As I made my way around the U-turn, barely jumping out of the way before a grandma’s cane could stab my foot. When I looked up from my foot to the path, I saw someone who had just been behind me pass me, so now she was giving me a judging look as she started running in my direction to make her way back to the parking lot. Her hair was black, bangs cut to just barely touch her lashes, the length of it pulled back into a ponytail in the middle of the back of her head. Her brown eyes met my gaze for the briefest moment, but when we made that uncomfortable eye contact, she quickly looked away and sped up from a jog to a sprint. I looked down at the concrete. Making awkward eye contact with strangers was the worst… but staring at someone because they were gorgeous and you couldn’t pull your eyes away was even worse—

Wait.

“Lauren?” I questioned under my breath as I came to a sudden halt, nearly tripping on my own feet.

That woman— the one in the distance— she looked exactly like Lauren. Not like they could be sisters, but like they could be doppelgangers. I was so confused. But as I watched her continue her peaceful jog on the path, my gaze followed her while I tried to figure out if it was really her or if my mind was playing tricks on me. There were plenty of times when I thought I saw Lauren over the past thirteen years, but it never turned out to be her, but this time… I would have put money on it being Lauren.

And then someone crashed right into me.

I gasped and stumbled forward before I felt their hands grab my hips lightly in order to keep me steady. I pulled my headphones out so that I could apologize. As I caught my footing and turned around, I was met by a tall man with brown hair that was all sweaty and stuck to his forehead, a small, apologetic smile took over his face, but his hands didn’t move from my hips until he was sure that I wasn’t going to waver. I made an attempt to say sorry, but he beat me to it.

“I didn’t see that you had stopped. My apologies.”

“No worries,” I insisted while looking over my shoulder to see if I could spot that woman again. She had disappeared. As always, the ghost of Lauren Reynolds had vanished without a trace, and I was left to think that I was completely insane. Not only had I seen someone who was long long, but I had embarrassed myself by crashing into this man, and now I wasn’t even being polite by apologizing back because I was too preoccupied with looking over my shoulder. I sighed. “Sorry,” I said with a nervous chuckle. “I thought I saw someone—” I shook my head. “Never mind. Sorry.” I waved shortly to him before jumping back onto my toes so that I could keep running on the path. “Sorry…” I mumbled again. “Sorry…”

He laughed at me as I reached to put my headphone back in my ear. “It’s not your fault.”

I smiled. This was… weird. He seemed nice enough, but we had been standing there while pointlessly apologizing for too long. Neither of us were required to stick around, and I definitely didn’t want to now. Every time I “saw” Lauren, it took a toll on me. Having that hope build in my chest that I would get to see her again, to hold her in my arms, to kiss her lips, and to tell her “I love you, Lauren”, only to have it crushed entirely was… draining. I couldn’t keep doing it. This was my torture, and I knew that wasn’t how she had intended for it to happen, but that was the depressing truth of loving someone who would never come back. She tried warning me that she might disappear, and at the time, I was naive enough to think that it wouldn’t be a big deal, but now that I was living in a world where I didn’t have Lauren Reynolds around anymore, it was like I was stuck in place. I traveled, right. I moved on, I thought. But every fucking time this happened, I would find myself drawn back to the memories of how happy we were together. I would never be that happy again in my life. Lauren was the real deal, and there was nothing I could do to mend my broken heart. I thought time would do it naturally… but, nope. There I was, thirteen years later, and there was this six foot Nordic God standing in front of me, yet all of my attention was on that woman who reminded me of Lauren.

I didn’t see him or Lauren’s doppelganger again for the rest of my run. Honestly, that was a relief. The less I saw of her, the faster I could forget about her. As I thought about it, my running pace sped up until my feet were pounding on the pavement and my calves started to burn. I didn’t stop, though. It took extreme diligence to make sure I didn’t run into anyone, but it felt nice to go as fast as I could, to run off every thought of Lauren Reynolds. The ghosting soft touch of her lips felt as vivid as the day she first kissed me. We were standing in a garden similar to this one, the sun beating down on us, a cool breeze passing by, the sound of birds the only thing that could possibly disrupt us for miles. We were in Romania. Lauren knew someone that had a house out in the middle of nowhere, and they offered to rent it to us for a few weeks so that we could have some time alone. On our way out there, I begged Lauren to stop the car so that I could jump out and go see all of the roses out there. The field seemed endless. The flowers were already in full bloom. It was gorgeous. It was perfect. It was everything Lauren Reynolds was to me. And then she joined me in the fields, giggling at how fascinated I was with the sea of flowers. That was when she tugged at my hand, pulled me close so that our chests were touching, and for the longest moment, we stayed so close to each other that I could feel her breath on my nose. I wanted her to kiss me. I could feel myself shaking with anticipation.She was so close I could practically taste her lemon chapstick already. But neither of us moved. Finally, as I shuddered when the wind passed by, Lauren pressed her palms to my cheeks, and she made me lean into her kiss. My eyes fell shut as I gave in. My heart was skipping in my chest, butterflies swirling in my stomach until I thought I was going to pass out, and my knees weakened. If it weren’t for her hold on my face, I would have fallen over.

Lauren Reynolds.

She did that.

Even the memories alone of kissing her made me swoon. I could get lost in her chocolate brown eyes all day and no one would hear a single protest from me because that was how head over heels I was for her. I dealt with missing her for weeks on end and not knowing anything about her life simply because I couldn't imagine my life without her. I preferred having some of her than none of her. But, in the end, it wasn’t my choice. In the end, someone or something took her away from me, and there wasn’t a single thing I could do about it. Seeing women who looked like her, like I did on that trail that morning, was going to be the death of me. It didn’t matter how similar they looked to her, they were never Lauren, and they never would be. I was going to be alone forever because I would never be able to find anyone else like her. Lauren Reynolds was everything and more to me. She was perfection. She was the whole universe bundled into one human that brought so much joy to me. All I would have until my dying breath was the ghost of Lauren following me around and the memories of loving her.

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criminal minds family: @peggy1999​ @gorgeousdarkangel​  @alex--awesome--22​ @oceaneblu​ @brithedemonspawn​ @absolutemarveltrash​ @bshelley322​

[b0sscrew]

(Prompt based off a post from a @bamboozledeagle post. I hope you like it)

BLOOD WARNING ⚠️

Rap Battle Hero

Everything was going great in the lab. They'd only had one experiment explode today. Scrooge and his family also came down to praise Gyro and hang out with Fenton, or they were just dragged along. Fenton had walked out of the lab to get cleaning supplies because their supply closet was destroyed in the daily explosion.

Huey was looking over Gyro's notes while he was distracted by Scrooge and Donald was rangling in his brothers, and Webby. He was about to figure out how the formula worked when the elevator dramatically burst open. Everyone looked over to see something that looked like a shadow in a long sleeve shirt and a cape. Donald quickly stepped in front of the children next to him while Scrooge hid Huey behind himself.

The shadow looked over all of them before landing on Scrooge and Gyro. He pointed at them with a sinister look. Huey could tell the shadow would be smiling if it had the capability.

"Where are you hiding that shrink ray?" It asked the two adults.

Scrooge and Gyro knew the answer already, but glanced at each other nonetheless. Scrooge was the one to speak up.

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe you have the authority to ask that." Scrooge said with a smug smile. It was just another shadow monster, he could take it.

"Uncle Scrooge!" Scrooge heard Webby call. "That's a Rhythamow, a shadow like creature from the beginning of spoken language itself. Legend has it you should never willingly enter an encounter with it. Only words can defeat it. Unless you know what to say, it is impervious to harm." Webby explained.

Scrooge scoffed at this. It couldn't be that hard to yell it into submission. He would have been completely confident of the creature didn't give a menacing chuckle.

"I'm sorry, but you'll not be getting any farther. I hope that's okay." The shadow almost purred. And right in front of them it began to morph into a giant jaguar. Scrooge took an instinctive step back as it went on all fours.

Huey was quickly pushed to the side by Gyro, hiding him behind the desk more, also bringing him closer to Donald. Huey took the opportunity of Scrooge's distraction to run over to his siblings and uncle. Donald quickly grabbed Huey and put him right behind his self, never looking away from the Rhythamow.

There was a moment of silence and tension as Scrooge and the monster stood in a Mexican stand off. Gyro had a ray gun in his hand, aimed straight at the beast, ready to shoot once it moved. Donald had the kids backed up against the destroyed supply closet, holding a defensive stance, ready to protect his kids by any means necessary. Huey could see just by the look in his uncles eye that he wasn't going down without a fight. Huey glanced around at the kids around him. Louie looked terrified of what was about to happen while Dewey and Webby looked ready for battle. And in a split second, he made a decision he hoped he wouldn't regret.

The shadow roared as it jumped at Scrooge, who quickly jumped back. All at once the chaos began. Gyro began to shoot the beast as Donald ran towards his uncle. Dewey and Webby were about to chase after him so they could join the fun, when Huey pushed all his siblings into the supply closet. There was no door and not much protection, but where else was he supposed to put them to keep them even remotely safe? This was his best option, and the quickest.

Donald jumped onto the jaguar, locking his hands together around its neck as he pulled back. It reared back before quickly shaking him off and batting him to the side. Scrooge went to get a hit in, but a dark claw came down on him, leaving a deep cut in his arm. He was lucky he dodged in time to only get one cut. He bared his teeth to try and bite down the pain, switching his cane to his other hand as he fought the beast's claws away.

Gyro was still shooting, but realized that his gun did nothing. He stopped himself and threw the gun to the side before running to the other side of the room and sliding behind a work bench. He grabbed the prototype of what looked to be a nromal gun. He jumped up and began to shoot at the shadow again with tiny bombs. He watched the beast with every small explosion, and saw no reaction except annoyance. Gyro growled as he dropped the prototype back on the desk and looked around for what could work.

Huey watched as his uncles fought the beast the best they could, but could tell they weren't winning. He tried to think as his siblings tried to get past his arms and fight along side their family. Huey refused to let them fight after he saw the blood seeping out of his uncles arm. All he saw was chaos. But he quickly realised that nothing could hurt the beast and all of the adults were yelling at it, but none of it was working. Huey was terrified, and Louie was crying behind him as he tried his best to keep Dewey and Webby in the closet. He had no idea how he was keeping both of them in the closet, but refused to let them go.

Scrooge slammed into the metal wall of the lab, leaving a giant dent behind him as he fell to the ground with a disgusting 'thud'. He tried to stand but Gyro was thrown on top of him. He had been caught while trying to figure out what he could use against the beast. Gyro was groaning as he sat up, but Donald was then brutally added to the pile after being slammed to the ground and batted over to them. Donald was out cold as he laid in Gyro's lap, and Scrooge was sure he was close to joining him. Gyro tried standing, but yelped as he moved his arm. It was definitely out of its socket.

The Rhythamoe turned to the kids with bared teeth as he stocked towards them. Huey's siblings weren't fighting to leave anymore. Huey stood protectively in front of them as the beast came face to face with him. Their faces were inches apart and it was terrifying how he couldn't feel it breath.

"Where is it?" The shadow beast asked.

"I don't know." Huey answered without hesitation. He was scared, not stupid. Of course he wasn't gonna lie to the thing.

"What is this? What do you mean you don't know?" The beast asked.

Louie stood up, still terrified and crying, but he came forward and grabbing his brothers arm. "He said he doesn't know! Will you just let it go!" He yelled. Both him and Huey saw the beast flinch slightly, and Huey swore it's ears got just a centimeter smaller. Something clicked in Louie's head, Huey could tell with just a glance.

The beast raised it's claw, and was about to swipe at them, when they heard a door open. "Sorry it took so long. The elevator was broken so I had to take the- Que pasó aquí!" Fenton exclaimed from the opposite side of the lab, towards where the adults were piled together. He had dropped his mop and bucket, causing the water to spill all over the floor.

The beast looked back at him and Huey could feel it's smile. "Another one? It is so." The beast purred as he stalked away from the children and ready to circle Fenton.

"What are you?" He asked, a little scared.

"Fenton!" Everyone except the beast looked to Louie. "It's a rhyming monster! It only speaks in rhymes and can't be hurt! Use his words against him!" Louie shouted.

Fenton heard the slight growl of the dark jaguar, making him smile. "Huey!" He shouted. "What are the rules?" He asked, no trace of fear in his voice as he eyed the beast.

Huey was speaking before he even realized what was going on. "No swearing, no using other songs, but other languages are allowed." Huey named off. His brain finally caught up to everything and he mouthed an 'oh' as Fenton loosened his tie and took it off, throwing it on the ground.

"Just swearing? Okay." Fenton's smile seemed to grow more. Gyro groaned loudly on the sidelines and Scrooge was quickly catching onto what was going on. Webby and Dewey were still confused, but they usually were. Louie whipped out his phone and quickly went on a music app so he could play out a beat. Fenton rolled his shoulders as he stepped a little closer to the beast.

"Epic rap battles of Duckburg." Louie said in as deep of a voice as he could muster. "Fenton Cracksell-Cabrera vs the Rhythamow. Begin." He finished.

"Yo." Fenton started. "Who the heck are you? You come onto my grounds and think you can just do what you do? Unbelievable really, just coming over, thinking we're a bunch of kiwis. I mean, madre de Dios, who do you think I am? You walk in all 'excuse me ma'am' and think I wouldn't set you on fire? Look at you, you're on the ground, I'm getting higher. Magica called, she wants her shadow back. This is like a video game. What do I get? Counter attack." Fenton rapped, the most confident any of them had ever seen him. Everyone could tell the shadow had gotten smaller, but not too small.

"That was very generous of yo-"

"I'm not finished." Fenton cut in. The shadow shrunk again at his words. "You think I'm gonna stand here and get diminished? Nah man, I'm just messing around. But now we see who's really got the crown." There was a second or two of silence before Louie dramatically brought the beat back in. "I'm singing a little song. You best just move along. Just watch me and tell me I'm lying. You'll be swept up like dust while I'm reclining. Nothing in life is fair, that's what they all say. But hey, it's not my fault that you're just going crazy. You're just a little theif while I'm the God that's growing. I'm fighting a war, but you'd never know it. I'm that good! Do you think that I'm blind? You thought I was easy, well guess, what I'm blowing minds. I guess this is a video game. I'm the boss and you can't beat me. You're all trying to find a way, but you can't cheat me. I'm the God of lightning, just call me Zeus. I'm the conductor of this train while you're stuck at the caboose. Nothing's changed since we began. Well, maybe your heehaw. But that? We'll just forget it. Let's pretend that we never saw."

The kids went wild and the beast was about the size of a big puppy at this point. Louie decided to go faster and that just made Fentons smile grow.

"That's no-"

"Oh I'm not even close to done." Fenton interrupted again. "This is a speed round, so guess you better run. Did you think you could just attack a child and get away with it because you're from the wild. Get that thought out of your head. If you rather I mop, I could use that instead to beat you into submission. I never murdered anyone, but I'll make you my addition to the line of killers around the world. If I'm Freddy Krueger, than you're a little girl. You're an easy target I can defeat. I don't have me suit, but can I still grind you to meat. So here's a suggestion. How about you don't fight my familia. I'm just saying, if you didn't, this would be a lot easier. Don't you think it's funny how I wrecked you and you can't even say a word? You thought you could best me, but I'm still undeterred. I guess this is a lesson to never mess with me." Fenton walked over to the shadow that was now the size of a spider. He picked it up by the back of the neck and grabbed an open jar. "So how about you stay in there and sit reverently." He finished as he dropped the shadow into the jar. He grabbed the lid and screwed it on as the shadow shouted at him, back in its original form.

"Fenton!" Fenton looked over only to be tackled to the ground by Dewey and Webby, still holding the jar. "What was that?" Dewey asked.

"That was amazing!" Webby squealed.

"Teach me how to do that!"

"How did you do that? It didn't even look like you took a breath the whole time! "

"Fenton, you are my new favorite uncle!"

"You're almost as cool as granny!"

The two kept yelling on top of him as Huey rushed over to the adults. Scrooge was smiling proudly, but getting drowsier by the second. Gyro was trying not to show he was impressed, but was failing enough to let Huey see that he was. Donald was still out cold but he could hear his uncles quiet snores. Huey looked back to Gyro to see that his arm would be the easiest thing to take care of. He walked over to Gyro and hesitated as he reached for his arm.

"Ready?" He asked the scientist.

"Just do it." Gyro grumbled. Huey quickly grabbed his arm and pushed it upwards. Gyro let out a pained hiss but began to push Donald off once Huey let go. His arm still hurt, but at least he could use it now. He stood up and both him and Huey helped Scrooge stand. Louie walked over and knelt next to Donald, worried to death about his uncle.

Fenton finally got the two excitable kids off of him before standing. He put the jar on the desk before looking behind him to see Huey and Gyro helping Scrooge to a seat that wasn't damaged or destroyed, which was across the room. "Wait! Stop!" Fenton exclaimed as he rushed over. He stepped in front of the three to stop them before quickly putting one arm behind Scrooge. He put Scrooge's hurt arm on his stomach before just sweeping the old man off the ground and bringing him to Gyro's desk, which was mostly not harmed.

He laid Scrooge down as the other two curiously followed him. "He needs to stay still. Huey, get me a clean cloth. Gyro, call the police and tell them we need medical attention." Fenton ordered. The two nodded before immediately getting to work. Fenton glanced over to see Louie and Webby sitting next to Donald in panic. "Louie, bend Donalds leg a little so we know he has blood flow. Webby, tilt his head back and make sure he keeps breathing." Fenton ordered. Webby saluted and the two got to work.

Huey raced back over to Fenton with a small towel. "Here you go. I hope it's okay." He said.

Fenton took the towl and smiled. "That's perfect, thank you. Now go over and see if you can see any signs of spinal damage on Donald." He told the young boy.

"On it." Huey said as he ran off. Fenton looked back down to Scrooge to put the towel over the cut and put pressure on it. He then finally noticed Dewey on the other side of the desk, just watching Fenton in astonishment.

"How do you know all of this?" Dewey asked. "And how can you carry Uncle Scrooge?" Dewey added.

Fenton gave a calm smile as he tried to stay focused on Scrooge. "My m'ma is a police officer and detective. She made sure I was able to take care of others when she couldn't. And your Uncle Donald was the one that taught me all my medical knowledge. He's a very smart man." Fenton explained.

Dewey glanced back at his uncle in confusion. He knew his uncle knew this stuff and was always careful about everything, but he never questioned why. He just thought it was annoying. But now he wondered what incident caused his uncle to be so cautious.

"Their on their way." Gyro said, walking over. "I'll take over. Go check on Donald." Gyro said.

"Of course." Fenton quickly let Gyro take over before rushing over to Donald.

Louie was the first one to see Fenton rush over. He got Huey and Webby out of the way as Fenton slid over to them so he could kneel at Donalds side. He double checked Donald to see that they had done what he said. But he also saw a peice of green cloth under Donalds head. He looked to Louie to see a part of his sleeve was ripped off.

"What happened?" Fenton asked.

Louie rubbed his arm, tears coming to his eyes again. "His head was bleeding, so I did what he told me and covered in. I didn't want to risk hurting him by holding it to his head so I just laid it under him. I also didn't want to ruin your tie, so I used my jacket instead." Louie explained.

"Thank you Louie. That was a good move." Fenton praised. He double checked Donalds breathing to see it was almost perfectly normal. "Okay, he's not too back, but him and Mr. McDuck will both need stitches. Webby, go upstairs and wait for the paramedics. They won't be able to use the elevator and they might not know how to get to us." Fenont said.

"Yes sir." Webby nodded as she raced up the stairs he had come from earlier.

"Question." Huey asked. "Where are Manny and Lil Bulb?" He asked.

"They're off for the day. We had everything handled, so we let them have the rest of the day off." Fenton said without hesitation. He was too focused on Donald and trying to see if there were more injuries. He lifted Donald's shirt to check and didn't find anything but a lot of bruises. He hummed in thought at this, but put Donalds shirt back. He checked Donalds arms next.

"What was that for?" Louie asked.

"What was what for?" Fenton asked.

"That hum." Louie replied.

"Oh, your uncle has a lot of bruises in his abdominal area. It's not likely, but there's a chance he has internal bleeding." Fenton calmy explained as he checked Donalds arms over. There was nothing to indicate major injuries. "Those bruises were too quick to be anything good. But it could just be a cracked or broken rib." Fenton continued.

"So, Uncle Donald got the worst of it?" Huey asked as Louie looked like he was beginning to have a panick attack.

Fenton took notice of Louie and quickle slid over to him. "Hey, breath, Donalds okay. It's nothing he and the hospital can't handle. Everything will be alright, I promise." Fenton tried to sooth, trying to get Louie to take deeper breaths.

Huey watched in wonder and slight worry as Louie started crying again as he asked Fenton questions and Fenton just answered while holding him and trying to get him to relax. Huey never knew what to do in these situations. Only Uncle Donald could calm Louie down when he had a panic attack, but Fenton seemed to have things under control.

Soon everyone looked over as they heard the patter of feet running down the stairs. Webby was the first to emerge from the stairwell as she announced the arrival of the paramedics. Soon, the room was swamped with people trying to get the two really hurt people up the stairs and usher everyone else out at the same time. Fenton quickly grabbed the jar with the shadow, who was very slowly beginning to grow again.

It had been thirty minutes since they left and now Fenton, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby were sitting in the waiting room. Soon, Gyro came out to join them, his arm now in a sling. They waited for around another hour until a doctor came out with clipboard. The dog looked them over before smiling. "Donald and Scrooge, I assume?" He asked.

Without warning, the kids were at his feet, begging for information about their uncles. Fenton quickly tried to round them up as Gyro just looked annoyed.

"Yes, we are." Gyro said, grabbing Webby by the back of her shirt as Fenton picked up the boys with a little bit of struggle. They sat the kids back down as the doctor chuckled to himself.

"Okay, good. The good news is that they'll both make a smooth recovery." The doctor told them. The kids sighed in relief, along with Fenton.

"And the bad news?" Gyro asked.

"It's not bad news, just not great news." The doctor began. "They'll both be staying for two nights, and then they can go home. Mr. McDuck's arm will be in a sling and he won't be able to use that arm until his wound completely heals. That can be from around a month to six months depending on how much he bends the rules. Don't let him break the rules."

"What about Uncle Donald?" Dewey asked, both him and Huey holding Louie. They had seen the panic building up in him a while ago and decided to keep him as calm as possible.

The doctor softened his smile and knelt down in front of the kids. "Your uncle is fine. He has a few stitches on the back of his head, so don't let him touch that area. That should heal quicker than Mr. McDucks. But because of his cracked ribs he won't be able to move quickly. So we're having him use a cane until he's all better. It'll take about six weeks for them to heal, so don't let your uncle do anything too dangerous or active. He won't always need the cane, just on days when he's having really bad pain. Can you take care of him for me?" The doctor explained.

Louie giggled to himself at this and his brothers nodded. "Of course we can. We're the Duck brothers." Dewey confirmed.

The doctor nodded before looking to the two adults. "The two won't be able to go on any adventures for a few months. Don't let them do anything too hard, or anything that requires a right arm, for Scrooge's case." The Doctor finished explaining. "If there's anymore family that wants to come visit them, they can come tomorrow during visiting hours. They're still trying to set the two up and they need all the rest they can get today." The Doctor added.

"Thank you, doctor." Fenton nodded with a relieved smile.

"It's no trouble. Have a good day." The doctor replied.

"You too, sir." Fenton said before he and Gyro ushered the kids out of the hospital.

The next day, Launchpad brought Fenton, Della, and the boys to see Scrooge and Donald. When they walked in the doctor from the day before explained that Scrooge was asleep, but Donald was waiting for them. He showed them to Donalds room, and once the door was open the boys ran over and tackled Donalds arms and legs.

"Hey boys. Is everything going okay without me?" Donald asked. He saw Fenton and Della waiting at the doorway so the boys could talk with with him.

"We're doing fine." Huey said.

"You should have seen it yesterday! That shit was crazy!" Louie exclaimed, making Donald's eyes go wide.

"Language!" He scolded.

"Fenton murdered a shadow yesterday, and you're asking me to watch my language?" Louie asked in exasperation.

"You need to get your priorities straight." Dewey said, shaking his head.

"Wait, murdered?" Donald asked, looking to Fenton. He couldn't tell if the scientist was embarrassed of uncomfortable. They seemed completely different in this moment, and yet Donald couldn't decide which one he saw.

Della was watching Fenton too. She was surprisingly kept in the dark until now because the boys wanted to tell her and Donald at the same time.

"Uncle Donald, you should have seen him rap. It was like watching Uncle Scrooge fight monsters." Huey said.

"It was so seamless, so smooth." Dewey said with a weird voice.

"It was Awesome!" Louie exclaimed, shaking his uncle's arm. Donald looked back to Fenton with surprise.

"You rap?" Donald asked.

"Eh, well sorta... It's not that good." Fenton said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as he averted his eyes.

Della began to laugh at the boys loud protest. "I think it's their word against yours, Fen." Della told him. Fenton gave her a slight glare.

"Fenton was amazing! After he destroyed the shadow dude, he was telling us how to take care of you and Uncle Scrooge. You should have seen him. He was so calm the whole time. He even helped Louie calm down." Dewey rambled.

"Wha- I- no- it's jus- psh- Whatever." Louie denied, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looked away in embarrassment, causing Donald to smile warmly.

Fenton was trying desperately to cover his blushing face as he tried to hide how flustered he was. Della thought it was adorable. She looked to Donald before her smile softened.

"Okay, ya squirts." Della said, walking over and ruffling Louie's feathers. "My turn to talk to Uncle Donald. I need to talk with him alone." Della said.

"But mom!" The boys groaned, Fenton swallowing back a chuckle.

"No buts. Go outside with Fenton and wait until Donald says." Della said.

"Yes, mom." They groaned before all three of them walked out of the room. Fenton shut the door after giving Della a nod.

Della turned to her brother, sitting on a chair next to him. "I think I found your soulmate." Della said, making Donald quack in suprise.

"What?" He exclaimed. "Della, don't be ridiculous." Donald grumbled.

"Come on, he's perfect! You're both dorks, you both are too caring for your own good, and he's a superhero. Besides, he helped the kids." Della named off.

Donald crossed his arms and grumbled. "Stupid Dumbella, he doesn't like me." Donald pouted.

Della raised a brow. "So you do like him?"

Donalds eyes widened in panic. "That's not what I meant!" He shouted, wincing after he did so. He clutched his ribs with a slight groan.

Della looked at him in concern, gently laying him back. "Donald, what's wrong?" Della asked.

Donald sighed as he pinched between his eyes. "Ever since you disapeared I hadn't even thought about a relationship. All that mattered for years was the boys. Me and Scrooge were out of touch for ten years, I almost lost touch with Jose and Panchito, Duckworth died and came back, Launchpad was just a chauffeur until we came back to the mansion, and not to mention you were gone and I could do nothing. To say a romantic life was low on my list of worries would be an understatement. I forgot how it worked. When I met Fenton I didn't know what to think of him. But then, whenever I visited the Bin, he always made an effort to be friendly. It was a cute attempt. But then the shadow war happened and I found myself fighting a room full of shadow people. I was almost done with them when Fenton saved me from one I hadn't seen. I think that's when I realized I might actually like him. It's stupid." Donald rambled.

"No, it's not." Donald stopped to look at Della. "What's stupid is that I didn't realize it sooner. I guess I should find a way to repay you for watching my boys for so long. Maybe a date?" Della said with a teasing look.

"Della-" Donald began to warn when there was a knock at the door.

Fenton popped his head in with a sheepish smile. "Uh, am I interrupting?" He asked.

Della gave Donald a mischievous look. "No, not at all. What's going on?" She asked Fenton.

"Oh, uh, Mr. McDuck is awake. The boys went over to say hi. I thought you might want to know." Fenton explained, not noticing the smirk Della gave Donald and the glare he returned.

"Well, I might as well join them." Della said, standing. "Donald has a few things he wants to talk to you about." Della said, walking toward Fenton. Fenton opened the door all the way in his confusion. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an arm wrestling match to win." Della said before racing down the hall, calling for Scrooge.

Fenton stood awkwardly, slowly shutting the door behind himself as he and Donald just stared at each other with awkward smiles. "So..." Fenton started, taking a few hesitant steps towards Donalds bed. "How has your day been?" He asked, mentally slapping himself.

Donald almost awed at this, going for a calmer smile instead. "It's been good. My family came to visit, my ribs don't hurt nearly as much, and my head isn't bleeding. I'd call that a win." Donald said in a joking manner.

Fenton let a chuckle slip out. "That's good. That's good." He mumbled, nodding. There was an awkward pause between them as they tried to figure out what to do.

"Fenton," Fenton snapped his attention back to Donald. "Thank you."

"I-uh-what did I do?" Fenton asked.

"You're the reason I'm still here, instead of in a morgue." Donald replied with a genuine smile. "If you didn't take out that Rhythamow than I probably wouldn't be able to hold my boys anymore. My sister couldn't tease me anymore... And I wouldn't be able to see your face again." Donald explained.

Fenton could feel the heat come to his face. "Oh, uh, yeah. It was no trouble, really. If I hadn't remembered your lessons, than none of us would be here, probably." Fenton said, stepping a little closer to Donalds bed, reaching the foot of it.

"Yeah well, it's a good thing you listen." Donald chuckled. There was another pause. "...So, you rap? Do you sing too?" Donald asked.

Fenton stiffened a little. "I, uh..." He didn't know how to answer that. "I, um- I don't really sing much. And, I don't think I'm that good of a rapper." Fenton chuckled awkwardly.

"From the way my boys talk about it, you must have been at least a little good. How did you do it so fast? Dewey did say it was, and I quote, 'so seamless, so smooth'." Donald said with a slight chuckle at the end.

Fenton felt his face flush as he tried to stutter out an answer. Donald was trying so hard no to start laughing at this.

"Fenton, sit down. You're gonna hurt yourself." Donald said.

Fenton hesitated before sitting at Donalds feet. "Well, to answer your question, Mr. Duck..." Fenton hesitated. "It's just natural. My brain never shuts up, so I just, kinda, always know what to say. I just second guess myself." Fenton mumbled, playing with his tie.

Fenton snapped his head up when Donald started laughing. He was a little hurt at this, but the laugh was so cute, he couldn't be mad. "I... I'm sorry... It's just that... It reminds me of when I was younger..." Donald said as he began to calm down. "When I was younger, my brain was full of so many thoughts, that I always second guessed myself. But I kept speaking, no matter what others said. I wish I was still like that. And please, call me Donald." Donald said.

Fenton chuckled. "I guess we're not too different, aren't we donald?" He said, giving Donald a smile.

Donald returned the smile before thinking. "Hey Fenton. I have a question."

"Shoot." Fenton replied.

"Would you like to go out after I'm out of here?" Donald asked.

Fenton froze for a few seconds, giving Donald a slight panic attack, before letting a small smile slip onto his face. His smile then turned mischievous. He scoot forward before kissing Donald on the forehead. "Just don't forget your cane." Fenton teased.

Donald paused in confusion before he became furious. "I have to have a cane?!?"

[hispeculiartreasure]

All We’ve Got is Time - Chapter Four | B.B.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female Reader

AU: If They’d Survived/Post-War/Window Washer!Bucky Barnes

Rating: Teen

Word count: 3,371

Chapter 4/24

Warnings: Very brief, yet strong language

AN: Let me just say that I am profoundly grateful for the love this series is getting! I am enjoying your comments and theories and am so flattered by your praise. I didn’t get a chance to respond to every comment like I usually do - my car accident took care of that. I’ve had a hard time focusing and coping after that traumatic day so I hope everything in this chapter is in order. Love you all so dearly. Come scream at me when you’re done. 💖

Chapter Three

‘All We’ve Got is Time’ Masterlist

Exiting the elevator the next morning you fumble through your handbag, trying to find the lipstick you didn’t have time to put on before you left.

Of all mornings for the subway to not be working it had to be today. I’m so late, I’m gonna have to bust my tail before Anderson notices.

“Good morning, Mrs. Flannery,” you say absentmindedly as you approach her desk.

“You’re late. I have-”

“I know, it’s been a hell of a-- excuse me, it’s been a heck of a morning,” you interrupt, head still down, lipstick nowhere to be found.

“Miss-”

“It won’t happen again, I promise.” You rush past her as your mental to-do list only grows longer.

“Ahem.”

There was no denying that was aimed toward you. You come to a halt, slowly turning back to the daunting woman. Peering over her glasses, one hand perched on her hip while the other was stretched out to you, grasping a piece of paper.

“This was left for you yesterday afternoon after you had completed your shift.” You timidly reach for the slip, when Flannery pulls it back at the last moment. “I feel the need to remind you that this is a place of business. Not romance, not courtship, not frivolity. I meant what I said on your first day - beaus are not allowed in this office. This is the only time I will extend grace. Understood?”

Mystified you take the paper, nodding your understanding.

What the hell is she talking about?

Suzy sidles beside you on the walk to your desk before she whisper-shouts, “The note was for her!”

Immediately, six other women leap from their desks and huddle around you talking a mile a minute.

“We were here when he dropped it off!”

“He was so cute!”

“Why do I feel like I’ve seen him in the movies?”

“Maybe he’s a war-hero?”

“He looked familiar,” Connie muses.  

“Who cares! What does it say?” Suzy urges as she pokes your arm.

The huddle falls silent as you open the neatly folded note.

The gaggle of girls around you squeal for a moment before Flannery’s harsh shhhh quiets everyone to whispers.

“How sweet.”

“He’s one of the window washers?!”

“Wait, we have window washers here?”

“I still feel like I know him from somewhere else. . .”

“Well, how do you feel?” Suzy draws the focus back to you.

You bite your lip. “Umm. . . it makes me feel. . . pretty great.”

“Jeeze, for you that may as well be equal to jumping up and down!” One nudges you gently with her elbow. “What are you gonna do?”

“Do? I- I’m not going to do anything. I got a nice note and I appreciate it,” you state, hoping it would bring an end to all the attention surrounding you. It didn’t.

“Oh come on!”

“Have you been flirting? You need to be more tantalizing!”

“You have to find him right now!”

“Show us your moves, we can help!”

Waving your arms for quiet you declare, “I’m already late and if I don’t get to work, I’ll be canned before I get the chance to see him again. Is that what you want?”

Everyone begrudgingly trudges across the office while Suzy lags behind. With a knowing grin she says, “Lemme know if you wanna talk about it. It’s nice to see you smile like that.”

As she leaves you plop down into your desk chair, rereading the note. It’s then that you realize just how much you’ve been smiling the last few minutes and just how fast your heart was beating.

Yeah, I could tell you enjoyed the new look. Why am I blushing all over again?

He came up here to try to talk to me. To actually see me. In person. He faced the wrath of Flannery to get up here and leave this.

He can’t wait to see me? Does he look forward to seeing me as much as I look forward to seeing him? Of course he couldn’t be bothered to sign his actual name. What a tease.

It takes a shout from Anderson’s office to bring you back to reality. Propping the note against your typewriter you read it one more time before grabbing your pencil and notepad.

For the rest of the day you anxiously check the window every few minutes, waiting for the author of your note. Every moment you feel self-conscious, not sure what you should do when he stops on your floor. Is he expecting more to come from this? Do you need to be a little more flirtatious, like some of the girls had mentioned? Should you be making more of an effort? Is that something you even wanted?

But then you see him and the uncertainty fades away. The work day is almost over before he descends to the sixth floor. You make eye contact, check your watch, and tap its face twice. You’re late.

He nods while wiping his brow. His head lolls to the side, eyes closed, tongue sticking out in a comical manner. Slept in.

Shaking your head and tutting softly, you raise an eyebrow.

Both his hands shoot up in a I know, I know. Won’t happen again.

With a short nod, you go back to filing and leave Window Washer to his work.

By the time you turn around, you expect him to be gone. To your pleasant surprise, he seems to be waiting for you. He beckons you to the window. When you get close enough, you notice something written in the suds at the very bottom of the pane. The word doesn’t make sense to you, so you scrunch your eyebrows at him.

He taps himself on the chest several times and mouths “my name”. You look again and it finally clicks. B-U-C-K-Y. You nod your understanding and smile. It isn’t until he points at you that you realize he’s waiting for your name. You press your finger to the glass, waiting for him to mirror your touch. You trace your name on your side, allowing him to spell it on his side. He reads it and grins wide. Nice to meet ya, he mouths.

“Mary! Get in here, take notes.” You turn from the voice, eyes rolling into the back of your head.

Hooking a thumb toward your boss’ office, you sigh deeply. Gotta go.

Bucky held two fingers to his brow and gave you a half-hearted salute. Good luck in there.

------

You are dutifully typing a letter when a pair of shiny Oxford heels appear in your peripheral vision next to your desk.  “You need to go ask that boy on a date.”

Heaving a sigh, you keep your eyes on the task in front of you. “Didn’t we have this discussion yesterday, Suze?”

“Yeah, and you still haven’t wised-up.” Papers rustle on your desk as Suzy props a hip against it.

“On the contrary, I think I’m exercising a lot of wisdom.”

She scoffs, finally drawing your attention away from your paperwork.

“Someone’s a scaredy cat.”

“Suzy.” You fix her with a pointed look.

Pretending to have a sudden interest in her cuticles she mutters, “It’s the only possible explanation.”

“How do we know that note was an invitation? What if he was just saying hi? What if he-”

“Mhmm. Those are the thoughts of someone who is unafraid.”

“How do we even know if he’d want to go on a date with me?” You lean back in your chair, tired of this conversation.

The redhead’s eyebrows shoot up her forehead. “I’m sorry - ‘You looked beautiful’? ‘Can’t wait to see you’? Sorry, doll, but people don’t say that to just anyone. I adore you, but I can definitely wait to see you if it means coming in to work.” She dodges the playful kick you aim in her direction. “All I’m saying is that you weren’t here when he left that note - I was. He was all kinds of antsy and blushing.”

“He works outside, maybe he had a sunburn,” you deadpan.

“You were just talking about how you barely know anyone in the city and you need to meet new people. He’s new people!”

“But I don’t even know if I want a romantic relationship right now.” “Then you’ll tell him that after your first date if you still feel that way. But why shut it down now when it doesn’t even exist yet? Maybe he’s lonely too-” Suzy’s eyes dart behind you and her posture changes. She leans in toward you, feigning interest in the letter you’d abandoned. “Oh yes, those are the addresses I was looking for. Don’t know how they got on your desk. And you needed something from me right?”

You sit stunned by this sudden change of behavior until you see Flannery approaching your desk.

“Uhh-yes. I was wondering what the protocol would be for when. . .” you both watch as the office manager floats into the filing room and shuts the door behind her. You and Suzy relax back into your previous positions. “I never said lonely,” you point out, shoving your defensive instincts down.

Suzy rolls her eyes and with a wave of her manicured hand says “Fine, fine, you’re being adventurous. Does that make you feel better?”

“No.”

“Answer me one last question, Newbie, and I’ll leave you alone.” Raising a brow, you wait for the question. “What’ve you got to lose?”

You weren’t able to answer then, and you still don’t have an answer now.

Under Suzy’s watchful eye, the second your watch reads 12 o’clock you leave your desk and hustle down the stairs, hoping the physical activity would work out some of the anxiety in your chest. It doesn’t.

Turning the corner toward the service entrance you see the window washers gathered outside in a loose group, taking their lunch break. Your heart begins to beat faster when you imagine actually holding a conversation with Bucky. What in the world were you going to say to him?

I really should’ve thought this through a little more.

But then your feet were taking you toward the group and it was too late to turn back now. The clicking of your shoes on pavement draws the attention of each man whose heads simultaneously swing to watch you. You stop a few feet away from them, losing your words.

“Can we help you, miss?” The apparent leader of the window washing crew steps forward. He’s much younger than Bucky, scrawny and tan. He’d be lucky to be 18.

“Um. . .” you scan the faces, not finding the one you’re looking for. “Is Bucky around?”

The leader’s eyes narrow, giving you a too-thorough once-over. “Whaddya want with him? If it has to do with windows, I’m in charge here. Name’s Harrison. Maybe I can help you out.”

You control the urge to fidget under his scrutiny, steeling yourself to squarely match his gaze. “No, there’s something else I need to discuss with him.”

“He had to skip out early today. Something about a family emergency.”

“Oh. I see.” You think for a moment, not enjoying the pack of men watching you like vultures. “Would you let him know I stopped by?” You turn on your heel when Harrison speaks again.

“What’s your name, baby-doll?”

Shutting your eyes you remind yourself to watch your temper. Thinking better of giving your name, you spare a glance over your shoulder. Coldly you reply, “Tell him ‘Sixth Floor’. He’ll know.”

More questions are shouted at you but you keep walking, very familiar with the rakish tone in which they were spoken. You didn’t have time for drooling boys. For a moment you worry that Bucky is cut from the same cloth as them. But something deep in you urges that he’s different.

Unbeknownst to you, when Bucky arrives at work the next day Harrison actually does mention your visit.

“Barnes, some broad came lookin’ for ya at lunchtime yesterday.”

Bucky doesn’t spare a look from his kit he was preparing for the day. “Yeah? What for?”

“She wouldn’t tell us. Seemed kinda stuck-up and snooty. Like she was better than us or something.”

Hitching his kit over his shoulder to head to the roof, Bucky smooths back a stray strand of hair. “I hate to break it to ya, but if she was acting like that I’m sure you deserved it.” As the kid who was technically his supervisor opens his mouth to protest Bucky interjects, “Did she say anything else?”

Unamused, Harrison practically pouts. “She just said ‘sixth floor’ and said you’d get it. Then she left.”

Bucky stills immediately at the mention of you. “Really? She said that?”

“Yup. Was a bombshell too, real date-bait if you catch my drift.”

Eyes closing, Bucky imagines strangling the teenager in front of him rather than actually carrying out the action. “Shut your trap.”

“Wish she’d stop by again, wouldn’t mind an evening of necking with her.” He conspiratorially winks, mistakenly thinking he would go along with the sentiment.

Squaring up with Harrison, Bucky leans in dangerously close and says lowly, “You’d better watch that mouth, kid.”

“What’s the big deal? She’s not your girl or anything is she?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Bucky insists, eyes practically boring through the terrified kid in front of him. “She’s not yours, so don’t be a creep. Girls don’t like creeps, if you haven’t caught onto that yet. And I don’t either.” He leans back, smirking with satisfaction at the deer-in-the-headlights look he was getting. Resting his brush on his shoulder Bucky turns to begin his day.

“Keep your paws off me, Barnes!” Harrison shouts to Bucky’s back.

“I didn’t touch you, Harrison. Maybe you would’ve noticed if you weren’t always on skirt patrol,” Bucky tosses over his shoulder as he begins to climb the fire escape.

As Bucky climbs higher his thoughts turn to you. You’d been looking for him. You’d obviously shut down Harrison and the rest of the boys. Anyone that sassed that kid was a hero in his book.

Maybe his note hadn’t been a total disaster after all. Once he’d gotten into bed that night, he fretted over that dumb piece of paper for hours. He thought of a million things he could’ve said besides the three hastily scribbled lines. A million kinder, wittier, more fitting words for you. You’d been nice enough the next day, playful even. And he’d finally gotten your name - a sweet, suitable name that rolled around in his head for hours. But he couldn’t help feeling like he needed to do more.

He found himself even more excited to get to the sixth floor today, to see you, to have a little hope, to share in a smile. Though that’s not exactly what happens.

------

“Get in here, NOW!”

Anderson’s tone instantly drowns your insides with dread.

You rush to his door, quietly opening it. Anderson’s heels are crossed, kicked up to rest on the edge of his desk. His eyes bore into you, disdain obvious.

“Sir?” you make out much smoother than you feel.

“Do you know what this is?” he flicks a letter across his desk toward you. Quietly picking it up, you silently read its contents.

“The steel mill is turning down our partnership offer? Because they never received paperwork? Sir, I definitely-”

“Read the letterhead,” he bites out. “And then read what you sent out. What do you notice, Doris?” Another letter is flicked in your direction. You bite back a retort about your name.

Holding the letters side-by-side, a pit drops in your stomach. “I copied the address incorrectly.”

Anderson gives you a tight nod, jaw clenched. The room is claustrophobic in silence.

“Sir, I-”

“You cost us thousands of dollars with this idiotic move, because you didn’t proofread your work enough? Because you can’t copy a damn number over?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know how I missed-”

“You missed it because you were careless!” Anderson bangs a fist to his desk, causing you to jump a fraction. He stands up abruptly, stalking over to you. “This job isn’t a fucking joke. You were given a chance because you kicked up a fuss about being let go when our boys came back from war. You want this job? Act like it!” With every word Anderson steps in your direction causing you to match with a step backward. You are in his office’s threshold when he leans in and whispers menacingly, “If you can’t get a damn letter right then you shouldn’t even be here in the first place, Marge. Make sure it doesn’t happen again or you’re gone. Now get out of my office and fix your screw-up!” The door slams in your face.

Hands shaking, you make your way to your desk. Willing the tears not to fall you take a few deep breaths. Elbows rest on the surface, head in your hands, focusing on not falling apart in the middle of the busy office.

You’re tougher than this. A man raising his voice at you is nothing new. You are fine, you made a mistake. Don’t you dare lose your composure, it’ll only make you seem weak.

A tapping on the window directly next to your desk startles you. Bucky is there, looking more concerned than ever. He tilts his head, eyebrows furrowed together. What’s wrong?

The tears spill out at the kindness reflected in his own. You search desperately for a handkerchief before turning back to the window. Dabbing at your wet cheeks furiously, you gesture to Anderson’s office. You blink against the hankie, hoping to catch the makeup before it runs down your entire face. Pointing to yourself you mouth “my fault”. The tears don’t stop for several minutes, but everytime you look up Bucky is sitting at the window, watching you sorrowfully.

Eventually you dry up, puffy eyes meeting Bucky’s. “I’m fine,” you whisper, dropping your gaze to the handkerchief in your lap that you’ve been twisting into knots.

More tapping draws your attention back to Bucky, who promptly flips off Anderson’s closed door. You manage to stutter a laugh out in between your sniffles, feeling a little lighter already.

With an admonishing shake of your head that you don’t mean, you return his smile. Thanks.

You could be imagining it, but Bucky seems hesitant to move on to the next floor. Giving him what you hope is a reassuring thumbs-up you mouth, “I’m okay.”

Looking thoroughly unconvinced he watches you for a few seconds before nodding slowly. He drops out of your sight, though you still stare out the window where he had been.

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

One day passes where you don’t see Bucky at all.

Two days pass. No Bucky.

Three days pass. Zero handsome window washers.

When the end of your day comes and it hits you that he hasn’t made his usual stop you try to ignore the disappointment that prickles your heart.

It takes a while before it dawns on you that since you had started your job Bucky had washed every single window on this side of the building. Which meant he would move onto another side or possibly an entirely different building.

On your walk into work Friday morning, you notice that the window washing crew’s tools are absent from the sidewalk. An unfamiliar emotion has you biting your lip as you approach your desk.

I guess that’s that. We kept missing each other and time just. . .ran out. It’s not a big deal. . . If it’s not a big deal then why am I so sad?

Turning your gaze to the window immediately to your left, you notice a piece of paper in the middle of the pane. You stare for a moment, fairly certain that it hadn’t been there when you left work last night. With a purposeful step you go to the window, a sneaking suspicion in the back of your mind. You find a note written in a familiar hand taped to the outside of the window, the writing facing you so you could read it clear as day.

Chapter Five

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[atinychai]

First Contest Entry

Ace X Fem!Nurse!Reader

Modern AU!

Genre: Comfort, fluff.

Summary: Ace comforting his s/o after a long day at work.

It’s not as long as I originally planned however it seemed to flow better ending the way it did.  Thanks to my first winner for being so patient and I hope you enjoy this. 

It’d been a long day.  No that wasn’t quite right because for you everyday was a long day which meant today had just been longer than the rest.  What was originally supposed to be an eight hour shift had turned into a twelve hour shift and while you didn’t mind your shifts getting prolonged every so often, this was the fourth day in a row it’d happened.  Honestly the only thing keeping you going now was the fact that you’d been promised tomorrow off.  Supposedly you were supposed to have the next two days off but with the loss of two nurses it was hard for the hospital to guarantee they wouldn’t call you in.  At least you had the rest of tonight-hopefully-there had to be some kind of rule against them calling you in again today.

Unlocking your front door and stepping into your apartment you were immediately welcomed by the smell of miso and some kind of meat.  Shutting your eyes and quickly kicking off your shoes you took a deep breath, inhaling as much of the smell as you could.  

“Ace?” Stepping into the kitchen you couldn’t help but smile at the sight. Ace standing in front of the stove cooking what you could only imagine was miso pork; however the dish wasn’t what had you smiling not that you weren’t looking forward to it.  

“The apron suits you.”

“I think so too.” Ace responded with a lopsided grin, “How was work?”

Sighing and leaning back against the counter you shrugged, “Long.” Obviously there was more to your day but most of it consisted of mundane task or dealing with patients and right now you really didn’t want to talk or think about any of that. Ace seemed to understand though because rather than push the subject he simply nodded before moving onto the next subject, which was dinner.

It wasn’t too unusual for Ace to cook but between both of your hectic schedules it was far more common for the two of you to just order out.  There were now take out restaurants that either recognized your phone numbers or voices because whenever one of you called they always greeted you by name.  

“Let me get changed and then we can eat.”

Not bothering to wait for a response you headed into your bedroom, stripping yourself of your scrubs before you even entered.  At this point in time taking your scrubs off felt just as good as taking your bra off.  Okay well obvious the latter was still one of the best feelings in the world but the relief that came along with stripping yourself of your scrubs was pretty amazing too. Tossing your dirty clothes into an already overflowing hamper you grabbed a pair of shorts and one of Ace’s old shirts before flopping face first onto the bed.  You knew Ace was waiting with dinner but you just needed a minute. Shutting your eyes, you simply laid there and let your body and mind relax.  The last few days had been too much.  

Hospitals were always short staffed regardless of how many they employed but never in all your years working there had things been quite this bad, though considering it was the peak of flu season it really wasn’t all that surprising how chaotic things were at the moment.  

“So this is what you consider getting changed?”

Not bothering to lift your head or turn it to the side you replied, “I’m working on it.”

You definitely were not.

Feeling the bed dip besides you, you sighed and muttered out an apology though you still made no effort to move.  For a while the both of you were quiet-you just unwinding from the last few days and Ace just sitting there keeping you company as you did so.  It wasn’t like this was the first time you’d run yourself so ragged and while Ace understood what a hard worker you were he really did have an issue with you exhausting yourself this much, which is why when you left for the bedroom he grabbed your phone from the counter and shut it off.  He’d plugged it into the charger too but there was no way he was letting you get called back in tonight or on your days off.  He’d even gone as far as to take the two days off himself so the two of you could actually spend some time together and so he could stop you from going back to work.  

“Hey, don’t fall asleep yet you gotta eat.” Ace said nudging your side a bit, “Come on get dressed and let’s eat then you can pass out, I’ll even put on a movie for you to fall asleep to.”

“No because if I fall asleep you’re going to complain tomorrow.”

With a lot more convincing from him you eventually managed to get dressed and find your way to living room, where Ace had moved your dinner.  

“What’s the movie?” You asked as you took a seat besides him on the couch.

“Thatch gave it to me a week ago but I don’t remember the name-supposed to be about pirates or something though.” He answered while handing you a very filled plate of food.  Glancing down at you and seeing your face he spoke up again, “I’ll eat whatever you don’t finish don’t worry.”

“You eating that much just gives me something else to worry about.” You muttered after taking a bite of food, “You eat yourself into a coma sometimes.”

“Ah that’s no big deal after all gramps does the same thing and he’s ancient.”

With a slight twitch of the eye you decided to let he subject drop, not just because you were too tired but because you knew it wasn’t a debate you’d win. Plus despite eating himself into a deep sleep at almost every meal Ace was healthy-probably healthier than you to be honest.  Nodding as a means of conceding you continued eating, occasionally questing Ace about the movie and his day.  The movie was about several different pirate crews all in search of a single treasure-though none of them knew where to actually find it as there were no maps leading to it.  As for Ace’s day..well it’d been interesting to say the least.  

Their boss was away for business and work had been slow so Ace and the rest of the crew had started a sort of prank war with each other which Izo had surprisingly won.  You were impressed and slightly jealous.  You’d always envied the relationship Ace had with his coworkers, because really they were more like friends or family and the same couldn’t be same about your peers. Regardless of that though, hearing he had a fun day made you smile.  

“I can’t believe Izo won.”  Placing your half-filled plate on top of Ace’s empty one you chuckled, “You’re losing your touch.”

Ace gasped and looked at you with wide eyes as he feigned hurt which only made you laugh harder.  

Ace let you laugh for some time only clearing his throat once your laughter started to die down, “I want you to know you’ve just started a fight you won’t win.”

“I mean if Izo beat you out in a prank war-“

“-A fight you can’t win!” Ace interrupted, grabbing your previous plate before scarfing down the rest of the food on it, “Consider this your last meal.” He said between bites.  

“If it’s my last meal I want to eat more of it.” Ace easily dodged your attempts to get your food back though, not like you were trying all that hard to begin with.   Once he finished he grabbed the plates and headed into the kitchen.

“I’ll wash them tomorrow!” You yelled.

“I’m just putting them in the washer!”

“Rinse them first then!”

“Then what’s the point of the washer?!”

“Ace!”

“Too late!”

Huffing and turning back to the movie you grabbed a nearby pillow and hugged it closely to your body.  You didn’t know why you rinsed the dishes before putting them in either but you remember your parents always doing it so you’d always assumed you just had to. Maybe it was because the washer couldn’t always get the grime all of?  If that was the case though then what was the  point of the washer in the first place. Shaking your head you focused back on the movie.  

“Back.” Plopping down besides you and snatching the pillow away Ace pulled you into his lap, getting comfortable himself and then allowing you to get comfortable.  

“I was comfy.”

“And now you’re comfier.”

Well, you couldn’t argue with that.

After the first movie finished you started the next one, and it wasn’t until the third started that you started to get sleep, the last few days finally catching up with you.  If it wasn’t for Ace playing with your hair and rubbing circles onto your back you probably would’ve made it through the third movie however you dozed off and wound up missing the first half of the movie.  

“Ace whose the good guy?” You asked, voice heavy with sleep.

“The one in orange.”

“Mmm, weird color for a good guy.”

“So good guys can’t wear orange?”  He questioned only looking down when he didn’t receive an answer.  You’d fallen asleep again but unlike before your breaths were much steadier and deeper.  Looking over your face he couldn’t help but shake his head at how tired you looked.  He’d noticed it the other day but it somehow seemed worst now, maybe because you’d finally stopped trying to keep going and were finally letting yourself rest.  

Turning the TV off and picking you up with ease Ace headed into the bedroom.

He’d been worried you’d have to stay late tonight too and wind up missing dinner like last night.  He knew you’d eaten some leftovers this morning because he’d put everything away the night prior but he was pretty sure you’d forgotten lunch.  

Hypocrite.  Working as a nurse and lecturing people about taking better care of themselves when she was barely doing the same for herself.  

Laying back on the bed Ace sighed and pulled the blankets over himself before grabbing onto you once again and bringing you closer.  

“Idiot, you need to take care of yourself too.” He quietly muttered.

“I am.” Came your sleepy reply.

“Liar.”

“Not.”

“Mhm, sure.”  He waited a few minutes for your response, not wanting to miss it if you did happen to wake up again, “So now you’re really asleep.”

Yawning he adjusted his arm and moved your hair out of his face before shutting his eyes and drifting off.  

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML: Scarlet Lady au: Miss Fortune Part 4 (Final)

Part 1 / Part 2/ Part 3

(Scarlet Lady Au by @zoe-oneesama)

(Hot off my burning typing fingers. Part 4. Enjoy!)

______________________________________________________________________

Miss fortunate watched the cat hero’s hands shake.

“You seem tense Kitty. Is it because you know who is under the mask? Is it making you are have second thoughts?” The black clad villain inquired, her voice full of intrigue.

Chat noir steadied his hands.

“This isn't you Marinette. You are a kind, gentle person. Why are you doing this?” Chat noir questioned, trying to shift the subject.

“I am sick of Chloé always getting away with her bullying. I am sick of always having to be the bigger person. The one that has to force a smile when I feel like curling into a ball. Chloé deserves to be punished.” Miss Fortune stated. “Now be a good kitty and surrender.”

Chat noir felt his heart cry out. He knew that Chloé did bully Marinette, that she was a mean person at times, but hearing it from her. It really hit home. He swore in his head that after this was over, he would have a very long talk with Chloé.

Well aren't you quite the drama queen.” a familiar voice taunted.

A red clad super heroine entered the scene.

Miss fortune turned her attention to the arrogant Ladybug themed heroine.

“You’re one to talk. In terms of horrible personalities. I would say you are on par with Chloé.” Miss Fortune stated.

“That means so much coming from a crybaby that got akumatized.” Scarlet lady taunted.

Scarlet lady turned her attention to Chat noir, who she had just noticed was glaring daggers at her.

“Well don't just stand their like a scaredy cat, go and take care of this loser so I can get back to enjoying myself.” Scarlet ordered.

Chat noir felt his frustration boil over. That was the last straw.

“No.” Chat noir stated lately.

“Good now... what do you mean no?” Scarlet asked with a surprised look on her face.

“You fight the akuma for once. See how it goes. If you are so much better then her. Then beating her by yourself should be easy.” Chat noir clarified as he leaned on his staff.

Scarlet lady couldn't believe what she was hearing. Miss Fortune was surprised to hear the cat hero say it. 

“Are you seriously going to let her go on a rampage?”

Chat noir shook his head.

“I will protect Paris. I won't let her harm any innocent people. But if you want to stop her. That is on you bugaboo” Chat noir explained with a cocky smirk.

Miss fortune couldn't believe her ears. Chat noir was giving her the okay to beat the tar out of Scarlet lady. While taking revenge on Chloé is her main goal, taking down Scarlet Lady is a definite close second.

A purple outline appeared over Miss Fortune’s face.

“This is an unexpected gift. Miss Fortune, take care of Scarlet Lady. We will deal with Chat noir after we get her Miraculous.” Hawkmoth commanded.

“You don't have to tell me.” Miss Fortune answered with amusement.

“F-Fine! Ill take care of her myself. I’ll show Paris how little you actually do anyway.” Scarlet Lady explained.

Chat noir shrunk his staff and put it on video record mode. This was gonna be interesting.

Scarlet lady pulled out her yo-yo and started spinning it.

Miss Fortune pulled out her own and matched her motion.

Scarlet swung her yo-yo at the black haired akuma’s head only to miss entirely. Miss fortune used her own yo-yo and snagged her feet. The villainess pulled causing the girl to fall on the floor.

Scarlet tried to stand back up only to see Miss fortune charge at her and kick her square in the face like she was going for a strike on goal. Scarlet lady went flying several meters before landing roughly on the ground.

“Ouch...” Scarlet Lady nasally groaned.. She felt like her nose might be broken. She stood up and was standing just above a manhole cover

Miss fortune made her hands glow and activated her powers. Suddenly the manhole cover began shaking before shooting into the air, flinging the cocky red clad heroine in the air. Then watched as she was flung right into a nearby dumpster.

Chat noir wished he had popcorn.

Scarlet lady slowly stood up before realizing what she was standing in.

“GROSS!!!!” Scarlet Lady jumped out of the dumpster taking off the garbage that was on her.

Miss fortune laughed in amusement.

“Why are you taking it off? The trash suits you.” Miss fortune complimented, knowing full well it was an insult.

Scarlet Lady knew she was in way over her head. 

“Chat noir! Are you seriously gonna let her do this to me?!” Scarlet Lady yelled at the cat hero.

Chat noir didn’t comment as he moved closer to keep up with the action.

“Chat noir! Get your butt moving and fight her!” Scarlet lady ordered angrily.

Miss fortune laughed and charged at her.

“You don't get it. He doesn't want to help you. Why on earth would he?” Miss Fortune stated as she gave Scarlet Lady a good gut punch, knocking the wind out of her.

Scarlet lady moved back holding her gut. How was she getting overwhelmed so easily? Scarlet Lady went for her own punch, but Miss fortune easily dodged it.

“All you do is boss him around, insult him, treat him like a lackey. If I was him, I would have left you on your own so much sooner.” Miss Fortune jumped and landed on top of a street light.

“You never even thanked him once. If anything, I would be a much better partner then you.” Miss fortune commented as she activated her power. Causing the street light to start falling towards Scarlet lady. Miss fortune jumped off and landed right near Chat noir. Scarlet lady just barely rolling out of the way in time to avoid getting hit.

“What do you say Kitty? Why don't you join me?” Miss Fortune asked as she touched his cheek with her hand, causing the cat to look into her eyes. “We can take her Miraculous together. Then we can go after Chloé. We would make a really good team.”

Chat noir felt his pulse quicken as he felt Miss Fortune’s hand on his cheek. He took in her purple eyes that once seemed cold, were now warm. Her soft smile as she looked at him. How the wind blew her hair in just the right way. And her earrings caught the light just right to bring attention to her cute little earlobes. 

“Ummmm uh...” Chat noir felt his face turn red. Marinette, no, Miss Fortune was so close. He would be lying if he said he never thought about having Marinette be his crime fighting partner. Late night rendezvous. Saving the city, perhaps a kiss or two on camera causing a buzz for the news. It sounded like an ideal world.

“Ugh! That is it, time for the big guns.” Scarlet Lady exclaimed as she got up.

“Lucky Charm!” She exclaimed as she activated her power. Out appeared a ladybug print bottle of eye drops.

Scarlet Lady realized what she needed to do that as much as she hated to do it. 

“Chat noir... I am sorry...” Scarlet Lady confessed as she bowed her head.

Chat noir snapped out of his trance and turned his head to Scarlet Lady.

“I am sorry... the way I treat you... the way I order you around. It... It isn't right.” Scarlet Lady conceded.

“I need your help Chat noir... I... I can't beat her alone.”  She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

Chat noir’s eyes went wide. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Scarlet Lady confessed to needing his help.

Miss fortune turned his head back to her.

“Don't listen to her. She will never appreciate you the way I do. Leave her be. Join up with me.” Miss Fortune pleaded softly.

Chat noir placed his hands on her cheeks.

“Don't worry Princess, I know the best choice.” He smiled sweetly.

Scarlet Lady felt her heart sink into despair. Chat noir had ignored her plea.

Miss fortune was so happy to hear his words and her heart exploded when he went in and kissed her. She happily kissed him back sweetly as she enjoyed the spoils of her victory. Until she felt two hands touch her ears.

Chat noir broke the kiss as he held her earrings in his hand.

“Wha...” Miss fortune was shocked that he would do that.

“Sorry, Scarlet Lady maybe a pain in the butt, she is still my superhero partner. Maybe one day Marinette.” Chat noir crushes her earrings and the Akuma began flying out. 

Scarlet lady smiled and used her Yo-yo to snag it.

“Got you now you little akuma.” She exclaimed before purifying it before sending off on its own.

Scarlet Lady took her bottle of eye drops and flung it into the sky.

“Miraculous Healing.”

Sure enough all of the damage done by Miss Fortune was fixed and Miss Fortune turned back into Marinette.

_______________________________________________________________________

Hawkmoth tightened his fist before shouting. He was so close this time. He could feel it.

“I was so close. Next time Chat noir and Scarlet Lady. Next time I will have your Miraculous.”  He shouts as the window in his layer slowly closes.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Huh... what happened?” Marinette asked confused. She looked to see Chat noir smiling at her.

“You all right Princess?” The black cat asked, worried about her.

“Yea, I am alright... though I am bummed that I lost my backstage pass. I was at this fashion show and...”

“Oh whatever. You handle this Chat noir. I have to tell the world how I got betrayed by my terrible sidekick and just barely saved the day.” Scarlet Lady stated as she pulled out her camera.

Chat noir looked at her.

“Excuse me!? Weren't you moments ago begging for my help with tears in your eyes?”

Scarlet Lady laughed.

“Eyedrops genius! as if I would waste genuine emotion on a good for nothing traitor like you.” Scarlet Lady scoffed, before realizing her earrings started to beep.

“Are you serious!? After all of the...”

“Yeah, we will do this another time. I have to go. Later alley cat.” Scarlet waved as she used her yo-yo to swing out of there.

Chat noir sighed deeply. He should have expected her to be like this. He decides its not worth trying.

“Sorry about your...” Marinette tried to comfort the cat hero.

“Its alright, I know how she is. But enough about that. You should hurry. You need to get back to that fashion show.” Chat noir changed the subject.

Marinette looked down.

“I would, but Chloé took my way of getting back in.” She explained sadly.

Chat noir patted her shoulder.

“I wouldn't worry, I believe I noticed your friend holding your back stage pass. He was looking all over for you. You should probably go find him. But you will need these.” Chat noir comforted before handing back the girls earrings.

Marinette took her earrings and quickly put them on.

“Thanks Chat noir. You are the best.” She gives him a soft kiss on the cheek before running off.

Chat noir smiled as he watched her leave his sight Daydreaming about his luck before remembering something rather crucial.

“Oh right the Fashion show.”

______________________________________________________________________

“Im sorry Marinette.” Chloé states, clearly annoyed that she has to say it.

Adrien had found Chloé before running into Marinette. Adrien told Chloé that if she didn't apologize to Marinette, he would make sure she was never aloud to attend any of his photo shoots or fashion shows, and her parents connections would be unable to to anything about it.

“Its okay Chloé. I forgive you.” Marinette accepted her apology, happily holding her backstage pass from earlier.

“Good, you can go now Chloé.” Adrien stated, content that Marrinette had accepted the girl’s apology.

Chloé scoffed before walking away from the two. She turned the corner and her Swami popped out of her bag.

“What?” Chloé asked slightly irritated. Her Kwami had a smug smile on her face.

“I am just thinking about how when we are back home I am going to scold you until morning.”

Chloé groaned.

“As if things could get any worse.”

Tikki noticed someone coming and flew into her bag.

“Excuse me, I was just informed you do not have authorization to be back here. I am going to have to escort you off the premise.”

“What!? Of course I have ...” She went to reach for the back stage pass only to realize Marinette got it back “Oh no.”

The guard grabbed the irritated blonde as she tried calling out for Adrien to help her, while inside her bag, The red Kwami was enjoying the sweet taste of Karma.

_______________________________________________________________________

(And that concludes our story. I know you are expecting another part, as thats how I normally break it up. But I couldn't stop writing and decided to just roll it all in here. Let me know your thoughts on the final part and the story as a whole. I will be sure to do a master post with all my new fics.)

[hazyheel]

Fastlane 2019 Review

As far as WWE pay per views go, this was a pretty good show. The undercard was weak, but the wrestling only got better as the night went on. It was an enjoyable, but ultimately uneventful, with about two exceptions.

I actually watch the pre-shows for WWE, given they have matches and such, so I’ll throw in some highlights from the actual talk show portion. The IIconics showed up and were bulling the desk guys, that was funny. Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville talked to EC3, who finally spoke his first words. All he did was hit on the both of them, and they rejected him. It was even written into the script that they make fun of all the false build up to an anticlimax. Christian popped by and talked to AJ Styles about how manipulative Randy Orton is, which I like because of the awesome feud the two had in 2011. Fun times, but it’s never worth watching.

The match of the pre-show was Big E and Xavier Woods vs. Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura. Rusev hit an impressive wheelbarrow suplex on Woods for a near fall. Rusev hit a Matchka kick to Big E, but Woods broke it up. The was a very interesting submission sequence with Woods in the Acolade, but Nakamura pulled the bottom rope away from him to prevent the rope break. Big E then threw him into the barricade to take Nakamura out of the match. The New Day then hit the Midnight Hour for the win.

Grade: D-. I just didn’t care, and there were a bunch of botches. Generally boring, it didn’t need to happen. At least the right people won, but now Rusev and Nakamura lost the little momentum that they had. Luckily no one really watches the pre-show. 

Opening the main card was The Miz and Shane McMahon vs. The Usos for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships. Miz and McMahon started to incorporate actual tag team moves, although they were not particularly impressive. During the match, Shane was hurt on the ground as Miz hit the skull crushing finale, but the ref was too distracted to make the pin. At one point, as Shane went up for the Coast to Coast, but one of the Usos intercepted him. Miz’s dad then encouraged him up to the top rope, for a big splash, but it was countered into a role up for the win from the Usos. After the match, Shane was the one to turn heel. He beat up the Miz, and even got up in his Dad’s face.

Grade: C+. The match was surprisingly fun. I have enjoyed this storyline so far, and the match was have decent with some cool spots. The heel turn was done well, and I was actually surprised with Shane turning on Miz rather than the other way around. I’m looking forward to the promo on Tuesday about why he turned heel.

Elias appeared several times throughout the show. He didn’t really do anything of consequence. 

Then we had Asuka vs. Mandy Rose for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. The match was quite bland, but it came to an end when Sonya Deville attempted to introduce a Kendo stick into the match, but Asuka was able to hit the spin kick for the win.

Grade: D. Definitely boring. There were a bunch of botches, and it was generally pointless. It kinda furthered the breaking point between Deville and Rose, but that story has been on and off since Survivor Series, so I have lost faith in it.

Backstage, Big E and Xavier Woods found Kofi Kingston waiting to talk to Vince McMahon about the WWE Championship match. Vince promised that it would be a triple threat, starting now. Kofi went out, only to found out that Vince lied to him, and it was a handicap match against the Bar. They beat Kingston down, and when Big E and Woods came out to help, Nakamura and Rusev attacked them. 

Grade: B-. Even though it was squash match, it did its job. Lots of sympathy for Kingston, and it’s looking more and more like he will win the big one at Wrestlemania. As long as that is where this is going, I am into it.

Into the Raw Tag Team Championship matches, pitting the Revival against Bobby Roode and Chad Gable, as well as Ricochet and Aleister Black. Ricochet was playing the underdog throughout the match, while Black got the hot tags. At one point, Gable hit the O’Connor Role onto Black, only for Wilder to hit a frog splash, and then Ricochet hit a frog splash of his own for a near fall. Ricochet also hit a huge suicide dive over the corner of the ring, into Roode. The Revival then hit the shatter machine for the win. After the match, Roode with the Glorious DDT, Black hit the Black Mass, and then Ricochet hit a Michinoku Driver and then the 630 Senton.

Grade: B-. A bit disappointing, but I think that they could be saving it for Wrestlemania. Still a decent match, fun spots. Ricochet was definitely the MVP of the match, flipping and selling all over the place.

Now for the recently booked US Championship match, we had Samoa Joe, Rey Mysterio, Andrade and R-Truth. There was one point where Andrade caught Mysterio in a chokehold, and Truth clotheslined him, driving Mysterio’s head into the floor. Mysterio then reversed a powerslam from Joe into a tornado DDT. He even it a doomsday hurricanrana onto Andrade off the shoulders of R-Truth. Zelina Vega and Carmella attacked each other on the outside, and Joe used the distraction to get off a powerslam for a near fall. Rey hit the 619 on Joe, but he missed the splash, and Joe locked him in the Coquina Clutch for the win.

Grade: B+. The match was quick paced, with huge moves throughout and always something happening. Mysterio and Andrade did awesome work throughout the match, both selling and striking. R-Truth looked awesome too, and Joe got a strong win.

In the first defense of the Women’s Tag Team Championships, the Boss n’ Hug Connection took on Tamina and Nia Jax. They quickly established that Jax and Tamina were stronger. The match was quite boring, but there were a few cool double team moves from Bayley and Banks. Bayley picked up the win with a hurricanrana into a pin. The heels continued the match at the of the match, until Beth Phoenix stepped in and fought back. She too got beat up, eating a leg drop in the middle of the ring. Natalya came out to protect Phoenix, but ate a superkick for that.

Grade: C. I really wasn’t into the match itself, but the return of Beth Phoenix is so cool, that I am into it. Probably a Wrestlemania match springing from this. So the post match beatdown was super fun, but the match itself sucked.

Then we had the WWE Championship match, Daniel Bryan vs. Kevin Owens vs. a returning Mustafa Ali. Both faces teamed up on Bryan, but the alliance quickly devolved. At one point, Bryan hit a huge running dropkick to Ali, knocking him off the top rope and into the barricade. As the match progressed, Owens got more and more frustrated, acting more aggressive as the match went on. Ali then hit Owens with a reverse rana, and then hit Bryan with a Spanish Fly, but Bryan rolled out. Ali then went for the 054 on Owens, but Owens dodged and hit a stunner (apperently a new finisher), but Bryan broke it up. Even a pop up powerbomb to Bryan couldn’t seal the deal. Ali hit Bryan with an 054 on the apron, but when he went for the pin, Rowan pulled him out and joined the battle. Rowan was hit by two superkicks from both Owens and Ali, as well as a hurricanrana from Ali and a scary suicide dive from Owens. Ali then hit a huge tornado DDT from the top rope to the outside to Bryan. Owens hit Ali with a pop up powerbomb into the ring post, but Rowan threw Owens into the barricades, allowing Bryan a near fall, only for a two count. Ali and Bryan exchanged strikes in the middle of the ring, but when Ali went for a splash out of the corner, Bryan intercepted with the running knee for the win. After the match, Rowan hit his weird head slam thing on Ali.

Grade: A. An awesome triple threat that really saved a mostly mediocre card. Everyone played their roles in the match (even Rowan), and anyone of them could’ve won. Lots of awesome near falls, lots of huge spots. Scary stuff, and great work from all of them. I can’t even pick an MVP, because they were all essential to this match. Great stuff to everyone.

Now, a match that everyone wanted to see, we had Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair. If Becky wins, then she gets inserted into the Raw Women’s Championship match at Wrestlemania. In the early part of the match, Flair was just toying with Lynch, and mocking her for her knee injury. Flair targeted the knee throughout the match, both in legal and illegal ways. Flair was in control, until Lynch pushed Flair off the top rope into the outside, barely making it back into the ring. When she made it into the ring, Lynch locked in the Disamher, but Charlotte reversed it into the the figure four. At that moment, Ronda Rousey stormed to the ring and attacked Lynch. Lynch then won by disqualification.

Grade: B+. Entertaining match. Lynch’s desperation really showed through, and so did Flair’s viciousness. I think that Rousey’s interfering makes sense for her character, as she said that she wanted Lynch at mania. Plus, she is that cocky that she thinks she can beat two people at Wrestlemania. Charlotte seemed pissed, because she is a smarmy heel. While Becky was thrilled, because she took relatively little punishment for a DQ win.

So, during another one of Elias’s concerts, Lacey Evans did a catwalk, and then Randy Orton hit an RKO out of nowhere, and then AJ Styles hit Orton with a Phenomenal Forearm. It was all as confusing as it sounds in writing.

Then, in a surprising main event, we had the reformed Shield up against Heel inc. (Corbin, McIntyre, and Lashley) Before the match started, the Shield cleared the heels out of the ring, but quickly organized into an actual match. The Shield hit all of their double and triple team moves. Dean had a cool spot where he hit an elbow drop off of the corner post to McIntyre on the outside. Rollins and Ambrose hit their stereo suicide dives. Roman went for his as well, but was intercepted with a deep six for a near fall. it got to the point where Rollins and Ambrose brawled with McIntyre and Lashley, while Roman and Corbin fought in the ring. Seth took out McIntyre and Lashley with a crossbody off of a balcony in the crowd. Corbin hit the End of Days on Roman, but Rollins and Ambrose broke it up at the very last second. The heels were gonna go for the triple powerbomb on through a table, but again Rollins and Ambrose saved them. The Shield then hit triple powerbombs to McIntyre through a table. In the ring, the Shield surrounded the ring, with Ambrose hitting the Dirty Deeds and then the Shield hit the triple powerbomb for the win. The show closed with the fist bump, for what commentary claimed was the last time.

Grade: B+. Exciting match for sure. Really picked up at the end there too. The final minutes were absolutely awesome. A fitting 6-man tag to end the Shield’s tenure in WWE. Part of me still thinks that Brock may get a triple powerbomb at Wrestlemania, but we will see.

Overall Grade: B-

Pros: Shane O’mac heel turn, US Fatal 4-way, Beth Phoenix returns, WWE Championship, Lynch vs. Flair, 6-man tag

Cons: Pre-show match, Smackdown Women’s Championship, Women’s tag team championship, disappointing Raw Tag Team Championship

[atopearth]

Final Fantasy X-2 HD Remaster Part 1 - Chapter 1 & 2 on YRP’s Adventures

I still think that for all the dress spheres, only the main ones (including the songstress) had effort put into it because I remember the rest being pretty ugly lmao. . Anyway! Always happy to see Rikku. Not too fond of her costume since she’s barely wearing anything LOL, but I guess it suits her despite that. Leblanc the thief dancing in the form of Yuna is still weird lol, I know she took her garment grid but does that make her take on her face etc too?? Lol, I never understood that. I always find it so funny to go touch the crouched Yuna wearing the moogle costume to heal your HP/MP hahaha. I remember everything about the introduction so not much to say besides, I wonder when Yuna learnt to use a gun? Still think Yuna’s Gunner costume is like female Tidus, but I guess since the focus of FFX-2 is her seeing a sphere of Shuyin thinking it’s Tidus so she goes around looking for similar spheres to see if she can somehow find him again, it’s a very fitting costume haha. Brother learning their language to communicate better with Yuna is so cute. Anyway, let’s see if I enjoy FFX-2! I don’t remember much about it but I remember thinking it was okay…hahaha.

I still remember the running after and beating Leblanc to the top of the Mt Gagazet ruin in a limited amount of time! I remember thinking it was so annoying because I was so lost the first time I did it, and the timer being annoying didn’t help hahaha. Think I missed one item but whatever, I got there with like plenty of time to spare XD The most memorable optional visit is definitely the Luca one, I think it’s so funny to see Yuna’s perspective of the beginning, since she had to hide in a moogle costume whilst Rikku and Paine dealt with Leblanc the thief haha. Yuna’s so expressive in her moogle costume that it was pretty funny. Dona and Barthello in Luca are as meh as usual, never been fond of Dona haha. Running through Mi'ihen highroad was dangg tiring though, so many battles loll, the encounter rate is high. Oh well, I guess I learn my skills that way.

I remember visiting the Youth League headquarters and talking to Maechen, he gives a nice little background on what happened in these two years and how the Youth League came to be so it’s worth a listen even if it’s a bit long. Considering that Clasko enjoyed taking care of chocobos, I’m not sure why he’s playing tour guide here, at least he follows us along on the airship after? LOL when he asks if he can come along and the no option is “sorry loser”, so mean hahahaha. I also remember the mission at the Moonflow where you have to protect the hypello from bandits! I remember failing in the past hahahaah, I guess I’m better now since I did it on the first try?

Gippal was and will always be my favourite new guy in FFX-2, Nooj and Baralai have always been pretty meh to me. Gippal is funny, cool and pretty cute. I guess alike others, I would ship him with Rikku hahaha. As the leader of the machine faction, he’s doing a lot of good for Spira as well since he’s helping to improve their lives, such as fixing the lightning rods in the Thunder Plains so that we’ll never need to dodge lightning ever again hahaha! I still remember Macalania Woods very well because I really love how ethereal it all looks and since Tidus and Yuna had their scene here, it’s hard to not think it’s a beautiful place. So really, thinking about how the Fayth not being here anymore is causing the woods to slowly die is just so saddening. It only adds to the sadness to see the once proud Guado be left scattered everywhere, hiding in Macalania and other places after not being able to fend off the Ronsos that came for revenge. Considering how much the Guado did in support for Seymour, it’s difficult to not hate them, nevertheless it’s still sad though.

The Calm Lands seem even more vast now, so many mini games but yeah omg, that publicity campaign for one of the companies there, I remember that! I remember thinking it was so annoying lol. Had to track my footsteps and go back to all the places I went to, just to talk to all these people to get those publicity points zzzz. Argent it is btw! Seeing Kimahri as elder is really nice, too bad his job is difficult so it’s hard to get the approval of everyone there, but he’s trying so I’m happy. Wakka and Lulu expecting a baby is all I remember about Besaid haha. It was bad of Yuna to leave without telling anyone but I think it was the right choice, it was about time Yuna got the freedom she could never have and explore the world she saved. I remember silly Wakka hoping to find a sphere of his parents so that he could see how he should act as a father, but really, he just needs to act how he thinks he should and learn from there, no one knows how to be a parent from the start.

Lol, Yuna and them were so happy to steal that awesome sphere from both New Yevon and the Youth League and then felt bad so decided to return it to one of them? Okay lol. I’d definitely choose to give it back to the Youth League, so thankfully you have to choose them to get the 100% completion. I mean, New Yevon just continues to hide things all the time, like all these spheres etc, how do they want people to trust them? Well, Beclem (the guy that lets you play gunners gauntlet) is such an ass, no respect for the person that brought about the Eternal Calm, actually, he’s got no basic respect for even her as a person, zzzz. Otherwise, gunners gauntlet is a pretty fun game, I’m not bothered to get the points but it’s cool to shoot fiends with different bullets haha. Shelinda being a reporter now is very fascinating… Considering that she’s left the temples because she didn’t want to be ordered around like a slave anymore, why does she still wear her temple garments? Where’s her makeover lol. Seeing Calli (the girl that was excited for the Calm in FFX on the Mi'ihen highroad) was nice, just because it really shows that time has passed and people had the room to grow up doing what they want. Not sure if chocobo rights are best argued by saying we should get to ride them throughout the highroad since I feel like they should roam free but okay lol. At least the chocobo catching game was a bit fun, seeing it surrender was so cute but saddening lol.

If Yuna really joined the Youth League and got a Yunie Squad, that would be so funny loll. But really, as a high summoner and the person who brought the Calm, I’d agree that she should stay as neutral as possible but side more with the Youth League just because they really do have Spira’s best interests at heart. Not sure what Tobli’s concert is for but if I get the profits, sure thing! Easy way of earning 12,500 gil, yay! The data seller at Guadosalam is cool too! Got 70,000 gil for selling the data to the right person! Could have kept restarting to hopefully get the 100,000 gil but I was too lazy hahaha. As for the Thunder Plains mini games with calibrating the towers though? I hated that, I remember the pain so well lmao. I could only do 6 towers and gave up lolol. Could probably do 7 but if I can’t do all 10 to get the ribbon, why bother? Hahaha, sorry my reaction speed and hand eye coordination just isn’t that great lol. I also want to preserve my sanity. We even got Tobli the musicians at Macalania! Really, Tobli, what are you even doing lmao. Still sad to see them talk about how Macalania Woods is nearing its end since the Fayth are gone… Seriously though, everyone needs help lol, even Clasko deciding to open up a chocobo branch needs YRP to clean out the monster arena and catch chocobos for him lmao. I really wonder what Clasko really did as a soldier if he can’t even clean up some fiends though…🤔 Oh well, whatever, as long as he’s happy lol.

Alike Yuna, seeing Zanarkand as a tourist spot never sat well with me, so if pairing up monkeys can make them multiply and cause a monkey problem that will prevent people from coming, I guess it’s good? Lol, nah, I don’t like the idea of Zanarkand filled with monkeys either lmao, can’t they just label it as a historical site to be preserved? Sigh. Lmao at the way Yuna holds the monkey when you’re pairing them up though, it’s like the Lion King🤣🤣 Seeing that YRP quite blatantly stole the Leblanc syndicate uniforms (and spheres!) at every encounter, you’d think Ormi and Logos would strengthen their security on the premises but nope, YRP easily infiltrates! Also, kinda disappointed in Yuna dipping in the hot spring on Ronso sacred grounds, Kimahri trusted her to understand that so I didn’t think she’d be like the Leblanc goons and do such a thing as well, so yeah… Anyway, Leblanc is so smitten with Nooj, I wonder if he likes her at all? Are they together? That massage game was weird though lolll, I swear FFX-2 has the weirdest mini games to complete. How would I know which part Leblanc wants me to massage?!? Yes, I kept cracking her bones LOL. Anyway, just wanted to say that I’m glad I don’t write walkthroughs because I’ve been steamrolling through these boss battles so I don’t even know what they really do lmao. Paine as a Festivalist, Rikku as a Psychic and Yuna as a Songstress is the team I’ve been levelling and it easily deals with everything besides any instant kill moves lol.

Hmmm so there’s some sort of machina at the bottom of Bevelle called Vegnagun that could destroy all of Spira… Wouldn’t it suck if Yuna brought the Eternal Calm but then they all get killed by this machine? Lol. At least Nooj is aware and hopes to disassemble it before anything happens, guess Gippal might give him a hand? Not sure what Baralai’s objectives are right now though~ I see, so Baralai thinks that Vegnagun is too dangerous and shouldn’t be touched, so he’s stopping everyone from approaching, which is fair enough, what if it activates because you come close or whatever, very risky. Otherwise, underground Bevelle was pretty annoying with all the jumping, operating machines in different ways to get chests, kinda confusing but I guess it’s probably worth it? Lol, always good to get a ribbon! Anyway, fighting Dark Bahamut was kinda saddening, not the way we wanted Yuna to see aeons again, since it wanted to kill them etc. I wonder what happened to Vegnagun and Nooj and Baralai? Where did they all go?

[fullmetalirin]

FMA Brotherhood: Episode 19

FMA Brotherhood Episode 19: "Death of the Undying"

Kain Fuery manages to save Hawkeye, with Mustang coming to defeat Gluttony. Alphonse meets up with the group and they pursue Barry, who chases his body into the depths of the third laboratory. The group splits into two teams. Mustang and Havoc are ambushed by Lust, resulting in both men being grievously wounded and left for dead. Lust then confronts Barry, slicing him to pieces. Hawkeye, believing Mustang to be dead, desperately shoots Lust repeatedly with minimal effect. Before Lust can kill Hawkeye, Mustang appears, having cauterized his wounds, he repeatedly incinerates Lust until her philosopher's stone is depleted. No longer able to regenerate, she crumbles to ash. Barry's soul survives, but his blood seal is scratched out by his human body, which kills both of them. Edward returns to Resembool and heads toward the Rockbell residence where he sees his father Van Hohenheim at the grave of his mother Trisha Elric.

Mustang flashes back to Hughes' death when Riza doesn't respond and freaks out.

Then we cut back to Ling expositing. Oh joy.

Gluttony is strangling Riza. She's emptied her clip into his head but he's not dying. It's pretty gruesome, we see his wrecked eyeball. She empties another clip and pushes him back a little, but they're out of ammo again. For some reason, they just stand there like idiots instead of running. Fortunately, Mustang steps out of his teleporter and uses magic to generate force out of nothing to throw Gluttony out the window.

Riza yells at Mustang for saving her because lolwomen. Later she does thank him and then he's the one telling her to keep in professional, because women are just crazy nagging hags who don't say what they mean and need strong manly men to keep their heads in the game.

I really don't like the cracked-skin effect on the homunculi. It looks so fake, like a low-res CGI model.

How did Alphonse know where they were? Did Ling tell him?

Al informs them about homunculi's powers. Despite this they're going to continue to waste all their ammo shooting Lust later, because they're idiots.

Mustang uses Barry's rampage as an excuse to investigate the laboratory, which is clever. Barry doesn't kill anyone because serial killers are such polite people. Al has cartoon face during this, which I guess is appropriate since he really doesn't fit in here.

Lust shows up and Havoc gets distracted by her jiggle physics when he looks at her tattoo. As Tumblr helpfully explained to me, this is actually groundbreaking feminist representation because while it looks indistinguishable from normal anime objectification see it's actually making fun of Havoc for being a pervert and no, Tumblr, it's pandering. Perv pandering doesn't stop being perv pandering just because a woman drew it. But okay, sure, it's not that bad by the very, very low standards of anime, so maybe I can put up with it as long as it doesn't…

…do… that.

Guys, this is not making fun of perverts. Havoc is a hero and Lust is a villain. This is letting perverts be in on the joke. Tumblr, please for the love of God shut up about Brotherhood being so tasteful in its depiction of boobs, because it's not.

Anyway. Lust taunts Mustang about Hughes' death and then… looks actually pained when he shoots her (where Gluttony barely flinched). Why did she do that if bullets actually hurt her.

There is some gross banter about getting Lust on her knees. I'm sure this has also, through some strange Tumblr alchemy, been transformed into groundbreaking feminism.

Then Lust shows off her Philosopher's Stone because the author needed a way for the characters to learn a homunculus' weakness and couldn't think of a way to do it that didn't involve handing Lust the idiot ball. I've heard this is slightly less stupid in the manga and she only does this after Havoc gets injured, is that true?

Like I said before, this reveal utterly baffles me. So after all that buildup, the homunculi are just... monsters powered by magic. That’s so boring. They can no longer be used to ask questions about personhood and humanity -- I mean, maybe they could if the show actually committed to them being alien and different, but it doesn’t. What this comes down to is just that Philosopher’s Stones and rulebreaking magic is cool, so the homunculi have them so they can be cool boss monsters. Except they’re not cool. In OG, they were puzzles that required special knowledge and preparation to defeat; that’s cool. In Brotherhood, as we’re going to see, you beat the homunculi by just punching them in the face until the author decides they’ve run out of HP. They’re just damage sponges. And just as I revile damage sponges in video games, I revile them in TV shows too. Characters just throwing the same attacks at each other for five episodes is not interesting.

I also hate that this means Philosopher’s Stones are absolutely everywhere in this continuity instead of something actually special, a theme that will continue.

Lust says homunculi still have human feelings. Wow, what a dumb idea that no one would ever want to read about. It sure is a good thing Brotherhood decided to completely forget about this and just make homunculi boring boss monsters, huh?

Then, despite Lust using her claws as instant-kill ranged attacks in every prior fight scene, she now switches to sloppy, easily-dodged melee swipes, because Lust is really hogging the idiot ball today.

Mustang says he can decompose the water into hydrogen and oxygen to create an explosion even with wet gloves. This is totally inconsistent with what we're previously told, which is that creating oxygen is the easy part for him. He shouldn't need a spark to manipulate the air content, that should be a separate thing. This just seems like the author showing off a trick she remembered from chemistry class. It sure would be interesting if alchemy actually worked like this all the time, but Mustang never needs to do anything like this elsewhere.

Then despite having just been told that homunculi don't die when they are killed they walk right back into the room, because the idiot ball's really getting around today.

Cartoon when Mustang complains about being treated like a match. Because a climactic battle is definitely the time for that.

Then Lust FINALLY uses her spear-claws and stabs Havoc through the spine which, in a rare appearance of consequences, actually does paralyze him until the epilogue when Dr. Deus ex Machina heals him because consequences are for losers. I'm also a bit unclear on how she severed his spine without also severing his aorta.

Mustang realizes he can use Lust's Philosopher's Stone to heal Havoc and rips it out of Lust's chest. Lust screams in agony, implying this does actually hurt her, so again, why did she show it to him?

Lust's body disintegrates, but she's able to reform around the Stone. It's really gruesome. Somehow this does not crush Mustang's hand in the process, but she does finally stab him… nonfatally, because she's got the idiot ball again.

Bradley shows up outside.

Lust says Mustang was a candidate for sacrifice but she's killing him anyway. Uh, did she run this by the others? She then leaves him for dead instead of finishing him off because the idiot ball is strong this episode.

We then catch up to Barry, who tells us souls reject incompatible bodies. Al freaks out at this, but fortunately this will never matter for him.

Lust shows up to whine about how she has to kill Al. No, you don't. Just leave. You control the government. Bradley can give you another hideout at a moment's notice. The most important thing hiding here was you, and you just blabbed all your secrets anyway. Just cut your losses. You idiot.

Lust once again taunts someone into shooting her and once again staggers and screams in pain, because the idiot ball's terminal now. Shouldn't she also know she's running out of lives and this is maybe not the best idea right now?

Al vows to protect Riza because he’s tired of watching people die. It’s a nice moment that also happens way, way too early in his character arc. I like Al as the childish, out-of-his-depth foil to Ed’s easy confidence. This moment works better as a climactic ending reversal than as an offhand detail a third of the way through the story. If he’s just another noble heroic alchemist, he’s redundant with all the others we already have.

Meanwhile, Riza is hysterical and ineffective because she's a woman in a shonen anime.

You know, more seriously, I would like to point out that giving a female character awesome gun skills doesn't actually mean anything in a story about how non-guns are really awesome. We see a lot of great gunplay from Riza, but it's always alchemy that actually saves the day and gets all the focus. It's moving the goalposts. Sure, we'll give the woman a cool skill… that we will then choose to make useless in the context of the story. It's such tedious faux-feminism, going through the motions so you can say, technically, that you have a "strong female character" without actually doing anything to respect them or integrate them into the narrative. For every "strong female character" in Brotherhood, there's a male character who's stronger. Women are still, fundamentally, supporting characters – they're awesome because part of the male fantasy is an awesome support staff, but the boys get to be more awesome and the boys get to be who the story's actually about.

I really want us to start being more critical of representation like this. Treating strong female characters like a list of checkboxes is so totally wrongheaded. Characters don't exist in a vacuum. A skill that's impressive in one narrative or one power level may be completely meaningless in another. We need to look at characters within the context of the narrative they inhabit, relative to other characters and the framing of the work.

To prove my point, our resident Gary Stu has just appeared to show Riza up and beat the boss fight literally without moving a single step.

BUT TELL ME AGAIN HOW THIS SERIES IS GOD’S GIFT TO FEMINISM.

Mustang is using Havoc's lighter for a starter, despite explicitly establishing that it was busted earlier.

Mustang fireballs her again.

He also drew a perfect transmutation circle in his own blood and perfectly cauterized his internal bleeding despite explicitly saying he doesn't know medical alchemy. Now that his jacket's opened, we also get to see he's been hiding a Superman physique this whole time. You could put this in a parody of male power fantasies and I'd say it was too unbelievable.

Mustang fireballs her again. We get a gruesome close-up shot of her skin burning off.

Mustang fireballs her again.

Mustang decides he can kill this regenerator monster powered by the thing that supposedly has infinite energy by just killing her enough times, because he's read the script.

Mustang fireballs her again.

We get a closeup of her Philosopher's Stone, and coincidentally also a closeup of her tits.

Mustang fireballs her again.

And again.

I'd like to point out that every single one of these fireballs is ENORMOUS. Alphonse has to create a stone wall to hide behind so Riza isn't charbroiled too. We can see the entire room lighting up. I'd also like to point out this is in a SEALED UNDERGROUND ROOM, and FIRE REQUIRES OXYGEN. OXYGEN IS NOT INFINITE. If he lights the whole room on fire, he is DONE. HE USED UP ALL THE OXYGEN IN THE ROOM. HE CANNOT KEEP SPAMMING FIREBALLS. And I don't care what fanwank you can pull out to justify this, because the bottom line is that someone winning a fight by endlessly spamming the same move is terrible writing. This is not a climactic boss fight, this is just the Gary Stu showing off how awesome he is.

And through all of this Lust has done absolutely nothing except writhe and scream in agony, because Mustang is a Gary Stu therefore fire stunlocks everything. Only at the very end does she actually try to attack him, remembering she can spear people through the brain just in time for him to kill her while her spear is INCHES away from his face, because he's very awesome.

Also, HOW IS HE NOT BURNING HIMSELF HERE. HOW. HIS ARM IS IN THE EXPLOSION. HOW.

Meanwhile, Lust can still talk but somehow not extend her spear one more inch. Her Philosopher's Stone disintegrates, so the woman has nobly died to teach us that you can kill homunculi by just hitting them until they run out of HP, because that's so interesting.

And then Mustang collapses from his wound now that it no longer matters, invoking the very important power of the Not-Sue: see, he did all that while he really was one step away from death, that totally makes him less sueish and not more!

Mustang ignores Riza to praise Al for protecting her.

Bradley, our other resident Gary Stu, is revealed to have been watching the whole thing. He for some reason does not kill Mustang, thus establishing who has the greater Sue power.

Winry is sulking and hoping the man comes back safe because that's her purpose in life.

Then we end with more Barry, because we really needed that. His body is somehow still not dead, and erases the seal on the one part of the armor that stayed intact, killing them both. What was the point of this?

Then the show remembers Ed is supposed to be the protagonist. We cut to him for five seconds to discover Hoenheim has conveniently returned to Resembool at the same time as him.

Conclusion

A lot of people tell me that OG was misogynist garbage and Brotherhood is super progressive.

I don't know what anime they watched, but I just saw the sole female antagonist – and let's take a moment to reflect on the fact the sole female antagonist is Lust – die a gruesome, disgusting, sexualized death less than a third of the way through the story because she was too busy flashing her tits to actually fight, for no other reason than to show how awesome a dude is.

This is my breaking point. There is no coming back from this. I don't care how awesome Olivier is. Anyone who recommends this show as full of ~great female characters~ without thinking this content deserved even the teensiest of caveats is not anyone whose judgment I trust.

And sure, let's be real here, I watch anime, I'm willing to put up with some misogynist crap if there's something else worth my time. But this has established, very definitively, that there absolutely will not be anything worth my time. Lust, as we will see when we continue with OG, was an incredibly important and complex character in the original anime, absolutely crucial to the narrative of the homunculi and many of the things I loved about the story. And this is what Brotherhood does with her.

And that's not even the only awful thing about this episode! Ed wasn't in it at all! Mustang's takeover of the narrative is complete. He's the one who got to solve the mystery, fight the villain, and save the day, pretty much singlehandedly. And I'm sorry, but even if he wasn't an insufferable Gary Stu, Mustang just doesn't interest me as a character as much as Ed. I like him as a deuteragonist to Ed's protagonist, not the other way around. So no. This episode really hammers in that there is absolutely nothing here for me.

But lucky you, I read a plot summary of all the episodes after this, and I know the very next one is something I want to complain about too! So we'll keep going for one more episode. One last nail in the coffin.

[eternityengine]

okay so I wrote a “review” (really just my thoughts in a disorganized way) of Sonic Forces about a year and a half ago and never got around to posting it, but I still have it so I’m posting it now because I have opinions

Main Game

Green Hill. Again. Argh. I mean at least they tried to change it up a little by throwing sand over it but that didn't really make any sense. (sega plz)

Look, I like Chemical Plant alright (for some godforsaken reason), but it's already been in Gens and Mania. Just give us Mystic Cave Zone or Mushroom Zone or something! Hell, use both! We could have Mushroom Zone instead of Green Hill Zone!

I gotta say the goop waterfalls in Network Terminal are really flow-breaking, you just come to a dead stop if you touch them and have to stop half the time to avoid hitting them, and you can't reliably avoid them very well. You can't even boost through them!

Luminous Forest is pretty and all but uuuuuggghhhhh casino levels suck

Infinite is delightfully edgy and I thoroughly enjoyed him, but they didn't utilize him very well.

Infinite's battle themes reflect his boss battle quality!

First battle: total banger of a song, pretty good boss fight (runnin’ on a SNAKE)

Second battle: excellent song, decent boss fight (best use of his nightmare zone powers, at least in the first half)

Third battle: okay song, boring reskin of the Metal Sonic boss fight

Why did they not give us a Chaos boss fight :( lame

Also why did Infinite use Chaos 0 instead of literally any other version, all of which are stronger? Like, would Perfect Chaos use too much energy or something?? He made giant snake versions of himself just fine...

Actually, why couldn't those have been Chaos??

Metal Sonic fight was okay but way too similar to Silver's in Gens

Also why is Metal Sonic a copy?? Just use actual Metal, come on, Eggman

There was no resolution to Infinite's plot and I am disappoint

Why does Infinite just flip the Avatar around with the Phantom Ruby in Metropolis? I feel like he should be at least shooting cubes at you or something instead of just occasionally passing by to frick with your gravity in suspiciously convenient ways

If Sonic was tortured for six months why is there no indication of this? He doesn't look or act any different than usual. Even without being tortured (as in the JP script), he should at least have some ill effects from being imprisoned for half a year.

I'm okay with Knuckles being the commander of the Resistance but who thought it was a good idea to let him come up with strategies? He's mostly a traps and punching guy on that front. I realize Tails was gone and all but I feel like most of the other characters could have strategized better.

Classic Sonic does basically nothing of note and has the worst levels and gameplay. Why is he even here if they weren't going to use him properly?

Caveat: I'm mostly going off of other people's statements re: his gameplay, I suck at Classic games overall and would probably dislike his levels regardless

Why does destroying the Phantom Ruby send Classic back to his dimension? I wouldn't think the Ruby would need to actively hold him there...

First of all, I feel like Tails should have been able to fix Omega. Secondly, why did they leave him there for six months?? Thirdly, HOW DID HE GET FIXED????? (Loved that he was here, though.)

I want to see the fight between Silver and Infinite, it was probably super awesome

Okay, so I can kind of excuse the giant snake given the giant worms of Lost Hex, but why would it try to eat Sonic. He'd be a tiny snack. What does it even normally eat? Other giant snakes?? (Is it an illusion??)

Why are both of Classic Sonic's boss fights just bomb tennis

Why is the final boss called a Death Egg Robot? The only similarities are in the first form's head (when protracted) and its primary (shoulder) arms. The rest is tentacle snake nonsense. And the second form is a straight-up tentacle robot, and somewhat similar to the Nega-Wisp Armour. And it's not even on the Death Egg!

Final boss was really ominous though, I liked it. First, dramatic orchestral music. Then, it murders you repeatedly by barely telegraphing its attacks to a first-timer. (Stop killing the floor!!) Then you "beat" it and a chestburster tentacle robot explodes out and dumps you in null space. The actual tentacle bot fight was kind of a letdown though, it was basically just the Nega Wisp Armour from Colours instead of something new... (also I was bad at timing my laser dodges so some salt there)

How is Classic Sonic doing Homing Attacks in the Death Egg Robot's third phase? He literally can't do them yet, wtf. (I choose to believe Modern Sonic and/or the Avatar is throwing him at it :P)

The water slides in Aqua Road are neat and fun the first few times, but when you're trying to S-rank the level they are such a pain. The RNG with the Motobug bouncing is the woooooorst. (Getting unavoidably knocked into spike balls sucks.)

Also why were a) spike balls there to begin with, it's enough of a challenge not falling out, and b) the spike balls moving slower than everything else in the slides? And then slow you down to their speed if you hit them, so when your invincibility runs out you're still glued to them and die?

Avatar gameplay is really fun, but I'm not a fan of how many automatic grapple points there are. Just let me do it!! It's not hard!!!! (Plus some of them are really unnecessary)

No boss fight with fake Shadow either, but that's less disappointing than Chaos for whatever reason (maybe because he's around more?)

Gotta say though I liked a much larger portion of the music in this game than usual, it's really good

However, the music for Classic's Green Hill stage is screechy garbage.

A good chunk of the stuff conveyed with the overworld dialogue would have been better presented as actual cutscenes (esp. the ones that use sound effects :/)

There is literally an area called "City" are you freaking kidding me

Okay, so Eggman decides to drop the sun on the Resistance...but he's also there?? I assume he's like, just not included in the illusion and is just laughing at their stupid faces, but it would have been nice to have some indication of that.

Why even make Zavok copies?? He sucks and no one likes him. Also he's kind of part of a set, where are the other Zeti copies?

I realize this is a video game, but why does Infinite make such easily dodgeable cube obstacles/attacks? "Ah yes let me make some long rectangles with big gaps to go through at each end, this will never fail"

I would like to thank Sonic Team for not making Imperial Tower a timed mission, that shit was hard enough as it is

I would also like to thank Sonic Team for making Imperial Tower so easy to cheese with Hover Wispons

I really wish the Null Space level had more...Null Space. You're in it for like 30 seconds, and it's a waste of a really pretty level design. AND it's just a straight shot that's 80% Double Boost.

Why is Double Boost a thing? The Avatar is just some random civilian, they shouldn't have weird team-up super speed powers.

I love that basically all of Sonic's friends are here doing stuff again, it is glorious. (Even though they were kind of epic fails until the Avatar joined/they got Sonic back...)

However, it would have been nice to see them occasionally doing stuff in the levels (like beating up robots in the background or something), rather than just in cutscenes.

Classic Sonic doesn't get an Infinite fight. :(

Which is weird, since he's the only playable character with Phantom Ruby experience/story.

In Final Judgement, the radio chatter includes them going "so this is where Eggman built Infinite" and...there are several things wrong with that. First of all, "built"? He's organic, it would be better to say something like "created" - even putting aside that that would be more metaphorical, as Eggman didn't straight-up create Infinite the person, just his current identity (not that they have any reason to know that - but they have no reason to think he made him either). Secondly, how are they coming to this conclusion? There's no tubes or assembly machines around until the end tubes with Phantom Ruby prototypes(?) in them, and those are part of the reactor. Plus an early cutscene has Infinite in a tube in a completely different area, though it could have been contained in the same superstructure. I mean I guess you could argue that the level looks like a factory?? Thirdly, how can they even see inside? They're not there.

Episode Shadow

Why is this so goddamn short. Only three levels? Really??

Why is the last cutscene just the first one from the main game?? They should be explaining where tf Shadow's been during the main game! So lazy.

Aqua Road is like 80% waterslides whyyyyyy

Infinite is really bad at getting revenge, holy shit. He just...illusions him for a bit until he gets away?? With some cube attacks tbf but STILL...

Also this shit never comes up in the main game why exactly? (I know the answer is probably they came up with this later like FOOLS, but argh)

ALSO also why do Infinite's attacks not send Shadow into the nightmare realm like they do in the main game?

Why do they go to such lengths to hide Infinite's face if they just straight up show it in his comic??

Honestly the way Shadow treats Infinite in this feels kinda out of character. I feel like he wouldn't be quite that harsh. (Definitely in character if it was Boom!Shadow, though...)

I am disappointed that Shadow is just a Sonic reskin. Let me use Chaos Spear! >:(

Also disappointed that Shadow can only be played on Modern Sonic stages; why not also Tag stages??

Misc

Infinite's theme is hilariously edgy and I love it (could do without the rap tho)

Kinda disappointed that this game has no fancy CGI cutscenes. I always look forward to those...

I think they had way too much nostalgia-baiting in this game. Classic Sonic, four previous Sonic villains (mostly Chaos and Metal Sonic though), Death Egg Robots, Green Hill and Chemical Plant and Death Egg...it just smacks of desperation. Not sure if it's "Generations was popular let's do that again" or just general trying to get fans back, but it's silly. You expect this sort of thing for Generations bc it was an anniversary game, but this one decidedly isn't and it feels like they're grasping at straws trying to get/keep players.

Also this is a Modern Sonic game, why is 50% of the content not playing him. Why is Classic even heeeeeeere

[taeminsphltrum]

Act of Kindness | 06 |

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 07

Yoo Kihyun | Fake Relationship!AU | Fluff | Smut

Since day one, boundaries and personal space were never really part of the picture.

[this is fluffy and smutty as hell. enjoy :))]

Kihyun looks just as puzzled as you feel when he walks outside—now dressed in light jeans and a white tee with no make-up—looking both ways before his eyes land on your form leaning against the wall.

“Why are you out here alone, baby girl?” he frowns as he walks in front of you. “What’s wrong?”

“I just needed to clear my mind,” you reply. 

There’s already a tight feeling in your throat at the fact you’re about to open yourself to him and put everything on the table with no way to take anything back. But Hoseok’s words repeat in your mind and give you this little sliver of hope that you’re going to hold onto until the last second.

“Talk to me?” Kihyun asks, lifting a hand to cup your face. You’ve never flinched at or dodged his touches, so it worries you why your body’s reaction to seeing his soft hand reach up to your face is to lean your head the opposite way. His brows furrow, hand falling limply to his side and the hurt and confusion in his eyes makes you feel like you just kicked a puppy right in the face. “____…”

God, you feel like such a shitty person for bringing his mood down and making him worry about you on the night of his showcase. He was just smiling and laughing minutes ago and now the down curve of his lips is like a punch in your face.

“Why… what happened this week?” you hesitate to ask, trying your hardest to maintain eye contact.

The wrinkles between his brows deepen.

“What do you mean?”

“You disappeared for a week then called me like it was nothing. Maybe I sound like a whiny brat but you even texted me in the middle of learning choreography and other times you’ve been really busy,” you elaborate. You know the next thing you’re about to say has nothing to do with the situation but you really just don’t want to sound like a whiny brat that’s overlooking such a simple situation because of your feelings. Hoseok’s words have no meaning as your doubts start getting to you again. “Did you have another breakdown? You said you’d tell me—“

“No, no. That’s not the case,” Kihyun interrupts you, shaking his head wildly before sighing. “God, I was really hoping this conversation could be avoided a little longer.”

Now your eyebrows are scrunched together. Your heart drops to your stomach because you know this is when he’s going to tell you something that you don’t want to hear.

“Honestly, I was avoiding you.”

And there it is. 

His gushing about you stopped because he realized your feelings and he didn’t want to hurt your feelings by rejecting them. The conversation Hoseok overheard was going in the opposite direction of what he thought. Because this fake relationship has been starting to feel real Kihyun’s been avoiding you because that’s not what he wants. He wants you to remain as the therapist that helps him get recognition in the media that he can hug and cuddle with platonically because when his career started he didn’t have the time to have a girlfriend. He put distance between the two of you because you’re just so fucking obvious and he needed you to get a grip and realize what you guys have is fictional. He didn’t really want you to come tonight. His boss knew that if you showed your face at the showcase it would draw attention and have people talking about Monsta X. Kihyun’s too nice to tell you straight up that you need to get over yourself and that you’re here for business and shitty advice and nothing more—

“And I realized that was a dick move, so I apologize for that.” His voice is low and soft and somehow it makes you feel even worse.

Blinking back the tears of embarrassment and swallowing the thick lump in your throat, you ask, “Mind telling me why?” 

Your voice is surprisingly even and you shock yourself.

“I feel like shit for closing myself off from you after we were getting so close but I did it because I just needed some time to get my shit together,” he laughs bitterly with a shake of his head. “Not really an excuse, but yeah.”

Nodding, you clear your throat. “It’s not that big of a deal. I could’ve reached out but I didn’t, so…” you trail off, looking down at your shoes.

He breathes out a laugh.

“I already know you well enough to know you don’t text first unless something important comes up,” he tells you about yourself, your eyes widening in shock. “I went from texting you as often as possible to trying to avoid you at all costs because of some stupid mistake I almost made that night you came over.”

You swallow harshly.

You already suspected that night was what made him go ghost, but the fact that he’s really telling you this to your face is unexpected. 

At the mention of that night, your mind goes back to it, thinking about when you felt as if he was about to kiss you. But with all these self-doubts and bitterness swirling around in your head, you can’t help but think if you were just imagining it after all. What if you just wanted him to kiss you so you interpreted his actions completely wrong? Literally nothing makes sense when you’re upset and overthinking and it’s annoying you even more right now.

“Stupid mistake?” you whisper, too afraid your voice will crack.

As in possibly almost kissing you or inviting you over and getting your hopes up unintentionally?

If he means the latter option, you might just break down right then and there because of how harsh the reality of the situation would be. You’re not even a super emotional person, but if someone were to refer to inviting you to their place as a stupid mistake, how else are you supposed to react? 

If he’s referring to almost kissing you, it’ll still be harsh, but expected. The first interaction you had with him consisted of him telling you he hadn’t been in such close proximity with a female in a while, so that night at his place he could’ve just been so caught up in the moment with him being so exhausted and so close to you on the couch. No feelings nor ill intentions behind his actions. And if you’re being honest with yourself, after a week of saying the situation hasn’t bothered you, that definitely rubs you the wrong way. Such an act with no meaning behind it, and even though he stopped himself it was too obvious and now it’s been a week without speaking.

Kihyun’s eyes close as he takes a deep breath, his head tilting to the ground. 

“I…” he hesitates.  “I really wanted to kiss you that night and I was about to, but then I remembered what we are.” Heart beating out of your chest you almost choke at his confession, eyes lifting to look at him. Kihyun keeps his eyes closed and head down as he continues, “I tried to blame it on how tired I was the next day but if I’m being honest, I’ve been wanting to kiss you for a while now.”

Okay, your mind definitely didn’t consider that possibility and when the words come out of his mouth you can’t help but stare at him stupidly. He finally looks up at you, and when your mouth opens to say something (even though you have absolutely no sentence that you could put together with all those doubts and his confession circling around your brain) he’s speaking again.

“Let me finish before you say anything,” says, eyes widening before quickly adding, “please?”

You give him a dumb nod that matches your stare.

“We’re a business couple right?” he asks, voice only slightly above a whisper.

You blink at him. Yeah, you’ve been saying that to yourself but hearing the words come out of his mouth rubs you the wrong way.

“We go on dates for the public to see. But that night I invited you to my dorm because I genuinely enjoy your company,” Kihyun explains, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. And if you were to say the look in his eyes and his words don’t make your stomach flip, you’d be lying. “I don’t know much about you other than the basics and we haven’t known each other long… but I feel this attraction to you and I want to act on it.”

At this point, he’s back to looking down. You’re registering his words but you’re having a hard time letting them sink in, still trying to wrap your head around the word vomit that’s spewing from Kihyun’s mouth.

“I just don’t know if the feeling is mutual, hence why I didn’t bust such a bold move on you that night. I’m an affectionate person so I’m a hugger and cuddler when it comes to people I’ve known for a while but I just can’t stop myself from wanting to be close to you when I’m around you. It took me a whole week to come to terms with my feelings and this time apart has honestly been torture,” he admits with an exhausted laugh at the end. 

Kihyun takes another deep breath before shyly looking up at you, to find you still looking at him like an idiot.

“Is your silence your way of telling me it’s not a mutual feeling?”

His question has all those thoughts from earlier in the week that you claimed were irrational swooping back to your mind in less than a second it seems. You read his body language, words, and every other fucking sign he gave you correctly. You weren’t being illogical when you kept having what if thoughts. The questions of being anything more than a business thing all made sense and you don’t know if you want to laugh or cry at the realization because a whole week. It’s not even that long of a timeframe but at the same time, all of this extra time and doubt on Kihyun’s end could’ve been avoided if you were just honest with your feelings that you knew were building up for him. If you would’ve just texted him like your body wanted this could’ve been avoided. The two of you were in the same boat at one point when it came to the uncertainty of what the real terms of your friendship/relationship are.

“It is,” you confess, voice barely audible. 

The look of shock that washes over his features is endearing and you let your tense body relax with a quiet laugh, shoulders dropping comfortably with a nod of your head.

The door opens but you don’t hear the creak it makes, too focused on the smile that has replaced the frown that was on Kihyun’s face. 

“I really wasn’t expecting us to have this talk like th—“ 

Kihyun’s eyes get wide and his body jerks forward. He catches himself with his hands on the wall, his arms caging you in and his face so much closer. If this isn’t deja vu you don’t know what is.

His head snaps to the side and you follow his gaze, only to see blond hair and broad shoulders shaking with laughter, walking away from you two and down the alley towards the street.

“He always has to ruin the moment,” Kihyun curses under his breath with a puff of air. 

“If it weren’t for him this conversation wouldn’t have just taken place,” you say softly.

Hoseok gave you a little push and he’s doing the same for Kihyun.

Another puzzled look washes over his face but you don’t let him question what you mean, bringing your arms up to loosely wrap around his neck.

“You know, right now would be the perfect time to finally kiss me,” you sniff, speaking as if you were simply talking about the weather.

Kihyun’s lip twitches in his attempt not to smile, but he gives up and lets it take over half of his face. The mole above his lip and perfect teeth steal your attention once more.

Hands gently land on your sides. 

“Oh yeah?” he licks his lips while his eyes fall to your mouth.

You nod, rubbing your lips together.

“You sure?” 

“Mhm.”

“Positive?” he asks as he gets just the slightest bit closer.

“One-hundred percent.”

He leans in, mouth centimeters away from yours only to take a detour at the very last second and press a gentle kiss to your left cheek.

“Like this?”

“Not exactly,” you laugh out. “Here,” you bring a hand to the side of his face and barely push on it to bring him back in front of you.

“Oh. So like this,” he pecks your forehead.

You scrunch your nose and put your arm back around the junction between his neck and shoulders.

“For someone who said they’ve been wanting to kiss me for a while now you su—”

This is what you’ve been wanting since Kihyun not so smoothly pressed you up against the wall weeks ago. The soft, hesitant presses of his lips are what you were hoping for that night on his couch. The way your eyes shut slowly, lips puckering to meet his timid, chaste kisses, the way your heart slows down then skips a beat before finding a quicker rhythm than before is all worth the wait. How Kihyun’s confidence kicks in at you kissing him back, him parting his lips to kiss you properly and firmly is all worth the self-doubt. 

His grip on your waist tightens when you moan softly at the feeling of his tongue swiping across your bottom lip before he cradles your face in his hands. Kihyun takes a deep breath through his nose, tilting his head to deepen the kiss and nudging your tongue with his own.

“Ki,” you mumble against his lips, smiling when he hums but doesn’t stop kissing you. “We should leave,” you barely manage to say because a moan threatens to slip out when he steps even closer, a thigh finding its way in between both of yours. “Anyone could walk by and see us.”

“It’s dark and no one is going to come back here, baby girl.”

Teeth gently nibble at your lower lip, almost distracting you from trying to convince Kihyun to get off of you for a few minutes so you can continue this is in a more private setting.

“Baby,” you try, clenching your jaw to fight back a smile when the nibbling falters and he backs his head up to look at you with wide, blown out pupils. “We can go to my place. Krystal won’t be home for a couple days.”

◅ ▻

“Are we—”

You don’t let him finish his sentence, cutting him off with your lips pressed to his.

When you were driving he couldn’t seem to get his hands off of you. Touching your thigh, interlacing his fingers with your free hand. The bulge in his pants easy to spot in his light washed jeans, even in the dim lighting of the night, and easy to feel when he teasingly brushed up behind you like there wasn’t enough space between your body and his bed while you two were picking up a pair of clothes from his dorm. The few members that were at the dorm watched as you guys walked from the front door to his room, then back to the front door with a bag hanging from Kihyun’s shoulder, knowing smirks and eyes squinted in amusement. It was embarrassing because not only is picking up clothes obvious as fuck, Kihyun decided to walk close behind you to not-so-discreetly hide the result of making out.

But now that it’s just you and him in your room with no worries of getting caught or listening ears, the embarrassment is gone.

“We could,” you answer his unsaid question, walking backward until your bed stops you. “Seeing you dance has me curious,” you say lightly, trailing your lips to his cheek.

“About?”

His voice is lower than usual and it makes your stomach stir.

“How good you’ll fuck me.”

That sentence alone sets him off and he’s back to how he was in the alley, removing any space between your bodies as the two of you fall onto the bed. Kihyun settles in between your spread legs after reaching the middle of the bed, putting his weight on his knees and his forearms beside your head on your pillows.

His mouth is harsh and sloppy against yours, nothing but teeth, tongues, and spit. You claw at his sides, grabbing the cotton covering them to pull him down further onto you. 

This isn’t at all how you imagined the night turning out. Watch the performances, greet him afterward with compliments, then say your goodbyes to everyone after hanging around for a little bit. Come home, take a bath and watching tv until you passed out. That’s how you envisioned the night. Not Kihyun slowly grinding on you, making your body heat up and everything blurry with his hungry kisses.

“So you enjoyed the show?” his breath tickles your ears, a shiver running up your spine at him mouthing at your earlobe. 

“Ye—yes,”  you barely get out, Kihyun mouth latching onto the skin at the juncture between your neck and shoulder. The breathless moan has his hips rolling down into yours harder, mouth sucking harder. “God, yes.”

Sneaking your fingers down to the hem of his shirt, you crawl them under the fabric. The uneven skin covering his abs feels so smooth under your light fingertips and you feel the way his stomach clenches at your soft touch.

“I didn’t know you sang that well,” you praise him, stretching your neck to the opposite side of where his lips are trailing up. You feel the leftover stickiness of whatever his makeup artist put on his lips but it doesn’t bother you one bit.

He laughs softly, breathily. “I told you to watch the show.” A hand moves to slide up your torso, stopping under one of your breasts to cup it. The action causes spillage, the top of your breast coming out of the low collar of your jumper. “Maybe you’ll start listening to me?” he questions, voice muffled due to the way his mouth engulfs the newly exposed skin. 

The retort on the tip of your tongue is delayed, replaced by a humming noise that squeaks towards the end because teeth teasingly nip at your chest. 

“If I never listened to you, would you be in my bed right now?” Your voice is weaker, softer than you wanted but it’s hard to care if he knows how much he’s affecting you right now when his tongue is drawing patterns over your clavicle. 

Another chuckle vibrates your chest but you don’t get a verbal response. Instead, his hand slides down from your chest to the button holding your jeans together. He doesn’t undo it, but lifts his head to look into your hooded eyes. 

“This is what you want, right?”

The concern in his blown brown eyes momentarily covers the desire swimming around them, and if you didn’t want him before you damn sure do now.

An arm dangling off of his shoulder and a hand raking through his perfectly styled updo, messing the locks up in the most perfect way, you nod, teeth worrying at your lower lip. The fingers in his hair slip down to gently grip the side of his face, his lips once again slanting over yours but this time softer. Soft nibbles on your top lip, his thumb and pointer finger work at the metal of your button and zipper. With a shimmy of your hips, you assist him in pulling your jeans to the middle of your thighs. Cold air hits the wet spot that’s formed in between your legs, but then Kihyun’s warm fingers replace the breeze, two digits sliding up and down your slit, making you shiver for another reason.

Putting more pressure behind his strokes, his fingertips sink into your folds and find your clit. The moan that bubbles up your throat is muffled by his tongue carefully exploring your mouth.

In a blur more pieces of clothes are tugged at, your hands gripping the hem of his shirt and lifting it off of his upper body quickly. Yours is soon thrown onto the floor, fingertips gingerly gliding over the curve of your breasts with his lips trailing opened mouthed kisses down the center of your chest, going lower until he reaches the waistband of your panties. Slowly climbing backward and off of the bed, Kihyun pulls them down and off. He quickly disregards his jeans and boxers in one tug downward. There’s barely a chance to get a glimpse of what’s below his waist because he’s turning and squatting down, rummaging through his overnight bag so you get a view of his backside. His spine is noticeable in his hunched over position, smooth, creamy-like skin unblemished and calling out for your fingers to caress. 

Snapping out of your trance you reach behind you to pull apart the clasps holding your bra together. Kihyun stands up and turns right as you toss it to the side. The fingers holding onto a squared foil packet clench when he looks at you, laid out completely naked and waiting for him. You’re ogling again, but this time your eyes are taking in the way his chest rises and falls down to his half hard erection.

With a hand reached out towards him you beckon him back onto the bed, him interlacing your fingers together when he has crawled back in between your legs. 

Condom placed to the side, Kihyun coats his fingers in your juice before sliding his middle finger inside of you. 

“Fuck,” he bends his neck forward to see the way his finger disappears then comes out soaked. He adds his ring finger and the stretch coaxes a whimper from you, his eyes snapping up to your face. He spreads his digits apart and your chest starts to slightly heave, the quiet noises coming from your mouth barely audible compared to the slick sounds coming from your cunt. “You ready, beautiful?“ 

Swallowing back another moan you nod, knowing your voice will crack if you verbally answer him.

His wet —drenched— fingers wrap around his cock but you sit up slightly to lightly swat it away, replacing it with your own hand. 

"Open it,” you nod at the condom beside you, keeping yours eyes on the way your fingers look wrapped around his dick. He feels thick and heavy and warm hardening in your palm and the thought of him being inside of you soon makes your mouth water, makes your hand move a little faster. 

Kihyun’s breath stutters and when you take a glance up you see the way he bites the inside of his lips. He fumbles with the packet a little so you go back to your initial pace and weaken your hold just the slightest bit. Once the condom is out he hands it to you with a lick of his lips. Pinching the tip of it, you slide it on. Your heart is beating a mile a minute, anticipation and excitement is running through your veins because this is really happening. 

“Lay back for me,” You’ll listen to anything he demands of you with that husky voice. 

He crawls back on his knees to give you room to slump down until your back is flat on the bed, knees bent. The pace he pushes into you is so agonizingly slow but every inch is delicious and has you gasping for air. The stretch is welcomed and feels so good you grab onto his tense biceps on either side of your head.

“Holy shit,” is groaned into your ear once he’s fully sheathed. 

Holy shit indeed. Your fingers and the head you got from Krystal’s friend (Taeyong? Taehyun? Taeyoon?) months ago don’t compare to how good Kihyun feels inside of you. And when he pulls his hips back to start a steady pace you can’t hold back your moans because he feels incredible dragging against yours walls, whimpers becoming hiccuped when there’s a little more force behind his motions. 

He lifts your leg over his hip and keeps his hand on your thigh, sitting up straight on his knees. His other hand runs up your tense stomach and grabs at a bouncing mound, almost using it for leverage when his dick slams into your pussy at a faster rate. 

You choke on whatever noise was about to come out and keen, pushing your chest further into his palm and trying your hardest to meet his thrusts with a roll of your hips. The coil in your lower belly is threatening to snap already, heat rising and slowly making its way down to your core. 

Earlier you realized how beautiful Kihyun’s voice is on stage but nothing compares to the sweet moans he couldn’t bite back, the groans that couldn’t stay within. 

And when nothing but curses start to tumble out of your mouth he understands, letting go of your boob to snake his thumb to your clit and work firm circles on it. You can’t keep your eyes open any longer, the pleasure too intense and causing them to roll back. Your hands feel around your comforter for something to grab onto and your face twists up into a look of pure satisfaction. 

His hot gaze on you is hard to miss even when your eyes aren’t open. His groaning grows in volume and bubble out of his throat more often than in the beginning. 

“I'm— mm. I'm—fuck Kihyun,” you babble when your lower abdomen continuously clenches. Chest heaving and grip on your duvet tightening you find the strength to crack your eyes open. Kihyun’s attention is on his thumb drawing shapes into your bundle of nerves, but when he feels you looking at him it diverts to you. His brows are furrowed in concentration and his teeth are nibbling away at his lower lip. There’s a scrunch of his nose and everything about him just sends you over the edge, the coil finally snapping and the pleasant burning inside of you spreading down to your legs. Nothing but his name is understood from the mess of words that leave your lips, back arching and eyes squeezing shut as your walls clench and unclench around his cock repeatedly. 

You can hear your pussy getting wetter and wetter, his thrusts only getting faster. Compliments of how tight you are, how good you feel around him are growled and your body is curling into itself at the now sloppy thrusts, him chasing his own orgasm. 

His final thrust is sharp, going so deep into you you almost see stars, body scooting up your mattress a little. His final moan is music to your ears and it repeats in your mind, even as he pulls out, takes the condom off, ties it and tosses it in the trash can beside your nightstand. Even when he’s slumped over you with the side of his face pressed into your right boob, sandwiching you between his slightly sweaty body and the bed. 

Your hands somehow find his raven locks, combing through them and watching the way the strands slip through your fingers. 

The relaxing atmosphere after coming down from your highs is ruined when Kihyun clears his throat. “I’m starving." 

Your hands stop their movements and you get a double chin looking down at him. "When’s the last time you ate?" 

"Like, this morning?" 

You roll your eyes. This isn’t the first time he’s gone a few hours too many without eating. 

"There’s food in the kitchen, feel free to eat whatever you want." 

Fingertips gingerly skate along your stomach. 

"You’re not gonna eat with me?" 

You snort. "Only if you bring the food in here because something tells me I won’t be walking straight if I tried right now." 

"I guess you got your answer to how good I’ll fuck you." 

Choking on your spit you lightly tap your knuckles on the top of his head. God, you really said that didn’t you? 

He retaliates with a nip to the side of your chest he hasn’t gotten comfortable on, then pushes himself up with his arms. With one last kiss to your lips and a mumble from you telling him you’re not hungry his body warmth leaves and he’s slipping his briefs back on. 

"Hurry back. I wanna cuddle,” you say cutely. 

And when he’s gone you slip out of the bed, a little wobbly at first as you make your way into the bathroom. This isn’t the bath you were looking forward to but the spray of the shower is just as welcomed and relaxing enough. 

You’re lazily putting lotion on your legs when he comes back, in a silky night gown. 

There’s a smirk playing on his lips and his steps slow until he’s standing at the foot of your bed, hand on his hip. “Are you trying to get me hard again?" 

"Shut up and take a shower. There’s towels in there for you,” you roll your eyes, nodding in the general direction of the bathroom. 

The sound of the shower starting up again brings a big sigh from your chest. All of this is just too good to be true, but at the same time you’d never question the look of pure sincerity that Kihyun gave you after you confessed you felt the same way he did. The look of raw adoration that his face showed as he saw you laid out for him. There was lust swirling around his irises but there was so much more and that let you know he wasn’t just saying those things just to fuck you.

On the way to turn the lights off, you place the bottle of lotion back on your dresser. Back on the bed you switch on the lamp on your nightstand before crawling under the blankets and tucking them under your chin, facing the bathroom door.

Your eyes grow heavy by the time he steps through it, towel around his hips and another hanging from his head. He throws a smile in your direction and you just scrunch your nose a little in acknowledgment, continuing to watch him as he pulls bottles out of his bag and put them on your dresser. You watch as he does his whole skin routine, combs his hair out and slips boxers and sweatpants on.

“Do you enjoy staring at me?” he chuckles, crawling behind you. 

“You literally make a living out of people staring at you,” you counter flatly. You turn to face him and he welcomes you with an arm in the air, silently giving you the green light to scoot as close as possible. The tone of your voice doesn’t match the smile that begins to stretch your lips as his arm falls down around your waist gently. 

It’s quiet for a while and your breath is just starting to even out, eyelids just a fraction from closing all the way. Kihyun’s guided your face into the crook of his and the up and down motion of your hand on his torso slows to a stop. 

“Do your legs really hurt?" 

The question is soft and hesitant and it takes a few seconds longer than it usually would for you to make sense of his words, but when you do, you chuckle. And when his hand dips down and fingers start kneading at your thigh you laugh louder, apologizing when he winces because of the proximity of your mouth to his ear.

The bearable pain you feel is actually on the insides of your thighs, and though he’s not even touching where you feel the burn, you just let him do his thing.

A/N: okay so this is the longest chapter yet and will be the longest. the way i wrote it might seem like this is the finale but nah, the next one is ;) 

[forkanna]

[AO3 LINK] [EF LINK]

"Whew! Holy cats, I thought I'd never get through that Rubik's Cube…"

My hand came up to push into my face. Not that it really mattered; I could barely feel it. "At least I could kinda help with that one. The other two gates were… yeah, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Kniv-"

"Enough," Knives panted as she wiped the sweat from her brow on her striped scarf. It was pretty weird that she was wearing it in the middle of summer, but I had a feeling it was kind of part of her 'battle outfit' or something. "Didn't I… tell you that I'm… doing this for both of us? Not just you?"

"But watching you stare into the mirror… man, I thought you were gonna turn into that other reflection of you with all the purple buffalo in the background…"

The sweet smile made my pulse race. Somewhere. Not in the body I was in within my body, but the body outside of my… body… this is really annoying to explain, as I have just realised while trying to do so. Point is, seeing her smile makes me smile, too. "Anything for you, Kim Pine. Serious and mysterious."

"Alright, alright. Just try not to get killed or then I'll be really hacked off."

The thing I still couldn't figure out was how I guessed all of this so accurately. Probably something subliminal about it; there's no way it was a coincidence. But everything, the three gates, the rhino and warthog, the high-walled chambers we had to fight our way through, came to pass exactly as I snarked in a would-be joking tone. If I made it a reality by saying it… man did I fuck myself royally.

At this point, Knives and I were at the top of a ledge that ran the entire circumference of a round room, closer to the ceiling. It was over a dozen meters to the ground, and another three or four up to the ceiling from where the walkway was positioned. Once she flipped down into that pit, it would be her against the sixteen-eyed monster that stood between us and the final chamber. Maybe we would luck out and it wouldn't really have a laser cannon in its chest, but after everything I'd seen, that felt like a pretty horrible bet to take.

"We don't even know that getting past this thing will be worth the effort," I whispered. "What are we going to find in the sub-chamber? How is it gonna help me at all?"

"Dunno. Just… okay, should I use the save point? Because the room already locked behind us, and if I need some kind of item that we didn't find on our way here…"

"Right, I know. Like, do we really wanna have to go through the gates all over again if we don't use it?"

"Yeah." Glancing back at the closed-and-shut door, then over at the spinning, glowing book that floated above a magic circle on the floor, she flashed me a huge shrug. "I think I can take him, but like, you're right; do we lock down how far we've come, or give ourselves a way to double back for power-ups?"

Facepalming, which didn't do much since I could see through my hand, I sighed, "Whatever. Just please be careful?"

"Okay. Here goes nothing…"

Knives walked over and touched the save point. Now we were committed. Once the glow faded from her skin, she gave me a thumb's up before leaping down to land in front of the beast.

Watching her at work is like watching Russian ballet, only with green blood spraying everywhere. Darting back and forth, hiding behind pillars to dodge the worst of its needle attacks, and then hopping out to slice it up as much as she could. It smacked her around a few times, but she was doing some pretty decent damage… until it got her with the laser cannon. Then she was fried to ash, and there as nothing I could do…

But wait for her to respawn at the save point. I was a ghost; I didn't affect anything, other than to talk to her and give her ideas.

"Whoa, did… that really happen just now?"

"Man, I'm glad that worked," I told her, feeling like years had been shaved off my afterlife. "I… oh Knives…"

That definitely didn't sound like me, and she noticed, turning back from where she had been approaching the edge of the catwalk. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah. Just… just not ready to see you get hurt. Even if you pop right back in, that was still…"

"But you saw me get beaten up by Gideon before, right? So what's the difference?"

I scoffed. "Didn't have much of a personal investment in you then. And that was scary, too."

"He wasn't a real threat."

"He seemed to beat up Scott pretty thoroughly!"

"Yeah." Her smile was pretty confident, yet somehow still adorable, like she was about to break out into the world's cutest maniacal laughter. "But he's got nothing on me. Be right back."

And she was. I could tell it was almost done for, but then it did a stomp move that knocked her onto her butt. The next stomp squished her flat. But she popped back in thanks to our handy checkpoint and jumped straight back down there again. And again. And again. Eventually, I had to stop watching the moment she bit it or I would have been screaming and sobbing, despite having no physical tears to shed. But each time, she got a little better.

"Dude, give it up. Maybe they can figure out a way to pull you out of here from this save point. Do you have a Wing Bottle, maybe?"

"No… way!" she panted, leaning back against the wall as she caught her breath. Apparently, even though the save point respawned her, it wasn't respawning her stamina entirely. She still needed a break before trying again. "I got this! And… I'm not giving up on you!"

"You should! I'm not worth this! God, I know you want to win, and I think you can, but watching you die over and over is… I hate it!"

Frowning, she pushed off and came over to hug me very briefly. By which I mean she put her arms around my ghostly form and kinda held them there, giving the impression of a hug, which was close enough. "Sorry. I'd hate watching you do that, too… but we gotta win this. And I will; I think I've about got his pattern down. I just have to remember not to tuck-and-roll at that moment when I think I need to again, and I'll be good."

"Did you notice what he does before he fires off the canon? The way his top two eyes blink?"

"What? No, I didn't! Okay, that'll really help, because like, I was just waiting to see the chest open and then it's almost too late to duck…" Nodding a couple off times, she then smiled over at me. "Yeah, I'll watch for it. Thanks!"

"What 'thanks'? I'm basically helping you help me. Go on."

The final attempt was a thing of beauty to watch. Knives had that chump on the ropes the whole time, snapping at his tentacles with her blades and ducking out of their reach, away from the needles that shot out of them, and then dodging the laser cannon because of me pointing out the blinking thing. She had a pretty good dodge ratio even before that, but seeing her get out of the way every time was a lot more satisfying. Then, once he did the duck-down halfway through the fight, getting ready to slam, she sliced his stupid wings off and he got pissed the way he does, firing the laser in an up-down pattern that she had to dodge by ducking and then jumping up to grab the ledge. Didn't take much of that for her to wear him down so she could dart in and poke out the last remaining eyes. Once he was blind, all she had to do was stab the crystal on his back and he was down for good.

"YES!" she cheered, falling to her knees. "I… I did it! I did it!"

We both shouted our celebrations for a few seconds as I drifted down, wishing I could hug her. After a few minutes of that I said, "Oh man… what a jerk! If my fist wasn't invisible I would punch him."

"Now?"

"Yeah, now! He messed with my girl!"

Knives's flush took on a different meaning. "Awww, you called me your girl. I'm gonna give you so many kisses when you have a face again!"

"I… just… o-okay," I managed to stammer, ignoring her giggle as she started walking. "Wait, shouldn't you go back to the save point?"

"Nah, it's too far up to get to it without timing wall jumps for hours. And anyway, now that I have the pattern down, I can blow through that boss pretty easy if I have to again. Muscle memory, right?"

So I followed her forward into the next chamber. The innermost one, where the "real me" was supposed to be, if this was all coming true as we went. Crazy, but it was hard to argue with the proof when it was right in front of us like that.

This chamber really did look like the inside of a heart. The walls were a dark red, slick and nasty, and in the center was a cage made of stone. We took a quick look around, hoping to spot any crazy vampires or fire-breathing lizard-turtles that would want to kill Knives — and by extension, my chances of being able to move ever again — and saw nothing. So instead, we rushed to see what was in the cage.

It was me. Or at least, it was some weird version of me that I could only describe as a princess. Her hair was about half a meter longer and done in some kind of gentle wavy curls that I could never pull off in a million hours of crimping, and she was wearing a white dress that showed off the rack that I don't really have. Her upper arms weren't nearly as jacked as mine are from drumming, but they were still toned. Basically, this was what I would look like if I dieted perfectly, had my own stylist and was also on my way to a debutante ball or whatever.

"Oh!" Princess Pine gasped when she spotted Knives. "You have come for me, Prince Chau!"

"Prince?" Knives muttered with a frown.

"Yes! You are the prince and I am the princess, waiting f-"

"She's not a dude!" I shouted in my best heckling voice. What the hell was this supposed to be? I was instantly offended by her very existence.

"I'll not hear a word from you, pretender!" she said, voice somewhere between angry and frightened. "The NegaKim must be vanquished!"

For a few seconds, we just blinked at her. It was me who asked, "The what?"

"NegaKim! 'Tis you who has been in charge of my body, stealing everything I could have done for night a decade of years! A shame and a disgrace to my face!"

"Wait," Knives put in, holding up a hand. The other one was still holding a dagger; she wanted to be at least semi-prepared for a sudden attack. "What are you talking about, 'NegaKim'?"

"She is NegaKim! I am the real Kim Pine, of course! Forced into this Gorgon Maiden by nefarious means, kept prisoner by the evil twin-spirit who took over my physical form! While my prince wasted her efforts on her, when I would have been much more appreciative!" She was still talking with all that righteous fire, but saying that last part I could see her blush a lot worse than I usually did. And it looked better on her. Goddamn it, I couldn't even be the hottest version of Kim Pine, which really rankled.

Knives had a different observation. "Well, at least she's getting the pronouns right…"

"Listen, you," I growled angrily. "Fuck the hell off. It's my body, I've had it for twenty-five years, and I'm not handing it over to some… frilly, froofy cunt!"

That gave her one of those affronted faces you only see in movies set in the 1800s. After she recovered, she hissed, "You'll regret this! I don't know how, but you will, I'll…" There were tears in her eyes. This was pretty legit for a fake-ass bitch trying to steal my spot in life. Her fists were trying to rattle the bars of her little cage as she shouted, "I'm going to get out of here, I swear it!"

"Okay, okay," Knives hissed, raising her hand again to encourage her to calm down. "What if we get you out, and you can go away somewhere else? Isn't that a good, like… compromise? OH! What if we got a robot-Kim, and you could go live in there?"

"My prince… can't you see that I am your intended?" she pleaded with her, leaning so far against the bars that her face was trying to push between them. "Not her, me! She will hurt you, but I would cradle your heart as if a baby bird! I… all I want is to make you happy!"

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds. I turned back to Knives and shrugged. "Well? She's the girl of your dreams. All the freckles, and none of the acid-tongue. Plus she's way cuter."

"Nah," Knives said without any hesitation. "I know who I love, and it's you. This is some other test and I'm gonna pass this one, too. And the next one, and the next, until I break you out and we can both go get sushi or something."

As I was grinning at her, beyond any level of love for her that I had previously thought possible, I dimly noticed Princess Pine collapsing on the floor in a flurry of sobs. Oh well, too bad. Better luck next time. As we were sharing that moment, someone came along to interrupt it…

"How dare you thwart my plans! I've been waiting for this to come to fruition for seven years!"

If my face could have paled any further than ghostly white, it would have.

"Simon Lee."

To Be Continued…

[nyrator]

also I beat Mario Odyssey this morning and by beat I mean the final boss

spoilers under cut of opinions of stuff

so yeah ended up enjoying it more than when I first did once I shook the Hat in Time mechanics from my muscle memory (A Hat in Time is still a game I enjoyed better but this game definitely itches my love of collectathon games)

At just over 600 Moons (which I still call stars), got every star possible before the final boss I believe, then yeah. About 9400 coins by the end, all of which I spent on clothing (I have them all unlocked as well as the Dark and Darker Sides of the Moon, but haven’t been to them yet)

Some worlds were ehh, some were nice, most Moons/Coins I managed to find by myself, but after a point when I only had like a small handful left I’d always look at a guide for the general location (I refused to spend money on Toad for some reason and didn’t realize Amiibo would also do that), a lot of times I was always missing some obvious set of three purple coins somewhere near the beginning/end. Some were obvious, some were downright dirty.

So yeah, bosses were pretty easy (though I did die a bunch due to dumb stuff but yeah, patterns were easy). Was disappointed in the Final Bowser fight being the exact same as the Cloud fight, which was only hard until I realized the timing of the hit-block-dodge-attack thing in the third phase, and going into the final fight with that knowledge made it a joke. For some reason, I did not expect to Capture Bowser (to be fair it was pretty obvious I just don’t think ahead in these kinds of games), that was fun and the music was nice.

The ending was amusing, Mario about to kiss Peach, Bowser gets up and punches him in the face, then they fight on the moon for her affection with flowers, and she just steals Mario’s ship and leaves them both behind (Mario gets on of course but poor Bowser you gotta like Bowser)

Spent all morning just enjoying the Mushroom Kingdom (ALSO SO HAPPY THE SHOP HAD A WALUIGI COSTUME, “It’s barely used!” was a great description, I’m full on Waluigi from now on except for the Moons that require outfits, before that I was Painter’s Hat+Resort outfit)

also I should go back and finish Mario 64 someday, it’s that game I only played at neighbor’s house because no nintendo consoles until GameCube.

things I didn’t like was a lot of the instant death stuff (which mostly is just me needing to get good but still), the minigame second moons (mostly just painful slog but I guess reasonable), and the awkwardness of the controls. I still don’t know how to move around properly without pressing the wrong button (aka usually ground pounding instead of diving/long jumping), and yeah AHiT has got the whole complicated jumps programmed into me so I keep trying to backflip-throw cap-dive onto it kind of combos and they usually end up being button mashing that almost works but I lose control and they fail (notably my original solution to getting a Moon in Luncheon, where I put two Goombas together, got a Hammer Bro, jumped on the Goombas, jumped out of the Hammer Bro, threw my cap at the wall, jumped on it, and tried reaching the platform above). I almost had it my first try but I jumped the wrong direction and missed the platform, and every future attempt failed (then I realized cannons unlocked and you just shoot yourself over it and land on it)

But yeah, overalll...

Cap Kingdom- Small, but best aesthetic and music, favorite world I think, just wish it had more to it.

Cascade Kingdom- Okay/10. Basic green starting world, not much to say, not a fan of jungle/dinosaur aesthetics personally

Sand Kingdom- Kingdom that got me feeling the game, spent a looot of time exploring it, even though it was just a desert. It had sheep and that was nice, one of the better worlds for sure.

Lake Kingdom- Worst Kingdom in the game, so disappointing after Sand Kingdom. I figured it’d be a half world because of the split path thing, but then Wooded absolutely blew it out of the water (no pun intended), but yeah, tiny, mostly just swimming a small area, and could’ve easily been combined with the other water world.

Wooded Kingdom- One of the better worlds, also had the best music as well in certain sections (not as enjoyable as Cap but still great). Main complaint is that bottom layer of the woods, though I might’ve missed a beat of dialogue that explained it, since I had no idea it was there without a guide (especially since I’ve died several times falling off the side trying to do certain platforming on spinning wheels near the secret garden). I liked the extendo guys though.

Cloud Kingdom- Just a boss world from what I saw.

Lost Kingdom- Hooo boy, this is when it started to get a little frustrating, but not too bad. Caterpillars were fun, probably best capture thing. Too much poison/10, poison is awful and instant death.

Metro Kingdom- Mannn that Sim language. Was enjoyable, definitely a weird aesthetic clash (which is intentionally most of the game but still), and also Mario in a tank in a stormy city under siege is something I never expected from a Mario game. Though it also had my least favorite minigame so far... jump rope. By some miracle I got to 103 and never again.

Snow Kingdom- Small, basic, overworld was nice but average. The racing second round was hell.

Seaside Kingdom- Up there, definitely much better than Lake Kingdom and should’ve been combined with it, but mannn it is just hard to explore all that water and probably the one I used a guide the most with because of how many small missable things I missed (though only three coins, right in the sea in a depression near the volley ball court). Also, volley ball was hell as well, just not as hell as jump rope.

Luncheon Kingdom- this was a painful kingdom. A lot of this was just me “okay I’m done get me out of this pink lava hell hole”, at first it was okay to explore but after the midboss it was ehhh. Also too bright and shiny.

Ruined Kingdom- unexpected/10. Just another boss world, but mann seeing a Skyrim-esque dragon in a Mario game attacking you like the FFIX scene with Kuja against Brahne was definitely a thing. The boss refight just adding ice physics and different shaped lightning that’s hard to avoid on ice was very blehh.

Bowser’s Kingdom- ... completely unexpected/10. Did not expect a Japanese castle setting, but I enjoyed the change of pace and loved how it was still treated as a travel destination in game. Birds were fun but very painful on certain segments with metal bouncing you backwards. Felt like more of a classic 3D Mario world too (or Galaxy/3D World anyway), with the separated platforms and linearity and stuff.

Moon Kingdom- It’s the moon. Pretty bland with empty space jumping, no idea how much I missed on here but I got every Moon on the list up to like, the one on the support beams in the chapel, so yeah. Also the one moon on the cannon is like the one moon I felt was super unfair to find but oh welll, thank you guide.

Mushroom Kingdom- Great throwback level, fun little area with tons to explore, that 2D Mario section with the fading 2D segments can go to hell though- Specifically, that area with the rotating segments because using a control stick to 2D platform and having it alternate between “holding right will keep you moving clockwise” and “stick moves in the direction you’re moving, aka if you’re on the left side, you have to press Up to go right/clockwise”. I’ve died on that more than I should have and it was bluh.

in short Cap is the best and Lake is the worst

also yeah

this game has a Waluigi costume

so far I went back and got all the Moons in Cap (except the Art one) and Cascade, the races I feel are going to be a nightmare soon but yeah. Also worried about how much money grind I might have to do to get all the outfits (they all seem doable since there’s like five pieces left for me to get I think, the Gold/Metal sets and the Skeleton, but the freaking Skeleton outfit is 9999 and that’ll be the thing that kills the completionist in me)

speaking of completionist, no idea how to feel about buying moons or if there’s a limit, but there doesn’t seem to be so hm

ALSO I LOVE HOW PEACH HAS DIFFERENT OUTFITS IN HER JOURNEYS TO THE KINGDOMS, her Cap outfit was fantastic and I hope she’s still there/is able to wear it because it is a very nice outfit good job being fashionable Peach

also I have to wonder still

where is Luigi

is he on the dark(er) side(s) of the Moon

I will find out myself once I collect everything and hit up the dark side segmentss

also once I’m done with everything I’m going to get a friend to co-op with me and see how bad the co-op is because I can’t imagine how it works

[xb-squaredx]

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 Review: The Darkest Timeline

There are….a LOT of Dragon Ball games out there, so many that they start to blur together. The latest flavor of the month, the Xenoverse series, does admittedly have an interesting premise though. Players are inducted into the Time Patrol, an organization that works to correct any inconsistencies in the universe’s timeline and ensure events work out as they were originally intended. For our purposes, that means making sure the classic fights of the Dragon Ball series end as they originally did. I can’t speak much for the first Xenoverse game, but I DID play the second one, and while it has a strong premise, multiple issues present in the gameplay and overall story serve to bog the game down, making for a flawed, bloated experience.

Just as in the first game, the big draw here is creating your own custom characters and inserting them into the Dragon Ball universe and I definitely see the appeal. Players have five races to choose from, each with their own ups and downs. Saiyans are great attackers, and can later gain a Super Saiyan transformation to bolster their offense, for one. Humans are balanced overall, while Namekians rely more on greater health and defense, as do the Majin class, with Frieza’s race generally lacking in stamina but doing well elsewhere. Each race also gains some exclusive perks with certain major questlines in the game, usually leading to their own unique powerup, though most of these quests are exercises in frustration. Sparing with Vegeta to unlock your Super Saiyan form is fine, as is rising up the ranks of the Frieza force, but the other races aren’t so lucky, their challenges being tedious, with Namekians getting the worst mission of them all: constantly having to find Dragon Balls while fending off attacks from Frieza’s forces. Majin’s will also find that their exclusive transformation, the Pure Form, is pretty lackluster. Other than that, the races play similarly enough that players should be able to just pick their favorite…that said, the fact that each character is treated as its own save file and you’d have to start from absolute scratch in the game to play as the other races…I didn’t exactly get to play around with them all and stuck with my initial choice for the bulk of the game.

The game itself is a pretty standard affair when it comes to the many Dragon Ball games out there. Everything from Ki blasts to Instant Transmission is included here, with a combat system that’s simple, but flexible enough to result in some fun bouts that feels true to the source material. Slamming foes across the wide-open stages, then teleporting behind them to nail them with a Kamehameha never gets old…at least when it works. The game’s systems feel a little finicky at times, with enemies randomly popping out of combo strings or your teleported strike not quite lining up. The camera getting stuck in certain structures can also be a hassle, but generally you can fly away and reorient yourself fairly well.

I enjoyed the wide- array of abilities players can acquire through the game, some as rewards for completing quests and some learned right from characters in the series. Want to learn Krillin’s Destructo Disk or Vegeta’s Final Flash? Track them down and you can certainly do so. From blast-style special moves to melee-oriented moves, there are even the rare buff or debuff moves to mess around with, coupled with flashy Ultimate moves to finish foes off…if you can line it up correctly anyway. Personally speaking, a great many moves in the game…aren’t all that great, or are either too specialized or impractical to use all that regularly. The stronger moves tend to have a LOT of prep time, flashy animations that play before the attack that give opponents ample time to flee, even if you do your best to combo into the moves and hit a downed opponent. While the combat is certainly fun, there are some real glaring issues when it comes to the game’s overall balance.

At the start of the game, enemies are pretty laid-back about getting smacked around, and you’ll often barely be in any danger, but the difficulty ramps up quite quickly and after a point computers start to blatantly cheat and exploit their advantages for all they’re worth in lieu of providing something more fair. If you happen to use the guard breaking attack to drain their stamina, for example, you’ll find it recharges for CPUs FAR faster than it ever would for a player, and seeing as stamina is used to teleport out of combos, this means that even if you play the game optimally, the computer won’t let you get too much damage off. Some later-game optional quests even have them automatically dodge special attacks and blatantly use input-reading to react to actions the player hasn’t even performed yet. Coupled with missions in which multiple enemies will gang up on you at a time, the game gets actively less fun to play the further you go. While there certainly are a lot of missions, from the story missions to side-quest analogues in Parallel Quests, raid-bosses in Expert Missions as well as multiplayer sparring, I lost interest in the game rather quickly and found a lot of the extra content simply wasn’t worth the frustration.

It’s a shame, because the game has some strong moments and fun nods to the series that nearly won me back over to the side of enjoying the game. It was just fun to learn from Krillin, to run around the hub world of Con Con City and learn emotes from other in-game characters that cosplayed as Yamcha or Tien. Some story beats were cool, bringing back characters I hadn’t seen in a long time and in many ways, Xenoverse 2 feels like it’s trying to be a “greatest hits” of the Dragon Ball universe…but it still falls short.

With a set-up around fixing inconsistencies in the Dragon Ball timeline, the game has some great opportunities for some “What if?!” style stories. Unfortunately, the game always drops you in RIGHT before history has a chance to be altered, and said alterations are usually either “villain gets a sudden powerup!” or “a movie villain shows up suddenly!” What good ideas there are, like you and Goku tag teaming against Frieza and Cooler on a dying Namek or both Nappa and Vegeta deciding to go Great Ape IMMEDIATELY upon fighting the Z Warriors is drowned out by the same tired scenarios every single Dragon Ball game seems intent on recreating. It’s gotten tiring to start a game like this fighting Raditz, then Vegeta and Nappa, then the Ginyu Force, then Frieza, and so on and so on. Despite characters from Dragon Ball GT being included in the game as well, the main story does next to nothing with them, being relegated to side-quests. It’s a plot filled with missed opportunities. There are some parallel quests that attempt to shake things up, but you have to wade through an awful lot of mediocre ones to find them.

On the whole Xenoverse isn’t too bad on presentation, the cel-shading making the characters look about as good as any other Dragon Ball game (even if FighterZ looks much better in my eyes), with a decent rock-filled soundtrack and most of the iconic voice cast being retained, but there are still some rough spots. Many environments don’t look all that impressive, for one, and while the voice work is generally OK, there are many small issues. The opening cinematic, for one, has atrocious lip-synching, to the point that it’s nonexistent, alongside voice direction that doesn’t reflect the mood of the scene. Bardock is meant to yell Frieza’s voice in rage, but merely says it with grumbling annoyance. Sometimes spoken lines don’t match up with the lines in the text boxes, and at times emphasis is placed on the wrong parts of sentences. They’re small flaws, but they begin to add up over time and really distracted me. On top of that, various voice lines get cut off by the transition to cutscenes if you defeat enemies fast enough, and yet at times the game will leave the enemy with a sliver of health and force the dialogue to play out with no rhyme or reason …and I’m not sure which one is a bigger annoyance. Lastly, for the Nintendo Switch version that I played, the bulk of the game runs at 30 FPS, though one-on-one matches get a bump up to 60 FPS. It didn’t really bother me much, but it’s something I figured I should mention.

On the subject of that, the Switch version comes with unique motion control options for performing special and ultimate attacks with the Joy Cons. In a fast-paced game like this though, I choose to ignore them entirely. I also pretty much ignored all possible local or multiplayer modes, so I have no real opinion on them. I’m fairly certain the game is better with friends at the helm of allies, as opposed to the at times brainless AI though.

I haven’t played many Dragon Ball games in the last few years due to fatigue. Many of the games kept trying to reinvent the wheel, while simultaneously barely doing anything to differentiate themselves from each other. While Xenoverse has a lot going for it, the appeal of a created-character in the Dragon Ball universe is a strong one, I find the combat to be a bit too limited and the AI too cheap to really enjoy or recommend. And while the game allows you to duke it out with other players, it’s not quite a fighting game and I think you could do better with games that already exist or will be available soon.

I don’t hate Xenoverse 2 by any stretch, and I did have fun while playing a good deal of it, but it’s a series that’s not for me in the end. In a game with such a strong premise and having so many elements it could have pulled from other games, it feels a bit half-baked. Lacking in creativity and excelling in a lot of fluff and frustration, Xenoverse 2 is a game that should have aimed higher and seems instead content with minor tweaks to the first game, instead of taking the time to really iron out the kinks and make something special.

Until next time,

-B

[impala-dreamer]

This Ain’t No Joke, Sweetheart - Chapter 2

SPN FanReality

~Let me tell you about my weekend…~

Beka ( @impala-dreamer​ ), Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Steph ( @torn-and-frayed​ ), Bill (my hubs) 

3,330 Words

Warnings: Nothing really. Language?, very mild show-type violence. Mentions of blood (crime scene).

A/N: Hope you’re enjoying the insanity. The weekend’s not nearly over yet. Hell, we didn’t even finish Friday yet…

Go To Chapter: One ~ Two ~ Three ~ Four ~ Five ~ Six ~ Seven ~ Eight

Chapter Two: Friday Night…

The Impala. The fucking Impala was parked in my carport. My carport. The wide strip of cracked gray cement that separated my pale blue house from the one to its left. The place where my husband parked our used Honda Minivan every night. Dean Winchester’s beloved 1967 Chevy Impala was parked in my carport. I nearly squealed as I followed the boys down my front steps towards it. The rain glistened on the hood, illuminated by the streetlights, and my heart skipped wildly in my chest.

I ran my fingers gently over the hood. It was real, solid, shiny. “Baby,” I whispered in quiet reverence. This was the Holy Grail, the heart of the show, their home away from home, the most important object in the history of the universe. The Impala.

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Dean stood next to me, his eyes sweeping over the car’s frame just as lovingly as mine did.

“She is.”

“Hop in,” he said, pulling open the back door for me. A moment of pure joy and panic swept over me, but I did just as he said. I hopped right in.

The feeling overwhelmed me. The soft, old leather under my fingers, the springy but firm seat beneath me. The smell of it, the look, every single detail was in place, and my mind reeled as Sam and Dean took their places up front. Dean turned the key and I nearly lost consciousness. The engine roared to life, filling my ears and my heart with amazement. Dean turned around, resting his arm on the back of the bench seat so that he could back out of the driveway, and he smiled at me.

“You OK?”

“No. But, yeah.” I managed a bewildered smile and looked away, trying to soak up every detail around me. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought I’d ever be sitting in the Impala. Meeting Jared and Jensen, sure, that was set to happen at my first con later this year, but the car? No way. I turned and ran my hand over the door, trying to memorize the feel of the change from leather to cold metal. Then I saw it. Peeking out from the ashtray was the thing I had always hoped to see: a tiny green plastic army man stuck in the empty metal hole. I touched it gingerly and lost my cool. Suddenly I was crying, tears filling my eyes and my chest heaving as they poured down my cheeks.

Sam heard my whimpers and turned. “Beka, what’s wrong?”

I swallowed hard and wiped at my face. “What’s wrong is… I wrote this. I wrote this whole thing!” Amazed tears gave way to creeping panic as I thought out loud, working my way through the scenario. “I wrote this as a fanfiction! A whole ten part series about this! You guys showed up at my door and I went on cases with you and Dean and I fell in love and then Cas.. but I was dead! The whole point of the story was I was in a coma dying! Am I dying? Is that what’s happening? I can’t do this! This is not OK! I’m not ready to die! I have kids and a husband and a life! I don’t want to die!” My voice was too high, too loud, it rang through the car and drowned out the engine as Dean drove down my street. The same street I walked every morning taking my kids to school. The same street they rode scooters on and played with the neighbor kids. My street, in my town, in my world.

“You are not dying.” Sam’s voice was calming, though his eyes were filled with concern. He twisted around in his seat, throwing his arm around to try and take my hand. I pulled away at first, but then let him take it, needing something to ground me to whatever this reality was. “You’re not in a coma. This is happening. I’m sorry. I know this is a lot to take in, but it is real.” His fingers closed around mine and I shut my eyes, taking a deep breath.

“Fine,” I said after a long while. “But if I’m dead, I’m gonna kill you.”

Sam laughed and nodded, releasing my hand once he was sure I was alright. “Deal.”

The crime scene was less than a mile from my house, just down past the park, off the back highway. Dean pulled into the empty lot and parked near the back. It was dark, but I could see the reflective police tape blocking off an area to our right.

We climbed out of the car, my ears enjoying the creak of the doors as they opened and closed, just like on the show. The rain had stopped, thankfully, and we walked through puddles towards the dumpster. I hung back, following slowly behind the guys, not knowing what the hell I was doing, or what was expected of me. Dean led the way, his head turning this way and that as he scoped the environment, making sure nothing was about to jump out at us. Sam pulled away the yellow caution tape and made his way to the dumpster where the bodies had been found. There was blood on the ground and splattered across the metal trash container. It was dark, but I could see the thick mess and my stomach flipped. I’d never seen a mess like that, never even been close to a crime scene. It wasn’t exactly on my bucket list to do so.

“Find anything?” Dean asked, circling back around to join us.

“Yeah, a claw.” Sam stood up, holding out his hand. Between his fingers he held a long, sharp claw that looked like it belonged to a jungle cat.

“The fuck is that?” I gasped as I squinted at the object.

Sam shook his head as he examined the piece. “No idea. Looks like it was ripped out of whatever did this.”

“Oh that’s just delightful.” I sulked and turned away, looking out across the highway. The guys chattered behind me, passing theories back and forth, but I wasn’t listening. My eyes caught a movement in the park across the way and I stepped forward, headed to the edge of the lot so I could see better. I’m half blind, and can barely see in the dark, but I didn’t need details. There was something moving over there, something slinking through the playground. Something that moved… unnaturally.

“Guys?” I looked closer and saw another figure moving, seeming to run away from the lurking shadow. “Guys!” I called to the Winchesters, pointing towards the park, but they didn’t look up. They were deep in conversation, Sam apparently going over the archive of his mind, figuring out what we were dealing with.

A scream ripped through the night, and they finally looked up, their eyes fixing on the location of the sound.

“I tried tellin’ ya! Something’s in the park!” I yelled and they ran past me, ready to save the day. I tried to stay back, but Sam grabbed my hand, pulling me along. I had no choice but to keep up; he was too strong, his huge hand was too tight around mine. My heart pounded as we crossed the deserted highway and headed towards the fight. When our feet hit grass, Sam let me go, putting his hands on my shoulders and demanding I stay put.

“You think I’m going in there, you’re out of your mind Winchester!” I told him firmly. He gave me a quick smile and took off to help Dean.

It was hard to see in the dark, but I watched on in awe as Dean fought with the creature. Sam managed to pull the victim away and led the mystery figure to safety. Dean grunted and shouted as he beat at the monster with bare hands, their silhouettes dancing around the playground.

“You’re right Sam!” he shouted as the younger man returned. “It’s a Feletsme!”

“Crap!” Sam yelled back as he ran into the fray. “We need a brass knife!”

“I don’t happen to have one on me, Sam! Plan B?”

“Definitely brass,” Sam hollered as he dodged a swipe of claws, “Or copper?”

“Or copper?” Dean shouted, picking himself up from the ground. “Now’s not a great time to not be sure.”

I listened on, feeling scared and useless until I realized where we were. I looked to my left and gave myself a mental high five. My office was right around the corner. We had brass. And copper! I took off, running through the park towards the garage that housed my office. “Keep it busy guys, I got you!”

If either man answered me, I didn’t hear it. Blood pounded in my ears as I pumped my legs, running as fast as I could to the white building on the corner. The metal gate was down, and the door locked, but there was always a key in the mailbox. My boss had a bad habit of forgetting his shop key at home, so I always hid an extra for him. Thanking his forgetfulness, I swiftly let myself in and flipped on the lights.

I work for a plumber. My office is basically a little hole in a garage that’s filled to the brim with scrap metal, pipes, spare parts, and discarded toilets awaiting disposal. Quite frankly, it’s a mess. And it smells bad. But tonight it would prove to be priceless.

I ran to a pile of metal at the far end of the shop and dug through it, quickly pulling out the longest and sharpest looking pieces of pipe I could. Sam hadn’t been sure which metal he needed, so I grabbed copper and brass and headed back out into the night.

The sounds of their fight scene floated over to me as I ran back; grunts and growls and thwacks echoed in the air and I wondered how no one in the surrounding houses heard it. They weren’t exactly quiet.

When I made it back, Dean was hanging upside down off of the jungle gym, his knees locked around the bright blue metal as his head dangled down towards the ground. The monster, whatever it was, was looming above him, his clawed hand raised high. Sam was crumbled in a heap underneath a tree, presumably knocked out during the fight as usual.

“Dean!” I called to him and he raised his head best he could, giving me a hopeless look.

I raised the pipes in my hand and smiled. “Need some help?”

“Quit with the one-liners and toss ‘em!” he yelled, and I did as he asked, passing him the pipes in a show of hand-eye coordination that I didn’t think I had in me. Amazingly, he caught both pieces and gripped them tight, one in each hand. He swung himself upwards and jabbed the rusty pipes into the animal’s chest. It shrieked in pain, stumbling backwards and collapsing into a heap atop the jungle gym.

Dean sighed in relief and gripped the railing to pull himself up. I ran towards him and looked up “You OK?”

“Yeah, thanks,” he replied, kicking at the creature to make sure he was dead. “Where’d you get the pipes?”

“I have my sources,” I said with a laugh. “Just be happy I pay attention at work. I could have brought you PVC.”

“Well thank God for that.”

Clean up after a hunt wasn’t something I’d ever thought about, but there we were doing it. We couldn’t leave a monster on a playground, so Sam and Dean dragged the thing back across the street and dumped it into the metal dumpster, quickly setting it on fire. I stood by, paranoid that someone would come running towards the sudden blaze, but no one came. The street was dead quiet, not a single car even passed by.

“This has got to be the most insane night of my life,” I muttered to myself, watching as Dean slammed the dumpster lid shut, extinguishing the last of the fire.

“This? This is nothing. Kinda fun actually. I haven’t been on a playground in… well, probably ever.” Dean laughed and wiped the dirt from his pants as he walked towards the car.

“I’ll have to bring you back here in the daytime, that way you could get your swing on,” I said with a sarcastic chuckle. The adrenaline from the fight had long since worn away, and I yawned as we reached the car. “Well, it’s been… weird. I think you should take me home now.”

“Yeah, of course,” Sam smiled and opened my door for me.

Dean leaned against the hood and looked over at me. “I’m starving. Any place to get some grub around here?”

“Uh, yeah, there’s a diner right up the street, open all night.”

“Cool. Let’s go eat.”

“I really think you should just take me home…” I whined, exhausted and ready to wake up from this dream.

Sam smiled and rubbed my shoulder. “Come on Beka, let us buy you dinner.”

No matter how tired I was, no matter how insane and falling apart I thought I was, there was no way I could say no to those hazel eyes or that dimpled smile.

The Broadway Diner. Big, covered in neon and chrome, empty this time of night. Dean slid into the booth and took a menu from the waitress while flashing a sexy smile. I laughed at the sight and scooted into the booth across from him, Sam taking the place next to me.

“World’s best pancakes,” Dean read off the front of the menu. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

I shook my head. “Nah, you want the bacon cheeseburger, trust me.”

He grinned and nodded at Sam. “I like her.”

My phone chimed with a familiar swoosh noise and I pulled it out to see a message from Steph.

The food came quickly and we ate, enjoying the meal and talking about everything. I asked them all sorts of random questions and they answered best they could. “What was it like to be a demon?” “You do know the Men of Letters crap is gonna blow up in your faces, right?” “When you went to Purgatory, why did you bother shaving?” “How many bathrooms are in the Bunker?”

They laughed, taking my rambling inquiries in stride. Hell, if this was really happening, I was gonna get as much out of them as I possibly could.

“OK, but seriously,” I said, dropping my french fry back onto the plate and taking a deep breath. “How do you do it?”

“Do what?” Sam asked.

“It. Your life. How do you handle it? You guys are dying every other day, getting sent to hell and worse, always on the edge- sometimes falling off the edge- of sanity. How do you handle it? Fuck, some days I can barely get out of bed just to go to work, but you guys… I don’t know. I’d be in the looney bin.”

That killed the laughter and lighthearted conversation quickly. Sam dropped his head, his hands folding in his lap as he thought over my question. Dean let out a breath that wasn’t exactly a laugh as he smiled sadly and looked out of the window next to him.

“I’m sorry,” I said quickly, hating myself for being so forward. “You don’t have to answer that.”

Sam looked up and gave me a tiny half smile. Goddamn it, I’d given him sad puppy eyes. “It’s OK,” he nodded and cleared his throat. “It’s uh, it’s not easy. But we do what we have to do, ya know?” He squared his shoulders and sat up straight, trying to look tough, but failing miserably. He rested his arm on the table and looked back down. I could see the red in his eyes, and I kicked myself. I wanted to grab him and wrap my arms around him and sing him to sleep, but I couldn’t do that. He was real, not some Sam in my head that I had any rights to. So I simply placed my hand on his arm and squeezed gently.

“I’m so sorry Sam. I wish you guys didn’t have to go through what you do. It’s not fair.”

Dean piped up, pulled from his reverie by my words. “Yeah, well, someone’s gotta do it.” He stole a fry from my plate and shoved it in his mouth with a smile. “Besides, it’s not all bad. We get to travel the country, see the sights, and meet strange people like you.”

“I’m strange?” I asked with a scoff. “You live in a bunker underground and hunt monsters. I think you’ve got the monopoly on strange, sir.”

“You’re not wrong.” He winked and scooted out of the booth. He winked at me. Dean Winchester winked at me. Check that off the list of things I never thought I’d live through.

Back in my carport, the Impala idled as we said our goodbyes. It was strange, I was getting the hugs I had always dreamed of, and yet… it felt odd to say goodbye. Like we weren’t quite finished.

“So, what are you going to do now?” I asked as Dean released me from a quick squeeze.

“Eh, probably find a motel and hit the hay. See what happens tomorrow.”

“Uh, yeah… there’s only one motel near here and it’s out by the expressway and it’s really disgusting.” I shivered at the thought.

Dean laughed it off. “We’ve stayed at some pretty nasty places.”

“No, like… I wouldn’t even park my car there. It’s… please don’t. Stay here.” I paused, my mouth was way ahead of my brain and I hadn’t meant to offer, but there it was.

“Really?” Sam asked, rounding the car to stand beside me. “You don’t even know us.”

I shrugged. “Well, I kinda do. More than you know me anyway, and, I mean… Cas sent you here for a reason and we’re still not sure what that is. So, listen, my family is away till Sunday, you guys can crash here and we’ll figure things out in the morning. I can make waffles.” I grinned and looked between the boys with hopeful enthusiasm, still amazed I was making the offer.

“That’d be great, thanks,” Sam said, full dimples on display for me.

“Great!” I said, spinning around and heading towards the house.

For the life of me, I could not believe what I was doing. Put aside the fact that I was palling around with fictional characters, I had just invited two absolutely gorgeous, single men to stay the night in my house. I’m married, happily! For damn near eleven years! Yet there I was, escorting Sam and Dean Winchester up the stairs and showing them each to a bedroom. I handed them clean towels, apologized for the mess, offered them anything they’d like to eat in the fridge like a good hostess, and excused myself for the night.  

I locked my bedroom door. I never do that. I turned the little lock on my brushed nickel door knob and pressed my ear to the door, trying to listen to their movements. They seemed to shuffle around a bit, exchange a few words, and then there was silence.

I slept in my clothes just in case; afraid to even take my sneakers off. I climbed into bed and sent off a quick text to my husband.

I didn’t know how I could possibly fall asleep, but as soon as I turned off my phone, I was out.  

To Be Continued… Chapter Three

FOREVERS: @27bmm @allinhishands @amanda-teaches @ameliaponders @arryn-nyxx @atc74 @autopistaaningunaparte @babypieandwhiskey @bea789 @because-imma-lady-assface @becauseyouwishedit @blacktithe7 @blanketmadeofstar @brewsthespirit-blog @bulletscrossbowpie @callmesatansprincess @captainemwinchester @chaos-and-the-calm67 @charliebradbury1104 @chelsea072498 @chumi-la-chula @cyrilconnelly @dannnyphantomm @daughterleftbehind @disphandomgirl @docharleythegeekqueen @dreamingofwinchesters @dustycelt @dylanosprayberry03 @emptywithout @evansrogerskitten @evyiione @fabulouslycassie @faegal04 @fandomsanarchy @feelmyroarrrr @fiercespnbaebeyonce @fiercespnbaebeyonce @freddy-fuckboy-tammy @frenchybell @fuckyeahfeysand @gemini75eeyore @growningupgeek @growningupgeek @hareliketherabbit @hexparker @idreamofhazel @ilsawasanacrobat @im-super-potter-locked @impalaimagining @inthedepthsofdespair @j2-winchester-boys @jayankles @jesspfly @jotink78 @jpadjackles @lauren-novak @lipstickandwhiskey @li-ssu @luciisthebest @maddieburcham1 @meeshwalsh7 @megansescape @meganwinchester1999 @mein1928 @mija-novella @milkymilky-cocopuff @mjdoc90 @mogaruke @mrsbatesmotel53 @mrswhozeewhatsis @my-life-is-here-soo @myfand0msandm0re @mysteriouslyme81 @naadestiel @neobemurak @nerdysandwichqueen @nervousmemzie @notesfromalabprincess @ohgodjensen @ohmychuckitssamanddean @percussiongirl2017 @petrovadixon @pinknerdpanda @poukothenerd @pretttypadalecki @riversong-sam @roxy-davenport @sam-w @sea040561 @sgarrett49 @shhhs3cret @sumara62 @summer-binging-spn @super-not-naturall @supernaturallymarvellous @tennesseewhiskey-and-pie @therosecolouredpost @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @tmccarney @trexrambling @typicalweirdbookworm @wayward-marvel-sommer1196 @winchesterprincessbride @wordstothewisereaders @wvnchxstxr @yearoftheweasley @yvngkinggchristyy

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[zzsweeps]

“Lisa the Pointless” Review

It’s a short game (or first chapter, I guess?) and I finally beat it after barely starting two days ago. I have a lot of thoughts.

Lisa the Pointless is a LISA fangame meant to take place around the same time as the events of Lisa the Painful. In keeping the art style, written voice, and dark humor as Painful, Pointless is A+ in establishing itself as a LISA fangame and executes LISA’s overall charm pretty well. The gameplay may leave something to be desired though, and I’ll be going into that in more detail.

The main character of Pointless, Alex, is drastically different from Brad in personality, though I feel he’s much more likeable because of this. He doesn’t have that one-track mind and drive that Brad had, shows much less angst along with more emotion, and has believable positive reactions to things while still showing evidence of his implied tragic backstory. He’s still somewhat cold, but also just more lively in general. 

Alex’s main companion, Joel, plays a role similar to Terry Hintz, though I found him to be both much more useful and much more useless than Terry at the same time. I guess he’s just different while still feeling like a Terry-type support character. He inflicts good status effects on enemies, and does it way more frequently than Alex’s chances of knocking enemies down. I eventually picked up on the battle strategy of making him taunt (attracting enemy focus on him) and then using his dodge/hide move so they’d just be hitting thin air. It was good for deflecting attacks while Alex charged up and threw punches. On the other hand, he doesn’t offer much help in combat, and while I did use him to revive Alex with what little supplies I had, I found him to be frustrating because he couldn’t actually do any real damage himself. Unlike Terry, he doesn’t Magikarp-to-Gyarados, but at least his interactions with Alex were much more fulfilling than Terry and Brad’s ever were.

Gameplay is where Pointless really struggles, as items are scarce and battles rely heavily on extremely calculated risk strategies and lucky RNG. Sometimes you can get a good rhythm going and pummel down the enemies without getting a KO, other times the same enemies gain the upper hand early in the fight and can easily take you out without you being able to get so much as a punch in. I’d be ok with this kind of struggle if the save points weren’t Pain mode style, if not worse: save points pretty much force themselves on you and disappear after use. I was okay with the idea of not save-scumming, but not in cases where you’d have to fight one, two, or even three powerful enemies really far away from where you last saved. I’m the type of person who rage-quits after a frustrating failed fight, and it took me quite a bit to cool down before picking the game back up again and going through the same long portions of maps... again. The game does occasionally give you save items (baby crows) that you can use at any time to save, but I could never figure out when was a good time to use them, and any time I did used it, it still didn’t feel like a “good” time. I resorted to just using them after particularly painful boss fights or a long walk on the map so I wouldn’t have to return to my far away save point after getting beaten for the fifth time. It sadly didn’t make my fear of future beatings without reliable save points any better.

I found the difficulty scaling to be troubling, and if you search online you’ll find I’m not the only one with this gripe. I focused more on survival over fighting everything in my path, as fighting would mean sacrificing items, which are both hard to get and hardly available. I started avoiding enemies to save resources, and it didn’t help that I was clearly underleveled at crucial points because I had skipped one or two previous fights. I also feel like I may have missed a lot of content because I skipped these fights; there were areas left unexplored because I didn’t want to deal with the forced enemies waiting there to destroy me and use up my precious items. At times the game makes you think you should behave in a certain manner, and then throws a sudden curveball at you that you can’t adapt to right away.

I get that this was supposed to be a “hard” game, but it feels more unnecessarily hard than anything. I think the idea of survival gameplay was well-intended, but the game may have gone a little too far with it, especially since Alex and Joel take hits like glass and Alex’s SP stays super low while each attack practically requires all of it. I went into fights just accepting that I’m way below half of my health bars and I’d never be able to get it up to full. At the very least, I did like that I was able to see the health of enemies, something that was a little bothersome in the original LISA games. 

However, I think the links between this game and LISA have so far limited itself to the art style, user interface, and setting. The game makes only very few connections to Painful and feels like less of a spin-off-y fangame and more of an original story in a fanfiction fantasy. The small bits related to Painful felt more shoved in for the sake of being a LISA fangame than anything. I think the same story can be pulled off without its premise as a LISA fangame in pretty much any post-apocalyptic setting. I don’t recall any of the characters or NPCs even mentioning the main premise of LISA: there’s no objective towards obtaining the last girl but more focus on senseless violence and originally-devised maddening diseases. There were very few joy mutants in-game and their existence seemed like more of an afterthought. Even if the game touches upon it in future possible chapters, I feel like the lack of LISA’s presence makes this story too original and just riding off LISA’s name and style. However, I also don’t play too many fangames and story mods, so I’m not exactly the right person to judge on content like this. I just think there’s a lot of potential for Alex’s story to be a completely original one that can work on its own without the need to be attached to the LISA series.

Out of everything, the story carried itself well enough to make the push through worth it. Writing is solid, though character intentions for our main cast and all the surrounding NPCs are still left unclear. I'm incredibly relieved that the game finally ended, but I still feel accomplished and enjoyed playing it. To me it doesn’t seem like a game worth trying a second time even when there’s so much content I’ve missed, but that’s mostly because I don’t have the patience to walk for very long periods of time again and pursue efforts that may turn up fruitless. I don’t know if I’m looking forward to future installments of this series, but I definitely will be keeping my eye on further releases because I genuinely care about the characters and did actually like the game, complications aside.