#but it dragged on too long and useless plot points appeared

[mask131]

Cold winter: Ghorghor Bey

GHORGHOR BEY

Category: French BD

“Les Chroniques de la Lune Noire », in English « The Black Moon Chronicles », is marketed in France as the “greatest heroic fantasy saga in bande-dessinée”. Wikipedia rather considers it to be one of the main medieval fantasy series of France ; but by common consensus and with modern’s look onto it, it is rather a comic book that fits in the category of epic dark fantasy.

The Black Moon Chronicles was launched in 1989 by a collaboration between François Froideval and Olivier Ledroit, before ending at its fourteenth issue in 2008 – but the series had such a popularity that more issues were released as additional “cycles” or “seasons” ; a second cycle of seven issues from 2012 to 2021, and the promise of a third one to come one of these days… And when I say this series was successful, I mean it WAS a huge success. It stays one of the big names of the French bande-dessinée (the European form of comic-book), to the point it gave birth to two video games in the 90s, to MMORPG in the 2000s, a boardgame AND a miniature game.

And as I approach this series for the first time in my seasonal posts, it would make sense for me to look at its main protagonist, Wismerhill the mysterious half-elf in search of his past and father, who will turn from a naïve young man to a bloodthirsty and cruel warlord-sorcerer, as he is unknowingly used as a pawn and agent by various political, military, religious and otherworldly factions in a vast game of plots and schemes centered around a gigantic empire’s downfall and an ancient prophecy from the gods…

But I will not. Because I will instead focus on one of the secondary characters of the story: Ghorghor Bey.

Ghorghor Bey appears in the story as the leader of a group of dreaded warriors who are known to terrify even the bravest knights and strongest citadels. These bloodthirsty bandits obeying at Ghorghor’s sole and only command are known to roam the various lands of the series’ world, leaving only “ashes and corpses” in their wake – for they do not seek to conquer anything and have no ultimate goal. Ghorghor’s forces simply travel through the land, raiding and pillaging whatever they want whenever they want, and forcing their way wherever they have to go, never taking no for an answer – and since Ghorghor’s army stayed undefeated, no warlord even dares oppose him.

Our protagonist, Wismerhill, and his first and partner Pile-ou-Face, end up imprisoned in a cage by Ghorghor’s army due to an unfortunate series of coincidence – the duo was stealing chickens from a farm, just as Ghorghor’s warriors arrived, for they had recently conquered the village and so by stealing the farmer’s chickens the protagonists were stealing Ghorghor’s chickens. Pile-ou-Face, knowing too well the danger they were in, dreaded Ghorghor and his men, but still decided to play at being cheeky and witty with him, notably by letting Ghorghor steal away his magical swords before teleporting them back to his side, again and again. A trick which angered Ghorghor at first… before making him laugh, and prompting him to enlist the two as part of his band, because he likes men that don’t cower or show fear in the face of danger.

Thus begins the time for our protagonist as a member of Ghorghor’s forces – even becoming his lieutenant after using magic to avoid an ambush waiting for them. Because as it turns out, Ghorghor’s isn’t such a bad guy… He doesn’t like being criticized, is prone to anger and refuses to have his absolute authority discussed, but he is prone to humor, always liking a good jest (though his sense of humor tends to be crude, brutal and unrefined), and he protects and feed his men for as long as they battle for him and don’t drag behind them. Fail to your duty or prove yourself useless, you’ll be punished, but do something good for the troop and you’ll be rewarded. We also discover that Ghorghor’s group seems only to exist for the sole pleasure of having a “good life”, as they enjoy each battle, and mostly invade or “conquer” lands and cities temporarily, just to enjoy all of their food (and women) before leaving for another place. In fact, most of the time when they come up near a city they ask if they can stay for the night or the winter, and people usually accept out of fear despite it meaning they will be plundered – because if anyone refuses them entry to their domain, Ghorghor will just order the doors to be broken down and force his own way inside. Even worse if the owner of the land or city actually threatens or insult him, in which case he will ask his death as a payment – but of course, it is all just funny for him as killing is mostly a good sport. To give you an idea of Ghorghor’s “jokes” – he likes to say “You better knock at the door before entering, to be polite” as he is literally breaking down a door ; or he always offers his personal victims a “game” called “right hand, left hand”. The game? He slams his two enormous hands on each side of your head, and if you can’t avoid them you die with your head crushed. If you escape you win and can keep your life, but nobody ever wins since he never explains the rules… He finds it hilarious.

Oh yes, because I forgot to precise one thing… the reason Ghorghor is so feared. He is not a human being. He is a half-ogre. Which means he is two to three times taller than a normal human being, and three to four times larger (given the comic was taken by different artists, and themselves weren’t always consistent, his size tends to vary from issue to issue). While this largeness is in part fatness (as an ogre he has a monstrous appetite, always eating entire pigs and drinking full barrels of beer for his meals, and the most regular insult he gets from people is “fatass”), it is also a good part of muscles – muscles offering him a gigantic strength. A strength with which he can crush a man’s skull with his bare hands, or even burst open the doors of a city by holding a battering ram ALL ON HIS OWN. As a result he can’t ride normal horses and has to choose from various large and monstrous beasts from long gone pasts – his first one being a sort of spike-covered rhinoceros. He himself is usually seen wearing a large and heavy armor covered in spikes – but he can switch for more comfortable cloth-and-fur clothes when he feasts inside castles.

While the group’s journey goes on without any troubles, Ghorghor’s troop meet their demise as they arrive at the border of the great empire we talked earlier, the empire of Lhynn. Its emperor, clearly seeing Ghorghor’s presence in his territories as a threat, sends to eliminate them a large army of holy knights/paladins known as the “Knights of the Light”. Ghorghor and his men were staying at Kendrhir at the time, formerly the “city of the great wizards”, but that they had completely invaded and taken control of earlier in the series – the Knights of the Light simply surrounded the city and besieged them. Ghorghor (actually influenced by a demon sent by a dark wizard, but no one will ever know that) decides to take the incredibly stupid decision to have his warriors leave the city to fight the Knights of Light in an open-field, resulting in Ghorghor’s troop decimation, and Ghorghor’s own death. Not death by weapons, as he is pierced by at least three dozen spears and yet keeps fighting with his gigantic axe of war (or cleaver of war depending on how you look at it, able to kill several men in one blow) ; but rather by being pushed off a cliff by the Knights.

This is all in issue 1, by the way.

In issue 3, Ghorghor miraculous returns – as the protagonist and a new group of friends went to seek the Oracle (a god of destiny bound to the human world) at his holy site, they find him back well and alive – he himself was seeking the Oracle to know what had happened to his former underlings. As it turns out, Ghorghor had on himself a magic ring with powerful regenerative powers that resuscitated him from his deadly fall… but this, only the narrator and us readers know that. Because Ghorghor ignores everything of the ring’s actual powers, and so he believes he was just a tough guy and that he got better all of his own from his injuries. Promptly Ghorghor tries to form back his band and recruit again his former warriors… only for Wismerhill (who in between got some nasty supernatural powers, a new personal quest to follow and some deadly skills) to actually force Ghorghor into becoming HIS warrior, under his command – first by invoking how Ghorghor’s stupidity led to all of his men dying before, and then by simply beating up Ghorghor into submission. Not that Ghorghor minds, though, as he still considers Wismerhill a good friend of his. And so he becomes one of the faithful companions and allies of our protagonist, and will remain as so for the rest of the series… And it is at this point that the plot really kicks in.

- - - - - -

I stop at the three first issues to recap this whole story for a very good reason: the first three issues are kind of their own thing. The duo Froideval-Ledroit were doing a big epic fantasy series for the first time, and so the first three issues were basically them finding their marks, offering a story still kind of in production, trying and testing out new things, just beginning and exploring. Heavily influenced by Dungeons and Dragons, and the You Are the Hero books (in fact the author was part of the French branch of D&D for a while), the story started out as a “picaresque road-trip about a group of characters trying to survive”, before gaining its steadiness and certainty and evolving into a serious story about territorial conquests, power struggles and the politics of an empire. As a result the character reflects that a lot – notably Ghorghor Bey, who was admitted by Froideval himself to have started out as a “punctual” character, who was probably just here for issue 1, but the author enjoyed him and his potential too much and so decided to have him return and become a regular…  And so while the first three issues are much needed to understand who the characters are, how the story starts, who are the powers at play and the plots set in motion, their style is much faster, wilder and humoristic than the following issues – for by issue 4, things get much more epic.

An interesting fact about the Black Moon Chronicles is that the characters have basically no past. It is most true for the protagonist, whose absence of past (and even absence of name, as he is named as an adult, in the first pages of the first issue, by a friend he just encountered in the woods) is a key plot-point of the story ; but in general all of the other characters lack any kind of past. They are introduced, they have their identity, personality, characteristics, but their background seems to be irrelevant for the most part (with this true “old fashioned D&D” and “You are the Hero” feelings of having characters starting out with basic traits and filling up their character as they go along). But the author “compensated” this by producing a spin-off series ENTIRELY dedicated to the backstories and pasts of each of the characters: Les Arcanes de la Lune Noire, in English “The Black Moon Arcana”.

Ghorghor’s very own backstory is told in the first issue of this series, and… I am not going to tell you everything because it is an entire “volume” full (for the French BD, each issue is a “volume”, which is basically a book-full of story, so usually quite bigger than a typical American comic-book issue), but if you don’t fear spoilers, here is the barebone of the story. He was born and raised in a human village by a human family in the northern part of the Lhynn’s empire – his mother had been raped by a young ogre (humanoid gorilla-like savage man-eating beings) during an attack on the village, but she still loved him, and he looked mostly human despite his unusual size and strength. However she was the only one who loved him, as everybody else hated and bullied him, including his mother’s new husband and his own son. After his mother’s death during his teenage years, he snapped at his step-father and step-brother’s abusive behavior and killed them in rage before fleeing in the night. He wandered in the snowy and frozen lands of the north, learning how to hunt and survive, rejected as a “monster” from every human village he tried to stop in – until as a tall and strong young man he encountered a travelling freakshow/circus that hired him and became his new family, teaching him all sorts of other talents such as weapon-throwing or reading. He became their “strongman” as the circus travelled to southern lands and bigger towns, and knew there for the first time romantic and sexual love in the arms of Siamese twin sisters.

Their downfall was however accepting the invitation of a gloomy local lord to play at his castle. Offended at the idea of paying them after their performance, he tried to lock them up away in a dungeon (except for the girls, that his sons wanted to “play” with in their chambers). The troop was barely able to flee the castle, and where hunted down into a cursed swamp filled with the forgotten corpses of an old war – this is where Ghorghor found his trustful battle-axe, and where his twin love found death in the tentacles of an ancient monster haunting the bog. Ghorghor killed the monster, but also swore on his lovers’ grave that he would kill the evil lord that had banished them here and all of his descendants. After escaping the swamp, he left the troop to their own travel, and now clad with the armor and weapons of the corpses of the bog set up on his vengeance. After killing the leader of a group of bandit who tried to attack him, he became the group’s new leader. With his men he burned down the castles of noblemen and plundered the convoy of aristocrats, using all the money to pay for huge feasts that often ended up in drunken vandalism, his fearsome reputation bringing him new recruits every day – and so he became a ruthless warrior, who was only know to spare the occasional travelling circuses he met.

Until he was ready to enact his vengeance on the lord that had caused the death of his two true loves… (Oh yes, and the regenerating ring is not forgotten and also gets its origin in this story).

[mx-heinous]

Ok, so I'm reading the Iliad for school, and here are my comments

Book 1

The funniest moment for me was definitely when Calchas made Achilles promise to protect him because he knew a certain someone was gonna be pissed with what he was gonna say

Anyway, I just learned that the Greeks are also called Danaäns

They refer to some people who SHOULD be kings, as princes? Odd choice

In here, Achilles has long red hair. I always interpreted him as a blonde??? It's probably just the translation. Anyway, Athena literally held him back by his hair from straight up MURDERING Agamemnon

So, the gods can just appear before select people while looking invisible before everyone else. I wonder if the guys who CAN see ever look crazy to other people

Sweet moment between Achilles and Thetis <3

Zeus, Thetis, you two REALLY aren't being discreet. Hera figured out your entire deal in one go

Hephaestus plays peacemaker and then gets repayed by being made fun of for his lameness

Book 2

They only refer to Morpheus as "Dream" here. Also, he disguises himself as Nestor in Agamemnon's dream lol. I wonder how often the gods just swoop down to Earth to pretend to be random people

Agamemnon - lord of many horses

I'm impressed that they can remember all of that verbatim

"God's messenger Rumour" Are they referring to Hermes? Probably not, but eh

The Trojans are WILDLY outnumbered, yet they still held back the Greeks for a good while

Agamemnon, you dumbass

Ok, so I also just learned that one of Athena's epithets is "Atrytone," which means "unwearying"

"Argive Helen" - didn't Helen come from Sparta? First time I've heard of this

Again, repeating stuff verbatim

I love how Odysseys's solution is to take Agamemnon's sceptre and start herding and/or beating people

Why did they even keep the hunchback in the army

"There's not an angry thought in Achilles" HA. LOL

Odysseus referred to himself in the 3rd person for some reason?

Ajax is spelt Aias here

Apparently, Agamemnon is REALLY hot, or at the very least, muscular af

I'm sorry, but I am NOT putting myself through the boat list

So Achilles has really nice horses

Iris!

THE FUCKING BOAT LIST CONTINUES??? BRO, THAT'S NINE PAGES

Book 3

Paris is also called Alexandros???

Hector calling Paris a useless bimbo!

Basically, it says that if the Trojans weren't cowards, they would've stoned Paris to death a LOOOOOONG time ago

I don't even know where Paris got the AUDACITY to not only steal someone's wife, but also ROB them while staying as a guest. Bro was raised as a shepherd. Where is he getting this ego

Y'know that moment where you THINK a plot is about to wrap up, but then you notice that the episode isn't actually close to ending yet? I imagine that's what the NPCs felt

Priam and his old man friends

I love how they describe Odysseus as stupid-looking until he starts talking

With my previous point, him continually being referred to as being as wise as Zeus

Seriously, why tf did NO ONE tell Helen that Castor and Pollux are super dead??? Like, bro, she's wondering if they aren't there because they might be ASHAMED of her! Have the decency, bruh

Sidenote: I do think that if Castor and Pollux were still alive by the time of the war, they would've gotten Helen out of there a LOT sooner, because of the experience they already had with the Theseus situation

So Priam's aware that Paris is defo gonna die

✨️Paris' fashion montage✨️

Hector dragging Paris by his own helmet LMAO

I know he's referred to as Alexandros, BUT I will NOT be calling him that since Paris is waaaay too flamboyant for a name like "Alexandros"

"beautiful throat, lovely breasts, and shining eyes" YURI YURI YURI YURI YURI

Menelaus: WHERE IS HE?! WHERE ARE YOU HIDING HIM?!?!?!

Trojans: Bruh, we don't know! Believe us, we hate him as much as we hate dying

For some reason, my school's translation has some weird nicknames for the gods??? Like, their epithets are used as last names

Apollo - Shootafar, Silverbow

Zeus - Invincible, Olympian, Thunderer, Cloudgatherer, Cronion, Flashlightning, Allwise, Almighty, Thunderer

Thetis - Silverfoot

Hephaestus - Crookshank

[crusherthedoctor]

1. I'm talking about the way the writers hype her up. They have a known tendency of making comments that casually dismiss the game females not named Blaze, often for questionable reasons (Amy being too girly, Rouge being "weirdly sexual", etc), and rarely miss an opportunity to imply that they think Tangle is what a female in the Sonic-verse ought to be.

2. Silver doesn't come from a bad future 24/7, and he's not been alone 24/7. With all the people he's already interacted with by this point, it's peculiar for him to act so fanboyish over this random newbie.

3. Saying Silver really is like a child is a disservice to his game self, and that's coming from someone who doesn't even like Silver. Also, trauma is not an excuse for idiotic confrontations. There are good and bad ways of conveying emotions, thoughts, and conflicts - and yes, what those are will depend on the character(s) - but then you have moments like this, which exist for no other purpose than to generate cheap drama that wouldn't exist if anyone involved was using their brain.

4. Cream has gone through a lot in the games as well, including the death of one of her friends (Emerl). Doesn't stop her from being perfectly capable in the games. Her debut even had her go on her own quest to rescue her mother. Her being a child is not an excuse to infantilize her to this extent.

5. The comic spent an awful amount of time elevating Starline while dragging Eggman through the mud, with other villains in-universe all but saying he's too good for Eggman. In order to even initiate Starline's disillusionment in the first place, they had to make Eggman take a level in dumbass. He may have died by the end of his run, but the damage was already long done by that point, and even after his death, their attempts to paint him as the superior and more evil scientist have continued with the presence of Surge, who has similarly been hyped up constantly as the greatest villain ever, with Evan Stanley going as far as to not-so-subtly imply that the entire plot of Forces would have been vastly different (read: better) had Surge made an appearance. And yet...

6. I understand the intent with Surge. The issue is that the execution falls completely flat with the way she's presented and used in the comic proper. We're supposed to see her as both an uber-badass and a deep tragedy, but all she's turned out to be is a useless moron who takes up so much screentime for nothing, who can only be a threat by stealing Eggman's tech (and barely manages even with that), and ultimately exists to show her shark teeth on covers and provide another strawman for Sonic's OoC holier than thou behaviour in this comic.

7. I never said I had a problem with comic-exclusive characters being important in a comic. That's to be expected. I have a problem with them repeatedly being given preferential treatment over the game cast.

It really is not just annoying, but also somewhat sad, that IDW characters can never have a meaty role without shamelessly upstaging a game character. It's the ultimate play of insecurity.

Tangle gets touted as the Sonic Female of All Time while the crewmembers drag the game females through the mud.

Whisper gets randomly fawned over by Silver and Jet of all guys.

Lanolin humiliates Silver and treats him like a child.

Rough and Tumble are too much for Cream the OP to handle.

Starline was hyped up for an extended period as Eggman's superior (no, his final fate did not undo sitting through his agonizing "Sonic VS Eggman is routine" soapboxing).

Surge is being hyped up for even longer as the most badass villain and the most badass character period, despite having absolutely nothing of merit to show for it.

Is it really that hard to find a middle ground? I get you want your character(s) to do big things and be a legitimate part of the cast instead of sitting in the background with their thumbs twiddling, but this is not the way to do it. Trip was only recently introduced to the series, and she found her place just fine. She didn't need to effortlessly beat up Sonic in concept art in order to earn her stripes. She didn't need her creators to brag that she would improve Forces through her mere presence in order to cement her value.

Look. I talk a lot about Trudy. I talk a lot about her role in my fic, her interactions, her dynamics, her abilities, her quirks, all that good stuff. I take her role in the story quite seriously, and in an age where it's become taboo to have your OC do literally anything with the game cast (because overcorrection), I've stuck to my guns and made her a big part of the fic.

But - and this is a big but - none of this comes at the cost of the other characters, or the story as a whole. Sonic is still Sonic, and acts as you'd expect from him. Tails is still Tails, and isn't dismissed by the narrative as a mere sidekick to prop up Trudy as the "true" hero by comparison. Amy is still her bubbly self, not morphed into a Sally clone. Cream is still capable, despite her youth and innocence, and her bond with Trudy doesn't reduce her to literal baby. Eggman treats Trudy no differently from the rest of the cast, and he sure as hell doesn't show any fear at the prospect of facing her. Stellar is not little more than The Trudy Show: it's Sonic's latest adventure in a new land that Trudy happens to be tagging along for, and how he leaves an impression on her. Just like Unleashed did with Chip, and Secret Rings did with Shahra, among other examples.

Even Sonudis, for as Never Going To Happen In Canon For Very Obvious Reasons as it is, is still made with the mentality of not only what Sonic himself is actually like in canon, but the others too. It's not a shallow bait that exists solely to exist, it's something I took seriously in regards to how it could potentially work without sacrificing Sonic's official characterization. Is it a fanfic cliche? Is it self-indulgent? Maybe, but writing fanfic in general is inherently self-indulgent. The sooner you accept that, the better. But as fanfic-y as some concepts may be, I still try to portray them as naturally and as faithfully as I can in respect to the games that spawned this franchise. That includes not reducing Sonic to a lap dog with no independence or backbone.

You can make your character important, and even give them a risky role if you're daring, without disrespecting the game cast and what they contribute to the franchise.

[tired-teacher-blog]

Title : My savior/ My demise

Chapters : (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

Status : Completed

Characters: Dabi/ fem reader (with a healing quirk)/ other mha characters’ appearances

Genre : Angst/ fluff/ Romance/ NSFW in later chapters/ Tragidy/ contains manga spoilers

Summary : Your once calm and peaceful life takes a surprising turn to the unexpected when you meet the infamous villain Dabi. What will happen when you discover a side of him that no one else knows? A side he only shows when he’s with you. Will your story have a happy ending?

Please do not read if you’re a minor!!

Note : This is loosely based on the manga as I had to tweak some of the events to fit this plot. No major changes though, just a bit to include you in the story.

Explaining y/n’s quirk: You have a healing power; you’re able to extract people’s pain, illnesses, injuries and everything in between with a simple touch. You’re able to activate and release your quirk at will because using it for long periods of time without rest weakens you.

Masterlist

AO3

Previously

You traced your burnt skin and sobbed, frightened about what the future holds for the two of you.

Chapter 7:

Dabi left your appartement right after you fell asleep. He gently cleaned you up and covered your body before walking out.

He thought it was for the best because he didn't want to see your sorrowful eyes.

Still, he wished he had more time with you.

He sighed dragging his feet back to the headquarters.

He thought everyone would be either asleep or absent, but when he walked in to find everyone gathered around screaming at each other, he knew something was up.

_ "He's here." Spinner announced pointing at him.

_ "Where the fuck have you been Dabi?!" Shigaraki was furious as he walked up to him.

Dabi's expressionless face didn't change, he was frankly more annoyed than anything else.

_ "Do I need to report how I spend my free time?"

_ "You don't. But when you let a civilian distract you from your duty, it becomes our business!" Shigaraki spat back.

Dabi's eyes widened, and he immediately turned his eyes to Toga.

_ "What did you do?" He was so close to incinerating her.

She was as furious as everyone else, but for a completely different reason.

_ "You're playing with that poor girl's feelings! When I saw you together I could tell she truly loved you and it made me happy. But then you shamelessly tell me she was nothing but a "stress reliever"? I will not allow you to drag her on! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

Dabi didn't know what to say, he couldn't find the words.

_ "Listen to me Dabi, I'll let it slide this time, but if something like that happens again I swear I'll kill her! We have a bigger goal here! Bigger than anyone else, so we can't let useless cravings distract us. Am I clear?" Shigaraki warned.

_ "You got it boss. Let's put it all behind us." Dabi tried to stay calm. He was internally grateful you two agreed to lay low for a while.

Thankfully, everything went back to normal after that night. Everything but the fact that you and him were still separated.

The marks he left on your body were gradually fading, and with them was the hope of you reuniting.

He told you he would be looking out for you from afar, but you wanted to see him too, even if it were for a few minutes.

Everytime you go back home from the hospital and pass by the river side, you remember the first time you met, and the first time you kissed.

And the once happy and nostalgic memories slowly turned into agony.

You stood there, in the same spot he did when you first met him, and looked into the horizon.

It was late at night, and the streets were empty.

_ "Touya, are you here? Are you watching over me like you said you would? Please come out if you are. Please let me see you.. just for a moment." You fought your sobs as you spoke, hoping he would hear you.

You closed your eyes and gave in to your tears.

_ "Hey troublemaker." That familiar voice you yearned for came from behind you, and you turned around flying into your man's embrace.

_ "I missed you! Touya please don't leave me again!" You pleaded desperately and it killed him to see you like that, even more so because he was the reason for your broken heart.

He pulled back to look into your puffy eyes and gently wiped your tears away.

_ "You idiot I missed you too, but be patient for a little longer please. I need to make sure no one would come for you, it's a risk talking to you here right now, but I couldn't help it, so I guess we're both idiots." He was trying to make you laugh, and it wasn't working but it was endearing to see him try.

He leaned in and locked your lips in a slow kiss. You sighed into his mouth and relaxed between his arms.

His tongue found his way to yours and you sucked the sneaky muscle hungrily. You felt him smiling against you before nibbling on your lower lip playfully.

You were out of breath, but you didn't want to pull away. You missed this, you missed him.

And suddenly a gush of cold air replaced his lips and you whined asking for more.

_ "You should go home."

You wanted to argue but you knew he was right. It was dangerous being together outside, so you just nodded and bit back the urge to cry again.

He pecked your forehead and your lips one last time before disappearing into the darkness.

_ "I'll wait for you." You whispered into the cold air of the night.

After that night, Dabi couldn't keep an eye on you for a while since the villains were already preparing for the final war against the heroes.

Days turned into weeks before he could finally find the time to properly visit you.

No one brought you up again after all, and everyone was busy with the preparations so he thought it was safe for you to meet.

He would never admit it, but his heart pounded in his chest as he stood in front of your door and knocked.

He waited, but you didn't answer, so he knocked again. And again, you didn't open your door.

His excitement soon turned into anxiety. Did something happen to you? He left you unattended for weeks so who knows?

He decided to visit the hospital and wait outside for a while, maybe you had a night shift, or maybe you were at the river side again.

However, you were nowhere to be found. And for days, he kept coming back to nothing.

Did you decide to move out and leave town? It made no sense in his head. He just wished you were safe, even if he never gets to see you again..

(To be continued…)

[batsandbugs]

The Great IKEA Game

Chapter 1 - Meet the Players

Marinette originally came to the IKEA an hour outside of Gotham to buy twinkle lights for her new living room. She eventually extended her trip into obtaining new dishes since all she had right now was empty takeout containers she kept rewashing. She would have been very content getting what she needed and being on her way, (no, she wasn't lonely Plagg, she had two dozen mini-gods to keep her company, shut up) but halfway between the bedding and lights sections, Marinette’s life changed forever. 

For the better, if she was being honest. 

She never would have realized it if she hadn’t ducked into a showroom to test out a couch. She settled against the fluffy folds, knowing it would be destroyed within minutes if she ever brought it home when she noticed him. A boy, no man, about her age, hiding behind a desk looking for all the world as if he were plotting world domination or someone’s demise. 

They looked at each other in shock for a moment. 

“Are… are you ok-”

“Shhh!” his green eyes narrowed, and boy, Marinette had been on the receiving end of death glares before, but this one had to take the cake. 

“Sorry,” she whispered. 

He rolled his eyes. “Do you see a group of dark-haired obnoxious idiots out there?” he asked. 

The request was an odd one, but Marinette rose from the couch and glanced around outside of the showroom. She didn’t see anyone fitting his description. She shook her head. 

He smirked. “My idiot older brothers dragged me along for a “family bonding experience”." He made the little quotation marks, and Marinette never thought anyone could look cool doing that, but somehow this person nailed it. "Tt. I’ve successfully avoided them for an hour. Didn’t know when the coast would be clear though.” He rose gracefully from the ground, looking all the more like a prince, rather than a crazy person hiding from his family. 

It was absurd. 

Marinette found herself instantly amused. 

“I have friends exactly like that, I totally get it,” she said, thinking how Adrian would be beside himself when she told him the story later. The pang of loneliness that had been present since she’d left her friends in Paris, for college in America re-emerged. She shook her head of the maudlin thoughts. 

The Kwamis would have had a field day with this idea too, thankfully she had left them in her severely under-furnished apartment for the day in order to avoid the squabbling that came with only taking a few of them out of the house.  

Marinette looked back out at the hallway again, wondering if the man's brothers would soon appear, finding herself invested in what would happen. “What are you going to do now?” 

“Well, Drake has the keys, and those idiots will be at their shenanigans till the store closes, so…” he shrugged. 

“Are they like… furnishing a whole house?” Marinette didn’t know how you could spend an entire day here. Sure, it was big, but… 

“No. We’re engaged in a no holds barred game of hide-and-seek.” Marinette’s mouth dropped open. “If one of them catches me I become the seeker.” 

“Why?” 

He smirked, “Because I’ve held out the longest.” 

"No, I mean, why are you playing hide-and-seek?" It seemed an odd choice for a bunch of adults. Well, Marinette and her friends would do it. But they also willing became superheroes at the age of fourteen so their judgment was already in question.   

He shrugged. "My oldest brother thought it would be fun, and our father is... out of town at the moment," he said with a bit of hesitation. 

“So, you’re just going to hide in this showroom till the store closes?” 

A devious smile spread across the man’s handsome features. “No. I intend to troll them. If Grayson wants my participation, I'm going to make him regret it.” 

It was at that moment she crossed the point of no return, not that Marinette knew it yet.

Throwing away any idea of finishing her shopping today she returned his smirk. “Any chance I could join you in your crusade?” 

The guy looked her over suspiciously. “Why should I allow a stranger to join me and potentially ruin my chances at victory?” 

Marinette thought for a moment. “Well, your brothers know you well?” He nodded. “Then they likely know what you’ll do to avoid and troll them. You need a fresh perspective. Plus, I can operate out in the open, I’m not officially a part of the game.” 

“Hmm...” his face was impassive; Marinette couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “You make some good points, but I’m not fully convinced.” 

Marinette huffed, “I also grew up in Paris without being akumatized.” 

He looked at her oddly. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Paris had a terrorist for five years that turned people into monsterized versions of themselves if they felt negative feelings. They were called Akuamas. Everyone in my class had it happen to them at least once. More for some particularly loose cannons.” 

The guy looked bewildered. “Why didn’t anyone hear about this?” 

Marinette shrugged, trying to play off her knowledge as what a normal civilian would know. “Combination of corrupt politicians, social media blackouts, and magic. People died during these attacks, but everything was put to rights at the end of every fight due to the superheroes powers.” 

His mouth dropped, but he recovered quickly looking contemplative. “I want to know more about this at a later time, but if what you say is true you can control yourself better than the average peon. But my brothers and I are a combination of street orphans, circus brats, gymnastics freaks, and geniuses - are you sure you can keep up?” 

Marinette nearly laughed at his description but managed to keep a straight face. “Positive.” 

“Alright, I'll do whatever it takes to win.” He offered her his hand. “I’m Damian.” 

She took it, feeling a slight shock as her fingers touched his. “I’m Marinette, nice to meet you, Damian.” 

“You won’t be saying that soon enough,” he said with a slight smirk. He looked over her shoulder. “Shit.” He dove beneath the desk he’d been hiding behind earlier. “Tall guy with the white streak in his hair.” Marinette turned to look. “Don’t make it too obvious,” he hissed. 

Marinette grabbed her phone and leaned against the desk. With small side glances, she saw a man probably mid to late twenties with two-toned hair. He wore a leather jacket and seemed to be searching for something, or someone. 

“Who’s that?” she asked quietly. 

“Second oldest brother, Jason Todd - arguably the most and least dangerous.” 

“Why both?” 

“He did not want to participate initially, so he’s reluctant, but at the same time, he hates losing.  He’ll hang on to the bitter end. More resourceful than the other two, and more violent, although less sophisticated.” 

Jason moved closer to their showroom. 

“Hush, he’s headed this way,” she whispered. Damian remained quiet and Marinette tried to make herself look busy. 

“Quick question miss?” Marinette glanced up from her phone. Jason stood at the entrance to the showroom. 

“Oh, uh, oui? Non, non, I mean yes?” Marinette said in an exaggerated accent, playing into the oblivious tourist stereotype always came in handy. 

“Oh French, shit, haven’t spoken that in a while,” he muttered. “Um...” 

“Non, it iz okay, I speak English well. Can I help you?” She batted her eyes just a bit. Marinette had long since grown from the days of not using all her advantages - courtesy of forced confidence from Chole. A friendship no one had seen coming but had grown quick and strong once they reached an understanding. 

“Oh, I’m looking for my little brother, about yay high, black hair, green eyes, permanent scowl. Have you seen him?” 

Marinette pretended to think for a second. “Non... I do not theenk so, perhaps help desk at zee front?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Jason said, Marinette could see he had already written her off as useless. “Thanks, anyway.” He walked away quickly. 

There was a minute of silence. “Coast is clear,” said Marinette once Jason was out of sight. 

Damian popped up, a gleam in his eyes. “Your lying skills are adequate; we may just win this yet.” 

“I’m glad to meet such high approval, monsieur. Let’s get going.” 

Chapter 2 

Chapter 3 

Chapter 4

[littlemisspascal]

Death and an Angel part 11

Death!Din x Cupid F!Reader

Summary:  “When we get out of here, Din will fly us far, far away,” you murmur, just loud enough to be heard over the sound of the baby's resumed chewing. “I promise you we’ll be happy together.”

Rating: T

Word Count: 3,511

Warnings: captured reader, angst, bonding with Grogu, plot plot plot

Author Note: To anyone and everyone sticking with this series, I love you so much! I know the plot is more than a little thick right now, but answers are slowly but surely being revealed. 

Links to Part 1 and Part 10 and Part 12

Cross-posted on AO3.

Photo Inspiration:

You pace the length of the cell, brow furrowed as you try to organize your racing thoughts. Between the chilly atmosphere and the severed bond wailing for its other half, you imagine you outwardly resemble the jittery and unbalanced mess you feel internally. You refuse to feel humiliated by your appearance, not when the witnesses are Gideon and his minions. They can think what they want about you, believe they have broken your spirit, because that just means they won’t expect it when you free yourself until it’s too late.

However, part two of your plan of escape is proving to be more challenging to conceptualize than you initially thought. The collar is tightly wound around your neck to the point of chafing. Apparently the rule of being able to slip two fingers under a collar is only applicable to animals in Gideon’s eyes because your attempt of slipping your finger between skin and metal is dissuaded by another electric shock zipping through your body.

However, as you lightly trail your fingertips over the cold metal, you’re surprised to feel a noticeable dip in the back. It’s not a design flaw, you think as you try to visualize it in your mind. Your heartbeat quickens as realization strikes: it’s a keyhole.

Any excitement you might feel at your discovery is spoiled by the fact a keyhole is useless without a key. You look at the laser gate, further disappointed as you contemplate the complexity of the tunnel system. There could be dozens of cells down here, potentially thousands of hiding places for Gideon to keep the key to the collar secure. Not to mention, you don’t even know what the key looks like. It could be hanging right outside the cell and you’d have no idea.

Lost in the sea of disparaging thoughts, you don’t notice the return of the baby crawling through the hole in the wall until he latches onto your foot. Startled, you barely manage to refrain from shouting a curse as you stare down at him. He giggles, clearly amused by your wide-eyed expression, and then slaps a silver plastic bag against your shin using the hand that isn’t gripping his favorite black cloth.

“Did you bring me a present?” you ask, taking a seat on the pallet and lifting him up onto your lap. This time when you reach forward, he willingly lets you take the item from him instead of trying to take a chunk out of your hand.

You tear open the plastic, revealing its contents to be five teal-colored cookies.

“Wow, bud,” you murmur, holding one up between pinched fingers. The treat smells distinctively like vanilla. From what you’ve witnessed, you doubt Gideon is the type to offer his prisoners dessert with their meals which means these were probably stolen from somewhere. “Where did you find these?”

The baby only babbles unintelligibly in response, gesturing with his free hand in the direction of somewhere beyond the laser gate. You nod along, feigning understanding, but your eyes can’t help but drift to his collar when he turns his head. The keyhole for his collar is smaller than you expect to see which has you quickly theorizing there is not one universal key for all of the collars. If that theory is true, then it raises the difficulty of escaping yet another level.

With a sigh you cram the cookie into your mouth, finding the tiniest smidge of joy in its crunchiness.

“When we get out of here I’ll buy you a dozen boxes of these,” you tell him once you’ve swallowed, offering him one of the cookies. He coos excitedly and takes a large bite, uncaring of the blue crumbs that rain down upon his coat. “And once Din sees you, I bet he’ll want to spoil you rotten, too. He has a not-so-secret soft spot for kids.”

The baby’s head tilts, reacting to the name-drop by making a confused gurgling sound around his mouthful.

“Don’t talk with food in your mouth,” you scold gently, tapping his nose with your finger and laughing under your breath when it proceeds to scrunch up in an adorable manner. Leaning your head back against the wall, you’re unable to keep the note of wistful longing out of your voice as you explain, “Din is my soulmate. To the rest of the world, he’s known as Death. They’ll have you believe he’s someone to be feared and avoided at all cost. But luckily I’m here to tell you the truth.”

He stares up at you, snack seemingly forgotten in favor of listening intently to every word coming out of your mouth. Distantly you think you should be a little scared by how intense his gaze is, as if he’s attempting to look past your skin to the soul beneath, but you remind yourself all babies are innately curious and don’t know it’s rude to stare.

“He’ll never admit to it himself, but underneath all that beskar armor, he is the most socially inept being in the galaxy. I swear, bud, the first time I met him I thought it was impossible for him to say more than two words or else he’d hurt himself.” Your lips twitch at the memory, the smallest of smiles you can make without it feeling forced. “Still, despite his horrible first impression, I couldn’t get him off my mind. I wouldn’t call it love at first sight, but—look, I know how crazy this sounds, okay? But I felt like I had to get to know him better. There was this voice in my head insisting we couldn’t just remain strangers. It took about ten thousand questions and three more meetings for me to earn his trust enough for him to take off his helmet and let me see his face.”

You take a deep breath and stroke your finger over the baby’s ears, needing to feel something other than the flaring pulse of pain from the bond. “One look at those beautiful brown eyes and I was done for.”

Saying Din’s eyes are brown feels sinful. It’s like saying the ocean is blue—accurate, but not detailed enough to describe its depth and volatility. There are days when his eyes are the shade of brown reminding you of leather bound journals—ancient and full of profound wisdom, meant to be admired and cherished for an entire lifetime. Other times, they are the kind of brown that matches your favorite chocolate pastry from the bakery down the street from your apartment—decadent and warm with the slightest hint of temptation.

“When we get out of here, Din will fly us far, far away,” you murmur, just loud enough to be heard over the sound of the baby's resumed chewing. “I promise you we’ll all be happy together.”

And I’ll never get tired of seeing those brown eyes everyday.

~~

The hours start to bleed into one another. The baby snoozes in your lap, head pillowed on your thigh, but you have no idea if it’s night or day. Gideon had said he’d let you talk to Din ‘tomorrow’, but that doesn’t tell you how many days you’ve been here in total.

Your legs have started to feel numb from sitting in the same position so long, but the last thing you want is to wake him up by moving. The importance of him feeling safe enough to be vulnerable and sleep is not lost on you. His desire for attention and physical contact is so painfully obvious you hate thinking about how often he must have been ignored before your arrival.

As he sleeps, you’re unable to resist your curiosity any longer and carefully maneuver the piece of cloth out of his grip. Despite its aged and dirty appearance, it is still surprisingly soft to touch. Whatever article of clothing this was torn from must have been well-tailored, you think, imagining a hooded cloak or perhaps a long coat. Your nose twitches when you hold the cloth close to your face to better study it, reacting to the variety of odors embedded in the wool fibers. Maker knows how long the kid’s been dragging the fabric around with him without it being washed regularly, so you shouldn’t be surprised it has absorbed a couple dozen scents.

Still, the faint essence of smoke you detect swirls around in your brain even long after you’ve laid the cloth back over him like a makeshift blanket. Memories of your death start to resurface again despite your best mental efforts to push them away, causing your stomach to clench with nausea as you recall the horrific stench of charred remains.

It isn’t the same, you tell yourself, squeezing your eyes shut and forcing your head to clear itself. It can’t be because that day was fifty years ago and he’s only just a baby.

You repeat these thoughts like a mantra until, without meaning to, you fall into a dreamless sleep.

~~

You’re startled awake by hands seizing hold of your arms and pulling you up onto your feet without warning. You yelp at the sudden rush back to consciousness, brain scrambling to make sense of everything. Your eyes sweep the ground, panic washing over you like a bucket of cold water when you fail to see a tiny green body.

“It’s time, pet,” the twi’lek’s voice hits your ears and you turn to see her standing near the cell’s entrance, a lantern in one hand and a shiny blade in the other. “The Moff is expecting you.”

It takes you a minute to process in your frazzled state, but you realize it must be time to talk to Din. You’re shoved forward by whoever has your arms twisted behind your back, but you manage another quick survey of the cell. There is no sign the baby was ever here and you send a quick prayer to the Maker he had snuck back through the hole without anyone seeing him.

You have mixed feelings about not being blindfolded as you’re led through the underground labyrinth. On one hand, you get to observe everything and everyone you come across, making as many mental notes to flip through later when you’re alone. On the other, you think this must be an intimidation tactic. Gideon wants you to see everything so you know with absolute certainty how high the odds are stacked against you.

There are cells identical in appearance to yours on either side of you, carved into the tunnel rock and blocked from entry by laser gates. Except not one of them contains a prisoner. Either you have severely overestimated the size of Gideon’s collection, or he is purposefully keeping you separate from the rest for reasons known only to him.

Another surprising and unsettling observation you make is how many different types of species Gideon has employed as minions—human, rodian, trandoshan, you even spot a devaronian in the mix. Except for the Cupid twi’lek in front of you, everyone you come across is mortal. It does not make much sense to you why a seraph as powerful as Gideon is relying on mortal henchmen to help maintain control of his secret prison. Your gut instinct is insisting you’re missing a vital piece of information and you don’t like being in the dark about it.

The tunnel you’re being marched down eventually opens up into a larger cavernous space with several dozen lanterns hanging along the walls providing ample lighting. There are several crates spread about the area, and some have been pried open to reveal they are packed full of blasters and ammunition. You rack your brain trying to determine the purpose of the weapons. Yes, clearly, they are meant to cause havoc and destruction, but why are they here? Who or what is the target they will be aimed at?

Gideon stands in the middle of the room next to an empty chair. On his other side is a mortal human male, bald-headed with ginger facial scruff, who has two blaster pistols holstered around his chest and yet another one held by a droid arm attached to his backpack. Overkill much?

You’re shoved in the direction of the chair and gruffly told to sit. Huffing, you wordlessly obey and try not to squirm as all eyes lock onto you as if you’re going to perform a trick for their entertainment.

“You have a minute to record your message,” Gideon says, holding out a piece of paper towards you. “These words I have prepared must be included in those precious sixty seconds or you might find me reluctant to allow you to send a second recording.”

Is he serious? This isn’t the arrangement you previously discussed with him.

“Record?” you repeat, reluctantly taking the paper.

“I never said you would have the opportunity of speaking to Death face-to-face.” You want more than anything to tear the condescending smirk off his face with your fingernails. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder, isn’t that the mortal saying? You would know better than me, living amongst them in that quaint little apartment on Umbriel.”

Of course he knows about your home. Of kriffing course he does.

Heartbeat quickening, you avoid eye contact by scanning the few lines of words he’s written, eyebrows slowly inching up your forehead the more you read. “I don’t understand. This isn’t a demand to kill anyone. What does it mean?”

“Now is not the time for you to know,” he answers cryptically.

You shake your head, insisting, “Well maybe it should be. He knows me better than anyone. He’ll be able to tell I’m confused and—“

Gideon’s heavy sigh interrupts you. Then, quicker than you anticipate, he steps to the side of you and unsheathes his sword, its black blade positioned at your throat. It happens in one fluid movement, and the danger of your current predicament doesn’t sink in until the frightening humming notes of the weapon register in your eardrums seconds later. Your expressionless mask wavers, facial muscles tightening as you fail to refrain from flinching.

“All that is required from you, Cupid 1-1-7, is for you to speak from the heart and convince him to follow this one instruction. Do you think you can accomplish that?” he asks the question as if you have an actual choice. Like you can walk away now and there will be no hurt feelings.

But that is ridiculous. Everyone knows Cupids don’t get to have choices. Not when they are only given orders to obey.

You give him the tiniest of nods, careful not to let your skin make contact with the blade. “Yes, sir.”

“Then let’s begin.”

~~

The nav computer on the Razor Crest contains the coordinates of every moon and planet within each region of the galaxy. There is not one inch of space unknown to Din and yet his search for his angel continues to remain unsuccessful. He doesn’t consider the possibility of her being deceased for even half a second. As her soulmate he would have felt her passing the moment it happened. The bond he shares with his angel might be young and fragile still, but he doesn’t doubt her loss would eviscerate him in the same merciless manner he had done to Hess.

His inability to find her can only mean a powerful immortal is involved in her capture. As Death he roams the universe as a neutral entity. The only enemies he encountered—and he uses that term loosely—were foolish mortals thinking they could outlive their destined time by fighting him, only to ultimately meet their fated ends in the process. Prior to Hess’ demise, he had upheld his sworn creed to the universe and never once was tempted to defy the natural order or break a sacred rule.

Although admittedly strange to consider, the thought that maybe his angel’s capture isn’t meant to deliberately hurt him or her is one that keeps crossing his mind. Perhaps they are merely pieces in a game neither of them recognize nor want to willingly participate in.

As Din sits in the pilot’s seat, staring at the screen dispassionately through the visor of his helmet still coated with Hess’ blood, he is well-aware of Bo-Katan standing behind him, attempting to freeze him solid with her iciest glare.

She is the bravest of his reapers, unafraid to piss him off and counteract his opinions with her own. Yet ever since they left Hess’ body hanging in the warehouse and returned to the Crest, she’s not said one word to him, seemingly content to suffer in silence as a background presence while he contemplates whether he should be the one to track down the twi’lek Hess referenced or if he should have his reapers engage in the hunt.

“We’re going to talk about what happened,” Bo-Katan says coolly.

He grinds his teeth. “We will talk if and when I want to.”

“No.” She forcefully pulls at his chair, turning it around to face her. A snarl escapes him, animalistic and furious, but her green eyes don’t even blink, not the least bit intimidated. “You reaped a soul before it’s destined time. The universe isn’t going to easily forgive you for that. There will be consequences.”

“The only thing that matters is getting her back,” he answers. It’s the truth too. The second his angel was taken he knew there was not one rule he wouldn’t break to have her back in his arms—consequences be damned.

“Do you even hear yourself right now?” Bo-Katan asks, looking him over as if she no longer recognizes him. Her eyes linger just a second too long on his bloodstained gloves. “You’re losing your mind over a soulmate you’ve barely known a year.”

“Have you ever had someone you loved taken from you?” Din counters.

She scowls, eyes narrowing with loathing. “How dare you compare—”

“Answer the question!” he shouts, slamming his fist down on the armrest hard enough the metal creaks ominously.

“Yes.” Her chin dips briefly towards her chest as she takes a second to compose herself. “You know I have.”

Din does know. Hours prior to every major catastrophic event in the galaxy’s history he’s felt an invisible leash wrap around him, pulling him in the direction of the tragedy and demanding he be there to personally reap the souls of the victims in the aftermath. He had witnessed the destruction of Bo-Katan’s homeworld when it was ravaged by a series of bombings orchestrated by an unknown enemy. Thousands had been killed, including Bo-Katan’s sister.

He doesn’t let the silence stretch too long, voice unwavering as he says, “And if you had the chance, would you not kill the one responsible for your pain?”

“It wouldn’t bring her back. Not any of them.”

Din sighs, glancing away, but Bo-Katan surprises him not even ten seconds later, apparently unfinished.

“I’d still do it though,” she says, not sounding the least bit guilty for admitting to hypothetical murder. “I’d carve the heart out of whoever set off those bombs and force-feed it to them.”

“We’re more alike than you may think,” Din says. “Think about that before you question my actions again.”

Any potential response from his reaper is interrupted by the beeping of an incoming transmission. He turns his chair at once, noticing the recorded message’s origin source is a random scrambling of letters and numbers. Every instinct is telling him he won’t like what he sees, but his hand reaches forward anyways, as if possessed by an unseen force, and presses the button to view the recording.

His angel appears as a holographic figure and immediately his eyes zero in on the collar around her neck. Anger threatens to course through his veins again, but Din forces his lungs to draw in a deep breath. Now is not the time to unleash his temper. Now is the time to listen and commit every word she says to memory, to study her every feature for any sign she’s been hurt.

“Death,” she begins, and his entire body tenses at the use of his title and not his name. It’s been so long since she’s addressed him as such, he knows it can’t be accidental. “I hope this message reaches you wherever you are. More than anything I wish I could be with you right now. I’m so sorry I broke my pinky promise to you, sweetheart. The way our bond is...I hate to think you’re feeling as much pain as I do.”

Din’s heart shatters when she starts to anxiously rub at her soulmate marking, sniffling quietly. His fingers itch with the overwhelming longing to hold her hand.

“I’m not safe here. What they’ve threatened to do to me...it scares me. I-I need to ask you a favor, a very important one.” A few teardrops escape the corners of her eyes and drip down her cheeks. Din bites the inside of his mouth so harshly he tastes blood. “If you want to protect me, then you must let go.”

The transmission goes dead.

Tag List: @leilei-draws​, @theocatkov​, @vintagesaph​, @stardust-and-starlight​, @adrieunor​, @remmyswritings​, @gallowsjoker​, @rhiannon-russo​, @randomness501​, @sylphene​, @softly-sad​, @maytheglitter​, @melobee​, @rogertaylorsfalsettogivesmehives​, @eleinemk​, @captain-jebi​, @aerynwrites​, @promiscuoussatan​, @stilllivindue2spite​, @coaaster​, @lin-djarin​, @oh-no-a-whovian​, @over300books​, @chibi-yuki, @becauseican2, @kay2304, @odelia-d32, @nicotinebirds

[moonctzeny]

Cygnus

pairing: royal!ten  x fem!reader x villain!doyoung

genre: angst, smutty elements but not anything too much

word count: 4,8k

warnings: ‘forced’ marriage, mentions of death, blood, stabbing (not too descriptive I promise), manipulation

summary: “When your father, the king, gets brutally assasinated in his royal quarters, you realise how big of a threat the opposing Indigo kingdom really is. In order to further protect both your kingdoms, prince Ten proposes a unification by proposing to you. Amidst your duty as his queen and your inappropriate meetups with your royal advisor, Doyoung, you’re not sure where your heart really belongs”

a/n: This fic has a lot of referencing of the past. Just to clarify: if a part is written in the past tense and is inside the separators, it’s y/n recounting past events

requested by/written for my dear French Anon ❤️❤️ I hope you like it 🥰

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

The starry night spreads like a veil over the kingdom. Your kingdom, ever since your head was adorned with a veil of your own. The moonlight, pale and bright, illuminates all the stories of the night. From the mothers that kiss their children goodnight, praying that the impending war doesn’t find them in their adolescence, to the whispering silhouettes of the King’s traitors, plotting with the opposing kingdom to overrule his reign.

Like the weeping willows of your royal garden, you sit alone in the dance hall’s balcony, gazing at the sky’s unknown that always felt so comfortable to you. How dull and drab you must look, even in the ornate gown you were in, amidst all the decorations and joyous music of your wedding’s one year anniversary. Maids, peasants, guards- they all congratulated you on your happy marriage, wishing the queen a long life of prosperity. Even Sirius, the prettiest diamond in the sky, seemed to shine like a spotlight for tonight’s celebration.

“y/n? It’s time for our royal dance.”

You recognized the silky voice to be that of the King’s, your longest companion other than the stars. In spite of all of your misery, Ten, the man you swore to hold in weakness and in health, till death do you part, was someone you valued deeply.

You first met the prince in your early teens, travelling to his neighboring kingdom with your father. He was still a young boy, bothered with the blemishes on his face and excited to play with the snow covering the windowsills of his room. The only person who could relate with the insecurities and troubles of an heir like yourself.

“Why are the peasants hungry while we throw away most of our food?”

"Why does the Indigo kingdom want to declare war on us when we both have enough wealth to live on?"

 "Do you think that when we grow up, we will become just like our parents?"

The prince was thoughtful and gentle, a pacifist in the wrong position. Talented in the arts, in dance, in anything that is as beautiful as he is.  

His beloved subjects do not know it, but the nickname Ten, was given to him by you. 

It was probably the third time you met the prince, excited to spend time with your only friend just a day before your 15th birthday. He had been bugging you over what you wanted from him as a present, the beautiful jewelry and dresses his father gifted you seeming too impersonal to him. You shook off his offers, insisting that him being there with you, in your castle’s terrace, was more than enough. 

You were gazing at your beloved stars and he was gazing at you, rambling on and on about the celestial objects in the sky.

“And what star is this?”, he asked curiously, eyes reflecting the constellations and sparkling in the night. Chittaphon, unlike the countless teachers insisting astronomy for a princess was useless, was endlessly entertained by your knowledge and always thirsty to learn more. His finger was pointing at Deneb, one of the brightest stars of the night sky.

“This star is part of a greater ten-star constellation, Cygnus”

“Cygnus?”

“It means swan in greek”, you explained and he squinted his eyes cutely, trying to find the resemblance to the bird.

“According to greek mythology, Phaethon, the son of Helios the sun god, demanded to ride his father’s sun chariot for a day. Unfortunately, he 

was unable to control the reins, forcing Zeus to destroy the chariot with a thunderbolt, with Phaethon drowning in the river Eridanus where it fell. Phaethon's lover, Cygnus, dived into the river for days on end to collect Phaethon's bones, in order to give him a proper burial. The gods were so touched by Cygnus's devotion and deep grief, that they turned him into a swan and placed him among the stars.”

Chittaphon, intrigued by the story, stopped plucking out the roots of the grass you were sitting on, and decided to lay his head comfortably on your lap. His hair looked so pretty that you couldn’t help but run your fingers through its softness, the intimacy making your heart skip a beat.

“That is my greatest fear”

You were so lost in your contentment that you’d almost miss his whispered confession. Placing your hands on his cheeks carefully, you turn his face so that he looks at you, and it takes everything in you not to lean down and kiss his pout away.

“Hm?”

“What if, when I finally take the reins of my father’s kingdom, I end up ‘drowning’ as well? What if I’m too weak to control them and someone stronger than me decides to destroy me?”

With a sigh, you look back up to the sky. As an only child and therefore sole heiress, the worry of leading a kingdom was the main cause of your night scares as well. You were just teenagers, still figuring out yourselves, but Chittaphon wasn’t some ditzy child. He didn’t care about the lushes and gold, he wasn’t power hungry. His idealism and ethos were admirable, and you felt safe knowing that when the time comes, he would be your ally.

“You’ll make a great king one day”

He smiles up at you, his happiness lighting up the night sky. He always shone the brightest.

“You really mean that?”

“I do. And if you don’t, I promise to collect your bones and bury you properly”

He laughed heartily at your joke, and you continued to braid his locks, counting the freckles on his face until your heartbeats synced with the other.

You just laid there, thinking the prince had fallen asleep in your arms, when he spoke again.

“I don’t know how, but one day I’ll gift you those ten stars. And it will be the best birthday present you’ll ever receive”

That’s how you got through adolescence, holding on to Ten’s promise, and dreaming of whatever life might offer you. And life seemed to be gentle on you, up until a couple of years ago. Up until the incident.

Ten takes your hand in his, rubbing your knuckles tenderly with his thumb, and leads you to the dance hall. The skin is scabbed and rough from you compulsively scrubbing it every time you take a bath. You’d watch the water endlessly run through your fingers, yet no amount of soap could flush the memory of the deep red of your father’s blood staining them.

It was a Friday like any other, a walk in the royal gardens at 6 and then your waltz dance class at 7. You replayed the new choreography over and over in your head, drunk in your instructor’s praises and wanting to show off. Skipping the steps of the stairwell leading up to the king’s room, you wish you had taken a jacket with you. Goosebumps started appearing on your arms, both from the cool night breeze and something else you couldn’t quite put your finger on.

Your father was the reason you started waltz lessons. “One day you’re going to marry a man to queendom and you’ll better be able to keep up with me on our father-daughter dance”. You’d just giggle and tell him you had plenty of time till that day, you were just stepping on your twenties, no reason to step on a dancefloor too! But alas, one dance recital from Ten and your father was sold on the idea of getting you to take some lessons. You chuckled to yourself. Come to think of it, your father just really loved Ten.

You reach the heavy door of his suite, opened by just a slice. While there was light coming from the room, illuminating the hallway you were standing at, there was no one guarding it. You found it a little strange that the guard’s huge frame didn’t block your way from your father like he like always did, yet you were happy. Your father always acted colder to you around him.

“Dad, dad, look what I learned toda-“

The sight of his cold, lifeless body brought you to your knees. The cause of death was obvious, with the dagger shoved deep inside his guts, but if you asked anyone in the kingdom, they’d tell you he died from a bad heart. He loved heavy food, and alcohol, the meals suited to a king. No one other than a select few could know that the king was assassinated in his own bedroom.

But that was not your only secret.

You don’t know how, but Ten has managed to finally drag you in the middle of the dance hall. Your shoes clack against the marbled floors and the music brings you momentarily back to the now that you want to escape so badly. The music sounds familiar, you think, and you stay still for a second, trying to identify the song.

Your king brings you closer, one hand steady on your waist, the other keeping your fingers intertwined. He hums to the tune and looks at you with those eyes, those dark eyes that always hold a certain sadness in them. And when he starts to lead, it finally hits you that this is the song you got engaged to.

It was Ten’s idea, actually. With the rumours of a murder travelling to the neighboring kingdoms, including the Indigo kingdom making statements of invasive strategies against you, a form of alliance was clearly needed to be made. 

He showed up to the royal conference room, all dressed up and holding a bouquet of red roses. You could hear his heart thumping as he approached you, his hands sweaty and clammy when he held yours.

“My queen, there is no denying our kingdoms are in a crisis”. His familiar voice was comforting to you, yet the words seemed too formal to be leaving Ten’s mouth. “The Indigo kingdom has indirectly declared war on you. They are powerful, especially with the weapons they possess. And their men are notorious to be ruthless and as cold as ice.”

You gulped visibly, your mouth getting dry at the thought of your people getting as violently killed as your father. Looking at any place possible other than his eyes, you wondered why he took the time to pay you a visit, just to point out the things that you were already more than worried about.

“My kingdom has great soldiers, skilled and apt in martial arts, yet they miss one thing, one thing that your peaceful kingdom can offer mine. Your servants love you, my queen, and they are willing to do anything for you”. He stops and takes a breath, handing you the bouquet he had been holding in his other hand. “I know I would”

The sweet scent that hits your nose matches his sentiment, yet the glossiness in his eyes -that you finally picked up the courage to face- told you things would get bitter soon.

“Are you suggesting we form an alliance for the war? Our kingdoms might be on good terms now, yet our predecessors used to be enemies for hundreds of years. There is still a lot of mistrust weaved in the hearts of the people.”

“I know”, he said, his voice breaking lightly. A thorn from the bouquet pricked your skin as you saw him fall down on one knee, a drop of blood falling from your finger as a teardrop stained your face. “That’s why I am asking for your hand in marriage. Let our kingdoms become one”

You were the one who said ‘I do’, yet the decision was already taken for you. Your whole life, in fact, was painted right in front of your eyes, hues of marsala reds and hunter greens. Hues like the ones Ten put on his palette almost every night before you go to sleep.

You and Ten had never slept together. He insisted that it was never his intention when marrying you, and he’d completely respect your boundaries. You’d be lying to yourself if you said you hadn’t had a thought of laying with him, as you helped him remove the drying paint off his fingers every night. You couldn’t ignore the twitch of your sensitivity as he saw you changing into your silk robe and nightgown, nor the heat of your face when he called you beautiful. His pretty voice was made for begging and teasing and singing out moans. With his flexibility and core strength, you could only imagine what he’d be like in the bedroom. Just the image of his feline eyes looking up at you from between your thighs sent chills down your spine.

That being said, you always felt a bit annoyed by his chivalry as he slipped through to the guest room to spend the night. Through his proposal, he had ridden you of the chance to choose your other half, doomed you to endless nights of loneliness and a cold half of the bed. He should’ve at least taken responsibility.

Not even the guards could know that the two of you didn’t share a bed, the alliance holding on the thin thread of facade you played out for everyone. Sweet kisses in the breakfast room, fake smiles and the silent mourning of your freedom. But that wasn’t your only secret.

You see a hand tapping lightly the velvet shoulderpads of the King’s suit, causing you to halt your dancing. A man, about half a head taller than Ten, successfully steals his attention from you.

“My king, may I steal the lovely queen for a dance?”

Kim Doyoung.

Tall, nice-mannered, lethally handsome. Your father’s trustiest advisor ever since he turned 18 and one of the most respected men in the castle. If the king is the jungle’s lion, then Doyoung surely is a jaguar, attacking his enemies unexpectedly, emerging from their blind spot. He is also your secret.

Kim was the one who found you crying over your fathers body, notifying the knights of the murder since you had no voice to scream for help. He offered you a shoulder to lean on during your grief, while helping you manage the kingdom in your inexperience. It was inevitable to come closer to the man you spent countless hours with at the royal meetings, who you wined and dined with daily, who led you through your duties and made everything make a little bit more sense.

The attraction you felt for him however, well, that was on you. 

It started one night, warm like this one, when the diplomatic settlements with a new kingdom took way too long to figure out, and the pair of you were stuck in his personal office at the early hours of the morning. 

Your hair was a frizzy mess, eyebags darkening the thin skin of your under eyes and all you could focus on was the ink slowly spilling from the metal tip of your pen. And Doyoung, though hardworking and diligent as always, showed the signs of exhaustion as well, stretching his neck from side to side to release the tension.

A crack from his joints grabbed your attention, or rather his skin that was glowing in the limelight. 

He was wearing a beautiful silk shirt, the fabric matching his rich stature and highlighting the delicate lines of his body. His collarbones, sharp like him, peeked from the buttons he had been unfastening, one by one, all the while keeping his eyes on yours.

Your mind wandered under his stare that did nothing short of stealing all oxygen from your lungs. Every slither of your bare skin that landed on it was starting to burn up, and you assumed that’s what his touch must feel like as well. You imagined unbuttoning the rest of his shirt yourself, giving his shoulders a little massage to help him relax. You’d run your hands down this torso, marking it lightly with your fingernails, until you felt that little line of hair right over his pelvis.

The thought is too sinful, so you return to the document in front of you, yet all of your concentration dissolves when the advisor suddenly places the back of his hand against your forehead. His touch is cool and refreshing against your hot skin, yet the proximity only raised the temperature of your body more.

“My queen, you look exhausted. Have you been sleeping properly since the… incident?”

You wince at the memory and shove it down your subconscious again, shaking your head as if the dark thoughts would just brush off of you.

“Not really. I keep tossing and turning. I lay on my bed and I just feel so- so lonely.”

Immediately realising how suggestive your words sound you put your hand over your lips, but Doyoung removes them, taking your raised hand in his and kissing the top.

“My duty as your advisor is to rid you of your worries, my queen. Apparently, I’m not doing a good job, so tell me”. You let your eyes fall on his plush lips, holding your breath as his sweet talk leaves them. He mouths the next words against your wrist, and you can feel every movement of his mouth against your sensitive skin. “What can I do to relieve your stress?”

You can’t stop staring at the smoothness of the junction of his neck so you leave a light layer of your lipstick on it, the pink hue against his pale skin reeling you back to reality.

“Advisor, this is not right”, you try to excuse, “I cannot allow myself to take advantage of your duties like that”

Your eyes stay glued on his neck, and you watch as his Adam’s apple bobs in a chuckle. He guides your hand, that is still in his grasp, and boldy places it over his thigh, your pinky finger grazing against a hardness that is most definitely his-

“Can’t you see what you do to me? What does a man have to do to be yours for the night?”

And that’s how he ended up tangled in your sheets every night, sneaking in your room silently so that the guards don’t notice him. 

“It’s been one year, huh?”

You smell the citrusy after notes of wine in his breath, his lips slightly stained by the liquid. He looks just as addictive as the alcohol he consumed tonight, covered in the silk fabric that he loves so much.

“Have you been drinking again?”

“What else am I supposed to do when I see my queen dancing with that bastard?”

“That bastard is your king, yet you talk so lowly of him”

“And that king is your husband, but you were moaning my name on your wedding night”

You had changed into a white nightgown, the ivory dress discarded on your bathroom’s floor. The beads that were delicately weaved into the wedding gown sure were heavy, but that was not the reason you felt so suffocated in it. You had to sit there for hours, resenting everyone who made a toast for the husband and wife. The celebrations seemed endless, the wine abundant, their laughs maniacal. Your wedding ceremony was the image of luxury and opulence, yet you felt so poor.

Your feet led you to his room on their own, swollen and cut from all the dancing in heels. When Doyoung saw you, angry and choked up with all the injustice you felt, he offered to do what he was the best at. Distract you with his touches, his wet kisses, his sweet nothings. 

A pang of guilt ran through you the moment your back hit the wall, his body trapping you between the cold surface and the overwhelming heat of his body. You wondered if Ten was still sleeping in your newlyweds’ suite, if he was pretending that he dozed off, what he was thinking. You knew you were selfish for only thinking about your feelings, as if you were the only one forced into this marriage. But then Doyoung’s fingers danced on the hem of your dress, and your mind would go blank with lust.

“This is wrong”, you said out loud, a statement directed mostly at yourself rather than Doyoung.

“You coming here?”

“This. I shouldn’t have allowed myself to come this close to you”

“Divorce him”

You blinked back at him a couple times, trying to register what came so nonchalantly out of his mouth.

“Out of all people, advisor, you know exactly why I can’t”

His hand slid upwards, following the heat of your core, yet his fingers never touched where you needed him most. Small indentations were formed on the softness of your thighs, caused by his rings, and you wished the marks would stay forever. The shirt he wore as his sleepwear was oversized on his small frame, the iris tattooed on his shoulder peeking out from the fabric, as if it flowered on his skin.

“Out of all people, my queen, you know I can give you so much more than him”

As if knowing you’d argue with him, he started to nibble the skin on the middle of your neck, forcing your voice to bubble out muffled and weary.

“But advisor-“

“Say my name”

He let the pad of his finger fick your clit, and you moan “Doyoung” out, the name addictive on the tip of your tongue. So you say it again.

“Doyoung, I need you”

You felt his grin clearly against your skin, you wetness dripping on his fingers and covering his rings. His next words came out with a gravelly sound:

“I might hurt you, my queen”

Your whole life was laid out in front of you, from the wedding ring that weighted down your finger, to you laying on your royal deathbed, looking back at a lifetime that was never really yours. A linear progression to unhappiness, but you hated straight lines. 

“I want it to hurt”

Doyoung brings your body closer to yours, perhaps way closer than the etiquette allows, his hand on your lower waist sliding as near to your ass so as not to raise suspicion. He dips his head forward in a way that makes you think he’d leave a tipsy and careless kiss on your lips, but he whispers in your ear instead.

“Why haven’t you left him already?” The question is bold, especially between all these people, especially in the celebration of the wedding he asks you to break off. “I thought you said you’re mine”

“I am, but-“, your head moves towards the king’s direction, whose eyes are boring holes through the pair of you. You feel so small under his stare, suddenly feeling dirty. 

“He doesn’t even love you” 

There is a weird feeling bubbling in your stomach when you finally make eye contact with Ten, all his forms in which you’ve seen him through the years running in your mind. The innocent boy who became your best friend, the uncertain teenager who became your first love. The empathetic king, the mourning friend. The dependable spouse.

“But you do”, Doyoung concludes incredulously, his right eyebrow raised. It’s as if he tied together the pieces of a big jigsaw puzzle, the disappointment and anger and determination all trying to fit in his handsome features.

A hand draws your body away from Doyoung quite aggressively, and you quickly realise it’s Ten who has caught up with you. He intertwines your fingers together, pulling you into your previous dancing position but something is different this time.

“Times up. My wife’s too precious of a gem to let go of for longer”

Doyoung scoffs lightly, but hides it with a small bow to his king, leaving the two of you alone like he was asked. The tension between you and Ten is so thick it felt like all the lies you’ve told your kingdoms liquified into a thick substance that’s suffocating you now. His fingers are digging in your hips, in a possessive manner that’s a first for him, and he takes a deep breath before speaking.

“Do you ever think of me when you’re having sex with him?” 

The question catches you so off guard that you ungraciously step on his feet, wobbling on your heels until he helps you find your balance. 

“Why would you ask that?”

Now, you weren’t trying to play clueless, you know Ten is smart. You see the way he studies you and Doyoung, how he catches your secret glances, the electric touches. He surely has figured out where you sneak off every night and whose cologne you reek off the next morning. What you don’t understand, is where all his dislike for your advisor stems from.

Ten just chuckles bitterly, letting a puff through his nose, with a face of almost disgust when he looks at you.

“I don’t understand why I feel this way. I don’t understand why I care about you when you’re plotting with him against me. Why I feel jealous every time I see his filthy hands on you, or why I still think you deserve better.”

Plotting against him?

You’re left with a mouth gaped open, his harsh words both hurting you and confusing you as his voice gets even more strict than before.

“I thought maybe if I asked you to marry me you’d slowly distance yourself from him. I thought that maybe, just maybe, you reciprocate a handful of all the things I feel for you. But you still stay by his side, hanging from his every word”, he says it all in one breath and his eyes are watery when he addresses you again. “How can you sleep soundly next to me when you’re fucking the man that killed your father?”

A buzzing sound rings in your ears and you realise that you’re one breath away from falling apart.

And just like that, everything makes sense.

Why Doyoung was the first to find your father’s body, why the assasination seemed like an inside job. His sudden romantic interest in you and his pleas to have him as your king instead.

The indigo flower that decorated his body.

Ten shakes you a little, worried now at your sudden stiffness and the loss of blood from your face. He didn’t expect this reaction from you, didn’t expect to see your body shake with anger like this. You seem even more shocked than he was when he found out about Doyoung’s true nature, but, aren’t you the advisor’s accomplice in the plot of his overruling? 

“Wait, all this time- you didn’t know?”

Ten’s eyes widen as his body jerks forward, and you barely manage to catch him in your arms. A woman’s shriek resonates in the dance hall; the musicians halt their playing with a scratchy sound of the strings that stretch out of tune. And then you see the blood, staining the marble floor under Ten in small drops. You also see Doyoung emerging from behind him, with a maniacal look on his face, and a dagger in his hands. 

All hell breaks loose. The unarmed guests scream in fear, urging outside the dance hall in flocks. Glasses of wine shatter on the floor, women leave their heels behind in their hastiness to save themselves. You see the knights running in your direction, creating a shield of protection for you and the king, yet you notice that not all of them have gathered around you. A good part of them stand next to Doyoung, his face distorted in a mischievous grin. The extent of the betrayal in your kingdom shocks you, but when the first knight launches forward with his sword, you know you need to get Ten out of there immediately.

Throwing Ten’s arm over your shoulder, you drag him with difficulty all the way to the balcony, desperately trying to mute out the shrill sound of swords clashing in the process. You manage to bring him to safety, laying him down carefully in the same spot he found you in before, his head on your lap. After unbuttoning his shirt, you inspect the stab under his ribcage, and you swallow a scream at the sight of the deep wound. The most you can do is rip a big piece of cloth from your skirt, tying it up tightly around his waist, and wait until the fight is over. 

You see clear drops falling on his face that is turning sickly pale and you realise you’re crying. Holding his face between your hands, you get reminded of those days you went starseeing, of those moments of absolute peace with him that you wished would last forever. His body is cold and the cloth is turning burgundy, but he has the most tranquil smile on his face as he looks up at you. 

“Stay with me, please”, you sob over his rigid body, hugging it tightly as if his existence will just slip right through your fingers. “Live with me, and I’ll gift you all the stars in the sky”

[worstloki]

The Sylvie Show

this got a bit long so i'm putting it under a cut but basically it's episode summaries of what i would do if the loki show had sylvie as the main character instead, since I do think the plot of the show would be better suited to be focused around her rather than 2012 loki. I've tried to keep it so that a lot of existing canon shots/sets/scenes can be reused.

episode 1: the show opens up with young Sylvie on Asgard. The TVA appear and drag her towards a temportal. She wakes up from the apparent nightmare, gasping heavily. cue title card and cool music. a portal opens within a church, sylvie interrupts the man giving a talk on religion, questioning what he's saying with roundabout logic and being generally witty, even managing to incorporate giving a bar of gum she had in a pocket to a child sitting on an aisle seat who is really happy about it. the man is still coming up with an answer to what she said when the doors of the church are broken open and TVA agents start to file in. Sylvie says "about time," and proceeds to have fun slaying the unit and stealing a tempad. She picks up the charge on her way out, sending a blow kiss to the devil mural on the wall on her way out. cut to stepping out of a temportal, throwing the charge behind her over a shoulder (it lands on a mattress) and taking a heavy seat in front of a set of screens which show the inside of a mall. the cameras are mostly empty and where there are people it does not fascinate her (one of them shows someone reloading shelves). she scrutinizes the screens, drumming fingers on the table, but quickly sighs and pulls out her tempad: it flashes with low battery and she rolls her eyes, throwing it into a bin filled with likewise empty devices. she's about to get up when the cameras show a group of agents walking into the store. among them is one with a jacket reading VARIANT in bright orange. "Sh*t," she says, getting up and going to the mattress, rifling through a pile of clothes on the floor next to it "sh*t sh*t sh*t where is it". She pulls out a dark brown jacket, and the camera pans over to the screens again, where the VARIANT turns: it's Loki. A golden portal opens on the beige walls of the TVA, Hunter C-20 stepping through holding a man in 1940s army uniform by the arm and dragging him towards a desk. the man protests but she places a grenade on the counter and tells the deskworker to log it. "it wasn't a dummy," is the explanation she gives. In the background a single guard steps through a portal, looking around and proceeding to the doors out of this room. It's Sylvie, and she walks alone past other guards and rooms labelled Court and Memory Chamber. A group of people run past her saying a variant is loose and she walks faster. She walks past one court room, catching the words "trust me, you can smell the cologne of two Tony Starks," but continues looking around. An analyst (Mobius) rounds the corner in the direction of the court rooms and seems to be in a hurry, and Sylvie takes a sharp turn opening the closest door to her to avoid being seen. She is in a room with a Sacred Timeline screen, and zeroes in on the man closest to her, "what are you--" she places a hand over his mouth and pushes him down into his desk area behind his trolley, shushing him. "Do you know where the Reset Charge Storage Chambers are?" "Why?" *deep breath* *serious face on* "Tell me where the storaGE CHAMBer iS or I'll GUT YOU like a goAT!" "is that... like a fish?" *confusion* "how do you not know what a goat is?!" she spots a poster on the wall with a location guide and pushes Casey away with a hand to the face. "Nevermind." - We see Loki monologuing "the idea that your little club decides the fate of trillions of people across all of existence at the behest of three space lizards, yes, it's funny. It's absurd." an agent walks past in the background pushing a trolley but no attention is brought to it "I thought you didn't like to talk," mobius says. Sylvie pushes a door reading "Storage: Units" open, but looks and finds bodies in little cyro pod chambers lined up. "wrong door," she says, and pulls the trolley across the hall to the door reading "Storage: Charges." She's in a room with shelves filled up with reset charges, and opens the trolley drawer to find it already filled up with useless junk like infinity stones and such. to which she has no reaction. She shoves all that stuff to the side and out of the drawer, making space to

carefully place reset charges there. She individually picks up the two Tesseracts in it though and admires them, saying they're shiny and placing them on lower shelves in the room instead of on the floor. While she loads up the trolley ("a few more should do it") Loki walks past the door in full TVA outfit, happy and carrying a stack of papers that read RAGNAROK in bright red letters. She closes the drawer, takes her Hunter helmet off to shake out her hair and wipe sweat from her forehead, then puts it back on, pushing the trolley towards the door. Mobius has a hand at Loki's back, guiding him out of the Memory Chamber, Loki has clearly been crying and Mobius comforts him "it won't be so bad, you love being useful. and wearing suits." Sylvie walks past, pushing the trolley in the background. Sylvie continues down the hall, and when she sees no one behind or in front she pulls out her tempad and opens a portal, pushing her trolley and herself through. She's already gone and misses Classic Loki with a collar around his neck being escorted through the hall. - Sylvie and her trolley push through the portal and are in a mall, the lights dim and flickering above. Thunder is heard and lightning strikes as she places a reset charge on a shelf, flicking open a panel on it's side, and then walking a bit further and placing another. "May I help you?" a store employee asks, startling her. She considers. "Actually..." and places a hand to the person's temple - it takes a few seconds of effort but her fingertips glow green, and so does the person's eyes and temple, "don't mind if you do." She walks away from the trolley in a rush, and the store worker behind places a reset charge on a shelf. "I'm a bit short on time," she says to herself, pulling out her Tempad. Suspenseful music as the screen fades to black. - Everything cuts to a desert, with a small town in the background. A portal appears high up, and Loki falls from it to the ground. the words "twelve miles east of Puento Antiguo" appear on screen, and we see Loki formed a small crater in the ground, reminiscent of Mjolnir and the one in Stark Tower. "Ow," Loki says, taking the muzzle off with one hand, and then pulling the cuff chains off. The dust settles around him and he's still extricating himself from the hole in the ground and groaning about sand being irritating and getting everywhere when a golden portal opens up (we get a high shot, showing that Loki did indeed land within a larger crater too). Loki puts his hands in the air. "Appears to be a standard sequence violation. Branch is growing at a stable rate and slope. Variant identified." "Beg your pardon but I--" "On behalf of the Time Variance Authority, I hereby arrest you for crimes against the Sacred Timeline." "I didn't meddle with time, that would be the Avengers." "You're coming with us." *agents point pruners at him* "It's been a long day, I'm afraid you'll have to make me." *loki's hands start to glow green but B-15 presses a button, freezing him in place. Any sand blowing in the wind or any dust rising has also now stopped. There is a bird stuck mid-flight. B-15 pulls out a collar and places it around his neck. An agent places a reset charge on the ground and activates it, it starts to fizz purple. Time unfreezes and B-15 drags Loki going "hey!" through a temportal, and it closes, leaving the audience to watch a few seconds of the charge going off and the radius of the charge increasing, washing the ground in a bright neon-ish light.

Episode 2: this one is a combination of the Loki episodes 1 and 2. Basically, Loki goes on trial, the TVA has no reason he's committed a crime, but Mobius who had been at the church crime scene saves him and takes him to the memory chamber to break. What gets him to stop acting as if he actually wanted to rule all of space and whatnot is Mobius bringing up the topic of choice in Avengers 1, and asking if Loki knew the mind stone was effecting him too, along with him explicitly asking about the torture which happened before, even during - he pulls up footage - the invasion. Mobius pulls up footage of Frigga and Loki pickpockets the collar remote etc. everything else remains the same, including most of episode 2, with Sylvie fighting to "I need a hero" etc, but C-20 is left behind after being enchanted. When the TVA show up C-20 is tied up hastily in leather belts and rope. She's mostly out of it saying stuff like "it's real, it's all real" but she also says "we're variants, we're all variants" which Mobius obviously brushes over casually. Loki narrows his eyes though, and says stepping out of the renaissance fair tent would have them winding up dead like the agents scattered around here, B-15 calls bluff and Mobius says to wait but the people walking in front of the ones holding C-20 up to take her to the TVA for medical help fall dead upon stepping out. Loki was stalling for time with the wold anecdote, and doesn't tell how he knew the death thing would happen ("I see a scheme, and in that scheme I see myself" "bullsh*t" "it's true. my reflection looks quite good, too." "you *sshole." *he smiles softly, as if t'were a compliment*), and everyone gets back by opening portals from within the tent. The dots between the gum and the apocalypses is drawn, they see Pompeii, end up going to Roxxcart, where we see Sylvie watching the screens, now in her leather gear. B-15 and Loki split up together, the guy at the 'hurricane sale' placed a charge on the shelf but no attention is drawn to that bc Loki and 'Loki' are talking. Sylvie emphasizes that she holds a grudge because he's a traitor, specifically for working for the TVA because they're "condescending time fascists." Loki assures her he knows, and that he's seen the charges around the place. She comes to the realization that he's been undercover/faking. We're shown Mobius and co. finding the room with screens but it's just got Sylvie's random junk, nothing really useful. They talk some more, no physical fighting but the vessel sizes get bigger and Loki calls it 'real mature'. While they still disagree on what to do with the Time Lizards (destroy or overthrow) Sylvie settles on leaving the portal open for him at the end and giving him a chance. She waits for him to go through first, with Loki looking back at Mobius meaningfully determined and then walking through.

Episode 3: Young sylvie is going through the stripping/signing/temporal aura process. She's sent into the court room. she bites and runs out of the room, putting distance before fiddling with the tempad she took, figuring it out, while Renslayer gets stuck answering the Judge. Sylvie appears back on Asgard, but there's already a Sylvie there playing with her toys. a TVA portal opens and she presses another "Asgard" on the device to escape quickly. "I just want to go home," she says to herself, appearing in the same room, but the child is a bit older (a teen?) and a boy and black and reading instead of playing but he's clearly also in green/gold and a loki. the kid turns after hearing her and she panicks and goes through another portal. another one with adult loki in the same room, she looks hopeful as if she could ask for help but then sif walks in with insults and slaps him but spots her. "who's the kid," sif asks and a portal opens up next to her. Agents step through and Sif punches one that does, asking Loki what trick this is now. Sif/Loki fight them while they're still coming through, sylvie presses another asgard but sees a knocked out agent has a tempad on his belt and takes it before running again. no loki in the room, it's empty, but a group of people rush across, talking hurriedly about 'the goddess of death' and 'odin's real heir' and 'thor and loki dead' and 'seeking refuge in the moutains.' Sylvie looks lost. Cue titlecard and cool music. They step into the TVA. Sylvie is determined, telling Loki to hurry because they won't have much time the TVA remains in disarray from the reset charges everywhere, but stops when he says he needs to get a weapon. "Why didn't you use magic to get some earlier," she asks. "Spares," he smiles, "magic doesn't work here after all." Sylvie notes that it explains her last attempts to infiltrate failing so badly. They fight some guards together on the way to the elevator rather than fighting each other. The elevator to the time keepers opens but Renslayer and a bunch of guards are in it waiting. Sylvie grabs Loki and tries to use him as a bargaining tool. Doesn't work, obviously, and Sylvie is shaken upon coming face to face with the same Hunter who had caught her as a kid, she doesn't react in time to stop Loki taking her tempad and dropping them somewhere. Same plot from here, the two of them fighting over the tempad, with Sylvie wanting to go back and Loki telling her they clearly already failed and she should explain what's going on first. She says she doesn't need to and if he wants to help defeat the TVA he needs to trust her and give the tempad back. He makes it vanish and she gets frustrated, asking if he gives up on everything that easily, and maybe that's why he's the first Loki she's seen working with the TVA. Etc. They need a power source anyway and get to the train hoping it'll lead to the ship that won't get off-planet anyway. Loki acts a fool Sylvie naps, wakes up to singing. Sylvie calls him out for not actually being drunk and also he downs a glass and offers her one, and when Sylvie asks how he's paying for it he says it's on the house and points to the barkeeper (male. we're implying/showing flirting. maybe a wink at him or a cute wave.). It's blatantly clear he's trying to get info on her backstory along the way and she's not falling for it but allowing him to know a bit of stuff. (eg. "I know everything is watered down ale for an Asgardian," "watered-down watered-down, more like. But you know of Asgard? Do go on...") She softens at hearing his backstory, and shares hers too. The people appear and ask to see their tickets, everything is the same from here forward. The episode ends with them watching the ship getting destroyed.

Episode 4: different music when sylvie and loki look into each others eyes since i didn't like that. cue titlecard and song after the TVA portals open on Lamentis. this episode remains the same mostly with Sylvie and Mobius driving the plot. No narcissist comment but Mobius gets to act jelly of what Sylvie and Loki have going on. Instead of it just being a bad memory loop with Sif we get her three times and then it alternates to Thor who is also angry. If he's not already down Thor will punch him (even though Loki is just happy to see him bc he didn't think he'd see him again--) and then tell him to hold still so it'll hurt less. It's framed as bad and Thor will imply it's only a fitting punishment. Thor is only shown twice, the first time the scene cuts at Loki being hit and held down, the second is Thor leaving the room, chuckling about how Loki didn't need to talk to anyone anyway bc he's alone, says he'll heal soon anyway. Loki isn't shown, but Thor's fingers have blood on them where they hold mjolnir. the loop resets and Loki is back to standing in the middle of the room and ghosts a hand over his mouth and then Mobius arrives. Loki calls the repeated memory boring and cruel, says he hates when Thor is drunk and feeling rash, with Mobius saying at least he didn't send him to Thanos or something and gave his crotch a break. Sylvie asks what her nexus event was and Renslayer doesn't remember. The end of the episode is the same, with Sylvie 1v1-ing Renslayer and beheading a Time Keeper, Loki getting pruned. The credit scene remains the same.

[glittter-skeleton]

Okay, okay, I like combining my most cringy interests, so here’s my pitch for a Be More Chill Gotham AU (but with a twist, you’ll see)

Also credit to @payinghisrent on AO3 who isn’t as lazy as me and actually write a BMC Gotham fic, but this as a different idea

Let’s start with the characters

Edward Nashton as Jeremy Heere, only not failing math and a whole lot more passive aggressive

Oswald Cobblepot as Michael Mell, only he’s more of a loner than a loser, think Janis from “Mean Girls”

Lee Thomkins as Christine Canigula and instead of Play Rehearsal we’re getting Biology Practice

Jim Gordon as Jake Dillinger obviously, you don’t have to change much for this one

Harvey Bullock as Rich Goransky, only a bit less charming

Barbara Kean as Chloe Valentine, the same bitch we know and love

Isabella as Brooke Loost, now with a bit more character

Tabitha Gilzean as Jenna Rolan, only a bit more murderous

And Riddler as the SQUIP

Edward isn’t a popular guy and it’s not like he wants to be but the world just doesn’t seem to understand his genius. He has Oswald, of course, his best friend and half the reason his reputation is as low as it is, but it’s not what he longs for. Ed is also crushing on LeeEEeEe Thomkins, the perfect girl. He even signed up for the biology club to get closer to her. But one day everything changes as he is pulled over by Harvey and offered some special devise called The RIDDLER that will help his make the world see how great he really is.

He actually gets quite into biology practice even though it’s all Lee seems to be interested in.

He tries to discuss his feelings with Oswald, but, as they’re hanging out and shooting random stuff at the old junkyard Oswald expresses that there isn’t a need to show off this much. Guys like them are better off ruling the entire city of Gotham, not Gotham High School, Oswald explains, with some elegant metaphors about pushing people off rooftops.

Ed goes to the mall and while Oswald goes to look at some fancy coats he buys himself a RIDDLER and, surprisingly, it works! A better version of him appears and coaches him through buying a green jacket and flirting with Isabella.

With his newfound confidence he tries again with Lee but as she’s only interested in Jim so his next step is to become as popular as him. He runs into Oswald who yells at him but is nonetheless excited when Ed tells him the drug worked. But he doesn't have time for smoking in junkyards, so he starts dating Isabella and ignores Oswalds swears.

The Halloween party is going great. Isabella is a sexy librarian, Jim and Lee are normal doctor and sexy cop respectively (which causes a whole argument) and Ed is all decked out in a glittering green suit. Then everything goes to shit as Ed’s talk with Lee goes as smooth as asphalt and Barbara of all people drags him upstairs to make out. He escapes her but is approached by Oswald holding him at knifepoint and telling him how there is no such thing as a RIDDLER. Ed doesn’t listen and Oswald is left alone in that bathroom crying about losing his best friend and crush.

The house doesn’t burn down because that plot point is useless in this story.

The science fair is approaching and while the biology club is planning their showcase, Ed is hatching up a plan of his own. He runs into Tabitha and tries to share the power of the RIDDLER but she refuses and tells him that the pill he’s giving her is just a weak hallucinogen. Ed practically runs to Harvey who can’t believe Ed fell for that little prank of his.

Meanwhile Oswald is sad and as he goes to apologize to Ed he stumbles against something bomb-looking under the stage of the main showcase of the science fair. And goes to stop this plan of Eds.

There is no RIDDLER, there’s only Ed and his crazy mind. Ed decides that the plan has gone too far but as he goes to put a stop to it he runs into Lee and Jim making up. No, he will finish this. And he will kill Jim Gordon.

Everything is in place, the smaller explosives go off. He finds Jim and Lee, threatens Jim and monologues to Lee about how he's better for her and loves her and stuff. Then he goes to choke Jim but is stopped when Oswald appears to help him see that this will not make Lee love him and they need to stop the big bomb. They navigate the panicking crowd and while Oswald stays back to stop some of their classmates from attacking Ed, our hero manages to stop the main bomb right before the big explosion. As the smoke gets to him he sees Lee in Jim’s arms and as everything begins to blur we hear “everything will be fine, I’ve got you, I love you”.

Ed wakes up in a hospital to Jim and Lee being all cute and Oswald sleeping by his side. He apologizes to the pair and even though they do not forgive him, Oswald does. Ed realizes that the only voice in his head was his all along and as he once again becomes kinda hated by the school, it doesn’t matter as long as he has his best friend by his side. We end on Ed and Os back at the junkyard where Ed asks if it was him who comforted him back at the fair. Oswald nods, Ed thanks him for all he’s done, they kiss and promise to become the kings of this city.

Is this trash? Oh absolutely. Do I vibe with Jeremy (or Ed in this case) taking accountability for his shit? Yup. So this is my pitch for a Gotham BMC AU that I will never write.

[comelylust]

Workmates

That's right I deliver what I promise, Request through my discord, Anon asked for some Miguel with plot so I made a plot attempt haha. if you find spelling or grammatical errors sorry I do this from a tablet 👀read the warnings 👀.  

Warnings: Smut content, +18, street fights, mentions of alcoholic beverages.

 "Ugh I really can't stand it" You mention this to your boss with an irritation in your voice, pacing back and forth with both hands on your head "how the hell are you two friends?! it's so... agh"  

Seeing how frustrated you were all your boss did was scoff at it, he continues to clean the glasses and arrange them on the shelves in the back, he looked like he really didn't care that two of his workers don't get along as well as he would like.  

"You're just stressed, go take a break" Your boss laughed, gesturing towards the employee door where you already knew who was there, Miguel, chances are he was listening to everything, instead instead of embarrassing you your anger continued to rise.

"He's a nice guy, you're just not used to his temperament."  

He's right, you still don't know him well enough just a couple of months ago you moved to Spain for personal reasons, but let's say things were getting difficult and you decided to venture to a new destination in search of opportunities, at first you didn't know where you were going, you were coming and going without a previously planned route, this didn't bother you at all you felt better about yourself above all you felt free for the first time in your life.  

On one of your countless trips you heard a group of strangers talking about a certain wrestling tournament which caught your interest. You decided to join that event after they finished their talk, grabbed your stuff and headed to a new country.  

When you finally arrived in Spain the first thing you did was to look for a temporary job, difficult at first you didn't have the necessary documentation to back up your identity, yeah shit, it wasn't the best idea to leave with nothing but your passport.

You continued your search now in the slums of that country, hoping that someone would offer you help, instead the only thing they offered you was endless fights showing the wimps not to mess with you, earning you a little respect from the locals.  

"Strange" You thought "People usually loathe people like me".

It didn't take you long to figure out the reason why the inhabitants were so used to subjects of your ilk. Miguel Caballero Rojo, a subject without a shred of compassion when it came to street fights, was brutal and violent making his opponents regret it on the spot.

Going to where he always made his appearances you found on the way an old cantina: on the outside it was crumbling, but the old letters of the place were still visible. Entering with your best hard face you asked about that mysterious man, without receiving a clear answer, again you let out a disappointed sigh and a pout formed on your lips.

"Hey, don't be so sad" A middle aged man catches your attention offering you a drink which you cheerfully accept "You're not from here are you, cutie?" Your eyes widen like saucers when he found out you're just an outsider, without taking the drink away from your lips you nodded.  

"Well, I need a bartender so why don't you stay for a while while you wait for him" He offers the old rag along with the apron, you were in doubt, but you really needed this job, the opportunity to work and hit on a guy sounded exquisite without hesitating a second longer you made your decision.  

"Okay I accept, just for a while".  

"I'm Daniel by the way" The old man who is now your boss mentions it.

You worked in that bar for the next few weeks, you didn't do much, just make drinks and take out old creeps trying to be smart. Now the main issue, if you met Miguel, yes, he really looked violent, and yes he had hated you.

When he first walked into the bar he was fuming, his nostrils flared, his muscles tensed and the fingers on his hands were crusted with dried blood, in short he's pissed, to add more to the mix you lunged at him with incredible speed that even Miguel himself was taken by surprise.

"What the fuck" He exclaims as his head face down is resting on the dirty floor, you crossed his wrists and paralyzed him with a knee on his back "Get the fuck down, what's wrong with you".  

"It's nothing personal just that I liked the idea of defeating the best fighter in this neighborhood" You licked your lips forming a fuzzy smile of joy. Miguel tries to move, but you strengthen your grip, raising your hand now in the shape of a fist ready to punch him in the Spaniard's face, until someone interrupts you.

 🌒🌕🌘

 "Sorry Daniel" You fiddle with your fingers as the pout returns to your face along with a blush forming on your cheeks. "B-but you already knew what my plan was!"

"Plan?! What's going on Daniel, are you conspiring with this Chiquilla?" Miguel points at both of you accusingly, scratching the back of his neck furiously.

"Eeh, who are you calling a chiquilla, brat?"

"The only person who is behaving like a brat is you" The two begin a verbal sparring match with overly childish insults. Daniel for his part lets out a loud sigh catching both of their attention.

"You both are behaving like brats, Now Miguel she is the new Bartender she will work here for a while be nice" The last sentence was thrown remarking that she will behave "Same goes for you, Be nice he is your co-worker"

"Coworkers!? That if ever!" Both mention at the same time throwing each other murderous looks.

And here we are back where we left off at the beginning. Working with Miguel was annoying, he is always drunk, when he is lucid he gets in a bad mood and even starts fights for stupid reasons, the problem is when you have to interfere when things get too intense, this didn't bother you, you were annoyed by the idea of saving his ass.

Instead of thanking you he starts a useless fight questioning why you helped him and all the crap you decided for your and Daniel's mental health more than anything else for your boss it's better to ignore him.

But what happened?  

You were not a sports fan, much less a soccer fan, however since you arrived to this place the only thing that the bar TV broadcasts was soccer, getting used to it, you noticed that Miguel on special occasions wears a jersey of his favorite team, your lips curved into a cheshire smile at the prank you were going to do, your plan is only to support the opposing team for no apparent reason, this would annoy Miguel as a "revenge" for what he had put you through.

Tonight you put your new plan into practice, you borrowed a t-shirt from the opposing team that is playing tonight, you put it on by buttoning every button, oddly enough this shirt highlights your beautiful figure, accentuating your breasts and molding to your abdomen/torso, you hope no one notices this, but who the fuck cares, you look great.  

The bar is more crowded than it normally is, you complained about the smell it smelled too much like Cologne, alcohol and sweat hopefully your brain will adapt to it. You headed to your work station serving the drinks to their respective buyers. Until you saw him come in of course with his charming outfit, fuck, you have to admit the man is hot, his manly appearance and his well toned and thick muscles soaked with a light layer of sweat would make anyone drool, unfortunately this was his only virtue.

He gave you a small smile and of course foolishly you returned it, you shook your head forcibly bringing yourself back to reality and remembering the reason why you had decided to do this in the first place.  

"Are you kidding me?" he approaches you intimidating as always, the difference is this time his voice framed mockery as if he knew what you were trying to do.

"What are you talking about, I'm just working" you bite your inner cheek avoiding emitting a laugh, You poured him a pitcher of beer waiting for him to forget the topic of conversation.  

"Yeah right, I know what you're planning, cutie" He takes a long swig of the drink wiping the rest of it off with his arm "And it's not going to work" He winks at you you roll your eyes so much you're able to see your brain, it really is unbearable.

As the night continues, Miguel continues to make fun of you and how your "shitty" team is losing, the strange thing is that you ended up joining him, drinking the whole keg of beer answering his comments with sarcastic remarks.  

You were wrong to think that his only quality is being a handsome man when you noticed that his resistance to alcohol is quite high happened exactly with you, your resistance to alcohol was the best, however, the drinks were doing in you a kind of aphrodisiac turning you hotter as you kept talking to Miguel.

"How about...if we go to the back" your voice comes out smaller than you would have liked you play again with your fingers waiting for an answer, instead he didn't give you one he just grabbed your bicep with his hand and dragged you to the employee only room.  

Before partially closing the door, his free hand wrapped around your jaw pulling you closer to him in a hot kiss, intertwining their tongues licking every part he could, he pushed you into the room closing the door behind you. He connected his lips this time on your neck leaving you with purple and bite marks.

 He held your wrists guiding you to the lounge chair obediently sitting there, still kissing you enjoying your taste despite the bad beer you had chosen.  

"Apparently you're not a rough girl anymore" Separating slightly so he could speak.  

"H-hush don't ruin the moment" You turned into a red, stuttering mess, all Miguel did is smile at you and get up from the seat, your mind raced hoping he wouldn't leave.

"On your knees" His hoarser than normal voice made you shudder and let out a low moan, he had never been so dominant and you would be lying if you didn't say you didn't like it. You quickly went down on your knees looking up at him with eyes clouded in lust.

"Fuck" Solo said unbuttoning his pants, you helped by pulling them down along with his boxers "I'm going to punish you for being a spoiled brat."

 You finally released his cock from its confines, you gasped at the sight previously you could picture it, but your mind didn't do it justice, it's big with veins that framed its outline the red tip was already dripping pre-semen, you licked your lips and included its head between your lips, giving kitten licks.

 "Stop teasing" He growled, you opened your mouth wider with your tongue hanging out, shoving his cock in your mouth touching your throat, you looked up as you gagged which made him let out a guttural gasp.

You pulled back pulling his cock partially out before thrusting harder into your throat, you moan and the vibrations you throw are so delicious he can't take it. Getting rid of his remaining clothes he continued to pound your throat rapidly as he watched your face fill with tears and you try to breathe through your nose so you don't choke.  

"Will you stop teasing?" your eyebrows flex in anger, but this action doesn't last that long, still gagging on his cock you nod energetically. "Good girl."

Thick, hot ropes sprouted from his cock covering your mouth, trying to swallow as much as possible. Inhaling and exhaling heavily catching your breath, you struggled to stand up before Miguel lifted you up placing you face down on the couch climbing behind you, your instinct was to raise your ass and spreading your legs apart, giving him a perfect view of your already slippery pussy.

 Miguel looked at you with carnal hunger re licking his lips as he looked at your innocent form, his palm slapping against your ass in a thud, you squealed as you felt another series of spanks follow leaving your buttocks red.  

 "Remember it's your punishment pretty girl."  

He rubs his fingers over your wet folds and plunges a finger inside you, you yelp at the sudden action pulling away, Miguel firmly holds your hips so as not to go any further and continues to plunge his fingers stretching your tight walls.  

"Easy I'm getting you ready" Miguel works on your sex pulling his fingers in and out "She's too tight".  

Your legs trembled with excitement and your moans echoed in the room loudly, before you could come he pulled away from you collecting your essence smearing it on his long shaft lubricating it.  

The tip of his cock rubbed between your folds teasing your entrance, you moaned needy moving close to him.

"Don't tease" you pout and he teases you, he pushes his member slowly into your pussy. The sensation of your walls squeezing his cock made him throw his head back as you rolled your eyes at the bliss of being filled.  

Miguel pulled your hair back into a ponytail using it as leverage to go faster and deeper, the lewd noises you make are music to his ears instigating him to move.

You could feel every part of his thick cock and how it exquisitely hits that rubbery spot inside you, through your mouth overflowing saliva and your eyes still rolling back. Your walls tremble giving hints of your come.

"Cum on my cock pretty girl" his voice a few octaves lower brings you to the edge, a lewd moan escapes your sweet lips and he quickens his pace chanting your name between curses, his load shoots inside your sex painting them white.

He pulls out of you and you both catch your breath. When you realize what has just happened your face turns red and you try to hide it between the cushions of the couch. Miguel notices this and pats your head.

 "So..." You say shyly.

"Then I'll ask you out, mi amor."  

"W-what?!"  

"Ha, I really love your temper."  

"Idiota" this wasn't the plan nor much less the expected result but you're happy.

I must improve on the fast way it ended haha I hope you liked it.  

[saeyoungchoismaid]

His Angel

Pairing: Mammon x gn!reader Genre: zombie apocalypse au, fluff, angst Warnings: oH bOi. Mention of zombie blood?, shooting the undead, and hm I feel like I’m forgetting something...oh yeah! ✨Character death✨ Summary: Mammon's birthday started out bad, then became one of the best birthdays he’s ever had, before going to the worst one ever Word Count: 4.3k (aka the longest fic I’ve ever done on this account...I think) A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMMON!! Big huge giant thanks to @tooruluv​ for helping me come up with this plot!! A/N at the end. Lmao y’all are going to ✨hate me✨

You look down from your post on the wall to a certain white-haired male that you’ve been staring on and off at the entire time you’ve been on duty. You can’t help it though. He’s been acting strange all day and something just isn’t settling right with you. 

“You might as well go check on him if you’re going to continue to be useless.” You look away from the quiet man to your partner for this shift, a pout coming to your lips. 

“Check on who? I’m not useless,” you defend quickly. Maybe a little too quickly. He snorts a bit, keeping his gaze on the trees surrounding your camp. 

“Yeah, right,” Lucifer responds sarcastically. “Just go before I get annoyed,” he says and lightly shoves at your shoulder. You scoff and go to argue when you realize there’s no point. He is right, after all. 

Not that you would tell him that. 

“I’m going to go get some grub. Want any?” you reply as you start to crawl down the ladder towards the ground. You see him shake his head, not even sparing you a glance. You always wondered what he was like before all of this happened. 

You skip the last two steps and jump onto the ground, your hand resting against the gun in your holster out of habit as you walk towards the fire. “Mind if I sit here?” you ask Mammon, already taking your seat beside him before he can answer. He spares you a glance before looking back to the fire that is starting to slowly die. 

“Go for it, angel.” Ever since that day at the barn when you first met, he always calls you that. 

“You should probably add more wood to that,” you advise, looking away from the crackling fire to his face. The fire made his bronze skin glow with golden hues. Bronze? Is that the right color to describe his perfect skin? How does he even keep it like that? He barely has any dirt or marks on his flawless face. 

“It can go out. I don’t care,” he replies gruffly. That pulls you from your thoughts to focus back on him, and not just his handsome face. 

“Would you like to share what’s got you in such a foul mood? You’ve been really quiet all day,” you say softly. When he doesn’t immediately reply, you decide to add on, “I missed your lame jokes and cheesy pick-up lines. Where’s my Mammon at?” You think for a moment you see a blush but then you realize it’s probably just from him sitting so close to the fire. 

“It’s my birthday today,” he breathes out, sullen eyes still staring the fire down. Your own eyes widen at that. 

“What? Really? Why didn’t you tell anyone?” you ask exasperatedly. You’re surprised that he didn’t go blabbing on about it the past week. He doesn’t seem like the type who wouldn’t want to celebrate. 

“It didn’t seem important. I mean, what with the trying to survive thing and all,” he grumbles out, picking up a stick to poke at the fire. You frown at this, slowly scooching closer to him on the log. 

“Of course it’s important. Things like birthdays should always be celebrated, especially now. They give people hope,” you reply softly, bringing your hand to soothingly rub at his back. He tenses at first before slowly relaxing against your touch. 

“I didn’t think of it like that,” he admits as he finally turns to face you. You smile brightly at him and watch as a small smile comes to his face. “Thanks. I feel better now. I’ve survived almost a whole year of this madness. I should be celebrating,” he agrees with a nod of his head. 

You hum and nod your head right back at him, feeling your own smile grow. “Exactly!” You remove your hand from his back and then look to the fire, a random flashback coming to mind. “Do you remember how we met?” you ask in a quiet voice. You hear him hum and go back to poking at the fire. 

“How could I forget?” he half-jokes, a hushed laugh escaping him. 

Mammon is barely getting air into his lungs with how fast and long he’s been running. Where did the herd even come from? Okay, so maybe, just maybe, he dozed off for a bit but that’s not a crime! He was exhausted! 

It was clearly a mistake though. 

He almost runs into a tree when he hears a scream nearby. He looks to his side and finds that someone has been caught by a faster part of the herd. He debates on what to do, knowing he should just run. His group will be worried about him. 

Just go. Don’t look back. 

And that’s when you decide to make eye contact with him and he knows then that he has to help you. He’d be consumed with guilt if he just ran like a coward and left you to fend for yourself. 

He hashes and slashes through zombies to reach you, cutting one zombie’s arm clean off when it reaches out for you. As soon as he has the ones closest to you down, he grabs your arm and takes off once again. He can tell you’re barely keeping up but he can’t slow down, not with how close the herd is. 

All too soon though, you two are losing stamina and are getting cramps. And almost as if God is real, which Mammon knows by now he’s not, a building appears in the distance. “Just a little further!” he wheezes out, practically dragging you to it. Upon getting closer, he discovers that it’s a barn. 

That’ll work. 

He lets go of your hand and grabs the barn door, quickly sliding it open. “In, in!” he swiftly ushers, sliding the door behind the two of you. You two climb the ladder to the top of the barn after checking out the bottom, confirming that there was no one, dead or alive. The second story of the barn is the same way. 

Once you both find this out, you collapse onto a pile of hay on the second story. You make sure to remain quiet when you hear the grunts and groans of zombies shuffling by the barn. “Wow, we make a great team,” the stranger says softly with a small smile, bringing Mammon’s eyes to you. He stares a little longer than he should but he’s just now noticing how attractive you are. 

Maybe God is real?

“What’s your name?” he whispers. Your eyes move to his, your brow raising a bit. 

“You first,” you reply just as quietly. Ah, so you’re the suspicious type. 

“The name’s Mammon but you can call me your knight in shining armor,” he jokes softly, sending you a wink. He smiles when he sees you snort in response and your body relaxes a bit. Good, you’re not as on edge anymore. Man, he is good. 

“Wow, I didn’t think a sense of humor could live through this,” you reply just as playfully. He chuckles in response and brings his gaze out the second-story window of the barn. 

“Oh, no, no. My humor is my only good trait. Well, that and my sarcasm. And my jokes. And my puns. And my pick-up lines. Oh, and can’t forget my good looks. Also-” he stops when he hears you laugh quietly beside him, his eyes moving back to you. 

And he’s never been happier that he’s still alive than at this moment. 

The setting sun has rays of yellow and red shining into the barn, making your skin glow. You have pieces of hay sticking out of your hair and poking through the holes in your clothes. You have dirt and, what he’s assuming is, zombie blood all over you. 

He’s never seen anyone more beautiful though. 

“I see you’re very humble too,” you tease, bringing him back to reality. What did he say? He can’t remember. 

“Oh, but of course,” he replies, playing along and just adding to the joke since he literally can’t remember what he said. You hum and go up on your elbow, facing him as you stick out a hand to him. 

“(Y/n),” you say softly, your eyes suddenly leaving his to stare off somewhere else. He beams brighter than the setting sun as he gently clasps your hand in his and shakes it.

“Sorry, I think you’re mispronouncing your name,” he replies, feigning concern. 

“What-”

“It’s pronounced ‘angel’,” he explains, smirking as he sends you another wink. You snort and start laughing as you lightly hit his chest. 

“God, could you be any worse?” you joke, laying back on your back once more. You two laugh a little longer and it almost feels like a dream to Mammon. He hasn’t genuinely laughed in months. 

You two talk until early morning, falling asleep mid-conversation. When you both awake in the morning, you’re pressed into Mammon’s chest, his arm draped over your hip, and your legs tangled together. You two get flustered and move away from each other but he decides then to invite you to join his group, to which you agreed. 

Maybe you really are an angel. You might even be his guardian angel. 

“It seems like a lifetime ago,” he whispers, fondly remembering your first encounter. You hum and place your head onto his shoulder. 

“Yeah, yeah it does,” you whisper back. You two fall into a comfortable silence after that, his head eventually falling on top of yours. You two remain like that for a while, long enough for the fire to die, before you slowly pull back. 

“I’ll be right back,” you whisper, noticing that some people were heading to bed. He looks up at you and you could swear at that moment he looked nothing more than a needy kid who just wanted to stay by your side. 

“Okay,” he mumbles, trying not to pout but failing miserably. You flash him a smile before quickly walking away from him and the fire pit. Within minutes, you’re back with a shining smile and something in your hands. 

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Mammon, happy birthday to you,” you sing softly as you retake your seat beside him. His eyes move from yours to the candle in your hands. He then starts cracking up when he sees that the candle is stuck inside a can of ravioli. 

His heart grows a size as he watches you sing to him, his chest feeling warm and fuzzy. “Make a wish,” you whisper when you’re done singing. He stares into your eyes for a moment, incredibly happy that he decided to relight the fire while you were gone. You almost look the way you did in the hay with the setting sun on you. 

But now, you have a glowing candle in a can of ravioli for him with fireflies glowing behind you. The ‘L’ word suddenly pops into his mind but he makes sure to keep his mouth sealed shut. 

He thinks about what he wants to wish for, wanting it to be meaningful instead of something stupid he would normally wish for on his previous birthdays. 

“I wish-”

“No! You can’t say it out loud or it won’t come true!” you quickly interrupt, being a tad bit louder than you needed to be. Your voice draws the attention of the group, their annoyed, agitated, or curious looks diminishing when they see the scene in front of them. He laughs at your words, quickly covering his mouth. 

You’re just so cute. You’ll kill him before any zombies do. 

“Okay, angel, okay,” he relents, bringing his gaze back to the candle. You watch him make his wish, assuming he wishes for there to be a cure or to live for another year to see his next birthday. 

He doesn’t though. 

He wishes for you to live and prosper, to stay alive and see the end of the apocalypse or at least die of old age. He wishes for you to return his feelings so he can finally kiss you and hold you in his arms. He wishes he would’ve met you under different circumstances. Like you bumping into him in a coffee shop and making him spill coffee all over himself, or at school where he works up the nerve to ask you to prom. 

Anything but the nightmare you two live. 

You make this nightmare bearable though. 

He doesn’t know what he’d do if you weren’t by his side and looking out for him. 

He smiles at his wish and then blows at the candle, opening his eyes again when you softly cheer. He watches you take the candle out but before you can hand him the can, the sound of a revving car brings his attention away from you. 

He turns his head to Lucifer on the wall, watching his body grow tense as he raises his gun. He starts firing at whatever, or whoever, it is. The rest of the camp instantly grabs and loads their guns, ready to fight. You two just stand from the log when a car forces its way through the wall, leaving a gaping hole behind. It didn’t take you long to see who is inside of the car. Valerius and his gang. They like to call themselves The Red Beetles. Why? None of you have the slightest idea. It’d pretty dumb in your opinion and you’ve made your point of view very obvious to them. 

“Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in,” your enemy announces, referring to himself. You roll your eyes, your gun still very much pointed at him. Diavolo, as your leader, doesn’t allow you to kill another human being—one that’s alive, that is—unless they attack first. Valerius may have just broken the wall but he has not made a serious threat to your lives yet. 

When you all remain silent and just continue to stare at him, Valerius sighs and rolls his eyes. “Well, you’re no fun. Have it your way.” He didn’t even try stalling or making any more small talk; he just slams on his horn as he reverses out of the hole in the wall he created. 

This is when it dawns on all of you. 

“He’s bringing Rotters here!”

“We have to leave before Biters get in!”

Everyone started shouting while grabbing their go bags, running towards the gates you normally keep locked up tight. 

It didn’t matter though. 

The zombies already have you surrounded and were filtering in through the hole. “Get to the ladder and get on top of the wall!” Diavolo orders. You all clamber to the two ladders you have, one of them being dangerously close to the hole. There’s thirteen of you, so you all knew it’d be faster if some of you went to the ladder closer to the zombies. 

You quickly grab Luke’s hand, starting to drag him towards the horde. “(Y/n)! What are you doing? You’re going to get us killed! I don’t want to die!” Luke shouts at you. He knows better than to struggle to get away, knowing it would waste time and that you have a plan. You didn’t have to look at him to know he’s crying.

He sees you as his parent after all, other than Simeon, of course. He trusts you with his life. 

You shoot at the zombies closest to the ladder, getting them all in the middle of the foreheads. “Climb!” you shout as you shove him towards the ladder. You didn’t mean to be so rough but you don’t have time to be gentle or worry about it. The others who decided to go to this ladder let him go before them, knowing it’d be wrong and selfish to climb the ladder before a kid who barely knows how to shoot. 

The bunch of you at the base keep shooting at the zombies, each of you slowly moving away to climb the ladder. You being you, you let the others go before you. You’ve never been the one to be selfish. How could you be when these people brought you into their group without even knowing you? They’re your family and if need be, you’ll die protecting them. 

“(Y/n)! Come on!” you hear a familiar voice scream, instantly recognizing it as Mammon’s voice. It came from above you, meaning he’s already on top of the wall. You glance over at Diavolo who is still on the ground with you. 

“Go! They need their leader!” you shout at him, starting to back up towards the ladder. He brings his panicked eyes to you and gives you a quick nod before running to the ladder. You cover him from the ground, seeing zombies fall that you didn’t shoot. Good, the guys on the wall are helping out. 

It seemed to be doing nothing though. There are just so many of them and you all only have so many bullets. 

“(Y/n)! He’s halfway up! C’mon already!” Mammon screams. By the volume of his voice, you can tell he’s scared, terrified even. You curse when you run out of bullets, shoving your gun back into your holster. You then run back to the ladder, climbing it faster than you ever have before. 

Fire suddenly comes from your ankles, making you cry out in pain. You look down to see zombies have swarmed around the ladder, their hands reaching up to scratch at your legs. You kick their hands away, bringing your hands up to the next step before hauling yourself up and away from them. 

You pant as you climb, adrenaline making your limb shake. You feel the ladder shake, looking down again to see that they’re all bumping against it, ramming their bodies into it and getting their limbs stuck between the steps with how many of them there are. You quicken your pace, ignoring the ache in your ankles where they scratched you. 

“Hurry up, angel! You’re almost there!” Mammon screeches, holding out a hand to help you up. Your reach for his hand, finding that his hand is shaking just as much as yours. 

His hand is suddenly getting farther and farther away, wind billowing through your clothes. You see his mouth open but you don’t hear anything. Your back makes a loud crack as you land on the hard ground, making a scream rip from your throat. You can’t move as they all start to move away from the bottom of the ladder and towards where you landed, attention all on you now. 

All you hear for a moment is ringing before it clears and you hear Mammon’s voice screaming at the top of his lungs. “No! Stop! Over here! Look! Come this way! Please!” You move your head to see blurry figures shuffling towards you. You blink a couple of times and then bring your eyes to the screaming voices, watching as tears roll down Mammon’s face as he tries to break free from Lucifer’s and Diavolo’s grasp to jump down the wall. Apparently, the zombies took down the other ladder too.

All you can do is smile at him despite your situation. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened to you. You’re just glad it was you and not someone else. 

“I love you,” you try to say but it comes out as a whisper. You think he read your lips though because he’s suddenly collapsing to his knees atop of the wall, his whole body shaking. 

“Please get up! Run!” he shrieks. Your form is blurred by the tears but he’s grateful that he can’t watch clearly as zombies swarm you and start to claw and bite at your flesh. He can, however, hear your agonizing, excruciating screams that rattle his very bones. 

He’ll never be able to forget that sound. 

He’ll never forget the way you looked as you lied there staring up at him. 

He’ll never forget the candle and ravioli. 

He’ll never forget the flirting. The jokes. The puns. The pick-up lines. 

He’ll never forget meeting you, laying next to you in the hay, and watching the sunset together. 

He won’t forget any of it and that’s what hurts the most. 

Mammon screams himself awake, his body covered in a cold sweat and shaking violently. He can barely breathe with how heavy and tight his chest feels, his lungs feeling constricted and squeezed to force their air out. 

He flinches when his lights flick on, his eyes moving to the switch to find you in your pajamas, completely frazzled. “Mammon! What happened? Are you okay?” you ask as you scurry into his room and over to him, quickly pulling him into a hug. He stays limp in your hold for a moment before squeezing you to him and starting to sob. 

You hold him as he cries, your heart aching for the crying man in your arms. You want to know what happened to make him like this but his wellbeing comes first. You soothingly shush him and whisper sweet nothings in his ear, one hand rubbing his back while the other combs through his hair. 

He shakes even when he’s done crying, his eyes feeling heavy from all the crying. “Mammon...do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” you whisper, gently pulling back to look at him. Your heart breaks when you see his red and swollen eyes. He sniffles, or tries to since he’s too stopped up, and then rubs his runny nose with his sleeve. You decide not to point this out, knowing he doesn’t care at the moment. 

“I just had a bad dream, angel. (Y/n). Don’t worry about it,” he mumbles before slowly laying back down. You probably would’ve been flustered at the sound of the pet name, if it didn’t seem to be an accident. “You should go back to sleep. It’s late. I’m sorry I woke you up and worried you,” he mutters, brushing his problems off like they don’t matter. 

You frown as you stand up from his bed, walking towards the door. His eyes start to water again when you actually get up and leave, his whole body feeling heavy and cold. He wipes at his nose again and holds in any sounds when you turn off the lights. 

You leave him in a nightmare and you’re leaving him now. 

He nearly jumps out of his skin when you get onto the other side of his bed, his body dipping when you climb onto his mattress. He can barely see you in the dark but he can see your shadow’s outline. He silently watches you pull the covers back and slide your legs in, laying on your side so you’re facing him. 

“You matter, Mammon. Your troubles are my troubles,” you reassure, slowly reaching your hand out and clasping his hand in yours. He can’t help but smile a bit at your soft and sweet words. That’s just like you to stay with him and make him feel better. He shouldn’t have doubted you. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” you ask again when he doesn’t respond to your previous words. He stays quiet for a minute but you feel his grip tighten on your hand. 

“I, um, don’t want to go into too much detail, but...all of us were in the zombie apocalypse and...you died,” he whispers. You scoot closer to him and bring your free hand to gently cup his face. 

“Hey, it’s okay. Everyone has nightmares. It wasn’t real though. I’m safe, with you, right here,” you reassure softly, scooting closer and closer to him until you’re pressed to his chest. He buries his face into your neck, his body still shaking a bit. 

“I know. It just felt so real, and I-” Your brows furrow when he stops, trying to pull back to look at him but he holds you tightly against him. 

“Mammon?” you call against his chest, your hands rubbing his back and chest. 

“I love you,” he blurts. You both go as still as statues, both of your hearts pounding now. Mammon tries to keep you against his chest but you manage to pull away to stare up at him. 

“What?” you blurt, your brain still trying to process those three words. 

“Ah, sorry. I just, um, didn’t get to tell you in my dream—nightmare. I just...I wanted to be able to tell you before it was too late again,” he says so softly that you would’ve missed it if your faces weren’t inches away from each other. His eyes widen when he sees you smile, his face starting to heat up. 

“Well-” he starts.

He doesn’t even get a chance to take it back, to reassure you that you don’t have to say it back, to come up with a lie as to why he said it or that he didn’t mean it. He couldn’t say anything with the way your lips are passionately pressed against his. 

He lets out a whimper as he returns it, squeezing you tightly as he kisses you like it’ll be the last time he gets to. His tongue is quick to slide against your lips and slip into your mouth, a happy hum escaping him. You two stay like that for a while, sharing a heated kiss until you are forced to pull away to get air into your desperate lungs. 

You two pant for air as you stare into each other’s eyes, there being just enough light in the room to do so. “I love you too, birthday boy,” you say between pants. He grins from ear to ear before crushing you to his chest for a hug. 

“I love you, angel. I’m so in love with you. I love you with everything I am, that I will be,” he rushes out, wanting to get it out before he chickens out and gets too embarrassed. You giggle as you place kisses along his chest and work up his neck to his jaw before finding his lips. 

“Okay. I love you too. No more playing zombie games with Levi before bed though.”

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A/N: Yes I made a The Arcana reference. It’s so funny because I wanted to do an apocalypse au because where I live there have been a lot of forest/field/etc fires so the sky has been yellow and smokey all day every day and then in his birthday event he said that he and Levi played a zombie game and I was like OH MY GOSH WOAH. Lmao I hope you enjoyed and you don’t hate me because ily

MASTERLISTS

More with Mammon

Tag List: @mexicanmagick, @animefreak-247, @jungialo, @fanfictwarrior, @ohbbobeyme, @zeldan7, @otome-otakuwu, @fandomsarepainful, @azcela​, @niphredil-14, @gamelovers-posts, @virtualmemmecollector, @collarjessie, @officialdevorak, @katelynwithpaint, & @buzzybeebee​ ✦ if you would like to be added or removed, comment or send an ask :)

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[skullsandwineglasses]

The Legends (2019) Full Review

My review of the first 30 episodes of the drama can be found here. 

This is more of a rant than a review. The drama should have wrapped up at episode 35. I was able to tolerate it up to episode 42 when the wedding was, but by episode 48 it’s a total mess. 

If only this scene was as epic as the picture makes it look. But alas, this was just a dream sequence, and by this point in the finale, I was already bored and scrolling through instagram on my phone. If only they really did have a love-hate relationship. But this is an angst-free drama. 

Inconsistent character arcs

The FL and ML have become incredibly weak, both in terms of abilities and personality. The changes just don’t make sense for their characters. 

Zhao yao is no longer the badass she once was, and I’m actually fine with that. Moving away from her demoness persona is part of her growth. BUT, she no longer has a goal in the drama (except when she finds out that Mo Qing has an inner demon. Then, her goal becomes finding a way to expel the demon). But in the last quarter of the drama, she doesn’t really do anything of importance. She lost her sword, but she doesn’t actively go and find it. Instead, Mo Qing and Jiang Wu are the ones who took initiative to hunt it down for her. And when Lin Zi Yu got away with it, she doesn’t bother thinking about finding her sword again?? I mean girl, you lost your sword. Your only weapon. Why is that not at the top of your list of priorities? Is this the same FL who had risked it all for the Wan Jun sword? 

(I miss the demoness)

Her tolerance level for things that annoy her is just so out of character. Zhao yao used to be someone who always fought back against anything she didn’t like. But when it comes to Jiang Wu, she seems to have unlimited tolerance for him. Yes, he saved her, but owing him does not mean letting him be a menace. Like when Jiang Wu sucked the life energy out of Ah Dai. All she did was try to restrain Mo Qing from attacking Jiang Wu, but she didn’t spring forward to prevent Jiang Wu from killing Ah Dai. I mean, the cause of Mo Qing’s rage was Ah Dai dying. Shouldn’t you go address the root of the problem? Instead, she just sits and stares and lets Jiang Wu kill Ah Dai instead of doing something. And then there’s the scene in the library when she’s asleep, but Mo Qing is wrestling with his inner demon, and then the Wan Jun sword kills the 2 guards on duty. She just sleeps through the entire thing. Wasn’t she once the most feared conqueror/demoness? Isn’t she a warrior? How can your senses not be alert when there’s so much ruckus around you? Someone on MDL said that she became a glorified baby sitter for the ML, and while I don’t agree that it’s as extreme as that, I can see their point. All that Zhao yao does after the wedding is try to reign in Mo Qing to prevent him from going into full-on demon mode. She holds him back, tries to calm him and soothe him, rinse and repeat.

Speaking of Mo Qing, his current personality is just rage and jealousy. At first, it was kinda endearing seeing him jealous, but soon his entire arc was just about him being consumed by jealousy. The writers try to justify it by saying that he’s always had low self-esteem and been unconfident about himself because of his upbringing, and the growing demon energy inside him is exacerbating these thoughts, making him more unlike himself, but you’re telling me that everything that he and Zhao yao had gone through together was all for naught? This would have made sense 5 years ago, but we’ve seen that he has greatly matured since becoming sect leader. During the earlier episodes, he was able to see right through Zhao yao’s mask. He teased her, flirted with her, scolded her, and basically proved he’s her equal in every way, and he did it all with easy confidence. And now suddenly, all of that growth reverses, and he’s insecure and sensitive again. This character progression just doesn’t make sense in the context of everything that’s happened. I would have loved to have seen more of the introverted and unconfident Mo Qing at the beginning of the drama. But instead, we only got a handful of scenes before that part of his character arc was cut short and we skip ahead 5 years later and then another 5 years later to when he’s the sect leader. There was honestly no purpose for Mo Qing’s suffering. He just suffered for the sake of suffering. In other xianxia dramas, characters suffered for a purpose. It was a price they had to pay in order to protect someone they love. But this suffering is just pointless. It does nothing for this character arc. And they kept replaying the same montage of him sleeping on the dragon. As if it’s not already clear from the last 20 episodes that he’s being haunted by his father’s demon. 

Villains and supporting characters

I didn’t really care for the villains? Luo Mingxuan is still alive, but doesn’t do anything until the last 5 episodes. I eyeroll whenever Lin Zi Yu is onscreen. Jiang Wu is the only one who’s interesting and he serves as comedic relief.  

And then there are all the unnecessary deaths. It’s like they’re killing off all the good characters one by one. What was the point of killing off the doctor? He was the only character who could scold both Zhao yao and Mo Qing. The drama felt so empty without him. 

But on a good note, I really liked most of the supporting characters, from Zhiyan to Shi Qi to Ah Rong to Gu Hanguang. They were also the most consistent characters in the drama. 

On a bad note, the drama spent too much time on the backstories of supporting characters. I did not care to watch Suruo mourn Luo Mingxuan and remembering how they fell in love, and this happens for pretty much all the couples in the drama. It’s because Zhao yao and Mo Qing have a very simple romantic arc that’s resolved very early on, so the writers had to throw in fillers to drag out the drama. And the consequence is that our leads end up getting not enough screen time. 

The final 2 episodes

Oh boy. The last 2 episodes were a hot mess. In the final battle, everyone kept attacking and stabbing Luo Mingxuan, but he just won’t die?? He’s like Wolverine. He just comes back stronger. It just kept dragging on and on, and I completely lost interest. And I felt bad for Xu Kai. He was standing on the sidelines for most of the battle, just watching and shooting worried faces at Zhao yao. I hate to say he was useless, but it just felt like the writers did him dirty. Even Jiany Wu, who had already died by that point, was given a brief re-appearance. While Mo Qing, the ML, was forced to sit out on the action. 

I’m also so over the will-he-won’t-he be evil plot. I keep saying this but I’ll say it again. It. Just. Keeps. Dragging. I’ve watching longer dramas, but this one felt to go on forever. We get it. You’re being tortured by your inner demon, but love will conquer all. 

The editing is also weird? Some of the scenes aren’t in chronological order, and there’s no separation between dream sequences and reality. I also never liked the preview at the beginning of each episode. I also hate how they cut some crucial scenes from the TV version that’s on youtube, forcing me to hop onto doboku, which buffers. 

Honestly, the last episode felt like a hallucinated dream sequence. In one scene, they’re all sitting around the table saying that the need to seal the Wan Jun sword before Mo Qing gets out of the control, and then it suddenly cuts to black with a title card that says 5 years later (don’t get me started on how often they overuse the “5 years later” plot device. Why is it always exactly 5 years?) We then see that Zhiyan is now the sect leader, and we’re told that Mo Qing has sealed himself away, and Zhao yao has been waiting for him to return. We don’t see them say goodbye to Mo Qing before he seals himself away. No scene showing a handover to Zhiyan. We’re just forced to go with it and imagine these scenes ourselves. 

Zhao yao, with a new hairstyle and new clothes to signify the time skip, watches Zhi yan and the sect from the distance. She then goes to visit other people, like Sima Rong and Liu Cangling. Liu Cangling and Zhiyan are the only couple who were able to move on from each other, and honestly, good for them. We then see Zhao yao sitting in the cave, pouring wine onto the cave floor, and then it cuts to black again and a sword flies through the air and wedges itself on the bedrock and we hear Mo Qing say Zhao yao’s name in a voiceover. And then it cuts to a scene where they’re both in the cave wearing their clothes from 5 years and Zhao yao has her old hairstyle. You assume this is a flashback to when they sealed the sword. And then we see Mo Qing in another realm where he lowers the sword in to the water, presumably sealing it. And then it cuts to both of them on the street buying food, wearing their old clothes and hairstyles. 

Does this mean he got out of the seal? When in the timeline is this street scene? How did he get out of the seal? Did he just walk out? Was Zhao yao there waiting for him, or did he go and find her? It’s typical for there to be a long period of uncertain separation in xianxia and wuxia dramas, and these dramas usually end either ambiguously where you don’t know if the couple will reunite, or they end with an emotional reunion, like in Ashes of Love, Eternal Love, Love and Destiny, and Love and Redemption, and famously in Return of the Condor Heroes. But what in the world was this ending?? The hell happened? That was so anticlimactic. If the scene on the street really was their “reunion” after he got out of the seal, does that mean Zhao yao changed her hair back to 5 years ago? Why is the costuming so confusing then?

And the last scene where they have the same actors play their kids? Um, no. That’s just plain weird. You built up the chemistry between the 2 actors, and then in the end you make them play siblings and re-enact the scene of when their parents met? For what? To make the audience reminisce about the budding romance between the leads at the beginning so that things come full circle? But, these characters are siblings?? You’re trying to make us emotional over a scene of two siblings pretending to be lovers?

There was just no point in doing that. It doesn’t tell us anything about the characters’ married life now. I don’t care about their kids. I care about the characters and what they’re doing now. What a strange and uncomfortable way to end the drama. Not satisfying at all. 

It would have been better if they had left it ambiguous. The amount of times that Zhao yao came back from the dead showed that they can defy the impossible, so even if it was an ambiguous ending, you’d still be able to believe that they’ll be together again. But this mess just ruined the chemistry. Ugh. I really miss the first half of the drama. 

Overall Impression

I’m mad about how chaotic the last few episodes were. While the beginning of the drama wasn’t without its flaws either, it was still very promising and intriguing. The beginning of the drama felt like they knew where they were going with the story, even if you didn’t completely like the direction that it went. So yes, I echo the other critiques saying that this drama had a strong beginning and a weak end. 

When I got to episode 35, I thought, how bad can this get? When I got to episode 42, I was still holding out hope that maybe other people were just harsh and maybe I’ll actually enjoy it. But no, the final 10 episodes are really as bad as everyone says it is. 

The romance, which was the only reason I stuck to the drama, also felt a little underdeveloped. I wish we got to see more scenes of them pre-episode 30.They were so cute then. Everything post-episode 30 was just them being constantly worried about each other. 

At least there was no angst. And the comedy was great. So there’s that. 

I give this drama a 7/10 for the characters and the premise. The plot is not worth watching due to terrible editing, pacing, and consistency, but it’s also a drama that won’t take you long to watch since you could skip most of it anyway and just go to the scenes with the leads. It’s my first drama watching Bai Lu and Xu Kai, but I’m def now interested in more of their work, like Arsenal Military Academy. 

[meant-to-be-a-hero]

Ranger Rankings - Power Rangers Samurai + Super Samurai

Premise - 4

The idea of Rangers having trained all their lives for the role, or at the very least knowing that they're going to have to be Rangers at some point, is a good one. The whole Samurai dojo setting is reminiscent of Ninja Storm and Jungle Fury, but it works, and it's fair of Saban to go with what they know works for their first time out after regaining the license. There aren't any glaring holes in the plot, and the dojo doubles as a place for non-Ranger activity without needing unnecessary explanation.

Character Dynamics - 3.5

For a change, if you're NOT the Red Ranger, this actually works out pretty well for you.

Mia, Emily, Mike, and Kevin all get to go through a lot in this season - they each get some good spotlight episodes, and their development as Rangers and as people comes along leaps and bounds in the 40 episode run. I like that they show actually acknowledged Mike & Emily's relationship rather than just pretending it wasn't there like other seasons have done in the past.

And then there's Jayden, who seems to get the short end of the stick. He's very, very stiff for most of the season, and he keeps relearning the same lessons without really progressing along his arc. He gets teamwork, then runs off on his own. He gets trusting his friends, then won't let them help him. And then when Lauren shows up at the end, there's that initial conflict over whether he's necessary any more, which kind of just fizzles out when he comes right back. It's frustrating, but he definitely feels like an unfinished character, even by the end of the season, and especially compared to the others.

Mentor Ji's fine. He has a few shining moments, like trying to help Bulk & Skull during one of the Christmas episodes, or the two times he gets to join in the fight, but he's mostly there to dispense wisdom.

I honestly could have done without the Bulk & Spike plot though. It barely ever actually coincided with the Ranger plot, and neither of them had much in the way of growth all season. Power Rangers realised after Turbo that Bulk & Skull weren't necessary any more, and while bringing them back has a nice nostalgia factor, that fact hasn't changed, and just detracts from time we could have spent with the other characters.

Sixth Ranger Arc - 4.5

Ah, Antonio. The golden light. My boy.

Yes, he has the whole 'turns up and becomes a Ranger in one episode' thing, but there's actually a really good reason for that this time around.

The idea of a self-taught Ranger is totally neat, and it comes up a lot even after he becomes a regular member of the team. He's a tech whiz, and he approaches symbol power and even Ranger training totally differently to everyone else. He really does feel like a different person compared to the others, and he brings some much needed levity to the team as well.

His ties with Jayden come up a lot too, even just in little gestures or glances as the series goes on. And the way he treats his Zords like his friends is adorable.

And the fact that he always has his own deal and isn't just hanging out at Shiba House on his off-days gives him an additional dimension too.

I just really like him, okay?

Plot Development - 3.5

I think because this season's 40 episodes + specials after so long of 30ish, it feels like the main plot drags on a LOT, especially in the early days of Samurai.

I like the idea that the villains can't just attack because of the level of the Sanzu River, and it gives them a reason to keep sending individual monsters rather than attacking right away, but it feels really arbitrary as to how successful they're being - the plot could have ended at any point, if they really wanted it to.

Things look up from the end of Samurai - the Black Box arc, and then the appearance of Serrator keeps things fresh, and the final five episode arc is straight fire through to the end. But there are too many one and done plots, and the holiday specials are pretty terrible given that three of the four are clip shows, and the one that isn't is just all recycled footage.

Villains - 3.5

Let's get the bad out of the way - Master Xandred is pretty crap, especially as a season-long villain. All he does is yell, or get drunk (medicine, my ass). He doesn't add anything to the plot, and he doesn't even feel particularly threatening until his final two episodes.

But then the supporting villains are great. The tragedy of Dayu and Deker, while also a bit overly long (there are like three places it could have ended before the final episodes), is something we haven't seen before. They could have easily had one or both of them face turn, but they stayed if not evil then neutral to the end, and it was actually quite sad seeing how it all turned out for them.

Serrator was a good mini-boss; we could have done with another one of him in Samurai to bridge the gap. He had a decent, if weird, plan, and a good personality - I always love dissension in the villain ranks, and he was more compelling in like three episodes than Xandred was in 40.

And Octoroo was just funny. I loved when he actually got to join in the fights - he looks totally useless, but he's not, and his little vocal tick was just present enough to be endearing without getting on my nerves. Shame he drowned.

Team-Up - 2

Clash Of The Red Rangers suffered so much from behind the scenes issues that I kind of wish they hadn't bothered doing it at all, because the final product was bland. You could literally take Scott out of the story and it'd play out basically the same way. Not having the rest of the RPM Rangers hurts it a lot, as does the entire Samurai team disappearing for half the story. Meanwhile the actual 'clash' lasts all of two minutes and is a ruse. It's watchable sure, but for a team-up episode, it's only one notch above the offensive Trakeena's Revenge.

Overall - 3.50

Hottest Ranger - Antonio. Come on! The boy's cute, he can sing, he's a dork most of the time, and he talks to his Zords like they're friends. I was never going to be able to resist. Also, shout out to Deker because evil!Cole also hits my buttons.

Notable Episodes:

There Go The Brides - The first hint that there's something more going on with Dayu and Deker, plus some decent subterfuge from the Rangers too.

Unexpected Arrival/Room For One More/The Blue And The Gold - Antonio's here and everything's suddenly miles better.

He Ain't Heavy Metal, He's My Brother - Mentioned entirely for Antonio and Mia's song.

A Sticky Situation - Mike & Kevin get stuck together and have to live with their hands tied together for an entire episode. Hilarity ensues.

The Master Returns/A Crack In The World/Stroke Of Fate - Honestly, a few little rewrites could have made this three episode arc the end of the series if they wanted to. The stakes were high, the reveals were there, and it was the end of Serrator.

Fight Fire With Fire/The Great Duel/Evil Reborn/The Sealing Symbol/Samurai Forever - Another excellent finale. The final fights with Xandred had some surprising twists and turns that I really enjoyed, and once this final five episode arc got going, it didn't let up.

[screamingatanemptyroom]

Please Fix the Story! Pt 5- Fantasy World

Here is the next part! Starting out in a new world! 

I made a master post with chapter links! - linked here

Enjoy!

_________________________

It was the emptiness between worlds. 

I hung there, formless, empty, in total darkness as a slow sense of confusion washed over me. From what I could remember transfers between worlds had always been rapid. The longest I had ever spent in this nothingness had been a few seconds. But as seconds turned to minutes, and confusion grew into panic, I finally called out, surprised I could hear my own voice.

“Am I done?” Had this task of transferring between story worlds finally finished? Would I get my memories back? Go home?

There was a flash of joy at the thought, followed by an uneasy feeling as I thought about the person who had followed me the last two worlds.

Liam. Is he really waiting for me in the next one?

Before I could examine my thoughts or feelings too closely, however, words formed in the space in front of me, the bright blue letters glowing in the surrounding darkness.

Have you learned to accept you fate?

“Accept my fate?” I shook my head. “You mean that I’m destined to travel between worlds being useless and bitter side characters?”

You can go home. You can have everything back.

“Wait… I can?”

All you have to do is accept the destiny given to you.

What does that mean?!!I wanted to know who I was, I wanted to end this constant world hopping. But even as I prepared to accept, a severe stabbing pain filled my head. Something had been forgotten, something desperately important, but the harder I tried to catch it the further it fled. As I struggled I felt something deep within my soul rise up, and a single word was shouted instead of the agreement I had initially meant to give.

“NEVER!” It came out a snarl, filled with bitterness and rage, and overwhelming hatred and anger flooded my senses.

I couldn’t give up.

I WOULD NEVER give up.

Even if I wasn’t sure what that meant.

Very well. It was just silent text, but I could sense the disappointment behind them.

Then continue.

Before I could respond, the words faded, and I was in a new world.

_________________________

“Help me!” A young voice filled with fear called out.

I opened my eyes, blinking in the bright sunlight, taking in the world around me.

Trees. Massive trees, in every direction I could see. A thin film of sunlight passed through the thick canopy of leaves, illuminating the ground covered in flowers. Butterflies of every color flittered around me, moving frantically from bloom to bloom. A dense smell of grass mixed with a sweet aroma of the flowers around me filled the air. It was a paradise.

“HELP!” Hearing the voice call out again, I leapt to my feet, feeling oddly unbalanced.

Why do I feel so… small? Looking down at my hands, I saw that they were much smaller than any of my previous bodies, with chubby, childish fingers. My legs were short, the small toes of my bare feet buried in the grass in flowers. I wore a simple green smock that came to my knees, the dress hanging straight down over a flat chest.

I was a child.

Well… this is new.Before I could truly process the new body, I heard another scream of fear and ran towards it, trying to cope to the much shorter leg length than what I had previously taken for granted in the zombie world. As I passed between two large tree trunks, I skidded to a stop, gaping at the sight in front of me.

There was an elven child under attack.

He was about the same size as me, with pale skin, delicate features, and long pointed ears that poked through golden hair. A pair of bright green eyes, filled with tears and fear stared up at me. His small arms and legs flailed wildly trying to strike at the dark monster that pushed him to the ground.

I grabbed a branch on the ground, stumbling a bit from the weight and my lack of strength, and dragged it over.  Screaming out, I swung the branch at the creature attacking the boy, knocking him several feet away.

The shadowy monster landed on its feet, turning towards me with a loud snarl. It had the vague form of a large wolf, but its entire being was made of darkness, the edges of its body blurred, as if it were something unnatural pushing against the edges of reality. From in between its black pointed fangs, a dark liquid dropped, burning the grass it touched. The only color that could be seen were its eyes, that were a startling shade of dark blue.

“Get behind me.” I snapped at the child, brandishing my makeshift weapon again.

He stared up at me silently, his eyes confused, his body frozen in place.

“Or you can just lay there and let the monster eat you. That works too I guess.”  I felt sorry for the kid, but it wasn’t like I had time to coddle him.

At my sarcastic words he seemed to shake himself, rolling to his feet and stumbling behind me, just as the shadow creature pounced.

SMACK! The branch connected solidly with the creature’s head, the wood sinking into the shadow for the briefest moment before the monster was thrown back into a tree.

It growled softly, getting back to its feet. A slow trickle of blue blood ran from the wound, floating in the air and dissipating into nothingness.

“Bad shadow wolf! Go back to your home!” I held up the stick again, groaning. “Where’s a spray bottle when you need it?”

Before I could bemoan my lack of canine training tools, the creature lifted its head, seeming to hear some silent call. It pointed its jaws to the sky letting out an eerie howl, before leaping into the air and disappearing, leaving only the wreckage and dead plants as evidence that it had ever been there.

I sighed with relief, turning to the child behind me. “Are you okay?”

“You… you drove it off!” His eyes were wide with shock. “You saved me!”

“No big deal…”

“It was so scary.” He clenched his fists. “I was too weak. I couldn’t do anything.”

“Um… I wouldn’t really worry about…” Sensing a character development monologue coming, I desperately tried to interrupt.

He picked up a branch swinging it in the air with a fierce expression. “I swear on the graves of my parents, I will become stronger, someone who can defend the weak!” Looking over at me, he added. “You won’t have to worry anymore, I’ll protect you.”

“Weak? Seriously did you not just see me beat it up…”

“After all, I owe you my life.” He reached over and grabbed my hand enthusiastically. “So I’ll stay by your side until my debt is repaid.”

Uh oh. Adorable elf boy, dead parents, attacked by monsters and vows to grow stronger?  My male lead senses are tingling. Better get away.

I smiled blandly, pulling my hand out of his grasp. “I was saving my own skin. You don’t owe me anything.”

“I do!” He put his hand to his heart and bowed. “I am K’lliean.”

There was an awkward silence.

Crap! I haven’t gotten the mission or the character’s memories yet. Well last time they let me rename my character… here’s hoping.

“My name is Blaire.”

“Belaire?”

Bright blue words formed in the air beside me.

You have chosen to select the character name “Belaire” All characters’ memories will be adjusted accordingly.

**** Confirm character name? ****

Slightly off… but … “Sure.”

Character name confirmed.

I stayed calm, even with the scrolling text in the sky that only I could see. This had happened before, in story worlds where a cellphones didn’t exist. The text simply appeared on the sky, responding to voice instead of typing.

Now that K’lliean’s memories had been properly adjusted, he had backed away, a look of disgust on his face.

“Stay away from me, you… you…” He glared at me. “Stupid girl!”

“How will I ever recover from that insult?” I held a hand up to my head. “But sure, I’m fine staying far away from you.” Always safer to not hang around the male lead type too much.

“I’m NEVER going to marry you, so don’t even think about it.”

“…” I shrugged. “Ok.” I’m already hating this plot, and I don’t even know it yet.

“I’m going to be a great warrior one day! I’m not some HELPER for a stupid priestess!”

“No one’s arguing with you, dude. Go live your life.”

K’llean stared at me for a few moments, and then looked away suddenly. “I mean… if you REALLY want to marry me, I’ll let you stay by my side.”

“Literally never asked for that.”

“But don’t forget that I don’t like you! I’m only marrying you to help save the forest.”

What in the world is this plot?!!!

I rubbed my forehead, a headache forming. “Don’t worry about it, kid. I’m sure there are other alternatives besides matrimony to save the forest. I’ll figure it out.”

“SHUT UP!” K’llean stomped his foot. “I’ll save this forest, and I won’t need the help from a stupid girl like you!” With that he ran off, leaving me behind to stare at his back in shock.

“Knew the trend of reasonable male leads wouldn’t last.” With a chuckle, I sat down with my back against an enormous tree trunk and spoke to the air around me. “Open mission.”

Words began forming in the air in front of me.

**** NEW WORLD: THE CHOSEN ONE ****

This world is an incomplete epic fantasy novel, centering on the heroine Stella. Stella was an average 21-year-old college student, until she was transported into a world of fantasy, swords and magic. Learning that her arrival was predicted by prophecy, and that she is the Chosen One who must save the world, she harnesses her newfound magical abilities and goes on a epic quest to defeat the Lord of Darkness.

“So far so good. Maybe she’ll be a fun heroine like last time…”

During her journey, Stella falls in love with a elven warrior named K’llean.

“CALLED IT! He’s totally the male lead!” I high fived myself, and then felt embarrassed at the lonely gesture.

K’llean returned her feelings, however, he was already married to the elven priestess, who was tasked with saving the forest by combining their light magic abilities. The high priestess, hurt by K’llean’s betrayal, initially tried to send away Stella, but instead, in a terrible battle against the dark forces, chose to sacrifice herself to save the Chosen One’s life.

“I have a bad feeling about that priestess character.”

This story was discontinued after the author quit the story, fed up with complaints from the readers. There was a huge backlash at the story’s treatment of the elven priestess, a fan favorite character. Additionally, very few readers supported the romance subplot between Stella and K’llean, given that it began in earnest while K’llean was still married. There was general complaint that Stella and K’llean never received any consequence for their betrayal of the loyal priestess, and that her death was simply to pave the way for the “Chosen One.”  The story world was abandoned and left to be destroyed.

The author’s main regret is the sad fate of the elven priestess. To complete their wish and stabilize this world, please allow the elven priestess to live a long, happy life. For this mission to succeed, the world must still be saved from the Lord of Darkness without sacrificing the life of the priestess.

**** DO YOU ACCEPT THIS MISSION?****

“…” I stared at the words thoughtfully. “So I just have to find this priestess and make sure she doesn’t get married to the cheating idiot and lives happily without sacrificing her life for them?” My eyes narrowed. “I feel like there’s gotta be a catch. What if I say ‘no’?”

**** DO YOU ACCEPT THIS MISSION?****

The words appeared again. I wasn’t surprised. There was only ever one option.

“Yes.”

My brain was filled with a flood of information, foreign knowledge, memories and emotions belonging to my character. I closed my eyes, groaning with pain, my fist hitting the ground beside me over and over until the skin split, my blood staining the leaves and grass.

“Well… this sucks.” I knew there was going to be a catch, but when I figured it out, all I could do was smile bitterly at my new identity.I should have guessed.

I was the elven priestess.

_________________________

I leaned my head against the tree trunk, sorting through the new information, the rough bark digging into my scalp. A slow trickle of tears overflowed from my closed eyes, as I fought back the emotions that weren’t my own.

The priestess had truly loved K’llean.

She had known from an early age that she was to be a priestess. Her strong light magic, tested from birth, left her with no choice but to serve her people. Part of that role required her to marry an elf with strong magic, combining their powers to allow the forest to be protected. K’llean was one of many young elves that had been approved as a potential partner.

They met in a similar way that I had just experienced, with her saving his life from a shadow beast. From that moment on, they had spent every waking moment together, growing up side by side. And on the night of her adult ceremony at the age of eighteen, she had chosen him without hesitation.

I could feel her memories, of K’llean watching her with a loving gaze.

“I’ll stand by your side, even if no one else does. Forever.”

She had believed him, whole heartedly.

But he was the male lead, so his love, his true love, was only ever given to the heroine.

The Chosen One.

This world was made for her, for her happiness.

How could one priestess stand against it? 

When she found them together… she tried to protest, tried to remind him of the love they had shared. But in the end, Stella had everything. Her people’s trust. Her husband’s love. Even her mission, to save the forest, the one she had trained her whole life to fulfill, had been handed over so easily.

She had nothing.

When she burned through her life force in the battle against the darkness, fueling a magic powerful enough to drive to out the dark creatures and purify the forest, she had felt nothing but a weary resignation.

She had fulfilled her task, protected her people.

But she had not left happily.

I covered my face with my hands, sobbing loudly with a pain I hadn’t experienced, but had become my own. It took some time, but eventually the storm passed. My throat was sore, my eyes sore, but my emotions slowly calmed down.

“I give you…us… a happy life.” I felt a sense of completeness at the words, a almost inaudible relieved sigh in my ear.

Shaking my head, I stood up, stretching with a groan. According to my memories, this character should be about eight years old.

I had already met K’llean. It was probably for the best. If I had the memories I had now, I might not have saved him, child or no.

His cold, careless eyes as he watched his wife sacrifice her life to protect his lover and himself was still fixed firmly in my mind. I wasn’t too happy about it.

The main issue was that I needed to be able to protect the forest, and that would be difficult to accomplish without either burning up my life force or combining my magic with another light magic elf… and K’llean had the strongest magic.

No way in hell am I marrying that guy. My thoughts strayed briefly to the man who had planned our wedding in the last world, wondering if I would see him again, before I reigned them in firmly.  So I just need to be powerful enough that I don’t need the cheater’s help. He can run off and romance the heroine to his heart’s content. I’m going to be the greatest light magic wielder this world has ever seen!

I rubbed my hands together, feeling excited. This was my first magic world, and I was starting out as a child, meaning I got to learn from the start. Elves in this world aged similarly to humans, which gave me about 10 years to prepare for the large scale battle against the darkness. Magic lessons should begin at age ten, but it shouldn’t be too hard to get them to start early.

Magical powers, here I come! 

A villainous laugh filled the air, completely out of place in the beautiful elven forest.

_________________________

“You’re too young.” The Elven leader’s lined face showed his concern as he shook his head at me. “It’s good to be eager, but you should enjoy the freedom and childhood you have before you’re forced to spend all your time studying.”

I glanced off to the side, where a group of elven children were playing. K’llean could be seen in the middle of the group, swinging a branch, screaming at the top of his lungs.

“I’M THE GREATEST!”

Spare me a childhood with him.I smiled at the elder. “It is my duty, and my joy to work hard for the sake of our people. I have a sense that I need to start early to be able to protect our forest.”

The leader eyed me suspiciously. “You were given a prophecy?”

I kept my smile firmly in place. “Sure.” It’s not completely a lie. In a way, I do know what the future holds.“If I’m not powerful enough by the time I reach adulthood. I will die, and the forest will be in grave danger.”

No need to mention the Chosen One for now. Don’t want them skimping on the training resources.

I struggled to keep my thoughts from showing on my face. The elder had been one of many who had supported my character whole-heartedly... at least until the heroine had shown up. Then he had cast her aside just as quickly. 

While still expecting her to be willing to die to protect him and his people.

This life will be different from hers. I’ll give them no choice but to want to stay on my good side.

Perhaps something in my tone or my gaze convinced the older elf. He sighed quietly, patting my head. “Very well. I hope you don’t regret this decision. Once you start, you can’t quit halfway, even if you want to go out and play with the other children.”

I again looked off at the group of young elves. K’llean was squatting over a boy he had just knocked down, farting in the other child’s face while yelling. “YIELD TO THE MIGHTY ELVEN WARRIOR!”

I turned back to the elder. “I am so sure. You have no idea how sure I am.”

“Then let’s begin.”

[theglguidetowebcomics]

Full review: Girly

What’s Pink, insane, NSFW, hilarious, and somehow heartwarming at points? This comic is a ride and a half, and I’m genuinely surprised more people haven’t heard of this one… I’ve been wanting to talk about this one for a WHILE. 

So let’s talk about the elephant in this room… Because I think it just ate someone’s couch. 

Slightly NSFW review with spoilers below.

Girly, by Jackie Lesnick was a webcomic that ran between 2003 and 2010, (and really has some of those early webcomic hallmarks). Its monochromatic pink, vertical, with a poppy early cartoon feel. It’s also listed as a romantic comedy, which is… correct, but cuts a whole lot of what makes this comic good, short. 

This review was always going to be one of the 4 I really struggled with. And not just because I lost it the first time without a back up in a code glitch, got distracted by a pandemic, then procrastinated my way to finally making a second version in my new backup folder… No, well also yes but no. This was a comic I read when I was younger (and should NOT have read  when I was younger), and have always had a soft spot for. I’ll admit as much as this comic has its flaws or weird moments or just weirdness in general, its one of the few comics I’ve found myself rereading in its entirety more than once. And no matter how much I know it's coming, find myself sobbing, uncontrollably, at the final panel. There’s surprisingly a lot of heart in this comic, and a whole lot of honesty in just the direction the author took this weird little thing. But, first let me take of those rose tinted glasses as much as I can… (actually that might not work too well with a pink comic seriously whats with all these early 2000s lesbian comics being PINK?). And give this old comic a look and a bit of a dust. but , first...

Sex.

Getting to the point - page 3 of “Girly”

Girly is a NSFW comic. It’s not shy about it either. It hits the audience (and the main character) over the head with it literally in the first pages. It has sex positive characters, a sex positive world, some characters with… sex powers almost, and Dildos, a whole lot of dildos. Some even with smiley faces on them. It’s a pretty unavoidable part of the comic that makes up a large core of it’s humour and is baked into its wacky world. So if that’s not your thing, and it’s not really skippable in this case, you won’t like this comic.

But, if you’re alright with that part of it this might just be a hidden gem. Moving on.

Art

Artwork is always interesting in webcomics. They’re usually one man shows, have a weird niche / strong influences, and or usually go on massive journeys as the art improves. Girly is no different here. 

Girly starts out rough. Some poses are wonky and its a bit scratchy. Technically speaking it has a few issues, which is fine. Its a free webcomic, from the 2000s that didn't copy and paste faces. (Won’t name names, you know who you are). You can’t be too harsh on a free comic, though.

However, what the art style does, even early on is set the style and feel of the comic. Anime inspired faces, bold outlines, and blocky silhouettes that were really popular with 90’s and 2000s cartoons. It has a newspaper, manga comedy strip vertical style, too. It fits the style of story well as a poppy wacky story. It's the perfect art style it could take.

Its rough in the beginning, but moves on from its scratchy days, to loose pen brush, to finally a polished free hand poppy style. It gets more technically advanced as it goes along, but it keeps its core style throughout. It’s fun, a little unhinged, and just pares perfectly.

The one issue I have with the art is it comes off as a bit cramped. It certainly matches the energy of the story, but it also feels like it doesn't let the characters have any breathing room in the frame. It comes off as squashed, and can make some character poses hard to read. That’s the only complaint I can find though. The issue even fixes itself later in the story, but just very very close to the end. It looks great there, but the majority of the comic is a little cramped. Still that’s just a small complaint.

Nitpicking here but some panels need a lil more room

This a humour comic foremost. It's the biggest part of what makes Girly specifically Girly.

Humour

The humour is mostly wacky nonsense, playing off its insane characters, physics defying world, everything being dialed up to 11. It also works a lot like satire, poking at what influences it, and playing with cinematic expectations. The first page has Otra shooting someone into space on a rocket because they annoyed them, the first “adventure” the character’s go on is stealing everyone’s pants because they couldn’t find anything else to do. Then there’s the kidnapping adventures, knight trials, and slice of life shenanigans that happen. All of it as wacky as the last. I haven’t really found any other lesbian comics like it. Its not everyone’s tastes, but it is certainly unique.

If you’re into a willy wonka tunnel of over the top characters and plots, you’ll like Girly.

Characters

Girl is a LONG comic, it ran for 7 years. The art evolved, the story writing, jokes, and themes along with it. It was originally meant to run for only 50 strips... and it ended up with 764. 

so, there’s a lot to unpack.

Firstly, the premise of the story is somewhat simple. It focuses on Otra. The kinda straight man to the entire universe. She starts out almost depressed, out of place, and bored of the wacky inhabitants of her world. Until one of those wacky residents smacks her over the head with a giant dildo and won’t leave her alone for the next 7 years of run time. 

What follows is the sullen Otra being pulled around by the always cheery and zany nonsensical Winter as the sidekick for bizarre adventures. Otra’s depressive grounded view keeps the bizarreness funny, while Winter cuts through her negative attitude and causes a lot of the over the top plot. Leaving Otra to warm up to the world, and Winter to get less reckless as they balance eachother out. It’s a fun dynamic, and works as an emotional core of the story. No matter how weird the plot and rules of the world are, their relationship keeps the story somewhat focused and rewarding to see develop.

An example of bold wacky character designs from even early on

The comic isn’t just about them, though. As an ensemble comic there's plenty of side characters that go through arcs and beats as well. From el chubacabre, the man that woman find so irresistible that they sleep with him as soon as they see him; detective Clapjaw the street wise detective who is very bad at his job; Officer Hipbone and police guy from the cute P D; captain fist the ever popular bad at his job superhero who gets all the credit; the news reporter obsessed with captain fist; the woman with babies; Steak;  the elephants that just… appear and eat buildings; among many many others. A lot of whom also have nicely written character arcs and depth in later chapters. Many of the character however are simple and remain simple, which isn’t a bad thing. For such a large cast, having a diverse range of strange characters with strong identities and looks even if a bit simple stops it from getting bogged down. It strikes a good balance. Plus there’s plenty enough of characters with more depth later on. 

 All the character’s are insane, and over the top in a way that really sets up the world they live in and how it works... as dysfunctional as it is. There’s something very Cartoon Network about all the characters, but with some wider influences. something about  dumb characters, with very specific goals and quirks that work on their own physics to feed into the high energy insanity of the world. Its entertaining to read, and leads to a weirdly charming feel of the comic. 

Story and plot

For the bit people actually want to know about. What is it about?

Just a little bit of influences...

For the style itself the comic comes off as a mix between early 2000s slice of life-y anime, 2000s cartoon Network, and a dose of 2000s webcomic sarcastic action/adventure flare. It definitely has one of the most pronounced styles that I’ve seen, and even if it's very much a webcomic of it’s time it also goes a bit beyond that into something that feels personal to the author and honest. Its a batshit comic. But, it wears its influences on it’s sleeve and really plays with tropes and ideas the author found engaging at the time. It somehow comes off as refreshing in just how willing it is to go weird or niche for no other reason but because it wants to. It's what I appreciate most about the comic. It’s honest.

The overarching story of the comic is without a doubt about Otra and winter growing together as people. But with a comic that’s run for 7 years a little bit more happens in the journey, at least you hope it would. Girly runs on chapters, 15 in total (with 15 having sub chapters due to being the story’s climax), and each one of those chapters follows a different plot or adventure with Otra’s and Winter’s developing relationship gluing them together. 

The plots themselves are wild and vary a bit in quality. But for a long comic that’s understandable and expected. They go from solving elephant problems, super villains, body swapping, fantasy parodies, and all sorts of strange things. Sometimes a few plots drag and a few character arcs feel a bit bland. It still manages to be entertaining all the way through though. The plots themselves work to get the character’s to play off each other and explore the strange world it takes place in. Exploring evil teddy bears, or an entire town devoted to cheap gags. No matter what, all the plots work in fleshing out the world and pushing character’s out of their comfort zone or forcing them to change. There are some that are less fun than others, but none of them manage to be boring or useless. Which for a long comic such as this, is quite an achievement.

Conclusion

Girly is a hidden gem, Its an insane sex positive comic. A loose style and even looser physics. It’s bold and unabashedly itself. But, at its core it's about the love story of Winter, the wacky insane woman needing to slow down and open up, and Otra, a sullen woman who’s deemed herself only worthy of being on the outskirts of society. It’s two people growing together in a world that’s up to its ears in care bears, sentient dildos, earth shattering cloning, and jabs at 2000’s paste it comics. And somehow it all sticks together.

The characters resonated, at least with me, which may be the nostalgia talking. But by the end of the comic I can’t help but  think back on how long it took them to get there. The bits that made me laugh (a lot of them), the stupid parts, and the character’s arcs, as over the top they could be at times.  It may not everyone’s cup of tea. But it has a lot of heart at its core. (If you get past all the dildos). 

For all it’s flaws and weird bits. I still find myself going back to Girly. 

Maybe now, some more people will too.

[straightfacedstrangeness]

Not that anyone asked (but seriously I’d LOVE for someone to talk to me about PokeSpe (just no spoilers past vol 13)) but since I made an offhand remark about my Top 5 favorite characters, it occurred to me that I actually DO have approximately 5 top favorite characters, and I’m procrastinating on work, so I’m gonna ramble

**just in case, note that a lot of this will revolve around my childhood experience with gender in a “I’m AFAB (and present-day me still identifies as a cis girl) but I don’t fit in with what media is telling me girls are like” way, a brief childhood feeling of homophobia, and probably general TMI about my opinions and emotions throughout my life, haha

1. Yellow

Okay, so, I was a little kid when Pokemon Adventures started coming out in English, back when manga was released as single-issue monthly comic books instead of complete volumes.  So I was rereading the same chapters over and over while anxiously awaiting the rest of the story (and wound up missing a bunch of issues anyway)

I enjoyed the RGB arc, I thought it was fun, but I didn’t LOVE the series until Yellow showed up.  At that age my ideal crush was “a cute boy my age who would be nice to me” and Yellow was presented to the reader as a cute boy my age who was sweet and kind and gentle, but also good in a fight, as all shounen protags must be.  Extra bonus points because they had just a few physically weak Pokémon and tried to fight battles in a way that minimized damage to their own and the opponent’s Pokémon, which meant they fought in a particularly smart and clever way.  And I was considered “smart” for being good at school, so being a SMART cute “boy” my age who would be nice to me, Yellow was PERFECT.  I mean, I loved the arc in general because of the clever battles, and the mystery of what had happened to Red, why these people were after Pikachu, why Yellow was so secretive about themself and their mission, etc was really engaging.  But also I adored Yellow as a character and partly in a “I wonder if ‘he’ would like me??” kind of way X’D  So to my tiny child self who didn’t even know it was possible to like-like someone of the same gender (because I hadn’t read Cardcaptor Sakura yet XD ), the reveal that Yellow was a “girl” was devastating—I had to cross out floating hearts on at least one drawing of us holding hands (scandalous!) and, while kind of stunned and shaken for a while, decided that what I’d felt all along was a deep, intense desire to be friends X’D (which probably wasn’t too far from the truth since I was pre-puberty and later turned out to be asexual)

(Also note that I never got the RGB issue that had the chapter where Red helps a little ‘girl’ capture a Rattata—later proven to be Yellow’s backstory—so the gender reveal really came out of nowhere for me.)

But anyways, I still love Yellow as a character for all the above reasons, without the crush aspects because I’m way older than them now.

Also when I reread the series ten years ago, I finally realized “wait, aside from surprising the reader, there’s no real plot reason for Yellow to pretend to be a ‘boy’ except that Green told ‘her’ to—so why did ‘she’ do it?”...and because at that time I didn’t even know that nonbinary genders existed, I decided it was cus they had low self-esteem and pretending to be a different person gave them courage (the same reading I had for Mulan at the time).  These days I’m more inclined to “yeah, I think Yellow’s nonbinary,” but that other interpretation was deeply relatable to me and only made me love Yellow even more.

2. Bill

Bill’s definitely a character I’ve grown to love more as an adult, since I’ve gone from seeing myself as “a protagonist doing cool things” to “a side character just living their life who hopefully gets to do something once in a while.”  But as a kid and now, I like him mostly for the slapstick and goofy expressions and the (early chapters Viz translations) outrageous accent  X’D  My brain desperately craves endorphins and the best way to get em is through a good laugh.

But also, I liked that he was introduced as a goofy character-of-the-week who got into ridiculous trouble and had to be rescued, but then kept being brought back, was slowly built up to be the “smart sidekick who explains things,” and eventually got to the point where he was participating in big battles (the Yellow finale on Cerise Island).  I rambled about this in the tags of another post, but I liked that he was a character who was “weak” without being “useless.”  As a kid who was good at school, I was obsessed with being good at things and had developed a black-and-white view of the world where either you were “strong/smart” or “weak/stupid” to the point that failing or just being not-so-good at anything was devastating (it still kind of is), because that meant I was actually “weak/stupid” when I was supposed to be “strong/smart.”  So it was kind of awesome that this guy who kept getting into trouble and having to be rescued—and didn’t even want to BE part of the final battle—managed to hold his own and get through it and help out instead of being a burden that dragged everyone down.  Seriously, he used a MAGIKARP effectively—the Pokémon everyone makes fun of for being “useless” and he used its one attack to save his life!

(Bonus points for all this happening in contrast to my devastating childhood experience of stanning The One Girl Character in every popular shounen series, waiting desperately for her to get to do something in battle, and then her one spotlight episode revolved around her struggling because she was so weak...not only was that actually happening to a boy for once, it was actually happening in a more satisfying/empowering way :’D )

3. Gold

I have extremely specific tastes when it comes to “the dumb shounen/action movie protag,” because as a kid I hated it when the main character was “dumb” because I was “smart” (re: good at school) and people who were “dumb” shouldn’t deserve to be the main character and have all the cool powers and save the world and stuff.  As an adult, I hate it when male characters are dumb and/or jerks but it’s treated as fine or even sexy(??) and the other characters fawn over them, and I generally still kind of hate it when characters who are dumb and/or jerks get the big important role when there’s a female character RIGHT THERE who’s more competent (and OF COURSE she has to wind up falling in love with him)

But anyway, I have extremely specific tastes, and Gold is it  X’D  He’s the perfect combination of “unshakably confident in his own stupid/egotistic views” and “treated as annoying and/or comic relief by the rest of the cast” with a bonus dash of actually being really clever in battle (so my inner child goes “Ah yes, technically, he is ’smart,’ and therefore...worthwhile“)  Making me laugh while also impressing me is like the key to my heart.

4. Crystal

I’m too lazy to look it up, but when Viz was publishing Pokemon Adventures as monthly comics, they must have switched to publishing it as trade paperbacks only and/or had a huge gap between the end of Yellow and the start of GSC, because for YEARS I’d thought Yellow was the end of the series and was shocked the first time I saw later volumes.  (My dad was buying us the monthly issues at the local comic store, and either they wouldn’t have ordered the trade paperbacks or he wouldn’t have thought to check those shelves.)

Anyway, that’s a long lead-in to the statement of “Crystal would automatically be my #1 or #2 if I’d read her arc as a kid.”  She’s a girl, she wears pants, she’s EXTREMELY smart (genius-level “book-smarts” about every Pokémon’s behaviors and weaknesses PLUS being clever in a battle), was tough as nails (she KICKED her Pokéballs!!), had no interest in romance or her appearance, AND had a short arc about losing her confidence and training herself back up to full power.  I would have KILLED for a character like that when I was a little girl being told that “girls don’t like action shows like Dragon Ball Z” (but I was a girl and I did???) and that girls were supposed to be pretty and obsessed with fashion and dating, and that girls were never the main character of action series, just side characters who either did nothing or got one chance to do something and were pathetically weak (see above, and/or Sakura’s fight against Ino (Naruto), those couple filler eps where Téa/Anzu played Duel Monsters (Yu-Gi-Oh), Videl getting pummeled by Spopovich (DBZ), etc).

So anyway, she’s awesome, she’s exactly the type of character I would’ve loved as a kid.  The only reason she’s behind Gold here is because at my age, “makes me laugh” > “the kind of main character I used to wish I could be”

5. Green (the girl trainer...I’m just too loyal to the Viz version to call her “Blue”...)

I’m trying not to rehash the same “I’m a girl but none of the girls in my shows/comics are like me!” childhood woes over and over, haha, but as much as I always enjoyed Green for being extremely clever and outsmarting the boys and being funny when she did so, she always lost points with me for being “pretty” and flirting to get her way, because that put her in the box of “girls are supposed to be pretty and desired by boys and obsessed with their appearance and romance” that was so foreign and disheartening to me as a kid.

But her staredown with Ho-oh at the end of the GSC arc TOTALLY got me.  As a sad adult with anxiety, watching characters who are absolutely terrified overcome their fear, watching characters who are completely beaten down struggle back to their feet and keep fighting, is like my ultimate power fantasy.  That sequence genuinely had me in tears.

Also her bond with Silver is super precious, especially since that’s like the first time in the series we’ve seen her be genuinely emotional and vulnerable with someone instead of teasing or manipulating them.

Honorable mention: Sapphire

I haven’t gotten up to R/S in my reread yet, and I only read that arc once over like a weekend ten years ago, but I’m pretty sure she’s gonna be a Top Fave cus again there’s that “I'm not like other girls!” childhood feel  (last time I’m saying it, I promise)

It’s a story arc where one protag wants to fight the gyms and the other protag wants to win the beauty contests, but the one who wants to fight the gyms is the girl!!  And she’s the typical “dumb but extremely good at fighting” shounen protag but she’s the girl!!  She’s feral and illiterate and a total tomboy and wins all her fights and she’s a GIRL!!!!

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Anyway, those are my kids and my dude and my probably way-too-personal reasons why.  If you wanna reblog, reply, or send an ask about your own faves...please