#can i call them kingdom trio actually? can i make it a thing? please tell me i can make it a thing

[moro-the-sun]

i NEED more fanfictions and content in general about Ren, Martyn and False. I need their dynamic. I need to see how this shit will go. I will pay 1000 rubles to read something about them.

The hand and his king, the queen and her dog, the big but soft men and his dangerous protective blondies. Please. PLEASE-

[embearsilly]

Hello! Call me Anarchy Anon! Take your time with this please. Can you maybe do a c! SBI + platonic husbands that are all exploring the nether and they find "The NetherVoid" Also find the "Quartress" Then Tommy drags Tubbo and Ranboo to the "Quartress" to steal stuff, but Blaze Empress reader caches them and about to send blaze guards, but Philza (first one to realize the trio was gone) stopped reader and reader recognized Phil [because he is a old and good friend of hers] {Season 4 Lore}

Don’t Steal From The Empress

Ooooooooh, this is such a cool idea! Also, hello new anon, could I have your pronouns please! I changed it up a bit. Hope its to your liking.

Pronouns - She/her

Warnings - slight explicit language, small mention of nsfw (just saying that someone got busy and nothing else)

The sickening humid air flowed around the crimson dimension. The heat is almost unbearable unless you are used to it.

Loud footsteps rang out around the blonde as he ran through the large nether fortress, two pairs following close behind.

“Tommy! Wait up!” The ram hybrid called after the blonde haired boy. Ranboo followed after the two, close behind his husband, Tubbo.

The blonde skillfully weaved around the monsters which roamed the hall of the fortress, the other two struggling to keep up.

After around a few minutes of non-stop running the blonde boy finally came to a halt. Tubbo was the first to reach Tommy while Ranboo was huffing and puffing behind them, trying to catch his breath.

“Tommy,” Tubbo paused, letting out a huge breath of air before he continued, “where are we going.”

The blonde gave the hybrid his signature innit grin before he began to speak, “Well yesterday I was exploring the nether void and was messing around when I found something that was almost as cool as a big man here.”

Tommy began to mine away at the ground when all of a sudden he dropped down into the abyss. Ranboo let out a gasp while Tubbo looked down the hole noticing the boy falling onto a white thing down below. Tubbo glanced at Ranboo before jumping in, Ranboo following after.

When they soon were greeted with a large white fortress which they fell on top of, no it was more castle than a fortress. It’s quartz walls stood around thirty blocks tall, a tower on each corner. In the center of it stood a large castle with towers on all corners of that as well. In front of them was a beautifully crafted bridge that hung over the lava.

The two husbands looked on in awe at the castle, I mean they had seen amazing builds before but nothing like this, it was marvelous.

“What, who's is it?” Questioned the enderman. Tommy shrugged his shoulders and continued down the path leading towards the kingdom.

Tubbo noted the two guards standing at the entrance of the large doors, they were tall and looked buff.

“Tommy don’t you think this might be a tad bit dangerous,” Ranboo’s  tail flicked from side to side as he continued, “I mean what if these people aren’t friendly, we might be killed.”

Tommy let out an annoyed huff, “Has that ever stopped me before?” he questioned.

“Look, I have a plan! We sneak in there, find some shiny things, borrow them and get out of there.” Tubbo raised a brow at the ‘borrow’ part.

“Are you going to be returning what you ‘borrowed’.” Tubbo air quoted when he spoke.

“No."

“Then that’s not borrowing. It’s stealing Tommy.” Tommy rolled his eyes and glanced at the guards.

“Look, I promise nothing bad is going to happen, okay? We get I and then we get out! kapeesh?”

Ranboo and Tubbo glanced at each other, going with what the other would say.

“Okay, we're in.” Tommy pumped his fist in the air. “Let’s goooooo.”

Tommy struggled against the grip of the guard, he was much shorter than them.

“Let go of us, and we won’t tell the great Technoblade about this!” The guard only let out a small chuckle as he led Tommy to a larger room.

Behind Tommy was Ranboo and Tubbo who were being forced to go the same way as he was going.

Ranboo was panicking, his heart beat picking up to high speeds. Tubbo placed his hand on Ranboo’s shoulder, “Everything is going to be okay."

They were led into a large room, which Ranboo believed to be the throne room possibly due to the large throne which stood at the end of the room.

As they made it down the hall Ranboo began to make out the person sitting on the throne.

She stood around nine feet tall, maybe taller than that. Around her were 3 pairs of arms on either side of her, they weren’t attached to her body which made Ranboo wonder how she could move them. Around her arms were the regular blaze rods which circled around her.

Her crown looked like antlers; it was a crimson red. She was a sight to behold. Her dress.

Standing beside her throne were two guards, the one on her right had their mouth gaped open and the one on her left had a smile on their face, they stood around 9 feet.

The woman narrowed her eyes when she spotted the boys coming down the hall, standing up to her full height. She was actually thirteen feet tall, making her tower over the enderman and the others.

When they finally came to a stop the four guards kneeled in front of the empress. She glared at the three boys before drifting over to them.

Ranboo stared in awe when he made eye contact with her, she snarled, "I didn’t think that the Ender King would send one of his own kin to die, oh wait I forgot he already did that to every single one of his subjects, now the only ones left live in the overworld and here in the nether. He was too greedy, he wanted every biome and dimension in his world, he instead fucked it all up and caused a mass extinction.” her voice echoed around them.

“You talk too much, woman.” She narrowed her eyes at the blonde and growled, “You were caught stealing, and I do not-"

“We weren’t stealing, we were just borrowing.” The Empress let out a thunderous laugh.

“A thief and a liar, now what I was about to say, thieves in my kingdom are given the penalty of death.” Ranboo’s heart stopped.

“Now how would-“ she was interrupted by a loud voice, “Y/n! Stop!” The empress lifted her head trying to locate the source of the voice, when she saw it.

“Philza Minecraft,” she called out, he flew down the hall and landed in front of her, bowing his head in respect.

Phil had been brewing some potions with Techno when he noticed something was off.

“Techno. Does something seem a tad bit off to you mate?” Techno paused for a moment before shaking his head no.

“I think today has turned out to be a good day though, its been a while since we’ve had one of those.” Phil nodded before returning to brewing.

All of a sudden he let out a loud gasp making the pigeon hybrid jump slightly.

“The boys!”

“Y/n L/n, s’been a while.” he let out a small chuckle. He glanced at the boys shooting them a ‘we’ll talk when we get home’ look.

“We can talk in a few moments. I'm in the middle of something if you can’t see.” she glanced back at the boys.

Phil put his hands up in front of him, “Yeah, I noticed, but I have to interrupt you with this. I can’t let you execute them,” he let out a loud huff, “they’re mine."

The empress raised a brow, “They are your kids, I would have never known, I mean the blonde here shows no manners, and is a liar. The next one here is a ram hybrid and the other an enderman hybrid.”

“Yes, yes I know. The blonde is my son, the other two are his friends.” She let out a small chuckle, “For a moment I thought you had a way with the ladies."

“I must apologize for the three of them, if you may spare them and punish them some other way.” She raised a brow and let out a sigh.

“As long as they return what they have stolen and apologize, I will give them no punishment.” The blonde cringed slightly at the thought of apologizing to her.

The other two apologized right away while it took Tommy a bit more to get himself to apologize.

“Thank you Y/n,” Phil dipped his head for her. “We will meet again soon.” she nods a goodbye before taking her place on her throne once more.

Once they had been escorted out of the kingdom Phil had smacked all three of them on the back of the head. “What were you idiots thinking.” he placed his hand on his head, “My god you three could’ve died if I didn’t show up.”

“We had it under control.” The blonde whined, “No we didn’t.” the other two said in unison."

“You guys are supposed to have my back on these kinds of things.” Tommy let out an annoyed huff.

Let's just say that they were all grounded.

[pineapple-coco]

Who is playing Kingdom Hearts 3, got Memory of Memories and is watching someone play Kingdom Hearts? Me! So that’s what have sparked the idea of Yuu being a keyblade wilder(along with the fanfics I have found with this crossover)

———

Yuu grew up on Density Island with the trio. So with the four of them on a mission Yuu got hit by a spell that made go unconscious. Next thing they know they are in a world called Twisted Wonderland at a school named Night Raven College, with no gummie phone or ship or anyone that knows about other worlds.

———

Mc was not able to be placed in a dorm as they fit all forms and none at the same time. They somehow got Grim to be a student with them so now they are a dorm leader and must go to the meetings.

———

Defeating overblots like it’s a heartless or nobody.

Ace: Yuu what the hell is that?

Mc: It’s a keyblade.

Ace: A what?

Crowley: A keyblade wilder!

Mc: I don’t trust you Crow man!

Ace: How did you deflate ob with such ease?!?

Mc: This is like another Tuesday.

Deuce: What do you do for this to be normal?

———

Mc at dorm leader meetings would be the best thing ever. They would yell at the other dorm leaders about no inviting Malleus and even give off random facts about different worlds they visited that the Great Seven lived in.

Riddle: That ends my report on what Heartslabyul has been doing.

Crowley: Great job as always Mr. Roseheart. Now Yuu please give us Ramshackle’s report.

Mc: Grim almost lit Ramshackle on fire again, the first years almost died from another overblot again. That’s it, just the normal stuff.

Crowley: Good job Yuu, anything else that happened?

Mc: Oh yeah! I had a nightmare about the Witch of Thorns trying to kill me and my friends again!

Vil: Again? As in another nightmare or she actually tried to kill you and the dream was trauma?

Mc: I can’t tell you.

Azul: How are you still alive?

Mc: I don’t know.

———

Diasomnia would invite Mc over to training session, the down side is that they have said to everyone that they refuse to go full out. So Mc can’t cast spells or use any cool ability’s, but after ever match they make sure to use a cure spell on their partner. They also have sea salt ice cream after training and offer other people some.

———

Couch Vargas being impressed that someone like looks like they could could be thrown halfway across campus is so strong and athletic. Like mc can jump 10-15 feet straight in the air, glide, role doge, air doge, jump off walls and run up walls. The only problem they face in gym is the brooms, as they have flown with pixie dust but a broom never.

Mc: *Looking at the broom in their hands*

Jack: What’s the matter Yuu?

Mc: I have flown with pixie dust.. but never a broom. Is it the same as flying with pixie dust or totally different.

Lilia: *suddenly appears* fufufu. I am impressed as most people it is the opposite. But not for the one who holds a keyblade.

Mc: That doesn’t answer my question.

———

Crewel is really close to not letting Mc in the potion room again. Not that they are reckless no it because they seem to have ingredients in their pockets, and somehow they pull out a healing potion? Mc you are passing potion class but how do they have a potion in their pocket when they have never brew a potion before!?!?

———

They all become overprotective of mc when one day heartless and nobody’s attack nrc. Mc was the one that ran towards the fight as everyone ran away. Did they get hit a couple times? Yes. Did they stand back up and go back to fighting? Yes. Everyone is shocked with just how powerful Mc is with magic and fighting, and knowing they do this almost everyday with people/things stronger then them. Everyone knows Mc can hold their own they still try to keep Mc safe as possible after the attack.

[honeybeezx]

Armor - Oberyn Martell x Reader x Ellaria Sand - Part 1

Author’s Note: Hey everyone! So this is the first fic I’ve ever posted on tumblr, low key kinda scary😄 But this man and his paramour have been on my mind for the longest. This is a self insert fic, but I don’t really use “Y/N”. Hope you enjoy and any feedback would be great!

Summary: You are an assassin hired by Tyrion to act as extra security alongside Bronn. He brings you back to King’s Landing just as the boy king Jeoffry Baratheon plans to marry the cunning Margaery Tyrell. But with all the guests roaming around, you begin to wonder who is a friend and who is a foe. No one makes you wonder more than the famed prince from Dorne and his captivating paramour.

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: mentions of murder, allusions to sex

—————

You never knew anything in the seven kingdoms could make you feel so small. It wasn’t as if you’d ever let it show. You held your head high, walking alongside Tyrion as both of you entered the great hall of the throne room, Bronn on the opposite side of your employer. The Red Keep was even bigger than you had imagined it to be. The throne room was the tallest room you had ever seen. Against the dark ceiling the columns looked as if they stretched up into the night sky.

Every eye in the palace was on the three of you, and you felt no one’s eyes more than Cersei’s. You held her gaze. A woman who lived in luxury her whole life did not frighten you. She may have influence, but you had experience, strength, freedom, and skill with your bow that you were now acutely aware was strapped to your back. Having the protection of Tyrion’s influence and connections and Bronn’s strength and skill with a sword brought a sense of comfort, allowing you to remain calm under such scrutinizing gaze.

“Brother.” Cersei greeted with a soft smile that failed to hide all the vileness in her heart. “You come with friends.”

“Oh no, more like bodyguards. We have so many enemies now a days sister, I like to know I’m protected.” Tyrion smirked, leaving Bronn chuckling. You, on the other hand, would not let your intimidating demeanor fade, remaining as stoic and unyielding as the stone columns that held up the palace you wished to see fall. “May I introduce Bronn, Lord of Highgarden and-“

“Yes, I know all about the Silver Hawk from the North. I wonder if you are half as good as they say you are.” She mocked, her tone anything but genuinely curious. “I am told that you can hit your target 200 meters away and steal their breath before they even know what hit them.” If you didn’t know any better you’d think she was impressed, even if she did look at you as if you were the lowest creature she ever beheld.

“Perhaps I will have an opportunity to display my skills while I am here, your grace.” You’ll see first hand when my arrow is aimed just above your crooked neck.

“Perhaps.” She replied, feigning as much sweetness as a ferrel cat.

The both of you narrowed your eyes at each other. There was no outright exchange of harsh words or petty language, but the furious tension between the two of you was enough to fill the entire hall with uncomfortable silence. You hoped your unyielding gaze scared her. You wondered how many people actually defied her, you wondered how long it would take to get under her skin.

“Yes, well.” Tyrion interrupted, knowing you were bubbling with anger. Cersei was too, and although you allowed her to see your own emotions, it please you a bit to know you could anger her just as easy. You hated Lannisters almost more than anything, but you also knew Cersei’s time would come. She would pay for her crimes, fate would decide her end. You knew that fate had not brought you here to slay the queen regent, as much as you despised her. “As much as I love chatting with you sister, I simply wanted our arrival to be known. We have much unpacking to do and much to discuss.”

“Be careful, little brother.” She warned. “Your guard has little reserve and it seems your little silver hawk has a silver tongue as well. You would be wise to remember that people have been killed for that and less.”

“I’ll be sure to keep very close watch over them.” Tyrion retorted sarcastically before turning on his heal and exiting the great hall. You and Bronn followed, the later unable to contain his amusement.

“I’d say that went well!” He quipped, smiling at both you and your employer.

“She didn’t call to chop off our heads, that is some relief.” Tyrion noted. “But you both must be careful, especially you.” His scrutinizing gaze met yours.

“What? You expected me to just let her try and hold some dominate power over me? Just because she is draped in finest jewels in the seven realms and hides behind the her father’s influence does not mean I will tremble like a child before her.”

Tyrion sighed. “You must, for now, hold your tongue. Your wit does you credit, that’s why I like you, but you must check yourself. My sister is more dangerous than you can imagine. Don’t tremble, but don’t overstep either.” You remembered that Tyrion had been playing the game his whole life, he was basically born into it. He knew his sister better than anyone, and that meant he knew how to get around her better than anyone. You made a note to observe exactly what made Cersei tick, what made her preen under her usually reserved demeanor.

Despite the warm tones of the palace, you felt as though you were walking on ice. One wrong step and you were dead under a frozen tundra. You didn’t like this at all. Tyrion promised your freedom would not be at risk, yet you felt the freedom to speak your mind, the freedom to do as you pleased slip from you more and more. You were being watched here, you weren’t stupid. Every move had to be calculated, every word like honey laced with poison. The faster the boy king could marry, the less people there were for you to worry about. It made you uncomfortable not knowing who was an ally and who was a foe. The one thing you could appreciate about Cersei was that you always knew where you stood with her.

“I will try to remain civil if she approaches me, otherwise I will avoid your sister to the best of my abilities. But she would be wise not to challenge my reserve.” I huffed, earning a laugh from Bronn.

“Your reserve, little hawk, will be undone, whether it be from your words or your arrows.” He teased. You gave him a shove and he stumbled a bit, but not much. The last thing you needed was the oaf calling you “little”.

“The sooner we are out of this horrid place the better.” You huffed.

“I agree,” Tyrion agreed, nodding in understanding, “but don’t hold your breath. There is so much to be done before my nephew’s wedding and I will be relying on both of you to help me. While I am arranging more intimate details with my family, you two will be protecting me, but also doing some side tasks that I will not have time for. Bronn, for the most part you will be either at my side or Shae’s. If the palace discovers her they will use her against me. She can’t be found.”

Shae, Tyrion’s lover of sorts. You had grown close to her on your travels. You were wary at first. Your job was to protect Tyrion, naturally, you were cautious of anyone who might try to hurt him, to get close to him only for information or power. But it was a tough business, out spying a spy, and all your instincts told you to trust Shae. She had not left any of you astray thus far, and though the couple had not named their relationship, you could tell Tyrion and Shae cared immensely for each other. But Tyrion was right, she could be used as a pawn against him, especially if Cersei found out.

There was a sort of kinship between you and Shae. You were both strong, clever women, and she had tended to the few wounds you found yourself with on your travels. She seemed like a sister, and you were grateful for the company and friendship she provided.

“As for our favorite archer, you will be assisting some guests, getting information. I want to know the people attending this wedding, I want to ensure that this wedding goes smoothly. The Tyrell’s are a powerful ally, we cannot lose them.”

You nodded in understanding. Tyrion hired you to protect him, yes, but archery was not your only strength. You could be quiet, and you could listen as well as you could speak. You knew he would ask that of you with all the guests roaming around. You were curious to know what King’s Landing was really like, and even more interested in knowing the people who came here. “Ask it of me and it will be done.”

“Aye.” Bronn agreed.

“You are the most trusted of friends.” Tyrion gave the smallest of smiles. You were hesitant to even be in his service when the lord found you and offered you a job, afraid of losing your freedom. You knew the Lannisters, you knew their foul and power-hungry disposition. Being in their service seemed to you signing your life away. You were surprised to find he did not wish to take such things from you. He hired both you and Bronn to protect him, yes, but he would do the same for you both. You were an odd sort of family, but a family nonetheless. “Get settled and rested for the evening, we’ve had a long journey. We will reconvene later to discuss further plans.”

You nodded and left to your new chamber, one just across from Bronn and down the hall from Tyrion.

The trio was still not aware of the Red Viper slithering about the halls.

——————

Days passed with little to do. You hadn’t seen much of Tyrion. Since your arrival at King’s Landing your employer had become hand to his nephew king and married the pretty Stark girl you later learned was named Sansa. Still, you found ways to spend your time, keeping eyes and ears open for any useful information. You were particularly interested in Joffrey. It was astounding how a little boy could hold so much power, so much evil. You figured he inherited his terror from his mother.

Sansa was an interesting girl as well. Your heart broke for her. She was nothing if not resilient, staying loyal to her betrothed if only to keep herself alive. She was smart, you learned, but not useful when attempting to gather information. She did not deny her loyalty to Joffrey, even to those she liked. You were grateful that Tyrion stepped in to propose to the poor girl, if only to save her from the tyrant king. Both you and Shae kept close eyes on her. She was as smart and clever as Shae and yourself. You had a sneaking suspicion that she could be a close ally, if only your little family could get her away from the palace.

But today was different. Today you left your quarters to explore the palace a bit. You wanted to know what sort of battleground you were working with. It seemed surprising that a palace that was so heavily targeted was so...open. It seemed like light could illuminate any room. Even the gloomy and foreboding throne room could not escape a few beams of sunlight. If you didn’t despise every Lannister crawling about the palace, you had a mind to stay. The palace was only under the allusion of being warm and charming, the people who inhabited it ruined any chance of it being a lovely place. You noticed that the open windows and balconies made perfect outlooks should you need to eliminate a threat with one of your silver arrows.

But for now, the open windows became your place of peace as you ate a bowl of berries, just watching the rest of the sunrise. You saw the sun just barely grace the city with its light before you were called into Tyrion’s chambers. You arrived promptly, Bronn stumbling in a few minutes after you. You rolled your eyes at his lack of punctuality, which only earned you a playful nudge from the Lord of Highgarden.

“Behave you two. I swear I am dealing with children.” Shae huffed, but you could tell behind her sharp features was an air of mischief. Still, you straightened up and diverted your full attention to Tyrion.

“Well, much has happened. Prince Oberyn has arrived in The Capital. I visited him yesterday morning and he made it very clear that he wants to kill any Lannister that he sets his sights on. My father apparently ordered the death of his sister and her children. Our goal, for now, is to keep him happy, to keep him entertained. Bronn, your job will be to appear inconspicuous as you keep a watchful eye over my quarters, make sure no one goes in or out.” He ordered.

Shae huffed. “I’m perfectly capable of handling myself thank you.” She huffed.

“No one disputes that my dear.” Tyrion chuckled. You remember watching Shae stab a man she did not want for laying a finger on her. “I’m not worried about you. But my sister and my king nephew are very powerful. They will know how to use you against me.” He explained. Shae still was not pleased with the idea, but she relented.

“As for our hawk,” he turned to you and gave you a list with names you did not recognize, “you will present these girls to Prince Oberyn in my place. You will tell him that royal duties as the king’s new hand have prevented me from revisiting him, but you hope he enjoys the whores as a welcoming gift to King’s Landing.”

“Excuse me?!” You snapped your eyes narrowing in on your employer. “I am not a squire whose job is to bring in girls for spoiled princes!”

“Do not think of it as that.” Tyrion poured himself a glass of wine, knowing that he should chose his next words very carefully. He could feel your eyes burning into him. “Consider it a diplomatic mission. Besides, the prince wishes to meet you. The legends of the Silver Hawk have reached so far as Dorne and he is eager to make your acquaintance. This is the perfect opportunity for the both of you.”

You still weren’t pleased. “So I am now to serve as entertainment for the prince of Dorne.” You sighed and shook your head. “I am only staying long enough to bring him the girls, then I’m leaving.”

“Fine,” Tyrion relented. “But you will be cordial to the prince. Don’t be deceived by his charming words, he stabbed one of my cousins for a few unkind, brutish remarks. I don’t want to know what he’ll do when he hears your fire-laced words.” If it weren’t such a serious situation, Tyrion might have been amused to hear you use your wit against a prince, but the prince’s history with the Lannisters was anything but a joke.

“I’m sure she can handle herself. Hawks have talons after all.” Shae teased, but squeezed your arm affectionately. You offered a kind smile, but you still loathed this plan.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Tyrion rubbed his temple like the very thought of you getting into trouble was enough to send him over the edge.

You relented and chuckled a little before placing a hand on your friend’s shoulder. “I will be on my best behavior, but only because you will worry yourself ill.” You teased. “It can’t be too bad if I just deliver your message and leave. I better get going though. Can’t leave a prince waiting.” You snorted. As if you cared what a prince thought.

————————

Oberyn Martell lied in his temporary bed at the brothel, Ellaria Sand at his right, a blond haired boy on his left. He was the picture of lustful bliss, his golden chest glistened as the small rays of light entered the sinful den. But the prince was quiet deep in thought as he started out into the empty space before them. All the pleasure the brothel had to offer could not break his focus.

“Your thoughts are too loud, my prince.” Ellaria chided as she placed a kiss to his chest. “Tell me.”

Even then, Oberyn still could not break his thoughts of you, but he ran a hand through his paramour’s raven curls in acknowledgment. “I think I found our third partner.”

Next Chapter

[seqka711]

Ranking the six main boy/girl ships in Yu-Gi-Oh from best to worst!

Not all main girl ships are created equally, I'm afraid. Let's take a look at each ship and see what's up! (Except Sevens because as I mentioned in a previous post, I am way too far behind to comment on anything in that show.)

First up is Anzu and Yugi! And YES I do ship them! However, I don't ship Atem and Anzu. Anzu was friends with Yugi, and started to see him in a different light when Atem started showing up. However, those changing feelings also started to influence her feelings about Yugi as well. We saw that in Duelist Kingdom. Then in season 2 when she realizes they're two separate people, she gets really confused! Anzu doesn't know how to feel anymore! Then Atem and Yugi are both playing wingman for each other, so that's not helping matters. I don't really ship Atem and Anzu because Atem just doesn't seem super interested in their date. I know he had other things on his mind, but if they wanted me to ship it, now was the time to show off some chemistry and they didn't.

We saw in GX that Yugi grows up to look just like Atem and he also grows more confident over the course of the series. After the end of Duel Monsters, I think they're both too hurt by Atem's passing to be digging on each other. But, distance makes the heart grow fonder, and I feel like she's gonna come back from the states and have some heart-pounding feelings when she sees him again. And Yugi's feelings didn't change, they were just put on the back burner. So hopefully when they meet back up, sparks are gonna fly! At least, I hope so. <3

~

Next up is Asuka and Judai! When I watched their first duel, I was 100% on board with this ship. They were cute, they had great banter, it was a fair fight. I loved it! But over the course of the series, I started losing interest in their relationship, fast. By the end of season 2 I was pretty convinced they had abandoned Asuka x Judai for Asuka x Manjoume, and honestly, I was 100% on board with that, I love a good romcom couple and those two have dysfunctional romcom energy. Plus they had evil power couple vibes when they were running the Society of Light together, so I thought for sure they were gonna have Manjoume and Asuka be better friends post possession.

Then season 3 came a long and I was like "woah, they DID do that on purpose! I was right!" when we saw the Judai x Johan x Yubel love triangle they spent the entire season on. Asuka and Manjoume were of course relegated to background characters, as was everyone who wasn't a transfer student. And then the series ended with a pretty definitive Judai x Yubel ending and I was like "cool I like it".

But then season 4 made me question everything by making it clear that Asuka was still crushing on Judai?!?! Uhhh.... what? You haven't mentioned this crush in OVER TWO YEARS ASUKA. You've both changed so much! I thought the whole point was "she had a fleeting crush on him in year 1, but people change and so do our feelings"! I thought they had her fall out of love with him on purpose!! You're telling me the writers just wanted us to ASSUME she was still in love with him this whole time?!

I honestly love the whole "had a crush on him, now that I know him better, he's an amazing friend but I don't like him that way anymore" dynamic and they RUINED IT so bad. And for what? To say "well they fought the whole time, but now look! They can tag duel together!" Well, jokes on them, because a few episodes later Judai and Johan will show off some of the tightest teamwork in the show and I'll have to throw Asuka x Judai in the trash. </3`

~

Yusei x Aki!!!!!! AHHHHHH I LOVE THEM. Their first duel is very romantic in my opinion. Yusei lives to help people, and it's actually a flaw of his that he'll help people no matter the cost. Usually that's sort of a "who cares" flaw in a protagonist, but for Yusei, it adds a lot of depth to his character. The reason he helps people even at the cost of himself is because he feels enormously guilty due to his parents' involvement in Zero Reverse, and he feels like he owes the world (but especially Satellite) everything. Yusei tried to go to jail in Kiryu's stead, but failed, and I think that only compounded his guilt even more.

Then, when Yusei sees the chance to help Aki, he does it. He's scared of her, but he rallies his courage to face her so that he can help her. And it's only natural that Aki would fall hopelessly in love with him after he continually put himself at risk over and over again JUST to help her. I love the episode where she rescues him from being kidnapped and then accompanies him on a riding duel. I think it hits me harder because it reminds me of how much I want to drive a motorcycle but can't because of reasons I won't go into. But part of her desire to learn to riding duel is because she wants to feel the same things Yusei feels. And that's so cute!

Unfortunately, I do have a certain headcanon that gets in the way of my shipping desires. I won't get into the whole headcanon, but I think Yusei might have ended up time travelling back in time to fix Zero Reverse and prevent Zone's future. And Aki wouldn't have come with him because we see her in the flashforward. Yusei is still giving her strength though. And I like to think that maybe a much older Yusei was able to help a much younger Aki control her powers and not enter a cult in the new timeline. And if my headcanon isn't true, then GET MARRIED AND HAVE BABIES GUYS. <3

~

On the one hand, I love Kotori x Yuma. They’re so adorable! Not only is Kotori surprisingly self-aware of her crush (usually the YGO girls love to deny it) but Yuma clearly treats her differently from the rest of his friends, even though he doesn’t know why (yet). Kotori’s confession at the end of the show is SO CUTE AND ADORABLE and Yuma accepts and I love it!

But… I can’t love it as much as I WANT to love it. Kotori’s character, especially in Zexal II is kind of boring. I liked her a lot in Zexal I actually. I thought it was fine to have a character not duel as long as she was doing something else. In season 1 she occasionally gets shit done. Or she’s there for comic relief like when she’s riding the duel coaster. Or arguing with Orbital 7. It wasn’t much, but it was something. In season 2, she’s a total non-entity. I thought the duel where she gets possessed was very funny, but I almost wish that her getting possessed by a Barian was played for drama rather than laughs.

I think what could have been cool is either a) after she can hear Astral, her and Astral team up for a duel or b) when watching Yuma she started to memorize his strategies. Or both. Or neither, just get this girl something to do BESIDES watch Yuma! In the end, my love for how adorable these two are is always somewhat soured by Kotori’s squandered potential. <3

~

Speaking of squandered potential, Yuzu and Yuya are next on the list. I love these two A TON! I’ll be perfectly honest and admit my biases here, I am NOT the biggest fan of Arc-V. The show had a lot of problems, and I’m harsher on it than most.

But one thing I really did like about the beginning of the show was Yuzu! She was independent, driven and her dueling was getting better as the show progressed. Just like Kotori, she became a non-entity in the latter seasons. However, I ship Yuya x Yuzu more than I ship Yuma x Kotori because Yuya was always keeping Yuzu in mind during the latter seasons. So it still felt like the ship was in focus, whereas with Kotori x Yuma, the ship kind of disappeared since more important things were going on. For Yuya, nothing was more important than getting Yuzu back, so really I had no choice BUT to ship it. How could I not? It was so sweet! She was his whole world! I wish we got more scenes with the two of them together though. Them never tag dueling is a crime against humanity. Also its total BS that only Yuya and Yuzu got to come back, but whatever, I guess. I was happy that the two of them reunited and even HAPPIER that the show was finally over. <3

~

Last and basically least, Yusaku x Aoi. Or Playmaker x Blue Maiden. I’ll be honest, I don’t ship this at all. The show doesn’t go through any effort to get us invested in their so-called “relationship” and if I had watched this show on its own, unaware of the series’ tropes, I wouldn’t have assumed they were a “ship” at all. With Judai x Asuka, I actually liked the fake out (at least until S4 when I wondered whether or not the fake out was actually on purpose or if the writers are just morons) but with Yusaku x Aoi I get frustrated because it wouldn’t have been that hard to GIVE them some chemistry. They’re both interesting characters, and I think Aoi and Yusaku could have had an interesting dynamic if Aoi had learned Playmaker’s identity a lot sooner.

What I think the show should have done was have Aoi discover Playmaker and Soulburner’s identity at the same time they discovered each other. Then have Aqua come into the fold a lot earlier. Trios are popular in fiction for a reason, and I think Yusaku, Takeru and Aoi would have been an excellent trio. Specifically, with both Yusaku and Aoi being so reserved, their relationship would be very understated. But that’s not a bad thing. It just means that the writers would have to put more focus on the little things. Like, maybe after a while of being friends, Yusaku sits next to her in class. That would be a small thing for other people, but for those two, that’s huge! I could also see there being a fun episode where Ai tries to trick them into going on a date but fails spectacularly. The two of them end up spending time together to foil the plan. That could be really cute! LITERALLY ANYTHING is better than NOTHING.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t ship this because the writers thought they could get me to ship it just by having boy meets girl and then having them shake hands over a hundred episodes later. And no. I refuse. I need a LITTLE more than that, please and thank you. </3

~

That was a very long post! All in all, 4/6 ain’t bad at all! Or maybe it’s more like a 3.5 since I only gave Kotori and Yuma a small heart? It doesn’t really matter, I’m a multishipper. At my heart and soul, I’ll ship anything. Like I said I don’t ship Judai and Asuka, but I totally have shippy fanart of them on my phone, lol. It’s more like… which of these ships would I defend in court and which ships do I only like because I’m trash that’ll ship anything?

Oh, I guess I did title this as a ranking... Well, I'm sure you can figure out my most and least favourites by how much I used caps lock, so it should be fine.

Give me ANY Yu-Gi-Oh ship (straight, gay or in between) and I’ll dissect it like I did these six.

[kkeidawrites]

Castlevania spoilers!!!! If you don’t want to know how the show ends in season 4 please refrain from reading the rest of this post because I’m not holding back! Also I’m writing this as I watched so, this is my raw review!

Okay, so first off I want to say personally, I loved how season 4 brought heat to the finale of the show. Although I’m sad as hell that this is the last season for a great show.

Episode 1: Murder Wakes It Up- I thought that it was cool to see Trevor and Sypha fighting again after what happened in S3, obviously they are tired from the long four week journey of fighting night creatures, skeleton zombies, vampires from different countries, etc. but clearly the end game is that humans and vampires alike are working together to bring back Dracula. Like seriously, y’all might not know this but I hate, HATE when children become involved in stupid shit like human sacrifices like I can’t. Not the children. Please, not the babies. Sypha complaining she’s becoming like Trevor, and she’s so cute when she curses lol. Then when they arrive in Targoviste we have some new faces as potential enemies. I thought they were lame honestly lol I couldn’t take Barney-Larney whatever his dumbass was; he was mad annoying.

Then they shift over to Alucard…I have never seen a more broken beautiful drunk man in all my life. Like I had S3 flashbacks. He’s asked for help from a messenger who ended up dying on the way to the castle but his horse made sure he continued the journey and Alucard received the message for help in Danesti. Alucard fights with the horse, I thought that was funny. He was thoughtful enough to bury the rider, that was very sweet of him.

Also, shirtless Alucard will be engraved in my mind for life. Whew, chile that’s one fine man. He’s beginning to talk like Belmont and I can’t help how hilarious that is.

Episode 2: Having the World: Quite honestly this episode to me was meh. Hector talking with Lenore about how he needs this and that to create his hammer to continue forgemastering then Lenore talks with Carmilla and the white haired bat talks about how she is going to rule the world and what not, clearly losing her sanity.

Then it shifts over to Trevor and Sypha and they are fighting in a barn and new character Zamfir. Her character for me was also meh, but it’s nice to see more PoC in the show.

Episode 3: Walk Away: I liked this episode a lot. Issac altogether was nice enough to sit down and talk with a night creature and tell him/them that they were free of their original program, which was: eating humans, causing destruction, used as tools to forge masters. But man when he received that berry from Issac he realized that there is still some kind of humanity in them.

Issac is contacted by Varney to bring back Dracula but, Issac wants no business with that; he doing his own thing and seeing him being sassy again is so refreshing.

Morana and Striga scenes!!! I loved them, and then there was Striga’s day armor, man listen…I have never felt more closer to watching Berserk again than in that moment. They are hesitant to return back to Styria when Carmilla calls them, and it puts them in a bind to return home to continue through with Carmilla’s plans.

Sypha being annoyed by Zamfir was me the entire time. How you gone run a kingdom again with out a kingdom. Like girl, help the people instead of the royals, my god.

Episode 4: You Must Sacrifice: A cute little Trevor and Sypha scene. They decide to investigate Targoviste more before helping Zamfir. The scene shifts and Alucard is riding towards Danesti, donning a shield and a longer cape. Monsters are attacking the walls of the village, villagers are on the other side waiting to defend themselves. Some Castlevania popular screenshots appear here.

Then we meet Greta…Miss thang…that’s one beautiful woman okay. And she’s the chief of the village, cares for her people? Y’all I present. Her. And the fact that she is sassy too? I rock with her heavy as hell.

Saint Germain meets Alucard and I have a weird vibe coming from him. We see Saint Germain’s backstory or what little it will show us; he had a whole girlfriend, she a baddie too. Apparently she was like him? And she was the silhouette we saw in S3. Cool scene, inside the Infinite Corridor and I liked the library scene a lot too. Now he’s on a rampage trying to find access to the Infinite Corridor again to find his girl and he also wants to bring back Dracula? The fuck?

Refugees arrive at Danesti, and Saint Germain is acting very strange indeed. Like he’s desperate to go to the castle to help with the village “defenses”. Alucard agrees I guess? And he says another Belmont comment which I was happy to see again in the season.

Episode 5: Back in the World: Alucard leads Greta, Saint Germain and the villagers to his castle but, encounter a couple of night creatures on the way. Greta does Saint Germain y’all and I’m with her 100%. Alucard’s powers have definitely improved from last season. It was kind of interesting how Alucard willing told Greta what happened with him and you know who, kind of early in my opinion. Greta is bisexual?!!!! I love her 1000% now! I sense some chemistry between Greta and Alucard. I like that a lot.

Lenore really like annoys my soul, I do not like this mini bitch. I didn’t really care what Lenore and Hector talked about🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️sue me. Bruh Greta, beating that monster’s ass with just a hammer and a sword?! And Alucard impressed by it?! I’m here for it!! Some cute moments between Alucard and Greta got me gushing over here😝😝. Poor puppy😢😢. Alucard decides to “grow up” which I think is a nice step forward. Saint Germain is really making me mad.

They arrive at the castle and here goes Saint Germain acting like a fan boy, I mean who wouldn’t but you know…Greta killed me when she said the castle was ugly as hell lol. Another little cutesy scene between Alucard and Greta. Like I really like their chemistry y’all I’m sorry.

Trevor and Sypha demand that Zamfir take responsibility to help the people and I forgot what it was called but, before that they are attacked and Zamfir has something placed on her neck by a night creature.

Then Issac, he’s ready to fuck some shit up. And I’m here for it. Get em, bitch!

Episode 6: You Don’t Deserve My Blood: Carmilla’s castle is attacked by Issac’s night creatures. Lenore old punk ass running away does not surprise me in the slightest. Hector betrays Lenore and locks her in a cage. Hector has contact with Saint Germain like what? I don’t understand but, Issac comes in and it looks like Hector has given up, wanting to die honestly. Issac decides against killing him and Hector asks for his knife. This boy cuts his ring finger that the Lenore placed the ring, in front of her. That scene was meh, I thought he would get pissed at her for what she’s done to him in S3 but, I guess not.

Issac literally stole this episode, from his fight with the vampires and night creatures to Carmilla that shit was -chef’s kiss- magnifico! I loved the animation the fight scenes, yooo I was hyped the whole episode.

Morana and Striga make their decision to go their own way, living their own lives in the west so, bittersweet ending with them, I wanted to actually Striga fight the main trio but, whatever I guess.

Hector still has plans to bring back Dracula and asks Issac if he’s doing the same. Issac has other plans obviously, and tells Hector that they need to find their path in their lives. I feel Hector never knew where he was supposed to be placed in the world but Issacs words are very inspiring in my opinion. May have woke Hector’s dumbass up a bit.

Episode 7: The Great Work: Varney and the other guy, I really forgot his name found out about the catacombs and head there. Trevor and Sypha demand Zamfir take them underground, which to me I think it’s nothing there but her shit. Sypha gets mad at Zamfir and I’m with her, how you part of the royal guard when the people above need your help girl my god.

The cutest scene ever in this episode, was when the kids from Danesti wanting to play with Alucard and this boy jumps off the highest part of the castle just to show off. There should be more scenes of soft Alucard with children. Saint Germain is placing these weird stones it looks like in the castle walls. What is going on with him?

More Alucard and Greta moments please and thank you. The artwork in the castle is fucking phenomenal work. Saint Germain just gave the location to a vampire it looks like, from episode 4 maybe? He looks familiar.

There is a freaking army coming to the castle…lord Jesus. Like can they catch a break please? The kids just got settled.

Trevor and Sypha go to the catacombs and it’s just as bad as the people above grounds. New weapon acquired for Trevor, pretty dope. The king and Queen are dead and Zamfir is officially insane. She really thinks that the king and Queen will come back alive and protect their people like she’s done them. Sypha tries to talk to her, that puts her in a weird daze, Trevor is just being Trevor. Varney and his lackey, come to the catacombs looking to kill I really do not know that man’s name y’all so I apologize for not giving a damn about him lol.

The castle is about to be under siege, I’m not ready. Having a whole heart attack over here from nerves.

Episode 8: Death Magic: Varney and his partner attack the people in the catacombs, Varney is looking for a giant mirror? Why I don’t know. Poor Trevor and Sypha they are soooo tired, I feel so bad for them. Zamfir is actually not bad of a fighter, I like that. Sypha still the goat, no cap.

The castle is under attack, it’s actually nice to see how diverse the vampires are in this show, you can tell what countries their from and I think that’s dope as hell. And then every time a human dies their souls are transferred to Saint Germaine? So is this another S3 human sacrifice crap again? Omg…I’m so sick of that. Saint Germain uses the key he received from the woman in the Infinite Corridor and it creates the symbol of the corridor’s portal.

Here goes Alucard being a badass again, I never tire of him being one. Greta holding it down too is really cool, I don’t care what nobody say, she is that bitch. Her and that hammer, a force to be reckoned with.

Everyone is overwhelmed and have no choice but to evacuate to the castle, right before those doors closed Alucard nods to her to leave him out to fight and she looks at him like boy bye. Get yo ass in this castle. Greta pulling Alucard in just shows they are compatible for one another. Even the playful banter between them is cute.

The discovery of the stones in the walls leads Greta and Alucard to his childhood bedroom and they find Saint Germain where he reveals he’s opening the Infinite Corridor to bring back Dracula by using death magic. Petty Saint Germain, I do not like him bro.

They have to deal with him later though to fight off the night creatures that got into the castle. Greta still holding it down.

Trevor and the vampire guy is still fighting but, Trevor being so tired he’s slowing a bit, and honestly I don’t know how he’s still able to function at this point. Sypha shows off her powers like a G that she is and Zamfir is doing some great damage with the knives she’s got and that’s crazy how little knives can do to the body.

Did Sypha always have lightning powers? I don’t remember. If it’s new I love it! Trevor’s almost killed but a woman and child save him in time but, unfortunately Zamfir is stabbed in the stomach when the vampire moves to kill them both. I’m going to be honest I didn’t really care for Zamfir’s character she was just…there lol.

Then that scene with Sypha basically incinerating the rest of the monsters is fire!!! No pun intended lol. Varney finds the mirror and steps through it where Saint Germain is. Trevor and Sypha goes through the mirror as well but in a different location in the castle.

Episode 9: The Endings: This whole episode was literally the best of the best in any other seasons. The fight scenes, the banter, the main three…oh my God I loved it all. Noooooo, the dolls!!!!!! You bastards!!!! Trevor and Sypha’s entrance was perfect. Muah! Perfecto! The rock monsters really confused me on how they were killed but you know what who cares?

Alucard has wings?!!!!! What?!!!!!!!!! The general of the caravan have brought in the man woman thingy to Saint Germain. Death has appeared. His character design is dope af. Noooo not mom and dad!!! Nooo! Poor Alucard had to witness his parents literally in pain and of course Trevor ends it again, somehow Saint Germain redeemed himself almost?

The four vampires fighting the main trio had me running for my money. I liked the whole scene it was nice to see at least one or two vampires almost have the upper hand on the main trio.

That general vampire? His fight was wild, throwing his arm as it was about to explode and use it against Trevor was genius. And main trio…they don’t need to have a plan to fight they just work so well together that it works out in end.

Trevor vs. Death. Also was that the first time Trevor told Sypha he loved her? I can’t remember. Anyway, back to the final battle. The quality of the fight, the sheer power between both characters, and then he goes and sacrificed himself like Trevor are you deadass? You deadass died? Unacceptable. And then episode just ends.

Episode 10: It’s Been a Strange Ride: Lenore died so lame, and she was drunk as well when she died. I really won’t be missing her because she was just a character I very much disliked. Hector is finally free, little dumbass.

I wanna see what Issac is up to and Morana and Striga seems appropriate. But oh well, I hope they are happy wherever they are.

Tombstone for Trevor, it’s not real. He ain’t dead, I don’t believe that. Omg, Greta and Alucard are together?!!! Whoooooo!!! And the village kids are calling him father? Yasssssssssssss!!!!! I’m here for it. Alucard saying he’s not used to people is 100% me in public I don’t like being around a lot of people and it doesn’t help I have anxiety either. Sypha being pregnant was a given she looked a little thicker in the hips from episode one. She can’t leave…we need her. Really Castlevania creators? Y’all gone play with all our hearts? Thinking Trevor was dead and he gone pop up on a horse?

And look at this⤵️⤵️

He’s smiling, happy, soft, has a boo thang I’m….😭😭😭I’m so happy.

Y’all….all in all this was a great ending to the show…a great ending…

Oh wait…wait…wait wait wait, mom and dad are alive?!!! But how? You know what I don’t care their going to travel to England and their heart shaped embrace is everything. Oh no I’m crying again….

[mudhorn-djarin19]

Princesa Chp.1 (Pero Tovar x f!reader)

Summary: A princess who ran away from home comes across and falls for the grumpy mercenary. What will happen between them and for her future of being a princess? Rating: Explicit Warnings: mutual pining, unprotected piv sex, fingering, language, use of the word whore/meaning sex worker during the time frame - Please let me know if I missed any. AO3 Link | Masterlist | Join taglist via here! More chapters to come will be linked here and taglist! ____ “The tavern we’ve settled up in for the time being isn’t far. You can ensure you’ll be safe with me and my friend. We have traveled all over and are skilled in many aspects. Is there anywhere specific you are trying to go to?” You nod and thank him before climbing up onto his horse with him. You had yet to tell him who you were exactly, just that you were a girl who needed help to keep moving. Little did he know that you were actually a princess of a kingdom not too far away. You had run away when your father told you that soon you were to be sent off to another kingdom and wed their prince. You grew up being a princess and having to do all the princess things but always hated, preferring to do what you mother called “unladylike things” one for example being sword fighting. “Thank you sir. I greatly appreciate the help. No, there is no where specific I am trying to go. Just need to keep moving.” You say. “I will explain more when we are in a safe enclosure.” The trip to the tavern wasn’t long. William leads you in and up to the room he and his partner had booked. Upon entering the room you see a man sitting hunched over in a chair, sharpening a sword. He looks up when he hears the door open, his eyes meeting yours, a scowl across his face.“I thought you said you were going for some food. Not a whore.” He grumbled at William. “She is not a whore. She is traveling and needs help. I allowed her to join us for the time being. Here.” William says tossing the man a bag of what you can assume is food. The man scoured as he took the bag, opening it and biting off a chunk of the bread inside. “This is my friend and partner Pero Tovar.” William states, motioning to the man.  “So who are you girl?” Pero asks, biting off another chunk of bread.You sigh, worried that once you tell them the thrush it’s all over. So you decide to wait. “I’m Y/N. I am trying to travel as far away from this area as possible. I have people looking for me and I do not want to be found.” “Why are these said people looking for you?”  Pero asks. “What did you do?” “Nothing. It’s my family looking for me. I ran away from home and wish to not return. I came across your friend William here and he said I could join you two on your travels. I can use a sword so I can be of help to fight plus traveling alone as a woman can be scary, I’d appreciate the help of two skilled men.”  You smile.Pero scoffs. “Fine. Just don’t get in our way of any jobs we pick up on the way.” “I will allow you to take my bed for the night miss. One of us will sleep on a cot on the ground.” William says looking at Pero stating in a way it’d be him. “Amigo…” He glares. “Like hell I will.” “I would hate to cause you the trouble to do that. Please I will be fine to sleep on the cot. I have done so before. These beds were yours originally before you picked me up, I shall not steal them from you.” You say. William hesitates for a moment before getting a second confirmation from you. He sighs and rids of his armor before crawling into his bed for the night. Not long passed before he passed out, leaving you alone with Pero who continues to sharpen his sword. “You said you can use a sword, si?” He asks, not looking up at you. “Yes I can. I am probably know where near as skilled as you but I know my way around.” You smile. “Who taught you. It is odd for a woman to know how to use a sword.” He says. “A family friend taught me in secret. My mother did not like the fact I wanted to learn but, I did so anyways.” You chuckle. He continues to listen to you talk, while he finished sharpening his blades, asking for yours then next and sharpening it as well. He has a harsh exterior and seemed scary at first but the longer you chat to him the more it seems it’s just his outer shell. A hard front he puts on. Nightfall falls quick and you shuffle some blankets around as you make a cot on the floor between the two beds as Pero sheds his armor and crawls into the other bed in the room. You're not sure how long had passed as you lay there shivering, failing to realize how cold it’d be tonight and how lacking in warmth a cot on the floor would be. “I can hear your bones rattling girl. Come here.” Pero speaks. “Wh-what?” You ask back. “Come here.” He growls.  You do as you’re told, crawling out from your cot and over to Pero’s bed. He lifts the blanket covering his bed up and scoots over to give you some room. You stand beside the bed and eye him in the moonlit room a bit concerned. “I am not going to do anything to you but keep you warm. We both need rest before we travel more tomorrow, now come on.” He says. Making note of his word you crawl into the bed next to him. He tosses the covers back over you both and presses his back against yours, so some of his warm body heat can radiate off onto you. You sigh in content as you feel much warmer and comfier already, silently thanking the new companion for his random kindness. It’s not long before you both are quick to doze off for the night. Morning arrives quicker than you had hoped and you are awaken by Pero grumbling beside you. You feel the bed shake a bit and Pero curse in his mother tongue before sitting up. “Amigo… what?” He glares at William who had kicked him awake. “I see you have taken a quick liking to our new companion here.” He says, eyeing you both. You roll over and sit up, rubbing your eyes to look up at William. “I was cold last night on the cot I had made. He was kind and offered for me to share with him to stay warm.” “Pftt him doing acts of kindness?” He eyes his friend suspiciously, silently asking him questions.The two have a silent stare down for a solid minute before Willam finally turns and starts to place his armor back on his body. Pero grumbles and crawls out of bed, following suit. You didn’t have as much armor as them to put on so you stayed wrapped in the warmth of the bed for a few minutes while they got ready before you finally emerged. Once everyone in your trio was set you made your way down and out of the tavern to their stables where Pero and William had their horses. “You do not have your own stallion do you hermosa?” Pero asks you. You shake your head. “No sir, I do not. I arrived here from where I came from just on my own two feet.” “You will need to ride with one of us then if that is okay with you.” William states. You nod and look at Pero seeing if he will offer for you to ride with him. He notices and nods. You step closer to him and take hold of his hand as he helps hoist you up onto his horse. He climbs on behind you, wrapping an arm around your waist to keep you sturdy. Once all were set you made your way out of the small village heading East. The sun was shining today making it unbearably hot. You’re glad for your lack of armor and lightweight clothes so you didn’t over heat. You wonder how Pero and William managed with such heavy armor and many layers. You tilted your head back against Pero’s chest and looked up at him. His armor warm against your hair. He looks down at you and raises an eyebrow. “How do you two survive in such heavy armor in this weather?” You ask. “We are used to it. We have traveled in many different weathers. We have just grown accustomed to adjusting.” He responds. You smile and nod, lifting you head back up to focus on where you are traveling to. The trip took two weeks before you arrived in the next town. Each night you made camp in a spot hidden as best as possible. You laid in between William and Pero each night for protection, Pero continuing to lay close to you to keep you warm with his body heat. Over the two weeks of travel you had gotten to know the two better, still being cautious on what you share about yourself. However, through this time of learning about the two you had found yourself falling for the grumpy Spaniard. Arriving into town William spots a tavern and leads you all over to it. You tie your horses up and make your way into the new town's tavern. After checking in with the host, William hands you a key, having booked two rooms this time so you have your own bed for the night. You thank him and all head up the stairs to the designated rooms which are across the hall from each other. You enter your room and the boys entering their own, all going to rest before one of them makes a food run. “Amigo, a woman shouldn’t be left alone. Not in a town we don’t know. I think it is best if one of us stays with her as protection if anything should happen.” Pero says to William as he shuts the door behind him. “Tell me… You normally despise anyone we bring into our duo for travels. What is so different about her? Is it because she is a woman? You didn’t treat the last woman who joined us this kindly.” William says. “I do not have to answer your silly questions,” Pero grumbles. “You want to bed her, don't you?” William smirks. Pero scowls at him and rolls his eyes. “She is different. There is something about her I am drawn to. Is that so wrong amigo?” “Not at all my friend. Just shocking to see you take so kindly to someone. Hell you don’t even take that kindly to me.” He chuckles. “I still think a part of you just wants to bed her.” “Si, maybe so partially. But, I will not treat her like those women I have been with previously. I don’t want to just use her. As I said I am drawn to her in some way.” Pero grumbles. “Pero I think the term you are looking for is attraction. Love perhaps? Have you never felt such a thing?” William chuckles. “No amigo. If you do not recall majority of the women we come across go for your pretty face. Not my scarred scowling mug. Plus I have not been with anyone who wasn’t a whore. I did not want them for more than what I was paying them for.” William shrugs his shoulders guiltily. “Perhaps this is a new beginning then. Go, you can be her protection. See if she warms up to you more. She already seems to have taken a liking to you. I will go for food again and bring you both some back” Pero nods and heads out the door across the hall to knock on your door. You answer it standing in nothing but your shift. “Yes sir?” You ask. “I figured it is not smart to leave you, a woman, alone for the night in a town we don’t know. I have come to stay in your room for the night and offer protection if anything may happen.” He states. You chuckle and shake your head. “I think I will be okay but I appreciate it.” You say, and notice a slight frown on his face with your dismissal of him. “However, please do come in. Even though I may not feel I need the protection, I would not mind the company.” You smile. You open the door farther for him to come. He steps in and drops his sword and bags down against the nearby chair. Quickly discarding his armor too, leaving him in just his trousers and tunic. “I just got out of the bath and was about to change.” You say. “My apologies. I did not mean to disturb. I can leave and come back later.” He quickly says. “You’re okay. You can stay.” You say as you start to pull your shift over your head. Pero’s eyes widen as he sees the material slowly rise up over your thighs. He quickly looks away as to be respectful. You toss the material down on the floor and chuckle as you notice him facing away from you. You walk up behind him and wrap your arms around his waist. Pero tenses at your touch. It’s not that he doesn’t want it but that he is taken by surprise. Most women he would be right down to do so but you are different. You are not the same as them. He doesn’t want to mess things up with you. Maybe William was right on the feelings he was feeling. “You don’t have to shy your eyes away from me.” “Hermosa… we just met recently. You are not the same as other woman I have been with...”  He says, not turning around. “Yes sir, I know.” You say. “However,I find you rather handsome and kind. I do not mind if your eyes look upon my bare body. In fact I’d like you too and I want to do the same to you... ” Pero tenses as you start to slide your hands down his torso. He grabs your hands to stop them.  “Don’t get me wrong, I find you absolutely beautiful and would love to bed you.” He sighs. “I have never been drawn to someone quite like I am drawn to you. I fear of ruining it. I don’t want to treat you like the other women I have been with.” You giggle and wrap your arms around him tighter. “I am drawn to you too sir. That is why I wish to share an intimate moment with you. You need not fear of ruining anything.” Pero sighs as he gives in, and finally turns around to face you, eyes flicking up and down your body. He smirks at the sight. “You are even more beautiful than I could have imagined.” You blush at the compliment and slide your hands up his torso, lifting his tunic with it. He pushes it off his body the rest of the way before untying his trousers, tossing them with the tunic on the floor. You take a second to admire his body, the soft muscle and scars littering his body. “You have such beautiful skin. Not a single scar littering your body unlike mine.” He says. You guide him back to your bed, turning him so the back of his legs hit the edge and he is forced to sit. You throw a leg over his hip, the other following as your straddle his lap, which entices a groan out of him. You run your hands down his body admiring all the scars that litter his torso, arms and even the prominent one across his eye.  “I think all of your scars are beautiful. How did you get this one?” You ask, gently touching the one on his face. “Fight with a knight. William and I were hired to help a kingdom for a small bit of time, me and a fellow knight did not get along so we dueled. I got side tracked and he hit me with a dagger. I am lucky my eye is still there.” “What about these?” You ask pointing to three marks in a row on his shoulder. “Fight with an animal.” You hum in response, realizing how many there are and how they all must have stories. He continues to watch you as your trace a finger over several different scars. A knock comes from the door and Pero grumbles, realizing it’s William. “William… with food.” He grunts, grabbing your hips to move you off of him to sit you on the bed next to him. He digs into his bag and grabs a pair of trousers, quickly pulling them on. He trots over to the door then and opens it, seeing William standing there with 2 bags. “Thank you.” Pero says, quickly grabbing the two bags and glaring at William who is smirking at him knowingly. Pero kicks the door shut quickly and walks back over to you, where you are still sitting on the bed. “Hungry?” You nod and go to grab your clothes, throwing on a tunic and skirt. You plop back  down on your bed then, Pero joining you and handing you one of the bags. Digging in you find that William had found some turkey legs and bread for food tonight. Much better than the scraps you had been eating for the past few weeks. You both quickly gobble down the meal before curling up into bed for the night. Pero at first jumping up to move to the chair, still not wanting to push any boundaries with you. “Come lie with me.” You say to him, grabbing his hand before he gets too far. He looks at you and you sigh in response. “Sir please. Also stop being so afraid of me. We have already been naked together and you already know how I feel about you.” He nods and crawls back into the bed next to you, laying on his back. He curses these feelings he has. Normally any other woman he would have conquered by now and moved on but, you… he doesn’t want to do that. It’s different. Once he is situated you crawl over and rest your head against his chest. His arm wraps around your torso, drawing you closer to him. “You said you wanted to bed me earlier, yes?” You ask. “Mhm. I did.” He replies, gently rubbing your arm. “Then why don’t you?” You reply as you press a kiss to his jaw. Pero groans and grabs your jaw, gently tilting your head up to look at him. “Positive hermosa? I don’t want you to regret anything.” You nod and place a kiss to his lips now. “Please.” With your confirmation he rolls you both over so you are on your back and he is hovering over you. He slides his hand down your breasts and torso, gripping the hem of your tunic to pull it up off your body. He pulls your skirt down next then sits back on his haunches to admire your naked body presented before him. “You are divine hermosa.” He says, leaning down to kiss your inner thigh.You whine at the contact, wanting more. He leaves a trail of kisses from your thigh up your torso, stopping at your breasts. He slides a hand up and cups the one, gently squeezing as he presses a kiss to the other. Slowly he takes the nipple into his mouth and flicks his tongue against it, while the hand holding the other gently pinches the other. You gasp at the feeling and slide your fingers into his soft locks. He moves his mouth down to trail kisses over your stomach and slides a hand down to your core. His eyes meet yours, confirming that this is what you really want. You give him a confirmation nod and he slides a finger into you. He hums in response at how wet you are already. He teases the single finger in and out of you a bit before adding a second. His thumb finds its way to your clit. His fingers continue to work your core, bringing you closer to your release. You feel your body jitter a bit as you get close to the edge, he notices this and promptly removes his fingers from you. You whine at the loss. “I want you to come on my cock hermosa.” He states. You nod in response and watch as he undoes his trousers, kicking them to the floor. He hovers over your body and fists his cock a few times before lining it up at your entrance. He eyes you once again for confirmation and once he sees you nod he slowly pushes himself into you. Bottoming out inch by inch. You both stay still for a few seconds catching your breaths and getting used to the sensation of one another. You reach up and stroke his cheek, a finger gently caressing the scar across his eye as you ask him to move. He does as told, slowly pulling out of you leaving only the tip before pushing back in. Normally he is rough in the bedroom but he wants to be soft with you and take his time. He continues to thrust in and out of you, one hand braced beside your head to keep him up, the other trailing down to work at your clit again. His mouth finds yours once again. “You feel so good hermosa. So warm and tight.” He says in between thrusts. “As do you sir. I feel so full.” You smile. It’s not long before you feel your release coming forth. “I am close.” You whine. Pero nods and works at thrusting in and out of you faster, as well as rubbing your clit faster. “Cum for me. I want to feel you cum on my cock like I said.” He smirks. That was all it took for you to let go, your release washes over you. He continues to thrust in and out of you as you come down from your high. He feels his release coming forth too. As much as he would love to breed you, he doesn’t want to risk it yet. It’s too soon so he pulls himself out, fisting himself a few more times and cums on your stomach. He flops down next to you, both breathing heavily. He rolls to face you, swiping a finger through the cum he released onto your stomach and brings it up to your mouth. You happily suck it off his fingers. Once both calmed down from the action he crawls out of bed and grabs the rag from the bath, get it damp and comes back to wipe his release off your stomach. He chucks it back into the tubs and crawls back into the bed with you. Wrapping an arm around your waist and bringing you flush up against his chest. “Were you satisfied hermosa?” He asks. “Yes sir. Very much so. I have only ever had one other partner before and you exceed that. Thank you for taking me to bed. I hope we can bed each other another time.”  You smile and kiss his cheek. “Of course. Stay with us and I will gladly bed you whenever you like.” He smirks. “Though next time I may be more rough on you like I prefer.” You raise an eyebrow and smirk back at him, amused. You curl into his chest and quickly doze off for the night. Happy to have progress whatever this new relationship with this newfound partner is. Pero keeps you wrapped in his arms falling asleep not too long after you. Happy but confused by these new feelings he had found with you. Whatever they are he will work through them and he hopes you stay with him and William for a while if not forever.

Taglist: @sarahjkl82-blog @ickleronniekinsemotionalrange @blackberries45

[heyitsani]

I Keep My Eyes Wide Open Chapter 3

Word Count: 6024

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Major character death (eventually), Mentions of past rape/non-con (eventually)

Pairing: Jason Todd/Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne/Jon Kent (hinted?)

Summary: Damian spends some time away from Gotham and learns a few things for himself and his future.

Notes: Just a heads up, I have decided to NOT post next week at all.  I have a lot left to do in regards to Christmas for my gremlins so I’m going to be focusing on that.  That MIGHT mean I’ll give you two chapters the week after, but it might not.  Who knows?  My oldest’s bday is New Year’s Day so it depends on that really.  You’ll get one that day, but you might get one before that too.

If you have not read When You Move I Move, this one won’t really make much sense.  So you can read that here: WYMIM

You can also read this chapter on AO3 here

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Leaning forward to look out the window of the carriage, Damian took in the large fields of what he assumed were crops, that paved the way up to the main city of Metropolis. He remembered Jon writing about how he and his father would go down and help with the harvest because his father believed that even a king should know how to reap a field.  

Damian also remembered being fascinated with the idea.  When he had inquired about it to his own father, the man had laughed and said that it sounded exactly like something King Clark would say.  He also said that if Damian ever wanted to experience that for himself, he was sure one of their local farmers would be more than happy to teach him.  He saved the idea for a later date because he was sure his mother would have many words to say about ‘lowering himself to peasant standards’ and the eleven-year-old was tired of the lectures.

“What do you think Little Prince?”  Damian glanced over at Ser Jason, who had accompanied him on his journey at his father’s request. “Their kingdom is different from our own, but I think you’ll find they are a people who love their king just as much as Gotham loves your father.”

Nodding his head, he looked back out the window.  “Father said the people are kinder, warmer.”  Ser Jason hummed and Damian didn’t bother looking back to him.  “I am looking forward to a different perspective when it comes to ruling a kingdom.  King Clark is so different from Father and Grandfather.”

“He is,” Ser Jason agreed. “Your father has learned much from his friendship with the King of Metropolis, but the same could be said the other way.  If you are not willing to learn from others, then you have no business ruling over anyone.”

“Why is that?”

He leaned back into his seat as he turned green eyes onto the Dragon Slayer, watching the other man’s relaxed posture across from him.  It had been a long journey, but Damian had noticed the other man relax the further they got away from Gotham despite who they were both leaving behind.

“A king should be strong, and he should be smart,” Ser Jason gave him a look, “but he should also be kind and malleable.  No one man is infallible.  No one man has all the answers.  And the man who thinks he knows all he needs to know is someone who will demand allegiance over earning it.”  And Damian didn’t need to know much about ruling to know that anyone who demanded their citizens follow them rarely was an adored ruler.

“How to you stop from becoming that person?”  He kept his eyes on Ser Jason while the other man considered him carefully.  Damian wondered what was going through his mind, but Ser Jason had always been good at protecting his thoughts from his eyes. Unlike a lot of people.

“I suppose you surround yourself with people who would be willing to tell you when you are making a mistake,” Ser Jason shrugged.  “And you always make sure you’re willing to admit when you’ve actually made one.”

Damian considered the words and nodded.  It made sense.  His grandfather had struggled with admitting when he was wrong.  It had been an issue with his council and even some of the citizens of Gotham.  His father didn’t seem to suffer from that same issue.  If anything, from what he had seen, the man accepted faults that were not his to accept.  But how did you find a balance that two of the greatest men he had ever known couldn’t seem to find?

“Little Prince, we have many years to be sure that you know how to be better than your grandfather and left self-sacrificing than your father.”  Damian wasn’t sure what to say to that, but was granted a pardon when Ser Jason leaned forward and looked out the window.  “Ah, we are here.”  

Allowing his gaze to look out the window, Damian saw as they passed the walls of the city and headed toward the center where the castle was nestled.  When he had studied the layout of the kingdom, Damian had been surprised that they had built the city around the castle.  But then his father had informed him that the castle used to be a religious center point.  But then the kingdom had discovered that the religious leaders had been sacrificing to their “gods” and the citizens had overthrown the establishment.  Once the religious leaders had been dealt with, the citizens voted to make the building the home of the king instead.  It brought new light to the mindset of those living in Metropolis.

Once they pulled up to the castle itself, Damian settled back into his seat and waited.  He could see King Clark’s imposing figure waiting for them, along with the other members of the royal family.  It made him a little nervous to be on their terms now, but at least he had Ser Jason with him.

Once everything had come to a stop, Ser Jason moved closer to the door so he could exit first when the footman came to open the door, allowing him to survey the conditions before Damian followed.  Once Damian’s feet were on the ground, he was immediately enclosed in a familiar pair of arms.

“Jon, my boy,” he could hear King Clark laughing.  “Let His Highness at least get both feet on the ground.”  Jon was suddenly being pulled away and Damian face to face with him and the king who had tugged his son away.  “Hello Ser Todd, Prince Damian.  Welcome to Metropolis.  Again, for you I suppose Ser Todd.”  

“Your Majesty,” Ser Jason gave a bow of respect.  “And Your Highness, good to see your exuberance again.”  Ser Jason chuckled at the fourteen-year-old’s enthusiastic greeting.

“Thank you for having us, Your Majesty,” Damian greeted the older man with a bow of his own before turning a smile onto Jon and allowing it to grow when Jon’s did as well.  “Your Highness, good to see you again.  And Your Majesty,” he nodded to the woman who came up behind Jon.  He could see Duke Kon and his uncle a few feet back, but he gave the royal couple his immediate attention because tradition called for it.

“Please, no need to be so formal here.  I know your father would not stand upon ceremony, so neither should you.”  Damian nodded at the king before looking around the trio to see his uncle.  “Ah yes, I am sure you have been looking forward to seeing your uncle.”

Without having to be told, Damian moved forward to reach his uncle who met him halfway.  “Nephew,” his uncle greeted him, hugging him tightly for a moment before releasing him so Damian could turn and hug his uncle by marriage.  “We’re so glad you’re here.  How was the ride?”

“Long, but comfortable,” Damian responded when he released the Duke and looked over at his uncle. “I have a few things from home for you that Father said you would appreciate.”  He watched his uncle’s gaze turn curious before he looked over at Ser Jason and smiled brightly.  

“Ser Todd,” he greeted formally, but laughed when the slayer picked him up in a tight hug before putting him back on his feet and shaking the hand of his husband.  “My brother was unable to break away, then?”

“Unfortunately not,” Ser Jason responded with a frown.  Damian knew that his mother had something to do with the fact that his father couldn’t join them, but he wasn’t aware as to what it was.  “But he sent me in his place.  Is that not just as good?  Am I not enough for you, Duke Timothy?”  His uncle chuckled and Ser Jason pressed a hand to his chest as though he were offended.

“Damian, I’ll show you where you’re staying,” Jon slipped in-between Damian and Ser Jason, reaching for the younger’s hand.  “You can talk to the grown-ups later.”

“No need to lie about it, Nephew,” the duke laughed.  “We all know you just want your friend to yourself.  It’s quite all right.”  The five adults all laughed as the Jon huffed and tugged Damian away from them toward the entrance of the castle.

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“Do you think you will make a good king?”  

The question was surprising mostly because it was coming from Jon and not King Clark, but also because rarely did people ask about his future role in the kingdom.  He didn’t like to think too much about taking over his father’s throne, not sure he would ever be ready for that.  His father was such a beloved man and his mother made it clear she expected him to be better than his father.  But how did you best that?

“I hope to make my father proud,” was all he could think of to say.  He looked up from the game sitting on the floor between him and Jon, considering the teen across from him.  “My mother has so many expectations, but Father just wants me to be who I am.  He does not tell me to be one way or another.”

He watched Jon hum before looking down at the game and making his move.  “My father is much the same.  He tells me what he would do, but then tells me that I must make decisions on what I think is best.  Sometimes I am not certain what that means.”

Damian could sympathize with that.  

His father was such a good man, a good king.  He was the ultimate standard to live up to and while Damian wanted nothing more than to do just that, he also knew his father didn’t want that of him.  He didn’t want Damian to be just like him.  

“When our fathers are such great men, it is hard to not want to be just like them,” Damian admitted as he watched Jon move his pieces.  “But if we are just like them, then who are we really?”  He glanced up at Jon and found the older boy nodded, looking at a spot somewhere behind Damian.  

“I likely have many years before I am seated on the throne,” Jon told him.  Damian knew Metropolis allowed their king to rule until he felt unfit or he passed, unlike Gotham where an heir took the throne when they reached the age of 25.  Damian would likely be king before Jon, should King Clark’s health hold out and peace remain.  “But I think about whether or not I want the crown frequently.  I know I am my father’s sole heir, but Uncle Kon could easily take the throne if I didn’t want it.”

“And what would your father say if you decided that being king was not what you wanted?”

“I do not know for certain. It is only a passing thought, nothing to question just yet.”  But Damian felt like perhaps it was something that should be questioned.  Why continue with all the lessons and training if ultimately you didn’t want to take the crown?  He had never considered what it would be like to abdicate.  Between his mother’s expectations and the desire to be just like his father, he’s not sure he ever could.

“What would you do?”

“Hmm?”

“If you decided to drop your claim to the throne, what would you do?”  Damian questioned, watching Jon closely.  The fourteen-year-old shrugged and looked at Damian but remained silent. “I was basically born to take the throne.  My parents do not love each other the way your parents do.  My father…he loves someone he can never marry, and my mother came to him knowing, but hoping for more.  Her only purpose was to provide him an heir, me.”  He wasn’t sure where was taking this, but it felt like it had to mean something.  

“Just because the circumstances were less than ideal, does not mean you were only wanted for that purpose,” Jon commented.  Damian supposed he was right, but if he didn’t become king, what was the point of all of it?  “Your father would love you no matter what you decided.  But I know you well enough to know you will be King of Gotham when you turn 25 and your father will be so proud.”

“And you?”

“We shall have to see, won’t we?”

Damian wanted to answer, but there was something in his tone that made him pause and just observe. The look on his face was thoughtful, considering.  It was unnerving and Damian wasn’t sure how to take it.  He had seen a look like that on his father’s face before when looking at Ser Todd, but he wasn’t sure that was really comparable when he thought about it.

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The air was crisp as he walked the fields with Ser Jason on one side and Jon on the other.  The pair spoke over his head about some adventure Ser Jason had been on since the last visit Jon had made to Gotham, but Damian had long stopped listening.  It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested, it was just that the surrounding areas interested him more.

“Do you hear that?” Ser Jason’s question broke through Damian’s musings and pulled the younger man to look at him.  Furrowing his brows, Damian tried to listen for whatever it was the older man had heard but all he could pick up was the rustling sound of the wheat in the breeze.

But then there was a whimpering sound.

“There,” Damian said, turning and hurrying toward the sound.  The other two called out to him, but he knew they were following just by the sound of the wheat stalks moving.  His green eyes scanned the direction the whimper had come from as he rushed toward it, looking for anything that might have been making the noise.  

“Little Prince!”  Ser Jason called out in warning just as Damian spotted the small black creature attempting to pull its leg out of a tangle of rope.  The animal howled at the sight of them and backed away, baring its teeth at the perceived threat.

Damian held his hands up and approached slowly, shaking off Ser Jason’s hand when it landed on his shoulder.

“Damian, please.”  He paused to look back at the older man, frowning at the concern he saw on his features.  It was rare for the older man to use his first name so casually.  “Let me try and get the pup free.”  Looking back to the dog, Damian dropped his hands and stopped moving so the other man could carefully approach the dog.

Jon stood shoulder to shoulder with him and the pair watched the slayer carefully kneel down once he was close enough and held out a hand for the dog to sniff.  The dog nosed at the offered hand before going back to trying to get its leg out.

“Let me help,” Ser Jason muttered, reaching slowly for the rope.  He paused for only a moment when the dog let out a growl before he realized the man was trying to help.  “How did this happen, hmm?  You must have been dragging this rope for quite some way.  It looks like it has caught on some roots here,” he called over his shoulder as he worked to loosen the knot.

The instant the dog’s leg was free, he backed away from the three of them but didn’t run off.  Damian found it curious.

Moving forward, he knelt next to Ser Jason and watched the dog, locking eyes with the animal.  “What kind of dog is he?”  Damian questioned, shifting forward so he could get closer to it.

“Looks like a breed of hunting dog the villagers raise.  I am not certain,” Jon called over to him.  Damian hummed and stopped when he was within arms reach of the dog and just waited.  “What are you doing, Damian?”

“He needs to be looked at. He could have hurt himself.  And he certainly looks as though he needs a good meal,” Damian commented, still watching the dog as it began to inch over to him.  “He could have run, but he didn’t.  He is not afraid of us, but he needs reason to trust us.”  He could hear movement behind him and assumed Ser Jason had stood and moved over to Jon’s side, but didn’t bother looking.  He kept his gaze solely on the dog.  Slowly, cautiously, Damian moved to hold his hand out for the dog to smell just as he had seen Ser Jason do and waited for the cold nose of the pup to connect with his palm.

“That’s a good pup,” he murmured as he allowed his hand to run over the head of the dog.  “I shall call you Titus for now.”

“Saved.”  Ser Jason’s voice sounded amused and Damian spared him a glance, finding a smirk on his face.  “Fitting, Little Prince.”  The words were said in jest, but Damian knew that look in his eyes.  Pride.  With a nod, Damian looked back to the pup and carefully moved to run his hand over the leg.

“Can he walk?  We can take him to the healer in the city.  They should be able to tell us how Titus will fair.” When he was certain the leg was not damaged to the point of internal injury, Damian slowly stood and looked down at Titus.

“Come, Titus,” he commanded, walking toward the city walls where they had come from.  He didn’t glance back to see if the dog would follow and waved for Jon and Ser Jason to join him.  It was a few paces before the sound of paws hitting packed dirt sounded and the dog was slipping between his and Ser Jason’s legs.

“I’m not sure who will want to murder me more when we come home with Titus; your mother or grandfather,” Ser Jason joked as they made their way back to the city.  

“Not the king?”

“Oh no, Your Highness,” Ser Jason said seriously.  “No, King Richard would murder me if I denied his son something he so clearly wants. Especially an innocent something.” Damian pursed his lips to keep from beaming at the idea of his father approving of his actions just now.  He ignored the concern that wanted to bubble up with the thought that his mother was going to have a few choice words about it. He wasn’t going to think about it now. Not when he knew he would have his father in his corner.

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“Honestly, Titus,” Damian sighed as the dog panted at the window of the carriage.  Just three weeks after having found him and the dog had gone from skin and bone to healthy and growing quite quickly.  King Clark had warned them that the breed was one that grew quite large, but Damian had waved it off and welcomed the thought.  

He wasn’t sure how Titus had come to be at that spot the day they found him, but Damian refused to believe it was anything other than fate.

Ser Jason reached over and scratched at the dog’s ears before settling back in his seat.  “He knows home when he sees it.  We are almost there.  Are you happy to be returning?”  Damian considered the question as he stared out the window Titus was still sticking his nose out of, watching the trees rush past them.

“I have missed most aspects of home,” he settled on.  Though he loved Ser Jason as a father and knew he could trust him, he struggled to admit that he was not looking forward to being under his mother’s thumb once again. Queen Lois had been such a breath of fresh air.  To see the way a mother could love her child, it had left Damian wanting something he knew would never be his.  And though his father and Ser Jason loved him as parents should, he couldn’t help but wonder if he was missing out on something without the love of a mother.

“It is okay to be sad to be returning home, Little Prince,” Ser Jason spoke softly and Damian’s gaze dropped to his lap before looking over at the older man.  His eyes were earnest and caring, but understanding as well. “I do not know what goes through the minds of others, but I do know your father understands much of what you’re dealing with.”

“But not completely.”

“No, perhaps not completely since Queen Talia was gone well before your father was your age, but from what I recall, she might have been more rigid than Catalina.”  Damian didn’t know if that was possible, in all honestly, but he nodded anyway.  He knew stories of the late queen and knew she was not who his grandfather had thought she was.  His second wife, Selina, had not been very motherly but she was kind and she was loving. His father said he had found a friend and confidante in the former queen and it had been exactly what he had needed.  

“We’re here,” Damian chose to say instead of acknowledging the conversation any more, looking out the window and seeing the approaching city walls.  They were finally home and he found himself getting nervous as to what would happen upon the revelation of Titus.  “You won’t let them take him?”

His green eyes looked into Ser Jason’s turquoise ones and the other man nodded.  “They will have to take me down before I allow you to be parted from Titus.  You have my word on that, My Prince.”  Damian saw the truth in his eyes and nodded.  “Besides, I already wrote to your father weeks ago and told him about the pup.  His reply came a few days before we left and spoke of his excitement to meet the newest Wayne.”  Damian felt a smile spread on his face as he jumped forward and gave Ser Jason a hug in thanks.

“The Prince has returned!”  Damian pulled away at the shouts from the crowd and leaned closer to the windows to see citizens starting to line the streets at their passing.  He could hear various shouts of his name and greetings and it made a warm feeling settle in his chest.  

“You should lean out and wave,” Ser Jason instructed.  Nodding, Damian did just that and was rewarded with more cheers and calls of his name.  “The people already love you.  You do not realize how much of your father you have in you.  His influence is an overwhelming presence.”  

That was the kind of praise that could be considered dangerous when spoken around the wrong people, but with just him and Ser Jason in the carriage, Damian let the pride swell in his chest.  To be compared to his father and come out favorably, what more could he ask for?  His father was the best man he knew, the best man any of them knew, and he could only be so lucky to be loved like he was.

Settling back into the carriage as they breached the gates of the castle, Damian smiled at Ser Jason before smoothing his cloaks.  “Thank you, Ser Jason,” he said carefully.  “Thank you for accompanying me on this trip.  I know that I wouldn’t have been allowed otherwise, so thank you.”  The older man just gazed at him with a warm expression and gave a small nod.  It said more than words could.

When the carriage came to a stop, there was no waiting for formalities and Ser Jason opened the door so he could step out.  Damian followed and turned to make sure Titus was able to get out without struggle.

“Dami!  Jason!”  His father called as he rushed forward and embraced both of them, Damian first for appearances sakes, and then Ser Jason.  “We have missed you both.  And this must be Titus!  Your letter did not exaggerate his size,” the man laughed, kneeling to get level with the dog who now sat next to Damian’s feet panting.  “He’s a fine-looking animal, Damian.  And obedient already?”

“Yes, Father,” he agreed. “King Clark showed me how to train him. We still have some things to learn, but he knows the basics and will behave himself.”  Damian snuck a glance toward where his mother stood at the top of the stairs with a scowl.

His father laughed when Titus leaned forward and licked at his face before standing and wiping away the dog drool.  “Yes, well behaved indeed,” he teased, causing Damian and Ser Jason to laugh with him. “I asked the staff to have the necessary items placed in your rooms, but you let them know if there is something they missed.  I do believe you are more than old enough for this responsibility.”

“Thank you, Father,” Damian smiled, pushing forward to hug the king around his middle before heading toward where his mother was still waiting.  “Come, Titus.”  He called the dog as he walked, prompting the animal to trot next to him as he walked up the steps and came to stand in front of his mother.  “Hello, Mother,” he greeted.  He noticed her eyes narrowed on Titus before glancing at Damian.

“What is this?”

“His name is Titus. We found him hurt and King Clark gave him to me to care for.”  The scowl on her face deepened and Damian felt his heart sink.  He had been hoping for a better reaction, even if he had known it wouldn’t actually happen.  He had still hoped.

“You do not need the distraction.  Give him to a staff member to find him a new home.”

“But- “

“You misstep, My Queen,” his father’s smooth voice sounded from behind Damian.  Turning to look at the man who had his hard gaze on his mother, Damian held back his relief at his appearance.  A glance at Ser Jason, who stood a few feet back, told him he had nothing to worry about.  “I have already told him he may keep Titus.  The arrangements have already been made.  He is apparently a well behaved animal and it is a good responsibility to learn.”

The silence from his mother said a lot and Damian wondered if this was going to be a problem down the road.

“Why don’t you take Titus out to the fields, Son?  I’m sure he would be happy to run around before dinner tonight.”  Nodding his head, he clicked his tongue and hurried away from the three adults as quickly as he could to avoid being more of a problem. He also didn’t want to hear yet another argument between his parents regarding him specifically.

Those happened frequently enough as it was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Glancing over to his left, Damian attempted to catch Ser Jason’s line of sight for a moment without much success.  He wasn’t sure what it was he thought he would figure out from the man, but anything would be better than the glaringly empty seats where his father and mother usually sat.

But none of the others at the table seemed to be interested in addressing the matter, given the conversation floating around from the other occupants of the table.

His grandfather had been in deep conversation with Ser Jason and his Aunt Cassandra since the moment their plates had been delivered.  He could hear words like weapons, forgers, and arsenal every once in a while, so he knew it was probably about the latest weapons that the soldiers had been training with.  He could hear his grandmother talking softly with his Aunt’s good friend, Stephanie, who had been his nurse when he had been a baby but was now basically a member of the family.  He couldn’t make out anything from their conversation, but it didn’t matter.

All he wanted to know was where his parents were and why they had started without the king.

He was about to ask whoever was willing to listen when a loud bang sounded from outside the room and had the entire table startling.  To the point that Ser Jason was on his feet, palming a dagger at his thigh and Titus had come to stand next to Damian’s chair, lips pulled back in a snarl.

Slipping his hand into the dog’s collar to keep him from running toward whatever had startled them all, Damian watched Ser Jason stalk toward the door and press an ear to the wood. Whatever he heard had his shoulders draining of tension and him putting the dagger away.

“Ser Todd,” his grandfather called out, pushing to his feet, but the Slayer waved a hand.  Quickly, he tugged both doors open and revealed the two missing family members.  The pair stood toe to toe and Damian wanted to shrink away from the look in his mother’s eyes.

He knew that look. This was about him.

But while his mother continued to look like she could spit fire, Damian watched his father slip back into the easy calm he always wore when people were around.  Even if it was just family, he would never allow them to glimpse into his personal difficulties.

“Your Majesties,” Ser Jason greeted, tone flat.  Damian saw his mother turn the gaze onto the other man and open her mouth, but she was unsurprisingly cut off by his father.

“Enough, Catalina!” It was the most forceful Damian had ever heard his father be.  It wasn’t like he was a stranger to his parents fighting and he knew it had been happening more and more since he had returned from his visit with Jon in Metropolis, but his father had always seemed so collected when he did see it. “If you have more to say then we will discuss it later.  You have already made your point quite clear and I have given you my answer.”

His mother jerked back as if she had been slapped and Damian wondered if that’s essentially what his father had just done with is words.  Just like he had, his mother had probably expected him to keep the venom out of his voice as he always did.  But he hadn’t.  The King’s voice had been dripping in it.

“This is not over.  I will not have my will ignored,” she growled out before turning on her heel and rushing away.  And though Damian wanted to know what exactly had been going on, he was more focused on his father rubbing at his forehead as Ser Jason whispered something to him.  There was a moment of tense silence between them before his father sighed and nodded.

The pair exchanged a few more hushed words before they entered the dining hall and took their seats. Damian kept his eyes on his father and tried to see if he could get any answers, but he had a feeling it would be the same as always.

And the smile he finally got from his father once he was fully settled and had his plate set before him told him he wasn’t wrong.  But his instincts told him he would personally pay for whatever it was that had happened between his parents.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In hindsight, Damian knew he should have expected backlash from his mother on the subject, but he hadn’t really thought about it.  If he were completely honest, it hadn’t even crossed his mind when he had started the exchange of letters with Prince Jon of Kent.  After he had stayed in Gotham when his brother and Damian’s uncle had come on formal business, the pair had just formed an easy friendship.  And the time he had spent in Metropolis with the royal family under the guise of visiting his uncle had only served to strengthen the friendship.

Damian had been jealous at the easy view of the world the older prince had and had wanted to absorb that ideal.  The same ideal that his father tried to instill in him, but his mother fought hard to extinguish.

“What are these?”  A stack of papers fell in front of him as he worked on his lessons for the day and with barely a glance, Damian picked out Jon’s familiar script.  “Explain yourself.”

Looking up at his mother with a frown, Damian watched her closely.  “They are an exchange of letter with the Heir Apparent of Metropolis.” His father had been thrilled when he had learned that Damian and Jon had formed such a strong friendship.  He had encouraged it and even gone as far as to offer to write to King Clark and the two boys might spend a few weeks each summer living in the other’s kingdom.

“They stop now.”  And though he would regret it, Damian reacted.

“But Mother, he is my friend!”  He shot to his feet and looked at her desperately.  “Why should I not write to him?  He will be King of Metropolis one day and this fosters good political bonds.” He knew it was a good argument but the look on her face told him she didn’t appreciate it.

“You are friends with people who can help you further our kingdom.  We are already in good relations with the Kingdom of Metropolis and that makes this friendship frivolous and juvenile.”  His mother glared at him and though Damian wanted to stand his ground, he shrunk a little under the weight of her stare.  “You are friends with who I say you can be friends with.”

“May I write to him one last time to explain?”

“No,” her voice was cold, and Damian hated it.  “And if you know what is good for you, you will not let your Father hear of this. Honestly, Damian,” she sighed, grabbing the stack of letters and heading toward the lit fireplace.  His heart dropped to his stomach and it took everything within him to keep from rushing forward to grab the letters.  “I am doing this for you.  To make you better.  To make you stronger.  To make you more than your father will ever be.”  

He watched sadly as she tossed the letters into the fire with a flick of her wrist and brush her hands down her skirts.  The papers fed the fire immediately, burning bright for a matter of seconds before simmering back down to its original state.  As if they had never been there to begin with.  As if they had been nothing but a dream he had once had.

Dropping back down into his chair, he turned his eyes back to the texts in front of him and sighed.

“You will be the most brilliant king this kingdom has every had the pleasure of witnessing.  And in order to do that, you must be strong. You must rule with your head and not just your heart,” his mother spoke, her tone much more even now that she had accomplished her task.  A tone he heard on a daily basis and knew much more than any other.  “Your grandfather ruled only with his head.  Your father only with his heart.  You will be better.”

But Damian wasn’t sure he wanted to be better than either of them.  He wanted to be loved like his father was.  He wanted to walk the streets of Bristol and have citizens call out to him just to say hello and see how he is.  He wanted to welcome other kingdoms into his own and break bread with them by fireside with a mug of mulled wine.  

More than that though, he wanted love.  Not the love he got from his father or the distinctive love he got from his mother. No, he wanted the love he saw between his father and Ser Jason.  Or his uncle and Duke Kon.  Love that was built upon years of friendship.  And maybe Jon had not been that love, but he had at least been a friend.

“Do you understand, my son?”

“Yes, Mother,” he agreed softly.  Glancing back to the fire one last time, he picked up his quill and went back to his studies as his mother took her place in the chair by the window.

[iturbide]

i can go on and on about how unbelievably dumb and convoluted rudolf's plan was and how his callous lack of foresight got his nephew needlessly killed (and also very nearly his own son, which would’ve defeated the whole purpose of all this) but we'd be here all day and you haven’t played SoV yet. Anywho, for the character meme maybe Morgan (either of them or both of them — your pick) or Ferdie?

Please do go on about how dumb and convoluted the plan was.  No, I have not played Shadows of Valentia, but I want to hear about this.  Tell me.  I would absolutely love to hear the details of this idiocy.  I have time if you are willing.

But also Morgans my children

How do I feel about this character?

I love Morgan.  I love both Morgans.  I love these aspiring tacticians who want nothing more than to match their genius parent, I love how they’re over-excitable as pranksters and sometimes spoil their own traps without meaning to, and I love the way they help spur their allies.  They’re just such wonderfully good kids and I want the best for them.

Who do I ship this character with romantically?

Once again I have to call in the “no one” card.  I tend to see the Morgans as the absolute youngest in the group, down there with Nah and Cynthia, and along with the whole wanting them to have a chance to live for themselves in a peaceful world, they’re just too young to think about romance for.  Let them live a good bit more first, then maybe I’ll think about it, but for now they just deserve to be happy and perfect their tactics and pranks.

Who is my brOTP for this character?

OWAIN.  He continues to be my go-to second-gen answer because he’s still so great and also the fact that they’re both in the Justice Cabal and can really go at it in equal measure with the over-the-top theatrics just makes it.  Cynthia’s part of the group, too, because the Justice Cabal can’t be complete without the Pega-Pony Princess, and I love the idea of them as a daring trio making adventures for themselves.  But also Morgan and Lucina as siblings is one of my favorite things -- a very literal brOTP -- and their relationship and how they bond through their supports is really heartfelt to me (especially given how Morgan flat-out refuses to wield Falchion because it means Lucina can’t and that’s not allowed to happen).

What’s my Unpopular Opinion™ about this character?

This is probably going to be very unpopular but F!Morgan’s supports are Bad.  She ends up being near Severa levels of manipulative, not to mention her sadistic streak with poor Yarne, and I just really don’t think that’s fair to her in any way.  M!Morgan’s supports are all delightful, and there is absolutely no reason why they had to make F!Morgan a borderline psychopath when her male counterpart is a perfect ray of sunshine (though they also had no reason to do That with F!Robin’s supports with Chrom compared to M!Robin’s, so I guess I have to chalk it up to IntSys being IntSys).  Basically I throw her canon supports out the window and draw off of M!Morgan’s supports for both of them where possible because it’s a significantly better pool to work from (and where it’s not possible I just axe the more disturbing tendencies that don’t line up with everything else about the characters).

What’s one thing I wish would have happened with this character in canon?

I really wish canon hadn’t rehashed Robin’s situation with Morgan.  Robin made perfect sense as an amnesiac since they’re our point of view character, and we’re experiencing all the twists and turns with equal inability to predict where things are going; Morgan has no good in-game reason to have no memory, so I really wish they hadn’t done it.  Let Morgan remember both their parents: it’s not like it would be hard to change their supports since they just rehashed all father supports for all the other kids.  Even if Morgan IS from another timeline, or even Future Past, I think it would have been far more interesting if they’d actually had a story of their own to contrast with Robin -- especially if it could have helped bring back some of Robin’s own memories.

EDIT because I missed it the first time through I am so sorry Ferdie

How do I feel about this character?

Perfect ray of sunshine.  Absolute joy of a human being.  A man who lights up any room he walks into with his sunny disposition.  People who do not love Ferdinand von Aegir probably missed something or else didn’t bother talking to him outside of monastery dialogues.

Basically Ferdinand is one of the best things about Three Houses and I will stand by that.

Who do I ship this character with romantically?

HAHA TRICK QUESTION I have I think two romantic ships across all of Three Houses and Ferdinand von Aegir does not feature in either of them.  With that said I really enjoy his supports with Mercedes and how he goes all Knight in Shining Armor and breaks into a Kingdom noble’s domain specifically to dig up evidence of her step-father’s terrible behavior?  Legendary.  He and Hilda make a nice pair, too, and the fond indulgence in their conversations is really pleasant.

Who is my brOTP for this character?

Dorothea all the way.  I love their Support chain and how Dorothea finally stops pushing him away off of a mistaken assessment of his character, and I think it makes the foundation for an incredibly powerful friendship; also Ferdie as her biggest supporter as an opera diva is just phenomenal.  I also really enjoy his relationship with Hubert since they’re so firmly rooted in opposite camps but still clearly trying to do what’s best for the Empire; their grudging respect for one another that grows into a bizarre unorthodox friendship (up to and including Hubert looking out for Ferdinand, which confuses both of them) is an endless delight.

What’s my Unpopular Opinion™ about this character?

...are there unpopular opinions to be had about Ferdinand von Aegir, Literal Ray of Sunshine?  ...except maybe that he is a pain to try and recruit he was the last one I managed in my original Golden Deer run and I did it literally in the last available week I know you’re a noble Ferdinand but cut me some slack Ferdie your B support doesn’t unlock until post-timeskip and heavy armor’s a stupid requirement.

...and even then I think most people would agree with me if they’re starting from scratch rather than New Game +.

What’s one thing I wish would have happened with this character in canon?

I really wish that CF had given him a better role.  Although that’s kind of what I wish for most of the characters in CF, Ferdinand in particular suffers for the fact that he does see issues in Edelgard’s approach, which is clear just from his supports with her (she hadn’t considered public schooling at all before he brought it up); the fact that his opposition and pushback to her methods are shunted off into Supports and End Cards does him a disservice, especially given how dedicated he is to the idea that nobles are duty-bound to care for and protect their people -- something that is not happening with Edelgard’s war in full swing.  I would have loved to see him argue her decision to attack the Alliance, or leave Caspar’s father in charge, or any number of other things, rather than passively going along with everything despite how war harms the most vulnerable -- aka the commonfolk -- before anyone else.

Give Me a Character

[chaoticevilbean]

So, there’s this whole Youtuber Atla Au, and I have Stuff stuck in my Head. This is Sokka-centric bc thassa me.

Here Goes:

- Sokka has a mixed channel. He does educational videos, how-to videos, political videos, stories about him and his weird friends, dancing and singing videos, makeup videos, parkour videos, etc. He’s a very well known account.

- He uses fake names/obscure nicknames/code names for anyone he mentions. Anyone featured in his videos either wears a mask/facepaint or allows him to say their real name. He uses only they/them pronouns unless the person is with him and has given him other pronouns to call them by.

- He has never mentioned his name, refuses to be called Boomerang despite someone suggesting it because “that’s a disrespect to boomerangs, please don’t”, and he responds to commenters asking for his name with “;)”, “:)”, and “...”

- People only know he’s a male because he put that in his first video

- Sokka always wears facepaint in his videos, and absolutely no one recognizes him. He is unidentifiable. His continuous need to wear contact lenses and wigs of varying styles and colors also messes with people. No one can figure out what Nation he’s from (there are all four in this AU).

- Sokka has seven different facepaint styles he’ll wear.

- - Earth Kingdom is just Kyoshi Warrior facepaint. Someone attempted to drag him for disrespecting a elite warrior and all-female team. The Official Kyoshi Warrior account responded with this and only this: “Back off, he’s ours.”

- - Southern Water Tribe is based off their traditional warrior paint and La. Northern Water Tribe is based off of Tui and wolves.

- - Air Nomads is brown and blue arrows and flying lemur markings around his eyes.

- - Fire Nation is based off of Agni and the Painted Lady. It’s simple with red and yellow markings, and the accents will either be black (if he’s talking about something funny), blue (if he’s talking about something weird), or white (if he’s talking about something cool). People had to figure out those meanings themselves.

- - The Spirit World is based off of Hei Bai and Wan Shi Tong, a black, white, and grey style.

- - The blended one is cut into six sections. Fire and Air are the top two, taking up his forehead and creeping into his hairline. Water and Earth are on the bottom, bleeding down his neck. The Spirit World and nonbending sections are on his eyes. For those, he does fox markings on both sides, and the Spirit side is colorful like many of the minor Spirits are (bugs and birds and others). The nonbending side has normal fox colors, and the edges of all sections are blended together.

- - Each mask has a different meaning, which wasn’t figured out until later. If something is about a story, then it will be Fire Nation or Water Tribe. If the story includes strangers, then it will be Fire Nation, but if it’s mostly his pre-established friends, then he’ll have Water Tribe. Any sort of performance is Earth Kingdom, unless he’s doing it with someone else, which is when he wears his blended one. If the video is instructing in any way, it’s Air Nomad. If it’s a political video, he will always have his Spirit facepaint on.

- Most people assume he’s Air Nation because he seems nomadic. He’s constantly talking about new friends, his backgrounds change every video and he speaks all the languages one could possibly learn.

- As a Note, there are all four Nations. They all have different languages. There are formal and informal of each language (or common and high-speak). There is also the General Common, which is the language basically everyone knows so they can communicate with other nationalities. Air Nomads have many different slangs depending on where the nomads are from, but only one central language. They don’t have formal or informal.

- Sokka’s most viral video is called Secret Tunnel. He met some nomads and they taught him to use their instruments at an amateur level. He then asked if they wanted to record a video with him. They said yes, so he recorded them singing and dancing to the song, and he joined in on guitar (or whatever the stringed instrument is called in that episode). The video ‘solidified’ that Sokka was from the Air Nomads.

- Things people know about the channel and the Friends (called ‘Boomeraang’, though no one seems able to figure out why - most pass it off as a typo, but true fans know Sokka pays too much attention to his work and his boomerang)

- - Lady is either related to Sokka or as close as a sibling. They’re a master waterbender and extreme activist. They’re constantly starting rebellions and protests and getting into trouble through that. They have once impersonated a Spirit in order to get rid of a corrupt company that was polluting a river and then got the nearby fishing town to work together to clean said river. Lady got their education in waterbending after beating “an old coot in battle, didn’t have much to learn but Lady needed ‘finesse’ or something.”

- - Kuzon is Lady’s SO. They were friends first, SO’s second, and Sokka had to endure the pining. Kuzon acts older than they look, and uses extremely outdated slang. A video with Kuzon in the background as Sokka told a story confirmed the fact when Sokka asked “What did you say to Bluey?” “Flameo, Hotman!” It is assumed that Kuzon is a bender, but no one knows which type. Kuzon once threw a raging party because his school was really strict. The entire student body was invited and the cops were called, but no one got in trouble because they weren’t breaking any laws.

- - Bluey is either a nonbender or a firebender. Sokka’s stories are unclear on that, but one thing is clear: Bluey is a vigilante. And works in a tea shop. And holds some sort of position of power somewhere. It varies from “Bluey stopped a drug ring this month” to “Bluey’s uncle told them they can’t work the night shift because they haven’t slept” to “Bluey just passed a rule saying no drinks during meetings. They’re just mad that I kept slurping my cactus juice.”

- - Bandit is an actual criminal, but also holds some position of power. They are blind, maybe, and an earthbender. Apparently the greatest earthbender in the world, but that could also be Rocky. Bandit scams scammers, usually ones on the street that can’t call the police because they’re also criminals. They’ve made a lot of money that way, and Bandit uses the funds for a combination of food and taking Sokka shopping since he helps them. Bandit also fought in an underground earthbending tournament and won the title every time. Sokka says that the reason behind Bandit even going there was that their family was awful and somehow thought they were fragile, so they learned how to ditch their escort and vent their frustration via illegal fighting ring.

- - Rocky is a king. And insane. And friends with Kuzon and some old people. Nothing else is known, besides they’re a bender.

- - Bison. Is maybe an actual bison. Is Kuzon’s best friend and they’re constantly kissing everyone and messing around with Lemur. Lemur is flighty and loyal and like lychee nuts. Not much else is told, but they’re in many stories and the wording is weird enough that no one can tell if they’re animals or humans.

- - Wheaty was a real jerk when they all first met, and the group all left on bad terms. However, when they met back up, Wheaty was much nicer and was trying to be better than they originally were. They had to go to therapy to help with anger issues and were recovering well when the group reunited. Gurl (Sokka makes sure to spell it out for the viewers) is one of Wheaty’s best friends, having been there for the other through everything. Yuyan was in a similar boat, and was usually the ‘voice’ (Sokka would laugh at that, before continuing as if he hadn’t) of reason. The trio were all very nice and helpful, and had some other friends that Sokka met and hit it off with. Mini-Me was someone who was smol and idolized Sokka. Big Man always traveled with Mini-Me, but never once stopped them from following Sokka around.

- - Warrior is a nonbender and is the one who taught Sokka to fight with fans. They also educated him on toxic masculinity, getting rid of the sexism ingrained in him (*note, in this AU, Sokka wasn’t as sexist, due to being exposed to a few more people and the internet, and therefore finding more female idols. Suki helped him stopped what was left, because he still struggled and wanted to be better). Warrior is about 30% of Sokka’s impulse control, which is still a large chunk considering how many impulses he has. They have been in a few videos wearing an entire robe and mask get-up, and spoke once (1) when they told Sokka that Knife and Ballerina were head over. It was the middle of a video about how to fight with fans.

- - Princess, Knife, and Ballerina were a trio that could rule the world. Princess probably would’ve turned out awful if they hadn’t left home with their uncle. Knife hated any sort of protocol, but never seemed to show emotion. Both they and Yuyan were people that had to be observed to understand their emotions at any one point. Ballerina was happy, a gymnast, a yoga instructor, and a nonbender. It is assumed that Knife is a nonbender who uses only knives and Princess is a master firebender, but there is speculation.

- - Roller and Pusher were best friends. Roller was in a wheelchair and Pusher always pushed them. Roller was incredibly intelligent and often helped Sokka with inventions, while Pusher was a skilled earthbender who used more finesse than most.

- - The Moon is mentioned once and never again, and everyone wonders why he mentioned them in the first place (when discussing what he’d done while Lady battle for her education “I hung out with The Moon”).

- - Most likely to appear in a video are Roller, Pusher, Bandit, and Gurl, all in masks. Bandit’s they can’t possibly see through, but they walk like everything’s normal.

- - Most likely to be off-screen in a video are Kuzon, Bluey, and Lady.

- - Most likely to be mentioned in a video are Kuzon, Bandit, Bluey, Lady, and Warrior.

- Things that are known about Sokka:

- - He learned Earth Kingdom formal from Bandit and informal from a combination of Friends and observation. He learned Fire Nation formal from Bluey’s uncle and Bluey occasionally slipping into it and informal from Kuzon and some colonists he met. He learned the dialects of the Southern and Northern Water Tribes from The Moon, Lady, and Lady’s family. He learned Air Nomad from a variety of monks and people like Chong and Lily.

- - His parkour skills come from a combination of his Friends’ illegal activities, chaotic antics, and just a dash of bad luck.

- - He learned fighting from practically everyone he’d met, and observing them or having them teach him. He hadn’t actually wanted to learn to fight with fans or knives, but Warrior and Knife had taken one look at him and told him he had to or else. In fact, the only weapons he wanted to learn to use were a sword, a club, and his boomerang. He learned the first from Rainbow Father, the second from Bi Father, and the third was self-taught. Everything else, he posted videos as he learned new skills, and also told the varying stories of how he was coerced into being taught. For example, Ballerina insisted on teaching him chi blocking, a very obscure form of fighting, and would randomly use it on him until he agreed. They always undid what they blocked immediately after, but it was still annoying to randomly lose use of both arms.

- - Sokka’s Boomerang is deadly in his hands. He does not know this. During a livestream, Gurl snuck in after causing a distraction outside of the room he was in and read it off someone’s comment. They informed the viewers to never bring it up because Sokka didn’t know and if he underestimated his Boomerang, than everyone he used it against would, too. And that led to hilarious situations.

- - Sokka is a genius and inventor who has several patents. However, no one can find him through them, mostly because he didn’t want any attention when he put the items out into the open. He invented submarines and airships (people had no use for them before, but found they were incredibly useful when Sokka got everything patented and got a sponsor). He also invented cactus juice, which is as mentally impairing as alcohol with none of the lasting physical effects. Bandit loved that one.

- - Sokka has seemingly been everywhere. He’s mentioned meeting the Spirits Hei Bai, Wan Shi Tong, and the Moon and Ocean Spirits in passing. (*while wearing the Spirit facepaint* “I mean, I get that the Spirit World seems great and all, but I’ve been there. Not that exciting. Met Hei Bai and had to be rescued. Don’t see the appeal. And there isn’t a single bathroom there.”)

- - Can dance pretty average, but knows a lot of different styles because of various Friends. Can also sing and whistle well, and usually hums Secret Tunnel while doing parkour. Most of his music videos include other people, minus a few where he was asked to demonstrate his instrumental skills. He, again, is average and only knows the different instruments because people decided he should learn.

- - He is amazing at makeup. Every person he brings in to do (mostly people who aren’t seen again on the videos) leaves with stunning work done.

- - He can draw and paint, but he didn’t start off good. He started doing instructional videos based off articles and lessons he found. His viewers learned with him, and he’s improved greatly. He’s also prone to adding random rainbows to his landscapes, even in the black and white ones (it starts a trend of usually colorful things done in black and white, or in a way that’s more appealing to colorblind people).

- - Sokka wants to get rid of patriarchal societies and old men with problems. He fully supports his Friends’ protests and rebellions, and is likely to have cohesive arguments backed up with verifiable evidence and trustworthy sources.

- - He loves terrible jokes, and knows they’re terrible, but that’s the point.

- - He’s theorized to be in a position of power because once King Kuei and his bear Bosco walked on-screen from behind (Sokka was at a park and had his Earth Kingdom facepaint, so he definitely wasn’t expecting anyone to come), spotted Sokka and looked absolutely delighted, came straight over and hugged the boy from behind while he was explaining a move with a club. King Kuei said nothing, just hugged him until it was returned, let go, and waved goodbye. Bosco did a similar thing before following his owner. Sokka just continued the video as if nothing had happened, so it seems that he’s used to being around heckin’ royalty.

- Boomeraang gets a lot of hype and Sokka does sell merch and earn money, but only sells what is specifically requested. Someone requests he make t-shirts with his channels logo on it, he starts selling them, and doesn’t stop until there aren’t any more demands. Spoiler, there’s always demands. He tries to tell them he doesn’t want to take their money, but he almost had a riot when he suggested not selling anything anymore because he felt bad.

- The Gaang knows about the channel and talk about it a lot. Sokka had planned to keep it small, anonymous, and just have fun with his catch-all videos. He’s 2/3 at this point.

- Katara has her own activist channel, and considered making a second as the Painted Lady and use Sokka’s rep to eventually boost her, but decided against it. Her channel is called ‘Freedom Water’, based on the fact that water is the element of change. She has a moderate following.

- Toph has her own channel as well, which consists of Sokka holding the camera for her and videotaping her as she performs complex earthbending. She calls her channel ‘roc’. Her following is mostly other earthbenders who aren’t too proud to learn from a preteen, and other kids who think she’s cool. She also has a channel called ‘Bandit’, which is just her in the mask she wears for Boomeraang, telling all about different ways she’s scammed scammers, occasionally also showing videos of those instances. Sokka is her cameraman there as well, and will sometimes go on-screen with his facepaint. That channel has a large following because of Boomeraang. Toph is actually good at not slipping into the wrong nicknames or giving away genders.

- Aang has a channel called ‘The Temple’, which is almost solely different animals he spots. Some people try to say that he isn’t at the Air Temples, but he just laughs and ignores them. It drives people insane and it’s just accepted that the name of the channel is misleading. He has a small to moderate following, mostly animal enthusiasts, and the others are nature enthusiasts.

- Zuko has a channel followed by only theater kids and wannabe theater kids. He literally put ‘Title’ as the name, and uses his videos to rant about different plays and a lot about how the Ember Island Players botch the best of shows.

- Jet has an official channel for his Freedom Fighters, which is now solely used for spreading awareness and raising funds for those who need help (orphans, abused people, and people affected by disasters). The group lost a lot of followers when they changed their tune from angry and vengeful to calm and actually trying to help instead of harm. However, Katara and Zuko both gave shout-outs to the channel, and Toph ‘mentioned’ them as well (*read: threatened her followers if they didn’t check it out*). Their following has grown and now has a very good rep.

- Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee share a channel called ‘Royal Three’ where they show off their skills. They have a large following.

- Teo and Haru help manage everyone’s accounts and Teo is the official Kyoshi Warrior technician by the time everyone is done. Both are paid by their Friends for the work and recommend the duo to literally everyone possible.

- The Kyoshi Warriors are extremely well-known. There was an uproar when Ty Lee was announced as an official Kyoshi Warrior. They post basic fighting tutorials.

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

The Princess Bride: The Story

The story of The Princess Bride doesn’t even open with the actual story at all.  In fact, it opens on something out of the realm of fantasy entirely: in a little boy’s bedroom, circa 1987.

This is The Grandson (Fred Savage), and he is home from school, sick.

The Grandson is interrupted from his video games by his mother, who tells him that his grandfather is here to visit him.  The Grandson is less than pleased.  His grandfather will pinch his cheek again.  He hates that.

True to form, The Grandfather (Peter Falk) enters the room and does just that, but he’s not here for any ordinary visit.  He is here to keep The Grandson company while he is sick.  It turns out that he has brought the Grandson a book to read to him: The Princess Bride.

The Grandson isn’t exactly blown away by the title, but the Grandfather assures him that this is a story full of adventure and excitement.  The Grandson reluctantly settles back to listen to the story, admitting that it doesn’t sound too bad, and that he’ll try to stay awake for it.

The Grandfather begins to read: (Spoilers below!)

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl named Buttercup (Robin Wright), who lived on a farm in Florin.  Working on the farm for her was a young man named Westley (Cary Elwes), who Buttercup calls ‘Farm Boy’.  Buttercup loves ordering Westley around, but oddly enough, every time she gives him an order, he responds with a smile and a quiet: ‘as you wish’.

The Grandfather reads that as it turns out, ‘as you wish’ is Westley’s code for ‘I love you’.  

Eventually, Buttercup figures that out, and realizes herself that she loves him too.  However, they don’t have much time for pursuing their relationship, as Westley decides to take to the high seas to see his fortune.  Shortly after leaving, we are told that his ship was captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who is famed for never leaving captives alive.

Once the news arrives, Buttercup locks herself in her house, and declares that she will never love again.

Five years pass, and the ruler of Florin, Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon), announces to his kingdom the identity of his new bride: Princess Buttercup.  

The Grandfather explains that Buttercup may have agreed to marry Prince Humperdinck, but she doesn’t love him.  The only joy she takes anymore is riding her horse, as it provides an escape from his company.  As she leaves the castle grounds on horseback, she meets three interesting figures: Vizzini, a short Cicilian, (Wallace Shawn) Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), a Spanish swordsman, and Fezzik (Andre the Giant), a giant.  They claim to be lost circus performers, lulling Buttercup into a false sense of security, an instant before they abduct her.

Vizzini, Fezzik and Inigo load up their boat and prepare to push off with Buttercup on board, while Vizzini explains his plan to frame Guilder, Florin’s sworn enemy, for the death of the princess, who they plan to kill once on Guilder’s shores.  Vizzini also reminds Inigo and Fezzik that he hired them to help him start a war.  The trio head out to sea, preparing for step two of their plan and noticing that they are being followed by a strange ship in the distance.

The next morning, they discover that their pursuer has gained on them, now considerably closer.  Vizzini isn’t worried however, as they are approaching the Cliffs of Insanity, and there, he is certain, they will lose him for sure.  The group docks in a secret harbor and all climb onto Fezzik, who climbs a rope hung there previously.  Their pursuer, a mysterious Man in Black, docks shortly after, and immediately sets to climbing himself.

Despite Fezzik’s great strength, the Man in Black gains on them pretty quickly.  Fezzik beats him to the top, but not by much.  In an attempt to stop him, Vizzini cuts the rope that the Man in Black is holding onto, but it doesn’t work: the Man in Black manages to hold onto the cliffside, continuing to make slow, but steady progress towards them.

Vizzini decides to take Fezzik and the princess and move on, leaving Inigo to deal with their pursuer once he gets to the top.  Inigo, as it turns out, is an incredibly accomplished swordsman, who has been training for years, ever since a man with six fingers on his right hand killed his father and left Inigo scarred.

“I was eleven years old. And when I was strong enough, I dedicated my life to the study of fencing. So the next time we meet, I will not fail. I will go up to the six-fingered man and say, ‘Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.’.”

All of this he explains to the Man in Black.  Inigo helps him up the cliff by throwing him the rope, allows him to rest, and even shows him his superior sword, before commencing with the fencing match.  It’s an impressive setpiece, one that demonstrates both swordsmen’s abilities and wit, but in the end, as good as Inigo is, it’s not quite good enough.  The Man in Black knocks Inigo out, and continues on after Buttercup.

Vizzini, seeing the Man in Black still approaching, leaves Fezzik behind to deal with him, his way: brute force.

Eventually, the Man in Black shows up and Fezzik fires one warning shot with a boulder, just to let him know that he could have killed him.  He then offers a ‘fair fight’, as fair as it can be.

“We face each other as God intended. Sportsmanlike. No tricks, no weapons, skill against skill alone.”

“You mean, you’ll put down your rock and I’ll put down my sword, and we’ll try and kill each other like civilized people?”

They commence the battle, and while Fezzik’s incredible size and strength give him an advantage, eventually, the Man in Black manages to beat him with a chokehold, knocking him unconscious.

While all this is going on, Prince Humperdinck and his men, led by Count Rugen (Christopher Guest), are searching for Buttercup.  Humperdinck, as it turns out, is a great tracker, and somehow gathers exactly what went on with the Man in Black’s battle with Inigo.  He continues to follow the Man in Black’s footprints, which lead towards Guilder, admitting that it could be a trap.

Meanwhile, the Man in Black catches up with Vizzini, who has Buttercup at knifepoint.  Vizzini freely admits that he can’t beat the Man in Black in a fight, as he’s already bested his swordsman and his giant.  The Man in Black agrees, and offers an alternative: a battle of wits, to the death.  Winner gets the captive.

The battle of wits begins.  Vizzini pours wine into two goblets, and the Man in Black takes the goblets, and, keeping his actions hidden, pours iocane powder (a deadly colorless poison without odor) into one of the goblets.  Turning back around, he places the goblets before Vizzini.  

“All right. Where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right… and who is dead.”

Vizzini demonstrates his ‘dizzying intellect’ by stalling, going around with circular logic a few times before distracting the Man in Black, switching goblets while his back is turned.  He then chooses the goblet in front of him, (the one that had been in front of his opponent) in utter confidence, drinking only after watching the Man in Black do so himself.  In the middle of his gloating, however, he falls down, dead.

The Man in Black unties and un-blindfolds Buttercup, taking her along.  Surprised, Buttercup remarks on the fact that it was the Man in Black’s cup that was poisoned the whole time.

“They were both poisoned. I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder.”

Behind them, Humperdinck discovers the scene of the wrestling match with Fezzik, and again, correctly deduces the events of the tussle.  A little further on, he discovers the empty container of icoane powder, and the footprints that Buttercup and the Man in Black left behind, gathering that they’re gaining on them.

Meanwhile, the Man in Black allows Buttercup to stop for a breather, where she informs him that he won’t get away with this: her fiance will hunt him down.  The Man in Black doesn’t seem very concerned.  Buttercup also tells him that she knows who he is: he’s the Dread Pirate Roberts, her beloved Westley’s murderer.

They spot Humperdinck and his men riding towards them, far in the distance, and while he’s distracted, Buttercup pushes the Man in Black down a steep hill, telling him that he can die for all she cares.  As he falls, he calls out Westley’s familiar catchphrase:  “As..you..wish!”

Realizing that the Man in Black is Westley, Buttercup throws herself down the hill after him.

Humperdinck, watching the fall, concludes that they are heading for the fire swamp, not remarking on the unusual method of transportation.

Westley and Buttercup are reunited, but before they can get much further romantic celebration, the Grandson pipes up, griping about this development.  To pacify him, the Grandfather skips ahead: to the Fire Swamp.

The Fire Swamp is a dark, cramped forest, with areas that spontaneously erupt into flame, patches of lightning-fast quicksand, and Rodents of Unusual Size.  Despite these perils, Westley and Buttercup press through, while Westley explains to Buttercup how it came to be that he survived an attack by the Dread Pirate Roberts.

As it turns out, when he was captured, he managed to catch Roberts’ attention with descriptions of Buttercup and his love for her.  Curious, Roberts let him live, bringing him aboard as his valet for quite some time.  Every night, Roberts would say the same thing:

“Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”

But he never did, obviously.  During this time, Westley learned as much as he could about fighting and survival, until one day, Roberts called Westley in to talk to him.

“Roberts had grown so rich, he wanted to retire. He took me to his cabin and he told me his secret. ‘I am not the Dread Pirate Roberts’ he said. ‘My name is Ryan; I inherited the ship from the previous Dread Pirate Roberts, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from is not the real Dread Pirate Roberts either. His name was Cummerbund. The real Roberts has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.’”

After a few narrow escapes, Buttercup and Westley come out the other side of the Fire Swamp, but find themselves cut off by Humperdinck and his men.  Afraid for Westley’s life, Buttercup surrenders on one condition: Westley is to be returned to his ship, unharmed.

Humperdinck swears it, wholly dishonestly, and orders Count Rugen to deal with him.  Before he’s taken away, Westley notices that Reugen has six fingers on his right hand: the key trait of the man Inigo Montoya was looking for.

Rugen orders Westley taken to the Pit of Despair, where he is healed of his wounds and then strapped to Rugen’s torture machine, a device he constructed specifically to suck the life out of his victims.  Meanwhile, Buttercup begins to suffer nightmares about marrying Humperdinck, feeling guilty about turning her back on Westley when she knows he’s still alive.

With the wedding ten days away, Buttercup tells Humperdinck that if he insists on marrying her, she’ll kill herself.  Humperdinck convinces her to accept a deal, promising to send his four fastest ships to try to get word to Westley’s ship to tell him of the wedding.  If Westley still wants her, he’s welcome to her.  If he doesn’t show though, Buttercup has to consider marrying Humperdinck as an alternative to suicide.

Reluctantly, she agrees, not knowing that Westley is nowhere near his ship.

Humperdinck later reveals to Count Rugen that he actually hired Vizzini and Co. to kill Buttercup themselves, framing Guilder for her murder so that he could have an excuse to go to war with them.  Humperdinck then explains that, with Buttercup recovered safely, the plan has been changed somewhat: on their wedding night, after the ceremony, Humperdinck is going to kill Buttercup himself, blaming Guilder so he can still get his war.

To help with this plan, Humperdinck calls in his chief enforcer, telling him that killers from Guilder are planning to murder Buttercup, saying that he wants security measures to be taken.  He orders the Thieves Forest to be emptied, and for security on the castle to be expanded so that no-one can get in.

Ten days later, on the day of the wedding, the king’s brute-squad rounds up the thieves from the forest, all except one troublesome Spaniard: Inigo Montoya, who is drunk out of his mind and waiting for Vizzini, unaware that he’s dead.  Before the king’s enforcers can attack him, Fezzik, a member of the brute squad, steps in and nurses Inigo back to health and full strength, filling him in on all he’s missed in the meantime.  He also tells him that Rugen is the six-fingered-man that Inigo has been chasing nearly his entire life.

Once Inigo is restored to full vim and vigor, of course, his first goal is to find Rugen and take his revenge for his father.  However, Fezzik explains to him the security measures around the castle: thirty soldiers, far too many for both of them to take on.  Inigo concludes that the only way they can win is if they have one more ally: the Man in Black, Westley.  Inigo and Fezzik immediately set to looking for him, even though they have no idea where he might be.

Meanwhile, Humperdinck’s enforcer tells Humperdinck that the Thieves’ Forest has been emptied, and there is only key to get into the castle, which he himself has.  Humperdinck has him double the guards still more, and as the chief enforcer leaves the room, Buttercup enters.  She’s onto Humperdinck, and knows he’s lying about the ships to tell Westley.  However, she tells him that it doesn’t matter: Westley will come for her anyway.

Humperdinck, now enraged and abandoning pretenses, locks Buttercup in her bedroom and races to the Pit of Despair, turning on the torture machine that Westley is hooked up to on it’s highest setting: killing him.

Westley’s dying scream is so loud that it can be heard throughout the kingdom, literally.  Inigo and Fezzik hear it and follow the sound to the forest, as Inigo has deduced that this scream can only belong to the Man in Black.

Arriving near the area of the Pit of Despair, Inigo asks his father to guide his sword to the Man in Black, so he can find him and have revenge.  Somehow, the sword does seem to ‘take over’, leading him to the entrance of the Pit of Despair.  Entering in, Fezzik and Inigo discover Westley’s body.  Only momentarily discouraged, Inigo tells Fezzik to grab Westley’s body, to take with them on their way to “buy a miracle”.

Inigo takes them to a man named Miracle Max (Billy Crystal), who tells them the good news: Westley is only ‘mostly’ dead.  Max initially wants nothing to do with this, but eventually relents thanks to prodding from his wife, Valerie (Carol Kane) and the promise that Westley will humiliate Humperdinck, who fired Max from his previous job.  He gives Fezzik and Inigo a Miracle Pill for Westley and sends them on their way.

Westley is revived, but he is weakened, as the pill is slow to take full effect, and can’t really move on his own.  Thankfully, his brain is working fine, and he comes up with a plan to storm the heavily armed gates using nothing but themselves, a wheelbarrow, and a holocaust cloak.  They dress Fezzik in the cloak, put him on the wheelbarrow, and set the whole thing on fire, moving towards the gates with Fezzik bellowing to all that he is the Dread Pirate Roberts.  Terrified, the guards flee, leaving only the King’s enforcer, who the trio take the gate key from.

Meanwhile, inside the castle, Buttercup’s wedding is underway.  With the commotion going on outside, Humperdinck starts getting nervous, and has the Impressive Clergymen (Peter Cook) speed through the rest, claims Buttercup as his wife, and takes off.

Once in the castle, the trio comes face to face with Rugen and four of his men.  Inigo dispatches the foursome in seconds, without taking his eyes from Count Rugen, and delivers his practiced line:

“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Rugen flees.

Inigo runs after him, but runs into a locked door that he can’t break down alone.  Fezzik props Westley up and comes to assist, and while Inigo chases after Rugen, Fezzik returns to find Westley gone.

Inigo continues his battle with Rugen, and although he sustains a few wounds, he continues to goad Rugen with his catchphrase, gaining strength until finally, he runs him through.  Rugen dies, and Inigo’s father is avenged.

Meanwhile, Buttercup arrives at her chambers and prepares to kill herself, stopped by the sound of Westley’s voice.  After another happy reunion, Westley explains that since she never said ‘I do’, technically, she’s not married.  In the middle of this discussion, Humperdinck enters the room, declaring he’s going to make sure he kills Westley for real this time.  Westley threatens right back, challenging Humperdinck to a battle ‘to the pain’, describing how Westley will dismember Humperdinck, leaving him in a painful state of awareness of his freakishly mutilated appearance, forcing him to go through life as monstrous on the outside as he is within.

At this, Humperdinck drops his sword, and allows Buttercup to tie him to a chair.

Inigo enters the room, vengeance taken care of, and offers to take care of Humperdinck as well, but Westley, saying that he wants Humperdinck to live with his own cowardice, turns him down.  Fezzik arrives outside the window with four white horses from the prince’s stable that they can make their escape on.  Westley offers Inigo the job of the next Dread Pirate Roberts, the foursome ride off into the sunset, and Buttercup and Westley enjoy a kiss, one that this time, the Grandson doesn’t object to hearing about.

The book finishes, and as the Grandfather gets up to leave, the Grandson asks if he can come again and read it some other time.

The Grandfather smiles and nods, parting with the words: “As you wish.”

The end.

So, now’s as good a time as any to discuss something that tends to ‘plague’ The Princess Bride: the story doesn’t really make sense.

Humperdinck comes up with an overwhelmingly complex plan instead of just killing Buttercup himself.  Somehow, Westley knows exactly when and where Buttercup was taken so he’s able to follow her.  The fight scenes are civil, the villains never actually follow through with the simple solution, Inigo can identify the Man in Black’s scream, loud enough to be heard kingdom-round, and follow it to the forest, and the ghost of Inigo’s father momentarily possesses his sword and leads him to the cave.  Westley miraculously has enough strength to drag himself to where Buttercup is going to try to kill herself.  Fezzik somehow has a holocaust cloak with him.  Buttercup and Westley’s relationship is founded on, as the end credits say, ‘storybook love’, an ideal more than an actual relationship.

This is a story that is so unrealistic, with so many lapses in logic and leaps to conclusions that it could very easily be rendered completely ridiculous.  However, miraculously, it’s not.

The Princess Bride is played extremely sincerely, albeit with a hint of tongue in cheek.  Inigo’s grief is not played for laughs, and neither is Westley and Buttercup’s love.  Dialogue may be funny, but the overall story is meant to be taken seriously.

Occasionally, the story’s ridiculousness is tempered by the Grandson’s questions and interruptions, waved off by his Grandfather so that he can continue on with the story, but overall, the audience is left to contend with this bizarre world where these things just happen.  Characters don’t seem surprised by anything.  In fact, they take everything in stride, nodding as though this is the only option that makes sense.  Even stranger, their attitude is contagious: until you stop to think about it, the audience just nods and goes along too.

In another story, they wouldn’t get away with this.  Plot holes would be torn wide open by fans pointing fingers, demanding to know how this happened.  In The Princess Bride, it doesn’t seem to matter.  And there’s a pretty simple reason for that:

The Princess Bride is a fairy-tale.

This is not supposed to be a ‘fantasy’ story, not in terms such as Ladyhawke, anyway.  This is a fairy-tale, a storybook.  The rules are different here.  When events happen, the how is not important, only the why matters.  It doesn’t really matter how Westley finds Buttercup, because true love always brings them together.  It doesn’t matter how Fezzik has the holocaust cloak.  What matters is that it works out, and they get to continue the story to get the fulfilling end of the story, for everyone.  In the end, good wins, evil loses, and the good guys all get what they want: revenge, true love, and the prince’s humiliation.  

In a way, it’s almost anticlimactic: there’s no final duel with Humperdinck, Westley’s too weak to even stand for too long, and Inigo doesn’t even get to finish him off.  Like the Grandson complains about: Humperdinck lives, and the good guys merely escape.

So…is this a satisfying ending?

Yeah, actually.

The question of The Princess Bride was never one of ‘will Westley kill Humperdinck’, because that’s not what Westley’s story is about.  As swashbuckling as Westley’s story is, it has nothing to do with revenge or things like that, like Inigo’s is.  Westley’s end goal, his reason for going on, is exactly what he tells Miracle Max from the great Beyond:

“True love.”

Westley couldn’t care less about Humperdinck other than the fact that he’s getting in the way of his and Buttercup’s storybook love.  Humperdinck is an obstacle to his true goal and drive, and he’s not worth the killing.  Once he’s out of the way and Westley and Buttercup are reunited, Humperdinck ceases to matter to Westley.  If the story had been from Miracle Max’s point of view, Humperdinck would have died or at least, have something more horrible happen to him, but since Humperdinck never really succeeded in doing much of anything throughout the story, he’s actually so pathetic that he’s not worth Westley’s time.

So, yeah, Humperdinck is left to live with his cowardice because his death wouldn’t have provided the characters anything except maybe catharsis, and honestly, that’s not really a good enough reason to off your villain.

On the other hand, Inigo’s villain, Count Rugen, is killed, for a very simple reason: that’s the logical end to fulfill Inigo’s story.  It does no good for Westley to kill Rugen, or for Inigo to kill Humperdinck like he offers to do, because it doesn’t contribute anything to the respective hero’s story.  In the end, the story balances out perfectly, and both heroes get what they want: revenge, through Inigo’s climactic battle with Rugen, and true love.

Westley’s driving force is reuniting with Buttercup, and as a result, the climax of the movie, the real climax, is when they reunite for the last time, proving Westley’s previous words true:

“Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.”

In short? The ending fits as perfectly as Westley and Buttercup themselves.

Thanks so much for reading!  Join us next time for an analysis on the genre and themes of The Princess Bride!  If you liked it, please leave a comment or a like, and I hope to see you in the next article.

[testingcheats0n]

Chapter 5

Okayyyyyy??

We got ourselves a myth chapter? It's just myths for worldbuilding and/or just a dream~? Earth, moon, sun. Pretty standart creation myth ig Oceans, seas, lakes rivers... please don't tell me that they'll list every single rock and bush that Gea- I uh I mean mother earth- has ever farted out. Author-nim-noona-san-sama I beg 😫 Tolkien during the Valaquenta would never.

Oho wait- incest in my creation myth? More likely than I thought.

"U-UwU what are you doing step-Uranus?"

"Hahaha! I'll show you why they call me that!"

Bruh. Bruuuh~ they snubbed my boy Prometheus?! -100 points author-nim my entire blog is named after that chad, you can't rip off the greeks and get rid of big chief the fire stealer.

"WhY dID yOU mAKe TheSE?!"Fuck you fuck you fuck you we were Prometheus' pride and joy fuck you he defied god for us he would never create us for a dick-measuring competition. Fuck you. He's better than all of you put together. Fuck the Gea rip-off and fuck Uranus.

"She gave them fire to make them warm :v" Fuck off.

"They were ungrateful." Double fuck off. This mother earth creature sounds like an abusive parent.

Ah haha...

/nm...

:)

Ah so even the "new" gods are some version of the greek myths :/ hm.

Magus should go eat dirt and die actually. "The rest of the civilized world- aka my kingdom- has changed the name of the country, so the country should accept it."

Magus can go wank himself over his superiority in private thanks 🙄 I'm sure there's an old tome somewhere in his office just waiting for it.

Magus: don't get offended, but your mother was a stupid uneducated peasant- that is also a filthy dirty immigrant- and I know better than her, so you should be ashamed of ever mentioning her filthy uneducated lies. But no offence :)

I want him to get mauled by a bear :D

"Haha your mother is dead, isn't that embarassing?" Cake eater, like danish in a donut shop. Do people like him? Does he have fans or anything? What a piece of crap. I officially hate him.

Anyway. Gen's full name is Eugenides, that's cool af.

By the way. The fact that olives for brains went for the offensive, by attacking Gen's mother, his lineage and using his grief against him and trying to humiliate him for having a dead mother (all ad hominems for a simple myth) proves that Gen and his mother are right. Magus is just a pussy with an ego the size of his dick. X X S!

"Eugenides was the god of thieves- we're all named after him." Now that's cool. So it's like a title of a sort, apart from the "King's Thief" one. That's interesting af. Gen told me a piece of worldbuilding in a single sentence that grabbed my attention faster than olives for brains' entire monologue could.

Imagine being so empty that your biggest accomplishment in a week is making fun of a kid's dead mother. Imagine. Mf was strutting the next day, wtf is actually wrong with him?

I hope he gets brained by a stray rock. Wouldn't that be a shame.

Magus' poor planing vs Gen's inexistent thieving skills

FIGHT!

Magus won...

Old fart wouldn't know manipulation if it hit him.

Ambiades once again proves me right. He's smart, and he's using magus for his knowledge. Speaking about successful manipulation 🙄

Okay so. It's not necessary for an heir to be good at arms. But. It's useful and the skill in battle demands respect and better control. So Sophos should at least try to learn both academics and fighting. He actually kinda reminds me of Samwell Tarly from asoiaf. He's kinda gentle and only wants to learn. His father has other plans.

Then we have this magus, Sophos, Ambiades trio. Ambiades is better at academics, but is obviously there not to learn (and if he does it's more political things) while Sophos is just there to learn period. It should be the other way around tbh... If I were Ambiades I would be striving for a position as a magus at court since his title isn't that impressive- possibly even working on substituting olives for brains if the king has a son, but if I were Sophos I would be squeezing magus' knowledge on politics and the king for all it's worth. It's like learning from experience AND spying for info.

Thieving IS hereditary. That's fascinating! I hope his mother was called Eugenia, it would be awesome.

Sophos: so your father didn't go for milk and didn't come back? Wow your mother is not a slut and you're not a bastard? :o

You gotta love this.

Gen has an older brother who is a soldier, and another who is a watchmaker- he's also called Stenides. Hmmm...

Well, Gen is probably a momma's boy.

Oh he also has sisters. They're... housewifes... sure. The fantastic sexism was sparse so author-nim had to compensate somehow ig.

I just hope to god they're also thieves or something like that.

Alright. This is impressive, I can imagine the terrain perfectly with only a description from the text. Very few books can do that especially with fantasy, and I feel like more writers should strive for writing like such. That said, I would kill for a map just to see that weird ass river that is everywhere.

Attolia >>> Sulnas (Sunas? Solnas? I'm sorry commenter who told me the correct spelling) got it

Okay. I'm sorry but I have to confess I got spoiled when I checked Ambiades' wiki. I kinda sorta know he's not who he says he is. It's obvious with the way he knows so much about Attolia and doesn't care about other places' flora/ecosystem. It's as if he knows it from experience and not from a desire to learn.

Awww Sophos looks up to Ambiades that's adorable.

Wtf mother earth is a dick lmao. She's still mad that humans aren't paying attention to her, so childish. Whatever, the myth was beautiful even if it made 0 sense at the end.

[graciep8ocsblog]

Starlight Constellation Chapter 2: I wish to be a Pleiades Sister! Celestial Amore is born!

“Can anyone explain what’s going on?! What happened to me?! Why are you staring at me like that?!” Ilena finally spoke up, bewildered at her newfound powers.

“You just… you became a Pleiades Guardian!” Kirara squealed, with wonder and excitement in her eyes.

“Me? I… I think you have the wrong girl,” she twirled a strand of her own hair, unsure on whether or not this was a dream. Magic doesn’t exist! But then again…

“No way! After you managed to do all that? You’re the real deal!” the princess continued with awe.

“I’ll explain everything about the Pleiades Guardians on the way,” Mica began, shaking his head. But there was a smile on his face…

“Alright but… I’m not sure how to explain the both of you to my grandmother on the way home,” Ilena shrugged as she began to head home…

~~~~~~

“I’m home!” Ilena called out as she gingerly opened the door “And I’ve got company.”

“Well, come in!” Yuu smiled as she began to prepare her apron “You’re welcome to-”

“Lady Starlight!” Mica gasped before bowing down as Kirara followed suit. Ilena tilted her head in sudden confusion on their formalities.

“Who now?”

“You didn’t tell us your grandmother was the legendary Celestial Starlight?”

“Because she never told me.” Ilena threw a look at her grandmother “What are they even talking about?!”

Yuu let out a small chuckle “It’s a long story but I’ll tell you after lunch. Make yourself at home, your highness!”

“Yay! Thank you so much! I promise you won’t regret it!”

~~~~~~

Later on that evening, before bed, Yuu and Ilena were left to discuss the events of the day alone over a cup of tea…

“So… what’s the deal with all the Pleiades Guardians stuff? And what about the Wish Crystal?” Ilena began as she picked up her teacup, staring into her own reflection.

“Well, let me tell you a story from long ago…” Yuu put down her teacup “Etoilina was a large and mighty kingdom. It was protected by the goddess of miracles and dreams Celestina since the beginning of time. The Wish Crystal helped to bring balance and held a great power that could only be unlocked by a few. However, great power comes with danger to it… An evil force tried to steal the Wish Crystal but Celestina managed to overcome it. At the cost of her own energy and magic… She used her remaining magic and life force to assign seven guardians to protect the Wish Crystal when the time came…”

“And one of them was you?”

“Yes, we managed to seal the great evil away once it rose up again but…”

“But what?”

“The seal was temporary as not all of us survived and… that power must have revived somehow. Your mission is to help save the kingdom and put that great evil to rest for good. You, my dear sweet rose… are the chosen one.”

“Me?”

“Chosen to lead the Pleiades Guardians and find them…”

“I-I think they made a huge mistake… I’m not exactly leader material…”

“You will understand in time why they chose you, I promise…”

Ilena finished her tea and put her cup down “I’ll give the benefit of the doubt. Good night gran.”

“Good night, Len…” Yuu answered with a smile on her face, thinking to herself “You’ll see soon. After all, I was also there on that same path once…”

~~~~~~

To say that Kirara was having a fruitful sleep would be a complete and utter lie. She tossed and turned as she remembered the night of the attack…

~~~~~~

One year ago…

A royal guard burst through the doors, panting as he caught his breath “Princesses! The queen has ordered you to evacuate!”

The guards shoved the princess away as a Kurosu roared in the distance “Hurry now!”

She looked to see palace ruins crumble down before running quickly…

~~~~~~

“Hurry now… hurry now...” the words echoed in the princess’s mind as she jolted awake from the bed.

Kirara sat up and gulped for air, trying to calm down her racing heart. She looked around, trying to remember where she was as she absorbed her surroundings. The memories of the previous day came back to her slowly and hazily as she remembered those events…

“Princess, are you alright?”

She sighed “Yeah, I just… had a bad dream,” The princess soon noticed that the other side of the bed was empty “Huh? Where’s Ilena?”

“She said something about leaving for a run,”

Kirara tossed the blanket aside hurriedly as she leaped out of bed “Oh! I must thank her for everything! Saving me and giving me a place to stay!”

“Ahem!” Mica gestured to the carelessly discarded blanket, a stern glare in his eyes.

“Oh, oops… sorry!” she laughed sheepishly, scooping the blankets in her hands.

~~~~~~

Meanwhile, back at Nightmare Corp, trouble was beginning to brew…

“So you’re telling me that the Pleiades Guardians woke up again and you lost the Wish Crystal?!”

“Tsk, that girl is a menace to our mission!” Noire reported, feeling annoyance bubble in his chest “We have to put an end to them!”

“I agree. We must stop the rest from awakening!” the boss began.

“Oh! May I do it? Can I kill her?” A high female voice asked.

“Alright, Monami… you can have this mission!”

“What?!” Noire angrily cried out “But what about me?!”

“After the previous mission, I’m not sure if you can be trusted…”

“Hmph! But you’ll regret it!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll bring you the Wish Crystal!” and with that, she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

~~~~~~

“ILENA!”

The girl stopped dead in her tracks as she heard a familiar voice call out to her. She swiveled around to face a familiar pink-haired girl trailing after her.

“Wait up!” Kirara panted for breath as she caught up to her.

“Princess Kirara?”

“Please… just… call me Kirara!”

“I thought you were at home sleeping!”

“I… just wanted to… talk to you about yesterday-”

A loud rumble interrupted the conversation and Ilena raised an eyebrow.

“Did you eat breakfast?”

“Hehe. I was in a rush so-”

“Let me go get something and we can discuss this.”

~~~~~~

“Hmm! This is actually good!” Kirara exclaimed in surprise as she bit into her sandwich before looking at Ilena with a somber expression on her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, you see…” she began “It’s just that… you’re amazing,”

“Me? Amazing I… I’m not that amazing…”

“I mean, you just became a legendary guardian AND are hunting down pieces of an artifact, meanwhile… I just run away all the time… You seem so calm and unsurprised by all this…”

“Honestly, I’m rather shocked too…”

“You are?”

Ilena nodded “Last night, I couldn’t sleep. I was so amazed and shocked by what happened. I met a princess, a talking cat, and became a magical girl! So here I am, on a walk to clear my head and convince myself it isn’t a dream...”

“A what now?”

“It’s an anime thing but the point is…” she couldn’t help but let out a little laugh “With that power, I kind of… feel special for the first time, and I can protect the people I love too…”

Kirara looked down at the path, a little pang of jealousy in her stomach. She wanted to be a Pleiades Guardian but… the chance didn’t come.

“Don’t be selfish!” she scolded herself guiltily “She’s just trying to help!”

“C’mon, let’s go home! Gran’ll think we’ve been attacked again,” Ilena’s voice cut through her thoughts like scissors cutting through a grand opening ribbon.

~~~~~~

Kirara looked out of the terrace, staring at the starry sky as she recalled Ilena’s words earlier. She wondered if Ilena truly meant every word and was still panicking over the newfound realization.

“I wish I had become a Pleiades Guardian,” the princess looked up at the sky “Instead, I’m just useless…”

A dark pink puff of smoke appeared before her eyes and a girl appeared.

“Well, well, well… this became easy~” she let out a little laugh before spinning her parasol, causing the jewel on top to glow “Come forth! Kurosu!”

~~~~~~

A loud roar caused Ilena and Mica to wake up. They dashed out to the terrace to investigate the source of the noise. The two stumbled upon a large Kurosu but this time, instead of Noire, they were facing a girl with long, curly pale pink hair and looked rather reminiscent of a French maid in terms of her black, white, and pink ensemble.

“Hehe~. Looks like my opponents are here!” And as the crystal on her necklace glowed, time froze save for Ilena, Kirara, the strange girl, and Mica.

“Transform now!”

“Aurora Dream Reflection!”

She was surrounded by a glowing light and once it faded, Celestial Rose appeared “The shining wish of my heart, Celestial Rose!"

~~~~~~

“Grr~! That pesky brat!” Monami growled, pointing at the trio “Kurosu! Attack!”

The Kurosu spat out a ball of toffee from its mouth. In a desperate attempt to shield the two, Celestial Rose called out “Rose Reflector!” and summoned a shield. Swiftly, she reflected the blobs, slightly cringing at the oozing substance.

However, as she ran and dodged the attacks, the Kurosu released a large ball of the sticky confection and it sailed towards Celestial Rose, trapping her against the wall.

“Urgh! Why toffee of all things?!” she desperately wriggled randomly, trying to get rid of the sticky candy “I hate that stuff!”

“Now! Tell me where the Wish Crystal is or your precious princess gets it!”

The guardian strained her head to look at the strange girl, attempting to free herself from the toffee “I don’t even know okay! And even if I did, I will never reveal it to you!”

“Why you-” Monami growled angrily before letting out an angry cry, summoning a large sphere of magic and was ready to aim it at Celestial Rose. Kirara gasped in fear and shock before crying out “Wait!”

Everyone turned to look at her and Monami lowered the sphere as the princess stepped forward in surrender “Take me. Just… please, don’t hurt her!”

“What? Princess! Have you lost your mind?!”

“I’m done running and hiding!” she walked in front of Monami and gave a determined look “And now, I’ll protect the people I love no matter what!”

A bright light surrounded her and as the light faded, a pink heart-shaped jewel rested in her hands.

“Could this be…”

~~~~~~

Mica gasped in shock before calling out “Kirara! Transform now!”

“Aurora Dream Reflection!” Kirara drew a heart, causing it to glow and surround her in a cocoon of light…

A flood of hearts surrounded her legs and disappeared, forming red Mary Janes with ribbons laced around the feet and ankles.

As she placed both of her hands over her heart, a pink and white minidress materialized along with matching armbands.

With a smile, she blew a kiss, her hair growing longer and lighter as small buns appeared on each side. Two white bands held it up.

Her hands began to form a heart, causing her Dream Crystal to form a brooch.

Landing on the ground, she posed to reveal her new form “The shining love of my heart! Celestial Amore!”

Celestial Amore gasped, inspecting her new form “Is… this really me? This dress is… SO CUTE!” she squealed as she looked at her shoes “Oh! And those shoes! They’re so pretty! And surprisingly comfortable!”

“Erm… We have something to do here?” Celestial Rose raised her eyebrow and let out a small cough, bringing her to attention.

“Oh… right,” She laughed awkwardly before shrugging “Leave it to me!”

Celestial Amore’s brooch began to shine, summoning a tube of lipstick. She grabbed it before applying it to her lips.

“Love me tender…” she kissed the palm of her hand, forming a pink heart “Wink!”

Thrusting the heart forward, it circled her, multiplying into several hearts before transforming into a giant one. The heart sailed to the Kurosu and Monami. The monster roared out in agony before disappearing into thin air.

The toffee suddenly disappeared and Celestial Rose let out a sigh of relief. The transformation dissipated in a burst of light. Monami howled out in frustration before releasing a cry of pain “Next time, I’ll get you!”

Before they could respond, she disappeared into thin air. Mica gaped before glaring at the princess.

~~~~~~

“I can’t believe you!” he ranted “How careless were you?! Don’t do that again! Understood?”

“Yes…” she pouted.

Suddenly, the two heard footsteps come closer as Yuu opened the door “Girls! Are you alright? When I checked, I felt like I was fro-”

She saw the two girls, smiling at each other. Kirara began cryptically “And so our search has begun…”

[razorblade180]

Ok I gotta ask this now since I just saw your post. How would you have written ddd and kh3 to make it a tighter more impactful plot? (Also would love to know how you would write narusaku or any other naruto ship

[please comment below. This took so much time and it would suck if no one read this😭💀]

I can already tell this will go beyond the line limit so buckle up everyone. We’re only focusing on KH right now. Let’s start with DDD

Dream Drop Distance

Let’s get the major change out of the way, Kairi is on this adventure. Why? Because there’s two previous games where they express how she wants to actively help and KH2 has lines of her saying she refused to be left behind anymore. This works out just fine for Yen Sid, since this test is supposed to be a relatively safe. Sora and Riku are officially taking their mark of mastery exam but for Kairi, this serves as a hands on learning course. Going the sleeping worlds together for them to learn proper keyblade wielding sounds perfectly fine. All three get out on the island, fight Ursula in the tutorial, and then Xehanort starts his shenanigans just like in the game. Here’s the difference! Sora and Kairi are still together, while Riku still accidentally dives into Sora’s dreams.

Immediately the trio would know something isn’t quite right but the only option is press on start figuring things out while completing their task from Yen Sid. This is where gameplay is now a bit different. You play as Sora with one dream eater and Kairi as your support characters while Riku plays the same. The drop system is still the same everything. Sora and Kairi go through worlds together and get to interact. At the beginning Kairi doesn’t know much but gains abilities/confidence as you progress. Sora ends up serving as a mentor for her and guides her through the troubles of going on your first adventure. It’s a good way to put Sora in a more mature role. He’s forced to keep his wits about in order to keep Kairi safe because he doesn’t know the organization is actually after him.

We get a couple of scenes of Kairi getting better and helping Sora through the worlds which still play out the same basically. Bad guys show up and say mysterious things before leaving and the two deal with Disney problems. Riku’s doesn’t change at all because. Things only start to get really different after Symphony of Sorcery. Young Xehanort shows up at the very end of it and goes after Kairi to bait Sora into rushing to save her. Sora ends up getting hurt in the process and Young Xehanort kidnaps him here and immediately leaves before Kairi can do anything. She’s now angry at herself for not being able to apply what Sora had taught her when it truly mattered. She couldn’t protect him or herself. Kairi almost wants to give up but meow-wow lifts her spirits and she finds the resolve to fight before. Sora would never give up, especially when it came to saving his loved ones. Kairi is now a playable character and able to do all the commands that aren’t character exclusive. His dream eaters stick around and become her party members.

You go through The World That Never Was as her back in KH2 attire, fighting her way through it and she’s the one that gets told how the organization has been tracking them and all the other plot things; including why they want Sora. Kairi ends up being the one to have to fight Xemnas and even though she’s outclassed, she’s gonna give him all she’s got. On Riku’s side he sees all the weird dream imagery in Sora’s head since he’s in Sora’s dreams with the added glimpse of Kairi trying her best against Xemnas; motivating him even further to hurry up and make it to her. He still confronts Ansem and makes peace with himself. Riku finally makes it out of Sora’s dreams but retains his dream eater powers like in the game and rushes to help Kairi. He makes it half way through the fight and Kairi tells Riku to back her up. The two of them fight together with you still playing as Kairi and manage to push him back. Riku is extremely surprised by her progress and both of them go together to save Sora because he knows telling her to stay back is not an option. Riku and Kairi both fight Young Xehanort together.

Everything is mostly the same after that in terms of plot and everything that happens in the cutscenes. Including Axel showing up. Riku convinces Kairi to stay when he jumps back into Sora’s dreams, telling her someone has to make sure everything goes fine in the real world and that person has to be her. Riku comes back out after is boss fight and those cutscenes and he sees those two slackers having a tea party. Yen Sid commends all three for their bravery, especially Kairi. He also apologizes. Riku gets named a master, Sora doesn’t. Sora thankd his friends and told Kairi he was proud of her before he left to go thank the dream eaters. Even though she did well, Kairi knew without Riku, the dream eaters, or Sora, she wouldn’t have lasted as long as she did. She wanted to be strong enough to protect herself and others. So Kairi asked Yen Sid if she could have further training. Yen Sid told her and Lea about the dimension where they could train and they both accepted. Riku asked what he should do now and then the 0.2 conversation happens off screen. Boom, DDD rolls it’s credits.

Kingdom Hearts 3 [internal screaming]

Okay! So I gotta tackle this one a little different. First of all, let’s live in a world where ReMind came apart of KH3 (as it should’ve) now let’s put the cutscene between Luxord and Xigbar where it belongs at the beginning of the game, and then let’s put the cutscenes of MoM/ the organization discussing the members somewhere in in middle of the game. Like after Monsters Inc. Because that information had no reason to be hidden. It reveals nothing, but explains how people are back which is important. This knowledge doesn’t even spoil the Luxu reveal!

Second, I have to explain my two major problems that really hurt this game for me. Plot pacing and only setting things up halfway or not at all. So I’m going to tell you what changes narritive and gameplay wise I would’ve changed. Then I’ll go through the game including those changes.

Sora getting his power robbed consequence will be in every world and weigh on him.

The time characters get rescued/revealed

Ventus and Roxas’s heart influence

Isa’s plan

Aqua’s trauma

Xion, Vexen, and Demyx appearances.

Multiple playable characters.

Kairi and Lea contributions.

Also if I don’t mention something then assume it happened just like in the game.

Okay, let’s get started at Olympus. Everything is the same except one thing that I will continue to do for the other worlds. Sora will try to be proactive in stopping an Organization member, triggering a 1v1 boss fight. He’ll fight Xigbar and lose so bad that his friends have to save him. This puts in perspective that Sora really has lost his powers and is frustrated about it. This will do two things. One of them is make him slowly get more upset when someone brings up him failing the exam, being a half pint, or not being able to do things on his own. I’ll come back to the second thing later. Sora is order to continue to gain the power of waking while leaving finding Aqua to Mickey and Riku.

Twilight Town is also basically the same. However, the Demon Tide really roughs him up. Ansem and Xemnas bring up how they hope Roxas didn’t get this weak as well just to anger him. Sora wants to put them in their place but is convinced not to by Donald and Goofy. Now he’s doubting himself internally a little. Also Merlin shows up now instead of later. The trio bump into him and He tells Sora that Lea and Kairi actually are almost done training because they trained in a place where time didn’t matter. The moment they went in should’ve technically they came out but I’m being generous. Sora is shocked to realize his short time at Olympus might’ve equaled months of training for Kairi or even longer.

Toy Box is the same with the addition of fighting Young Xehanort and losing to him before a gigas piloted by his friends intervene. We still get the comment about putting hearts into vessels of their pleasing. When the world is over Kairi calls to tell him she’s finishing training and wants to see him back at Yen Sid’s tower.

Kairi and Lea are both really jazzed about how strong they’ve gotten and ready to help. Before they do, Kairi asks for a friendly spar against Sora. While he does win, he is amazed by how strong she’s gotten. Kairi comments on how she’s still lacking the real battle experience and skill he’s gain over time and he actually starts to feel better, until she asks if she could go to a world with him to get it. He wouldn’t mind it if wasn’t for one thing, he’s worried he might not be enough to save her if she needs help. Not with all his strength gone. He keeps this to himself and Kairi and Lea end up tagging along to Kingdom of Corona. On this world you get the option to be Sora with Rapunzel Flynn has mandatory party members and the choice to choose Kairi and Lea or Donald and Goofy; Or you can play as Kairi which automatically makes the party during gameplay Flynn, Rapunzel, Sora, and Lea. This works out fine because half this world has Rapunzel and Flynn leave your party so the other two characters can fill in during those sections.

So the Disney plot in this world doesn’t have to change one bit. The changes that happen all occur with all the Kingdom hearts characters. For example, Marluxia now meets Sora, Lea, Kairi, Donald and Goofy when he first reveals himself. We get sassy and rude dialogue between Marluxia and Lea about being alive and who’s actually the traitor this time around. Lea can also fill Sora in on CoM since no one does it. What makes this scene important is the moment Marluxia directs his attention towards Kairi, she starts getting really nervous and Namine’s voice comes out unexpectedly, telling him to stay back. It’s Namine who’s actually nervous, terrified even. Sora might not have the memories, but the entire exchange is enough for his heart to remember the intense desire to protect Namine from Marluxia. Sora and Lea get in between the two. Marluxia only looks at everyone and can’t help but get a little nostalgic. “The more things change, the more they stay the same. Except for one...” he says that vague response referring to how Lea and Rikuplica switching sides, then he leaves.

The next major change is Soar and Kairi spend time at the festival together and share a moment during the lantern scene. It’s at this time Sora expresses the doubt he has to protect her and the others with his current strength. Kairi tells Sora that he can do anything he puts his mind to and to never lose that smile of his. She tells him how they will protect each other and that his heart will never steer him wrong. This touching moment is ruined when Donald screams off camera. The Nobodies shown up. Everyone quickly jumps into action when another hooded figure appears. Sora goes off to pursue them triggering Lea to follow him. Sora is evenly matched with the figure back and then hood falls off. It’s Xion. Immediately seeing her causes an intense reaction from Roxas’s heart that screws up Sora in the fight and he his taken out by her. Xion planned to take him but Lea intervenes, causing both of them to get a painful reaction to each other. Marluxia shows up to retrieve Xion, who was sent there for a test run and leaves Axel in pain because Kairi caught up to protect both of them despite the fear from earlier. All he can see is Namine finally taking a real stand against him before finally going. Sora wakes up that morning on the outskirts of the kingdom where he sees Flynn riding Maximus with Lea still out of commission. Donald and Goofy looked after him while Kairi helped resuce Flynn. He tells Sora about what’s happened to Rapunzel and they all go rushing to the tower, except for Kairi who’s understandably tired, and chooses to look after Lea since he’s also still recovering. The rest of the world stays the same.

Sora and the gang try collecting their thoughts and info while in the gummi ship. So many things were happening so fast. Sora tried to apologize to Lea and Kairi but they told him there was no need. They end up going to Yen Sid again for answers to things like the new seven princesses. While there, Donald ends up taking another jab at Sora for still not having the power of waking. Sora actually gets fed up this time around, frustrated with himself mainly. He yells how he’s doing the best he can and it’s not like Donald is being of any real help either. Sora claims that he can do this on his own and takes off to the Gummi Ship before anyone could really get a word in.

Monster Inc ends up being the next world he finds himself in but not by choice. Sora had been so worked up he had forgotten the ship ran on smiles and crash landed to the nearest world. That’s not all, Kairi had actually manage to sneak aboard by surprise. Now he felt bad about endangering her but didn’t get to apologize before Kairi bonked him on the head. She reminded Sora about their conversation on the pier and expressed how determined she was to knock Sora out of his funk. They’d be stranded here otherwise. Through all of that it slipped their minds that they were monsters now and decide to look around. One thing that immediately stirred something within Kairi’s memories was the unversed which convinced them that this place was now definitely worth looking around. The plot points of this world are pretty much the same. As you go through the factory making Boo laugh. Sora is also gaining his cheerfulness back and opening up more to Kairi about how down this situation had gotten him. He was happy she was here to cheer him up. Vanitas shows up and still gets thrown through doors. Sora wonders about his desire to save Aqua so quickly stems from the possibility of Ventus’s heart sleeping in his. Kairi tells Sora about how Namine’s heart reacted to Marluxia which only made his thought more valid. He tells Kairi how he really thinks he can save her and Kairi agrees, but tells Sora it would be easier with more people. He needed to make up with Donald and to some extent, Goofy. As if on que the gummi phone rings with Chip and Dale telling Sora that they’ve lost trace of Riku and Mickey in the Realm of Darkness. What’s worse is Donald and Goofy acted rashly at the news and took Yen Sid’s star shard, sending them to who knows where. It was possible that they actually got sent to the Realm of Darkness! Sora calls Ienzo to ask if he knows a way there but he only knows about the corridors of darkness.

Kairi tells Sora that he really is connected to Ventus then maybe he can open a gate. Even if he can’t, Sora’s connection with his friends might do something. He just has to do what he did to get to Olympus. Sora opened a gate that brought him and Kairi back to Destiny Islands where they found Donald and Goofy. More importantly, an unfimiliar keyblade. Sora uses it to create a door and heads off. The others try to follow him but he tells them that they need to stay behind just in case. He also apologizes for his outburst which prompts Donald and Goofy to apologize for not seeing how much the teasing was getting to him. Kairi tells him to be safe and Sora smiles truthfully. He just has to believe in himself like she said. He can do this. Sora goes through the door.

Sora drops right in the middle of the Riku vs Aqua fight and things play out normally until the halfway point where the darkness in her becomes almost too much for Sora. Just like with Vanitas, Ventus’s heart starts to react to seeing Aqua in such a state. Suddenly Sora summons Master’s Defender again and holds it back handed. Aqua is left shocked, she can only see the friend she promised to wake up. With a heavy heart she manages to ask for help and Sora nods. You play the remainder of the fight with attacks and even a command style used by Ventus. He’s calling the shots now. You beat Aqua and she gets saved. Everyone’s happy, everyone’s crying.

Aqua takes Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi to go wake up Ven while Riku and Mickey rest up. Sora gets more strange feelings at the sight of Castle Oblivion. He can’t help but think of Namine, as well as fuzzy memories of Marluxia and a few other people but he keeps it to himself. Aqua remakes the Land of Departure and they make their way to Ven. Vanitas shows up and Aqua challenges him alone. Instead of her loosing because she blocked a fireball with her body, We get Aqua losing because she’s still very tired and the PTSD she has from the realm of darkness. Everyone panics. Sora activates the power of waking to wake Ventus (I’ll cry when he thanks Sora) and he saves Aqua. Vanitas leaves.

Everyone regroups at Yen Sid’s tomorrow again. Finally, progress is being made in collecting guardians. Ventus and Aqua need more time to recover and choose to rest. Kairi keeps them company to learn more about them, her past, skills, and also take a break. All this adventure has gotten her really exhausted. Mickey goes looking for Ansem the Wise and Sora manages to convince Riku to tag along with him. Maybe they’ll find Terra? Onward to frozen!

Sora and the gang meet else Elsa and Riku empathizes with not being able to control power and being scared of hurting people close to him. Sora emphasizes with Anna when it comes wanting to help someone important to you but they keep running away and create things that make it harder to reach them. It’s one big moment of reflection and growth in this world. Larxene still shows up and Sora knows her by name surprisingly. The feelings of anger he gives her is all he needs to know that she cannot be allowed to do whatever she pleases. He tries stopping her but fails. He’s not too upset though. His previous accomplishments and encouraging words from Kairi push him forward. Unknowingly, Vexen shows up and has an argument with Larxene. She complains about why he’s heat and he tells her that he heard memories are extremely malleable here (trolls) and he’s come to look into it before leaving Larxene to her own devices. Elsa starts really thinking her powers are nothing but darkness but Riku convinces her otherwise. Elsa thanks him but that moment of weakness creates the boss of this world. Sora and Riku fight it with Snowball while Elsa goes to save Anna. Things work themselves out the same from there. Riku and Sora feel closer than ever and Riku tells Sora he’s a master in his own right which makes Sora’s day. Vexen got valuable data.

Ventus finally felt like his body was used to moving again and was ready to start getting back in the swing of things, but Aqua was still feeling down. The guilt of taking so long and trauma was weighing on her heart. Kairi tried everything to cheer her up but nothing helped. Kairi has no choice but to pull out the big guns. She called Sora. Through lot of persuading, he convinced her to tag along with him and Ventus to go traveling with him to get them up to speed. Part of the agreement was Riku and Kairi go finding more clues about Terra’s whereabouts so they stayed behind. Checking Radiant Garden again seemed like a good idea. Kairi hadn’t been so it would kill two birds with one stone.

Pirates world was next on the list. This time we there’s four organization members! Luxord goes looking for the box and Demyx is forced to help because Isa wants him to prove his worth or why even be around? They’re on the water so he should be decent muscle. Vexen is intrigued by Davy Jones but also dropped Xion off with Luxord to see if his recent research on memory would have her perform better than earlier. Aqua and Ventus marvel at the stars, thinking of Terra. Sora told the two of them about the first adventure he went on to look for his friends. Sora praises both of them by telling him that he was at least half as skilled as they were back then, telling them that they’ll find Terra way faster than he took finding Riku and Kairi. They came across the waterfall fell. Aqua nearly panicked at the thought of being trapped when they woke up in Davy Jones’s locker but Ventus calmed her down. Sora needed to find a way to build her back up. The plot of this world doesn’t change but gameplay does a little. Ven and Aqua will grant the pirates ship most of its abilities by controlling the wind and sea while Sora navigates. More fights by boat grant them more abilities and gets them back into the swing of things. Ventus and Sora team up during the air skirmish against the flying heartless. This invigorates Aqua not just because she wants to protect them, but they looked like they were having some fun. Yeah they were fighting a heartless but they were doing it together and trusted that they had each other’s back. Aqua had missed that feeling, it had been so long since it wasn’t her vs everything. She quickly got her chance to be apart of a team again in the underwater fight. Her nerves weren’t completely calm but Sora taking her hand and being excited about getting the treasure pushed those feelings away. She had friends again, friends that wanted treasure and to sail the seas with her. How could that not be fun. Sora happily let Aqua take the lead and supported her alongside Ventus.

The crew bumps into Luxord and the black box conversation happens that leads into the race but with the added wager of Luxord willing to tell them about Terra if they win. The race has still has the heartless boats but as well as the water nobodies to personally attack your crew and hinder your abilities. After you win, Luxord still cheats and you have that boss fight. Things change when you board the boat. He still leaves but Demyx and Xion stay behind with some Nobodies to by time. Halfway through the fight, Xion starts clenching her head again and Sora does the same with his chest. Seeing Ventus’s face and feeling Roxas’s presences is just too much. Luxord takes the opportunity of the chaos to nab is companions and attack the ship. Fortunately Aqua was able to protect everyone. Vexen orders Demyx to take Xion back and that he might as well not come back either. Demyx really doesn’t want to face Isa since he was basically told not to comeback without anything useful. So he drops Xion off and plans to avoid him altogether.

After the ship is repaired and Phantom Jack leaves, Aqua takes a minute to think. They were about to head into what sounded like a war. Their fun treasure adventure had turned a serious matter. She confessed that she might not be up to the task. This one, or even the keyblade war. Ventus pulled out his wayfinder and told her even if she decides not to go, she’ll always be fighting beside him as long as he had this. He believed Terra was still fighting and got his strength from them. Aqua pulled out her wayfinder and simply held it to her chest. He wasn’t wrong. All that time in the darkness and a piece of her never felt truly alone as long as she held this. Their unbreakable connection to her friends was something Aqua would never doubt. To top it all off, Sora had remembered he still had Kairi’s good luck charm from before the exams. He said he couldn’t count how many times this simple thing had driven him to keep going. Aqua joined them on the boat. It was only after seeing the other pirates did her resolve really hit its peak. All of them were ready to face staggering odds to fight for what mattered most to them, despite the fear. Aqua was sure of it now, she’d stand with her friends when the fated day came. Aqua raised her keyblade a creates the whirlpool for the Kraken fight. For the first time since she arrived, she looked at Sora and completely immersed herself in the moment. She calls him captain, and says she’s ready whenever he is. He couldn’t be more thrilled and Ventus was happy to see Aqua ready to go. The rest of the world plays out the same all the way until the very end. I would personally add a scene though of three sailing alone for just a little longer. Sora can’t help but think about how this was his dream with Riku and Kairi once. He wondered if is the only one who even rememberers or cares about a thing like this. Suddenly another ship Sails by them. They get ready to fight until they sea a papou fruit flag. Riku and Kairi unexpectedly reveal themselves on it with smiles on their faces. Apparently the gummi phone had really included all of information Jimmy had written. Riku explained that he just knew without question Sora would come here of all places to try and cheer someone up. Riku and Kairi told Aqua they hadn’t found much info on Terra but they did find her armor and keyblade thanks to Kairi’s foggy memory of certain places and Ienzo’s participantion in those lab areas. They all were about to continue their journey but since they were here, something had to be settled. Sora wanted another race to decide who would be captain. Riku laughed and told him they both have ships and that didn’t matter. However, he vaguely mentioned another reason to race, the real reason Sora tried so hard that day on the island. Riku pointed at the symbol on his flag and Sora immediately pouted. He grabbed the wheel of the ship and told Kairi to countdown for the race. No one knew what they were racing for except them and a giggling Kairi, who had a pretty good idea on what it was about. She says go and then the cutscene ends.

Big Hero Six is exactly the same except Sora sees Riku Replica and is pretty sure he’s from castle oblivion. Vexen uses the knowledge Rikuplica favs him about making Baymax filled with suffering so he can fix Xion to her absolute peak. When he’s done, Isa informs him that a Demyx has ran off and orders Vexen to go bring him back. Which is actually code for “good job, now escape while you still can.” Vexen informs him that it would take an extremely strong connection for Xion to have any “unfortunate” memories of the past to resurface. Things play out normally until Zexion meets Ansem the wise. What happens this time? He tells Sora and friends that he’s back with Vexen. (That’s kinda important.)

Everyone rests up for the final battle. The Sora and Kair scene on destiny islands is now longer. Kairi asks if Sora is feeling like his old self again. Sora tells her that he is thanks to her never giving up on her. Both of them get quiet for a moment before Sora speaks again. He does confess that he’s still worried a bit. Every word he went to had one thing or another that ended up being too much for him alone, and couldn’t help but feel like it would’ve been different if he truly regained all of his power. Kairi tells him that he isn’t alone but he shakes his head because she’s missing the point. Sora wasn’t scared of the organization overwhelming him, but he was terrified of that he’d try protecting someone and fail. He admitted he was scared of losing her. Kairi admitted that tomorrow scared her too. Every adventure they went on together was filled with so many enemies and left her exhausted by the end of it. Now she was joining the war. Kairi felt more than a little unprepared despite all the prep she tried squeezing in. Sora tried asking if by any chance at all that she could wait here one more time and she refused outright. No matter how nervous she was about the whole thing, Kairi told Sora that she would never wait again. That they will protect each other no matter what. And for added luck, she hands him a papou fruit. Sora was shocked. Kairi simply smiled and placed it in his hand before grabbing another one. Sora pulled out her good luck charm to give it back but she said it’s basically his at this point. The two smiled gently and finally shared the fruit. You get OathKeeper

Keyblade war time! Woo! This is by far the easiest to put into words. Riku and Kairi are your party members for the 10,000 enemy battle because it’s a literal crime that the Destiny trio didn’t work together. You get past that and Terranort still bodies half the team. Aqua’s resolve starts the crumble as she races to Ven, he isn’t moving at all. Sora is left in a state of disbelief as Goofy and Mickey try getting Donald up, and Kairi checking on Axel. In no time at all, his fear seams to be coming true. They need to regroup. Unfortunately the demon tide appears and blocks the exit. Riku gathers the remaining forces to try and fend it off but seeing Ven taken out by Terra really shook Aqua. We see the shadows turn into Anti-Aquas as the real Aqua starts to slowy panic. She doesn’t even hear the others screaming her name, telling her to look out before Mickey and Goofy try saving her, but they’re all swept up. Now it’s the Destiny Trio vs the Demon Tide in a fight the player is forced to fight, but can’t win. No music plays, just the sound of the fight and the sight of the organization watching from above. Eventually Kairi slips up due to the overwhelming odds. Sora quickly tries to outrun the Demon Tide coming towards her but can’t. Sora screams for Riku’s help but turns to see nothing but his friends hand reaching for him before being swept away. He can’t hold it in anymore, Sora drops to his knees and screams. He wouldn’t have made it this far without all of them, but now they’re gone. Sora drops his keyblade, then is swept away.

He arrives in the final world and gets his task from chirithy. In the beginning he feels so defeated, then encounters Namine. Instead of her telling him that Kairi is keeping him together, Namine says that she can feel everyone connected to him doing their part. Sora has done so much to try and keep everybody safe and spent all this time with them during their adventure that it’s only natural that they would believe in him. Now Sora feels a twinge of guilt, he gave up way too soon. No way he can let that slide. He was going to make it up to them for this second chance. Sora tells Namine about all of these flooding emotions he’s had involving her and everyone else in castle oblivion. Namine is genuinely shocked. Despite the chains being broken, Sora retained the key events. He didn’t look at her like he did back in The World That Never Was. Sora had been talking to her like an old friend he hadn’t seen in years. Sora told Namine that he was going to save everyone, including her. He promised that they were going to get her a body and she had to wait just a bit longer. Namine believed him and said she will try to get in contact with Terra. For a moment it felt like Sora could actually see Namine smile at him instead of just being a star. Sora smiled back and told her thank you, for everything. He ran off to do his job. Namine simply watched and tried not to cry. Their promise really found a way for them to meet again in a way she would’ve never dreamed of. Instead of it fading away. You get oblivion.

Before Sora really starts piecing himself together, he encounters the mystery star, and then an extra star. This extra star follows him around and surprises Sora when it reveals himself to be Roxas. He tells Sora he should’ve expected this since Sora was barely hanging on himself! Sora sheepishly apologizes but Roxas isn’t too bothered by it because he knows it’s temporary. What bothers him is Xion. He tells Sora who she is and the reason he feels hurt when they’re around each other is because of Xion’s connection to himself. Roxas asks Sora to face Xion and embrace that hurt so they can save her. Sora agrees but wonders if he can handle it. So far all fights against her didn’t go well. Roxas tells him not to worry. All he needs Sora to do his try his hardest and Roxas will make up the difference. Sora has no doubt Roxas will and thanks him before heading off. Roxas continues to follow you just so you have someone to talk to. Sora puts himself together and opens a gate to go find the others. Chirihy tells Sora that for future reference not to use the power of waking like he’s about to and explains how incredibly dangerous it is. Sora nods and leaves.

Sora beats up The Lich like usual and Young Xehanort calls him dumb. Everyone gets rescued from the cusp of death, now thoroughly frustrated by how sloppy they were. They’re going full throttle this time.(Oblivion obtained!) The team runs towards the fight again. Aqua and Ven are ready for Terranort but Lingering Will beats them to the punch, taking Terranort away as they fight. The Demon Tide arrives again with heartless and you fight it with the Destiny Trio. The fight has custom team attacks and even a trinity limit. You win and it turns into the hurricane again. Union X keyblades show up. (It’s so cool.) Ventus puts his hand on his heart. He feels oddly happy. All the scenes leading up to the boss rush are the same.

Sora and Riku vs Xigbar and Dark Riku goes off without a hitch. Nothing changes with Xigbar but Dark Riku is different. The original Riku Replica takes over the vessel. It’s clear the other’s could use the help and Vexen is on the good guy’s side so they can make more, is his reasoning. The original Riku goes off to chase Ansem while Rikuplica stays with Sora. He tells Sora it’s nice to see him again and Sora couldn’t agree more. The two of them don’t even have to speak to know exactly where to go next. They rush over to help Mickey, swiftly beating Luxord and freeing him so he can go after Xemnas. Suddenly the war feels like an old grudge match. Sora and Rikuplica vs Larxene and Marluxia. The heroes point their weapons at their foes and tell them this one is for Namine. Marluxia is actually happy Sora finally remembers him. It makes this fight all the sweeter. The fight ends with the heroes win, but at a price. Larxene and Rikuplica had struck each other down at the same time. Sora rushes to his friend who was starting to fade. Rikuplica told him not to feel bad about it. He planned on giving up this vessel after the fight anyway. The only reason he took it was to make sure those two wouldn’t hurt Namine and to fight by Sora’s side again at least once. Rikuplica tells Sora to take care of her before fading away, leaving the vessel. Sora finally remembers Castle Oblivion in its entirety. He simply clenches his fist and accepts the hurt before pressing on.

Ventus and Aqua catch up to Vanitas and Terranort. Aqua demands to know what happened to the armor that appeared earlier and Terranort simply laughs. Enraged, Aqua summons Master’s defender and rushes in to fight. Ventus follows her lead and Sora joins in a few minutes later. While that’s happening, Riku rushes through the maze towards Ansem until he hears a familiar voice. It leads him to dark chains that suspend and crush Lingering Will until he cuts them. The armor is cracked but still functioning. He thanks Riku and starts heading off before Riku stops him. Riku hadn’t told Ven and Aqua but he found something else at Radiant Garden. He pulls out Terra’s wayfinder and gives it to the armor. Riku tells him to go protect what matters and heads off. Things aren’t going to well back at the battle. Terranort manages to break Ven’s keyblade and Vanitas rushes in after Aqua as she tries to save Ven. Sora is quick enough to try and take the hit for both of them but Lingering Will swoops in again to save them. They’re all stunned to see him. Terra thanks Sora for looking after his friends but he can take it from here. Sora nods and manages to escape the battle. Terra tries to convince Ven and Aqua to leave too but they flat out ignore him. They pull out their wayfinders and each one starts to glow. Aqua tells Terra from this point forward they fight as a team. She tosses Ven Master’s Defender and summons her original keyblade. Her and Ventus bring out their armor and stand beside Terra. Now the real fight begins. The fight gives you the same team attacks from the Mirage Arena and each character gets their original command style that transforms into their character exclusive one from bbs. Wingblade, Ghost Drive, and Rockbreaker; while Terranort uses Dark impulse and Vanitas loses his mask and fights like he does in the final phase against Ventus. Vanitas is the first to fall. He nearly beat a Ventus until the boy gained a boost of strength from seemingly nowhere, his swords of light turning into starlight keyblades and striking down Vanitas. He simply laughs, giving Ventus no answer to his many questions about Vanitas. The entire wayfinder trio is know souly focused on Terranort. Refusing to give up, the man summons the chains again and captures them. He goes after Aqua first who almost managed to break free. The others scream her and The Guardian rises from the shadows to save her. It breaks the chains and rips off the bandages. Ven quickly uses the keyblade to wrap Terranort in chains while Lingering Will holds his body down for The Gaurdian to fire his heart out. A massive beam of light shoots up before fading and only leaving the armor. Ven and Aqua are speechless until the armor lifts its helmet to reveal Terra underneath in tears. Ven and Aqua throw their helmets off too and ran into their friends arms. All three of them hugging and crying.

Sora runs right into the middle of Saix and Xion fighting Axel and Kairi. Instinctively he screams out Xion’s name and everything goes quiet. Axel is confused by the name until she finally takes off the hood to reveal the white hair and yellow eyes. His memory starts to reform bit by bit and he grabs his head. Sora and Kairi’s chest both feel heavy but for the first time, Xion doesn’t react. Because of all the experiments, the only thing she has is broken memories and the suffering from them. You begin fighting her alone but to no effect. Sora rememberers Roxas’s words and lets in the pain. Xion comes at him again but stops at the sound of her name, this time with Roxas’s voice coming out of Sora. Xion’s head gets a little fuzzy but it doesn’t break the rampage. Kairi and Axel manage to endure the pain as well and stand with Roxas/Sora. If one voice isn’t enough then they’ll all try calling to her as they knock some sense in into her. Sora/Roxas summons Two Become One. The three are ready. It’s now or never. After an intense 3v2 fight, Xion starts to mentally down in the middle of combat. Then the standard cutscene happens where Xemnas shows up. The only difference being Axel’s keyblade doesn’t break. Xemnas grabs Kairi with his lightning instead of her wrist and leaves. Sora tries running after her best Saix gets in the way until the Seasalt trio pushes him back. Roxas tells Sora to go after Kairi and leave this fight to them. Sora runs off and you basically play the Remind fight but with no Xemnas. It ends the same though.

The battle against the Nort court is the same. Kairi getting shattered is the same, as well as getting into Scala. Xion tells Sora she can still feel Kairi and for him to remember her words. The thirteen armors and Xehanort boss are all the same as well. The only difference I added was a clash that sent both Sora and Xehanort flying backwards. Sora gets up first and has the chance to end it but realizes the good luck charm had fallen to the ground in front of him. Sora picks it up and all the pent up anger frustration he has from Xehanort ruining his and his and friends lives gets put on a leash. Sora remembers Kairi’s words about never losing his smile. He can’t help but get emotional and once again asks Xehanort what was the point of any of this. Xehanort gives his speech about balance and the entire scene and plays out like normal. Next major change is the end. Riku and Mickey convince Sora to not use the Power of Waking right off the bat, fearing the consequences. Sora listens to their idea to see Yen Sid but even he isn’t sure how to get Kairi back but they’ll do their best to find her. Sora leaves to get some air outside. Riku can’t help but follow him outside minutes later and finds Sora looking at his keyblade. He calls out Sora’s name and the boy turns around and does a smile similar to when he released his heart in Hollow Bastion. Riku knows Sora better than he knows himself. He doesn’t even try to stop Sora, but tells him to be careful. Sora puffs out his chest and says he’ll be back with Kairi in no time at all. Sora asks Riku to tell the others thanks and not to worry before opening up a gate and walking through. The ending sequence plays out the same and then the credits roll.

ReMind is a bonus episode after getting the secret reports and nothing in it changes because it’s perfectly fine. The only added thing we get is Sora giving back the lucky charm before he fades away, telling Kairi to be sure and bring it back to him. Limit cut and secret episodes are DLC or more extra stuff but yeah, I’m done.

In Summary:Kingdom Hearts 3, but the characters interact with each other and are allowed to feel multiple emotions at a time for extended periods of time. I know I sound like I’m punching down on this game but I genuinely do love this franchise since forever and I have strong feelings about almost everything to do with it. Which is why I’m bummed that KH3 is like my least favorite kingdom hearts game. It has good things in it but falls short on so many scenes and opportunities. This soft rewrite was literally me taking 92% of what the game already had in it and rearranging it to create various new situations that inevitably end the same way it does in the actual game. So yeah I give this game a 7/13 I’m still buying every game though 💀 (I’m not getting into any of my ideas of how kh3 could’ve gone before we knew too much about it. Now that’s a rewrite!)

[blackcloverdatabase]

English Translation of Novel 3: Chapter 3 – The Sun Doesn’t Set For Troubled Women (Part 1 of 2)

Here’s the rom-com chapter from Book of Yuno! Apparently, there’s a holiday called Three Leaf Day in Clover Kingdom. Because of this, Bell, Noelle, and Charlotte are looking for a gift for their special someones. Get ready for a wild a ride. This is one disastrous trio.  

--- The Sun Doesn’t Set For Troubled Women: Part 1 ---

Three-Leaf Day.

Each leaf of the three-leaf clover has meaning attached to it: good faith, hope, and love. Three-Leaf Day is a special day which comes only once a year, where you a give a gift to someone in return for giving you at least one of these three things. That day is today. Thus, all the townspeople of every town were talking excitedly about to whom and what they were planning to give, and shopkeepers have been inviting customers to their stores with more enthusiasm than ever. It was a day which livened up the whole town…… no, the whole country.

However, among all this,

“Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm~~~~~~~~~~~”

Just before noon, in a corner of the shopping district of the royal capital, Bell let out a groan. She couldn’t decide on a present for Yuno.  She had wanted to prepare a gift for him earlier, but she and Yuno had been taking care of Gram (Julius’s pet pig) until just the other day, and then Mereoleona took them on a tour to that power spot (which was not a tour at all; they were coerced into capturing a dungeon). Anytime they had outside of Mereoleona’s unlawful abduction or being forced along with someone else’s schemes was spent training for the Royal Knights Selection Exam, so Bell didn’t have the time to go out into the city before today.

Finally finding the time to go, Bell came to the shopping district with the pocket money she had been saving up for a very long time now, but…… she couldn’t quite decide what to buy.

“……Huh? Aren’t you that wind spirit who’s always with Yuno? Bell, was it……?”

While she was looking in distress at the clothing showcased at the front of the store, Bell heard a voice call out to her from the side. When she turned to see who it was, she saw a girl with beautifully long, straight silver hair wearing big, black-rimmed glasses.

‘I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before……,’ Bell thought to herself. Then, looking as if she had just remembered something, the silver-haired girl gasped and suddenly turned around.

“S-sorry. I mistook you for someone else!”

“No, you’re not wrong, and how would you mistake someone my size for someone else, anyway? ……AH!”

Realizing where she had seen her face before, Bell circled around toward the front of the silver-haired girl and yanked her glasses from her face.

“Ah, hey! Return those at onc-

“…I knew it! You were at Mereoleona’s hot spring camp, right?

Generally speaking, Bell had no interest in anyone other than Yuno and herself, so she wasn’t very good at remembering the names and faces of other people. However, this girl left a bit of an impression on Bell since she often saw her with her detestable rival…… Asta.

��If I recall, this girl’s name is…...’

“Your name was…… Noelle, right? Your hairstyle looks different today, but you’re Noelle, aren’t you?”

“!!”

Upon hearing her name called by Bell, the silver-haired girl, AKA Noelle, became visibly agitated as she opened and closed her mouth again, until finally, with a face so red that it reached her ears, she screamed,

“Y-y-you’re mistaken! It’s not like I…… came here to buy a present for Asta or anything!!”

“I haven’t said anything, though?”

“I-I was just shopping for myself, and…… I thought that, while I was here, maybe I should look around a bit for a gift, but I didn’t come here with that intention!! So don’t say anything weird!!

“Like I said, I never said anything!”

“……Huh!?”

There, Noelle came to her senses and looked around at her surroundings. The people around them had stopped in their tracks, staring at her in surprise. It was only natural. After all, she screamed so loudly in the middle of town. Bell scratched her cheek awkwardly as she said,

“…...Umm, a-anyway, how about we get out of here?”

Unusually for her, she actually read the mood of this place.

 “I-I’m telling the truth! I’m just giving him a gift out of courtesy, like during Valentine’s Day**!”

“Jeez~, I get it, okay? You’re so stubborn!”

After their escape, Bell and Noelle talked as they walked through the city. Her full name was Noelle Silva, member of the Black Bulls. She was cursing her blunder from earlier. Today, she was planning to buy a gift for Asta incognito. She even bothered putting on a light disguise, and she has been wandering about through town since early this morning. However, she was surprised when she saw that Bell was also there, and so she talked to her without thinking. Having exposed her own identity and ever her purpose for coming here, she was just about ready to blow a fuse.

“Also, don’t tell anyone about today……”

And now, she was walking with Bell, trying to convince her to keep her secret…… or rather, she was just trying to correct her misunderstanding. That’s all.

“Sure, whatever.”

Bell sighed before continuing,

“…...You know, I don’t think there’s any reason for you to be embarrassed about giving something to someone important to you. If anything, I think that’s a very lovely thing to do.”

“H-he’s not that important to me!”

“You’re more trouble than I thought…… Then, I’ll rephrase. Imagine that the person you were planning to buy a gift for bought a gift for you.”

Upon being told this, the movie reel of Noelle’s imagination began to play. She imagined that Asta worked with all his might to choose a present for her. And, as he handed it to her, he had his usual innocent smile as he said,

“Thanks for everything, Noelle!”

Then, he grabs her shoulders, and……

Suddenly, Noelle was filled with so much happiness that she melted, a smile spontaneously forming on her face.

“See? You’re ridiculously happy about this!”

“……A-am n-eh heh heh. I’m not happy at all!”

“You’re angry, but you’re still smiling…… Anyhow,”

Bell zipped right in front of Noelle’s nose as she said with furrowed brows,

“A gift is something you choose while thinking about that person, trying your very hardest to make that person happy! A gift implies that the other person spent that time thinking about you! That’s why receiving a gift is such a happy thing! It’s rude to the person you’re buying a gift for if you buy it all sneaky like that!”

“Y-you talk too much! It makes it hard for me to talk back to you!”

“What’s with you trying to get the last words in! We’re ending this argument here and now!”

While the two argued with each other, at that moment,

THUD

They heard a sound from behind them, causing the townspeople to clamor about. Bell and Noelle turned around, where they saw beautiful woman with hazelnut-blonde hair had collapsed to the floor.

“H-hey, are you alright!?”

Without a moment’s delay, Noelle rushed over to the woman, lifting her body in her arms.

“……Huh?”

The woman spoke. She wore a beret, as well as a scarf which covered her mouth. Thus, it took a moment for Noelle to notice, but this beautiful woman was……

“……Captain Charlotte?”

 “I-is it really alright for you to be walking so soon?”

“…..Yes. You needn’t worry. I just got a little dizzy while shopping. My apologies.”

“Jeez~ be careful, okay? We thought something happened.”

After that, Noelle, Charlotte, and Bell all walked together through the town as they talked. The Captain of the Blue Roses, Charlotte Roselei, was cursing her blunder from earlier. Today, Charlotte had put on a light disguise to buy a gift for Yami incognito, but then she saw Bell and Noelle walking through town. They looked like they were looking to buy a gift, so she decided to follow behind them to use them as a reference for what she should buy.

But…… she messed up. She had overheard their conversation, when Bell told Noelle to imagine being given a gift from the person she was planning to buy a gift for. This caused Charlotte to begin imagining the same. She imagined that Yami worked with all his might to choose a present for her. She imagined him saying something to the effect of,

“I like strong women, but that cute side of you ain’t bad either.”

As he wrapped something like a necklace around her neck, and…...

Suddenly, her blood rushed to her face, and, before she knew it, she fell to the ground.

“……Knowing of this would only cause my squad members to worry, so could you please keep the fact I fainted a secret……? A-also, if you could not tell anyone that I was here…”

Charlotte walked with them, frantically trying to convince them to keep her secret… or rather, she was just trying to convince them not to worry about her. That’s all.

Bell completely rethought her earlier stance and clapped her hands together as she said cheerily,

“Well, this is perfect! The three of us can go shopping together!”

“……Huh?”

The two said this simultaneously with eyes wide in shock at Bell’s sudden proposal. Well, perhaps it was not so abrupt after all. It was only natural to do this after meeting fellow acquaintances in town. Also, being able to consult with someone else as they shopped for a gift sounded great. However, Noelle and Charlotte also thought,

‘If I do as she suggested, isn’t it going to look like I’m really enthusiastic about buying a gift for him……!?’

‘I want to be like “Well, I guess it can’t be helped,” but……’

These girls were truly troublesome. However, Bell said the magical words they needed.

“I’m looking for a gift for Yuno, but I’ve been having a lot of trouble deciding what to buy him. If we discuss it with one another, then we can all decide on what to buy, right?”

“!!”

With those words, the two were grinning ear to ear internally, but they tried not to show that on the outside. Noelle responded first.

“Hmph…… Well, I guess it can’t be helped~ If you’re going to be that insistent about it, then I guess I can shop with you.”

“If you put it like that, then I cannot refuse you…… Ah! Aah, that’s right! A few days ago, during the Star Festival, I ended up owing a small debt to Yami! I’d hate to leave it unpaid, so maybe I should buy him something…... Ha ha, this is a good opportunity, after all. Let’s do it.”

After Noelle, Charlotte responded with a tone of voice that would suggest that she found all this to be a bit of a bother, but her inner enthusiasm was so great that it showed in her gait. An acquaintance of hers was buying a gift, so of course she would “help” and accompany her.

‘If I can approach from this angle, then it’s not so bad……!’

These girls were truly troublesome. Not knowing of such troublesome considerations, or rather, not being interested in the troubles of others, Bell quipped, “Well then, it’s decided!” and sat on Noelle’s shoulder.

“Ah, I’m so glad! I’m beat after flying around for so long. Plus, I stand out more when I’m by myself.”

“…I bet that was your goal this whole time.”

‘She’s annoyingly cute……,’ Noelle thought. Noelle then asked Charlotte,

“Well, whatever…… Anyway, where should we go first?”

“Central avenue should be fine, right? Most things can be found there.”

Charlotte answered as she walked beside Noelle. At that moment,

“……Huh? Big Sis? You’re Big Sis, right?”

“!!”

Hearing a voice she knew all too well call out to her from behind, Charlotte stopped dead in her tracks. She turned her head in an unnatural fashion, much like a robot, only to see…

“It is Big Sis! And you’re wearing civilian clothes…… You look so good in civilian clothes! What a treat!”

Sol Marron, squad member of the Blue Roses and Charlotte’s close aide. Standing behind her were several more members of the Blue Roses.

“Oh, hello…… Sol…… Fancy meeting you here.”

For the time being, she was able to return Sol’s greeting with dignity and grace, but, internally, Charlotte was thinking,

‘……T-this is bad. If they find out I was planning to give a gift to a man, they’ll……!’

The Blue Roses was a squad who hated men, and Charlotte ruled this squad at the top. She had no clue what they would tell her if they found out she was going to give a gift to a man.

‘I mustn’t allow them to find out……’

Charlotte thought to herself vehemently. In contrast to Charlotte, Sol indifferently came closer to them.

“Oh, on Noelle…… it’s the wind spirit! What a rare honor~”

“……So. what. are you all. doing here?”

Charlotte unintentionally butchered the coherence of her words as she asked. Sol…... and the rest of the Blue Roses shouldn’t have had any missions that would require them to be here, so why…...?

“We heard that the Original Sin was sighted around here. We came to ask around about that.”

‘That Original Sin! To think that it would show itself even here! As one would expect from such a dangerous magic tool!’

While Charlotte thought this angerly, Sol tilted her head to the side with a grin.

“So, why were you here, Big S-

Before Sol could finish, Noelle interjected as if she were about to blow a fuse,

“To-today, we’re helping Bell shop!”

In response, Charlotte nodded her head so vigorously that she looked like she was headbanging. That’s right. In her agitation, Charlotte had not realized this, but there was no need for her to be so worried. Right now, they had a convenient excuse.

However, those feelings of safety lasted only for a second. The reason being that Noelle, caught up in her own temper, declared,

“C-Captain Charlotte and I also, um, p-plan to buy a gift, but only…… only because this is a good chance to do so!”

‘HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!’

While screaming internally, Charlotte glared at Noelle with all her might, but it was already too late.

“……Present……?”

The second they heard Noelle, Sol, as well as all the Blue Roses members behind her, narrowed their eyes sharply. Then, to make things worse, Bell, in her inability to read the mood, dropped this bombshell.

“That’s right. We’re all going to buy a gift for the person precious to us. Eh heh heh, isn’t that great~?”

‘HOW ABOUT I DO SOMETHING “GREAT” TO YOU, HUUUH!!?’

Charlotte thought to herself as she glared at Bell, but to no avail. Her squad members’ narrowed eyes were so sharp that they shone like daggers.

“……The person…… precious to you…...?”

“Y-you’re mistaken…… before drawing any conclusions, you should listen to a person’s whole story……”

While trying to calm down her squad members, Charlotte was racking her brain, trying to think up a good excuse.

“……I’m listening. I’m listening, all right. If it’s Big Sis, I’ll listen to whatever you have to say……”

However, before Charlotte could think of an idea, Sol stepped forward with a sway, drawing nearer toward Charlotte. She opened her eyes, revealing that the light had completely disappeared from them, and sloppily tilted her head to the side as she hoarsely said,  

“……So, tell me…… the person you plan to give a gift to…… your precious person…... who is it?”

She sounded like an evil spirit as she spoke. She spoke with such vigor that Charlotte felt like if she answers this spirit incorrectly, she’ll haunt her for the rest of her life…… no, she’ll haunt her even into the next world while groaning, “Big Sis…… we’ll be together forever… forever……,” or something. Even so, Charlotte couldn’t think of a good reply. What should she tell her to escape such a difficult situation……?

“……A ‘precious person’…… I know!”

Though Charlotte felt cornered, she found a clue in those words and said,

“……Good grief. I guess it can’t be helped that you would find out.”

She sighed, then, one by one, she looked at Sol and all the other members of the Blue Roses straight in the eyes before quietly saying with a smile,

“My precious person…… that’s all of you, the members of the Blue Roses.”

“………!!”

The sound of falling in love echoed inside every single member of the Blue Roses, and a vision of a flower garden spread across the background. Charlotte continued,

“Our rank in this year’s Star Festival went up by one compared to last year, remember? That was all thanks to the strenuous effort you put forth every day. That’s why I planned on secretly preparing gifts for all of you, but…… it seems that I’ve been found out.”

“Aah……. Ah……. Aah! B-Big Sis……. Big Sis Big Sis Big Sis!!”

A stream of tears flooded from Sol’s eyes as she staggered before sinking to the floor.

“Even if it was only for a second, I can’t believe I doubted such a wonderful person who’s so thoughtful about her squad! I’m such a fool!!”

Sol began bashing her forehead against the stone pavement. The surrounding pedestrians were shocked by the sight, and mothers with small children quietly covered their children’s eyes before walking away.

“That’s enough, Sol. I should be the one apologizing for confusing you, so please stop that.”

‘Because that’s honestly terrifying to watch……,’ Charlotte thought. This snapped Sol out of it. Charlotte then declared,

“The Blue Roses is an honorable squad composed of only the purest of women! From here on, let us complete our duties with zeal so that we do not fall behind those other squads led by such vulgar, vile men! Do I make myself clear!?”

“Yes ma’am!”

Charlotte sent them off with those words, and the members of her squad walked away with 70% more fighting spirit than before. Charlotte waited until they slipped into the crowd before gripping her chest. Although she somehow managed to avoid a crisis, it still hurt her heart that she had to trick them like that. Moreover, buying presents for ten people is going to be quite painful as well… for her wallet, that is. While Charlotte was thinking this, Noelle and Bell said in surprise,

“You’re amazing, Captain Charlotte…… you’re giving a gift to Captain Yami AND all the members of your squad?”

“You sure are generous~ But are you really going to be okay? Aren’t you going to run out of money that way?”

‘This is your fault!’

Of course, as much as she wanted to, Charlotte didn’t say this. Instead, she replied with,

“If it’s just every once and a while, it’s fine.”

A suitable reply. In truth, the one keeping secrets is her. It’s not those girls’ fault. They’re airheads, but it’s not their fault.

……At any rate, just meeting a few acquaintances caused this much of a fuss. She had the feeling that that there were other traps lying in wait as well. She could tell that this shopping trip was not going to be a smooth one.

“……Anyway, shall we go? Our time is limited.”

Although this incident marked only the beginning of their troubles, the girls’ quest to choose a gift had begun. With the curtain rising on their quest, the three of them came to a large street which cut through the shopping district. A variety of stores, both large and small, lined both sides of the street, where a wide variety of goods were on display. The three of them decided that they would start at the beginning and walk down this street, thinking that they would surely find something worth buying here. As they walked, Bell became completely stumped for the second time that day as she said to Noelle,  

“I know I’m repeating myself, but having so many choices makes it even harder to choose.”

“You’ll just have to start by narrowing down your choices, like by picking out things that would look good on Yuno.”

“Hmmm, but……”

Bell glanced at all the people walking through the street before looking straight into Noelle’s eyes.

“My Yuno is so handsome that he can’t possibly be compared with any of those other guys! He’s so stylish that he looks good in absolutely anything, and every accessory you could possibly find looks like it was made for him!”

“You don’t have to say it so bluntly.”

Noelle wondered if the concept of “humility” existed in the spirit world.

“If you can’t decide on what would look good on him, why not buy something he can use?”

Charlotte said as they walked toward a nearby clothing store. While rummaging through the clothes that were piled at the front of the store, her face flushed a bit red as she continued,

“For example…... Yami wears the same kind of tank top every day, right? If I buy him something like that, no matter how many he already has, he’s sure to use it, I think.”

Hearing Charlotte’s opinion, Bell said with a displeased look on her face,

“That doesn’t sound fun at all. That’s no different than if he bought it himself.”

“That’s why you choose a different design than what he normally would, or you choose something made with higher-grade materials. Then, when he needs to wear something more formal or if he just feels like wearing something a little different, he can wear what you bought him.”

“I see……”

Noelle nodded in agreement. As one would expect from her senior, not to mention a captain of the Magic Knights. Perhaps what she said wasn’t all that special, but Noelle was impressed that Charlotte could come up with such an idea so quickly and put it into action. Her taste in clothing must be superb as well.

Before long, Charlotte picked out a shirt from the pile and turned around toward Noelle and Bell.

“Something that he wouldn’t normally choose himself, as well as something a little more expensive than what he usually buys…… In other words, something like this.”  

Saying this, the shirt she presented to them was…...

“………”

A tank top with black skulls plastered all over it, one of incredibly poor taste.  Red studs lined its sleeves and collar, and there were gold chains strewn across here and there.

“I was thinking something on the lines of this, but…… what do you two think?”

For some reason, Charlotte had a smug look on her face as she held the tank top(?) in front of her and asked for their thoughts. Noelle and Bell were brutally honest with their answers.

“It’s so lame, I could vomit.”

“If I had a boyfriend who wore that, I’d break up with him.”

“I see. Well, I must say, I really outdid myself this…… HUH!? Wai- what!? I-It’s no good!?”

Charlotte couldn’t believe what they just said. As if to shock her even further, Bell ridiculed,

“Of course it’s no good! That’s not something expensive that he wouldn’t buy for himself, that’s something pointlessly expensive that nobody would ever buy for themselves.”

“Wha-, but…… i-isn’t this cool!? It even has chains!”

“So what!? Actually, that’s exactly why it sucks! Both fashionably speaking and functionally speaking!”

“No, but…… it has skulls……”

“You can’t just buy something just because it has skulls! Just how much appeal do you think skulls have, huh!?”

Charlotte Roselei: 27 years old. Before now, she has never bought a man a gift. She remembers giving her father a gift when she was very young, but giving gifts to blood relatives isn’t really comparable to giving gifts to a member of the opposite sex. Moreover, the last time she gave a gift to him was when she was 10 years old. In other words, her sense of gift giving hasn’t matured since then. This serious accident was the result of her trying to join two words she heard boys around her at that age describe as “cool”, such as “skulls” or “chains”.

Not knowing of Charlotte’s circumstances, Bell let out a sigh and said,

“Get yourself together. Let me just say this in advance, I’ve already prepared my main gift for Yuno. I’m just looking for something a little extra to buy for him today!”

“……Wait, Bell. You say you already bought your main gift for Yuno?”

Noelle said in surprise.

“Of course I have!”

As she said this, Bell puffed out her chest with pride. Charlotte somewhat sadly returned the tank top to where she found it and sighed,

“……. Please tell us these things sooner. Didn’t we agree that we would use each other’s gifts as a reference to help us choose our own?”

“So, what did you buy?”

After Noelle asked her this, Bell self-importantly paused to add a moment of suspense before saying with a smug look on her face,

“I didn’t buy it! I wrote it……. I wrote a poem about forty cantos** long, all for Yuno!”

‘…………Eww’

Not noticing that the two had backed away from her, Bell started a longwinded speech while gesturing grandiosely with her arms, much like an actor would on stage.

“How much I think about Yuno every day, how much I love Yuno, what it is I love about Yuno…… even forty cantos wasn’t enough to fit it all in, but I composed it using the love I have for him every day. Fu fu, I’m sorry! My gift is far too amazing to be usable as a reference for the two of you!”

Charlotte and Noelle interjected before Bell could get any further.

“You have a lot of nerve making fun of my sense of gift giving when you yourself are in possession of such hazardous material.”

“You’d be better off throwing it away as soon as you can.”

“HUUH!?”

Bell yelled, absolutely livid, but Noelle tilted her head like a delinquent and returned fire.

“Don’t you “HUUH!?” me! A letter might be okay, but a poem…… if I received something like that, I wouldn’t know what to do with it! I’d just be plain terrified!”

“How rude! Every time he reads it, he would feel my love for him, wouldn’t he!?”

“That’s why it’s so terrifying! It’s almost stalker-like…… No, even a stalker would say “No, I’d never do that!”!”

“But I even have it all bound into a book! The book even has a ribbon!”

“No buts! All that just adds to the creepiness! I mean, what’s up with you!? I have no doubts anymore. You’re nuts!”

The wind spirit, Bell: age unknown. She loves Yuno, and she also loves herself. She loves hearing herself talk, she loves what she does, and she loves what she writes. In short, she thinks that anything she creates must be good, which means that the poetry she wrote must, of course, be good. Anybody would be happy to receive it. She would later testify that it was this distorted love that led to such a crime.

“G-grrrr!! If you’re gonna go that far, then let’s hear what you plan on buying!”

Bell retaliated in tears. In response, Noelle pushed up her glasses and said,

“I’ve known what I was going to buy him since the moment we came here…… it’s over there.”

Full of confidence, she pointed her finger at a store where a cat plush holding a grimoire was displayed. It was a specialty store, dedicated to selling book pouches.

‘……That’s a good idea, actually,’ Bell and Charlotte thought.

Book pouches are made of sturdy materials, but they can break, especially if they get damaged by a foe’s attack, so many Magic Knights like to have spares on hand. On the other hand, there are many slovenly men who don’t bother to buy another book pouch until their old one has completely fallen apart. In other words, just as Charlotte was saying earlier, it was something that the other person won’t be troubled by having more than one of, while also being something he wouldn’t buy for himself. In addition, book pouches often feature rather tame designs, so something like the tank top incident they had earlier is unlikely to occur if you buy a book pouch.

“I see…… not bad, Noelle.”

Charlotte said without thinking. Bell, too, couldn’t deny that Noelle’s choice was a good one once she saw where Noelle was pointing, begrudgingly admitting,

“W-well, that’s not a bad choice……”

Noelle flipped her silver hair over her shoulder with a swish.

“Of course. It’s one of a kind, so I’m sure he’ll be happy with it.”

She walked toward the specialty shop as she talked…… but, for some reason, she stopped before entering the shop. She then started cuddling the two-meter cat plush that was displayed at the front of the store to attract customers and boasted,

“But, this is the gift I’m giving to Asta! You two should find your own gifts!”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not for sale! And wait a second, you were talking about the cat!?”

Charlotte retorted without a moment’s delay, causing Noelle to look around restlessly.

“Huh?...... Yes, but……? What else would I be talking about?”

“Plenty! In fact, of all the things you could have chosen here, why would you choose that! No matter how I look at it, wouldn’t that just be in the way!? It’s too big!”

“But that’s what makes it so cute!”

Noelle Silva: 15 years old. Her tastes are rather simple, but they can also be a bit odd at times.

“You’ve lost me! All I can say to you is that you have completely lost me!”

Completely unaware of this aspect of Noelle, Charlotte retorted with all her might, completely out of her usual character…… and then, at that moment, the three of them realized –

They all suck at this.

All three of them were somewhat aware of the fact that their tastes were a bit “off”. They decided to go on this shopping trip together in an attempt to remedy that, but…… they never thought they’d all be this far gone. All they’ve been doing is roasting each other and getting roasted. This hasn’t gotten them any closer to choosing the right gift, and, at this rate, they’re never going to get to the right choice. They’ll only continue to wander eternally through an endless corridor filled with bad choices. Recognizing the danger of their current predicament, they silently exchanged glances with each other.

“……U-um, excuse me? Did you w-want something…… from my store?”

A woman came out from the store which sold book pouches and fearfully spoke to the three of them.

“……….!!”

All three of them turned toward the woman in an instant before turning back toward each other and nodding. Then, after wordlessly hatching up a plot together, they all stepped toward the shopkeeper. Now that things have come to this, they’ll have to rely on their last resort,

“……I want to buy a present, but what would you recommend?”

Consulting the shop owner.

— To be continued in Part 2 —

This isn’t quite “half” of the chapter since this was the best break-point I could find and I had to study for exams, but I promise part 2 is longer than this one. The below are some supplementary notes about this chapter:

** In Japan, there are two types of chocolate a woman can buy for a man on Valentine’s Day. Giri chocolate is “obligatory chocolate"  and is given to male coworkers or colleagues in expression of friendship, gratitude, etc. In contrast, Honmei chocolate is inspired by romantic interest and given to husbands, boyfriends, or a potential love interest if confessing on Valentine’s Day is your thing. The idea is that, when Noelle gives Asta a gift, she’s going to insist it’s like giri chocolate. It’s not honmei or anything, b-baka!

** A Canto is a subdivision or part in a narrative or epic poem, consisting of five or more lines

** The original title is Kojirase Joshi wa Tasogarenai. Kojirase Joshi doesn’t translate well into English, and is a term that required a ton of research (well, in the sense that you can’t find it in a dictionary so you just look it up on Yahoo Japan instead). Apparently, it’s a slang term coined in 2011 from Amamiya Mami’s book, Joshi wo Kojirasete. It refers to young women who "just can't get it right”, hapless in love and lacking self-confidence in their own femininity. It can even describe women who have an inferiority complex about their own femininity, which causes them to have difficulties in their social life. In short, they’re troubled women, hence my decision for the title of this chapter.

[superspoonie24]

Stay With Me

So that scene in Tangled when they’re underwater... what if? Rapunzel swallowed some water... and that caused some problems...

1824 words of Eugene being the best prince ever. 

Please don’t ask me about how this works cause I have no clue. I just be writing, I’m not in charge.  💛

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27004114

"And you're still going back?" Eugene asked, incredulous of the magic girl sitting across from him.

"No. Yes? I- I don't know," Rapunzel coughed.

"Are you okay?" Asked the wanted thief.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. Just a little tired."

Rapunzel brushed back her hair and looked up at Eugene.

"Oh no," Eugene started after catching a glimpse of her big green puppy dog eyes. "I'll spare you the poor sob-story of orphan Eugene Fitzherbert."

Rapunzel scooted closer to him and gave him another puppy dog pout.

"Alright..."

Eugene regailed Rapunzel with the story of his childhood as they sat around the dying fire. Rapunzel interrupted him a few times with her coughing, and the occasional question, but Eugene continued on. By the end of it, Rapunzel looked mighty tired, but not because of Eugene's story-telling.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked, still worried about the girl with the magic hair.

"Yea, I'm fine. Just tired I guess. Big day and all."

"Yea..." Eugene looked at Rapunzel and noticed her labored breathing. "Well I'm gonna go get some more fire wood. Why don't you take it easy and hold down the fort."

"Wha- what fort?" Rapunzel asked, her eyes wide as she looked around for whatever a 'fort' was.

"It's an expression, not an actual- you know what, nevermind. I'll explain it when I come back."

Eugene walked off into the woods to gather more firewood. Rapunzel wanted to go with him, but she found it hard to even move.

"Well I thought he'd never leave!" Shouted Gothel from behind Rapunzel.

Rapunzel slowly turned around on the log. She tried to stand, but her body wouldn't.

"Mother? How did you find me?"

"Oh easy dear. I listened for the sound of complete and utter betrayal and followed that." She stepped forward and grabbed her wrist. "Come on dear, we're going home."

"No!" Rapunzel shouted. She yanked her wrist away and started coughing. She nearly toppled over off the log.

"No?" Gothel sneered.

She went on to lecture Rapunzel about how 'proud' she was that she found the wanted thief. Rapunzel did her best to fight it, but it felt like her energy was draining. When Gothel tossed the precious satchel, Rapunzel almost tipped over. And when Gothel finished she couldn't even call out for her to wait. Each breath was harder and harder to take. By the time Eugene came back, she was nearly blue.

"Blondie! You're blue!" Eugene shouted. He dropped the firewood and rushed over to her. "Did you swallow any of the water?"

Rapunzel nodded her head and coughed.

"shirt" Eugene cursed. "We have to get you to town, now."

Rapunzel tried to stand but fell over, revealing the poorly hidden satchel. Eugene's eyes drifted to the brown bag he once valued above all else.

"When did you- nevermind. It's not important. We have to hurry."

Eugene helped Rapunzel stand and wrapped his arm under her shoulder. He was about to carry her to the kingdom when Maximus showed up.

"Max!" Eugene cheered. "No time to explain. She's hurt and needs our help. Can you carry her to the doctor?"

Maximus stood and stared at the man he was just chasing hours ealier. He looked relieved to see him, but panic was in his eyes. Max looked over to the blonde girl, who despite being blue still managed to smile at him. Max knew helping the girl was the right thing to do. Plus then he could arrest Flynn Rider.

Max neighed and gestured to his back. Eugene instantly draped Rapunzel over his saddle and started to walk next to the palace horse.

"Thank you," Eugene said as they started to move forward.

Max stopped and looked at Eugene. He neighed and gestured back. Eugene took the hint and hopped on Maximus's back. Rapunzel's head fell onto Eugene's chest. His heart pounded faster and faster with each of her labored breaths.

"Alright Max. Let's see how fast you can run."

Max took off and Eugene held on tight. He forgot all about the satchel and didn't notice the woman watching them.

At the break of dawn, Max kicked in the doctor's door, nearly giving the poor man a heart attack. Eugene hopped off the horse and Rapunzel fell into his arms.

"She swallowed some water when the dam broke. She started coughing a few hours ago, and her breathing is labored. She turned blue and since has been in and out of consciousness. Please," Eugene begged. "Can you help us?"

The old man stroked his beard as he took in the unlikely trio: Maximus, the number one palace horse, Flynn Rider, the notorious thief, and the girl who's hair resembled the sun.

"Please, put her on the bed."

Eugene immediately layed Rapunzel down; she looked almost like an angel, resting in her bed of golden hair.

"Now let's take a looksee, miss-"

"Rapunzel," Eugene answered.

"Rapunzel." The doctor stopped for a second to take in her hair which was trailed out the door. "That's a lot of hair."

"You have no idea." Eugene laughed off his fear.

"The- song-" Rapunzel coughed. She sat up and the doctor handed her a nearby bowl, which she emptied the contents of her stomach into.

"Right!" Eugene smacked his head so hard Pascal could feel it. "Do you want me to sing it?"

Rapunzel nodded before laying back down. Her eyes were drifting shut. Eugene feared it would be forever.

"No no no, Rapunzel!" He shouted as he rushed to her side. "Stay with me. Breathe in, breathe out" He brushed back her hair and rested his hand on her forehead. She did her best to take slow breaths, but each one was harder than the next.

"What were the words dammit!" He cursed.

Max and the doctor looked at each other and then to the couple. Before either could ask a question, Eugene started singing.

Rapunzel's hair slowly started to glow as Eugene's melodic voice filled the room. Pascal stood on his shoulder and told Max and the doctor not to freak out. As the song finished, Rapunzel's coughing stopped and her lips returned to their normal pink color. Both the doctor's and the horse's jaws hung open as they witnessed the magic before them. The doctor knew immediately who she was.

"Maximus, go get a guard. Now!" The doctor shouted.

Eugene started to panic and placed himself between the doctor and Rapunzel.

"Look. I know I'm public enemy number 1 right now, but please. I had no other choice but to bring her here. I've seen too many kids die at the orphanage because of this. I couldn't let her suffer the same fate."

Rapunzel squeezed his hand tight. She slowly sat up, her head spinning slightly.

"Eugene?" She whispered in his ear. "What's wrong? How did we get here?"

"It's okay blondie," he replied, shoving down his fears. "I'll explain later. For now, just stay behind me."

Guards busted in the room and pointed their bows at Eugene. He swallowed and felt Rapunzel tremble behind him.

"That's her. That's the lost princess. I'd recognize that magic healing anywhere."

Everyone turned to the doctor and looked shocked, but none more confused than Rapunzel. Then the guards turned to Rapunzel, lowered the weapons, and bowed. Eugene looked at Rapunzel, still holding her hand, and then to the doctor.

"Son, you just risked your life to save the lost princess. And you didn't even know it."

Eugene's mouth dropped and his free hand fumbled with his hair.

"Well that's not what I expected to happen."

Rapunzel still didn't understand what was happening. She held onto Eugene tight as more people bust through the door.

"Your majesties!" The doctor shouted.

Eugene gulped when he saw the King he had just robbed not a day earlier.

"Your daughter has returned."

The king and queen moved to hug their daughter, but Rapunzel finally snapped.

"What is going on!" She shouted. Everyone froze in place and watched as their princess started to cry. "Last I remember Eugene and I were by the campfire and Mother had returned the satchel. Then I had a dream we were flying through the forest and I wake up here! Please, someone tell me what's going on."

Eugene hugged Rapunzel and stroked her back as she cried.

"It's okay. Just breathe. In and out. Slow."

Eugene breathed with her until she stopped panicking.

"Better?" He asked, wiping away her tears. She nodded her head.

"Okay. Let's answer your questions one at a time. You swallowed some water when the dam broke and so you were essentially drowning, but the effect was delayed." Eugene looked at the doctor and he nodded. "I'd seen it a lot in the orphanage, and I knew you needed help. I was gonna carry you, but Max showed up and he gave us a ride. You must've passed out."

Rapunzel slowly nodded. "That was probably why I thought we were flying. I've never been on a horse before." Rapunzel smiled and Eugene laughed. "Did Mother follow us? She gave me the satchel and said you would leave me as soon as I gave it to you. I don't know where it went. Or where she is..."

"Right, the satchel." Eugene rubbed his neck, looking embarrassed. "I left it back at camp when Max showed up."

"Is it with the fort?" Rapunzel asked with a joking smile.

Eugene laughed with her. "Yup. Must be. And as for 'Mother', that brings us to the next question."

Eugene stepped to the side and allowed Rapunzel to look at the king and queen of Corona.

"You know those lights you so desperately want to see? Well, they're for the lost princess. 18 years ago she was kidnapped from her parents, the king and queen. She was born with long golden hair and bright green eyes. No one has seen her for 18 years. That is, until today."

Rapunzel stared the king and queen. They looked so familiar. Then she had a flashback to her first memory of her parents, her true parents, standing above her. Next to them was a sun floating in the sky, the same sun on the King's chest and the guard's metal shirts. Her head started to spin as everything started to make sense.

She looked up at the king and queen, tears in her eyes.

"Mom? Dad?"

The king and queen rushed over to their daughter and held her tight.

"You're safe honey. You're home."

Eugene watched as the royal family wad reunited. The queen extended her hand and pulled him into the family hug.

That night the royal family launched lanterns into the sky in celebration: the lost princess had returned. Mother Gothel was caught trying to sneak into the palace, along with the Stabbington brothers. Rapunzel was finally safe and lived the rest of her life surrounded by love and light. Her dream had finally come true.