#cat catches up on c2 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thebest-medicine · 1 year ago

Text

Day 29: Wake Up!

Tickletober 2023 - Critical Role - C2 Mighty Nein - lee!Caleb

[see my other tickletober 2023 fics]

A/N: Do you like Poly Nein? Polymorph? Sweet couch snuggles? Kitty cats? Please enjoy this Beau Yasha Caleb snuggly fic. [read on AO3]

Words: 1.1k

—

Yasha is splayed out on one of the lounge chairs in the tower, Beau curled up against her side, and in her lap a fluffy orange tabby cat purrs quietly.

There was something so soft and sweet about being a cat for a while - Caleb found polymorphing to be a nice (and less direct) way to relax and show his friends physical affection. Plus, the radiating hum of his purring really felt like it had some kind of healing magic of its own. Yasha pets gently down Catleb’s neck and back. He buzzes happily, pressing into her hand. She reaches around to his chin and scritches sweetly. Catleb can’t help but lean into her fingers. A soft snore comes from Beau’s direction, startling the barely conscious cat.

“Ooo, you’re okay.” Yasha comforts him as she brings over the hand that was wrapped around Beau over and starts to scritch at both sides of Catleb’s chin. “You’re such a good boy.” She scrunches her nose and smiles.

One downside to polymorphing is that it sometimes messes with Caleb’s impeccable sense of time. He tends to be more… forgetful with his non-human brain. Tonight is one of those nights, but Catleb and Yasha are oblivious as he purrs loudly and rubs his face into her scritching fingers.

There is a familiar but unexpected whoosh of magic as Catleb returns to his natural form, and Yasha suddenly finds herself with a lap full of lanky human wizard. Beau startles partly awake as his legs kick into her space a bit when the spell ends. “Hey!” She grumbles, startling awake, leaning forward a bit and craning her neck to look at Caleb.

Caleb is smiling blissfully at first, his brain still catching up with the magic. His chin remains in Yasha’s palms, and she grins as she scritches at the skin under his chin like she had been doing a few moments earlier. Caleb shivers, his body relaxing into the couch and Yasha’s soothing touch.

“Aww, look at you, such a good little kitty.” Yasha teases softly. She scratches the top of his head.

Caleb’s keen mind seems to be catching up, Beau notices as his cheeks and ears begin to blush pink.

Caleb tries to back up out of the barbarian’s pleasant touch, worming his way further down the lounge.

“Stop squirming!” Beau hisses. “This things not fucking big enough for three fucking-”

“Aw, but he’s just a little thing, isn’t he, Beau?” Yasha interjects, a fond smile on her face as she reaches out and pulls Caleb closer when he starts to make a move to get up. “Hardly takes up any space.” She squeezes him in a hug around his middle and Caleb squirms, a grin breaking out on his face.

“Hey! Hey, what did I say?” Beau scolds when she gets a face full of Caleb elbow. “I’ll give you something to fucking squirm about.”

Caleb tenses, then, the squirming picks up along with a slight panic in his voice. “Nein, nein- Beauregard, no- wait!”

Yasha pulls him in tighter, smiling sweetly at him. She tucks her head down against his neck and ear, nibbling and peppering small kisses.

“Ahh! Eee- nehehein!” He sputters, flustered blush shining brightly on his face alongside his smile. Just then, he feels two hands wrap purposefully around his waist, just below his ribs on either side, Beauregard.

They’re sleepy and just want to make him squirm and laugh a bit, so both Beau and Yasha have a quiet understanding not to escalate things too far. They don’t want to lose their nap companion - though they had to admit that he did fit into their pile on the lounge much more easily in cat form - they didn’t map out the logistics beforehand, oh well. Improvising works.

“Aww, I wish we could get you to purr when you’re not a cute kitty.” Yasha coos as she tickles down his neck to his collarbone and near the edges of his armpits. “I bet we could. If humans could purr.”

Caleb turns his head away at the teasing. “Hehehe Yasha, ah- Beau!” He laughs, squirms helplessly, pinned to Yasha in a bear hug.

Beau begins pinching softly at his spare ribs, one side then the other, and Caleb wriggles side to side. “You- ahahaha- this is nohohot going to- AH! Ehehehe- going to hehehelp us sleep!”

“Sure it is.” Beau replies.

“Nohohoho it’s not!” Caleb whines.

“Well if you would just stop squirming and kicking at me, maybe we’d stop.” She retorts. “And then we could go back to sleep.”

Yasha jumps in, adding, “Well, I’m not so sure about that actually.” She takes one finger to her chin, pretending to ponder. “You’re just so cute.”

“Nohohohohoho-” Caleb turns redder, trying to hide in Yasha or the cushions. She wiggles her fingers where they lie wrapped around Caleb’s middle. “Hehehe ah- no! St-stahahop it.”

“Heh.” Beau snickers as she pinches her way slowly up his ribs, moving easily around Yasha’s large arms.

Caleb writhes, trapped between them, and starts laughing even harder. Yasha nibbles against his collarbone and he gasps.

“You ready for bed? Or do we need to tire you out more?” Beau asks with a grin - one that Caleb doesn’t see as he has his eyes slammed shut and is currently desperate to bring his chin down to his chest and protect from the soft, quick nibbles and scrape of teeth.

“I- I-” Caleb trails off into laughter. He kicks his legs wildly on the couch. He squeals when Beau pokes into a particularly sensitive rib.

“Alright, alright.” Yasha chuckles softly against his skin.

Their touches turn from tickling to a gentle palm down his sides. Beau’s arms wrap around his middle in a hug, joining Yasha’s. Caleb jumps at first, but then just wriggles a bit into Yasha’s body beneath him while giggling out the last of his leftover laughter.

They try for a few minutes to comfortably fall back into a sleepy state, but it is not unnoticed how much harder it is with three bodies - and one of them being Yasha’s - trying to lounge across this small couch.

Beau yelps when she tries to adjust and nearly falls off the side. “Okay. That’s it. We’re going to bed.”

Yasha and Caleb agree as the three of them head over to the nearest bedroom to continue their sleepy afternoon.

Yasha flops back into the middle and pulls both tiny humans in to her sides. She nuzzles into Caleb’s head and then turns to do the same to Beau, breathing in her hair.

They’re smiling as they start to close their eyes, breath a bit slower, steadier.

Just before they fall asleep for real, Caleb sends a wink Beauregard’s way. “You had better hope I don’t wake up before you.”

Beau snorts.

30 notes · View notes

merakiui · 2 years ago

Note

Mera! HELLO ITS BEEN AWHILE! I managed to get a c2 r0 Scara and named him Kazuyuki (I forgot the meaning behind it as Im brainfarting horribly) but Ive been having thoughts of omegaverse a lot recently so consider: Omegaverse with Kunicat but you yourself have a set of animal ears and tail (either a cat like him or any other animal, you choose!) I actually dont have a concrete scenario for it other than maybe you being a stray and Dottore takes you in. Of course theres banter between yourself and Kuni due to you being in his territory but that all changes when you go into heat/rut and Kunis instincts are going absolutely nuts now.

I hope you've been well! Been busy lately with making appointments and the holidays and haven't been checking up on your blog so I just spent a good 2-3 hours catching up on everything. Seeing the previews of your works gets me so hype to read them when they eventually are finished 💅🏻 Tyt in creating them, they'll be amazing!

Hello hello!!!! :D a big congratulations on c2 Scara and his weapon!!!!! The name you chose for him is very beautiful!

Omg omegaverse with Kunicat!!!! Since it's the year of the rabbit, maybe darling is a bunny! He doesn't like you at first because you're encroaching on his territory and he'd much rather live alone instead of having to share his surroundings with another. He hisses and swipes at you if you get too close to him, but the day you go into heat/rut is when everything changes. Kunicat's eyes are blown so wide the minute your enticing scent fills the air, and now he doesn't know what to do with himself because his instincts are telling him to stuff you full while his heart is wondering what these feelings are. He will be so protective and even more territorial of you afterwards. Dottore breathes near you and he's ready to attack.

Aaaa you've given me so many omegaverse Kunicat thoughts now!!! Imagine if Dottore takes in another stray (a mischievous alpha fox who may or may not be Foxtaglia >:D) and now Kunicat is even more possessive of you!! Thinking so hard about this... orz the intense rivalry between Kunicat and Foxtaglia... orz orz

#genshin chit chat #tw: abo #tw: omegaverse #kier-xs #i hope you had a wonderful holidays!!!#also thank you for looking forward to my wips!!!! <3 #and thank you for these kunicat thoughts i love brain rotting over him #kunicat

83 notes · View notes

highkeyshipper · 2 years ago

Text

share your lock screen, the last song you listened to & the last photo you saved.

tagged by @panda369-aksh ILYSM <33

my lockscreen: OBI MY CAT <33 i love him si much, look at how cute he is

last song i listened to: doomsday by derivakat. uhh yeah i'm very into derivakat lately and have been listening to doomsday ON REPEAT for like... 3 days :)

the last photo that i saved: a screenshot about how my favorite webtoon is getting printed NDIQBEHWBRLK I'M STILL SO HAPPY (PLEASE READ IT, IT'S CALLED 'COVENANT', IT'S SO FUCKING GOOD)

tagging (you all probably did this already but stfu i'm catching up JSJSJS): @unabashedlycasualangel @c2-eh @f1sredteam @hellow-zach

#thanks for tagging me aksh <3

4 notes · View notes

kittypets-read-the-series · 2 years ago

Text

B1 C2: RUSTY GETS AMBUSHED

It was very dark.

“What was dark?”

“Filou! Be quiet!”

“Alright, alright, Luna, keep your fur on!”

Rusty could sense something was near.

“It’s Rusty!” Tommy meowed.

“I think this might be from his point of view.” Princess said.

… This place was unfamiliar, but the strange scents drew him onward, deeper into the shadows.

Nutmeg shook her head. “He always was the most adventures of our kits.” she whispered to Jake. “He got it from you!” Jake just looked at her innocently.

… Suddenly a flash of gray raced past him. Rusty stopped still, listening.

Hattie squeaked.

… He was downwind of the mouse. He knew it was not aware of him.

“He always was the hunter.” Luna said. “I’ve lost count of all the times he pounced on me!”

… The mouse dived for cover, heading toward a hole in the ground. But Rusty was already on top of it.

“WHOO!” Filou yowled.

Suddenly a noise roared nearby.

“What is it?” Cody asked, eyes wide.

… Angry, Rusty gave up the hunt. He spun around, his green eyes glaring, intent on searching out the noise that had cost him his kill.

“I hate it when that happens!” Jake muttered. He was hunting a sparrow once and another cat, a rouge, had startled some bushes, making him lose his catch. He had longed to teach that rogue a lesson, but the rogue looked battle-scarred and dangerous, so he cut his losses and went on his way. Lots of cats without a housefolk thought kittypets were cowards - some were - but others knew when to argue with a wild cat and when not to.

… The forest had disappeared. He was inside a hot and airless kitchen, curled in his bed.

“Oh, it was a dream.” Oliver said.

… Rusty had been dreaming.

“Mouse dung!” Tommy meowed.

Lifting his head, he rested his chin on the side of his bed. His collar rubbed uncomfortably around his neck.

“Downside to being a kittypet. THE DANG COLLAR!” Filou sighed.

… Rusty rolled onto his back, savoring the dream for a few more moments. He could still smell mouse.

“That happens with me sometimes.” Livy meowed. “Part of my dream follows me back into the real world.”

From his bed he could smell the bland odor of his food. His owners always refilled his dish before they went to bed.

“They are good housefolk.” Hattie sighed. “Very nice.”

The food felt dry and tasteless on his tongue. Rusty reluctantly swallowed one more mouthful.

“Yeah, sometimes the food isn’t that good.” Zach said, wrinkling his nose.

“But we sure do let our housefolk know!” Tyler meowed.

… He made his dirt beneath a large bush with glossy green leaves and heavy purple flowers.

“Didn’t need to know that.” Tommy muttered.

… It was a favorite spot of his, as he could see right into the neighboring gardens as well as into the dense green forest on the other side of the garden fence.

Nutmeg looked pointedly at Jake. “Just like you.” she muttered.

… He heard his owners giving him one last call from the back door. … But this time Rusty ignored his owners’ voices and turned his gaze back to the forest. The crisp smell of the woods had grown fresher after the rain.

Nutmeg turned to Jake again, but he cut her off. “I know! I know! Just like me!”

… Was something moving out there? Was something watching him?

“Oh dear.” Hattie said.

… Tensing his muscles, he crouched for a moment. Then he leaped lightly down into the rough grass on the other side of the garden fence. As he landed, the bell on his collar rang out through the still night air.

Princess purred. “He’s heading into the woods now!”

“Where are you off to, Rusty?” … A young black-and-white cat was balancing ungracefully on the fence.

“Wait...that sounds like you Smudge.” Cody said.

“Hello, Smudge,” Rusty replied.

“I knew it!”

“You’re not going to go into the woods, are you?” … “Henry said he went into the woods once.” The cat lifted his head and gestured with his nose over the rows of fences toward the garden where Henry lived.

“That old tabby never went into the woods.” Jake huffed. He knew Henry, the furball exaggerated everything.

“That fat old tabby never went into the woods!” Rusty scoffed.

Jake blinked.

“Welp,” Filou said. “You know what they say, like father, like son!”

“He’s hardly been beyond his own garden since his trip to the vet. All he wants to do is eat and sleep.”

“Too right!” Jake agreed

“No, really. He caught a robin there!” Smudge insisted.

“Don’t believe everything that puffball says.” Jake meowed, shaking his head.

… “Henry told me there are all sorts of dangerous animals out there. Huge wildcats who eat live rabbits for breakfast and sharpen their claws on old bones!”

Jake and Crystal started hacking in amusement.

“I’ve met two wild cats, those rumors aren’t true!” Jake meowed.

Crystal recalled the story of how she had saved a wild cat's life from a fox.

… Suddenly the movement of a tiny creature caught his eye. He watched it scuttle under some brambles. Instinct made him drop into a low crouch.

“It’s real this time!” Luna perked up.

… Excitement coursed through him, making his heart pound. This was even better than his dreams!

“Get it! Get it!” Filou and Tommy chanted.

… Then a sudden noise of cracking twigs and crunching leaves made him jump. His bell jangled treacherously, and the mouse darted away into the thickest tangle of the bramble bush. Rusty stood very still and looked around.

The kittypets held their breath.

He could see the white tip of a red bushy tail trailing through a clump of tall ferns up ahead. He smelled a strong, strange scent, definitely a meat-eater, but neither cat nor dog.

“Oh no.” Jake muttered. “Fox.”

Distracted, Rusty forgot about the mouse and watched the red tail curiously. He wanted a better look.

“No…” Jake meowed. “Stay away from the fox!”

… he kept his eyes fixed on the strange red fur up ahead, and continued to creep onward. It was only when the faint rustling behind him became a loud and fast-approaching leaf-crackle that Rusty realized he was in danger.

Nutmeg gasped, worried for her youngest.

The creature hit him like an explosion and Rusty was thrown sideways into a clump of nettles. Twisting and yowling, he tried to throw off the attacker that had fastened itself to his back. It was gripping him with incredibly sharp claws.

Princess and Luna’s eyes were wide.

… He writhed and squirmed from whisker to tail, but he couldn’t free himself. For a second he felt helpless; then he froze. Thinking fast, he flipped over onto his back.

“Dangerous, but might just work…” Jake whispered.

He knew instinctively how dangerous it was to expose his soft belly, but it was his only chance. He was lucky—the ploy seemed to work. He heard a “hhuuffff” beneath him as the breath was knocked out of his attacker.

“That’s my kit!” Jake yowled proudly.

… Rusty managed to wriggle free. Without looking back he sprinted toward his home.

“Run, run, run, run…” many whispered.

… Even though the pain from his scratches stung beneath his fur, Rusty decided he would rather turn and fight than let himself be jumped on again.

Jake nodded in agreement. He would rather do that too.

It was another kitten, with a thick coat of shaggy gray fur, strong legs, and a broad face. … Taken by surprise by Rusty’s turnabout, it fell back into a dazed heap. The impact knocked the breath out of Rusty, and he staggered.

Nami and Livy listened with wide eyes as their uncle took on this scary-sounding wild cat. Their mother had told them about him and their brother Cloudtail’s exploits in the forest. They were excited to hear about them first pawed.

He quickly found his footing and arched his back, puffing out his orange fur, ready to spring onto the other kitten. But his attacker simply sat up and began to lick a forepaw, all signs of aggression gone.

“What….?” Tommy tilted his head in confusion.

… “Hi there, kittypet!” meowed the gray tom cheerily. “You put up quite a fight for a tame kitty!”

“Not all of us are tame.” Jake said mysteriously. Nutmeg whacked him with her paw.

“I tamed you. So you aren’t on that list.”

Jake gave her an offended look as Tommy and Filou gagged at their parents.

Rusty remained on tiptoe for a second, wondering whether to attack anyway. Then he remembered the strength he had felt in this kitten’s paws when he had pinned him to the ground.

“Good.” Jake nodded. “Know when to attack, and when not to.”

… “What’s a kittypet like you doing out in the woods? Don’t you know it’s dangerous?” asked Graypaw.

“Uhh...yes.” Cody said.

“If you’re the most dangerous thing the woods has to offer, then I think I can handle it,” Rusty bluffed. … “Oh, I’m far from the most dangerous. If I were even half a warrior, I’d have given an intruder like you some real wounds to think about.”

Nutmeg stiffed at the thought.

Rusty felt a thrill of fear at these ominous words. … “You must have heard of the four warrior Clans that hunt around here!

“Wait, wait, wait.” Oliver said. “Time out. So, Rusty was supposed to know about these ‘Clans’, but this Graypaw is surprised that Rusty doesn’t really know about the dangers? Am I the only one seeing this?”

… The other Clans are always trying to steal prey from our territory, especially ShadowClan. They’re so fierce they would have ripped you to shreds, no questions asked.”

Nutmeg dug her claws into the earth at the thought. She knew from Jake that WindClan was rather friendly with outsiders, but this ShadowClan…she shivered. They sounded nasty.

… “They come to take prey that is rightfully ours. … Kits have to be six moons old before they even begin training. Tonight is my first night out as an apprentice.”

“Hmm.” Nami said. “They have an organized system.”

“Why don’t you find yourself an owner with a nice cozy house instead? … “No way! I can’t think of anything worse than being a kittypet!

“How about being dead?” Nutmeg said, her eyes narrowed. “Starving? Incredibly sick? Losing the ones you love? There are many things that are worse than being a kittypet.”

They’re nothing but Twoleg toys!

Luna huffed. “No we are not!”

Eating stuff that doesn’t look like food, making dirt in a box of gravel, sticking their noses outside only when the Twolegs allow them?

“I could go outside whenever I wanted.” Ruby whispered to Socks. He nodded in agreement.

… “I guess you’ll never understand.” … “You weren’t born wild. It makes a big difference.

“No it does not.” Jake hissed, eyes narrowed into slits.

You need to be born with warrior blood in your veins, or the feel of the wind in your whiskers. … “That’s not true!” he [Rusty] mewed indignantly.

“Too right!” Jake muttered.

… “I smell cats from my Clan,” … “Run!” … He was too late.

“Oh no!” Livy squeaked.

Rusty turned to see a large gray she-cat strolling majestically out from the undergrowth. … “Bluestar!” Beside Rusty, Graypaw crouched down and narrowed his eyes.

“Bluestar? Wasn’t that one of the starry cats who showed up before?” Socks said.

He crouched even lower when a second cat—a handsome, golden tabby—followed the gray cat into the clearing. … Lionheart, I’m sorry.” … Rusty copied Graypaw and crouched low to the forest floor, his ears twitching nervously.

Nutmeg was stiff with tension.

“Who is this?” … Rusty flinched as she turned her gaze on him. … [Graypaw] just a Twoleg pet from beyond our territories.”

“Excuse me?” Nami said, offended.

Just a Twoleg pet! The words inflamed Rusty, but he held his tongue.

“Looks like he got mother’s brains!” Filou said.

Jake looked offended.

Nutmeg’s eyes glittered with mirth.

The warning look in Bluestar’s stare told him that she had observed the anger in his eyes, and he looked away. … Bluestar was still staring at Rusty. “You fight well for a Twoleg pet,”

“Again with the pet?” Tommy muttered.

… “Sit up now, both of you!” … I’ve not seen a kittypet do that before.” Rusty managed to nod his thanks, taken aback by such unexpected praise.

Jake puffed up at hearing a Clan leader praising his son.

Her next words surprised him even more. … We patrol this border frequently, so I have often seen you sitting on your boundary, staring out into the forest. … Bluestar stared at Rusty thoughtfully.

“Wonder what she’s thinking.” Crystal muttered.

“You do seem to have a natural hunting ability. … His [Lionheart] deep meow was respectful but insistent. … Send him home to his Twolegs!”

“Why?” Hattie asked, confused. He had just been hunting a mouse. What was the big deal?

“Send me home?” … “But I’ve only come here to hunt for a mouse or two. I’m sure there’s enough to go around.”

Jake winced. He knew from Talltail and Pinestar that was not true.

Bluestar had turned her head to acknowledge Lionheart’s words. Now her gaze snapped back to Rusty. Her blue eyes were blazing with anger.

Smudge squeaked.

“There’s never enough to go around,” she spat. “If you didn’t live such a soft, overfed life, you would know that!”

Nutmeg huffed. “It’s not his fault he was born a housecat! He’s not to blame for not knowing something at such a young age!”

Rusty was confused by Bluestar’s sudden rage, but one glance at the horrified look on Graypaw’s face was enough to tell him he had spoken too freely. … These were not cozy fireside cats he was dealing with—they were mean, hungry cats who were probably going to finish what Graypaw had started.

“Continue, continue!” Nutmeg yowled.

#kittypets read: the series #kittypets read: into the wild

3 notes · View notes

catrollsdice · 4 years ago

Text

Matt as a female dwarf:

The rest of the guys:

#never forget this great moment #thank you Matt #cr cast #critical role #c2e24 #matt mercer #travis willingham #sam riegel #taliesin jaffe #cat catches up on c2

3K notes · View notes

nightowlwriting · 3 years ago

Text

summary: a tavern owner gets mouthy. you get mad. molly finds out you love him. (part 6/13 of the kindness series, a thematically connected series of c2/exu imagines)

word count: ≈700

warnings: derogatory comments made toward molly & jester being tieflings

masterlist - request - support my work? - ao3

To be fair, you do have a hairpin trigger. The tavern owner didn’t know that when he said what he said. When the tavern owner sneered at Molly and Jester, when he opened his mouth - When he said we don’t serve your kind here you couldn’t control yourself. It had already been a bad day and you were really looking forward to a good night in, but then he’d said that and it was the last straw.

Fjord and Caleb had tried to catch you by the arms when you launched yourself to the front of the group but they failed. Molly and Jester caught you, though, when you tried to push between them, and held you there. “Fuck you,” You seeth, ignoring the way that Molly is rubbing soothing circles on your back and Jester is telling you to calm down. “Oh, you’re such a piece of shit, a real piece of work.” You’re sneering too, jerking to get away from Molly and Jester, to just get close to the tavern owner - who now looks rather surprised and scared. “I ought to beat the shit out of you.”

The owner gasps and takes a step back when you break free from Jester’s grip, throwing yourself forward. Molly compensates and wraps his arms around your biceps, hiking your arms back and up so that your shoulders are painfully high and back, legs barely scraping the ground as you struggle to get toward the man to maim him.

“Darling,” Molly coos softly in your ear, “It’s fine, we’re used to it. Let us fight our battles.” His words make you sag in his arms, tears cresting in your eyes as the anger prods at all of your emotional reactions. Despite what he’s saying, Molly walks you several steps closer to the tavern owner. “Sometimes,” He raises his voice, “Fighting my battle with you would be to let go.” The threat hangs heavy in the air as your heart thrums heavily in your chest. You can almost hear the smirk in Molly’s voice when the tavern owner pales once more.

“I-I’m sorry,” He stutters, “I didn’t mean-”

“You never do,” Jester chimes in, voice dark, “People like you never mean it when someone confronts you. You only mean it when we lay down and take it.” When Jester approaches, magic at her fingertips, Molly tugs you back and away. When he feels satisfied with the distance he turns you in his arms. You’re still shaking, angrier than you’ve ever been, but the smug look on Molly’s face calms you. It should make you angrier, the way his tail is swishing behind him like the cat that got the cream, but it calms you down.

“You don’t have to defend us, you know. Defend me. I was a carnie at one point and have surely heard worse.”

“I know I should let you deal with it unless you ask,” You speak slowly, still trying to think around the anger bouncing around in your head and the fact that you’re in Molly’s arms, “I know that. But I can’t… When people say that about you two, especially you Molly, I can’t think straight. I can’t stand it.”

“Oh, so I’m special.” He says, coyly. You look away, trying to convince yourself that the blush crawling up your chest and onto your cheeks is from the anger you’re feeling from still being able to hear Jester give the tavern owner a proper dressing down behind you. “I didn’t realize you thought so highly of me.”

You’re caught off guard when he caresses your cheek and maybe that’s why you say what you say. “I love you, Molly. I’d give my life if it meant you’d be happy.”

“Well, you love me very loudly then, don’t you? I think the whole town heard you defending Jester and me.” He’s beaming despite his teasing and you resist the urge to stomp your foot like a child. You just confessed your love for him, and he’s teasing you? But then Molly’s face softened and he pressed his lips against your cheek and let his tail wrap around your thigh. “I suppose I will just have to let them know that I love you just as loudly.”

#critical role imagine #c2 imagine #cr imagine #mollymauk / reader #mollymauk tealeaf imagine #mollymauk imagine #mollymauk x reader #campaign 2 imagine #critfic

165 notes · View notes

daydreamdeuce · 2 years ago

Photo

tw: recreational drug use (cannabis)

My fav headcanon is that Essek Thelyss is a stoner. He’s so anxious, just give them an outlet please he’s one bad day from impodling in on himself I swear. Just picture it. Caleb and Essek pleasently buzzed on the 9th floor of the tower, a pile of blankets and cats, snacks and good company. They deserve it so badly lol.

first pic: post c2 Essek with my oc Karma, catching up after probably 60 years since they last saw each other in person.

second pic: when people were doing the couch essek redraw I started my own and it got off track LOL

#tw weed #tw drugs #essek thelyss #karma langston #my oc #i want a luxon bong so bad lmao #critical role

9 notes · View notes

omniscientwreck · 4 years ago

Text

With Every Single Thing I Have

Beginning note: ***MAJOR SPOILERS FOR C2 E141***

CW: Character Death, Talk of Death

This is my interpretation of the canon description of Essek and Caleb’s days with some good angst thrown right in there. I have no knowledge of what is or isn’t cannon about the afterlife in Critical Role so this may be canon divergent but I needed it to cope. I hope you enjoy! Title Is Taken From The Song Two by Sleeping At Last

Caleb Widogast is dying.

He’s old, nearly 90 years of age. His body aches with every rain, stairs become more difficult, but his casting never fades. His mind is sharp and he reads, learns, and teaches until the end comes for him. Up in his tower, exhausted and bed-ridden he hears shuffling outside the door before it opens without so much as a touch and a tray of food is brought in. Essek Thelyss glides gently into the room, “Oh good, you’re awake. I prepared a light lunch for you, would you eat?”

Nodding back at the drow, the bittersweet smile that’s become a companion to him in Essek’s presence settling again into his wrinkled features. Essek sits on the bed beside him, book in hand as he often does and the memories written all over Caleb’s face come flooding back.

They had gone back to Aeor after the business in Rexxentrum concluded. Jester had helped Caleb locate Essek and when he found out he wasn’t too late, he was still at the outpost, he’d gone almost immediately. The winter clothes they’d bought all those months ago to chase their lost friend still fit and they carried many memories in them with the promise of more to come.

Their time together in Aeor was long. They took many months scouring the ruins for every book they could find. Between his Vault of Amber and Essek’s Wristpocket as well as a borrowed bag of holding they were able to collect the knowledge of Aeor. They found every device, every tiny dunamantic stone. They went back to the machine, the one that promised Caleb his dreams, closure, a chance to atone. The one that could change Essek’s past, that would give him his freedom.

Essek gazed upon the machine and he decided to remain in hiding. He looked directly at Caleb, made the decision to live forever with the consequences of his actions, because without them they wouldn’t have this. This moment, this trip, these memories.

It is Caleb’s turn now to gaze upon his destiny. He looks into the lavender eyes boring into him with the question Will you do it? His plan is perfect, the only thing that changes is that his parents are not dead and one day maybe he can reunite with them. He can see them grown old, he can tell them everything he’s done. They can be proud of him.

His mind shifts to the Nein, to Veth, Jester. To Astrid and Eodwulf. Back to Essek. It’s impossible to know what would happen if he did this. If he’d be able to come back. Is it really worth giving up everything he knows? Potentially giving up the Mighty Nein not only for himself but for them too?

He reaches into his components bag, smears dust across his forearm and with a green ray he carves away the experiment. He destroys, permanently, any hope of ever going back, in favour of hope for the future. Essek helps him burn everything and when they’re done he can only stare at the drow. The man who’s come so far, allowed himself to be so changed by the love of friends (Caleb’s love) that he went from enemy to beloved companion. He stares and divergent futures flash before his eyes as if he’s staring deep into the Luxon. They all end the same, he dies and Essek lives on without him for many years. The change is in the times in between now and then.

He knows which one he want and if the last two months were any indication Essek had his own hopes.

A week or so later, they ate in the tower. When the Nein first separated the tower had felt empty, he usually elected to sleep in a hotel room or in the dome under the stars. With Essek it’s easier to be there. They’ve fallen into a comfortable routine while researching that involves them spending the day immersed in ancient secrets forgotten to time. They would spend hours in complete silence, reading in tandem or copying runes and arcane patterns and then one of them would find something truly tantalizing and the silence would be broken as they began theorizing. When Essek gets excited his lavender eyes brighten and his whole face lifts and it’s no secret to Caleb that his heart races and his face melts into a soft, tender expression that Essek catches and matches.

After, they’ll go into the tower and eat, served warm soups and breads by little fey cats and then they read in the study in companionable silence until they retire to separate rooms. This night, a week before their time was up, Caleb’s keen mind caught up with him. Suddenly he became very aware of the passage of time, the potential futures slipping away and he rests his spoon on the table, overwhelmed by the shrinking timeline ahead.

They talk that night, instead of reading. They sit in two armchairs in a quiet carpeted room lit by purple globules of light, gently bobbing around their heads and they talk. They talk for hours. Essek tells Caleb his sins and Caleb elaborates on his own. They talk plainly and it’s hard to do, but at some point the chairs moved closer, and then their hands touched, eventually Essek’s hands were folded into Caleb’s.

He felt closer to Essek after that. For the rest of the week it was easier to reach out and grasp his hand, to pull him into a hug. Two weeks later, they talked again and after that they kissed. Their kisses weren’t frequent but they were familiar, a warm comfort over those last weeks in Aeor.

Theirs was not a whirlwind romance. It was something more precious and much more difficult to describe. It burned slow and and steadily rose until something had to be done. They kept in close contact after Aeor, it is those letters that begin the new collection that fills Caleb’s left holster.

They visit occasionally until the burn of the eyes of the Dynasty on Essek’s back became too hot. Caleb has taken to staying in Nicodranas when he and Beauregard are taking a break from dismantling centuries old systems to weed out the rot so he asks Essek to come stay with him. Quietly, out of the eyes of the empire and most of their friends, they begin to build a life. They construct with care, laying a sturdy foundation because though they both know this arrangement is temporary they promise to always be together in one way or another; because though gravity can be altered, it always rights itself and the pull Caleb feels towards Essek, has felt for some time, is a law of his nature.

They allow themselves as long as the other will have them and they spend years together. The kisses become more frequent as they gradually abandon inhibitions. Caleb’s life is a blink compared to Essek and he becomes more aware each year of the limited time he has. He and Essek stay together in varying locations for as long as he can bear it, he realizes now that they have earned this happiness, however fleeting. It will always be a larger portion of his life than it will be of Essek’s so he holds out as long as he can. He begins to teach in this time and though Essek cannot really be free he still has his work studying their findings and occasionally he travels.

Caleb watches him advance so much in their decade together and he gets bleary eyed imagining all Essek will do when he’s gone. They learn together, share every meal, he learns Undercommon and teaches Zemnian, and they spend every possible night together in every possible way. They share a sweet and intense passion and Caleb’s love sinks deeper and deeper into his heart.

When his forehead wrinkles and his hair is greying he realizes his time is up. He has goals, he needs to teach, he needs to fully commit to being in the Empire and his short life must be spent doing as he promised all those years ago, making each place better than he found it. That is the hardest conversation he’s ever had. “I wish it were not this way. That it didn’t have to be, but I do not have as much time as you so I must burn brightly to make my impact. I will always love you Essek Thelyss.”

“And I you Caleb Widogast. When you stumbled into my life all those years ago, Empire infiltrator holding my greatest crime in your hand I had no idea what would happen. You were a variable I did not account for, could never have foreseen. Of all the possible futures in store for me this one, where I am here with you, where I have been here with you for ten years and where I will continue to be by your side thought it is not the same is the best one I could have never predicted.”

They give themselves one last year. They don’t travel, Caleb takes the year off and they spend 328 days exactly together, in bliss. They do their best not to allow the apprehension of good-bye to creep in. Caleb knows it’s not good-bye, not truly and not forever. But when the day comes though he tries to hold it back he cries bitter tears and holds Essek tight and the smaller man shakes with his own sobs. But they loved each other for eleven years, and they manage to continue loving each other for another fourty or so.

Essek leaves and travels for a while to do his own work. This is frequent in the latter half of Caleb’s life but every time he comes back and his friend brings him stories and listens to all of his own. They help each other research, Caleb still tells him everything and relishes every moment they spend together. They no longer kiss but they are still partners.

Caleb’s life has been better, more fulfilling than he could ever have hoped stumbling out of that wretched prison at the beginning of his second life. He learned peace through the Nein and later through Essek and now that he’s at the end of his time he knows he could not have lived a better life.

Caleb Widogast is old, older than he ever thought he’d be and while his bones and muscles give out and he goes to the Blooming Grove where Caduceus has always said he will end up, to spend his final months, Essek follows.

He cooks the soups the cats used to, they remember everything together, Caleb’s mind keen but Essek has kept up well. At just the right time, Caleb knows. Essek is sat beside him in the bed, the wizards reading in tandem as they’ve done before and fallen into again in this late stage. They have been kissing again, Caleb allowing this last indulgence, one last selfish act. Essek needs it too.

“Essek Thelyss, thank you for everything you’ve done for me. My constant companion, the center of my gravity. You who bent time and space for me and taught me so many things from magic to forgiveness. I have loved you all my life from the moment I could and I would never dream to change a single thing.”

“Caleb Widogast. I have treasured every moment we have spent together, you changed my life, saved a man who knew not that he was dying. I have been happy because I know you and I will continue to be happy because you will never be far from my heart.”

“Please promise to me that you will take care of the others. Allow them to care for you. Find new people and care for them and allow yourself to be cared for in return, live your life as fully as you are able, and when you are done I will see you again just as I am about to see my family.”

“I will. You have loved me all of your life and I will love you for all of mine. I will never know someone like you again. Thank you for allowing me the privilege of your companionship. It is an honor to love you and it always will be.”

The quiet conversation fades and they share one final kiss and Essek sits as Caleb drifts to sleep, gently running his fingers through his hair. Then he goes to get Caduceus. Caleb Widogast is dead.

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

Essek Thelyss is dying.

He is nearly 740 years old and he is in decline. He, like his friends before him, retires to the Blooming Grove to live out his remaining days, however many they might be. Caduceus’ kin are caring and when he shows up on their doorstep they expect him. “He told us you would arrive one day. Welcome home and thank you for being here.”

Essek’s life has been a thing of remarkable chance, nearly improbable. He has learned to manipulate as much as he can but even he could not have foreseen the path he ended up taking. He has lived so long, and his life has been full but he is tired.

Fjord had been the first of the Nein to pass. After him Caleb. After Caleb the group coalesced around him. They had never shared many details, but they seemed to know. Keeping his promise to Caleb he allowed them to care for him. To bring him food, to message him to make sure he was okay. They invited him on adventures when they needed and he never turned them down.

They continued asking him to teleport them and every single time he did. Kingsley goes next and then Beauregard. Those years are full of so much loss condensed into such a tiny portion of his existence. He isn’t used to things happening so quickly and he begins to reach out. New connections. He finds people to care for, to mentor and to bolster. He dedicates his life to using aliases to research and study and publish materials to help the mages after him and Caleb. He finds himself beseeched by parties of assholes for assistance and while he never fights alongside another group he makes himself useful in any other way in his ability.

He always imparts the lesson to leave the world better than they found it, and if they listen, if they are the same as his friends, the best people he’s ever known, the world will survive yet. There is a pause between good-byes for a number of years. Then he loses Yasha and Jester. Jester is one of the hardest, the friendly little blue tiefling with a heart for adventure who hugged him when touch had still burned. After her goes Veth and after Veth, finally Caduceus goes back to the earth.

He promised Caleb to live a full life, but every year, the anniversary of the day they met several lifetimes ago, he visits the Blooming Grove. He walks the grounds, he sits with Caleb and he tells him of his research, he reminisces and he whispers love to the flowers that grow. They are fiery orange and yellow with some deep purple and blue spattered among them. Caduceus says on his first visit that the blue ones are called forget-me-nots. Essek picks one every year and presses it into a book, like Yasha showed him once upon a time.

Caduceus and Essek drink the tea from the flowers Caleb gave them. For centuries they sat together, telling stories, having extended conversation year after year. Some years Caduceus travelled so Essek made his vigil alone, but he never forgot Caleb and he never forgot the Mighty Nein. They lived as long as he did for they were in his heart always.

The last time he visits Caleb they talk for hours. “Every good thing I have done, every positive emotion and happiness I have known in these centuries has been because of you. You allowed me to feel again and the best decision I could have ever made was letting my plan go to allow myself to grow close to you.”

He is lying beside the grave twirling a delicate blue flower between wrinkled, aching fingers. “Caleb Widowgast you have lived with me for a long while and I thank you again for the gifts you gave me while you were here. I hope you are proud of me. I love you to the end of my days my friend.”

He falls asleep then, in the night of the Blooming Grove, fireflies and an infinite expanse of stars casting gentle light across his stilling form.

As Essek Thelyss fades he finds himself again in a garden. It is brightly coloured and lush, well cared for. There is a small cottage there and as he glides to the door, drawn to it as if by gravity, it opens and he sees copper hair, vibrant blue eyes, and the widest smile he’s missed the most, “I told you my friend, we would meet again.”

“I never doubted you Caleb Widogast.”

#shadowgast #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #critical role #the mighty nein #fan fiction #my writing #wreckwrites #critfic #cr spoilers #critical role spoilers

60 notes · View notes

commanderlurker · 4 years ago

Text

Saw @sullustangin do this meme and I liked it so I thought I just do it too. (Some of our answers a similar, though I will say that Eva has it together a lot more than Cats. Cats is a hot mess and brings Theron down with her)

· Who’s the first to wake up in the morning:

Theron. Cats is incapable of waking up at a decent hour. She resents being awake (until she’s had three cafs).

· Who’s the one to make breakfast:

Does caf count as breakfast? Liquid breakfast? Sure! Theron, then. Food-breakfast is a ration bar if Cats is running late (she’s almost always running late), or something nutritious made by the wonderful C2.

· Who’s the one to serve the other breakfast in bed:

At the start of the relationship, Theron would do a runner in the middle of the night. Later, he would stay the night and bring Cats a pot of caf and leave it on the bed side table, then he’d do a runner. Once he finally starts staying and gets used to the idea of ‘sleeping in’ (read, sitting next to Cats while she snores), he makes caf for them both and comes back to bed and catches up on work. It still counts as quality time even if one of you is asleep and covered in yesterday’s make up.

· Who would suggest a quickie in the morning before work:

Cats. Always.

· Who suggests they both ditch work to lay around all day:

Cats. Though Cats is delighted when Theron suggests they ‘take the speeder and go for a ride, just the two of us’. That’s growth.

· Who chooses the movies:

Movie night is a crew thing, so Theron puts up with whatever they choose. If he hates it, he can tune out and read via his implants.

· Who initiates kissing during the movie, thus distracting the other from the movie all together:

Cats, always. She won’t hesitate to get handsy while the crew is around, either. What else is she going to do? Watch the movie? This is prime banging time. Theron feels like a prude pushing her hand away but those awkward boners when he’s in the same lounge as Cats’ parents are just too awkward.

· Who orders lunch:

C2. C2 is the one who makes sure Cats and her crew are fed at regular times.

· Who steals food from the other’s plate without asking:

C2 serves up enough food for everyone. There is no food stealing on board this ship.

· Who curls up next to the other and falls asleep due to a full tummy:

Theron, but reluctantly. He’s confused about how he got from the crew lounge to Cats’ cabin. (She carried him because she loves him. Anyone else she’d just throw a blanket over them and wish them all the best with the crick that will definitely happen in their neck.)

· Who distracts the other from trying to work at home:

You thought I was going to say Cats BUT when they’re on the Majestic Princess, Theron gets distracted because Cats is probably in her underwear and she’s got legs that go all the way down and there’s the side boob to consider and --

Cats is capable of working. But she’s not a sit-at-a-desk type of worker. She’s a go-blast-someone-in-the-nuts-and-steal-their-stuff type of worker.

· Who asks to go get ice cream like a five year old:

Cats, but Theron’s secretly pleased to get ice cream.

· Who takes pictures of their partner eating ice cream:

Canon: probably neither. Just not something they’d think of. Modern AU: Theron, because he goes all dopey being around Cats and wants to fill his phone with photos of her. (3am McDonalds is a regular feature in their relationship, and the machine is never broken in this AU)

· Who makes a sexual joke about the dripping ice cream on their partner’s face:

Cats, because she’s 14. Theron just glares.

· Who cooks dinner:

C2.

· Who cleans up the kitchen afterwards:

C2.

· Who stays up until 2 reading:

Theron stays up reading and running data. Cats stays up playing Space Flappy Bird on her datapad.

· Who stares at their partner while their sleeping:

Theron, but only because Cats can’t stay awake once her head hits the pillow. She likes to watch him when he’s working.

· Who kisses their partner while they sleep:

Theron, again, but only after Nathema. He can’t believe how lucky he is.

#cats the v is silent #look at me stringing more than a sentence together #amazing #kind of want to answer this for Jun and Darmas #they could have had it alllllllllll

3 notes · View notes

jannaharevalo-coma190 · 4 years ago

Text

Learning (B)log

BLOG 1: The Extra in the Ordinary

As someone who has always considered herself mediocre and ‘talentless’, I’ve always seen activities that require creativity as my waterloo. More so, things get a little bit more difficult if the materials are limited. Still, I see these kinds of activities as opportunities for improvement which I am constantly aiming for. While my hands may not be as talented as the others, I have always been praised for my innovative ideas and never settling for what is deemed easy. With this, I proudly present my resourceful work made out of an empty C2 bottle.

Ever since childhood, I have always loved cats. One of my fondest memories as a kid is bringing home stray cats I see on the streets as the horror of being an 'abandoned cat' has always made my heart ache. Especially when strong rains pour down, the image of a poor kitty always haunted my thoughts. As much as I love cats, however, my mother always gets mad at me whenever I try fostering a cat because our house ends up reeking of cat odor. Still, as if with heaven's permission, I transfer some of my adopted cats to my grandmother who just lives in the same village as we do. If there's one thing that my grandmother and I share the same passion about, it is definitely with our love for cats-- and this little back story served as my main inspiration for this project.

When Lianne told me that her useless item is something so ordinary that perhaps is present in every household, I felt happy and worried at the same time. Glad because it is a usual item that would not require much effort in order to get my hands to, but also concerned with the number of recycled ideas it already has on the internet. A part of my competitive nature wanted to come up with a genius creation, but my realistic senses kept telling me that this task might be actually hard given that almost all of its possibilities have already been exhausted online.

Originally, my plan was to cut the bottle lengthwise and to attach an item that shall serve its legs to hold its weight. However, upon the realization that I do not have any recyclable item that can serve as the legs of this design, I knew I had to change my design immediately-- and I'm actually glad that I didn't impulsively do this since we only have one C2 bottle available. Gladly, I got inspired by another dispenser design which I always see in the cages of hamsters. No, it's not the spinning wheel but the drinking equipment attached to the cage. After finalizing my thoughts, I decided to carry out my plans by providing a cap for my C2 bottle first as the one we had at home is missing its cap. I got my replacement cap from an old fish sauce bottle and had it washed a few times to ensure cleanliness.

After cleaning and preparing the bottle, my next step was to search for an item that can serve as the bowl. I would be lying if I wouldn't say that I actually considered using a true bowl so to make things transparent, I did try using an old bowl which we do not use anymore. However, because of its glossy finish, the glue gun can't attach the cap to its surface. Because of this, I had to search our house again and upon my rummage in our kitchen, I noticed the stack of plastic egg trays on the corner of our kitchen. To make things short, I ended up using the lid part of the tray as the bowl.

After successfully attaching the cap to the bowl, I then proceeded punching a hole in the bottle. Honestly, I found this step the hardest of all since I never thought that the 'mouth' of a plastic bottle is made of thick material. IFrom using nails and hammer to even heating the nail tips in hopes to melt through the plastic, both methods didn't work according to plan. Because of this, I decided to adjust the hole on the thinner plastic area-- easily addressing the problem that was stressing me out earlier in just a matter of seconds.

Here come’s the exciting part! Luckily, one of the stray cats that have been living with us since the start of the year was sleeping soundly in our frontyard. Upon catching his attention, he immediately went forward to the area where I placed the water dispenser. At first, I was really scared that the project is actually a failure given that I didn’t use any fancy material to my work but surprisingly, it was smooth and working perfectly fine! I was so happy while I was watching the cat peacefully enjoy his crystal clear water in my DIY water dispenser.

Overall, I really had a good time in creating this mini project. I think this has been one of my best and most satisfying ‘experiments’ this whole quarantine, and I plan on creating a bigger version of this for our dog. Upon reflecting, I realized that although the thought of an ‘ordinary’ item quite scared me at first, thinking out of the box-- and perhaps even farther than it, is really vital in a creative process. Yes, an empty plastic bottle may seem so ordinary, but with visualization and proper planning, it can turn into something extra special.

1 note · View note

buckybarnesbingo · 4 years ago

Photo

BBB Week 21 Roundup! Lots of awesome content this past week!

Title: Dinosaurs, Dragons, and Dorks (Oh My!) Collaborator: newtypeshadow Link: AO3 Square Filled: K5 - Hot On Your Heels Ship: WinterHawk Rating: Teen Major Tags: none Summary: Bucky is being chased by a t-rex. That's his own fault. That the t-rex is going to catch him? That's all on Clint. Word Count: 1122

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

Title: Red String of Fate Collaborator: ariasfandom Link: Tumblr Square Filled: B1 - AU: Soulmates Ship: Stucky Rating: Gen Major Tags: Aesthetic, soulmates, 40s Stucky, red string of fate Summary: none

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

Title: The Name You Gave Me - Chapter 31: Epilogue Collaborator: rebelmeg Link: AO3 Square Filled: C2 - December 16, 1991 Ship: Tony & Natasha & Bucky Rating: Mature Major Tags: violence, epilogue/sequel teaser, Winter Soldier, character death, car accident Summary: It's been seven years, and time has changed everyone. Except for one thing... Tony and James never stopped searching. They never could have predicted that their sister would find them first. Word Count: 49,400

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

Title: Aria in B♭ - Chapter 2 Collaborator: tisfan Link: AO3 Square Filled: B3 - Kink: "Harder” Ship: WinterIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Alternate Universe - Historical, opera singer Bucky Barnes, nobleman Tony Stark, Prostitution, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Dubious Consent, Pining, Dueling, Gambling Summary: Word Count:

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

Title: Dial 1-800-HAWKEYE Collaborator: squadrickchestopher Link: AO3 Square Filled: C5 - tech support Ship: WinterHawk Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content, D/s Summary: Clint is taken captive while on a mission, and his comms are off. Luckily, Bucky has a way of communicating with him. Word Count: 11,855

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

Title: [Art] Bingo Clusterfuck - Chapter 4: you don't fight fair Collaborator: Call_Me_Kayyyyy Link: AO3 Square Filled: Y4 - Cat Ship: Stucky Rating: Gen Major Tags: Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Pet Adoption, Happily Ever After, art Summary: It's standard procedure to take a photo of a new owner with their fur-baby before they head home after an adoption. This is Steve and Bucky's photo after Bucky convinced Steve to adopt half the shelter. They were just there to LOOK and see if Bucky felt a connection with any of the cats. Next thing you know Bucky used his best "big sad recovering assassin" face to explain how he NEEDED all of them. Now that they owned their place in Brooklyn there was no one tell them no. Not even Steve could say no to that face. They all came with their own names the shelter gave them but the only one Bucky didn't want to rename was Alpine, a large white cat that didn't seem to care much for Steve. The rest clung to Steve like he was their own personal savior and Bucky decided to rename them after their friends. That's how the orange tabby cat with nails like knives ended up as Natasha Jr., the cat on top of Steve's head that seemed to like heights Clint Jr., the jittery one, Tony Jr., the regal yellow one who keeps head butting everyone Thor Jr., and the sweet cuddly one Sam Jr.

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

Title: The Americans - Chapter 2: Part Two: I am inevitable Collaborator: grimeysociety Link: AO3 Square Filled: C4 - Mulitverse Shenanigans Ship: Stucky/Darcy Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Major Character Death, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War (Movie), Explicit Sexual Content Summary: When Thanos snaps his fingers, half the universe is gone, including Steve Rogers. Given the impossible task of moving on, Bucky Barnes befriends Darcy Lewis. A chance encounter gives them and those left behind the opportunity to fix it all and bring back everyone who dusted. Meanwhile, across universes and timelines, trouble’s been brewing, and at the root of it all are two legendary humans simply known as The Americans. Word Count: 3944

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

Title: The Last Drakkon Collaborator: squadrickchestopher Link: AO3 Square Filled: B1 - AU: dragon rider Ship: WinterHawk Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content, dragons Summary: He stops as a massive shape comes rearing up from the cliff’s edge, almost twice the size of The Avenger, red and shimmery and brilliant. It lands with a thud on the clifftop, hard enough to shake the entire thing and knock Clint on his ass. He barely even notices; he’s too busy staring at the giant red creature perched in front of him. It stares back, blinking slowly.“Holy stars,” Clint says, staring at him, suddenly remembering the stories he used to read as a kid. “You’re a drakkon?” Word Count: 17,035

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

Title: Clint's Hugging Service Collaborator: pherryt Link: AO3 Square Filled: B3 - Learning to be Loved Ship: WinterHawk Rating: Gen Major Tags: hurt/comfort, touch starved Summary: Bucky really, really wants to know what a Clint Barton hug feels like. Everyone else seems to swear by them. Word Count: 7612

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

Title: First Touch Collaborator: caitriona-3 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: U3 - PTSD Ship: Bucky/Darcy/Clint Rating: Teen Major Tags: soulmates, fic and moodboards Summary: Who knew something good could come out of being stuck in an elevator? Word Count: 2345

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

Title: HYDRA Scientific Report Collaborator: startrekkingaroundasgard Link: Tumblr Square Filled: Y2 - writing format: HYDRA POV Ship: Bucky/Winter Soldier x Reader Rating: Teen Major Tags: mention of torture, physical experiments, brainwashing Summary: A restricted memo from the desk of the HYDRA scientist in charge at Nemesis base, detailing the latest update on their new asset.

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

Title: Knock Knock Collaborator: ialwayscomewhenyoucall Link: Tumblr Square Filled: B4 - hot water Ship: WinterHawk Rating: Explicit Major Tags: mention of injury, sharing a bath, anal sex, blow jobs, pining, angst and fluff, protective bucky, explicit sexual content Summary: Clint is injured on a mission and he and Bucky have to hide out in a safehouse. Bucky would much rather kiss Clint than tend his wounds, but of course he can’t tell Clint that. So with top notch logic, he decides Clint needs a bath. What could go wrong? Word Count: 6970

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

Title: [Podfic] Boom, Baby Collaborator: shadow-ravin Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - Thighs Ship: WinterHawk Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, Winter Soldier Clint Barton, Explosions, Semi-Public Sex, Explosion Kink, Intercrural Sex, Hand Jobs, Mildly Dubious Consent, due to brainwashing and lack of identity and knowledge of consent, Podfic, Podfic Length: 10-20 Minutes Summary: The two of them were connected, he knew it. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did. (In which Hydra captured Clint and turned him into the second Winter Soldier)

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

Title: Long Have I Waited for You Collaborator: Purple_ducky00 Link: AO3 Square Filled: Y4 - cold Ship: WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: Violence, torture, Howard Stark’s A+ Parenting, Child Abuse Summary: Howard agrees that if he has a son, he would give Bucky said son's hand in marriage. Now, 80 years later, will Bucky hold up his end of the deal? Word Count: 2122

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

Title: Bound Collaborator: hddnone Link: Tumblr Square Filled: C3 - free Ship: WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: bondage, D/s vibes Summary: It had been the easiest decision Bucky had ever made, giving Tony the end of his leash. Word Count: 752

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

Title: Aria in B♭ - Chapter 3 Collaborator: 27dragons Link: AO3 Square Filled: C1 - Secret Relationship Ship: WinterIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: historical AU, attempted rape/noncon, dubious consent, prostitution, pining, dueling, gambling Summary: Lord Stark has his faults -- a bit too fond of a drink, a little too reckless at cards, and entirely too happy to flout his good fortune in his rivals’ faces. But a man as wealthy and powerful as Tony Stark is bound to have a few peccadillos. What he is not, is the sort of man who would force himself upon another unwilling, unlike Lord Killian, who seems to have taken a particular shine to an opera singer in the troupe Killian is hosting. Tony rescues Mr. Barnes from Killian’s untender mercies, moves the troupe into his own home, and takes Mr. Barnes as his bed companion for the season. The arrangement provides protection for Bucky and the troupe from Killian’s spite, and tweaks Killian at the same time -- a win all around, as far as Tony is concerned. He wasn’t counting on Bucky being so utterly charming and wonderful, or for the possibility that he might actually, after so many years a bachelor, fall in love. Word Count: 15,755

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

Title: [Art] Bingo Clusterfuck - Chapter 5: before I put another notch in my lipstick case Collaborator: Call_Me_Kayyyyy Link: AO3 Square Filled: U4 - Hair Braiding Ship: Stucky Rating: Explicit Major Tags: art, feminization, lingerie Summary: After a two week mission away Steve will be home any minute. Bucky's ready to make up for lost time.

#buckybarnesbingo2020 #bbb2020 #bbb weekly roundup #bbb week 21

6 notes · View notes

pulaasul · 4 years ago

Text

Rairyu - SAO 3

[lit. Thunder Dragon] Ryuji and Futaba promised to meet in Sword Art Online with Ryuji going in first to scout for suitable grinding areas. However, before Futaba could get into the game, Sojiro stopped her and revealed to her the status of Sword Art Online as a Death Game. [Prologue is an entry for #kissryujiday]

C1 I C2 I C3 I C4 I C5

AO3 I FFN

----------

Ryuji has just arrived at Medai village after partying up with some of the players. He could admit that they were fun to be around.

He had just checked in to the inn when he heard a voice. “Sakamoto!”

Ryuji was immediately on alert when he heard his last name being called. As far as he knew, he didn’t tell anyone his real name and somehow someone was using that to call him.

“Sakamoto, Can you hear me?” The voice asked.

“Who’re you?!” Ryuji asked. “How’d you know my name?!”

“Ryuji relax.” Ryuji heard his best friend’s name.

“R-ren? You logged into the game too?” Ryuji immediately asked. “Where are you now?”

“Relax Ryuji.” Ren repeated. “I’m outside the game.” He answered the question. “We’re using someone’s Persona to communicate with you.”

“Someone can use their Persona in the real world?!” Ryuji uttered out in bewilderment. “That’s… No, I need to ask you one thing.”

“If it’s about me, I’m with Ren.” Futaba immediately replied.

“That’s a relief.” Ryuji slumped on a chair. “How about Mom? Is she okay? Should I…”

“Don’t you dare Ryuji Sakamoto!” Anne immediately cut off Ryuji’s question. “She’s listening to your words now.”

“C-crap!”

“Ryu-kun.” Ryuji heard his mother’s voice. “Would you really leave me?”

“N-no! Ma!” Ryuji sputtered. “I-it’s not wha-what you think.” He tried to reason out. “I-it’s just that I don’t want to be a burden to you anymore than I already am.”

“Ryu-kun, you’re all I have left.” Ryuji’s mother sobbed. “You’re not a burden to me, you never were.”

“I-I… I know that.” Ryuji sighed. “I know that but it doesn’t help that I’ve been giving you problems ever since Pa left us.”

“Ryu-kun, how many times do I have to tell you?” Ryuji’s mother chided gently. “What happened to us, you weren’t at fault at all.” She stated firmly. “Your deadbeat of a father decided to beat you, to beat us. Kamoshida was at fault for leaking personal information and provoking you that resulted in your broken your leg, and now Kayaba is the one at fault for trapping you and 10,000 others in that game.”

“I know but…”

“But nothing.” Ryuji’s mother sniffled.

“You’re already working for three or four jobs already.” Ryuji pointed out. “Hospital bills are crazy expensive.”

“If I may Sakamoto.” The voice from earlier intervened. “I promised your mother that she won’t be paying a single yen for your hospitalization.”

“What’s the catch?” Ryuji immediately questioned.

“It’s admirable that you immediately asked for the ‘catch’ if you will.” The unfamiliar female voice praised. “Being a phantom thief does wonders If I do say so myself.” The mirth in her voice could be heard. “To answer your question, I would like to have your mother work for the hospital you’ll be transferred to.”

“Umm guys, anything I’m missing here?”

“She’s Mitsuru Kirijo, the Kirijo Group’s CEO.” Haru answered. “We are using her Persona abilities to talk to you. Her ability also include scanning us and having Personas somehow revealed our status as Phantom Thieves.”

“Is everyone there?” Ryuji asked.

“Hello Ryuji.” Yusuke greeted. “Yes everyone’s here, including your mother.”

“To answer your question, Kirijo-san has asked your mother to transfer you to a different hospital.” Makoto shared. “On the grounds that you are a Persona-user.”

“The hell?!”

“She also revealed the risk of your unconsciousness being subjected to different experiments if they didn't intervene immediately.”

“Ma, you know I’d understand if…”

“Don’t you dare finish that thought Ryuji Sakamoto!”

Ryuji flinched at the use of his complete name. He was not ignorant of the fact that his mother loved him dearly. The sacrifices she took to raise him as a single mother, the dedication, the work…

He’s not blind.

“I know ma.” Ryuji sighed. “Just…” He gulped. “Think of yourself first before you think of me, alright?”

“We’ll take care of your mother Ryuji.” Ren promised. “You can count on that.”

“I’ll hold you to that man.” Ryuji smiled. “Convince her to…”

“We’re not going to do that.” Ren dismissed the thought. “Futaba was already distraught when you were trapped in the game alone.”

“Crap.”

“Crap’s a good word for it.” Morgana’s voice was heard.

“Even the cat’s there too?” Ryuji exclaimed. “How?”

“I have my ways.” Ren teased. “In any case Ryuji, we’ll wait how long it takes for you to escape that game.”

“I’m sorry but I have to cut this conversation short. It’s getting late, but let me leave a few words of advice, Sakamoto.” Mitsuru began. “Asking that of your friends and mother won’t bring relief to them. That only brings feelings of inadequacy and sadness to them.”

Ryuji noticed that the Kirijo’s voice held so much more than just the words of an adult telling a child off. He can feel that these words dug up something in her, experience perhaps.

“Ponder on those thoughts Sakamoto.”

Just like that, the link was cut off.

Ryuji sat on the bed for a while before lying on the bed.

He was thinking of the conversation that just happened. He was genuinely relieved that Futaba wasn’t able to log into the game. The one thing that bothered him was how his mother reacted to his thoughts.

Sure, he was the only thing left for her.

But…

But he can’t help but feel that he was burdening her with his situation.

Then there was Kirijo-san’s words.

He can’t help but feel that there was something more to the words she spoke.

“Hello! Anyone home” Someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.” Ryuji prompted. “It’s open.”

A man wearing a cloth headband by his forehead peeked his head through the door.

“Klein!” Ryuji stood as he greeted the man with red hair. “There any changes?”

“Rairyu so-“ The man identified as Klein opened the door and immediately cut himself as soon as he saw tears falling from Ryuji’s eyes. “Hey what’s wrong?”

“Wha- huh?” Ryuji questioned. “W-Why am I crying?” He tried to wipe the tears off of his face.

“H-hey, it’s okay.” Klein immediately got Ryuji in a one-arm hug. “Whatever it is man, it’s going to be okay.”

“N-no, you don’t understand.” Ryuji tried to defend himself, still trying to wipe the tears from his face. “I didn’t mean to cry.”

“You can’t really mask your emotions here Rairyu.” Klein informed. “Found that out when the party was reminiscing on some old memories.” He chuckled as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.”

“For real?!” Ryuji looked at Klein in disbelief. “How convenient.” He remarked sarcastically.

“I don’t think so.” Klein shrugged. “Way I see it, it lets all to be honest with ourselves.” He admitted.

Ryuji continued to wipe the tears from his face as Klein watched it happen.

“Can I ask?”

“I just miss Ma and my friends, is all.” Ryuji sighed as he gave up trying to stop the tears. “I can’t help but feel that this whole situation is going to be a burden to her.” He admitted. “It really makes me wonder why she hadn’t pulled the plug and let my useless ass get fried by the NerveGear.”

“Didn’t know you carried something deep.” Klein’s eyes narrowed in concern. “I know about your reputation about talking to the people who despaired.” He squeezed Ryuji’s shoulder. “Didn’t know you also carried the same baggage around.”

“I see now.” Klein nodded knowingly.

“What do you see?”

“You’re the type of character who’s so loyal to their friends and family and forget about yourself.” Klein answered knowingly. “You’re the type of guy who’d do anything for his friends.”

“Wha- Huh? Where’d you get that?” Ryuji inquired.

“Considering your reputation and your tendency to help children, I’d say my impression of you is on point.”

“There’s nothing special in what I do.” Ryuji denied the praise. “I’m still someone dumb that’s managed to become a burden to his mother once more.”

“That’s where you’re wrong kid.” Klein ruffled Ryuji’s hair. “You inspire people, your words give them hope.”

“Am not a kid.” Ryuji grumbled.

“Really?” Klein chuckled. “I’m sorry if this seems rude, but how old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

“Still younger than me.” Klein chuckled. “Despite what you may think about yourself, you’re far from useless kid.” He grinned at the young boy. “You’ve helped a lot of children by putting them under the care of a makeshift orphanage and helped a lot of people from taking that drastic action.”

“For real?”

“For real!” Klein affirmed. “That’s not useless kid, that’s heroic.”

“I guess, it’s pretty heroic to stop people from doing that one thing.” Ryuji sheepishly smiled as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Now don’t get your head big with that praise.” Klein teased.

“Thanks Klein.” Ryuji thanked the older man. “I guess I needed to hear that.”

“We all have our ups and downs kid.” Klein assured. “I have my days as well.”

“Did you need something else?” Ryuji asked.

“Right.” Klein nodded. “We’re bailing out on tomorrow’s side quest with you.” He admitted. “One of my party members suddenly got his weapon destroyed and we’re trying to find him a new one.” He added.

“No worries.” Ryuji assured. “You were the one who offered me a spot in your guild in the first place.” He smiled.” I can wait.”

“We’re still not a guild you know.” Klein corrected.

“I know that.” Ryuji nodded. “But I’ve seen people name their parties.” He pointed out. “I think that’s a sign as any that they’re going to form a guild once they reach the third floor.”

“Good point.” Klein nodded. “In any case, are you sure?”

“Yeah man.” Ryuji grinned. “There’s been a side quest that I’ve been meaning to get to for the children back at the Orphanage.”

“The one that gives cream as a reward?” Klein questioned.

“Nah, some of the older kids got that covered.” Ryuji shook his head. “I’m referring to the one with the Mosquito-Pig Boss.” He shared. “The reward was a few pieces of Ragout Rabbit meat.”

“Ugh.” Klein cringed. “That side quest was such a….” He trailed off as he shivered at the memory. “The money we got from selling all of them was worth it tho.” He sighed.

“Really?” Ryuji inquired. “Any tips for me?”

“It starts as a simple escort mission.” Klein shared. “Be prepared for any jump scares.” He shivered at the memory. “That boss almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Huh, when do you think we’ll party again?”

“Depends.” Klein stated as he walked to the room’s door. “We need to make sure that the weapon we buy is sturdy enough to last.”

“You know where to reach me.” Ryuji grinned.

----------

Once Ryuji woke up, he immediately went south of Medai and talk to the quest giver at the edge of town. That was where the infamous Ragout Rabbit meat quest was found.

Ryuji looked around the town’s south gate, and there he found the fearful young man that was the quest giver.

He approached the young man.

“Hello young traveler, can you offer your assistance?” The young man started his spiel. “Father and Mother asked me to fetch some water by the river a few miles from here, however that place is crawling with monsters.”

As the man continued his spiel, Ryuji noticed that the young man was wearing a white long sleeved shirt under an open brown vest, brown pants and boots. The man was your typical poor man in those retro movies Morgana insisted they watched.

“With my mother and father both bedridden, it is up to me to fetch them and our land lord some water.”

A window popped up in front of Ryuji detailing about the quest he had intended to accept.

He was about to accept the quest when someone called out for him to stop.

“Stop!”

Ryuji looked in the direction of the voice, and there was a man with blue hair and wearing in what looks like a knight armor.

“You shouldn’t accept that quest.”

Ryuji raised an eyebrow at the statement.

“Not unless you have a party with you.” The man in armor finished as he made a gesture with his hand.

“Huh?” Ryuji tilted his head.

“It’s because when the rescue mission comes into play one of the party members gets kidnapped as well.” Another man, in the same armor albeit different in color, answered. “Frankly, some people almost died because they didn’t have a party with them.”

Ryuji nodded at the points, but he was still suspicious.

“Why stop me?” Ryuji asked. “I see you already have a party.”

“Why, because you’re Rairyu!” The man who called to him replied. “Frankly morale would go low if you’re killed in the game.”

“Do I really have that much of an impact on the whole game?” Ryuji questioned.

“You have no idea.” The man chuckled. “Some people have been emulating your example in trying to stop people from jumping off of the ledge.”

“They’re just trying to do right thing.” Ryuji denied the praise. “Like what I did.”

“In any case, why don’t you party with us?” The other man asked. “And we could do the quest together.”

“I guess.” Ryuji shrugged. “Just whoever gets whatever owns that alright?”

“Fine by me.”

A second window appeared before Ryuji then pressed the blue circle.

“Diavel, Darien, Shark, Katon?” Ryuji read the names that appeared.

“That’s us.” A man replied as he approached the group. “Shark.” He introduced himself.

“Diavel.” The man with blue hair spoke.

“Darien.” The other man who just arrived and slung his arm over Diavel’s shoulders.

“Katon.” A woman stated after jumping into Ryuji’s view.

“Rairyu.” Ryuji introduced himself. “I guess you already knew that.”

“The Vulgar Blonde Talker.” Katon grinned. “Got to say you’ve quite the name.”

“C’mon you have to agree that nickname sucked.” Ryuji pouted at the mention of his nickname.

Diavel’s party chuckled at Ryuji’s pout. They have an inkling towards the boy’s age and seeing his reaction just proved it.

“No worries.” Shark grinned. “It’s not like we’ll be using them.”

“Still, I would’ve loved something cooler.” Ryuji continued to pout.

“With you in our party, you can accept the side quest.” Diavel spoke.

Ryuji nodded as he pressed the blue circle on the remaining window.

---------

Ryuji’s party, alongside the quest giver, were walking towards the forest that housed a riverbank. The party chatted idly with each other in the party.

“We’re actually trying to find the floor dungeon leading to the floor boss room.” Diavel shared. “Some things changed in the first floor since the beta test.” He sighed. “I just hope our knowledge would be enough to escape the game.”

“You’re a beta tester?” Ryuji questioned. “That’s right, someone’s spreading some rumors back in the town of beginnings about how you guys abandoned newbies like us.” He shared.

“We beta-testers just ignore them.” Diavel shrugged. “We have compiled what we all found during the beta test up until the eleventh floor.” He stated as he retrieved a small book from his pants’ back pocket. “But as I stated earlier, things changed since the beta test.”

“For real?” Ryuji looked at the book with wide eyes. “This was legit?”

“You mean to say you didn’t buy one yourself Rairyu?” Diavel tilted his head in confusion.

“Figured it was some nobody who wanted to make a quick buck.” Ryuji admitted. “Even cautioned Sasha and the kids at the orphanage about it.”

Ryuji’s eyes widened in realization at what he just did.

“Crap!” Ryuji exclaimed. “We need to finish this quest quick I need to inform them about this.”

----------

“We’re nearing the forest.” The quest giver stated. “The open field to the forest doesn’t have any monsters in the area.” He informed the party. “Because nearby lords hire warriors and travelers such as yourselves to clean the open field leading to the forest every other day.”

“That’s why there were no monsters and warriors in the area.” Ryuji observed.

“However, the forest has lots of monsters.” The man shivered. “Most prominent are the Ramoos.” He shared.

“Ramoos?”

“They look like Frenzy Boars.” Katon supplied. “Only difference to the Frenzy Boars is that they’re brown and have larger tusks.” She added. “They’re also higher level than the Frenzy Boars.”

Before any of the other party members could interject the quest giver, the quest giver screamed in fear and ran towards the forest’s entrance.

“Look alive everyone!” Diavel announced. “Enemy encounter.”

Ryuji retrieved his Mace from his back and donned his usual fighting stance.

As soon as one of the Ramoos charged, Ryuji made his move as well. He intercepted the attack by swinging his mace before delivering a kick towards its face and bashed it once more with his weapon.

Ryuji jumped back and put his weapon over his shoulder as it glowed a yellow-ish glow before swinging it into flight, in a spinning manner, which hit a lot of the monsters in the area, including the one he was fighting.

Ryuji raised his hand and caught the flying weapon and proceeded to continue bashing his enemies with it.

Soon after, the party defeated the enemies they encountered.

“Nice throw Rairyu!” Shark complimented.

“How many times did you practice throwing your mace just to catch it by one hand?” Katon asked curiously. “Seriously, while the hammer, axe or mace does return to the owner, no one has been able to catch their weapon when it returns.”

“I never really practiced.” Ryuji admitted. “I’ve been grinding levels since the announcement.”

“On top of helping people and taking care of kids younger than you.” Darien commented.

“I didn’t care about the kids at first,” Ryuji admitted. “But some kids kinda bit off more than they could chew and I had to intervene.”

“Welp we’ve got Rairyu the heru with us!” Shark exclaimed.

“That doesn’t really work Shark.” Diavel shook his head. “Besides it’s He-ro, ro.” He corrected. “Not ru.”

“Awww.” Shark pouted. “You guys have shit taste in jokes.”

“Puns aren’t peak comedy material.” Diavel chuckled.

“Wouldn’t He-ryu have worked?” Ryuji tilted his head in confusion.

“Even Rairyu agrees.” Katon guffawed.

After a few moments of waiting, the party noticed that the quest giver didn’t come out of his hiding spot, merely observing what was happening on the now empty battlefield.

“Don’t worry.” Ryuji announced. “There are no more monsters around in the area.”

The young man hesitantly approached the group then suddenly ran towards Ryuji and hugged him.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! So much!” The quest giver gave Ryuji a smooch on the cheeks in between his expression of gratitude. “I didn’t know what I would’ve done without you travelers around.” He released the mace wielder from the hug. “I am so thankful that I hired you despite the landlord’s insistence not to.”

Ryuji stood stunned at the turn of events.

Sure he listened to the quest giver’s scripted spiel, but the sudden hug and kisses to his cheeks left him unable to process what just happened.

“Don’t overthink it.” Katon whispered. “Apparently this quest’s quest giver’s script is like that after witnessing its escorts defeat the first batch of Ramoos.”

“That was quite unexpected.” Ryuji admitted. “I’d imagine the female players would yell at his actions.”

“The quest giver usually gives out the hugs and kisses treatment to the person who accepted the quest.” Katon responded. “Coincidentally, only male players have been reported to accept the quest.” She added.

“Don’t tell me, none of the male players punched the guy?”

“They were like you, too stunned at what happened.” Darien chuckled. “Even if they did try, their party did stop them.”

“One of the many reasons why a party is needed for this quest.” Diavel shrugged.

----------

The party, alongside the quest giver, continued their trek in the forest towards the river. They encountered a lot more of the Ramoos along the way, and made quick work with them.

“I can see the river!” The quest giver announced as he dashed towards the place.

“H-hey wait!” Ryuji called out.

“Don’t sweat it.” Diavel assured. “The guy always dashes to the river once it’s within his sight.”

“You’ve done this quest before?” Ryuji asked his companions.”

“Around five or so times.” Shark shrugged. “It’s one of the best ways to earn money.” He added. “Once you sell most of the rewards you get for this quest.”

“Ramoos meat would sell for 10 cor.” Katon supplied. “Considering the amount of Ramoos meat we’re getting in this quest, you could basically earn more or less 1,000 cor just by selling it.”

“Granted if we kill all the Ramoos we encounter in this quest.” Diavel added.

“For real?!” Ryuji exclaimed. “I had thought the money came from selling the loot we get from defeating the boss.”

Before anyone could even reply, they heard the quest giver shout in fear.

Ryuji and the rest of the party charged right ahead and there they saw the quest giver surrounded by fifteen Ramoos.

“Part of the quest?” Ryuji questioned.

“Pretty much.” Darien shrugged.

Like before, Ryuji was the first one to attack. He threw his mace at the Ramoos.

All fifteen Ramoos were hit and immediately charged at Ryuji to retaliate. They were intercepted by Diavel’s and Darien’s shields, while Katon threw picks at a few of them.

Shark on the other hand brandished his Cutlass and hit three of the monsters, earning their attention.

Diavel’s and Darien’s shields glowed blue before they slightly moved backwards and gave a mighty push, blowing the other twelve monsters away from the party, effectively dividing the enemies.

“We’ll take three each.” Diavel announced.

“Roger that!” Ryuji voiced as he charged at the three Ramoos that caught his eye.

As the party dealt with their own Ramoos problems, Ryuji was on his own dealing with his own share of monsters.

The Ramoos on the right blew out smoke from its snout before it charged at Ryuji.

The mace wielder used his weapon to catch the monster before throwing it off of himself. He immediately followed up by bashing his mace unto the monster who laid on top of the other then swung it to his left to hit the monster that came charging at him from there.

As the monsters struggled to get back up, Ryuji didn’t relent his attacks. He swung and bashed on the monsters before he pulled his mace and glowed yellow then swung it upwards then downwards, destroying the monsters.

Ryuji’s was about to rush to his party members aid but each of them were delivering their final blows to the last of their enemies.

Diavel with his sword.

Shark with his cutlass.

Katon with her dagger.

Darien with his Hammer.

“Thank you so much!” The quest giver expressed his gratitude.

However, this time, he immediately worked on filling the buckets he had with him with water from the river.

“At least he has his priorities straight.” Ryuji commented.

“That he does.” The other party members chuckled.

---------

Ryuji couldn’t believe his eyes when he witnessed the quest giver carry four buckets with water all by himself.

Sure he was wobbling as he walked but the fact of the matter was that he was carrying them all by himself.

“H-hey, would you like some help?” Ryuji asked the quest giver.

“Oh thank you!” The quest giver thanked Ryuji and gave him two buckets of water to carry. “You’re such sweetheart.” He praised before leading the group outside of the forest.

“You really can’t help yourself, can you Rairyu?” Diavel chuckled. “Helping others is in your nature.” He observed.

“Shaddap!” Ryuji pouted. “It’s the right thing to do.” He reasoned as he blushed

“That it is.” Katon grinned. “Look at him blush.” He chuckled as the rest of the party gave out a hearty laugh at his reactions.

----------

As the party and the quest giver exited the forest they talked idly as they continued their journey back to the town of Medai.

Suddenly, something descended from the sky and targeted the people who were carrying two buckets of water – Ryuji and the quest giver.

As that something descended rapidly, Darien immediately pushed Ryuji out of the way, getting himself and the quest giver captured by that Unidentified Flying Monster.

“Get back here!” Ryuji yelled

The mace wielder grabbed hold of his weapon, activated its skill, and threw it towards the flying monster.

But it fell towards the ground, failing to reach the intended target.

“Come back!” Ryuji growled as he dashed towards his weapon.

“Rairyu!” Diavel called out. “Pull yourself together!”

“Dude! That monster just took Darien with it!” Ryuji exclaimed. “We need to get him back!”

“Calm down.” Katon reiterated Diavel’s order. “Just calm down.”

“It’s part of the quest.” Shark informed. “Remember?”

Katon, Diavel and Shark looked at each other, wondering the extremeness of Ryuji’s reactions.

“P-part of the quest.” Ryuji repeated Shark’s words. “Part of the quest.” He stared once again as he calmed himself down.” Right, part of the quest.”

Ryuji shook his head as he repeated Shark’s words over and over again as he calmed down from his outburst. Somehow, he forgot about everything and his mind went back to when everything was about the Phantom Thieves: Their capture in Kamoshida’s palace, Makoto recklessly turned herself into bait to infiltrate Kaneshiro’s palace, Ren’s capture under Shido’s orders, everything.

His mind even wandered on Zenkichi’s arrest a few months back.

“S-sorry.” Ryuji apologized.” The monster was gunning for me and Darrien took my place.” He bowed before the other three in remorse.

“It’s okay.” Diavel nodded. “It’s one of the reason why we stopped you earlier.” He explained. “This quest really needs a party.”

“It should’ve been me.” Ryuji muttered to himself.

“No, Rairyu.” Katon interjected. “The four of us had done this quest a few times.” She shared. “The four of us have already experienced what it’s like to be captured by the monster.” She admitted. “Like we said, this quest really needed party members to bail both the captured quest giver and party member.”

“If you had gone solo, like others before you, you’d have a hard time defeating the boss.” Diavel added in. “Others before you escaped with more or less 10 hp left, failing the quest, while some were not so fortunate.” He continued somberly.

Ryuji wanted to interject when a rich-looking woman came running towards them.

“Please save my son!” The woman knelt before them. “He was just fetching some water for the family.” She explained.

“Where was your son taken Ma’am?” Diavel inquired.

“I just saw my son on the talons of the Swinebell.” The mother answered. “He’s probably taken to its nest.”

“Swinebell?” Ryuji inquired.

“A high level boss monster found in the first floor.” Shark whispered. “Some have taken to calling it The Mosquito-Pig monster.” He explained. “The boss for this quest.”

“Wait really?” Ryuji managed to blurt out. “We need to get there now!” He exclaimed as he made a mad dash towards a random direction.

“Do you even know where the nest is?” Katon asked.

Ryuji stopped dead on his tracks as he realized that he doesn’t have an answer to the question.

“You’re the reckless type, aren’t you?” Shark shook his head.

“Where do you reckon its nest is located ma’am?” Diavel asked the quest giver’s mother.

“Up on that hill.” The woman pointed at a nearby hill. “Please you just have to save my son!”

As soon as the woman’s spiel was done, a window appeared before Ryuji notifying him that the quest has been updated.

With the update, Ryuji knew of the location of the Swinebell’s nest by way of the mark on his over world map.

“It’s the same location as the first time we did the quest.” Katon pointed out. “This should be a piece of cake.”

“Don’t be so sure.” Shark immediately cut off Katon’s train of thought. “The quest update, also updated our maps and marked out-of-bounds places.” He continued. “Not to mention there seems to be a landslide that occurred on our usual hillside route.” He added.

“Crud.”

“Looks like we’ll be going a new way then.” Diavel shrugged. “Should serve as an experience.” He chuckled.

#ryuji sakamoto #persona 5 #sword art online #klein #diavel #tsuboi ryoutarou #rairyu #story

4 notes · View notes

thoughtslikeaminefield · 5 years ago

Text

Summary: Sam is dead, and Dean and Jess have to finish the battle.

Characters: Dean Winchester x Jessica Jones, Arthur Ketch (briefly)

Chapter Warnings: 18+ ONLY, innovative and unbelievable sexual position, gross schmoop (considering our characters), there's a cat

Words: 1,500

c1 | c2 | c3 | c4 | c5 | c6 | c7

CHAPTER SEVEN

They just keep coming.

Jessica’s heart is in her throat and her blood is running icy-hot, putting her at the top of her game. She knows Dean feels the same way — adrenaline and rage driving him to tear monsters and military alike to shreds as they plow through the torrent.

Dean Winchester isn’t super-powered, but even the most drug-induced military or suped-up monster knows they’re in for a fight against him. Cautionary tales have been passed down and round about him, told to up-and-coming military and newly bred creatures. They are trained to fear him with or without his brother at his side.

And, now, with Sam tortured to death and growing cold in the back seat of the Impala — well, the troops are plainly facing the end of their existence.

:read more:

Jessica snaps necks and rips hearts from chests, while Dean cuts their opponents clean in half and blows holes in their brains. They’re back to back, spinning and moving fast — so fast that this army of warriors and monsters and hybrids and other government experiments with less experience and less at stake don’t have even a moment to prepare.

She can hear Dean’s heart pounding. He grunts and growls like an animal and that pushes her further into her own primal mode.

“We got this,” she calls over her shoulder. “We fucking got this, Winchester.”

Then they hear it — the dragging and pounding of the biggest of the beasts. It was smart enough for whoever strategized this battle to have this thing bring up the rear. Honestly, Jessica’s shocked they have yet to see a tank or something else of equal brute force coming at them.

Ketch is behind that holdoff, she’s betting.

“What the fuck?” Jessica mutters.

Dean doesn’t hesitate to retrieve a killer cocktail-filled grenade from his jacket. He pulls the pin with his teeth as he sprays his AK loaded with devil’s trap-carved silver bullets at a pack of human-looking entities.

The grenade explodes at the base of the giant 20 yards away. Jessica and Dean are both thrown by the blast. They tuck and roll under fire. When they come to a halt in a pile of brush, relatively near each other, they snag each other’s gaze and hold it — listening.

Rustling, groaning — no war cries, no dragging and pounding of monsters and machines. All that’s left are dying humans.

Dean’s nostrils flare from the stench of war — smoke, guts of humans and fiends.

His brother’s dead.

Trish is dead.

It’s just him and Jessica now.

He pushes up to stand and encourages Jessica to do the same. “Let’s finish this,” he says through his teeth.

They walk the battlefield, picking off the dying one by one with single bullets to the head. The adrenaline isn’t wearing off any time soon, even after the last soldier is put out of her misery.

They stand still and silent to catch their breath, then Jessica turns to Dean. “Lemme see your side.” Jessica reaches for Dean and he lets her pull clothes out of the way to inspect his wound. His eyes are drooping, tired, scanning the area still, and his body is rigid and pumped.

“Ripped wide open,” she says, reaching inside her jacket for the emergency sealant she used the day before. “Dammit.” She swipes a hand over the remaining blood, shakes the clinging mess from her hand then sprays over his wound.

“Anything broke?” Dean asks, futilely pushing her hair away from her forehead. “You and this mess of hair.” He smiles fondly.

They’re both sweating and Jessica’s never been one to tie her hair back before a fight.

“I can’t tell yet,” she mutters, looking him over. “How d’you feel?” She flicks her gaze up to meet his, worried and wanting to just not lose him.

“No, Jess,” Dean says, pulling her into his body. He runs his hands over her shoulders and down, dropping his forehead to hers as his fingers wrap around her wrists. “I meant you. How d’you feel?”

Jessica shakes her head and closes her eyes. She takes a deep inhale and lets it go, syncs her breathing to his.

He holds her in his filthy, battle-worn hands, brushes rough thumbs over her wrists. Then he dips in to kiss her. He kisses her like they didn’t just slaughter dozens of beings and aren’t standing among the carnage.

Jessica thinks time itself doesn’t mean anything that it used to. One minute she’s joking with Sam Winchester and the next he’s spiraling down the mortal coil in her arms.

Dean keeps kissing her as he walks her backward until her leather-covered spine meets a tree, not too gently. His mouth grows more demanding, desperate, pleading, and then he begs with words.

“Please, Jess,” he mutters around her lips, pulling at his own button fly and hers. “I need…”

Jessica nods and helps him get their pants down to their knees. It’s complicated and really fucking risky, but she needs him, too. He dips to lift both her legs, slings her ankles over one of his shoulders and pins her there bent in half between his body and the tree. He holds her gaze with heat as he slips inside.

“Well, this’s a new one,” she whispers, grabbing for him to kiss again as he sets a rhythm.

The kiss and his drive inside her are fraught with tension and urgency. The way he’s got her twisted makes her so tight that he’s dragging over her slick clit with every slide. She takes him, hammering her into the bark, surrounded by smoke that reeks of death, and not a sound for miles but their heaving breaths.

“You with me?” Dean asks through his teeth with breath and ardor. Jessica can’t take her eyes from his.

She nods in answer. “Yes,” she breathes. “I’m with you.”

Dean nods, his tongue roiling behind his teeth, eyes hooded, and his lips hover against hers. “Come with me, then,” he whispers. “I’m gonna come.”

“Yeah,” Jessica replies, thrusting onto him for good measure, and they both cry into the damp night.

~~~~~~~

Nothing is the same after they burn Sam’s body. Dean’s quieter, a little gruffer; but he touches her more often, more gently, lingers.

“Don’t mean I wanna cuddle with Malcolm over there, just…” He’s fitted right up against her back at the kitchen sink, arms wrapped around her midsection, open mouth on her throat.

“Right,” Jessica breathes and arches her back as she turns the taps off just to hear him growl at the sensation of her ass bumping up into his groin. “You’re no longer allergic and can civilly share space with another male. Congratulations.”

Dean nips at her skin in admonishment. “Bed. Now.” His hands slide over her ribcage and down to grip her hips.

“Why not here?” Jessica flips her thick hair away to look at him over her shoulder.

“Ugh,” Dean groans. “Cat’s watching — gross.”

Jessica rolls her eyes and lets Dean drag her to bed.

They remember Sam and Trish. They work cases. They stay under the radar.

One night they come across Ketch. He was never discovered by the powers that be for helping them the night Sam died. They aren’t any more trusting of him than they ever were, but they’re thankful, nonetheless.

“This’s some good shit,” Dean says, swirling the brown liquid in the Norlan Rauk tumbler, watching it spin and cling.

Jessica agrees that it’s good, but she remains silent. She’s quiet much of the time these days as Dean is, pleasantly so. She’s content, happy even. She watches Dean’s small smile twist as he brings the lip of the glass to his mouth for another sip.

“Yes, well,” Ketch replies. “This surreptitious hostelry for wayward combatants such as we is quite surprisingly stocked with incredibly rare, unspeakably expensive varieties of drink.”

Jessica rolls her eyes at Ketch’s grandiose speech. She downs her scotch and nudges Dean to do the same. He nods and follows suit before turning back to Ketch.

“Well, thanks, Ketch,” Dean says as he and Jessica stand to leave the establishment. “Let’s never do this again.”

The three of them smirk in agreement, Ketch refocuses on his drink, and Dean and Jessica depart, for good.

They don’t look back at anything. They only look at each other and into the future. The peace they’ve achieved is hard-won and delicate; there’ve been too many losses, but their bond is stronger for it. They have each other.

Before, the thought of relying on someone who wasn’t herself was frightening. Now, it’s freeing. She’s comforted by the very knowledge that Dean will always be there when she wakes up in the morning and when she closes her eyes at night.

And she knows why this feels so right. It’s because it’s filled with grit and faith and synergy.

They’re better — best together.

They deserve this.

They deserve each other.

If you like what you’ve read, please let me know and/or buy me a coffee!

#dean winchester fic #jessica jones fic #dean winchester x jessica jones

25 notes · View notes

une-nuit-pour-se-souvenir · 6 years ago

Text

ICONOGRAPHY OF DEMANDING TANGERINE (1)

Hello.

This post is somewhat of a response to this conversation discussing Danielle Terroris and Hitler imagery through Nuremberg / Triumph des Willens at the Mereen pyramid. While I’m not an expert in any of the subjects mentioned (architecture, film making, history), I was exposed to WW2 while growing up (my father was a part-time historian) as well as through a parallel interest (aviation).

I want to make this very clear, my objective isn’t to offend anyone. However, since this post will discuss Hitler (and his cohorts) as well as Nazi Germany, it will upset people in general as that’s the nature of tackling such a beast. I tried to censor the imagery posted, so more sensible people can actually finish this without a meltdown, but there’s so much it can be done.

I tried to be neutral and succinct, but I have a tendency to rant and tangent, as well as to soapbox, so this got lengthy. I also warn everyone that english isn’t my first language and I’m often misunderstood for using words that have negative connotations unintentionally (the last time it happened was with “abortion”). Again, I don’t intend offend anyone. If you feel offended, I’m sorry.

This is the first of a series of posts about such a subject, as this isn’t the first time nor is it the last time that ASOIAF / GoT stuff which is related to Danielle / House Terroris was lifted almost in its entirety from Hitler / Nazi stuff. This isn’t about the Mereen pyramid, because I lost that post (unfortunately the lights went out and I have to redo it), which is just as bad as this one (or worse, IDK - I’m not very good at gauging that kind of thing).

ETA: 04/01/2019: I’ve rewritten this, hoping to be clearer.

S06E06 - Blood of my Blood

This is the episode where Bran has his second prophetic vision, divided into three sections. The first seems like a “summary” of some sort. The second is mostly a “detailed” flashback to Robert’s Rebellion endgame (FIRE) regarding Aerys (pyromancers decanting wildfire, Aerys screaming “burn them all”, Jaime killing Aerys and the pyromancers (and sitting on the throne), Ned at the Tower of Joy asking for Lyanna and then his bloody hands while being with her proper. The third is mostly about the Night King / Others - White Walkers / Wights (ICE).

In the very first section, there is a segment of two images which is repeated four times: a dragon flying through the sky and a dragon flying over King’s Landing (hereby called B). It’s worth noting that the second segment, of a dragon flying over King’s Landing, had already been repeated in Bran’s first vision and that D&D have commented that this is one of the most important images of the whole show.

These (B) segments are always followed by someone from House Terroris (affiliated with dragons), either Aerys screaming “burn them all” (hereby called C1) or Danielle with Drogon on her shoulder (hereby called C2). By presenting (B+C) together, this “three dragon segments” visually associates Aerys and Danielle as “more of the same”, but they also share similar themes: “threat by fire power” + “loyalty / obedience subjugation. (C1) Aerys is demanding his pyromancers to burn everyone with wildfire, while (C2) is Danielle birthing the dragons (deadly and violent fire affiliated animals) while her khalasar kneel in the background.

Moreover, ( C) is always followed by a specific Night King segment, (C1) Aerys is followed by Night King giving a “shrug” upwards and an Other - White Walker / Wight (hereby called D1), while (C2) Danielle is followed by Night King converting Craster’s son into an Other - White Walker (hereby called D2). Once again, by presenting (BC+D) together, this visually associates them as “more of the same” as well as portray those affiliated with fire and ice as “more of the same”, but they also share similar themes as above: “threat by [fire / ice] power” + “loyalty / obedience subjugation”. (C1) the pyromancers follow Aerys and (C2) Dothraki / Dragons follow Danielle, while (D1-D2) Others - White Walkers / Wights all follow the Night King). This invokes the name of the (book) series as well as the destructive elemental forces of ice and fire: The Song of Ice and Fire (a poem about the end of the world being delivered by either).

A similar argument can be made for the segment that preceds (B), as (BC1D1) Aerys is preceded by (A1) the pyromancers and the wildfire and (BC2D2) Danielle is preceded by (A2) Cat at the Red Wedding (screaming after losing her child Robb). Once again, the very nature of presenting (A+BC+D) together, visually associates them as “more of the same”, but they also share similar imagery and themes as above: (A) “madness” of (BC) leading to (D) “death / blood sacrifice”, because “only death can pay for life”. (A1) Aerys was obsessed with wildfire and the pinnacle of his madness was his wish to burn King’s Landing; (D1) is the (ice) embodiment of “death” + “blood sacrifice” - that being the natural (fire counterpart) conclusion if the wildfire had gone off > King’s Landing as a wasteland. (A2) Danielle was obsessed with the dragon eggs and the pinnacle of her “madness” is when she loses her son and the wish to hatch the eggs in Drogo’s funeral pyre (in the words, the word madness is specifically used for this moment); (D2) is the (ice) embodiment of death as well as blood sacrifice (conversion of Craster’s son into Other / White Walker) - that being the (fire counterpart) conclusion of Danielle birthing the dragons (death of Rhaego / Drogo / Mirri Maz Duur to pay for the life of each dragon).

Below is a decomposition frame by frame of this first section from a good quality video on youtube (there is at least one frame missing, but that’s youtube encoding’s fault, and I’m sure the point comes across obvious, regardless). I’ve added tags and rewrote the section above, in what I wish is a more comprehensible way (probably not).

The (BC2D2) Danielle segment is also repeated in the second section twice, though (A2) Red Wedding does not preced it and as such, it doesn’t follow the A2BC2D2 pattern. The Red Wedding does show up twice, but the scene is different since it’s Robb proper dying instead (the Red Wedding is important in these trippy visions about the struggle between Ice and Fire, because in the books Danielle sees it in her House of Undying visions, even though that has nothing to do with her whatsoever). Again, this is a subject for another post, so let’s ignore that and the rest of the “unrelated” stuff. However, (BC2D2) Danielle segment is further associated with both Aerys and "fire threat” (specifically with wildfire).

The first (BC2D2) Danielle segment is preceded first by “passage of time” and followed by a long “flashback” Robert’s Rebellion endgame, most of it about the Aerys and Jaime, as well as the thwarted Wildfire Plot. It begins with pyromancers decanting wildfire, mad king Aerys screaming “burn them all”, wildfire catching (which never happened in the past), the pyromancers putting the wildfire in the shelves, Jaime drawing his sword, Ned at the Tower of Joy, Jaime killing Aerys, Robb at the Red Wedding, Jaime killing Aerys some more (how I understand him). There’s a succession of “unrelated” segments, then we have Jaime sitting on the Iron Throne, wildfire catching once again (further than before), followed by the second (BC2D2) Danielle segment, Jaime killing the pyromancers, two more “unrelated” segments, Jaime drawing his sword against Aerys again, and wildfire catching again (even further than before).

This may seem like I’m rambling, but it’s not. In (very long) summary, these are the main things to keep in mind: the imagery of a dragon flying through the air and casting it’s shadow over King’s Landing (B - i enclose a shitty gif of it), Aerys / Danielle having “threat by fire power” + “loyalty / obedience subjugation” (C1 // C2), the “madness” of Aerys / Danielle leading to “death / blood sacrifice” (A+BC+D). There are a few secondary things to keep in mind for (C2) Danielle birthing the dragons in specific: Danielle with the black dragon over her shoulder as well as the colour composition of the scene (white / red / black), the name of this episode which is “Blood of my Blood” and Danielle with a powerful symbol over her shoulder juxtaposed with Dothraki’s submission towards her (both because of the power of this symbol as well as because she’s seen as a special one due to having birthed the dragons).

This is also the same episode where Danielle gives a speech to the Dothraki to rally them up to invade Westeros. This episode (as well as the former) was directed by Jack Bender, a reputed director who has done several heavy symbolical shows such as the Sopranos, Alias, Lost (he has... *ehem*... background in this type of stuff). He also commented on this scene in specific, likening Danielle to Hitler at Nuremberg. "At the end of the scene, you should be somewhat roused by her and a little horrified. She's not Hitler at Nuremberg, but she's got the power." The video of this scene can be seen here.

Danielle is riding with Daario and her newly acquired khalasar of 100,000, discussing the logistics of hauling their arses to Westeros. At the end of the conversation, Daario asks what they’ll do after arriving in Westeros and Danielle says that she takes what is hers, but Daario is sceptical and tells her that she wasn’t born to sit on the iron chair but to be a conqueror. Danielle ponders this, rides off in her silver and then rides on Drogon, to rally her khalasar to invade Westeros. She models her speech to match a “conqueror” more than a “leader”, as she presents her plans in a way that is fitting with the Dothraki style of life: pillaging and plundering, as well as destruction and violence. She’s met with the Dothraki’s approval.

I’ve attached the imagery used on this first portion below, as well as some observations, and made a gif about the dragon’s shadow (which I link instead of display here because of how big it is). The soundtrack for this segment, is the theme of House Terroris (or a variation of it, I can’t tell because I don’t hear that wretched thing), a theme which is both aggressive and powerful.

Danielle riding a dragon and then making her speech on top of it, is both a powerful firepower symbol, since the dragons are the “nuclear deterrent” capable of unfathomable destruction (this is the power that Bender refers to), as well as a representation of her being a messianic figure, since she (and others) believe that she is a special one due to hatching the dragons (notice that these are the same themes as (C2) Danielle with a dragon over her shoulder - it has come full circle, it’s now Danielle over the dragon’s shoulder). The contents of Danielle’s speech are rather disturbing as well and come in tandem with the themes before. She’s appealing to destruction and violence while on top of a powerful firepower symbol, based on the divine birth-right of being the pretender to the Iron Throne as the last member of House Terroris as well as the Stallion that Mounts the World from Dothraki prophecy (which she indirectly panders to when she mentions Drogo’s promise, she switches Rhaego with herself as she believes she’s the Stallion that Mounts the World). Her speech is framed by all sorts of crazy faces and screaming, which while “normal” in war rally speeches to instil aggression and raise morale, it’s also evocative of her father’s madness (notice that these are the same themes of (C1) Aerys in his madness demanding the pyromancers to burn everyone).

Furthermore, Danielle begins by declaring that all the Dothraki as her blood riders, which is a specific dothraki that has pledged their life in the service of their khal. The episode title, “Blood of my Blood” is the dothraki saying that illustrates this, as the blood rider’s blood is considered to be the khal’s own blood. She proceeds by telling the Dothraki that she won’t ask of them more than any other khal has asked their blood riders before (making the distinction between leader and subordinates clear), then explains that she wants to reclaim Westeros and asks if they will support her on this. In other words, Danielle is asking for the Dothraki to swear to her their unquestionable loyalty and total obedience from that point forward. In summary, this is Danielle appealing for unity, loyalty and obedience under her rule through their conjoined blood, FOREVER. When she’s finished, the khalasar roar their approval and raise their hands in salute towards her.

I’ve attached the imagery used on this second portion below, as well as some observations. The shooting angles that are used for this scene are meant to highlight the dothraki as an endless united yet faceless group (none of them are named characters - this is true for the Dothraki in general, especially as the plot advances) and Danielle as their undisputable leader (she’s focused alone or bigger / higher than them).

Triumph of the Will

Triumph of the Will is a nazi propaganda film directed by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the 1934 nazi party congress that took place in Nuremberg and lasted for four days. It was neither the first political propaganda film, as those had been rolling since the previous century (an infamous example), nor was it particularly ground-breaking, as the filmmaking techniques used for it were not new either. However, Riefenstahl had talent in evocative imagery and the budget for this movie was HUGE (as it was sponsored by the government), which meant that everything was “cranked up to eleven”.

Such Riefenstahl could use her talent for symbolism as well as all the cinematic tricks of the time, all to push the Nazi political agenda and portray it exactly the way they wanted to. She did so in such an effective way, that it gained several movie awards (even in the United States). it’s considered the most effective propaganda piece ever made, not only because it has influenced many (mostly fictional) works afterwards but also because everyone today still thinks that this movie portrays Hitler / Nazi Germany accurately (think about it, a propaganda movie made by the Nazi, with the objective of passing off their ideal image of who they are, is accepted to accurately portray who they were... to this day).

As one original poster said, every single filmmaker in existence as well as every historian has seen this movie and has studied it, so they know everything that goes onto it, techniques used and themes explored. There’s actually much more than the things I’ll talk about (and I don’t even know them all), but they are useless for a framing in this context (for example, it contains stuff of identification, religion proper, prosperity, etc). If you’d like to watch this movie, there’s a link on wikipedia (just checked).

Triumph of the Will opens with a prologue, the only commentary of the film (besides a few name cards at some point), as the rest is framed through real footage alone (albeit artistically done) and sometimes some music (used in a revolutionary way in this movie, especially to draw and pander to nationalism). It then begins with flying through the clouds, until it finally reveals the bucolic city of Nuremberg. The cruciform shadow of Hitler's plane is visible as it passes over the buildings and those below. Upon arriving at the Nuremberg airport, Hitler and other Nazi leaders emerge from his plane to thunderous applause and a cheering crowd.

The objective of this airplane segment is to portray Hitler as a messiah sent by the gods, descending on the German people to grace them with salvation. Moreover, the focus on aircraft technology (propeller spinning and flight instruments, etc) as well as endless military parades, have the objective of framing the regime with powerful firepower symbolism. As a side-note, the nazi party hymn plays through this airplane segment. This hymn was composed with the intention of instilling aggression as well as raising morale and it’s about a man who was killed during the bad times (they were really bad times) before the nazi came to power, such it was meant as a musical representation of some sort of religious sacrificial myth.

I’ve attached the imagery used on this second portion below, as well as some observations. I believe the similarities of these will speak for themselves, in comparison to it’s equivalent above.

SIDE NOTE: I also enclose a gif with the airplane + shadow part because of how bizarre the similarity is (remember this and this, I wish I knew how to put them side by side) as well as the theatrical posters for this movie and it’s spiritual ancestor, Victory of Faith (also filmed by Riefenstahl, directed practically the same way but without as much detail and with more technical errors). To contextualise why I’m putting these three theatrical posters (remember this).

The colour triad red / white / black were the official colours of Nazi Germany, which they used for their propaganda posters and general imagery (they also added gold in the earlier days, for the sake of inclusion and unification for the whole population). The black eagle is the coat-of-arms of Germany (for centuries) and was portrayed in Nazi iconography as well as propaganda as an allegory for the country proper, representing their ideals and their powe and it usually showed up on top of an image to symbolise authority. Just for this movie alone (since we’re talking about it), the black eagle shows up in all of them and it two of them, it shows up over the shoulder.

The third day starts with a Hitler Youth rally, where Hitler makes a speech, describing unity in militaristic terms how the youth must become one people and that everything they do represents one nation, appealing for their unquestionable loyalty and total obedience. He proceeds to say they must harden themselves and prepare for sacrifice, because when the time comes, they will all march together for the sake of their country. I spare most of the details (he does make an appeal to a classless society as well, which will be important for another part), but at some point he says: “I know that it cannot be any other way as we bind ourselves together, for you are flesh of our flesh and blood from our blood."

The fourth day has a World War I memorial ceremony, some more military parades with the SA / SS which showcase the powerful firepower of the nazi party (the paramilitary branch of the party, not even the country’s army proper), and then Hitler makes a speech about the political purge that happened some months before. Afterwards, there’s a (religious-like) consecration ceremony where new flags touch an old bloody flag (the same cloth flag that was said to have been stained by blood of comrades that had sacrificed themselves for the cause, similar to opening song in it’s religious-like symbolism, though not the same event).

Either way, both speeches are intermingled with segments of the people acknowledging and approving of Hitler’s message, some more solemn while others very happy (the kids on the first are especially smiley), cheering him on at the end with their... special salute (obviously). Both speeches (and what comes before or after, the endless military parades and the semi-religious ceremonies) are also examples of the major themes of this movie in general: “religion / messiah” (in quotation marks, so I don’t have to discuss it properly as it’s not straight-forward), power (there are 700,000 people at this rally, with 150,000 people for the SA / SS alone) and unity (drilled over-and-over again > they had just come from a major backstabbing after all).

These speeches are visually shot with unquestionable “leader” and “faceless follower” framings. This is so delibarate that the first one is done with much less pandering to authority (the “leader” is shown with close-ups of his face), since the intent with the youth is for them to identify with the leader / party / country, so the less separation shown between them (while keeping the hierarchy clear), the better for the indocrination process. However, the SA / SS speech is the standard for any Hitler speech (and some of his cronies) in any visual media (any visual media, even in photos), which is why I used it for the illustration for the next section (it’s the only other speech done in daylight, the others are made during the night or indoors, and will illustrate other posts I’ll make).

I’ve attached the imagery used on this second portion below, as well as some observations. I will spare us all screenshots of Hitler doing his crazy faces as well as samples of his screaming voice (and I found a perfectly censored salute screenshot). as most have an idea of that is like anyway. I believe the similarities of these will speak for themselves as well, in comparison to it’s equivalent above.

As you can tell, GoT directors inspired themselves in Triumph of the Will for this scene where Danielle rallies up the Dothraki (and most likely, Bran’s vision as well, which makes that one just as sinister as this speech). The dragon entrance segment is mirrored by the airplane segment (to the point even small details were transposed, like the shadow’s trajectory or the flying rolling), while the speech itself is thematically similar to the Hitler Youth speech and visually framed like the SA / SS speech (or any other nazi media piece as they all use the same tricks). They also emulate the same major themes: “religion // messiah”, power and unity.

Even Danielle’s crazy face and screaming voice is as much of a parallel to her crazy father, as is to the unbeloved Leader public façade that nobody likes being compared to (but that Jack Bender did so, explicitly). Obviously, “Danielle is no Hitler at Nuremberg”, then again nobody in fiction is. The scale of Hitler / Nazi is still unmatched (and I believe that will remain so, fortunately) as the scope of that was immense, but that was true even for Lord of the Rings or Star Wars when they did their own... tribute.

#anti daenerys targaryen #anti house targaryen #tw: nazi

42 notes · View notes